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WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



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of Mr. Robert Patterson. By this lady, who survived him, ho had no 

 children. 



Lord Wellesloy was a man of superior powers and of enlarged 

 views. His administration in India was brilliant and productive of 

 lasting good ; though part of the credit must be attributed to the 

 high cast of official talent developed in the East India Company's 

 service under the judicious arrangements of that body, and part to the 

 efficient assistance he derived from his brother and the other generals 

 in the field. The marquis was an elegant scholar, of a disposition too 

 delicate to stand the ruder shocks of party warfare. His prosperous 

 career of civil service was more flattering to his ambition than pro- 

 ductive of emolument. His father's debts were paid by him volun- 

 tarily, but he was unable to preserve the family estates. In 1837 the 

 directors of the East India Company passed a resolution to the effect 

 that they had reason to believe the Marquis Wellesley was involved in 

 pecuniary difficulties, and that therefore they deemed it their duty to 

 offer him some further acknowledgment of his distinguished services. 

 The resolution proceeded to state that, on the fall of Seringapatam, 

 the sum of 100,000. was set apart for the Marquis Wellesley a grant 

 which on his suggestion was abandoned to the army. It was after- 

 wards determined to vote him an annuity of 5000Z., which had 

 ever since been paid ; but the Court of Proprietors believed that the 

 Marquis derived very little advantage from the grant, and under these 

 circumstances it was resolved that the sum of 20,000?. be placed in 

 the hands of trustees for his use and benefit. This grant his lordship 

 accepted. 



Some Latin poems by the marquis were published early in life. In 

 1805 a thin quarto was published in London, purporting to be a 

 history, by the marquis, " of all the events and transactions which 

 have taken place in India during his administration." It is a mere 

 translation from a French version of some of his intercepted des- 

 patches, published at Paris. In 1836 Mr. Montgomery Martin pub- 

 lished, in five volumes, 8vo, at the expense of the East India Company, 

 ' Despatches, Minutes, and Correspondence of the Marquis Wellesley, 

 during his administration in India ; ' and in 1838, the same gentleman 

 republished, in a thin 8vo volume, from Parliamentary papers, 

 ' Despatches and Correspondence of the Marquis Wellesley, during 

 his Mission to Spain.' His lordship also published a number of occa- 

 sional pamphlets : 'Substance of a Speech in the House of Commons 

 on the Address in 1794; ' ' Notes relative to the Peace concluded with 

 the Mahrattas ; ' ' Letters to the Government of Fort George, relative 

 to the new form of government established there ; ' ' Letters to the 

 Directors of the East India Company on the India Trade ; ' &c. 



AVELLINGTON, DUKE OF. Arthur Wellesley was born, as com- 

 monly stated, on the 1st of May 1769, at Dangan Castle, in the county 

 of Meath, Ireland ; but in the registry of St. Peter's Church, Dublin, 

 it is recorded that " Arthur, sou of the Right Honourable Earl and 

 Countess of Mornington," was thera christened by " Isaac Maun, arch- 

 deacon, on the 30th of April 1769." It is probable therefore that he 

 was born in March, at Mornington House, Dublin, the town residence 

 of his parents. After the battle of Waterloo he kept his birthday on 

 the 18th of June, the anniversary of that important victory. He was 

 the third son of the first Earl of Mornington. [MORNINGTON, EARL OF.] 

 The family name was originally Wesley, derived from Garret Wesley, 

 of Dangan Castle, and so continued till 1797, when the name was 

 altered to Wellesley by the first Marquis Wellesley. Arthur Wellesley 

 was educated at Eton College, whence he was transferred to private 

 tuition at Brighton, and afterwards to the military academy at Angers 

 in France. 



On the 7th of March 1787, the Hon. Arthur Wellesley received his 

 first commission as an ensign in the 73rd regiment of foot. He was 

 gazetted under the name of Wesley, and the young officer is so desig- 

 nated in contemporary descriptions of his early services. In December 

 1787 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the 76th foot, from 

 which, in the following month, he exchanged into the 41st, and on the 

 25th of June 1788 was appointed to the 12th Light Dragoons. On 

 the 30th of June 1791 he became captain in the 58th Foot, and on the 

 31st of October 1792, obtained in exchange a troop in the 18th Light 

 Dragoons. Captain Wellesley was gazetted as major in the 33rd 

 Foot, April 30, 1793, and in the following September obtained by 

 purchase the rank of lieutenant-colonel of that regiment. Before he 

 commenced his career of active service he was attached as aide-de- 

 camp to the staff of the Earl of Westmoreland, then lord-lieutenant 

 . of Ireland, and in 1790, having just come of age, he was returned as 

 a member to the Irish parliament for the family borough of Trim, in 

 the county of Meath. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Wellesley, in command of the 33rd regiment, 

 sailed from Cork for Flanders, on his first active service, in May 1794, 

 and landed at Ostend to join the British army under the Duke of 

 York, then in the Netherlands. The advance of the French army 

 under Pichegru obliged the British, after several engagements, to 

 retire into Holland, and take up a position on the right bank of the 

 Waal. In January 1795 the retreat was continued by the town of 

 Deventer, through Guelderland and Overyssel, to the river Ems, and 

 thence to Bremen, where the army was re-embarked for England in 

 the spring. During this arduous retreat through a frozen and cheer- 

 less country, in the middle of a winter remarkably severe, Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Wellesley commanded a brigade in the rear-guard, and his 



able dispositions in checking or assaulting the enemy are specially 

 noticed in contemporary accounts of the events. 



In the autumn of 1795 the 33rd regiment embarked for the West 

 Indies ; but the ships, after being tossed at sea for six weeks, were 

 obliged to put back into Portsmouth, and the 33rd regiment was 

 lauded again, and in April 1796 was embarked for India. Colonel 

 Wellesley (for he had been promoted to the rank of Colonel in May 

 of that year) w'as detained at home through illness, but he joined his 

 regiment at the Cape of Good Hope, and proceeded with it to Cal- 

 cutta, where he arrived in February 1797, and was placed on the 

 Bengal establishment. 



In May 1798, the Earl of Mornington, Colonel Wellesley's elder 

 brother, arrived at Calcutta, having been appointed governor-general 

 of India on the 4th of October 1797. One of the first objects that 

 required his attention was the equivocal attitude of Tippoo Saib, 

 sultan of Mysore, towards the English. In the month of June a 

 proclamation of the French governor of the Isle of France announced 

 the arrival of two ambassadors from Tippoo, to propose an alliance 

 offensive and defensive for the purpose of expelling the English from 

 India, in consequence of which a number of Frenchmen volunteered 

 to join the sultan, and were taken to Mangalore in a French ship of 

 war. These movements of Tippoo were connected with the French 

 expedition to Egypt. The Earl of Mornington wrote several concilia- 

 tory letters to Tippoo, to induce him to settle any pending con- 

 troversy between him and the East India Company by means of 

 negociation, bun at the same time he did not neglect to prepare for 

 offensive operations, and in November an army was assembled at 

 Vellore, under the command of General Harris, ready to enter the 

 territory of Mysore at the first notice. Colonel Wellesley, with his 

 regiment, formed part of this force. The army was joined by a large 

 contingent from the Nizam of the Deccan, an ally of the English ; and 

 as the court of Hyderabad expressed a wish that the brother of the 

 governor-general should be appointed to the command of the contin- 

 gent, General Harris ordered the 33rd regim'ent to be attached to the 

 Nizam's force, the general command of which was given to Colonel 

 Weliesley. As Tippoo declined to enter into negociations, and was 

 evidently trying to gain time, the allied British and native army was 

 ordered to advance into Mysore, which they entered early in March 

 1799. On the 27th an engagement took place, in which the left wing 

 of the allies, under Colonel Wellesley, routed a body of Tippoo's 

 choice infantry. The army then advanced to Seringapatam, Tippoo's 

 capital, and Colonel Wellesley was employed to dislodge the enemy from 

 some strong posts in front of the town, which he executed in gallant 

 style, and without loss. The siege of Seringapatam followed, and on 

 the 4th of May the place was stormed by a party under General Baird. 

 After the storming was over, and the confusion began to subside, 

 General Baird desired to be relieved, and Colonel Wellesley was 

 ordered to take the command of the place. By his exertions and 

 firmness he succeeded in stopping the plunder within the town. 

 Tippoo Saib was slain. 



In July 1799 Colonel Wellesley was appointed governor of Seringa- 

 patam, then the capital of Mysore. During several years that he held 

 almost vice-regal command in Mysore he was fully occupied in 

 organising the civil and military administration of the country, and in 

 the execution of this task he improved his natural talents for business, 

 military and civil, and displayed that quickness of perception and 

 decision of character which have characterised him throughout the 

 whole course of his military career. From the beginning also he paid 

 particular attention to the wants of his soldiers, to the regularity of 

 the supply of provisions, to the management of the hospitals, and to 

 all the particulars of the Commissariat and Quartermaster-General's 

 departments, which constitute half the business of an army, and, to 

 use his own words, if neglected, " misfortune and disgrace will be the 

 result." In the mean time also, by his justice and humanity, and the 

 strict discipline that he maintained among the troops, he acquired the 

 confidence and respect of the native population of Seringapatam. 



Whilst thus employed in Mysore he was obliged to take the field 

 against one of those bold adventurers, once common in India, named 

 Dhoondia Waugh, who had got together 5000 horsemen, partly from 

 Tippoo's disbanded cavalry, and partly from other predatory bands, 

 and who styled himself 'King of the Two Worlds.' Colonel Wellesley, 

 after a harassing chase of two months, came up with him on the 10th 

 of September 1800, immediately attacked him, and put his army to 

 the rout by a single charge, in resisting which Dhoondia himself was 

 slain. In December of the same year Colonel Wellesley was appointed 

 by the governor-general in council to command a body of about 5000 

 troops assembled at Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon, for foreign 

 service, and he accordingly proceeded from Mysore to Trincomalee. 

 The expedition was said to be intended either for Batavia or the Isle 

 of France. Meantime dispatches from England arrived, directing 

 3000 men to be sent to the Red Sea to act against the French in 

 Upper Egypt, whilst an expedition from Europe, under Sir Ralph 

 Abercrombie, was attacking Lower Egypt. The governor of Madras 

 sent Colonel Wellesley a copy of the despatches from home, and as 

 ho knew that his brother, the governor-general, when ho ordered the 

 assembling of the force at Trincomalee, had some expectation of its 

 being required for Egypt, Colonel Wellesley, upon his own responsi- 

 bility, moved at once the whole force to Bombay, where it could be 



