would have gone down to his grave "unwept, unhonoured, and unsung" by the muse of history.

On the 20th of June 1760, the subsequently celebrated Marquess was born, either at Dengan Castle in Meath, or in Grafton Street, Dublin; his biographer does not decide in which. Whatever the evils then, which Ireland has been the innocent or guilty means of inflicting upon the British Empire, let us not forget when reflecting on them, that she has given to that empire the greatest of her modern warriors, and the most brilliant of her eastern statesmen. At Eton, whither our hero was speedily sent, the intellectual energy which he possessed, displayed itself in a passionate love of ancient literature, and a devotion to the Greek, Latin,* and English muse. In 1778 he matriculated in Christ's Church College, Oxford, as a nobleman, and there he remained till the death of his father in 1781, which called him away from his university studies before he had taken his degree. At Oxford he gained the Latin Verse Prize in 1780, by a poem

* At the age of eighteen we find him contributing the following neat and harmonious lines to the " Musæ Etonenses."

on the death of the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook.* The month following his father's death he attained his majority, and voluntarily took upon himself the numerous pecuniary obligations of his deceased father, placing the family estates under the management of his mother. At this period his second brother, William Wellesley Pole, afterwards Lord Maryborough, was eighteen, and Arthur Wellesley, the Duke, but twelve years of age; the care of their education devolved on the Countess, a duty which she discharged with a success unexampled perhaps in history. "This truly venerable matron," says a personal friend of the Marquess, "was permitted by Divine Providence to reap the highest rewards which such rare virtues as adorned her character, can, in this stage of our existence, receive; for her life was extended to an extreme old age; she saw all the glories of Hindustan, of Spain, and of Waterloo."

Lord Mornington, as our hero was now styled, launched at once into the stormy sea of political life, on attaining his majority. The year 1781 when he first took his seat in the Irish House of Peers in College Green, Dublin, was one which witnessed some of the most exciting events either in their commencement, progress, or completion, which modern history unfolds. France was in all the agony of a revolution-birth, groaning in its endeavors to work out the great problem of liberty to all, excited with new views of life, politics, religion and economy, the central object of attention to all the neighboring powers, and of study to all the great minds of Britain and continental Europe. In America a new theory of Government was being worked out, so extraordinary in its nature, so unique in its character, and so simply majestic in its features, that all the world was anxiously awaiting its future development. Nor was it abroad alone that there existed objects of study and matter of reflection for the youthful statesman. In England Parliamentary Reform was the agitating question of that, as it has been since of a much later day-an oppressive debt, a wasting war, intestine tumults, and treasonable agitations were the subjects. of contemplation which the politician had before him,-and then the politicians themselves! Could the noble youth just entering on public life be insensible to the talented patriotism of Pitt, doing battle violently, but wisely, against the profound political wisdom and philosophy of Burke, the practical statesmanship and vehement eloquence of Fox, the brilliancy and vigor of Windsuch ham, Sheridan, North and Erskine? Such were the men, the contest in the sister isle; whilst in Dublin itself, there was a

* "In obitum viri eximü et celeberrimi navigatoris Jacobi Cook."

man standing on the arena of public life, equal to most of these in many respects, superior in some-Henry Grattan-a man "so born, so gifted, that poetry, forensic skill, elegant literature and all the highest attainments of human genius were within his reach ; but he thought the noblest occupation of a man was to make other men happy and free"* and so he gave up his talents and his powers to one object, and that, not his own fame, but the good of his country.

one of

Lord Mornington appears to have entered upon his political life impressed with liberal and enlightened ideas. A zealous student and ardent admirer as he was of antiquity-he was also an admirer, but not a blind, or over-enthusiastic one, of the constitution which had been bequeathed by their forefathers to Englishmen, and to the maintenance of the more excellent features of this constitution he ardently devoted himself, whilst he was by no means blind to those parts of it which required amendment. The removal of the disabilities of the Roman Catholics in Ireland he regarded as a measure of bare justice, not of favor, and did what he could towards its accomplishment; whilst he was the first to exclaim against the want of economy which pervaded every department of the state. The only occasion, however, on which he appears to have signalized himself in the Irish house was on the appearance of the "volunteer" delegates in military uniforms in the House of Commons towards the end of 1783, headed by Mr. Flood. The proceedings of that body he considered unconstitutional, and did not fail loudly to declaim. against them. During the same year, but somewhat previous to the speech to which we have thus incidentally referred, the order of St. Patrick was first instituted by letters patent and Lord Mornington was amongst the first knights then enrolled.

In the following year he left Ireland to enter the English House of Commons where a wider field presented itself for distinguishing himself. He was elected Member for Beeralston, in Devonshire, a nomination borough in the patronage of the Earl of Beverley, which he vacated in 1786, on being appointed one of the Lords of the Treasury in England when he took the ministerial borough of Saltash, in Cornwall. A petition, however, unseated him shortly after, and he was obliged to return to his former position until 1788, when he was elected for the royal borough of Windsor. During this year the important question of the Regency was debated, in which debate Lord Mornington took a prominent part, as well as subsequently when it came to be considered in the Irish House of Lords. On this occasion, as the students of Parliamentary history will remember, the Par

* Rev. Sydney Smith.

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liaments of Great Britain and Ireland were at variance with each other, the former having voted that the Prince Regent should exercise and administer all regal powers, jurisdictions and prerogatives, subject to certain limitations and exceptions specified, whilst the latter gave over all such powers, jurisdictions and prerogatives to him without any exception whatever. Lord Mornington loudly and spiritedly protested against this act of the legislature of Ireland, which, had not the speedy recovery of George III. prevented it, would unquestionably have entailed serious consequences. There can be little doubt, however, that it was one of the proximate causes of the act of Union between the two countries. Lord Mornington's opposition to the wishes of the Irish Parliament was not forgotten by the King on his recovery, and to the personal favor which he thus obtained, something of his subsequent success is to be attributed.

We have seen the future Governor-General of India as yet but in the character of a politician and diplomatist-we have now to view him in the far higher and nobler character of a friend to suffering humanity. The philosopher in his study, the man of generous impulses in the bosom of his family, may imagine that it requires little moral resolution, little generosity of heart, little benevolence in the statesman, to raise his voice against the abuses of the political world or system in which he lives, but in estimating what the merit or demerit of the statesman's actions is, we must take into account also the trammels of party, the influence of his colleagues, the position in which he stands. The statesman is not an isolated individual who can judge and act according to the dictates of his own heart or intellect, irrespective of every other consideration-he is a portion of the political machinery--he knows that he is such-and that a deviation from the law of his party may involve irregularity in the whole political machinery of the state. It is a noble thing when we can point to a statesman in the British senate, and say of him,' in this instance he saw what humanity and reason dictated, and, disregarding the ties of party or the obligations of interest, he boldly declared the right, posterity assuring us, that it was the right. This we can say of Lord Mornington's conduct in the debate on Mr. Wilberforce's motion for the abolition of the slavetrade. This was in 1792. On the 25th of April of that year he moved that the slave trade should end from the first of January 1793, but his motion was lost by a majority of 49. A subsequent amendment to Mr. Dundas' motion that the trade in slaves should not be lawful after the 1st. of January 1800, “in which he proposed that it should end at the commencement of 1795, was also lost, the year following being fixed upon as the termination of the traffic." On this occasion he delivered a pow

erful speech of which we extract a few sentences-nervous, feeling and convincing :

"Gentlemen had said in a former debate, that time should be allowed to the planters to cool, and to discover the truth of the assertions of those who contended that the abolition would ultimately be for their advantage. What length of time it would require to cool them, and for truth to make its way among the planters, while the liberty and happiness of thousands were exposed to invasion during the tedious process, it was impossible for him to say. If he were to put the question mathematically, he would say "the force of truth being given, and the hardness of a planter's heart being ascertained, in what space of time will the former be able to penetrate the latter ?" For his part he was free to say that he had known great numbers of planters of the clearest heads, and most quick and lively conceptions; and he believed they were, in general, persons who would not be the last to discover the truth of a proposition. On this occasion, however he meant to allow them two years; and he would ask whether (if all that was wanted was to convince the planters that the abolition would not injure them) two years would not do as well as seven? He believed the committee would be of opinion that the time proposed for the purpose of convincing their judgment was much too long; for that, in point of fact, they were convinced already; and it was nothing but mean and sordid avarice that induced them to wish for the continuance of this abominable, infamous, bloody traffic-this commerce in human flesh, this spilling of human blood, this sacrifice of human right, this insolence to justice, this outrage to humanity, this disgrace to human nature. Private follies from habit had sometimes been excused by the charitable; they affected chiefly those who displayed them; they were objects of compassion to some, and from the most severe they met nothing but ridicule but for crimes, and those of the most public, notorious, hateful, detested nature, nothing could be said as an excuse or palliative. Every hour that this nefarious traffic was allowed to be continued was a disgrace to Great Britain.”

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The same year witnessed the introduction by Mr. Gray of his momentous proposition for the reform of Parliament. Several different orders of minds would be delighted at such a proposition as this. The sanguine, the enthusiastic, the discontented, the aspiring and the man of vast foresight would all be probably banded together in favor of such a measure, whilst, on the other hand, the timid, the cautious, the contented, those accustomed to look at the best side of things, the reverers of antiquity and of constituted system would be found amongst its opposers. Lord Mornington was of the latter class, and the arguments which he brought forward against the measure may be briefly summed up thus. The safety of life, liberty, and property is the great end of Government; this the British constitution, as it was, secured― again, that constitution had worked excellently well hitherto, from the union of monarchical, aristocratical and democratic principles which it involved, why then endanger this working by infusing more of the democratic principle? Lastly, the infusion of the democratic principle into the Government in France was working much evil in that unfortunate country, why not in England also? Such were the chief grounds on which Lord Mornington based his opposition to Mr. Grey's motion. Before 1832, however, his views on the subject had changed, for he was then a member of the Government which carried the Reform Bill.