Might she not have been alive now, and perhaps
happier than she had ever been with him? And had he remained
always unmarried, devoted simply to politics, would not the
troubles of the world have been lighter on him? But what had that
to do with it? In these matters it was not the happiness of this
or that individual which should be considered. There is a
propriety in things;--and only by an adherence to that propriety on
the part of individuals can the general welfare be maintained. A
King in his country, or the heir or the possible heir to the
throne, is debarred from what might possibly be a happy marriage
by regard to the good of his subjects. To the Duke's thinking the
maintenance of the aristocracy of the country was second only in
importance to the maintenance of the Crown. How should the
aristocracy be maintained if its wealth were allowed to fall into
the hands of an adventurer!
Such were the opinions with regard to his own order of one who was
as truly Liberal in his ideas as any man in England, and who had
argued out these ideas to their consequences.
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