George Canning

“ Among the toasts given at one of the banquets held in honour of the victory of Ayacucho, Mr. Canning’s health was drank in the following terms:—“El Sabio Ministro de Inglaterra, el primer Estadista del mundo, el Honorable George Canning, fiel amigo de la libertad! la justicia preside en sus deliberaciones; su nombre sera un motivo de placer para nostros, y para las generaciones que nos sucedan.” Translation: “The learned Minister of England, the first Statesman in the world, the Honourable George Canning, the faithful friend of liberty! justice presides in his deliberations ”

“ Hunt must have known he was lying, for George Canning was born in London in 1770. His family was originally of Foxcote, in Warwickshire, and one of his ancestors had emigrated to Ireland, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, as agent of a company of Londoners in the plantation of Ulster, and settled at Garvagh, in the county of Londonderry. ”

“ George Canning’s wit was, and is, proverbial. Most people have heard of the “Anti-Jacobin Review,” and have some slight knowledge of the “Needy Knife-grinder;” beyond that it would puzzle most people to supply any specific information as to anything that he wrote that justifies his reputation. Captain Charles Morris, of the First Life Guards and The Beefsteak Club, wrote enough verse (and very delightful verse it is) to fill a bulky volume, in addition to much more that for sufficient reasons was not re-published in volume form. ”

“ George Canning became a student at Lincoln’s Inn in 1781. His father was a bankrupt wine-merchant who died of a broken heart. His mother was a provincial actress. His relation, Sheridan, introduced him to Fox, Grey, and Burke, the latter of whom, it is said, induced him to make politics his profession. He made his maiden speech, attacking Fox and supporting Pitt, in 1794. Late in life he gradually began to support some liberal measures. In 1827 he became First Lord of the Treasury, and died a few months afterwards in the zenith of his power. ”

“ He sought for success in various fields and never found it, and he died soon after his son, George Canning, was born. The mother of the future statesman was thus left a widow while she was still young, and, as she had great beauty and believed that she had a vocation for the stage, she did her best to make a living for herself and her child by becoming a professional actress. She was not much of an actress, however, and, being unable to make any mark in London, she passed for a time into the provinces, and at last married an actor and disappeared from historical notice. ”

“ Canning, equally high-spirited, felt that he had got into a disagreeable business, and that the fairest escape from it would be to fight his way out. Lord Castlereagh's conduct, when we think of a sober and wise statesman, is ridiculous. Mr. Canning's, when we picture to ourselves a high-minded and frank-hearted gentleman, in spite of the plausibility of explanations, is displeasing.
The wretched policy of this year required fifty-four millions of money to support it. ”

“ He was one of the principal friends and advisers of Caroline of Brunswick, George IV.'s repudiated wife. Hence his particular merit in Lamb's eyes. Later he administered the affairs of the Duke of Kent, whose trustee he was, and his baronetcy was the first bestowed by Queen Victoria. The sonnet contains another of Lamb's attacks on Canning. This statesman's mother, after the death of George Canning, her first husband, in 1771, took to the stage, where she remained for thirty years. Canning was at school at Eton. The course on which Wood was adjured to hold was the defence of Queen Caroline ”

“ In the entire annals of British diplomacy there is scarcely a more picturesque or virile figure than that of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. Capacity for public affairs ran in the blood of the Cannings, as the three statues which to-day stand side by side in Westminster Abbey proudly attest. Those marble memorials represent George Canning, the great Foreign Minister, who in the famous, if grandiloquent, phrase ‘called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old;’ his son Charles, Earl Canning, first [219] Viceroy of India ”

“ Mr. Canning’s next appointment was, in Feb. 1804, to the Veteran 64, Captain (now Sir Richard) King, fitting out at Chatham, for the Boulogne station. In the ensuing year, he followed that officer into the Achille 74; of which ship he was fourth lieutenant at the memorable battle of Trafalgar. On his return to England, in Dec. 1805, he was appointed first of the Princess Charlotte frigate, Captain George Tobin, then at the Leeward Islands, whither he proceeded in the Mediator 44, taking with him an introductory letter to Rear-Admiral Cochrane, commander-in-chief on that station. ”

“ Undoubtedly he belonged to the gang of clever thieves, but he had repented sufficiently of his wickedness to help the lovers, whom the gang--or at least three members of it--had desired to destroy. This service should be recompensed, especially as Canning could not remain in England without being exposed to the vengeance of his former associates. George determined to lay the case before Lord Charvington, and ask him to help. Failing any aid being forthcoming in this quarter, George intended to take Canning to Australia or Canada with him, and there start the man on a new career. ”

“ Cool reflection at last came across while this elderly gentleman sat;
So he thought he would follow the stream and look for his cane, wig, and hat.
His head being thicker than common, o'er-balanced the rest of his fat;
And in plumped this son of a woman to follow his wig, cane, and hat.
George Canning.
SAYING NOT MEANING
Two gentlemen their appetite had fed,
When opening his toothpick-case, one said,
"It was not until lately that I knew
That anchovies on terrâ firmâ grew."
"Grow!" cried the other, "yes, they grow, indeed,
Like other fish, but not upon the land ”

“ George turned indignantly. "Then you were the thief?" he declared.
"Yes," admitted Canning, coughing. "Kick me. I'll take it lying down."
"No," said George, after a pause; "you have done me a service through Lesbia, by preventing the success of Maud Ellis's plot. The evil you have done is counterbalanced by the good. But how did you get me into Rose Cottage?"
Canning sat up and looked puzzled. "I didn't do that," he said earnestly. "I left you trussed on the towing-path like a fowl, and how the deuce you got into the cottage I know no more than you do. Have you never found out?" ”

“ Trained by Pitt, and in many gifts and graces his superior, Canning first displayed his full greatness after the death of his illustrious master. For twenty years he was the most accomplished debater in the House of Commons, and yet he never succeeded in winning the full confidence of the nation, nor, except in foreign affairs, in leaving his mark upon our national policy. "The English are afraid of genius," and when genius is displayed in the person of a social adventurer, however brilliant and delightful, it is doubly alarming. ”

“ No law will be handed down to posterity protected by his support. After generations will see in him a lamentable proof of prostituted talent, and little or nothing to claim their gratitude. The memorialist may delight in painting the talents he displayed, but the historian will find little to say of the benefits he bestowed. Mr. Canning was very irritable and bold in his manners. He defended his conduct in the House and out of it; that is to say, he made some bitter speeches in parliament, and wrote three challenges, or demands for explanation: one to Mr. ”

“ But he knew and, I believe, held his dear tongue for my sake."
"Tim would do anything for you, darling, in the same way as Canning would."
"Poor Mr. Canning--I mean Mr. Sargent."
"No, don't call him by his real name; he wishes to be known simply as Canning--The Shadow. He belongs to the gang and so does that Mrs. Petty who was set to watch you."
"A dreadful woman," said Lesbia, nestling, "how I disliked her. But I am sorry that Mr. Canning is wicked, George. He has been so kind."
"Kindness begets kindness," said Walker sententiously, "and I don't think Canning is so very wicked. ”

“ The queen's return to England being now expected, Mr. Canning resigned his place in the cabinet as president of the Board of Controul, and retired to the Continent. One of his biographers says, "His conduct on this occasion, according to universal consent, was marked by the most perfect correctness and delicacy of feeling." Perhaps it might be so considered by some people; but to us it does appear that a man of sound public principles, of high and [340] honourable private feelings, had no middle course to take at this juncture. ”

“ Before entering parliament he had for three years served as private secretary to Mr. Canning, whose sagacity was seldom at fault in the selection of persons of indisputable ability. The great statesman was connected with Lord George, for he married the sister of the Duke of Portland. The young nobleman’s powers of observation were such, that he was not likely to be in constant and intimate communication with such a man as Canning, without gleaning some political intelligence and experience. ”

“ He was really called John Canning, and formerly had acted as valet to Captain Sargent. But that gentleman, being anxious to marry Lesbia whom he greatly admired, and hating George as a too-handsome and over-young rival, had suggested to his friend Hale that Canning should act as an inoffensive dragon to keep away the young man. Hale quite approved of this, as Canning could guard the garden, while Mrs. Petty kept watch on the girl in the house itself. ”

“ What one king had gained from a clique another gave up to the nation. Once more, on Lord Liverpool’s death in 1827, the same question was tried with the same result. The king not only disliked Canning personally, but he was opposed to Canning’s policy. Yet after some hesitation he accepted Canning as prime minister; and when, after Canning’s death and the short ministry of Lord Goderich, the king in 1828 authorized the duke of Wellington to form a ministry, he was content to lay down the principle that the members of it were not expected to be unanimous on the Catholic question. ”

“ The very "matter" of Tom Thumb reappeared under the same light in Fielding's Tragedy of Tragedies or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great with the Annotations of H. Scriblerus Secundus, 1731. Addison's criticism of the ballads was scarcely a legitimate object for this kind of attack, but Augustan satire and parody were free and hospitable genres, always ready to entertain more than one kind of "bard and blockhead side by side."6
No less a person than George Canning (as a schoolboy) was the author of the second of the two parodies reproduced in the present volume. ”

“ Canning witnessed the surrender of the Dutch colony at Surinam, to the naval and military forces under Lord Hugh Seymour and Lieutenant-General Trigge [2] ; and six days subsequent to that event, he assisted at the capture of the French frigate Republicain, mounting 34 guns, with a complement of 250 men, some of whom, however, were absent in prizes. In the short but close action which took place on this occasion (after an anxious chase of more than fifty hours) , the enemy’s ship was reduced to a mere wreck, and sustained a loss of nine men killed and twelve wounded. ”

“ I'm rarely left alone with her long enough for a proper interchange of ideas. There are always so many plans and excursions on foot."
"By George, you're off with her all the time, somewhere!"
"Not for long," said Lord Canning, gloomily. "Before one is aware, it's lunch or dinner—meals are so interfering! What's that?" Lord Stafford peered out of the window. They were sitting in his room, which was flooded with moonlight.
"It's that Masters fellow. He's playing his mandolin on the lake. ”

“ While residing in Bermuda he showed much early literary talent by editing and writing, in a hand like print, a weekly journal entitled ‘The Grouper,’ which he continued with small means for a considerable period. After his return to England he joined his mother and sister in Paris with hopes that through the interest of Mr. Canning, to whom he was related through that statesman's mother, he might obtain some appointment which would prevent the necessity of a return to his regiment, but by the death of Canning his chance of preferment came to an end. ”

“ The whole civilized world was filled with his fame. His course of policy had made England stronger than she had ever been since the death of the younger Pitt. Even King George could not venture to believe in the possibility of passing him over, and King George's chief objection to him was found in the fact that Canning was in favor of the Catholic claims. George thought the matter over a few days, consulted Lord Eldon and other advisers, and found that nobody could inspire him with any real hope of being able to form an enduring Ministry without Canning. ”

“ Here he amused himself with literary work, translating Aristophanes and Theognis, and learning Hebrew and Maltese. In August 1827 Canning died. Talking over the loss of his friend to his niece two years afterwards, Frere said: ‘I think twenty years ago Canning's death would have caused mine; as it is, the time seems so short, I do not feel it as I otherwise should’ (Works, i. 209) . His wife died in January 1831, and in November of that year Sir Walter Scott paid him a visit. Frere still continued to reside at Malta. ”