Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . ing and profound ; withoutthe inspiration of Napoleon, he was one of the bestof the masters disciples. He had also much te-nacity and firmness of purpose ; he could stubbornlyplay to the last a losing game in war; he could pre-pare and array an army with remarkable skill. Buthe did not possess the divine gift of genius ; as atactician in battle he does not rank high ; as a com-mander we see two distinct faults in him : in actionhe was often backward and remiss ; he was apt to failin carrying out effectively w
Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . ing and profound ; withoutthe inspiration of Napoleon, he was one of the bestof the masters disciples. He had also much te-nacity and firmness of purpose ; he could stubbornlyplay to the last a losing game in war; he could pre-pare and array an army with remarkable skill. Buthe did not possess the divine gift of genius ; as atactician in battle he does not rank high ; as a com-mander we see two distinct faults in him : in actionhe was often backward and remiss ; he was apt to failin carrying out effectively well-conceived and Wellington concurred in their estimateof Soult : he was excellent in council, the Em-peror said, but in execution feeble1; he knewhow to place his troops in the field, was his adver-sarys remark, but he did not know how to makethe best use of them. The career of the Marshal inSpain had not been brilliant; it had been marked byhis characteristic faults ; but he had distinguishedhimself on many fields of fame; his struggle with1 Gourgaud, ii., SIR GEORGE MURRAY.(After the painting by H. W. Pickersgill.) From the Pyrenees to the Garonne 219 Wellington was to add to his renown as a warrior,though he had not the tactical genius of the Britishcommander, nor yet his admirable insight and readi-ness in the actual shock of battle. It must, how-ever, be said, in justice to Soult, that his antagonistwas usually superior in force, and commanded anarmy excelling in every quality that makes a trulyformidable instrument of war. The British soldiery—and the Portuguese were now nearly their equals—always terrible in a trial of strength for their murder-ous rire and their undaunted steadiness—this wasthe reason that the column could not stand beforethe line—had by this time got rid of most of the en-cumbrances of the past ; they were not inferior totheir foes in manoeuvring skill ; they had a greatleader and excellent lesser chiefs ; above all, a
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