Kitabı oku: «The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851», sayfa 11
Walmer Castle, Sept. 17, 1850.
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington begs leave to acknowledge the receipt of Miss J.'s Note of the 10th Inst.
He is thankful that he received no injury by the overturn of his carriage a week ago! He returns his thanks to Miss J. for noticing the accident!
Miss J. was so delighted at the receipt of this note that she immediately replied to it in four sheets of closely written note-paper. She began by explaining elaborately that she had seen the notice of his accident only a few days before, although by his letter she learned it had occurred a week ago. After ringing the changes on this, she proceeded to bestow Christian admonition in her usual liberal fashion. The Duke's reply was little more effusive than the note he had sent last.
Walmer Castle, Sept. 20, 1850.
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his Compts to Miss J. He is very sensible of her kindness in writing to him. He merely mentioned as a fact that the accident to which she referred had occurred in the preceding week!
He is happy to learn that Miss J. is improved in Health!
In Miss J.'s next she reprimands the Duke for having misdirected the envelope of his last note to her, and inquires if he ever received her letter on the death of Charles Arbuthnot, as she now calls him.
Walmer Castle, Sept. 24, 1850.
F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents His compts to Miss J.! He has received Her note without Date in which she encloses the Cover which the Duke returns!
He regrets much that he made a mistake; which has given her the trouble of writing again!
The Duke does not recollect to have received a letter from her upon the Subject of the Death of Mr. Arbuthnot!
But he thanks [sic] for having thought of writing to him upon the melancholy occurrence.
There were no letters exchanged after this for many weeks. Miss J.'s health improved slowly, and through her sister funds were supplied for her maintenance. The next entry of any interest in the Diary is dated November 9th:—
"I have felt dreadfully shocked to day at reading a report of the Duke's death which thank God, is false! [Endnote 13] O that I may be enabled to write to him expressions of my feelings, if such be The Lord's will! I find I feel more than I had imagined was possible! having suffered exceedingly at this report and at length have addressed him as follows: 'O My dear Duke, for I cannot use formality under my present excited, distressed feelings, having been so shocked by that dreadful Advertisement in the Times of this day, saying you were gone forever! This God in His infinite mercy has proved to be false, having spared you, I trust, for a far more glorious end than the one therein described. For this I can never thank him sufficiently, subscribing myself consequently with additional gratitude
"'His devoted Child and Servant
"A. J.
"'P.S. I have been six weeks confined to my room, inflammation having taken place on the day after I wrote you last. O that God in these troublous threatening times may guide and counsel you to act as He would have you do to Whom I beseech you to look for the same most prayerfully.'"
As Miss J. received no reply to the above, she wrote again. This time her epistle was in sharp contrast with her preceding semi-affectionate note. She arraigned the Duke for his silence, and succeeded in provoking a response:—
Strathfieldsaye, Dec. 21, 1850.
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents His Compliments to Miss J.! He understood from a former letter; that it was Miss J.'s desire never to hear from the Duke again!
Therefore he did not write! nor should he write now! excepting a mere matter of Courtesy! He thus finally takes His leave!
Wellington.
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION
Miss J. was in nowise dismayed by the crushing reply she received from the Duke.
She wrote again and again, and yet again. These letters, of which she has left copies, are made up in about equal parts of accounts of her health, verses of Scripture, and reproaches to the Duke for his silence. She at last extorted an answer:—
London, January 17, 1851.
It is very satisfactory to me to learn from the receipt of this Day of a Letter of the 16th that Miss J. is better! And I write to thank her for giving me the satisfactory Information!
I hope to hear of her continued convalescence and perfect Recovery of her Health!
Most faithfully Her Obedient Humble ServantWellington.
The Duke's next note was less amicable:—
London, January 21, 1851.
In order to avoid to create irritation in the Mind of Miss J. and the receipt of a Note expressing such irritation in strong terms!
I write to acknowledge the receipt of Miss J.'s letter! written on four sides of letter paper; in the Night of the 19th of January! I entreat her to avoid the Irritation of writing again!
Most faithfully Her Obedient Humble ServantWellington.
All the entreaties of the Duke proved futile, however, when Miss J. had convinced herself that it was her duty to write. The occasion she desired soon came. She says in her Diary for February 6th:—
"I have been pondering over the account given in the Times paper of this day wherein the Queen's visit to the House of Peers is noticed and among other things the following remark in reference to the Duke—'His Grace appeared to shrink from the attention and respect of which he was the object.'—This induced me to marvel whether The Great Lord of lords has not at length begun to exercise His Godly Power over his precious soul, making him consequently feel the nothingness of all things in comparison therewith!"
Upon the strength of this impression Miss J. wrote to the Duke, asking him if he recollected where he was and how he was occupied at the time she mentions. His answer came promptly, although Miss J. did not find it at all satisfactory.
London, Feb. 8, 1851.
I have received Miss J.'s Letter! And I hope that Her Health continues to improve! But she does not mention it! I thank her; I am quite well!
I was employed on Tuesday in the usual Manner in giving attendance upon the Sovereign when she opened Parliament! I perform all my worldly Duties to the best of my ability! Miss J. despises things of this world, but I fear that if all followed her good example strictly they would suffer.
Her Humble Servant.Wellington.
Miss J.'s reply begins as follows:—
"Alas! My Lord Duke! it is grievous to me to find that the remarkable expression in the Newspaper on Wednesday referred to in my last, namely; 'His Grace appeared to shrink from the attention and respect of which he was the object' did not come from the impression I had hoped of Regeneration—or Divine Grace having begun its work in your precious Soul, to which at present you are so evidently a stranger. Judging by the latter portion of your reply you never desire or expect to be otherwise, as you seem to imply if all were to follow my example you fear you should not be improved. This assertion is but too true except the Great Lord of lords put forth His Almighty Power for that purpose."
And so on through pages of pious abuse.
The Duke's answer to this is characterized by a calm dignity in noticeable contrast to the petulance of most of his notes of this period.
London, Feb. 12, 1851.
I beg Miss J.'s pardon if I misunderstood Her Letter; in which she understood what passed on the day on which Parliament met! I understood that she had adverted to my attendance upon the honorary Service of the Queen!
In my Answer I observed that unless such services as well as other worldly Offices were attended to; the Affairs of the World would not go on so quietly as might be wished by those who like Miss J. thought more of Spirituals and of the next World! I hope that I do not fail in feeling due Humility upon all occasions! And most anxious to merit approval where alone such can be of any avail! I have thought it proper to explain this to Miss J.; as I wish not to be misunderstood!
Her Most faithful ServantWellington.
London, Feb. 20, 1851.
F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents His Compts to Miss J.! He has received Her Letter of the 17th of which he acknowledges the receipt; in order to save her the trouble of making farther enquiries about it!
But he really entreats Her not to give herself the trouble of writing to him again!
It is obvious that the act of doing so irritates Miss J.! which cannot be beneficial to Her Health! He hopes that she will not write again!
Miss J. in her Diary for February 21st gives a copy of a note she wrote the Duke at this time:—
My Lord Duke,—I wrote to you on the 13th Inst. Whether you received it I know not, therefore acquaint you that such was the case. Feeling assured that there was nothing in that letter which in the sight of God ought to have displeased your Grace, I leave the consequences with Him accordingly, remaining Ever
His devoted Child and ServantA. J.
The Duke's reply is as follows:—
London, Feb. 22, 1851.
I received in due course Miss J.'s letter, but as I did not consider that its contents required any observation on my part; or tended to manifest Miss J.'s desire or wish to hear from me again, I did not think it really expected I acknowledge the receipt.
She did not in that letter and has not in this last mentioned Her Health, which I therefore hope continues to improve!
Her obedient Humble ServantWellington.
Miss J. gives a copy of the letter she wrote the Duke after receiving the above, but, as she tells us, postponed sending it until she had laid the matter before the Lord:—
"Having written a long letter of four sides to the Duke, referring so unexpectedly and unintentionally to his neglect from time to time of one bestowed upon him by God Himself for his Spiritual aid, I now commit the same into His gracious Hands, beseeching Him to deal with it in whatever way is most calculated to promote His own honor and glory, preparing me accordingly for His great holy Name sake."
This letter was never sent, but in its place Miss J. despatched a shorter one, given below:
March 4th, 1851.
My Lord Duke,—As it is written, Yea, declared by Him "Who spake as never men spake" "By Me kings reign and princes decree justice" may that "Holy One" in this time of especial need incline Your Grace to look to and honor Him accordingly, for His great holy Name sake, and may HE graciously and condescendingly enable you to advise, direct, influence and comfort our beloved Sovereign bestowed upon us by Himself, as the first portion of Scripture quoted implies, (who appears at the present moment in so additionally interesting a light), in the way that is most agreeable to His unerring will, and in that most calculated to promote His honor and glory as "The Governor among the Nations;" prays
His devoted Child and ServantA. J.
London, March 4, 1851.At Night.
I have this night received Miss. J.'s letter written this day!
I had received in due course the Note written on the Monday in the previous week! I did not send an acknowledgment of the Receipt as I wished to avoid to give Miss J. the trouble of writing again!
However little Miss J. cares for the Affairs of this world, I entertain that she is satisfied with any arrangement calculated to be satisfactory to Her Majesty the Queen!
Her obedient Humble ServantWellington.
My Lord Duke,—As you say that your silence arose from a desire to prevent my having the trouble of writing to you again, I presume such is not agreeable to Your Grace. Consequently until it pleases The Great "Lord of lords" to influence you to request me to do so I purpose, if HE permit, intruding on you no more, knowing that I have never given you any cause to make such a remark, considering nothing a trouble which God pleases me to do.
In reply to Your Grace's observation concerning my interest in Her Majesty I have only to observe that I consider it the duty of every real Christian to stand by the Sovereign God has thought proper to bestow upon us, in every time of necessity and danger, for His sake.
I remain, Ever His devoted Child and Servant,
A. J.
London, March 10th, 1851.
It has so frequently occurred that I have unintentionally offended Miss J. that whenever I write it is with Caution! I confess likewise; that I don't much like to send letters through the hands of a third Person; of whom I know nothing! It is a liberty in my mind which I ought not to take!
I therefore wished that the correspondence should cease of itself; and that all friendly feeling should be continued! I know well that Miss J.'s Mind is occupied by Reflections on Spiritual things; and that she must despise the occupation of one who considers it His duty to serve the Public to the best of His Ability!
With due respect for Her Higher occupations, I hope she will excuse my adhering to my own Course of duty!
Ever Miss J.'s most faithfully obedient
Humble Servant,Wellington.
The above is the Duke's last letter to Miss J. Although he lived until September of the following year, he never wrote to her again. Miss J.'s efforts did not cease, however. She sent letter after letter to the Duke, without being discouraged by his utter silence. Indeed, a note directed to him was lying on her table ready to be sent to the post the morning that she received the news of his death. She gives an account of her reception of the tidings:—
"November 28th, 1852. I dare not trust my pen to refer to the unanticipated dreaded end which has caused me so much deep sorrow although nearly three long months have rolled over my head since that awful blow was given and which, had it not been for divine support would I fear have deprived me of my reason, for it was so unexpected that when my Physician called to acquaint me thereof, I said, pointing to a letter on the table: 'That is for the Duke,' intending to ask him to put it into a Post Office, being sealed and ready.
"On perceiving my doctor silent, instead of offering with his usual kindness to post the letter, I enquired wherefore? he replied that he thought it had better be postponed. This made me still more anxious, eagerly asking, if he were ill? when Dr. P. said he had not been well, and thus by degrees unfolded the awful truth that he was indeed No more.
"O I can never forget my feelings! continuing after his departure as if riveted to my seat and speechless."
Miss J. then laments that the Duke had never given any marked proof of his conversion, and recapitulates her efforts to lead him into the way of righteousness. She dwells upon the longing she had felt to be assured that he had known a "new birth," but adds:—
"Alas! this satisfaction was not afforded me. Nevertheless as before expressed, I build my hopes on the last five hours of His Grace's life, however insensible to all around, knowing nothing to be impossible with God, consequently that even at this the eleventh hour his precious soul may through a Saviour's righteousness have been permitted to wing its flight to Mansions of eternal glory."
The remainder of Miss J.'s life was of little interest. She became more bigoted as she advanced in years; and although not long after the Duke's death she joined her sister in the United States, her peculiarities had developed so unpleasantly that the two could not live peacefully in the same house. Miss J. resided in New York until her death in 1862.
A list of the Duke's letters is appended, copied from Miss J.'s Diary.
List of Letters received from the Duke.
APPENDIX
Note 1, page 105.
In a sermon preached at the Chapel Royal, Hook (afterwards Dean of Chichester) told the Queen that the Church would endure, let what would happen to the Throne. On her return to Buckingham House, Normanby, who had been at the chapel, said to her, "Did not your Majesty find it very hot?" She said, "Yes; and the sermon was very hot too."—Greville, Memoirs (1837-1852), vol. i. p. 116.
Note 2, page 112.
The Duke of Wellington had an attack the other night in the House of Lords, and was taken home speechless, but not senseless. It was severe, but short; and after the stomach was relieved, he rapidly recovered, and in a day or two pronounced himself as well as ever. Of course the alarm was very great.—Greville, Memoirs (1837-1852), vol. i. p. 267.
Note 3, page 126.
Charles, the second son of the Duke of Wellington, married, July 9, 1844, Augusta Sophia-Anne, daughter of the Right Hon. Henry Manvers-Pierrepont. The marriage took place at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, and was followed by a grand wedding-breakfast, given at Apsley House by the Duke of Wellington.
Note 4, page 129.
Prince William of Prussia, afterwards the great Kaiser Wilhelm, arrived in England from Ostend, Aug. 13, 1844. Among the many honors paid him were entertainments given him at Apsley House and at Strathfieldsaye by the Duke of Wellington. The Prince was an honored guest at the christening of the Queen's fourth child, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was born Aug. 6, 1844. Prince William left England on Saturday, September 7.
Note 5, page 134.
Louis Philippe and his Queen visited England Oct. 8, 1844. Their stay lasted until October 15. The "Times" of the date, describing the embarkation of the royal party, says:—
"The Duke of Wellington was in the yard on horseback in his regimentals, but wrapped in a brown great-coat (like a sentry's coat), buttoned to the chin to keep off the rain....
"Even before the arrival of the royal party in the Victualling yard, the rain had already begun to fall heavily; and the circumstance of a vivid flash of lightning, accompanied by a long roll of thunder, occurring just before their entry, was the cause of some curious observations among the superstitious."
Note 6, page 136.
The Duke of Wellington on entering the room was received with the most lively demonstrations of respect. The band at the entrance of the room played the air, "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" and the appearance of his Grace was the signal for a general clapping of hands, and even some cheering from the gentlemen, and waving of handkerchiefs from the ladies.—Account of the opening of the Royal Exchange, from the London "Times" of Oct. 29, 1844.
Note 7, page 138.
This sister, Anne, married first the Hon. Henry Fitzroy, and secondly Charles Culling-Smith, Esq., of Hampton, Co. Middlesex.—Burke, Peerage.
Note 8, page 139.
A detailed report of the Queen's progress to Strathfieldsaye is given in the "Times" of Jan. 21, 1845; but the account of her visit there is less full. The "Times" says:—
"The visit to Strathfieldsaye is intended to be of a more private nature than either of those with which her Majesty has lately honored any of her subjects....
"The following characteristic reply from the Duke of Wellington to an application for admission will show that his Grace at least will not allow the royal party to be disturbed:—
"'Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. –, and begs to say he does not see what his house at Strathfieldsaye has to do with the public Press.'"
Note 9, page 141.
This was the brother next older than the Duke of Wellington,—William, Lord Maryborough.
Note 10, page 154.
Arthur, the child of Charles (the son of the Duke of Wellington) and of Augusta Sophia-Anne, daughter of the Right Hon. Henry Manvers-Pierrepont, was born May 5, 1845, and died July 7, 1846.
Note 11, page 167.
Lord Cowley, the youngest brother of the Duke of Wellington, died April 27, 1847.
Note 12, page 205.
On Sunday last the death of Arbuthnot took place at Apsley House, where he had been gradually sinking for some time. He is a great and irreparable loss to the Duke of Wellington, who is now left alone in the world. The Duke told him and talked to him about everything. He will feel it as keenly as at his age and with his character he can feel anything.—Greville, Memoirs (1837-1852), vol. iii. p. 362.
Note 13, page 207.
This report stated that the Duke had had a fatal fall while hunting in Lincolnshire. The whole story was a hoax.
