578 
your memory my po&tive denial, at that time, 
-of any conditien or. ftipulation having been 
made upon my firft coming into the army, 
ana I am in poffeffion of full and complete 
documents, which prove that no terms what- 
ever were then propofed, at leaft to me, 
whatever might have been the intention ; 
and the communications which I have found 
it neceffary fubfequently to make, have ever 
difclaimed the exittence of fuch a compromife 
at any period, as nothing could be more averfe 
to my nature, or more remote from my mind, 
As te the converfation you quote in 1796, 
when the King was pleafed to appoint me to 
fucceed Sir William Pitr, I have not the moft 
flight recollection of its having taken place 
between us. If your date is right, my dear 
Brother, you muft be miftaken in your exact 
terms, or at leaft in the conclufion you draw 
fromit ; for in the intimacy and familiarity 
of private converiation, it is not at all un- 
likely that 1 thould have remembered the 
communication you made me the year before; 
but that I fhould have acquiefced in, or re-~ 
ferred to a compromife which I never made, 
is utterly impoffible. 
Neither in his Majefty*s letter to me, nor 
in the correfpondence with Mr. Addington, (of 
which you may not be fully informed) is 
there one word, or the moft diftant allufion 
to the condition ftated in your letter: and 
even if I had accepted the command of a re- 
giment on fuch terms, my acquiefcence could 
only have relation to the ordinary fituation of 
the Country, and not to acafe fo completely 
out of ail contemplation at that time as the 
probable or projeéted invafion of this Kingdom, 
by a foreign force, fufficient to bring its fafety 
— queftion, When the King is pleafed to 
tell me, ** that fhould the enemy land, he 
thall think it his duty to fet an example in 
defence of the Country,” that is, to expofe 
the only life which, for the Public welfare, 
ought not to be hazarded. I refpeét and ad- 
mire the principles which dictate that refolu- 
tion, and, as my heart glows with the fame 
fentiments, I wifh to partake in the fame 
danger, that is, with dignity and effe&. 
Wherever his Majefty appears as King, he 
aéts and commands; you are Commander in 
Chief; others of my Family are high in mi- 
litary ftation; and even by the laft brevet, 
a confiderable number of junior officers are 
put over me. In all thefe arrangements the 
Prince of Wales alone, whofe intereft in the 
event yields to none but that of the King, is 
difregarded, omitted, his fervices reje&ted ; 
fo that, in faét, he has no poft or ftation 
whatfoever in a conteft on which the fate of 
Crownand the Kingdom may depend. 
T donot, my dear Brother, wonder that in 
the hurry of your prefent occupations, thefe 
confiderations fhould have been overlooked ; 
they are nowin your view, and I think, can- 
not fail to make adue impreffion. 
Asto the reft, with every degree of efteem 
pollible for your judgment of what is due toa 
Royal Correfpondence. | 
[Jan. 1. 
Soldier’s honour, I muft be the guardian of 
mine to the ytmoft of my power. I have, &c. 
(Signed) - IG. Pi 
His Roya! Highne/s the Duke of York. 
No IV. 
Horfe Guards, Oétober 14, 380%. 
My Dear Brother, 
I have this moment, upon my arrival in 
town, found your letter, and lofe no time in 
anfwering that part of it which, it appears to, 
me highly neceffary;, fhould be clearly under- 
ftood. ‘ Tae ae 
Indeed, my dear Brother, you muft gire 
me leave to repeat to you, that, upon the 
fulleft confideration, I perfeétly recalle& 
your having: yourfelf told me, at Carlton- 
houfe, in the year 1793, on the day on which 
you was informed of his Majefty’s having 
acquiefced in your requeft gf being appointed 
to the command of the roth Regiment of 
Light Dragoons, of which Sir William Pitt 
was then Colonel, the meffage and condition 
which was delivered to you from his Majetfty, 
and which his Majefty repeated to me in the 
year 1795, as mentioned in my letter of 
Thurfday laft, and T have the fulleft reafon to 
know that there are others to whom, at that 
time, you mentioned the fame circumftance ; 
nor have [ the leaft recolleétionof your having 
denied it to me, when I delivered to you the 
King’s anfwer, as I fhould certainly have 
felt it incumbent upon me to recal to your 
memory what you had teld me yourfelf in the 
year 1793. 
No converfation whatever paffed between 
us, as you juftly remark, in the year 1796, 
when Sir William Pitt was promoted to the 
King’s Dragoon Guards, which was done in 
confequence of what was arranged in 1703, 
upon your first appointment tothe roth Light 
Dragoons ; and £ conccive that your mention- 
ing in your letter my having ftated a conver 
fation to have pafied between us in 1798, 
muft have arifen from fome mifapprehenfion, 
as I do not find that year ever adverted to in 
my letter. ; 
T have thought it due to us both, my dear 
Brother, thus fully to reply to thofe parts of 
your letter in which you appear to have mif- 
taken mine; but, as I am totally unacquaint- 
ed with the correfpondence which has taken 
place upon this fubjeét, I muft decline entere 
ing any further into it. 
I remain ever, my dear Brother, 
With the greateft truth, 
Your moft affectionate Brother, 
(Signed) FREDERICK. 
No. V. ; 
Brighton, OGober 12, 1803. 
My Dear Brother, . , 
By my replying to your letter of the 6th 
inft. which contained no fort. of anfwer te 
mine of the 2d, we have fallen into a very 
frivolous altercation upon a topic which is 
quite foreign to the prefent purpofe. Indeed, 
the whole importance of it lies ina feeming™ 
CONT ae 
