WELLESLEY, MARQUIS. 



WELLESLEY, MARQUIS. 



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Wellesley, who was to commence bis brilliant career under bis auspices. 

 He retained tbe supreme command in India till August 1805, when 

 he embarked to return to Europe. 



Tbe governor-generalship of the Earl of Mornington, or, to uso tbe 

 title by which ho is best known, and which was conferred upon him 

 in December 1799, of the Marquis Welle.'ley, was nn eventful one. 

 Tho moment of his assuming the command appeared to be a critical 

 time. Bonaparte had accomplished the conquest of Egypt, and was 

 supposed to contemplate a blow at our Indian dominions. Tippoo 

 Saib retained a resentful recollection of his losses, nnd was encouraged 

 by French emissaries to attempt the recovery of the district of Coim- 

 batore and the hill forts, which he had been obliged to surrender. 

 Tbe first step of tho governor-general under these circumstances was 

 to force the Nizam to disband his French troops ; the next was to 

 open negociations with Tippoo, in order to detach him from the 

 French alliance. Failing in this, and having detected Tippoo's nego- 

 ciations with France, he prepared for war. Great exertions were made 

 by the Indian government to organise the Native and improve the 

 British troops. With his characteristic promptitude of decision, the 

 governor-general resolved to strike home at once. Warlike operations 

 commenced with the victory of Mallavelly, which displayed the high 

 condition of the Anglo-Indian army. Following up this impression, 

 General (afterwards Lord) Harris was ordered to invest Seringapatatn, 

 which, after a siege of a month, was taken by assault, and the Sultan 

 slain. His territories were partitioned. The capital with the districts 

 on the coast, including the fort of Mangalore, was retained for the 

 East India Company; compensation was made- to some native allies; 

 and the remainder of Tippoo's territories, with the nominal sovereignty 

 over the whole, was restored to the representative of the ancient 

 Hindoo sovereigns, then a child five years of age. So complete was 

 the effect of these victories and the subsequent arrangements in 

 impressing the minds of the natives with a sense of the strength and 

 resolute character of the Anglo-Indian government, that General 

 Wellesley (in one of the despatches published by Colonel Gurwood) 

 writes to his brother, that he " only waits to know what countries 

 they are which the governor-general wishes to take possession of." 



The next efforts of Lord Wellesley were directed to the extension 

 of the commercial intercourse of India, and to the commencement of 

 those important financial reforms which eventually raised the revenue 

 of the Company from seven millions to upwards of fifteen millions 

 annually, with advantage to commerce and without injustice to the 

 inhabitants. His projected extension of the commerce of India wag 

 in part thwarted by the monopolist spirit which at that time prevailed 

 among the directors of the East India Company. Nowise cooled in 

 his zeal by this disappointment, beset himself to complete the internal 

 organisation of the British empire in Asia, and to establish it on a 

 broader basis. With this view he undertook a vic.e-regal progress 

 through the northern provinces, visiting the native princes with a 

 pomp equal to their own, redressing grievances, checking enemies, and 

 conciliating friends. 



In 1801 he was again involved in warlike operations. He in that 

 year despatched a considerable force up the Red Sea to assist in 

 wresting Egypt from the power of France. He next turned the 

 British arms against the Mahrattas, and, after a severe struggle, con- 

 quered the whole country between the Jumna and the Ganges, and 

 compelled Scindiah and the Rnjah of Berar to make peace. Sir Arthur 

 Wellesley'a victory of Assaye and the crowning battle of Lassawaree 

 terminated a war directed with an energy and fertility of resources 

 that gave good and true augury of the future career of the command- 

 ing ^fficer on a more important and conspicuous field. Without 

 undervaluing the political wisdom of the Marquis Wellesley, it may 

 safely be said that had he not possessed so able a general as his 

 brother, the result of the war might have been less favourable; and 

 that, had it been less favourable, his policy would have been judged of 

 very differently from what it has been. 



After six or eeven years of service in India, the Marquis Wellesley 

 became desirous of returning to England. Such however was the 

 estimation in which his services were held at home, that some years 

 elapsed before he procured his recal. Even a change of ministry 

 failed to obtain the release he solicited. At last he was allowed, in 

 1805, to resign the government of India, and he embarked for Europe 

 in the month of August. He was received with every demonstration 

 of respect and approbation by tho government and the East India 

 Company. Complaints were indeed heard that his administration had 

 been unwarrantably expensive, and that he had been guilty of oppres- 

 sion towards tho native powers, especially the Nabob of Oucle. 

 Articles of impeachment were presented against him (without effect) 

 in the House of Commons by Mr. Paull. But the judgment of the 

 public then (and the time wHch has since elapsed, with all its gradual 

 disclosures, haa only confirmed that judgment) was, that without 

 adopting all the exaggerated eulogies of the panegyrists of the Marquis 

 Wellesley, his policy was, iu the circumstances of our Eastern empire, 

 the wisest and most just that could have been adopted. His govern- 

 ment marks the commencement of a better era of English rule in 

 India, 



The Marquis Wellesley on his return from India again took part in 

 the proceedings of parliament. He had no great sympathy with tho 

 opposition; that could -scarcely be expected from one who might 



almost be regarded as the personal friend of the king. But he was 

 far from being a strenuous supporter of Mr. Perceval's government, or 

 even, at a subsequent period, of Lord Liverpool's. The Pitt party had 

 been disorganised by the death of Pitt at the time that Lord Wellesley 

 returned from India, and it was not again consolidated until Lord 

 Liverpool was placed at the head of affairs. Besides, tho Marquis's 

 position as governor of a distinct empire, and his protracted absence 

 from England, had impressed him with a feeling of personal con- 

 sequence which ill qualified him to perform a subordinate part under 

 any of the sectional leaders of the predominant party, and had to a 

 great extent emancipated his mind from the mere party conven- 

 tionalities of this country. He in so far concurred with the general 

 policy of administration that he was a zealous advocate of the war 

 against Bonaparte, but his mind was much too liberal to sympathise 

 with narrow-minded and oppressive views in home politics ; although, 

 bred under Mr. Pitt and matured in India, he cared little for the con- 

 stitutional views which were then popular. 



In 1807 Lord Wellesley evaded the urgency of the king, who wished 

 him to become a secretary of state in the Duke of Portland's cabinet. 

 In 1808 he rendered ministers efficient service by his vindication of 

 the expedition to Copenhagen. He was soon afterwards appointed 

 ambassador to Spain. A short residence in Spain convinced him that, 

 if Bonaparte were to be driven out of the Peninsula, it must be by 

 Britain ceasing to play the parb of a mere auxiliary, and taking the 

 lead in the war. On the death of the Duke of Portland ho was 

 recalled, and was with difficulty persuaded by the king to accept the 

 appointment of secretary of state for foreign affairs with Mr. Perceval. 

 He held this office from December 1809, till January 181:2, when he 

 resigned on account of the difference of opinion existing between him 

 and his colleagues on different points, especially respecting the Roman 

 Catholic claims and the inefficient conduct of the war. 



After the assassination of Mr. Perceval, in May 1812, Lord Wellesley 

 undertook, at the request of the Prince Regent, to form a coalition 

 government. The distinction between the parties of that day was still 

 too strongly marked to admit of their being fused together, and their 

 leaders were too wise or too honest for a coalition. In three days 

 Lord Wellesley saw that the undertaking was hopeless, and resigned 

 his charge. On the 8th of June, Lord Liverpool announced in parlia- 

 ment that he was at the head of the government. On the 1st of July 

 Lord Wellesl>.-y brought forward a motion favourable to Roman 

 Catholic claims in the House of Peers, similar to that which Mr. 

 Canning had carried a few days earlier in the House of Commons. It 

 was lost by only one vote, and that vote a proxy. He continued for 

 ten years from this time to offer a modified opposition to government. 

 During the Peninsular war he had repeated occasions to attack 

 ministers for their inadequate support of his brother. In 1815 he con- 

 demned in unqualified terms the disregard to commercial interests that 

 marked the treaties by which the peace of Europe was consolidated. 



In December 1821, he accepted the appointment of lord-lieutenant 

 of Ireland, an office which he continued to hold till March 1828. The 

 nomination of the Marquis Wellesley, a well-known advocate of the 

 Roman Catholic claims, to this high office, raised on the one hand the 

 expectations of the professors of that religion, and excited on the 

 other great discontent among the Protestant ascendancy party. His 

 arrival was the signal for an outburst of the fiercest party spirit. The 

 Orangemen of Dublin insulted the lord-lieutenant in the theatre, and 

 the southern counties became the scene of insurrectionary movements. 

 The viceroy commenced his administration with an attempt to adopt 

 a conciliatory policy, but the times did not admit of its being followed 

 up. It was deemed necessary to have recourse to an Insurrection Act 

 and other coercive measures. Yet the personal character of the 

 Marquis Wellesley continued to command respect; his impartiality 

 and kindly disposition escaped imputation. The Earl of Liverpool's 

 retirement from public life had no effect upon the position of Lord 

 Wellesley, for both Mr. Canning and Lord Goderich were favourable 

 to tho Roman Catholic claims. But when the Duke of Wellington 

 came to assume the reins of government, the first declaration which 

 he made upon the subject left the lord-lieutenant of Ireland no alter- 

 native but to resign. 



On the formation of the Grey ministry tho Marquis Wellesley 

 accepted office under it. In 1831 he was appointed lord-steward. In 

 September 1833 he resigned that office, and was once more appointed 

 lord-lieutenant of Ireland. On Sir Robert Peel's brief accession to 

 office (1834-35), the Marquis Wellesley resigned, though urged by his 

 brother to remain. He accepted the office of lord-chamberlain on the 

 formation of the second Melbourne ministry, in April 1835, but 

 resigned it in the course of the same year, and never afterwards filled 

 any public employment He died at his residence, Kingston-house, 

 Brompton, on the morning of Monday, the 26th of September 1S42, 

 in the 83rd year of his age. 



The Marquis Wellesley was twice married. His first wife, Hyaciuthe 

 Gabrielle Roland, he married on the 1st of November 1794. They 

 had had several children who died young, but none after marriage. 

 They separated soon, and were not again reconciled. The first Lady 

 Wellesley died in 1816. On the 29th of October 1825, at the advanced 

 age of 65, the Marquis Wellesley again married. His second wife was 

 an American lady, daughter of Mr. Richard Caton (granddaughter of 

 the eminent revolutionary patriot Carroll of Carrollston), and widow 



