Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/227

 gentlemen held in Dublin on 7 Jan. 1822, O'Connell pronounced a high eulogium upon him, and moved an address of congratulation upon his appointment, which was seconded by Richard Lalor Sheil [q. v.] But, notwithstanding these demonstrations, the difficulties of the situation were very great and speedily became manifest. The country was torn to pieces by faction. It was honeycombed by secret societies. The state of things was thus described on 7 Feb. 1822 by John Grattan, the son of the Irish patriot, Henry Grattan: ‘Oaths were of little obligation, and human life of no value.’ On the one hand ribbonmen and whiteboys defied the law and committed outrages of the most fiendish nature. On the other hand the orangemen, and those who sympathised with them, opposed all attempts at conciliation, and took an early opportunity of insulting the man who strove to promote a conciliatory policy and equal justice. A few months after his arrival in Dublin Wellesley had to deal with the question of allowing the decoration of the statue of William III, a ceremony which, being very distasteful to the Roman catholics, was invariably attended by disturbances. The king, George IV, had advised that it should be discountenanced. O'Connell, through the press, had urged Wellesley to prohibit it. Wellesley deemed it preferable to act through the civic authority, and accordingly the lord mayor, at his request, forbade the decoration of the statue. A riot ensued, and troops had to be called out to restore order. In the following month Wellesley was insulted on the occasion of his attending the theatre in state, and a quart bottle was thrown at his head and narrowly missed him. This outrage was committed not by whiteboys or ribbonmen, but by the followers of those who posed as the party of order; and when Wellesley prosecuted for a treasonable conspiracy the perpetrators of the outrage the Dublin grand jury threw out the bill, and a vote of censure on the prosecution moved in the House of Commons was rejected not without difficulty. Wellesley held his office until after the death of Canning, who had given an active support to his policy. He resigned in 1828, when his brother the Duke of Wellington became prime minister, pledged to a policy of distinct protestant ascendancy. During his tenure of office he did excellent service. Immediately after his arrival he took measures to suppress the whiteboy insurrection, which was then raging, obtaining for this purpose the re-enactment of the Insurrection Act and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. He reorganised the police. He reformed the magistracy, removing from the bench those members of it who were notorious for the bitterness of their party prejudices. When in 1822, through scarcity of food, owing partly to the disturbed state of the country and partly to natural causes, a considerable number of the poorest members of the community were threatened with starvation, he organised an effective system of relief, obtaining a grant of 300,000l. from the government, and raising public subscriptions amounting to 350,000l. from England, and to 150,000l. in Ireland, to which he contributed 500l. out of his private purse. He also introduced and passed a bill providing for composition for tithes, which at first was attended with some success. He promoted increased facilities for commercial intercourse, and did everything in his power to mitigate the hostility which existed between the protestant and Roman catholic sections of the community. His view was that ‘any adjustment would be very imperfect which, instead of extinguishing discontent, only transferred it from the catholic to the protestant,’ and that the great purpose ‘of securing the peace of the empire would be answered, not by giving a triumph to any one party, but by reconciling all’ (, Memoirs of Richard, Marquis Wellesley, iii. 339, 340). His course was beset with difficulties. He had to contend not only with the violence of the opposing factions in Ireland, but with opposing views as well in the cabinet in London as among the officials who had been appointed to serve with him in carrying on the local government. The chief secretary, Henry Goulburn [q. v.], was a pronounced opponent of the catholic claims. Indeed he was said to have belonged at one time to the Orange Society. Peel, the home secretary in London, was a pronounced anti-catholic, so was Sir David Baird, the commander of the forces in Ireland. Indeed, the views entertained by the latter were so strong that notwithstanding the high opinion which Wellesley entertained of his services at Seringapatam, where Baird commanded the assault upon that fortress, he found it necessary to get another commander of the forces in the person of Sir Samuel Auchmuty [q. v.] appointed in his room. When Wellesley assumed the government the office of attorney-general was held by William Saurin [q. v.], a bigoted anti-catholic. His bigotry was so intense that Wellesley deemed it his duty to remove him also, and in January 1822 appointed William Conyngham Plunket (afterwards Baron Plunket) [q. v.] in his place. A few months later, Charles Kendal Bushe [q. v.], the solicitor-general, a supporter of catholic