From this period his political career may be said to begin. When Mr. Canning received the commands of George IV. to form an administration, Wellington, with six other members of the Liverpool administration (including lord Eldon and Peel), resigned office. In the explanation which he gave, he emphatically denied that he had enter tained the ambition of himself filling the post of first-minister; and said he felt his inca pacity for such an office so strongly that he should have been " mad " if he had coveted it. In A ug., 1827, after Mr. Canning's death, he again accepted the command of the army, which he resigned on being called upon by George IV. (Jan. 8, 1828), to form an administration. Of strong tory polities, he was, nevertheless, the first minister to cede to the growing popular power. The test and corporation acts were repealed, and the i removal of the Catholic disabilities was the first measure proposed by Wellington in the following session, upon the ground of the formidable attitude of the people of Ireland and the danger of civil war. This measure involved him in a bloodless dire] with the earl of Winclielsea. The French revolution of 1830 appears to have influenced him in i making a firm stand against reform in parliament, in the same proportion that it raised the demands of the people; and when the struggle of continental Europe to emancipate itself from arbitrary government strengthened the popular cry for "parliamentary reform," he chose the earliest moment to declare the unalterable perfection of the rep resentative system of the country, and the determination of his government to resist all measures of parliamentary reform. His unpopularity became excessive; and, anticipa ting a defeat in the house of commons, on Mr. Brougham's proposition for reform in par liament, Wellington resigned office, and w as succeeded by earl Gtey. He had meanwhile become lord-warden of the Cinque ports. Under the administration of earl Grey, Wel lington held no office. He strenuously opposed the reform bill, and a London mob broke the windows of Apsley house, and hooted and pelted him in the streets. In Jan., 1834, he was elected chancellor of the university of Oxford. Upon the enforced resig nation of lord Melbourne, in Nov., 1834, he was sent for by William IV. He declined _ to take the premiership, and was intrusted by the king with the whole charge of the government, and the seals of the three secretaries of state, until sir R. Peel could arrive from Rome. Peel constructed a conservative government, in which Wellington took the office of foreign secretary. In April Peel resigned, and henceforward Wellington ceased to take a prominent share in the civil government of the country. He gave a generous welcome to Soult, who represented France at the coronation of queen Victoria, and war received with great cordiality by the people on this occasion. In Aug., 1839, a grand banquet was given to him at Dover, as lord-warden of the Cinque ports, on which occa 'ion lord Brougham proposed his health in a brilliant eulogium. In 1841 he accepted a seat in the cabinet of sir It. Peel without office. In 1842 the queen visited hint at Wal ser castle, and in the same year he was re-appointed to the command of the forces. In 1845 he doubted the policy of repealing the corn laws; but in conformity with his usual practice of consideriug "how the queen's government was to be carried on," he deter mined to stand by sir It. Peel in his attempt to abolish them. Wellington not merely consented to remain in the cabinet, but accepted the higher office of president of the council in lien of the post of lord privy seal. When the (till came up to the lords, Wel lington, with great emotion and earnestness, warned the peers not to reject the bill, and never to separate themselves from both the crown and the house of commons. His speech made a great impression, and the bill passed a second reading by a considerable majority. He retired with the Peel government in July, 1840. After this event, lie may
be said to have withdrawn from political strife, nor is it to be denied that his share in the repeal of the corn laws cast a halo of popularity around the remainder of his life. In 1848 he called attention to the unsatisfactory state of the national defenses in a letter to sir J. 13urgoyne. As commander-in-chief he directed great preparations to be made to prevent a Chartist outbreak on the 10th of April. His last speech in the house of lords was delivered in support of the militia bill, when he declared that England had been carrying on war in all parts of the world with an insufficient peace establishment. On Sept. 14. 1852, he was seized at Walmer castle with an epileptic fit, became speechless, and died the same afternoon. His remains were honored by a public funeral. The body, after lying in state at Chelsea hospital, was removed to the horse ruards; and, on the morning of Nov. 18, was borne through the streets of London to St. Paul's cathedral, where it rests by the side of that of lord Nelson. The funeral pageant was witnessed by a countless multitude. His dispatches, published by col. Garwood, in 12 vols., are the proudest monument of his glory; they exhibit him as a commander who overciune count less ditlim ties by honesty, sagacity, singleness and constancy of purpose, and devotion to duty. Throughont his long career he appears the same honorable and upright maim,, devoted the service of his sovereign and country, and just and considerate to all those who serve( under him. As a general lie was cautious, prudent, and careful of the lives of his men; but when safety lay in daring, as at the battle of Assaye (q.v.), be could be daring in the extreme. He enjoyed an iron constitution, and was not more remarkable for his personal intrepidity than for his moral courage. The union of these obtained for him the appellation of the "iron duke," by which he was affectionately known in his later years. His parliamentary oratory was plain, and to the point. Ife spoke without fluency or art, yet his strong sense and practical sagacious judgment gave him great weight with his brother-peers. His tastes were aristocratic; and his aids de-camp and favorite generals were almost all men of family and high connections. Altogether, he was the very type and model of an Englishman; and in the general order issued by the quee to the army he was characterized as t the greatest commander whom England ever saw.' He married, in 1800, the second d ughter of the third earl of Long ford, and by w to died in 1831) he left two sous—Arthu• Richard, the second duke (who also inherited the earldom of Mornington), and Charles, deceased, whose son— Henry Wellesley—is heir-presumptive to the title.
COI. Gurwood's Dispatches of the Duke of Wellington, 12 vols.; Gurwood's General Orders of Duke of Wellington, 1809-18; Napler's IIistorp of the Peninsular War; Alison's History of Europe; Thibaudeau, Histoire de l'Empire; Tillers, Histoire de l'Empire; niat quis of Londonderry's Narrative of the Peninsular War, 1808-13; Gleig's Life of Arthur Duke of Wellington; I3ourrienne's Memoir:8 stir Napoleon; Las Casts, Memorial de Sic: Merle; La Vie do Wellington, by Brialmont; Speeches in Parliament of Duke if ton; Sir ft Peel's Memoirs, by his literary trustees; Supplementary Dispatches and Mena randa of Field-marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington, edited by ' his son, the duke of Wellington, in 14 volumes, 1858-75; also, hi continuation of above, Dispatches, Correspondence, and Memoranda of Held-marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington, in six vol tunes, 1807-77. An official record of the thoughts and acts of the emperor was issued in Paris, with the sanction of Napoleon 1II., under the title Corre8pondance de Napoleon I.