The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851: Edited, with Extracts from the Diary of the LatterWellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
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The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851: Edited, with Extracts from the Diary of the Latter
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852 -- Correspondence
The Duke of Wellington presents his Compliments to Miss J. The
Duke wrote an answer to Miss J. as soon as he received her Letter
complaining of Disrespect in His having been in the habit of
signing the Initials of His Name to the Letters which he had
written to her; and in having sealed a letter addressed to her
and franked by the Duke, with a plain seal.
If Miss J. had waited till she would receive the answer to a
letter which she wrote on Tuesday she might have been satisfied
with the reasons of the Duke for the Marks of Disrespect of which
Miss J. complained.
The Duke has to add that since his return here, he has found upon
His Table, a plain seal which it is probable was used by
accident. He apologizes for having used it. At the same time he
assures Miss J. that he could not have intended to be
disrespectful.
The Duke requests that Miss J. will be so kind as to have a
parcel made of the Letters from the Duke; that she will direct it
to Him in Piccadilly; and have it booked at Hampstead and sent by
any Coach to London.
Miss J. resolved to lose no time in returning the Duke's letters, and
went so far as to put them up in a parcel preparatory to sending them
off by coach. She thus comments:--
"In returning the parcel I send away 60 letters, received in less
than 12 months.
"_Saturday, Sept. 19, 1835._ I have been to the Post Office with my
last letter to the Duke and leave the result thereof with the Lord,
'Whose ways are in the deep waters and whose footsteps are
unknown'. I have acknowledged myself thankful for the strength
still imparted--thus fulfilling that gracious promise made to me
when on my knees before I came to this place 'I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee.' I have just risen from my knees, after
spreading the Duke's letters before the Lord, beseeching Him to do
under present circumstances whatever seemeth good in His sight for
Christ's sake. And I feel, as a prayer-hearing God He will--causing
even this unkindness to work together for good, since 'His ways are
not our ways' but as high above such as the heavens are above the
earth--That He moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,
who can doubt that watches His divine finger in this great work?
And since His purposes must stand, all I have to say is, Let them
be whatever they may, I desire His Holy Will alone to be done!
"My feelings will not allow me to copy this letter of the Duke's;
it is so unkind; but as those words were powerfully applied at the
commencement of my correspondence, 'The haughtiness of man shall be
brought low etc. and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.'"
Apparently it was not the will of "The Lord" that the letters should be
returned, for Providence interposed in the shape of Miss J.'s friend,
Mrs. L. Miss J. writes:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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