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[1825-1827 A.D.]

might appear to each individual member of the administration." Lord Liverpool, as the head of the government, was opposed to the Catholic claims, but his opposition was qualified by the moderation of his character, and no one doubted his sincerity. Lord Eldon [according to his biographer, Twiss "] again and again avowed his "firm and determined purpose to support to the last our establishment in church and state." When Mr. Canning became secretary of foreign affairs, he was unpopular with the anti-Catholic party in general, and obnoxious to the lord chancellor in particular. Lord Eldon was, however, consoled by the decided views of Mr. Peel on this subject, whose influence with the anti-Catholic party was materially strengthened by his position as representative of the University of Oxford. Mr. Peel, although then of comparative unimportance as a political leader, was in 1818 preferred by the university as a representative of its orthodoxy, whilst Mr. Canning was rejected. Upon the great "open question," the party of Mr. Canning in the cabinet obtained in 1825 a majority in the house of commons upon a bill for the repeal of disabilities, the enactment of a state provision for the Roman Catholic clergy, and the raising of the qualification of the Irish franchise from forty shillings to ten pounds. The bill passed the commons by a majority of twenty-seven. It was rejected by the lords by a majority of forty-eight. In the session of 1826 the question of Catholic emancipation was not agitated in parliament.

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF YORK AND LORD LIVERPOOL; THE MINISTRY OF CANNING

On the 1st of January, 1827, the death of the duke of York was momentarily expected. The duke died on the 5th. The lord chancellor mourned deeply over the loss of the prince, chiefly because he had great influence with the king, and in correspondence with his majesty upon political questions, and in his recommendation of proper persons to be continued or appointed ministers, was much governed in his judgment by what had been, and what he thought would be, the conduct of each person as to the Catholic claims. This was the one test of fitness for office with the duke of York and with the lord chancellor, who thus recorded their mutual opinions.

On the 16th of February Lord Liverpool moved an address to the king, expressive of the concurrence of the peers in a message recommending a provision for the duke and duchess of Clarence. The next morning the servant of the prime minister, going into his sitting-room after breakfast, found him senseless on the floor in a fit of apoplexy. On the 18th Lord Eldon thus expressed his opinion as to the results of this event: "His life is very uncertain, and it is quite certain that as an official man he is no more. Heaven knows who will succeed him." [Lord Liverpool's death did not occur till about two years later, but he never sufficiently recovered normality of mind even to resign the premiership, which he had held since 1812.]

There was no one to be found, either pro-Catholic or anti-Catholic, who could be placed at the head of the government with the same power and influence as Lord Liverpool had exercised for continuing the system of compromise. Mr. Canning saw the difficulty, and offered to retire if the king could form an administration wholly composed of persons thinking as the king himself thought. His majesty did not see the possibility of maintaining such a ministry; and finally on the 10th of April gave his commands to Mr. Canning to prepare, with as little delay as possible, a plan for the reconstruction of the administration.

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On the 12th of April a new writ for the borough of Newport was moved in the house of commons, in consequence of the acceptance by Mr. Canning of the office of first lord of the treasury. At the same time it was agreed that the house should adjourn till the 1st of May. During this interval the greatest excitement prevailed, not only amongst political partisans, but in every circle in which the characters and opinions of public men formed subjects of discussion. The commanding talents and the liberal policy of Mr. Canning produced a very extended hope that he would be able to maintain his great position against the attacks of his numerous enemies. When the houses

met, after the Easter recess, on the 1st of May, Mr. Canning had completed the formation of his ministry. On that day all the avenues to the house of commons were crowded by persons anxious to catch a glimpse of the minister so beloved and trusted, so feared and hated. He walked up the old staircase which led to the lobby with a firm and agile step, and one of the crowd, at least, who looked upon his radiant face, thought of Burke's famous description of Conway, "hope elevated and joy brightened his crest." The house of commons on that night presented an unusual spectacle. Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Tierney sat immediately behind the minister. Mr. Brougham took his seat on the ministerial side, with other members who three weeks previously had sat on the benches of opposition. In the house of peers, Lord Lyndhurst was on the woolsack. Three new peers took the oaths, Viscount Goderich (late Mr. Robinson), Lord Plunkett, and Lord Tenterden. Mr. Peel on that night made a most elaborate exposition of the causes which had led to the resignation of himself and other members of the late government. There was no acrimony in his studied oration. Mr. Canning had the gratifying assurance from Mr. Brougham, who in the eminent position which he had won had the right to speak the sentiments of a large and powerful body, that the new government should have his support, without the possibility of his taking office himself.

During the two months in which the session was continued after the reassembling of parliament on the 1st of May, the irregular discussions in both houses left but little opportunity for real progress in the nation's business. The personal hostility to Mr. Canning, which the duke of Wellington almost acknowledged, was something strange in parliamentary tactics, and some attributed it to the traditional jealousy of the aristocracy, whether whig or tory, that a plebeian-an adventurer-should presume to take the helm of the state instead of one of their "order." Others ascribed the personal attacks of many peers and commoners to that hatred of genius, too often entertained by mediocrity of understanding. The incessant exhibition of this spirit rendered it impossible for the minister either to make a triumphant display of his oratorical power, or to carry through any measure of great public importance. He spoke for the last time on the 18th of June, on the subject of the corn trade. The session was closed on the 2nd of July.

When men were speculating in February on the probable successor of Lord Liverpool, Lord Eldon wrote, "I should suppose Canning's health would not let him undertake the labour of the situation; but ambition will attempt anything." The prorogation of parliament did not produce the usual effect of comparative relaxation upon the toil-worn minister. Four years previous, Mr. Canning, Mr. Huskisson, and Mr. Robinson were described after a prorogation as "boys let loose from school." The American minister, who was thus astonished at the deportment of grave statesmen, was more astonished when the secretary for foreign affairs, after dinner, proposed that the company should play at the game of "twenty questions.' Complete relaxation,

[1827 A.D.] however impaired may be the health of a prime minister, is one of the few things which he is utterly powerless to command. Mr. Canning had an interview with the king on the 30th of July, when his majesty was so struck by the looks of the premier, to whom he had given a cordial support, that he sent his own physician to attend him. The next day Mr. Canning had to work in Downing street. The duke of Devonshire had lent him his villa at Chiswick, in the belief that change of air would restore him. He occupied the bedroom in which Fox had died. On the 31st a few friends had dined with him; but he retired early. The suffering from internal inflammation which he felt on that last night of July terminated in his death on the 8th of August. He was buried in Westminster abbey on the 16th in the most private manner. But the universal display of sorrow told more than any funereal pomp that a great man had departed.

ENGLAND AND GREEK INDEPENDENCE (1827 A.D.)

The settlement of a treaty between Great Britain, France, and Russia, on the subject of the affairs of Greece, was the latest, as it was amongst the most important, of the official acts of Mr. Canning. That treaty was signed on the 7th of July, 1827. Forty years had elapsed since, a schoolboy at Eton, he had written a very eloquent poem on The Slavery of Greece. He painted the ancient glories of her arms and her arts; he evoked the great names of her philosophers and her poets, to point the contrast of her glories fading into shame-servitude binding in its galling chain those who had stood up against Asia's millions-cities mouldering-the fallen column on the dusty ground -worst of all, the sons of the freedom-breathing land sighing in abject bondage, groaning at the labours of the oar or of the mine, trembling before

"The glitt'ring tyranny of Othman's sons."

The position of Greece since 1821 was such as to arouse the deepest sympathies of every Englishman who knew anything of her ancient story. The Greeks in that year, seizing the opportunity of a war between the sultan and Ali Pasha, rose in revolt. A proclamation issued by the archbishop of Patras produced a general insurrection. For six years a cruel and devastating war had gone on, in which the Greeks, at first successful, had more and more quailed before the greater force which the Porte was able at last to bring against them by employing the disciplined troops of the pasha of Egypt. The story of this war has a peculiar interest to us in connection with the individual efforts of Englishmen to promote this struggle for freedom-of Byron, who died at Missolonghi with "Greece" on his lips-of Cochrane, whose hopes of rousing the Greek leaders to decisive and unanimous action came to an end when all was lost at the great battle before Athens. In September, 1826, the divan having obstinately refused to enter into negotiations with those over whom they considered themselves the absolute mastersthose "who form part of the nations inhabiting the countries conquered ages ago by the Ottoman arms "-the British government proposed to Russia that the Porte should be apprised that the result of this obstinacy would be the recognition of the independence of Greece. What, according to international laws, should be the basis of this recognition, was clearly laid down by Mr. Canning. The Turks were to be told that Great Britain and Russia "would look to Greece with an eye of favour, and with a disposition to seize the first occasion of recognising, as an independent state, such portion of her territory as should have freed itself from Turkish dominion; provided that such state should have shown itself substantially capable of maintaining an independent

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existence, of carrying on a government of its own, of controlling its own military and naval forces, and of being responsible to other nations for the observance of international laws and the discharge of international duties." Such was the exposition which the British government then adopted, in the affairs of Greece, of the principles which should determine the recognition of the independence of a revolting or separating state. The principle of what should constitute a belligerent was laid down with equal clearness by Mr. Canning at an earlier stage of this conflict: "The character of belligerency is not so much a principle as a fact. A certain degree of force and consistency acquired by any mass of population engaged in war entitles that population to be treated as a belligerent, and even if their title were questionable renders it the interest, well understood, of all civilised nations so to treat them. For what is the alternative? A power or community (whichever it may be called) which is at war with another, and which covers the sea with its cruisers, must either be acknowledged as a belligerent or treated as a pirate."

Upon the conclusion of the treaty of July, 1827, it was agreed that instructions should be sent to the representatives at Constantinople of the three contracting powers that they should present a joint declaration to the divan, stating that as the war of extermination had been prolonged for six years, producing results shocking to humanity, and inflicting intolerable injury on the commerce of all nations, it was no longer possible to admit that the fate of Greece concerned exclusively the Ottoman Porte. They were to offer their mediation between the Sublime Porte and the Greeks to put an end to the war, to settle by amicable negotiation the relations which ought for the future to exist between them, and to propose that all acts of hostility should be suspended by an armistice. A similar proposition should be made to the Greeks. A month was to be given to the Ottoman Porte to make known its determination. If no answer were returned, or an evasive answer were given, the divan was to be informed that the three powers would themselves interfere to establish an armistice. Although the admirals of the allied squadrons of the three powers were to be instructed to take coercive measures to enforce an armistice, they were to be warned against any hostile step which would be contrary to the pacific character which the three powers were desirous to impart to their interference.

PREMIERSHIP OF LORD GODERICH; THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO

The death of Mr. Canning placed Lord Goderich at the head of the government. The composition of the cabinet was slightly altered. Mr. Huskisson became colonial secretary, Mr. Herries chancellor of the exchequer. The government was generally considered to be weak, and not calculated for a long endurance. Its greatest accession of strength seemed to be in the acceptance of the office of commander-in-chief by the duke of Wellington. Lord Eldon, in serious apprehension that this appointment committed the duke to the support of the administration, wrote to him a letter which called forth this explanation: "If, on the one hand, the administration have no claim upon my services out of my profession, I, on the other hand, can be of no counsel or party against them." The cabinet of Lord Goderich had not a long existence. It lasted scarcely five months, and it fell through the petty jealousies of some of its members, which gave the finishing blow to the tottering fabric.

On the 10th of November it was known in London that despatches had been received at the admiralty, announcing a great naval battle in the bay of

[1827 A.D.] Navarino. If the popular belief in omens of national success or disaster had not nearly passed away, the public might have looked with trembling anxiety to these despatches, in the dread that the battle would prove a defeat. For, at the lord mayor's banquet on the 9th of November, a great device of illuminated lamps representing an anchor suddenly fell down upon the dignitaries below, slightly wounding the duke of Clarence and the lord mayor, scattering unwelcome oil over the dresses of the ladies who graced the civic feast, and altogether marring the usual flow of hollow compliment which is so coarsely proffered and so greedily accepted on these occasions. The Gazette soon proclaimed that the Turkish fleet had been nearly annihilated; that the flags of England, France, and Russia floated supreme on the shores of the Morea. Nevertheless, politicians shook their heads at what they considered an aggression, which might lead to an interminable war-an aggression which ultra-toryism regarded as particularly objectionable, inasmuch as it crippled the means of a despotic power effectually to crush its rebellious subjects. The Sublime Porte had well learned the lessons taught by the congresses of Troppau and Laybach when it proclaimed, in its manifesto of the previous June, that Almighty wisdom, in dividing the universe into different countries, has assigned to each a sovereign, into whose hands the reins of absolute authority over the nations subject to his dominion are placed."

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When the demand under the Treaty of London, which was made by England, France, and Russia, for an immediate armistice, as a preliminary and an indispensable condition to the opening of any negotiation, was announced by the ambassadors of these powers at Constantinople, the divan declined to recognise any interference with its conduct towards its rebellious subjects. The Greeks readily accepted the armistice proposed by the treaty. Ibrahim Pasha had come from Alexandria with the Egyptian fleet during the period of the discussions at Constantinople. The allied fleets were lying off Navarino, their admirals being without authority to prevent the junction of the Egyptian fleet with the Turkish, already moored in that harbour. The Egyptian commander was informed by Sir Edward Codrington that he might return, if he chose, with a safe-conduct to Alexandria, but that if he entered the harbour he would not be suffered to come out. Ibrahim Pasha made his choice to join the Turkish fleet. On the 25th of September a conference took place between the admirals and Ibrahim Pasha, at which the Egyptian prince entered into a verbal agreement for a suspension of hostilities during twenty days. The English and French commanders, relying upon this agreement, sailed to Zante to obtain fresh provisions. Ibrahim Pasha then came out of the harbour, with the object of carrying his warfare to some other point in the Morea. Sir Edward Codrington met him near Patras with a small force, and compelled him to return. After that, says the protocol of the three admirals, "the troops of the pasha have not ceased carrying on a species of warfare more destructive and exterminating than before, putting women and children to the sword, burning their habitations, and tearing up trees by the roots, in order to complete the devastation of the country. The despatch of Sir Edward Codrington, dated from H.M.S. Asia, in the port of Navarino, narrates the subsequent decisive event. The count de Hayden, rear-admiral of Russia, and the French rear-admiral, the chevalier de Rigny, having agreed with him to enter the port in order to induce Ibrahim Pasha to discontinue his brutal war of extermination, took up their anchorage about two o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th of October. The Turkish ships were moored in the form of a crescent. The combined fleet was formed in the order of sailing in two columns, the British and French forming the

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