of Mr. Canning into the Cabinet, that the king was with them on this point, and that Mr. Peel alone was disposed in his favour. The premier however insisted, and declared that he would resign, if he were not allowed the assistance of Mr. Canning's talents. A story ran the round of the newspapers at the time, that he was in possession of Lord Liverpool's sentiments at the moment when he made his parting speech to a large assembly of his constituents, on the eve of his intended departure for India. The truth is, that he received no communication from his noble friend, until after he had left Liverpool and arrived at Birmingham.

It is worthy of remark, that at first Mr. Canning felt great reluctance in abandoning his India appointment. He looked upon it, exclusively of its pecuniary considerations, to him of some weight, since he was very far from being rich, as more capable of furnishing the means of making "a reputation," than the sphere which the foreign department then presented. Independently of the annoyance which he was sure to receive from those members of the Cabinet who dissented from him upon several important questions, he was under an impression that there was nothing to be done which could in any manner exalt his character. The events,' as Mr. Stapleton well remarks, which happen whilst nations are at peace, are very frequently not less important to the happiness of mankind, than those which occur in time of war; but for the most part they make less noise, are seldom even understood by any considerable portion of the people, and, consequently, the actors in them are less known.'

'After the unparalleled manner,' he adds, 'in which the world had been so lately convulsed, little comparative honour was to be reaped from mingling, however usefully, in the more insipid transactions of succeeding times. "Ten years," said Mr. Canning in answer to a letter from an intimate friend, congratulating him on his accession to office, "have made a world of difference, and have prepared a very different sort of world to bustle in, from that which I should have found in 1812. For fame, it is a squeezed orange, but for public good, there is something to do, and I will try, but it must be cautiously, to do it."-vol. i. p. 126.

His first essay against the Holy Alliance was made at the Congress of Verona, where, to his great surprise, the Spanish question was brought under discussion. The differences which prevailed upon that question in the French Cabinet, have never yet been thoroughly understood. It is supposed that M. de Villele, then the head of the government, was for peace; whereas it is well known that the minister, Montmorency, whom he commissioned to the Congress, was for war. The court of France, also, it is thought, was divided into two similar parties, one fearing the consequences of sending an army, of whose loyalty it was by no means assured, to Spain, where possibly it might join with the Constitutionalists; the other desiring to rescue Ferdinand, and to put down a form of government all but republican, and dangerous from its proximity. Both

parties appealed to the Congress, anxious for its sanction of the war, if it should be eventually undertaken. In the meantime, Sir William A'Court was appointed the king's minister at Madrid, and it demonstrates the degree of insolence to which the pretensions of the alliance had already risen, that as soon as this appointment was known, the ministers of the four courts waited in a body upon Mr. Canning, to remonstrate against it, on account of the encouragement which it might be supposed to give to the constitutional system! Mr. Canning rather evaded than met the encounter, not perhaps yet feeling sufficiently strong for any more decided course. At Vienna, before the congress was adjourned to Verona, Alexander seemed at first to think that he was to have matters all his own way. He proposed to send a Russian army, in conjunction with his allies, to quash the Spanish Cortes at once. Austria would have been most happy to see that purpose accomplished, but had no fancy for allowing Russian troops to march through her territory, or for seeing the Peninsula, with which she was connected by old associations, in the possession of a French army. The French minister did not want more than the moral aid of Russia, not choosing, perhaps, to see the Cossacks once more in Paris, and Prussia followed in the wake of Austria. At Verona the views of the Autocrat appeared to have been modified; he there expressed his disposition to limit his assistance towards the grand object which the alliance had in view to the collection of an army of observation, somewhere in the south western part of Europe, in order to be ready to pour it into France, in case her troops should prove disloyal, or be defeated in Spain. This project, however, was opposed by Mr. Canning, and with complete effect. He also, as it is well known, succeeded in resisting the scheme of the alliance for making a joint declaration against Spain, and in reducing the question ultimately to one between France and the Peninsula. Although his measures had not the effect of preventing the invasion, which was afterwards but too successful, yet they clearly indicated so decided a difference of opinion in principle, between England and the Holy Alliance, that they were thenceforth under the necessity of proceeding exclusively at their own risk, and upon their own responsibility. England, freed from their trammels, which, though invisible to vulgar eyes, had, nevertheless, hitherto been spread over every branch of her policy, foreign and domestic, was now, for the first time since the peace, in a situation to mark out and pursue her own course of action.

A minor incident in the European drama, but which shews unequivocally the decided line of policy which Mr. Canning was determined to adopt, deserves a passing notice. Various unlawful captures had been made of British ships and cargoes in South America, by the Spanish authorities, for which redress had long been ineffectually solicited by our merchants, through the agency of Mr. Simon Cock, a gentleman well known in the city of London

for his extraordinary skill in simplifying, and for his patient perseverance in negociating affairs of a complicated nature. To this gentleman Mr. Canning at once added the powerful weight of his assistance, and when the Spanish government still endeavoured to evade the question, orders were issued, under his instructions, by the admiralty, which soon had the effect of bringing them to their senses. The result was the convention of the 12th of March, 1823, for the settlement of the claims in question. This has been since followed up by another convention, under which, wonderful to relate, the Spanish treasury paid over to Great Britain, in cash and bonds, the sum of nine hundred thousand pounds sterling, which has been all distributed among the claimants, by commissioners appointed for that purpose.

Mr. Canning waited for the consequence of the French invasion of the Peninsula, with evident impatience. He had been thwarted in his hopes of mediation, as well by the French ministers, who were eager for war, as by the Spanish ministers and legislators, who refused to modify their constitution, under the ridiculous but firmly entertained impression, that England would never allow a French soldier to cross the Bidassoa. He looked upon the occupation of Spain by the French troops, and very justly, as injurious to the commerce, and, in some degree, disparaging to the honour of this country. What was called the balance of Europe had been altogether destroyed. The Continent was under the complete sway of the Holy Alliance, and a project was actually set on foot for the purpose of reconquering for Spain her revolted colonies in South America. The march of despotism appeared to proceed without interruption in the old world, and now it sighed for other conquests in the new.

This, Mr. Canning was resolved to prevent. After giving to Spain every possible opportunity of negotiating with those colonies, and of taking the lead in recognizing their separate existence, if she thought fit, he adopted, without the slightest reference to the Holy Alliance, steps which gradually, but speedily led to the acknowledgment by England of the independence of Buenos Ayres, Columbia, and Mexico. The admission of these states within the circle of the nations, was his noble revenge for the injuries inflicted. upon popular rights in Europe. The alliance had become so potent that even the liberties of England would most probably have been menaced, if that band of crowned confederates were permitted to hold their reign unmolested.

In the discussions which have taken place in Parliament upon the claims of Mr. Canning as a statesman, to the honour of having, in his own fine phraseology, "called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old," the enemies of his fame,-and they were neither few nor generous,-endeavoured to detract from his merit by saying, that he found the whole scheme for recognizing the new states already framed among the papers left by Lord

Londonderry. Supposing even this to be the fact, how does it take away from the glory which Mr. Canning secured to his name on that occasion? It is not the minister who merely draws up, or retains for consideration, the draught of another, proposing any particular measure, who can claim the merit of its execution. That assuredly belongs to him who seizes the happy moment for carrying it into effect, and who, by his practical combinations, crowns it with success. No man who is acquainted with the political insincerity and the monarchical tendencies of the late Lord Londonderry, will venture to maintain that, if he had lived and continued in the office of Foreign Minister, he would ever have declared the independence of a single Spanish American state, unless he was goaded into it, as in time he would certainly have been, by the unanimous voice of the country. Schemes he may have received in abundance for such a measure-they were numerous in the current publications of the day. But the execution of it all belongs to Mr. Canning.

In another grand question he had also the good fortune to take a distinguished, perhaps we should say, a leading part. It is true that the Emperor Alexander was the first of the great Powers who paid any serious attention to Greek affairs. He was actuated in his proceedings upon that subject by two strongly influential motives; he with his vassals being members of the Greek church, witnessed with a lively feeling, gradually swelling to indignation, the sufferings which the Ottoman government inflicted upon the Greeks; he was pained at the same time by the continuance of an organized insurrection in any part of Europe, as the cause of legitimacy being every thing in his eyes, he looked upon the Greek example as pernicious, and calculated to diffuse and keep up agitation in other States. He was most earnest in his desire to have an end put to this state of things, involving as it did two distinct evils, religious and political, one of which incited and received all his sympathies, while the other repelled them. His disputes with Turkey would have been settled by a war, if he had not been afraid of thereby dissolving the Holy Alliance, and of risking the chance of new revolutions in Europe. These disputes he committed to negociation in a manner that must always vindiIcate his character for moderation. His opposing feelings of religion and policy led him at first to leave the Greek question to the British government, being convinced that public opinion in this country would ultimately compel our Ministers to take some steps with respect to it. At the Congress of Verona, where the matter was agitated, he declined proposing any plan with respect to it. He intimated however, that he considered the idea of Greek independence as a chimera, and that the utmost extent of his wishes would be, to see the Greeks placed on the same footing as the inhabitants of Servia, or of Wallachia and Moldavia.' The Emperor's sagacity was justified by the result. Public

opinion soon took up the Greek question in this country. The contest between the Turks and their revolted subjects was attended with considerable inconvenience to our commerce in the Levant, and also to that of the Russians in the Bosphorus. It became a matter of serious consideration how long the Emperor's moderation would continue, there being a large and powerful party in Russia anxious for war, in order to add to her already overgrown territories not only Turkey but Greece. From that moment, says Mr. Stapleton, Mr. Canning was desirous to avert both from this country and from Europe, the danger which he dreaded from "Russia swallowing up Greece at one mouthful, and Turkey at another." In considering, therefore, the measures which Mr. Canning took on the subject of Eastern affairs, it ought always to be remembered, that this was the particular end which he had in view. He began by pressing upon the Sultan and his Ministers the "observance of moderation and strict justice towards the insurgents ;" but this advice was shortly afterwards followed up by a very intelligible hint as to "the urgent necessity of no longer delaying to put an end to the unhappy state of affairs which existed in Greece." How far these suggestions would have been adopted by the Sultan we cannot now conjecture, as there was scarcely time for considering them, when it became known that the Emperor had resolved to take a leading part in the pacification of Greece-a measure to which he was apparently urged by the war party in his own councils. The plan for this purpose was devised by Count Nesselrode, and communicated to the allied ministers at the Russian court early in January, 1824. The principal object of this plan was to place Greece upon the same footing as Moldavia, or Wallachia, leaving still to the Porte the real sovereignty. But though Mr. Canning was willing to have it discussed in conferences at St. Petersburgh, he still consented to it only on the condition that the Russian mission, which had been long absent, should be reestablished at Constantinople, and that all intention to employ force, should be abjured. Thus we see him pursuing his original policy upon this question with great caution and consistency, being anxious to turn the Greek question into a means for warding off the hostilities which were threatened against Turkey. The papers relating to the affairs of Greece, which were not long since printed by order of Parliament, having commenced the history of these proceedings with the Protocol signed at London, the reader may be curious to know what took place by way of preparation for that decisive step. Mr. Stapleton's details allow us to look a little behind the curtain of diplomacy, and shew some of the coquetry with which it is occasionally attended.

Mr. Canning having conditionally consented that some representative of Great Britain should bear a part in the meditated Conferences, the Court of St. Petersburgh was extremely anxious that they should be opened without delay; and Sir Charles Bagot was prevailed upon to assist at two,