d the members in favor of the Catholic claims were
described as Catholic ministers. In fact, it has had to be explained,
for the sake of clearness, by some recent writers, that the word
"Catholic" was constantly used in George the Fourth's time merely to
signify pro-Catholic. When Canning was spoken of as a Catholic
statesman there was not the least idea of describing him as a member of
the Church of Rome, and, indeed, the words "Roman Catholic" hardly come
up in the controversies of those days. When Mr. Lecky spoke during a
recent Parliamentary debate of Catholics and Protestants, he was
gravely rebuked by some divines of the Established Church who were
under the impression that he was in some way or other truckling to the
{55} claims of the Papacy when he used the word "Catholic" to describe
the worshippers in the Church of Rome. Mr. Lecky was put to the
trouble of explaining that he used the words "Protestant" and
"Catholic" in the ordinary significance given to them during long
generations of political controversy.

A crisis was suddenly brought about by the illness of Lord Liverpool.
The Protestant statesman was stricken down by an attack which for a
time deprived him of consciousness, and even after his partial recovery
left him in a state which made it clear to all his friends that his
work as an administrator was done. There was no hope whatever of his
resuming official work, and the question which mainly occupied the mind
of the King and of those around him was not what was to become of Lord
Liverpool, but whom it would be most convenient for the King to appoint
as his successor. Naturally every eye was turned on Canning, whether
in hope or in fear. As Lord Palmerston said of himself many years
later, so it might be said of Canning, he was the "inevitable man."
The whole civilized world was filled with his fame. His course of
policy had made England stronger than she had ever been since the death
of the younger Pitt. Even King George could not venture to believe in
the possibility of passing him over, and King George's chief objection
to him was found in the fact that Canning was in favor of the Catholic
claims. George thought the matter over a few days, consulted Lord
Eldon and other advisers, and found that nobody could inspire him with
any real hope of being able to form an enduring Ministry without
Canning.

Then the King sent for Canning, and Canning made his own course quite
clear. He came to