Duke of Arthur Wellesley Wellington

“ Since the above was written I have indeed in a few hours had additional cause for gratitude and love to God, having received a letter from the Duke apologizing in every way I could expect, considering all circumstances, for occasioning my displeasure. Oh! how gracious is the Lord of Heaven and Earth thus to undertake for so unworthy a worm! for which I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I magnify Thee to Whom all power, majesty and dominion belong! ”

“ That you could ever think of Me, notwithstanding your occasional forgetfulness,—with any other than the most honorable of feelings, would of course be as impossible as to imagine you could at pleasure bring the heavens down under your feet or turn the Sun out of his course, since both would be more likely than that I could even for a single moment forget the high end for which I was created, namely, to glorify His Holy Name Who has redeemed me with His precious Blood, and rather than dishonor it I should prefer the sufferings of Eternal torments! ”

“ In the mean time, in order to satisfy my feelings towards the poor dear Duke I can indulge in writing them at all events and thereby proving it is no want of feeling or friendship for him that keeps me silent, but the consideration due to ONE as far above Himself not only in reality but I trust through the Grace of God in my estimation also as the heavens are above the earth. ”

“ In his letter of July 18th the Duke writes—'I thank you for your Letter received this morning. What I meant by reflection was not to call your attention to anything particularly passing in the world, but to the impressions made upon your own mind by any circumstance you might have observed.——You will tell me that God will direct you. So He will. But He has given us a Mind, the power of comparing and reflecting, of deciding what is true and what is false and He requires us to exercise our judgment in Matters on which He has given us the capability of forming judgment. ”

“ And I feel, as a prayer-hearing God He will—causing even this unkindness to work together for good, since 'His ways are not our ways' but as high above such as the heavens are above the earth—That He moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, who can doubt that watches His divine finger in this great work? ”

“ My dear Miss J.,—I have received your letter of the 31st and I am really much concerned to learn that I have again created a feeling of displeasure in your Mind by having omitted to notice the Inconvenience which you felt upon your Journey to Harrowgate.
There is always Inconvenience in travelling in a Stage Coach. It cannot be otherwise. Indeed it is wonderful that there should be so little; and I must observe that there is less of a physical and personal Nature in travelling in this Manner in England than elsewhere. The Inconvenience felt in England is of a moral and mental description. ”

“ The Duke's next letter is dated Nov. 3rd, referring to impressions on my mind which Time has declared to be erroneous with regard to the end God had in view, but as His glory was then as now my chief consideration I trust to behold this precious portion of Holy Writ verified therein. 'As high as the heavens are above the earth so are My Ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts,' and that God will consequently be much more glorified and magnified under existing circumstances than HE possibly could under any other for His great, glorious, Holy Name Sake! ”

“ I hope to be able to do so however at the same hour on Monday.' That such was not the will of the Lord of lords I now perfectly recollect proving to the Duke that 'The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' a divine lesson which I was so anxious from time to time, as circumstances permitted, to impress on his mind. ”

“ Alas! how deceitful is the human heart! For I am convinced that although the Duke wrote thus, there was not a moment during our acquaintance when if I had not been by the Grace of God what I was and am that he would have thought I was too young to bow down before me with the most sinful adulation. ”

“ There is no Post from hence to London this evening and I am going this night to my own House in Hampshire, where I shall put this letter in the Post tomorrow; and it will reach you on Monday. I am going there on my way to Portsmouth for the embarkation of the King of the French. I shall go there please God! on Monday morning.
I cannot say when I shall be able to return to London. But I will write to you; I am very sensible of your kindness in writing to me although I have been so much occupied and so constantly in movement that I have not been able to thank you. ”

“ He occasionally availed himself of a lithographed form in reply to some correspondents, and also sometimes adopted a sharpness of tone in answering irrelevant communications, in the hope that he might thus hinder their authors from writing again. As a rule, however, a courteous letter was apt to receive a courteous reply. The narrowness of Miss J.'s mental horizon is nowhere more strikingly shown than by her inability to comprehend the whirl of business that must have made life, to a man of the Duke of Wellington's conscientiousness, a ceaseless round of fatiguing labor. ”

“ I do not consider it right personally to place myself so fully and confidentially in the power of one, who, however honorable and noble, occasionally seems to forget he is confided in by a Being who feels herself entitled even in the sight of God, not only to the appellation of virtuous, in the strictest acceptation of the word,—but righteous. This appellation as far exceeds the former in value as the heavens do the earth, as the one is to be found, I trust, frequently in the unregenerate, whilst the latter springs solely from above. ”

“ Her letter and the Duke's reply follow:
Sept. 16, 1850.
My Lord Duke,—Notwithstanding my changed feelings I am deeply concerned to hear of your late accident, and still more deeply grateful to Almighty God for your preservation. I sincerely hope that such gracious interposition of Providence in your favor may eventually lead you to glorify Him in your life and conversation accordingly, 'seeking Him while HE may be found, and calling upon Him while HE is near," ever bearing in mind that HE is "no respecter of persons." ”

“ September 16th 1835.—Evening. The whole of this day has been marked with such divine strength from Him Who causes me to feel the force of this passage of Holy Writ 'When I am weak then am I strong,' that it is impossible to be sufficiently thankful. No letter has arrived from the Duke. However I suppose tomorrow will bring with it the anticipated answer. O may I be strengthened additionally to bear it if unkind! and prove myself ready to pluck out a right eye or cut off a right arm for Christ's sake! which we may be understood to do when we resign those dearest upon earth at His command. ”

“ Alas! that one so esteemed should give such cause to show his unworthiness. But it is doubtlessly permitted for some end which poor blind mortals cannot penetrate, therefore let me not murmur, but bless God who has thought me worthy whilst so unworthy to rank among that blessed number described by the angel to Saint John as having 'come out of much tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of The Lamb.' This may stand as the greatest trial I ever had! ”

“ The information that you have destroyed my letters is any thing but gratifying; one and all being more or less marked with Divine Truth, calculated if properly and seriously considered, to benefit your immortal Soul. ”

“ And since He can bring good out of evil, I submit all that has transpired to His gracious, condescending and unerring governance for this purpose, knowing that He can bring 'light out of darkness and make crooked things straight.' O I can never be sufficiently grateful for the powerful strength which so powerfully upholds me! ”

“ Besides that, it can hardly be wondered at if the Duke, a man free from binding domestic ties, were not in a humor to place permanently at his elbow so strict a mentor as Miss J., no matter how pretty she might be. The prudishness and piety that were fascinating in a beautiful woman seldom seen, would wax wearisome in the most charming creature bound to him by indissoluble ties. ”

“ The Duke is a very hard man; he takes no notice of any of his family, he never sees his mother, has only visited her two or three times in the last few years, and has not now been to see Lady Anne, though she has been in such affliction for the death of her only son, and he passes her door every time he goes to Strathfieldsaye.... He is a very extraordinary man certainly, and with many contradictions in his character.... He will not endure any one who will not be subservient to him. ”

“ Clearly nothing was farther from the Duke's thoughts than to make himself the butt of popular ridicule by taking a wife forty-five years younger than himself, and of retired even though perfectly respectable social position. ”

“ Many would think on reading the above that I had treated the Duke unkindly, but as I can appeal to Him Who seeth not as man seeth, I have nothing to fear from any erroneous impressions, having depended upon The Great Lord of lords throughout my acquaintance with him to direct and influence my heart and pen to fulfil all His good will and pleasure by working in me for that purpose, for His Holy Name sake! ”

“ You think that Man is responsible only for His Duty towards the Almighty! who charges Himself with the Rest! I dare say that I am mistaken! notwithstanding my Studies. You know more of this matter than I do!
Ever Yours most faithfully,
Wellington.
Miss J. does not give a copy of her next letter to the Duke, but she remarks that it consisted principally of observations upon complete reliance on God, and disregard of earthly means; taking as her text, "Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." ”

“ She only waits his reply to mine (which I read to her and on my return home enclosed and forwarded, hastening off myself to a Post Office for that purpose) and the Lord's influence in order to take up her powerful pen and address him as his offered insult deserves.
"On my return from the Post Office I opened my loved Bible at the words; 'The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion,' encouraging me to think increasingly that my bold indignant fearless reply to the Duke was justified." ”

“ My dear Miss J.,—I have received your letter of the 22nd.
You do me Justice in believing that I could not allow any circumstances to prevent my writing to you when I should think that my doing so could be useful or agreeable to you. ”

“ I totally forgot that your Mind is occupied with affairs of more Importance; the Hand writing in which you convey your thoughts to others, is a matter of but little Importance to you; and that at all events you are seldom in a disposition to allow any body to complain; much less to find fault with you. ”

“ Thus you will perceive that when laboring under the most favorable impression of your upright intentions, notwithstanding your rank, etc., all of which with me are beheld in the utter nothingness such empty things deserve, I should have hesitated until I perceived in you that change of heart so necessary to salvation, without which "no man can see the Lord," fearing I ought not to consent even under the most flattering circumstances to partake in any outward honors likely to bring the disapprobation of God. ”

“ My dear Miss J.,—I will give you an answer to your Note of the 17th just now received because my attention has just now been drawn to two paragraphs in the Morning Post, stating that I was taken ill in the House of Lords last night. I was last night and am at this moment thank God! as well as I ever was.
The truth is this. A Noble Lord, well known to be blind was standing on the floor near the place where I was sitting. I arose, gave him the assistance of my Arm and conducted him towards the door till I met another person who took charge of him. ”

“ Consequently I could not help lamenting the omission for two reasons, feeling so desirous to behold Your Majesty a shining vessel in The Lord's Hands to show forth His praise by honouring His Commands, also, that the Duke should be restrained from doing that which on a dying bed would pain him to remember. That he like too many other men of the world acts contrary to His Maker's laws in numerous instances is, Alas! ”

“ One cannot help feeling compassion for the poor old man,—seventy-seven years of age now,—even while one laughs at the absurdity of the situation. Miss J., as usual, could not let matters rest, but prepared for another attack. Her Diary describes her sensations of suspense as she awaited a reply from the Duke, and "the Scriptures" with which she fortified her position. On Sunday she writes:—
"I have written another indignant letter to the Duke, in which I purpose enclosing his hair and picture, which last being made of sealing wax is of course of no value. ”

“ This note did not call forth a reply of equal amiability from the Duke.
"I have felt no displeasure nor anger and was not even surprised by your letter complaining of my answer in which I returned the volumes of letters which you had sent for my perusal. Considering the Numberless occasions which you have quarrelled with me because of some omission of Seal or Signature or even of a word or a letter. I thank God that I am never angry with anybody; upon any subject. ”

“ This doubtless The Lord of lords in His infinite wisdom did not see fit to gratify, knowing far better what is good for us than we do for ourselves. Otherwise HE could and would have compelled him to come to me daily, whatever his occupations may have been.
"The Duke's next letter is dated June 7th, wherein he writes—'Besides being very good, you must admit that patience under disappointment is required from us all. ”