7 OCTOBER 1854, Page 13

APSLEY HOUSE Is itself again. During the great struggle for

the Reform Bill, a mob broke some of the windows of the Duke of Wellington's man- sion; the Great Captain took it sadly to heart, and never had them repaired. The demolished windows were bricked up, and strong iron blinds suspended outside in lieu of glass. Few visit- ors to the Metropolis failed to remark the contrast between the fighting Achilles on the neighbouring mound, and later the bronze horseman over the triumphal arch—memorials of a nation's es- teem—and the funereal aspect of the Duke's house, the dull me- mento of popular outrage. The outbreak of passion which vented itself on the windows was transitory ; the national sentiment of admiring respect for the great soldier was abiding. But the Duke never' forgot or forgave the insult of 1831. One day during the Corn-law struggle, when he so gallantly "stood by" Sir Robert Peel, he was riding off to the House of Lords : a small crowd hap- pened to be assembled at Hyde Park Corner, as small crowds in summer do assemble there ; and they, knowing his errand to the House, cheered him as he rode forth. The Duke deigned but one acknowledgment: he expressively pointed to the heavy iron blinds,—as much as to say, " You see there a permanent evidence of the worth of your applause !" The present Duke of Welling- ton has now restored the windows ; the mob forgot its anger long ago. Times are vastly changed since those windows were broken, and since the great Duke used them as an illustration of the fickleness of the mob. Like that noble house, which has now ceased to frown grimly upon us like one of the casemated fortresses of the Czar, the small spots of popular displeasure that dimmed the warrior's fame have been wiped away, and even their last memento is now gone. The Duke lived to aid in breaking down the barriers that, politically, kept class intrayed against class. The Duke lived to see the nation united, prosperous, and strong. But he did not live to see England and France heart and hand, fighting side by side in the cause of European independence and public law, and decking the flags of both nations with the same laurels. Between the domestic strife of 1831-'32, not unaptly symbolized by the broken windows of Apsley House, and the domestic unanimity of 1854— between the "friendly relations" with foreign powers of that dis- tracted time, and the noble alliance of France and England of our day—how vast is the- gulf ! The change wrought by years is brought home to us by the disappearance of those iron blinds—by the effacing of those symbols of disunion. And as the Duke of Wellington of our day has effaced those mementos of distrust and disdain of the people, so the England of our day, removing the blinds of prejudice, looking upon the great interests of the world through a clearer medium, and across the Channel with a friend- lier gaze, has been enabled to form a compact alliance with the France of our day, no longer our "natural enemy," but our natural ally. Thus in a happy time and at an appropriate moment Apsley House is itself again.