THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 8902, 19 September 1889, Page 3

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

“great events from little causes SPRING.”

Among the incidents of Waterloo, it is startling to find that Bulow’s Division, whoso advent first alarmed Napoleon, might have completely failed but for the judgment of a single Belgian peasant. On leaving the woods of Prischermont, to the right of the Preach army, two roads diverge. Tho man who guided the column hesitated; and for a few minutes considered which path he should take. He chose the left one, saying, “ Now we shall take them all.” Had he led by the other, the Prussian Division would have found it impassable by their artillery. The rain of the previous night had rendered the ground extremely heavy; and in fact a mistake might have changed the destiny of Europe. I should have thought that every inch of ground in the neighbourhood of Waterloo would have been surveyed; for it is well known that the Duke reconnoitred the position the previous year; and bad previously determined where the fight would be for the protection of Belgium. THE DUKE’S INTENSELY PRACTICAL NATURE. Brilliant as were the abilities of the Duke, he, like other great men, could not talk twaddle. He found no difficulty in speaking to children, whose naive manners and originality of thought delighted him; but the wretched trash talked by grownup children was to him intolerable. The story is well known of his saying, “ I have uo small talk, and Peel no manners.” We cannot fancy the Duke asking, even in a railway carriage, “Have you seen Salviui ?” nor “ Do you admire Mrs Langtry ?” The Duke’s whole nature was practical. Instead of considering and theorizing as to various arms, garments, belts, &c., worn by the British soldier, he sent for a man of a line regiment. Having provided a large pair of scales, be said to the soldier, “ Step into that scale with your musket, pouch, knapsack, schako, &o.” He had the weight written down. "Now then, get out; strip yourself naked ; and then get into the scale again.” That settled the question. There is, or was, at the Clothing Department in Pimlico, a quaint old infantry schako. It bears Roman numerals on tho front. With it was this memorandum :—“The Duke of Wellington has worn this shacko for seven hours to-day. He considers it an excellent head-dress for the soldier.” Most men who have tried it on would be very sorry to wear it for seven minutes; and would differ from the Duke. However, “ there were giants in those days.”

ASSISTING “ THE GREATEST MAN THAT EVER LIVED.”

The Duke detested being helped; not from ingratitude, but from two distinct feelings—one, that be did not like to be thought, what he certainly was not, decrepit ; the other, that he knew very well that the majority of persona who helped him simply did so in order to be able to say that they bad done so. This was to him revolting. Standing opposite to Apsley House in the evening in Piccadilly, when the street was even more crowded than it is now, the Duke was hesitating on the curbstone. A gentleman nearly as old as himself made some demonstration of assisting him to cross the road, endeavouring to clu ck the tide of cabs and other vehicles that was setting strongly. When the Duke reached the gate of Apsley House, he touched his hat; and said, " I thank you, sir.” The elderly stranger immediately uncovered ; holding his hat at his knee, he addressed the Duke as follows :—“ My lord, I have passed a long and not uneventful life; but never did I hope to reach the day when I might be of the slightest assistance to the greatest man that ever lived.” The Duke looked at him calmly; and in a voice not in the least choked by emotion, replied, “Don’t be a d d fool!” aad walked into Apsley House.

THE TRUE STORY OF TEE “ WATERLOO BREECHES.” The Duke’s handwriting is indistinct. It is the handwriting of a man who has written a great deal; in fact, be was always writing. One would be curious to know what the verdict of those who read character from handwriting would be. The Duke, when sitting in the Lords, received a letter from the eminent landscape designer, and great authority on botanical matters, J. C. Loudon. The Duke had lost eight of him for some years. It was a note to this effect: “ My Lord Duke, —It would gratify me extremely if you would permit me to visit Strathfieldsaye, at any time convenient to your Grace, and to inspect the ‘Waterloo beeches.’ Your Grace’s faithful servant, J. C. Loudon.” The Waterloo beeches were trees that had been planted immediately after the battle of Waterloo as a memorial of the great fight. The Duke read the letter twice, the writing of which was not very clear; and, with his usual promptness and politeness, replied as follows, having read the signature as “C. J. London,” instead of “J. C. Loudon”: “My Dear Bishop of London, —It will always give me great pleasure to see you at Strathfieldsaye. Pray come there whenever it suits your convenience, whether I am at homo or not. My servant will receive orders to show you as many pairs of breeches of mine as you wish; but why you should wish to inspect those that I wore at the battle of Waterloo is quite beyond the comprehension of yours, moat truly, Wellington.” This letter was received, as may be supposed, with great surprise by the Bishop of London. He showed it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to other discreet persona; they came to the melancholy conclusion that the great Duke of Wellington had evidently lost his senses. The Bishop of London (Blomfield) declared that he had not written to the Duke for two years; and to receive this extraordinary intimation puzzled the whole Bench of Bishops. Explanations, however, of a satisfactory kind followed, and the friendship of these worthy men was not changed. A HINT TO AUTOGRAPH HUNTERS. On one occasion the Duke received a letter in the followingterms; I correct the spelling:—“ Mr Tomkins ventures to address the Duke of Wellington. Mr Tomkins’ mother is a washerwoman ; Mr Tomkins regrets to say that, having washed for the Marquis of Douro for many years, his mother has been unable to obtain payment for the last three years. Mrs Tomkins is very poor, and cannot afford to lose the money. She hopes the Duke will kindly pay it. Mrs Tomkins’ address is * * * .” After carefully reading and considering the letter, the Duke sent the following reply: - Marshal the Dube of Wellington has received a letter from Mr Tomkins, slating that the Marquis of Douro is in debt to his mother, Mrs Tomkins. The Duke of Wellington is not the Marquis of Douro. The Duke regrets to find that his eldest son has not paid his washerwoman’s bill. Mrs Tomkins has no claim upon the Duke of Wellington. The Duke recommends her, failing another application, to place the matter in the hands of a respectable solicitor." Some six weeks later the Duke had a dinner party at Apsley House, One of the guests asked the Duke if he was not tormented by applications for his autograph. The Duke replied, “Ob, yes; constantly.” The friend then said, “ A few days ago I was examining a moat in tores ting collection with your Grace’s in the place of honour in the book.” “ What was that ? ” said the Duke. “Well, the collector’s plan is to write to every person of eminence, and to accuse his eldest son of bilking bis washerwoman. He pastes bis own letter and the reply face to face.” I should like to have seen the Duke’s face when he heard the first Prussian cannon at Waterloo ; I should like also to have seen it on this occasion. KEN WHO NEVER HEARD OF WELLINGTON OR NAPOLEON. Soon alter the Duke’s death, Roebuck, the member for Sheffield, told a story in a speech at that place, which he subsequently assured me was precisely true. Staying in a country house, be heard the news cf the Duke’s death. He spoke, in the early morning to the gardener, an elderly man, who was mowing the lawn. He said : “ There is bad news come.” “ Is there, sir?” ga-'d the man. “ Yes,” he said; “the Duke’s dead at last.” “ Who, sir?” “The Duke of very sorry for the gentleman,” replied the man, going on with hia work; “ but I

never heard of him.” Walking with Disraeli, he told me the following story. I have never made up my mind whether he believed it to be true or not. Ha spoke as if he implicitely believed it. Speaking of the small circle in which even the greatest move, he told me that the First Napoleon, a year after he became Emperor, was determined to find out if there was anyone in the world who had not heard of him. Within a fortnight the police of Paris had discovered a wood-chopper at Montmartre, within Paris, who had never heard of the Revolution ; nor the death of Louis XVI.; nor of the Emperor.