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

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. tie 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 hnd skill re-
quisite for the direction and sustenance of an army.
He 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 not be done, and he could
detect at once any error or imperfection in the perform-
ance of any service. Ho was a soldier of all work, from
the camp kettle to the plan of a pitched battle. With
every detail he was familiar, and he could direct the
commissariat as accurately as he could manoeuvre a
regiment or marshal a host in battle array. The
great cap
tains to whom he was opposed might be his
superiors in particular branches of military science,
but none
ono combined so various, extensive, and pre-
cise a knowledge of the instrument wielded, and its
capabilities.
t
ship at least Both Nelson and Wellington were ac-
complished craftsmen their respective provinces as
well
as , and as
as warriors, in
the one could handle a
so the other wellcould
And in this knowledge of
quartermaster- perform the part of adjutant-
general, as any captain under him,
over Napoleon himsgelef, of
all details lay his advantage
general or commissary.
skill in moving great massysehet with his transcendent
ea,t the and working the grand
n
combinations of war, had
same familiar ac-
quaintance with the anatomy, the limbs and joints he
l•
was setting in motion. In French
phrase he worked
twhthicinhgwt to a
in block. His genius seized es
be done without the method of doingn
scanty
d
le
did
left to subordinates. Working so lavishly,lthe
of blood and treasure, with vast means,
wonders, and working most economicallyNapoleonwit
hre
means on a different system, combining the perception
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, 01' 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 daring the long course of
the Peninsular campaigns he was engaged in
a perpetual struggle against the abuses of pa-
tronage,
efficiency of the service. If he could have
and jobs of every sort impairing the
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
occasionally that of arguing in a circle, which hap-
pened when he lost his way in questions economical or
commercial with which he was not thoroughly ac-
qusinted ; 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 field 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.
We never heard, or read reported, any mention of
the service of the people or of the public from the
lips of the Duke. It was, as
re-
marked, always the service of the
be objected that we have before
or the
service of the Sovereign.
that Doubtlessthis
Crown,
in
that
he thought included
question the .tt
of the
constitutional system
nation. It may
aserbusilding the
but waving that downwards lainsteadwas
of upwards,
d the Crown a
truer or more devoted servant
than the Duke of Wel-
lington ; and beforenever ba
closed his eyes he had the
happiness of seeing th he
ch
rooted more firmly
e .monar
than it ever was before affections of the people,
the
whose loyalty now is not merely a matter of tradi-
tional sentiment, but of reasoned preference and settled
judgment.

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OXFORD.STREBT.--A
ened for public
traffic as far as the
further portion of this great
thoroughfare has been
, °Pnd the works are fast progressing,
corner of Park-street,
a hasit in the coarse of a week or wo the
BO that it is expecte-
whole line of rOad
public' The new paving is of the most sub-
will be re-opened, to the greatsconve-
nience of the and give., the greatest satisfaction to the
vehicles on the road, who are by far
drivers of t
stantial descriP
Practical judges of such matters, and it is quite
the best
hPracwhen the whole is completed that important
certain t-atbe
be public
Will paved in a more effective manner than has
been the case. One half of Oxford-street is in
xr.,.,betree and the other in Westminster, and therefore the
,;;;;10en of the authorities of both districts has been required
everstree t
and given for effecting the improvement.
THE 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 flower
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-
teens previous to floating it across the Wye. The precise
day for accomplishing the hoisting cannot be named, We
believe, as so hucze a piece of work is not soeadseil
3 lowered
upon 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
will then be built under the tube, which will
upon it when the arch is completed. Mr. Brenton, Mr.
Brunel's chief engineer, is at present superintending the
work.— Gloucester journal.
ASYLUM FOR FEMALE ORPHANS, WESTMINSTER'
BRIDGE•BOAD , Laninrrn.—On Sunday two excellent ser-
mons were delivered in the chapel of this institution by the
Rev. J. Jessopp and the Rev. W. Curling, the morning and
evening preachers. to very crowded congregations, in token
of respect to the memory of the late Field-Marshal his Grace
the Duke of Wellington. Deep impression is ever given to
these solemn occasions at the Asylum by the harmonious
:0
voices of the 160 orphan girls who occupy the establish-
ment, and who are trained for domestic servants in private
families. Prayers were read by :the Rev. S. R. Cattley, the
chaplain; and solemn and appropriate music was
on the organ by Mr. C. Horsley., performed