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COPY OF THE DUKE'S MINUTE.

Horse Guards: August 15, 1844.

'I have never read anything so satisfactory as this Report.

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It is highly creditable not only to Captain Bertie Gordon and the officers and troops concerned, but to the Service in which such an instance has occurred of discretion and of firmness in an officer in command, and of confidence, good order, discipline, and obedience in all under his direction, even to the women and children. Captain Bertie Gordon and all concerned deserve the highest approbation, and I will not forget their good conduct.

'I wish I had received this statement after the misfortune occurred.

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The approbation of the Publick which must have been given to this remarkable instance of good conduct in all, and of the beneficial effects resulting from it, would have been satisfactory to the feelings of all, and to their friends.

'As it is, I will take an early opportunity of laying before her Majesty this most interesting narrative; and I will not fail as opportunities offer to draw her Majesty's gracious attention to those whose conduct is the subject of it.'

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient humblė Servant, (Signed) FITZROY SOMERSET. Major-General Sir George Napier, K.C.B.

The Duke may have been 'The Iron Duke,' but he always loved the children; and my mother happened to be an especial favourite. I suppose my grandmother had written to the Duke at this time about her grandson; for amongst my old letters is this one addressed to Lady Albinia Cumberland at Hampton Court Palace:

London: October 29, 1844.

I assure you, my dear Lady Albinia, that I was delighted when I heard that Captain Bertie Gordon, of whose conduct I had so much reason to approve, was the son of my old friend, who, however, I am convinced, cannot recollect me, but whom I perfectly recollect but little more than an infant in her nurse's arms, and who was at that time very partial to me; delighted as I was with her. I did not fail to lay before the Queen the reports of his conduct, which had made such an impression on my mind; and her Majesty expressed her high approbation of it; and I will not fail to remind her Majesty of the same as opportunities of promoting Captain Gordon in the Service may offer.

I perfectly recollect having had the advantage of the assistance of your son as my Aide-de-camp during part of the time during which I commanded the Army in the Peninsula. I hope you are quite well. I beg you to believe me ever yours most faithfully, (Signed) WELLINGTON.

And then his brief word, appointing an interview, addressed to Mrs. Gordon, of Ellon, the baby-pet of forty years before:

London: April 18, 1845.

MY DEAR MADAM,-I did not receive your note of the 16th till my return home last night, and am much flattered by your recollection of me.

If your son will call upon me at my house in Piccadilly at twelve to-morrow I shall be happy to see him.

Ever yours most faithfully,

(Signed) WELLINGTON.

RECORD OF MY VISIT TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, BY
APPOINTMENT, AT APSLEY HOUSE, IN 1845.

The exact words spoken by the Duke of Wellington to me when his Grace allowed me to wait upon him at Apsley House on the 19th of April, 1845.

He came out to the vestibule and himself brought me into his library, shaking hands with me and making me sit in a large armchair; he drew a small one close in front of me, with my knees nearly touching his, and, with one hand to his ear, so he spoke : B. G.

Duke of Wellington. Well, I am glad to see you. Walk in; sit down. Ah-when do you go to Manchester?

Myself. On the 1st of May.

Duke. Ah-well, that was rough work you had at the Cape. Where are the 91st? I forget. At the Cape still?

Myself. Yes; the first battalion comes home this year.

Duke. Ah-they behaved very well-very creditable. I reported their conduct to the Queen. There is another case, in the Bay of Bengal, where two ships were wrecked; the men behaved well. (Pointing to a table behind me.) I have laid their conduct before her Majesty. Do you go to the Levee? You should go. Myself. Yes, on Wednesday.

Duke. Quite right. Who presents you?
Myself. Lord Aberdeen.

Duke. Ah-very proper. I remember your mother-quite a little girl (showing how high). Well, good morning; I am glad to have seen you.

1 Richard Cumberland, grandson of Richard Cumberland, the dramatist.

'THE DUKE.'

After this comes the letter describing a dinner at Walmer Castle :

Dover: November 11, 1850.

The party at Walmer Castle consisted of Lord and Lady Douro, Lord and Lady Wilton and Lady Elizabeth Egerton, their daughter.

From Walmer there came Major and Mrs. Hoey, of the 30th, and Capt. Watts, the Lieutenant of Walmer Castle. I arrived very punctually just before 7, and found the Duke and Lord Douro only in the drawing-room. He shook hands with me and introduced me to Lord Douro. The rest of the party soon began to arrive. The rooms at Walmer are small, but very comfortable. Furniture plain, but very good. The Duke was dressed in a blue coat with gilt buttons, white waistcoat with some sort of silver studs; the collar of the Golden Fleece and the Blue Ribbon and Star. He does not often speak, unless there is someone who knows how to draw him out. I hear that the two who can do so best are Lord Mahon and Lord de Ros-especially the last-and that he likes to come upon his old recollections. He is very deaf, but his eye is full and clear as possible, and his complexion does not strike me to be so pale. Dinner plain but very good, and wine excellent. An oval sort of table, the Duke and Lord Douro sitting opposite each other in the centre. I sat next to Lady Wilton, who sat on the Duke's left. Lady Douro on his right. The centrepiece on the table was presented to him by the Field Officers of the Army in Portugal, after the battle of Vimeiro. Conversation was agreeable and general, chiefly led by Lord Wilton, who is very pleasant. Lord Douro seems a very good-humoured fellow among strangers, but gives no impression whatever of having inherited more of his great father than the name. Lady Douro is certainly most beautiful: there is a quiet pensive melancholy which is most fascinating. I cannot see that she has such a defective figure. Young as she is, the mark of inward sorrow is already lined upon her features. The Duke seemed to hear her without difficulty when she addressed him, but her voice is very low. The Duke's memory has been said to be going fast; I can only say that he had not forgotten the humble affair which first brought me under his notice. On sitting down to dinner he leaned forward, looking across Lady Wilton to me, and said, 'Lady Wilton, Major Gordon is the officer who saved so many soldiers and others at the Cape, as I was telling you of.' This no doubt with the kind intention of introducing me to Lady W. and making us acquainted. And after the ladies left he made me draw my chair close to him, and began talking to me about the affair. He asked me whether there were many of the men that I saved now at Dover, and described the position of the ship where she was cast away, from his own recollection, most perfectly. We were talking of the Peninsula, and I said 'Yesterday was the

anniversary of Nivelle.' The Duke said 'No, it was not yesterday, to-day, I think.' I looked to Lord Wilton, and said, Try the Duke again, for I think it was the 10th.' So he said, 'Major G. thinks it was the 10th.' The Duke considered a little, and said, 'Yes, yes, you are right, it was the 10th.' Talking of the French now, someone said that they seemed very little enthusiastic as a nation. The Duke said, 'The French have no enthusiasm for anyone ; there is no one.' Talking of Lord Nelson, the Duke said that they had met once. He was at the Admiralty, and in the waitingroom when Nelson came in a man of about my own size.' Lord Wilton asked, 'Does that print give a correct likeness, according to your Grace's impression?' The Duke, looking at it (a fulllength): Yes; about my own height.' Lord W. said, 'I remember hearing you say that he talked only of himself.' Duke: 'Well, and so he did. It was all about himself, what he did in the West Indies; he had just come from the West Indies.' Lord W. said 'Your Grace met Soult once in France?' 'Oh, yes; so they told me. I was fast asleep in the carriage, and my servant said that Soult looked in; and I dare say he said, "Oh, he's asleep, d-n him!" and turned away.' This was after Toulouse.

Talking of the generals assembled at Paris in 1814, when the various Austrian and Prussian generals who had been beaten by Napoleon came crowding round the Duke and expressing lots of compliments to him for having never been beaten by the French, the Duke pleased them immensely by saying, 'Ah, but you know I never met Bonaparte, and I have always looked on him as being as good as forty thousand men.' There was an extraordinary Frenchman invited to meet the Duke at Madame de Stael's after Waterloo. The Abbé de Pradt a great intriguer in politics. So he came up to the Duke and began a long speech about Napoleon-his enormous power, great talents, &c., and the Duke, waiting for the end, feeling sure that it was to be the usual compliment to him, when to his unutterable relief the Abbé ended by saying, Eh bien, ce grand Colossus-à présent emprisonné dans une petite île-ce grand travail a été l'ouvrage d'un seul hommeet, Monsieur le Général, cet Homme c'est Moi."

When coffee was announced, the Duke rose, and we all followed him into the drawing-room. I should say that at dessert the letters brought by the evening post were brought in to each person. The Duke had six, all of which he opened and read himself. Arrived in the drawing-room, the servant brought the newspapers, which were 'Times,'' Morning Post,' 'Herald.' They were all anxious to see the German news. The Duke sat on a sofa, with a table and candle, and read his newspapers.

Lord Douro told me of a curious powder which they have in Bohemia, a specific against hydrophobia. Lord Clanwilliam, who

is connected with that country, always keeps some. I heard the Duke arranging for Lady Douro all about her going to Dover on her way to London: the hours, the trains, and how-and all as clear and decisive as possible.

At ten o'clock the carriages were announced, and we bid goodbye. The Duke shook hands with me, and asked the Colonel's name and whether he was in Dover.

It was in 1852, ten years after the wreck of the Abercrombie Robinson, that the Birkenhead, of glorious memory, struck upon a rock and went down in Simon's Bay. Both the two wrecked ships were troopships, and in both disasters the conduct of the soldiers on board, mere lads as in both cases they mostly were, was beyond all praise. The dreadful story is well known of how, after the women and children were safely sent off from the wreck, the troops were ordered to stand round upon the quarter-deck, and how as the Birkenhead slowly sank below those dark weedentangled waters where big hungry sharks swarmed watching round, the heroism of their self-sacrifice shone out clear with a larger and more splendid light, relieved against the gloom of inevitable death. Even now at this distance of time-it is over fifty years aro-we are held breathless, as it were, while we read accounts of it and in imagination seem to be present with the whole calm, awful scene. The soldiers lining the deck and, in obedience to the word of command, standing silent and steady as on parade amid the mortal anguish and terror of the hour. They did their duty and were not afraid to die.

In both ships the battalions were chiefly raw and untried, yet they never in the slightest degree lost their courage nor failed in discipline. There was, however, this great contrast: while in the case of the Abercrombie Robinson, in 1842, every life was saved, in the other, the Birkenhead, in 1852, the survivors were few. In reading my brother's narrative of 1842 it is not so easy to keep up the tension of our sympathy during all those seventeen long hours of darkness and storm and deadly peril, with no catastrophe at the last, no tragedy to deplore. With the one wreck—the Birkenhead-from the moment when she struck the rock no human possibility of escape existed. With the other, many hundred soldiers were all saved alive, besides women and sick, children and crew. Their safety was due (under God) to the coolness and courage, the resourcefulness and gentle kindness to the sick, of one man-Bertie Gordon, the young officer in command.

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