"All the world's a stage,And men and women are the players!"
"All the world's a stage,And men and women are the players!"
[31]A tyrant drops his head upon the scaffold, and they weep!—an innocent queen is poisoned, and they "show no sign of sorrow!"—a cruel, cowardly yeomanry, and a brutal, sanguinary soldiery, massacre an unarmed populace, and thanks and a subscription acknowledge and reward their heroism!—herea people are stripped of their rights and privileges, and content themselves with complaining!—therea country is everwhelmed in penury and wretchedness, and finds a cure for all its distresses in the casual visit of its despotic ruler, and his unmeaning and stupid speeches!
The despicable figure which the king made at this period, and the fulsome flatteries bestowed upon him by the Irish people, did not escape the keen penetration of the illustrious and patriotic Lord Byron. We had the pleasure of his lordship's acquaintance for some years before his lamented death; and he was in the habit of sending us many brilliant effusions of his muse, which he probably never intended for publication. But the following verses, on the subject of which we have just been speaking, possess so much poetical beauty and justness of expression, that we cannot refrain from gratifying our readers by inserting them in this place.
THE IRISH AVATER[31:A].
Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave,And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide;Lo! George the triumphant speeds over the waveTo the long-cherish'd isle, which he lov'd like his—bride.[32]True, the great of her bright and brief era are gone,—The rainbow-like epoch, where freedom would pauseFor the few little years out of centuries won,Which betray'd not, or crush'd not, or wept not her cause.True, the chains of the Catholic clank o'er his rags;The castle still stands, and the senate's no more;And the famine, which dwelt on her freedomless crags,Is extending its steps to her desolate shore.To her desolate shore,—where the emigrant standsFor a moment to gaze, ere he flies from his hearth;Tears fall on his chain, though it drops from his hands,For the dungeon he quits is—the place of his birth!But he comes! the Messiah of royalty comes!Like a goodly leviathan roll'd from his waves;Then receive him, as best such an advent becomes,With a legion of cooks and an army of slaves!He comes, in the promise and bloom of three-score,To perform in the pageant the sovereign's part;And long live the shamrock which shadows him o'er,—Could the green on hishatbe transferred to hisheart.Could that long-withered spot but be verdant again,And a new spring of noble affections arise,Then might freedom forgive thee this dance in thy chain,And the shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies.Is it madness or meanness which clings to thee now?Were he God,—as he is but the commonest clay,With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow,—Such servile devotion might shame him away.Age roar in his train, let thine orators lashTheir fanciful spirits to pamper his pride;Not thus did thyGrattanindignantly flashHis soul o'er the freedom improved and denied.Ever glorious Grattan! the best of the good!So simple in heart, so sublime in the rest,With all that Demosthenes wanted endued,And his rival, or victor, in all he possess'd.[33]WhenTullyarose, in the zenith of Rome,Tho' unequalled preceded, the task was begun;ButGrattansprung up like a god from the tomb!Of ages, the first, last, the saviour, the one.With the skill of an Orpheus to soften the brute,With the fire of Prometheus to kindle mankind,Even Tyranny, listening, sat melted, or mute,And Corruption shrunk, scorch'd, from the glance of his mind.But back to my theme; back to despots and slaves!Feasts furnished by Famine, rejoicings by Pain;True Freedom but welcomes, while Slavery still raves,When a week's Saternalia has loosened her chain.Let the poor squalid splendour thy wreck can afford(As the bankrupt's profusion his ruin would hide)Gild over the palace. Lo, Erin, thy lord!Kiss his foot with thy blessing for blessings denied.Or if freedom, past hope, be extorted at last;If the idol of brass find his feet are of clay;Must what terror, or policy, wring forth be class'dWith what monarchs ne'er give but as wolves yield their prey?Each brute hath its nature,—a king's is to reign;To reign!—in that word see, ye ages, comprisedThe cause of the curses all annals contain,From Cæsar the dreaded to George the despised!Wear, Fingal, thy trappings! O'Connell proclaimHis accomplishments!—His!!!—and thy country convinceHalf an age's contempt was an error of fame,And that "Hal is the rascaliest, sweetest young prince!"Will thy yard of blue ribbon, poor Fingal, recallThe fetters from millions of Catholic limbs?Or will it not bind thee the fastest of allThe slaves, who now hail their betrayer with hymns?Aye, build him a dwelling; let each give his mite,Till, like Babel, the new royal dome has arisen;Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite,And a palace bestow for a poor-house and prison.[34]Spread, spread for Vitellius the royal repast,Till the gluttonous despot is stuff'd to the gorge,And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at lastTheFOURTHof the fools and oppressors,—calledGeorge!Let the tables be loaded with feasts till they groan,—Till they groan like thy people through ages of woe;Let the wine flow around the old Bachanal's throne,Like the blood which has flow'd, and which yet has to flow.But let not his name be thine idol alone;On his right hand, behold aSejanusappears!Thine ownCastlereagh!—let him still be thine own!A wretch never nam'd but with curses and jeers!Till now, when the isle, which should blush at his birth,Deep, deep as the gore which he shed on her soil,Seems proud of the reptile which crawl'd from her earth,And formurderrepays him withshouts and a smile!Without one single ray of her genius, withoutThe fancy, the manhood, the fire of her race,The miscreant, who well might plunge Erin in doubtIf she ever gave birth to a being so base.If she did, let her long-boasted proverb be hush'd,Which proclaims that from Erin no reptile can spring;See, the cold-blooded serpent, with venom full flush'd,Still warming its folds in the breast of a king!Shout, drink, feast, and flatter! Oh, Erin, how lowWert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny, tillThy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee belowThe depth of thy deep to a deeper gulph still.My voice, though but humble, was rais'd for thy right;My vote, as a freeman's, still voted thee free;This hand, tho' but feeble, would arm in thy fight,And this heart, tho' outworn, had a throb still for thee!Yes, I love thee and thine, tho' thou art not my land;I have known noble hearts and great souls in thy sons,And I wept with the world o'er the patriot bandWho are gone,—but I weep them no longer as once.[35]For happy are they now reposing afar,ThyGrattan, thyCurran, thySheridan,—allWho for years were the chiefs in the eloquent war,And redeem'd, if they have not retarded, thy fall.Yes, happy are they in their cold English graves;Their shades cannot start to thy shouts of to-day,Nor the steps of enslavers and chain-kissing slavesBe stamp'd in the turf o'er their fetterless clay.Till now I had envied thy sons and thy shore;Tho' their virtues were hunted, their liberties fled,There was something so warm and sublime in the coreOf an Irishman's heart, that I envy their dead!Or if aught in my bosom can quench for an hourMy contempt for a nation soservile, tho' sore,Which, tho' trod like the worm, will not turn upon power,'Tis theglory of Grattan, thegenius of Moore!
Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave,And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide;Lo! George the triumphant speeds over the waveTo the long-cherish'd isle, which he lov'd like his—bride.
[32]True, the great of her bright and brief era are gone,—The rainbow-like epoch, where freedom would pauseFor the few little years out of centuries won,Which betray'd not, or crush'd not, or wept not her cause.
True, the chains of the Catholic clank o'er his rags;The castle still stands, and the senate's no more;And the famine, which dwelt on her freedomless crags,Is extending its steps to her desolate shore.
To her desolate shore,—where the emigrant standsFor a moment to gaze, ere he flies from his hearth;Tears fall on his chain, though it drops from his hands,For the dungeon he quits is—the place of his birth!
But he comes! the Messiah of royalty comes!Like a goodly leviathan roll'd from his waves;Then receive him, as best such an advent becomes,With a legion of cooks and an army of slaves!
He comes, in the promise and bloom of three-score,To perform in the pageant the sovereign's part;And long live the shamrock which shadows him o'er,—Could the green on hishatbe transferred to hisheart.
Could that long-withered spot but be verdant again,And a new spring of noble affections arise,Then might freedom forgive thee this dance in thy chain,And the shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies.
Is it madness or meanness which clings to thee now?Were he God,—as he is but the commonest clay,With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow,—Such servile devotion might shame him away.
Age roar in his train, let thine orators lashTheir fanciful spirits to pamper his pride;Not thus did thyGrattanindignantly flashHis soul o'er the freedom improved and denied.
Ever glorious Grattan! the best of the good!So simple in heart, so sublime in the rest,With all that Demosthenes wanted endued,And his rival, or victor, in all he possess'd.
[33]WhenTullyarose, in the zenith of Rome,Tho' unequalled preceded, the task was begun;ButGrattansprung up like a god from the tomb!Of ages, the first, last, the saviour, the one.
With the skill of an Orpheus to soften the brute,With the fire of Prometheus to kindle mankind,Even Tyranny, listening, sat melted, or mute,And Corruption shrunk, scorch'd, from the glance of his mind.
But back to my theme; back to despots and slaves!Feasts furnished by Famine, rejoicings by Pain;True Freedom but welcomes, while Slavery still raves,When a week's Saternalia has loosened her chain.
Let the poor squalid splendour thy wreck can afford(As the bankrupt's profusion his ruin would hide)Gild over the palace. Lo, Erin, thy lord!Kiss his foot with thy blessing for blessings denied.
Or if freedom, past hope, be extorted at last;If the idol of brass find his feet are of clay;Must what terror, or policy, wring forth be class'dWith what monarchs ne'er give but as wolves yield their prey?
Each brute hath its nature,—a king's is to reign;To reign!—in that word see, ye ages, comprisedThe cause of the curses all annals contain,From Cæsar the dreaded to George the despised!
Wear, Fingal, thy trappings! O'Connell proclaimHis accomplishments!—His!!!—and thy country convinceHalf an age's contempt was an error of fame,And that "Hal is the rascaliest, sweetest young prince!"
Will thy yard of blue ribbon, poor Fingal, recallThe fetters from millions of Catholic limbs?Or will it not bind thee the fastest of allThe slaves, who now hail their betrayer with hymns?
Aye, build him a dwelling; let each give his mite,Till, like Babel, the new royal dome has arisen;Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite,And a palace bestow for a poor-house and prison.
[34]Spread, spread for Vitellius the royal repast,Till the gluttonous despot is stuff'd to the gorge,And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at lastTheFOURTHof the fools and oppressors,—calledGeorge!
Let the tables be loaded with feasts till they groan,—Till they groan like thy people through ages of woe;Let the wine flow around the old Bachanal's throne,Like the blood which has flow'd, and which yet has to flow.
But let not his name be thine idol alone;On his right hand, behold aSejanusappears!Thine ownCastlereagh!—let him still be thine own!A wretch never nam'd but with curses and jeers!
Till now, when the isle, which should blush at his birth,Deep, deep as the gore which he shed on her soil,Seems proud of the reptile which crawl'd from her earth,And formurderrepays him withshouts and a smile!
Without one single ray of her genius, withoutThe fancy, the manhood, the fire of her race,The miscreant, who well might plunge Erin in doubtIf she ever gave birth to a being so base.
If she did, let her long-boasted proverb be hush'd,Which proclaims that from Erin no reptile can spring;See, the cold-blooded serpent, with venom full flush'd,Still warming its folds in the breast of a king!
Shout, drink, feast, and flatter! Oh, Erin, how lowWert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny, tillThy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee belowThe depth of thy deep to a deeper gulph still.
My voice, though but humble, was rais'd for thy right;My vote, as a freeman's, still voted thee free;This hand, tho' but feeble, would arm in thy fight,And this heart, tho' outworn, had a throb still for thee!
Yes, I love thee and thine, tho' thou art not my land;I have known noble hearts and great souls in thy sons,And I wept with the world o'er the patriot bandWho are gone,—but I weep them no longer as once.
[35]For happy are they now reposing afar,ThyGrattan, thyCurran, thySheridan,—allWho for years were the chiefs in the eloquent war,And redeem'd, if they have not retarded, thy fall.
Yes, happy are they in their cold English graves;Their shades cannot start to thy shouts of to-day,Nor the steps of enslavers and chain-kissing slavesBe stamp'd in the turf o'er their fetterless clay.
Till now I had envied thy sons and thy shore;Tho' their virtues were hunted, their liberties fled,There was something so warm and sublime in the coreOf an Irishman's heart, that I envy their dead!
Or if aught in my bosom can quench for an hourMy contempt for a nation soservile, tho' sore,Which, tho' trod like the worm, will not turn upon power,'Tis theglory of Grattan, thegenius of Moore!
Speedily after the queen's death, Lord Sidmouth retired from office, and was succeeded by Mr. Robert Peel. Several other changes also took place in the ministry.
There was onlyoneoccurrence that could have been more gratifying to the people of England than the secession of Lord Sidmouth from office, and that was—his being rendered amenable to the laws for his share in the frequent outrages of the constitution, and his almost numberless violations of the liberties of the subject. We had hoped that he would have remained in office until he had received hisFULL REWARD, in the return of the days of ministerial responsibility, in spite of bills of indemnity and venal majorities. But, for the honour of justice, we hope yet to see the day when he shall be subject to an[36]honest tribunal for his political misdeeds. His name will ever awaken the liveliest indignation in the bosoms of Englishmen; not, indeed, that histalentsmade him formidable against the liberties of his country, but because he so readily lent himself to the dangerous views of hissuperiors. Personally, he was of no importance. The son of a provincial medicine-vender, he had neither rank nor birth to command respect. The tool of Mr. Pitt in early life, Mr. Addington had cunning enough to stipulate for a peerage just at the time he was found unfit for a minister. The failure of his attempt to abridge the liberties of the dissenters covered him with disgrace. Such a design should have been entrusted to abler hands; but it was not his lordship's fault that the dissenters escaped religious persecution. His next exploit, however, proved more successful; he declared eternal hatred of reform and reformers in 1816. The seizure, the imprisonments, the tortures, and the outrages, occasioned by the employment of hismoral friendOliver have, in the language of Pope, occasioned him to be
"Damned to everlasting fame!"
"Damned to everlasting fame!"
The liberation of his victims, after long confinements, ruined in circumstances, wounded in mind, and some of them destined to premature death, through their unwholesome confinement, complete the picture of this nobleman'sLEGISLATION! To prevent an investigation into such cruel acts, a bill of indemnity screened his lordship, his agents, and[37]minions, from the tribunals of that day; but ifearthlyjustice should never be vindicated, there is a tribunal before which he must one day meet his victims! The part which Lord Sidmouth had in thereward of the Manchester massacreis well known, and will not be likely to add to the quiet of his repose. This lamentable portion of his history involves the double charge of misadvising his prince, and patronising a violation of the laws, in the most wanton and cruel manner! No man, indeed, has been more instrumental in the ruin of his country, and he may probably live to reap some of the bitter fruits himself!
During this year, theaffableking made his pompous entrance into Hanover, where he threw gold and silver amongst the crowd, with as much confidence as if it had been his own!! If he had allowed some of this said "gold and silver" to have remained in the pockets of its real owners, it would have redounded much more to his credit.
In one single week this year, eleven persons were hung for forging Bank of England notes. Such a sanguinary penal code of laws as our's would really disgrace a nation of savages! Even our common laws, which ought to be intelligible to the meanest understanding, are an unfathomable abyss, and frequently exceed the utmost penetration of even the "gentlemen of the long robe." Indeed, our laws appear designed to perplex rather than to elucidate, to breed contentions rather than to prevent them. The principalMERITof the English jurisprudence seems[38]to consist in itsintricacy, and the learned professors of it may almost be saidto live upon the vitals of their clients. It not unfrequently happens that, for trivial omissions upon some useless observance of forms, the victim is incarcerated in a prison, and, after enduring all the horrors of these dens of thieves, expires in want, disease, and apparent infamy!
The year
was one of great interest and importance, both abroad and at home; but to the latter we shall chiefly confine ourselves.
On the 18th of January, a cabinet council was held, at which Lord Sidmouth was present, notwithstanding his previous resignation of the seals of office. From this, it is evident that, though out ofOFFICEin reality, thisnoblelord was in placespecially.
Ireland, at this time, presented a sad appearance; outrages of every kind were of daily occurrence, and famine, with its appalling front, stared the lower classes in the face. Much blood was shed, and yet no efficient means were taken to subdue the cause of these fatal insurrections. The King of England, though he had professed so muchlovefor his dear Irish subjects in his lateeloquentspeech, screened himself, under his assumed popularity, from blame on such serious charges, while his incompetent and mean advisers, believing their persons safe under the[39]protection of theirPUISSANT PRINCE, gave themselves no trouble about soinsignificanta matter. Disgrace and infamy, however, will ever be attached to their names for so flagrant a dereliction of duty to the Irish people!
In April, Thomas Denman, esq., the late queen's solicitor-general, was elected to serve the office of common-sergeant for the city of London; and, on the 27th of May, he commenced his career with trying the unnamed servant of a bookseller for selling an irreligious and seditious book. Mr. Denman sentenced him to eighteen months' imprisonment in the House of Correction and, at the end of that time, to find sureties for five years, himself in one hundred pounds, and two others in forty pounds each!
In narrating this circumstance, we cannot forbear expressing our detestation of all prosecutions in matters ofRELIGION. They neither redound to the honour of Christianity, nor effect the slightest benefit to morality. Every one has an undoubted right to entertain what religious opinions may best accord with the dictates of that all-powerful monitor—Conscience; and all endeavours toforcedifferent opinions are only so many attempts to make menhypocrites. "But," say our religious prosecutors, "the Bible must not be attacked, or the true religion will fall into contempt." As an answer to this argument, we say, that if the said true religion will not bear the test of examination and argument, the sooner it falls into contempt the better! The glorious truths of the New Testament, however, are sufficiently[40]manifest, and do not require the puny and adventitious advocacy of Cant. The strong arm of the law is not requisite to uphold Christianity, for it possesses within its own pure doctrines sufficient to recommend it to the admiration and gratitude of mankind. When these doctrines are attacked, let Christians endeavour, by fair and mild reasoning, to support their beneficence and purity, and they will be sure to make converts. But, if they once attempt toFORCE CONVICTION, their defeat is inevitable! It is, therefore, contrary to common sense, as well as being unjust and deplorable, that a man should be punished for disbelieving any particular sentiment. What proof did Mr. Denman[40:A]give of[41]the mild and forgiving doctrines of Christianity in his severe sentence against this man? Was it from[42]motives of Christian charity that he traduced him before a public tribunal? Were the proceedings of the court at all calculated to impress the man's mind with the true spirit of Christianity? The contrary might well be said. For neither was the accusation distinguished by that moderation which ought to be observed even against the worst of criminals, nor was it very humane to imprison him eighteen months, and afterwards keep the arm of justice suspended by binding him in sureties for five years not to so offend again. It will be but fair to ask, whether, if thereligiouswelfare of this man had been deemed by his prosecutors worthy of the slightest consideration, they would not have proceeded directly contrary to what they did? But, as Dr. Watts has justly observed, when speaking of religious prosecutors, "They are too apt to denounce damnation upon their neighbours without either justice or mercy; and, while pronouncing sentences of divine wrath against supposed heretics, theyadd their own[43]human fire and indignation!" Such prosecutions, therefore, only tend to excite the contempt of those very persons who are expected to be made better by them. With respect to the other count of the foregoing indictment, "that the publication was calculated to bring the king and his ministers into contempt," we think such an attempt of the publisher was totally unnecessary; for both the king and his ministers were then in the full zenith of theirfame, and had the sincere prayers of the greater part of the community for their speedy deliverance from—this world!
In the early part of this month, an elegant service of plate was presented to Alderman Wood, as an acknowledgement for hisdisinterestedservices in the cause of the late queen; while, strange to say, the large service of plate subscribed for the queen by the country, at only one shilling each, never reached its destination! The funds for this purpose were entrusted to the care of Messrs. Wood, Hume, and others; the amount collected was more than three thousand pounds during the first few months of the subscription, which regularly increased till the queen's death. The cause of the opening of this subscription was owing to the fact of her majesty being refused all suitable conveniences for the dinner table, as she could only have a dinner served upon blue-and-white earthenware! To this fact, the noblemen and gentlemen who dined at her majesty's table can fully attest. We are inclined to think, however, that the alderman's services to the queen[44]have been a little overrated. That Mr. Wood was her majesty's best and most disinterested friend, thousands were led to believe; but that he was not so, we shall endeavour toPROVE.
When a subscription was proposed for a service of plate for her majesty, a Scotch lady forwarded one hundred guineas towards it. Alderman Wood had the chief management of this subscription, as of almost every thing else that related to the queen. The alderman employed one Pearson to collect the money. This Pearson was the fellow that cut such a figure in the Manchester massacre; and, therefore, he was thought, we suppose, avery capable personfor such an undertaking. After collecting a considerable sum of money, Pearson was about taking his leave of this country for America; but, intimation having been given of his perfidy, he was stopped.
Alderman Wood said his friends also wishedhimto have a service of plate, but his subscription was to be raised byhalf-crowns; indeed it was expected that four or eight friends would join, and not present the alderman with less than aGOLDEN PIECE. Unfortunately, the poor queen died before the money the people intended to raise for her plate was completed. At first, her friends wished to have a monument erected to her memory in Hammersmith; but no ground could be obtained for this purpose, and it was feared that her enemies would treat any pillar to her honor with the same indignity that they had treated herself. Alms-houses were then proposed to be built, butNOTHING HAS YET BEEN[45]DONE WITH THE MONEY, (amounting to about three thousand pounds) either principal or interest. Mr. Wood has been frequently applied to, through the public papers, concerning this money, but no answer has ever been given. The alderman managed the subscription for his own plate much better; for he took good care to receive it as soon as possible! The alderman is known now to be veryrichfrom his Cornwall mines; he has, besides, two distant relations in Gloucester, brothers, worth a million between them, which he may probably share, they having no relations. When, however, he went for the queen, his mines were unprofitable, and himself embarrassed. Be that as it may, the queen certainly, by his urgent entreaties, employedhiscoach-maker in South Audley-street, and most ofhisother tradespeople.
The ill-natured world will talk; and some people went so far as to accuse thedisinterestedandpatrioticalderman with sinister motives in these recommendations, and that he had actually "a feeling in every thing that came into her majesty's house!" Whether or not this was the case, the alderman most assuredly spoke to the queen, very animatedly, to purchase Cambridge House, opposite to his own, in South Audley-street, though her majesty said she would never sleep in it, nor did she. The enormous sum which Mr. Wood persuaded the queen to give for this house was sixteen thousand pounds! but, notwithstanding her majesty made several improvements in it, it only sold at the queen's[46]death for six thousand pounds!! This fact will speak volumes. Are no interested motives to be traced here?
We do not wish to deprive Alderman Wood of any merit that may justly be his due; but, though he accompanied her majesty to England, he certainly did not persuade her to come over, as some people have imagined. He, nor any one else, had any hand in that; it was the spontaneous determination of the queen herself! That the aldermanREFUSEDthe house, 22, Portman-street, which was offered for the queen's accommodation till a better could be provided cannot be denied; he preferred receiving her majesty into his own house. It is also well known that the alderman, by his officious and ungentlemanly, nay, we may say,IMPUDENTconduct, lost her majesty many friends in the higher circles, who would not act withhim. Nor can this be wondered at when his vulgar manners to his superiors are taken into consideration. That we may not be supposed to assert this without reason, we will here relate a few instances, which came immediately under our own observation.
The queen gave a dinner to the Duke of Bedford, Earl Grey, Lord Tankerville, and other noblemen and gentlemen. His grace of Bedford handed her majesty down the room, and sat on her right, and Earl Grey on her left. Instead of the vice-chamberlain (according to etiquette) sitting at the top of the table to carve, Mr. Wood seated himselfthere, above every one, and,grinning, ordered her[47]vice-chamberlain to go to the other end opposite him, thus publicly proclaiming his ignorance and impudence! Earl Grey is reckoned the proudest man in England, and it was said, he observed, "It is the first, and shall be the last, time that the alderman shall sit above me."
When the queen came from Dover to town, accompanied by this alderman and Lady Anne Hamilton, he presumptuously seated himself by her majesty's side, thus forcing her lady to take the seat opposite, with her back to the horses! We need hardly offer a remark upon so great a breach of good manners; for any individual, possessing the spirit of an Englishman, would always give precedence to a lady.
When her majesty went to St. Paul's cathedral, Mr. Wood placed himself at the coach door to attend her out, and kept laughing and talking to her till they arrived near the statue of Queen Elizabeth, where the lord mayor and his retinue met her, after coming from the church for that purpose; but when his lordship (Thorpe, naturally a modest man) perceived that the queen was so engaged that she never lifted up her eyes, he and his procession were turning back in confusion to re-enter the church, when one of the queen's followers caught firmly hold of the officious alderman's gown, stopped them, and said, "Mr. Wood, Mr. Wood, don't you see the lord mayor come to hand the queen?—you would not affront the city so as not to let him?" Sir Robert Wilson, who was near, said, "Do run and call[48]the lord mayor back, thousands of eyes are upon us!" His lordship turned round, and the procession proceeded into the church, as it ought to have done from the carriage door; but Mr. Wood was exceedingly angry, and would follow next to her majesty, though repeatedly told that it was Lady Anne Hamilton's place, as her majesty's lady in waiting.
At the city concert, also, Alderman Wood displayed his indecorous conduct. The orchestra was elevated about a foot, and at the right of the orchestra two chairs were placed, one for the queen, and the other for her lady in waiting, who sat next the people. Alderman Wood stood behind her majesty the whole time, laughing and whispering, in the most intimate style, in her ear; and though her lady kept her face towards them, wishing it to appearto the publicthat at least she had asharein the conversation, alas! too many saw she was never spoken to by either!
From such impudent and vulgar conduct as this, we heard a certain royal duke observe, "I wish to serve the queen, but I will not be Mr. Wood's cat's-paw, nor play second fiddle to him!" Similar observations were made by noblemen of the very first rank in this country. It may be asked, "Why did the queen allow herself to be guided so much by this alderman?" Because her majesty thought himhonest, and was not aware that he kept any other persons away. "Could no one tell her majesty the real state of things?" No! for Mr. Wood actually set her against every one, except himself and his[49]own creatures, in order to preserve entire influence over her majesty. Indeed, her legal advisers could hardly speak to the queen, without this very officious gentleman being present. He began by prejudicing her majesty against them all; for he said, "No lawyers are good for any thing; I esteemmyselfabove them all."We ourselves heard him say so.When he had thus persuaded her majesty of his own superiority, and introduced himself into all the consultations of her law advisers, (unless they demanded aprivateaudience) he began to attack theWhigs, and amused himself by constantly abusing them. He has frequently been heard to say, "The Whigs are worse enemies of your majesty than the ministers; they would sacrifice you if they could." But, for himself, he led her to believe that he could do any thing with the people! In the city, he conceitedly told her majesty, at the head of her own table, (where heusually sat, till Lord Hood took his place) in November, when his friend Thorp was elected mayor, that "they wanted to elect me mayor a third time, but I would not accept the office;" while, at this very election, there was butONE SINGLE VOTEfor him, and that was the new lord mayor's, who could not vote for himself!
It is very lamentable to consider that her majesty was so much guided by this one man in most of her actions, even to the fatal day of the coronation, upon which occasion, however, he took particular care not to attend her. There is every reason to believe, notwithstanding, that her going at all was owing to[50]hissecretadvice, though he pretended to the contrary. Those who heard him at theking's dinnerwere disgusted at his being theloudestto applaud his majesty! Most certainly, the coronation day did not end to her majesty as she had been led to expect; and she discovered, or fancied so, that she had no friend or adviser in England on whom she could rely; and, therefore, determined to visit Scotland. It was remarked to the queen, by atruefriend, who sought only her honour and happiness, that Scotland was a proud nation, and that it would not be there thought that Alderman Wood was of sufficient rank to attend her majesty. The queen quickly andindignantlyreplied, "Alderman Wood! I should never think of takinghim! No, no; I shall only take Lord and Lady Hood, and Lady Hamilton!" All the world knows her majesty never named the alderman in her will; but all the world does not know that, a short time before her death, she said, "I owe Wood nothing!"
The alderman also seized every opportunity he could to persuade the queen to goabroad again. On one of these occasions, a friend of her majesty overheard the hypocritical adviser, and immediately said, "How can you, Mr. Wood, pretend to be her majesty's best friend, and yet want her to do that which would ruin her in the eyes of the whole country?" "I do notwanther to go," replied he, "but if shewillgo, I wish to point out to her the best way of doing it." "Sir, there isno good wayfor the queen to quit the country, and if you should[51]unfortunately succeed in persuading her to do it, you will be her ruin!"
Thus it will be seen, that "all is not gold that glitters;" but Mr. Wood ought hardly to find fault with us for stripping him of his borrowed plumes, considering the length of time he has been allowed to wear them! If the public had known these particulars at the time they occurred, it is doubtful whether the alderman would have ever receivedhis plate; therefore, he owes us a little gratitude for not mentioning them before that (to him)goldenopportunity!
Alderman Wood, however, we are sorry to say, was not the only false friend her majesty had to lament. Many others "held with the hare in one house, and ran with the hounds in another." Some of these even attended public meetings in the quality of friends, and then wrote as enemies in the public journals. Some inveighed against her in public, and wrote, spoke, and acted for her cause in private. One of her judges, to our positive knowledge, spoke admirably for her in parliament, and yet privately, in more places than one, impugned the character of her majesty! Even while the queen was abroad, herpresumedfriends were extremely negligent at home. They permitted insidious paragraphs to appear in the newspapers, day after day, month after month, and year after year, without either contradiction or explanation; by which shameful neglect, the public mind became so impregnated with falsehood and insinuation, that, had[52]not the queen returned to this country as she did, her name would have been recorded in history as infamous! Sure never woman was so shamefully treated, both by friends and foes; indeed, her majesty might well have exclaimed, with Gay,
"An open foe may prove a curse,But apretendedfriend is worse!"
"An open foe may prove a curse,But apretendedfriend is worse!"
On the 12th of August, while his majesty was absent on a visit to Scotland, an extraordinary excitement prevailed by the reported "sudden death" of the Marquis of Londonderry. It is hardly necessary to enter into the various causes assigned for so unexpected an event; it is sufficient to know, that his lordship committed suicide, by cutting his throat with a small knife, at his seat, Foot's Cray, and that a coroner's inquest (either from conviction, or in kindness to his surviving friends) returned a verdict, that his lordship inflicted the wound while "delirious and of insane mind."
It is an obligation imposed upon every independent historian to lend his assistance to a just and honest estimate of the character of public men. It leads to useful, though not always to gratifying, reflections, to examine the causes which pointed them out as objects worthy of being entrusted with political command. By what strange union of circumstances, then, or by what unlucky direction of power, did the Marquis of Londonderry attain to the high and important offices which he successively[53]held for so long a period?—a period the most momentous and ominous, the most fertile in change, the most wicked in court intrigue, and the most fraught with terror, of any in our annals! We have heard his lordship described as having been amiable in private life; but who has denied the manifest mediocrity of his genius for the situations he was allowed to fill? Some of his public proceedings, however, prove him not to have possessed much of "the milk of human kindness," as we shall presently shew. He was, indeed, only qualified to act as a mere associate, to be put forward in the face of Europe, not as himself a high and original power, but as a passive organ for the expression of sentiments, or for the execution of measures, hereafter traceable only as the opinions and actions of the "united cabinet" of a wicked chief magistrate. The panegyrists of his lordship have also trumpetted forth eulogiums on his "personal bravery." And if bravery consists in fighting duels, proposing the most unconstitutional acts, fearlessly oppressing the innocent, and in defying the power of a justly-enraged people, Lord Londonderry assuredly possessed "personal bravery" in an eminent degree!
His lordship was born on the 18th of June, 1769, and consequently died in the 53rd year of his age. He commenced his career, like his patron, Mr. Pitt, as the advocate of parliamentary reform; and, also like that apostate minister, Lord Londonderry abandoned his early patriotic pledges and principles for the emoluments of office, which he first entered[54]in 1797, as keeper of the privy seal, and, shortly after, one of the lords of the treasury, of Ireland. In the following year, he became secretary to the lord lieutenant. Honours and places were now lavishly heaped upon him. In 1802, his lordship received the appointment of the Board of Controul, and, in 1805, was raised to the high and responsible office of minister of war! On the death of Mr. Pitt in 1806, his lordship was obliged to resign, with all the other "clerks in office," as thedébrisof Mr. Pitt's cabinet were called. On the resignation of the Grey and Grenville administration, in 1807, he resumed his former situation of minister of war, in which he continued till the ill-starred Walcheren expedition and his duel with Mr. Canning drove him from office, scorned and ridiculed by the whole of Europe. The year 1809 gave his lordship an opportunity of shewing how much he admired the existing abuses in church and state; for, on an investigation taking place into the Duke of York's shameful neglect of duty, as commander-in-chief, this year, the noble marquis was peculiarly active in his defence, and circulated a considerable sum of money in bribing those who were likely to appear as witnesses against the royal libertine. On the assassination of Mr. Perceval, in 1811, his lordship was made foreign minister, in which situation he continued till his death. Holding so high an office at a time when our foreign exertions were the most extensive and important, and acting as our negotiator when Europe might have been composed[55]and re-adjusted by our councils, he had opportunities, which few ministers have enjoyed, of benefitting his country and the whole human race. But how did he employ these rare opportunities? Alas! his name is only to be found in treaties and conventions for clipping the boundaries, impairing the rights, or annihilating the existence of independent states; and he gloried in the opportunity of stifling liberty in all the lesser states of Europe. Even the colonial and commercial interests of Great Britain herself were bartered away for snuff boxes and the smiles of Continental despots! If, however, there is one action more than another calculated to brand the name of Castlereagh with immortal infamy, it is the mean, tyrannical, and inglorious conduct which he exercised towards the greatest man that ever reigned over a free and enlightened people—the EmperorNapoleon! To view the career of this truly illustrious man is to look back upon the course of a blazing star, that, drawing its fiery arch over the concave of heaven, fixes the admiring attention of the sublunary world, and dazzles, while it arrests, the wondering eye! What language can do justice to the mental powers and noble daring of the man who subdued the blood-thirsty enemies of his country, and laid Europe at his feet? In Napoleon, we saw the triumphant opposer of all despots, and the restorer of order to his own disorganized and distracted subjects. See him from his bold and judicious exertions at Toulon to his assumption of the imperial title, and the dread-inspiring attitude he[56]presented to terrified and retiring Russia,—then judge his gigantic energy and valour! As first consul, he pacified Europe; and, as emperor and king, revenged her breach of the peace. Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Prussia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Naples, were all in arms against his power; yet—all fell before it!
The termination of the great war in Europe was not the peculiar triumph of that cabinet of which Lord Londonderry was the most prominent tool. The campaigns of 1813 and 1814 were guided by the skill and spirit of Russian and German officers,—aided, to be sure, by British soldiers,—and with the whole civilized world for their allies. The English ministers, or rather, theMONIED INTERESTof England, were bankers to the "Grand Alliance," and furnished the sinews of the war. But, even with such mighty odds against him, the towering and gigantic genius of Napoleon would have defied them all, if English money had notBRIBEDsome of his generals. It was this, and this only, that completed his downfall. To talk of the Duke of Wellington as the conqueror of Napoleon is an insult to the understanding of any intelligent man, and for Lord Castlereagh to have boasted of having subdued him, as his lordship was wont to do, "was pitiful, was wonderous pitiful!" The English cabinet, at this period, was the same "incapable" cabinet. The men were the same satellites to Mr. Pitt, subordinates to Mr. Perceval,—nay, even to Lord Sidmouth, of[57]Manchester notoriety,—whom the independent members of parliament had long known and despised. Circumstances ruled these ministers, whose position was chosen for them, and improved by others. They could not have resisted that universal impulse which they had not created, but which Bonaparte himself had provoked; for he defied the whole "Grand Alliance," and, so far, was the author of his own reverses, which, however, he would not so soon have experienced if Fouché, Duke of Otranto, had not suffered his avarice to get the better of his duty. It was this wicked duke, who, dreading the detection of his treachery, devised a plan for assassinating the Emperor Napoleon on his road to Waterloo. But, though this diabolical intention proved a failure, he succeeded too well in putting his illustrious master in the power of the British government. Not content, however, with betraying his king, Fouché, though he capitulated for Paris, gave up the rest of France to the discretion of her enemies and the tender mercies of the Russian cossacks! This most consummate of traitors likewise exposed those who had assisted him to execute his diabolical plans, and actually signed lists for their proscription! Even the treaty for the capitulation of Paris proved a mere juggle; for none of its provisions were properly adhered to by Lord Castlereagh. The Parisians were here most shamefully deceived. It could never have been contemplated by them, for instance, that the capital was to be rifled of all the monuments of art and antiquity, whereof she had become possessed by[58]right of conquest. A reclamation of the great mortar in St. James' Park, or of the throne of the King of Ceylon, would have just as much appearance of fairness as that of Apollo by the Pope, and Venus by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. What a preposterous affectation of justice did our foreign secretary evince in employingBritishengineers to take down the brazen horses of Alexander the Great, that they might be re-erected in St. Mark's Place at Venice,—a city to which the Austrian emperor has no more equitable a claim than we have to Vienna! Lord Castlereagh's authority for emptying the Louvre was not only an act of unfairness to the French, but one of the greatest impolicy as concerned our own countrymen, since, by so doing, he removed beyond the reach of the great majority of British artists and students the finest models of sculpture and of painting the world has produced. Although England was made to bear the trouble and expense of these removals, the complacent Castlereagh gave all the spoil to foreign potentates, whose smiles and a few trifling presents compensatedhimfor their loss! But what will posterity think of a British minister's violating a treaty for such paltry gratifications?
We come now to speak of the conduct of the departed minister to the betrayed Emperor of the French. Napoleon always declared that he gave himself up to England, in the confidence of promises, sacredly made to him by Lord Castlereagh, that he should be allowed to remain in this country. "My having given myself up to you," were[59]Napoleon's words, "is not so simple a matter as you imagine. Before I went to Elba, Lord Castlereagh offered me an asylum in England, and said that I should be very well treated there, and much better off than at Elba." But how did his lordship fulfil these promises? This will be best explained in the language of Napoleon himself, in a protest which he wrote on board the Bellerophon, August 4th, 1815, of which the following is a translation: