Maxims And Opinions Of Field Marshal His Grace The Duke Of Wellington, Selected From His Writings And Speeches During A Public Life Of More Than Half A Century by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

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_January 18, 1838._

_Evils of popular Rights_.

I warned the noble lord against endangering the establishments of the
country, by giving anything like an authority to a popular assembly to
withhold the funds necessary for carrying on the civil government; for
nothing is more needful to a country than to uphold the civil power, and
the independence--as well pecuniary as political--of the judges of the
land. And let noble lords learn, from the events in Canada, and other
dominions in North America, what it is to hold forth what are called
"popular rights," but which are not popular rights either here or
elsewhere; and what occasion is thereby given to the perpetuation of a
system of agitation which ends in insurrection and rebellion, and the
coming to blows with her majesty's troops.

_January_ 18,1838.

* * * * *

_Importance of reducing the Canadian Rebels_.

I confess, my lords, that I have a feeling for the honour of my country,
and I cannot but believe that if, by any misfortune, we should fail in
restoring peace in Lower Canada, at an early period of time, we shall
receive a blow, with respect to our military character, to our
reputation, and to our honour, of which it will require years to enable
us to remove the effects.

_January_ 18,1838.

* * * * *

_An Elective Legislative Council in Canada deprecated_.

My lords, there is one topic which has been adverted to by the noble and
learned lord (Lord Brougham), upon which I think it necessary to say a
word, although it is not alluded to in the address, and will more
properly form a subject of the discussion on the bill which is to be
brought in upon some future day--and that is the establishment in Lower
Canada of an elective legislative council. The noble and learned lord,
with all his knowledge of Lower Canada, has not, in my opinion,
sufficiently adverted to the fact of the difference of the two races of
inhabitants in that country. My lords, it may be easy to talk, here, of
establishing an elective council, but if the noble and learned lord will
look into the discussions which have taken place upon that subject, and
to the opinions that have been delivered upon it by the different
parties, in that colony, he will find that British inhabitants are to
the full as much opposed to that arrangement as the French are in favour
of it, he will find that in point of fact, they would be in a state of
insurrection against that arrangement, in the same degree as the French
are now supposed to be in a state of insurrection in favour of an
elective legislative council. I will likewise beg the noble and learned
lord, and I would entreat the noble viscount opposite, and every member
of her majesty's government, to attend to this fact, that an elective
legislative council is not the constitution of the British monarchy;
that a legislative council appointed by the monarch is the constitution
of this country; that this was so stated in the discussions upon the
bill passed in the year 1791, by all the great authorities who discussed
that measure, amongst others by Mr. Fox himself. That gentleman said,
"that a legislative council, appointed by the monarch, is an essential
part of the British constitution."

_January_ 18, 1838.

_Concessions to Democracy cannot be rescinded._

Your lordships ought also to recollect that, since the passing of the
reform bill, the taxes required from householders paying 10l. of yearly
rent have been greatly reduced, and I believe that the poor-rates have
also been diminished. These reductions have afforded great relief to
that particular class of persons, greater than has been given to any
other portion of society; and I think that, under the circumstances, the
amount of qualification ought not to be further diminished, for, if it
be, a worse description of electors will be the inevitable consequence.
I perfectly recollect that a noble friend of mine, whom I do not now see
in his place, warned your lordships, on a former occasion, of the danger
of making any approach to democracy in a measure like this; and he told
your lordships that, if once such a measure was adopted, you could never
turn back from it. If it be found, when carried into operation, to act
ever so injuriously--if its tendency be found to be ever so destructive
to the peace and well-being of society--still you cannot fall back on
the point from which you started; for, if once granted, the measure must
be permanent.

_March 8, 1838._

* * * * *

_Short-sighted Conduct of the West Indian Colonists._

There is no man in this house, or in the country, who has been more
anxious than myself, that the measure passed for the abolition of
slavery should be entirely successful. I have, however, conceived from
the first, that the only chance of its success would arise from the
colonial legislatures acting with good faith, and carrying the measure,
after it had passed the imperial parliament, into strict execution; for
which measure they have received what they acknowledge, by their
adhesion to the principle of the bill, a competent compensation. It
appears, however, to be beyond doubt, that they have not carried the new
system into execution as they ought to have done; and some two or three
years ago, your lordships were under the necessity of consenting to a
bill, rendered necessary in consequence of the legislature of Jamaica
having refused, under not very creditable circumstances, to enact a law
which it had positively promised to pass. Under these circumstances,
considering that we are now approaching to within a couple of years of
the period when a new state of society is to be established in all the
British possessions where slavery has ever existed, I must say, I think
parliament ought not to hesitate about adopting some measure of the
description now proposed, for the purpose of carrying into full and
complete execution the object which the imperial legislature had in view
when the emancipation act was passed. It appears to me, that if the
legislatures of the colonies had acted as sensible men ought to have
done, in the circumstances in which they were placed four years ago,
they would have had before them, and the British parliament would have
had before it, a very different prospect from that which, I fear,
exists at the present moment.

_March_ 13, 1838.

_Lord Melbourne's Government Inimical to the Church._

It appears that the policy of her majesty's government is--I will use
the mildest term that can be employed--not to encourage the established
church. I am afraid that it will appear from what passed in another
place, in the last session of parliament, and even in this, that the
church of England--the established church of England--is not to be
encouraged by her majesty's government. I am sure that those who
recollect what has occurred in parliament, during the last few years,
will admit that no great encouragement has been shown by ministers to
the church of Ireland, that branch of the established church of England
which is stationed in the latter country. I say therefore, my lords,
that this is the policy of the government of this country; and, I must
own, also, it is most sincerely to be lamented by every friend of the
constitution, and of the peace, order, and happiness of the community.

_March 30, 1838._

* * * * *

_A Free Press in Malta deprecated._

Now, in regard to this matter of a free press in Malta, I crave your
lordships' attention to the facts of the case for a moment, and I beg
the house to bear them in mind. What is Malta? It is a fortress and a
seaport--it is a great naval and military arsenal for our shipping and
forces in the Mediterranean. We hold it by conquest. We hold it as an
important post, as a great military and naval arsenal, and as nothing
more. My lords, if these are the facts, we might as well think of
planting a free press on the fore deck of the admiral's flag-ship in the
Mediterranean, or on the caverns of the batteries of Gibraltar, or in
the camp of Sir John Colborne in Canada, as of establishing it in Malta.
A free press in Malta in the Italian language is an absurdity. Of the
hundred thousand individuals who compose the population of Malta,
three-fourths at least speak nothing but the Maltese dialect, and do not
understand the Italian language. Of the one hundred thousand inhabitants
of the island, at least three-fourths can neither read nor write. What
advantages, then, can accrue to the people of Malta from the
establishment of a free press? We do not want to teach our English
sailors and soldiers to understand Italian. A free press will find no
readers among them either. Who, then, is it for? These gentlemen say,
that, unless the government support a free press in Malta, it cannot
exist of itself, and they suggest an expense of L800 a year in its
favour. They have done nothing more than this that I am aware of since
their appointment, and it is plain, that the savings spoken of by the
noble baron as having been effected by their recommendation are
completely swallowed up by the project of a free press. My lords, I
cannot help thinking that it is wholly unnecessary and greatly
unbecoming of the government to form such an establishment, of such a
description, in such a place as Malta; and the more particularly, as the
object for which it is made, must be both of a dangerous tendency to
this country, and fraught with evil to others. The free press which they
propose, is to be conducted, not by foreign Italians, but by Maltese,
subjects of her majesty, enjoying the same privileges as we do. Now,
what does this mean? It means that the licence to do wrong is unlimited.
If it were conducted by foreign Italians, you could have a check upon
them if they acted in such a manner as would tend to compromise us with
our neighbours--you could send them out of the island--you could prevent
their doing injury in that manner by various ways. But here you have no
such check--you have no check at all--your free press in that respect is
uncontrollable. If the free press chooses to preach up insurrection in
Italy from its den in Malta, you have no power of preventing it. Were
the conductors foreign Italians you could lay your hand on them at once,
and dispose of them as aliens; but you cannot do that with the Maltese
subjects, enjoying the same right and possessing the same freedom as
ourselves. I did hope, that we should have been cured by this time of
our experiments on exciting insurrection in the other countries of
Europe--in the dominions of neighbouring princes--in the territories of
our allies. I did think that we had received a sufficient lesson in
these matters to last us a long time, even for ever, in the results
which have taken place through such interference in Portugal, Spain,
Italy--ay, and in Canada too--and that they had put an end to our
dangerous mania for exciting insurrection in foreign countries. Such, my
lords, I assert is the object of a free press in Malta--to excite
insurrection in the dominions of our neighbour and ally, the King of the
Two Sicilies, and in the dominions of the King of Sardinia--and I
confess that I am ashamed of the government, considering the results
that have taken place, from the doctrines promulgated by it, that they
have not done everything in their power to suppress instead of
encouraging and supporting it; and that they had not sent out their
commissions with full power to do so, rather than instructed them to
call for its establishment.

_May 3, 1838._

* * * * *

_State of Poverty in Ireland._

Of all the countries in Europe, Ireland is the one in which it has
appeared to me to be least possible to establish anything in the nature
of the English poor-laws. The opinion delivered by others has been, that
there are no materials to be found in Ireland proper for forming, or if
formed for administering with salutary effect, any system of poor-laws
such as exists in this country; and I, my lords, believe that there is
no doubt whatever of the justice and truth of that opinion, considering
the English poor-laws, as they formerly existed, and as they were
carried into execution up to the year 1834, when the noble lords
opposite introduced the measure which amended them. While, however, I
say this, I am bound at the same time to express my entire concurrence
in the opinion declared by the noble viscount, that there never was a
country in which poverty existed to such a degree as it exists in that
part of the United Kingdom. My lords, I was in office in that country--I
held a high situation in the administration of the government of Ireland
thirty years ago--and I must say, that from that time to this there has
scarcely elapsed a single year in which the government has not at
certain periods of it entertained the most serious apprehensions of
actual famine. My lords, I am firmly convinced that from the year 1806
down to the present time, a year has not passed in which the government
have not been called on to give assistance to relieve the poverty and
distress which prevailed in Ireland, and owing to circumstances over
which no human power could have any control. One of the circumstances
which has most frequently led to this lamentable state of things, has
been the failure or delay of the potato crops, and there have been known
times when two, three, and even as many as four months have intervened
before these crops, which are used as a subsistence by the people, could
be brought into the market; and such are the social relations in that
country, that the people have no means of coming to market to purchase
like the people of England. My lords, this is a fact that is undoubted,
and one that I believe never existed in any country in the world except
Ireland.

_May 21, 1838._

* * * * *

_The Numbers of a Meeting may render it Illegal._

The numbers of a meeting--that is to say, such an assembly of persons as
would create terror in the minds of people living in the
neighbourhood,--would justify the magistrate in taking measures to
disperse it.

_June 15, 1838._

_Real cause of our interference in Spain._

The system of interference adopted by his late majesty's government, by
means of the quadruple treaty, was with a view to the contest between
extreme opinions--it was more with a view of aiding these extreme
opinions, than to the arrangement of the mere differences between Don
Carlos, upon the one side, and the queen, or her daughter, upon the
other; to support certain opinions, and not to determine the succession,
was the cause of interference. I regret interference upon that ground; I
object to interference upon that ground; and I say, moreover, that we
were not right in interfering upon that ground. I maintain that, more
particularly on account of the extreme opinions that prevailed, we ought
not to have interfered at all; but most especially we ought not,
according to the common practice of this government, and in accordance
with the declared political principles of the noble lords themselves, to
have interfered in a question involving extreme political opinions. Now
it has unfortunately happened that extreme political principles have
been forced upon a great part of Europe by means of large armies and of
great military forces, and it was consequently expected that the same
thing would succeed in Spain. This, I believe, was the object of our
interference with Spain, and not to determine the Spanish succession.

_June 19, 1838._

_We had no right to interfere against Don Carlos._

I say we had no business to interfere in the question of succession.
There might have been some pretext for interference in the question of
succession, if any of the powers of Europe had taken part with Don
Carlos, but that was not the case. The noble baron (Lord Holland)
cheers. I say, confidently, that not one of the powers in Europe had
stirred a finger in support of the pretensions of Don Carlos. I say,
then, that, according to all principles--the principles supported and
acted upon by this country, in the case of the house of Braganza, and
many other cases that I could mention--we ought to have avoided
interference; and we ought to have avoided interference by armies more
particularly, in the contests in Spain. I say, my lords, that not a
sword had been moved in Europe in favour of Don Carlos. When Don Carlos
went to Spain, in the summer of 1834, there were not three battalions in
arms in that country in his favour. This I positively state as a fact.
But, on the contrary, in the space of forty leagues there were forty
fortified posts in possession of the queen's troops. Now, my lords, this
is a positive fact; and I say that, in the year 1835, when the armistice
was negotiated, when the exchange of prisoners was negotiated by Lord
Eliot, Don Carlos had then acquired a superiority over the queen's
forces, who were obliged to take up a position on the right of the Ebro.
That is to say, between the interval of time I have mentioned,--and this
is a positive fact upon which your lordships may rely, and to which I
pledge my word,--between the summer of 1834 and the period at which the
exchange of prisoners was agreed upon in 1835,--that is, in the course
of a very few months,--the superiority had been gained by Don Carlos in
that part of the country, so far that he had forced the enemy to take up
a position on the other side of the Ebro, abandoning all their fortified
posts, except Pampeluna and one other; and, I must add, they had very
wisely abandoned them, because they found they could not march to their
relief through the country. Now, my lords, this is literally and truly a
fact; and it is a fact not to be forgotten, with respect to the present
contest in Spain. I say, then, that it was the business of this
government not to have interfered by force. We ought not to have done
so, according to the noble marquis's principle--that there ought to be
no interference between two hostile parties in a nation like Spain.

_June 19, 1838._

* * * * *

_The Legion a failure._

The noble viscount has told your lordships, certainly, that he sent out
an expedition; and the noble marquis has informed us that it has always
been the policy of this country to encourage such expeditions. Now,
without meaning to assert that the result of that expedition was a dire
catastrophe, I must be permitted to say that the legion has been, in my
opinion and conviction, a complete failure. It has cost the Spanish
government an enormous sum of money. Great expectations were raised
respecting it, not one of which has been fulfilled. When the legion went
to Spain, the Queen of Spain's army was in all the provinces, with the
exception of Biscay and Navarre. Her government was established in all
parts of Spain, excepting these places. Excepting them, all other places
might be said to be in a state of tranquillity. But it appears the Queen
of Spain could not carry on the war, unless she got ten thousand Isle of
Dogsmen--a legion from England, and another from France. If the Spanish
government had asked for officers, or for arms, or for money, or for
artillery, I should not have been surprised, as I know well the manner
in which the Spanish arsenals are supplied. But asking for 10,000 men
from England to destroy Don Carlos, who was shut up in the mountains,
was a matter really not to be seriously thought of. The object was not
to bring 10,000, or 15,000, or 20,000 men into action, but to bring the
red coats and the blue coats, the French and English troops, into the
contest; that was the object, and the view was, to produce a moral
effect. But the government ought to have known that that which gave them
the influence on the one side, was fatal to that influence on the other.
Thus was an end put to that moral influence which this country could,
and ought to have exerted, but which can only be effectually exercised
by strict adherence, throughout all her proceedings, to the plain
principles of justice. If this country enter into a treaty, let her
carry it honourably through; but let her not push her interference
further than is necessary for exerting her influence over both parties,
in order to settle existing differences. I have said that the legion was
a failure. Of that there cannot be the slightest doubt. The war is now
in the same state as it was in the year 1835, except that Don Carlos has
more men.

_June 19, 1838._

* * * * *

_The Opposition should give aid to the Government when a war is
inevitable._

The noble viscount tells us that we did not object to the appointment of
the Earl of Durham as governor-general of Canada--that we did not object
to the powers confided to him; that we--referring particularly to
me--urged this government by all the means in their power to send out
large forces, and take care to be strong in that part of the world;
advice which, I admit, I did repeat over and over again, until I
fatigued myself and the house by doing so. But why did I not object to
those powers being given to the Earl of Durham? Because, seeing the
government in difficulties--seeing the colony in a state of
rebellion--and seeing that the government possessed confidence in
another place--I thought it was not my duty to excite opposition to
measures which they thought it might be proper to adopt; and therefore I
took them all upon their recommendation. Very possibly I was wrong in so
doing; indeed, it appears that I was wrong; but I took the course which
I then considered it my duty to take. I declared that I would not follow
the example of those who, being convinced of the certainty that the
country would be involved in a war, yet thought proper to oppose all
measures that were necessary for carrying on that war. Neither would I
deny assistance to those who were absent, and who were carrying on the
government to the best of their ability; but I would give the government
a fair support, in order to pacify a country which might be in a state
of war or rebellion. That was the course which I followed on the
occasion alluded to by the noble viscount. With respect to the Earl of
Durham, I am personally unacquainted with him; and I considered that the
noble viscount and her majesty's government ought to have known best who
was the person most qualified to act as governor of Canada.

_August 9, 1838._

* * * * *

_Lord Durham's Ordinance[20] a grossly illegal Act._

A grossly illegal act has been committed--not a mere technical error, or
one having reference to small or nice points of law, but an illegal act
of great magnitude, and relating to points of the most grave
importance--an act so clearly illegal, that no man capable of
understanding the first principles of justice can doubt of its
impropriety. It is impossible that the people of this country can suffer
any man to be driven into banishment without trial, or that they can
allow him, afterwards, to be condemned to death, without having been
convicted of any crime but that of returning to his own country.

[Footnote 20: The Earl of Durham, governor-general of the Canadas, had
issued an ordinance, transporting to Bermuda Dr. Nelson and seven
others, guilty by confession of high treason, and subjecting them to
death if they returned to Canada. Lord Brougham, actuated, as was
asserted by some, by personal feeling against Lord Durham, protested
against this act in the face of the country. His speech on the occasion
was one of the most powerful he ever delivered. It is scarcely necessary
to add that Lord Durham immediately and precipitately resigned his
governorship.]

_August 9, 1838._

* * * * *

_Inadequacy of our Navy._

There is nothing more certain than that, if you come to be entirely
dependent for corn on the countries bordering on the Baltic, you would
have the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia (as has been known
before), levying a tax upon the exportation of that article of food to
the Thames, and elsewhere in this country. * * I entirely agree with the
noble and learned lord on the expediency of avoiding any interference
with foreign powers on the subject of commercial matters; but I confess
that I cannot view the state of our commercial relations, and of our
position in the world generally, in connection with these commercial
pursuits, with any degree of unmixed satisfaction. On the contrary, I do
deplore the state in which we find ourselves placed in many parts of the
world, particularly as it has been described in the course of the
evening by my noble friend (Viscount Strangford). What I attribute that
state of our commercial relations to, in a great degree, is, the extreme
weakness and tottering condition of our naval establishments. I do not
mean to complain of the distribution of our naval establishments;
though, at the same time, I by no means intend to unsay what I have said
in respect to the expeditions to Spain, which I cannot approve of; but I
repeat my expression that I consider our naval establishments to be in
too weak and tottering a condition to answer the purpose for which they
were intended, which was to give protection to the commercial interests
of the country in all parts of the world; for the commerce of England
does extend to all parts of the world. There is not a port, not a river,
which is not visited by the ships of her majesty's subjects; and her
majesty's subjects have an undoubted right to protection in whatever
part of the world they may think proper to visit in the pursuits of
commerce. The circumstance of which I complain I do not at all attribute
to neglect upon the part of the admiralty, neither do I include in my
censure the noble earl who is at the head of the admiralty; but those I
do blame are the individuals who have thought proper to reduce the
establishments of the country to such a degree, that protection cannot
possibly be given in all places where it is required.

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