From Tait's Magazine. BELL'S LIFE OF CANNING. "The Life of the Right Hon. George Canning" By Robert Bell, author of "The History of Russia," "Lives of English Poets," &c. &c. Post octavo, pp. 368. Chapman & Hall. peared for a quarter of a century after his decease. Many must have been ready and willing for the task; but a great want existed, which, we fear, is not yet supplied,— namely, the want of materials. The family and friends of Mr. Canning may either think that the time has not yet come for laying his personal history beneficially before the world; or reasons may exist, though they can hardly be good reasons, which make them dislike to recur to his early connexions and adventures. This much is certain,-that though Mr. Bell has turned accessible materials to the best possible account, and spared no pains in research, he has produced little that is at once new and valuable in the biography of Canning. Wishing posterity much good of the treasures in store for it in the private papers and familiar correspondence of Canning, which will come to light one day, we must meanwhile make the best of what we have here obtained. THE deep and almost universal regret felt for the premature loss of Canning, though it may in part be ascribed to the liberal views of policy which distinguished the last years of his public life, was, we think, not a little honorable to the naturally generous sentiments of the British people, who had something both to forgive and forget in the past history of the most brilliant of modern political adventurers. This appellation is applied with no purpose of disparagement, but solely as the only term which may properly describe the early position and lucky star of a friend- Mr. Bell possesses one quality which, if less young man, who, among ten thousand not essential, yet, where it is unaffected, blanks, drew the great prize; and who rose ever lends a grace to the biographer-ferinto eminence as much from a combination vent admiration of his hero. To him, of fortunate accidents, as by the native Canning is a great statesman, as well as a force of his character and vigor of his consummate orator, and a highly accomintellect. How Canning made the first plished and virtuous man. The mantle of great step remains a mystery, which Mr. his love is even lapped over the failings of Bell has not satisfactorily cleared up. The those of Canning's near relatives, to whom solution may probably be simple: Mr. the world will be much more niggard of its Pitt, in a pressing emergency, was sorely charity. Not content with tracing his dein want of aides-de-camp in the House of scent to the Cannings of Garvagh, a family Commons, and of subordinates and useful of Irish gentry, and also finding for him an auxiliaries in the government; and here, English descent from the Cannings of ready at his beck, was a young man of Foxcote, his immediate ancestor, his father, brilliant talents, and of great future prom-the eldest son and heir of Garvagh, who apise, not the worse for being crimped from pears to have been not a little of a scapethe enemy's ranks; and who, called into grace, is made out to have been an ill-used public life by himself, and unfettered by and unfortunate young gentleman of liberal either party or family connexions, might be sentiments, persecuted by a tyrannical famoulded to his purposes, and relied upon in ther for presuming to differ with him in every exigency, as a loyal, and perhaps an politics. The facts are, that from some low unscrupulous adherent. The career of or indiscreet amor, or other misconduct Canning went far to justify the sagacity of left in obscurity, the son and heir was cast Mr. Pitt in his choice of an instrument; off, and, with an annuity of £150, came to though, if the statements of Lady Hester London, where he studied law, as many Stanhope are to be received without ques- gay young Irishmen then studied law, tion, it must be believed that the declining wrote fugitive verses and articles for the chief became, at last, somewhat jealous of miscellanies of the day, of a character the man whom he had elevated. However which procured him the friendship of all this may be, it is not a little singular Wilkes, and, according to Mr. Bell, a victhat, in this writing and publishing age, tory over Smollet. The case made out for no personal memoir of a statesman so this gentleman is but lame. After hanging remarkable in his fortunes, so distinguish-loose on London society for eleven years, ed by accomplishments, and latterly so he got rid of his debts, by consenting to popular with the nation, should have ap-cut off the entail of the estate, and was To soon again as deeply in debt as ever. passed under the inauspicious guardianship of Mr. Reddish, whose disorderly habits excludtraining. The profligacy of his life commued the possibility of moral or intellectual nicated its reckless tone to his household, and even the material wants of his family were frequently neglected to feed his excesses elsewhere. Yet amidst these unpropitious circumstances, the talents of the child attracted notice; and Moody, the actor, who had constrongly interested in his behalf. Moody was stant opportunities of seeing him, became a blunt, honest man, of rough bearing, but of the kindliest disposition; and foreseeing that the boy's ruin would be the inevitable consequence of the associations by which he was surrounded, he resolved to bring the matter at once under the notice of his uncle, Mr. Sıratfor there had been no previous intercourse beford Canning. The step was a bold one ;tween the families, although the boy was then seven or eight years old. But it succeeded Moody drew an indignant picture of the boy's situation; declared that he was on the highroad to the "gallows" (that was the word ;) dwelt upon the extraordinary promise he displayed; and warmly predicted, that if proper in the world, he would one day become a great means were taken for bringing him forward man. Mr. Stratford Canning was at first extremely unwilling to interfere; and it was not until the negotiation was taken up by other branches of the family, owing to honest Moody's perseverance, that he ultimately consented to take charge of his nephew, upon condition that the intercourse with his mother's connexions should be strictly abridged. Having undertaken this responsibility, Mr. Stratford Canning discharged it faithfully. Eton. "Mrs. Reddish" was still playing in different provincial theatres. When at There are varying accounts of whence Plymouth she captivated a Mr. Hunn, a the funds came, which supported young stage-struck silk-mercer, who failed in busi- Canning at school and the university. His ness shortly after his marriage; and at- first school was that of Hyde Abbey, near tempting the stage, failed there too. He, Winchester, on the master of which he afhowever, obtained some other employment, terwards bestowed a prebendal stall in and died leaving his wife with two daugh- Winchester Cathedral; and by the advice, ters and a son. Whatever may have been it is said, of Mr. Fox, he was sent to the imprudences of Mrs. Reddish, or Mrs. Hunn, she must have possessed some good, and many engaging qualities; for under the most trying circumstances, she retained the respect and warm affection of her gifted son. As a child, and a very young boy, he had shared her evil fortunes, when at their lowest ebb; and though early estranged from her care, nothing ever lessened Canning's devoted and heartfelt attachment to his unfortunate mother. Let us look for an instant at the childhood of the future leading boy of Eton, and Prime Minister of England. At the house of his uncle, a zealous Whig, George Canning was early introduced to Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and the other leading Whigs, among whom he became a favorite. He was speedily distinguished at Eton, where he had for contemporaries the Marquis of Wellesley, and the late Earl Grey. They, with others, were also his associates in a kind of debating society, or mimic parliament, where unfledged orators and politicians tried their powers, and imped their wings for higher flights, and where, it is said, "he soon won distinction by the vigor and clearness of his speeches, The childhood of George Canning was anticipating, upon the themes of the hour, the larger views of the future statesman." obtained a degree of celebrity which Already the staid, serious, and studions lad, would, we apprehend, be looked for in vain appeared to be forecasting his future ca- in these days of penny literature,-when reer. In the diary of Wilberforce, it is every manufacturing town annually prosaid, Canning never played at games duces more good verse and prose, than all with the other boys; quite a man; fond of acting; decent and moral." His conduct to his mother all this while, is yet better evidence of his ripe and noble character, and sound heart. He made it a sacred rule to write to her every week, no matter what might be the pressure of private anxiety or public busi ness. His letters were the charm and solace of her life; she cherished them with proud and tender solicitude, and always carried them about her person to show them exultingly to her friends. In his boyhood, his correspondence treated upon every subject of interest on which his mind was engaged-his studies, his associates, his prospects, his dream of future distinction, nourished in the hope that its realization might enable him, at last, to place his mother in a position of independence. And when he finally reached the height of that dream, he continued to manifest the same earnest and faithful feelings. No engagements of any kind were ever suffered to interrupt his regular weekly letter. the great schools and universities put together. Every subsequent imitation of The Microcosm, has failed, though some of them do not fall much short of the original. It was a lucky hit, and Canning, its principal supporter, also gained the largest share of its laurels. He was at this time, and while at Oxford, an ardent Whig, and was confirmed in this political bias, not only by his uncle, but by intercourse with the great Whig leaders. Canning's university vacations were usually spent at some of their seats, where the sprightly talents of the young and wellconducted Oxonian, and his facility in verse-making, a mighty accomplishment in those days, ensured his social success. This profitable kind of relaxation did not lessen his diligence in study. His persevering industry at all times equalled his sparkling brilliancy. He had early learned the important lesson of relying upon himWhen Mrs. Hunn was performing at Ply self, and of exactly measuring and estimatmouth, he would sometimes leave his studies ing his own position. Canning left Oxford at Lincoln's Inn, to comfort her with his pres- with a high reputation, sustained both by ence; and whenever he came it was a Satur- solid acquirements and literary achievenalia! Shortly before her final settlement at ments; and went to study at Lincoln's Inn. Bath, in 1807, she resided at Winchester, This step affords Mr. Bell an opportunity where she had some cousins in an inferior of describing the political and social state walk of life; and when her son-at that time of the two great parties of the day; that of the centre of popular admiration wherever he moved-used to visit her there, it was his de- Fox, and the Prince of Wales, with the light to walk out in company with these hum- Whig Clubs and Devonshire House in the ble friends, and with them to receive his "sal- back-ground; and that of Mr. Pitt, with utations and greetings in the market-place." George III., the Court, and the Tory arisOne recognizes a great man in such behav-tocracy, at his back. This was, perhaps, the most brilliant era of party in this country; the period when wit, beauty, rank, and talent, lent their blended fascinations to secure recruits into the rival camps. Thus Mr. Bell ascribes the accession of the late Earl Grey to the liberal party, not On retiring with Mr. Pitt, in 1801, from to his own earnest convictions, nor to the the office of under-secretary of state, Can-love of freedom, but to the influence of the ning was entitled to a pension of £500 a- Duchess of Devonshire, who won year, which he requested to have settled on jewel of price" from Pitt and Toryism, to his mother. There have surely been worse which he was then inclined, to Fox and acts of public men than this, for which Liberalism. The real influence of such Canning was reviled by party-writers, fair auxiliaries as the Duchess of Devonthrough half his remaining life. shire, or of Canning's early patroness, the beautiful Mrs. Crewe, and the syren Mrs. Sheridan, it is not easy to calculate; and it is probably over-rated by Mr. Bell, who takes a wider and more correct view of the excited state of popular feeling, at the iour. It had always been an object of paramount anxiety with him to take his mother off the stage; and the first use he made of the first opportunity that presented itself, was to carry that object into effect. While Canning was at Eton, and still under seventeen, The Microcosm, a small weekly paper, of which a great deal has been said, was projected by him and a few of the more accomplished Etonians, and "this momentous crisis of the French Revolu- the high road to greatness of some kind; but tion, and just when Canning was launched how it is to end, whether he is to be a martyr upon public life. Among those, either in- or a minis er, is yet a leap in the dark. The crisis approaches that is to determine the spired by the example of the Republicans doubt. of France, or who, through the press or the debating societies, at this period canvassed public affairs and public men, was one What follows is, we apprehend, somewhat apocryphal, but we give it as we find it. betray. A student of pale and thoughtful aspect, While he is revolving these auguries in his who brought to the nightly contests unusual mind, and filling his solitary chamber with fluency and grace of elocution. He, too, along phantoms of civic crowns and strawberrywith the rest, had been inspired by the heroic leaves, flitting around his head in tantalizing spectacle, had pondered upon its causes, and confusion, a note is hurriedly put into his exulted over its prospects. His head was full hand, with marke of secrecy and haste. It is of constitutions; for his studies lay amongst from one of whom he has but a slight personal the elementary writers, rather than the special knowledge, but whose notoriety, if we may not pleaders and form-mongers of the law. And venture to call it fame, is familiar to him. after a morning of close reading and severe The purport of the note is an intimation that reflection, he would wend his way in the eve- the writer desires a confidential interview on ning to one of these debating-rooms, and matters of importance, and will breakfast with taking up his place unobserved, watch the vi- him on the following morning. The abruptcissitudes of the discussion, noting well its ef- ness of the self-invitation, the seriousness of fect upon the miscellaneous listeners; then, the affair it seems to indicate, and the known seizing upon a moment when the argument character of the correspondent, excite the surfailed from lack of resources, or ran into soph-prise of the law-student. and he awaits his istry or exaggeration, he would present him- visiter with more curiosity than he chooses to self to the meeting. A figure slight, but of elegant proportions; a face poetical in repose, A small fresh-colored man, with intelligent but fluctuating in its expression with every fu- eyes, an obstinate expression of face, and gitive emotion; a voice low, clear, and rich pressing ardor of manner, makes his appearin modulation; and an air of perfect breeding, ance the next morning at breakfast. The host prepares his hearers for one who possesses su- is collected, as a man should be who holds perior powers, and is not unconscious of them. himself prepared for a revelation. The guest, He opens calmly-strips his topic of all ex- unreserved and impatient of delay, hastens to traneous matter-distributes it under separate unfold his mission. Amongst the speculators heads-disposes of objections with a playful who are thrown up to the surface, in great pohumor-rebukes the dangerous excesses of litical emergencies, there are generally some preceding speakers-carries his auditors who are misled by the grandeur of their conthrough a complete syllogysm-establishes the proposition with which he set out-and sits down amidst the acclamations of the little senate. Night after night witnesses similar feats; at length his name gets out; he is talked of, and speculated upon; and people begin to ask questions about the stripling who has so suddenly appeared amongst them, as if he had fallen from the sky. ceptions; and who, in the purity and integrity of their own hearts, cannot see the evil or the danger that lies before them. This was a man of that order. He enters into an animated description of the state of the country, traces the inquietude of the people to its source in the corruption and tyranny of the government, declares that they are resolved to endure oppression no longer, that they are But he does not confine his range to the de- already organized for action, that the auspibating societies, which he uses as schools of cious time has arrived to put out their practice, and as places in which the nature of strength, and ends by the astounding anpopular assemblies may be profitably ob- nouncement, that they have selected himserved. He is frequently to be found in the this youth who has made such a stir amongst soirées of the Whig notabilities, where the them-as the fittest person to be placed at the aristocracy of his style is more at home than head of the movement. Miracle upon miraamongst the crowds of the forum. Here his cle! The astonishment of the youth who recultivated intellect and fastidious taste are ap-ceives this communication may well suspend preciated by qualified judges; and these re- his judgment; he requires an interval to colfined circles cry up his accomplishments as lect himself, and decide; and then, dismissing eagerly as the others have applauded his pa- his strange visiter, shuts himself up to think. triotism. Popularity besets him on both sides. The societies look to him as a man formed expressly for the people; and the first Lord Lansdowne (stranger still!) predicts to Mr. Bentham that this stripling will one day be prime minister of England! He is plainly on In that interval he takes a step which commits him for life. It is but a step from Lincoln's Inn to Downing Street. His faith in the people is shaken. He sees in this theory of regeneration nothing but folly and bloodshed. His reason revolts from all participa tion in it. And the next chamber to which we follow him, is the closet of the Minister, to whom he makes his new confession of faith, and gives in his final adherence. Reader, the violent little man was William Godwin, the author of the "Political Justice," and the convert was George Canning. There are many other theories of the remarkable conversion of Mr. Canning, though Mr. Bell adopts this as the most probable among them. The simple truth seems to be, that Pitt needed Mr. Canning, and that Mr. Canning was ready. Sir Richard Worsley kindly accepted the Chiltern Hundreds; and, in 1793, the young and hopeful aspirant took his seat for Newport in the Isle of Wight, and, even in his first session, did his chief good service. Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Jenkinson, and Mr. Huskisson, appeared in Parliament about the same time; and the foundations of those future friendships, rivalries, and animosities were then laid which lasted through life. However Mr. Bell may otherwise fail, he always succeeds in exalting his hero, by comparison with Lord Castlereagh. aimed at the false philosophy of the day, but, hitting beyond its proposed mark, as the theme rises, it strikes at the Duke of Bedford, Southey, Coleridge, Godwin, and several other minor celebrities. The passages, which are clear of scornful personalities, are written with that unmistakeable polish which at once declares the authorship; and even where he Williams, and the small fry of democratic flings his arrowy contempt upon Thelwall, agitators, we fancy we can still trace him in the refinement of the points. But it was not in weighty or savage satire that Mr. Canning's strength lay-the tomahawk of right belonged to the author of the "Baviad" and "Mæviad." When "The Anti-Jacobin" was started, the available talent of the Reform party, in and out of Parliament, greatly preponderated over that of its opponents. An engine was wanted that should make up, by the destructiveness of its explosions, for the lack of more numerous resources. That engine was planned by Mr. Canning, who saw the necessity for it clearly. But it required a rougher hand than mud or bruises. The author of the "Baviad" his to work it-one, too, not likely to wince from and "Mæviad," was exactly the man-hard, coarse, inexorable, unscrupulous. He brought with him into this paper a thoroughly brutal spirit; the personalities were not merely gross and wanton, but wild, ribald, slaughtering: it The subsequent career of Canning is to was the dissection of the shambles. Such be found in his Political History, and in and they were written for their effect; but things had their effect, of course, at the time, the history of the country and of Parlia- they exhibit such low depravity and baseness ment, with the exception of such episodes violating so flagrantly all truth, honor, and as the appearance of "The Anti-Jacobin," at a time when the division of labor not being so well understood as in these days of Peel, party-writing, whether scurrilous or argumentative, was undertaken by ministers or official persons, and not as now more safely and wisely left to reviewers and journalists. All the "irresistible" wit found in "The Anti-Jacobin," is roundly claimed by Mr. Bell for Canning :-in the eyes of posterity it will seem but a little all. Mr. Canning is also exonerated from the grossness, brutality, and actual falsehood contained in this unique publication, which acquittance it is not quite easy to understand, while he is stated to have not only planned but superintended the work, and to have afterwards expressed regret, not for its malignity and coarseness, but only for "the imperfection of his pieces" in its pages. Let us take the case on the advocate's own showing; and even with that we cannot agree in the verdict. decency, for mere temporary party objects, that we cannot look upon them now without a shudder. Fox was assailed in this journal as if he were a highwayman. His peaceful retirement at St. Anne's Hill was invaded with vulgar jibes, and unintelligible buffoonery; Coleridge, Lamb, and others were attacked with extravagant personal hostility; and there was not an individual distinguished by respectability of character in the ranks of the Reformers, who was not mercilessly tarred and feathered the moment he ventured into public. Such was literally the "Weekly Anti Jacobin." Such was The Anti-Jacobin, and Mr. Bell gives all up to deserved contempt and oblivion, save "its ethereal spirit" in the poetical burlesques and jeux-d'-esprit, of its planner; and foretells that "The Knife-grinder" will last "as long as the language lasts;" because "it ridicules at once the politics and the Sapphics of Southey." This is somewhat strong. What would be said, in our times, of such a trav The poem of "New Morality" is on all esty of Hood's "Song of the Shirt"-a hands ascribed to Mr. Canning; and his ex-poem very similar in spirit to that of Souclusive title to it appears to admit of little they-although a Canning had written doubt. This satire, as the name implies, is it? |