MEMOIR OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 106, 15 January 1853, Page 4

MEMOIR OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

[From the "Atlas."]

The family of the great Duke is derived from that of the'Colleys or Cowleys of Rutland, two of whom, Walter and Robert, emigrated to Ireland, in the reign of Henry VIII., and setlied in the comity "of Kilkenny. In 1531 they were presented to the clerkship of the Crown in Chancery for their joint live?, and in six years after Robert was made Master of the Bolls, and Walter Solicitor-General. Walter held his office for 13 years, resigning it eventually £ov the surveyorship of Ireland. Under Elizabeth, his eldest son, Henry, held a captain's commission, sat for Thomastown, in Parliament, was knighted, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His son was also a soldier, and ■was knighted for his distinguished services. He represented the borough of Monaghan in Parliament. His eldest son, by his wife, a daughter of Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, was succeeded by his son Dudley, a stanch royalist, who, under Charles 11., served in the army, and sat in Parliament for the borough of Phillipstown. His daughter married Garrett Westley, of Dangan, Meath. These Westleys, Wesleys, or Wellesleys (as ■ they have at different times been called), derive their name from the manor of Wellesleigh, in Somersetshire, where the family (which was a Saxon one) settled soon after the Norman Invasion. A record in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, traces the line, as far back as a.d. 1239, to Michael de Wellesleigh. The family seems to have been of high rank in the reign of Henry 1., and there is a tradition that one of the house, was standardbearer to Henry 11., during the Invasion of Ireland. In England, the male line becoming extinct, the family estates passed into other hands; but the Irish branch survived in Sir William de Wellesley, who was summoned to Parliament, as a baron, by Edward 111. In the 15th century, Dangan Castle was obtained by marriage, and the prefix de was soon afterwards dropped. Henry, the second son of Dudley Colley, married Mary, the only daughter of Sir William Usher, by whom he had a numerous family. Of these, Richard, the youngest son, was adopted by his kinsman, Garrett Wesley, who bequeathed him his estates, on condition that he should assume his jiame and arms. Tiie patent to enable him to do this bears date 1728. Richard Colley Wesley, in 1746, was created by George 11., Baron of Mornington. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Sale, Registrar of the Archdiocese of Dublin, and was succeeded by his son Garrett, who in 1760, was created Viscount Wellesley and Earl of Mornington. The Earl married on the 6th of February, 1759, Ann, eldest daughter of the Right Hon. Arthur Hill Trevor, first Viscount Dungannon, by whom he had issue six sons—namely, Richard (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley), Arthur Gerald (who died in his infancy), William Wellesley Pole (Baron Maryborough), Arthur (Duke of "Wellington), Gerald Valerian (Rector of Bishopwearmouth, D.D.),and Henry (Lord Cowley),—besides three daughters, Frances Seymour, Anne (who was married to Henry, son of Lord Southampton), and Mary Elizabeth (Lady Culling Smith). Arthur was born on the Ist of May, 1769, at Dangan Castle, or, as it has been asserted, in Dublin.

Lord Mornington, who is probably best known by his graceful musical compositions, died in the prime of his life, on the 22nd May, 1781, leaving his property in a very encumbered condition. The young Marquis, however, in the most honourable manner, voluntarily assumed the payment of his deceased father's debts. The first part of his education, as well as that of his illustrious brother, was at Eton, whence he proceeded to Oxford, Arthur being removed to the Military College of Angiers, in the department of the Maine and Loire. Contrary to that of the marquis, the School career of the Duke of Wellington, though far from dull, was not brilliant.

On the 7th March, 1787, when in his ISth year, Arthur Wesley (for that was the form of iia'nre that he first adopted) was gazetted to an ensigucy in the 73rd Itegiment, and on the following Christinas day was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 76th. In the succeeding month lie exchanged into the 41st, and on the 25th of June was appointed to the 12th Light Dragoons. On the 30th of June, 1791, he was promoted to a company in the 58th foot, and on the 31st October. 1792, he obtained a troop

in the 18th Light Dragoons. At the general election in the summer of 1790 he was returned for the borough of Trim, the patronage of which belonged" to the house of Moruington. He occasionally addressed the house, and his speaking was already characterised by that terseness and force which stamp all his and verbal communications.

On the 30th of April, 1793, Capt. Wellesley was gazetted major of the 33rd Foot, on the resignation of Major Gore ; and on the 30th of the following September lie succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment, vice Lieu-tenant-Colonel Yorke, who quitted the service. At this period an expedition was planned in England to assist the remnant of the royalists in France, the command of which was placed in the hands of- the Earl of Moira. Amongst other regiments, the 33rd received orders to be in readiness.- The failure, however, of the Duke of York in the Netherlands, caused a change in the destination of the troops, which were already in the transports. They sailed for Ostend, and after repulsing the French, who attacked them on the 6th of July, 1794, at Alostj they joined his highness on the 12th in front of Mecblin, and enabled him to hold his ground for some time against the enemy. . In April, 1796, Colonel Wellesley embarked with his regiment for the East Indies. Soon after his arrival in Calcutta, in February, 1797, his brother, Lord Mornington, was appointed Governor-General of India. On the 22nd of February, 1799, war was proclaimed against the Sultan Tippoo. The British army, which was unusually effective, was placed under the unrestricted command of General Harris, who was assisted by a political or diplomatic commission consisting of Colonels Wellesley, Barry, Close, and Agnew, and Captain- Malcolm, and Captain Macaulay, as Secretary. A march on Seringapatam, Tippoo's capital, was determined on; and the result is well known. Seringapatam was taken ; Tippoo Saib was killed in the assault, and Colonel Wellesley was appointed commander of the city.

While India was the theatre of his exploits, Malvelly and Seringapatam were followed by Conaghall, and by the Mahratta wars in 1803, where, at Assaye, lie crushed the fierce and hitherto invincible cavalry of central India. Honours now showered on the victorious General Wellesley. The inhabitants of Calcutta presented him with a sword of the value of 1000 guineas, a gold vase, and a service of plate; and.in 1805 the thanks of the King and the Parliament were voted for his services in the Deccan. The same year he returned to England, and on the 10th of April, 1806, married Catherine, the third daughter o£ the second Earl of Longford. In the same year, he commanded a brigade in Lord Cathcart's Hanoverian expedition ; but the battle of Austerlitz had crushed all hope of a junction with the Austrian and Russian armies, and Augereau was hastening with 40,000 men to meet us. Cathcart called a council of war, whereat the young Indian general was almost the junior officer. He, in the face of all the older officers, delivered his opinion, that beating the enemy was practicable, at a minimum of risk, with the sea open. His rashness was censured, and his advice, rejected. Soon afterwards, he was returned for Newport. In 1807, his administrative career opened by his appointment to the Chief Secretaryship for Ireland. In the same year, in the expedition against Copenhagen under Lord Cathcart, he was second in command. The result was, after an attack planned in the most strategic manner, the complete overthrow of the Danes, and surrender of their fleet, of sixteen sail of the line, nine frigates, fourteen sloops, and numerous smaller vessels, with ninety transports, filled with naval stores. As minute facts relating to the great possess interest, we may here state, that a favourite mare of Lord Rosslyn's proving in foal while before the Danish capital, her colt was named Copenhagen, and presented to the illustrious Duke. This " gallant grey" has shared a portion of his owner's fame, and will long live on canvas, in brass, and in marble, as the bearer of the '-'hero of a hundred fights" on the deathful day of Waterloo. " Copenhagen" died in peaceful retirement in 1834, at Strathfieldsaye, at the advanced equine age of twenty-eight years.

In 1808 Sir Arthur Wellesley again received the thanks of Parliament, and on this occasion made a brief and manly reply. After a few months of administrative activity in Ireland,

the Government, considering that the determined, though ill-conducted resistance of the Spaniards to the French invasion deserved assistance, despatched Sir Arthur to Corunna with an auxiliary force. The treaty of Cintra, which concluded - this campaign, excited in England the utmost wonder and disgust. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had strenuously opposed its principal provisions, in a fit of indignant chagrin had immediately after its completion returned home. Sir Arthur resumed his official duties as Irish Secretary, and had taken once more his seat in Parliament, when both Houses, in January, 1809, passed a very flattering panegyric upon his first services in the Peninsula. After the dsfeat of Sir John Moore, Sir Arthur Wellesley transmitted to the Ministry so able and encouraging a memorandum on the defence of Portugal, that they determined on another effort. A strong reinforcement was sent out, and Sir Arthur was named to the chief command. He, therefore, resigned his Irish office, vacated his seat in Parliament, and embarked on the 16th of April, arriving at the Tagus on the 22nd. The Portuguese named him Marshal-General of the native forces.

The brilliant exploits of the Duke and his army in the Peninsula are well known. The passage of the Douro, the capture of Ciudad Eodrigo, of Baclajoz and San Sebastian, the battles of Salamanca and Toulouse, and the formation of the lines of Torres Vedras are achievements which in their results equal the battles of Napoleon himself, and speedily brought about the downfall of the latter. The invasion of France followed Wellington's successes, and Bonaparte abdicated and was sent to Elba.

Lord Wellington was named Ambassador to the Court of France, and reached Paris on the 4th of May. His reception everywhere was most nattering. At home, besides being thanked by Parliament at various times for each of his" principal victories, he was elevated to the Dukedom. On the 2Sth of May, he took his seat in the House of Peers for the first time. The Lord Chancellor addressing his Grace in a glowing panegyric, conveyed to him the following resolution :—" That the thanks of this house be given to Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, on his return from his command abroad, for his eminent and unremitting services to His Majesty and to the "public. His Grace made a suitable reply and soon afterwards retired.

On the 10th of May, the Prince Eegent had sent to the House of Commons a message, recommending them to grant the Duke such an annuity as might support the high dignity of the title conferred, and prove a lasting memorial of the nation's gratitude and munificence. On the 12th, the Speaker moved that the sura of £10,000 be annually paid out of the Consolidated Fund for the use of the Duke of Wellington, to be at any time commuted for the sum of £300,000, to be laid out in the purchase of an estate. At the suggestion of Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Ponsonby, and Mr. Canning, the proposed sum was unanimously increased £100,000; making, in all, half a million granted to his Grace, In the House of Lords, the pension was likewise passed nem. dis. On the Ist of July his Grace attended at the House of Commons personally to thank them for their bounty. The Duke's admission having been resolved upon, 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 obeisance, while all the members rose from their seats. The Speaker then informing him that a chair was set foe his repose, lie sat down in it for some time covered, —the Sergeant standing on his right hand, with the mace grounded, and the members resumed their seats. He then rose and made a short speech uncovered, expressive of his gratitude to the House, not only for its liberal grant, but for having sent a deputation of members to congratulate him on his return home. The Speaker having addressed him in return, he withdrew, conducted by the Sergeant to the door of the House.

The peace of Paris was concluded on the 30tli of May, but the Duke of Wellington was not left long to repose upon his laurels. One more victory (Waterloo) remained yet in store for him, his antagonist being no other than his great rival, with whom he had never yet measured swords.

The news of Waterloo was brought on the 20th of June, by Mr. Sutton, the proprietor of a. number of vessels plying between Colchester an"Ai Osteud, who made the voyage at his private eof *t

for that special purpose. The Duke's despatches arrived two days later, and were immediately conveyed to the two Houses of Parliament. They produced the most rapturous expressions of joy. A vote of thanks to the Duke and his army was carried by acclamations in the Lords, on the motion of the Earl Bathurst; and in the Commons, the Minister (Lord Castlereagh) brought a message from the Prince Regent, in consequence of which an additional grant of £200,000, accompanied by the most flattering encomiums, was made, to purchase a mansion and estate for his Grace. Illuminations were general throughout the country, and almost every steeple rang out its merriest peals. A subscription, amounting to upwards of a hundred thousand pounds, was made for the widows and orphans of the slain. The Duke also generously relinquished, for the same purpose, half the Parliamentary compensation due to him for the Peninsular prize property. On the 29th of June, 1816, his Grace set out for London. In the mean time Apsley House, in Hyde Park, had been purchased by the British Government, and rebuilt by Mr. Wyatt, for the Duke ; and on the 19th of November the Parliamentary Commissioners purchased the estate of Strathiieldsaye, in Hampshire, for J2260,000. His Grace was made a Field-Mar-shal in the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian services, immediately after the Congress of Aix; and on the 26th of December he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance at home.

Tn 1825, when a mania for joint-stock companies, similar to the railway halluncination of 1847, seized the public mind, his Grace exerted himself greatly to restrain the infatuation of the English capitalists.

In 1826 the reaction attendant upon this commercial infatuation burst upon the country. At the Duke's suggestion, small notes were reissued at the Bank of England, and this, joined to the large amount of new coin minted, at last put an end to the embarrassment.

His Grace was also appointed, with Sir E. Peel, and other Members of Parliament, one of the Commissioners for Indian affairs. The Duke of York dying on the sth of January, the Duke of Wellington was appointed on the 24th his successor as Commander-in-Chief and Colonel of the Ist Grenadier Guards. On the 10th ■of March his Grace was installed in the office of "High-Constable of the Tower. The Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, having died of apoplexy, on the 17lh of February, after holding; office since the 9th of June, 1812, the King", on the 10th of April, nominated Mr. Canning- as his successor. Upon this the Duke of Wellington, and six others of the principal member of the old Cabinet, retired, his Grace resigniug the command of the army on the 30th. This •feeession caused the failure of Canning's Ministry, and was succeeded by Lord Goderich, whose government was very short-lived. When he resigned, the Duke of Wellington was instructed Jto frame a Cabinet. This he accordingly did, resigning the command, t>n the loth of February, in favour of Lord Hill. His late Majesty (William IV.), taking offence at the remonstrance made by the Duke of Wellington, upon the ~expensiven,ess of his; habits, resigned his office of Lo.rd High Admiral. Plis Grace's mode of life as Prime Minister was such as might have been .expected from his previous career. He slept on a mattress spread on an irou camp bedstead ; rose regularly at seven, Ibreakfasted at eight, and immediately commenced his official duties. He was the terror of the idlers in Downing-street. On one occasion the Treasury clerks told him that some mode of limiting' up accounts was impracticable: they were met with the curt reply, " Never mind, if you can't do it, I'll send you half-a-dozen paysergeants that will," —a hint they did not fail to take.

One of the reforms with which the Duke of Wellington's name is indissolubly connected is the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, which he triumphantly carried during the session of 1828, in spite of the fierce opposition .of Lord Eldon, and other Tories of the old school.

Another measure of a similar nature was the Boman Catholic Relief Bill. On the 19th of March, the Earl of Winchelsea. and Nottingham, a determined opposer of the bill, o lie red ihe Duke what his Grace considered an insult, The Duke demanded a retractation, which his lordship declined to !>ive, and the two peers had v hostile meeting in Batlersea-fiolds. His Grace fired without efiect, the Earl discharged his pis-

tol into the air, and the parties then left the ground. Lord Winchelsea afterwards published the retractation demanded of him by his Grace.

On the 20th of January, 1829, his Grace was appointed Governor of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

In 1830 the Duke's Government fell. The new King, William IV., had intended to have been present at the city feast at Guildhall, but the Ministers had received such information as not only induced them to advise his Majesty not to attend it, but caused the Duke of Wellington to have the Tower moat filled, and to put that ancient fortress in a state of defence. The Duke's account of the matter puts his Grace's character in a most amiable light. "I would have gone," said he to Sir Wm. Knighton, " if the law had been equal to protect me, but that ■was not the case. Fifty dragoons on horse Avould have done it; but that was a military force. If firing had begun, who could tell when it was to end ; one guilty person would fall, and ten innocent be destroyed. Would this have been wise or humane, for a little bravado, or that the country might not be alarmed for a day or two ? It is all over now, and in another week or two will be forgotten."

On the 15th of November, 1830, Ministers were defeated on Sir Henry Pavn ell's amendment, appointing1 a select committee to inquire into the Civil List, by a majority of 27; and on the following evening his Grace and Sir Robert Peel announced the resignation of the Cabinet. Lord Grey was named as liis successor, Lord Hill, however, continuing at the Horse Guards. Earl Grey was succeeded by Lord Melbourne, but the Reform Ministry did not lastlong, being broken up by the resignation of Lord Althorp. On the 15th of November his Grace was directed by the King to form a new Administration, and he at once recommended the appointment of Sir Robert Peel to the Premiership. As Sir Robert was then in Ttaly, his Grace was at first intrusted with the whole charge of Government and the seals of the three Secretaries of State; but when the Cabinet was filled up, he took the direction of the foreign affairs. The lower House, however, commenced hostilities, and having carried the Speaker, they defeated the Ministry by passing a clause for appropriating part of the Irish Church property to purposes of education. In consequence of this, the Ministers resigned in the April of 1834.

On the 29th January, 1834, His Grace was unanimously elected Chancellor of Oxford, in the room of Lord Greville, deceased.

The passing of the Reform Bill may "be said to have formed the termination of his Grace's political life ; for, though he continued to be a warm and consistant supporter of the Conservative party, he never again aspired to the Premiership. After this, his old popularity returned, and, at the coronation of the Queen in 1837, his reception by the crowd was most enthusiastic. At the resignation of Lord Melbourne, in 1839, the Queen sent for the Duke, and at his suggestion commissioned Sir R. Peel to form a Ministry ; but the Whigs returned to office, her Majesty refusing to dismiss the ladies of her household.

When Lord Hill resigned the command of the army, inconsequence of the state of his health, the Duke once more succeeded to that important office, and has held it ever since.

For the last few years of his life the Duke still continued to be consulted by Ministers, and, indeed, by her Majesty herself, who is understood to have liked to take his opinion on all matters of importance. His last appearance in state was on the occasion of the dissolution of Parliament, when it became his duty to be bearer of the Sword of State. The venerable Duke, feeble with age, was accordingly seen in his due place carrying the heavy and venerable weapon ; nay, even pointing it at Lord Derby, who was jesting with him about his diificlty of carrying it. His latest remarkable speech was in the House of Lords, when he emphatically came forward to signify his approbation of. Sir Harry Smith's conduct of the.Caff're war. This speech was remarkable for its clearness, and a certain air of demonstration —as if his Grace wished, as was natural enough, to give all the weight of his authority to aid a brave soldier who lias been treated by the Government equally unjust and ungenerous. Generally, he continued to perform the customary routine of his life with his notable punctuality. He had gone to Walmer Castle ; and that his general health was still good we may learn from the fact that, on Saturday preceding

his death, he rode over on horseback to Dover, and, in Ins capacity as Lord Warden, inspected the works in progress in the Harbour of .Refuge and other departments. He then seemed in excellent health, and spirits. For some years he had been subject to brain attacks, and' had undergone the inconvenience of using " counter irritants" to repel them. The cause of his death was natural decay ; but the immediate agency described in the word '•• fits," was doubtless an effusion of water upon the brain. Gradual stupefaction would be' the result, and also convulsions, but it is propable that death was without pain. The private life of the Duke was simple, methodical, and familiar in most of its features to all inhabitants and visitors of the metropolis. His attendance at the early service of the Chapel Royal and at the Whitehall sermons, his walk in the park in former years, and of late times his ride through the Horse Guards, with his servant behind him, are incidents which every newspaper has long chronicled for the information of the country. His personal habits were those of military punctuality,, his daily duties were discharged systematically as they recurred, and his establishment was as thriftily regulated as the smallest household in the land. This economy enabled him to effect considerable savings, and it is believed that the property of the title must have been very largely increased. He married in 1806 the Hon. Catherine Paekenham, third daughter of the second Baron Longford, a lady for whose hand, as Arthur Wesley, with nothing but the sword of an infantry captain to second his pretensions, he had previously, we are informed, been an unsuccessful suitor. The Duchess died in 1831, and the Duke's name was recently coupled with that of numerous ladies who were successively elected, by report, as the objects of his second choice. He died, however, a widower, leaving two sons to inherit his name.

The titles of the deceased are perhaps the most numerous and varied ever bestowed on an individual: Duke of Wellington, of Ciudad Roderigo, and de Victoria, Prince of Waterloo, Marquis of Torres Vedras, Conde de Vimiera, and field-Marshal of England (date 1817) ; also a Field-Marshal in the Annies of Russia, Prussiaj Portugal, and the Netherlands ; Cap-tain-General of Spain, and Grandee-*of the First Class.; Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifle Brigade ; Constable of the Tower and Dover Cas-

tie; Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire and ofstha Tower Hamlets; Chancellor of the University of Oxford ; Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; Master of the Trinity House; President of the Military Academy ; Governor of King's College, &c, &c.; Commander or Knight of seventeen foreign orders, and D.C.L. His Grace completed his 83rd year, on the Ist of May last.

• The Duke is succeeded by his son Arthur, Marquis of Douro, who was born in 1807. Ha is a Colonel in the army, and married in 1539 a daughter of the Marquis of Tweeddale.