The Rise Of Wellington

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Text originally published in 1902 under the same title.

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THE RISE OF WELLINGTON

BY

GENERAL LORD ROBERTS, V.C.

WITH PORTRAITS AND PLANS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

INTRODUCTION. 5

ILLUSTRATIONS. 6

CHAPTER I. 38

CHAPTER II. 54

CHAPTER III. 79

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 100

INTRODUCTION.

WHEN the proposal for a series of republications in book form of some of the more important articles and short stories appearing in the pages of the Pall Mall Magazine was first made to us by Mr. R. B. Marston, we accepted it without hesitation, perceiving at once that an admirable medium would thus be provided by which much valuable literary matter might be made known to an even wider circle of the public than the readers of the periodical of which we have the conduct. Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley’s graphic and analytical papers on the Decline and Fall of Napoleon, which constitute the first volume of the PALL MALL MAGAZINE LIBRARY, achieved, as we are able to say from personal knowledge, a very remarkable success not only in England and America, but on the Continent; especially in Paris, where they were translated and published in book form. Much the same may be said with regard to General Lord Roberts’ valuable and instructive articles on the Rise of Wellington, which found especial favour with military readers in all branches of the Service, and we have reason to think that the collection of these into a single and handy volume will meet with the general approval of military men, and might form a valuable text-book for military students. The articles commenced by Viscount Wolseley and continued by Lord Roberts are now being followed in the pages of the Pall Mall Magazine by Lieut.-General Sir Evelyn Wood’s papers on Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign, and we hope from time to time to be able to secure other able military writers as contributors to deal with subjects having an equal historical interest. We conclude by saying that the Publishers have our hearty sympathy and will have our lively co-operation in the publication of the PALL MALL MAGAZINE LIBRARY, and so far as lies in our power we shall endeavour to assist them in making each successive volume such as to entitle it to a foremost place in the literature of the day.

FREDERICK HAMILTON. DOUGLAS STRAIGHT.

Editors Pall Mall Magazine.

18, CHARING CROSS ROAD.

March, 1895.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

GENERAL SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY, K.P.

TIPPOO SULTAN

PLAN OF THE ATTACK UPON THE NORTH WEST ANGLE OF SERINGAPATAM

LORD HARRIS

GENERAL LAKE

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF ASSAYE

BATTLE OF ASSAYE

MAJOR-GENERAL BAIRD

SIR HEW DALRYMPLE

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL THE HON. JOHN HOPE

COLONEL GEORGE MURRAY

SIR JOHN MOORE

BATTLE OF TALAVERA

MAJOR-GENERAL BERESFORD

LORD CASTLEREAGH

PLAN OF MASSENA’S RETREAT. COMBAT OF SABUGAL, 1811

THE STORMING OF BADAJOZ

GENERAL LORD HILL, G.C.B.

PLAN OF THE PASSAGE OF THE NIVE. BATTLE OF ST. PIERRE

MAP OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

WELLINGTON

ENGLAND’S HOPE, 1815

H.R.H. FREDERICK, DUKE OF YORK AND ALBANY, F.-M., COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

FIELD-MARSHAL VON BLÜCHER

PLAN OF THE FIELD OF WATERLOO

THE MARQUESS OF ANGLESEY

FACSIMILE OF PORTION OF DESPATCH WRITTEN FROM WATERLOO TO LORD BATHURST THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE.

NAPOLEON’S FLIGHT FROM WATERLOO

NAPOLEON

THE RISE OF WELLINGTON.

CHAPTER I.

The foremost quality in a general is that he shall have a cool head, which receives just impressions of things; which is never confused, nor allows itself to be dazzled or thrown off its balance by good or bad news.—NAPOLEON.

THE military career of Wellington naturally divides itself into three periods—the Indian period, the Peninsular period, and the period during which he commanded the Allied Forces in the Netherlands, terminating in the battle of Waterloo. I propose, therefore, in three chapters, relating in turn to each of these periods, briefly to describe the principal incidents of this great soldier’s life, and to show how the experience he gained first in the East, and afterwards in South-Western Europe, so developed his natural talents and administrative capacity that he was finally able to meet and overthrow the French Emperor, whose genius for war had up to that date been regarded as absolutely unrivalled.

Arthur Wellesley, the fourth son of the first Earl of Mornington, was born in 1769, and was educated first at a private school in Chelsea, and subsequently for a short time at Eton, whence he was removed to a military college at Angers, in France, presided over by an engineer officer, the Marquis of Pignerol. Being looked upon as the dunce of the family, and described by his mother as being food for powder and nothing more, it was determined, according to the custom of those days, to provide him with a livelihood in the army, and at the age of seventeen he obtained an ensigncy in the 41st Foot. His family interest being powerful, he was rapidly promoted, becoming a lieutenant after nine months’ service as ensign, a captain after three-and-a-half years’ service as lieutenant, a major after less than two years’ service as captain, a lieutenant-colonel after five months’ service as major, and a colonel at the age of twenty-seven, after less than three years’ service as lieutenant-colonel. He was attached to the cavalry as well as the infantry, being transferred from the 41st Foot to the 12th Light Dragoons, thence to the 76th Foot, the 18th Light Dragoons, and finally to the 33rd Foot, of which he obtained the command in 1793.

While stationed at home he sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Trim, and was also for some time aide-de-camp to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

In 1794 he accompanied his regiment to Antwerp, where it joined the force under the command of the Duke of York, and took part in the movement on Breda, and the engagement at Boxtel, a village on the river Dommel. On this occasion Lieutenant-Colonel Wellesley behaved with conspicuous judgment and gallantry—so much so, in fact, that he attracted the favourable notice of General Dundas, who afterwards entrusted him with the duty of covering the retreat of the British army. This retreat was conducted under great difficulties by Count Walmoden, a Hanoverian general, to whom the Duke of York had handed over his command; and after suffering the most grievous hardships and privations during the winter of 1794-95, the troops reached Bremen and re-embarked for England early in 1795. This first experience of field service was, no doubt, extremely valuable to Wellington in after years. It must have taught him that soldiers even of the best quality, well drilled, disciplined and equipped, cannot hope to be successful unless proper arrangements are made for their supply and transport; and unless those who direct the operations have formed some definite plan of action, and have sufficient zeal and professional knowledge to carry it out. If the French generals had taken full advantage of the opportunities which the incapacity of the English and German commanders threw in their way, the British force must have been annihilated. As it was, Wellington considered it a marvel that any one belonging to the force escaped.

On its return to England Lieutenant-Colonel Wellesley’s regiment was quartered at Warley, while he proceeded on leave to Ireland. Apparently disgusted at the mismanagement of the troops employed in the Low Countries, he made up his mind to leave the army, and in June 1795 applied to Lord Camden, then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, for a civil post under the Irish Government. He wrote: "You will probably be surprised at my desiring a civil instead of a military office. It is certainly a departure from the line which I prefer; but I see the manner in which the military offices are filled, and I