ally spoke in Parliament, but not successfully,
and never on important subjects; and evinced no promise of that
unparalleled celebrity and splendor which he has since reached, and
whereto intrepidity and decision, good luck, and great military science
have justly combined to elevate him."

Although he made no great mark as a Parliamentarian, he did make
friends at this time, who were destined to influence his life. One was
the brilliant though somewhat unprincipled Lord Castlereagh, who was to
aid him to obtain the chief military command of the English army in
Spain. Another was a certain young lady, Charlotte Packenham, who
found his tongue more eloquent than did his colleagues in the House of
Commons. She was the daughter of Lord Longford, who was not so easily
won over to the young man's suit. In fact, the nobleman gave him a
curt "no." He was looking for a more brilliant match for his daughter
than a subaltern.

So the young people had to give each other a sad farewell. But it was
not to be forever. Ten years later when the young soldier had won his
spurs, and had returned from his brilliant campaign in India, a Major
General, the parental gates were unbarred. The Lady Charlotte had
remained constant through all the years of waiting and separation, and
they were happily wedded.

That Wellesley took more than a perfunctory interest in his military
duties is evident even during his earliest years of service. For
example, he wished to determine for himself just how much weight, in
the way of equipment, a soldier could carry in light marching order.

"I wished," he says, "to have some measure of the power of the
individual man compared with the weight he was to carry, and the work
he was expected to do. I was not so young as not to know that since I
had undertaken a profession, I had better endeavor to understand it."
And he adds, "It must always be kept in mind that the power of the
greatest armies depends upon what the individual soldier is capable of
doing and bearing." It is but another way of saying, "A chain is no
stronger than its weakest link," or, as we put it today, "It depends
upon the man behind the gun." Thus Wellington early discovered and put
into practise that indefinable something we call "morale."

As lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-Third Foot, he took up his work in
earnest, with the result that in a few months it was officially
declared to be the best drilled regiment in Ireland.