Volume I Part 8 (1/2)

[Page Head: DUKE OF YORK'S DISLIKE TO WELLINGTON]

The last time I ith him he told ton's conduct at the siege of Seringapatam, of Lord Harris's reluctance to entrust the co at the place of rendezvous the first night, of Lord Harris's anger and the difficulty hich he was brought to consent to his being enally Ast various otheraway a perfect recollection, fro, and particularly his inaccuracy as to dates, he told me (with many recommendations to secrecy) that which immediately explained to me the dislike which he certainly bears to the Duke and (which I did not know before) to Lord Londonderry He said that after the retreat of our army under Sir J Moore from Spain (he was not quite certain hih a reference to the history of that period will probably elucidate the matter) Lord L sent for him, and communicated to him that it was the intention of Governal, and to confer the command of it upon him He replied that if called upon he should consider it his duty to serve, but he should never solicit any co more passed at that tiot hold of this project and violently attacked the Govern him out He does not appear to have knohat intere in the deterard to himself He says that Lord Chatham, as much attached to him, and was then a Cabinet Minister, came to him one day, and told him he was betrayed, and that he was sacrificed to make way for Sir A Wellesley; that soon after this Lord L sent for him, and said that he was extreainst his appointment to the command of the army that it was impossible for Government to confer it upon him Soon after this the expedition was formed, and Sir A Wellesley was appointed to the command This was the Duke's own version of the transaction

1823

[Page Head: GEORGE THE THIRD'S WILL]

So's ere toldto Oatlands to shoot on Wednesday, the 8th of January, 1823 The King was empowered by Act of Parliament to make a will about the year 1766 In 1770 he made a will, by which he left all he had to the Queen for her life, Buckingham House to the Duke of Clarence, some property to the Duke of Kent, and to the Duke of York his second best George and so remembrance He considered the Duke of York provided for by the Bishopric of Osnaburgh Of this will three copies were land, one in Hanover, and the other it was believed the King kept himself He afterwards resolved to cancel this will, and two of the copies of it were destroyed, the third still existing (I could not otten--or which copy it was that survived) In 1810 the King made another will, but for various reasons he always put off signing it, once or twice because he wished to n it, but when the Chancellor brought it one of the witnesses was absent, and the signature was again postponed Other days were afterwards fixed for this purpose, but before the signature was affixed the King was taken ill, and consequently the will never was signed

After the death of the King the only good will, therefore, was his original will of 1770, which was produced and read in the presence of the King, the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Lord Liverpool, the Duke of York, Adair, the King's solicitor (Spyer his naham House, which had been left to the Duke of Clarence, had been twice sold; the Queen and the Duke of Kent were dead; the only legatee, therefore, was the Duke of York Now arose a difficulty--whether the property of the late King de or to the Crown The Chancellor said that the only person who had anything to say to the as the Duke of York; but the Duke and the King differed with regard to the right of inheritance, and the Duke, wishi+ng to avoid any dispute or discussion on the subject, begged to wash his hands of the whole 's property devolves upon him personally, and not upon the Crown, and he has consequently appropriated to himself the whole of the money and jewels The money did not amount to more than 120,000

So touchy is he about pecuniary matters that his Ministers have never dared to reht so to act The consequence is that he has spent the money, and has taken to himself the jewels as his own private property The Duke thinks that he has no right thus to appropriate their father's property, but that it belongs to the Crown The King has acted in a like ard to the Queen's [Charlotte's] jewels She possessed a great quantity, soe, and the rest she had received in presents at different tiiven her she conceived to belong to the Crown, and left thehters The King has also appropriated the Queen's [Caroline's] jewels to himself, and conceives that they are his undoubted private property The Duke thinks that the Ministers ought to have taken the opportunity of the coronation, when a neas to be provided, to state to hiest that they should be converted to that purpose This, however, they dared not do, and so thethe library collected by the late King, but this he was obliged to abandon, for the Ministers and the Royal Family must have interfered to oppose so scandalous a transaction It was therefore presented to the British Museue Head: THE CONGRESS OF VERONA]

January 25th, 1823 {p065}

I caton last Wednesday, and he was very coress, and told lad to recollect

After the two treaties of Paris and Vienna the Allied Powers agreed to ether any ht arise, and to settle and discuss any differences whichlaid down that the affairs of no Power should be discussed without that Power being invited to the deliberation The affairs of Naples were the first that attracted their attention Austria complained that the ra up at Naples tended to disturb and revolutionise the Italian possessions, and demanded the consent of the Allied Powers that she should abate the nuisance The cause was deemed sufficient to justify her interference, and the events follohich are known The Congress at Verona was asse into consideration the affairs of Italy, and for discussing the propriety of relieving Naples from the burden of that military force which had beenthe revolutionary spirit At this Congress France came forward and complained that the revolution which had taken place in Spain menaced her internal tranquillity, and deress as to the measures she should adopt In this it will be observed that the rule of every Power being called upon to attend a deliberation in which its affairs were to be discussed was dispensed with Austria, Russia, and Prussia immediately replied that if she considered the Spanish revolution to be dangerous to her repose, she would be justified in stifling that revolution by force of arland refused to give any answer to the deainst Spain To this no ansas given The part then taken by the Duke was to deprecate hostilities, both publicly as Plenipotentiary of England and privately in the various conversations which he had with the Eest advocate forith Spain

The iht assu with their affairs, for they have upon several occasions attempted to foment the troubles which either existed or threatened to appear both in Naples and Piedmont; and the Emperor of Russia told the Duke that he had detected the Spanish Minister at St Petersburg in an attempt to corrupt his soldiers at the time of the mutiny of the Guards, and that he had consequently sent him out of the country

The Duke replied that if the Eainst Spain, he would be fully justified in declaring war against her, and that he would advise him to do so if he couldthree years to elapse without ht to corievance against Spain at a tirounds The Duke said that the Emperor of Russia once talked to hi an arht do so The Duke said that the French Government would never allow it, when he said he could send them by sea The Duke told hiuments of the Emperor of Russia was this: that constituted as their Governments were (military Governments) it was impossible for them to tolerate consistently with their own security any revolution which originated in e Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON ON FRENCH INTERVENTION]

After the Congress the Duke returned to Paris, and found that not only Monsieur de Villele was averse to war, but that the King, Monsieur, and the Duke and duchess of Angouleme were equally disinclined to commence hostilities His endeavours have been incessantly directed to confirm their pacific dispositions, and to induce the Spanish Governe and conduct I asked hi powers in France upon what the question now turned, and why all idea of as not abandoned, since both parties were pacifically inclined He said[17] that France had been led into a dilemma by a series of erroneousheld such lofty language, and having made such a show of military preparation, her difficulty was how to retract and retrace her steps with honour and credit to herself; that she was a nation whose character depended in great measure upon her race upon her to have hty preparations and assu any action commensurate with the expectations she had raised He said that appearances certainly became more warlike, but that he still hoped peace would be maintained; that if war ensued it would be entered into contrary to the interests and inclinations of all the parties concerned, and that it would have been brought about by a succession of circumstances over which they had no control; that it was ith of ti ed, which must inevitably end in a state of warfare and hostility; that the recall of the French Minister from Madrid would contribute to this result, for both in the Cortes and the Andalusian Junta expressions would be uttered offensive to the French Government, and misrepresentations would bethe parties and of widening the breach; and that there being no agent of France at Madrid to furnish explanations and destroy the effect of the misrepresentations, there would be a constant correspondence between Madrid and Paris, in which vent would be given to all the angry feelings that ever existed[18] The Duke advised that no answer should be given to the notes of the three Powers, nor to that of the French Minister Had the Spanish Government declined to take notice of the notes, they would have i the next steps

However, he admitted that the answer to the French note was very moderate There is no statesman in Spain There are souelles Torreno is the ablest man, but he has injured his character by peculation

The state of Spain is such that the reatest share of influence Portugal is in a state of greater intellectual iuese there are some otten But Spain is not only deficient in men of education and talent to direct her councils, but she has no army, and not one officer of capacity Not one was fornorance that they would learn nothing fro appears to ly false, and I do not understand a Govern compelled to adopt measures adverse to her inclinations and injurious to her interests by circuorous statesh such a web as that in which the French politics are entangled, and I cannot comprehend how the honour of a nation is to be supported by an obstinate adherence to measures which she had been led incautiously to adopt, and which were afterwards found to militate with her true interests If the councils of France were directed by a Minister of a vigorous and independent character--if such a Minister were to come forward and state frankly to Spain, and announce to all Europe, that he would not invade the liberty and the rights of Spain, and instantly put a stop to all hostile preparations, finding argunani when soression is to be perpetrated, would not such a man acquire a more solid reputation than he who sacrifices to some punctilio the interests of his own country and the happiness and repose of ht be the success hich his efforts should be crowned?--[CCG]

[18] These notes were addressed by the respective Courts to their own Ministers at Madrid The Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs need not have taken any notice of the to the forms of diplomatic communication--[CCG]

Upon one occasion only the Spaniards gained a victory, the day on which St Sebastian was stormed Soult attacked a Spanish corps commanded by General Freyre When the Duke was informed of the attack he hastened to the scene of action and placed two British divisions in reserve, to support the Spaniards, but did not allow the away as fast as they could He asked the off the wounded He iates of Irun, to which they were flying, to be shut against them, and sent to Freyre to desire he would rally his men This was done, and they sustained the attack of the French; but General Freyre sent to the Duke to beg he would let his divisions support hier The Duke said to Freyre's aide-de-caained the victory, and he had lass, and you will see the French are retreating' This was the case, for a violent storm of rain had occurred, and the French, who had crossed a river, finding that it began to swell, and that their bridges were in danger of being carried away, had begun to retreat The Spaniards maintained their position, but the Duke said he believed they owed it to the storm more than to their own resolution

The Duke wrote to Alava soo (three years, I think) and desired hi from him, now that he had accepted the Constitution, to throw himself upon his Ministers He has not written to Alava, nor Alava to him, for three years, because he knows that all letters are opened and read He says the King of Spain is not clever, but cunning; his ood He is in correspondence with the Allied Sovereigns, and is playing false

He has the h his household is composed of men friendly to the revolution, there is no restraint upon his person, and he sees whomsoever he pleases

In case of war the French would obtain complete success He conceives their object would be to obtain possession of the person of the King, to overthrow the Constitution, establish the King upon the throne with a Constitution perhaps similar to the French Charte, and to establish an ars till he should be able to fore Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S RECOLLECTIONS]

The Duke saw the King of France thile he was in Paris He wastwelve or fourteen years

The second time he was in better health and spirits than the first time Madame du Cayla sent to the Duke to ask him to call upon her; he went twice and she was not at horette beaucoup de n'avoir pas eu le plaisir de vous voir' The courtiers told hi and saw her She is a fine wo every Wednesday; he writes notes and verses to her, and he has given her a great deal of iven her a _terre_ near St Denis which is valued at 1,500,000 francs The King likes M de Villele[19] exceedingly He has occasionally talked to the Duke of Bonaparte One day, when they were standing together at the hich looks upon the garden of the Tuileries, he said, 'One day Bonaparte was standing here with ----, and he said, pointing to the Chamber of Deputies, ”Vous voyez ce batiment la: si je les deiven theo on very ith it”'