BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE HEROES OF WATERLOO, AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC CHARACTERS. FIELD-MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. THE ancestors of this great and distinguished war rior appear to have been originally of English descent, being settled, from time immemorial, in the county of Rutland, under the name of Cowley, or Colley; and, in Glaiston Church, Rutlandshire, there is still a monument in memory of Walter Colley, Esq., who was lord of the manor in the year 1407. During the reign of Henry VIII., when several persons of high respectability were induced, by royal grants to emigrate to Ireland, two brothers of this family, Walter and Robert Cowley, removed to Kilkenny, and were presented by his majesty with the office of clerk of the crown in chancery during their respective lives. Each of the brothers appears to have been educated for the bar; as Robert, the younger, became Master of the Rolls; and Walter, ancestor of the present family, was appointed Solicitor-general of Ireland, in 1537; but, having surrendered that office at the expiration of nine years, he was subsequently nominated Surveyorgeneral. In this important commission he acted with such prudence, that he was soon after appointed a commissioner of Array, for the county of Kildare; and was chosen representative for the borough of Thomastown, in the county of Kilkenny, in the parliament of the same year. As a reward for his services, he was knighted by Sir Henry Sidney, the lord-deputy, and appointed a member of the privy-council: but the strongest proof of his worth will appear from the following note written by Sidney to his successor : "My good lord, I had almost forgotten, by reason of diversity of other matter, to recommend unto you, amongst other of my friends, Sir Henry Cowley, a knight of mine own making; who, whilst he was young, and the ability and strength of his body served, was valiant, fortunate, and a faithful servant; and having, by my appointment, the charge of the King's County, kept the country in good order and obedience. He is as good a borderer as I ever met with. I left him at my coming thence a counsellor, and esteemed His eldest son, Henry, seems to have devoted him-him for his experience and judgment, which were self to the profession of arms; as he held a captain's commission in the army, under Queen Elizabeth, from whom, also, in 1559, he received a warrant to execute martial law in the districts of Carbury, Offaley, &c. abundantly sufficient for the situation he was called unto. He was a sincere friend to me; so I doubt not but your lordship shall find, when you have occasion to employ him." Sir Henry is also honourably mentioned by Sir Nicholas Malby, who observes, "He is an English gentleman, seneschal of the county, who governed very honestly, but now is sorely oppressed by the rebels, the Connors." He married Lady Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Cusack, lord-chancellor of Ireland; and by this lady he had three sons, of whom the second, Sir Henry, of Castle Carbury, was the immediate ancestor of the present family. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and during his father's life-time, he was constable of Philipstown Fort, afterwards seneschal of the King's County; and, in 1561, he was appointed by the Lord Deputy, Providore of the Army, an office similar to that of commissary-general. His efforts were particularly directed to the preservation of the county; and these appear to have been finally crowned with success; for, in 1571, he induced all the leading representatives of the Irish families, in that neighbourhood, to appear before him at Philipstown, and to bind themselves, by mutual recognisances, not only to preserve the public peace, but also to answer for each other's good behaviour. On St. George's Day, 1576, he received the honour of knighthood in Christ Church, Dublin; and he appears to have been elected as representative for the borough of Monaghan, in the parliament of 1613. He married Anne, daughter of Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, and his eldest son, Sir Henry Colley, succeeded him at Castle Carbury. This gentleman married Anne, daughter of Christopher Peyton, Esq. auditor-general of Ireland; and his eldest son, Dudley Colley, Esq. of Castle Carbury, having distinguished himself in the royal cause, received a commission in the army from Charles II. soon after the Restoration, and had also a grant and a confirmation of the lands of Ardkill and Collingstown, in Kildare. He was also member of parliament for Philipstown. Dudley married Anne, daughter of Henry Warren, Esq, of Grangebeg, in the county of Kildare, and had by her a numerous family, of whom Henry was his successor; and Elizabeth, one of the daughters, married Garret Wellesley, Esq. of Dangan, in the county of Meath, a family of ancient Saxon extraction, being settled in the county of Sussex. of the county of Meath, and member of parliament for the borough of Trim, in the year 1734. In reward of his public services, George II. created him a peer of Ireland, in 1747, by the title of Baron of Mornington. He espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. John Sale, registrar of the diocese of Dublin, and member for the borough of Carysfort; and his eldest son, Garret, having succeeded him in his barony, was, in 1760, created Viscount Wellesley and Earl of Mornington, having previously held the office of custos rotulorum of the county of Meath. He married Anne, eldest daughter of the Right Honourable Viscount Dungannon, and had by her, the present Marquis of Wellesley, William, now Wellesley Pole, in consequence of inheriting the estates of William Pole, Esq. of Ballifin, Arthur, the subject of the present biographical sketch, and several other children. The first earl having died whilst several of his family were yet in their infancy, a most important care devolved upon his amiable relict, whose prudent and energetic conduct, however, overcame the obstacles attendant upon an impaired state of fortune, resulting from unavoidable causes. It has been justly remarked, that "her wise and liberal economy, in conjunction with the energies of an active and well-informed mind, supplied not only the deficiencies of fortune, but also the loss of a father." It has been also stated, that much of this power to do good, on the part of Lady Mornington, arose from the "very generous and liberal conduct of the present Duke, who, with a magnanimity and fraternal conduct which must always redound to his honour, gave up the entire management of the family estates to her guidance; and, though in the heyday of youth, not only submitted cheerfully to those prudential restraints which her maternal care suggested, but actually paid off all his father's debts, out of an honourable regard to his memory." ARTHUR WELLESLEY, the present Duke of Welling ton, was born on the 1st of May, 1769, and, at an early age, received the benefit of a public education, at Eton; and, as he had expressed a wish to enter the army, he went, at the close of the American war, to the military academy at Angiers, in France, then under the direction of Pignerol, who was justly celebrated for his extraordinary abilities in the art of modern fortification and engineering. After acquiring a fund of useful information, and laying a good foundation for future study and practice, Mr. Wellesley received an ensign's commission in the Henry Colley, Esq. by his marriage with Mary, only daughter of Sir William Usher, Knt. of Dublin, had a large family: and his youngest son, Richard Colley, was. the first who adopted the name of Wellesley, as heir to his first cousin, Garret Wellesley, of Dangan, who bequeathed him all his estates, on condition of his assum-forty-first regiment, on the 25th of Linber, 1787, ing the name and arms of that family. He was auditor and registrar of the Royal Hospital of Kilmainham; second chamberlain of the Court of Exchequer; sheriff when he was but eighteen years of age. As this happened at a time of profound peace, he had leisure to apply his scientific knowledge to garrison and regi mental practice, by which he soon obtained the esteem of all his brother-officers; for he applied himself sedulously to the best authors on military subjects, thus forming a basis for future professional fame: and, having his own rank and connections to trust to for promotion, he preserved throughout a gentlemanlike and truly becoming mode of conduct. success, began to consider one victory only as the prelude to another. "The events of this campaign," says an able writer, "must have afforded Lieutenant-colonel Wellesley many opportunities of trying his speculative opinions upon military tactics, by the test of experience. It was marked with difficulty, danger, and defeat; but the taught him how to oppose the first with sagacity, to meet the second with fortitude, and to sustain the last with dignity. They were calamities indeed, but inseparable from a small force and inadequate means." During the whole of the disastrous retreat of the troops from Holland, Lieutenant-colonel Wellesley, at the head of three battalions, covered all the movements of the army, and displayed so much coolness and skill, as excited the greatest admiration among all the officers who witnessed his conduct. His naine, however, did not find its way into the official accounts, probably be expatiate much upon the vigour or promptitude with which that misfortune might have been alleviated. His next gradation was a lieutenancy, which he re-example of the noble earl, under whom he served, ceived on the 23d of January, 1788: but, in the ensuing year, he exchanged the infantry for the cavalry service, and, on the 25th of June, received a commission as lieutenant, in the twelfth light dragoons. Here he continued till 1791, when, on the 30th of June, he obtained the rank of captain in the fifty-eighth, or Rutlandshire regiment. In 1792, he again entered the cavalry, and served as captain in the eighteenth light dragoons, his commission being dated the 31st of October; but, on the 30th of April, 1793, he received a commission as major in the thirty-third regiment; and, on the 30th of September, in the same year, purchased a lieu-cause there was too much of -misfortune to disclose to tenant-colonelcy in it, and has continued ever since attached to the infantry. The year 1794, may be regarded as the commence- On the arrival of the troops in England, the greater ment of that career, which has entwined the brows of part of them were ordered to hold themselves in readiour hero with unfading laurels, and has excited the ness for an immediate expedition to the West-ludies. everlasting admiration and gratitude of the British na- Accordingly, Colonel Wellesley embarked on board tion. In the early part of that year, Lord Moira com- the fleet commanded by Admiral Christian; but the manded the expedition to Britanny, which, it was sup-heavy equinoctial gales which prevailed during the auposed, would present a rallying point for the royalists, and assist in the accomplishment of the great object for which all Europe was then united in one confederacy. Before any decisive operations could be undertaken, however, the disastrous issue of the campaign in the Netherlands, where the Duke of York commanded, In consequence of the appointment of his brother, rendered it necessary that Lord Moira should proceed the Earl of Mornington, (now Marquis of Wellesley,) as rapidly as possible, to effect a junction with the to the important station of governor-general of India, troops of his royal highness. This he succeeded in ac- Colonel Wellesley accompanied him with his regiment, complishing, though opposed by many adverse circum- and they arrived at Kedgeree, at the mouth of the stances, and debarked his troops at Ostend. Lieute-Ganges, on the 17th of May, 1798, when the earl pronant-colonel Wellesley was with his regiment in this ceeded for Calcutta, and assumed the administration of expedition. At the moment when Lord Moira arrived his arduous office. at Ostend, the army of the Duke of York was in a A war having, at this time, broke out with Spain, an most critical situation, principally arising from the lan-attack on their settlements in the Philippine Islands was guid co-operation of the people. Pichegru and Moreau commanded the republican armies of France, those armies which, animated by a frenzied zeal for liberty, unclothed, unpaid, unfed, and undisciplined, successively defeated all the veteran troops of the allied powers of Europe. Sluys was speedily taken, and the English were repulsed at Boctel, while Crevecour, and Bois-le-Duc, were compelled to surrender. The Duke of York, after sustaining a signal defeat at Pufflech, retired behind the Wahl; and the enemy, flushed with tumn of 1795, having repeatedly baffled every attempt to sail for the destined station, the original plan was altered, and the thirty-third regiment was ordered to Ireland to recruit, where they remained till their colonel was again called into active service. resolved on, and a considerable force was embarked for that service, in which the subject of our memoir would have enjoyed an high command; but the intrigues of the French with the native princes of India, obliged the governor-general to change his plans, and to reserve his troops for the defence of the British possessions. Notwithstanding the amicable protestations of Tippoo Sultau, it was well known that the loss of the Coimbatoor country and other districts, and even of many of the hill-forts in the Mysore, had produced but little effect on his mind, and that, in reality, he feared nothing whilst he remained in possession of his capital; the Earl of Mornington, therefore, resolved to adopt decisive measures: and the reduction of Seringapatam was the object which first engaged his attention. The Madras army, under Lieutenant-general Harris, was assembled at Vellore, in the Carnatic; but, from the delay which occurred in providing the necessary equipments, it was not in a condition to begin its march till the 11th of February, 1799. The contingent of the Nizam, amounting to about six thousand of the Company's troops, under the command of Colonel Roberts, and subsidized by his highness, together with the same number of the native infantry, marched from Hyderabad, under the command of Meer Allum Bahauder, and had arrived at Chittoor, even before General Harris was ready to quit Vellore. In order to give the utmost respectability to the Nizam's force, the commander-in-chief not only strengthened it with some of the Company's battalions, but appointed the thirty-third regiment to join it, giving the command of the British troops thus serving to Colonel Wellesley. Our hero had thus under his command the whole of the Nizam's detachment, forming the reserve of the army, and comprising his own regiment, the eleventh, part of the second and fourth, two battalions of the first Bengal regiment, two brigades of artillery, the Nizam's infantry commanded by Captain Malcolm, and the cavalry of the same prince commanded by Meer Allum, a native officer. Together with these, he had a distinct staff; and the cavalry alone amounted to six thousand men: the whole army under General Harris consisting of thirty-six thousand nine hundred and fiftynine men, all well equipped, amply supplied, and admirably disciplined. Lieutenant-general Harris, the commander-in-chief, having resolved to advance to Seringapatam, by the route of Talgautporam and Cankanelli, the march commenced at break of day, on the 10th of March, 1799. The cavalry were in advance, the baggage on the right, and Colonel Wellesley's detachment, which had marched by the left, advanced in a parallel line, at some distance on the right flank of the army. The enemy were no sooner apprised of this movement, than parties of their cavalry appeared in all directions, burning the forage, and destroying the villages; and some of them had the audacity to attack Colonel Wellesley's rear-guard, consisting of a company of Sepoys. Of these twenty were killed upon the spot, and thirty-six wounded; but, in consequence of the prompt measures adopted by the colonel, the assailants were soon and effectually repulsed. After a fatiguing march through a country abounding with jungles and defiles, intelligence was received that Tippoo's army had advanced to Allagoor, a village near Sultan-pettah ; and, on the 28th, the left wing and the cavalry having encamped close to a pass about seven miles from Cankanelli, the right were advanced to Arravully, and Colonel Wellesley's division took up a position at some distance in the rear. After securing several important passes, the right wing of the cavalry marched from Achil, on the 23d, and encamped at Sultan-pettah; the left wing and the battering train proceeding to Achil, while Colonel Wellesley marched with his detachment from Cankanelli, and encamped in front of the village of Allagoor, from which the Sultan's army had retired. Early on the morning of the day, as the colonel and his advance approached Sultan-pettah, a cloud of dust to the westward evidently denoted that the army of Tippoo was then in motion, and it afterwards appeared that it had just quitted its position on the western bank of the Maddoor river, and had encamped at Mallavelly. The right wing, the cavalry, Colonel Wellesley's detachment, continued their march till the 25th, when they halted, and were joined by the left wing and the battering train. On the 26th, the whole advanced in compact order, and encamped five miles to the eastward of Mallavelly, on an open ground, which could be easily seen from the adjacent heights. Some advanced parties of the enemy's forces, with some elephants, soon appeared upon a distant ridge, as if reconnoitring the British encampment; and, in the evening, fourteen or fifteen guns were seen in motion; which circumstances seemed to intimate that the sultan was preparing for an attack. The next morning, at day-break, Colonel Wellesley's division was ordered to move parallel to the left, but at some distance, so as to cover the baggage, and to be ready to act as circumstances might require; whilst the main body of the army marched from its left flank on the road leading to Mallavelly. The advance of the whole was commanded by Major-general Floyd, having under him all the picquets, together with five regiments. of cavalry. He approached within a mile of Mallavelly, but was there obliged to halt; as a numerous body of the enemy's cavalry was discovered on the right flank, whilst the heights beyond that place were covered by their infantry. Having reconnoitred his position, he perceived some guns moving towards the right of the enemy's line, as if with the design of occupying a ridge which enfiladed the low ground on the eastern flank of the vil lage. He immediately concluded that these guns were intended to open upon the troops whilst passing this |