OF WELLINGTON brought to the post of first minister immortal
fame; a quality of success which would almost seem to include all
others. His public knowledge was such as might be expected from one
whose conduct already formed an important portion of the history of his
country. He had a personal and intimate acquaintance with the sovereigns
and chief statesmen of Europe, a kind of information in which English
ministers have generally been deficient, but without which the
management of our external affairs must at the best be haphazard. He
possessed administrative talents of the highest order.

The tone of the age, the temper of the country, the great qualities
and the high character of the minister, indicated a long and prosperous
administration. The only individual in his cabinet who, from a
combination of circumstances rather than from any intellectual supremacy
over his colleagues, was competent to be his rival, was content to be
his successor. In his most aspiring moments, Mr Peel in all probability
aimed at no higher reach; and with youth and the leadership of the House
of Commons, one has no reason to be surprised at his moderation.
The conviction that the duke's government would only cease with the
termination of his public career was so general, that the moment he was
installed in office, the whigs smiled on him; political conciliation
became the slang of the day, and the fusion of parties the babble of
clubs and the tattle of boudoirs.

How comes it then that so great a man, in so great a position, should
have so signally failed? Should have broken up his government, wrecked
his party, and so completely annihilated his political position, that,
even with his historical reputation to sustain him, he can since only
re-appear in the councils of his sovereign in a subordinate, not to say
equivocal, character?

With all those great qualities which will secure him a place in our
history not perhaps inferior even to Marlborough, the Duke of Wellington
has one deficiency which has been the stumbling-block of his civil
career. Bishop Burnet, in speculating on the extraordinary influence of
Lord Shaftesbury, and accounting how a statesman, so inconsistent in
his conduct and so false to his confederates, should have so powerfully
controlled his country, observes, "HIS STRENGTH LAY IN HIS KNOWLEDGE OF
ENGLAND."

Now that is exactly the kind of knowledge which the Duke of Wellington
never possessed.

When the king, fi