Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 2 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess CharlotteHamilton, Anne, Lady
History
Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 2 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte
Hamilton, Anne, Lady
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821; George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820 -- Relations with courts and courtiers; George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830 -- Relations with courts and courtiers; Great Britain -- Court and courtiers -- History -- 18th ce
His lordship was born on the 18th of June, 1769, and consequently died
in the 53rd year of his age. He commenced his career, like his patron,
Mr. Pitt, as the advocate of parliamentary reform; and, also like that
apostate minister, Lord Londonderry abandoned his early patriotic
pledges and principles for the emoluments of office, which he first
entered in 1797, as keeper of the privy seal, and, shortly after, one
of the lords of the treasury, of Ireland. In the following year, he
became secretary to the lord lieutenant. Honours and places were now
lavishly heaped upon him. In 1802, his lordship received the appointment
of the Board of Controul, and, in 1805, was raised to the high and
responsible office of minister of war! On the death of Mr. Pitt in 1806,
his lordship was obliged to resign, with all the other "clerks in
office," as the _débris_ of Mr. Pitt's cabinet were called. On the
resignation of the Grey and Grenville administration, in 1807, he
resumed his former situation of minister of war, in which he continued
till the ill-starred Walcheren expedition and his duel with Mr. Canning
drove him from office, scorned and ridiculed by the whole of Europe. The
year 1809 gave his lordship an opportunity of shewing how much he
admired the existing abuses in church and state; for, on an
investigation taking place into the Duke of York's shameful neglect of
duty, as commander-in-chief, this year, the noble marquis was peculiarly
active in his defence, and circulated a considerable sum of money in
bribing those who were likely to appear as witnesses against the royal
libertine. On the assassination of Mr. Perceval, in 1811, his lordship
was made foreign minister, in which situation he continued till his
death. Holding so high an office at a time when our foreign exertions
were the most extensive and important, and acting as our negotiator when
Europe might have been composed and re-adjusted by our councils, he had
opportunities, which few ministers have enjoyed, of benefitting his
country and the whole human race. But how did he employ these rare
opportunities? Alas! his name is only to be found in treaties and
conventions for clipping the boundaries, impairing the rights, or
annihilating the existence of independent states; and he gloried in the
opportunity of stifling liberty in all the lesser states of Europe. Even
the colonial and commercial interests of Great Britain herself were
bartered away for snuff boxes and the smiles of Continental despots! If,
however, there is one action more than another calculated to brand the
name of Castlereagh with immortal infamy, it is the mean, tyrannical,
and inglorious conduct which he exercised towards the greatest man that
ever reigned over a free and enlightened people--the Emperor NAPOLEON!
To view the career of this truly illustrious man is to look back upon
the course of a blazing star, that, drawing its fiery arch over the
concave of heaven, fixes the admiring attention of the sublunary world,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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