1822.] 
printing-press ; but he acted, or was made 
to act, as though there was no intelligence 
abroad, as though mankind were incapable 
of reasoning, and as though he had been 
the minister of an absolute prince in the 
15th century. Without sound theory, and 
with superficial knowledge of those prin- 
ciples of public policy in which society at 
large are in our times so well informed ; 
his measures and practices consisted of 
vulgar expedients, shifts, and evasions, sug- 
gested by the urgency of the moment, 
He was steady and intelligible in nothing 
but in his hatred of public liberty, and of 
all liberal principles ; in his obsequiousness 
to foreign despots, to whom he prostituted 
the power and honour of England ; and in 
his systematic malignity against all who 
endangered his power, or that of the 
oligarchs of whose prejudices he was the 
faithful slave. Living in times when 
thousands in the middle ranks of life were 
better qualified than himself to direct the 
affairs of a nation, he was honestly des- 
pised by nine of every ten of his contempo- 
raries, not only in England, but in every 
part of Europe; for those who are not per- 
mitted to think are nevertheless capable 
of feeling, and perhaps tlie most universally 
hated public name of modern times was 
that of Castlereazh.* Besides being in- 
dustrious to excess, he was loquacious in 
argument, and specious in manners. In- 
dustry, loquacity, self-satisfaction, and 
plausibility, were personified in him. 
His industry reudered him an efficient 
minister. His loquacity qualified him to 
manage the House of Commons, to open 
debates, and to reply to opposition ; and 
he was, from this quality, scarcely less con- 
Spicuous in the drawing-room among the 
ladies, or in his box at the Opera, where 
his cracked voice often resounded through 
the Honse. His self-satisfaction upheld 
him against public opinion, and the scoffs 
and scorn of the world, and his smiles and 
flushed eyes proved that he was always in 
good humour with himself. His plausibi- 
lity enabled him to be cool when other 
men were impassioned, and it conferred 
on him the mildest tones and most sub- 
missive and graceful demeanour whenever 
he had any point to carry; and, on such 
occasions, he would, to a stranger, have ap- 
peared to be any one except himself. 
This may appear ill-natured, but the 
writer has no antipathy to the man, for he 
EE ee ee ee 
* In proof of this statement, we will cite a fact 
within our own hearing. An adjacent chuich is un- 
dergoiny repair, and employs a considerable number 
of workmen, who, when tliey heard the news of his 
sudden death, instantly stopped their work and gave 
three cheers; farther, the people cheered publicly at 
his funeral, a circumstance without example in Eng- 
land, except inthe case of Governor Wall, when he wae 
brought out of Newgate for execution. Nor oughtit 
to be omitted to be noticed, that the church bells of 
Hambledon, near Portsmouth, and Layfield, in 
Suffolk, were rang on the intelligence of his death 
reaching those places, i 
The Marquess of Londonderry. 
18% 
was personally pleasant and good-hu- 
moured ; but he abhors the public policy of 
which he was the chief agent; aud, as is 
believed, often the instigator. Is it possi- 
bie to avoid feeling horror at the events in 
Treland in 1798, when he was the organ of 
the executive ; or to resist indignation at 
the innumerable violations of the British 
constitution of which he has been the 
mover, supporter, and apologist; or to 
smother resentment at the manner in 
which the honour and interests of Britain 
have bee compromised at Vienna, at 
Paris, at Genoa, in Poland, in Norway, in 
Saxony, in Spain, at Naples ; and, in fine, 
at Elba and St. Helena, Ilchester, Man- 
chester, and Parga, while he was ambassa- 
dor-extraordinary and secretary for foreign 
affairs? Buthe died the victim of his perse- 
vering ambition—his exertions upset his 
own mind; and, in a fit of mental de- 
lusion, he destroyed himself; therefore is, 
personally, an object of pity. Be it so; 
and, sincerely lamenting the infirmity of 
human nature, we deplore the melancholy 
catastrophe which has befallen a frail man, 
sailing before the favouring gales of for- 
tune ; nevertheless, we do not lose sight of 
his public sins. His apologists say, he 
was but the able agent of a system; but he 
did, or did not, approve of its turpitude ; 
and, if he did not, and yet became its zea- 
lous organ, his culpability would be. 
greater than if he had acted from his ho- 
nest convictions. His colleagues, the 
chancellor excepted, were inferior men, 
mere head- clerks in their departments; the 
political crimes of the cabinet attach 
therefore chiefly to him, as an admitted 
prime minister, as one of that unprincipled 
and mischievous race who act under a 
nominal, but constantly evaded responsibi- 
lity, who are not restrained in the magni- 
tude of their political crimes by the 
paucity of inteliect which often charac- 
terizes royalty, nor in their scruples by 
the sense of honour which royalty is 
led to obey from habit and education. 
Nothing, alas! will be gained by the’ 
world from his death. The system will 
find other tools as willing, and perhaps as 
industrious and mischievous. War will 
still be waged against public intelligence ; 
and cabinets, instead of uniting themselves 
to knowledge, will vainly and wickedly 
endeavour to oppose its march. Consti- 
tuted as they now are by court intrigue, 
nothing better can be expected, and an 
insane minister seems to be deemed as fit 
for an important mission as a sane one; 
but the moment the eyes of kings are 
opened, they will discover that nothixg 
creates any separation of feelings between 
them and their people, but the inter- 
mediate interests of selfish and igno- 
rant intriguers ; for the intelligent people 
cannot do better without a sovereign head 
of the state, than a king can do without a 
people, 
