On the 25th April 1808, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General.

The grand stroke of Bonaparte that was to add the Peninsula of Europe to the great nation (as France called herself par excellence) was now, by the various arts of policy and war, carried into complete effect, and thus the British Nation entirely excluded from the continent. The vigilant policy of its government, however, detected a weak point, and but one; to this was directed an expedition in which Sir Arthur was included with a body of troops which had been collected at Cork, in contemplation of being sent against Spanish America.

It was to be a great expedition and under men great in name, and older in war ;-already the reader anticipates the fact, Sir Arthur marched without waiting for the remainder, and gaining the Battle of Roliça, was ready at Vimiera to protect the landing of two corps of that remaining force.

Of the vacillation, which on the arrival of his senior officers paralyzed the energy so manifested, too much is already known; finding the victory not improved to further advantage, the French availed themselves of it to seek an opportunity of retiring with their Portugueze booty to France. This by the Convention of Cintra was permitted; and Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to England from the scene of glory to his civil office, to be submitted in common with his seniors to the scrutiny of a military court.

How the "melancholy temperament," as it has been called, of Sir John Moore, deteriorated the cause still farther in every respect, other than the demonstration of courage, is sufficiently known.

The successes which, however, followed in Portugal,

among which not the least was the enterprize of Sir Robert Wilson, were encouraging; and on the 22nd of April 1809, a fresh force was sent from England to the Tagus with Sir Arthur Wellesley as Commander in Chief. His Excellency bore also the useful local rank of Marshal-General of the Portugueze troops.

The General now unembarrassed from the opposing opinions and less daring habits of seniors, began immediately to push his fortunes in the spirit of Assye—but alas! the impression which had been made by preceding circumstances, and the habits of the Spanish functionaries produced further impediments. How he subdued them— how he exercised all the qualities of a commander, under succeeding difficulties, till he gradually obtained from the progressive confidence of his country an army perhaps the most efficient in the world,-together with others of two rival nations, either of them but little inclined to succumb to England, and conciliated the whole; will be best seen in the results recorded in the preceding pages.

The first campaign procured for him the titles of Baron Douro, Viscount Wellington, with a pension of 20001. a year.

What his Lordship's feelings must have been when His Majesty's ministers, led to hope that a new and more vitað inlet had been obtained to the continent, sent away from him the finest army that ever quitted the shores of Britain in vain, and he was compelled to exercise only active cunctation for a year, must be easier conceived than described. That ministry of whom, considering the numerous temptations both foreign and domestic, it is only wonderful that they were not led into more vain pursuits, at

length however, made truly the amende honorable to Lord Wellington, in the advantages drawn from the war between France and Russia, and the supply of all that was required to establish him the first Captain of the age. In August 1812, he was created Marquess of Wellington.

Having marched successfully, through all impediments and all dangers, from the Tagus to the Garonne, the Marquess Wellington might have been expected to repose upon his laurels; still active, however, he accepted the diplomatic character toward a nation which but for his forbearance he might be said to have conquered. ' Previously, however, (in May 1814,) his Lordship was created Duke of Wellington.

He had scarcely presented his credentials, and the brave army was but just completely dislocated, when the eventful man, who over-reaching his ambition, had yet had power to prescribe for himself empire in miniature, returned from his puny seat, and, driving all before him, regained the throne he had abdicated, and soon appeared with some of his best generals at the head of 170,000 men!

It was now that the Duke of Wellington, who had found his level in the campaigns of 1813 and 14, rose to the dignity to which, from the humbler field of Assye, his talents and energies had been directed. The fate of

'The orders of the Commander of the Forces on entering France are an honor to the British name and character; and certainly furnished, however paradoxical it may appear, the best credentials for an ambas sador.

Europe hung upon his sword. How it was decided, the section which remains will show.

It is sufficient for this brief notice, which must otherwise swell into a volume, to mention the victory, which surpassing that of Marlborough, the nearest English prototype, obtained for him the title and feod of Prince of Waterloo. Money was immediately voted by Parliament for a public palace; and the whole range of public honors devised by every nation on the earth prepared for the Duke of Wellington.

To speak of his Grace's carriage under these honors, would be only to declare him a great philosopher as well as general commander, appointed with every sense of propriety Commander in Chief of the forces of those nations in alliance with Great Britain, which form an army in France for the preservation of peace: the general tranquillity and order which subsist among them, is the best proof how well this illustrious man deserved all the eloquent praise which anticipated the present records from the best judge of the age.

More dates might no doubt be added, and minor facts multiplied to infinity; but these are lost in the blaze of grandeur which every where surrounds the character of the Hero of the nineteenth century. Long may he be preserved an exemplar of all that is good and great-to shew admiring nations how near humanity may approach perfection!

BATTLE OF WATERLOO ;-FIELD MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WEL LINGTON; MARSHAL BLUCHER, OF PRUSSIA; OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, &c. AS HEREAFTER STATED. JUNE 16, 17, 18, 1815.

The regimen of

With the preceding section it may rather be said, that war had ceased, than that peace was established. Europe was not yet sufficiently reduced for the hope of tranquillity. The general, whose peculiar adaptation to the circumstances of the continent, had in effect nearly reduced it under the empire of France, was indeed removed from immediate power, but his influence remained, and his exile was within sight of the very shores he had governed; he in consequence returned, and by his return enabled that powerful genius which had happily presided over the fortune of British arms in the latter years, to accomplish the peace of Europe.