vour
with any man; nor does he fear to offend even the most powerful of his
supporters, when his cause is just.

But the Duke's ascendancy in the House of Peers is not to be referred
to the foregoing causes alone. Had he none of that personal influence
derived from services and character to which we have referred, his
abilities and information alone would enable him to take high rank. His
claims in these respects are much, underrated by those who are opposed
to him in politics. His reasoning is so simple, clear and palpable--so
much in the character of what is called common sense--and his style of
speaking so unpretending and free from ornament, that superficial
observers have set him down as a mere blunt soldier, with a few fixed
ideas, and a disposition dogmatically to insist on their adoption. This
is altogether a mistake. The Duke of Wellington has as much of the true
spirit of the statesman as any man who now affects the destinies of this
country. There is scarcely a subject that has come before parliament
since the commencement of his political career into which he has not
fully entered. The character of his mind is to grasp every question.
Less than mastery of it--so far as the formation of a decided opinion
according to the lights afforded to or by his mind--will not satisfy
him. With the exception of one or two questions of high constitutional
principle, the "_cui bono?_" is the view his mind naturally takes. He is
a practical utilitarian, seeking in every measure the utmost quantity of
good of which it is capable; not always as much as he would perhaps wish
to see, but as much as circumstances allow the hope of securing.

This mode of dealing with subjects is not well calculated for
oratorical display, or for the parade of extensive information, even if
the unaffected character of the Duke of Wellington would allow him to
avail himself of them. They are cast aside, in pursuit of a less
brilliant, but more useful, mode of treatment. Accordingly, the speeches
of the Duke are brief, clear, pointed, and in one sense dogmatical.
After having canvassed details, and brought to bear upon them his long
and varied experience, he states his conclusions, accompanying them with
the general principles that have guided their formation, in a few brief
authoritative sentences. He is very careless about catching stray
listeners, or drawing in his train the prejudiced or the inexperienced;
but rather addresses himself to those