Born in a stable

'Being born in a stable does not make one a horse'. This comment about the duke of Wellington, the hero at the Battle of Waterloo, was widely attributed to him, but in fact it was probably uttered by Daniel O’Connell. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of O’Connell, and today, 14th September marks the 173th of the death of Wellington, the revered general. In the Irish Press on 14 September 1971, the writer ‘SJL’ looked back on his career and person:

ARTHUR WELLESLEY, Duke of Wellington, was perhaps Britain's greatest soldier and when he died—on September 14th, 1852—he was buried in St. Paul's beside Horatio Nelson, Britain's greatest sailor. It was hardly the Duke's fault that he was born in Ireland and certainly he is credited with many remarks to that effect. However, this did not deter his many admirers in this country from erecting in his honour Dublin's most formidable memorial.

He had scant regard for the common soldiers he led as a general, or for the common people he ruled as Prime Minister. But, unlike many of his political colleagues, he was not violently anti-Catholic and as soon as he was satisfied that the property interest of the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland could withstand the blow he gave his powerful support to Catholic Emancipation. Its passage through Parliament was procured in spite of the King and many of Wellington's own supporters.

He was conservative of the deepest dye and in an age of reform he set himself resolutely against reform of any description. If Parliamentary reform were introduced, he forecast the disappearance one after another of the institutions he cherished—the Empire, the union with Ireland, the House of Lords and the monarchy. And like statesmen nearer our own day, he believed that a resolute show of force by the government could turn back the tide of human progress…

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archives (www.irishnewsarchives.com )