POST CAPTAINS OF 1824.
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quarters, may be such as to throw ours into insignificance. Believe me to remain, my dear Sir, yours truly,
(Signed)“W. H. Smyth.”
By such means, a proper spirit being aroused, a meeting was at length convened, and the exertions of Captain Smyth were acknowledged by a vote of thanks, an appointment as trustee, and a request to be one of the committee for carrying the resolutions into effect. The following letter from Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Taylor, must have been extremely flattering by its contents; and is the more valuable as it throws a clear light over the institution which is now forming.
“Horse Guards, December 19th, 1829.
“My dear Sir,– I cannot delay thanking you for your obliging letter of the 17th instant, and assuring yon how much I have been gratified and flattered by its contents. When the establishment of a United Service Museum was first suggested, I concurred heartily in the expediency and utility of the measure; and this view was confirmed by the knowledge of your sentiments, and those of Captains Beaufort and Downes, as my expectation of its success, and of its important results, was also raised by the handsome and liberal manner in which you stepped forward and volunteered, not only your able assistance and co-operation, but also the contribution of the interesting collections you had formed during a professional and scientific career of acknowledged ability and merit. Under these circumstances, I could not hesitate in submitting the project to the King; and I may now repeat what I endeavoured to express to the committee, that I have upon no occasion experienced greater satisfaction in receiving and in conveying the assurance of His Majesty’s approbation, which was signified in terms that shewed how well His Majesty appreciated the advantages of an institution such as that which you, and your brother officers, have so essentially promoted. They appear to me, indeed, incalculable with respect to the improvement of education in our professions, and to the acquirement and diffusion of information in every branch of science and literature, if the real objects of the institution be duly followed up; and such as cannot fail to raise the character of the professions, and to maintain the important advantage of uniting with the duties of the officer the attributes of the gentleman, which ought to be considered inseparable. Much has been done, of late, to promote and encourage the union of sentiment and the harmony of feeling between the officers of the two services, to which you justly attach so much importance. I have ever considered these objects as most desirable – as most essential to the comfort and credit of both, and to the interests of the country; and no person ever felt this more than the late Duke of York, as has been frequently admitted by officers of the navy who experienced H.R.H.’s attention. The same feeling has on every