Conversations

So the National Trust and the BBC--two British treasures--jointly sponsored a series of conversations at Mount Stewart this weekend. We went to three today and will go to four tomorrow.

The first talk was about Lord Castlereagh, whose family owned Mount Stewart for eight generations or so. When you tour the house, it gets very confusing as you jump from generation to generation and as multiple titles are used. For instance, Lord Castlereagh was really Robert Stewart and also referred to as the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry. He was the most famous of the home’s owners.

He was Chief Secretary for Ireland during the 1798 rebellion by the United Irishmen and he was British Foreign Secretary during the Napoleonic wars. He was the principal British diplomat at the Congress of Vienna, architect of a treaty that brought peace to Europe for 100 years. Henry Kissinger did his dissertation on Castlereagh and his philosophy about diplomacy is still relevant. He was also fairly dishy.

Castlereagh gets a bad rap for engineering the Act of Union, which abolished the Irish parliament and brought Ireland under the control of a London parliament (with Irish representatives). While many considered him a traitor to Ireland, the picture is more nuanced when you realise that the Dublin parliament was a group of landed aristocracy who were anti-democratic and less progressive than the London parliament. Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal (a satire about eating the babies of the impoverished Irish) took aim at the heartlessness of the Anglo Irish Dublin parliament.

Castlereagh wrote Catholic emancipation into the Act of Union--something the Dublin parliament had rejected--yet the London government reneged on that part of the deal, humiliating Castlereagh. Castlereagh’s bad rap also stems from his treatment of the 1798 rebels, many of whom were executed or deported. The bloody French rebellion left such an impression on Castlereagh that he wanted to nip Ireland’s rebelliousness in the bud.

Castlereagh killed himself at age 53 in 1822. He had lost his mind apparently. Possibly tied to his contracting syphillis while at university. The panel of two historians and a local radio commentator was extremely informative and entertaining--BBC excerpts from a documentary on Castlereagh were interspersed with the discussion.

Lecture two was about three generations of Lady Londonderrys. The family had a mansion in London (Londonderry House) where it hosted the London elite and diplomats from around the world. Mount Stewart was the country estate, where large gatherings also were held. The three ladies were all very bright, all daughters of politicians, and channeled their own ambitions into creating opportunities for their husbands (not all of whom were particularly ambitious). Each managed to be a close confidant of the reigning prime minister, securing various favours for their husbands and sons.

The final lecture was on Brexit and how it impacts Northern Ireland. The entire topic is too depressing to get into, so I won’t. I will say however that the panelists were excellent, particularly Jonathan Powell, Chief of Staff to Tony Blair. Powell has gone on to work on conflict resolution around the world. He was instrumental in Northern Ireland’s peace agreement and has most recently helped Colombia seal a peace deal.

One thing he said that I found interesting--I don’t necessarily agree--is that those who criticise entering the war in Iraq ought to think about Syria and the consequences of not acting. I’m not sure it’s a fair comparison (partly due to the role of Russia) but it was interesting to hear his perspective, particularly on how to disarm rebels. If they have wide popular support, you find a way to bring them into government (e.g. Sinn Fein). If they don’t, you fight them militarily. He was jumping around from Basque to Sri Lanka and Sudan--I can’t remember his more specific points.
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