After the departure of the army of occupation, and the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the Duke of Wellington quitted Paris; his military career was at an end, and his political life may be said to have just begun: having been raised to a seat in the House of Peers,[37] with the rank of duke, in the enjoyment of an immense fortune, and decorated with the stars of every order of knighthood in Europe, he could hardly fail of possessing a considerable degree of influence. But the order of things was now changed in England: during the long wars against the French Revolution and Empire, the English had shewn extreme energy, and had made great and very judicious use of their powerful means, thus enabling the Tories to overcome all the difficulties presented by their situation; they were successful because they were strongly opposed to all revolutionary principles, and firmly resolved to carry out the war. The people had then no time to think of internal dissensions, they were breathlessly engaged in incessantly recurring struggles, and always hoping for victory; but now that the war was at an end, passions were reawakened, and Lord Castlereagh saw his power gradually declining, while that of the Whigs and Radicals was progressively increasing. [37] He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.--_Editor._ The Duke of Wellington was a Tory upon principle and family precedent; he took his seat in the House of Peers among the Conservatives; and he and Lord Aberdeen formed the centre of the Tory benches that supported Lord Castlereagh's ministry. He was not an eloquent speaker, but he expressed himself with great clearness and precision; and, without being a man of a very enlarged mind, he was gifted with an instinctive good sense, that enabled him to form an accurate judgment of the generality of questions; while, at the same time, he was perfectly _au fait_ of the political occurrences and situations of Europe, for he had taken a part in too many affairs of importance not to have retained a deep impression of them. In short, the Duke of Wellington, as a statesman, was less distinguished for the _great_ than for the _good_ things he had done. His popularity was now on the decline; the time had passed away when his carriage was surrounded by crowds of people on his return to England after his campaigns, for the Hero of Waterloo was too staunch a Tory to be a favourite with the populace. The queen's trial had excited public opinion in the highest degree, and every thing was progressing rapidly towards reform.