: Oxford till 1781, when he was called away from his favourite studies to the more active business of life by the death of his father, the Earl of Mornington, who died on the 22nd of May in that year he did not remain long enough to take a degree. The embryo statesman now returned to Ireland: he attained his majority in the month following his father's death his first act on becoming of age was characteristic of the generosity and integrity of his manly nature. He voluntarily took upon himself the numerous pecuniary obligations of his deceased father, and exhibited his filial affection toward his surviving parent by placing the estates, to which he had succeeded, under the management of his mother. His Lordship also directed his attention to the intellectual training of his brothers, who were all greatly indebted to him for his watchful and prudent superintending care in early life. On the death of their father, William Wellesley Pole was eighteen years old, Anne Wellesley+thirteen years, Arthur Wellesley‡ twelve years, Gerald Valerian§ ten, Mary Elizabeth || nine, Henry eight years old.¶ Christ Church Wishing that Lord Wellesley should be a candidate for the University prize, and anxious to try his powers of writing hexameter verses, he desired Lord Wellesley to translate a passage from the Arcades of Milton into that metre. Mr. Jackson approved of the verses which Lord Wellesley wrote, and encouraged Lord Wellesley to write for the prize; which he did accordingly in the year 1780, and won it by a poem on the death of the celebrated navigator Captain Cook. (Note by Marquess Wellesley.) * Afterwards Lord Maryborough. → Married to Henry, son of Lord Southampton. Duke of Wellington. Lady Culling Smith. In the Church. Lord Cowley, CHAPTER II. Lord Wellesley (Earl of Mornington) enters upon public life, 1781.— State of Europe and America.—The Age of great men— -Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Burke, Curran, Plunkett, Grattan, Flood, Grey, Erskine.-Takes his seat in the Irish House of Lords.-Repeal of Poyning's Law.-Position of the Parliament of Ireland.-In favour of Catholic Emancipation.—Advocates Economy in the Government Expenditure.-A Knight of St. Patrick.-Lord Bellamont attacks the Order.-Earl of Mornington defends it.-Advocates the holding a Parliament every Year.-Censures the Profusion of Government.Supports a loyal Address to the Crown.-Objects to the Position of the Volunteers.-Armed Convention in Dublin.-Excited state of Public Feeling.-Lord Mountmorres's Reply to the Earl of Mornington, ridiculing his theatrical gesture.-Speech for the Liberty of the Press. Elected Member in the English Parliament for Beeralston.-1785, Privy Councillor in Ireland.-1786, Lord of the English Treasury.— Colleague of Pitt.-Speaks on the Rohilla War.-Attacks Lord North. -Returned for Saltash.-Speaks on the Treaty of Commerce with France. Elected Member for Windsor.-The King's Indisposition. -The Regency Question.-Opposes the Pretensions of the Prince of Wales in Ireland.-Protests.-Defends the Lord Lieutenant.-Extraordinary proceedings of the Irish Parliament. Collision with the English Parliament.—Remarks on the Regency Question.-Historical Retrospect.-Great Importance of the Constitutional principle at issue. -Recovery of Geo. III.-Earl of Mornington re-elected for Windsor. THE period at which the youthful Earl of Mornington entered upon public life, was one of the most eventful epochs in the history of modern Europe. Shortly afterwards the French Revolution shook, as it were with an earthquake, the whole civilized world. The principles which were promulgated in revolution ary France-principles of philosophy, "falsely so called,"-threatened to overturn the most powerful monarchies; and essentially modify, if not utterly change, the whole structure of society. The public mind in England was much excited on the subject of Parliamentary Reform. This country, oppressed with debt, was engaged in war; and the proceedings of several treasonable societies, which, at the instigation of bold bad men, contemplated a change in the constitution of the country by means of violence, created alarm for the public safety; and afforded a seeming excuse for the employment of coercive measures hostile to the spirit of the common law, and hazardous to public liberty. A young republic was established on the distant shores of the western world, which professed to be based on perfect equality and freedom, and boasted that it recognised in all their dignity the inalienable rights of man. It was the age, too, of great men—of splendid intellects-brilliant imaginations-unrivalled eloquence. Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Grey, Flood, Burke, Erskine, Curran, Plunkett, Grattan, and other "burning and shining lights," were shedding the rays, either of their rising or setting sun, upon this kingdom; and Great Britain and France were cradling two of the greatest warriors that ever appeared on the battle-fields of ancient or modern times. In 1781, when the Earl of Mornington took his seat in the House of Peers, in College Green, Dublin, Ireland was agitated by the splendid and astonishing appeals of Henry Grattan*-one of the noblest pa "No government ever dismayed him-the world could not bribe him triots, and most upright characters ever recorded in history: "So simple in heart, so sublime in the rest! In 1780 the Irish Parliament passed the memorable. resolution, "That the King's most excellent Majesty, and the Lord and Commons of Ireland, are the only power competent to make laws to bind Ireland;" and a body of armed volunteers, amounting to 50,000 men, demanded from England the recognition of the legislative independence of Ireland. We have no means of knowing the sentiments of the Earl of Mornington on the question of Irish independence; but recollecting the strength of his Lordship's love for his native country, and the statesmanlike sagacity that marked the whole of his subsequent career, we may safely assume that his Lordship would have been prepared to insist either that Ireland should be completely identified with Great Britain-admitted into the great imperial co-partnership on terms of perfect equality—permitted to participate in all the inestimable advantages of English laws, English institutions, -he thought only of Ireland-lived for no other object-dedicated to her his beautiful fancy, his elegant wit, his manly courage, and all the splendour of his astonishing eloquence. He was so born, and so gifted, that poetry, forensic skill, elegant literature, and all the highest attainments of human genius were within his reach; but he thought the noblest occupation of a man was to make other men happy and free; and in that straight line he went on for fifty years, without one side-look, without one yielding thought, without one motive in his heart which he might not have laid open to the view of God and man."-Rev. Sydney Smith. and English customs--or else rendered competent to legislate for herself, freely and independently, without the humiliating, unjust, and insulting provisions of Poyning's law,* which gave the Anglo-Irish a Parliament, without the power of action--a mere chamber for the registration of the decrees of his Majesty's Privy Council. Lord Mornington was in favour of the removal of the disabilities of his Catholic fellow-countrymen from the earliest period of his public life; and happy would it have been for this kingdom, had the eloquent counsels of this statesman prevailed in the legislature, at the time when he urged upon Parliament the settlement of the great Catholic question. The Earl of Mornington at once began to take an active part in the discussions in the Irish House of Peers; and at an early date we find him urging upon the Ministry the duty of economy in the administration of the government. On the 5th of February, 1783, King George the Third ordered letters patent to be passed the Great Seal of the kingdom of Ireland, for creating a society or brotherhood, to be called Knights of the Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, of which his Majesty, his heirs and successors, were constituted in perpetuity Sovereigns; and his Majesty's Lieutenants-General, and General Governors of Ireland, &c., Grand Masters. The letters patent, dated Whitehall, February 5th, appointed the following knights companions of the newlycreated order.† * 10 Henry VII. c. 23. "It hath been the custom of wise and beneficent princes, in all ages, to distinguish the virtue and loyalty of their subjects by marks of honour, to be a testimony of their dignity and their excellency in all qualifications which render them worthy of the favour of their Sovereign |