went down to
the beautiful seat of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, to seek
tranquillity and a purer air. The fatigues and cares of office, however,
had worn down his constitution, while the desertion and bitter hostility
of his ministerial colleagues--men whom he had loved--acted on a frame
naturally irritable and enfeebled, and hastened his dissolution. His
disease returned; inflammation commenced, and proceeded with a violence
and rapidity which defied all art; and on the 8th of August he expired
in the same room where his predecessor, Charles James Fox, had drawn
his last breath. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, at the foot of Mr.
Pitt's tomb, and his funeral, though private, was attended by a large
concourse of noblemen and gentlemen, to whom the deceased was endeared,
either by the ties of relationship or personal friendship. The public
character of Mr. Canning is clearly unfolded in the altered policy of
our government, both foreign and domestic, during his connexion with the
Liverpool administration. His ambition was lofty and imperious, but
it was coupled with noble ends--the glory of his own country, and the
advancement, through her greatness, of the surrounding nations. He was
anxious that all should benefit by her commercial prosperity and
the blessings of her constitution. Perhaps no minister was ever more
thoroughly influenced by the free spirit of the British constitution
than he was, at least in the latter part of his career. He began life,
indeed, on Tory principles; but he gradually imbibed that spirit, until
at length he threw off the trammels of that oligarchy, and acted as a
true patriot. When he found that the principles which he professed in
his early years began to threaten the safety of the constitution he
abandoned them as far as expedient; and conciliating his opponents, he
availed himself of their assistance to carry on the measures which
he devised for the welfare of his country. Some of these measures, as
previous pages unfold, were carried; others were to have been brought
forward in the lapse of time, had not death cut short his useful
career. It has been truly said, that in him England regretted the most
accomplished orator that the age had produced; and that the liberal
portion of Europe mourned over the loss of his moral influence as a
calamity to the world at large. He will be remembered in England as one
who nobly defended the honour, and asserted the dignity of the country
amo