Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 2nd marquess of Londonderry
Castlereagh's great opportunity came when he was appointed foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons on the formation of Liverpool's ministry in 1812. He built up the final coalition against Napoleon and his personal diplomacy strengthened allied determination. Although not a brilliant orator, Castlereagh was a successful leader in the Commons, winning the trust of MPs by his patience, courtesy, and understanding. At Vienna he did much to frame the peace settlement. He was committed to regular meetings of the powers in congress not in order to perpetuate the status quo, but to enable peace to be preserved by considered adjustment to inevitable change. He did not believe in collective intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign states. Castlereagh became alienated from Metternich and by 1820 had dissociated Britain from the Holy Alliance, which he had condemned on its inception as ‘a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense’. Although his distrust of Russian expansion in the Near East drew Castlereagh closer to Metternich over the Greek revolt, he seriously contemplated the recognition of the independence of the Spanish American colonies. In 1822, worn out by overwork and saddened by the failure of the congress system to work as he had hoped, he suffered a nervous breakdown and committed suicide. For many years the tragedy of his death and sustained misrepresentation obscured his greatness as foreign secretary.
John W. Derry
Bibliography
Hinde, W. , Castlereagh (1981).
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
-
MLA
-
Chicago
-
APA
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 2nd marquess of Londonderry." The Oxford Companion to British History. . Encyclopedia.com. 23 Apr. 2018 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 2nd marquess of Londonderry." The Oxford Companion to British History. . Encyclopedia.com. (April 23, 2018). http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-viscount-2nd-marquess-londonderry
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 2nd marquess of Londonderry." The Oxford Companion to British History. . Retrieved April 23, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-viscount-2nd-marquess-londonderry
Citation styles
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).
Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.
Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:
Modern Language Association
The Chicago Manual of Style
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
American Psychological Association
Notes:
- Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.
- In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.
Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount
Robert Stewart Castlereagh, 2d Viscount (kă´səlrā), 1769–1822, British statesman, b. Ireland. Entering the Irish Parliament in 1790 and the British Parliament in 1794, he was acting chief secretary for Ireland at the time of the Irish rebellion of 1798. Having worked for the Act of Union of England and Ireland (1800), he resigned with William Pitt in 1801 when George III refused to allow Catholic Emancipation. President of the India board of control from 1802 to 1806, he also served (1805–6, 1807–9) as secretary of war. In the latter office, he planned the reorganization and expansion of the army and the effective coordination of British land and sea power. He dispatched a British expedition to Portugal, and after the early disasters in the Peninsular War he succeeded in putting Arthur Wellesley (later duke of Wellington) in command. The opposition of his colleague George Canning to Castlereagh's policies flared into a serious quarrel. Castlereagh accused Canning of political betrayal, and they fought (1809) a duel. Canning was wounded, and both resigned. As foreign secretary (1812–22), Castlereagh helped to organize the successful final coalition against Napoleon I, partly by secret treaties promising territorial changes. In the Treaty of Chaumont (1814) he obtained that
"concert of Europe"
later confirmed by the Quadruple Alliance. He advocated a moderate peace settlement for France, including restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and the limitation of France to her prewar boundaries. A dominant figure at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15; see Vienna, Congress of), Castlereagh worked for the establishment of the United Netherlands and the German Confederation. He favored an independent Poland but was compelled to accept a repartitioning of that country. Castlereagh placed great hope in the
"congress system"
agreed on at Vienna, by which the great powers would consult regularly for the maintenance of peace. However, he did not approve of outright intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries and protested, in increasingly explicit terms, the assumption of this right by the powers of the Holy Alliance. By the time of his death it is almost certain that he had decided to break with the wartime allies. In England, however, he was much criticized for his apparent cooperation with those same autocratic governments, and he was also blamed for repressive actions to curb unrest in England, though he was not directly responsible for them. He became (1821) the 2d marquess of Londonderry on his father's death. He committed suicide the next year. One of the foremost statesmen of his time, Castlereagh was cold in personality and lacked ability as an orator; he never gained an easy popularity and was hated by radicals like Shelley.
See biographies by C. J. Bartlett (1966) and J. Bew (2012); H. A. Kissinger, A World Restored (1957, repr. 1964).
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
-
MLA
-
Chicago
-
APA
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. 23 Apr. 2018 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. (April 23, 2018). http://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-2d-viscount
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Retrieved April 23, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-2d-viscount
Citation styles
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).
Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.
Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:
Modern Language Association
The Chicago Manual of Style
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
American Psychological Association
Notes:
- Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.
- In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.
Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
-
MLA
-
Chicago
-
APA
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount." World Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. 23 Apr. 2018 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount." World Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. (April 23, 2018). http://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-2nd-viscount
"Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount." World Encyclopedia. . Retrieved April 23, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/castlereagh-robert-stewart-2nd-viscount
Citation styles
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).
Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.
Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:
Modern Language Association
The Chicago Manual of Style
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
American Psychological Association
Notes:
- Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.
- In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.