Read Online For Honour's Sake by Mark Zuehlke - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mark Zuehlke
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and too shy to be a competent public speaker. Like many shy men, Bathurst deflected attention with affable good humour, a light-hearted wit, endless anecdotes cast together in a seeming jumble, and a lack of apparent seriousness that left the impression of shallowness.
Bathurstâs true nature was exposed in his writing. Quill in hand, he scratched out words quickly and without hesitation. Thoughts were put down with assurance, almost never corrected. He seldom bothered writing a first draft. As his penmanship was easily read, Bathurst saw little point in giving his correspondence to a private secretary to transcribe. Also, awkward at formulating thoughts verbally, he avoided dictation.
On June 11, the day after his appointment, Bathurst threw himself with typical vigour into running No. 14 Downing Street. But it was in how he came at the job that Bathurst demonstrated an innovative trait. Quickly accepting that the vast responsibilities of the ministry were beyond the ability of any single person to competently master, Bathurst carefully delegated duties and responsibility to his staffâparticularly the two undersecretaries.
In 1810, Castlereagh, then secretary for war and the colonies, had decided that although the ministry had been combined originally becauseof the interrelation of military and colonial issues, there should be some measure of specialization within the staff. He therefore created a War Department and a Colonial Department, each overseen by an undersecretary with his own staff. Bathurst refined matters, not just using the undersecretaries to implement his instructions but entrusting these men with responsibility in developing policy and determining the best response to immediate problems.
The War Department undersecretary was Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Bunbury, who had been undersecretary for the entire office from the time of his appointment in 1809 until Castlereaghâs reorganization. At that time Castlereagh brought in young Robert Peel to become Colonial Department undersecretary. Although this was Peelâs first political office, his needing only to focus on colonial matters rather than also juggling the prosecution of the war with France led to his performance being noted. When Liverpool formed his government, he appointed Peel chief secretary for Ireland, creating an opening in the Colonial Department.
His replacement, Henry Goulburn, reported for duty on August 4. In two years time this young man, who was expected to be more intimately involved in details of the warâs prosecution than any other person in the British government, would be in Ghent treating with the Americans. Goulburn was tall and slim, with a mop of dark hair beginning to recede from the forehead, and his slender face was often set in a serious expression. As an infant, Goulburn had been the victim of a bizarre accident when his nurse sat on his head, leaving a permanent indentation in his skull and equally lasting vision damage to his right eye that rendered him slightly âcock-eyed.â This affliction, combined with his dour demeanour, led some to believe that he looked upon them with condescension and more than a touch of arrogance.
The young manâs grimly serious manner resulted from a life where the pleasures of a normal British upper-class childhood had been lost early. Goulburn had been but nine and the eldest of three children when his father, Munbee, died at age thirty-five. Born in Jamaica, Munbee Goulburn had been the only child of a sugar-plantation owner who had died six months after the boyâs birth. Sent to Eton for his education, Munbee had remained in England after graduation and marriedSusannah Chetwynd. Although Susannahâs family was of noble lineage, its link to landed property had been lost two generations earlier and her prospects for marriage were such that a young man boasting unencumbered title to an estate in Jamaica yielding an annual income of never less than £5,000
Bathurstâs true nature was exposed in his writing. Quill in hand, he scratched out words quickly and without hesitation. Thoughts were put down with assurance, almost never corrected. He seldom bothered writing a first draft. As his penmanship was easily read, Bathurst saw little point in giving his correspondence to a private secretary to transcribe. Also, awkward at formulating thoughts verbally, he avoided dictation.
On June 11, the day after his appointment, Bathurst threw himself with typical vigour into running No. 14 Downing Street. But it was in how he came at the job that Bathurst demonstrated an innovative trait. Quickly accepting that the vast responsibilities of the ministry were beyond the ability of any single person to competently master, Bathurst carefully delegated duties and responsibility to his staffâparticularly the two undersecretaries.
In 1810, Castlereagh, then secretary for war and the colonies, had decided that although the ministry had been combined originally becauseof the interrelation of military and colonial issues, there should be some measure of specialization within the staff. He therefore created a War Department and a Colonial Department, each overseen by an undersecretary with his own staff. Bathurst refined matters, not just using the undersecretaries to implement his instructions but entrusting these men with responsibility in developing policy and determining the best response to immediate problems.
The War Department undersecretary was Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Bunbury, who had been undersecretary for the entire office from the time of his appointment in 1809 until Castlereaghâs reorganization. At that time Castlereagh brought in young Robert Peel to become Colonial Department undersecretary. Although this was Peelâs first political office, his needing only to focus on colonial matters rather than also juggling the prosecution of the war with France led to his performance being noted. When Liverpool formed his government, he appointed Peel chief secretary for Ireland, creating an opening in the Colonial Department.
His replacement, Henry Goulburn, reported for duty on August 4. In two years time this young man, who was expected to be more intimately involved in details of the warâs prosecution than any other person in the British government, would be in Ghent treating with the Americans. Goulburn was tall and slim, with a mop of dark hair beginning to recede from the forehead, and his slender face was often set in a serious expression. As an infant, Goulburn had been the victim of a bizarre accident when his nurse sat on his head, leaving a permanent indentation in his skull and equally lasting vision damage to his right eye that rendered him slightly âcock-eyed.â This affliction, combined with his dour demeanour, led some to believe that he looked upon them with condescension and more than a touch of arrogance.
The young manâs grimly serious manner resulted from a life where the pleasures of a normal British upper-class childhood had been lost early. Goulburn had been but nine and the eldest of three children when his father, Munbee, died at age thirty-five. Born in Jamaica, Munbee Goulburn had been the only child of a sugar-plantation owner who had died six months after the boyâs birth. Sent to Eton for his education, Munbee had remained in England after graduation and marriedSusannah Chetwynd. Although Susannahâs family was of noble lineage, its link to landed property had been lost two generations earlier and her prospects for marriage were such that a young man boasting unencumbered title to an estate in Jamaica yielding an annual income of never less than £5,000
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