Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington | Autograph letter signed, on the possibility of a Chartist rebellion, 1848

Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington

Autograph letter signed, as Commander-in-Chief in England, to General Sir Edward Blakeney, Commander-in-Chief of the Army in Ireland

important long autograph letter, written during the Year of Revolution in Europe, revealing how seriously he took the threat of the chartist uprisings, warning him of the possibility of a Chartist rising in Dublin to coincide with the "assemblage" of a predicted 200,000 Chartists in the neighbourhood of London on 10 April 1848, expressing his greater apprehension of such a rising in Dublin than of the one in London, "...considering the progress which disaffection, and insurrectionary spirit have made in Dublin; and the general purchase of Rifles and other Fire arms...and the general and even public Practice of Rifle shooting even by day light on the Street", predicting that "an endeavour will be made to establish a Mob and possibly a Barricade on the North Quay", and suggesting how the mob could be attacked on both sides once communications had been secured; warning his recipient against firing a shot until the Civil Magistrate has given directions, withdrawing an earlier proposal that arms should be placed at the disposal of the Provost of Trinity College, advising Blakeney to place a body of troops to keep possession of College Green and to reconnoitre the houses in Nassau Street to secure his way to Merrion Square, 8 pages, 8vo, London, 4 April 1848

Wellington had been informed that Feargus O'Connor, M.P. for Nottingham, was intending to direct the Chartists to Parliament on 10 April 1848, with a petition of five million signatures and a meeting of 200,000 Chartists on Kennington Green. The Queen left London at her ministers' request on 8 April, and Wellington set about planning the Government's response with much energy and enthusiasm. As he writes in this letter Wellington feared greater trouble in Dublin, but in the event the risings fell far short of revolution both in England and Ireland, and in Dublin the leaders were rounded up and transported.

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1996, lot 371