The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-18 00:00:00

160 ittraturt. The Correspondence and Despatches of Viseonnt Castlereagh. Edited by the Marquis of Lon donderry. Third Series. London : Murray. AT that momentous crisis in the annals of party when Fox and Pitt were removed from the scenes of their strife, we Can well conceive bow a reflecting politician might have been perplexed by the question—" Who will be the chiefs of the next generation?" The names of many men of marked abilities would have at °nee (occurred to him, but have been dismissed as soon as suggested. He would have alternately praised and blamed their various qualities ; ho might have recollected how the exces sive subtlety of Windham detracted front his statesmanship, and how the eminent debating powers of Lord illowiek were eounteracted by his querulous deportment. Nor would ho have forgotten that Lord 4ireitville. excelling in sense, was deficient in command over others ; and that Lord Melville, in consequence of the impeachment. With nlinpaelintell fill' leader. Shill. Two other mimes might have presented themselves—those of the Nlarquis Wellesley and Mr. Canning; but he would have remem bered what (offence had been given by the first, in the voluptuous lieenee of it life tit only for a sultanised Englishman ;" and how the arro• wince of genius and a propensity to intrigue* diminished the moral weight of the Senate's most accomplished orator in those days (15010) when Sheridan was but the wreck of his former self, before sir. Brougham and Mr. Plunket had appeared to dispute the paint of supetior ehoquence. Yet there were then sitting in the House of Commons two men who, more timn any others of their contemporaries. were destined to sway the events of the next generation. They were themselves little conscious of the career in reserve fir them. and would, perhaps. have been as much surprised as others if they had been told how important were their lives for the public weal. Piny were often to be seen side by side, and even a stranger might have noted by their manners that they were inti mate friends. They used often to walk into the House together, and sometimes they would be , seen pacing thoughtfully the footway of St. James's-square. 1 isle wilt a reserved-looking luau, apparently past fiorty. with a thin, spare figure, and st countenance then so attenuated as to be suggestive of mace rating disease. The expression of his countenanes was stiff and wooden,f and the noose had an uttgaitily prominence, which was orgo ottett as you booked at those great eyes— those vast orbs—that, horned brighq under his brow, and announced the empire of to great soul. His friend and companion looked several years younger, stud his appearance was. even at a passing glance. sure to interest an (observer. To a light and lustily form he united the charm of a tact which, for regular features and grace of expression, could scarcely be met with even amongst the most brilliant of the favourites of Courts, anti the admired of the fair. There was stamped upon his %tole person the not transtCrable" air of a gentleman—using that abused word, not in its degenerated sense, but as it term tit for describing a being of high aspiration and of manly bearing. tempered by a courteous con sideration of others. without disregard of class or condition. His smile was exquisitely sweet, and the more interesting from a shade of pensive languor that sometimes W(011111 steal over his nobly patrician face. which a single sentiment of vulgar passion never disturbed from its serene stir of shun !wrist!, en► rgy. and whielt at tinsunts painter iu vain attempted to transfer to the por traiture of the finest subject of the male sex that ever invited his pencil.' These are the figures of two Men who Made events. But oth reader, in one you behold the' favourite .'f history. upon whom eulogies flut e been heaped. and in the other you have the outlines of the least-requited statesman, the most un justly-treated (intruder, whom the annals of party record. The first wits Arthur Wellesley, • Sec Lord Mainteabnrim " And hie wooden fact.."—(l.4e4 Lawrence. THE PRESS. then member for Nen port, fresh from his Indian triumphs, and apparently a severe sufferer from the Oriental climates ; the other WaS one who played a first-rate part in the - Era of Empire" [ride PaEss ante, p. 1351--the man who divided with Mr. Pitt the fame of carrying the Irish Union—who forced a wavering Cabinet to send Wellesley a second time to Spain—who in gloomy times never despaired, and, in the face of great difficulties, successfully led the Commons and ruled the Cabinet for ten try lug years, when faction's yoke was loudest, and the Opposition unsempulous beyond parallel. Robert Stewart, second Marquis of London derry, the CAMTLEIMAGII of European history. was the son of a wealthy Irish peer, who had been first ennobled iu 1789. Like other core brides, Castlereagh was indebted to the mother's side for those qualities which raised him to the first class of public men. That graceful presence, those courteous manners, for which he was so admired, descended from the Seymours.::: Long meditating upon a Union with Ireland, Mr. Pitt doubted whether he could lind the means requisite for carrying such a measure ; the fury of Irish factions in that day—the rage fin. .‘ nationality" in the north, for Romanism in the south—with the intemperance of popularity-hunting Whigs, combined to make the scheme of Union almost I a hopeless one. In achieving that great measure, Lord Cas tlereagh proudly associated his name with Im perial History. Compelled to endure the invectives of Grattan, Plunket, and Bushc, he exhibited under arduous circumstances a calm self-reliance ; to the vehemence of Irish eloquence he opposed steady sense, cool nerves, and a resolute heart ; and, when Mr. George Ponsonby assailed him with reckless insolence, Lord Castlereagh, in the face of a fierce and passionate Opposition, inflicted on his assailant so severe and galling a castigation, that for the remainder of his life he was safe from any assault from that quarter. Without the Union Ireland would have been given up to an alliance with the French, or to an ascendancy of the Papists; without Lord Castlereagh no Union could have been carried. In Irish as in Impe rial politics afterwards, he gained ascendant influence by a firmness that would not falter, and a love of toil that would not tire. At College-green, as in St. Stephen's in later days, talking bullies were daunted by the calmness of a man insensible to fear, and generous ad vermaries were charmed by the courtesy of his ingratiating manners. Transferred from provincial to Imperial politics, he did not at firmt realise the expecta tions of his party. To a debater as to a writer thorough knowledge of his subject is absolutely necessary, and years elapsed before Lord Cas tlereagh was at home upon English topics. The strong qualities of personal ascendancy which had been so invaluable in the turmoil at College-green were not enough of themselves to secure eminence at St. Stephen's in the days of Fox, Pitt, Sheridan, Lord Howick, Tierney, and many others. It was always a defect in the system of Lord Castlereagh to rely too munch on official authority, on party organisa tion, and on mere parliamentary power. He did not sufficiently understand that momentous truth, so clearly stated by the philosophic Hume, " That all power, even the most des potic, rests ultimately on OPINION." 'Phis mistake was one that is common to many men of action. But it was not any speculative error of his policy that brought upon him the venomous malignity of factions tongue. There were peculiar causes at work to give deliberate purpose to the venom with which the libelling pens of the Holland House scribes vilified Lord Castlereagh. Between the Whigs and Carlton House there was a deadly feud in those days. The Regent at once disliked and dreaded the coalition of Lords Grenville and Grey. He was in diffi culties of various kinds : he had at once to encounter Napoleon abroad—popular discon tent at home—and, worst of all, such a wife as --ahem !—Lord Mahnesbury's Diary describes ! • The great Whig families wanted political capital, for the Catholic claims had proved a fatal investment: they took up the cause of • His ni.lther wag Lady Sarah seyniotu• Conway, second danhter of Frannie, tint Lori of Ilvrtforti. SATURDAY, the Princess of Wales, and came to the resolution that for the edification of Eng land the soiled linen of Royalty should be pub liely washed before the world. The Opposition resolved to live upon the " individual scandals" of the Court—to blast the Regent's character, if they could not scale his Cabinet. By family ties Lord Castlereagh was con nected with the Hertford House interest. The Court party, in that hour of trial, committed its defence to Lord Castlereagh, and he at once became the target for missiles of all kinds, from cartloads of rubbish shot upon him by Cobbett, to the melodious malignity of Toni Moore, and the " poisonous nosegays " of Cockney satirists like the Hunts. It was vain to " bully" their brave enemy ; with the contempt of a man of courage, he had sneered at those who were fond of picking "House of Commons' quarrels," and the sneer was remembered. He had brought the haughty and intrepid Canning to an account for his conduct, and in daring his personal hostility, he had also showed that resolute spirit which never shrank before any foe. Both of them, indeed, in their duel. exhibited dauntless nerve. Though Lord Yarmouth (af terwards Marquis of Hertford), acting for Castlereagh, and Mr. Ellis (Lord Seaford), the friend of Canning, tried to accommodate mat • ters after the first fire, the combatants were inexorable, and a fierce spirit prevailed on both sides, very unlike that of the despicable scene between Jeffrey and Moore, described by the latter. At the second fire the button in the lapel of Lord Castlereagh's coat was shot off, and Canning was wounded iu the thigh. Nor did he then flinch, being ready for a third shot, when Lord Yarmouth saw the blood pouring down his nankeen trousers , a nd the affair was stopped. They fought at Putney heath, within sight of the windows of the house where Pitt, their friend and patron, had breathed his last. As it was evident to the world that Lord Castlereagh would permit no adversary, worth powder and shot, to assail him with impu nity, anonymous attacks were, therefore, had recourse to, and never was any man more vilified or foully slandered. Unable to assail his private character, his enemies accused him of having " sold his country." Driven from attacking him in Parliament, the press was used against him, in order to supply the demagogues with matter, true or false, to use laces • sandy ; and Lord Castlereagh's character was WRITTEN DOWN ACCORDINGLY. It is worthy of notice that Lord Castlereagh at one period appeared to be alive to the danger arising from the effects of defamation. About the year 1812 he wrote a most pressing letter to one of his ex-secretaries, urging him to undertake a history of the Irish Union. The gentleman thus addressed was the late Mr. Alexander Knox, a man of great intellectual powers. but of feeble health, and he shrank from the task with the desponding nervous - ness of a tremulous valetudinarian. * We may. ourselves, cite from Mr. Knox's "Literary Remains" the following passage describing Lord Castlereagh in 1798. Nor let any cen sorious reader hastily disparage the testimony as coming from an interested private secretary. Mr. Knox was a man of exalted piety and virtue, and in one of the notes to his "History of the Revolution" Mr. Macaulay has referred to him as " that remarkable man the late Alex ander Knox ": I am gratified at being singled out as the confidential friend of the honestest, and perhaps the ablest, statesman that has been in Ireland for a century. I know of him what the world does not know. * * * Humane he is, and goodnatured beyond the usual standard of men. In him it is not merely a habit, nor a natural quality, but a moral duty. Yet when firm decision is requisite he cat well exert it. He has appeared in that political hurricane, not, like Addison's angel, merely directing the storm of just vengeance, but, like the angel of the Ark, shedding, from the very serenity of his countenance, a ray of hope ful brightness over the dark and troubled waters. In many instances loyalty has become impetuous. and his has been the happy energy to moderate and restrain it. There is no blood shed fur which he does not grieve. and yet he has no tendency to injudicious mercy. Lord Castlereagh was neither an orator nor an elegant writer, and his defects of rhetoric presented vulnerable points on which he was • We arts sorry that Lord Londonderry has not printed that letter in this " Correspondence," along with the pa:s.ige front Mr. Kays, produced by oureelve, la the text.