ed the shot.

[Page Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON SUPPORTS GOVERNMENT.]

For the last month there has been something like a cessation of
political warfare, not from any diminished desire on the part of
the Opposition to harass the Government, but from want of means
to do so. In the House of Lords the other night, Lord Stanhope
brought on the China Question; when the Duke of Wellington got
up, and to the delight of the Government, and the dismay and
vexation of the Tories, threw over Stanhope (in a very good
speech), asserted the justice of our quarrel with China, refused
to discuss the question of policy at all, warmly defended and
eulogised Elliot, moved the previous question, and then quitted
the House, without waiting to hear Stanhope's reply. It was
gratifying to see his energy and vigour, and to see them exerted
on one of those occasions when his great mind and patriotic
spirit never fail to show themselves. Whenever a question has, in
his view, assumed a national character, he scatters to the wind
all party considerations; such he now considers the Chinese war
to be. We are involved with China, nation against nation, and he
will not by word or deed put in jeopardy the smallest of the
mighty interests at stake, for the sake of advancing some party
purpose, and damaging the Government. In like manner, he thinks
that Elliot has bravely, faithfully, and to the best of his
ability, done his duty; that if he has committed errors of
judgement they should be overlooked, and that he should be
supported, encouraged, and defended. This is the real greatness
which raises him so far above all the ordinary politicians of his
day, and which will confer on his memory imperishable renown. It
is rendered the more striking by his conduct on Friday on the
Irish Municipal Bill, which is a mere party question, where he
showed that he could be as violent as any Tory could desire. I
called on Barnes[9] on Saturday, and found him much disgusted at
the Duke's China speech, and anxious to know how it could have
happened. When I told him that it was always so with him, and
that he never would be merely factious, Barnes said (which, is
true enough) that it is extraordinary, if he had intended to
adopt such a tone in the House of Lords, that he should have
allowed Graham to bring forward his motion in the House of
Commons, and it certainly does place Graham in a mortifying
position, for the Duke's speech is a complete answer to Graham's
motion