In France, opinions do not progress so fast, and people are still full of prejudices concerning the talents and character of this great man. The remains of the Buonaparte faction still affect us, and disfigure history. His power of organisation and his restoration of the elements of society, are not the qualities for which Napoleon's genius is considered especially worthy of admiration, but people want to prove impossibilities, even to the detriment of his fame; and the Duke of Wellington is sacrificed to the resentments inspired by the battle of Waterloo. We have been distinguished enough on the field of battle, and our country has produced names sufficiently known to fame not to make it necessary for us to sacrifice upon the tomb of Napoleon all the rival reputations which opposed obstacles to his career. The careful perusal of the Duke of Wellington's Despatches first caused me to rectify my ideas concerning the man who has both filled the first military place in his native land, and has also been, in the present times, at the head of a powerful and organising party in the affairs of government. When you study with attention the splendid English engravings that represent the misfortunes and downfall of Tippoo Saib, surrounded by his mourning family; when you gaze upon the magnificent Indian scenery, steaming with heat and moisture, the feathery palm-trees, the elephants with their gilded howdahs, the black Sepoys in European costume, intermingled with the English troops, whose cool determined spirit and military resignation are stamped upon their countenance; while in the back-ground appear the high walls of Seringapatam, and their heavy cannon breathing forth slaughter and defiance; in these scenes, amidst the wreaths of smoke and the gleaming of scimetars, the figure of a young officer may be discerned, with a calm countenance, quiet and reserved manners, and the meditative look which presages a great destiny:--that officer is Sir Arthur Wellesley, since then so celebrated as the Duke of Wellington. Sir Arthur, the fourth son of Gerard Colley Wellesley earl of Mornington, and of Anne Hill, daughter of Viscount Duncannon, was born at Dungan Castle, on the 1st of May, 1769, one year after that which gave birth to Napoleon; it was a period fertile in great geniuses of all kinds, who came to humanise and to add greatness to the times of the Revolution. Sir Arthur was brought up at Eton, and afterwards went to the military college of Angers in France: our country at that time possessed the best military establishments and the most frequented universities; and I have already observed that Prince Metternich and Benjamin Constant were educated at Strasbourg.