subsequently made a public apology for the original expressions.

In the meanwhile the Emancipation Bill was steadily progressing. On the
19th of February, in introducing the bill for the suppression of
dangerous associations, the Duke of Wellington declared that there had
been no previous bargain or compact with the Roman Catholic party while
the Emancipation Bill was in the House of Commons. Short discussions
took place almost every night in the House of Lords upon its merits, in
which whenever the Duke joined he did so with the greatest reluctance.
At length, on the 2nd of April, he moved the second reading of the bill
in the House of Lords, in a speech which reflected credit upon him for
moral courage, if not for consistency.

In fact, great moral courage is one of the most striking features in the
character of the Duke of Wellington. Some of his supporters will doubt
this assertion; and will point to the Emancipation Act as a proof that
the Duke wanted the firmness to act up to his avowed principles. This
involves a wrong assumption. It is one thing obstinately to adhere to an
opinion in defiance of its impracticability: another to retract that
opinion so soon as its impracticability is demonstrated. Whether the
Duke was right or wrong in his opinions, no one will deny that it
required great moral courage for him to stand up in the face of the
country, braving the anger of his old associates, and declare that he
could no longer resist the force of public opinion.

It was in the course of the speech introducing the Emancipation Bill
that the Duke made his well-known declaration "that he would sacrifice
his life to prevent one month of civil war."

One fruit of the angry passions excited during the progress of the