About the middle of February the Earl of Liverpool was suddenly attacked by a paralytic stroke. By the end of March his case became hopeless, and Mr. Canning was summoned at that time by the king to Windsor. It was well known that dissensions existed in the cabinet, and that serious difficulties were created by a large portion of it, hostile in the highest degree to Mr. Canning. At the same time a majority of the commons, as well as of the people at large, called upon him to take up the mantle of the premier, and to direct the councils of Great Britain. Mr. Canning was called to this interview with the king merely in his capacity of privy-counsellor, to assist the king in the re-construction of the cabinet. He recommended that a ministry should be formed unanimous in the rejection of Catholic emancipation; to forward which arrangement he professed his own willingness to retire from office. This advice had the appearance of great disinterestedness and self-denial; but Mr. Canning must have known that it was utterly impracticable: those, indeed, on whom it would have thrown the responsibility of government saw the embarrassment such an arrangement would produce, and instantly rejected it. His majesty now proposed that the plan of administration should be unchanged; and that some anti-Catholic peer should be appointed premier, to prevent such increase of adherents to the Catholic cause as a minister of that rank, being its known advocate, would necessarily promote. To this arrangement, however, Mr. Canning objected, declaring that he would never degrade himself by forming part of an administration which considered a person entertaining those views which he entertained concerning the Catholic question as disqualified to fill the highest office in the state. By this declaration, in effect, Mr. Canning made known to the king that his services could only be secured by the highest office; and it seems quite clear from other circumstances that such was his aim. But this resolution was the cause of breaking up the Liverpool cabinet. At the same time Mr. Canning obtained the object of his ambition: aided by the general voice, he was made premier. His exaltation, however, was the signal of retreat to other members of the cabinet. Mr. Peel had previously declared that if such an event took place he should decline office; and Lord Eldon resigned, ostensibly on account of his advanced age, but in reality on Mr. Peel’s principles, namely, that he could not co-operate with a friend to Catholic emancipation as premier. On the 12th of April the king had received, in addition to these, the resignations, also, the Duke of Wellington, and Lords Bexley, Westmoreland, and Bathurst. Nevertheless, the king confirmed the appointment of Mr. Canning; and it was announced in the house of commons on the same evening, where it was received with deafening shouts of applause. Mr. Canning now proceeded to reconstruct the cabinet. The new ministers were, the Duke of Clarence, as lord high-admiral of England; Lord Anglesea, as master-general of the ordnance, with a seat in the cabinet; Lord Dudley, Mr. Sturges Bourne, and Mr. Robinson, nominated respectively for the foreign, home, and colonial departments; the Duke of Devonshire, as lord-chamberlain; the Duke of Portland, as privy-seal; and Lord Harrowby, as president of the council. Lord Bexley retracted his resignation and retained office; and Lord Palmerston, with Messrs. Huskisson and Wynne, likewise remained in the cabinet. Sir John Leach, Sir Anthony Hart, and Sir James Scarlett, were respectively made master of the rolls, vice-chancellor, and attorney-general. Mr. Canning occupied the two offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. A negociation had been opened with the Marquis of Lansdowne to supply several places; but no official appointments resulted from it, although a large body of Whigs offered their support to the administration. The new ministry was gazetted on the 27th of April; and on the 30th his majesty held a court, at which Lords Eldon, Westmoreland, and Bathurst, as well as Mr. Peel, severally had audiences to resign their seals of office; and the new ministers kissed hands on their appointments. Mr. Canning was loudly cheered by the populace in going to and returning from the palace; but he soon discovered that his high office was not a bed of roses. “The premiership had for twelve years been a bed of slumber; it now fell into the hands of one who made it a bed of feverish anxiety and bitter wakefulness,—George Canning, the first debater, the most dexterous politician, and the happiest wit of the house; the most perplexed, unhappy, and disappointed of ministers.”
REASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.
The house of commons reassembled on the 1st of May. So much time, however, had been lost through the dissolution of the old administration, and the hostility of parties now consumed so much time, that very little business was completed during the session. At its meeting the public were eager to learn something of the causes which had separated men who had acted so long together in good and in evil report, and which had accomplished an union between parties and individuals whose contest had generally been a war to the death. The public had not to remain long on the tiptoe of expectation, for no sooner had the house met than the strife of words commenced.
EXPLANATIONS OF MEMBERS, AND HOSTILITY TO THE MINISTRY.
On the motion that a new writ should issue for the borough of Ashburton, for the election of a member in place of Mr. S. Bourne, Mr. Peel said, that as the motion was connected with the succession to that office which he had resigned, he trusted that the house would allow him the opportunity of explaining the grounds on which he had retired from the situation of secretary of state, disclaiming at the same time all intention of opposing the new government, and carrying himself free from every appearance of a factious spirit. He remarked:—“I retired from office because, from the first moment of my public life, I have taken an active and decided part on a great and vital question, that of the extension of political privileges to the Roman Catholics. For eighteen years I have constantly offered an uncompromising, but, I hope, a temperate, fair, and constitutional resistance to every proposition for granting to them any further concessions. My opposition is founded on principle. I think the continuance of those bars which prevent the acquisition of political power by the Catholics necessary for the maintenance of the constitution, and for the interests of the established church. It is not merely that my honourable friend differs in opinion from me on this important question, but the change in administration occasions the transfer of all that influence and power which belongs to the office of a prime minister into the hands of one who will use it for the purpose of forwarding an object which I have always resisted. It is not a transfer of that influence and power from one ordinary man to another ordinary man, but from the most able opponent of the Catholic claims to their most zealous and eloquent advocate.” Mr. Peel then vindicated the course taken by his late colleagues in resigning office; the act, he said, was “a splendid example of disinterested conduct to all public men.” He vindicated them from the charge of acting in concert, or in the spirit of cabal; declaring that he not only did not hold any communication with the lord-chancellor, as had been said, but that he did not even know hip lordship’s intentions The very first person, he said, to whom I stated my inability to acquiesce in the appointment of my right honourable friend as prime minister, was my right honourable friend himself; and I did not then known the intention of any other member of the administration. He added:—“A separation from my right honourable friend, with whom I have acted so cordially on every point but one, is to me a source of deep regret, mitigated, however, in some degree by the recollection that I have done everything becoming my character to prevent it. I retire from the service of my sovereign without any personal regret, except upon one point, namely, that I can no longer avail myself of those opportunities which office afforded of introducing a system of improvement into the existing laws. To effect that object is the chief desire of my life; and I have the satisfaction of reflecting that, during the five years I have held the office of home-secretary, every institution coming under my immediate cognizance has been subject to such reforms as were considered advantageous and useful. I have likewise the satisfaction of recollecting that every law which I found on the statute-book at my entrance into office, imposing extraordinary restrictions on the liberties of the subject, has been either modified or altogether repealed. I may be a Tory, but I have the satisfaction of observing that such has been my conduct. Tory, as I am, it is gratifying to me to reflect that no law stands on the statute-book, in connection with my name, which has not for its object the mitigation of the severity of the criminal law, and the prevention of any abuse in the administration of justice.” This speech was received with loud cheers, and elicited much applause from Mr. Brougham, who at the same time declared his determination to support the policy of the new administration. On the contrary, Mr. Dawson, a brother-in-law to Mr. Peel, and late under-secretary for the home department, damaged his reputation by his explanation, inasmuch as he allowed himself to get into a passion with the premier. Mr. Dawson insisted that Mr. Canning was bound to declare immediately what he intended to do with the Catholic question, and also to bring it forward without delay. In reply Mr. Canning said, that throughout a continued intercourse with Mr. Peel he had uniformly found his conduct distinguished by the same feeling and high principle which were so strongly pourtrayed in the speech he had just delivered; he had behaved, he said, throughout with manliness and candour. He continued:—“The house is greatly mistaken if they imagine my situation to be one of gratified ambition. From the beginning of the discussions on the Catholic claims I felt that the separation of my honourable friend and myself was inevitable, and not far remote. Would to God I could now persuade myself that his retirement will be but for a short time! Had the necessity which has made the retirement of one of as inevitable been left in my hands, my decision would have been for my own resignation, and against that of my right honourable friend. My first object was to quit office; my next to remain in it, with all my old colleagues exactly—exactly on the same terms as usual regarding this very Catholic question.” Mr. Canning then went into a long detail concerning the circumstances which preceded his appointment; and he concluded with saying,—“I sit where I now do by no seeking of my own. I proposed at first my own exclusion: it was not accepted. Then conditions were offered to me, which I refused, because they were accompanied by an admission of my own disqualification, to which if I had submitted, I should have been for ever degraded. In the year 1822 I was appointed to an office fraught with wealth, honour, and ambition. From that office I was called, not on my own seeking, but contrary to my own wish; and I made a sacrifice—a sacrifice, be it remembered, of no inconsiderable nature to a poor man—and the offer of a share in the administration was made to me without any stipulation. But if that offer had been made with this condition, that, if the highest place in the administration should become vacant, the opinions which I held on the Catholic question were to be a bar to my succeeding to it, I would turn the offer back with the disdain with which I turned back that of serving under a Protestant premier, as the badge of my Helotism, and the condition of my place.” The only parties left to explain their conduct were those members of opposition who had quitted their former station and were settled beside the new ministry. This duty was discharged by Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Brougham. Their support was defended by Sir Francis as likely to promote enlightened principles of government both at home and abroad, and especially the cause of religious liberty. He had no doubt but the country would soon be operated upon by sentiments of sound policy, justice, and liberality. Mr. Brougham maintained that he and his party, in supporting the present ministry, were acting consistently, as well as disinterestedly. For himself, he said, he had quitted a situation, eminent beyond his hopes or merits, on the opposition benches, where he was surrounded by one of the largest, one of the most honourable, and one of the most disinterested oppositions ever known in the house, an opposition consisting of men who do what they think best for their country; though in doing so they should feel sure that they were helping to confirm their adversaries in office. “I have quitted this station, enough to satisfy the ambition of the proudest man, under arrangements which made my own acceptance of office impossible. My opinions on foreign and domestic policy have led me to this step with the sincere desire of furnishing a useful assistance to the liberal sentiments of Mr. Canning—including the Irish question. Not that I am for giving it that prominent situation in the public councils which is required by some; but I wished that it should derive every possible advantage from the junction of the two parties which have divided the house and the country, but are now united in a cordial, hearty, and uniform support of such measures as should be deemed best for the country.”
The house of lords met on the 2nd of May; and in that branch of the legislature more explanations were given than in the house of commons. On the first opportunity Lord Eldon declared that the accusations made against him, of having attempted an unconstitutional dictation to his sovereign, was a base and scandalous falsehood. His opinion was, and always had been, that if the claims of the Catholics were conceded, there was an end of the religious liberties of this country, and that with its religious liberties its civil freedom would perish. Holding such opinions as these it was impossible for him to coincide with the views of the new minister, whether those views were immediately to be carried into execution, or suspended for the better securing of his purpose. Could he, he asked, honestly remain in office under an administration formed on principles at variance with his own? He could not allow that the new administration had been formed on principles similar to that of Lord Liverpool. That nobleman had been a zealous, honest, and candid opponent of the Catholic claims; but the present premier would be as zealous in supporting them. As to the mode of his resignation, his lordship wholly disclaimed the imputation of having concerted it with Mr. Peel; that gentleman, for whom he entertained the highest regard and esteem, knew nothing about his sending in his resignation; and he believed the same to be the case with every other minister who had retired. As the retirement of the Duke of Wellington, not only from the administration, but from the command of the army, which was not a cabinet office, seemed to indicate hostility of a more decided character than that of any other seceder, it had excited greater interest. On both these points his grace entered into a full and manly explanation. After adverting to the press which had endeavoured to blacken his character, he remarked, that he was not requested to come and receive explanations concerning evident omissions in the letter first sent to him, nor was he referred to any person for information on these points; although, as he afterwards learned, his colleagues had been invited to go to the minister, and receive any explanations which they might require, or the minister himself had gone to them. Still he would not let any pique of this kind stop an amicable communication, and in that spirit he carried on his correspondence, and wished to contrive means of continuing in his majesty’s councils. When, however, he found that the right honourable gentleman was to be at the head of affairs, he doubted whether he could, consistently with his principles, join the administration; and under these circumstances he declined office. He considered that the principles of Lord Liverpool’s policy had been abandoned, and that the measures of a government constituted on the principles of Mr. Canning’s sentiments would be viewed with suspicion by foreign governments, and would give no satisfaction to the country; and therefore he requested Mr. Canning to communicate to his majesty that he wished to be excused from forming a part of the new cabinet. Would he not, he asked, have degraded himself, and deceived the public, if he had sat in a cabinet with a gentleman at its head whom he felt bound to oppose? It was no answer to tell him that the present cabinet acted upon the same principles with that of which Lord Liverpool had been at the head. The two cabinets materially differed: that of Lord Liverpool was formed on the principle of maintaining the laws as they now were, whilst that of Mr. Canning was founded on the principle of subverting them. “Those,” remarked his grace, “who formed part of Lord Liverpool’s cabinet knew well what it was to which they pledged themselves, for they knew that his lordship was conscientiously opposed to all changes in the existing form of government; but those who coalesced with Mr. Canning had no idea how far their coalition was to carry them,—for he was the most able, active, and zealous partisan of those changes with which the country was at present threatened. The principles of the noble earl were principles by which any man might safely abide; the principles of Mr. Canning fluctuate daily, and depend upon transitory reasons of temporary expediency. These are the conscientious reasons of my resignation.” As for the absurd calumny, that he had threatened the king with his resignation unless he was made prime minister, the duke said it hardly deserved an answer. “Could any man believe,” asked his grace, “that after I had raised myself to the command of the army, I would have given it up for any but conscientious reasons? I say, raised myself, because I know that, whatever his majesty’s kindness had been towards me, he could not have exalted me through all the grades of military rank to the very highest if I had not rendered him and my country some service of which he entertained a high sense. Will any man then believe that when I was in a situation which enabled me to recommend to the notice of his majesty all my former friends and companions in arms, and to reward them according to their merits for the exertions which they had formerly made under my command in the field, I would voluntarily resign a situation so consonant to my feelings and habits for the mere empty ambition of being placed at the head of the government?” In regard to his resignation of the command of the army, his grace said, that although it was not a cabinet office, yet it was one which placed its possessor in a constant and confidential relation with the king and his government. With the prime minister the commander-in-chief is in communication every day, he has not a control even over the army, the chief direction of which is placed in the minister’s hands; at the same time the premier himself cannot withdraw any part of the army from a foreign station without consulting the commander-in-chief; he cannot make up his budget, or introduce any reform into the organization of the army without seeking his opinion. No political sentiments, however, would have prevented him from retaining this office under ordinary circumstances, but from the tone and tenor of the communications he had received from his majesty, from the nature of the invitation given to him by the right; honourable gentleman in his first letter, and from the contents of the last, which he had received from Mr. Canning by his majesty’s commands, he saw that he could not remain with credit to himself or advantage to the country: his line of conduct had not been hastily adopted, though he had been wantonly and unjustly abused. The other seceding peers justified their retirement generally on the same ground of political principles which had been taken by the Duke of Wellington, except that Lord Melville and Lord Bathurst expressed an opinion, that without such men as his grace, Lord Eldon, and Mr. Peel, no administration could be formed possessing sufficient stability and capacity for the government of the country. The task of defending the new administration fell to the lot of Lord Goderich, who declared that, so far from casting any imputation of conspiracy among, and cabal on his former colleagues, he believed that if there had been more communication among them, much of the mischief and disorder which had occurred might have been prevented. If the government was not constituted in a satisfactory manner, it was not the fault of either himself or his honourable and noble friends. Mr. Canning had sought to keep the elements of the late ministry together; but they had fallen away: and was he to say to his majesty, “I will run away, and leave you in such a predicament as no sovereign was ever placed in before?” The Marquis of Lansdowne finally explained the principles, and defended the propriety of the coalition of parties; and he justified it on the grounds which had been made in the lower house—the identity between the principles of his party and the spirit of the measures which government had for some time been pursuing, in regard both to foreign and domestic policy. From his statement it appeared that the overtures of alliance had come under the sanction of the king from the ministry; for, he said, when the individuals with whom the formation of a government rested brought to him his majesty’s commands, he felt it no less his duty than his interest maturely to consider them, and that after this consideration he felt it his duty to obey them. The union which had taken place, he said, was not the result of a sudden impulse; for three years ago he had supported the just views of government in repairing the finances, widening the resources, improving the commerce and navigation of the country, and in cultivating relations of amity and friendship with that new world whose treasures were now opening to them. In conclusion, he admitted in their full extent the reasons which had been given by the noble lords for their several resignations, and the statements which they had made in accounting for that remarkable coincidence; but he could not help expressing his surprise that government had been able to go on so long, being conducted, as it now appeared, by ministers who did not think proper to communicate with one another upon the most important question which could be agitated among them. Other noble lords, as the Earls of Mansfield and Winchilsea, and Lord Ellenborough, expressed their determined hostility to the new government, and a total want of confidence in its leader. Lord Ellenborough remarked, that it appeared clear to him, and he believed to others, that some deceit was about to be practised. Either his majesty, who had permitted this administration to be formed with the understanding that the Catholic question was to be given up, was deceived, or the hopes held out to Ireland, that the new administration was to extend to that country the peace and tranquillity which that boon alone could bestow, were fallacious. Earls Mansfield and Winchilsea expressed a determination of bringing the principles of the new cabinet at once to the test; and gave notice of motions on the Catholic question and the state of the nation. Neither of these motions, however, was ever brought to a hearing; and the retired ministers exhibited as little concert out of office as they had displayed in their resignation. In one matter, however, they were all agreed, that of hostility to the present government. In both houses a desultory warfare was carried on against it: single individuals taking upon themselves at intervals the task of castigating its members. In the commons Sir Thomas Lethbridge chiefly undertook this task; but, although he performed it with much pertinacity, he was unfortunately deficient in speech. In the lords the most powerful assistance on the side of the seceders was found in Lord Grey, who announced his want of confidence in the ministry. He gave, his lordship said, all due credit to those members of his party who coalesced with that ministry for disinterestedness, but he could see nothing in it which called for his support. It was said to be formed on the principle of Lord Liverpool’s government. That principle consisted in the exclusion of the Catholic question: was the Catholic question then not to be made a cabinet measure? If so, his determination was taken; it would prevent him from giving support to the government. His lordship then reviewed the whole political career of Mr. Canning, and expressed himself opposed to every part of it; attacking with peculiar severity the noted declaration of the premier of calling the republics of the new world into existence. It was true, he said, that Mr. Canning was called a friend of civil and religious liberty, and that he supported Catholic emancipation, at the same time he proclaimed his opposition to a repeal of the test and corporation acts. He would not dwell on his known opposition to parliamentary reform; that question had not been so uniformly supported, nor had public opinion been so expressed in its favour as that any one should make it a sine qua non in joining an administration; but he could not conceal from himself the fact, that within a few years numerous laws had been passed hostile to civil liberty, every one of which had received the right honourable gentleman’s dissent. Unless he could retrace his steps, and erase some that remained in the statute-book, no confidence ought to be reposed in him as a friend to civil liberty. His lordship added, that he differed from the known opponents of government on most questions as widely as the poles were asunder; but neither could he join those who supported it: the only course, therefore, left him was to pursue the same principles which he professed through life. When the measures of government agreed with those principles he would support them; when repugnant, they should have his opposition.