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themselves into a Royal Society." In 1 688 lie commanded a portion of the royal array stationed at Londonderry. But as he was a Protestant, Tirconnell, fearing his in- fluence in favour of William, sent him, at the outbreak of hostilities, on a diplomatic mission to France, secretly intimating that his detention would be desirable. He was accordingly thrown into the Bastile, and kept confined there until 1692. On his re- lease, he joined King William's army in Flanders, and lost his life at the battle of Steenkirk, 24th August 1692, aged about
OQ. 54 196 223
Stewart, Robert, Visconiit Castle- reagh, 2iid ]\Iarquis of Londonderry,
was born, probably at Mount-Stewart, in the County of Down, iSth June 1769. [His father, Robert Stewart, represented the County of Down in two Parliaments, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Stewart in 1 789, advanced to be Viscount Castle- reagh in 1795, Earl of Londonderry in 1796, and Marquis of Londonderry in 181 6.] Robert Stewart is said to have in- herited all his father's benevolence of heart and sweetness of disposition, united to a firmness and resolution of character which nothing could ruffle or intimidate. He re- ceived his early education at the Royal School of Armagh, and at seventeen entered St. John's College, Cambridge. He there devoted himself assiduously to study, taking good places at the half- yearly examinations ; but left after that in December, 1787, when he was first in the first class. In the two following years he made the grand tour, visiting the prin- cipal cities of Europe. Evincing an ardent desire to engage in politics, in 1 790 he was put in nomination by his father for a vacancy in the representation of Down, and was elected after a struggle of two months' duration, and an outlay of „£6o,ooo. This enormou" expense obliged his father to abandon the intention of building a family mansion, and to reside for the re- mainder of his life in " an old barn, with a few rooms added." In 1793 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Lon- donderry militia, and in the following year married the youngest daughter of the Earl of Buckingham, " a lady whose con- genial disposition, amiability, and talents made her his constant partner in every act of kindness or bountiful charity to which his generous nature incessantly prompted him." '^ His career in the House of Com- mons was successful from the first. He sided with the popular party, and advo- cated, among other liberal measures, that which gave Catholics the vote in 1 793. His opinions were so radical that he once pre- 496
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sided at a public dinner where the toast, " Our sovereign lord, the people," was drunk. Gradually, however, his views underwent a complete change, in common with those of many of his contemporaries, influenced, probably, by the excesses of the French Revolution — and from an ultra Liberal he became the most strenuous supporter of conservative British influence in Ireland. This change must have taken place very soon after the passing of the Irish Reform Bill, as in the same year ( 1 793) he advocated the suppression of the Volun- teers, and the establishment of an Irish militia upon the same footing as that of Great Britain. Writing to his grandfather, Earl Camden, at this period, he says : " My opinion has invariably been that the country could never have any security against sedition as long as volunteering was tolerated, nor its internal peace be firmly established till a militia took its place." His letters and papers, relating to home and foreign politics, even at this early stage in his career, evince extraordinary foresight and sagacity. On the advancement of his father in the peerage in October 1 795 , he succeeded to the courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh, by which he has been since known in history. In 1797 Lord Camden appointed him Keeper of the Privy Seal, and it was arranged that during Mr. Pelham's retirement in England, he should discharge the duties of Chief-Secretary of Ireland. He was thus at once introduced into active public life, from which he never withdrew till his dying hour. Pelham resigned in April 1799, from a conscien- tious objection to any further concession to the Catholics, and on the recommenda- tion of Lord Corn wallis, the rule theretofore observed, that the Chief-Secretary should be an Englishman, was broken through, and Lord Castlereagh was given the office. From the time of his appointment as Lord-Keeper, however, he had discharged the whole duties of Secretary, and they were of a most arduous kind — covering the period of the Insurrection. Whilst he ad- vocated the sternest measures of suppres- sion, his private despatches clear his character from the charge of viudictiveness of motive. The acerbity of Irish parties during the struggle, the extent of dis- afi'ection, and the narrow escape the Em- pire had of dismemberment, confirmed Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh in the belief that some change in the govern- ment of the country was absolutely necessary, and they both threw themselves with the utmost energy into Pitt's project of a union between Ireland and Great Britain. The following extracts from
