England had been trampled upon for ages,-if they had been denied the protection of those wise laws, bequeathed to them by their free ancestors, which have made England what she is, if, instead of enjoying the beneficent effects of a resident independent gentry and nobility, regularly performing their social duties, the landed proprietary had been absentees, the estates of the country had frequently undergone confiscation, and the mass of the population been compelled to live upon the most inferior food,-it may be a question whether so great a difference would have been observable between the Celts and Saxons of the British Isles as now subsists. If all political distinctions were abolished-if equal laws and equal rights were extended to all Britons indifferently, and the blessings of just government, universal education, and, above all, the benign influence of a resident landed proprietary, were extended to Ireland, it may be affirmed with confidence that the leading differences between the peasantry of the two countries would gradually diminish and finally disappear. Both the obsolete system of Ascendency, and the modern doctrine of Ireland for the Irish,contra-distinguished from the Anglo-Saxon, would be equally repugnant to the existence of that just and beneficial political equality in Ireland which Lord Wellesley was so desirous of establishing. Nor ought we to dismiss the subject without remarking, that while it appears not to be difficult to trace to political sources, many of the qualities which are considered marks of inferiority in the Celtic family, which have been ascribed to physical causes, it is vain, and worse than vain, to seek to depreciate the Saxon race, whose robust manhood, perseverance, energy, skill, indomitable courage, and dignity of character have made the English name respected in the remotest corners of the earth! Several practical ameliorations of the greatest importance distinguished the Viceroyalty of the Marquess Wellesley. In the succeeding volumes the events of Lord Wellesley's life are laid before the reader, from the most authentic sources. The valuable collection of original manuscripts, presented by the representatives of the late Marquess to the British Museum, and deposited among the national archives, have, by special permission, been carefully examined, and such selections made from his Lordship's papers and the public records as were necessary to illustrate the subject of these volumes. A large collection of letters, written by some of the most celebrated of the Marquess of Wellesley's contemporaries, and illustrative of the times in which he lived, not hitherto published, have been added, and are incorporated with the work. LONDON, JAN. 1846. VOL. I. b Entered Christ Church College, Oxford, Dec. Succeeded to the Earldom of Mornington May 22nd Took his seat in the Irish Parliament 1760 1772 1778 1781 1782 Custos Rotulorum of the County of Meath Married Mademoiselle Roland, 29th November One of the Chief Remembrancers of the Irish Ex Created Baron Wellesley of Great Britain, 20th of Governor-General of India Created Marquess Wellesley, December 2nd. Captain General and Commander-in-Chief in the Created Knight of the Crescent Returned from India 1793 1796 1794 1796 1797 1825 1828 1831 Resigned 1833 Second Marriage, October 29th Resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, March Second time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, September 1833 Resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy, December 1834 1835 1835 1840 Prints for private distribution a volume of Poems, East India Company resolve to place a marble Statue, in honour of Marquess Wellesley, in CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. Antiquity of the Wellesley Family.-MS. Pedigree.-De Wel- |