for the first time the details of regimental duty. Remastered
them thoroughly, gained a minute acquaintance with every
detail of the soldier’s life, learned the precise amount of food
required for every mouth, the exact weight that could be carried,
the distances that could be traversed without exhaustion, the
whole body of conditions in short which govern the military
activity of man and beast. It was to the completeness of his
practical knowledge that Wellington ascribed in great part his
later success.
It is probable, moreover, that he at this time made
a serious study of the science and history of war.
His formal
training at Angers was altogether too slight to account for his
great technical knowledge; no record, however, exists of the
stages by which this was acquired except that as soon as he
landed in India he began to devote fixed hours to study, giving
up cards and the violin.
This study was directed chiefly to the
political situation of India, and when on his advice his eldest
brother. Lord Mornington, afterwards Marquess Wellesley,
accepted the governor-generalship of India, he became his
trusted though unofficial adviser.
In the war with Tippoo Saib
the 33rd was attached to the Nizam’s contingent, and Colonel
Wellesley commanded this division in the army of General (Lord)
Harris.
Though his military services in this short campaign
were not of a striking character, he was appointed by his brother
to the supreme military and political command in Mysore, in
spite of the claims of his senior. Sir David Baird.
His great faculties now for the first time found opportunity for their exercise. In the settlement and administration of the conquered territory he rapidly acquired the habits and experience of a statesman, while his military operations against Doondiah, a robber chief, were conducted with extraordinary energy and success, Doondiah being killed and his army scattered. More important, however, than the military side of these operations was their political character. When pressed in Mysore, Doondiah moved into Mahratta territory, whither Wellesley followed him. Here, negotiating and bargaining with the Mahratta chiefs, Wellesley acquired a knowledge of their affairs and an influence over them such as no other Englishman possessed. Simple and honourable himself, he was shrewd and penetrating in his judgment of Orientals; and, unlike his great predecessor Clive, he rigidly adhered to the rule of good faith in his own actions, however depraved and however exasperating the conduct of those with whom he had to deal. The result of Wellesley’s singular personal ascendancy among the Mahrattas came into full view when the Mahratta War broke out. In the meantime, however, his Indian career seemed likely to be sacrificed to the calls of warfare in another quarter. Wellesley was ordered in December 1800 to take command of a body of troops collected for foreign service at Trincomalee, in Ceylon. It was at first intended that these troops should act against Java or Mauritius; their destination was, however, altered to Egypt, with a view to co-operation with Sir Ralph Abercromby’s expedition, and Baird was placed in command. Though deeply mortified at the loss of the command, Wellesley in his devotion to duty moved the troops on his own responsibility from Trincomalee to Bombay, from the conviction that, if they were to be of any use in Egypt, it was absolutely necessary that they should provision at Bombay without delay. But at Bombay Wellesley was attacked by fever, and prevented from going on. The troop-ship in which he was to have sailed went down with all on board.
He returned in May 1801 to Mysore, where he remained until the Mahratta War broke out. The power of the Peshwa, nominally supreme in the Mahratta territory, had been overthrown by his rivals Holkar and others, and he had himself fled. The Indian government undertook to restore his authority. Wellesley, now a major-general, was placed in command of a division of the army charged with this task. Starting from Seringapatam, he crossed the frontier on March 12, 1803, and moved through the southern Mahratta territory on Poona. The march was one unbroken success, thanks to Wellesley’s forethought and sagacity in dealing with the physical conditions and his personal and diplomatic ascendancy among the chieftains of the district. No hand 'was raised against him, and a march of 600 m. was conducted without even a skirmish. Wellesley had intended to reach Poona on the 23rd of April. On the night of the 18th he heard that a rival of the Peshwa intended to burn the city. At once Wellesley pressed on with the cavalry and an infantry battalion in light order, and after a forced march of 32 hours entered Poona on the afternoon of the 20th, in time to save the city. The Peshwa was now restored, and entered into various military obligations with Wellesley, which he very imperfectly fulfilled.
In the meantime Sindhia and Holkar, with the raja of Berar, maintained a doubtful but threatening aspect farther north. It was uncertain whether or not a confederacy of the northern Mahrattas had been formed against the British government. In these critical circumstances Wellesley was charged with "the general direction and control of military and political affairs in the territories of the Nizam, the Peshwa and the Mahratta states and chiefs." Armed with these powers, he required Sindhia, as a proof of good faith, to withdraw to the north of the Nerbudda. Sindhia not doing so, war was declared on the 6th of August 1803. Wellesley marched northwards, captured Ahmadnagar on the 11th, crossed the Godavery ten days later, and moved against the combined forces of Sindhia and the raja of Berar. Colonel Stevenson was meanwhile approaching with a second division from the east, and it was intended that the two should unite. On the 23rd of September Wellesley supposed himself to be still some miles from the enemy; he suddenly found that the entire forces of Sindhia and the raja of Berar were close in front of him at Assaye. Weighing the dangers of delay, of retreat, and of an attack with his single division of 4500 men, supported only by 5000 native levies of doubtful quality, Wellesley convinced himself that an immediate attack, though against greatly superior forces (30,000 horse, 10,000 European-drilled infantry and 100 well-served guns) in a strong position, was the wisest course. He threw himself upon the Mahratta host, and, carrying out a bold manœuvre under an intense fire, ultimately gained a complete victory though with the loss of 2500 men out of a total probably not much exceeding 7000. In comparison with the battle of Assaye, all fighting that had hitherto taken place in India was child’s play. Wellesley himself had two horses killed under him. Uniting with Stevenson’s division, the conqueror followed up the pursuit, and brought the war to a close by a second victory at Argaum on the 29th of November, and the storming of Gawilghur on the 15th of December. The treaties with Sindhia and the raja of Berar, which marked the downfall of the Mahratta power, were negotiated and signed by Wellesley (who was made K.B. in Sept. 1804) in the course of the following month. Not yet thirty-five years old, he had proved himself a master in the sphere of Indian statesmanship and diplomacy as on the field of battle. Had his career ended at this time, his Indian dispatches alone would have proved him to have been one of the wisest and strongest heads that have ever served England in the East.
His ambitions now led him back to Europe, and in the spring of 1805 he quitted India. On his return home he was immediately sent on the abortive expedition to Hanover. In 1806 he was elected M.P. for Rye, in order to defend his brother, the governor general, in the House, and in the following year he was Irish secretary for a few months. He was then employed in the expedition against Copenhagen, in which he defeated the Danes in the action of Kjoge (29th Oct.). In 1808, however, began the war (see Peninsular War) in which his military renown was fully established. In April he was promoted lieutenant-general and placed in command of a division of the troops destined to operate against the French in Spain or Portugal. The conduct of events is narrated in a separate article, and need only be summarized here. Finding that the junta of Corunna wished for no foreign soldiery, he followed his alternative instructions to act against Junot at Lisbon. He landed at Mondego Bay in the first week of August, and moved southwards, driving in the enemy at Roliça on the 17th of August. On the 21st the battle of Vimeiro was fought and won. In the midst of this
