Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

Wellesley, Arthur, Duke of Wellington, younger brother of preceding [Marquis Richard Colley Wellesley, Earl of Mornington], was born at 24 Upper Merrion-street, Dublin, 29th April 1769. [For ancestry, see notice of his father, p. 550.]

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
From a painting of 1854 by George Baxter.

When but twelve years of age he lost his father, and little care appears to have been bestowed upon him by his mother, a somewhat harsh woman, who believed the “slender, blue-eyed, hawk-nosed, and rather sheep-faced boy” to be hopelessly deficient in mental ability.

His promotion was rapid, in consequence of the growing political influence of his brother; he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Camden, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and by September 1793 he had attained the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 33rd Regiment.

On 28th January 1793 he spoke in favour of the House vindicating its privileges in the matter of the printer and proprietor of the Hibernian Journal, accused of publishing a libel on their body.

On the 25th of February he supported a Catholic Relief Bill, but deprecated the admission of Catholics into Parliament.

On 24th January 1794 he expressed himself with reference to a return regarding enlistment.

On 13th March 1795 he defended the conduct of the Lord-Lieutenant in permitting a large number of regular troops to be sent out of Ireland for the defence of the Empire, assuring the mover of a resolution, that, “however he may treat the new levies with contempt, they were not objects of contempt to the enemies of their country.”

Lord Plunket often told how upon one occasion, when sitting with Arthur Wellesley on a committee of the Irish House of Commons, he never for a moment ceased playing the then fashionable game with a “quiz.”

Failed Flanders campaign

In June 1794, Arthur Wellesley embarked at Cork with some Irish regiments on an expedition to Flanders, where he distinguished himself upon several occasions.

The British troops were obliged to return home ignominiously next spring, having been unable to effect anything against the French, and Wellesley appears to have been disgusted with the war, with the incapacity of the generals, and the blunders and mismanagement of the home authorities.

After embarking in an expedition destined for the West Indies, that had to put back from stress of weather, he was ordered on service in India, and landed at Calcutta in February 1797.

During his eight years’ residence in Hindostan (until March 1805) he earned a high military reputation. His elder brother, Lord Wellesley, was Governor-General, and Arthur carried out in the field plans of which he was the part adviser in the cabinet.

A striking monument of his ability, industry, and statesmanship remains in the four volumes of supplementary Despatches written in India between 1797 and 1805.

It is said that the first occasion upon which he adopted his brother’s change of name from Wesley to Wellesley was in one of those despatches, dated 19th May 1798.

As Colonel Wellesley, he carried Seringapatam by assault on 2nd May 1799.

As Major-General, he reduced Ahmednuggar on 9th August 1803, and defeated Scindia, at Assaye on 23rd September, and again at Argaum on 29th November.

In 1804 General Wellesley was gazetted a K.C.B.

On the 12th April 1806 he was elected to Parliament for Rye, and for the borough of Mitchell on 20th January 1807.

He was re-elected for Mitchell on his appointment as Secretary for Ireland in the following April; and at the general election in June, was elected both for Newport, Isle of Wight, and Tralee—accepting the seat for Newport.

His Civil Correspondence and Memoranda during his Irish administration, from 30th March 1807 to 12th April 1809, were published by his son, the present Duke, in 1860. They contain his opinions upon the most minute points of Irish administration during those years—delivered in his usual terse and vigorous style.

It has been said that his predilection in the Peninsular sieges for assaults rather than bombardments arose from his experiences of the horrors of the bombardment of Copenhagen, and the subsequent excesses of the victorious British troops.

In July 1808, mainly through the influence of Lord Castlereagh, Sir Arthur was despatched from Cork in command of a small expeditionary force, to challenge the French occupation of the Peninsula.

It is unnecessary to recount by what series of events this small armament, at first almost unnoticed and probably despised by France, was by Wellesley’s genius increased and welded into a force against which the resources and prestige of Napoleon were shattered within a few short years.

It is unnecessary to recount how, overcoming a thousand difficulties, and at first badly supported from home, he defeated Napoleon’s greatest generals at Talavera, Torres Vedras, Albuera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, and in a hundred minor engagements, and how Sir Arthur Wellesley, who left Cork in 1808, on 14th February 1814 had beaten the French entirely out of Spain, and entered Paris on 4th May as Duke of Wellington, acknowledged to be the second captain in Europe, the recipient of rich estates in both England and the Peninsula, and of almost every honour that it was in the power of two nations to bestow.

In August he went to Paris in the capacity of ambassador from the United Kingdom, and proceeded thence to take part in the Congress of Vienna.

On the 8th March 1815 the news of Napoleon’s escape from Elba reached the representatives of the great powers at Vienna, and on the 5th April Wellington was at Brussels, actively engaged in forwarding the military preparations to oppose him.

The Duke’s correspondence shows that by the 10th June, whilst ignorant of Napoleon’s plans, he was fully informed of the real force at his disposal.

Judging of the Emperor’s dispositions by those which he would have made in his place, he inclined to believe that he would act on the defensive, but that if he did attack it would be on the allies’ right.

On the night of the 15th Wellington was at a ball given by the Duchess of Richmond in Brussels, when the news reached him of Napoleon’s having attacked the Prussians at Charleroi.

Before the ball was ended the troops at Brussels were on their march to the front, and early in the morning they were overtaken by the Duke at Quatre Bras, where they successfully sustained an attack from Marshal Ney with a large French division.

In another part of the field the French were successful in an attack upon the Prussians.

This movement was conducted in such a masterly manner that all Napoleon’s efforts to bring the British to an engagement during the 17th were unsuccessful, and the following wet and stormy night found Wellington in a strong position, where he proposed to await the arrival of the Prussians.

It is unnecessary to enter into the particulars of the battle of Waterloo, fought on the 18th of June 1815.

The allied force, of which 25,000 were British, under Wellington, numbered 72,000 men, with 186 pieces of artillery.

From eleven to four o’clock, they sustained the assaults of Napoleon’s army, numbering 80,000, with 252 pieces of artillery.

Foiled in his efforts to force the British positions, Napoleon’s defeat was accomplished by the arrival, at half-past four o’clock, of 36,000 Prussians under Blucher, with 100 guns.

The loss of the allies under Wellington has been computed at 15,000, that of the Prussians at 7,000, and that of the French, in the battle and pursuit, at 40,000.

The French fortresses offered but little opposition; Paris capitulated on 3rd July, and Louis XVIII. made his public entry next day.

Blucher wished to revenge on Napoleon and the French nation the injuries inflicted on Prussia; but Wellington would listen to no measure not dictated by the necessities of public justice; and opposed Blucher’s desire for the destruction of public buildings in Paris.

Wellington has, however, been severely blamed for not interfering to prevent the execution of Marshal Ney.

The Duke continued to reside in the palace of the Elysée until 29th June 1816, when he returned to England.

After a short sojourn at Cheltenham, he resumed his duties in Paris, where, with the exception of short visits to England, he resided in command of the army of occupation until the evacuation of France.

His judgment was generally deferred to by the allied sovereigns, and his policy towards France was aimed rather to encourage and to raise than further to weaken that country.

On the division of the Waterloo prize-money in 1819, Wellington’s share came to £60,000, and, in addition, Parliament purchased for him, at a cost of £263,000, the estate of Strathfieldsaye, free from all rent or service, except the presentation, by him and his successors, to the Sovereign, of a small flag on each recurring anniversary of Waterloo.

In 1818 the Duke of Wellington was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance, and in 1822 was named as Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Verona.

In 1827, on the death of the Duke of York, he was appointed Commander-in-chief of the army; but he resigned all his offices rather than serve under Canning.

The Catholic Association was “dangerous.” No compact with Rome would add to the security of the Church of Ireland.

He declared that the Union was proposed principally for the purpose of ensuring Catholic Emancipation, and that there was no remedy for the unhappy state of things then existing in Ireland but Emancipation.

[For particulars of the Catholic Emancipation Act (10 Geo. IV. cap. 7), which received the royal assent 13th April 1829, see O’Connell, Daniel, p. 377]

Views of Wellington regarding Irish affairs

Some further views of Wellington regarding Irish affairs may be given.

(27th February 1832.) Tithes were the most sacred kind of property.

(28th February.) If the system of Irish education were to be abrogated, “I consider that it would be better, perhaps, to have separate schools for the Protestants and Roman Catholics. … I really cannot see the difference between public and private education.”

(3rd July 1833.) The state of Ireland was a conspiracy against law and government.

(10th July.) He objected to the reduction in the number of Irish Bishops.

On 28th April 1837 he made a speech principally on the necessity of conciliating the Protestants of Ireland. Upon this ground he objected to the “Irish Corporations Bill.”

Agrarian disturbance in Ireland was caused by political agitation.

(9th May 1843.) The Union should at all costs and under all circumstances be maintained inviolate. Remedial measures were of no avail whilst agitation continued in Ireland.

(8th August.) The military were in a state of perfect efficiency “to meet all misfortunes and consequences which may result from the violence of the passions of those men who unfortunately guide the multitude in Ireland.”

(18th March 1844.) The compact entered into for the maintenance of the Church Establishment in Ireland should be held sacred.

(17th May.) He supported the new Irish Poor-law.

He guarded against a recurrence of such an event by fixing permanent iron shutters outside the windows—taking a grim pleasure in the disgrace which the appearance of his house brought on the people of London.

His measures for the introduction of a new police-force in England, and the precautions he took to garrison London against any possible emeute on the part of the Reformers, brought his Ministry to a disastrous termination, and the seals of office were confided to Lord Grey.

If no man ever contributed more to the military greatness of the United Kingdom, no man was ever more richly repaid, whether in material wealth, or in public consideration.

The emoluments of his different offices, added to the interests of his several Parliamentary grants, brought up his income to about £43,000 per annum in money, besides his permanent estates in land.

Amongst the many foreign honours and presents conferred on him was a service of plate from Portugal, valued at £100,000.

His coolness under all circumstances was one of his most striking characteristics: whether in defeat and humiliation or in his moments of highest exaltation, he was much the same outwardly—when informed of the failure of his first attack on Badajos, as when witnessing the flight of Napoleon at Waterloo; when the stones of a London mob were rattling about his head and smashing the windows of his mansion, as when on so many occasions he received the thanks of Parliament.

It may be that a certain scorn of human nature and human weakness underlay all—a conception of events, not alone in their present aspect, but in all their bearings. He had little sympathy with the masses—with their aspirations and weaknesses, and perhaps little belief in the possibility of their elevation and enlightenment. There could be no accord between him and a people fully alive to their rights and responsibilities.

Essentially an aristocrat and a conservative, all the changes he was instrumental in forwarding, he accepted rather as disagreeable necessities to the sustainment of the state, than as concessions demanded by truth and justice.

He opposed Catholic Emancipation as long as it was possible; he opposed a free press; he discountenanced, if he did not oppose, regimental schools; he avoided railways so long as post horses were to be had on the roads he ordinarily travelled.

For his native island he had no sympathy; and he is said to have more than once declared himself an Englishman who had had the misfortune to be born in Ireland.

If cold in his manners, he was more careful of the lives of his men and more solicitous for their comfort than many leaders who were able to attach their troops to them by feelings of deep personal devotion such as he could never inspire, and which perhaps he did not covet.

According to conventional standards, he was a religious man. The Bible, the Prayer-Book, and Taylor’s Holy Living and Dying were always within reach of his iron camp bedstead.

The Duke of Wellington’s talents as a general and military administrator were of the highest order; but he was deficient in those prescient statesmanlike qualities and that moral intuition which combine to make a really great man.

He had no sympathy with any philanthropic aim that looked beyond the ordinarily recognized limits assigned by respectability and conventionality.

He despised the press; he despised free thought; he disbelieved in popular government; he opposed all concessions to Catholics as long as possible; he opposed the abolition of the corn laws; he “felt proud of such a sovereign as George IV.;” he opposed reform in Parliament; he predicted the downfall of the constitution as the consequence of the passage of the Reform Bill; he opposed free-trade; West India property was not to be sacrificed to the fancies of abolitionists; he denied the Jews’ right to citizenship or to civil equality. Yet on some questions he was almost unexpectedly liberal—he declared against the game-laws, and supported penny postage.

The thirty-three bulky volumes of his published Despatches, written in terse and nervous English, attest the methodical, concentrative power of his mind.

A volume might be filled with his aphorisms.

His curt answers to letters were peculiarly characteristic of his business-like and unimaginative disposition.

Wellington’s death and funeral

Although to the last his mind was as bright and keen as ever, his constitution had been somewhat undermined by repeated attacks of catalepsy from 1837.

He died somewhat suddenly at Walmer Castle, early on the 14th of September, 1852, aged 83, and his remains were accorded a public funeral in St. Paul’s.

Seventy titles were proclaimed over his grave, and eight field-marshal batons, conferred by as many countries, were broken.

A magnificent monument, only now (1878) completed, marks his resting-place.

His shoulders were broad, his chest well developed, his arms long, and his hands and feet in excellent proportion.

His eyes were of a dark violet-blue or grey, and his sight was so penetrating that even to the last he could distinguish objects at an immense distance.

A forehead not very high, but broad and square, eyebrows straight and prominent, a long face, a Roman nose, a broad under-jaw, with a chin strongly marked, gave him somewhat a resemblance to more than one hero of antiquity, especially to Julius Caesar.

His hair, originally coal black, became as white as silver before he died; but to the last there was no sign of baldness.

He was scrupulously neat in his costume, latterly spending two hours and a half in dressing.

In battle he wore a short white cloak, so that he could be recognised afar by his officers.

[The Duke of Wellington’s line of descent can be found in the Colley family genealogy compiled by John O’Hart—libraryireland.com note.]