New-York tribune., 1903-02-08
WELLINGTON.
"A SELECTION FROM HIS DISPATCHES
THE DISPATCHES OF FIELD MARSHAL THE
DIXIE OF WELLINGTON. FROM 1899 TO
1875 Selected and arranged by Walter Wood
octave pp XXI 475. E. =. Dutton Co

Octave pp XXI, 475. E. =. Dutton Il Co
In the literature that the dispatches of great
commanders form by themselves, those OF Wel-
lington hold high rank rather by virtue OF their
substance than by virtue of their style lie
never had the grandose rhetoric of his great
rival. 1t is doubtful if he would have used 1t
even if the Napoleonic style had been at his
finger tips Nevertheless Colonel Gurwood
twelve volumes are packed with matter no less
Interesting to the general reader than to the
historical specialist, and the judicious selection
from them now offered by Mr.. Wood is de-
cdedly worth having.
1t embraces the campaigns in india Denmark,
Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries and FRANCE
and includes a chapter given to documents III
which reference is made to America Inc coiii-
piler has put his book together in Workmahllke
manner He opens with 'prec1s OF the
commissions, services, official commands ana
public honors of the duke, carrying the record
down to his death in 1852; this is followed by
e. glossary OF Indian terms and titles used IN
the text, and there is a full index We feel
especially grateful to Mr.. Wood for having
taken pains, all along the line to hlustrate
WELLINGTON in what we may call his everyday
military aspect, as well as in the great crises
of his career like the chief episodes OF the
Peninsular War, and Waterloo. mus the
administrative capacity he first disclosed "heh
in service In India is put vividly in the fore
ground One is made to realize also the equaole
and naughty temperament of the man, Who'
having made up his mind what to do, proceeded
to do it with placid resolution I'VE have
been perfectly quiet here since wrote to you,
he writes from Seringapatam to Lieutenant
Colonel Close. The court martial sentenced the
four men to be hanged, but I have not the
mower of putting the sentence in execution, ex-
cepting in the case Of emergency, which, When
they had finished their proceedings, did not
exist, and the men tried were not at tne
head of the riot, have had them well noggeo
Rnd sent about the;- business"
There is a broad and most Illuminating stroke
OF unconscious self-portraiture in the last
clauses of the note just quoted Now and then
there is a kind Of plaintive WEAKNESS In the
earlier dispatches There some tigers
here" he writes to Lieutenant General Harris,
(which I wish Nicer Alum would send for, or
else must give orders to have them shot, as
there is no food for them, and nobody to at
tend to them, a1d they getting violent"
One smiles at the thought of the busy soldier,
listening with annoyance TO hourly reports from
some native subordinate about a parcel OF
tigers who insist upon stirring up trouble. But
the tone remains always curiously even and
businesslike. When he has a rebuke TO trans
NIT to some officer it is couched in terms or
perfect good temper. he was always SenOlng
advice if not rebukes. One of the most inter-
esting of his letters is in advocacy of silence
where public matters concerned. Part of it
IS worth quoting for the sake of the sound
sense with which question difficult to this day
to deal with, in army circles, is briefly and
conclusively handled. He says:
There is nothing more certain than that, of
hundred affairs, ninety mine might be
posted up at the market cross, without injury
to the public interest; but the misfortune is
that, where the public business is the subject
of general conversation, and is not kept secret,
matter of course, upon every occasion, it
is very difficult to keep it secret upon that oc~
caSion which il is necessary. There is an
aWkwardness in a secret which enables discern
ing men (of which description there always
plenty in army invariably to find it out;
and it may be depended upon that whenever
always suffers when it is exposed to public
view. For this reason secrecy is always best
Remember that what L recommend to
you is far removed from mystery; in fact l
recommend silence upon the public business
upon all occasions in order to avoid the neceS-
sity Of mystery upon any.
He was much annoyed at the occurrence of
duels among his officers, any events leading
to courts martial when they referrable
to private quarrels and differences, with which
the public have concern whatever" He
urges one of his colonels to do all he can to
turn the attention of the officers to public mat
ters rather than to their private concerns. |
Occasionally a feeling, positively warm for