tause; and, amidst the unexampled success which has attended their ministry, they have the candour to disclaim as presumptuous the attributing to any man, or set of men, the auspicious termination of the late arduous contest. Such liberality of sentiment and conduct at once advances their own merits, and benefits their country, by promoting a spirit of conciliation through all ranks and parties in the state. And I must request his majesty's ministers to accept our grateful thanks, for the glorious, and, we trust, permanent peace, which this country has lately obtained, and which we attribute in an eminent degree to their ability in negotiation, as well as to their energy in conducting the war."

The Earl of Liverpool, in the name of his majesty's ministers, made a most eloquent reply, in which he paid the highest compliments to the Duke of Wellington, whose successes had far out-stripped all human expec'tation. His lordship said, his majesty's ministers had to be grateful for the confidence which had been placed in them; and attributed the glorious results of the late ar'duous contest to the steady perseverance of the nation, amongst whom none stood more conspicuous than the citizens of London.

served well of their country for the services they had performed.

In the London Gazette of July 5th, 1814, the Duke of Wellington's appointment of ambassador to France, appeared; and, in the beginning of August, his grace set out on his embassy. He arrived at Dover on Monday, the 8th of August, under a salute from the batteries; but, the weather being too rough to embark there, he proceeded to Deal, where the Griffin sloop of war was ordered to meet him. In the evening, his grace embarked for Ostend, and soon after commenced his inspection of the fortresses in the Netherlands. After reviewing the British troops in that country, and giving instructions for the strengthening of the fortified places, he proceeded to Paris, where he made his public entry on the 23d, and was presented to Louis XVIII. on the 25th of August. The latter ceremony displayed all the pomp of which it was capable; the French monarch displaying an evident anxiety to pay his excellency and the British nation all due honours.

On his introduction to Monsieur, the latter addressed him in these words :

"The king and all the royal family of France receive the highest pleasure from the choice the Prince Regent has made of a hero worthy to be his representative. It is our desire and hope to see a durable peace established between two nations made rather to esteem than to wage war with one another."

The subsequent events which re-kindled the torch of war on the continent, and led to that memorable victory which transcended all our hero's previous splendid achievements, have been already minutely detailed. It only remains, therefore, to select a few traits of his private character from the remarks of contemporary historians.

Towards the close of the evening, a temporary staircase was opened from the galleries into the body of the hall, by which the ladies descended, and passed round the whole of the tables on the hustings; and every one had the honour of shaking hands with the immortal hero and the royal dukes, and some of the younger ones were saluted by his grace. Near seven hundred ladies were in the galleries, most superbly dressed. The decorations in the hall were nearly similar to those at the late entertainment. There was not so great a display of plate, the city plate from the Mansion-House being the only plate used, which afforded sufficient for the upper tables, and the remainder were served with most Perhaps no man, in any station of life, was ever elegant British china. No person sat under the canopy more generally beloved," says a respectable writer, of the throne; and the three chairs on which the Prince" than the Duke of Wellington; to which his extreme Regent, the Emperor, and the King sat, were raised on ́a platform, and remained empty the whole evening. At the back of the throne was placed one glass, containing nearly sixty square feet, of British manufacture, which had a most beautiful effect.

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suavity of manners has materially contributed. The affability of his deportment at his table, during his campaigns, is well known to the officers of his army, and tended to endear him to all who had the happiness to approach his person, and receive the honour of his The corporation of London, upon this occasion, in- notice. In the midst of those cares which were insepavited every person to the entertainment who had been rable from his high command, he always found leisure in any way noticed in the votes of parliament for their to attend to the minutiae of his arrangements; and no services, either by sea or land; as well as those they instance could be found where his regulations for the had themselves noticed in votes of thanks, and given conduct of his army were inefficient. The secrecy the freedom and swords, boxes, or other rewards; in which he observed on all occasions, and his rapidity addition to which, were the relations and those that of conception, gave him incalculable advantages. No were connected with the Duke of Wellington, his staff, preparation was ever necessary for the establishment and many others, both naval and military, who, al- of head-quarters previous to a march, their removal although they had not been noticed by name, had de-ways keeping pace with the army.

"It is the peculiar character of the noble duke's | shall immediately write home for a fresh medical staff; despatches, that they present a clear picture of the but, mark me! until they come out, you shall remain transactions which employ his pen, divested of that here, and you shall perform your duty," This was an colouring only required to adorn the pages of fiction; observation which became him as a general, and which at the same time, they are faithful transcripts, to which reflected the highest honour on him as a man, the future historian will eagerly apply for that information which he can never obtain from a more authentic

source.

Secret to an extreme in all his plans, even his staff were always ignorant of his intentions: at head-quarters, all was conjecture. He thinks, acts, and succeeds; and so well is he understood and seconded, that scarcely is his plan formed, before it is executed. So guarded, in fact, is his secrecy, that he once humourously said, "If I thought the hair of my head knew my plans, I would wear a wig."

"In contemplating the character of a great man, it is natural to compare him with others who have excelled in similar circumstances. The nearest approach to him is the great Marlborough: like him, his grace possesses a degree of civic talent, which of itself would have raised him to high honours and distinctions. It is Previous to the late great events of his life, it was this quality, in particular, which has led government well observed of him by an intelligent writer, that, “In to entrust larger powers to him than were perhaps ever all his former actions, there were two or three principal before given to any other military commander. So characteristic traits;—an indefatigable activity; a samany specimens, indeed, has he given of his diploma-gacity which sees and determines in a moment, and a tic skill, that no powers seem to have been indiscreetly promptitude which instantaneously acts; an indifferbestowed upon him." ence to the mere circumstance of numerical equality; Of his indefatigable activity, sufficient proofs have an incomparable readiness in disencumbering himself appeared in this biographical sketch: but the promi- of whatever is superfluous; and an equal readiness in nent trait in his character is to be found in that steadi-determining what is superfluous, and the exact point of ness evinced in his retreat to his lines at Torres Vedras, time when it becomes so." Combined with these traits, by which he preserved his own strength unbroken, it is proper to observe, that his grace is stated by those whilst that of his enemy was wasting away; and in his who have the best opportunities of knowing it, to enjoy uniform conduct on the field of Waterloo. an admirable self-possession and command of animated spirits and temper under any state of circumstances, never losing himself in the moment of victory, coolly weighing the passing events where he finds himself checked, and thus proving that he would not lose himself even in defeat.

It must also be remarked, as another important trait in his character, that he sees every thing himself, and may be said, during his campaigns, to live with his soldiers. He never ordered his army to move without seeing that his troops were well provided with one or two days' sustenance; he always put them in motion at an early hour, in order that they might arrive at their ground in good time; and he never halted them without taking care that every comfort and facility possible might be afforded to the troops for the preparation of their repast. He was equally attentive to their comfort in cantonments, and also to the hospitals. In the early part of the war in Spain, his grace's regulations were deemed so oppressive by the medical persons then attached to the army, that, in a body, they sent in their resignations. To this he is said merely to have replied, "Gentlemen, I accept your resignations, and

To him, as an instrument in the hand of Divine Providence, may England and the world ascribe the glorious termination of a war which seemed to defy all limits to its duration. And to the success with which his arms were crowned, is to be attributed the downfall of the tyrant, who threatened, a second time, to impose on France and Europe his hateful chains. It is pleasing to reflect, that his services have not gone unrewarded; and that his country, in estimating them, has given a noble proof of its munificence, in the honours and rewards which it has bestowed upon him and his brave companions in arms.

(

FIELD-MARSHAL VON BLUCHER,

PRINCE DE WAGSTADT.

ALBERT LBERT LEOPOLD VON BLUCHER, com- retreat of his division with remarkable ability in the mander-in-chief of the late Silesian army, was born at face of the victorious enemy. It was his intention to his father's country-seat, in Pomerania, A. D. 1743, effect a junction with the army of Prince Hohenloe, and commenced his military career in the seven years' and to gain the Oder; and, by giving full employment war, under the command of the celebrated Zieten, the to several divisions of the French troops, to allow time favourite of Frederick the Great. When only fifteen for the supply of some important fortresses, and for years of age, he entered into the regiment of Red Hus- the junction of the Russian and Prussian troops. The sars, which had acquired great celebrity by its bravery reserve of the army, consisting of ten thousand five on different occasions, and particularly in defeating the hundred men, which had suffered very materially French in the memorable battle of Rosbach. In this under the Prince of Wurtemberg, at Ilalle, and bad regiment he remained twenty years, when he demand-lost great part of their artillery, and been exhausted by ed and obtained his discharge, in consequence of the forced marches, was entrusted to him on the 24th of promotion of a junior officer to his prejudice.

October, and afterwards met with the corps under the He now occupied himself in the cultivation of his Duke of Weimar and the hereditary Duke of Brunspaternal estates; and his leisure hours were probably wick. After several attempts to join Prince Hohenloe, employed in literary pursuits, as several of his procla- (in which Blucher's little army had been repeatedly ob| mations bear evident marks of a cultivated understand- liged to separate, although they rejoined after many ing. His intercourse with the great was still kept up, difficulties, and to fight against very superior numbers, and he was well known to the different administrations but often inflicting in these contests more injury than of the Prussian government. He regularly attended, they experienced,) our hero received the mortifying as a spectator, at the grand annual reviews; and at one intelligence, that the prince had been obliged to capiof these, after the demise of Frederick II., he was no- tulate at Prentzlow. After a series of harassing atticed by Frederick William II., who gave him a squa- tacks and rapid marches, and several invitations to cadron in his old regiment of hussars; and, soon after, pitulate, he found himself compelled either to retire to made him a colonel. He now came into perpetual ser- Hamburgh or Lubeck, `or to fight the next day; as the vice, his regiment being under the orders of the Duke Duke of Berg (Murat) was on his left flank, Marshal of Brunswick; and his name acquired great reputation Soult on his right, and Bernadotte on his front, each on the banks of the Rhine, during the revolutionary of whose division was more than double the number of campaigns. The characteristic plan of his attacks was his own. He therefore resolved to retire to Lubeck, to rush upon the enemy with irresistible impetuosity; and this he accomplished; but here, to his unspeakable to retire, upon meeting with serious resistance; to regret and indignation, treachery combined against place himself at a distance, and, vigilantly observing him, with the troops of the French, who soon filled the the enemy's movements, to take advantage of every in- town. A contest now took place, which, in fierceness dication of weakness and disorder by a fresh attack, and horror, has seldom been exceeded. The squares, and then to dart upon his opponents with the rapidity the streets, and even the churches, were scenes of the of lightning, cut his way into their ranks, carry off most awful conflict and carnage; and the Prussian some hundreds of prisoners, and retire again. Such troops were ultimately obliged to yield to the overwas his usual manœuvre, and its success obtained for whelming forces of the enemy, and withdraw from the him considerable military reputation. town. In the extreme want of ammunition, with exhausted strength and reduced numbers, effectual resistance seemed absolutely impossible. After three weeks'

After the unfortunate battle of Jena, Blucher, who had now attained the rank of general, conducted the