APPENDIX
I
WELLINGTON
WATERLOO
[This dispatch by the Duke of Wellington touching upon the battle of Waterloo is in his usual plain and straightforward manner.]
To Marshal Lord Beresford, G. C. B.: You will have heard of our battle of the 18th. Never did I see such a pounding match. Both were what the boxers call "gluttons." Napoleon did not manoeuver at all. He just moved forward in the old style in columns, and was driven off in the old style. The only difference was, that he mixed cavalry with his infantry, and supported both with an enormous quantity of artillery.
I had the infantry for some time in squares, and I had the French cavalry walking about as if they had been our own. I never saw the British infantry behave so well.
WELLESLEY.
OPPOSITION TO REFORM
[In the House of Lords in the course of the debate on the King's Speech, Nov. 2, 1830, the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, spoke in part as follows. The inflexible Toryism of the speech disgusted the country and led to the defeat of the ministry. Earl Grey came into power and carried the Reform Bill.]
This subject brings me to what noble lords have said respecting the putting the country in a state to overcome the evils likely to result from the late disturbances in France. The noble Earl has alluded to the propriety of effecting parliamentary reform. The noble Earl has, however, been candid enough to acknowledge that he is not prepared with any measure of reform, and I can have no scruple in saying that his Majesty's government is as totally unprepared with any plan as the noble Lord. Nay, I, on my own part, will go further, and say, that I have never read or heard of any measure up to the present moment which can in any degree satisfy my mind that the state of the representation can be improved, or be rendered more satisfactory to the country at large than at the present moment. I will not, however, at such an unseasonable time, enter upon the subject, or excite discussion, but I shall not hesitate to declare unequivocally what are my sentiments upon it. I am fully convinced that the country possesses at the present moment a legislature which answers all the good purpose of legislation, and this to a greater degree than any legislature ever has answered in any country whatever. I will go further, and say, that the legislature and the system of representation possess the full and entire confidence of the country—deservedly possess that confidence—and the discussions in the legislature have a very great influence over the opinions of the country. I will go still further, and say, that if at the present moment I had imposed upon me the duty of forming a legislature for any country, and particularly for a country like this, in possession of great property of various descriptions, I do not mean to assert that I could form such a legislature as we possess now, for the nature of man is incapable of reaching such excellence at once; but my great endeavor would be to form some description of legislature which would produce the same results. The representation of the people at present contains a large body of the property of the country, and in which the landed interests have a preponderating influence. Under these circumstances, I am not prepared to bring forward any measure of the description alluded to by the noble Lord. I am not only not prepared to bring forward any measure of this nature, but I will at once declare that as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any station in the government of the country, I shall always feel it my duty to resist such measures when proposed by others.
THE LAUREATE'S TRIBUTE
[The feeling of the English nation toward the Duke of Wellington was nobly expressed by Tennyson in his great "Ode," published in 1852, the year of the Duke's death.]
I
Bury the Great Duke
With an empire's lamentation;
Let us bury the Great Duke
To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation-
Mourning when their leaders fall,
Warriors carry the warrior's pall,
And sorrow darkens hamlet and hall.