nt. Liverpool was disabled by illness from
attending his funeral, which, occurring in the depth of winter, proved
directly fatal to one of those who were present, and seriously weakened
the constitutions of others, including Canning. On February 8, the first
day of the session, Liverpool was in his place, though in broken health,
and on the 17th he took a feeble part in the debate on the grant to the
Duke of Clarence. On the following morning he was struck down by a
paralytic seizure, and, though his life was prolonged for two years, he
never recovered the use of his faculties.

[Pageheading: _THE CLOSE OF LIVERPOOL'S MINISTRY._]

Liverpool's disappearance from the political scenes may be said to mark
an epoch in the later history of England. Though only fifty-six years of
age, he had been continuously in office for twenty years, and prime
minister for fifteen, a tenure of power which none of his predecessors
had exceeded except Walpole and Pitt. His lot was cast in the most
critical period of the great war, and in the long night of adversity and
anxiety which ushered in the "thirty years' peace". As foreign secretary
he conducted the negotiations for the peace of Amiens; as home secretary
he led the house of lords and was responsible for the government of
Ireland; as secretary for war and the colonies he gave Wellington a
steady, if not ardent, support in those apparently barren campaigns
which strained the national patience; as prime minister he guided the
ship of state in all the difficulties of foreign and domestic affairs
which arose between 1812 and 1827. Castlereagh may have been the most
influential minister in the earlier years of his administration, and
Canning in the later, but he was never the mere tool of either; on the
contrary, it Is certain that he was treated with respect and deference
by all his numerous colleagues. In general capacity and debating power
he was inferior to few of them; in temper, judgment, and experience he
was superior to all.

He may be said to have lived and died without "a policy," in so far as
he forebore to identify himself with any of the great questions then
pressing for solution. His real policy both at home and abroad was one
of moderation and conciliation; he looked at party divisions almost with
the eyes of a permanent official who can work loyally with chiefs of
either party; and he succeeded in keeping together in his cabinet
ambitious rivals who never would have co-ope