Book Description

Excerpt from The Marquis Wellesley The interest of a statesman's life depends upon the greatness of the events in which he took part, and its value is proportionate to the influence which he exercised over their course. The establishment of the British power in India, the long war against Napoleon, and the struggles for Catholic Emancipation and Parliamentary Reform, were the leading features of the political career of the Marquis Wellesley. It is by his action with reference to these that his rank amongst English statesmen must be determined. Richard Colley Wellesley was born on the 20th of June, 1760. His father, Lord Mornington, was a man of great musical taste, his mother a woman of strong practical ability. He was sent to Harrow while Sumner was Headmaster, and took part in the riots which followed the election of Heath to the Headmastership in preference to Parr. The story that he was "the chief ringleader" in those disturbances seems to be untrue, from the fact that he was barely eleven years old at that time. From 1772 to 1778 he was at Eton, and we can henceforth trace the continuous development of his character. His classical taste begins to show itself in his Latin verses, and the excellence of his scholarship testifies to his general literary power. His rhetorical gifts were shown in the school debating society, and in that recitation of Strafford's speech which moved George III. to tears, and gained the praise of Garrick. He passed his holidays with Archbishop Cornwallis at Lambeth, and there met Lord Cornwallis, from whom he learnt much of India. Important also in their results were the friendships he formed at Eton. "Under Mrs. Young's tree at Eton, the brotherhood, for such it was, of Wellesley, Grenville, and Newport, commenced." Wellesley and Grenville acted together politically for some part of their lives, and the Grenville connection was of great value to Wellesley in his early official career. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.