rpool, whose health had broken down.
Even before this he was the real director of the policy of the
cabinet--as Castlereagh had been from 1812 to 1822. It may be noted that
he resigned his seat for Liverpool in 1823, and was elected for Harwich,
which he left for Newport in 1826. Few English public men have
represented so many constituencies.

His fame as a statesman is based mainly on the foreign policy which he
pursued in those years--the policy of non-intervention, and of the
patronage, if not the actual support, of national and liberal movements
in Europe (see the historical articles under EUROPE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL,
TURKEY, GREECE). To this policy he may be said to have given his name,
and he has enjoyed the reputation of having introduced a generous spirit
into British politics, and of having undone the work of his predecessor
at the foreign office, who was constantly abused as the friend of
despotism and of despots. It may well be believed that Canning followed
his natural inclinations, and it can be asserted without the
possibility of contradiction, if also without possibility of proof, that
he had influenced the mind of Castlereagh. Yet the fact remains that
when Canning came into office in September 1822, he found the
instructions to be given to the representative of the British government
at the congress of Verona already drawn up by his predecessor, who had
meant to attend the congress himself (see LONDONDERRY, ROBERT STEWART,
2ND MARQUESS OF). These instructions were handed on without change by
Canning to the duke of Wellington, who went as representative, and they
contain all the principles which have been said to have been peculiarly
Canning's. Indeed this policy was dictated by the character and position
of the British government, and had been followed in the main since the
conference of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. Canning was its orator and
minister rather than its originator. Yet his eloquence has associated
with his name the responsibility for British policy at the time. No
speech of his is perhaps more famous than that in which he claimed the
initiative in recognizing the independence of the revolted Spanish
colonies in South America in 1823--"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" (December 12, 1826).

When Lord Liverpool was struck down in a fit on the 17th of February
1827, Canning was marked