Windham

“ A mere glance at his diary is sufficient to convince us that Windham, p. 330when in London, mixed with the first men and women of his time. The late Lord Chief Justice Scarlett, on being asked by his son-in-law to name the very best speech he had heard during his life, and that which he thought most worthy of study, answered, without hesitation, ‘Windham’s speech on the Law of Evidence.’ In a conversation with Lord Palmerston, Pitt observed of Windham: ‘Nothing can be so well-meaning or eloquent as he is. ”

“ General Windham, whose valour and marvellous escapes on that day have astonished Europe, made his way into the place with some 80 or 100 men, but such was the virulence of the fire, such the carnage, a few only of the bold men who had had the temerity to mount the parapet could be induced, though the General himself walked amid the deadly storm, to rush from the traverse behind which they had shielded themselves. ”

“ Windham told the king, that Sir Thomas, his father, in the year 1636, a few days before his death, called to him his five sons. “My children,” said he, “we have hitherto seen serene and quiet times under our three last sovereigns: but I must now warn you to prepare for clouds and storms. Factions arise on every side, and threaten the tranquillity of your native country. But whatever happen, do you faithfully honor and obey your prince, and adhere to the crown. I charge you never to forsake the crown, though it should hang upon a bush.” ”

“ The captain looked annoyed.
"It looks to me," said he, "simply like some heavily laden schooner."
"But I tell you she is sinking, and there is a woman on board," said Windham, more vehemently than ever.
"Oh, it's only some Neapolitan fish-wife."
"You must turn the steamer, and save her," said Windham, with savage emphasis.
"I can not. We shall be behind time."
"Damn time!" roared Windham, thoroughly roused. "Do you talk of time in comparison with the life of a human being? If you don't turn the steamer's head, _I_ will." ”

“ I am not at all sure Windham may do better than any other man would do, but to justify such an appointment he ought to do far better; and, though he is a sharp fellow enough, I have never seen anything in him which indicates real genius or a superior intellect. ”

“ To a man who, three months ago, had borne his part in the wonderful retreat at Fontenoy, that epic of steadiness under fire, and who had even been complimented by the Duke of Cumberland on his conduct, the last half-hour had been a nightmare of shame, and Keith Windham, glad to be able to extricate himself from it with the confidence that he was not abandoning his men on the eve of a fight, he set spurs to his horse with great relief. ”

“ Windham knows that he was never despised by the Whig interest in the city, till he appeared in the character of a war minister, and the enthusiastic abettor of the most disgraceful and perilous measures ever pursued by weak and wicked men. ”

“ The story of Windham’s disastrous fight at Cawnpore is a sort of bloody appendix to Campbell’s march on Lucknow. It must be told here to make the tale complete.
Windham was a soldier of a fine, if not of the highest type, a man of immense energy and of cool daring which, if it always saw the peril, scorned to turn aside on account of it. His sobriquet was “Redan” Windham, and no one who has read the story of how, on September 8, 1855, he led the British stormers through the embrasures of the Redan can doubt that Windham’s courage was of a lion-like quality. ”

“ His entrance into public life took place in April 1783, when he went to Ireland as chief secretary to Lord Northington, the lord-lieutenant in the coalition ministry of Fox and Lord North. Windham was his own keenest critic, his distrust in his own powers and his disappointment at his own achievements being conspicuous on every page of his Diary. ”

“ Windham this day, is too interesting to be omitted. It presents his opinion of the patriotic character of Mr. Windham, the disinterestedness of his own, and the wretched pusillanimity of the Neapolitan officers.
Naples, 10th Dec. 1798.
"MY DEAR SIR, "Your several letters of November 30, came to me this moment. Believe me, no person can set a higher value on your friendship than I do; for, I know, from experience, that you have nothing more at heart, than the honour of our king and country. I rejoice to hear, that the cargoes of corn in the Mole of Leghorn will be landed ”

“ And otherwise we would miss Lord Wilmot, which would be inconvenient to both of us."
Windham gave in, and they rode boldly forward to the chief inn of the place. The yard was filled with soldiers. Charles, as the groom of the party, alighted, took the horses, and purposely led them in a blundering way through the midst of the soldiers to the stable. Some of the red-coats angrily cursed him for his rudeness, but he went serenely on, as if soldiers were no more to him than flies. ”

“ But as at the Alma, there were no supports at hand, and Windham sent messenger after messenger imploring Codrington to hurry them on. His entreaties were unheeded, partly because some of the messengers were shot, partly because Codrington, like most of the English generals in the Crimea, did not seem to consider that slender storming parties needed strong and instant support. At last Windham, enraged at the useless and sickening slaughter of his men, determined to go himself and force his chief to send the stormers succour. ”

“ On reaching Windham he was received with good will by Parson White, who summoned his flock by peal of bell, and from the steps of his church urged the needs of his brethren with such eloquence that by nightfall the messenger had in his charge a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, and a load of grain, with which he was to set off in the morning. ”

“ In 1857 General Windham proceeded to India and commanded a division in the field, under Lord Clyde, during the advance to Kallee Nuddee. On June 17th, 1861, he was appointed to the command of the 46th Regiment of Foot, and in October, 1867, became Commander of the Forces in Canada. On the return of General Windham from the Crimea, in July, 1856, he was enthusiastically received at Norwich and presented with two handsome swords, purchased by public subscription. In April, 1857, he was returned to Parliament for East Norfolk, and remained its member for two years. ”

“ Goley for Wiclewood, and several other lords, did their suit to Cossey, and not to the hundred. The heirs of Giles de Wachesham had all the liberties as Windham, except the leet. The Prior of Canterbury had his leet and privileges as in Windham, to his manor of Deepham, and John de Stutvile had the leet to his manor of Kimberley, Will. de Carleton had the leet of Carleton to his manor there, and the Prior of Windham had the view of frankpledge and sole jurisdiction over his men and lands, not only in Wymondham, but in Wiclewood, Morley, and Carleton. ”

“ Intended for the profession of a country attorney, he was articled to a Norwich firm, and eventually spent a year in London before entering into the full practice of his profession. Having made the acquaintance of Mr. Windham, he became that gentleman's agent during the election contest which followed the dissolution of parliament in 1802, and a permanent friendship was established between them. In 1806, upon Windham becoming war and colonial minister, he appointed Amyot his private secretary, who thereupon threw up his Norwich practice, and came to London. ”

“ I could not help reflecting on the very low state of talents or understanding in those who compose the whole, nearly, of the society of Norwich. The French are surely a more enlightened and polished people.’ Perhaps Windham would have fared better had he dined with some of the leading Dissenters. Few of the clergy of East Anglia at that time would have been fitting company for the friend of Johnson and Burke. In Norwich, Mr. Windham often managed to make himself unpopular. ”

“ Through the Alcalde's order they had secured their personal effects. But the former gambler still held right and title to the Windham acres. Adrian Stanley made his home at the City Hotel and had been occupied with an impromptu school where some four score children and half a dozen illiterates were daily taught the mysteries of the "Three Rs."
"Adrian has determined to buy some of these mud-lots," said Windham to his son. "He believes some day they will be valuable and that he will make his fortune." He sighed. "I fear my son-to-be is something of a visionary." ”

“ WINDHAM, JOSEPH (1739–1810) , antiquary, born at Twickenham on 21 Aug. 1739, at a house which was afterwards the residence of Richard Owen Cambridge [q. v.] , was related to the Windham family of Norfolk. He was educated at Eton, proceeding to Christ's College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. In 1769 he returned from a prolonged tour through France, Italy, Istria, and Switzerland. He had a strong interest in matters connected with art, was well read in classical and mediæval writers, and made numerous drawings both of natural objects and of antiquities. ”

“ Mr. Windham I had seen twice before-both times at Miss Monckton’s; and anywhere else I should have been much gratified by his desire of a third meeting, as he is one of the most agreeable, spirited, well-bred, and brilliant conversers I have ever spoken with. He is a neighbour, too, now, of103 Charlotte’s. He is member for Norwich, and a man of family and fortune, with a very pleasing though not handsome face, a very elegant figure, and an air of fashion and vivacity. ”

“ Windham accompanied the 2nd battalion of the Coldstream guards to Canada in January 1838, and served with them in that country during Papineau's rebellion, returning to England in the autumn of 1842. On 22 June 1849 he retired on half-pay.
On the outbreak of the Crimean war Windham was still on half-pay, but, having on 20 June 1854 been promoted to the rank of colonel, he was appointed assistant quartermaster-general of the 4th division of the army of the east, and accompanied his divisional commander, Lieutenant-general Sir George Cathcart [q. v.] ”

“ No ship, it was found, would for a month set sail from Bristol, either for France or Spain, and the king was obliged to go elsewhere for a passage. He intrusted himself to Colone Windham of Dorsetshire, an affectionate partisan of the royal family. The natural effect of the long civil wars, and of the furious rage to which all men were wrought up in their different factions, was, that every one’s inclinations and affections were thoroughly known; and even the courage and fidelity of most men, by the variety of incidents, had been put to trial. ”

“ Windham comes every night to look after his favourite books in the library,’ said Miss Catton; ‘he often comes, and he goes straight to the shelves where they are: we hear him moving the tables and chairs about: we never disturb him though, for we intend to be ghosts ourselves some day, and to come about the old place just as he does.’ In the hall there is a grand bust of the statesman by Nollekens. Formerly it was on his monument in the church, but after some years the family put a copy there, and moved the original into the house. ”

“ The Windham family, of Felbrigg, near Cromer, who settled at that place in 1461, came from Wymondham and were possibly descendants of the Saxon Wymund after whom the town was named.
Wymondham is said to stand higher than the surrounding country, but such a statement, unilluminated by comparison, might be misleading. You do not climb exhaustedly up into it, nor in leaving drop sheer down into a corresponding vale: the difference, in fact, between the levels through which we have come and the heights we now reach is merely one of inches, and so slight that only a robust faith can believe in it. ”

“ In the foreground is the cathedral, right beyond rises the castle on the hill; church spires, warehouses, public buildings, private dwellings, manufactories, chimneys’ smoke, complete the landscape fringed by the green of the distant hills. There are a hundred thousand people there—to be preached to and saved.
Windham was rather hard on the Norwich of his day. In his diary, in 1798, he records a visit to Norwich, of which city he was the representative. ”

“ He naturally asked himself the question, Why had Windham fallen back on the city instead of pursuing his conquest ? The answer came quickly enough Cawnpore was not defensible. He at once resolved therefore to attack it, and of his intentions Windham, from lack of spies, was kept for a time in ignorance. ”

“ On the 26th of October Windham, as Secretary at War, announced the whole military force of the country at home and abroad, apart from the troops in the East Indies, which were raised and maintained by the Company, to be one hundred and ninety-six thousand men, and he demanded for their payment five million one hundred and ninety thousand pounds. ”

“ Windham was directed to strengthen the entrenchment, and also to watch carefully the movements of the Gwalior contingent; and should it indicate an intention of advancing, he was to make as great a show as possible by encamping his small detachments conspicuously outside the city, leaving a guard in the earthwork. If he should be seriously threatened, he was to communicate with the Commander-in-Chief as to detaining some of the troops arriving, to assist in the defence. ”

“ After landing at Suez they were thrown more closely together; their intimacy deepened on the way to Alexandria; and when they embarked on the Mediterranean they had become stronger friends than ever. Windham had told the other that he had recently heard of the death of a friend, and was going home to settle his affairs. He hinted also that he was in some government employ in India; and Obed Chute did not seek to know more. ”