Stratford Canning

“ Before embarking the reader on the Black Sea, I cannot forbear a single remark on the distinguished individual who has so long and so worthily represented Great Britain at the Ottoman Porte.
Sir. Stratford Canning is certainly unpopular with the extreme fanatical party, and with all those economists who are for killing the goose to get at the golden eggs; but the real interests of the Turkish nation never had a firmer support. ”

“ 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 ”

“ I won't have another for a long time—I hope never." She peeped slyly under her eyelashes at Thurston. "A bad spell is good for something—it makes me realize how much everybody loves me, and how much I love everybody—and I do love you, dear Lady Canning."
"Darling!" murmured Lady Canning, quite overcome, pressing Indiana's head to her breast.
"There now, who can resist Indiana," said Mrs. Stillwater. "Darling, your husband says you are going to Paris with us."
"Am I?" asked Indiana, in a surprised voice. She turned to Lady Canning. "I want you to scold Thurston, dear. He's too good. ”

“ Canning owed much to fortune. Lucky in the time of his decease, lucky in the times at which many of those with whom he had hitherto acted deserted him. If he had lived longer, it would have been difficult for him to have kept the station to which he had risen: if he had not been left when he was by a great portion of his party, he would never have obtained the popularity by which his death was hallowed. To few has it happened to be supported by a set of men just as long as their support was useful,—to be quitted by them just when their alliance would have been injurious. ”

“ And how come they and their master, who lived above 2000 years before the birth of Canning and Castlereagh, to know any thing about them?
Landor.—I do not stand at trifles of congruity. Canning is the very man who has taken especial care that no strong box among us shall be without a chink at the bottom ”

“ Stillwater. "We'll run over to breakfast or supper, just as the spirit moves us. We'll take possession while we're here."
"You will always be very welcome whenever you care to come," answered Lady Canning. "But we are not used to being taken unawares." She bowed with a set smile, as she left the room leaning on her brother's arm. But her presence was still felt by a perceptible chill in the atmosphere. Thurston, however, soon dispelled the restraint. ”

“ Let those who would know this examine the printed Tryal. They will, in that, find Canning swearing that no body came into the Room all the time she was there, and that she found the Pitcher there: And they will find Hall swearing that the Pitcher was put into the Room three Hours afterward by the Gipsy. They will find tho' both agree in the Fact, yet a Difference in the Circumstances even of the Robbery: Canning swears the two Men took her Stays and went out, while she was yet below ”

“ Bunker, who looked wonderfully well pleased considering her impatience.
"That is something new for you, Thurston. You always used to be quite punctilious in the matter of meals."
"Indeed, Uncle Nelson!"
"Lord Canning has lost his memory for the time being," explained Indiana. "He is just a trifle demented—by his own confession."
"Don't be alarmed, good people!" said Lord Canning, with a far-away look. "I belong to the harmless variety. Miss Stillwater, who is my keeper for the present, can testify to that."
"Oh yes, quite harmless! He has only one delusion. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Bunker. Under certain circumstances, I might consider it advisable to prolong my trip. And I must say the prospect of remaining in America is delightful to me—most delightful."
"The fact is, Lord Canning," continued Stillwater, "we spoil our children. We know it, but we can't help it. The girls, mind you—the boys are easy enough thrown on the world—but the girls," he smiled fondly, "the pretty, little, delicate girls—how can you help spoiling them? You should have seen Indy—" Lord Canning's face assumed an expression of deep interest. "A doll—you could have put her in a quart pitcher. ”

“ Many who listened to Canning thought him only a consummate actor, nothing doubting his intellectual belief in the doctrines he was enforcing, but uncertain only whether his feelings were engaged to the extent which his language would imply. It is commonly supposed that rhetoric and passion do not mingle very kindly with each other. Mr. Stapleton, however, has proved beyond risk of contradiction that, if any such rule holds good, Canning at least was an exception to it, and that in all his great orations, however elaborate the texture, he spoke from his heart. ”

“ After the group of illustrious men, which included the elder and the younger Pitt, Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, had disappeared from English public life, Canning was through the whole of his career the greatest Parliamentary orator and leader in England. Up to the time at which we have now arrived, he had not yet won his highest reputation as a statesman. ”

“ I have no Right to assert any Thing, nor do: and my Opinion cannot hurt her. There does appear to have been a Conspiracy, and a most foul and black one: It is possible, at least, there may have been such; this her Friends must allow; and she who has certainly accused, and persecuted to the utmost, an innocent Person, whether it hath been ignorantly or designedly, cannot expect she shall escape the Suspicion. That Squires is Guiltless is beyond all doubt: That Canning was not confined in the House of Wells is as much beyond all Possibility of doubting. ”

“ The desire of sustaining it in this crisis of the terrible conflict in which we were engaged, had no doubt some influence over his conduct; but I venture to add that there are natures which, without being instigated by low and vulgar motives, have a propensity to harmonize with success. Mr. Canning’s nature was of this description. It loved the light to shine on its glittering surface; and he began to feel a sympathy for the Government, bright with the rays of anticipated fortune, which in darker moments he had shrunk from with antipathy and mistrust. ”

“ I should omit more trifling causes of favour, if I did not think them necessary to illustrate the character of the parties, and of the times of which I am speaking, and to show the attention which Mr. Canning, once engaged in the task of recasting our foreign policy, gave to the smallest circumstances which might facilitate it. In the ordinary acceptation of the word, he was not a courtier, or a man of the world. Living, as I have already stated, in the midst of a small clique of admirers, and little with society at large, he confined his remarkable powers of pleasing to his own set. ”

“ It is true indeed, that as to her being confined there, Wells utterly denies it, but she as positively affirms that this Elizabeth Canning was never there at any other time, nor in any other manner. From this point then, so established, will result an utter impossibility; for unless this poor girl had been well acquainted with the house, the hay-loft, the pitcher, &c., how was it possible that she should describe them all so very exactly as she did, at her return to her mother's, in the presence of such numbers of people? ”

“ On being left at the door, Mrs. Canning rang the bell impatiently. As soon as admitted, she flew up stairs to meet her husband, intending to confess her error, and beg him earnestly to forgive her for having acted so directly in opposition to his wishes. But she did not find him in the chamber. Throwing off her bonnet and shawl, she went down into the parlours, but found all dark there.
"Where is Mr. Canning?" she asked of a servant.
"He went away about ten o'clock, and has not returned yet," was replied.
This intelligence caused Mrs. Canning to lean hard on the stair-railing for support. ”

“ Whatever view be taken, there is no ground for complaint, if his conduct be strictly and rigidly scrutinised; for really, all things considered, he is not a subject who can lay claim to any excessive and scrupulous delicacy. For our part, when we hear his conduct to Canning censured, though it may be too severely, we are rather disposed to reserve our pity for Canning, than to give any portion of our tenderness to the fragile and sensitive Peel. ”

“ Canning’s reputation for wit, at this time, gained solely by his pen. Living with few, though much the fashion, who could be more charming in his own accomplished circle—when, the pleasant thought lighting up his eye, playing about his mouth, and giving an indescribable charm to his handsome countenance, he abandoned himself to the inspiration of some happy moment, and planned a practical joke, or quizzed an incorrigible bore, or related some humorous anecdote? No one’s society was so much prized by associates; no one’s talents so highly estimated by friends ”

“ You don't know how long you are going to live."
"Mrs. Bunker, one never knows what you are going to say next."
"The lake has a ruby necklace," remarked Lord Canning, looking up from his note-book, in which he had been writing while Indiana rested in the hammock. The deep red coloring of the bank mirrored along the shore as far as one could see. "Ah, there is Mr. Masters going out in a canoe!" He watched Glen's well-knit figure as he paddled with swift, unerring strokes, clearing a perfectly straight line down the centre of the lake. "A very fine specimen of young manhood," he thought. ”

“ We know better; and we know likewise that not the Tories only, but the most consistent and stanchest of the Whigs never trusted Canning. Sir James Graham, on the other hand, ranged himself among the Canningites, and soon became the friend and favourite pupil of Huskisson. He sat on the ministerial side of the Speaker’s chair while Canning led the House, and he retained his place during the administration which succeeded on Canning’s demise. ”

“ He undertook and performed his very delicate task on this occasion with tact and discretion. No one, indeed, ever spoke in a less unpopular manner on an unpopular subject. Far superior to Mr. Canning, in this respect, from that calm, steady, and considerate tone which never gives offence, and which, laying aside the orator, marks the statesman, he neither attempted to excite anger, nor ridicule, nor admiration ”

“ The entire affair was a huge joke to him, irrespective of the fact that his sister failed to perceive the humor of his communication.
"What an undignified proceeding!" said Lady Canning, in shocked tones. "Her grandmother, too!" Lord Stafford went off into another paroxysm of mirth. "Why, the highest respect is due to their age in the way of preparation."
"In America there's nothing gives so much pleasure as springing things on a person. The surprise party is a national institution."
Lady Canning rose to her feet, perceptibly agitated. "My dear brother, think of the shock to Indiana. ”

“ Lady Canning turned, with an expression of smiling satisfaction.
"In my time, dear, as soon as a girl married, she wore a bonnet with strings. That's always the sign of a matron in England. You know there must be something to distinguish the married from the single woman."
"Yes, certainly, I approve of it," said Indiana. "Then there can be no fear of any mistakes being made by strangers." She heaved a deep sigh of conscious virtue. Lord Stafford dropped his monocle and fell into a chair, laughing unrestrainedly. ”

“ It's always cool here."
"Who is 'we'—may I ask?"
"Glen and I."
"Glen again," thought Lord Canning. "I have an absurd feeling against another having been here with her—another, who is only twenty-four and handsome as a picture—"
Indiana commenced to row.
"Going? Perhaps you are right—this is a dangerous spot."
"People are not so carried away with the Adirondacks at first," ventured Indiana. "But they grow on them after a while."
"Yes," said Lord Canning, studying her attentively. "I find a great many things grow on me in this part of the world. Why do you laugh, Miss Stillwater? ”

“ Then Glen rose abruptly and went up to his room.
"Our young hero seems depressed," said Lord Canning, quietly.
"It's about Indiana," replied Mrs. Stillwater, very much distressed.
"He's a fine fellow, but, if you'll pardon me for saying so, Mrs. Stillwater, he's not the right husband for your daughter."
"He understands her better than a stranger would. He'd get along with her, I'm sure."
"Is it so difficult to get along with her?" enquired Lord Canning.
"Oh, I didn't mean that," replied Mrs. Stillwater, quickly. "There's no one more lovable and easy, if she's studied." ”

“ 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. ”