Even in so slight a sketch as the foregoing, some characteristics
of the man stand forth. Canning's wit, while its mordancy cost
him many friends, distinguishes him among English statesmen. The
talent which had stood him in good stead as boy-editor of "The
Microcosm" at Eton, and which is to be seen in the slings and
arrows of "The Anti-Jacobin," he never quite lost. His pen was
always ready to dash off a scrap of lampooning verse, and
flashes of wit and extended passages of humor enlivened the
brilliant orations by means of which he explained and defended
his policies in Parliament. As an orator his speeches were of
exquisite polish, and the voice, gesture, countenance and entire
bodily presence of the speaker contributed to their tremendous
effect. There were not wanting those who criticised his oratory
as savoring more of the stage than the rostrum, but such persons
were aristocratic political opponents who would not let the
world forget that this man whose genius outshone them all was
the son of a third-rate actress. Be it said to Canning's credit
that he did not forget his mother, but made her comfort in her
declining days the object of his solicitous care.
Mr. Hill, whose study of Canning has been of great assistance in
the preparation of these pages, thus goes to the heart of his
foreign policy: "The principle which made Canning the antagonist
of the propaganda of French principles in Europe during the
early part of his political life made him during his later years
in an equal degree the antagonist of the principles of the Holy
Alliance which it is his great glory as a statesman to have
defeated.
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