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 420 APPENDIX. seven hundred millions sterling without having been subject to an audit, — and besides, by the detection of the king in what was rightly called a ' clandestine ' correspondence with the military commander of the Walcheren Expedition ; for, taking place as it did without the advice or privity of his Cabinet, the king's inter- change of letters with the general was a dishonourable departure from the arrangement handing over the army in the field to the dii'ection of 'his Majesty's Ministers,' and the correspondence had the further taint of being carried on ' behind the back ' of a commander — Sir E-ichard Strachan — on whom one of the two private-letter writers was industriously casting blame. Thus of that long disgrace which the ' personal ' monarchy of George the Thu'd had brought upon our country the cup was now at last full. Our people, following their wont, did not formulate any clear principle, did not say in articulate words that the cause of the evil must cease ; but much better than ever before since the great days of Chatham, they contrived that the business of war should be withdrawn from the ' personal ' handling of the king, and carried on by the State. With that happy change the ' Wellington reign ' began. Some perhaps have been accustomed to associate the fall of the personal monarchy of George in. with the final extinction of his mental health ; but that last blow did not come upon him until late in 1810, whereas the ' Mrs Clarke ' scandal (which drove the Duke of York from the Horse Guards) was before Parliament in the early part of 1809. Note 23. — The overture to Colonel Bunbury was made in October 1809 ; and, Austria having by that time met her fate at Wagi"am, England (with her Spanish and Portuguese levies) was thenceforth alone against Napoleon, and continued to be so until even after the invasion of Russia had begun in 1812. Note 24. — The arrangement under which Dundas became Min- ister of ' Colonies and War ' did not last, but it was during the brief period of his holding the office that he initiated the api:ioint- ment mentioned in the text. His successor (Lord Liverpool) gave effect to the selection, and under him, and his successor (Lord Bathurst), Colonel Bunbury continued to act as the MUitary Under-Secretary of the Department until the close of the war. Being connected with the Whigs by relationship and marriage, the Colonel expressly stipulated and caused it to be stated in writing that the ofTice should be regarded as one quite apart from the field of politics, and strictly confined to ' War ' business. Note 25. — It was after having crossed the Pyrenees, and whilst still conducting his campaign in the south of France, that the