LIFE OF WELLINGTON. CHAPTER I. The Duke of Wellington-Another stone to his Cairn-Birth-Account of his Family-Education-First appointment to, and rapid advance in the Army-Appearance in Parliament-His first Service in Flanders The Retreat from Holland, and the Commander of the Rear Guard—His appointment to a Colonelcy.-Embarkation of himself and his Rsgiment for India-State of our Indian Possessions in 1798-Lord Mornington appointed Governor-General-War with Tippoo Saib―The Battle of Mallavelly. THE most remarkable man of our time, in all respects, and the greatest military commander the world has ever seen, has passed from among us; but "The trail of glory marks the vanished star!"* He has left behind him the materials for a monument to his fame, in the glorious events of his long and useful life, the splendour of which cannot be surpassed, and has never yet been approached in either ancient or modern times. This eulogium will scarcely appear hyperbolical to those who have traced him throughout his vast and varied career; in the battle-field and in the council-chamber; in the court and in the closet; now deciding the destinies of the world by a single wave of his sword; and, anon, awing the clamour of a senseless and imbruted democracy by the resolute dignity of his look. It seems impossible, in attempting to add another stone to his cairn, not to remember the well-known reply of the Spartan to a rhetorician who proposed to pronounce an eulogium on Dryden. B Hercules: "On Hercules!" responded the admiring Spartan, "who ever thought of blaming Hercules?" And who, in our times at least, has ever ventured to question the genius, the wisdom, or the honesty, of Wellington! Never has any great public character descended to the tomb with a more unanimous testimony in his favour. If, during a period of violent political excitement, his inflexible principle may have provoked for a brief space the hostility of the blind and unreasoning partizan, his stern loyalty of purpose enabled him soon to live down that temporary unpopularity, and acquire an influence over his fellow-countrymen such as has never before been possessed by any individual whatsoever; until They more or less came in with cap and knee, Whilst, on the other hand, 66 By his light Did all the Chivalry of England move To do brave acts: he was indeed the glass Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves." Never was the mind of a great man more thoroughly constitutional, in the best sense of the term, than that of Wellington. It has been often and truly remarked, that his prevailing characteristic was his strict sense of duty, which appeared to influence alike the greatest as well as the least important acts of his life. He seemed to have no will that was not altogether subservient to this absorbing principle; and in describing him as the most valiant and the wisest, we may add that-second only in station to royalty itself-he was also the most dutiful and least selfish subject of his sovereign; never allowing an impulse to weigh with him, for a single moment, that was not based on the most loyal devotion to the monarch, and the most patriotic regard for the general interests of his country. Fortunately for posterity, no man, however illustrious, ever left behind him so ample a body of materials for his * Shakspere. history as the Duke of Wellington. His military life may be said to have been written in his Despatches; for the rest, he has lived so entirely before the world for more than half a century, that the biographer has not to go far afield for his data. They lie ready to his hand, and his chief difficulty would appear to arise from their abundance and importance. On the present occasion, our task is limited to the abridgment of the labours of a biographer who is no longer among us to perform it for himself, and to furnish such additions and corrections as appear to be indispensable to render the record complete. In a narrative limited to a single volume, it has, of course, been impossible to give documents and despatches in extenso. The utmost that could be done was to condense their spirit into the very limited space at our command; giving more promiuence to those events in which the Duke was more immediately concerned, than to incidents which, however they may have ministered to his final triumph, have only a collateral interest in such a work. ARTHUR WELLESLEY, Duke of Wellington, third surviving son of Garret, second Earl of Mornington, by Anne, eldest daughter of Arthur Hill, Viscount Dungannon, was born at Dangan Castle, in the county of Meath, on the 1st of May, 1769;* the year that gave birth to Napoleon Buonaparte, Marshal Soult, Mehemet Ali, and the late Marquis of Londonderry. The Wellesleys derive their origin from the Colleys, or Cowleys, of Rutlandshire. From the account of this family which is given in most of the Peerages, it would seem that it is one of considerable antiquity, and was originally settled in Rutlandshire; but that two of its members, Walter and Robert Cowley, emigrated to Kilkenny in the reign of Henry VIII.; great inducements having been held out by that monarch to Pro * Some controversy has arisen as to the precise time and place of the Duke's birth; but we have his own authority for the facts as we have recorded them, conveyed in a reply to some inquiries on the subject, addressed to him only a few weeks before his death. A letter also from his mother, in answer to the enquiry of a friend, which has lately been published in the daily prints, can have left no room for doubt on the matter. testants of respectability to form a settlement in that country. We accordingly find the Cowleys, who had been bred to the law, presented in 1531 with the Clerkship of the Crown in Chancery for their joint lives; and, in 1537, Robert made Master of the Rolls, and Walter, SolicitorGeneral. Robert, after holding his office for twelve years, resigned it for the Surveyor-Generalship of Ireland. From this period the descendants of the family held various important posts, and acquired several grants of land from successive monarchs. They also represented, from time to time, divers places in parliament. The immediate ancestor of the Morningtons appears to have been Sir Henry Colley, or Cowley, of Castle Carbery, second son of the elder son of Walter Colley, who was Seneschal of the King's County in the reign of Elizabeth; was knighted in 1576; and married Anne, daughter of Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dubin. From this branch descended Richard Cowley of Castle Carbery, who succeeded to the name and estates of his cousin, Garret Wesley, or Welesly, the descendants of a Sussex family, which had emigrated to Ireland in the 16th century, and whose ancestor had been standardbearer to Henry II., and had for his military services obtained large grants of land in the counties of Kildare and Meath. The youngest son of the great-grandson of Sir Henry Cowley became the first Lord Mornington, and assumed the name of Wellesley on succeeding to the estates of Garret Wellesley of Dangan Castle. He was elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Mornington in 1746, and died in 1758. Garret, the second Baron, was born in 1735, and was advanced, in 1760, to the dignities of Viscount Wellesley of Dangan Castle, and Earl of Mornington, county of Meath. He married, Feb. 6, 1759, Anne, eldest daughter of the Right Hon. Arthur Hill, Viscount Dungannon, by whom he had issue: 1. Richard, the late Marquis of Wellesley; 2. Arthur Gerald, who died in infancy; 3. William Wellesley Pole, the present Earl of Mornington; 4. Arthur, the late Duke of Wellington; 5. Gerard Valerian, D.D.; 6. Sir Henry, G.C.B.; 7. Frances Seymour; 8. Anne; 9. Mary Elizabeth. The second Earl of Mornington, a man of polished manners and hospitable disposition, took no part in public 66 business, devoting himself almost exclusively to the study and practice of music, in which, as a composer, he acquired a considerable reputation. Five of his glees, - "Hail, Hallowed Fane," Come, Fairest Nymph," "Here in cool Grot," "When for this World's Repose," and "Go Happy Shade," have found a very wide acceptance in the musical world for more than half a century. Although nearly self-taught, his compositions were admired by the first musicians of the day. A taste like his was naturally averse from the turmoil of political intrigue; and, happy in his family and friends, Lord Mornington avoided the bustle of the crowd. He lived loved and respected; and no death was regretted, by an extensive circle of acquaintances, more sincerely than his. That event occurred at his house in Kensington, on the 22nd of May, 1781. Lord Mornington died in the noon of life, leaving a large family, and a property considerably encumbered. His son, the late Marquis Wellesley, correctly appreciating the value of his excellent mother, confided the management of his patrimony to her care; and at once assumed the payment of his father's debts, an act, on his part, the more honourable, because it was entirely discretionary. The earlier education of the distinguished brothers, the Earl of Mornington and the Honourable Arthur Wellesley, commenced at Eton; whence Arthur, after receiving the rudiments of his education, was removed to the care of the Reverend H. Michell, A.M., vicar of Brighton. In due time, Lord Mornington was sent to Oxford, and there completed his studies; while, with excellent judgment, his younger brother Arthur was placed in the Military College of Angers, in the department of the Maine and Loire, as a fitter school for one already destined to the profession of arms.* Here he acquired that perfect knowledge of the French language which was so serviceable to him in afterlife. The career of a boy is seldom particularly remarked until after-life has stamped the individual as one beyond his fellows. At his first school, Wellesley gave certain promise of * This academy was under the direction of the celebrated engineer, Pignerol, whose name is chiefly known as the constructor of one of the formidable fortresses of the Alps. |