or less than estimated by the Finance Committee of 1817 to the amount of 253,0287., and less than the estimate of 1818 to the amount of 819,5097. But the half-pay and pensions of the army were in 1818 as above stated £2,607,702 they are in 1827 ... ... ... 2,881,738 £274,036 £289,100 ... 377,706 ... £88,606 ... Both together in 1827, more than in 1818... 362,642 Add this excess of half-pay and pensions to the decrease of the total amount of the estimates of 1827, compared with those of the Committee of Finance of 1817, and it will be found that the effective establishment of the army and ordnance, civil and military branches, cost less than estimated by the Finance Committee of 1817 to the amount of... and less than the same cost in 1818 to £656,578 1,296,051 I will not contend that this excess of expenditure, which appears to have taken place on account of half-pay and pensions since 1818, is entirely to be attributed to the several reductions of the army (followed, however, by augmentations), which took place between 1818 and 1827; but it must be admitted that these reductions, although found to be ill judged, occasioned a part of the expense, and that when the subject comes to be examined in detail it will be found that, unless care is taken to provide effectually for the performance of the service after a reduction, but very little expense will be saved by such reduction. I must say likewise that the view which I have above taken of the expenditure of the army is a most satisfactory one for Parliament of the administration of the finance of the military departments. It is said that a large reduction was intended in 1827 below the estimate of 1826; and, in fact, the estimate of 1827 is 108,0007. less than that of 1826. More ought to be saved if possible, and I entertain no doubt that more might and will be saved. But it ought not to be at the expense of the efficiency of the service, and the consequent security of his Majesty's dominions, and the honour of his crown, which I think I have proved are scarcely provided for at present; and experience has shown that the establishments cannot be touched without immediate inconvenience, and eventual re-augmentation and expense. The plans which have been communicated to me have not proposed any reduction of officers, but I have heard that the reduction of one major and the officers of two companies are intended. I beg the reader of this paper to observe that this is to be done at the moment that it is very doubtful, even to the minds of those most anxious for reduction, whether any reduction whatever ought to be made, and it is asserted by all whose duty it is to understand this subject, and I think I have proved clearly that, if justice is to be done to the service, we have not a man more than we ought to have. Have the government ever contemplated the distress and ruin occasioned by these reductions, not of prospects only, but of fortune, to the amount of the total that some of these officers possessed? There are some officers now in the service who have purchased from half and full-pay not less than three times since the last peace, and some of these might be reduced again. This would be unworthy of consideration if any man could rely upon the reduction being permanent. But if, as in my opinion is certain, any reduction must be followed by an immediate augmentation, it would be cruel in the extreme to make any fresh reduction of officers. WELLINGTON. The Earl of Aberdeen to Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington. MY DEAR DUKE, Haddo, Aberdeen, 25th August, 1827. I have to thank you for your kindness in sending me copies of the letters connected with your resumption of the command of the army. I think it must be admitted by every person who was informed of what had passed on this subject, that it was quite impossible for you, with any degree of consistency, to refuse to accede to a request made as this has been. Unquestionably, too, it requires some strong reasons to persevere in resisting the wish of every man in the kingdom who is interested in the welfare of the army. How far the office of Commander-in-Chief may affect your political conduct and position is a question too difficult for me to decide; but you must be aware that in whatever situation you may be placed your opinions must be regarded by numbers with no common degree of interest. Believe me, my dear Duke, very sincerely yours, ABERDEEN. Viscount Beresford to Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington. MY DEAR DUKE, Duncombe Park, 25th August, 1827. I have had the pleasure of your letter of the 21st instant, with the copies of the correspondence leading to your again accepting the Commander-in-Chiefship; and, indeed, I cannot see how you could decline it under such circumstances, and I confess I am glad you were enabled to do it. Had you refused it, after so very graciously repeated an offer, no doubt the feelings of his Majesty would have been supported by the nation, and in truth as a national object it became necessary that you should accept it. I send to you a publication made in Portugal, and which was stuck up in several places in Setuval. This speaks out the intention of the party that has been governing in Portugal since the arrival there of the constitution from Don Pedro; it is the same party I refused to act with, and I at the time told Sir W. A'Court, as I believe I wrote to you, what their object was at that time; and the whole of the diputados in their House of Commons are of that mind; and it was to ensure that very object that it was carried in that house to establish Guardos Civicos, that is, to arm the nation, which were not even to be under the command of the military chief. I send you also accounts of what passed on the late change of ministers in Portugal, at Lisbon, and at Oporto. The whole of the officers at present employed have been most carefully chosen by that party, as I also told you before. As to General Stubbs, he is what he always was. The ministers now employed there can have little weight with the nation, which remains without any government. There is now no improbability in Don Pedro's coming; he is wild enough to do anything, though he would be risking much for very little as regards himself. If he comes, he will no doubt, so long as he stays, keep down the voice of the nation; but when he returns to the Brazils, if he does not arrange to take Don Miguel with him, or to leave him as Regent, he will in all probability become a pretender to the crown itself, and the troubles of Portugal will be renewed, and the voice of the nation will continue for Don Miguel. If you think these communications of any consequence, you might get them translated. Could the King see them, as well as the last communication I sent you? We have had terrible weather for our grouse-shooting, I have had almost more wettings than grouse. Yours sincerely, BERESFORD. Sir George Murray to Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington. MY DEAR LORD, Dublin, 27th August, 1827. I received your letter of the 24th yesterday morning before I saw the Gazette, and it gave me very great pleasure, because the circumstances which had transpired in regard to Mr. Herries's appointment made me apprehend there might have been some general derangement of the plans in contemplation. I am inclined to think that your being avowedly unconnected, politically, with the ministers is no disadvantage to the situation you fill. Indeed, the less of party politics there is supposed to be at any time in the Commander-in-Chief the better it will be, I believe, for the public service. And at this moment the affairs of the State seem to be in one of those awkward situations when a single individual, standing so very high as you do, can alone perhaps hinder their getting worse, by preserving a steady and a strictly unbiassed course amidst the confusion there is around him. I know the straightforward way in which you have always served the country, and if I am not taking an exaggerated view of its difficulties, it has seldom had more need of your assistance. It is of infinite importance I think just now to the Crown, to have a man near it in the situation you now occupy, who stands above the troubled atmosphere of party, and whose mind is sufficiently enlarged to take in the broadest views of State affairs, and to discriminate accurately between interests which are only temporary or partial, and those which will have a general and a permanent influence upon the welfare of the country. But in going into these matters, which are rather above my sphere, I am presuming a little too much perhaps upon your indulgence, although I have never yet found it fail me. I feel, however, strongly impressed with an opinion that public affairs are in a difficult, and even precarious situation, and that it rests with you, more perhaps than with any other person, to prevent their getting worse, and bring them gradually into a better state. I remain always, my dear Lord, very sincerely yours, G. MURRAY. The Marquess of Londonderry to Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington. As I have not heard from you, I fear you consider my last letter presuming. I can only say that no one more cordially congratulates the army and the country than I do on the Gazette of to-day, and no one more strongly feels that your own judgment is superior to all others upon a point of such delicate importance. I will say nothing of the scene that now presents itself, but my apprehension is that the Whigs will yield to the King rather than abandon their hold. Goderich seems to prove himself even weaker than I thought him. We are in these parts in the utmost dismay lest your arrear of occupation at the Horse-Guards should prevent your promised visit. There is so much preparation in progress at Sunderland, Newcastle, &c., that so soon as you can give us any certain data, or at least as far as anything in these times can be certain, the more we shall be obliged to you. And if you can give me an idea how long you can spare yourself to us (and the longer the better) I would endeavour to arrange the line of march through our Durham territory and to Newcastle in such manner as would cause you the least trouble, and the community the greatest gratification. The time you can give us at Wynyard had better be before the days that the people look for at Sunderland, Durham, &c. We calculate now, you will return with us the 23rd of September from Doncaster to Wynyard, and I am desirous of shaping and preparing our campaign for the time you are in these parts. Lady L. desires to be most affectionately remembered, and believe me ever, my dear Duke, yours most affectionately, To Lord Eldon. VANE LONDONDERRY. [753. ] Stratfield Saye, 1st September, 1827. MY DEAR LORD ELDON, I certainly thought and wished that there should be no mistake in regard to the principle on which I accepted the office of Commander-in-Chief, and to the relation in which its acceptance would place me to the politics of the government. In regard to the acceptance of the office itself I had declared myself in public, as well as in private, and in writing to his Majesty and to his late minister; and I had likewise declared in Parliament the relation in which I should stand to the politics of the government; with those declarations before them, then, the King and his ministers called upon me to give my service on the ground of the public interests requiring it, and in accepting I have again declared my principle. I may have placed myself too high, and, like others, fall from the difficult position which I have assumed. But this is quite clear, viz., that I have assumed that position, and there I will remain as long as I can do any good in it. I am not astonished that the friends of the administration should consider this arrangement as a great gain. In one sense it is so. If, on the one hand, the administration have no claim upon my services out of my profession, I, on the other, can be of no counsel or party against them, and they are certain that |