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parative security and imperishable glory. . . If Lord Castlereagh had not broken through the usual routine of military pro- motion, and given Wellington the com- mand in Portugal, and supported him and urged the continuation of the Penin- sular war, when both were violently as- sailed by a violent opposition, and Govern- ment had only a slender majority, . . the campaign of Torres Vedras would have never encouraged the Russians to resist French invasion, and furnished a model on which their system of defence was to be framed. If he had not, in the same year, strenuously combated the re- commendation of the Bullion Committee, . . national bankruptcy would have prostrated Great Britain at the very crisis of the war. If he had not withstood the loud clamour against the Peninsular war, if he had failed in feeding Wellington with adequate supplies, the battle of Vittoria would never have caused Joseph's crown to drop from his head, or brought Austria at the decisive moment into the field, after the armistice of Pleswitz." On the 4th of April 1809, in consequence of disagreements between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning as to the conduct of the war, it was resolved, at a private meeting of the Cabinet, at which the former was not present, that his lordship should be called upon to resign. This resolution was not communicated to him until the 7th of September. The result was a duel between Castlereagh and Canning, in which the latter was wounded, and the resignation of both of them. As a member of the House of Commons, he continued to take the keenest interest in public affairs, and upon Lord Wellesley's resignation in February 18 12, he was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until his death. He is said soon to have commu- nicated the impress of his mind to the whole M.aistry, and to have gained an as- cendency over his colleagues in forwarding an active and energetic war policy against France — occupying in this, as in many other respects, the position formerly held by Pitt. In December 181 3, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary with the allied Sovereigns ; and although not actually a member of the Chatillon Con- gress of the following February, exercised, through his brother, a preponderating in- fluence upon its proceedings and in the settlement of Europe at the period of Napoleon's retirement to Elba. For these services he was decorated with the order of the Garter. Alison says that he ear- nestly sought to bring about the formation of a strong German Confederation, and, as 500
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a curb upon the ambition of Russia, the restoration of Poland as an independent monarchy. He also strenuously advo- cated the abolition of the slave trade. When Castlereagh made his first appear- ance in Parliament after his return from the Congress of Vienna, the whole house spontaneously rose, and received him with cheers. During the Hundred Days he was indefatigable in his exertions to keep together the Grand Alliance and prepare the means of resisting Napoleon, and after the battle of Waterloo he went to Paris to conduct in person the negotiations then pending for the settlement of the affairs of Europe. There he seconded Welling- ton's efforts to restrain the extreme mea- sures threatened by Blucher against the capital of France ; while, on the other hand, he had a large share in compelling the restoration of the works of art — the plunder of Europe — with which Paris had been enriched. After these events his attention was mainly directed to home politics, and the course he took was one of uncompromising opposition to all mea- sures of reform and all efforts to satisfy the political aspirations of the people. Not being a man to shun danger, or to shirk the responsibility of the policy he l)elieved right, he did not in any way seek to conciliate opposition. In 1821, on the death of his father, he became Marquis of Londonderry. The arduous nature of his duties in connexion with the congresses of Troppau, Laybach, and Verona, which assembled between 1820 and 1822, pressed very heavily upon a mind already overtaxed with public affairs, and produced a state of febrile excitement similar to what he had experienced after the passing of the Act of Union. The King and Wellington separately remarked a change coming over him. The family and his physician were put upon their guard, a watch was set upon him, and even his razors were removed from within reach. On the morning of 12th August 1822, after pass- ing a restless night, he went into his dressing-room, and desired his physician to be sent to him. Dr. Baukhead hurried in and found him standing facing the window, with his hands above his head, his throat cut and bleeding profusely. He had managed to conceal a penknife. Castlereagh threw his arms round the doctor's neck, and, saying in a feeble voice, " Bankhead, let me fall on your arm ; I have opened my neck ; it is all over" — sank on the ground and expired. He was then 53 years of age. No words can express the varied feelings of grief, horror, and delight that pervaded the
