s 
1804.] 
dear Brother, as the Commander in Chief, by 
whofe councils the Conftitution prefumes that 
the military department is adminittered. 
If thofe who have the honour to advife his 
Majefty on this occafion, fhall deem my preten- 
fion, among thofe of a}] the Royal Family, to 
be the only one fit to be rejected and difdained, 
I may at leaft hope, as a debt of juftice and 
- honour, to have it explained, that I am laid by, 
in virtue of that judgment, and not in confe- 
quence of any omiffion or want of energy on my 
parle lJ have, &c. &c. &c. 
(Signed) G. Pe 
{Tis Reyal Highnefs the Duke of York, &¢. 
No. II, 
Horfe-Guards, Ocober 6) 1803. 
Dearett Brother, 
Nothing but an extraordinary prefs of bufi- 
nefs would have prevented me from acknow- 
ledging fooner your letter of the 2d inftant, 
which l received, while at Oatlands, on Mone 
day evening. 
I truft that you are too well acquainted with 
my affection tur you, which has exifted fince 
our moft tender years, not to be affured of the 
fatistaétion I ever have felt, and ever muft 
feel, in forwarding, whenin my power, every 
defire or object of your’s, and therefore will 
believe how much I mutt regret the impoffi- 
bility there is, upon the pre{ent occafion, of 
my executing your withes of laying the repre- 
fentation contained in your letter before his 
Miajeity. Suffer me, my dear Brother, as 
the only anfwer that Ican properly give you, 
to recal to. your memory whiat pulled upon 
the fame fubjeét foon after his Majefty was 
gracioufly plealed to place me at the head of 
the army, and I have no doubt that, with 
your ufual candour, you will yourfelf fee the 
abfolute necetlity of my declining it, 
Inthe year 1795, upon a general promo- 
tion taking place, at your inftance, I delivered 
a letter from you to his Majetty, urging your 
pretenGons to promotion in the army, to 
which his Majefty was pleafed to an{wer, 
that before he had appointed ycu to the com- 
mand of the roth Light Dragoons, he had 
caufed it to be fully explained to you, what 
his {entiments were with refpc& to a Prince 
of Wales entering into the army, and the 
public grounis upon which he never could 
admit of your confidering it as a profefiion, or 
of your being promoted in the fervice; and 
his Majefty, at the fame time, added his 
pofitive command and injunctions to me ne- 
ver to Mention fhis furject again tohim, and 
tq decline being the bearer of any application 
ef the fame nature, fhould it be propoled to 
me; which meflage 1 was of courfe under the 
necefiity of delivering to you, and have con- 
ftantly made it the rule of my conduct ever 
fince 3 and, indeed, 1 have ever coniidered it 
as one of the greateft proofs of affection and 
confideratio; towards me, om the part of his 
- Majeity, that he never allowed me to become 
a party in this bufineds. 
Royal Correfpandence. 
577 
Having thus ftated to you fairly and care 
didly what has paffed, J muft tru(t you will 
fee that there can be no grounds for the ap- 
prehenfion expreffed in the latter part of your 
letter, that any flur can attach to your charac- 
ter as an Officer, particularly as I recollect 
your mentioning to me yourfelf, on the day in 
which you receivedthe notification of your 
appointment to the goth Light Dragoons, the 
explanation and condition attached to it by his 
Majefty ; and therefore, furely, you mutt be 
fatisfied that your not being advanced in mi- 
litary rank proceeds entirely from his Ma- 
jefty’s fentiments refpecting the high rank 
you hold in the ftate, and not from any im- 
preffion unfavqurable to you. 
Believe me ever, with the greateft truth, 
Dear Brother, 
Your moft affectionate Brother, 
(Signed) ; FREDERIck. 
Prince of Wales. 
No. ITI. 
Brighton, Ofober 9, 1803: 
. My Dear Brother, 
I have taken two days to confider the con- 
tents of your letter of the 6th inft. in order to 
be as accurate as poflible in my anfwer, which 
muft account to you for its being longer, per= 
haps, than Lintended, or I could have withed. 
I confide entirely in the perfonal kindnefs 
and affection expreffed in your letter, and am, 
for that reafon, the more unwilling to trouble 
you again on a painful fubjeét, in which you 
are not free to act as your inclination, Iam 
fure, would lead you 3 but as it is not at all 
improbable that every part of this tranfa&tion 
may be publicly canvaffed hereafter, it is of 
the utmoft importance to my honour, without . 
which I can have no happinefs, that my con- 
du& in it fhall be fairly reprefented and cor- 
rectly underftood. When I made a tender of 
my fervices tohis Majefty’s Minifters, it was 
with a juit and natural expedtation that my 
offer would have been accepted in the way in 
which alone it could have been moft keneficial 
to my country, or creditable to myfelf; or, 
if that failed, that at leaft (in jufticc to me) 
the reafons for a refufal would have been dif- 
tingtly ftated, fo that the Nation might be 
fatisfied that nothing had been omitted on my 
part, and enabled to judge of the validity of 
the reafons afiigned for fuch refulal, In the 
firft inftance, I was referred to his Majefty’s 
will and pleafure, and now Lam informed by 
your letter, that before ‘* he had appointed » 
me to the command of the soth Light Dra- 
goons, he had caufed it to be fully explained 
to me what his fentiments were with refoeé 
to a Prince of Wales entering into the army.” 
It is impoffible, my dear Brother, that I 
should know al} that paffed between the King 
and you 3 but I perfectly recolle& the ftate- 
ment you made of the converfation you had 
had with his Majefty, and which ftriétly cor- 
retponds with that in your letter now before 
me but IL muit, at the fame time, recal to 
your 
