Note 30 — HISTORICAL RECORD (continued 2)

A "Horse Guards, 5th September, 1804.

"My dear Lord,

"I have been so extremely occupied since my return from my tour through the southern district that I have never been able, till this day, to write to you, and to express to you, in the warmest manner possible, the thorough satisfaction I experienced at the appearance and state of discipline of the King's Own regiment, which does the highest credit to the commanding officer, and every individual in it. I beg your lordship to convey these sentiments from me to the regiment, and at the same time to be assured that I shall, in consequence, recommend to his Majesty to allow a greater promotion to take place in the King's Own upon the present occasion, than has been allowed to other regiments, the fifty-second excepted. I shall therefore be happy to receive any recommendations that your lordship may think proper to make."

(Signed) "Frederick."

"To Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham.

"Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham has the greatest pleasure in communicating to the King's Own regiment the distinguished approbation which his Royal Highness the commander-in-chief has been pleased to convey to him of their soldierlike appearance and high state of discipline when his Royal Highness lately saw them at Shorncliffe camp. Lord Chatham desires to offer his particular thanks to Lieut.-Colonel Brinley, as well as to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, for their conduct and unremitted exertions, so well attested by the superior appearance of the regiment, and he trusts that a perseverance in the same exemplary conduct, will ensure to them a continuance of his Royal Highness's favourable opinion.

"Lord Chatham assures the regiment that it is with the warmest satisfaction he has seen a corps, whose zeal and whose bravery it has been his good fortune to witness in the field, attain that degree of discipline, correctness, and precision, which when combined must ever render British soldiers invincible."