"My lords, I have to perform a duty to which I feel myself very
inadequate, to return your lordships my thanks for the fresh mark of
your approbation of my conduct and of your favour."
"I assure your lordships that I am entirely overcome by the honours
which have been conferred upon me; and by the favour with which I have
been received in this country by the Prince Regent, by your lordships,
and by the public."
"In truth, my lords, when I reflect upon the advantages which I enjoyed
in the confidence reposed in me, and the support afforded by the
government, and by his royal highness the commander-in-chief, in the
cordial assistance which I invariably received upon all occasions from
my gallant friends, the general officers of the army, who are an honour
to their country, the gallantry and discipline of the troops, and in the
manner in which I was encouraged and excited to exertion by the
protection and gracious favour of the prince, I cannot but consider
that, however great the difficulties with which I had to contend, the
means to contend with them were equal to overcome them; and I am
apprehensive that I shall not be found so deserving of your favour as I
wish."
"If, however, my merit is not great, my gratitude is unbounded; and I
can only assure your lordships, that you will always find me ready to
serve his majesty to the utmost of my ability in any capacity in which
my services can be at all useful to this great country."
His Grace then retired to unrobe; he wore a field-marshal's uniform,
with his insignia of the garter. On his return into the House he sat for
a few minutes on the extremity of one of the benches, and then retired
for the evening.
In addition to the pecuniary remuneration voted by Parliament to the
Duke of Wellington for his distinguished services, the House of Commons
resolved to pay him the highest tribute of respect and applause that it
was possible to bestow on a subject, that of its thanks, accompanied
with a deputation of its members to congratulate him on his return to
this country Lord Castlereagh rose in the house, on the 27th June, to
make a motion for this purpose, which was unanimously agreed to; and a
committee was appointed to wait on his Grace, to know what time he would
name for receiving the congratulations of the house. Lord Castlereagh
having reported from the committee that it was the Duke's desire to
express to the house his answer in person, the following day, July 1,
was appointed for the solemnity.
At about a quarter before five, the speaker being dressed in his
official robes, and the house being crowded with members, some of them
in military and naval uniforms, and many of them in the court dresses in
which they had been attending the speaker with an address to the Prince
Regent on the peace, the house was acquainted that the Duke of
Wellington was in waiting. His admission being resolved on, and a chair
being set for him on the left hand of the bar towards the middle of the
house, his Grace entered, making his obeisances, while all the members
rose from their seats. The speaker then informing him that a chair was
placed for his repose, he sat down in it for some time, covered, the
serjeant standing on his right hand with the mace grounded, and the
members resumed their seats. He then rose, and spoke, uncovered, to the
following effect:--
"Mr. Speaker,--I was anxious to be permitted to attend this house, in
order to return my thanks in person for the honour they have done me in
deputing a committee of their members to congratulate me on my return to
this country; and this, after the house had animated my exertions by
their applause upon every occasion which appeared to merit their
approbation, and after they had filled up the measure of their favours
by conferring upon me, upon the recommendation of the Prince Regent, the
noblest gift that any subject had ever received."
"I hope it will not be deemed presumptuous in me to take this
opportunity of expressing my admiration of the great efforts made by
this house and the country at a moment of unexampled pressure and
difficulty, in order to support the great scale of operations by which
the contest was brought to so fortunate a termination. By the wise
policy of parliament, the government was enabled to give the necessary
support to the operations which were carried on under my direction; and
I was encouraged by the confidence reposed in me by his majesty's
ministers, and by the commander-in-chief, by the gracious favour of his
royal highness the Prince Regent, and by the reliance which I had on the
support of my gallant friends the general officers of the army, and on
the bravery of the officers and troops, to carry on the operations in
such a manner as to acquire for me those marks of the approbation of
this house, for which I have now the honor to make my humble
acknowledgments."
"Sir, it is impossible for me to express the gratitude which I feel; I
can only assure the house that I shall always be ready to serve his
majesty in any capacity in which my services can be deemed useful, with
the same zeal for my country which has already acquired for me the
approbation of this house."
This speech was received with loud cheers, at the end of which the
speaker, who had sat covered during its delivery, rose, and thus
addressed his Grace:--
"My Lord,--Since last I had the honour of addressing you from this
place, a series of eventful years has elapsed; but none without some
mark and note of your rising glory."
"The military triumphs which your valour has achieved upon the banks of
the Douro and the Tagus, of the Ebro and the Garonne, have called forth
the spontaneous shouts of admiring nations. Those triumphs it is
needless on this day to recount. Their names have been written by your
conquering sword in the annals of Europe, and we hand them down with
exultation to our children's children."
"It is not, however, the grandeur of military success which has alone
fixed our admiration, or commanded our applause; it has been that
generous and lofty spirit which inspired your troops with unbounded
confidence, and taught them to know that the day of battle was always a
day of victory; that moral courage and enduring fortitude, which, in
perilous times, when gloom and doubt had beset ordinary minds, stood
nevertheless unshaken; and that ascendancy of character, which, uniting
the energies of jealous and rival nations, enabled you to wield at will
the fate of mighty empires."
"For the repeated thanks and grants bestowed upon you by this house,
in gratitude for your many and eminent services, you have thought fit
this day to offer us your acknowledgments: but this nation well knows
that it is still largely your debtor. It owes to you the proud
satisfaction, that, amidst the constellation of great and illustrious
warriors who have recently visited our country, we could present to them
a leader of our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the
pre-eminence; and when the will of heaven, and the common destinies of
our nature, shall have swept away the present generation, you will have
left your great name and example as an imperishable monument, exciting
others to like deeds of glory, and serving at once to adorn, defend, and
perpetuate the existence of this country amongst the ruling nations of
the earth."
"It now remains only that we congratulate your Grace upon the high and
important mission on which you are about to proceed, and we doubt not
that the same splendid talents, so conspicuous in war, will maintain,
with equal authority, firmness, and temper, our national honour and
interests in peace."
His Grace then withdrew, making the same obeisance as when he entered;
and all the members rising again, he was reconducted by the serjeant to
the door of the house.
On the 7th July, when the Prince Regent went in state to St. Paul's, to
return public thanksgiving for the restoration of peace, the Duke of
Wellington was seated on the right hand of his royal highness, with the
sword of state before him.
On the 9th, the Duke was entertained by the corporation of London in
the Guildhall, and previously to the banquet he was presented with a
sword of exquisite workmanship, which had been voted him by the common
council. Four years and a half before, as will be remembered, the Duke
was publicly attacked by this same common council, and he then says, "I
act with a sword hanging over me." During the interval, the common
council had learned to apply their sword to a better purpose. In fact,
all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, now combined to do honour to
the Duke of Wellington.
When Buonaparte landed from Elba, the Duke was at Vienna, the
representative of this country at the congress of the allied sovereigns.
From that point he wrote to Lord Castlereagh, stating the interview he
had had with the sovereigns on the subject of Buonaparte's movements,
and adding that he had no doubt whatever of their support, and their
determination not to lay down their arms until Buonaparte was put down.
A numerous force was assembled, and of the whole, whether British or
foreign, in Belgium (already seen to be the point on which the fate of
Napoleon would be decided), the Duke of Wellington assumed the command.
The campaign was closed by the decisive victory of Waterloo, on the 18th
June, followed by the abdication of Napoleon, and the convention of
Paris.
During the subsequent proceedings, the Duke of Wellington was
instrumental in stopping the savage revenge of Blucher and the
Prussians, who were on the point of destroying the beautiful bridge on
the Seine, called the bridge of Jena, because it had been named in
honour of Napoleon's victory over the Prussians at that place.
The Duke, however, did not interpose to prevent another act, which was
one of real justice, the restoration to the several nations of the
various works of art of which they had been plundered by the French. It
was in answer to complaints of his conduct in this respect that the Duke
wrote his letter to Castlereagh, in which he said--"It is to be wished,
as well for the happiness of France as of the world, that if the French
people are not already convinced that Europe is too strong for them,
they may be made to feel that, however extensive for a time their
temporary and partial advantages over one or more of the powers of
Europe may be, the day of retribution must at length come. According to
my feelings, then, it would not only be unjust in the sovereigns to
gratify the French people, but the sacrifice they would make would be
impolitic, as it would deprive them of the opportunity of giving the
French nation a _great moral lesson_."
The thanks of both houses were voted to the Duke for the battle of
Waterloo, and an additional grant of 200,000 l.
From the year 1815 until 1823 the Duke of Wellington's name rarely
appears in connexion with any public transactions, with the exception
that in December, 1818, he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance,
an office which he continued to fill for some years.
In 1819 he made one speech in parliament in which his declared his
belief that Roman Catholic Emancipation was impossible, unless there
could be a proper security for the Protestant religion, which he
doubted.
In the year 1823, on the appointment of Mr. Canning to be Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, Duke of Wellington was named as the Plenipotentiary of
the King of Great Britain at the Congress of Verona. It was supposed
that the subject matter of the discussions of the sovereigns at that
congress would be the relations of Russia and Turkey. On the Duke's
arrival at Paris, however, he found that Spain would form the main
subject. He wrote back for fresh instructions, and Mr. Canning's answer
distinctly stated that should France attempt to interfere in Spain
either by force or by menace, he was to instruct the Duke "frankly and
peremptorily to declare, that to any such interference, come what may,
his majesty will not be a party."
The words "frankly and peremptorily" could not have been better chosen,
or more agreeable to the character of the Duke. He stuck simply and
stedfastly to his text throughout the negotiations, and when at last, in
consequence of the state of affairs in Spain, the three great powers
agreed to withdraw their ministers from Madrid, the Duke told them he
should not withdraw ours but leave him there in the hope of allaying the
irritation which the measures of the others were calculated to produce.
The Duke returned to Parts in December, and found the French not
indisposed to some arrangement. When it subsequently became necessary to
send a special communication to the Spanish government, a mark of
respect was paid by Mr. Canning to the Duke of Wellington, more
gratifying perhaps to him than his titles or honours. The desire of the
British Government was to attach a special character of friendliness to
this communication, and for that purpose the Duke of Wellington was
requested to make it. This course was taken because it was believed that
the private opinions of a man who had conferred such distinguished
benefits on Spain, and who had been on terms of personal intercourse and
friendship with many of the leading men, would be listened to with more
deference than even an official communication. It is unnecessary to
pursue this subject farther, as the Duke of Wellington's connexion with
it ceased; except that he gave, in the House of Lords, on the 24th of
April, a full explanation of his share in the proceedings.
In 1826, the Duke having been appointed ambassador to St. Petersburgh,
on the anniversary of the entrance of the allied army into Paris under
his command, the Emperor Nicholas addressed a letter to him, in which he
told him that in order to testify to him his particular esteem for his
great qualities and for the distinguished services he had rendered to
the whole of Europe, he had given orders that the Smolensko regiment of
infantry, formed by Peter the Great, and one of the most distinguished
of his army, which was formerly under the Duke's command in France,
should thenceforward be called the Duke of Wellington's regiment.
In 1827, on the death of the Duke of York, the public mind pointed to
the Duke of Wellington as the fit successor of his royal highness in the
important post of Commander-in-Chief, and he was immediately appointed.
The Duke held this office until the appointment of Mr. Canning to be
Prime Minister, when he resigned it, and also the Master-Generalship of
the Ordnance.
The circumstances attending this resignation must of course hold a
prominent place in any memoir of the Duke. But there were personal
matters mixed up in the affair, which make it necessary to enter into it
at some length, for the better understanding of his Grace's character.
On the death of the Earl of Liverpool, in the beginning of the year
1827, the king called on Mr. Canning to form an administration. As Mr.
Canning had all along advocated Roman Catholic Emancipation, and as the
cabinet of Lord Liverpool had firmly opposed that measure, it became a
question how far the premiership of Mr. Canning would compromise the
position of those who had hitherto acted with him in the cabinet of Lord
Liverpool. The question very soon received a practical solution, by the
simultaneous (though not concerted) resignation of six of the most
influential members of the government, including the Duke of Wellington.
The political friends of Mr. Canning, and those of his opponents with
whom he was agreed on the Roman Catholic question, concurred in
representing this act of the seceding ministers as a cabal against Mr.
Canning; and the Duke of Wellington, more especially, was made the
subject of most unsparing abuse. The ground of this was that he had not
contented himself with resigning the office he held directly under the
government, but had also resigned the command of the army, an office
unconnected with politics. This was supposed to indicate some special
determination to crush Mr. Canning.
Now with regard to the motives of the Duke on this occasion all men will
form their own opinion, not so much with reference to facts, as to their
political feelings. It may however be fairly laid down as a principle
that where admitted facts sufficiently supply an explanation of a man's
conduct, all reference to motives are unnecessary; and the more so
because in all cases, however strong suspicion or presumptive evidence
may be, the truth with regard to a man's motives must ever remain locked
in his own breast. The open, manly and fearless character of the Duke
would however, except in the heated imagination of partisans, almost
preclude suspicion in the first instance.
But let us turn to the facts, as stated in the house of lords on the 2nd
of May, when the peers met after the Easter recess. On the 10th of April
Mr. Canning wrote to the Duke of Wellington the following letter:--
_To his Grace the Duke of Wellington._
Foreign Office, April 10, 6 P.M., 1827.
My dear Duke of Wellington,--The king has, at
an audience from which I have just returned, been
graciously pleased to signify to me his majesty's commands,
to lay before his majesty, with as little loss as
time as possible, a plan of arrangements for the re-construction of
the administration. In executing these commands it will be as much my
own wish, as it is my duty to his majesty, to adhere to the principles
upon which Lord Liverpool's government has so long acted together. I
need not add how essentially the accomplishment must depend upon your
Grace's continuing a member of the cabinet.
Ever, my dear Duke of Wellington, your Grace's sincere and faithful
servant,