Read Ebook: Knowledge for the Time A Manual of Reading Reference and Conversation on Subjects of Living Interest Useful Curiosity and Amusing Research by Timbs John

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How the Earth was peopled, 57.--Revelations of Geology, 58.--The Stone Age, 59.--What are Celtes? 60.--Roman Civilization of Britain, 61.--Roman Roads and British Railways, 62.--Domestic Life of the Saxons, 64.--Love of Freedom, 65.--The Despot deceived,--True Source of Civilization, 66.--The Lowest Civilization,--Why do we shake Hands? 67.--Various Modes of Salutation, 68.--What is Comfort? 69.--What is Luxury?--What do we know of Life? 70.--The truest Patriot the greatest Hero,--The old Philosophers, 71.--Glory of the Past, 72.--Wild Oats,--How Shyness spoils Enjoyment, 73.--"Custom, the Queen of the World," 74.--Ancient Guilds and Modern Benefit Clubs,--The Oxford Man and the Cambridge Man, 75.--"Great Events from Little Causes spring," 76.--Great Britain on the Map of the World, 80.--Ancient and Modern London,--Potatoes the national food of the Irish, 81.--Irish-speaking Population,--Our Colonial Empire, 82.--The English People, 84.

Worth of Heraldry, 85.--Heralds' College, 86.--The Shamrock,--Irish Titles of Honour, 87.--The Scotch Thistle, 88.--King and Queen, 89.--Title of Majesty, and the Royal "We," 90.--"Dieu et Mon Droit,"--Plume and Motto of the Prince of Wales, 91.--Victoria, 92.--English Crowns,--The Imperial State Crown, 93.--Queen's Messengers,--Presents and Letters to the Queen, 95.--The Prince of Waterloo,--The See of London, 96.--Expense of Baronetcy and Knighthood, 97.--The Aristocracy, 98.--Precedence in Parliament,--Sale of Seats in Parliament,--Placemen in Parliament, 99.--New Peers,--The Russells,--Political Cunning, 100.--The Union-Jack,--Field-Marshal, 101.--Change of Surname, 102.

Numbers descriptive of Distance,--Precocious Mental Calculation, 146.--The Roman Foot, 147.--The Peruvian Quipus, 148.--Distances measured,--Uniformity of Weights and Measures, 149.--Trinity High-water Mark,--Origin of Rent, 150.--Curiosities of the Exchequer, 151.--What becomes of the Public Revenue, 153.--Queen Anne's Bounty, 154.--Ecclesiastical Fees,--Burying Gold and Silver, 155.--Results of Gold-seeking, 157.--What becomes of the Precious Metals? 158.--Tribute-money, 159.--The First Lottery,--Coinage of a Sovereign, 160.--Wear and Tear of the Coinage,--Counterfeit Coin, 161.--Standard Gold,--Interest of Money, 162.--Interest of Money in India,--Origin of Insurance, 163.--Stockbrokers, 164.--Tampering with Public Credit,--Over-speculation, 165.--Value of Horses,--Friendly Societies, 166.--Wages heightened by Improvement in Machinery, 167.--Giving Employment,--Never sign an Accommodation Bill, 168.--A Year's Wills, 169.

What human Science has accomplished,--Changes in Social Science, 171.--Discoverers not Inventors, 172.--Science of Roger Bacon, 173.--The One Science, 174.--Sun-force, 175.--"The Seeds of Invention," 176.--The Object of Patents,--Theory and Practice,--Watt and Telford, 177.--Practical Science,--Mechanical Arts, 178.--Force of Running Water,--Correlation of Physical Forces,--Oil on Waves, 180.--Spontaneous Generation,--Guano,--What is Perspective? 181.--The Stereoscope,--Burning Lenses, 182.--How to wear Spectacles,--Vicissitudes of Mining, 183.--Uses of Mineralogy, 185.--Our Coal Resources,--The Deepest Mine, 186.--Iron as a Building Material, 189.--Concrete, not new,--Sheathing Ships with Copper, 190.--Copper Smelting,--Antiquity of Brass,--Brilliancy of the Diamond, 191.--Philosophy of Gunpowder,--New Pear-flavouring, 192.--Methylated Spirit, 193.--What is Phosphate of Lime?--What is Wood?--How long will Wood last? 194.--The Safety Match, 195.--Pottery,--Wedgwood, 196.--Imposing Mechanical Effects, 197--Horse-power,--The First Practical Steam-boat, 198.--Effect of Heavy Seas upon Large Vessels, 199.--The Railway,--Accidents on Railways, 200.--Railways and Invasions, 202.--What the English owe to naturalized Foreigners, 203.--Geological Growth, 204.--The Earth and Man compared,--Why the Earth is presumed to be Solid,--"Implements in the Drift," 205.--The Centre of the Earth, 206.--The Cooling of the Earth, 207.--Identity of Heat and Motion, 208--Universal Source of Heat, 209.--Inequalities of the Earth's Surface, 210.--Chemistry of the Sea, 212.--The Sea: its Perils, 213.--Limitations of Astronomy, 214.--Distance of the Earth from the Sun, 215.--Blue Colour of the Sky, 216.--Beauty of the Sky, 217.--High Temperatures in Balloon Ascents,--Value of Meteorological Observations, Telegraph, and Forecasts, 218.--Weather Signs, 220.--Barometer for Farmers, 222.--Icebergs and the Weather, 223.--St. Swithun: his true History, 224.--Rainfall in London, 225.--The Force of Lightning, 226.--Effect of Moonlight,--Contemporary Inventions and Discoveries, 227.--The Bayonet, 228.--Loot,--Telegram,--Archaeology and Manufactures, 229.--Good Art should be Cheap, 230.--Imitative Jewellery, 231.--French Enamel, 232.

Periods and Conditions of Life,--Age of the People, 233.--The Human Heart,--The Sense of Hearing, 234.--Care of the Teeth,--On Blindness, 235.--Sleeping and Dreaming, 236.--Position in Sleeping,--Hair suddenly changing Colour, 237.--Consumption not hopeless, 238.--Change of Climate,--Perfumes, 239.--Cure for Yellow Fever,--Nature's Ventilation, 240.--Artificial Ventilation,--Worth of Fresh Air, 241.--Town and Country, 243.--Recreations of the People,--The Druids and their Healing Art, 244.--Remedies for Cancer, 245.--Improved Surgery,--Restoration of a Fractured Leg, 246.--The Original "Dr. Sangrado,"--False Arts advancing true, 247.--Brief History of Medicine, 248.--What has Science done for Medicine? 249.--Element of Physic in Medical Practice, 250.--Physicians' Fees,--Prevention of Pitting in Small-pox, 251.--Underneath the Skin, 252.--Relations of Mind and Organization, 253.--Deville, the Phrenologist, 254.--"Seeing is believing," 255.--Causes of Insanity, 256.--Brain-Disease, 257.--The Half-mad, 258.--Motives for Suicide,--Remedy for Poisoning, 259.--New Remedy for Wounds,--Compensation for Wounds,--The Best Physician, 260.--The Uncertainty of Human Life, 262.

Moveable Feasts,--Christmas, 266.--Doubt about Religion, 267.--Our Age of Doubt, 270.--A Hint to Sceptics,--What is Egyptology? 271.--Jerusalem and Nimroud, 272.--What is Rationalism? 273.--What is Theology? 274.--Religious Forebodings, 275.--Folly of Atheism,--The First Congregational Church in England, 276.--Innate Ideas, and Pre-existence of Souls, 277.--Sabbath of Professional Men, 278.--"In the Beginning," 279.--The last Religious Martyrs in England,--Liberty of Conscience, 281.--Awful Judgments,--Christian Education,--The Book of Psalms, 283.--The Book of Job, 285.

Great Precedence Question 287

KNOWLEDGE FOR THE TIME.

Historico-Political Information.

"I have read somewhere or other," says Lord Bolingbroke, "in Dionysius Halicarnassus, I think, that History is Philosophy teaching by Example."

Walter Savage Landor has thus distinguished the respective labours of the Philosopher and the Historian. "There are," Mr. Landor writes, "quiet hours and places in which a taper may be carried steadily, and show the way along the ground; but you must stand a tip-toe and raise a blazing torch above your head, if you would bring to our vision the obscure and time-worn figures depicted on the lofty vaults of antiquity. The philosopher shows everything in one clear light; the historian loves strong reflections and deep shadows, but, above all, prominent and moving characters."

In writing of the Past, it behoves us to bear in mind, that while actions are always to be judged by the immutable standard of right and wrong, the judgment which we pass upon men must be qualified by considerations of age, country, situation, and other incidental circumstances; and it will then be found, that he who is most charitable in his judgment, is generally the least unjust.

It is curious to find one of the silken barons of civilization and refinement, writing as follows. The polite Earl of Chesterfield says: "I am provoked at the contempt which most historians show for humanity in general: one would think by them that the whole human species consisted but of about a hundred and fifty people, called and dignified by the titles of emperors, kings, popes, generals, and ministers."

"First, as to the Tories. The Tories of Queen Anne's reign pursued a most unceasing opposition to a just and glorious war against France. They treated the great General of the age as their peculiar adversary. To our recent enemies, the French, their policy was supple and crouching. They had an indifference, or even an aversion, to our old allies the Dutch. They had a political leaning towards the Roman Catholics at home. They were supported by the Roman Catholics in their elections. They had a love of triennial parliaments in preference to septennial. They attempted to abolish the protecting duties and restrictions of commerce. They wished to favour our trade with France at the expense of our trade with Portugal. They were supported by a faction whose war-cry was 'Repeal of the Union,' in a sister kingdom. To serve a temporary purpose in the House of Lords, they had recourse to a large and overwhelming creation of peers. Like the Whigs in May, 1831, they chose the moment of the highest popular passion and excitement to dissolve the House of Commons, hoping to avail themselves of a short-lived cry for the purpose of permanent delusion. The Whigs of Queen Anne's time, on the other hand, supported that splendid war which led to such victories as Ramillies and Blenheim. They had for a leader the great man who gained those victories. They advocated the old principles of trade. They prolonged the duration of parliaments. They took their stand on the principles of the Revolution of 1688. They raised the cry of 'No Popery.' They loudly inveighed against the subserviency to France, the desertion of our old allies, the outrage wrought upon the peers, the deceptions practised upon the sovereign, and the other measures of the Tory administration.

The defence of the Whigs against these imputations seems to be founded upon the famous Jesuitical principle, that the end justifies the means. They do not deny the facts, but they assert, that while the Tories of 1713 resorted to such modes of furthering the interests of arbitrary power, they have employed them in advancing the progress and securing the ascendancy of the democracy.

"Rats are sometimes used in military operations, particularly for setting fire to magazines of gunpowder. On these occasions, a lighted match is tied to the tail of the animal. Marshal Vauban recommends, therefore, that the walls of powder-magazines should be made very thick, and the passages for light and wind so narrow as not to admit them ."

It is an unguarded idea of some public writers that "the Sovereign holds her crown not by hereditary descent but by the will of the nation." This doctrine is too frequently stated in and out of Parliament; and without qualification or explanation it would be apt to breed mischief in the minds of an ignorant and excited multitude, if the instinctive feelings of common sense did not invariably correct the popular errors of theorists.

Stenography, or the art of short writing, is generally stated to have been invented by Xenophon, the historian; first practised by Pythagoras; and reduced to a system by the poet, Ennius. To this art we owe full reports of the proceedings in Parliament. The system of Gurney was employed for this purpose; shorthand notes upon which were found among the Egerton MSS.

It has been well said of Machiavelli, that he has the credit or discredit of having been the first to erect into a science, and reduce it to theory, the art of obtaining absolute power by deception and cruelty; and of maintaining it afterwards by the simulation of leniency and virtue. In political history, he was the first who gave at once a general and a luminous development of great events in their causes and connexion.

Archbishop Whately, in his very able Lecture on Egypt, referring to the writers on Public Affairs at home, reprehends the practice of exaggerating, with keen delight, every evil that they can find, inventing such as do not exist, and keeping out of sight what is good. An Eastern despot, reading the productions of one of these writers, would say that, with all our precautions, we are the worst governed people on earth; and that our law-courts and public offices are merely a complicated machinery for oppressing the mass of the people; that our Houses of Lords and Commons are utterly mismanaged, our public men striving to repress merit, and that our best plan would be to sweep away all those, as, with less trouble, matters might go on better, and could not go on worse. Charges of this nature cannot be brought publicly forward in the Turkish Empire. In Cairo, a man was beheaded because he made too free a use of his tongue. He was told not to be speaking of the insurrection in Syria, and had dared to be chatting of the news; and there are other countries, also, where because such charges are true, it would not be safe to circulate them. But these writers do not mean half what they set forth. They heighten their descriptions to display their eloquence; but the tendency of such publications is always towards revolution, and the practical effect on the minds of the people is to render them incredulous. They understand that these overwrought representations are for effect, and they go about their business with an impression that the whole is unreal. If one of these writers were visited himself with a horrible dream that he was a peasant under an Oriental despot, that he was taxed at the will of the Sovereign, and had to pay the assessment in produce, valued at half the market-price, that he was compelled to work and receive four-fifths of his low wages in food consisting of hard, sour biscuit--let him then dream that he had spoken against the Ministry, and that he finds himself bastinadoed till he confesses that he brought false charges; that his grown-up son had been dragged off for a soldier, and himself deprived of his only support, and he would be inclined to doubt whether ours is the worst system of Government.

"In modern legislative chambers it has been customary for the Chamber to appoint one of its own members as president. In the English House of Lords the Lord Chancellor is President by virtue of his office. Although a member of the executive Government, and holding his office at the pleasure of the Crown, he is nevertheless a high judicial officer, and is deemed to carry his judicial impartiality into the performance of his presidential functions. In general, however, the president of a legislative chamber is not, according to modern practice, a member of the executive Government. He is an independent member of the legislature, who is appointed by the chamber, and holds his office at its pleasure, such as the Speaker of the English House of Commons.

"The principal functions of the Speaker of the House of Commons were not originally what they are at present. The House of Commons were at first a set of delegates summoned by the Crown to negotiate with it concerning the payment of taxes. They might take advantage of the position of superiority which they temporarily occupied to remonstrate with the Crown about certain grievances, upon which they were generally agreed. In this state of things it was important that they should have an organ and spokesman with sufficient ability and knowledge to state their views, and with sufficient courage to contend against the displeasure of the Crown. The helpless condition of a large body which is called upon to conduct a negotiation without any appointed organ is well described by Livy. When the Roman plebeians seceded to the Mount Aventine, after the Decemvirate, the Senate sent three ambassadors to confer with them, and to propose three questions. 'Non defuit,' says Livy, 'quid responderetur; deerat qui daret responsum, nullodum certo duce, nec satis audentibus singulis invidiae se offerre' . Since the Revolution of 1688, and the increased power of the House of Commons, the functions of the Speaker have undergone a change. His chief function has been no longer to speak on behalf of the House; that which was previously his accessary has become his principal duty. He has been simply chairman of the House, with the function of regulating its proceedings, of putting the question, and of maintaining order. The Speaker of the House of Commons is now virtually disqualified by his office from speaking; but as their debates have become more important, his office of moderator of these debates has acquired additional importance.

"The position of the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons was similar to that of the Speaker of the English House ; but in Scotland the three estates sat as one House; there was no separate House of Commons, and the Lord Chancellor presided over the entire assembly."

Sir William Hamilton has well observed that "No revolution in public opinion is the work of an individual, of a single cause, or of a day. When the crisis has arrived, the catastrophe must ensue; but the agents through whom it is apparently accomplished, though they may accelerate, cannot originate its occurrence. Who believes that but for Luther or Zwingli the Reformation would not have been? Their individual, their personal energy and zeal, perhaps, hastened by a year or two the event but had the public mind not been already ripe for their revolt, the fate of Luther and Zwingli, in the sixteenth century, would have been that of Huss and Jerome of Prague in the fifteenth. Woe to the revolutionist who is not himself a creature of the revolution! If he anticipate, he is lost; for it requires, what no individual can supply, a long and powerful counter-sympathy in a nation to untwine the ties of custom which bind a people to the established and the old."

Mr. Baron Alderson is described as having a temper too calm for the stormy floor of the House of Commons; but he studied politics as a science, from a safe distance; and his letters contain his opinions on some points expressed with a very deliberate care. To Mrs. Opie, who had been writing against Republics and Republican Government, he says: "I entirely agree with your view of a Republic. As long as men are so wicked, it is an impossibility for it to be a lasting government, for it does not govern, but obey. America is no exception to this rule. In the first place, at its commencement, I believe it was a remarkably moral population; and so the evils would not at first appear. And, since that time, the immensity of its territory has enabled its most active and least self-restrained population to expand itself with less inconvenience. But will the thing last? When the wilderness is peopled, will not the wickedness, which is now expended on the Indians and the weak without observation, become intolerable, and a government strong enough to protect, be the result? Such a one, I think, will hardly be a republic, but, I fear, a despotism, for men always run into extremes. Lynch law is, in fact, an ill-regulated despotism."

Lord Chancellor Thurlow, on reading Horsley's Letters to Dr. Priestley, at once obtained for the author a Stall at Gloucester, saying that "those who supported the Church should be supported by it."

There is nothing more wholesome for both the people and their rulers, than to dwell upon the excellence of those statesmen whose lives have been spent in the useful, the sacred, work of Peace. The thoughtless vulgar are ever prone to magnify the brilliant exploits of arms, which dazzle ordinary understandings, and prevent any account being taken of the cost and the crime that are so often hid in the guise of success. All merit of that shining kind is sure of passing current for more than it is really worth; and the eye is turned indifferently upon, or even scornfully from, the unpretending virtue of the true friend to his species, the minister who devotes all his cares to stay the worst of crimes that can be committed, the last of calamities that can be endured by man.

With his martial cloak around him,

was deposited in the earth, the Rev. Mr. Symons reading the funeral service.

The people of the United States understand little of the proper form, proportion of size, number of stripes even, of their own national flag, the "Star-spangled Banner."

John Adams, second President of the United States of America, is commonly but erroneously represented to have been the son of a cobbler. Now, he was the son of a clergyman. His descent would have graced any Court in Europe. He was descended from one of the oldest families in Devonshire and Gloucestershire, one of whom sat as an English Baron in the Parliaments of Edward the First. His father, Adam Fitzherbert, was lineally descended from the ancient Counts de Vermandois. Lord ap-Adam's wife was the daughter and sole heiress of John Lord de Gournay, of Beverston Castle, Gloucestershire, the representative of the ancient House of Harpitr? de Gournai, a branch of the great house of "Yvery," which was connected with every Sovereign house in Europe. It would be difficult to find a higher descent. The late Mr. Edward Adams, M.P., of Middleton Hall, Carmarthenshire, was a descendant of the elder branch of this family; and Mr. Anthony Davis, of Misbourne House, Chalfont Saint Giles, Bucks, is its representative.

"Collect 3000 workmen at Antwerp. Wood, iron, and materials can be brought there from the North. War is no impediment to shipbuilding at Antwerp. If we are three years at war, we must build there not less than 25 ships of the line. Anywhere else this would be impossible. We must have a powerful fleet; and we should not have less than 100 ships of the line. We must also commence building frigates and smaller vessels. St. Domingo cost us 2,000,000f. a month; the English having captured it, this sum must be appropriated to the increase of our navy."

Such were the conditions of this attack; and such the forces with which Napoleon expected "to conquer the world in London;" and his letters to Soult, to Bruix, to D?eres must convince the reader that he was in earnest in his scheme of "planting the tricolour on the Tower." The problem for Napoleon to solve was how to transport across the Channel an army of 150,000 men, with horses, cannon, baggage, and equipments, in spite of the naval superiority of England. In these first preparations we must allow he succeeded beyond our worst expectations. Within fourteen months from the commencement of the war he had gathered within ten leagues of our coast, and had placed beyond the power of attack, a flotilla mounting 2000 guns, and able to transport his superb army, which, though numbering 150,000 men, could embark in less than a single tide, and were fully trained for a naval encounter.

So far, at least, as regards the Government, it must be confessed that our preparations to meet this attack were unequal to the danger. In the Channel especially--the point menaced--the naval arrangements made by the Admiralty were very faulty and even ridiculous. Such a Power as England should never have allowed the flotilla to assemble at Boulogne at all; and when it had assembled it should have been assailed by a mass of gunboats and light vessels, which we might have sent out in enormous numbers. Yet the Admiralty persisted in encountering the flotilla with 18 and 12-pounder frigates, which drew too much water to close the shore, and, at long range, were no match for their powerfully armed, though small antagonists; the result was that on no occasion were we able to damage the enemy seriously, and that on some we suffered severely.

In England as well as in France it was thought that the flotilla was to risk the passage unaided, its heavy armament suggesting the notion that Napoleon believed it a match for our fleet in the narrow strait between Dover and Calais. We now know, however, that this was an error, and that Napoleon never intended to embark unless supported by a covering squadron, which, having for a time the command of the Channel, would completely protect the flotilla and the army. In order to have the mastery of the Channel for the forty-eight hours required for the transit, the problem was so to manoeuvre his fleets as to bring a superior force off Boulogne, in spite of the numerous English squadrons which watched or blockaded them in all their harbours. He devised a twofold scheme for this end, adapted to the circumstances of the seaboard, and which experience proved to be feasible.

This volume, however, proves sufficiently that, brilliant as were Napoleon's designs, he could not inspire Villeneuve and Ganteaume with the daring energy of Nelson and Cochrane, or make British seamen of his sailors. The want of discipline, the timidity, and the inexperience, of which there are proofs, explain how Napoleon's deep-laid designs were brought to an end on the day of Trafalgar.

"I wished to bring together forty or fifty sail of the line by operating their junction from Toulon, Cadiz, Ferrol, and Brest; to move them all together to Boulogne; to be there for a fortnight master of the Channel; to have 150,000 men and 10,000 horses encamped on the coast, with a flotilla of nearly 4000 vessels, and then, upon the arrival of my fleet, to embark for England and seize London.... To secure a prospect of success it was necessary to collect 150,000 men at Boulogne, with the flotilla, and an immense materiel, to embark the whole, yet to conceal my plan. I accomplished this though it appeared impossible, and I did so by reversing what seemed probable."

Thus, in the spring of 1805 Napoleon collected within ten leagues of our shores a flotilla of nearly 4000 vessels, which, moored under the batteries of Boulogne, and armed with very heavy cannon, had long repelled our attempts to destroy them. Encamped around lay the veteran legions which had been selected for the descent, and had been trained with such care to embark and expedite the passage, that Napoleon writes, "150,000 men with a due proportion of guns and horses could within four tides effect a landing."

His plan was marked with much ingenuity. The aspect of an armed flotilla induced our Admiralty to think that Napoleon relied on it alone to cross; and they felt assured that when at sea, three or four ships would suffice to destroy it. Accordingly, our Channel fleet was reduced to a force of not more than six sail; and the mass of the British Navy was employed either in blockading the enemy's squadrons or in distant expeditions on the ocean. Could, therefore, one of the blockaded fleets effect its junction with another, and penetrate into the unguarded Channel, a temporary ascendancy at sea might be gained, under cover of which the flotilla could cross and ferry over the French army.

It is only in this volume that we see how nearly Napoleon's design succeeded so far as regards the descent, and also what were the causes of its failure. Whatever we may think of his project as a whole, it must be allowed that in August, 1805, when Villeneuve put to sea from Ferrol, the Emperor had good reason to expect that his Admirals would fulfil their mission:--

While the First Consul was meditating the descent upon England, in 1804, his life and government were imperilled by the conspiracy of Georges, Moreau, and Pichegru. The Duc d'Enghien, as is well known, was the innocent victim of this affair, having been arrested on neutral territory, and shot in a ditch, without a trial, in order to strike the Bourbons with terror. While the printed account shows that the plot was a formidable one, that the death of Napoleon and a counter-revolution were really not remote contingencies, and that there were some slight grounds to suspect an intrigue between Dumouriez and the Duke, it also impliedly acquits that Prince of any share in the main conspiracy, and throws the guilt of his cruel fate exclusively on the First Consul. From the list of charges against the Duke, entirely in Napoleon's writing, it is plain that he did not possess any proofs, sufficient even for the tribunal of Vincennes to convict the prisoner of a design against his life.

"Pitt is the most forgiving and easy-tempered of men," says Lord Malmesbury. "He is the most upright political character I ever knew or heard of," says Wilberforce. "I never once saw him out of temper," says George Rose. One day, when the conversation turned upon the quality most needed in a Prime Minister, and one said "Eloquence," another "Knowledge," and a third "Toil," Pitt said, "No; Patience." It was an answer worthy of the great statesman, and recalls that of Newton, who said that he owed his splendid discoveries to the power of fixed attention. Pitt was wonderfully patient, and this which is commonly regarded as a slow virtue he combined with uncommon readiness and rapidity of thought. "What an extraordinary man Pitt is!" said Adam Smith; "he makes me understand my own ideas better than before." The Marquis Wellesley has left this character of Pitt--a man of princely hospitality and amiable nature:

This was "the Heaven-born Minister." This was "the pilot to weather the storm." This is he who stands forth as the greatest of our statesmen, and the story of whose life, as fitly told by Lord Stanhope, will have undying interest throughout the world.

At a moment when the prestige of the Empire was accepted everywhere, Wellington not only expressed doubts as to the stability of that edifice, which seemed as if it must endure for ages, but pointed out distinctly the causes which must operate to throw it down, and the means by which its fall might be hastened. From that hour, whilst prosecuting the war in Spain, he took care as much as possible, to regulate his own proceedings according to the general state of Europe. Something told him that the little army on the Mondego had a mighty part to play in the sanguinary drama which agitated the world; and that not the fate of the Peninsula alone was at stake, nor yet the question of England's supremacy, but the independence and liberty of all nations, menaced by the ambition of one man.

In December, 1811, Wellington wrote to Lord William Bentinck: "I have long considered it probable that we shall see a general resistance throughout Europe to the horrible and base tyranny of Bonaparte, and that we shall be called upon to play a leading part in the drama, as counsellors as well as actors."

In a letter to Lord Liverpool, in 1811, Wellington wrote: "I am convinced, that if we can only hold out a little longer, we shall see the world emancipated." And to Dumouriez, July, 1811: "It is impossible that Europe can much longer submit to the debasing tyranny which oppresses it."

Lord Mulgrave, afterwards Marquis of Normanby, first raised Haydon's enthusiasm for Wellington by saying, one day, at table, "If you live to see it, he will be a second Marlborough."

Why the issue of this campaign was so different from that of many of its splendid forerunners may be accounted for with perfect certainty. The Duke and Blucher were different men, of greater ability, and better united than the Generals of any previous coalition, and the large majority of their troops were capable of heroic exertions. The Duke was not the man to allow an accident of time to ruin an ally, and at the crisis of the campaign, on the 16th, he baffled the Emperor by his tactical skill and the intrepidity of his British infantry. Of the subsequent moves by which he won the greatest battle of modern times, it is enough to say that they defy criticism, while the heroism of two-thirds of his army has not been surpassed in military annals. As for the Prussian troops, their stand at Ligny and their subsequent rally and advance to Waterloo, are worthy of the highest commendation; and Blucher's celebrated march from Wavre is said to have wrung from Napoleon himself the admission that "it was a flash of genius." It was this combination of talent and valour, unlike anything he had encountered before, that brought the superior numbers of the allies to bear upon Napoleon at last, and involved him and his army in ruin.

As for the armies that met in this bloody strife, we Englishmen think it enough to say that, except the Belgian and Nassau levies, they all did their duty like soldiers. The weak falsetto of M. Thiers detracts from the manhood of that dauntless cavalry "who rode round our squares like their own," and from the renown of that veteran infantry "who bore nine rounds before they staggered." Nor will the heroism of Ligny be forgotten, nor the glory of England at Waterloo fade, because an historian chooses to write that the Prussian army "was well beaten," and that the "English, excellent in defence, are very mediocre on the offensive." At this time, surely, a French historian might describe the campaign of 1815 with a candid regard to truth alone, and without pandering to the ignoble worship of military despotism.

Wellington would never have fought at Waterloo unless certain of the aid of Blucher; it is idle, therefore, to speculate on the chance of what the event of the day might have been had this support been unexpectedly wanting. French writers assert that he must have been crushed; but the Duke held a different opinion. The Rev. Mr. Gleig tells us that--

It matters little whether it be a pleasing tradition or an historical fact, but it was commonly said that after the Peace, which crowned the immortal services of the Duke of Wellington, that great general, on seeing the playing-fields at Eton, said, there had been won the crowning victory of Waterloo.

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