The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-28 00:00:00

EVENINer, SEPTEMBER 26, 1859...

SPORTING NOTES.
No. CCCXVI.
THE FIELDS FOR TO-MORROW'S RACES AT

NEW `MARKET, &c.

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE SUN.
Sin,—My correspondent was somewhat too fait when
he forwarded me the information of the disaster reported
to have happened to Stockwell; instead of breaking
down or falling lame, he merely nulled up with a slight
halt, the natural consequence of having twisted a plate;
he is certified to ho all right again, and the result of the
race for the Grand Duke Michael Stakes will, no doubt,
be Stockwell (Norman), I; Lapidist (Nat), 2; Filius (A.
Day), 3.
The race for the Beckenham Stakes today will enable
us to determine whether Vandetdecken has improved
upon his summer form, as is rumoured to be the case,
or whether he must be at once discarded from all consi-
deration for next year's Derby. If he does not win easily
it will he all U P with his backers' cash for the great
race.

The 50 Sovs. Plate, D. I.; together with the 15, 20,
and 10 SOTS. SA eepstake,?, run to-morrow, do not close
and name until this evening.
The Fifth Triennial Produce Stakes (5 furlongs, 136
yards), Out of its sixty-five nernimitions, will be con-
tested by Auld Acquaintance, colt by Don John, dam by
Plenipotentiary, one of L-rd Exeter's (probably Phry-
gia), Sittingbourne, Exhibition, Pelion, Talfourd, and
Catherine 1 Inyes; to which, perchance, may be added
Estrella, Vunderdecken, and the Cuckoo filly. The
first and second places, beyond all doubt, will be filled
by CATIIEIIINE 11AYES and PELSON, Sittingbourno being
third. Among the darkies in this race there is a filly of
Mr. Grevillo's, a daughter of Don John and Industry,
'yclept Exhibition, who, if the favourites are to be
knocked over by anything from the outside list, will be
the destined one to perform the feat.
The St. Leger Stakes seen a certainty for Frantic.
It is doubtful whether either Stockwell, Ilex, or Daniel
O'Rourke, will oppose him; although it is reported that
one of Lord Exeter's will go.
Hesperus, Bst, I imagine will beat Lapidist, Bst 71b,
in their T.Y.C. match; that Herbert will defeat Exeter;
and Gossip, Torment, in their respective matches.
Miss Fanny will not start for the Cambridgeshire.
Testator pulled up so lame after the race for the Cur-
raghmoro Stakes at Eglinton-park, that it will prevent
him running again this year.
The betting on to-morrow's and Thursday's events is
as follows:—Fifth Triennial-5 to 4 on Pelion, 5 to 2
agst Catherine Hayes, 4 to 1 agst Sittingbourne, 8 to 1
ugst Auld Acquaintance, 10 any other. St. Leger
Stakes-6 to 4on Frantic. Fourth Triennial—Even on
Hobbie Noble, 3 to 1 agst Daniel O'Rourke, 4 to 1 agst
Adine, 6 to 1 each agst Father Thames and Lapidist, 10
to 1 agst Dollond. Rutland Stakes-6 to 4on Elms-
thorpe, 3 to 1 each agst Pharold and Vest.
I am, Sir, &c,
THE SPIRIT OF THE TURF.

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
(From the Examiner.)
" Know thyself," said the Greek sage, and few men
have excelled the Duke of Wellington in this point of
wisdom. He was in the secret of his own grand
successes, could count and measure the steps by
which he had mounted to his superiorities, and dis-
tinguish and define the qualities which had minis-
tered to his fortune and to his country's service.
First amongst his advantages he accounted his
exact knowledge of the mechanism of an army.
It was an instrument, every part of which he was
acquainted with, and every want of which he was ex-
perienced in supplying. He had graduated in the
learning of this instrument from the part of subaltern
to that of Commander-in-Chief in the school of Indian
warfare, which exacts an amount of care and skill far
exceeding what is required in European campaigns.
A good Indian general must especially have a
thorough comprehension of the business of the com-
missariat. To move his army he must know how to
feed it, and to transport its material, and of this main
business the Duke was a perfect master. From the
plains of Hindostan to the fields of Portugal and
Spain Sir Arthur Wellesley carried the combination
in his own person of all the experience and skill re-
quisite for the direction and sustenance of an army.
lie was not dependent on the efficiency of any subor-
dinates in any province of duty. No one could tell
him that this or that could nor he done, and he could
detect at once any error or imperfection in the perform-
ance of any service. He was a soldier of all wink, from
the camp kettle to the plan of a pitched battle. With
every detail ha was familiar, and he could direct the
commissariat as accurately as he could manceuvre a
regiment or marshal a host in battle array. The
great captains to whom he was opposed might be his
superiors in particular branches of military science,
but none combined so various, extensive, and pre-
cise a knowledge of the instrument wielded, and its
capabilities.
respective provinces as
Both Nelson and Wellington were ac-
complished craftsmen in their
well as warriors, and as the one could handle a
ship at least as
well as any captain under him,
so the other could
perform the part of adjutant-
general, quartermmself of allaster-g details lay his advantage
eneral, or commissary.
And in this knowledge
with his transcendentd
skill in moving great masses,lvho '
combinations of war, had
over Napoleon hi
notand working the grand
same familiar ac-
quaintance with the anatomy, the limbs and joints he
was setting in motion. In French phrase he worked
in block. His genius seized upon
be done without the method of doingnh
te thing to
it,
which was
withp e
left to subordinates. Working so lavishly,
aoin did
reckless
of blood and treasure, with vast means,
wonders, and working most economicallyN
means on a different system, combining the perception
scanty
of what was to be done with the perfect knowledge of
how it was to be done, Wellington triumphed over his
colossal adversary.
The Duke was never heard to disparage an adver-
sary. Indeed his generous appreciation of the merits
of the great captains he had encountered and mas-
tered once provoked the bold question how he ac-
counted for his own triumph over such men. He he-
sitated for a moment to reply, and the interrogator
felt all the temerity of the question he had put, but
the Duke relieved him presently, by quietly saying—
" Their plans may have been better than mine, but in
the execution of every large plan there is likely to be
some miscarriage, and I think I had the knack of
readjusting my arrangements to new circumstances
more quickly than they bad, and perhaps for the very
reason that the original plan was not so perfect, and
the mending by so much the more easy, as you can
knot broken rope more easily than leather harness."
The Duke spoke with great respect, or rather ad-
miration, of the skill of Soult in organizing troops
and combining their movements, but with this faculty
his praise stopped ; and for genius in war he gave
the palm to Massena in this criticism of personal ex-
perience :—" When Massena was opposed to me I
could not eat, drink, or sleep. I never knew what
repose or respite from anxiety was. I was kept per-
petually on the alert. But when Soult was opposed
to me, then I could eat, drink, sleep, and enjoy myself
without fear of surprise. Not but that Soult was a
great general. Soult was a wonderful man in his
way. Soult would assemble 100,000 men at a
certain point, on a certain day, but when he had
got them there, he did not know what in the world to
do with them."
The Duke would not be drawn into comparisons
disparaging foreign armies and exalting our own at
their expense. George IV. asked him whether the
British cavalry was not the finest in the world. The
Duke answered, " The French are very good, sir."
Unsatisfied with this sufficiently significant evasion of
the question, the King rejoined, "But our's is better,
Duke ?" " The French are very good, sir," was
again the Duke's dry response. No vulgar vaunt of
superiority could be obtained from him.
The Duke had the simplicity which is almost uni-
formly the concomitant of genius. Some time ago
was exhibited a model of the battle of Waterloo,
which the Duke recommended a lady to visit, saying,
" It is a very exact model of the battle to my certain
knowledge, for I was there myself." As if there
could be a being beyond the greenest infancy need-
ing to be told who fought the battle of 'Waterloo. It
was for the modesty of the Duke alone to ignore his
own all-pervading fame.
Readers of that valuable work, Colonel Gurwood's
" Collection of the Wellington Dispatches" (a book
which will be turned to now with new and infinitely
increased interest), must be aware that the Duke of
Wellington was a thorough reformer in military
affairs, and that during the long course of
the Peninsular campaigns he was engaged in
a perpetual struggle against the abuses of pa-
tronage, and jobs of every sort impairing the
efficiency of the service. If he could have
carried the same principle and the same spirit into
his views of civil policy, his name would have stood
not less high as a statesman than it does in military
renown. But the perfect knowledge possessed in the
one province was wanting in the other, and the Duke's
sound sense was at fault, working up mistaken data.
When, however, he, in his own phrase, hit the
right nail on the head, nothing could be neater and
completer than the way in which he drove it home.
The right line with him was indeed always the shortest
distance between two points, the starting ground and
the object to be aimed at. His fault as a speaker was
in a circle, which hap-
occasionally that of arguing.
pened when he lost his way in questions economical or
commercial with which he was not thoroughly ac-
quainted ; but when he was on the sure ground of his
better knowledge he was clear and pithy, and some
of the best sayings of our time, condensing good sense
in the simplest and most terse expression, belong to
the Duke of Wellington.
Though, as we have stated, there were political
subjects upon which the Duke's knowledge was at
fault, yet to repair this defect he had marvellous in-
stincts of necessity, and, though tardy to yield in the
field of debate, he was forward in conceding when the
time for action arrived. As in the signal instants of
Catholic Emancipation, he saw that the thing must be,
though he had not seen that it should be. He took up
false positions in the geld of politics, but never
pressed their occupation beyond the moment when he
perceived them to be untenable, and that an attempt
to.retain them might strain the institutions support-
ing the monarchy, which was his chief care.
public from the
We never heard, or read reported,we
the service of the people or of the of
lips of the Duke. It was, as have mentiony
before
re-
marked, always the service of the Crown,ve
service of the Sovereign. Doubtless or
..tn_t
he thought included all the . in Pa
nation. It may be objected that this • the
building
but waving that question the constitutional system downwardswas
instead of upwards,
interests of the
truer or more devoted servant never hhadmi e
k of Wel-
lington ; and before heclosed
than.st e is) he bad the
happiness of seeing the hh
his eyes more firmly
Crown a
than it evermonarcaff
was before • the yeotai"s
whose loyalty now is matter of tradi-
tional not merely
sentiment, reasoned preference and settled
of the people,
but of
udgment.

-
OXFORD-STREET —A ----'------- -------:-._
furt
thoroughfare has been ed for
works
heruhploiertttroanfficofasthfairs
as
sgrethaet
are fast progressing,
corner of Park-street,oe
ar t t
eweon
vt he e-
a twh
ee agk r
so that it is expected tyat
d will be re-OP-- , .
whole line of roa
The new paving is of the most sub-
nience of the public. and he
t ewc:onruer sd e ot fo
bii vehicles on the road, who are by far
drivers of the
Pul judges of such matters, and it is quite
stantial description,eand ives the greatest satisfaction to the
the best practica
certain that when the whole is completed that important
been the case. One half of Oxford-street is in
ever before
street will be paved in a more effective manner than has
utho ri ties of b oth dist rictseen re garylebone and the oter in Westminster,
has b and thereforeeuired
the
sanction of the a
and given for effecting the improvement.
TUE GREAT TUBULAR BRlDGE.—Through the
indisposition of Mr. Brunel, who has been on the Continent,
and has not yet returned to Chepstow, many who had hoped
to have seen the second tube raised on the day of the dower
show were disappointed. It is now intended to raise it in
about a fortnight. The tube has this week been shifted near
the water, and is almost ready for heing placed on the pon-
toons previous to floating it across the Nye. The precise
day for accomplishing the hoisting cannot be named, we
believe, as so hutze a piece of work is not so easily com-
pleted as might be supposed The arch on the Gloucester
side is not finished, and will not be before the tube is
raised some distance above its proper height. The arch
w chhe
ine f tehneginarecehr, iiss caotmpprleesteendt.
sllolpre.
rißntreenndtoinng, Dtihre.
will then be built under the tube, which will de lowered
upon it
work.— Gloucester Journal.

ASYLUM FOR FEMALE ORPHANS, WESTMINSTER-
BRIDGE-ROAD, LAnts STII.—On Sunday two excellent ser-
mons were deliveredin the chapel of this institution by the
Rev. J. Jessopp and the Rev. W. Curling, the morning and
evening preachers, to very crowded congregations,
of respect to the memory of the late Field-Marshal his Grace
the Dike of Wellington. Deep impression is ever giveill
these solemn occasions at the Asylum by the harmonious
voices of the 160 orphan girlsto
TUS
who occupy the
.estahlish-
meat, and who are trained for domestic servants
families. Prayers were read by ;the Rev. S. E.
chaplain; and solemn and app
on the organ by Mr. C. Horsley.,
ropriate in private
Cattley, the
music was performed
in token