ABSTRACT
Every one who is at all acquainted with the constitution of this government must know that all warlike preparations, every military operation, and every naval equipment must be directed by a Secretary of State before they can be undertaken. Neither the Admiralty, Treasury, Ordnance, nor victualling boards can move a step without the King’s command so signified. Thus wrote William Knox, an under-secretary in the Colonial Department during the American war. This chapter is an attempt to ascertain how far his words hold good for the whole period 1681–1782. The relations of the Secretaries with the Army during the first portion of this period are somewhat obscure. An unhappy gap in the records makes an intricate subject even more difficult. An able man, holding this office, must have had many opportunities of influencing the sovereign, who was frequently in immediate command of the Army.
