the 30th of July; but he fell a victim, undoubtedly, to the excessive toils and corroding troubles of his office. With his enfeebled constitution, disordered digestion, and ardent, excitable temperament, his frame could not bear up against the burdens of his situation, harassed by business of the highest and most distracting nature, involved in all the perplexities of governing, and loaded with anxiety to realize expectations, which difficulties of every kind opposed. It is easy to conceive the profound anxiety of the whole community, during the few days preceding his decease, and the shock of grief which it occasioned his numberless friends and admirers, and we might almost say, the whole British people. He was taken sick and died at Chiswick, the seat of the duke of Devonshire; from whence his body was removed to his late residence in Downingstreet, to remain there until suitable preparations should be made for his burial. An immense concourse of the nobility and gentry attended his funeral on the 16th of August, and accompanied his remains to Westminster Abbey; where he was interred among the illustrious dead of England.

His life, and the particulars of his political career, belong to the department of biography.

His character as a politician, in order to be fairly estimated, should be viewed with reference to the fact, that he was emphatically a British

minister, purely and exclusively British; in his education, feelings, principles, temper, in every thing, indeed, which goes to constitute the peculiarities of a consummate statesman. In condemning some of Mr. Canning's official writings, in which the language of the rhetorician and man of wit occasionally broke in, to relieve the formal stateliness of diplomatic composition, Americans should be careful not to exhibit too much sensitiveness of feeling, lest the censure bestowed upon him should be charged to national prejudice. We freely admit, that all departures from the established style of diplomacy, are extremely hazardous and unsafe, and seldom produce a salutary effect; and we think Mr. Canning erred, in permitting himself to indulge a tone of ill-timed sarcasm, upon more than one occasion, in his correspondence with ministers of the United States. But this was a blemish in his character, which ought not to blind us to his many and pre-eminent merits. Americans should be slow to depreciate the reputation of a statesman, who, in the maturity of his understanding, and the zenith of his power, was most assailed for his attachment to liberal institutions, and for acts in which that attachment was displayed. Mr. Canning was the first living orator of Great Britain. He was devotedly attached to literature; and by means of his literary excellence was originally introduced into

public notice. His uniform and consistent support of the claims of the catholics, and the manly independent principles of his foreign policy, sufficiently show that he had caught the spirit of the age, and dared to act in conformity with its dictates.

Immediately after the death of Mr. Canning, lord Goderich received the appointment of first lord of the treasury, and the king's authority to form a new cabinet, or rather to supply the vacancies occasioned by the decease of the late premier. This circumstance proved how much the measures of Mr. Canning met the royal approbation, and formed a triumphant refutation of all the calumnies which had been propagated, concerning the alleged unfavourable terms on which he stood with his sovereign. Lord Goderich was generally esteemed as a sensible well informed statesman, of a moderate and conciliatory spirit; but as possessed of neither the talents, nor the energy of character, which had dis. tinguished his predecessor. Some time elapsed before all the arrangements of the new ministry could be completed; but it was understood to be the fixed desire of the king, not less than the earnest wish of his confidential servants and advisers, to continue the policy of Mr. Canning unchanged, and to perfect the plans which he had conceived and begun. Pending the private discussions attending the remodelling of the cabinet, the

duke of Wellington was reappointed to the command of the army, to the general satisfaction of the nation. nation. On the 4th of September, the ministry of lord Goderich was announced, as being completed. As lord Goderich himself became first lord of the treasury, the colonial department was conferred on Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Grant being appointed president of the board of trade, and Mr. Herries, chancellor of the exchequer; and as these appointments were generally ac ceptable, the public anticipated a period of calm and repose, auspicious to a vigorous administration of national affairs. It appears, however, that a majority of the old cabinet entertained serious objections to the introduction of Mr. Herries among them; and his instrumentality in producing a change of administration at the close of the year, justifies their apprehensions.

During the autumnal months, the public attention was wholly occu. pied with the interesting events occuring in Greece; and at home the ministers were tranquilly engaged in the discharge of the ordinary duties of government. No domestic incidents took place, which require to be narrated here : and as the change in the cabinet did not happen until January, we defer giving an account of that, and of the causes which imme diately produced it, as belonging to the history of the ensuing year.

these were conjectured to be matters of so much consequence, as to persuade Mr. Canning to make them the inducement of a personal interview with M. de Villele.

Such was the condition of public affairs, until the disorders on the Portuguese frontier in November, and the consequent proceed. ings of the English, became the prominent topics of discussion. Precisely in this emergency the French chambers assembled.

Their session was opened, December twelfth, by a speech from the king. The fact of the invasion of Portugal from Spain by the anticonstitutional party, drew particu. lar attention to two passages of the speech. In one, he said: "Disturbances have recently broken out in a part of the Peninsula. I shall unite my efforts with those of my allies, to put an end to them, and to prevent all their consequences." These words were thought to be an omen of peace. But a contrary inference was drawn from the conclusion of the speech, in which he said: "France, industrious and tranquil, will acquire new greatness; and her success in peace will not shed around her less lustre than would once more her warlike virtues, if honour should again oblige her to display them."

Indeed, the speech seemed to be couched precisely in that ambigu. ous language, in regard to the great

question of peace or war, which might best correspond with the event. On the one hand, the French ministry had given the English assurances of co-operation in striving to preserve peace. The French minister at Madrid, M. de Moustier, who had countenanced the evasive policy of the Spaniards, in respect to Portugal, was abruptly recalled from Madrid, and had now arrived at Paris. On the other hand, the Jesuits and their congregation, were known to have strong sympathies with the Spanish absolutists, their brethren in opinions. If, in 1823, there was sufficient justification, in point of principle, for the French invasion of Spain, there was, in 1826, quite as much for attacking the Portuguese constitution. M. de Villele, in 1823, had given the same assurances of peace that were now proclaimed; but had been obliged to yield to the intrigues of the ultra party. We simply state these facts, to put the reader in possession of the political speculations, thrown out in anticipation of the official acts of the French govern

ment.

All suspense, however, was terminated by the subsequent proceedings in the chambers. Warm debates occurred on so much of the answer to the king's speech, as touched on the affairs of Portugal. Mr. Canning's exposition of the policy of the British, was sharply

and justly criticised as boastful, and derogatory to the dignity of France. But the ministers proved themselves firm friends alike to France and to Europe, by avowing, and successfully defending their co-operation with England on this subject. M. de Damas, the minister of foreign affairs, stated in his place, December 29th, that, when the French army entered Spain in 1823, the English demand. ed and obtained from France, that no hostility should be committed with respect to Portugal, declaring their determination to aid the latter, if attacked. When the late troubles broke out in Portugal, Eng. land made a similar declaration to Spain, which was communicated to all the great continental powers; and it was agreed that Spain and Portugal should each be required to observe the strictest neutrality in whatever concerned the other's affairs. In accordance, he continued, with this common consent, all the powers had unceasingly urged upon the Spanish cabinet not to furnish Portugal with any cause of complaint. France herself had not been backward in testifying her extreme displeasure at the contempt of her counsels which the Spanish government exhibited; and had, therefore, withdrawn her minister from Madrid. And the French cabinet were fully determined to advise their king to leave Spain to her own destruction, if

she persisted in subjecting Portugal to the necessity of assuming a hostile attitude.

Such were the views entertained by the government of France, at the termination of the year 1826. After an expression of their designs thus publicly and deliberately made, there could be no doubt of their sincerity, and little apprehension of their being forced into war, contrary to their engagements. In fact, it afterwards appeared, that France and England entered into arrangements, the object of which was to leave the absolutists and the constitutionalists of the Peninsula to their own fate, without the presence of a French army in Spain, or an English one in Portugal, for the protection of either party.. France formally recognised the regency and constitutional government of Portugal; as England had done the absolute government of Spain. Previous to the invasion, headed by Silveira, the French intended to withdraw their troops from Spain in April, 1827 ; but that invasion, and the disturbed state of the entire Peninsula, occasioned a delay of the measure, until actual hostilities between Spain and Portugal were terminated, by means of the intervention of Great Britain.

Without professing, or attempt ing to recount minutely all the proceedings of the French chambers, we shall briefly refer to such as