Duke of Wellington and Canning

I sometimes fear the Duke of Wellington is too much disposed to imagine / that he can govern a great nation by word of command, in the same way in / which he governed a highly disciplined army. He seems to be unaccustomed / to, and to despise, the inconsistencies, the weaknesses, the bursts of / heroism followed by prostration and cowardice, which invariably / characterise all popular efforts. He forgets that, after all, it is from / such efforts that all the great and noble institutions of the world have / come; and that, on the other hand, the discipline and organization of / armies have been only like the flight of the cannon-ball, the object of / which is destruction.[1]

[Footnote 1: / Straight forward goes / The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path / Of the cannon-ball. Direct it flies and rapid, / Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what it reaches. / _Wallenstein_, Part I, act i, sc. 4]