they owed their elevation. Sir Arthur Wellesley never would have had the chief command in Spain, but for the ministerial aid of Lord Castlereagh; and Lord Castlereagh could never have stood his ground as a Minister but for Lord Wellington's successes."

Early Frivolity.—An Unfulfilled Prediction.-"I remember," said Lord Plunket, “being on a committee with him. The duke (then Captain Wellesley or Wesley) was, I recollect, playing with one of those toys called quizzes, the whole time of the sitting of the committee."This trait of the duke (remarks Lord J. Russell in his " Memoirs of Moore") coincides perfectly with all that I have ever heard about this. great man's apparent frivolity at that period of his life. Luttrell, indeed, who is about two years older than the duke, and who lived on terms of intimacy with all the Castle men of those days, has the courage to own, in the face of all the duke's present glory, that often, in speculating on the future fortunes of the young men with whom he lived, he has said to himself, in looking at Wellesley's vacant face, "Well, let who will get on in this world, you certainly will not!"

Traffic in Irish Boroughs.-In the "Civil Correspondence and Memoranda of the Duke of Wellington" during the time when he was SirArthur Wellesley and Chief Secretary for Ireland (1807 to 1809), the following passages, among others of similar nature, show the way in which Parliamentary boroughs were at that time dealt with as political counters. Sir Arthur writes to the Right Hon. Charles Long: "Pennefather has promised us the refusal of Cashell, but he has not stated his terms. We shall have Athlone, I believe, but I have not yet seen Justice Day. Wynne has arranged for Sligo with Canning; I don't know whether it is the Secretary of State or not. Lord Portarlington is in England, and the agent who settled for that borough upon the last general election was Mr. Parnell. We have no chance with him, and it would be best to arrange the matter with Lord Portarlington. I heard here that he had sold the return for six years at the last election, and if that should be true, of course we shall not get it now. I have written to Roden, and have desired Henry to settle with Enniskillen. The former is in Scotland, the latter in London. I have desired Lord H. to send to Lord Charleville about Carlow. Tell Henry to make me acquainted with the price of the day." And again: "I have written to Henry (Wellesley) about a seat for myself; of course I should not wish to pay much money for one. A man has offered me a seat for Wallingford; let me know who shall be returned for it. Names for the following boroughs: Cashell, Tralee, Enniskillen; Athlone, possibly. Tell Lord Palmerston to give me his interest for Sligo, and desire his agent, Henry Stewart, to do as I order him." "I have thought it advisable to encourage Mr. Croker to persevere at Downpatrick. He has promised allegiance, and all that he required was a sum of 2000l. to carry on the contest, and I have, by the duke's advice, promised to supply it."

First Appearance in the House of Lords.-The Duke of Wellington took his seat in the House of Lords for the first time on the 28th of June, 1814. 'Hansard" records that a considerable concourse

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of persons had assembled below the bar to witness his grace's introduetion, an unusual number of peers were present, and "below the throne sat the Duchess of Wellington, and the Countess of Mornington, the venerable mother of the noble duke. His patents of creation as baron, earl, marquis, and duke, were severally read, and occupied a considerable time." The Lord Chancellor (Eldon) addressed him, to convey the thanks of the House for the services he had rendered to his sovereign and his country, and remarked, "In the execution of that duty he could not refrain from calling his attention, and that of the noble lords present, to a circumstance singular in the history of that House, that upon his introduction he had gone through every dignity of the peerage in this country which it was in the power of the Crown to bestow."

The King not a Gentleman.-When Lord Liverpool was forming his administration in 1822, he insisted on the necessity of offering the Secretaryship of Foreign Affairs to Mr. Canning, and impressed his opinions on this subject so strongly upon the Duke of Wellington, that his grace, though he had some prejudices of his own to conquer, undertook to vanquish those of his Majesty against Mr. Canning's appointment. A lady who was an intimate friend of George IV., and at that moment of the duke also, and who was then staying at Brighton, told me (writes Lord Dalling) that the duke went down to Brighton and held an interview with the King, and she related to me parts of a conversation which, according to her, took place on this occasion. "Good God, Arthur, you don't mean to propose to me that fellow as Secretary for Foreign Affairs; it is impossible! I said, on my honour as a gentleman, he should never be one of my ministers again. You hear, Arthur; on my honour as a gentleman! I am sure you will agree with me that I can't do what I said on my honour as a gentleman I would not do." "Pardon me, sire; I don't agree with you at all. Your Majesty is not a gentleman." The King started. "Your Majesty, I say," continued the imperturbable soldier, "is not a gentleman, but the Sovereign of England, with duties to your people far above any to yourself; and these duties render it imperative that you should at this time employ the abilities of Mr. Canning." "Well!" drawing a long breath, "if I must, I must," was finally the King's reply. (Lord Dalling added, in a note, that the accuracy of the story having been disputed, he had it in some measure confirmed by Lady Palmerston; but he thought that, like most tales of a similar nature, it probably had some foundation, although not precisely correct either in details or date.)

A Sovereign Mimicking his Ministers.-Mr. Raikes had the following from the Duke of Wellington: "When George IV. sent for me to form a new administration in 1828, he was then seriously ill, though he would never allow it. I found him in bed, dressed in a dirty silk jacket and a turban nightcap, one as greasy as the other; for, notwithstanding his coquetry about dress in public, he was extremely dirty and slovenly in private. The first words he said to me were, ́Arthur, the Cabinet is defunct,' and then he began to describe the manner in which the late Ministers had taken leave of him, on giving in their resignations. This

was accompanied by the most ludicrous mimicry of the voice and manner of each individual, so strikingly like, that it was quite impossible to refrain from fits of laughter."

The Premier also Commander-in-Chief. It is a remarkable circumstance that the Duke's acceptance of the Premiership did not strike him at first as incompatible with his retention of the office of Commander-in-Chief. He thus alludes to the matter in a "memorandum on Military Patronage," dated March 13, 1839: "In the winter of 1827-8, Lord Goderich having reported to George IV. that the Government was defunct, I being at that time Commander-in-Chief of the army, the King sent for me; and, I conclude for my sins, I was told I was to form a Government for his Majesty. I acceded, and very shortly after the Government was formed, it was intimated to me by my colleagues that I ought to resign my office as Commander-in-Chief of the army. I resigned accordingly, and Lord Hill was recommended to the King to be my successor. I, at the same time, declared my determination never to interfere from that time in any military affair or arrangement, and particularly not in one of a personal nature, unless I should be called upon for my advice or assistance by the general commanding the army in chief, by the sovereign, or his ministers."

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The Duel between the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea.-The Duke incurred great odium by the measure for Catholic Emancipation, which he had formerly opposed. The duel which arose out of it is thus referred to in the "Memoir" of the duke, published in the Times: One episode of the history is too remarkable to be omitted. The duke had been chosen patron of the new collegiate institution in the Strand, which, under the name of King's College, was destined to combat the rival seminary in Gower Street. On the disclosure of the ministerial policy, Lord Winchilsea, writing to a gentleman connected with the new establishment, spoke of the duke and his patronship in these terms:- Late political events have convinced me that the whole transaction was intended as a blind to the Protestant and High Church party, that the noble duke, who had for some time previous to that period determined upon breaking in upon the constitution of 1688, might the more effectually, under the cloak of some outward show of zeal for the Protestant religion, carry on his insidious designs for the infringement of our liberties and the introduction of Popery into every department of the State.' These expressions, coming from such a quarter, appeared to the duke to call for personal notice, and, after a vain essay of explanations, the Prime Minister of England, attended by Sir Henry Hardinge, and the Earl of Winchilsea, attended by Lord Falmouth, met in Battersea Fields on the 21st of March (1829), in full session, to discharge loaded pistols at each other on a question concerning the Protestant religion. The life of the great captain, however, was not exposed to danger. Lord Winchilsea, after receiving the duke's shot, fired in the air, and then tendered the apology in default of which the encounter had occurred."-Mr. Gleig mentions that "when the moment for action arrived, it was found that the duke did not possess a case of

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duelling pistols." With reference to this affair, the Duke of Wellington wrote as follows to the Duke of Buckingham (April 21, 1829): The truth is that the duel with Lord Winchilsea was as much part of the Roman Catholic question, and it was as necessary to undertake it and carry it out to the extremity to which I did carry it, as it was to do everything else which I did do to attain the object which I had in view. I was living here for some time in an atmosphere of calumny. If I said a word, whether in Parliament or elsewhere, it was misrepresented for the purpose of fixing upon me some gross delusion or falsehood. Even my conversations with the King were repeated, misrepresented, and commented upon; and all for the purpose of shaking the credit which the Parliament were inclined to give to what I said. I am afraid that the event itself shocked many good men; but I am certain that the public interests at the moment required that I should do what I did." What was thought of the matter at the time is shown in the "Greville Memoirs." "At twelve o'clock the duke went to Windsor to tell the King what had happened. The King, it seems, was highly pleased with the affair, and he said, 'I did not see the letter; if I had, I certainly should have thought it my duty to call your attention to it.' . . I think (continues Greville) the duke ought not to have challenged Win, chilsea. It was beneath his dignity; it lowered him, and was more or less ridiculous. Lord Jersey met him coming from Windsor, and spoke to him. He said, 'I could not do otherwise, could I?""

An Undesigned Effect.-When (relates Earl Russell) at the meeting of Parliament, Nov. 3rd, 1830, the Duke of Wellington declared that the constitution of the House of Commons was perfect, and that the wit of man could not à priori have devised anything so good, the general feeling was one of dismay. The House of Lords, usually so calm, showed signs of amazement and perturbation. The duke whispered to one of his colleagues, "What can I have said which seems to make so great a disturbance ?" "You have announced the fall of your Government, that is all," replied his more clear-sighted colleague.

The Government in One Man's Hand.-When the Melbourne Ministry was dismissed by the King in 1834, and the Duke of Wellington was sent for to form a Cabinet, Sir Robert Peel, on whom he chiefly relied for assistance, was absent in Italy. The arrangements consequently made are thus commented upon by Mr. Spencer Walpole, in his "History of England from 1815":— "The King made Wellington First Lord of the Treasury; he entrusted him with the seals of the Home Office, and gave him the seals of the two other Secretaries of State. These arrangements virtually placed the patronage and the power of the State in the hands of one man. They were severely reprobated at the time in the Whig press, and afterwards in Parliament, as an unconstitutional concentration of responsibility and power.' The politicians who used this language had, however, hardly thought out its meaning. There was nothing unconstitutional in Wellington assuming four of the highest offices of State at the instance of his king. Three of those offices had, in fact, been evolved out of one within his own lifetime; and one Secretary of State was and

is technically competent to transact the business of all the others. The one thing which was unconstitutional in 1834, or which, in more correct language, was opposed to the practice of the Constitution, was the dismissal of the Whig Ministry. All that followed was only a corollary to that proceeding, and Whig statesmen would have done well to have confined their censure to the act, and to have abstained from criticising the arrangements which were consequent upon it. The general public, judging the matter more accurately, were merely amused at the spectacle which the duke afforded them. They saw the man who had been the hero of their boyhood, who had again become the hero of their declining years, driving from office to office, signing letters, dictating minutes, and dis charging without assistance the work which it had previously taken four busy ministers to perform. Instead of blaming Wellington for straining the Constitution, most people praised him for his industry, and commended the singleness of character which raised all his actions above suspicion. Wellington had again become the hero of the nation; and the nation was gratified at the new proof which its hero was giving of his amazing capacity for work."

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The Premier and the Commons. - Guizot relates in his Memoirs of Peel" that on the occasion just mentioned, when the Duke of Wellington was summoned to William IV. at Brighton, the old leader of the Tories gave a great example at once of modesty and power. "It is not to me," he told the King, "but to Sir Robert Peel that your Majesty must apply to form a Cabinet; and to him it belongs to direct it. The difficulty and the predominance are in the House of Commons; the leader of that House must be at the head of the Government. I will serve under him in any post which your Majesty may please to entrust to me."

A Great Country cannot have a Little War.-It was in a speech in Parliament in January, 1838, that the Duke of Wellington made this celebrated remark. He said: "My lords, I entreat you, and I entreat the Government, not to forget that a great country like this can have no such thing as a little war. They must understand that if they enter on these operations they must do it on such a scale, and in such a manner, and with such determination as to the final object, as to make it quite certain that those operations will succeed, and that at the very earliest possible period."

The Queen's Government must be Supported.-When the Corn Laws Abolition Act came to the House of Lords, I said to Lyndhurst (writes Campbell) that he was bound to defend it. "No," answered he, "this is unnecessary, for the Duke of Wellington has secured a majority in its favour, although he thinks as badly of it as I should have done seven years ago. Thus he addressed a Protectionist peer, who came to lament to him that he must on this occasion vote against the Government, having such a bad opinion of the bill- Bad opinion of the bill, my lord! You can't have a worse opinion of it than I have; but it was recommended from the throne, it has passed the Commons by a large majority, and we must all vote for it. The Queen's Government must be supported!'"