Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|British statesman (1769–1822)}}

[[The Most Honourable]] '''Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry''', ([[June 18]], [[1769]] – [[August 12]], [[1822]]), known until [[1821]] by his courtesy title of '''Viscount Castlereagh''', was an [[Anglo-Irish]] politician born in [[Dublin]] who represented the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] at the [[Congress of Vienna]]. He was also intimately involved in securing the controversial passage of the [[1801 Act of Union|Irish Act of Union]]. He was the son of [[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry]], a landowner who was created an earl and subsequently a marquess by King [[George III of the United Kingdom]]. He received his early education at [[The Royal School, Armagh]]. Additionally, the elder Robert Stewart was also known as ''The Viscount Castlereagh'' for about one year.

{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = [[The Most Honourable]]

| name = The Marquess of Londonderry

| honorific-suffix = {{Postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG|GCH|PC|PCi}}

| image = Lord Castlereagh Marquess of Londonderry.jpg

| caption = [[Lord Castlereagh (painting)|Portrait]] by [[Thomas Lawrence]], {{circa|1809–1810}}

| order1 = [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]]

| term_start1 = 4 March 1812

| term_end1 = 12 August 1822

| primeminister1 = {{Ubl |[[Spencer Perceval]] | [[Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|The Earl of Liverpool]] }}

| predecessor1 = [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|The Marquess Wellesley]]

| successor1 = [[George Canning]]

| order2 = [[Leader of the House of Commons]]

| term_start2 = 8 June 1812

| term_end2 = 12 August 1822

| primeminister2 = The Earl of Liverpool

| predecessor2 = Spencer Perceval

| successor2 = George Canning

| order3 = [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]]

| term_start3 = 25 March 1807

| term_end3 = 1 November 1809

| primeminister3 = [[The Duke of Portland]]

| predecessor3 = [[William Windham]]

| successor3 = The Earl of Liverpool

| term_start4 = 10 July 1805

| term_end4 = 5 February 1806

| primeminister4 = [[William Pitt the Younger]]

| predecessor4 = [[John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|The Earl Camden]]

| successor4 = William Windham

| order5 = [[President of the Board of Control]]

| term_start5 = 2 July 1802

| term_end5 = 11 February 1806

| primeminister5 = {{Ubl| [[Henry Addington]] |William Pitt the Younger }}

| predecessor5 = [[George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth|The Earl of Dartmouth]]

| successor5 = [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|The Lord Minto]]

| order6 = [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]]

| term_start6 = 14 June 1798

| term_end6 = 27 April 1801

| primeminister6 = William Pitt the Younger

| 1blankname6 = {{Nowrap|[[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland|Lord Lieutenant]]}}

| 1namedata6 = [[The Marquess Cornwallis]]

| predecessor6 = [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Thomas Pelham]]

| successor6 = [[Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester|Charles Abbot]]

| birth_name = Robert Stewart

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1769|06|18}}

| birth_place = [[Dublin]], [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1822|08|12|1769|06|18}}

| death_place = [[Loring Hall|Woollet Hall]], Kent, England, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]

| death_cause = [[Suicide]]

| resting_place = [[Westminster Abbey]]

| citizenship = {{Flag|Kingdom of Ireland}}<br /> {{Flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=United Kingdom}}

| nationality = British

| party = {{Plainlist|

*[[Whig (British political faction)|Whig]] (1790–1795)

*[[Tory (political faction)|Tory]] (1795–1822)}}

| alma_mater = [[St. John's College, Cambridge]]

| spouse = [[Amelia Stewart, Viscountess Castlereagh|Lady Amelia Hobart]]

| parents = {{ubli|[[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry]]| Lady Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway}}

| signature = Castlereagh signature.jpg

| nickname = "Bloody Castlereagh"

}}

[[File:Shield of arms of Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, PC, PC (Ireland).png|thumb|200px|Quartered arms of Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, PC, PC (Ireland)]]

'''Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|KG|GCH|PC|PCi|size=100|sep=,}} (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as '''Lord Castlereagh''',<ref>A practice established shortly after his death, for example in Sir C. K. Webster's 1925 work ''Foreign Policy of Castlereagh 1812–1815, 1815–1822'' and his own half-brother's 1848–53 ''Mems. and Corresp. Visct. Castlereagh''. It reflects his having used the name of ''Castlereagh'' so long, and the name of ''Londonderry'' so briefly, and having earned most of his reputation under the former name. Furthermore, it avoids confusion with his father, who also was Robert Stewart, Lord Londonderry. cf [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stewart-hon-robert-1769-1822]</ref> derived from the [[courtesy title]] '''Viscount Castlereagh'''{{Efn|name=Castlereagh}} ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|k|ɑː|s|əl|r|eɪ}} {{respell|KAH|səl|ray}}) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an [[Kingdom of Ireland|Irish]]-born British statesman and politician. As secretary to the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland|Viceroy in Ireland]], he worked to suppress the [[Rebellion of 1798]] and to secure passage in 1800 of the Irish [[Acts of Union 1800|Act of Union.]] As the [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]] of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] from 1812, he was central to the management of the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|coalition]] that defeated [[Napoleon]], and was British [[plenipotentiary]] at the [[Congress of Vienna]]. In the post-war government of [[Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]], Castlereagh was seen to support harsh measures against agitation for reform, and he ended his life an isolated and unpopular figure.

Early in his career in Ireland, and following a visit to [[revolutionary France]], Castlereagh recoiled from the democratic politics of his [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterian]] constituents in [[Ulster]]. Crossing the floor of the [[Irish House of Commons]] in support of the government, he took a leading role in detaining members of the republican conspiracy, the [[United Irishmen]], his former political associates among them. After the 1798 Rebellion, as [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]] he pushed the Act of Union through the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]]. However, unable to overcome the resistance of [[George III|King George III]] to the [[Catholic Emancipation]] that they believed should have accompanied the creation of a [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], both he and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] resigned.

[[Image:Lord_Castlereagh.jpg|right|Lord Castlereagh 1769&ndash;1822]]

Robert Stewart acquired the [[courtesy title]] ''Viscount Castlereagh'' in [[1796]] when his father was created Earl of Londonderry, and is generally known to history by that title. He became briefly 2nd Marquess of Londonderry in the [[Peerage of Ireland]] on the death of his father in [[1821]].

From 1805 Castlereagh served as [[Secretary of State for War]] in [[Second Pitt ministry|Pitt's second administration]] and, from 1806, under the [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of Portland]]. In 1809 he was obliged to resign after [[Castlereagh-Canning duel|fighting a duel]] with the Foreign Secretary, [[George Canning]]. In 1812, Castlereagh returned to government serving [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]] as [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] and as [[Leader of the House of Commons]].

In [[1790]], Stewart took the seat of County Down and entered the [[Irish House of Commons]] as a [[Whig]] on a platform supporting electoral reform and Catholic Emancipation. In [[1794]], he won the English seat of [[Tregony]] on a similar platform. In 1795, he crossed the floor to join the Tories, but his initial principles of reform and emancipation always held a place in his political thought.

Castlereagh organised and financed the alliance that defeated Napoleon, bringing the powers together at the [[Treaty of Chaumont]] in 1814. After [[Abdication of Napoleon, 1815|Napoleon's second abdication]] in 1815, Castlereagh worked with the European courts represented at the Congress of Vienna to frame the territorial, and broadly conservative, continental order that was to hold until mid-century. He blocked harsh terms against France believing that a treaty based on vengeance and retaliation would upset a necessary [[Balance of power (international relations)|balance of powers]]. France restored the Bourbon kings and its frontiers were restored to 1791 lines. Its British-occupied colonies were returned. In 1820, Castlereagh enunciated a policy of non-intervention, proposing that Britain hold herself aloof from continental affairs.

By [[1797]], he had risen to the post of [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]]. In this capacity, he played a key role in quashing the [[1798 Irish Uprising]]. In [[1800]], he began lobbying in the Irish and British Parliaments for an official union between the two, convinced that it was the best way to soothe the long-standing sectarian divides in Ireland. After an outstanding display of machiavellian tactical prowess, he got his wish and the [[1801 Act of Union|Irish Act of Union]] succeded in passing both parliaments.

After 1815, at home, Castlereagh supported repressive measures that linked him in public opinion to the [[Peterloo Massacre]] of 1819. Widely reviled in both Ireland and Great Britain, overworked, and personally distressed, Castlereagh committed suicide in 1822.

After serving in various positions in the Pitt and Addington governments, Castlereagh became [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]] in the [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of Portland's]] administration in [[1807]]. In that role he became involved in disputes with [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary]] [[George Canning]] over the failure of the [[Walcheren Expedition]], and the two fought a duel late in [[1809]]. This forced both of their resignations from the government.

== Early life and career in Ireland ==

Three years later, in [[1812]], Castlereagh returned to the government, this time as Foreign Secretary, a role in which he served for the next ten years, He also became leader of the House of Commons in the wake of [[Spencer Perceval]]'s assassination in 1812. In his role of Foreign Secretary he was instrumental in negotiating what has become known as a quadruple alliance between the United Kingdom, [[Austria]], [[Russia]] and [[Prussia]] at [[Chaumont]] in March 1814, in the negotiation of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Treaty of Paris]] that brought peace with France, and at the [[Congress of Vienna]]. At the Congress of Vienna, Castlereagh designed and proposed a form of collective and collaborative security for [[Europe]], then called a [[Congress system]]. According to the Congress system the main signatory powers were to meet periodically (every two years or so) and collectively manage European Affairs. The following ten years saw five European Congresses where disputes were resolved with a diminishing degree of effectiveness. Finally, by 1822, the whole system had collapsed because of the unreconcilable differences of opinion between the United Kingdom, Austria and Russia, and because of the lack of support for the Congress system in British public opinion.

Robert was born on 18&nbsp;June 1769 in 28 [[Henry Street, Dublin|Henry Street]], in [[Dublin]]'s [[Northside, Dublin|Northside]].{{Sfn|Bew|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DyTg672rGTMC&pg=PA6 6]|ps=. "On 18 June 1769&nbsp;... Robert Stewart, the future Lord Castlereagh was born into a politically active and ambitious family in an elegant townhouse at 28&nbsp;Henry Street, in the north side of Dublin."}} He was the second and only surviving child of [[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry|Robert Stewart]] (the elder) and his wife Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway. His parents married in 1766.{{Sfn|Debrett|1828|page=[https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerage01debrgoog/page/n213 635, line 3]|ps=. "The marquess m. [married] 1st, 3&nbsp;June 1766, Sarah-Frances Seymour, 2nd da. [daughter] of Francis, 1st marquess of Hertford, K. G.&nbsp;..."}}

=== The Stewarts ===

In the years 1812 to 1822, Castlereagh continued to competently manage Britain's foreign policy, generally pursuing a policy of continental engagement uncharacteristic of British foreign policy in the nineteenth century.

The Stewarts had been a Scottish family settled in Donegal whose fortunes had been transformed by the marriage of Castlereagh's grandfather [[Alexander Stewart (1699–1781)|Alexander Stewart]] to an [[East India Company]] heiress.{{Efn|name=Cowan}} The legacy from [[Robert Cowan (governor)|Robert Cowan]], the former [[Governor of Bombay]], allowed for the purchase of extensive properties in north [[County Down|Down]] including the future family [[demesne]], [[Mount Stewart]], on the shores of [[Strangford Lough]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Bew |first=John |title=Castlreagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny |publisher=Quercus |year=2011 |isbn=978-0857381866 |___location=London |pages=}}</ref>[[Strangford Lough|{{rp|7}}]]

As a [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterian]] (a "Dissenter"), rather than a member of the established [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]] (the [[Church of Ireland]]), Castlereagh's father, Robert Stewart, had an easy reputation as a friend of reform. In 1771, and again in 1776, he was elected from [[County Down]] to the [[Irish House of Commons]]. In 1778 he joined the [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Irish Volunteer movement]], raising an armed and drilled company from his estates. In parliament and among the Volunteers, he was a friend and supporter of [[James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont|Lord Charlemont]] and his policy. This favoured Volunteer agitation for the independence of Ireland's [[Protestant Ascendancy|Ascendancy]] parliament, but not for its reform and not for Catholic emancipation.<ref name="Leigh">{{Cite journal |last=Leigh |first=Ione |title=Castlereagh |journal=Dublin Magazine |date=1952 |volume=27 |issue=January–March |pages=72–74 |publisher=Collins}}</ref>

Castlereagh was not known to be an effective public speaker and his diplomatic presentation style was at times abstruse. He did however enjoy a great reputation for integrity, consistency and good will, which was perhaps unmatched by any diplomat of his time. His views on foreign policy were, unfortunately, ahead of his time and his country's insular world view.

The elder Robert Stewart was created [[Baron Londonderry]] in 1789, Viscount Castlereagh in 1795, and [[Earl of Londonderry]] in 1796 by King [[George III]], enabling him from the [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union of 1800]] onwards to sit at [[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]] in the [[House of Lords]] as an [[Irish representative peer]]. In 1816 he was elevated to [[Marquess of Londonderry]].{{Sfn|Cokayne|1893|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerage05cokahrish/page/n132/ 131, line 9]|ps=. "... and finally on 13 Jan. 1816 cr. MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY [I.]"}}

Despite his many achievements, Castlereagh was extremely unpopular within the country as a result of his supposed reactionism abroad, and his support at home for the repressive measures of [[Home Secretary]] [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Lord Sidmouth]]. He also attracted criticism because, as the Government's leader of the House of Commons, he was often called upon to defend his colleagues' policies in that most public of British forums. For these reasons, Castlereagh is (among others from [[Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool's]] cabinet) immortalised in [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley's]] poem ''The Mask of Anarchy'', a poem heavily critical of, and inspired by the [[Peterloo massacre]]:

Young Robert's mother died in childbirth when he was a year old. Lady Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway had been the daughter of [[Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford]] and Isabella Fitzroy. Lord Hertford was a former [[British Ambassador to France]] (1764–65) and [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] (1765–66). Isabella Fitzroy was a daughter of [[Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton]].<ref name=":1" />{{rp|49–53}}

:I met Murder on the way &ndash;

:He had a face like Castlereagh &ndash;

:Very smooth he looked, yet grim;

:Seven bloodhounds followed him

Five years later his father married [[Frances Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry|Lady Frances Pratt]], the independent-minded daughter of [[Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden]] (1714–94),<ref name=":1" />{{rp|48}} a leading English jurist and prominent political supporter of both [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]], and his son, [[William Pitt the Younger]]. The marriages of the elder Robert Stewart linked his family with the upper ranks of English nobility and political elites. The Camden connection was to be especially important for the political careers of the older and the younger Robert Stewart.<ref name="Leigh" /> By Frances Pratt, his father's second wife, young Robert had eleven [[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry#Birth and origins|half-siblings]], including his half-brother [[Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles William Stewart (later Vane)]], Baron Stewart of Stewart's Court and Ballylawn in County Donegal (1814) and 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1822).<ref name=":1" />{{rp|64}}

:All were fat; and well they might

:Be in admirable plight,

:For one by one, and two by two,

:He tossed them human hearts to chew

:Which from his wide cloak he drew.

{{Chart top|width=auto|collapsed=no|align=right|clear=right|Family tree}}

Sometime after Castlereagh's death, [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Lord Byron]] wrote a damning sarcastic quip about his grave:

{{Tree chart/start|style=clear: both; font-size: 90%; width: 39em;}}

{{Tree chart|Txt|Txt=Robert Stewart (Castlereagh) with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. He had no children.|boxstyle_Txt=border: 0 solid white; text-align: left;}}

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{{Tree chart| | | | | | |!| | | |,|-|^|-|.|}}

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=== Education ===

:Posterity will ne'er survey

The younger Robert Stewart had recurring health problems throughout his childhood, and was sent to [[The Royal School, Armagh]], rather than to England for his secondary education. At the encouragement of Charles Pratt, first Earl of Camden, who took a great interest in him and treated him as if he had been a grandson by blood, he later attended [[St. John's College, Cambridge]] (1786–87),{{Sfn|Leigh|1951|p=22|ps=. "Camden, interested as ever in his future, advised his father to send him up to Cambridge."}} where he applied himself with greater diligence than expected from an aristocrat and excelled in his first-year examinations.<ref name="Leigh"/><ref>{{Acad|id=STWT786R|name=Stewart, Robert}}</ref> But he then withdrew, pleading an illness that he admitted to Camden was something "which cannot be directly acknowledged before women", i.e. something sexually transmitted.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|29}}

:A nobler grave than this:

:Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:

:Stop, traveller, and piss.

=== Irish MP ===

In the summer of 1790, Stewart was elected as a [[Member of Parliament (pre-Union Ireland)|Member of the Irish Parliament]] for his family's [[County Down (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|County Down constituency]]. In a county with an exceptionally large number of enfranchised [[forty-shilling freeholders|freeholders]], his campaign pitted him in a popular contest against the nominees of the county's established Ascendancy families,{{Sfn|House of Commons|1878|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=L1ETAAAAYAAJ&pg=683 683]|ps=. "Hon. Robert Stewart DOWN County."}}{{Sfn|Bartlett|1966|p=[https://archive.org/details/castlereagh00bart/page/7/ 7, last line]|ps=. "The cost ... was staggering; the Stewart alone spent £60,000, a staggering sum&nbsp;..."}}{{Efn|name=Election}} and on that basis alone he won the sympathy and support of Belfast's Northern Whig Club. It had been his conscious strategy to capitalise on strong [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Volunteer]] and reform sentiments.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|34–36}}

In a letter to the ''[[Belfast Newsletter]]'' he declared for parliamentary reform (reform that would have abolished the [[pocket boroughs]] that allowed Ascendancy families, in addition to their presence in the House of Lords, to control seats in the Commons). In doing so, he won the support of many who, later despairing of parliamentary "patriots", were to enter the ranks of the United Irishmen.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|34–36}}

And yet, some of Castlereagh's political opponents were gracious in their epigrams. Henry Brougham, Whig politician and later a cabinent minister, wrote:

In the House of Commons, Stewart spurned an offer of a place in government and sat as an independent. But otherwise, he made little impression and was judged a poor speaker.

:Put all their other men together in one scale, and poor Castlereagh in the other -- single he plainly weighed them down...One can't help feeling a little for him, after being pitted against him for several years, pretty regularly. It is like losing a connection suddenly. Also he was a gentleman, and the only one amongst them.

=== Reflections on the Revolution in France ===

In July 1791, having both read ''[[Reflections on the Revolution in France]]'' by [[Edmund Burke]] (a family friend) and learnt that in [[Belfast]] Irish Volunteers were preparing to celebrate [[Fall of the Bastille|Bastille Day]], Stewart decided to judge events in France for himself.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|46–47}}In [[Spa, Belgium|Spa]] in the [[Southern Netherlands|Austrian Netherlands]] he had difficulty in empathising with the wholly reactionary outlook of the French emigres. But after passing into France in November, he conceded that while he did not "like" the government of Ireland, "I prefer it to a revolution.".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=STEWART, Hon. Robert (1769–1822), of Mount Stewart, co. Down. {{!}} History of Parliament Online|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stewart-hon-robert-1769-1822|access-date=2021-10-12|website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>

Stewart was not convinced of Burke's contention that the revolution would produce a French [[Cromwell]], although he recognised that outside Paris the principles of liberty were not as entrenched. As the revolutionary factions, the [[Jacobin]]s and [[Girondins]], struggled for supremacy in the capital, it was "the nation at large" that would "ultimately decide between them."<ref name=":1" />{{rp|49–53}}

In the year before his death, Lord Londonderry (as he became in 1821 after the death of his father) appeared to be suffering from a form of [[paranoia]]. On [[9 August]] [[1822]] he had an audience with King [[George IV]] in which he revealed to the King that he was being blackmailed. He said, "I am accused of the same crime as the Bishop of Clogher.". [[Percy Jocelyn]], the [[Bishop of Clogher]] until that July, had been caught in the back room of a [[public house]] with his trousers down, accompanied by a young soldier. The King is said to have advised Londonderry to "consult a physician". Londonderry returned to his country seat at [[Loring Hall]] in Water Lane [[North Cray]] in Kent, and on [[12 August]] committed [[suicide]] by cutting his throat with a [[letter opener]].

In "an early example of [his] scepticism about foreign intervention", Stewart argued it was beyond her neighbours to give government to France. The [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Austrian Emperor]] might march his troops to Paris, but unless he was prepared to keep them there, the [[Ancien Régime]] restored would again collapse.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|48}}

An inquest concluded that the act had been committed whilst insane, avoiding the harsh strictures of the ''[[felo de se]]'' verdict that would have seen the suicide victim buried with a stake in his heart at a crossroads &ndash; an action that last occurred in 1823 before the law was amended in the same year. Some radicals, notably [[William Cobbett]], construed this to be indicative of a "cover-up" within the ministry and a damning indictment of the elitism and privilege of the unreformed electoral system. His funeral on [[20 August]] was greeted with jeering and insults along the processional route, although not to the level of unanimity projected in the radical press. A final cheer was raised as the coffin entered into Westminster Abbey, departing from the public eye for the last time. Lord Londonderry was buried in the Abbey in the shadow of his mentor, [[William Pitt the Younger]]; a funeral monument was not erected until 1850 by his half-brother and successor, Charles Vane.

Stewart returned to the Austrian Netherlands in the autumn of 1792, but was unable to cross the now military frontlines into France. However, news of the Jacobin triumph in Paris, and, following her [[Battle of Valmy|victory at Valmy]], the prospect of France carrying defence of the revolution beyond her frontiers convinced him that "it would not be long before he had to face his own 'Jacobins' in Ireland."<ref name=":1" />{{rp|64}}

A [[blue plaque]] is displayed at the entrance to this listed mansion in commemoration of its most famous resident, who occupied the property from [[1811]].

=== Catholic relief, loyalty to Pitt ===

See [[Peerage of Ireland]]

When in 1793 he returned to the parliament in Dublin, Stewart spoke in favour of the [[Catholic Relief Bill]]. In doing so he was supporting the policy of British Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] who determined that Catholic opinion be conciliated in preparation for the impending war with the new, [[anti-clericalist]], [[French First Republic|French Republic]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bartlett|first=Thomas|date=2013-01-22|title=The Catholic Question in the Eighteenth Century|url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-catholic-question-in-the-eighteenth-century-11/|access-date=2021-10-12|website=History Ireland}}</ref> While calling for the removal of their remaining civil disabilities, Stewart stopped short of endorsing extension to Catholics of the right to vote on the same [[forty-shilling freehold]] terms as Protestants that was provided in the bill.<ref name=":2" /> He noted that to now deprive the Ascendancy of their pocket boroughs would result in Catholics forming an overwhelming majority of those represented in the Irish Parliament. "Can a Protestant superstructure," he asked, "long continue supported on such base?"<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Hinde |first=Wendy |title=Castlereagh |publisher=Collins |year=1981 |isbn=000216308X |___location=London |pages=}}</ref>{{rp|32–33}}

However, his loyalty to Pitt now seemed unconditional.<ref name="Leigh" /> In April 1793, Stewart was gazetted a [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-Colonel]] in the government's new [[Irish Militia|Militia]], its replacement for the now proscribed Volunteers.<ref name=":2"/><ref name=":42" />{{rp|32–33}} He commanded the [[Londonderry Militia]], being promoted to [[Colonel (United Kingdom)#Colonel of the Regiment|Colonel]] of the regiment in 1800.<ref name=":2"/><ref>War Office, ''A List of the Officers of the Militia, the Gentlemen & Yeomanry Cavalry, and Volunteer Infantry of the United Kingdom'', 11th Edn, London: War Office, 14 October 1805/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84574-207-2.</ref>

==Titles==

Castlereagh's titles from birth to death:

In 1794, partly as a result of the promotion of his interests by his Camden connections, Stewart was offered the Government-controlled seat of [[Tregony (UK Parliament constituency)|Tregony]] in Cornwall. In 1796, he transferred to a seat for the [[Suffolk]] constituency of [[Orford (UK Parliament constituency)|Orford]], which was in the interest of his mother's family, the Seymour-Conways ([[Marquess of Hertford]]). He held these seats simultaneously with his county seat in Ireland.<ref name="Leigh" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stewart-hon-robert-1769-1822 |title=Stewart, Hon. Robert (1769–1822), of Mount Stewart, co. Down. |website=the History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History |access-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref>

:Mr. Robert Stewart (1769-1789)

:The Hon. Robert Stewart (1789-1796)

:Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1796-1821)

:Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (1821-1822)

==References= Marriage ===

In 1794, Stewart married [[Amelia Stewart, Viscountess Castlereagh|Amelia (Emily) Hobart]], a daughter of [[John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire]],{{Sfn|Debrett|1828|p=[https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerage01debrgoog/page/n213 635, line 38]|ps=. "...&nbsp;m. [married] 9&nbsp;Jan. 1794 Amelia Hobart, youngest da. [daughter] and co-h. of John, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire&nbsp;..."}} a former [[British Ambassador to Russia]] (1762–65) and [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] (1776–80). Her mother, Caroline Conolly, was the granddaughter of [[William Conolly]], Speaker of the [[Irish House of Commons]] in the early 18th century and one of the wealthiest landowners in Ireland. Caroline's brother, Thomas Conolly, was married to [[Louisa Lennox]], sister of [[Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster]], whose son and Emily's cousin-by-marriage, [[Lord Edward FitzGerald]] was a leader of the [[United Irishmen]] and one of their martyrs in the early stages of the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]].

*Harold Nicolson, 'The Congress of Vienna' (1946)

*H. Montgomery Hyde, 'The Strange Death of Lord Castlereagh'

*John Derry, 'Castlereagh' (London 1976)

*Wendy Hinde, 'Castlereagh' (London 1981)

*Henry Kissinger, 'A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812-22'

*[[Charles Webster]]

* Robert Stewart, 'The Lightning Rod for Lord Liverpool's Government: Lord Castlereagh and HIs Critics, 1812 to 1822' (Unpublished M.A. Thesis, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario 1993)

Emily Stewart was well known as a hostess for her husband in both Ireland and London and during some of his most important diplomatic missions. In later years she was a leader of [[Regency era|Regency]] London [[Ton (le bon ton)|high society]] as one of the Lady Patronesses of [[Almack's]]. She is noted in contemporary accounts for her attractiveness, volubility and [[eccentricity (behavior)|eccentricities]].<ref name="Leigh"/> By all accounts, the two remained devoted to each other to the end, but they had no children.{{Efn|name=Child}} The couple did, however, care for the young [[Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry|Frederick Stewart]], while his father, Stewart's half-brother, Charles, was serving in the [[British Army|army]].<ref name="Cowan">{{Cite web|url=http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/lond_eo.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114195351/http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/lond_eo.htm |archive-date=14 November 2007 |title=The Cowan Inheritance |publisher=Public Records Office of Northern Ireland |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=6 July 2009}}</ref>

==External link==

*http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcastlereagh.htm

== Chief Secretary for Ireland ==

{{1911}}

=== Suppression of the United Irishmen ===

[[File:Bloody Castlereagh (2).png|thumb|right|Bloody Castlereagh, 1798]]

In 1795, Pitt replaced [[William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam]] as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland with Stewart's uncle, John Pratt the [[John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|2nd Earl Camden]]. Fitzwilliam had urged that the emancipation of Catholics be completed with their admission to parliament. Camden's arrival in Dublin was greeted with riots, and that year Stewart crossed the floor of the [[Irish House of Commons]] to join the supporters of the government, the [[Dublin Castle administration|Dublin Castle executive]].{{Efn|name=War}} Stewart became an essential adviser to the inexperienced and unpopular Lord Lieutenant, who was Stewart's senior by only ten years.

In August 1796 Stewart's father was elevated to the title [[Earl of Londonderry]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=13922 |date=10 August 1796|page=781, right column

|quote=To Robert Lord Viscount Castlereagh, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten, by the Name Stile and Title of Earl of Londonderry, of the County of Londonderry}}</ref> As his son, Stewart was henceforth styled [[Viscount]] Castlereagh.

In September, acting upon evidence of communication with the French, Castlereagh personally led troops in a series of raids in Belfast and its environs (the "Siege of Belfast") that netted leading members of the [[United Irishmen]]. Among them were men who had supported him in the election of 1790.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|96–100, 107–108}} Originating in Belfast among Presbyterian celebrants of the American and French revolutions, the republican conspiracy had spread rapidly in [[Ulster]] and, in league with the Catholic [[Defenders (Ireland)|Defenders]], across the Irish midlands. In [[County Down]], Castlereagh's father had difficulty in raising a loyalist yeomanry among his tenants and eventually, with all rent withheld, [[Mount Stewart]] was placed under armed guard.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stewart|first=A. T. Q.|title=The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down|publisher=Blackstaff Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0856405587|___location=Belfast|pages=22–25, 38}}</ref>

{{start box}}

{{succession box | before=[[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Lord Pelham]] | title=[[Chief Secretary for Ireland]] | years=1798&ndash;1801 | after=[[Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester|The Lord Colchester]]}}

{{succession box | before=[[George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth|The Earl of Dartmouth]] | title=[[President of the Board of Control]] | years=1802&ndash;1806 | after=[[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|The Lord Minto]]}}

{{succession box | before=[[John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|The Earl Camden]] | title=[[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]] | years=1805&ndash;1806 | after=[[William Windham]]}}

{{succession box | before=[[William Windham]] | title=[[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]] | years=1807&ndash;1809 | after=[[Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|The Earl of Liverpool]]}}

{{succession box two to one| before1=[[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|The Marquess Wellesley]] | title1=[[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary]] | years1=1812&ndash;1822 | after=[[George Canning]] | before2=[[Spencer Perceval]] | title2=[[Leader of the House of Commons]] | years2=1812&ndash;1822}}

{{end box}}

In December 1796, a large [[Wolfe Tone#Hoche's Expedition and the 1798 Rebellion|French expedition to Ireland]] failed to effect a landing at [[Bantry Bay]], but due only to contrary winds. As an officer in the militia, Castlereagh was well apprised of the lack of preparedness to meet a combination of professional French soldiery and the countrywide insurgency it would likely trigger.

{{start box}}

{{succession box | before=[[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry|Robert Stewart]] | title=[[Marquess of Londonderry]] | after=[[Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles William Vane]] | years=}}

{{end box}}

In February 1797, Castlereagh was at last appointed to the [[Dublin Castle administration]] as Keeper of the King's Signet for Ireland.{{Efn|name=Limavedy}} Following a declaration of martial law he was made both a [[Lord High Treasurer of Ireland#Commissioners of the Treasury for Ireland (1793-1817)|Lord of the Treasury]] and a Member of the [[Privy Council of Ireland]] (1797–1800).{{Efn|name=Abercromby}} At the urging of Camden, Castlereagh assumed many of the onerous duties of the often-absent [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]], who was responsible for day-to-day administration and for asserting the influence of Dublin Castle in the House of Commons.{{Efn|name=Ireland}} In this capacity, and after March 1798 as Acting Chief Secretary, Castlereagh played a key role in crushing the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|United Irish rising]] when it came in May and June [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|1798]].

[[Category:1769 births|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:1822 deaths|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:Alumni of St. John's College, Cambridge|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:British Secretaries of State|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:Knights of the Garter|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:Marquesses in the Peerage of Ireland|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

[[Category:Suicides|Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount]]

In November 1798, Castlereagh was formally appointed to the office of Chief Secretary by Camden's successor, [[Lord Cornwallis]].

[[de:Robert Stewart, 2. Marquess of Londonderry]]

[[fr:Lord Castlereagh]]

=== Executions of William Orr and James Porter ===

Castlereagh's general policy was to offer immediate clemency to the rebel rank-and-file, many of whom were then inducted into the yeomanry, while still focusing on the politically committed leadership. But already before the rebellion, he had begun to earn the sobriquet "Bloody Castlereagh".

In October 1797 his stepmother, Lady Frances, had petitioned Camden for the life of [[William Orr (United Irishman)|William Orr]].<ref name=":1" />{{rp|112}} On a charge of administering the [[Test of the Society of United Irishmen|United Irish test]] to two soldiers, Orr had been named on the same warrant that Castlereagh had used in the roundup of the previous September. The judge reportedly broke down in tears as he read the death sentence which the popular journalist [[Peter Finnerty]] credited to Castlereagh's insistence on making an example in the face of the growing French fever. In 1811, Castlereagh successfully had Finnerty convicted for libel.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Finnerty|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0O8yAAAAIAAJ|title=Case of Peter Finnerty, Including a Full Report of All Proceedings which Took Place in the Court of King's Bench Upon the Subject ...|publisher=J. M'Creery|year=1811|___location=London|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Peter Finnerty – Irish Biography">{{Cite web|title=Peter Finnerty – Irish Biography|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/PeterFinnerty.php|access-date=2021-03-27|website=www.libraryireland.com}}</ref>

After the rebellion, during which Mount Stewart was briefly occupied,<ref>{{Cite book|last=The National Archives|first=Reference U840/C562|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/6d91b7c1-f454-46ce-ae1e-4e178dc6561c|title='Insurgents in occupation at Mount Stewart', John Petty to Frances Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry|date=1797–1809|language=English}}</ref> Castlereagh was content that leading United Irishmen in the Presbyterian north be allowed American exile. An exception was made in the case of James Porter, executed, again despite the entreaties of Lady Frances, following a court martial before Castlereagh's father, Lord Londonderry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stewart|first=A. T. Q.|title=The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down|publisher=The Blackstaff Press|year=1995|isbn=0856405582|___location=Belfast|pages=252}}</ref> Porter, who had been his family's Presbyterian minister and, in 1790, his election agent, had become a household name in Ulster as the author of a satire of the county gentry, ''Billy Bluff'', in which Londonderry was serially lampooned as an inarticulate tyrant.<ref name=":02">{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Porter, James (1753-1798) | volume= 46 |last= Gordon |first= Alexander |author-link= Alexander Gordon (Unitarian)|pages = 180-182 |short=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Billy Bluff and the Squire [1796] and Other Writing by Re. James Porter|publisher=Athol Books|year=1991|isbn=978-0850340457|editor=Brendan Clifford|___location=Belfast|pages=80}}</ref>

=== The Act of Union and the promise of Emancipation ===

In 1799, in furtherance of both his own political vision and Pitt's policies, Castlereagh began lobbying in the Irish and British Parliaments for a union that would incorporate [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]] with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in a United Kingdom. In addition to security against the French, Castlereagh saw the principal merit of bringing Ireland directly under [[the Crown]] in the [[Westminster]] Parliament as a resolution of what ultimately was the key issue for the governance of the country, the Catholic question.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|127}} "Linked with England", he reasoned that "the Protestants, feeling less exposed, would be more confident and liberal", while Catholics, reduced to a minority within the larger kingdom, would lower their expectations and moderate their demands.<ref>Castlereagh to Sir Laurence Parsons, 28 November 1798, Castlereagh Correspondence, vol. 11, pp. 32–35</ref>

During the campaign for the Act of Union, both Castlereagh and Cornwallis had, in good faith, forwarded informal assurances they had received from Pitt's Cabinet to the [[Irish Catholics]] that they would be allowed to sit in the new United Kingdom Parliament. However, opposition in England, and not least from the King, [[George III]], obliged Castlereagh to defy what he saw as "the very logic of the Union."<ref name=":1" />{{rp|126}} The [[Act of Union 1800|Union bill]] that, with a generous distribution of titles and favours, he helped put through the Irish Parliament omitted the provision for Catholic emancipation. A separate Irish executive in Dublin was retained, but representation, still wholly Protestant, was transferred to Westminster constituted as the Parliament of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]].<ref name="Leigh"/><ref name="Multitext">[http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Politics_and_Administration_in_Ireland_1770-1815 Politics and Administration in Ireland, 1750–1815] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112213844/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Politics_and_Administration_in_Ireland_1770-1815|date=12 November 2009}}, James Kelley, University College Cork, Multitext Project in Irish History</ref>

Pitt had tried to follow through on his commitment, but when it came to light that the King had approached [[Henry Addington]], an opponent of Catholic emancipation, about becoming Prime Minister to replace him, both Castlereagh and Pitt resigned. Castlereagh would long be held personally responsible by many Catholics in Ireland for the breach of promise and the British Government's failure to remove their remaining political disabilities.<ref name="Leigh"/><ref name="Multitext"/>

== President of the Board of Control ==

=== Wellesley and India ===

In the new [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] the tensions within the ruling [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] over Catholic emancipation abated, and after obtaining his desired cessation of hostilities with France (the [[Peace of Amiens]]), in July 1802 [[Henry Addington]] brought Castlereagh into the Cabinet as [[President of the Board of Control]]. His chief task was to mediate the bitter disputes between the [[Governor-General of India]], [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Richard Wellesley]] (the brother of Arthur Wellesley) and the [[East India Company directors|Directors]] of the [[East India Company]], smoothing quarrels while generally supporting [[Lord Wellesley]]'s policies.{{Sfn|Bartlett|1966|p=[https://archive.org/details/castlereagh00bart/page/40 41]|ps=. "Castlereagh found much of his time devoted to the thankless task of acting as a mediator between the influential Court in London and its formidable Governor-General in India, the irascible and autocratic Richard Wellesley."}}<ref name=":42" />{{rp|107–114}} In 1805, with the renewed struggle against Napoleon in Europe the overriding priority, he presided over Wellesley's recall and replacement by [[Lord Cornwallis]], and over the subsequent abandonment of most of Wellesley's recent acquisitions in central India.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|115}}

=== Irish interventions ===

While his British interests and responsibilities took up more and more of his time, and his visits home became increasingly brief and rare, Castlereagh still hoped to do something for Ireland from the government benches.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|107}} On entering the cabinet he wrote to Addington deploring the role of the [[Orange Order]] in fostering sectarian violence and to commend putting "the law rigidly in force against all parties" so that in future wars, "our foreign enemies" would not again find an aggrieved domestic ally.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Colles |first=Ramsey |url=https://electricscotland.com/history/ulster/vol4chap20.htm |title=The History of Ulster: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Volume IV |publisher=Gresham Publishing Co. |year=1919 |___location=London |pages=167–168 |access-date=28 September 2022}}</ref> More than this, he won cabinet approval for schemes to ensure that the Established Church was not alone in preaching loyalty to the Crown.

To counter "the democratic party in the [Presbyterian] synod, most of whom, if not engaged in the Rebellion, were deeply infected with its principles",<ref name=":3" /> he proposed transforming the existing ''[[Regium Donum]],'' which the Presbyterian body had apportioned equally among its clergy, into a discretionary grant for which each minister had to apply individually with proofs and professions of loyalty.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=James |date=2009 |title=Black, Robert {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/black-robert-a0686 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}}</ref> His efforts to extend a similar scheme to the Catholic clergy met with stiffer resistance: priests would not accept support from [[the Crown]] while it continued to deny their communicants political equality.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|107}}

=== Loss of home constituency ===

In Ireland, the [[Anglo-Irish]] [[Protestant Ascendancy|Ascendancy]] was slow to forgive Castlereagh for the loss of their parliament. The Dowager [[Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire|Marchioness of Downshire]] broke her family's electoral truce with the Stewarts in County Down and in July 1805 forced Castlereagh to defend his (now Westminster) parliamentary seat. In the contest he also faced the hostility of unrepentant United Irishmen—men like [[William Drennan]] who were to engage in what Castlereagh denounced as "a deep laid scheme again to bring the Presbyterian Synod within the ranks of democracy".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Courtney |first1=Roger |title=Dissenting Voices: Rediscovering the Irish Progressive Presbyterian Tradition |date=2013 |publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation |isbn=9781909556065 |___location=Belfast |page=170}}</ref> (In 1810, with Castlereagh out of office, Drennan and his friends secured a government grant for the education of Presbyterian ministers in their new, distinctly liberal, [[Royal Belfast Academical Institution|Belfast Academical Institution)]].<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |last=Brooke |first=P. E. C. |date=1981 |title=Controversies in Ulster Presbyterianism 1790–1836 (Doctoral thesis). Ch. 4. The Belfast Academical Institution |url=http://www.peterbrooke.org.uk/p&t/Northern%20Ireland/controversies/ch4 |access-date=2021-11-18 |website=www.peterbrooke.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bardon |first=Jonathan |title=Belfast: An Illustrated History |publisher=Blackstaff Press |year=1982 |isbn=0856402729 |___location=Belfast |pages=80}}</ref>

Despite the prestige of a new cabinet position in London, Castlereagh was defeated in a campaign marked by repeated aspersions on his failure to father a child, and by the taunts of those who, otherwise no friends of the Downshires, reminded him of the principles on which he had stood in 1790.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|204–205}} News of his discomfiture was met with public celebration in Dublin and Belfast.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|116}}

On his return to London, the Treasury found him an alternative English seat, [[Boroughbridge (UK Parliament constituency)|Boroughbridge]], a government-controlled [[rotten borough]]. Having conciliated the Downshires and able to ride the victories of [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]] (future Duke of Wellington), the reputed Dubliner he had appointed to command in the [[Peninsular War]], in 1812 Castlereagh avenged his humiliation, and recovered the family seat.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|307}}

== Secretary for War ==

=== Hanover, Copenhagen and Walcheren ===

After the renewal of the [[Napoleonic Wars|war]] against [[Napoleon]], at the urging of Castlereagh and other long-time supporters in 1804 Pitt returned as Prime Minister. Castlereagh entered the new cabinet as [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]].

While pushing forward reforms of the military, he joined Pitt in endorsing an aggressive expeditionary policy. In October 1805, an army under General Sir [[George Don (British Army officer)|George Don]] was landed at the mouth of the Elbe with a view [[Hanover Expedition|to liberating Hanover]]. Following Napoleon's triumph over the Russian and Austrian armies at [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]] in December, it had to be recalled at great cost.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|120–123}}

As the only other member of [[Second Pitt ministry|Pitt's cabinet]] in the House of Commons, Castlereagh became Pitt's political deputy, taking on ever more burdens as Pitt's health continued to decline.<ref name="Leigh" /> After Pitt's death in 1806, Castlereagh resigned amid the chaos of the [[Ministry of All the Talents]]. When that Government collapsed, Castlereagh again became Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in 1807, this time in the [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland#The Duke of Portland's Second Ministry, March 1807 – October 1809|ministry]] of the [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of Portland]].<ref name="Spartacus">{{Cite web |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcastlereagh.htm |title=Spartacus Educational |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=29 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024072853/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcastlereagh.htm |archive-date=24 October 2008}}</ref>

In August 1807, he concurred with [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]] [[George Canning]] in authorising a British bombardment of the neutral Danish capital, [[Copenhagen]]. They sought to pre-emptively capture or destroy the [[History of the Danish navy|Dano-Norwegian fleet]] fearing that it would fall into French hands. The incident precipitated both the [[Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)|Anglo-Russian War of 1807]] and Denmark's adherence to the [[Continental System]] and alliance with France.<ref>A. N. Ryan, "The Causes of the British Attack upon Copenhagen in 1807." ''English Historical Review'' (1953): 37–55. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/555118 in JSTOR]</ref>

In 1808 Castlereagh had been warned by [[Dumouriez]] that the best policy England could adopt with respect to colonies in Spanish America was to relinquish all ideas of military conquest by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]] and instead support the emancipation of the territories. Furthermore, Dumouriez suggested that once emancipation was achieved, a constitutional monarchy should be established with the exiled Duke of Orleans as King.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rMuGDAAAQBAJ&dq=Charles+Dumouriez&pg=PA87 Great Britain and Argentina by K. Gallo, p. 87]</ref>

In 1809, with the Dowager Marchioness of Downshire now manoeuvring against him in London, the debacle of the [[Walcheren Expedition]] subjected Castlereagh to particularly hostile scrutiny.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|225, 252}}

=== Duel with Canning ===

{{Main article|Castlereagh–Canning duel}}

Canning claimed to have opposed the [[Walcheren Expedition]], to have dismissed the landing on the Dutch coast as an ill-advised, ill-prepared diversion of troops from the [[Peninsular War]]. Castlereagh had the support of [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|General Wellesley]], and evidence later surfaced that the Foreign Secretary himself had interfered with the plan, selecting the [[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham|Earl of Chatham]] to command the expedition.<ref name="nndb"/> The Portland government became increasingly paralysed by disputes between the two men. Portland was in deteriorating health and gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation unless Castlereagh was removed. When Castlereagh discovered Canning's terms had been accepted, he challenged the Foreign Secretary to a duel.

The duel was fought on 21 September 1809 on [[Putney#Putney Heath|Putney Heath]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pistols at dawn|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/575291/pistols-at-dawn.thtml|author=The Spectator|access-date=3 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205005753/http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/575291/pistols-at-dawn.thtml|archive-date=5 February 2010}}</ref> Canning missed but Castlereagh wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much outrage that two cabinet ministers had sought to settle their differences in such a manner, and they both felt compelled to resign. Six months later, Canning published a full account of his actions in the affair, but many who had initially rallied to him became convinced Castlereagh had been betrayed by his cabinet colleague.<ref>Hunt (2008), ''The Duel''. pp. 149</ref>

== Foreign Secretary ==

[[File:Viscount Castlereagh by Francis Leggatt Chantrey 1821.jpg|thumb|right|[[Marble]] [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of Castlereagh by [[Joseph Nollekens]], 1821. [[Yale Center for British Art]]]]

Three years later, in 1812, Castlereagh returned to the government, this time as Foreign Secretary, a role in which he served for the next ten years. He also became leader of the House of Commons in the wake of [[Assassination of Spencer Perceval|Spencer Perceval's assassination]] in 1812.

=== Treaty of Chaumont ===

In his role of Foreign Secretary, he was instrumental in negotiating what has become known as the [[Quadruple Alliance (1815)|quadruple alliance]] between Britain, Austria, Russia, and [[Prussia]] at [[Treaty of Chaumont|Chaumont]] in March 1814, in the negotiation of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Treaty of Paris]]<ref name="nndb"/> that brought peace with France, and at the Congress of Vienna. The [[Treaty of Chaumont]] was part of the final deal offered to [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1814. Napoleon rejected it and it never took effect. However, the key terms reaffirmed decisions that had been made already. These decisions were again ratified and put into effect by the [[Congress of Vienna]] of 1814–1815. The terms were largely written by Lord Castlereagh, who offered cash subsidies to keep the other armies in the field against Napoleon.{{Sfn|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j45Rg2VBbRAC&pg=PA302 302–305]}} Key terms included the establishment of a confederated Germany, the division of Italy into independent states, the restoration of the Bourbon kings of Spain, and the enlargement of the Netherlands to include what in 1830 would become modern Belgium. The treaty of Chaumont became the cornerstone of the European Alliance which formed the balance of power for decades.{{Sfn|Artz|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.183744/page/n124/ 110, line 12]|ps=. "This treaty restated certain decisions already arrived at—the establishment of a confederated Germany, the division of Italy into independent states, the restoration of Spain to the Bourbons, the independence of Switzerland, and the enlargement of Holland—..."}}

Historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]] argues:

:In 1813 and 1814 Castlereagh played the part that William III and Marlborough had played more than a hundred years before, in holding together an alliance of jealous, selfish, weak-kneed states and princes, by a vigour of character and singleness of purpose that held Metternich, the Czar, and the King of Prussia on the common track until the goal was reached. It is quite possible that, but for the lead taken by Castlereagh in the allied counsels, France would never have been reduced to her ancient limits, nor Napoleon dethroned.{{Sfn|Trevelyan|1922|p=[https://archive.org/details/britishhistoryin00trevuoft/page/132 133]|ps=:as quoted.}}

=== Congress of Vienna ===

At the [[Congress of Vienna]], Castlereagh designed and proposed a form of collective and collaborative security for Europe, then called a [[Congress system]]. In the Congress system, the main signatory powers met periodically (every two years or so) and collectively managed European affairs. This system was used in an attempt to address the [[Polish-Saxon crisis]] at Vienna and the [[Congress of Laibach#Eastern Question|question of Greek independence]] at Laibach. The following ten years saw five European Congresses where disputes were resolved with a diminishing degree of effectiveness. Finally, by 1822, the whole system had collapsed because of the irreconcilable differences of opinion between Britain, Austria, and Russia, and because of the lack of support for the Congress system in British public opinion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nicolson |first=Harold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTC3IWC_py8C |title=The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822 |date=2000 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0-8021-3744-9 |language=en}}</ref>

In the years 1812 to 1822, Castlereagh continued to manage Britain's foreign policy, generally pursuing a policy of continental engagement uncharacteristic of British foreign policy in the nineteenth century. Castlereagh was not an effective public speaker and his diplomatic presentation style was at times abstruse.<ref name="nndb"/>

=== Abolition of the slave trade ===

{{Further|Atlantic slave trade#End of the Atlantic slave trade}}

Abolitionist opinion in Britain was strong enough in 1807 to abolish the slave trade in all [[British possessions]]—although slavery itself persisted in the colonies until 1833.<ref>[[Seymour Drescher]], "Whose abolition? Popular pressure and the ending of the British slave trade." ''Past & Present'' 143 (1994): 136–166. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/651164 Online]</ref> Abolitionists after 1807 focused on international agreements to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. In 1806, Castlereagh had opposed Wilberforce's abolition bills arguing that the slave trade could not be suppressed by Britain alone, but only by broad international agreement.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|126}} This, as Foreign Minister, he pursued. He concluded treaties with Portugal, Sweden and Denmark, 1810–1814, whereby they agreed to restrict their trading.<ref>Jerome Reich, "The Slave Trade at the Congress of Vienna – A Study in English Public Opinion" ''Journal of Negro History'' 53.2 (1968): 129–143. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2716488 Online]</ref> These were preliminary to the Congress of Vienna whose Final Act included a declaration condemning the slave trade. Wilberforce, himself, allowed that Castlereagh had secured all that "could be done".<ref name=":42" />{{rp|229}}

Castlereagh cooperated with senior officials to use the Royal Navy to detect and capture slave ships; the freed slaves were sent to freedom in a new British colony of [[History of Sierra Leone|Sierra Leone]]. He used diplomacy to conclude search-and-seize agreements with all the countries whose ships were trading. There was serious friction with the United States, where the southern slave interest was politically powerful. Washington recoiled at British policing of the high seas. Spain, France and Portugal also relied on the international slave trade to supply their colonial plantations. As more and more diplomatic arrangements were made by Castlereagh, the owners of slave ships started flying false flags of nations that had not agreed, especially the United States. It was illegal under American law for American ships to engage in the slave trade, but the idea of Britain enforcing American laws was unacceptable to Washington. Lord Palmerston continued the Castlereagh policies. Eventually, from 1842 to 1845, an arrangement was reached between London and Washington. With the arrival of [[Abraham Lincoln|a staunchly anti-slavery government]] in Washington in 1861, the Atlantic slave trade was doomed. In the long run, Castlereagh's strategy on how to stifle the trade proved successful.<ref>James C. Duram, "A Study of Frustration: Britain, the USA, and the African Slave Trade, 1815–1870." Social Science (1965): 220–225. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41885111 Online]</ref>

=== Nonintervention in European affairs ===

In May 1820 Castlereagh circulated to high officials a major state paper that set the main British policy for the rest of the century. Temperley and Penson call it, "the most famous State Paper in British history and the one of the widest ultimate consequences."<ref>H.W.V. Temperley, and Lillian M. Penson, eds. ''Foundations of British Foreign Policy: 1792–1902'' (1938) Quote p. 47, the paper itself pp 48–63.</ref> Castlereagh called for no British intervention in continental affairs. He argued that the purpose of the Quadruple Alliance was to contain France and put down revolutions. But the Spanish revolt did not threaten European peace nor any of the great powers. Castlereagh said that in actual practice the powers would seldom be able to agree on concerted action, and he pointed out that British public opinion would not support interventions. He admitted that individual states could indeed intervene in affairs in their recognized sphere of interest, such as Austria's intervention in Italy.<ref name=":42" />{{rp|258, 263–264}}

== Lampooning by Thomas Moore ==

As a press, or [[squib (writing)|squib]], writer for the Whigs, [[Thomas Moore]], better remembered as Ireland's [[national bard]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Love |first1=Timothy |title=Gender and the Nationalistic Ballad: Thomas Davis, Thomas Moore, and Their Songs |journal=New Hibernia Review |date=Spring 2017 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=76 |doi=10.1353/nhr.2017.0005 |publisher=Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas |s2cid=149071105 |language=en |issn=1534-5815 |id=660979}}</ref> mercilessly lampooned Castlereagh. In what were the "verbal equivalents of the political cartoons of the day",<ref name="Poetry Foundation3">{{cite web |title=Thomas Moore |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-moore |access-date=10 August 2020 |website=poetryfoundation.org |publisher=Poetry Foundation}}</ref> ''Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress'' (1818), ''[https://verse.press/poem/to-the-ship-in-which-lord-castlereagh-sailed-for-31871 To the Ship in Which Lord Castlereagh Sailed to the Continent]'' (1818) and ''[[iarchive:fablesforholyal00moor/page/n15/mode/2up|Fables for the Holy Alliance]]'' (1823), Moore savages Castlereagh's pirouetting with Britain's reactionary continental allies.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Ronan |title=Bard of Eri:n: The Life of Thomas Moore |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin Ireland |isbn=978-1844881437 |___location=Dublin |pages=322–327}}</ref> At the Congress, the Foreign Secretary had "showed his phiz--/To sign away the Rights of Man/ To Russian threats and Austrian juggle;/ And leave the sinking African/ To fall without one saving struggle--".<ref>{{Cite web |title=To The Ship In Which Lord Castlereagh Sailed For The Continent |url=https://verse.press/poem/to-the-ship-in-which-lord-castlereagh-sailed-for-31871 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=verse.press}}</ref>

Widely read, so that Moore eventually produced a sequel, was his verse novel ''[[The Fudge Family in Paris]]'' (1818). The family of an Irishman working as a propagandist for Castlereagh in Paris, the Fudges are accompanied by an accomplished tutor and classicist, Phelim Connor. An upright but disillusioned Irish Catholic, his letters to a friend reflect Moore's own views. Connor's regular epistolary denunciations of Castlereagh had two recurrent themes. First is Castlereagh as "the embodiment of the sickness with which Ireland had infected British politics as a consequence of the union":<ref name=":1" />{{rp|530–531}} "We sent thee Castlereagh—as heaps of dead Have slain their slayers by the pest they spread". The second is that at the time of the [[Acts of Union 1800|Acts of Union]] Castlereagh's support for Catholic emancipation had been disingenuous. Castlereagh had been master of "that faithless craft" which can "cart the slave, can swear he shall be freed", but then "basely spurns him" when his "point is gain'd."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Thomas |title=The Fudge Family in Paris |date=1818 |publisher=Longmans |___location=London |pages=69, 76}}</ref>

This imputation that he had betrayed his country, bloodied his hands in 1798, and deliberately deceived Catholics at the time of the Union all reportedly wounded Castlereagh. Moore learnt from a mutual connection that Castlereagh had said that "the humorous and laughing things he did not at all mind, but the verses of the Tutor in the ''Fudge Family'' were quite another sort of thing, and were in very bad taste indeed."<ref name=":1" />{{rp|531}} For openly casting the same aspersions against the former Chief Secretary, in 1811 the London-based Irish publisher and former United Irishman, [[Peter Finnerty]], was sentenced to eighteen months for libel.<ref name="Peter Finnerty – Irish Biography"/>

== Decline and death ==

[[File:Castlereagh's House.jpg|thumb|right|Castlereagh's house, [[Loring Hall|Woollet Hall]] (now called Loring Hall), in [[North Cray]] in [[Bexley]], south London]]

[[File:Blue Plaque for the Viscount Castlereagh.jpg|thumb|right|Blue plaque along the North Cray Road]]

Despite his contributions to the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of peace, Castlereagh became extremely unpopular at home. He was attacked in the House of Commons by the Opposition for his support of repressive European governments,<ref>"...he deplored the frequent attacks made in the House on the conduct of foreign governments ... he defended his part in the recent negotiations, designed to secure European equilibrium, and justified the high peacetime establishment. His chief opponent in foreign affairs was now Brougham, whose motion in favour of the Spanish Liberals he deprecated as typical of the kind of meddling in the affairs of other countries that was increasingly resented on the Continent." cf. [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stewart-hon-robert-1769-1822]</ref> while the public resented his role in handling the Commons side of the [[Pains and Penalties Bill 1820#Background|divorce of George IV and Queen Caroline]].<ref name="histparl-viscount-castlereagh-d1822">{{Cite web|first=David R.|last=Fisher |title=Stewart, Robert, Visct. Castlereagh (1769–1822), of Mount Stewart, co. Down; North Cray Farm, nr. Bexley, Kent and 9 St. James's Square, Mdx |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/stewart-robert-1769-1822 |work=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820–1832 |editor=D.R. Fisher |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=2 June 2021 |year=2009}}</ref> He was also condemned for his association with repressive measures of the [[Home Secretary]], [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Lord Sidmouth]] (the former Prime Minister Addington).<ref name="nndb"/> As [[Leader of the House of Commons]] for the [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool#Lord Liverpool's ministry (1812–1827)|Liverpool Government]], he was often called upon to [[Cabinet collective responsibility|defend government policy]] in the House. He had to support the widely reviled measures taken by Sidmouth and the others, including the infamous [[Six Acts]], to remain in cabinet and continue his diplomatic work. For these reasons, Castlereagh appears with other members of Lord Liverpool's Cabinet in [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]]'s poem ''[[The Masque of Anarchy]]'', which was inspired by, and heavily critical of, the [[Peterloo Massacre]]:

{{poemquote|I met Murder on the way –

He had a mask like Castlereagh –

Very smooth he looked, yet grim;

Seven bloodhounds followed him.

All were fat; and well they might

Be in admirable plight,

For one by one, and two by two,

He tossed them human hearts to chew

Which from his wide cloak he drew.{{Sfn|Shelley|1832|p=[https://archive.org/details/masqueanarchyap00huntgoog/page/n36/ 2]|ps=:As quoted}}}}

After the death of his father in April 1821, which "greatly afflicted him", Castlereagh became the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry.{{Sfn|Burke|1869|p=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera00inburk/page/704/ 704, left column, line 71]|ps=. "The marquess d. [died] 8&nbsp;Apr. 1821, and was s. [succeeded] by the son of his first marriage."}} Although ineligible to continue sitting for an Irish constituency, as a non-representative Irish peer he was eligible to sit in the House of Commons for an English seat. Preparations had already been made, and he was able to vacate Down and swiftly win a by-election for his uncle Lord Hertford's borough of Orford of which he had been an MP between 1796 and 1797.<ref name="histparl-viscount-castlereagh-d1822"/> He also stood in good favour with the new King, George IV, who openly proposed to dismiss Lord Liverpool and appoint Castlereagh in his stead. Castlereagh's relations with his colleagues, however, were beginning to break down, possibly under the influence of paranoia. In March 1821, he told his brother he lacked able support on the government benches, and that his parliamentary labours were 'difficult to endure'.<ref name=":2" />

By 1822, he was showing clear signs of a form of [[paranoia]] or a [[nervous breakdown]]. He was severely overworked with both his responsibilities in leading the government in the House and the never-ending diplomacy required to manage conflicts among the other major powers.{{Sfn|Bartlett|1966|p=[https://archive.org/details/castlereagh00bart/page/262 262]|ps=. "Meanwhile, the burden of the poorly organised Foreign Office remained as heavy as ever. Castlereagh's private secretary, Planta, complained bitterly of the burden of work, and though one can hardly argue from the evidence that Castlereagh's mental instability was caused by overwork alone, it cannot be discounted."}} His oratory in the House had never been of the highest calibre, but now he was considered to be practically incoherent.<ref>On one occasion: "Such hash was never delivered by man. The folly of him—his speech as a composition in its attempt at style and ornament and figures, and in its real vulgarity, bombast and folly, was such as, coming from a man of his order, with 30 years parliamentary experience and with an audience quite at his devotion, amounted to a perfect miracle&nbsp;... Brougham&nbsp;... played the devil with him." On another occasion, when trying to explain the Government's financial plans, he was "so confused and involved in his language that the House did not in the least understand." cf.[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/stewart-robert-1769-1822]</ref> He spoke of resigning his office if matters did not improve.

Castlereagh began confessing to what was at the time criminal activity. He had already told his friend Mrs. Arbuthnot that he was being blackmailed for an alleged homosexual offence; at a 9 August meeting with the King, Castlereagh appeared distracted, said he was being mysteriously watched by a servant, and that he had committed all manner of crimes, remarking finally, "I am accused of the same crime as the Bishop of Clogher." [[Percy Jocelyn]], who had been the [[Bishop of Clogher]] until the previous month, was prosecuted for homosexuality. The King concluded he was unwell and urged him to rest.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|541–542}}

The King then sent a message to Lord Liverpool warning him of Castlereagh's illness; Liverpool initially failed to take the matter seriously and dismissed the message. Later that day, however, Castlereagh met with the Duke of Wellington, his cabinet colleague. Castlereagh behaved much as he had with the King; Wellington bluntly told Castlereagh he was not in his right mind, advised him to see a doctor, and alerted Castlereagh's personal physician Charles Bankhead, as well as Castlereagh's friends the Arbuthnots.<ref>It remains unclear whether there was some sort of extortion attempt, and if so, whether such attempt represented a real threat of exposure, or whether the purported blackmail was a symptom of paranoia. See H. Montgomery Hyde, ''Trials of Oscar Wilde'', Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-20216-X}}.</ref><ref>"There is no concrete evidence that Londonderry had committed a homosexual act, but it seems that a few years earlier he had been enticed into a brothel by a man disguised as a woman, and that he was being blackmailed on that score. The case of the bishop of Clogher, which was currently the talk of the town, probably impinged on his disturbed mind." [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/stewart-robert-1769-1822]</ref> On the advice of Bankhead, Castlereagh went to his country seat at [[Loring Hall|Woollet Hall]] in Water Lane, [[North Cray]], Kent, for a weekend stay. He continued to be distressed, and to the concern of his friends and family, ranted wildly about conspiracies and threats to his life. No special watch was kept on him, though his wife saw to it that his pistols and razors were locked away.<ref name="histparl-viscount-castlereagh-d1822"/><ref name=":1" />{{rp|543}}

Lady Castlereagh wrote to the King informing him that her husband would be unable to continue with official business. The King responded with a note to Castlereagh that his minister did not live to read: "Remember of what importance Your Health is to the Country but above all things to Me".<ref name=":1" />{{rp|543–544}}

At about 7:30 am on the morning of 12 August 1822, he sent for Bankhead, who found him in a dressing room seconds after he had cut his own [[External carotid artery|throat]], using a small knife which had been overlooked. He collapsed when Bankhead entered, and died almost instantly.<ref name="nndb">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/357/000095072/ |title=Profile: Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh |publisher=NNDB |access-date=29 May 2009}}</ref><ref>"He died almost instantly, but not before he had exclaimed, 'My dear Bankhead, let me fall upon you; it is all over'." cf. [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/stewart-robert-1769-1822]</ref>{{Sfn|Bew|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DyTg672rGTMC&pg=544 544]|ps=. "... as Castlereagh sank to the floor with blood running from his neck and a small pen-knife in his hand with which he had cut the carotid artery in his neck."}}

Retrospective speculative diagnoses vary. At the time, his brother blamed "the intrigues that were carried on by the women surrounding the king" (the king's mistress, Lady Conyngham, was not on good terms with Castlereagh's wife). George Agar Ellis, on the other hand, concluded Castlereagh was disillusioned by "the nothingness of human grandeurs ... the sad effects which disappointment and chagrin may have on a mind in which religion is not uppermost, for I have no doubt that the sad and apparently irretrievable state of affairs in England was the real cause of ... [his] unfortunate state of mind." Later verdicts attribute the problem to overwork and mental stress, or to "a psychotic depressive illness".<ref name="histparl-viscount-castlereagh-d1822"/> Other theories link various instances of (at the time) little explained illness to [[syphilis]].

[[File:Castlereagh death.png|thumb|The Suicide of Lord Castlereagh by [[George Cruikshank]], 1822]]

== Reaction to his death ==

An inquest concluded that the act had been committed while insane, avoiding the harsh strictures of a ''[[felo de se]]'' verdict.{{Efn|name=Suicide}} The verdict allowed Lady Londonderry to see her husband [[Westminster Abbey Burials and Memorials|buried]] with honour in [[Westminster Abbey]]{{Sfn|Chester|1876|p=[https://archive.org/details/marriagebaptism01chesgoog/page/n515/ 498]|ps=. "1822 Aug. 20 The most Hon. Robert, marquis of Londonderry, etc., in Ireland; St. James's Square, St. James's, Westminster; died on the 12th, aged 53: in the North Cross."}} near his mentor, William Pitt.<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A. P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; [[1882]]), p. 246.</ref> The pallbearers included the Prime Minister [[Lord Liverpool]], the former Prime Minister [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Lord Sidmouth]] and two future Prime Ministers, the [[Duke of Wellington]] and [[Lord Goderich|Frederick Robinson]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bew|first=John|title=Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny|date=2011|publisher=Quercus|isbn=978-0857381866|page=549|edition=1st}}</ref> Some radicals, notably [[William Cobbett]], claimed a "cover-up" within the government and viewed the verdict and Castlereagh's public funeral as a damning indictment of the elitism and privilege of the unreformed electoral system. At his funeral on 20 August, the crowds which lined the funeral route were generally respectful and decorous, but some jeering and insults were heard (although not to the level of unanimity projected in the radical press); and there was cheering when the coffin was taken out of the hearse at the Abbey door.<ref name="histparl-viscount-castlereagh-d1822"/> A funeral monument was not erected until 1850 when his half-brother and successor, [[Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles Stewart Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry]] did so.{{Sfn|Gates|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wwQABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3]|ps=. "What our juryman and eleven others had to decide was whether his lordship was insane at the time of his death or was felo-de-se, a self-murderer. These were the choices for the legal verdicts in 1822&nbsp;..."}}

Some time after Castlereagh's death, [[Lord Byron]] wrote a quip about his grave:

{{poemquote|

Posterity will ne'er survey

A nobler grave than this:

Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:

Stop, traveller, and piss.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kurt A. |last=Sanftleben |url=http://www.sanftleben.com/Last%20Words/lastwords-ep-a.html |title=Epitaphs A–C |publisher=Last Words |access-date=29 May 2009}}</ref>}}

Some of his opponents were damning in their verdicts. Thomas Creevy defied "any human being to discover a single feature of his character that can stand a moment's criticism. By experience, good manners and great courage, he managed a corrupt House of Commons pretty well, with some address. This is the whole of his intellectual merit. He had a limited understanding and no knowledge, and his whole life was spent in an avowed, cold-blooded contempt of every honest public principle." [[Robert Wilson (British Army officer, born 1777)|Sir Robert Wilson]] believed that there had never been "a greater enemy to civil liberty or a baser slave."

Others of Castlereagh's political opponents were more gracious in their epigrams. [[Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux|Henry Brougham]], a Whig politician and later the [[Lord Chancellor]], who had battled frequently with Castlereagh, once almost to the point of calling him out, and had denigrated his skills as Leader,<ref>[[Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux|Henry Lord Brougham]], "Lord Castlereagh", ''Historical Sketches of Statesmen in the Time of George III'', London: Charles Knight & Co. (1845), Second Series, Vol I, pp.&nbsp;149–161.</ref> wrote in the week following Castlereagh's death:<ref>Sir Herbert Maxwell, ed. (1904), "Henry Brougham M.P. to Thomas Creevey, August 19, 1822," [https://archive.org/stream/creeveypaperssel02creeuoft/creeveypaperssel02creeuoft_djvu.txt ''The Creevey Papers''], London: John Murray, 2nd edition, Vol II, p 44. Internet Archive retrieved on 9 July 2009.</ref>

{{quote|Put all their other men together in one scale, and poor Castlereagh in the other – single he plainly weighed them down ... One can't help feeling a little for him, after being pitted against him for several years, pretty regularly. It is like losing a connection suddenly. Also he was a gentleman, and the only one amongst them.<ref>Less flatteringly, Brougham remarked "his capacity was greatly underrated from the poverty of his discourse" and that his natural gifts were "of the most commonplace" kind. He thought less of Canning though, judging that he succeeded to "all of Castlereagh, except his good judgment, good manners and bad English." cf [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/stewart-robert-1769-1822], [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stewart-hon-robert-1769-1822]</ref>}}

Modern historians stress the success of Castlereagh's career in spite of the hatred and ignominy he suffered. Trevelyan contrasts his positive achievements and his pitiful failures.{{Sfn|Trevelyan|1922|p=[https://archive.org/details/britishhistoryin00trevuoft/page/141 141]|ps=. "The policy embodied in the treaties of 1815 was, in some of its chief aspects, generous and wise. It prevented a war of revenge by France, and it gave security to the British Empire for a hundred years; on both counts the policy of Castlereagh had been the decisive factor. The defect of the settlement, destined to imperil Britain once more when the wheel had come full circle, was its entire neglect of the craving of the European people for nationality and for freedom."}} His diplomacy was applauded by historians. For example, in 1919 diplomatic historians recommended his wise policies of 1814–1815 to the British delegation to the Paris peace conferences that ended the First World War. Historian R. J. White underscores the paradox:

{{blockquote|There probably never was a statesman whose ideas were so right and whose attitude to public opinion was so wrong. Such disparity between the grasp of ends and the understanding of means amounts to a failure in statesmanship.{{Sfn|White|1956|p=332}}}}His biographer [[John Bew (historian)|John Bew]] writes:

{{blockquote|No British statesman of the 19th century reached the same level of international influence....But very few have been so maligned by their own countrymen and so abused in history. This shy and handsome Ulsterman is perhaps the most hated domestic political figure in both modern British and Irish political history.<ref>John Bew, "Castlereagh: enlightened conservative" ''History Today'', (2011) 61#11</ref>}}

== Styles ==

Robert Stewart acquired the [[courtesy title]] Viscount Castlereagh in 1796 when his father was created Earl of Londonderry in the [[Irish peerage]].{{Sfn|Anonymous|1846|p=[https://archive.org/details/parliamentaryga00unkngoog/page/n556/ 372, right column]|ps=. "CASTLEREAGH, a hamlet in the district of Castlereagh ... This place gives the title of Viscount to the Marquis of Londonderry."}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=13922 |date=16 August 1796 |page=781}}</ref> Upon his father's death in 1821, he succeeded as [[Marquess of Londonderry|2nd Marquess of Londonderry]], a title to which his father had been raised in 1816. His younger half-brother, the soldier, politician and diplomat [[Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles Stewart (later Vane)]] succeeded him as 3rd Marquess of Londonderry in 1822.

He was styled through his life as follows:<ref name="Leigh"/><ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Londonderry, Earls and Marquesses of |volume=16 |page=968}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/garterlist.htm List of the Knights of the Garter (1348–present)]", Heraldica.</ref>

*Robert Stewart, [[Esquire]] (1769–1789)

*''[[The Honourable]]'' Robert Stewart (1789–1796)

*Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1796–1797)

*''[[The Right Honourable]]'' Viscount Castlereagh (1797–1814)

*''The Right Honourable'' Viscount Castlereagh, [[Knight of the Garter|KG]] (1814–1821)

*''[[The Most Honourable]]'' [[Substantive title|The]] Marquess of Londonderry, KG, [[Royal Guelphic Order|GCH]], [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|PC]], [[Privy Council of Ireland|PC (Ire)]] (1821–1822)

== Memorials and tributes ==

*[[Castlereagh Street]] in Sydney was named after him in 1810 by [[Governor Macquarie]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/sydneys-history/people-and-places/streets |work=Sydney Streets |title=History of Sydney Streets |format=[[MS Excel]] {{small|(for download)}} |publisher=[[City of Sydney]] |date=4 December 2012 |access-date=13 January 2017 }}</ref>

*The [[Sydney]] suburb locality of [[Castlereagh, New South Wales|Castlereagh]] was also named after him by Macquarie in 1810.<ref name="lib.mq.edu.au">{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810a/dec6.html |title=Journal of a Tour of Governor Macquarie's first Inspection of the Interior of the Colony Commencing on Tuesday the 6th. Novr. 1810 |first=Lachlan |last=Macquarie |chapter=Thursday 6th. Decr. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310122444/http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810a/dec6.html |archive-date=10 March 2012 |via=[[Macquarie University]]}}</ref>

*The [[Castlereagh River]] in north-western New South Wales was dedicated to him in 1818 by George Evans and explored by John Oxley.<ref name=gnb>{{NSW GNR|id=JPKqoexOGH|title=Castlereagh River|date=22 April 1977|access-date=18 January 2013}}</ref>

*The New South Wales electoral seat of [[Electoral district of Castlereagh|Castlereagh]] also carried his name from 1904 until 1991.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

== See also ==

*{{Ship||Lord Castlereagh|ship}}, two ships named for Lord Castlereagh

== Notes and references ==

=== Explanatory notes ===

{{Notelist|refs=

: {{Efn|name=Cowan|His father was a nephew of [[Robert Cowan (governor)|Robert Cowan]], a wealthy and successful [[Governor of Bombay]] for the [[British East India Company]], whose heir was the elder Stewart's mother, Cowan's sister Mary. Much of the Stewart family wealth was based on the estates which came into the family through the Cowan inheritance, which put the family squarely in the [[landed gentry]] class of [[Ulster#History and politics|Ulster Presbyterians]] whose ancestors first arrived in Ireland during the [[Plantation of Ulster]]. (See {{Cite web|url=http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/lond_eo.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114195351/http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/lond_eo.htm |archive-date=14 November 2007 |title=The Cowan Inheritance |publisher=Public Records Office of Northern Ireland |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=6 July 2009}}).}}

: {{Efn|name=Castlereagh|The name ''Castlereagh'' derives from the barony of [[Castlereagh (County Down barony)|Castlereagh]] in which lie the towns of Newtownards and Comber. The estates included the demesne land of Mount Pleasant, later [[Mount Stewart]], which became the family seat of the Londonderrys (see Leigh, ''Castlereagh'', p. 15).}}

: {{Efn|name=Election|The Down election of 1790 was fought against the elder Stewart's rival for influence in Ulster, [[Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire]], who controlled both Down seats. The elder Stewart, who had been raised to the Irish peerage the previous year and was thereby ineligible, persuaded his son to stand for the seat. His son was backed, as he had been, by Whigs and [[English Dissenters|Dissenters]]. The election expenses to the Stewarts reached the extraordinary sum of £60,000, financed by a mortgage of Mount Stewart, which Castlereagh's father spent much of the next decades paying off. (See Leigh, ''Castlereagh''.)}}

: {{Efn|name=Child|In a profile of Castlereagh published within months of his death, he was reported to have had, prior to his marriage, a son by a maidservant who lived near the Mount Stewart estate, and whom it was rumoured he supported. (Felton Reede, ''Private Life of the Marquess of Londonderry'', (1822), cited in Leigh, ''Castlereagh'', pp 34 and 144.)}}

: {{Efn|name=Limavedy|Castlereagh had been re-elected without opposition from Down in 1797 and continued to hold this seat while in office in Ireland. He could not continue to hold both Irish office and the seat in Westminster for Orford, which he therefore resigned. (See Leigh, ''Castlereagh'', Ch 4.) In the Irish election of 1798, he stood for [[Newtown Limavady (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Newtown Limavady]] as well as for Down. He was successful for both constituencies and chose to sit for the latter. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}}}

: {{Efn|name=War|The war with France absorbed much of the attention of Government and Parliament, and what attention was paid to an increasingly radicalised Ireland was confused and inconsistent. Pitt's dismissal of the popular [[William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam|Lord Fitzwilliam]] in 1795, over Fitzwilliam's aggressive support of Whig patronage and Catholic emancipation, produced outrage and rioting in Dublin. Castlereagh had watched the unravelling of Irish policy with deep concern and knew what sort of reaction to expect to Fitzwilliam's dismissal. But he was in no position to steer Irish policy nor could he object to the inevitable departure of Fitzwilliam, especially as the person appointed to replace Fitzwilliam was the brother of Stewart's step-mother, [[John Jeffreys Pratt]], who had recently succeeded as 2nd Earl Camden. (See Leigh, ''Castlereagh'', Ch. 3.)}}

: {{Efn|name=Abercromby|In Council, though he was active in pursuing plots against the Government, he countered the influence of the more extreme members of the [[Protestant Ascendancy]] who, against especially the policies of the new Commander-in-Chief for Ireland, [[Sir Ralph Abercromby]], called for indiscriminate violence to suppress all threat of rebellion. (See Leigh, ''Castlereagh'', Ch 4).}}

: {{Efn|name=Ireland|The Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1795 to 1798 was [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Thomas Pelham]], but he was continually absent from his duties due to illness. Camden pressed London to replace Pelham, recommending in his stead Castlereagh, whose performance in office was admired by those in London concerned with Irish policy. But as an example of the perverse prejudices of the era, Castlereagh, who might have been especially competent in this delicate and demanding office because he was an Irishman, was also ineligible to represent the Crown in Ireland because he was an Irishman, even though this Irishman was grandson of an English Marquess, great-grandson of an English Duke and son-in-law of an English Earl. After pressure by Pitt on [[George III]] who shared the prejudice against appointments of Irish as representatives of the Crown in Ireland, Castlereagh was appointed Acting Chief Secretary in March 1798. But it was only in November 1798, after the Rebellion had been put down that, in response to imperious demands from the next influential Lord Lieutenant, [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Marquess Cornwallis]], Castlereagh was given the permanent office, and for the first time the Chief Secretary for Ireland was an Irishman. The next month, Castlereagh was admitted to the King's Privy Council. (See Leigh, ''Castlereagh'' Ch 4, and {{Cite web |url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/15090/pages/1211 |title=The London Gazette }}&nbsp;{{small|(112&nbsp;[[KiB]])}} 18 December 1798, p. 1 (1 page pdf).)}}

: {{Efn|name=Suicide|Suicide was illegal in England until the passing of the [[Suicide Act 1961]]. Prior to the [[Right to Burial Act 1823]], a suicide was denied a Christian burial and, until the [[Abolition of Forfeiture Act 1870]], his property was forfeited to the Crown. These cruel penalties were less and less frequently applied over the course of the 18th century, especially in the case of wealthier perpetrators. Inquests were likely to view suicide as itself evidence of the disturbed state of the perpetrator's mind. (See e.g., [[Clifton D. Bryant]], ''Handbook of Death and Dying'', Sage Publications (2003) pp. 316–317.)}}

}}

=== Citations ===

{{Reflist}}

=== General and cited sources ===

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

* {{Cite book |last=Anonymous |date=1846 |title=The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland |volume=1 |publisher=A. Fullarton |___location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/parliamentaryga00unkngoog/ }} – A to C (for hamlet of Castlereagh)

* {{Cite book |last=Artz |first=Frederick Binkerd |date=1934 |title=Reaction and Revolution 1814–1832 |publisher=[[HarperCollins|Harper & Row]] |___location=New York |oclc=883674335 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499217/ }}

* {{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Christopher John |author-link=C. J. Bartlett |date=1966 |title=Castlereagh |publisher=Macmillan |___location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/castlereagh00bart/ |url-access=registration }}

<!--

Bew's book about Castlereagh appeared first in 2011 at Quercus as "Castlereagh: Enlightenment War and Tyranny" for Great Britain and then in 2012 at Oxford University Press under the shortened title "Castlereagh: A Life" for the United States. Both editions are available in Google Books. The text seems identical, but curiously the 2011 edition lacks page numbers. I therefore cite the 2012 edition.

* {{Cite book|last=Bew |first=John |author-link=John Bew (historian) |date=2011 |title=Castlereagh: Enlightenment War and Tyranny |publisher=Quercus Editions |___location=London |isbn=978-0-85738-186-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99ZgBQAAQBAJ}}

-->

* {{Cite book |last=Bew |first=John |author-link=John Bew (historian) |date=2012 |orig-year=2011 |title=Castlereagh: A Life |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |___location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-993159-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyTg672rGTMC }}

* {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Burke |date=1869 |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire |edition=31st |publisher=Harrison |___location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera00inburk/ }}

* {{Cite book |last=Chester |first=Joseph Lemuel |date=1876 |title=Registers of Westminster Abbey |publisher=Private Edition |___location=London |oclc=1140248 |url=https://archive.org/details/marriagebaptism01chesgoog/ }} – Marriages, baptisms and burials from about 1660 to 1875

* {{Cite book |last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |date=1893 |title=Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant |edition=1st |volume=V |publisher=[[George Bell and Sons]] |___location=London |oclc=1180836840 |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerage05cokahrish/ }} – L to M (for Londonderry)

* {{Cite book |last=Debrett |first=John |author-link=John Debrett |date=1828 |title=Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |edition=17th |volume=II |publisher=F. C. and J. Rivington |___location=London |oclc=54499602 |url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerage01debrgoog/ }} – Scotland and Ireland

* {{Cite book |last=Escott |first=Thomas Hay Sweet |author-link=Thomas Hay Sweet Escott |date=1914 |title=Club Makers and Club Members |publisher=T Fisher Unwin |___location=London |oclc=2674230 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028066979 }}

* {{Cite book |last1=Fremont-Barnes |first1=Gregory |last2=Fisher |first2=Todd |date=2004 |title=The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire |publisher=Osprey Publishing |pages=302–305 |isbn=978-1841768311 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j45Rg2VBbRAC&pg=PA302 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

* {{Cite book |editor-last=Fryde |editor-first=Edmund Boleslaw |editor-link=Edmund Fryde |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |date=1986 |title=Handbook of British Chronology |publisher=Offices of the Royal Historical Society |edition=3rd |series=Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 |___location=London |isbn=0-86193-106-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbritis0000unse/ |url-access=registration }} – (for timeline)

* {{Cite book |last=Gates |first=Barbara T. |date=2014 |orig-year=1988 |title=Victorian Suicide: Mad Crimes and Sad Histories |publisher=Princeton University Press |___location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-691-09437-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ngYEAQAAIAAJ }}

* {{Cite book |author=House of Commons |date=1878 |title=Return. Members of Parliament – Part II. Parliaments of Great Britain, 1705–1796. Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1801–1874. Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of Scotland, 1357–1707. Parliaments of Ireland, 1599–1800. |publisher=[[His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office]] |___location=London |oclc=13112546 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1ETAAAAYAAJ }}

* {{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=Giles |date=2008 |title=The Duel: Castlereagh, Canning and deadly cabinet rivalry |publisher=I. B. Tauris |___location=London |isbn=978-1-84511-593-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbVpAAAAMAAJ }}

* {{Cite book |last=Kissinger |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Kissinger |date=1964 |title=A World Restored |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |___location=New York |oclc=1203400715 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldrestoredeur0000kiss/ |url-access=registration }}

* {{Cite book |last=Leigh |first=Ione |date=1951 |title=Castlereagh |publisher=Collins |___location=London |oclc=1888055 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UDyxwEACAAJ }} – (especially for early years, access to family papers)

* {{Cite book |last=Shelley |first=Percy Bysshe |author-link=Percy Bysshe Shelley |date=1832 |title=The Mask of Anarchy |publisher=Edward Moxon |___location=London |oclc=21441655 |url=https://archive.org/details/masqueanarchyap00huntgoog/ }}

* {{Cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=George Macaulay |author-link=G. M. Trevelyan |date=1922 |title=British History in the Nineteenth Century (1782–1901) |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |___location=London |oclc=1041642436 |url=https://archive.org/details/britishhistoryin00trevuoft/ }}

* {{Cite magazine |last=White |first=R. J. |date=1956 |title=Castlereagh |magazine=History Today |volume=6 |number=5 |pages=326–333 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/lord-castlereagh |url-access=subscription}}

* {{Cite book |last=Wills |first=Rev. James |author-link=James Wills (poet) |date=1817 |title=Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, from the earliest times to the present period |chapter=Robert Marquis of Londonderry |volume=VI |publisher=A Fullarton & Co. |___location=Dublin |pages=125–131 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/livesofillustrio06willuoft/page/125/ }}

{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==

* Bew, John. ''Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny'', London: Quercus (2011) {{ISBN|978-0-85738-186-6}}

** review essay by Jack Gumpert Wasserman, in ''The Byron Journal'' (2013) Vol. 41, No. 1 [

* Brunatti, Andrew. " 'It Must End, or I Must End': Castlereagh, Mental Health and Politics in Regency Britain." ''Parliamentary History'' (2023) 42#3 pp.348-376

* {{cite book | last = Campbell | first = John | author-link = John Campbell (biographer) |title =Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown| year = 2009 | ___location = London | publisher = Vintage Books | isbn = 978-1-84595-091-0 }}

* Cecil, Algernon. ''British Foreign Secretaries 1807–1916'' (1927) pp 1–52.[https://archive.org/details/bristishforeigns0000unse online]

* Charmley, John, "Castlereagh and France." ''Diplomacy and Statecraft'' 17.4 (2006): 665–673.

* Coburn, Helen. ''A Gentleman Among Them: The Public and Private Life of Viscount Castlereagh'' (Cestus 2016).

* [[John W. Derry|Derry, John W.]] ''Castlereagh'', London: A. Lane (1976)

* Goodlad, Graham. "From Castlereagh to Canning: Continuity and Change in British Foreign Policy," ''History Review'' (2008) Issue: 62. pp10+ [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5033651445 online]

* Hayes, Paul. ''Modern British Foreign Policy: The nineteenth century, 1814–80'' (1975).

* {{Cite book|last=Hinde |first=Wendy |date=1981 |title=Castlereagh |publisher=Collins |___location=London |isbn=978-0002163088 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efqoAAAAIAAJ |ref=none}}

* {{Cite book|last=Hyde |first=H. Montgomery |date=1933 |title=The Rise of Castlereagh |publisher=MacMillan |___location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77199/ |ref=none}}

* {{Cite book|last=Jarrett |first=Mark |date=2013 |title=The Congress of Vienna and its Legacy: War and Great Power Diplomacy after Napoleon |publisher=I. B. Tauris & Company, Ltd. |___location=London |isbn=978-1780761169 |ref=none}}

* Lawrence, Thomas, and C. J. Bartlett. ''The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812–1815, Britain and the European Alliance'' (1925) [https://www.questia.com/library/61933601/the-foreign-policy-of-castlereagh-1812-1815-britain online]

* King, David. '' Vienna 1814; How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna'', (Random House, 2008) {{ISBN|978-0-307-33716-0}}

* Muir, Rory. ''Britain and the defeat of Napoleon, 1807–1815'', New Haven: Yale University Press (1966) {{ISBN|978-0-300-06443-8}}

* [[Harold Nicolson]], ''The Congress of Vienna'', Constable & Co Ltd, UK/Harcourt Brace and Company (1946)[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.190437 online]

* Perkins, Bradford. ''Castlereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812–1823'', Berkeley: University of California Press (1964)

* Schroeder, Paul W. ''The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848'' (1996), European diplomatic history [https://www.questia.com/read/28171953/the-transformation-of-european-politics-1763-1848 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407225933/https://www.questia.com/read/28171953/the-transformation-of-european-politics-1763-1848 |date=7 April 2019 }}

* {{Cite book|last=Webster |first=Charles Kingsley |author-link=Charles Webster (historian) |date=1925 |title=The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh |publisher=G Bell and Sons |___location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.227168/ |ref=none}}

* [[Adam Zamoyski|Zamoyski, Adam.]] ''Rites of Peace; the Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna'', HarperCollins Publishers (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-06-077518-6}}

* {{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26507|title=Stewart, Robert, Viscount Castlereagh and second marquess of Londonderry|date=21 May 2009|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-26507}}

=== Primary sources ===

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=cLAVJdLgD_0C ''Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry''], edited by his brother, [[Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles William (Stewart) Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry]], London: John Murray (1848–53) in 12 volumes

* [[Sir Archibald Alison, 1st Baronet|Sir A. Alison.]], [https://archive.org/details/liveslordcastle07alisgoog ''Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir Charles Stewart''], 3 vols., London: Blackwood (1861)

<!-- Attribution -->

{{EB1911|wstitle=Londonderry, Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of |volume=16 |pages=969–972 |ref=none}}

== External links ==

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons category}}

* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-robert-stewart-1 | Viscount Castlereagh }}

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=BnQRAAAAMAAJ ''A Letter to Lord Viscount Castlereagh''], John C. Hobhouse, London: Robert Stodart (1819), on the Peterloo massacre

* {{NPG name|name=Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh)}}

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{{S-aft|after = [[Arthur Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys|Lord Arthur Hill]] <br /> [[Mathew Forde]] }}

{{S-bef|before = [[John Douglas (died 1838)|John Douglas]] <br /> [[Edmond Alexander MacNaghten]] }}

{{S-ttl|title = Member of Parliament for [[Orford (UK Parliament constituency)|Orford]]

|with = [[Edmond Alexander MacNaghten]]

|years = [[1821 Orford by-election|1821]]–[[1822 Orford by-election|1822]] }}

{{S-aft|after = [[Edmond Alexander MacNaghten]] <br /> [[Sir Charles Lockhart-Ross, 8th Baronet|Charles Ross]] }}

{{S-off}}

{{S-bef|rows=2 |before= [[Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon|The Earl of Shannon]] <br />[[Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet|Sir John Parnell, Bt]] <br />[[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Hon. Thomas Pelham]] <br />[[John Monck Mason]] <br />[[Lodge Morres]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Commissioner of the Treasury for Ireland]]|years=1797–1799 | with =[[Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon|The Earl of Shannon]]<br />[[Isaac Corry]]<br />[[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Hon. Thomas Pelham]]<br />[[John Monck Mason]]<br />[[Lodge Morres]]}}

{{S-aft|rows=2 |after=[[Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon|The Earl of Shannon]]<br />[[Isaac Corry]]<br />[[Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester|Charles Abbot]]<br />[[Lodge de Montmorency, 1st Viscount Frankfort de Montmorency|The Lord Frankfort]]<br />[[John Loftus, 2nd Marquess of Ely|Viscount Loftus]]<br />[[Maurice FitzGerald, 18th Knight of Kerry|Maurice FitzGerald]]}}

{{S-ttl|title = [[Commissioner of the Treasury for Ireland]]|years=1800 |with =[[Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon|The Earl of Shannon]]<br />[[Isaac Corry]]<br />[[Lodge Morres]]<br />[[John Loftus, 2nd Marquess of Ely|Viscount Loftus]]<br />[[William Wickham (spymaster)|William Wickham]]<br />[[Maurice FitzGerald, 18th Knight of Kerry|Mourice FitzGerald]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Hon. Thomas Pelham]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Chief Secretary for Ireland]]|years=1798–1801}}

{{S-aft|after=[[Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester|Charles Abbot]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth|The Earl of Dartmouth]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[President of the Board of Control]]|years=1802–1806}}

{{S-aft|after=[[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|The Lord Minto]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|The Earl Camden]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]]|years=1805–1806}}

{{S-aft|after=[[William Windham]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[William Windham]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]]|years=1807–1809}}

{{S-aft|after=[[The Earl of Liverpool]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|The Marquess Wellesley]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]]|years=1812–1822}}

{{S-aft|rows=2|after=[[George Canning]]}}

{{S-bef|before=[[Spencer Perceval|Hon. Spencer Perceval]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Leader of the House of Commons]]|years=1812–1822}}

{{S-reg|ie}}

{{S-bef|before=[[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry|Robert Stewart]]}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[Marquess of Londonderry]]|years=1821–1822}}

{{S-aft|after=[[Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|Charles (Stewart) Vane]]}}

{{S-end}}

{{Foreign Secretary}}

{{Leader of the House of Commons}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount}}

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