396 APPENDIX. ' receive from Her Majesty, the (General Commanding-in-Chief,
- or any other superior officer. — I have, &c.,
' (Signed) Sidney Hekbert.* ' Licutenant-General ' The Lord Raglan, G.C.B. ' &c. &c. &c. ' f It might seem at first sight that this Letter was a piece of quite empty verbiage ; for although recUing the nomination of the chosen commander, with a reference to his personal status, and his field establishment, it did not in terms do anythmg except apprise Lord Raglan in the name of the Queen of what then — still five days before the ti'ansf er — was simply matter of course — i. e. , that he was to take his orders from Her Majesty, from her Commander-in- Chief, or from any other superior officer ; but if bearing in mind that the paper referred to some little arrangements involving a dip (though a slight one) into the public purse, and that it issued from the financial oilice always charged with the task of keeping military expenditure within the bounds sanctioned by Parliament, we shall see that, however imperfectly, however clumsily worded, it still might serve as a voucher in passing money accounts. Being signed by a member of the 'Government,' it made a step towards supplying the full parliamentary warrant required to meet new expenditure — the new expenditure caused by tem- porarily elevating the rank of a Lieutenant-General, and provid- ing for him that aid from a secretary and aides-de-camp which he would need for his command in the field. If receiving an appellation descriptive of its purpose, this document might perhaps be called : — ' The Field Establishment Letter.' Five days later, that is, on the oth of April, there issued from the Horse Guards a letter signed by the General there Command ing-in-Chief, which (like the first letter) referred to a ' jDarticular ' service,' and then — following a long-sanctioned custom — directed Lord Raglan — no longer (as five days before) to take his orders from the Queen, from her General Commanding-in-Chief, or from any other superior oflicer, but — ' to carry into effect such instruc- ' tions as he might receive /rom Her Majcsty^s Ministers.' The order thus given to the General is so plain in its terms that no one reading the words can help seeing what they import ; but I must add that the Letter was not a thing of mei'e words. It was instantly and always after obeyed, never ceasing, whilst Lord
- Mr Sidney Herbert when signing tli;it paper was only ' Secretary at
' War,' but afterwards, i. e. , in the following year, he became both ' Secre- ' tary of War' and a ' Secrctaiy nf State; '-and it is evident that the curious errors of the Pieviewer were cauised by his fancying- that the official i)osition of Mr Sidney Ilerburt on the 1st of Aj>ril 1854 was the same as the one that ho did not reach till 1855. T Quoted (no doubt accurately) by tlic l']. R., }>. 257.
