26 THE WINTER TROUBLES. OH AT. TIL Standing compromise liotween the Horse Guards and the ' Gov- ' emment.' Quaint ex- pedient of the Letter of Service. rogative exerted at the Horse Guards could be — even partly — preserved, and that was by throwing it into abeyance so often as occasion required, — by, in other words, taking care that when used for high State purposes, and especially for the great purpose of war, it should be sub- ordinated to the will of the ' Government.' So, upon the whole, there resulted a compromise between the Crown and the ' Government,' which was from time to time renewed, and almost, one may say, continued as an accepted tradition. Under the terms of this compromise the ' per- ' sonal king ' retained ostensibly the whole of his power, but the successive commanders-in-chief at the Horse Guards who there represented his interests, were accustomed to engage verbally that for any of the higher commands down to that of a brigadier-general inclusively, no name should be recommended to the sovereign until it had been approved by the Secretary of State ; and that from the moment of taking up arms, the whole conduct of tlm war, including, of course, the disposition of our troops, should rest with the Ministry. The change of masters to which a general be came subjected, when accepting a command in the held, was pointed out to him by the chief at the Horse Guards in a document of time- honoured form which men called the Letter of Service — a letter which began by apprising him that the king had been ' graciously pleased to ' appoint him to command a detachment of his ' army to be employed upon a particular service/
