ted at Christ Church, Oxford, where
he graduated B.A. in 1833, as first class in classics and second class
in mathematics. In 1836 he entered parliament, being returned as member
for the town of Warwick in the Conservative interest. He did not,
however, sit long in the House of Commons; for, on the death of his
mother in 1837, he succeeded to the peerage which had been conferred on
her with remainder to her only surviving son, and as Viscount Canning
took his seat in the House of Lords. His first official appointment was
that of under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, in the
administration formed by Sir Robert Peel in 1841--his chief being the
earl of Aberdeen. This post he held till January 1846; and from January
to July of that year, when the Peel administration was broken up, Lord
Canning filled the post of commissioner of woods and forests. He
declined to accept office under the earl of Derby; but on the formation
of the coalition ministry under the earl of Aberdeen in January 1853, he
received the appointment of postmaster-general. In this office he showed
not only a large capacity for hard work, but also general administrative
ability and much zeal for the improvement of the service. He retained
his post under Lord Palmerston's ministry until July 1855, when, in
consequence of the death of Lord Dalhousie and a vacancy in the
governor-generalship of India, he was selected by Lord Palmerston to
succeed to that great position. This appointment appears to have been
made rather on the ground of his father's great services than from any
proof as yet given of special personal fitness on the part of Lord
Canning. The new governor sailed from England in December 1855, and
entered upon the duties of his office in India at the close of February
1856. His strong common sense and sound practical judgment led him to
adopt a policy of conciliation towards the native princes, and to
promote measures tending to the betterment of the condition of the
people.

In the year following his accession to office the deep-seated discontent
of the people broke out in the Indian Mutiny (q.v.). Fears were
entertained, and even the friends of the viceroy to some extent shared
them, that he was not equal to the crisis. But the fears proved
groundless. He had a clear eye for the gravity of the situation, a calm
judgment, and a prompt, swift hand to do what was really necessary. By
the union of great moral qualities with high, though not the