572

PUBLIC JOY IN ENGLAND-THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS.

[1814.

thought after Waterloo, that these events had "put back the clock of the world six degrees." * A few, even more extreme in their views, said, with sir Robert Wilson, "The good old cause, as it is called, triumphs. Its insignia of victory are the fetters of tyranny and superstition. The power of Bonaparte could, at the farthest, not have continued more than thirty years. Death assured the termination of his iron rule at that period." + The question is, were not the unreflecting multitude right? They shouted, at the top of their voices, when Louis the Eighteenth made his solemn entry into London, previous to his departure for France on the 23rd of April, when the Prince Regent accompanied him to Dover. They shouted with redoubled ardour on the 7th of June, when the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia had arrived in the capital, endeavouring to be private, but hearing from their residences the tumultuous greetings of a people who had never been accustomed to restrain their feelings. The first public assemblage to which they went was Ascot Races. They saw the English in their holiday garb, and they thought that there was no poverty in the land. They had day's respite from ceremonial. Then came the grandeur. Degrees conferred at Oxford, in which Blücher was included-a speech in Latin, and recitations in Greek. Civic banquets in London followed; then grand reviews; and after three weeks of feasting and uproar, a return to the continent, to see how the Peace of Paris was to be best worked for their individual advantage. Dumourier, who had seen the beginning of this crisis, but had not quite seen the end, wrote to Wilberforce, "We must wait till the bustle is past to behold men wise, and to hear them speak reasonably." There was one public demonstration which the coldest reasoning could not despise. The duke of Wellington landed at Dover on the 28th of June, and he was borne on the shoulders of the men of Kent to his inn. The conqueror was uplifted, like an ancient hero upon his shield.

There was a more solemn recognition of the feelings of the nation for which Wellington had fought, which he had perhaps saved by his sagacity and endurance. The House of Commons resolved upon an Address of thanks and congratulation. He was to be thanked and congratulated by a committee of fifteen members, as in the case of the duke of Marlborough. He expressed his desire to come to the House in person, and there to tender the expression of his gratitude. He came on the 1st of July. The House was crowded. The lobby was filled. Universal huzzas were heard as he approached. As he came within the bar the whole House rose. A seat was put for him, and the members resumed their places. Modestly, as was the nature of the man, he expressed his gratitude. They had animated his exertions by their applause; they had filled up the measure of their favours by conferring upon him the noblest gift that any subject had ever received. The confidence of the government; his own reliance on the support of his gallant friends, the general officers of the army, and on the bravery of his officers and troops,

* Works, vol. i. p. 170.

"Private Journal," May, 1810, vol. ii. p. 363.

The author of this History, then at the height of a young man's excitement, went early to the course, and observed a melancholy-looking foreigner walking alone before the arrival of the Regent's cavalcade, and having bought a roll and a piece of cheese at a booth, was munching is with satisfaction. In half an hour he was in the Royal Stand-the King of Prussia.

§ "Life of Wilberforce," vol. ii. p. 172.1

1814.]

THE SPEAKER'S HARANGUE.

573

these had enabled him to carry on the operations of the war, so as to acquire the approbation for which he now made his humble acknowledgments. Then the Speaker stood up and said:

"My lord,-Since last I had the honour of addressing you from this place, a series of eventful years has elapsed, but none without some mark and note of your rising glory.

"The military triumphs which your valour has achieved upon the banks of the Douro and the Tagus, of the Ebro and the Garonne, have called forth the spontaneous shouts of admiring nations. These triumphs it is needless on this day to recount; their names have been written by your conquering sword in the annals of Europe, and we shall hand them down with exultation to our children's children.

"It is not, however, the grandeur of military success which has alone fixed our admiration, or commanded our applause. It has been that generous and lofty spirit which inspired your troops with unbounded confidence, and taught them to know that the day of battle was always a day of victory; that moral courage and enduring fortitude which, in perilous times, when gloom and doubt had beset ordinary minds, stood nevertheless unshaken; and that ascendancy of character which, uniting the energies of jealous and rival nations, enabled you to wield at will the fate and fortunes of mighty empires.

"For the repeated thanks and grants bestowed upon you by this House, in gratitude for your many and eminent services, you have thought fit this day to offer us your acknowledgments. But this nation well knows that it is still largely your debtor. It owes to you the proud satisfaction that amidst the constellation of great and illustrious warriors who have recently visited our country, we could present to them a Leader of our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the pre-eminence; and when the will of Heaven, and the common destinies of our nature, shall have swept away the present generation, you will have left your great name and example as an imperishable monument exciting others to like deeds of glory, and serving at once to adorn, defend, and perpetuate the existence of this country among the ruling nations of the earth.

"It now remains only that we congratulate your Grace upon the high and important mission on which you are about to proceed; and we doubt not that the same splendid talents, so conspicuous in war, will maintain with equal authority, firmness, and temper, our national honour and interests in peace."