regiment must form a part, would justly expect and receive the full credit of pre-arrangement and successful enterprize.

"A WEEK has now elapsed since the Prince of Wales transmitted to Mr. Addington a letter on a subject of the highest importance; though he cannot anticipate a refusal to so reasonable a demand, he must still express some surprize that a communication of such a nature should have remained so long unanswered.

"When the Prince of Wales desired to be placed in a situation which might enable him to shew to the people of England the example of zeal, fidelity, and devotion to his Sovereign, he naturally thought that he was only fulfilling his appropriate duty, as the first subject of the realm in which, as it has pleased Providence to cause him to have been born, so he is determined to maintain himself by all those honourable exertions which the exigencies of these critical times peculiarly demand. The motives of his conduct cannot be misconceived or misrepresented. He has, at a moment when every thing is at stake that is dear and sacred to him and to the nation, asked to be advanced in military rank, because he may have his birth-right to fight for, the throne of his Father to defend, the glory of the people of England to uphold, which is dearer to him than life, which has yet remained unsullied under the Princes of the House of Brunswick, and which he trusts will be transmitted pure and uncontaminated to the latest generations. Animated by such sentiments, he has naturally desired to be placed in a situation where he can act according to the feeling of his heart and the dictates of his conscience.

"In making the offer, in again repeating it, the Prince of Wales considers that he has only performed his duty to himself, to the state, to the King, to Europe, whose fate may be involved in the issue of this contest. If this tender of his services is rejected, he shall ever lament that all his efforts have been fruitless, and that he has been deprived of making those exertions which the circumstances of the empire, his own inclinations, and his early and long attention to military affairs, would have rendered so particularly grateful to himself, and he trusts not entirely useless to the public."

"Downing-street, July 27, 1803.

"UPON receiving the letter with which Mr. Addington was last week honoured by the Prince of Wales, he assured his Royal Highness that it should be immediately laid before the King: this was accordingly done, and the letter is still in his Majesty's possession. A communication was afterwards made to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in a mode and through a channel which Mr. Addington humbly

hoped his Royal Highness would approve. Mr. Addington however now finds it to be incumbent on him, in consequence of the expectation which has been expressed by his Royal Highness, to state, that his Majesty, on being informed of the sentiments and wishes of the Prince of Wales, applauded, in the strongest manner, the feelings by which his Royal Highness is actuated, but referred nevertheless to the answers which his Majesty had judged it necessary to return to similar representations—which, in obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness, had been laid before his Majesty upon former occasions."

"Carlton-House, July 28, 1803.

"THE Prince of Wales has received Mr. Addington's written communication of the last night. The Prince of Wales has only to observe, that he requires Mr. Addington to submit to his Majesty his last note, dated the 26th of this month."

"Downing-street, July 28, 1803, half past 11, P. M. "MR. ADDINGTON is just honoured with the commands of the Prince of Wales, and will not fail to lay his Royal Highness's letter, dated 26th of this month, before the King."

66 SIR,

"Downing-street, August 1.

"IN obedience to the commands of your Royal Highness, I laid before his Majesty the letter dated 26th July, with which your Royal Highness had honoured nie, and I have it in command from his Majesty to acquaint your Royal Highness, that the King had referred Mr. Addington to the order he had before given him; with the addition-that the King's opinion being fixed, he desired that no further mention should be made to him upon the subject.'

"I have the Honour to be, with, Sir, every sentiment of respect and deference,

"Your Royal Highness's

"Most obedient humble Servant,

(Signed)

"H. ADDINGTON."

66 SIR,

LETTER TO THE KING.

"A CORRESPONDENCE has taken place between Mr. Addington and myself, on a subject which deeply involves my honour and character. The answers which I have received from that gentleman; the communication which he has made to the House of Comnions, leave me no hope but in an appeal to the justice of your Majesty. I make that appeal with confidence, because I feel that you are my natural advocate, and with the sanguine hope that the ears of an affectionate Father may still be opened to the supplications of a dutiful Son.

"I ask to be allowed to display the best energies of my character; to shed the last drop of my blood in support of your Majesty's person, crown, and dignity; for this is not a war for empire, glory, or domi

nion, but for existence. In this contest, the lowest and humblest of your Majesty's subjects have been called on; it would, therefore, little become me, who am the first, and who stand at the very footstool of the throne, to remain a tame, an idle, and lifeless spectator, of the mischiefs which threaten us, unconscious of the dangers which surround us, and indifferent to the consequences which may follow. Hanover is lost, England is menaced with invasion, Ireland is in rebellion, Europe is at the foot of France. At such a moment, the Prince of Wales, yielding to none of your servants in zeal and devotion, to none of your subjects in duty, to none of your children in tenderness and affection, presumes to approach you, and again to repeat those offers which he has already made through your Majesty's Ministers. A feeling of honest ambition, a sense of what I owe to myself and to my Family, but, above all, the fear of sinking in the estimation of that gallant Army which may be the support of your Majesty's Crown, and my best hope hereafter, command me to persevere, and to assure your Majesty, with all humility and respect, that, conscious of the justice of my claim, no human power can ever induce me to relinquish it.

"Allow me to say, Sir, that I am bound to adopt this line of conduct by every motive dear to me as a man, and sacred to me as a Prince. Ought I not to come forward in a moment of unexampled difficulty and danger? Ought I not to share in the glory of victory, when I have every thing to lose by defeat? The highest places in your Majesty's service are filled by the younger branches of the Royal Family; to me alone no place is assigned. I am not thought worthy to be even the junior major-general of your army. If I could submit in silence to such indignities, I should, indeed, deserve such treatment, and prove, to the satisfaction of your enemies, and my own, that I am entirely incapable of those exertions, which my birth, and the circumstances of the times peculiarly call for. Standing so near the throne, when I am debased, the cause of royalty is wounded; I cannot sink in public opinion, without the participation of your Majesty in my degradation. Therefore, every motive of private feeling, and of public duty, induce me to implore your Majesty to review your decision, and to place me in that situation which the birth, the duties of my station, the example of my predecessors, and the expectations of the people of England, entitle me to claim.

"Should I be disappointed in the hope which I have formed; should this last appeal to the justice of my Sovereign, and the affection of my Father, fail of success, I shall lament in silent submission his determination; but Europe, the world, and posterity, must judge be

tween us.

"I have done my duty; my conscience acquits me; my reason tells me that I was perfectly justified in the request which I have made, because no reasonable arguments have ever been adduced in answer to my pretensions. The precedents in our history are in my favour; but if they were not, the times in which we live, and especially the exigencies of the present moment, require us to become an example to our posterity.

"No other cause of refusal has or can be assigned, except that it was the will of your Majesty. To that will and pleasure I bow with every

degree of humility and resignation; but I can never cease to complain of the severity which has been exercised against me, and of the injustice which I have suffered, till I cease to exist. I have the honour to subscribe myself,

"With all possible devotion,

"Your Majesty's

"THOUGH I applaud your zeal and your spirit, of which, I trust, no one can suppose any of my family wanting, yet, considering the repeated declarations I have made of my determination, on your former applications to the same purpose, I had flattered myself to have heard no farther on the subject. Should the implacable enemy so far succeed as to land, you will have an opportunity of shewing your zeal at the head of your regiment. It will be the duty of every man to stand forward on such an occasion; and I shall certainly think it mine to set an example in defence of every thing that is dear to me and to my people.

"SIR,

My dear Son,

"Your most affectionate Father,
(Signed)

FROM THE PRINCE TO THE KING.

"G. R."

Brighton, 22d Aug. 1803.

"I HAVE delayed thus long an answer to the letter which your Majesty did me the honour to write, from a wish to refer to a former correspondence which took place between us in the year 1798. Those letters were mislaid, and some days elapsed before I could discover them they have since been found. Allow me then, Sir, to recal to your recollection the expressions you were graciously pleased to use, and which I once before took the liberty of reminding you of, when I solicited foreign service, upon my first coming into the army. They were, Sir, that your Majesty did not then see the opportunity for it; but that if any thing was to arise at home, I ought to be first and foremost.' There cannot be a stronger expression in the English language, or one more consonant to the feelings which animate my heart. In this I agree most perfectly with your Majesty-I ought to be first and foremost.' It is the place which my birth assigns me, which Europe, which the English nation expect me to fill, and which the former assurances of your Majesty might naturally have led me to hope I should occupy. After such a declaration, I could hardly expect to be told, that my place was at the head of a regiment of dragoons.

"I understand from your Majesty, that it is your intention, Sir, in pursuance of that noble example which you have ever shewn during the course of your reign, to place yourself at the head of the people of England. My next brother, the Duke of York, commands the army; the younger branches of my family are either Generals or Lieutenant-Generals; and I, who am the Prince of Wales, am to remain a Colonel of Dragoons. There is something so humiliating in the contrast, that those who are at a distance would either doubt the reality, or suppose that to be my fault which is only my misfortune. Who could imagine that I, who am the oldest Colonel in the service, had asked for the rank of a General Officer in the army of the King my Father, and that it had been refused me!

"I am sorry, much more than sorry, to be obliged to break in upon your leisure, and to trespass thus a second time on the attention of your Majesty. But I have, Sir, an interest in my character more valuable to me than the throne, and dearer, far dearer to me than life. I am called upon by that interest to persevere, and I pledge myself never to desist till I receive that satisfaction which the justice of my claim leads me to expect. In these unhappy times, the world, Sir, examines the conduct of Princes with a jealous, a scrutinizing, a malignant eye. No man is more aware than I am of the existence of such a disposition, and no man is therefore more determined to place himself above all suspicion. In desiring to be placed in a forward situation, I have performed one duty to the people of England; and I must now perform another, and humbly supplicate your Majesty to assign those reasons which have induced you to refuse a request which appears to me and to the world so reasonable and so rational. I must again repeat my concern, that I am obliged to continue a correspondence which I fear is not so grateful to your Majesty as I could wish. I have examined my own heart-I am convinced of the justice of my cause-of the purity of my motives. Reason and honour forbid me to yield: where no reason is alledged I am justified in the conclusion that none can be given.

"In this candid exposition of the feelings which have agitated and depressed my wounded mind, I hope no expression has escaped me which can be construed to mean the slightest disrespect to your Majesty. I most solemnly disavow any such intention; but the circumstances of the times-the danger of invasion-the appeal which has been made to all your subjects, oblige me to recollect what I owe to mine own honour and to my own character, and to state to your Majesty with plainness, truth, and candour, but with all the submission of a subject, and the duty of an affectionate son, the injuries under which I labour, and which it is in the power of your Majesty alone at one moment to redress. It is with sentiments of the profoundest veneration and respect that I have the honour to subscribe myself your Majesty's most dutiful, most obedient Son and Subject,