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Wellesley wreck of the Turkish empire. He sought to undo the effect of this separate negotiation, to make Greece the creation of Europe, not of Russia, to restrict the limits of what he believed would be a 'focus of revolution,' and, above all, not to play into the hands of Russia by weakening Turkey (Desp. 10 Oct. and 15 Dec. 1829; Speeches, 12 Feb. 1830). His solicitude on this last point was inherited by some of those who were most opposed to him at the time, especially Palmerston and Stratford Canning.

George IV died on 26 June, and parliament was dissolved on 24 July. Two days afterwards the July revolution began in Paris, and on 7 Aug. Louis-Philippe was proclaimed king of the French. Wellington had thought Polignac an able man, but he had had nothing to do with the choice of him as minister, as was falsely reported (Desp. 26 Aug.;, i. 275; , ii. 94), and he had strongly objected to the expedition to Algiers. The British government promptly recognised Louis-Philippe, and when the outbreak at Paris was followed by one at Brussels, the first step in the separation of Holland and Belgium, Wellington fell in with the French proposition that England and France should act in concert in tendering advice to the king of the Netherlands. It seemed to him to offer the best chance of escaping war, but he strongly objected to the subsequent development of this policy of joint action (Desp. 3 Sept. and 3 Oct. 1829; Speeches, 26 Jan. and 16 March 1832).

The current of liberalism at home was quickened by its successes abroad, and a large proportion of the members of the new parliament were pledged to retrenchment and reform. Attempts had been made to strengthen the government, especially in the commons, and Wellington offered to retire, to give Peel a free hand in this respect. In the autumn he made overtures to some of the Canningites. Huskisson was killed at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway on 15 Sept. 1830; the accident took place a few moments after he had been in conversation with Wellington. Lamb (who had become Lord Melbourne) and Palmerston declined to join individually; but they and others were willing to join a reconstituted ministry, on the basis of moderate reform, from which Peel and other members of the government were not averse (, i. 211;, ii. 163, 175). But Wellington was not prepared for a second surrender, and when parliament met in November he took the earliest opportunity of declaring himself on this question. He affirmed that the existing system of representation had and deserved the confidence of the country, that no better legislature could be devised, and that as long as, he held office he should oppose any measure of reform (Speeches, 2 Nov. 1830). To a friend who found fault with this uncompromising attitude, he replied: 'I feel no, strength excepting in my character for plain, manly dealing.' He was convinced that the 'moderate reformers' had no firm footing, and that if disfranchisement were once admitted, without proved delinquency, it would be pushed to lengths which would rob the upper classes' of the political influence which they derive from their property, and possibly eventually of the property itself' (Desp. 6 Nov. and 26 Dec. 1830, 14 March 1831). He had no private interest in the matter; 'I have no borough influence to lose, and I hate the whole concern too much to think, of endeavouring to gain any' (ib. 11 April).

Wellington's declaration caused great excitement both in and out of parliament. The funds fell four per cent, next morning, and he was unsparingly denounced (see, ii. 53, 80). The king and ministers were to have dined with the lord mayor on the 9th, but the unpopularity of the government and of Peel's newly formed police made a riot so likely that the royal visit to the city was postponed (Speeches, 8 and 11 Nov.) On the 15th the government was beaten on the civil list and resigned.

The Grey administration was formed, and on 1 March 1831 a drastic reform bill was brought in by Lord John Russell [q. v.] Throughout the year of conflict which followed, Wellington did his utmost to bring about the defeat of a measure which he believed would be the ruin of the country, and to knit together what now began to call itself the conservative party (Desp. 30 May and 15 July; Speeches, 28 March and 4 Oct. 1831). He made light of the threats of mob violence or insurrection: 'I am much more apprehensive of the lingering, but more certain, mischief of revolutionary legislation' (Desp. 27 Oct.) But when he learnt that the Birmingham political union was procuring arms, he wrote to the king, and his letter called forth the proclamation of 22 Nov. He hoped that this proclamation would separate the government from the radicals, and owing to this hope he did not discourage the negotiations which were then beginning between the 'waverers' and the government, though he would be no party to them himself. But he was soon convinced that no substantial concessions would be made, and a week before the second reading of the third Reform Bill was carried in the