nch of the Rhine; and he gives some idea of
their arduous life in a letter dated December 20, 1794:

"At present the French keep us in a perpetual state of alarm. We turn
out once, sometimes twice, every night. The officers and men are
harassed to death, and if we are not relieved, I believe there will be
very few of the latter remaining shortly. I have not had the clothes
off my back for a long time, and generally spend the greatest part of
the night upon the bank of the river, notwithstanding which I have
entirely got rid of that disorder which was near killing me at the
close of the summer campaign. Although the French annoy us much at
night, they are very entertaining during the daytime. They are
perpetually chattering with our officers and soldiers, and dance the
_carmagnol_ upon the opposite bank whenever we desire them. But
occasionally the spectators on our side are interrupted in the middle
of a dance by a cannon ball, from theirs."

In this somewhat humorous recital, Wellesley makes no mention of the
sufferings which they must have undergone from lack of food and
supplies of all kinds. He purposely puts the best face on it, and
bears his troubles stoically. But young as he was, he marvelled at the
inefficiency and lack of coordination of the high command. Once when a
despatch was received by the General during dinner, from their ally,
Austria, he tossed it aside unopened with the remark, "That will keep
till morning."

During three months on the Waal, Wellesley declares that he was in
direct touch with headquarters only once, and adds: "We had letters
from England, and I declare that those letters told us more of what was
passing at headquarters than we learnt from the headquarters ourselves.
It has always been a marvel to me how any of us escaped."

One result, nevertheless, of this isolation was to throw the young
colonel back upon his own resources. It was the finest possible
training for his later career.

When Colonel Wellesley returned to England the next year, he thought
for a time of resigning his command. One reason was undoubtedly the
poor state of the army in equipment and discipline. Another was the
fact that he owed his brother money on account of promotions in the
service, and his officer's pay was not enough to repay it. He was
always scrupulous in matters of debt.

His application for discharge, however, was not accepted. England had
need of all her trained men at this time