We have endeavoured in another work, not we hope without
something of the impartiality of the future, to sketch the
character and career of his successors. From his death to
1825, the political history of England is a history of great
events and little men. The rise of Mr Canning, long kept down
by the plebeian aristocracy of Mr Pitt as an adventurer, had
shaken parties to their centre. His rapid disappearance from
the scene left both whigs and tories in a state of
disorganization. The distinctive principles of these
connexions were now difficult to trace. That period of public
languor which intervenes between the breaking up of parties
and the formation of factions now transpired in England. An
exhausted sensualist on the throne, who only demanded from his
ministers repose, a voluptuous aristocracy, and a listless
people, were content, in the absence of all public conviction
and national passion, to consign the government of the country
to a great man, whose decision relieved the sovereign, whose
prejudices pleased the nobles, and whose achievements dazzled
the multitude.
The DUKE OF WELLINGTON brought to the post of first minister
immortal fame; a quality of success which would almost seem to
include all others.
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