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

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, and 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.