COPYRIGHT
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
1884.

Press of
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York

CONTENTS.

PAGE
George Canning[1]
George Canning[13]
On the Policy of Granting Aid to Portugal when Invaded by Spain; House of Commons, December 12, 1826.
Lord Macaulay[50]
Lord Macaulay[62]
On the Reform Bill of 1832; House of Commons, March 2, 1831.
Richard Cobden[95]
Richard Cobden[109]
On the Effects of Protection on the Agricultural Interests of the Country; House of Commons, March 13, 1845.
John Bright[155]
John Bright[159]
On the Foreign Policy of England; Delivered at a Banquet Given in Honor of Mr. Bright, at Birmingham, October 29, 1858.
Lord Beaconsfield[204]
Lord Beaconsfield[216]
On the Principles of the Conservative Party; Delivered at Manchester, April 3, 1872.
William Ewart Gladstone[277]
William Ewart Gladstone[287]
On Domestic and Foreign Affairs; Delivered at West Calder, November 27, 1879.

GEORGE CANNING.

The subject of this sketch was born in London in 1770. When he was only one year old, the death of his father threw the responsibility of his training and education upon his mother. Dependent upon her own energies for the support of herself and her child, she at first established a small school in London, and a little later fitted herself for the stage, where she achieved considerable success.

As soon as George entered school, he began to show remarkable proficiency in the study of Latin and Greek, as well as in English literature. Mr. Stapleton, his biographer, tells us that when still a child, young Canning was incidentally called upon to recite some verses, when he began with one of the poems of Gray, and did not stop or falter till he repeated the contents of the entire volume. At the age of fifteen he went to Eton, where he was at once recognized as a boy of surpassing abilities and attainments. In the following year some of his school-fellows joined him in starting a weekly paper, called the Microcosm, to which he acted the part of editor and chief contributor. The brilliancy and wit of the paper were such as to attract even the attention of the leading reviews. He also paid great attention to the art of extemporaneous speaking. A society had been established in the school in which all the forms and methods of the House of Commons were rigidly observed. The Speaker, the Cabinet, and the Opposition played their mimic parts with all the energy and interest so many of the members afterward displayed in Parliament itself. George became “Captain” of the school, and, when in 1788 he went up to Oxford, he carried with him a reputation for accuracy and maturity of scholarship which at once drew the eyes of the whole university upon him. Even in his first year he entered the list of competitors for the Chancellor’s Prize offered for the best Latin poem, and was successful over all the upper classmen. Throughout his course his attention was absorbed with the study of literature and the practice of writing and speaking.

He left the University at the age of twenty-two, and at once began the study of law. His great reputation, however, had already attracted the attention of Pitt, who now invited him to take a seat in the House of Commons from one of the Government boroughs. With this request Canning complied; and, accordingly, he became a member of the House in 1793 in the twenty-fourth year of his age.