The Diplomatists of Europe

by M. Capefigue

When you study with attention the splendid English engravings that represent the misfortunes and downfall of Tippoo Saib, surrounded by his mourning family; when you gaze upon the magnificent Indian scenery, steaming with heat and moisture, the feathery palm-trees, the elephants with their gilded howdahs, the black Sepoys in European costume, intermingled with the English troops, whose cool determined spirit and military resignation are stamped upon their countenance; while in the back-ground appear the high walls of Seringapatam, and their heavy cannon breathing forth slaughter and defiance; in these scenes, amidst the wreaths of smoke and the gleaming of scimetars, the figure of a young officer may be discerned, with a calm countenance, quiet and reserved manners, and the meditative look which presages a great destiny:—that officer is Sir Arthur Wellesley, since then so celebrated as the Duke of Wellington.

Sir Arthur, the fourth son of Gerard Colley Wellesley earl of Mornington, and of Anne Hill, daughter of Viscount Duncannon, was born at Dungan Castle, on the 1st of May, 1769, one year after that which gave birth to Napoleon; it was a period fertile in great geniuses of all kinds, who came to humanise and to add greatness to the times of the Revolution. Sir Arthur was brought up at Eton, and afterwards went to the military college of Angers in France: our country at that time possessed the best military establishments and the most frequented universities; and I have already observed that Prince Metternich and Benjamin Constant were educated at Strasbourg.

Arthur Wellesley entered the army at an early age, and obtained a commission in the 41st Foot; in 1793 he purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 33d regiment, and made part of the expedition to Ostend against the French republic, where he commanded, at the age of twenty-four years, a brigade in the retreat from Holland under the Duke of York. The English dominions are so vast, that it is by no means uncommon to see men even of the noblest families sent from one extremity of the earth to the other in the service of their country, and young Arthur Wellesley embarked for Jamaica; but the fleet was driven back by a tempest, and after recruiting his regiment in Ireland, the young officer found his destination had been altered; and he was now directed to proceed with it to the banks of the Ganges, with his brother, the Marquis Wellesley, who had been appointed governor-general of India. He distinguished himself greatly in the war with Tippoo, that noble ally of France and of Louis XVI; and was present at the taking of Seringapatam, at the head of the auxiliary troops furnished by the Nizam; he was afterwards acting as governor of the conquered city in 1800, when Dhoondiah Waugh, an Indian adventurer, made an incursion into the Company's territory at the head of 5000 horse.

Imagination carries us back to the times of the "Arabian Nights," when we turn our attention upon the power of the English in India, with their immense establishments among the Hindoos and Mahrattas, and the vast capitals of Calcutta and Madras, almost as highly civilised as Paris or London; where habits of extreme softness and indolence prevail in the midst of active military life.

Shall we long continue to be dazzled by that fairy land, sparkling with diamonds and rubies? I think so; for no government possesses all the qualities necessary to insure the colonisation of distant countries in so eminent a degree as the noble and elevated system pursued by England. People constantly talk of the projects of Russia: what need has she of extending her conquests? These are dreams only fit for the period of the empire under Napoleon. Russia and England are united by the most powerful of all bonds, that of commerce.

Sir Arthur Wellesley distinguished himself in the war against the Mahrattas, and was appointed to the command of 12,000 men destined to attack the enemy's country. Owing to the sagacity of the measures he pursued, in order to secure the movements and subsistence of the troops during his long march, he accomplished this difficult campaign, though undertaken at a very unfavourable season, with hardly any loss.

Buonaparte at this time occupied Egypt; and it is rather a curious circumstance that Sir Arthur's name was suggested for the command of the expedition which was to embark from Calcutta, cross the Isthmus of Suez, and attack the French in the Desert. Had the appointment taken place, young Wellesley would have been called upon, at the very commencement of his career, to encounter the General Buonaparte whose power as Emperor was finally annihilated by him on the plains of Waterloo. The Indian campaign of this year is remarkable, because the Company had to encounter the combined forces of Scindiah and the Rajah of Becar. They were attacked by Sir Arthur near the fortified village of Assaye, which has given its name to the battle. He destroyed Scindiah's cavalry, defeated the infantry of the Rajah of Becar on the plains of Argaum, and seized the fortress of Gawoneilgar,[32] which was quickly followed by the submission of the two chiefs. A monument, in memory of the battle of Assaye, was erected at Calcutta. The inhabitants of that city presented the victorious general with a sword of the value of 1000l., and the officers of his army subscribed for a golden vase, still preserved by the Duke at Apsley House. The English parliament also passed a vote of thanks, and the king conferred upon him the order of the Bath. A person should read the first part of the Duke of Wellington's Despatches to be able to form a correct idea of the perils of this campaign and the precautions necessary to be taken, as well as of the moderation and judgment displayed in his orders.

The Duke of Wellington thus commenced his military career in India. He returned to England in 1805, to take the command of a brigade in the army about to proceed to the Continent, under Lord Cathcart; Germany being now the destination of the general who had lately gathered laurels on the burning plains of Hindostan. The expedition, however, was recalled, in consequence of the glorious victory obtained by Napoleon at Austerlitz, which caused the death of Mr. Pitt; for in England, that country of noble and elevated feelings, the destruction of a great enterprise breaks the heart of a statesman. The political life of Wellington dates its commencement from this period. The English aristocracy are filled with devotion to their country, and the Tories enter into her interests with their whole hearts; indeed, it is by no means a rare occurrence in England to see a man at the same time a member of parliament and employed on active service, for the life of Toryism is essentially patriotic. This intermingling of political situations and duties with military customs leads to the habits of order and method observable in the majorities and minorities that occur upon parliamentary questions; people obey their party or their opinions as they would their commanding officer. In 1806 the town of Newport, in the Isle of Wight, elected Sir Arthur as their representative in the House of Commons, and in the same year he married Miss Pakenham, sister to the Earl of Longford; shortly after which he was appointed secretary to Ireland under the Duke of Richmond. He commanded the reserve of the army under Lord Cathcart during the expedition to Copenhagen, which occasioned such stormy debates in parliament; and the capitulation of the city, an affair discussed, settled, and signed in the course of one night, was entrusted to him. By the terms of this capitulation the whole of the Danish fleet fell into the hands of the English. Upon this occasion an unanimous vote of thanks to the army was passed in both houses of parliament, and the Speaker of the House of Commons addressed the general individually when he again took his seat after his return to England.

The theatre of war was gradually increasing, and, in 1808, Sir Arthur received orders to embark for Corunna and oppose the victorious armies of France, now assembled under chiefs whose fame resounded through the whole of Europe; for Spain had been invaded, and England sought to measure her strength in the field with that of Napoleon. The fleet was directed towards Oporto, and Sir Arthur effected his landing in Portugal in the face of the brave regiments of the great army, at the time when Junot was assuming a regal position at Lisbon: the monarchy of the house of Braganza appeared at this period like a brilliant ring, which was successively fitted on the finger of all the adventurous chiefs, despatched as a sort of disgrace to Portugal by Napoleon. General Junot compromised the army by his want of capacity and his vain pretensions, and the 21st of August was marked by the battle of Vimiera, where the attack was commenced by the French. The complete destitution of the army rendered a treaty necessary, and by the miserable capitulation, called the Convention of Cintra, it was agreed that the French should evacuate Portugal and return into France with their arms and baggage. Sir Arthur did not sign this convention, and the real author of it, Sir Hew Dalrymple, being violently attacked by the opposition, Sir Arthur quitted the army to be present at the debates, and at the trial of Sir Hew by a court-martial. The Convention of Cintra has been greatly blamed by Lord Byron in his poem of "Childe Harold." Dalrymple was deprived of his command, and he was succeeded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who landed at Lisbon on the 22d of August, 1809. By the direction of Napoleon, the most bitter ridicule was cast upon him in the Moniteur; those wretched declamations against his adversaries were a weak and contemptible trait in the emperor's character, shewing a spirit of littleness in the midst of all his great qualities. The following is the article he dictated in Paris, with a mixture of folly and presumption:—

"We are very well pleased Lord Wellington should command the armies, for, with the disposition he evinces, he will meet with great catastrophes.... Sir John Moore and Lord Wellington shew no symptoms of the provident forethought which is so essential a quality in warlike operations, which leads people to do nothing but what they can maintain, and to undertake nothing but what offers a probability of success: Lord Wellington has not shewn more talent than the cabinet of St. James's. To attempt to support Spain against France, and to enter into a struggle with France upon the Continent, is to form an enterprise which will cost dear to those who have attempted it, and occasion them nothing but disasters."