408 Wellinglon Adminixtration, Star-Chumhcr, QOcr. 



the wholesome contact of popular sci'utiiiy. Coiruption had tainted the 

 church, the state, and the court ; it lurked under the sanctity of the 

 niiti'e ; it sulUed the brightness of the coronet, polluted the judgment 

 seat, and infected the palace. Hence a whisper, a rumour, a jest, a 

 laugh, — nay, a shaking of the head, were seditious, scandalous, and 

 dangerous libels, because they might mean more than they expressed ; 

 and though they meant nothing, they could not fall at random, even, 

 without wounding somewhere. We will not say that the same causes 

 are producing the same effects now : but we will say, that for some 

 reason or other, there is a striking resemblance between the two periods, 

 in the diseased sensibility which is manifested upon the subject of libels. 

 With regard to the Duke of Wellington, we are unfeignedly sorry 

 for his Grace. We sincerely regret, on his own account, the step he 

 has taken. What can he expect to gain from it .'' We have no doubt 

 he would repel with scorn the imputation of acting from vindictive 

 motives. He would not allow it to be supposed for a moment that he 

 is seeking to make the law an instrument of personal vengeance. It is 

 not, because, from the disparity of rank, he cannot call ]\Ir. Alexander 

 out, that he resorts to a court of justice. No, no ! We spontaneously 

 reject, for him, so degrading an idea. It is his character then, he 

 defends. Good God ! The Duke of Wellington soliciting a certificate 

 of good character from twelve decent and respectable tradesmen ! The 

 Duke of Wellington, in his capacity of Prime jMinister of England, 

 requiring that John Jones, Peter Smith, Robert Snooks, George Clarke, 

 William Scroggins, Henry Thomson, Joseph Jackson, Stephen Pringle, 

 Thomas Cook, Anthony INIiles, Paul Baker, and IMatthew Crump, 

 should declare, upon their oaths, that he, Arthur, Duke of Wellington, 

 is not " proud, overbearing, and grasping ;" that he is not " dishonest ;" 

 not " unprincipled ;" and that he is not " capable of a design to overturn 

 the throne, and prostrate the laws and liberties of England !!!" 



And when these Areopagiti, with clean shirts and cravats for the 

 nonce (clean hands are not insisted upon), have duly perpended all the evi- 

 dence in support of his Grace's good character, submitted to them, and 

 shall pronounce, if they do so pronounce, that in their opinion he, the 

 said Arthiu- Duke of Wellington is a very " humble, meek, and self- 

 denying" sort of person, that he is remarkable for his " honesty and 

 upright principles," and that he is utterly " incapable of forming any 

 design to overtunr the throne, or prostrate the laws and hberties of his 

 country ;" when, we say, those twelve respectable shop-keepers have 

 duly delivered this judgment in favour of his Grace (though it is utterly 

 beyond our comprehension how they can really know any thing about 

 his Grace's character, capacity, or designs), what end does he accom- 

 plish ? If there be one man in the kingdom, from the palace to the cot- 

 tage, who thinks his Grace is what he has been described, will that man's 

 opinion be altered, because a dozen obscure individuals, put into a jury 

 box, say he is not ? On the contrary, will not every man in the king- 

 dom, according as they may be his friends or his enemies, weep or laugh, 

 at such an expurgation? Verdicts for defamation are well enough 

 adapted to punish long-tongued scolds, whether in petticoats or breeches, 

 and they are a useful sort of fidler's earth to take stains out of homely 

 reputations : but they are not the fit application for removing blots from 

 the escutcheon of nobility. There is only one really competent tribunal 



