THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 4, 13 September 1927, Page 7

THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY

THE DUKE Or WELLINGTON GENERAL AND STATESMAN, The Duke of Wellington, “Hie Iron Duke”, the victor in hard-fought battles in India and on the Spanish Peninsular, victor also over ' Napoleon 1 at the great battle ol Waterloo, died on September lllb, 1852. Tie was born (probably in Dublin) in 1709, the year of the birth of Napoleon, and learned the rudiments ol war at the French academy in Angers. In 1793 he became intimate with Robert Stewart, afterwards Lord Castlereagh, who had a marked influence on ids career. He represented the pocket borough of Trim in the Irish Parjiament. In 1787 lie entered the army and in 1794 ho covered, with great activity and skill, the retreat into Holland of the Allies and of the Duke of York. HIS WORK IN INDIA. The was sent to Calcutta in 1790. He failed at Seringapatam, but Ids powers shone out conspicuously on the day of Assaye (1803), where ho exhibited for the first time in war his capacity in offensive tactics, and won a battle almost a,s decisive as that of Plassey. The great virtues of Wellesley, however, in India in these years were Jus sagacity, moderation and integrity. He insisted on faith being kept witj; the Indian princes, he showed himself especially averse to unjust conquests, and, above all, lie did much to purify and improve the Indian civil service. His great career in the Peninsula began in 1808. The conduct of Wellington in these long and arduous campaigns, says an authority, was a magnificent display of profound insight, oi resolute constancy, of military capacity of the highest order, and of unusual powers of organisation. BTHATEGIG FORESIGHT. lie aloito was from the beginning, the admirable facilities for a diversion fiy a; maritime power afforded by the Spanish peninsula- Alone also he saw the capacity for detcnce of Portugal. He displayed unequalled military nerve against troops and leaders whose very name niaue Europe tremble; and a very high degree of strategical and tactical genius, especially of the latter. The most striking examples of the former were tho retreat upon Lisbon, and the two changes of base which enabled him to press the campaign into France. In the matter of tactics Wellington had devised a deliberate play for countering the Napoleonic tacitcs (attack in column or mixed formations) which had swept Europe. To such atlie opposed the old two-deep hue, but not until the last movement, and with its flanks carefully protected and garnished for the first time with swarms of skirmishers, skilfully concealed. The triumph of the Peninsula was thus not so much a triumph of phlegm and coolness on the part of the commandor-in-chief, though these qualities were displayed in a high degree, as a triumph of\ penetrating military genius and intellect, backed by tnose inflexible moral characteristics for which the “Great Duke” became proverbial.

TWO WEAKNESSES. Hi s weaknes lay in a certain want of inspiration, of that “divine element’’ in war which Napoleon posessed; also in a certain bleakness of character which made him appear not on[3- austere but unappreciative, and deprived him of the affection of the men be commanded. For his triumphs in the Peninsula War Wellington wn,£ made a Duke. It was his fortune, after Napoleon’s return from Elba, to encounter that greatest of masters of war; but his operations in Belgium, arc not, however, his real crown of fame. He was subsequently employed in several great diplomatic thrusts. Be was not a successful Prime Minister. He belonged to the oligarchy that had ruled Ireland; he knew few public men when he first entered office; ho made mistakes which cannot be denied ; the difficulties which beset him in 183(1 wore immense. As a statesman Wellington far exceeded Marlborough, though he does not stand in the same rank as Pitt and Peel- At the same time, for a quarter of a century ho wa. s a. main pillar of the State. In the frenzy of reform in 1831-2 he became an object of popular wrath, hub the nation soon relumed to its right mind, and it accepted the dictatiouship conferred on him in 1831.

PRINCE REGENT’S LETTER. A greatly valued article which fell into me ha mis of the British after the battle of 'Vitloria wa s th 0 rich-ly-ornamented baton of Marshal Jourdan, the French commander. This "as sent home with the despatches to 1 the Prince Regent, who, in return wrote the following autograph letter to Lord Wellington; CARLTON HOUSE. ~, July 3rd, 1813. My Dear Lord, Your glorious conduct i.s beyond all human praise, and far above my reward : J know no language the world affords, worthy to express it. 1 feel 1 have nothing loft to Silv (, u t, devoutly to offer up my pnqycr.s of gratitude to Providence,'that it has, m its omnipotent bounty, blessed my country and myself with such a genurid- .You have isenb me, among the trophies of your unrivalled fame, the staff of a French marshal; and 1 send you, in return, that of’Englaml. The British army will hail it with enthusiasm • Iwhi'Vi Alio whole universe will acknowledge those val--01 mis efforts which have so imperiously called for it. ’That uniuter--1 opted health and stilj increasing laurels, nnqy continue to crown yon through a glorious and long career of life, are the never-ceasing and most ardent wishes of, My dear Lord, Your most sincere and faithful friend. G. P. 1L”