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.
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