sulted from the extravagance into which the human mind was thrown by the extent of its power. It is the province and will form, I believe," adds M. Guizot, "the peculiar merit of our times, to proclaim that all human power, be it intellectual or material, vested in governments or people, in philosophers or ministers of state, and exerted in any cause whatever, bears inherently a natural viciousness and a principle of weakness and abuse which call imperatively for the prescribing fixed limits to its exercise. Thus it is only a system of general freedom for all rights, interests, and opinions, their unfettered manifestation and legalised co-existence, that can restrain each individual power or influence within its proper limits, prevent it from infringing upon others, and make the spirit of free inquiry an actual and general enjoyment. The conflict between Material Absolute Power and Intellectual Power which occurred at the close of the eighteenth century, has impressed upon our minds this great truth."

CHAPTER V.

Earl of Mornington's Marriage.-Lady Mornington's Parentage.-Madame Roland the French Heroine.-Allusions to Lady Mornington in the Earl's Correspondence while in India.-Their Separation.-Her Ladyship's Death.-Her Children.-Lord Mornington's Speech on the Seditious Meetings Bill, 1795.—Mr. Sheridan replies.—Business of the India Board.—Lord Mornington composes a Song at the desire of Mr. Pitt for the Dinner given by the East India Company to Lord Duncan.-Camperdown.-Copy of Latin Verses descriptive of France, written by Lord Mornington for Mr. Pitt, published in the AntiJacobin.-Translated by Lord Morpeth in the same publication.

On the 29th of November, 1794, the Earl of Mornington was married, at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, to Mademoiselle Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland, a native of France, and only daughter of Pierre Roland and of Hyacinthe Gabrielle Daris, of the city of Paris. This lady, whose beauty and accomplishments had for some years exercised a powerful influence over the heart of the noble Lord, seems to have possessed many of the fascinating qualities of her distinguished synonyme, Madame Roland, who was guillotined by the French Jacobins in the previous year, exclaiming on the scaffold," O Liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!" Some have supposed that the Countess of Mornington was the daughter of the revolutionary heroine, and that she was the child to whom the most pathetic and affecting of farewells ever penned was addressed.

This, however, was not the case the name

of Madame Roland,* the wife of the Girondist Minister of the Interior, was Manon Philipon, not Hyacinthe Gabrielle Daris. Although the contrary has been suggested, Lord and Lady Mornington lived on terms of the utmost affectionate harmony till the period of the noble Lord's appointment as Governor-General. The Countess remained in England; but the frequent incidental allusions to her Ladyship in his Lordship's correspondence evince a continued anxiety for her happiness, and a tender regard for their children. One of their sons, it appears from a letter from Lord Auckland to the Marquess Wellesley, was at Eton in the year 1800. In December 1812, Hyacinthe Mary, their daughter, was married to Mr. Littleton, of Teddersley Park, county of Stafford—a gentleman who, during the Marquess Wellesley's viceroyalty in 1834, filled the office of Chief Secretary of Ireland, and who has since been elevated to the peerage as Viscount Hatherton. The Marquess and Marchioness of Wellesley, after the noble Lord's return from India, did not live long together they separated, and appear not to have been again reconciled. The Marchioness lived till the year 1816, in which year she died, at the seat of her son-in-law, Mr. Littleton, in Staffordshire. Her remains were buried at Penkridge. Her Ladyship had enjoyed a separate income of 4,000l. a year, which at her death reverted to the Marquess. Viscountess Hatherton and her brothers, Mr. R. Wellesley and the Rev. Henry Wellesley, M.A., have survived both their parents, the elder of whom would have succeeded to the family titles, if the rules of the civil and canon law had prevailed in England.

* See Memoirs of Madame Roland. Paris, 2 vols. 8vo.

In the debate on the Seditious Meetings Bill, in November, 1795, Lord Mornington took a prominent part; vehemently denouncing the societies which met at Copenhagen House, and reading a variety of extracts from the violent and disloyal publications which at that period inundated the metropolis :

"One passage he thought it necessary to read, as it contained a direct incitement to regicide: it was a definition of a guillotine- an instrument,' as they called it, of rare invention.' As it is the custom to decapitate, and not to hang kings, it is proper to have this instrument ready, to make death easy to them, supposing a necessity of cutting them off. This instrument is used only for great malefactors-such as kings, bishops, and prime ministers. England and France have had their regular turns in executing their kings! France did it last,' &c. And in conclusion," added Lord Mornington, " Ankarstroem and Damiens, the two regicides,* were held up to the reverence of mankind. This, too, was from a printer-given to the public by the societies in the list of patriotic printers. ['Name! name!' came from all parts of the House.] Citizen Lee!" said his Lordship. "What can the House now suppose is the tendency of this pacific system-this bloodless conquest? For would it not be supposed that, instead of being the production of an Englishman, this foul, most foul treason [Hear] -I do not say that, if brought for decision in the

* Ankarstroem was a Swede, who assassinated Gustavus III. at a masked-ball.-Damiens, a native of Artois, stabbed Louis XV., while stepping into his carriage at Versailles: the wound was slight, and the king recovered.

VOL. I.

K

judgment of a court, it would be decided to be treason, but I will maintain that the heart that uttered it was the heart of as foul a traitor as ever raised the dagger of a parricide."

Mr. Sheridan replied to Lord Mornington :-"The noble Lord had been looking for plots with the utmost diligence, but could find none. Would the House decide the most important subject ever committed to their consideration, upon vile scraps and paltry passages from pamphlets, collected by rummaging old bookshops, and turning up the dirt of every stall in London?"

This was the last occasion upon which Lord Mornington spoke prior to his appointment as Governor. General. He appears to have confined his attention at this time almost exclusively to the business of the India Board.

In the last week of October, 1797, an entertainment was given by the East India Company to Lord Duncan, in honour of the victory of Camperdown. At the request of Mr. Pitt, Lord Mornington composed the following ballad, at Wimbledon, which was sung at the dinner, and was received with great enthusiasm by the company :

Enrolled in our bright annals lives full many a gallant name,
But never British heart conceived a deed of prouder fame,
To shield our liberties and laws, to guard our Sovereign's crown,
Than noble Duncan's mighty arm achieved at Camperdown.

October the eleventh it was, he spyed the Dutch at nine,
The British signal flew “ To break their close embattled line,”
Their line he broke—for every heart, on that auspicious day,
The bitter memory of the past had vowed to wipe away.*

* The Mutiny of the Fleet at the Nore happened a short time before the victory of Camperdown.