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 CenturyWellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
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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
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century; Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852
It is really desirable that this question should be well understood in
this country. West Indian property is as much entitled to protection as
any other property which exists in Great Britain. Petitions are sent up
from all parts of England, praying for the immediate abolition of
slavery; and the execution of that measure is urged as a duty incumbent
upon us. Those persons who take a part in these proceedings, forget the
enormous amount of property belonging to his Majesty's subjects which is
involved in the question; and it is necessary to bring back their
attention to the consequences which will result, not only to the
colonists, but to the public, from the annihilation of that property, by
the prosecution of any of their fancies respecting the abolition of
slavery. In truth, it is absolutely impossible to derive any advantage
from that property except through the medium of slavery; and through
slavery alone can the individuals interested in the occupation of that
property be sustained in life.
_April_ 17, 1832.
_Speech explaining the Negociations, in May, 1832, for the formation of
a Tory Government on the principle of Moderate Reform._
My Lords, I have the honour to present to your Lordships a petition from
the inhabitant householders of Cambridge against the Reform Bill; and,
as this is the first time I have had occasion to address your Lordships
since I have been charged by his Majesty with a most important
commission, I conceive that your Lordships, or, at least, some of you,
may be desirous that I should avail myself of this, or some other early
opportunity, to explain the nature and termination of the transactions
in which I have been engaged; and I confess, my Lords, that having been
exposed to extreme misrepresentation, and having been vilified in the
most extraordinary manner, in respect of these transactions, by persons
in another place, who, with the exception of their conduct in this
instance, have some claim to be considered respectable, I am anxious to
take the first opportunity of stating to your Lordships, and the
country, the nature of the transactions in which I have been engaged,
and the grounds on which I have proceeded. Your Lordships will
recollect, that in the course of the last week--I think it was on
Wednesday--his Majesty's ministers informed your Lordships that they had
offered certain advice to his Majesty in reference to the important
subject of the Reform Bill; and, as his Majesty had not thought proper
to follow that advice, they had considered it their duty to tender their
resignations to his Majesty, and which resignations his Majesty was
pleased to accept. His Majesty was graciously pleased, on that day on
which he was so left entirely alone by his ministers, to send for a
noble friend of mine--a noble and learned Lord (Eldon), who had held a
high place, as well in the service as in the confidence of his Majesty,
to inquire whether, in his opinion, there were any means, and if so,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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