Introduction. Richard Colley Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington and Marquess (1760–1842), served two terms as Lord Lieutenant (1821–8, 1833–4). He was the eldest brother of Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) and was the first Lord Lieutenant to be openly favourable to Emancipation. Henry Goulburn (1784–1856), a well-known anti-Emancipationist, was appointed as Chief Secretary. His acceptance of the position owed much to his pleasure at imminent return to the administration of Robert Peel (a close friend and fellow anti-Emancipationist). The uneasy Wellesley–Goulburn administration in Ireland attempted, by its policy as well as its composition, to steer an almost impossible neutral course between the Orange Order and nationalists. This became evident in Dublin on 12 July 1822 when a riot ensued after Orangemen went through the customary ritual of decorating King William’s statue in College Green (since removed). Wellesley attempted to address the situation and instructed the Lord Mayor of Dublin to issue a proclamation prohibiting the re-decoration of the statue on King William’s birthday (4 December). A ridiculous rather than serious incident was to follow at the newly opened Royal Theatre which was outlandishly described as a ‘riot’. Wellesley while attending a performance in an official capacity on 14 December, had a bottle and then a rattle thrown at him. Both ‘missiles’ failed to hit him. Wellesley subsequently received the letter reproduced below from Lord Camden (John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess, 1759–1840). Camden had served as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland in 1795, was disliked as an opponent of Emancipation. His term of office was one of commotion and alarm, culminating in the rebellion of 1798.

Camden mocks the Lord Lieutenant for his over-reaction to the Orange demonstration in the Theatre Royal. Wellesley was notoriously flamboyant and had an inflated opinion of himself, despite his small physical stature, precarious finances, and womanising. The incident in the Theatre Royal was greatly exaggerated in one government newspaper:

the missile … fell at the corner of the foot-lights, near the vice-regal box. The Lord Lieutenant, with that instinctive courage which characterises every member of his illustrious family [Wellesley was Wellington’s eldest brother], advanced to the front of his box and, clapping his hand to his heart, looked with ineffable dignity towards the murderous ruffian.

Following this Dublin Corporation sent an address of regret to Wellesley. The Lord Lieutenant sent a reply, which must have been one of the ‘answers’ to which Camden refers to in his letter. Wellesley in typical fashion described himself as ‘placed on the throne by the favour of a beloved sovereign, surrounded by the attributes of majesty and royal power and entrusted with the sword of justice and mercy for the good government of Ireland’. He took the incident very seriously and attempted unsuccessfully to have the perpetrators convicted on a more serious charge of conspiracy, which the range grand jury of Dublin refused to do. Wellesley would have saved face if he had simply had them prosecuted on a lesser charge of riot.

Camden seems to be referring to his own period in office when he writes ‘before the Union’. Wellesley had ‘not been very consistent’ towards the Catholics; and this was reflected in his decision in 1812, while Foreign Secretary, to make his support for Emancipation a pretext for resigning. He had urged the adoption of a middle course between ‘unqualified concession’ and ‘peremptory, eternal exclusion’. Wellesley’s resignation came before the question became an ‘open’ one in the Cabinet. In 1812 he refused to accept the ‘open’ formula and join Lord Liverpool’s (Robert Bank Jenkinson, second earl of Liverpool, 1770–1828) government. Nevertheless he went on to do both in 1821. Lady Ferrard the wife of Lord Oriel (John Foster, first baron Oriel, 1740–1828). Camden’s ‘sad domestic affliction’ refers to the death of his young daughter in July. Lord Londonderry (Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh and second Marquess, 1769–1822), was related to the Camden family by marriage. An unpopular figure, he killed himself following a mental breakdown in August.

Source. Letter from the Marquess Camden, former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Wildernesse Park, Kent, to Lord Oriel, 29 December 1822. Public Record Office, Northern Ireland (D.207/55/22).

Wildernesse Park

December 29th 1822

My Dear Lord

I am always very glad of an opportunity of enquiring after you and your family, and although the state of Ireland does not appear to be such as to cause much apprehension, yet I own, my curiosity is somewhat awakened from the solemn manner in which certain answers are framed, and the dangers which I learn from them surround the throne of Ireland.

It does not appear to me that before the Union these missile weapons, which now shake thrones, were so traitorously considered, and a row and a riot was not considered a plot and a conspiracy.

I should really be much obliged to you, my dear Lord, if you will inform me what is the reason of the great impression attempted to be made, and whether there really can be anything like a plot entertained by the supposed party. It would much less surprise me that the Catholic party should have shown disrespect to one who has certainly not been very consistent towards them. But that the most violent Orangeman should, upon the disappointment of not dressing the statue, conceive anything worse than a wish to alarm the Lord Lieutenant and the Lord Mayor, seems to me quite incredible.

I shall hope to hear you and Lady Ferrard are well. You will be glad to learn we are so, after our sad domestic affliction, and after the dreadful termination of Lord Londonderry’s labours. I am sure you felt for his family and his friends. The Dowager I saw yesterday at Cray, who is better than could be expected. Believe me, my dear Lord,

yours most sincerely

Camden

Tomás O'Riordan