h 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 B E flM3 IDD 
 
THE DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 PLAIN STATEMENT 
 
 OP 
 
 THE CONDUCT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE MINlSTRr 
 
 AMD 
 
 THE OPPOSITION, 
 
 TOWARDS 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 Quern accusant omnes, defendit nemo. 
 Hi acriter instant, — lUi non nimis 
 Nolunt 
 
 LONDON: 
 
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 PATERNOSTER ROW3 AND TO BB HAD OF 
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 1808. 
 
Wm STACK 
 
(SC '^< 
 
 PLAIN STATEMENT, 
 
 4'c. 4-6. 
 
 TT is an observation as ancient as civil 
 society itself, and the distinctive insti- 
 tutions to which that society has given 
 birth, that no characters are so obnoxious 
 to unjust reproach as those of the great ; 
 and that the pedestal upon which public 
 characters are raised into more conspicuous 
 view, renders them, at the same time, 
 more assailable objects of envy and malig- 
 nity. They must be clumsy marksmen in- 
 deed, who cannot hit an object at once so 
 large and so conspicuous. There is a te- 
 merity, moreover, so like courage, in the 
 very attempt, that the people are some- 
 times deceived into an admiration of the 
 Libeller, and pass over his malice, whilst 
 they regard his audacity with astonishment. 
 We seldom analyze our stronger sensations. 
 Heroism and audacity — the courage in a 
 
 B 
 
 246 
 
good cause, and boldness in a bad one — • 
 are not unfrequently confounded together, 
 and, for a moment at least, even a Libeller 
 may be considered as a public benefactor. 
 Who is there, in the present day, hears the 
 name of Wilkes, without the most extreme 
 contempt, not only of that wretched Indi- 
 vidual himself, but of the equally wretched 
 populace who could be made the tool of 
 his undignified faction ? Yet it is still within 
 the memory of many of us, when the name 
 of this base Libeller was in the mouth of 
 all, and Wilkes and Liberty became syno- 
 nimes. It was doubtless the same with 
 Cade : This fellow had his day, and was 
 the idol of the hour. The P — , the W— , 
 the Cobbets, and their more dignified em- 
 ployers behind the curtain, the last dregs 
 of retiring Jacobinism, the last and most 
 malignant lees of that poisonous- cup, 
 which the wrath of Heaven has poured 
 out upon offending nations — this faction 
 will likewise have its hour, and posterity 
 will likewise ultimately execute its justice 
 upon them 
 
 It is indeed chiefly to the unhappy spi- 
 
Tit of the times, that His Royal Highness 
 the Duke of York must impute that tor- 
 rent of calumny which ^is brought to bear 
 against him. We hve in times in which 
 the passions of men have been unhappily 
 moved, and what is perhaps more lament- 
 able, in which the objects of this excited 
 malignity are those in command. The 
 malignity is against Government, and re- 
 straint of whatever kind. Government, 
 however, has a strong hand, and can op- 
 pose the arguments of a Libeller by that 
 most effective weapon, the ultima ratio 
 of Kings and States. It is not so with an 
 individual. If Government, or what is the 
 same thing, the existing Administration, 
 for reasons best known to themselves, 
 choose to detach an individual from their 
 body, and to put him as it were out of the 
 covering protection of their society ; and 
 what is more, if their actions are such as 
 must be construed into an encouragement 
 of a public persecution againt the object 
 of their jealousy — is it a subject of surprize, 
 I say, if such an individual, pushed out of 
 the pale of Government protection, should 
 
 B 2 
 
. 1 
 
 become an object of attack to a popula|f 
 demagogue ? In every society, since the first 
 constitution of a community, there have 
 been, and there must be, a plentiful por- 
 tion of that spirit, which, impatient under 
 a civil inferiority that it fancies to be un- 
 just, avenges itself by an hatred of alllhose 
 w^hose station is more dignified. When any 
 such dignified individual is turned oi|t 
 amongst such a class of natural levellers,' 
 is it any reasonable subject of surprize, 
 that the whole pack should be upon him — 
 that he should be worried upon this side 
 and upon that ; that he should be made 
 the scape-goat upon whom the faction 
 should exhaust all the revenge and malig- 
 nity conceived against the fraternity ? 
 
 There is one thing, how^ever, which may 
 excite a very reasonable astonishment. It 
 is confessed by all, that the spirit of the 
 times is not in favour of even that mea- 
 sured obedience, that moderated respect 
 fto Government, which, even under a free 
 Constitution, is necessary to the very exist- 
 ^ ence of a community. Would it not 
 seem, therefore, to be a natural result of 
 
this state of things, that all the immediate 
 Members of a Government, all the more 
 distinguished individuals of an Administra- 
 tion, should feel a common interest, a 
 principle of prudence and sympathy, in 
 protecting each other ? — Should not the 
 attack of one be considered as the attacic 
 of all ? — When so many are combining 
 against all of them, should there be no de« 
 fensive union amongst themselves ? 
 
 An individual unacquainted with public 
 affairs would either refuse credit to such a 
 statement, as conveying in itself an absur- 
 dity which is its own refutation, or would 
 be astonished that the rules of public con- 
 duct are so precisely the reverse of the 
 maxims of private prudence. He would 
 suspect, and perhaps justly too, that the 
 state of things was bad indeed, when the 
 most effective Officer in the State, — he 
 who should at least be the most effective 
 Officer — is represented as one who is not 
 to be trusted with the execution of what 
 falls most immediately within his official 
 duties; and when the Ministers of the 
 Country neither repel this accusation, nor 
 

 
 act upon it. He will be inclined to de- 
 mand, — Whence is this temerity, and this 
 cowardice, — this audacious accusation, and 
 this reluctant execution of a sentence ta- 
 citly confessed to be just? Do Ministers 
 assent to the justice of the charge, or do 
 they consider it to be founded in malice r 
 If the accusation be just, why is it not 
 acted upon ? What kind of Ministers are 
 these, which will sacrifice the public service 
 to fear or favour ? On the other hand, if 
 the Ministers know it. to be unjust, why 
 are they silent ? Is there no Attorney Ge- 
 neral, or no Treasury Papers ? Is every 
 possible fund of defence exhausted t Has 
 Mr. Canning no wit, and my Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh no words ? 
 
 There is still another point of view, in 
 which the relative situation of His Royal 
 Highness is equally matter of surprize. — It 
 is the characteristic distinction of a free 
 Government to be divided into parties, and 
 the common liberty is supported by the 
 contest between them. As these parties 
 are necessarily opposed to each other, so 
 have they necessarily each their distinct ends 
 
and objects. The errors and faults of one, 
 whether acts of commission or of neglect, 
 are usually seized by the oth^r with suffi- 
 cient eagerness, as objects of their party 
 attack, and whatever peculiar li.ie of 
 policy is pursued by the one, is usually 
 adopted as the peculiar line of opix)sition 
 by the other. In this contest of contraries, 
 there are few individuals, and few opinions, 
 but what must necessarily have their chance 
 of a party and of its support. Whence 
 then has it happened, that His Royal High- 
 ness the Duke of York has never had even 
 the usual advantage in these party con- 
 flicts r — That he is neglected by one party, 
 and that he is passed over by another ; and 
 that even an opposition, delicate in nothing, 
 have never either adopted, or rejected him ? 
 Whence this neutrality on both sides ? In 
 what manner has Coriolanus so offended 
 both the Consuls and Senate, that he is cast 
 out naked to meet his fate amongst the 
 factious Tribunes ? These points are extra- 
 ordinary, and require explanation. A few 
 words, however, will be sufficient. It will 
 verify what will be considered as an extra- 
 
• 
 ordinary rule in a free Government, but 
 what must hereafter be adopted as an 
 cTxiom — 7^/iaf no one is secure of protection^ 
 unless he has ^associated himself to some party, 
 aifd that it is a breach of ministerial, or rather 
 of party -privilege, and as such offensive to all 
 parties, to stand neuter, and keep aloof from 
 such comtexions. 
 
 It is the object, therefore, of the follow- 
 ing observations, in son re degree to open 
 the eyes of the people upon this subject, — 
 to detail the origin and sources of that 
 illiberal clamour, which, to the astonish- 
 ment of all unprejudiced men, and to the 
 indignation of all justly-informed men, has 
 been excited and directed against the Duke 
 of York. It will hence be made manifest, 
 that it is not the public service, but private 
 malignity, or at least private jealousy, and 
 individual contests for honor and place, 
 which have indisposed a very powerful 
 party against His Royal Highness, and 
 withholding from him the natural and 
 necessary protection due to his rank and 
 station, have left him naked to the assaults 
 of his low-minded Libellers. Had His 
 
Royal Highness belonged to any party — 
 had he become even a princely cypher, he 
 would not have wanted allies in his time 
 of need. As it is, they expect to teach 
 him a lesson which may influence his future 
 conduct. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this Statement 
 either to flatter His Royal Highness, or to 
 bring any retaliating charge against his 
 avowed or secret assailants. Nothing, 
 therefore, shall be said but what is simply 
 necessary to the point in view. If there l^e 
 any thing more contemptible than anony- 
 mous slander, and the protection of Libel- 
 lers, it is the foedum crimen servitutis. His 
 Royal Highness is doubtless not without 
 his failings, but it is not one among the 
 number either to be pleased with flattery, 
 or to be insensible to unmerited reproach. 
 His Royal Highness cannot but feel, and 
 feel keenly, when he has been as undeser- 
 vedly attacked as ungenerously abandoned, 
 that he is left single between two parties, 
 neither of which consider themselves as 
 having any interest in his hdnor or repu- 
 tation. His Royal Highness cannot but 
 
jio 
 
 teel this, and he will be wanting to himself 
 if he too suddenly forgets it. It may be 
 great to forgive injuries, but it is certainly 
 prudent to remember what men are. 
 
 From his youth upwards, His Royal 
 Highness has passed through every stage of 
 his mihtary career. No one has yet ap- 
 peared so totally wanting in all truth, as to 
 question His Royal Highness' personal 
 courage.: Let it be granted then, that with 
 this acknowledged personal courage, added 
 to the common sense which we should 
 hope no one will deny him. His Royal 
 Highness has at least obtained the common 
 knowledge of his profession. Let us at 
 least allow him what is denied to, no one, 
 that he cannot have passed through such a 
 course of study, and under the best masters 
 of the age, without having acquired what 
 is almost necessarily acquired by every one 
 in a similar course. Grant that His Royal 
 Highness is not superior to other Generals, 
 why should he be inferior ? It is known to 
 every one who approaches him, that he is 
 not wanting in natural talents, in a solid 
 and just understanding, and in the art of 
 
11 
 
 observing, and availing himself of his obser- 
 vations. Let us put it, therefore, to the 
 candour of the Public, and of the Gentle- 
 men of the Army, if with such an under- 
 standing and such experience, such advan- 
 tages of rank, and with such good masters, 
 it is not a reasonable presumption, that 
 His Royal Highness has at least the com- 
 mon and sufficient knowledge of his mili- 
 tary profession ? Surely, it is not too much 
 to ask this concession. It is the misfortune, 
 however, of the Duke of York, to have 
 been placed in a peculiar situation — in a 
 situation which has necessarily exposed 
 him to the jealousy, the dislike, and the 
 apprehensions of those contending parties 
 which usually divide the country. It is the 
 misfortune, therefore, of His Royal High- 
 ness, that, as an object of jealousy to both 
 parties, he has a true friend in neither, and 
 amongst the low-minded of both has many 
 detractors. 
 
 There arc other causes, however, for this 
 
 treatment of His Royal Highness ; and it 
 
 is but justice to lay them open to the public. 
 
 A simple Statement will be amply sufficient. 
 
 C2 
 
12 
 
 The character of the accusation ri^ay be 
 collected from the motives of the accusers, 
 and the conduct of the defenders. The 
 public will be cautious how they receive, 
 with any credit, what carries upon its very 
 face such legible characters of an hostile 
 origin ; they will not, at least, confound 
 the charges with the sentence, and take 
 the accusation as the guilt. It has been 
 well observed by a very able Writer, that 
 every thing in England submits to party ; 
 that it was party that shot Byng, and made 
 £5erinaine Minister. We will not go so 
 farm this assertion; but they must know 
 little of our history who shall hesitate to 
 acknowledge, that party spirit and party 
 interests have occasionally much misled as 
 •—have hurried us into at least temporary 
 injustice, and unmerited persecution. 
 
 Since the days of William the Third, 
 there have existed in this kingdom two 
 avowed parties — an Opposition and a Mi- 
 nistry. As a defence from the overwhelm- 
 ing predominance of either, eVery succeed- 
 ing Monarch has deemed it necessary to 
 have a kind of domestic party — a kind of 
 
13 
 
 Closet and Family Council, whom he may 
 occasionally interpose between even his 
 Ministry and himself. The origin of this 
 party has been imputed to His Majesty^s 
 Father, or rather to his Mother, whilst 
 Dowager of Wales ; but the point of fact 
 is, that it existed in the reign of George 
 the First, and seems to have had no other 
 origin than in its manifest necessity. It 
 was not the creature of any design, or pre- 
 vious arrangement ; but, as a matter of 
 prudence, and necessary defensive policy, 
 grew insensibly out of the very nature of 
 things. 
 
 Now the immediate and almost neces- 
 sary members of this party, are certainly 
 the King's Family and Household. From 
 whom else, indeed, should a Family Coun- 
 cil — a Domestic Cabinet — be composed, but 
 of the Members of the Family — of those 
 who must necessarily have a community of 
 interest, and sympathy in feeling ? The 
 Heir Apparent alone, for very obvious rea- 
 sons, is seldom a Member of this Closet 
 Council : all the other Princes are almost 
 necessarily in the immediate confidence of 
 
14 
 
 their Sovereign and Father. Let it not, 
 therefore, be objected to the Duke of York, 
 that he has followed the course of things, 
 and, with the Queen, is at the head of the 
 *' King's Friends." Yet, '' hinc illcc la- 
 chrymce^ — Hence this avowed hostiUty on 
 one side, and this apathy, or rather secret 
 abetment, on the other. It is the interest 
 of all parties to assist to beat down what is 
 equally in the way of all. 
 
 If such be the situation of the Duke of 
 York with regard to the King's Party^ — a 
 situation which may be fairly presumed to 
 have had some effect against him — let us 
 see how he is situated with respect to the 
 present Opposition ; let us see if there be 
 not some circumstances, which seem to 
 point out another origin to the malice of 
 their persecution, than their zeal, or their 
 apprehensions for the public service. 
 
 Upon the death of Mr. Pitt, the late 
 Opposition were called to a short-lived 
 power and office. What was their con- 
 duct ? — Why, considering every thing at 
 their will, they rushed forward to seize every 
 thing with the most indecent avidity. The 
 
^J5 
 
 King was not to choose them ; but, in 
 consideration of the state of the kingdom, 
 they were to offer their services : they were 
 not even to enter upon office till they had 
 obtained a general carte blanche, — Never 
 was Monarch approached, in the manner in 
 which our venerable Sovereign was ap- 
 proached by these men. His Majesty felt 
 most acutely the loss of his former servant, 
 and, in the difficulties of the moment, 
 submitted in part to the demands of the 
 haughty faction. They were allowed to 
 fill up their own lists, and to follow up 
 their own general principles. 
 
 Having obtained so much, they were 
 resolved to attempt still more. They had 
 scarcely obtained their respective appoint- 
 ments to office, before they resolved yet 
 more directly to wound the feelings of His 
 Majesty. Every thing was to be undone, 
 of what had been done by their prede- 
 cessors. The Army was too conspicuous 
 an object to escape them : it was fertile in 
 patron age,r and had some immediate ap- 
 pointments which had attracted the wistful 
 gaze of the party^ and its dependents. 
 
16 
 
 It was accordingly represented to His 
 Majesty, that according to the principles 
 upon which his Ministry had humbly of- 
 fered their services, the pubUc expected of 
 them, and they conceived themselves ob- 
 liged, to introduce a perfect reform in all 
 the branches of Public Service — that the 
 Army wanted this reform, and that His 
 Majesty would be pleased to consent, that 
 a private Commission of Inqairy should 
 be appointed to sit daily at the Horse 
 Guards, and that the report of this Com- 
 mission should be presented to His Ma- 
 jesty's most gracious consideration. 
 
 To this, likewise. His Majesty con- 
 sented, and His Royal Highness did not 
 oppose it. The List of the Commissioners 
 was made by the Ministry, and for the 
 sake of appearances, the name of His 
 Royal Highness was not omitted. His 
 Royal Highness, however, did not deem it 
 decorous to sit on a Court of Inquiry into 
 his own conduct. The party, therefore, 
 and the Commission had their own Presi- 
 dent. It is not the purpose of the present 
 Notes to enter into any detail as to the de-. 
 
17 
 Cehcy with which they executed this inqui- 
 sition. Suffice it tp say, that after a party, 
 and therefore a rigorous inquiry, it was 
 not deemed prudent either to make or to 
 present a Report. Another resolution was 
 taken, and it was determined to attempt 
 indirectly, and as it were by intrigue, what 
 could not be hoped from other more direct 
 means. It must really be matter of asto- 
 nishment to all candid men, that indivi- 
 duals of an honourable name, and hitherto 
 reputed to be of corresponding sentiments, 
 should descend to such an unworthy cun- 
 ning. The characteristic of a great, and a 
 little mind, says Bacon, is, that the former 
 takes the strait road, whilst the latter 
 creeps warily but cowardly to its object by 
 a bye- path. 
 
 ^Two measures were accordingly adopted 
 by the party. The one was, to represent 
 to His Royal Highness, that the multiplicity 
 of business in the office of Commander in 
 Chief required that His Royal Highness 
 should have some assistance, arid that 
 therefore the Ministry had to propose to 
 His Royal Highness a division of hi§ 
 
Department; that the branches from which 
 His Royal Highness woiald be thus re- 
 lieved, might either be put in commis- 
 sion, assigned to certain Boards, or sup- 
 plied by individuals ; — that in the latter case 
 the Ministry would consider it as belong- 
 ing to them to recommend, but that the 
 nomination should be in His Royal High- 
 ness. That it was not amongst their 
 wishes to diminish any thing of the Patro- 
 nage of His Royal Highness, or to detract 
 any thing from the splendour of the Com- 
 mander in Chief. But that from regard 
 to His Royal Highness, and from a deep 
 consideration of the value of His Royal 
 Highness's time as Commander in Chief in 
 the higher offices of his Department, it 
 was the anxious wish of the Ministry to 
 relieve His Royal Highness from the subor- 
 dinate details. 
 
 A Negotiation was accordingly com- 
 menced with His Royal Highness upon 
 these grounds ; in the course of which His 
 Royal Highness learned what was intended 
 by these *' subordinate details, and minor 
 branches.'* His Royal Highness, inaword> 
 
19 
 
 learned, that these subordinate details, and 
 minor branches, were such as to reduce his 
 office to a mere cypher, and leave him as 
 Commander in Chief, in a situation about 
 as active, as necessary, and as important, as 
 the Master of the Horse. His Royal High- 
 ness very naturally felt himself offended at 
 being entrapped even into a Negotiation in 
 a business so adverse to his personal interests 
 and military character ; and the Negotia- 
 tion was accordingly broken off" with abrupt- 
 ness and mutual disgust. 
 
 Is it a reasonable subject of surprise, 
 therefore, that thus beset, thus assailed at 
 once by the open hostility of some, and the 
 insiduous friendship of others. His Royal 
 Highness deemed it necessary to throw him- 
 self upon the immediate protection of His 
 Royal Father, and to draw closer the bonds 
 between himself and what has been invidu- 
 ously called, the Family Council ? 
 
 The proposed measure of the Grenville 
 par^ was thus defeated by the hnmediate 
 interposition, not to say the command of 
 His Majesty. But this ambitious party, 
 though thus disappointed, were not de- 
 
 D 2 
 
20 
 
 feated ; they invented another rallying post, 
 and the words, *' Military Council, and 
 Military Board of Supervision," were dis- 
 tributed as the watch -word of the party. 
 The idea was quickly circulated through all 
 the Ministerial Papers, and the cry of a 
 party was magnified into the popular voice. 
 The people, it was said, demanded a Mili- 
 tary Council, and the Nation would be lost, 
 unless the inexperience of the Commander 
 in Chief was assisted by a Board of Mili- 
 tary Supervision. It was moreover insinu- 
 ated in one or more of the papers of the 
 party, that His Royal Highness was not 
 averse to the appointment of such a Board. 
 Every thing, in a word, was put in mo- 
 tion to work upon the popular mind ; and 
 to those who know of what inflammable 
 materials the People of England are made, 
 it is needless to insist that so many engines 
 were not inefficacious. 
 
 Nothing could be more unpleasant than 
 the situation of His Royal Highness during 
 all this turmoil of intrigue and faction. 
 His open assailants were of a class with 
 whom His Royal Highness could not, con-* 
 
21 
 
 sistent with his personal dignity, enter into 
 a contention. In what manner, for ex- 
 ample, could he oppose the attack of news- 
 papers, the assault of paragraphs, and the 
 storm of diurnal invective ? Every news- 
 paper was in the hands of the reigning 
 party, or if one of them boasted of its in- 
 dependence, it usually proved its claim by 
 a daring attack on His Royal Highness. 
 This abuse was usually introduced in terms 
 expressive of the '' candour apd reluct- 
 ance" of the writer. They were unwilling, 
 good creatures, to wound the feelings of 
 any individual, and particularly of one 
 in every respect so meritorious as His Royal 
 Highness ; but in common candour they 
 were compelled to acknowledge, that the 
 perilous situation of affairs called for unu- 
 sual vigour in ' the Military Department, 
 and that His Royal Highness would be 
 much relieved by the appointment of a Mi- 
 litary Council. The similarity of all these 
 paragraphs, and certain words which were 
 common to all, seemed to bespeak their 
 common origin, and the public hearing the 
 same thing said on all sides, and by all par- 
 
2^ 
 
 ties, began to conclude that there was some-' 
 thing in it; and the press, in pamphlets 
 and reviews, echoed back the clamour of 
 the daily journals. 
 
 To this clamour, indeed, it was inciden- 
 tally urged by the more respectable writers, 
 that a Military Council had been the ruin 
 of the Austrian Monarchy ; that such a 
 Council must necessarily either follow the 
 person of the Commander in Chief, or re- 
 main stationary at home. That if attached 
 to the Commander in Chief, it established 
 a military Imperium in Imperio^ and must so 
 far be pernicious, as it took from the sim- 
 plicity and absoluteness of military com- 
 mand. That if it were to remain at home, 
 it must be utterly useless when the armies 
 were in the field. That it would be impos- 
 sible to determine at home on the motions 
 of armies abroad. That the Board of Ad- 
 miralty for Naval Service was not a case in 
 point : that the Naval Service was neces- 
 sarily more uniform and simple : that the 
 sea was a plane surface : that the Board of 
 Admiralty was a board of correspondence 
 rather than of military direction. 
 
23 
 
 These arguments had no weight, not in* 
 deed because they were deficient in reason, 
 but because the MiUtary Council itself had 
 no existence but as an instrument of faction* 
 Those who were loudest in demanding it, 
 had it least in their contemplation- There 
 was not one of the party so deluded, as to 
 wish it reduced into effect. It was a good 
 catch-word for the people, and for the shal- 
 low-brained editors and writers of the daily 
 papers. 
 
 These incessant attacks could not but 
 very seriously affect His Royal Highness, 
 and after having maintained a dignified re* 
 serve as long as human patience could sup- 
 port it, he at length found it necessary to 
 demand an Inquiry into his conduct. 
 
 Nothing could be so ridiculous as the af- 
 fected astonishment of the Ministry upK)n 
 this demand. Who has presumed to attack 
 the interest or the reputation of your Royal 
 Highness ? There are laws in the country 
 to which your Royal Highness may appeal. 
 Why should there be a formal inquiry where 
 there is no formal charge ? Why should 
 the ignorance or malignity of the daily pa- 
 
24 
 
 pers be raised into the consequence and dig- 
 nity of having called forth an official in- 
 quiry ? If any thing has been said or writ- 
 ten against your Royal Highness, of which 
 all His Majesty's Ministers must solemnly 
 disavow even any knowledge, the Attorney 
 General should be ordered forthwith to 
 commence a prosecution ; and if your Royal 
 Highness be unwilling personally to give 
 your instructions to that Officer of the 
 Crown, they may be given to the Treasury, 
 by your Royal Highness's Secretary. But 
 His Majesty's Ministers would think them- 
 selves deficient in a due sense of what they 
 owed to their own dignity as His Majesty's 
 Councillors, if they adopted a popular ru-. 
 mour as sufficient grounds for an official 
 inquiry. 
 
 In other repeated applications of the 
 same nature. His Royal Highness could 
 procure only similar answers — the same 
 mouth-honor, and the same insulting hy- 
 pocrisy. And if any thing could add to 
 the indignation which such treatment must 
 inspire in a Princely mind, it was the ex- 
 traordinary circumstance, that during ^^^ 
 
25 
 
 very time in which they were thus perse- 
 cuting His Royal Highness, their personal 
 intercourse, and ministerial correspondence 
 with him, was studiously most intimate, 
 friendly, and conceived in terms of the 
 most extreme confidence and harmony. 
 
 In this manner, therefore, the Inquiry 
 went oiF, and the Military Council having 
 done its part, another weapon was put into 
 the hands of the lower creatures of the 
 faction. It was now hinted by some of the 
 party writers, that the sale of Commissions 
 produced an immense sum of money, and 
 which money, in the extreme necessity of 
 the public, might as well be brought into 
 the Account of the Public Service. That it 
 was no part of the Constitution, or even of 
 the former practice of any Administration, 
 that the sale of Commissions should be the 
 perquisite of the Commander in Chief — 
 that it was strictly public money, and as 
 such, should be brought into strict account. 
 To this was added a multitude of indi- 
 rect, but intelligible allusions to the Wi- 
 dows* Fund, Allowances, Nominal Officers 
 on Perpetual Furlough, &c. &c. All tliese 
 
26 
 
 were daily or weekly retailed by that pes- 
 tiferous gang of libellers, and more par- 
 ticularly by Cobbet. 
 
 In this manner, in this urgency for a 
 direct inquiry on one side, and this refusal 
 to grant it on the other, passed away the 
 whole period of the late Administration, 
 until some time about the conclusion, when 
 it was deemed necessary, from party expe- 
 diency, and from motives which require no 
 explanation, to make certain proposals to 
 His Royal Highness. To these proposals 
 His Royal Highness may be presumed to 
 have answered, that it was the settled 
 maxim of his life to belong to no party, 
 but to consider himself as the servant and 
 subject of the King ; — that he moreover 
 did not agree in opinion with His Majesty's 
 Ministers upon the points in agitation ; but 
 did not deem it necessary to explain him- 
 self more fully. That with respect to any 
 opposition against him. His Royal High- 
 ness was at a loss to understand what 
 could be intended by it, as His Majesty's 
 Ministers, in all His Royal Highness's de- 
 mands for inquiry, had . repeatedly dis- 
 
n 
 
 avowed their knowledge of any such 
 personal hostility. That under all circum- 
 stances. His Royal Highness saw no suffi- 
 cient reason for departing from the settled 
 maxim of all his former life, — to consider 
 himself as a Member of the Royal Family, 
 and the Servant of his Sovereign alone. 
 That, least of all, therefore, could His 
 Royal Highness have any will or opinion 
 in contradiction to that of his father. 
 
 Within a few days after this latter Nego- 
 tiation, the Grenville and Fox party had 
 ceased to be Ministers, and His Majesty 
 had summoned others to his Council. 
 
 It may be collected from this Statement, 
 that neither in the commencement, nor in 
 the conclusion of the Grenville Admini- 
 stration, could this party be considered as 
 friendly to His Royal Highness. This 
 Statement, moreover, may possibly account 
 for one part at least of the general hostility 
 against His Royal Highness. 
 
 It is not the intention of this Statement 
 to have any thing to say to Party — Tros 
 Tyriusve mihi. But whatever may be the 
 other merits of the Grenville party, they 
 
 E 2 
 
^8 
 
 will never be characterized for their humi- 
 lity or moderation. Earl Grey may be a 
 man of business, but he is not a direct 
 man; — not a candid man, not an high- 
 minded man ; — his pride is self-sufficiency, 
 and even his honor is without delicacy ; — 
 he is not aware of the falsehood of dissimu- 
 lation, nor of the meanness of hypocrisy. 
 Earl Moira is a worthy man, but is cer- 
 tainly not a vigorous man ; he wants 
 nothing, indeed, towards a manly con- 
 stanc) , but a more solid judgment ; — he will 
 do nothing wrong, but he is easily per*- 
 ^padedthat everything is right.— If an easy 
 temper, gentlemanly manners, and correct 
 intentions, be sufficient to constitute a va- 
 luable public character, Lord Moira has 
 most assuredly these qualities. But if Phi- 
 dia;s had reason, when he lamented that he 
 could not give his statues life, or if there 
 be any meaning in the fable in which the 
 Fox complains that his masque wants 
 brains — something is yet wanting in Earl 
 Moira. As to Mr. Windham, he is a plea:- 
 sant man, a very pleasant man ; one who 
 acts as he speaks, by staits and surprizes-^ 
 
20 
 
 without constancy either in his friendship 
 or his enmity, and therefore without ef- 
 fect. 
 
 Such is the situation of His Royal High- 
 ness with respect to a party all-powerful 
 whilst in power, and who have carried 
 with them into Opposition, all the jealou- 
 sies conceived whilst in place. They arc 
 pleased, moreover, to consider His Royal 
 Highness as having had a share in their 
 dismissal, as having concurred with the 
 Domestic Party in indisposing their Sove- 
 reign against them. If His Royal High- 
 ness had so acted, the Grenville party 
 could not have justly complained. By 
 what moral compulsion was His Royal 
 Highness obliged to continue in amity with 
 those, whose whole conduct, if not their 
 professions, was in direct hostility to him, 
 and who by their instruments, if not by their 
 own hands, were attacking him even in 
 his professional reputation ? — Did any ex- 
 ample amongst themselves warrant them 
 in the expectation of such patience under 
 real injuries ? — Did Earl St. Vincent pa- 
 tiently succumb under his Libellers ? — Was 
 
J" 
 \ 
 
 30 
 
 Earl Grey in the habit of such exemplary 
 passiveness ? The point of fact, however, 
 is, that His Royal Highness never for a 
 moment forgot his early-avowed maxim, 
 — to interfere with no Party. 
 
 The late Ministry were dismissed solely 
 because they personally offended, and con- 
 tradicted in a point of conscience. His 
 Majesty. His Majesty had no Council but 
 his own mind. He had taken his resolu- 
 tion when he summoned the attendance of 
 the Duke of York. He conceived himself 
 as having been deceived by Earl Grey ; he 
 accordingly declined seeing that Nobleman. 
 The Duke of York merely obeyed the com-: 
 mands of his Father, when he signified by 
 Letter His Majesty's Pleasure that Lord 
 Howick should not come to Windsor. 
 The King had not even seen the Duke of 
 York when he turned his back upon the 
 Minister, who, knowing the resolution of 
 His Majesty upon Conscience, * * * * ^- *, 
 But it is not the purpose of these pages to 
 enter into any thing which may have the 
 appearance of Party — Only let it not be 
 urged in vindication of the bitter persecu- 
 
31 
 
 tion of His Royal Highness by the Ex- 
 Administration, that His Royal Highness 
 had any thing to say to their disgrace. For 
 their dismissal they have only to blame 
 themselves. They fell by their own sword. 
 There are some of the members amongst 
 the late Ministry, from whom His Royal 
 Highness expected a very different system 
 of conduct than what, to his equal regret 
 and astonishment, he has discovered to have 
 proceeded from them. When His Royal 
 Highness compares the professions of those 
 to whom we allude with their actions, hq 
 knows not how to reconcile such a wide 
 deviation to the honorable characters of 
 the parties. He can see as little reason in 
 their enmity as in their professions. His 
 Royal Highness rqust confess, indeed, that 
 he has been deceived, and that he never ex- 
 pected to find those amongst his enemies, 
 with whom, whilst acting in the same gene- 
 ral Administration, he was in the habits of 
 familiar intercourse, and of the daily and 
 almost hourly interchange of official kind- 
 ness and favors. His Royal Highness is 
 unconscious of having so Oxiended Mr. 
 
Windham, as to justify the very bitter 
 attacks of Cobbet. His Royal Highness, 
 however, still hopes, and indeed believes, 
 that the attacks upon him by this Libel- 
 ler, cannot have the approbation of Mr. 
 Windham ; but it is certainly in the power 
 of Mr. Windham to repress the insolence 
 of this demagogue. 
 
 As to Earl Moira, is there no other way 
 to accomplish the object of his ambition 
 but by tacitly at least concurring in what 
 he must know to be a party persecution ? 
 Does it escape his Lordship, that he is but 
 an instrument in the hands of artful men, 
 who use his name only to advance their 
 own immediate purpose? Has his Lord- 
 ship forgotten, that during the ministry of 
 his associates, these very men conceived a 
 similar ill-blooded jealousy against himself, 
 and took offence at his intimate intercourse 
 with the Prince of Wales ? There may be 
 means of procuring a Command, without 
 seeking it at the expence of the Com- 
 mander in Chief. 
 
 With respect to the Ministry, His Royal 
 Highness is about as favourably situated as 
 
the Editors of the Daily Papers thus write, 
 unless they were persuaded that they were 
 advocating a cause generally pleasing to 
 their patrons ? As to a legal remedy for 
 this torrent of libel and invective, though 
 His Royal Highness is persuaded that a 
 Jury of his countrymen would visit his 
 Libellers with merited punishment, he can- 
 not persuade himself to introduce a prac- 
 tice which he has never approved. There 
 have been perhaps already too many Go- 
 vernment prosecutions, and a precedent 
 may thus be constituted, which, much to 
 the injury of the free press, may be here- 
 after acted upon. Add to this, that there 
 may be innumerable allusions, innuendoes, 
 and even assertions, which may have sub- 
 stance enough to wound, '<\nd that most 
 deeply, but are not palpable enough for 
 the visitation of the Law. The Libellers of 
 His Royal Highness have been too lono^ 
 practised in their school, to commit them- 
 selves to the hands of a Jury. Let any 
 man of honest feeling read some of the 
 cold-blooded articles which have, lately 
 appeared in many.x)f the Daily Papers, 
 
42 
 
 and then answer, if his indignation be not 
 moved by their savage mahgnity — Yet are 
 these hbels conceived in terms so studiously 
 picked and culled as to elude the just 
 vengeance of the Law. 
 ' How many subjects, moreover, are there, 
 which, however grossly offensive to all 
 honorable feeling, cannot be produced to 
 the publicity of a legal trial. Let any man 
 put it to his own mind — how many slan- 
 derous reports are daily in circulation to 
 the ruin of the peace and character of their 
 unhappy object, but for which the sufferer 
 is yet unwilling to make his appeals to the 
 laws of his country. There is * a necessary 
 and indiscriminating publicity in law, from 
 which a mind of any delicacy cannot but 
 avert. His Royal Highness has indeed 
 suffered much, but he will suffer still more, 
 before he can persuade himself to call on, 
 the laws of his country. 
 ► Why is not His Royal Highness granted 
 the inquiry which he solicits ? This inquiry 
 is still as strangely refused a^ it is anxiously 
 desired. It may be demanded, perhaps, 
 why does not His Royal Highness insist 
 
43 
 
 upon it. The answer is at hand, and is in- 
 telligible to all. His Royal Highness has 
 naturally no wish to have the Ministry in 
 direct opposition to him. He solicits the 
 inquiry, but he will not compel it. If 
 there be any thing to investigate, let it be 
 investigated. 
 
 His Royal Highness would have better 
 supported these attacks, malignant as they 
 have been, if they had assumed any shape 
 in which he could have met them. But 
 not a distinct charge is brought forward. 
 Every thing is shrouded in generality. It 
 is in vain to defend where there is no point 
 of attack. The Libellers of His Royal 
 Highness can produce neither fact nor evi- 
 dence. They are evidently only the instru- 
 ments of a Party. They have only the 
 assumed zeal of advocates ; many of them 
 are even w^ell- wishers to His Royal High- 
 ness, and few, or, none of them, have any 
 personal enmity against him. But His 
 Royal Highness has the misfortune to have 
 been th^ topic of the day, — they are com- 
 pelled, therefore, to say something of him, 
 and they consider it as their duty to render 
 
 G 2 
 
44 . 
 
 that something as palatable as possible to 
 their patrons. 
 
 Againbt such accusers as these, it would 
 be almost an indelicacy to enter into a la- 
 boured Defence of His Royal Highness's 
 professional character. Let them produce, 
 we say, a distinct charge, and they shall 
 have a distinct answer, but whilst they only 
 beat about the bush, — whilst they are no 
 sooner met upon one ground, than they 
 retreat to another, in what manner is their 
 desultory m'alice to be brought within tlae 
 pale of an argumentative defence ? 
 
 It is from these causes that His Royal 
 Highness firids it necessary to demand that 
 the Ministry shall at length take some open 
 and decided part in the warfare against 
 him, and that himself, his friends, and his 
 enemies, shall have the common justice of 
 a fair inquiry. If there has been any mal- 
 administration in the Duke of York's de- 
 partment, let a Commission of Inquiry be 
 appointed, and the allegations examined 
 with the forms and substance of natural 
 justice ; — liis Royal Highness may then 
 put in his memorial of defence — he will 
 
45 
 
 know how to plead w^hen his accusers can 
 be brought to join issue. 
 
 In the mean time, it is surely not too 
 much to require the two contending parties 
 of the kingdom, the Ministry and the Op- 
 position, most distinctly to disavow the 
 existing system of persecution against His 
 Royal Highness's person and reputation. 
 Under such a disavowal, this disgraceful 
 system will necessarily fall to the ground- 
 If the offensive matter be not immediately 
 dictated or suggested by Party, it is at least 
 fostered and kept in existence under the 
 presumption of the approbation of the re- 
 spective Leaders ; — let the Ministry and the 
 Opposition disavow it, and the Duke of York 
 will have no farther cause of complaint* 
 
 With respect to the Earl of Moira, wc 
 must again recommend to him a new sys* 
 tem of conduct, more w^orthy of the cha- 
 racteristic honour of a Nobleman ever re- 
 puted the most honourable of his rank. It 
 is an injustice to his real worth, to allow 
 himself to become the instrument of any 
 faction whatever. It is in direct contra- 
 
-46 
 
 diction to his natural and known candour, 
 to act in a system which is necessarily indi- 
 rect, and the necessary means to the suc- 
 cess of which are cunning, and privy-plot- 
 ting. The reputation of the Earl of Moira 
 wants not the aid of hired writers — Pro- 
 fessional Command is always within his 
 reach. 
 
 As to Earl Grey, we shall take our leave 
 of him by briefly reminding him, that 
 Party differences should not be resented 
 with personal animosity, and that an harsh 
 temper is in no respect necessary to a pub- 
 lic character. Earl Grey's talents of busi- 
 ness are respectable — why does he diminish 
 any of their due eff^ect by a pompous in- 
 anity ? With more corpplacency of temper, 
 and less s^^lf-sufficiency, Earl Grey may be 
 a welcome associate to any future Admi- 
 nistration. Even just resentments should 
 not be eternal, and still less, those which 
 may have originated in misconception. 
 Let Earl Grey allow to others what he has 
 occasionally so liberally allowed to him- 
 self. Supposing certain affairs to have 
 
47 
 
 been as represented, with what reason 
 could Earl Grey complain ? By what ob- 
 ligation was His Royal Highness to return 
 indifference with the offices of friendship ? 
 —His Royal Highness was at no time a 
 Member of the Grenville Ministry. 
 
 His Royal Highness, we believe, had 
 flattered himself, that the seeming atten- 
 tions of Mr. Canning, and his voluntary 
 professions in an affair of inconsiderable 
 importance, were not totally without mean- 
 ing. Mr. Canning is possessed of a gen- 
 tlemanly mind, a just and glowing genius ; 
 and, as His Royal Highness had reason .to 
 believe, of a pride above disguise, and with 
 an high disdain of dissimulation. Whence in 
 his recent conduct, or rather in his recent 
 apathy, has Mr. Canning rendered doubt- 
 ful his sentiments and disposition towards 
 His Royal Highness ? Why has he given 
 such ready and credulous ear to rumours 
 intended only to divide those whom the 
 public service and the common personal 
 interest should keep together ? Let it be 
 granted, that an emulation of honour, a 
 contest for influence, may exist in the 
 
Cabinet, — does it thence necessarily follow, 
 that His Royal Highness should be com- 
 pelled to take part either with the one or 
 the other ? His Royal Highness is not dis- 
 posed, we presume, to deny what he owes 
 of gratitude and personal friendship to 
 
 Lord ; but neither on this, nor on any 
 
 other occasion, has His Royal Highness 
 found it necessary to depart from the set- 
 tled maxim of his life, — not to intermeddle 
 with Parties, — to consider the existing Ad- 
 ministration as a kind of domestic esta- 
 bUshment, a species of family arrange- 
 ment, belonging peculiarly to His Majesty, 
 and as such, sacred from all private inter • 
 position. 
 
 If Mr. Canning or any of the Ministry, 
 will but take the trouble to recall the past 
 to their memories, they will need no assu- 
 rances of His Royal Highness, that he has 
 a high scorn of that intrigue and counter- 
 action of which he has been so unjustly 
 accused. His Royal Highness, moreover, 
 can have no conceivable motive for such a 
 sys'cm of conduct — he does not lack pro- 
 motion — *' he has the King's Voice for 
 
33 
 
 with the Opposition. The enmity of the 
 one may be as easily accounted for on the 
 ordinary passions of mankind as the other. 
 His Royal Highness, however, does not 
 complain that the existing Administration 
 are not friendly to him. Friendship is not 
 a thing of right on one side or of obligation 
 on the other. He never sought the friend- 
 ship of 'Ministers, and therefore has no 
 complaint that he does not possess it. 
 There is, however, or at least there should 
 be, a middle term between friendship and 
 enmity. His Royal Highness, therefore, 
 can see no justifying cause for the conduct 
 of Administration. 
 
 When His Majesty had resolved to con- 
 stitute-^ a new Administration, His Royal 
 Highness had it in Command from the 
 King to inform the Duke of Portland of 
 His Majesty's intentions. His Royal High- 
 ness executed His Majesty's Commands in 
 person. He repeated only the words of 
 the King, and distinctly informed the Duke 
 of Portland, that he was to consider His 
 Royal Highness in no other point of view 
 than as the messenger bearing certain 
 
words of His Majesty ;- — that he had no list^ 
 and no authority to designate any indivi- 
 dual whatever. In a conversation which 
 followed, His Royal Highness distinctly 
 gave his Grace to understand, that he 
 wished to have no concern whatever with 
 toy Pa^rt}', farther than to act sincerely 
 And cordially with any men whom His 
 Majesty might call to his confidence. 
 
 When the Ministry was formed, it was 
 ijfltimated to His Royal Highness by the 
 Duke, that his recommendation, in a cer* 
 tarn appointment, would be attended to; 
 trpon which His Royal Highness again re- 
 plied, that he had merely executed the 
 tvishes of the King; — rthat he wished to be 
 considered as forming no part of any Ad- 
 mmi^tfation whatever ; and that if any diffi- 
 ttilty* occurred as to a suitable person for 
 the appointment in question. His Grace 
 would do well to consult witli Lord 
 Hawkesbury, who had the King's Com- 
 mands in detail- 
 Such was the share, and such the only 
 share, which His Royal Highness had in 
 *the for matioa of the existing Administra- 
 
S5 
 
 tron. It may be collected from these par-t 
 ticulars, that on this, as on every other 
 occasion. His Royal Highness never de* 
 parted a moment from his se^tled resolution, 
 never to become a component part of any 
 Ministry. 
 
 Some time after the formation of the Ca- 
 binet, His Royal Highness had an appointed 
 conference with one of the Members of Ad- 
 ministration, in the course of which, a sub- 
 ject of much interest to His Royal High-* 
 ness was introduced. To this His Royal 
 Highness ^gain replied, that it was in the 
 power of any Member of either House to 
 bring it forward ; that he wished not to in* 
 flaence either the one way or the other. 
 That the papers should be ready when called 
 for. That he certainly did not wish the Mi^ 
 nistry to take any part against him. That as 
 the subject itself would be brought forward 
 as a party question, if brought forward at 
 all, the Ministry might, perhaps, deem it 
 their duty to take some share in the debate. 
 Through all these transactions, His Royal 
 'Highness was at a loss to discover any thing 
 which could reasonably indispose th.e Mi- 
 F 2 
 
56 
 
 nistry against him. The Administration, 
 indeed, had endeavoured in vain to annex 
 His Royal Highness, by a distinct pledge, 
 to their own immediate party. But His 
 Royal Highness had no suspicion, that by 
 adhering to the uniform maxim of his life, 
 he mast necessarily give oiTence to any party 
 whatever. His Royal Highness, moreover, 
 never hesitat'ed to avow, that he would al- 
 ways persevere in that line of acting which 
 he should know to be conformable to the 
 sentiments of His Majesty. 
 
 It IS from this per od, however, that His 
 Royal •Highness is compelled to date the 
 oririn of the Ministerial Alienation. The 
 Ministry seem resolved to compel everyone 
 to take a party — even His Majesty's Sons 
 must fall within the ranks. 
 
 His Royal Highness, we will presume to 
 say, is perfectly unconscious of having given 
 any personal offence to Mr. Canning, or any 
 of the Ministers ; yet if any judgment may 
 be formed from the conduct of these Gen- 
 tlemen, they seem to h-.ve entertained no 
 inconsiderable personal animosity against 
 His Royal Highness. Party-feeling seldom 
 
37 
 
 proceeds so far as the unwearied persecu- 
 tion of individual enmity. There have, 
 indeed, been instances, in which the whole 
 weight of a party has been brought to bear 
 against an individual; but in these cases 
 some reasonable cause might be assigned 
 for such excess of bitterness. But in what 
 has His Royal Highness so offended all, 
 that he is not onty deserted by all, but per- 
 secuted by all ? Surely there must be some 
 cause beyond what appears. 
 
 With respect to Lord Castlereagh, we be- 
 lieve that His Royal Highness has no cause 
 of complaint ; on the other hand, that he 
 owes him much on the part of friendship ; 
 a friendship more welcome, as it was unos- 
 tentatiously exerted. We are persuaded that 
 His Royal Highness feels a gratitude suit- 
 able to the occasion. His Royal Highness 
 is not wanting in sensibility either for fa- 
 vours or injuries. 
 
 ToLordHawkesbury, likewise, His Royal 
 Highness owes much ; and had it not been 
 for the protection of this Nobleman — for 
 protection it must be called — and of his fa- 
 ther, the Earl of Liverpool, it is impos- 
 
8S 
 
 sible to say to what extent the faction 
 against His Royal Highness might have 
 proceeded. Yet upon Lord Hawkesbury^ 
 and upon his father. Lord Liverpool, His 
 Royal Highness had no other claims than 
 tpon the Ministry in common ; for Lord 
 Ha.vkesbury and I^ord Liverpool owe His 
 Royal Highness nothing but justice and fair 
 dealing. But this is in fact all that the 
 Duke of York w^ants. Let him be attacked 
 fairly, and with honourable weapons, and 
 from honourable hands, and His Royal 
 Highness has nothing to apprehend. He 
 will then meet the attack with a suitable 
 defence. 
 
 It may be urged, indeed, in reply to all 
 that has been said above, that the attacks 
 pomplained of, have not been made with 
 the knowledge, and still less with the con- 
 sent or concurrence of His Majesty's Minis- 
 ters: that they are all of them too ho- 
 pourable men to concur in such a system of 
 anonymous attack: that such a system, 
 moreover, could answer no conceivable 
 purpose: that the Ministry ^are too strong 
 in public opinion and confidenccj^ to require 
 
39 
 
 the assistance of such unworthy arts. In a 
 word, that such a persecution, and so in- 
 directly put into operation, can have no 
 purpose, and therefore that it is a reason^ 
 able inference that it has no existence. 
 
 To this it must be answered, that when 
 tlis Royal Highness made similar represcn-^ 
 tations, under the late Ministry, the answer 
 was uniformly, that His Majesty's Minis* 
 ters were totally ignorant of the very existf 
 ence of the facts alleged ; that the Law was 
 open to His Royal HighncbS, and that the 
 Attorney General might be instructed to 
 prosecute ; that they had no influence or au- 
 thority over the free press ; and that they 
 advised His Royal Highness to hold all such 
 libellous accusation in the contempt which 
 it merited. 
 
 k is notorious, however, notv/ithstandr 
 ing all this disavowal, that the free press, 
 as it is called, and as it should be, is 
 almost equally divided between the two 
 leading Parties in the country, and that 
 the Ministers and the Opposition have 
 the same influence, not to say authority, 
 ^verthem, as if they were the-actual Edi- 
 
40 
 
 tors. Has any instance ever occurred, in 
 which a billet from Downing Street has 
 been refused admission, and if required, 
 an ample confirmatory comment, through 
 all the Treasury Papers ? And will any, 
 either of the Ministry or the Opposition, 
 declare, upon their honour as Gentlemen, 
 that they have no authority or weight with 
 the Public Papers ? Whence does it hap- 
 pen, that the honour of parties is not the 
 same with that of individuals, and that a 
 party will assert conjunctively, what every 
 individual of that party knows to be false ? 
 Why is there not the same point of honour 
 with a party as with an individual ? 
 
 The indecent language in the Daily Pa- 
 pers, is certainly not from the mouth of 
 the Ministers. It is impossible that men 
 of honourable station should descend to 
 such terms, and to such anonymous acri- 
 mony. We are persuaded that His Royal 
 Highness most fully acquits His Majesty's 
 Ministers of any immediate participation 
 in such libels. But the encouragement, the 
 countenance, the impunity of these Libellers, 
 is the efficient cause of the whole. Would 
 
49 
 
 what he is"— He h'as the King's approba- 
 tion for his faithful discharge of his duties. 
 How many occasions have of late years 
 fallen out, in which His Royal Highness, 
 if he had been so disposed, might have 
 taken an active and a commanding part in 
 some or other of the successive Parties and 
 Administrations. Will it be denied, that 
 His Royal Highness was courted to conde- 
 scend to this system? Will it be denied, 
 that on every such occasion he has invari- 
 ably returned the same answer — that he 
 would not become a component member 
 of any Administration, for that he would 
 not put himself into a state of circum- 
 stances, in which it might be eventually 
 necessary to act against the will of his 
 Father. 
 
 With such opinions, so freely avowed, 
 and so notoriously acted upon, whence can 
 originate the absurd suspicion said to be so 
 current amongst His Majesty's Ministers, 
 that His Royal Highness had any share ia 
 the friendly emulation of the two Members 
 of the Cabinet, whose inconsiderable differ- 
 ences, much to His Royal Highnesses satis- 
 
 H 
 
so 
 
 faction, have been of late so happily coni- 
 posed. His Royal Highness^ we believe, 
 was not even asked to take any part in the 
 contest, and least of all, to take that unfair 
 part, which is inferred in the language of 
 the vague rumour. The Noble Person. in 
 question would scorn to gain his purpose-, 
 if purpose he had, by. such arts — his com- 
 Tnanding abilities — his habits, and know- 
 ledge of business, distinguish him suffi- 
 •^ciently eminently. If there be any one who 
 Vould most passionately scorn the indirect 
 aid of the alleged intrigue, and w^ho cer- 
 tainly stands in no need of it, it is the per- 
 son in question. His Majesty knows the 
 worth of such a Servant, and will not 
 ^iiastily either deprive himself of it, or by 
 w^ithholding any merited grace, diminish 
 the zeal of his scrvic . Upon this subject, 
 therefore, we will most decidedly state, 
 that His Royal Highness had no concern 
 -whatever, and that he knew not that the 
 emulation existed, except by general report. 
 His Royal Highness would make no com- 
 plaint, if it should be made to appear, that 
 in any one- single instaace His Royal 
 
Highness had acted any part against the 
 existing Cabinet. But His Royal Highness, 
 we beheve, under no apprehension what* 
 ever, neither by indirect persecution, nor 
 bv direct appeal, will be induced to depart 
 from the maxim so often repeated, — neves' 
 to associate himself as a Member to any 
 Party. 
 
 When the late Ministry retired, His Royal 
 Highness candidly expressed, that his 
 opinions were not with them. His Royal 
 Highness deemed it necessary to rally 
 around his Father, whose dearest object 
 yet remaining in life, was to preserve the 
 JNational Religion in the same state in which 
 he had received it. His Royal Highness 
 most assuredly conceived the Establishment 
 to have been endangered by the avowed 
 .principles of tl^at Administration. 
 - With respect to the Duke of Portland, 
 His Royal Highness, we believe, has some 
 acknowledgments to make. His Grace 
 has fully answered the public expectations 
 of the Country. He was called to Office, 
 twhen the lofty tone and predominant ma- 
 jority of a ruling faction, would have scared 
 
 H 2 
 
52 
 
 a common mind. With a just confidence 
 in himself, however, His Grace accepted 
 His Majesty's invitation ; and the event has 
 left the Country nothing to regret, but that 
 His Grace's health is not as vigorous as his 
 understanding. Long may the dignified 
 friend of the lamented Burke continue to 
 enjoy the confidence of the Sovereign, and 
 the esteem of the People : it is the just re- 
 ward of a youth and age employed in the 
 public service. In the high-minded loyalty 
 of the Duke of Portland, and in the inflexi- 
 ble integrity of Lord Eldon, His Majesty 
 might find a secure refuge even in more pe- 
 rilous times. It is some consolation, that, 
 amidst the storms of the times, the Coun- 
 try has such Anchors. 
 
 In the preceding observations, we have 
 purposely avoided saying any thing as to a 
 rumoured Appointment of His Royal High- 
 ness. The point of fact perhaps is, that 
 such Appointment was never anxiously so- 
 licited on the one part, or offered, except 
 formally, on the other. His Royal Highness 
 is always prompt to ob«y the call of the 
 Public Service; but it has not been the prac- 
 
tice of His Royal Highness to solicit favours 
 from any Administration. If the nature 
 of the service had been such as to require 
 the employment of the Commander in 
 Chief, the Ministry would doubtless have 
 intimated it to His Royal Highness. His 
 Royal Highness would doubtless deem it 
 an indirect injustice to himself, to enter into 
 any vindication of his professional capacity. 
 Nor will the friends of His Royal Highness 
 so dignify the tribe of Libellers, as to join 
 issue with them upon a point of this kind. 
 His Military Character will neither depend 
 upon their conviction, nor be injured by 
 their decision. 
 
 I'finted by B. M'Miilan, 7 
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