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Quote#Politics & Power

It is quite impossible for me or any other man to command a British…

Quote byArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington · 1769–1852

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "What Wellington Said", Adventures In Historyland (2 July 1813).

English (original)

It is quite impossible for me or any other man to command a British Army under the existing system. We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers; and of late years we have been doing everything in our power, both by law and by publications, to relax the discipline by which alone such men can be kept in order.

— Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

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