The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-18 00:00:00

HIS CAREER AS ADMINISTRATOR.

Master-General of the Ordnance under Lord Liver-
pool's Administration the Duke of Wellington partook
largely in the odium attached to the latter days of the old
Tory Government. That Government, however, early in
1827, fell to pieces, and the King appealed td Mr. Can-
ning to undertake the responsibility of constructing a
Cabinet. England was no longer called upon to witness
the maintenance of the old worn-out system which defied
reform, laughed to scorn the notion of progress, and pre-
posterously dreamt of building upadyl( of restrictions
against the advancing flood of civiliaztion. Liverpool
had at last closed his prolonged and most repressive
Administration. Sidmouth had withdrawn from official
anxieties, Eldon had "paled his ineffectual fires, "and death
had carried away to other regions the once dominating
intellect of Londonderry. It can never be forgotten by
Englishmen, and it can never be remembered by them
without emotion, how George Canning strove with all
the resources and energies of his genius, to raise out of
the ruins of the departed Ministry the fabric of a strong
and liberal Government. Everything in turn failed him
in the endeavour—friends forsook him, opportunities
vanished before his glance, ambition and patriotism,
indomitable courage, and inexorable resolution— all
proved of no avail against the overwhelming diffi-
culties encountered by the new leader of the
Government. A great mind was clouded, and a
great heart broken, under the pressure of these ma-
nifold and most bitter disappointments. Mr. Can-
ning had not been four months Prime Minister of Eng-

land, when he died in the midst of the hopeless struggle
in which be had become involved.

The Duke of Wellington was, in consequence, sum-
moned by his Majesty to take the helm of the State in
his grasp at that period of supreme emergency, and, as
First Minister of the Crown, to employ his known jail'
ence in the reconciliation of differences hitherto al)"
parently irreconcileable. In order to effect this object,
his Grace found it absolutely imperative to concede upon
points of considerable moment, in regard to which his
opinions had been hitherto inflexible. It was because °f
his conviction as to this necessity that he carried through
the House of Lords the measure for the repeal of the,
Test and Corporation Acts introduced into the House 01
Commons by Lord John Russell, and afterwards con-
sented to the consolidation into an enactment of the
Corn Bill proposed by Mr. Huskisson. It was charac-
teristic of the man, that on the transmission to him of the
well-known letter written by the last-mentioned states;
man, the Duke was pleased to regard the document
in the light of a formal tender of resignation, °l3-
serving, when that notion of its meaning was eata-
voured to be explained away—" There is no naistsi'el,
there can be no mistake, and there shall be no mistake
—a resolute mode of expression which may have g.
gested to Mr. Hume that kindred one about "the Bill'
the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," which infuses
an appreciable incentive a little while afterward

into the hearts of the Reformers.
Upon the expulsion—for we can scarcely call it thte
retirement—of Huskisson from the Cabinet, there wens
out with him no less than four other notable Canningije
—Dudley, Grant, Lamb, and Palmerston. The Ministry
was then re-constructed. At the Home-office there was
Peel, and at the Exchequer Goulburn, and to these wiell'e
now added, Hardinge, and Murray, and Aberdeen. .
Duke felt himself powerful in his position as Pr°ll-
Minister—he recognised the great requirement of tr
time—he saw O'Connell elected member for Clare-led
perceived Ireland on the very verge of insurrection-4,', et
in that year of 1829 he passed the memorable
of Catholic Emancipation.
Because of his conduct in passing this great Inerrilerbe:
the Duke immediately afterwards, on the 21st of 1%-"alco.
fought a duel in Battersea-fields with Lord Wineheigibe
His antagonist had written thus in reference t°
course pursued by the Prime Minister : Oh°
" Late political events have convinced me tha
whole transaction was intended as a blind to theme,
testant and High Church party, that the noble
who had for some time previous to that period °,e,"s- s,
mined upon breaking in upon the Constitution of ut
might the more effectually, under the cloak of some
ward show of zeal for the Protestant religion, carrY,c°o
his insidious designs for the infringement of our libe'ilef
and the introduction of Popery into every departnie°
the State." de'
The Duke considered some explanation to he d in
an
manded for language so peculiarly intemperate ;een
this manner it was that shots were exchanged bets bis
Winchelsea and Wellington—the former having °dor
second Lord Falmouth, and the latter Sir HenrY,,,at is
dinge. It is interesting to remember, however, '''.Boo!
this strange encounter, our hero's life was in ngea, Shot
imperilled—the Earl having, in the exchange °L "iyce(l,
fired his pistol into the air, and subsequently
as was originally required, to his opponent. rve(l'
Having yielded thus sagaciously, as we have obsebut
not only to the necessity of Free-trade modificatietios
also, and in a particular manner, to the need of reli,d to
emancipation, the Duke of Wellington was now f3t,tee i 5
steer directly upon that rocky question of Ref°A'-doi;
Parliament, which caused the total wreck of his """ oseu
nistration. Against any changes of this kind he oPP gas
all the iron stubbornness of his temperament. Igor
no great matter in his eyes that East Retford sent 105
bers to the House of Commons, while Birminghl,
apolog
to
without a representative. He considered matters to 50
well enough as they then were, and would consent the
sort of alteration. At this juncture it was tha"„of
people forgot the glory of the warrior in the obstirSoce
the statesman—and disgraced themselves in the ell t the
of his unpopularity, by compelling him to pre,te,epeit'
windows of Apsley House with iron blinds, and ' ;11.11).
ing the hero of Assaye and the conqueror of the rotia,
sula—pelting him with mud and brickbats when he info'
on horseback along Piccadilly. The incident is Pallit
to record, as another sign of the fickleness of P°l:e re
enthusiasm ; but may now, with salutary effect,
called to the general remembrance. 10'
l'arA9
Immediately upon the assembling of the new
„no.-
ment, in the November of 1830—scarcely three I'ver
after the explosive outbreak of the second French or
lution—the Duke of Wellington openly avowed h 'sot
tagonism to Reform, in words that could not for an inerte(l/
be mistaken. As First Minister of the Crown he 'sew- liieh
that the country already possessed a Legislatuitat tbo
answered all the good purposes of legislation, tu.,,etd
system of representation possessed the full 10.
tire confidence of the country, and that L' too;
not only not prepared to bring forward all as
sure of Reform, but would resist such as long
Titry,
held any station in the Government of the cone 0
Barely eight months before his acceptance ofdtev',
the Chief of an Administration, his Grace ha siiiriee
in the House of Lords, on being taunted with s4bee°
to Ministerial supremaCy, that he " should ilavef beis
mad to think of it," for that he was " sensible o
unqualified for such a situation." The county Or
seen him, nevertheless, within a y
.131
ear afterw_ra':'i'stri'
stalled in Downing-street at the head of a 'llll eltd
They doubted for a while the correctness of thetpr
own judgment as to his capabilities as an admini.,, e
s'efolli
the
After his solemn and explicit declaration against 3`,,
in the House of Lords, in the November of 1830'„ie
could no longer hesitate in acknowledging the enftif:ool
tice of his own sentence of self-depreciation. -1',7,011t•
words were the unconscious knell of his Goverli.d" bW
The Duke's Cabinet was at once broken up, an Delp
Ministerial career may be said to have then definp
terminated.
HIS AFTER LIFE UNTIL DISSOLUTION. joy%l
Virtually, the Duke of Wellington's 0111
career terminated, we repeat, with that sudden srthotit
tidal breaking up of his Administration. itco,bii`e
actually, he took part in thd Councils of thew tit%
formed in 1841, though without holding at hiobt
what the French call a "portfolio." Besides w" 001
must ever be remembered as perhaps the most 00.10iiisi
incident recounted in the history of British C 101;
tions, that in 1834, shortly after his election a'flobe
cellor of the University of Oxford, and when Sir s bore
Peel, on the resignation of the Whigs!• wt3he
riedly sent for by the King to Rome—pending to Pl'
occupied in the return of that great statesman 0
_ est e
land—the Duke of Wellington, at the elis es
the
treaty of his Majesty, actually took upon kt of ,e
shoulders for the time being no less than eig';he tint
principal offices of the Government, including.;slolB
Chief Secretaryships ! Moreover, upon the arrihoge ect
Robert from Italy, the Duke continued to diestrictet,
duties of Foreign Minister, but only during the rtteted
period which marked that short-lived and
bee'
ministration.
toinil3eAr re-
What the existence of our illustrious Captain e•cli
since then, we all of us surely well rememberwe
member him in every phase of that honoured ~.,.'1 ireo,e
is now associated so intimately with the poPnwfr of
In
tion. We remember him in every public tokels Olio
methodical and well-ordered routine which "th
°---ITdid
tamed uninterruptedly to the day of his de3nri St fl'of
the lamented 14th of September, 1852—by the bon the
of disciplinarians. We remember him in 11;9 ce in "0-
toil or of amusement—regular in his attenuali his fot
House of Lords, in his box at the Opera, and, II:be l* to
cial calls at the Horse Guards. It was ii°l:„ etiitie°o,
surprising testimony of the vigour of all his la oderio
the last, that he continued to preside as C°ll3l,t deelais.
Chief over the armies of Great Britain from reestro
of Lord Hill, in 1843, up to the moment of his co
solution. ioorsety
Admired and revered by the people, his
among them, of late years especially, was Ta Arei
signal for some token of their admiration.
not behold without those loftier emotions Loice
always excited more or less by the renterTtbat
great historical events, the venerable form tier elf
who had long survived almost the last of his ear soeviog
temporaries—the man whom Bulwer Lytton c`'
and so finely apostrophized in his noble 000 °f
Arthur :"

Lo, he whose fame outshines the Fabulous •10 ,
Sublime with eagle front, and that grey I'd br°°'
Which Age, the arch-priest, sets on laurel!, toig
Lo, Geraint, bending with a world's renown hero
Every characteristic anecdote of the del)
rtea
i- „die,
ecix
caught up, moreover, with an avidity sufficien
appt
tive of the depth and sincerity of the poPula're foret to
tion. Bygone prejudices and heartburnings %ire hef9. hig
in the presence of his grave, and we all close ere so
think of him as he appeared towards the, id figu,Aftea
prolonged and illustrious career—the grand °l
inimitably described in the "New Timon ,i'ittotea
and comprehensive genius already just no° low
" Next, with loose rein and careless canter
Our man of men, the Prince of Waterloo;
O'er the firm brow the hat as firmly Prest'
The firm shape rigid in the button'd ves +
Within—the iron which the fire has lsall?
And the close Sparta of a mind unntowe' ' lot,
" Not his the wealth to some large natures
Divinely lavish, even where misspent,
That liberal sunshine of exuberant son], a hole;
Thought, sense, affection, warming up th
The heat and affluence of a genial power,
Rank in the weed as vivid in the flowery it.
Hush'd at command his veriest passions hi't
Drill'd is each virtue, disciplined each fall'
1, glow*
Warm, if his blood—he reasons while -`"ew`s ;
Admits the pleasure—ne'er the folly knows'
Vulcan for our Mars a snare had set, t
He had won the Venus, but escaped. thf':seight,
His eye ne'er wrong, if circumscribed. tp
Widen the prospect and it ne'er is right,
Seen through the telescope of habit still, 5 drill !
States seems a camp, and all the world is
" Yet oh, how few his faults, how falreVllll
Beside his fellow-conquerors of mankind' ;
How knightly seems the iron image, 8.!" throP
By Marlborough's tomb, or lost Nap
pear__
there ;
Cold if his lips, no smile of fraud theyyen
Stern if his heart, still "
man"
is
grtanvess macle
No guile—no crime his step to betraY'd
No freedom trampled, and no trus
roseose,
The eternal `l' was not his law—he
Without one art that honour might oPP
And leaves a human, if a hero's name,
on sjl
To curb ambition while it lights to t 'no• ,p
lids vier
ig
hands, been offered to our hero's monnan. gr
Noble and touching tributes have
d reW—, by 5-
lifetime the most abundant honours alreaoYd rivg P
rscountry aritt
grateful have give: lis
iii
showered upon him by a
t ether bY
astonishing catalogue of his
og
ter
miring contemporaries. Elsewhere we with tlite
of some few among the
t cannot but.ed has::
nation or by individuals. Here
as
well as f
esting to remark how splendid
gifts arrded to kilnbe in
the deato
ranks
Lady " wh
been the panegyrics pronounced ?vseref
the or
_.,raausu the
remarkable personage by all
up even to the august " of the land
last and most beloved of his Sovereigns.

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