this occasion to the aid of Portugal, Portugal will be trampled down to your irretrievable disgrace, and then will come war in the train of moral degradation. If, under circumstances like these, you wait till Spain has matured her secret machinations into hostility, you will, in a little while, have the sort of war required by the pacificators-and who shall say where that war will end?"

In the latter part of the month of January 1827 Mr Canning was taken seriously ill; and he was scarcely recovered when the Earl of Liverpool, who ostensibly filled the office of prime minis ter, was attacked by a paralytic complaint, which so far affected his faculties as to incapacitate him for business. On the 30th of March Mr Canning stated in the House of Commons that the recovery of Lord Liverpool being considered hopeless, his Majesty contemplated the appointment of a successor to that nobleman; and on the 12th of April Mr Wynne announced to the House that the choice had fallen on Mr Canning; when a motion was made for a new writ for the borough of Newport, in consequence of the nomination of the Right Honourable George Canning to the office of First Commissioner of his Majesty's Treasury.

Mr Canning survived his appointment to the premiership of Great Britain somewhat less than four months. This short period was distinguished by some important occurences connected with our domestic and foreign affairs. No sooner had he accepted of office than he was deserted by a considerable number of his ancient associates, including Lord Eldon, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Bathurst, the Earl of Westmoreland, Viscount Melville, Lord Bexley, and Mr Peel; and in consequence of this secession he entered into a negociation with the members of the late opposition, and a new administration was formed, including several individuals belonging to the Whig party, and supported by the talents and interest of that body.

In the various discussions which occurred in the House of Commons he necessarily took an active part, and exerted himself with great spirit and with his usual ability, to repel the harrassing attacks of his new opponents, who, from associates having become enemies, displayed their hostility with more than the common asperity of political warfare. The last occasion on which he spoke in parliament was (June 29th) three days before its prorogation took place; when in reply to a question relating to a sinecure office which had become vacant in Scotland: he stated that his majesty's government intended to adopt the recommendation of the committee appointed (in 1817) to inquire into and make a report respecting sinecure places.

The last measure of importance connected with foreign politics in which Mr Canning was concerned, was the treaty with France

and Russia, for the purpose of settling the disputes between the Greeks and the Turks. This convention was signed on the 6th of July 1827.

Mr Canning was invited shortly after to reside for a while at the villa of his friend the Duke of Devonshire at Chiswick; where it was hoped that relaxation and retirement would contribute to the restoration of his health, which had been materially injured by the anxiety of mind to which he had recently been exposed. His indisposition however increased; though it did not prevent him from attending to the duties of his office till the 2nd of August, when he was confined to his bed, labouring under symptoms of violent internal inflammation. It appears that two days previously he had exposed himself to a strong current of air, by opening his carriage window, on his return from the royal lodge at Windsor. In consequence of the cold, inflammatory action and fever took place, and after intense suffering, mortification supervened, which was speedily followed by the fatal catastrophe. Mr Canning died about ten minutes before four o'clock on the 8th of August 1827. His body was removed to the official residence of the prime minister in Downing street; and on the 16th of August his interment took place in Westminster Abbey.

By his wife, who survives him, Mr Canning left two sons; George William, a captain in the royal navy, since dead;* and Charles, an Eton scholar at the time of his father's decease; and one daughter, Harriet, married to the Marquis of Clanricarde, Baron Somerhill of the United Kingdom.

The sudden death of Mr Canning occasioned loud complaints against his political adversaries, to the virulence and illiberality of whose opposition, and the irritation arising from it, was attributed the melancholy issue of his disease. But however discreditable may have been the conduct of several of the Tory statesmen, it would argue a most astonishing degree of power in their satire, and a strange kind of helplessness and debility in their victim, to admit that he fell a sacrifice to party rage. A periodical writer has well observed that " Canning's was not a spirit to be bounced out of the world ;" and the following remarks of a party

* "Letters of the 26th of August 1828 from Madeira announced the death of Captain Canning of his Majesty's ship Alligator, the eldest son of the late minister. Captain Canning had passed the morning in the exercise of racket, with which he became excessively heated; he afterwards threw himself on a sofa and fell into a sound sleep, but arose unrefreshed by the repose he had taken and walked out for the purpose of bathing in a reservoir near the house. It is supposed that on plunging into the water he was seized with the cramp or an apoplectic fit, as he arose no more alive. On his being missed, search was made, and his clothes were found lying on the bank. The body was soon drawn to the surface, but life was totally extinct."—Examiner Newspaper, Oct. 26, 1828.

journalist, in reply to the accusation against the ancient colleagues of the deceased premier, are just and reasonable, whatever may be thought of the spirit which dictated them:

66

Why was he (Mr Canning) not killed during the many years in which he bore the daily abuse of the identical newspapers which now fill their columns with weeping panegyric to his memory? Why did he not droop and die when Sir Francis Burdett told the electors of Westminster that the same George Canning opposed reform because it would go to destroy a system under which he obtained, by hocuspocus tricks, so much money for himself and family? Why did he not sink before now under the vehement indignation of Mr Hobhouse, or the sarcasms of Mr Brougham? Indeed, being himself a master of the art of personal vituperation, it would be unfair of him to complain of it in others. His invective was peculiarly cutting, and but too often used with merciless severity, as Sir Robert Wilson, Lord Nugent, Mr Hobhouse, and even Sir Francis Burdett himself can attest. he could not bear a retort, he should have spared the provocation. But all these gentlemen did retort; and, strange to say, he did not die of vexation! It was left for the men, who are called noodles,' brutes,'' silly contemptible creatures,' to destroy, by their invectives, the man whom all the talents' assailed in vain.-It will be a curious problem for posterity to solve, how the man who was to save an empire from all its difficulties should fall in his first encounter with Sir Thomas Lethbridge and the Marquis of Londonderry."

-

If

As

The character of Mr Canning, as a minister and statesman, cannot be fairly appreciated within the compass of this memoir; and it may be dismissed with the single remark, that the future historian of the nineteenth century will afford him a conspicuous place among those who have swayed the destiny of nations. an orator and an author some further notice of his talents may be expected. Instead of advancing our own opinions relative to his oratorical powers, we shall avail ourselves of some animadversions which first appeared during the life of this illustrious senator.

66

Longinus seems to concentrate the whole excellence of oratory in action. If this be so, Mr Canning will come very near perfection indeed. The charm of action consists, in a great measure, in the charm of person; and especially in physiognomical expression. With a figure a little above the mean or middle stature, the countenance of our orator is most expressive. A broad open front, elevated forehead, large blue eyes, now beaming with gaiety, and now flashing with indignation, small and well-defined features; and an action always animated, and not unfrequently [graceful, aided by a full and melodious voice ; these have always obtained for Mr Canning that attention which, even unconnected with other causes, such an orator is pretty sure to obtain. Yet is there a mannerism in his voice and action. In truth, all first-rate geniuses are mannerists. Mr Pitt was a mannerist,

* Morning Herald for Aug. 20, 1827.

and so was Mr Fox. There is, indeed, a mannerism in all the speeches of the House of Commons; a mannerism not incapable of improvement. Hence, we observe the swing of the arm and sway of the body, that frequent jerking at the close of a period, and that violence of action, where the matter is not proportionably weighty and convincing. If Mr Canning be not free from some of these objections, he possesses many qualifications which more than counterbalance

them.

"Whenever he rises on a subject of which he is full, and in which he confidently anticipates the cheering of the House, nothing can be more delightful and gratifying than his strain of eloquence. His thoughts seem to breathe and his words to burn; and the country, as well as the House, seems to hang on the music of his periods and the energy of his appeals. In argument, he is not so close, vehement, and irresistible as was Fox; but then Canning is not wanting both in clearness of conception and acuteness of reasoning: and in all the constitutional speeches which he has made at Liverpool and in London (and in which, doubtless to his own disbelief, there is as much of Whiggism as of Toryism), one cannot but discover the traits of a mind singularly adapted to comprehend all the philosophical views, as well as the minuter machinery of the British constitution. Cradled in Whiggism, it was natural that he should at times display the traits of a mitigated Tory. But in argument he is less cumbrous in words than Pitt; always dressing it in a gracefully adjusted drapery.

"In wit he is without a rival. Perhaps he is not so brilliant as Sheridan and if irony be considered as an essential part of wit, not so caustic and cutting as Pitt. He has a great portion of good-humour, and it is singularly playful and splendid. At times, however, his wit has great force; and as a proof of it, he is generally dreaded by his opponents. Who is now to make a finishing speech-commenting on the conflicting arguments in the debate, and interweaving with his comments a hundred little brilliant flowers of classical wit-it were perhaps vain to enquire. Who is now, after a hot and tempestuous night of angry discussion, to cheer and refresh the wearied combatants by a display of beautiful fancy, enlivened by apt quotation?* Have we not, on many such evenings, found the remarks of Quintilian on Cicero abundantly verified in Mr Canning? The attic salt and pleasantry of Canning will not indeed be easily supplied from other quarters.

"In imagery Mr Canning is inferior to Burke, and in declamation to Pitt; but he combines more of these two properties in an orator than either of his great predecessors. His love of classical lore mixes itself with everything which he thinks of and describes: and this weakens, in some measure, the effect of his own natural powers. His

* These remarks were written at the period when Mr Canning, having taken leave of his constituents at Liverpool, was about to go as governor-general to the East Indies.

periods are sometimes moulded in Ciceronian structure; but this cannot be accomplished without occasional inversion and obscurity. Yet is there less obscurity about his periods than in Mr Pitt's; from some of whose most elaborate speeches you rose rather with astonishment than conviction-that great man being frequently, like Julius Africanus,in cura verborum nimius, et compositione nonnunquam longior.' In point of polish or finish perhaps the preference is to be given to Mr Canning, in whose exuberance even there is always something classical and impressive.

"The art and end of eloquence, let Longinus and Quintilian declaim as they please, is persuasion. Now persuasion depends a good deal on personal authority, or relative situation. A minister is sure to be to be more persuasive than an independent member. Both shall be equally sincere. But if we could put relative situation out of the question, we can conceive nothing more persuasive than the eloquence of Mr Canning and supposing him to have held the high and responsible situation of Pitt, the world would have beheld in him perhaps the most perfect orator of the British senate. We can, however, conceive eloquence of a higher character than Mr Canning's, but we know of none that quite approaches it." *

It

"Without having a single trace of pedantry, of foppery, or affectation about him, Mr Canning has more of the real art of the orator than any man in the House of Commons. In the range of his powers, and in depth of knowledge, more especially on philosophical subjects, he is inferior to Brougham; but in all those qualities which are calculated to dazzle and to win an enlightened audience, he is decidedly superior. Canning's head is about the finest you can meet with. does not, to be sure, indicate that depth or that power which are indicated by some others; but there is so much symmetry and grace, so perfect a balancing of all its faculties, and so total an absence of everything harsh, or mean, or vulgar, that if he were not a very able man, the anticipation is so great that his speeches would appear to be fables. But his manner, and generally speaking, his matter are every way worthy of his eloquence. His voice is not so tremendously loud when elevated, neither can it sink into the curious under-tone which seems peculiar to Brougham: but it is deep and musical, and accords with his open and manly expression; and though his action be somewhat more theatrical than it would be safe for inferior men to display, yet no man knows better how to suit the action to the word. The language which Mr Canning employs is exceedingly showy: and his style, though never tiresome, is very elaborate. One cannot pronounce that he is the most clear and close of logicians; but he is generally so clear, and always so specious, that one follows him with pleasure. But though he succeeds well in the establishment of his own positions, his forte obviously lies in attacking and demolishing those of his antagonists. He does this with a wit and sprightliness which are truly

* London Museum for May 18, 1822, p. 57.