as the highest the country can offer; it is the object and ambition of all who are employed in his Majesty's service; and to obtain it, has doubtless been the motive of many of those acts of valour and good conduct which have tended so eminently to the glory, and have advanced the prosperity and advantage of this country."
Having resumed his duties as secretary for Ireland, Sir Arthur Wellesley frequently took part in the deliberations of the House concerning Irish questions; but a new scene of action was now opening before him; the laurels he had acquired on the plains of India, were to be thrown into the shade by the glorious conquests of his Peninsular campaigns; he was to lead the British troops from one victory to another, to be cheered by the shouts, and rewarded by the enthusiastic thanksgivings of a liberated people.
The glorious vietory of Talavera added a fresh triumph to many others which the British army had gained. The Central Junta expressed their sense of Sir Arthur Wellesley's services, by nominating him a captain general in the Spanish service, and presented him with six Andalusian horses in the name of King Ferdinand. Higher honours awaited him at home: as soon as the news of his victory arrived, he was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Douro of Wellesley, and Viscount Wellington of Talavera and Wellington in Somersetshire.
On the 23rd of November, 1809, Lord Wellington was appointed Marshal General of the Portuguese army. No chief had ever before shown himself more deserving of such confidence from a foreign government; none, by the moral influence of his character, had given such security that it would be used aright. Throughout all his varied life, Wellington's conduct has ever been a model of perfect disinterestedness; his greatest opponent could never lay to his charge one act of rapacity, or needless severity; his virtues
