THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.*
MANY books have been published of late concerning the Duke of Wellington, and it is the highest possible tribute to his character that the more known of him the greater he seems. Even in a time of faction he silenced detractors, and friends combine with opponents to praise his admirable qualities both in peace and war. We have recently noticed the panegyric of Thomas Creevey, an avowed foe on the field of politics ; and Lord Ellesmere's Reminiscences swell the general chorus of applause. Lord Ellesmere, of course, writes as an enthusiastic partisan, but every page of the book, skilfully edited by Alice, Countess of Strafford, bears the imprint of truth, and we finish reading it more convinced than ever of the Duke's greatness.
Lord Ellesmere, then Lord Francis Leveson Gower, first met the Duke at the French Theatre, in the old Argyll Rooms, about the year 1818, and from that time until the Duke's death lived on terms of considerable intimacy with him. He met him at many houses, he visited him at Strath. fieldsaye, he coursed with him, hunted with him, shot with him, and once, he tells us, played a set of tennis with him.
• Personal Reminiscences of the Duke of Wellington. By Francis, the First Earl of Ellesmere. Edited by his Daughter, Alice, Countess of Strafford. London : John Murray. [10s. ed. net.1
He discussed war and politics with him continually, and was able by a natural tact and delicacy to approach him upon subjects to which others were afraid even to refer. Moreover, a long friendship permitted him to play the Boswell to his hero, and he has given us a more intimate portrait of the great man than we have seen elsewhere. Above all, he was not afraid of the Duke. While he understood why Wellington's old military subordinates should be shy of him, he declares " that in civil matters the reserve of his colleagues was mis- placed." " I have combated his views," he wrote, " and main- tained my own with him over and over again, and never could detect in him the slightest trace of obstinacy of conviction or impatience of discussion." The result of all this is that Lord Ellesmere knew the Duke as few men knew him, and he noted traits in his character which escaped many observers. For instance, he tells us that Wellington "had the propensity of cheerful minds to be satisfied with his own possessions and acquisitions. He thought Strathfieldsaye perfect as a residence. His horse and his gun were in his opinion better than anybody's. His guns were Moore's manufacture, and when he made a long shot, which, firing at everything, he sometimes did, he would laud and extol! the maker. I remember at Woodford he invented a very neat bandage for a sore finger and did nothing but exhibit how he could tie and untie it for himself." Lord Elles- mere tells us also of the Duke's scrupulous neatness, of his quick adoption of any invention against cold or wet, such as boas, capes, and the rest; he was delighted even with a patent razor for safe shaving ; and Lord Ellesmere's reverence for the great man is so simple that he records these simple tastes and habits with a delightful ingenuous- ness. On religious matters the Duke seldom spoke, but Arbuthnot assured Lord Ellesmere that he professed implicit faith in the doctrines of the Church. Throughout his life he was devoted to music ; he was a constant attendant at the "Ancient Musics" as well as at the Opera; and in his youth he played the violin with some skill, but gave it up on becoming a field officer, after which he disliked any reference to the subject. These traits may be insignificant, but they are entirely characteristic, and they cannot but heighten our appreciation of Wellington's humanity. He was not a bundle of qualities or a personification of war ; he was a man before all things of a straightforward and engaging temper.
On one point he was stern and unchanging : he would read neither book nor paper which reflected in any way upon his own career. On one occasion Lord Ellesmere asked him his opinion on a passage in Napier. He knew nothing of the famous history, and he positively refused to look even at an extract. One history only—the pompous compilation of Alison—aroused him to anger. Not that he had ever seen the book itself, but he discovered some of Alison's misstatements in a copy of the Spectator which Lord Ellesmere had recommended to Arbuthnot. The Duke concluded at once that Alison was a Whig hired to insult him,—a conclusion not surprising when we remember that it was an article of the Whig faith that Wellington had no talent in politics, and that his military triumphs were the work of Picton and other subordinates. However, the Duke allowed Lord Ellesmere to answer the offending Alison, Whig or no Whig, in the Quarterly. But the historian was uncon- vinced, and no doubt preferred the pretended Memoires of Fouche to the authoritative statement of the Quarterly. And Wellington only once again was guilty of criticising his historians.
Nothing shows his absorption in his profession more clearly than the following story. " The Duke and Croker," says Lord Ellesmere, " travelling in a carriage together, played, to pass the time, a game which consists in guessing at the description of the objects to be first met with after crowning a hill or turning a corner. The Duke had greatly the advantage, and when Croker observed on his success, said You don't consider that I have been passing my life in guessing what I might meet with beyond the next bill, or round the next corner P " His judgments of men and history are singularly just and correct. He used few words, and never fenced his meaning about with qualifica- tions. When Lord Ellesmere mentioned a certain writer's low opinion of Napoleon, the -Duke replied :--" Napoleon was the first man of his day on a field of battle and with French troops. I confine myself to that. His policy was mere bullying, and, military matters apart, he was a Jonathan Wild." Of the many generals that he had met in the field, he thought Massena was the most dangerous and difficult to deal with. Soult, on the other hand, was, in his view, the best strategist that ever he encountered, but " defective and irresolute in actual collision." His historical judgments are sometimes surprising. He thought highly both of Charles I., "the best officer of his day," and of James II., who, said he, " showed great administrative talent at the Admiralty." James's ability at the Admiralty is now generally ad- mitted, but it is astonishing to hear on the highest authority that Charles I. was "remarkable for military talent." Like all other great soldiers, the Duke- had a pro- found admiration for Caesar's Commentaries, which he read and re-read in India, and he believed that Hannibal was " by many degrees the greatest soldier on record." It is difficult to write anything fresh concerning the battle of Waterloo, but the notes and memoranda which conclude the book are for the most part of the Duke's own composition, and therefore of interest, if they contain no new facts. It remains to add that Lord Ellesmere's Reminiscences are written in far better English than such notes and jottings may often boast, and that the prefatory memoir gives us a picture of an amiable, cultivated, and humorous gentleman.
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