George Canning | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byThomas Lawrence,c. 1822 | |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 12 April 1827 – 8 August 1827 | |
| Monarch | George IV |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Liverpool |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Goderich |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
| In office 20 April 1827 – 8 August 1827 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | F. J. Robinson |
| Succeeded by | John Charles Herries |
| Foreign Secretary | |
| In office 16 September 1822 – 30 April 1827 | |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Liverpool; Himself |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Londonderry |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Dudley and Ward |
| In office 25 March 1807 – 11 October 1809 | |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Portland |
| Preceded by | Viscount Howick |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Bathurst |
| Leader of the House of Commons | |
| In office 16 September 1822 – 20 April 1827 | |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Liverpool; Himself |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Londonderry |
| Succeeded by | William Huskisson |
| President of the Board of Control | |
| In office 20 June 1816 – 16 January 1821 | |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Liverpool |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Buckinghamshire |
| Succeeded by | Charles Bathurst |
| British Ambassador to Portugal | |
| In office October 1814 – June 1815 | |
| Appointed by | The Prince Regent |
| Preceded by | Sir Charles Stuart |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Sydenham |
| Treasurer of the Navy | |
| In office 14 May 1804 – 23 January 1806 | |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | George Tierney |
| Succeeded by | Richard Brinsley Sheridan |
| Paymaster of the Forces | |
| In office 5 July 1800 – 26 March 1801 | |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Dudley Ryder |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Glenbervie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1770-04-11)11 April 1770 Marylebone,Middlesex, England |
| Died | 8 August 1827(1827-08-08) (aged 57) |
| Resting place | Westminster Abbey |
| Political party | Tory |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 (includingCharles Canning, 1st Earl Canning) |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Signature |  |
George Canning (/ˈkænɪŋ/; 11 April 1770 – 8 August 1827) was aBritish Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as foreign secretary, finally becomingPrime Minister of the United Kingdom for the last 119 days of his life, from April to August 1827.
The son of anactress and a failedbusinessman andlawyer, Canning was supported financially by his uncle, Stratford Canning, which allowed him to attendEton College andChrist Church, Oxford. Canning entered politics in 1793 and rose rapidly. He wasPaymaster of the Forces (1800–1801) andTreasurer of the Navy (1804–1806) underWilliam Pitt the Younger. Canning wasforeign secretary (1807–1809) under theDuke of Portland. Canning was the dominant figure in the cabinet and directed theBattle of Copenhagen, the seizure of the Danish fleet in 1807 to assure Britain's naval supremacy overNapoleon. In 1809, he was wounded in aduel with his rivalLord Castlereagh and was shortly thereafter passed over as a successor to the Duke of Portland in favour ofSpencer Perceval. He rejected overtures to serve as foreign secretary again because of Castlereagh's presence in Perceval's Cabinet and he remained out of high office until after Perceval was assassinated in 1812.
Canning served under the new prime minister theEarl of Liverpool asBritish Ambassador to Portugal (1814–1816),President of the Board of Control (1816–1821) and foreign secretary andLeader of the House of Commons (1822–1827). KingGeorge IV disliked Canning and there were efforts to frustrate his foreign policies. Canning gained much public support for his policies. The historianPaul Hayes argues that he achieved several diplomatic coups in relations with Spain and Portugal, by helping to guarantee the independence of the American colonies ofPortugal andSpain. His policies ensured a major trading advantage for British merchants and supported the AmericanMonroe Doctrine. The historianG. M. Trevelyan wrote
For five years England had been guided by the genius of Canning, and seldom have so much brilliancy and so much wisdom combined to produce such happy results. The constitutional medium through which that genius worked was the loyal friendship of the prime minister, Lord Liverpool.[1]
When Lord Liverpool resigned in April 1827, Canning was chosen to succeed him as prime minister, ahead ofthe Duke of Wellington and SirRobert Peel. Both of them declined to serve under Canning and the Tories split between Peel and Wellington'sUltra-Tories and theCanningites. Canning then invited severalWhigs to join his cabinet. His health collapsed, and he died of pneumonia at Chiswick House on 8 August 1827, whilst still in office. His tenure of 119 days in office made him the secondshortest-serving prime minister in history afterLiz Truss in 2022.
Canning was born into anAnglo-Irish family at his parents' home in Queen Anne Street,Marylebone, London. Canning described himself as "an Irishman born in London".[2] His father,George Canning[3] ofGarvagh,County Londonderry, inUlster, the northernprovince inIreland, was a gentleman of limited means, a failed wine merchant and lawyer, who renounced his right to inherit the family estate in exchange for payment of his substantial debts. George Sr. eventually abandoned the family and died in poverty on 11 April 1771, his son's first birthday, in London. Canning's mother,Mary Ann Costello, who was alsoIrish, took work as a stage actress, a profession not considered respectable at the time.[2] Indeed, when in 1827 it looked as if Canning would become prime minister,Lord Grey remarked that "the son of an actress is,ipso facto, disqualified from becoming Prime Minister".[4]
Because Canning showed unusual intelligence and promise at an early age, family friends persuaded his uncle, London merchant Stratford Canning (father of the diplomatStratford Canning), to become his nephew's guardian. George Canning grew up with his cousins at the home of his uncle, who provided him with an income and an education. Stratford Canning's financial support allowed the young Canning to study atHyde Abbey School,Eton College andChrist Church, Oxford.[5] Canning came out top of the school at Eton and left at the age of seventeen.[6] His time at Eton has been described as "a triumph almost without parallel. He proved a brilliantclassicist, came top of the school, and excelled at public orations".[2]
Canning struck up friendships with the futureLord Liverpool as well as withGranville Leveson-Gower andJohn Hookham Frere. In 1789 he won a prize for his Latin poemThe Pilgrimage to Mecca which he recited in Oxford Theatre. Canning began practising law after receiving his BA from Oxford in the summer of 1791, but he wished to enter politics.[2]
Stratford Canning was aWhig and would introduce his nephew in the 1780s to prominent Whigs such asCharles James Fox,Edmund Burke, andRichard Brinsley Sheridan. George Canning's friendship with Sheridan would last for the remainder of Sheridan's life.
George Canning's impoverished background and limited financial resources, however, made unlikely a bright political future in a Whig party whose political ranks were led mostly by members of the wealthy landed aristocracy in league with the newly richindustrialist classes. Regardless, along with Whigs such as Burke, Canning himself would become considerably moreconservative in the early 1790s after witnessing the excessiveradicalism of theFrench Revolution. "The political reaction which then followed swept the young man to the opposite extreme; and his vehemence for monarchy and the Tories gave point to a Whig sarcasm,—that men had often turned their coats, but this was the first time a boy had turned his jacket."[7]
So when Canning decided to enter politics, he sought and received thepatronage of the leader of the "Tory"[8] group,William Pitt the Younger. In 1793, thanks to the help of Pitt, Canning became a member of parliament forNewtown on theIsle of Wight, arotten borough. In 1796, he changed seats to a different rotten borough,Wendover in Buckinghamshire. He was elected to represent severalconstituencies during his parliamentary career.
Canning rose quickly in British politics as an effective orator and writer. His speeches in Parliament as well as his essays gave the followers of Pitt a rhetorical power they had previously lacked. Canning's skills saw him gain leverage within the Pittite faction that allowed him influence over its policies along with repeated promotions in the Cabinet. Over time, Canning became a prominent public speaker as well, and was one of the first politicians to campaign heavily in the country.
As a result of his charisma and promise, Canning early on drew to himself a circle of supporters who would become known as theCanningites. Conversely though, Canning had a reputation as a divisive man who alienated many.
He was a dominant personality and often risked losing political allies for personal reasons. He once reduced Lord Liverpool to tears with a long satirical poem mocking Liverpool's attachment to his time as a colonel in the militia.[citation needed]
On 2 November 1795, Canning received his first ministerial post:Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In this post he proved a strong supporter of Pitt, often taking his side in disputes with theforeign secretary,Lord Grenville. At the end of 1798 Canning responded to a resolution byGeorge Tierney MP for peace negotiations with France:
I for my part still conceive it to be the paramount duty of a British member of parliament to consider what is good for Great Britain ... I do not envy that man's feelings, who can behold the sufferings of Switzerland, and who derives from that sight no idea of what is meant by the deliverance of Europe. I do not envy the feelings of that man, who can look without emotion at Italy – plundered, insulted, trampled upon, exhausted, covered with ridicule, and horror, and devastation – who can look at all this, and be at a loss to guess what is meant by the deliverance of Europe? As little do I envy the feelings of that man, who can view the peoples of the Netherlands driven into insurrection, and struggling for their freedom against the heavy hand of a merciless tyranny, without entertaining any suspicion of what may be the sense of the word deliverance. Does such a man contemplate Holland groaning under arbitrary oppressions and exactions? Does he turn his eyes to Spain trembling at the nod of a foreign master? And does the word deliverance still sound unintelligibly in his ear? Has he heard of the rescue and salvation of Naples, by the appearance and the triumphs of the British fleet? Does he know that the monarchy of Naples maintains its existence at the sword's point? And is his understanding, and his heart, still impenetrable to the sense and meaning of the deliverance of Europe?[9]
Pitt called this speech "one of the best ever heard on any occasion".[10]
He resigned his position at the Foreign Office on 1 April 1799.
Canning was involved in the founding of theAnti-Jacobin, a newspaper which was published every Monday from 20 November 1797 to 9 July 1798. Its purpose was to support the government and condemn revolutionary doctrines through news and poetry, much of it written by Canning.[2] Canning's poetry satirised and ridiculed Jacobin poetry.[11] Before the appearance of theAnti-Jacobin all the eloquence (except for Burke's) and all the wit and ridicule had been on the side of Fox and Sheridan. Canning and his friends changed this.[12] A young Whig,William Lamb (the future Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister) wrote an 'Epistle to the Editors of theAnti-Jacobin', which attacked Canning:
Who e'er ye are, all hail! – whether the skill
Of youthful CANNING guides the ranc'rous quill;
With powers mechanic far above his age,
Adapts the paragraph and fills the page;
Measures the column, mends what e'er's amiss,
Rejects THAT letter, and accepts of THIS;[13]
In 1799 Canning became a commissioner of the Board of Control for India. Canning wrote on 16 April: "Here I am immersed in papers, of which I do not yet comprehend three words in succession; but I shall get at their meaning by degrees and at my leisure. No such hard work here as at my former office. No attendance but when I like it, when there are interesting letters received from India (as is now the case) or to be sent out there".[14]
Canning was appointedPaymaster of the Forces (and therefore to the Privy Council as well) in 1800.[15] In February 1801, Pitt resigned as prime minister due to George III's opposition toCatholic Emancipation. Canning, despite Pitt's advice to stay in office, loyally followed him into opposition. The following day, Canning wrote to Lady Malmesbury: "I resignbecause Pitt resigns. And that is all".[16]
Canning disliked being out of office, and wrote on toJohn Hookham Frere in summer 1801: "But the thought will obtrude itself now and then that I am not where I should be –non-hoc pollicitus."[17] He also claimed that Pitt had done "scrupulously and magnanimouslyright by everyonebut me".[17] At the end of September 1801 Canning wrote to Frere, saying of Pitt: "I do love him, and reverence him as I should a Father – but a Father should not sacrifice me, with my good will. Most heartily I forgive him, But he has to answer to himself, and to the country for much mischief that he has done and much that is still to do."[17] Pitt wished for Canning to enterHenry Addington's government, a move which Canning looked on as a horrible dilemma but in the end, he turned the offer down.[17]
Canning opposed the preliminaries of thePeace of Amiens signed on 1 October. He did not vote against it due to his personal devotion to Pitt.[18] He wrote on 22 November: "I would risk my life to be assured of being able to act alwayswith P in a manner satisfactory to my own feelings and sense of what is right, rather than have to seek that object in separation from him."[19] On 27 May 1802 in the Commons Canning requested that all grants of land in Trinidad (captured by Britain from Spain) should be rejected until Parliament had decided what to do with the island. The threat that it could be populated by slaves like other West Indian islands was real. Canning instead wanted it to have a military post and that it should be settled with ex-soldiers, free blacks and creoles, with the Native American population protected and helped. He also asserted that the island should be used to test the theory that better methods of cultivation in land would lessen the need for slaves. Addington acceded to Canning's demands and the Reverend William Leigh believed Canning had saved 750,000 lives.[20]
At a dinner to celebrate Pitt's birthday in 1802, Canning wrote the song "The Pilot that Weathered the Storm", performed by a tenor from Drury Lane,Charles Dignum:
And oh! if again the rude whirlwind should rise,
The dawnings of peace should fresh darkness deform,
The regrets of the good and the fears of the wise
Shall turn to the Pilot that weathered the Storm.[21]
In November Canning spoke out openly in support of Pitt in the Commons. One observer thought that Canning made incomparably the best speech and that his defence of Pitt's administration "one of the best things, either argumentatively as to matter, or critically and to manner and style" that he could ever remember.[22] On 8 December Sheridan spoke out in defence of Addington and denied that Pitt was the only man who could save the country. Canning replied by criticising the Addington government's foreign policy and claimed that the House should recognise the greatness of the country and Pitt, who ought to be its leader. He argued against those, such asWilliam Wilberforce, who held that Britain could safely maintain a policy of isolation: "Let us consider the state of the world as it is, not as we fancy it ought to be. Let us not seek to hide from our own eyes ... the real, imminent and awful danger which threatens us." Also, he objected to the notion that Britain could choose between greatness and happiness: "The choice is not in our power. We have ... no refuge in littleness. We must maintain ourselves what we are, or cease to have a political existence worth preserving." Furthermore, he openly declared for Pitt and said: "Away with the cant of 'measures, not men., the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along." Kingdoms rise and fall due to what degree they are upheld "not by well-meaning endeavours ... but by commanding, over-awing talents ... retreat and withdraw as much as he will, he must not hope to efface the memory of his past services from the gratitude of his country; he cannot withdraw himself from the following of a nation; he must endure the attachment of a people whom he has saved."[23] In private Canning was fearful that if Pitt did not return to power, Fox would: "Sooner or later hemust act or the country is gone."[24]
Canning approved of the declaration of war against France on 18 May 1803. Canning was angered by Pitt's desire not to proactively work to turn out the ministry but support the ministry when it adopted sound policies.[25] However, in 1804, to Canning's delight, Pitt began to work against the Addington government. After Pitt delivered a stinging attack on the government's defence measures on 25 April, Canning launched his own attack on Addington, which made Addington furious. On 30 AprilLord Eldon, the Lord Chancellor, asked Pitt to submit a new administration to the King.[26]
Canning returned to office in 1804 with Pitt, becomingTreasurer of the Navy.[27] In 1805 he offered Pitt his resignation after Addington was given a seat in the Cabinet. He wrote to Lady Hester to say he felt humiliated that Addington was a minister "and I am – nothing. I cannot help it, I cannot face the House of Commons or walk the streets in this state of things, as I am".[28] After reading this letter Pitt summoned Canning to London for a meeting, where he told him that if he resigned it would open a permanent breach between the two of them as it would cast a slur on his conduct. He offered Canning the office ofChief Secretary for Ireland, but Canning refused on the grounds that this would look like he was being got out of the way. Canning eventually decided not to resign and wrote that "I am resolved to 'sink or swim' with Pitt, though he has tied himself to such sinking company. God forgive him".[28] Canning left office with the death of Pitt; he was not offered a place in Lord Grenville's administration.[29]
Canning was appointed foreign secretary in the new government of theDuke of Portland in 1807. Given key responsibilities for the country's diplomacy in theNapoleonic Wars, he was responsible for planning theattack on Copenhagen in September 1807, much of which he undertook at his country estate,South Hill Park atEasthampstead in Berkshire.
After the defeat of Prussia by the French, the neutrality of Denmark looked increasingly fragile. Canning was worried that Denmark might, under French pressure, become hostile to Britain.[30] On the night of 21/22 July 1807 Canning received intelligence directly fromTilsit (where Napoleon and TsarAlexander I of Russia were negotiating atreaty) which appeared "to rest on good authority" that Napoleon had proposed to the Tsar a great naval combination against Britain, of which Denmark and Portugal would be members.[31]
On 30 July a military force 25,000 strong set sail for Denmark, withFrancis Jackson travelling the day after. Canning instructed Jackson that his overriding aim was to secure the possession of the Danish navy by offering the Danes a treaty of alliance and mutual defence whereby they would be given back their fleet at the end of the war. On 31 July Canning wrote to his wife: "The anxious interval between this day and the hearing the result of his [Jackson's] expedition will be long and painful indeed. Long, I mean, infeeling. In fact, it will be about a fortnight or three weeks ... I think we have made success almost certain. But the measure is a bold one and if it fails – why we must be impeached I suppose – and dearest dear will have a box at the trial".[32] The day after he wrote that he had received a letter the previous night which provided an "account of the French beingactually about to do that act of hostility, the possibility of which formed the groundwork of my Baltic plan. My fear was that the French mightnot be the aggressors – and then ours would have appeared a strong measure, fully justifiable I think and absolutely necessary, but without apparent necessity or justification. Now the aggression will justify us fully ... I am therefore quite easy as to the morality and political wisdom of our plan".[32] Napoleon had on 31 July instructed his foreign minister,Talleyrand, to inform the Danes that if they did not wish for Holstein to be invaded and occupied byJean Bernadotte they must prepare for war against Britain. Canning wrote to his wife on 1 August: "Now for the execution and I confess to my own love, I wake an hour or two earlier than I ought to, thinking of this execution. I could not sleep after asses' milk today, thought I was not in bed till 1/2 p. 2". On 25 August he wrote toGranville Leveson-Gower: "The suspense is, as you may well imagine, agitating and painful in the extreme; but I have an undiminished confidence as to the result, either by force or by treaty. The latter however is so infinitely preferable to the former that the doubt whether it has been successful is of itself almost as anxious as if the whole depended on it alone".[32]
On 2 September, after Jackson's negotiations proved unsuccessful, the British fleet began bombardingCopenhagen until 7 pm on 5 September, when the Danes requested a truce. On 7 September the Danes agreed to hand over their navy (18 ships of the line, 15 frigates and 31 smaller ships) and naval stores and the British agreed to evacuate Zealand within six weeks. On 16 September Canning received the news with relief and excitement: "Did I not tell you we would savePlumstead from bombardment?" he wrote to the Reverend William Leigh. On 24 September he wrote toGeorge Rose: "Nothing was ever more brilliant, more salutary or more effectual than the success [at Copenhagen]".[33] On 30 September he wroteLord Boringdon that he hoped Copenhagen would "stun Russia into her sense again".[34] Canning wrote to Gower on 2 October 1807: "Weare hated throughout Europe and that hate must be cured by fear".[35] After the news of Russia's declaration of war against Britain reached London on 2 December, Canning wrote to Lord Boringdon two days later: "The Peace of Tilsit you see is come out. We did not want any morecase for Copenhagen; but if we had, this gives it us".[36]
On 3 February 1808, the opposition leaderGeorge Ponsonby requested the publication of all information on the strength and battle-worthiness of the Danish fleet sent by the British envoy at Copenhagen. Canning replied with a speech nearly three hours long, described byLord Palmerston as "so powerful that it gave a decisive turn to the debate". Lord Grey said his speech was "eloquent and powerful" but that he had never heard such "audacious misrepresentation" and "positive falsehood".[37] On 2 March the opposition moved a vote of censure over Copenhagen, defeated by 224 votes to 64 after Canning gave a speech, in the words ofLord Glenbervie, so "very witty, very eloquent and very able".[37]
In November 1807, Canning oversaw thePortuguese royal family's flight from Portugal to Brazil.
In 1809 Canning entered into a series of disputes within the government that were to become famous. He argued with theSecretary of State for War and the Colonies,Lord Castlereagh, over the deployment of troops that Canning had promised would be sent to Portugal but which Castlereagh sent to the Netherlands. The government became increasingly paralysed in disputes between the two men. Portland was in deteriorating health and gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation unless Castlereagh were removed and replaced byLord Wellesley. Portland secretly agreed to make this change when it would be possible.
Castlereagh discovered the deal in September 1809 and challenged Canning to a duel. Canning accepted the challenge and theCastlereagh–Canning duel was fought on 21 September 1809 onPutney Heath.[38] Canning, who had never before fired a pistol, widely missed his mark. Castlereagh, who was regarded as one of the best shots of his day, wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much outrage that two cabinet ministers had resorted to such a method. Shortly afterwards the ailing Portland resigned as prime minister, and Canning offered himself toGeorge III as a potential successor. The King appointedSpencer Perceval instead, and Canning left office once more. He took consolation in the fact that Castlereagh also stood down.
Upon theassassination of Spencer Perceval in 1812, the new prime minister,Lord Liverpool, offered Canning the position of foreign secretary once more. Canning refused, as he also wished to beLeader of the House of Commons and was reluctant to serve in any government with Castlereagh.[39] Castlereagh was appointed foreign secretary by Liverpool, replacing Wellesley who had resigned. Castlereagh remained in the post until his suicide in 1822, overseeing British participation in the final years of theNapoleonic Wars and theCongress of Vienna which redrew the map of Europe.
In April 1811, George moved the family from Castle Hill House inHinckley to the nearby village ofBurbage, where he took up residence in a house along Church Street, which in later years the house would become ‘Burbage Constitutional Club’.[40]
In 1814 Canning became the British Ambassador to Portugal, recently liberated from the French by Wellington's forces. He returned to Britain the following year.[41] He received several further offers of office from Liverpool.
In 1816 he becamePresident of the Board of Control.[42]
Canning resigned from office once more in 1820, in opposition to the treatment ofQueen Caroline, estranged wife of the new KingGeorge IV.[43] Public opinion strongly supported the Queen and thereby Canning was strengthened.
On 16 March 1821 Canning spoke in favour of William Plunket's Catholic Emancipation Bill.[44] Liverpool wished to have Canning back in the Cabinet but the King was strongly hostile to him due to his actions over the Caroline affair. The King would only allow Canning back into the Cabinet if he did not have to deal personally with him. This required the office of Governor-General of India. After deliberating on whether to accept, Canning initially declined the offer but then accepted it.[45] On 25 April he spoke in the Commons againstLord John Russell's motion for parliamentary reform and a few days later Canning moved for leave to introduce a measure of Catholic Emancipation (for lifting the exclusion of Catholics from the House of Lords). This passed the Commons but was rejected by the Lords.[46]
In August 1822, Castlereagh committed suicide. Instead of going to India, Canning succeeded him as both foreign secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.[47] He gave support to the growing campaign for the abolition of slavery. Canning continued many of Castlereagh's foreign policies, such as the view that the powers of Europe (Russia, France, etc.) should not be allowed to meddle in the affairs of other states. This policy enhanced public opinion of Canning as a liberal. He also prevented the United States from opening trade with the British West Indies.
Canning signed theAnglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 which resolved outstanding matters fromthe previous treaty intended to redistribute colonies formerly administered by theDutch East India Company in the East Indies, which had been seized during theNapoleonic Wars by theBritish East India Company owing to Britain's position in the wake of the Napoleonic conquest of the Netherlands of recognising its holdings as hostile territory; the most violent conquest resulting from this policy was the 1811invasion of Java led byStamford Raffles. After the war, Raffles' extra-legal establishment of a trading post inSingapore, a vassal of the Dutch-backedJohor Sultanate, formed the flashpoint for the 1824 renegotiation.[48]
This treaty's impact has lasted until the present day, with the established borders essentially being those between the modern nation-states ofMalaysia andIndonesia;[49]Singapore also was ruled directly by the EIC from that point on, with the former arrangement of equal control betweenSultan Hussein Shah,Temenggong Abdul Rahman andResident of SingaporeWilliam Farquhar declared null and void in its aftermath.[50]
During his first period in the Foreign Office (1807–1809), Canning became deeply involved in the affairs of Spain, Portugal and Latin America. In his second term of office, he sought to prevent South America from coming into the French sphere of influence, and in this he was successful.[51] He helped guarantee the independence of Brazil and the Spanish colonies, thereby acting in support of theMonroe Doctrine and aiding British merchants to open new markets across South and Central America.[52][53]
Britain had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, and opening the newly independent Latin American colonies to its trade. The Latin Americans received a certain amount of unofficial aid – arms and volunteers – from outside, but no outside official help at any stage from Britain or any other power. Britain refused to aid Spain and opposed any outside intervention on behalf of Spain by other powers. Royal Navy veterans were a decisive factor in the struggle for independence of certain Latin American countries.[54]
In 1825 Mexico, Argentina and Colombia were recognised by means of the ratification of commercial treaties with Britain. In November 1825 the first minister from a Latin American state, Colombia, was officially received in London. "Spanish America is free," Canning declared, "and if we do not mismanage our affairs she is English ... the New World established and if we do not throw it away, ours." Also in 1825, Portugal recognised Brazil (thanks to Canning's efforts, and in return for a preferential commercial treaty), less than three years after Brazil's declaration of independence.
On 12 December 1826, in the House of Commons, Canning was given an opportunity to defend the policies he had adopted towards France, Spain and Spanish America, and declared: "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."[55]
By granting recognition to Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil he brought these new states into the European system of trade and diplomacy, while blocking further colonization. Recognition was greeted with enthusiasm throughout Latin America. Canning was the first British foreign secretary to devote a large proportion of his time and energies to the affairs of Latin America (as well as to those of Spain and Portugal) and to foresee the important political and economic role the Latin American states would one day play in the world.
At the Pan-American Centennial Conference of 1926 which took place inPanama City and celebrated the centenary of the South American movement to Independence, it was declared that:
Great Britain lent to the liberty of Spanish America not only the support of its diplomacy, represented by Canning, but also an appreciable contingent of blood and it may be asserted that there was no battlefield in the War of Independence in which British blood was not shed.[56]
In 1826 he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.
 | |
| Premiership of George Canning 12 April 1827 – 8 August 1827 | |
| Monarch | George IV |
|---|---|
| Cabinet | Canning ministry |
| Party | Tory |
| Seat | 10 Downing Street |
← Earl of Liverpool | |
.jpg)
In 1827, Liverpool stood down as prime minister after suffering a severestroke; he died the following year. Canning, as Liverpool's right-hand man, was chosen by George IV to succeed him, in preference to theDuke of Wellington or SirRobert Peel.[57] Neither man agreed to serve under Canning, and they were followed by five other members of Liverpool's Cabinet and 40 junior members of the government. The Tory party was now heavily split between the "High Tories" (or"Ultras", nicknamed after thecontemporary party in France) and the moderates supporting Canning, often called "Canningites". Consequently Canning found it difficult to form a government, and chose to invite a number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, includingLord Lansdowne. The government agreed not to discuss the difficult question ofparliamentary reform, which Canning opposed but the Whigs supported.
However, Canning's health by this time was in steep decline: at the funeral ofFrederick, Duke of York, which was held during a January night atSt George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, he became so ill that it was thought he might not recover.[58] He died fromtuberculosis later that year, on 8 August 1827, in the room whereCharles James Fox had died 21 years earlier. Canning's total period in office was 119 days, the shortest of anyprime minister of the United Kingdom who had formed a government untilLiz Truss, who was forced to resign after 49 days in 2022.[59] His last words were "Spain and Portugal."[60] Canning is buried inWestminster Abbey.[61]
Canning has come to be regarded as a "lost leader", with much speculation about what his legacy could have been had he lived. His government of Tories and Whigs continued for a few months underLord Goderich but fell apart in early 1828. It was succeeded by a government under theDuke of Wellington, which initially included someCanningites but soon became mostly "High Tory" when many of the Canningites drifted over to the Whigs. Wellington's administration was soon defeated. Some historians have seen the revival of the Tories from the 1830s onwards, in the form of theConservative Party, as the overcoming of the divisions of 1827. What the course of events would have been had Canning lived is highly speculative.
Rory Muir has described Canning as "the most brilliant and colourful minister, and certainly the greatest orator in the government at a time when oratory was still politically important. He was a man of biting wit and invective, with immense confidence in his own ability, who often inspired either great friendship or deep dislike and distrust ... he was a passionate, active, committed man who poured his energy into whatever he undertook. This was his strength and also his weakness ... the government's ablest minister".[63]Greville recorded of Canning on the day after his death:
He wrote very fast, but not fast enough for his mind, composing much quicker than he could commit his ideas to paper. He could not bear to dictate, because nobody could write fast enough for him; but on one occasion, when he had gout in his hand and could not write, he stood by the fire and dictated at the same time a despatch on Greek affairs toGeorge Bentinck and one on South American politics toHoward de Walden, each writing as fast as he could, while he turned from one to the other without hesitation or embarrassment.[64]
Canning was the arch-enemy of theConcert of Europe system set up by the conservative powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Hayes says that in terms of foreign affairs:
His most important achievement was the destruction of the system of the neo-Holy Alliance which, if unchallenged, must have dominated Europe. Canning realized it was not enough for Britain to boycott conferences and congresses; it was essential to persuade the Powers that their interests could not be advanced by a system of intervention based upon principles of legitimacy,anti-nationalism and hostility to revolution.[65]
Temperley summarises his policies, which formed the basis of British foreign policy for decades:
non-intervention; no European police system; every nation for itself, and God for us all; balance of power; respect for facts, not for abstract theories; respect for treaty rights, but caution in extending them ... a republic is as good a member of the comity of nations as a monarch. "England not Europe". "Our foreign policy cannot be conducted against the will of the nation." "Europe's domain extends to the shores of the Atlantic, England's begins there."[66]
The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, negotiated by himself andCharles Williams-Wynn, is responsible for the borders of the modern nation-states of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.[49]
Canning marriedJoan Scott (later1st Viscountess Canning) (1776–1837) on 8 July 1800, with John Hookham Frere and William Pitt the Younger as witnesses.
George and Joan Canning had four children:
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_(St_Edwards_Crown).svg)
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)After George Canning (1770-1827), Prime Minister in 1827. He and his son Charles, 1st Earl Canning (1812–1862) were both graduates of Christ Church and Charles was Governor-General of India 1856–1862. When the Weirs Lane council housing estate was being developed in the mid-1920s, the Provost of Oriel, who sat on the City Council, suggested naming the newly-made local streets after British statesmen: Pitt (later changed to Chatham), Fox, Canning and Peel.
Road leading off Trinity Lane, and named after George Canning, who was the 1827 British Prime Minister.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Paymaster of the Forces 1800–1801 With:Thomas Steele | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Treasurer of the Navy 1804–1806 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Foreign Secretary 1807–1809 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Board of Control 1816–1821 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Foreign Secretary 1822–1827 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of the House of Commons 1822–1827 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1827 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1827 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNewtown (Isle of Wight) 1793–1796 With:Sir John Barrington, Bt | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWendover 1796–1801 With:John Hiley Addington | Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain | Member of Parliament forWendover 1801–1802 With:John Hiley Addington | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forTralee 1802–1806 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNewtown (Isle of Wight) 1806–1807 With:Sir Robert Barclay, Bt | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHastings 1807–1812 With:Sir Abraham Hume, Bt | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPetersfield 1812 With:Hylton Jolliffe | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLiverpool 1812–1823 With:Isaac Gascoyne | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHarwich 1823–1826 With:John Charles Herries | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNewport (Isle of Wight) 1826–1827 With:William Henry John Scott | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSeaford 1827 With:John Fitzgerald | Succeeded by |
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