LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 196, 20 August 1938, Page 18

LOOKING BACK.

WAR AND BLOODSHED.

WELLINGTON RECALLED.

MONS TO ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

(By MAX WHATMAN.)

Possibly the greatest disappointment of the Duke of Wellington's eventful career was the insuperable obstacle placed in his way by superior officers when he had a splendid opportunity of chasing the French out of Portugal after the Battle of Vimeiro. -i !>' This battle, fought on August'2l; 1808 was the first of the Peninsula War It near the coast of Portugal, •north of Lisbon, between the advance (guard of the British expedition and a iifreneh army under Jnnot. The French SJ^ at^. but re l , f n B t °n was not allowed to follow up hirvictory. ' Sir Harry Burrard who had been sent out to ""Persede him, and Sir Hew. EWrymple, who was in chief command of the expedition, landed with more troops el »ngi and, deeming caution the better part of valour, concluded the Con. ventioirof Cintra. Under this convention the French were allowed to withdraw unmolested from Portugal. The prospect of a bloodless occupation of Lisbon, induced Dalrymple and Bun-ard to, agree to terms which n? * Some deemed too lenient. B^f a . r d ®nd Wellington were recalled and tried by court-martial All were acquitted, hut Dalrymple and Burrard were not gj ven employment. - Wellington was seat back to Portugal, where, meanwhile, the chief SWobl? M^Lf eV °i Ved wpon the # «mous kl,w " "" i

V £ 1 •* Mont. m^ C M m° fe "i c * m P»ign decorations th™ h ? Bri «<A troops ♦ TbU ' decoration, given to those whp served through the sgony of that terrible "fortnight, recalls a time when the British Empire faced From August 23 to 1 " r o *i ed^ from <he crashing "s?#*.®? th « German at Parte and the Channel porta. Cftrmany was within an ace of winning the rhm tbe Crerm *n High Command did not realise how close they t Ucce **' and on September - 6 the order was given lor \ u"? te r Offensive which effectively checked the German' advance. the days and nights of ttw retreat the small British Army was opposed to relentless jrarsuit br five Owman Army^,Q«ps.^^fc:«nemy made wtermined efforts to hem the British in against the fortress of Maubeuge, but Si 7 : «f the two f, 1 ® 11 *' one being used to of the other, while bMWr. Y brilliantly to cover DO«, the troops were finally extricated. • noteworthy was the manner /a W x°««,°.l th ® moßt critical day (August 26) the Second Corps, under Sir Smithrporrien, fought its way Autcof an onslaught iby four German divisions, mi spite* of the fact that it was impossible to send any assistance ■frpm; 'Ccwps.., , •

•"]*♦ Bartholomew'i It®. ijsWl- seamed f-at ■ peace between the King of France and his Huguenot subHuguenot leaders were drawn to Paris to attend the wed#j(M">' twfc own Henry of Beam with the Princes* Margaret. Admiral Coligny, greatest; of the Huguenots, was laden with presents Iby Charles IX. It was all the basest hypocrisy. The weak-minded King was persuaded by his evil mother, Catharine de Medici, to agree to a massacre of the Huguenots who were within his grasp. August 22 was fixed as the date of the massacre. After Coligny had been murdered, a bell in the tower of the Royal palace, at the hour of midnight, gave the signal to the assembled companies of citizens for the slaughter to begiji. "J It is estimated that 4000 perished in Paris alone, a&d the King himself is popularly represented, ,j»£. having fired from a window cm those who .wire fleeing past. The Prince of Conde and. the King of Navarre. saved their lives by going to mafis and appearing to conform to the Roman Catholic Church.

The provinces were at the same time summoned to similar slaughter; and although in some of them the officials were ashamed to publish the murderous commands which had been transmitted to them, there were found bloodthirsty fanatics enough ,$o carry out the orders with the result that a number variously estimated' from 30,000 to 70,000 fell.

The Huguenots lad lost their chiefs, h«t, the Hirst moments- ,of stupor past, raey took up arms with iU the fury of despair. The Royal-.troops, were once <more foiled in their attempt* to take: Kochelle; and Charles found Himatlf forced to grant liberty of conscience to I ,f, f"Jguenots *t the rery moment in

Death of Faraday. Thursday will be the seventy-first anniversary of the death of a man who did more for posterity than any sailor, soldier or politician, a man who supplied the key that opened the door to electrical development. This was Michael Faraday, whose memory, deserves every honour.

Edison and other men started where Faraday left off, and it is an indisputable fact that had Edison found it necessary to start where Faraday started, the world would not have had many of the electrical blessings it now enjoys. This great Englishman started life as a bookbinder, but his natural bent could not be stifled and in 1813 he was appointed assistant in the laboratory of the Royal Institute. Early experiments with electricity led to the discovery, made in 1881, that one electric current can definitely-induce another in a different circuit. > • ' m

- v The importance of this discovery cannot he over-emphasised. What would the worid'e factories, .radio stations, motor cars, aeroplanes and steamships. do if induction were not their wil{ihg'~Blave ? Obviously, it is. induction which makes it possible for an el&trfb motor to turn, induction, too, provides the spark which fires the gas iii petrol engines. Induction permits radio transmission and reception.

Strange Reward.

They had queer ways of rewarding people in the eighteenth century. The case of James Thornton is a splendid example of this. Thomson had the good fortune to please the Prince of Wales with his poetry. In appreciation, he was appointed Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands. A deputy did what work there was to be done and Thomson pocketed the £300 a year payment for the office.

Thomson, who was born in 1700, abandoned the church for letters. He first attracted attention by his poems on the seasons, and it was regarded as a tribute to his worth when the Countess of Hertford invited him to her country seat to "hear her verses and assist her studies." The lady, it is said, waxed indignant because the poet "took more delignt in carousing with Lord Hertford and his friends."

Thomson was a preat patriot and liis best known, though by no means hits best work is "Kule Britannia," still, for want of a better, the popular patrioticode. Thomson's best work was undoubtedly ''The Castle of Indolence." As a man he was kindly, easy, gav, indolent and of a rare modesty. He was universally popular. He spent his later years at Richmond where the English scenery is seen at its best, and he died on August 27, 1847, only three months after publication of "The Castle of Indolence."