Ecvic^o of Beviews, l/i/13. 



^^I 



Character Sketch— LORD WOLSELEY. 

 THE HERO OF ASHANTEE AND THE NILE. 



By W. T. STEAD. 



The mere enumeration of the fields of 

 service, military and civil, in which Lord 

 Wolseley distinguished himself, brings 

 forcibly before the mind the extra- 

 ordinary ex- 

 tent and im- 

 mense variety 

 of the Brit- 

 ish Empire. 

 Com pared 

 with the do- 

 minions of 

 His Majesty 

 the posses- 

 sions of all 

 other poten- 

 tates are but 

 country par- 

 ishes, which, 

 if, like Rus- 

 sia and 

 China, they 

 are not limit- 

 ed m area, 

 are neverthe- 

 less monotD- 

 nously uni- 

 form and 

 confined to 

 one or two 

 con t i n ents. 

 There is only 

 one sovereign 

 whose do- 

 mains can 

 for a moment 

 be compared 

 to those of 

 the King, 

 and his sove- 

 reignty is not 

 temporal but 



*The following sketch of the Inte Field- 

 Marshal was written by Mr. Stead some years 

 aso. It has required little alteration to 

 hring it u-p to date, as the di.'^tintiuished sol- 

 dier had already retired into private life. 



FIELIVMAR.SHAL LORD VVOI.SEhEY. 

 [From a photo, specially taken for the Review of Reviews. 



spiritual. The prisoner of the Vatican 

 administers a realm even wider than that 

 which owns the sway of Britain's Em- 

 peror. The bridge that crosses the Tiber 



near the Cas- 

 tle of San 

 Angelo leads 

 to a world- 

 centre of ad- 

 minis t r ative 

 energy whose 

 cir c u m f er- 

 ence is in the 

 ends of all 

 the earth. But 

 after the 

 Vatican there 

 is no such 

 c e nt r e of 

 Empire as 

 Westminster. 

 Rome is still, 

 as of yore, 

 the capital of 

 the Empire 

 of Centrali- 

 sation, West- 

 minster is the 

 capital of the 

 Empire of 

 Decentralisa- 

 tion. The 

 spiritual do- 

 minion is a 

 d e s p o tism 

 disguised un- 

 der forms of 

 a c h u r c h , 

 w liereas our 

 1 e m p o r a 1 

 Empire is a 

 federation of 

 Republics linked together by the golden 

 circlet of monarchy. But outside the 

 Church of Rome no such eventful and 

 varied career is possible to au)- non- 



