seemed likely to convert it into a powerful weapon in the hands of the great conqueror who was then at war with England. If, in the course of his administration, there was observable a strong inclination to temper hostility and to conciliate, it must rather be ascribed to the sagacity of the man, who felt that his duty was best accomplished by mildness, than from any spirit that animated the government he represented in favour of according full justice to the people who had fallen under its rule. In some of his letters he himself avows that he considers that he is located in an enemy's country, and strategy rather than policy seemed fittingly to express the character of his administration. One of the very first of his confidential despatches is a plan sketched out for the defence of Ireland, in case of an invasion from France. This document possesses in itself immense historic interest, exhibiting as it does the rapidity with which his military genius had seized upon the defensible points of the country, and from the clearness of style with which a broad plan of action is laid down, divested of mere technical details. Additional interest is of course communicated to it by the circumstances of the present time. . . . . The extracts which we have given are selected here and there from the mass, and perfectly at random. When it is recollected that the letters number altogether 697, besides several from correspondents, it is quite evident that it would be impossible to extract them in a short space like ours, so as to illustrate any leading idea. They may perhaps, however, convey a notion of the importance of a volume embodying the vast variety of topics comprised in this immense correspondence, especially when written by so remarkable a man. As a whole, they do impress us with certain characteristics, well known to belong to the Iron Duke, even from his earliest plunge into public life: his attention to minute and apparently insignificant details; his careful replies to letters, even of an impertinent nature, and a certain plainness and directness of expression; an absence of all diplomatic circumlocution, which leaves little or no dross in his official communications. We can gather too from this series that the civil employment he accepted was regarded with considerable distaste. Not alone is there occasionally manifested a certain icy contempt for many of the people with whose corruption his office brought him into contact, but the letters afford an abundant evidence of the impatience with which he heard of the stirring deeds that were going on in Europe, and how anxiously he panted for military employment. Of course these letters, embracing so small a period of the Duke's life, are not sufficient for the formation of a complete estimate of his character, but they form a very important item in the materials by which we can accurately comprehend it. In Ireland, especially, these letters will possess a peculiar interest."-21st December, 1859. CARLOW SENTINEL. "If the public felt surprise when the Duke of Wellington's military despatches were published, for their perspicuity of style, the extraordinary sagacity with which he appeared throughout his career to foresee and to contemplate events, they will be no less astonished on perusing his correspondence while discharging the arduous duties of the office of Chief Secretary in Ireland between the years 1807 and 1809. Whether in a THE WELLINGTON IRISH CORRESPONDENCE. 7 civil or military capacity, he was one of the most extraordinary men of his age; and of his general knowledge, we have only to refer to his Irish correspondence, which will occupy an important space in future history. He studied the character of the people of this country with his usual sagacity, and his sketches are occasionally brilliant, without any attempt to soar into the regions of fancy, like many of the most eminent of modern essayists. The stirring times in which he resided in Ireland previous to the commencement of his subsequent illustrious career in the Peninsula occupied his entire time; and his letters prove that he could measure the mental calibre of the civilians who hovered like birds of prey about Dublin Castle, with the same unerring judgment that enabled him to outmanœuvre and defeat Napoleon's legions, commanded by his most celebrated marshals. . . . . The volume before us is like an inexhaustible mine of information; in the mean time we may affirm of the work itself that it should occupy a place in every gentleman's library, as it contains an authentic correspondence which is destined to fill up a gap in Irish history since the Union."-24th December, 1859. .... LONDONDERRY STANDARD. "The Duke of Wellington's qualifications as a statesman have been frequently underrated by critics whose admiration of his military talents may be not unfitly described as bordering upon enthusiasm. Practical statesmanship is emphatically a thing of study, labour, and prolonged experience, no amount of native genius being equal to its duties without special training; and yet it is impossible to peruse the goodly volume of nearly 700 octavo pages here presented to the public, without a firm conviction that had the Duke of Wellington applied his powerful intellect to the science of politics, he would have occupied no undistinguished place in British history, apart altogether from his warrior triumphs. . . . . The exceedingly interesting volume now issued consists of 697 despatches, letters, and other official or semi-official documents, written by Sir Arthur Wellesley during the two years of his Irish secretaryship. These papers relate to an almost endless variety of topics, public and private, general and local, abounding in the richest materials for future history, and possessing fascinations hardly to be expected in the routine correspondence of a Secretary of State. The noble editor has fulfilled his task with the most praiseworthy impartiality, as well as with discriminating judgment. . . . . Here the public have an interior view of the mysteries of State at the beginning of the present century, and a marvellous, unedifying, but withal a most instructive, spectacle it is. . . . . Strange as the fact may appear, this volume is one of the most readable miscellanies which have fallen under our critical notice for a considerable period, and with this important advantage, that the sober philosophy of history is here arrayed in the attractiveness of 'light literature.' It is impossible to avoid admiring the diplomatic ability, and polished tact, with which Sir Arthur Wellesley uniformly conducts the most delicate as well as the most embarrassing negotiations, and the consummate, though seemingly artless generalship, which he never fails to apply with success to the resolution of incidental perplexities. We have perused this volume with very great interest, and we believe also with large profit, both historical and political; and we commend it to the earnest perusal of our readers as a book which ought to be in every library throughout the United Kingdom. This book and the Irish Correspondence of Earl Cornwallis, lately published, are invaluable contributions to Irish history, though, on various accounts, which might easily be specified, we incline to award the palm of superiority to these quiet revelations of Arthur, future Duke of Wellington. One prejudice is certainly dissipated by the publication before us, namely, the vulgar impression that this great man had no genius for political, as distinguished from military generalship."-26th January, 1860. LIMERICK CHRONICLE. "We have before us a volume of the 'Civil Correspondence of Arthur Duke of Wellington,' published by Murray, Albemarle-street, London, and to the historian, politician, or general reader this work must become as interesting to the latter as it must be invaluable to the former, treating as it does upon the history, the politics, and the private intrigues of party during the most stirring and eventful period on record in the annals of this then faction-torn country. It was written and published by Cobbett, in his celebrated English Grammar, that Wellington did not know how to write common English. This may not be wondered at when one reflects for a moment that Wellington was an Irishman, and that there were no competitive examinations in his day; but any one who reads the Civil Correspondence of the Great Duke will perceive that Cobbett must have made a mistake, or that he must have written under the influence of political prejudice and national antipathy; but be that question as it may, the reader of this Correspondence will soon forget Cobbett's Philippics in the feelings of interest which every page will excite; for he will perceive that if the Duke was not a master of grammatical English, he was perfect in diplomacy either as an armed negotiator with crowned heads, or as a simple secretary, a bargainer with a needy lord, or a gambling peeress, or a hungry and ambitious lawyer, for seats in parliament, we doubt if he were surpassed by that mighty genius with which he competed for victory on the bloody field of Waterloo. With respect to his masterly management of parties at a time when the machinations of factions were very nearly severing this kingdom from the British Crown, or turning it into a frightful Aceldama, a British contemporary writes in most eulogistic terms."11th January, 1860. EDINBURGH REVIEW. "The present volume is valuable as forming an additional link in the long chain of correspondence which enables us to trace the first soldier of his day from his earliest arms in Holland to his grave in St. Paul's. It serves, moreover, to show how one, who has justly been described as the most devoted servant king and country ever knew, comported himself, when suddenly called upon to perform a number of small yet necessary duties, all of which were strange, and many of which must have been distasteful to him."-No. 226, April, 1860. JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. |