[Illustration: (front cover)] THE STORY OF WELLINGTON _Uniform with this Volume_ THE STORY OF NAPOLEON By HAROLD F. B. WHEELER, F.R.Hist.S. With 16 full-page Illustrations. THE STORY OF NELSON By HAROLD F. B. WHEELER, F.R.Hist.S. With 16 full-page Illustrations. FAMOUS VOYAGES OF THE GREAT DISCOVERERS By ERIC WOOD. With 16 full-page Illustrations. THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES By E. M. WILMOT-BUXTON, F.R.Hist.S. With 16 full-page Illustrations by M. MEREDITH WILLIAMS. STORIES OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER By Mr and Mrs WILLIAM PLATT. With 16 full-page Illustrations by M. MEREDITH WILLIAMS. [Illustration: The Duke writing his Waterloo Despatch _Fr._ Lady Burghersh ] THE STORY OF WELLINGTON _BY_ HAROLD F. B. WHEELER F.R.Hist.S. MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION JOINT-AUTHOR OF ‘NAPOLEON AND THE INVASION OF ENGLAND’ ETC. AUTHOR OF ‘THE MAXIMS OF NAPOLEON’ ‘THE MIND OF NAPOLEON’ ‘THE STORY OF NAPOLEON’ AND ‘THE STORY OF NELSON’ ‘_For this is England’s greatest son, He that gain’d a hundred fights, Nor ever lost an English gun_’ TENNYSON LONDON GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY 3 PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C. MCMXII _Illustrations by Ballantyne & Co., Ltd., London_ _Printed by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_ DEDICATED TO C. ALFRED HAMILTON, ESQ MY LIFE-LONG FRIEND “_Vera amicitia sempiterna est_” Foreword In this, the last of a trio of volumes dealing with three great contemporary men of action, I have attempted to tell the story, in its main lines, of the crowded life of Wellington. The narrative provides as substantial a view of Wellington as is possible within the limits of my space, but I hope that readers of my book will be so interested that they will go on to the perusal of its companions, for the careers of Napoleon, Nelson, and Wellington should be studied together. They are the three sides of a triangle of which Napoleon is the base.