SOME OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF GEORGE CANNING. 1820-22. THE story of the life of George Canning, one of the most illustrious statesmen of the first quarter of the present century, has never yet been fully told. The collection of letters and other papers belonging to Canning, here edited and published for the first time, will be found, it is believed, a contribution of considerable value to the existing stock of knowledge of his career, particularly of the latter and more important incidents of his life. But it must be admitted that they are far from completing the whole record of the eventful history; in truth, they only serve to supplement in part two works published at various dates by the late Mr. Augustus Stapleton, dealing with the same subject. The first of these works, entitled 'The Political Life of George 'Canning,' published in 1831, furnishes the reader with a most useful summary and defence of Canning's foreign and domestic policy from 1822 to 1827. The author was fully qualified for his task, as he wrote when fresh from a period of confidential and friendly relations with the subject of his memoir. He brought into the work large quantities of extracts from Canning's private political papers, of which the contents had been entrusted to him by Canning's representatives with a view to vindicate the political memory of the deceased statesman from the aspersions of partisan enemies after his death. Both politicians and historians have found this work a mine of useful information; though, owing to the avowed purpose for which it was written, it perhaps appears to the reader of a later generation somewhat too much of a pamphlet in structure, and deficient in the VOL. I. B 1820 1820 dates and landmarks which might help the less well-informed reader of after time to grasp a consecutive idea of the events to which it refers: besides, its scope is limited to foreign affairs, and to the three or four leading questions of domestic policy in which Canning took an active part. The second work on George Canning, by the same author, was published in 1859, and entitled 'George Canning and his Times.' At this later date Mr. Stapleton found himself free to use many private letters and confidential memoranda, which had either come into his possession at the time of Canning's death, or had been subsequently given to him for the purpose of publication; he could therefore now show much more of Canning as a man, and could bring into view events of the earlier part of Canning's life. The volume, no doubt, failed to furnish all the information that might be desired; but, with no pretence to exhaust the subject, it sketched out from original documents a trustworthy outline of the whole of his career. The only fault, if fault it be, is that the biographer, naturally an ardent admirer of Canning's political judgment, still devoted himself greatly, though not to the extent of the first work, to expounding and justifying the utterances of that judgment. The reader, therefore, finds himself rather too much in the atmosphere of debatable politics. Both the foregoing works, then, appear to have been written 'with a purpose,' and a purpose of a largely polemical nature; the material not conducive to such purpose the author laid aside as inappropriate and unserviceable. But when dissociated from the idea of a particular purpose, the balance of material then discarded appeared to be not altogether uninteresting. It has therefore been gathered together, arranged in chronological order, and explained, when possible, by a running commentary. One or two problems present themselves on the threshold, which seem to require some little discussion and speculation to assist the reader to a judgment in the absence of more decisive information; and they are here treated as much as possible in a manner free from partisan or provocative intention. These problems will now be discussed. The first that presents itself is to account satisfactorily for Canning's absence from office during the period from December 1820 to September 1822. It will help to explain the solution to be presently offered if the following synopsis of the state of public affairs, and of Canning's political relations from 1814 to 1822, be borne in mind. |