OUR INFANTRY. 91 



These men disgraced themselves and our arms. 

 Four or five generals were placed in quick 

 succession at the head of our expedition to 

 Portugal in the last war, and were all as 

 quickly recalled. Then how ill was the army 

 commanded we sent to America in 1814 ! Can 

 we then believe that a system under which 

 such events occurred can be sound ? 



The state of the army we sent to Germany 

 at the commencement of the last war was dis- 

 graceful. Its outposts, when before the enemy, 

 were not visited by the general officers on duty, 

 and head-quarters was every night a scene of 

 drunkenness, while the soldiers were without 

 discipline. This statement rests on no less 

 authority than that of the Duke of Wellington. 

 Until he was placed at the head of our armies 

 in the field, they had rarely any success. But 

 how did he, while young, arrive at so high a 

 station ? Was it by the force of his talents ? 

 No. By his great interest — by the instrumen- 

 tality of his brother, Lord Wellesley, Governor- 

 General of India, when the then Colonel 

 Wellesley arrived in that country, where he 

 was quickly placed at the head of an army, in 

 which post he had brilliant success. 



