courage which nothing can shake-despising the thwartings of ill-counselled advice-disregarding all blame so he knew it to be unmerited-laughing to scorn reviling enemies, jealous competitors, lukewarm friends-aye, hardest of all, careless even of the fickle public; but keeping his own course, and casting forward his eye as a man ought, else he is unworthy of commanding men, to the time when the momentary cloud must pass away from the public mind, well knowing that in the end the people is ever just to merit. The ordinary run of mankind are apt to be misled in their judgments. Dazzled by the splendour of great actions, they are prone to overlook the landmarks that separate the various departments of human desert. Oftentimes they are deceived by the glitter of the coin, and regardless of the die that guarantees its purity, or the weight that attests the value of the metal. Thus you hear their applauses lavished upon martial deeds of high emprise,' justly, no doubt, but as if there were nothing more glorious than the triumphs reaped on the well-foughten field. Yet if Vimeira, if the Douro, and Assaye, and Talavera, and Salamanca, and Vittoria, and Toulouse, and Waterloo, -if these shine bright upon the medallion that vainly attempts to perpetuate such fame, sober-minded and thoughtful men will pause ere they pronounce these to be the brightest achievements of the great Captain's career. The reflecting mind will pierce below the surface of men's actions; and point the look of greatest wonder to the contemplation of the lines of Torres Vedras, long sustained by matchless firmness in the most adverse circumstances-the retreat from Burgos, in which consummate generalship vied with consummate fortitude-the battle of Busaco, won under accumulated difficulties. All meditation of human affairs and human conduct teaches us to set the highest value upon that genius which displays its temper and its extent by a skill as fertile of resources under

adverse fortune, as swift in movements to meet sudden variation of circumstances-guided, supported by a firmness of purpose which nothing can shake or can divert-keeping its own counsel unnerved and unshaken-and piercing the surrounding cloud to gain a view of the success upon which it reckons, because it has been well earned. This is a noble-this a moral courage, a courage unknown and incomprehensible to the vulgar brave!"*

Then, if we must go back to former ages in order to find a parallel, the eye rests naturally on Cæsar-the greatest man of ancient times-but he only surpassed the Duke in the "worthless accomplishment of practised oratory, almost epidemic at Rome; our guest himself being all the while, in his own person, (if you will trust a constant witness and no inexperienced judge,) among the most powerful and efficient of debatersCæsar, who led the disciplined and accomplished legions of Rome through the almost unresisting medium of savage hordes, without knowledge, without rule, without art; ill commanded-worse equipped;led them almost as a boat cuts through the wave, or an eagle cleaves the air-Cæsar, who never measured his arms with a worthy antagonist, until he brought back his troops inured to easier victory, and met the forces of his countrymen marshalled under a warrior broken with years, when the conqueror crossed that river which all the confidence of all the armies under the sun never could have tempted our illustrious Chief even to let the dream of crossing pass over his imagination, the Rubicon, that separates the provinces of the honest, the peaceful, the loyal citizen, and of the traitor, the usurper, the tyrant. Or shall the comparison be made, and only made to be dismissed at once, with the greatest of all the ancient captainsthe Carthaginian leader? But his consummate genius was debased, and the wonderful growth of his great

* Speech at Dover Festival, 1839.

faculties was stifled and choked, by a base undergrowth of the very worst vices that can degrade and pervert the nature of man; and none will think of comparing the unprincipled profligacy, the worse than barbarian cruelty, the worse than Punic faith which predominated in him, with the stern integrity, the straightforward honesty, the artless simplicity, which form the principal charm in the character of the modern warrior."

But in one particular he stands pre-eminent over all these, and especially over Napoleon, him whom he last overthrew; and this difference" divides those chiefs of ancient days and of other countries, by an impassable gulf from ours. They were conquerors, inflamed with the thirst of dominion, and they spilt rivers of blood to slake it; they were tyrants, and nothing could quench their lust of power at home, but the destruction of liberty, as nothing abroad could satiate their appetite for conquest, but the destruction of their kind. Our hero has never drawn his sword but in that defensive war, which alone, of all warfare, is not the greatest of crimes; never unsheathed it against the liberties of any people, but constantly, blessed be God! triumphantly unsheathed it to secure the liberties of all: the servant of his Sovereign to command his troops, but the soldier and defender of his country; the enemy of her enemies, be they foreign or domestic; the fast friend to the rights of his fellow-citizens, and the undaunted champion of her free Constitution."

The peculiar characteristic of this great man, and which, though far less dazzling than his exalted genius, and his marvellous fortune, is incomparably more useful for the contemplation of the statesman, as well as the moralist, is that constant abnegation of all selfish feelings, that habitual sacrifice of every personal, every party consideration to the single object of strict dutyduty rigorously performed in what station soever he

might be called to act. This was ever perceived to be his distinguishing quality; and it was displayed at every period of his public life, and in all matters from the most trifling to the most important. An example is often cited as illustrating this truly admirable peculiarity. He was always exceedingly fond of music, and in his youth he played on the violoncello. One morning this pastime kept him till too late for parade, he being then a subaltern officer. From that hour he never touched the instrument; to the end of his life his love of music continued throughout as great as before. That he took so little interest in any but vocal music, is very possibly attributable to the same incident. That he early abstained from the use of wine, except in the most moderate degree, is possibly owing to some such accidental circumstance; for it is said, that when a very young man, he gave way, like others, to this pernicious indulgence.

It would be quite superfluous to dwell on the singular brilliancy of his career, and the uninterrupted success which his marvellous circumspection and calm but immovable resolution, secured in the face of such difficulties as no other man ever had to contend with. Rather than recount how many times he was thanked by the Parliament, what honours he received from the Crown and two Houses with the perfectly unanimous approval of the people at times of the fiercest party conflicts, what happy fortune attended him in circumstances where success must of necessity depend half upon chance, quantas ille res domi militiæque quantaque felicitate gesserit; ut ejus semper voluntatibus non modo cives assenserint, socii obtemperarint, hostes obedierint, sed etiam venti tempestatesque obsecundarint*it is more important to consider such peculiarities as are apt to escape the vulgar eye-and of these the most remarkable is the early maturity of his

* Pro Leg. Manil.

genius. When that extraordinary and most instructive publication of his Despatches appeared, respecting which he once with good-humoured pleasantry observed, that he was surprised to find himself one of the most voluminous of authors, and the study of which is known to have converted some very eminent statesmen who had, under the influence of party prejudices, greatly misjudged him, and who now declared at once and in the strongest terms how grievously they had erred -perhaps the most striking of the reflections which arose in the reader's mind was what manifest proofs were everywhere afforded that it was the same man throughout; and that at the outset of his life, when commanding, or when negotiating, with the armies or the native powers of India, and bearing his part in the civil as well as military administration of his brother, there appears precisely the same genius and the same virtue which were afterwards displayed in Europe. The Despatches through the whole of these most interesting volumes are plainly the work of the same person, and record the self-same conduct, both in council and in the field. The identity of the man is complete; the manner, as is the expression respecting the great masters of art, is the same in this great master of the arts of War and of Government; his first manner is as unchanged as would have been that of Raphael, had he produced the Transfiguration when he left the school of Pietro Perugino.

But, as regards state affairs, an important change took place in the circumstances, indeed in the sphere, in which he was called to act so conspicuous a part. In the East, and before the peace of 1815, he had not to deal with popular governments, unless in so far as he felt the obstructions which our parties placed in the way of his military operations. At the close of the war, too, for some years, he was only engaged in negotiations with powers which had no constitutional government; and his great knowledge of every