Camp, Weymouth, Aug. 31st, 1794.
My dear Brother,
I have just received your letter of the 16th from Vienna, and am glad to find from it that you are as well as I wish you to be, and as sanguine as any one could wish who is less desponding than myself. I fear that very much of your difficulty is insuperable, for I have no idea that it is possible to induce the Imperial Government to exert themselves more for the recovery of Brabant than they did for the preservation of it. Various circumstances (some of which you have stated) co-operated to the scandalous dereliction of a country, which all former history proves to us might have been defended (even for a losing campaign) with one half of the allied force; and it is no part of my creed that the zeal or activity of the Austrian Ministry (even if they act with good faith) can replace us by the end of November where we were last year. But if it is to be proposed to us to add Austria to the list of powers subsidized, and to call upon Great Britain, the ally of the war, to consider herself as the only principal in it, I fear that the proposition will meet with every difficulty, and (if acceded to) with as little success as the subsidy paid to Prussia. You will then ask me for my solution of this difficulty; and I will fairly own that I see none, but in endeavouring to stimulate Austria, by showing them clearly that we will not take the whole upon our back; and that we can better keep the wolf out of our house, than they can out of theirs, if the war is to be defensive.
As to the military operations of the Prince of Saxe Coburg, I make no doubt that he has done very ill; indeed, it seems difficult to conceive that his groom could have done worse. But I fear that the ignorance or treachery of the German Generals goes much deeper than you imagine, for I do not recollect one instance in the course of this campaign—and perhaps not one in the last—in which they answered the expectation formed of them. Again, if we imagined that by protracting the war we might exhaust the enemy, though I might not agree as to the prospect of success, I could understand it as a system; but in that case, the war would have been defensive, and co-operation settled to that object, instead of abandoning the Duke of York to certain ruin, if the winds and the circumstances of this country had not permitted Lord Moira's army to arrive just (and only just) in time to cover their retreat, and communication. These points are all mysterious to us lookers-on, and perhaps not much more clear to you at Vienna. The only point clear and indisputable is, that we begun the campaign offensively in the south-west point without securing West Flanders; that we undertook by defensive positions to cover it; and notwithstanding the very slow progress of the French, which gave us full and ample time, it was lost for want of sufficient force on the western flank of our combined force, and for want of co-operation, either of defensive retreat, or of mutual support in a systematic evacuation of a country so very tenable. Now, if all this is proposed to be cured by changing the Commander, and by taking the Austrians into British pay, I fear that I shall be one of the first to cry out against such a measure, which cannot in the least tend to remove those difficulties, and will superinduce many others on the continent, and others more serious at home, to which you cannot be a stranger. If the object be to add to our force, we do not accomplish it by changing the Paymaster or Commander of the troops; but we may obtain a very considerable force under our immediate and actual command, by adding to the levies of French troops; or, in plain terms, by raising an immense French army in British pay, who would not be liable to be called off à la Prussienne to schemes of plunder, or possibly of home defence, in the moment in which they are the most wanted by us. I have taken some pains to get information on this subject; and I verily believe, that if we take the small remnant of the Prince of Condé's army into our pay, with him at the head of it as a foundation, we may in a very short time increase it to twenty-five, or perhaps thirty thousand men, which, added to our British, Hessian and Hanoverian army, would effectually support the Dutch in covering Holland, and would enable us to make a very serious diversion either in Normandy or in Poitou.
I have written upon this subject more at large than I at first intended, but it is very difficult to compress it; and having found it difficult to reconcile the conduct of Ministry in the management of this campaign to my own feelings, or the plan (so far as I understand it from common report) of reconquering Brabant for the Emperor by an Austrian army in British pay, or of assisting Holland by a force of the same nature on which the experience of two campaigns shows how little we can depend, I have not thought it fair to withhold these opinions from you, having stated them to my other brother as soon as I heard of your mission (and from public report of the objects of it) to Vienna. But be assured, my dear brother, that I do not feel the less warmly for your credit, and for the success of your negotiation (whatever it may be) as far as the question is personal to yourself. I have always seen, with very sincere regret, your talents useless to the public; and I am happy, on every account, that you have found an opportunity of showing them in co-operation with my brother William, who seemed so happy in this proof of your confidence and affection.
I feel, as I ought, your anxiety about the yeomanry. I have the satisfaction of hearing that they go on very well, but of course meeting very seldom, because of the harvest. Their numbers, however, increase; and are, as near as can be, as follows:
| Captains. | Lieutenants. | 2nd ditto. | Qr. Masters. | Numbers. | |
| Lt.-Col. | Grenville | Fremantle | Grubb | —— | 47 |
| Praed | Mansell | Higgins | Cooch | 60 | |
| Sir J. | Dashwood | W. Hicks | T. Mason | Clarke | 4 |
| Drake | K. Mason | Clerk | —— | 37 | |
| Sir | W. Young | Ch. Clowes | L. Way | Quanne | 29 |
Most of them have got their swords, and have returned their pistols, which were most scandalously bad; they have got their appointments, and (except Young's troop) they come on very well. I am, however, tied by the leg to Weymouth, while the King is here, and cannot stir. He is in wonderful health; but very unruly as to the common precautions which ought to be taken, and which keep me in constant hot water, notwithstanding our incessant rains. Lord Howe passed Portland yesterday with thirty-three sail of the line, and three Portuguese ships; of which one ran foul of the 'Barfleur,' and stove in her bows so as to force her to return to Portsmouth. All the sea prisoners lately taken, say, that Barrère is determined to force the Brest fleet of thirty-five sail to sea. Sir J. B. Warren's last prisoners say, that they were brought from the interior to Brest, and embarked handcuffed; another account states, that sixteen thousand men have been sent to Brest en réquisition, since Lord Howe's action. Our line of battle is thirty-seven sail, including what is to join at Plymouth; from which deduct two ships not ready, and the 'Barfleur,' his number will be thirty-four. He will probably fall in with your friend, Lord Macartney, who is coming back with "the Emperor's copy of verses," and left St. Helena on the 6th of July with nineteen East India ships.
Adieu, my dear brother,
Ever most affectionately yours,
N. B.
Sept. 5th, 1794.
P.S.—This letter was begun five days ago, but I have been for the last four days confined, and very ill from an epidemic, which is running all over England. It is not confined to the army, and it has not been fatal, but very painful. I have got clear of it, but I have above forty men ill of it at this moment. Adieu.