Sir, – Despite the Wellington monuments in Dublin and Trim, despite the many places and streets named after him (20 in Dublin alone), despite acceptance that he was not as notoriously dismissive of his native land as the mythology largely created by Daniel O'Connell had it, Frank McNally (An Irishman's Diary, June 5th) is right that the only British prime minister born and brought up in Ireland, and one of the best-known public figures in the whole of 19th-century Europe, is unappreciated here, quite unjustly in my view, despite his reactionary views on many subjects.
Wellington did not just (belatedly) support Catholic Emancipation. He forced it through, despite the tears and tantrums of George IV. As Dr Tom McGrath of Carlow College has documented in his three volumes on Dr James Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (JKL), the Irish Catholic bishops in 1830, who included John McHale, gave him fulsome credit, when they declared: “among the councillors of his majesty, there appeared conspicuous the most distinguished of Ireland’s sons, a hero and a legislator – a man selected by the Almighty to break the soul which scourged Europe – a man raised up by providence to confirm thrones. re-establish altars, to direct the councils of England at a time the most difficult, and to staunch the blood and heal the wounds of the country that gave him birth”.
The Orange Order had not much time for Wellington, nor he for them. The socially well-connected Princess Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador in London, hissed to the king’s brother, the ultra leader, the duke of Cumberland: “How mistaken we have been about Wellington, after all he is no more than an Irish adventurer”. This gem is from Antonia Fraser’s The King and the Catholics, and shows that both sides believed his background had an influence on the part that he played.
As for his victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, it is difficult to disagree with the conclusion of an immense and empathetic five-volume study of Napoleonic France by Thierry Lentz: “Without being conscious that the abuse of power leads to failure, the hegemonic adventure invariably finishes with the constitution of a vast coalition, which, with a modicum of determination, skill and patience, always finishes by being victorious”. The European Union was born out of that experience, repeated in the 20th century, as French president Emmanuel Macron reminded his listeners on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
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There is a broader point, as we contemplate the renewed hypothesis of a united Ireland. It is not just about affording parity of esteem to the British identity, but accepting and recognising the Irish identity or part-identity of those who do or did not conform to cultural paradigms set down one or two generations ago, whether because of their background, their religion or because of achieving prominence in British life. It is not a question of being asked to abandon loyalties, but of needing to broaden sympathies, and, where justified, adopting more inclusive narratives and conceptions, so that everyone can belong. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN MANSERGH,
Tipperary,
Co Tipperary.