TURKEY

turkey, greece). to this policy he may be said to have given his name, and he has enjoyed the reputation of having introduced a generous spirit into british politics, and of having undone the work of his predecessor at the foreign office, who was constantly abused as the friend of despotism and of despots. it may well be believed that canning followed his natural inclinations, and it can be asserted without the possibility of contradiction, if also without possibility of proof, that he had influenced the mind of castlereagh. yet the fact remains that when canning came into office in september 1822, he found the instructions to be given to the representative of the british government at the congress of verona already drawn up by his predecessor, who had meant to attend the congress himself (see londonderry, robert stewart, 2nd marquess of). these instructions were handed on without change by canning to the duke of wellington, who went as representative, and they contain all the principles which have been said to have been peculiarly canning's. indeed this policy was dictated by the character and position of the british government, and had been followed in the main since the conference of aix-la-chapelle in 1818. canning was its orator and minister rather than its originator. yet his eloquence has associated with his name the responsibility for british policy at the time. no speech of his is perhaps more famous than that in which he claimed the initiative in recognizing the independence of the revolted spanish colonies in south america in 1823--"i resolved that, if france had spain, it should not be spain with the indies. i called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old" (december 12, 1826). when lord liverpool was struck down in a fit on the 17th of february 1827, canning was marked out by position as his only possible successor. he was not indeed accepted by all the party which had followed liverpool. the duke of wellington, sir robert peel and several other members of the ministry, moved perhaps by personal animosity, and certainly by dislike of his known and consistent advocacy of the claims of the roman catholics, refused to serve with him. canning succeeded in constructing a ministry in april--but the hopes and the fears of friends and enemies proved to be equally unfounded. his health had already begun to give way, and broke down altogether under the strain of the effort required to form his ministry. he had caught cold in january at the funeral of the duke of york, and never recovered. he died on the 8th of august 1827, at chiswick, in the house of the duke of devonshire, where fox had died, and in the same room. see _speeches_, with a memoir by r. therry (london, 1826); a.g. stapleton, _political life of canning_, 1822-1827 (2nd ed., london, 1831); _canning and his times_ (london, 1859); lord dalling and bulwer, _historical characters_ (london, 1868); f.h. hill, _george canning_ (london, 1887); _some political correspondence of george canning_, ed. e.j. stapleton (2 vols., 1897); j.a.r. marriott, _george canning and his times, a political study_ (london, 1903); w. alison phillips, _george canning_ (london, 1903), with reproductions of contemporary portraits and caricatures; h.w.v. temperley, _george canning_ (london, 1905).