Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-10-02

ment forced him, IN spite OF his IRON determination W
resign More than afterward however, was he con-
suited by the highest authority in the realm and by sue
cessiye Premiers Under Lord John RussePs admins
traton he accepted the commandinchef Of the army,
and retained it to the day of his death.
We have left ourselves space anayze the charac
ter of this wonderful man. designing make for the
following from the London Times of the 18th instant:
If aught can lessen this day the grief of England upon
the death Of her greatest son. it is the recollection that
the life which has just closed leaves no duty incomplete
and no honor unbestowed The Duke of Wellington had
exhausted nature and exhausted glory. His
one uncouded longest day, filled from dawn nightfa
with renowned actions animated by unfaiing energy
the public service guided by answering principles Of
conduct and craftsmanship He rose, by rapid series Of
achievements which none had surpassed to position
which other man in this nation ever enjoyed. The
place occupied by the Duke of Wellington in the councils
of the country and in the life Of England can no be
filed There is left in the army the Senate to
act and speak with like authority. There is with
whom the valor and the worth Of this nation in
corporated.
Yet when consider the funess of his years and the
abundance of his noessant services may learn say
with the Roman orator. Salts u oixisso dicifo since
being MORTAL nothing could be added either
ration to his fame Nature herself had seemed for
time to expand her inexorabe limits, and the nfrmes
of age to lay lighter burden that honored head.
Generations of had passed away between the first
exploits of his and the last Of his age until
by lot unexamped in history the who had played
the most conspicuous part in the annals Of than half
century became the last survivor of his contemporaries
and carries with him to the grave all living memory of his
own achievement.
To what century, to what country, to what achieve
ments that life successfully dedicated! For its pro-
dgious duration for the multiplicity of contemporary
changes and events far outnumbering the of its
days and years for the nvarabe and unbroken stream
of which attended it from its to its
close from the first fash of triumphant vaor in Indian
war to that senatorial wisdom on which the SOVEREIGN
To ifa
unbendng rmness character which bore alike all labor
and all prosperity and for unaterabe attachment to the
objects, the principles, the same duties, I'M
disturbed by the passions OF youth and unreaxed by the
honors and enoymens peace and of age the life OF the
Duke of Wellington stands alone in history In him, at
least postery will trace character superior to the
highest and most abundant gifts of fortune.
If the word " heroism be not unfairly applied to
him. because he remained greater than his pros
perty and rose above the temptations by which other
of equal genius but less have fallen
below their desnies His life has nothing to gain from
the language of paaegyrc, which would compare his
military exploits or his civil craftsmanship with the
proves of Alexander Cesar with the astonish
ing of him who his empire overthrown by the
British General at Waterloo They were the offspring of
passion and genius flung from the volcanic depths of
revolutions and of civil sweep with meeorc splen
dor the EARTH and to collapse in darkness before
half the work of life DONE Their violence, their
bton their romantic existence their and their
crimes will forever ascnate the interest OF mankind and
constitute the of their fame if their greatness
such attractions the life and character of the Duke of
Wellington present analogy If he to scarce in
feror renown by of the passions or the arts
which they INDUCED or employed.
Unvanquished in the field, his sword never drawn
for territorial conquest but for the independence of Eu
rope and the salvation of his country Raised by the
gratitude of Europe and of this nation to the
highest point of rank and power which subject of the
British monarchy could attain he those dgnities
and he used that influence within the srictest limits OF
subjects duty. No law ever twisted to his will no
right sacrificed by hairs breadth for his
grandizement. There lived not man. either among his
counrymen his antagonists, who could say that this
great duke had wronged him for his entire existence was
devoted to the Of legal authority and regulated
power You seek in it in vain for those strokes of audacous
enterprise which in other great captains his rivals in
the fate of nations But his whole shines with the
steady light Of day. 1t has nothing to concea it has
nothing TO interpret by the flexible organs OF history
Every thing in it is manly compact and clear shaped
rule Of public duty, animated by one passion-the
love of England and the service Of the Crown.
The Duke of Wellington lived, commanded and govern
ed in unconscious Indifference disdainful aversion to
those common incentives Of huian action which de-
rived from the powers of imagination and sentiment He
held them cheap, both in their weakness and in their
strength The force and weight Of his character stopped
to no such adventous influences. He might have kim
died enthusiasm especially in the early and doubt
full days Of his Peninsuar but in his successful
and triumphant pursuit Of glory her never passed
his lips in his addresses to his soldiers His entire
to things they His acute glance and cool
judgment pierced at once through the surface which en-
tanges the Imagination kndles the sympathy of the
feelings. Truth, he loved her. is to be reached by
rougher path and by sterner minds,
In in. politics. and in the common transactions Of
e the Duke of Wellington nfexbly to the most
precise in word and deed His Temperament
abhored DISCUSSES and despsed exaggercons The fear
essness Of his actions the result of speculative
confidence or foolhardy presumption but it lay mainly
in just perception of the true relation in which he stood
to his antagonists in the field in the Senate The
greatest exploits Of his @ such the passage Of the
Douro, followed by the march Madrid the battle of
Waterloo and the passing the Catholic Relief Bill we're
performed under circumstances that could inspire en-
thusasm Nothing but the GOODNESS Of the player could
have won the mighty stakes upon cast apparently so
adverse 70 his Other commanders have attained
the highest pitch of glory when they disposed of the CO
ossa resources Of empires and headed armies already
flushed with the conquest Of the world. The Duke Of
Wellington found such encouragement in any part of
his career
AT no time the at his disposal ad eouate to
the ready and certain execution Of his des ans His
steady progress in the Peninsuar campaign a vent on
against the current Of fortune till that cure A q. itself
turned by and resolution He had clear
and complete perception Of the danger he encountered
but he and grasped the latent power bicb baaed
those dangers and surmounted resstances nnarenv in
yincibe This is precisely the highest de- - ~ coura
for 1T Is courage conscious enlightened "a determneS
Clearness Of discernment, correctness @:armsnt a.
rectitude in action were without doub ;nc;,al eIo
ments Of the Dukes brilliant acheyer 4; var and :
his vast authority in the councils Of x.n,rr os ,e
m;na,;on 49, o;c;ns,;, a"J hey gave TO his deter
and sometimes impaired to his Ia n ~ - ssha,a nj,
md ei0 ar vh;