The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-15 00:00:00

STAT EAIENTS
CIRCULATED RP TIM TrailiNDl OP M. c4ifiviscr,.nrismtwall
TO Tits ctiAloss anbacurr 4o4Drar 11131 ir LOaQ CAsizz;
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REAGH.

It is perfectly true, that SO long ago a; Easter Mr. Canning
had represented to the Duke of Portland the insufficiency (in his
opinion) of the Government, as then constituted, tocarry on the
affairs of the country, under all the difficulties of the times, and
had' requested that, unlesirsome changeshould be effected. in its.
he might be permitted to resign his office. It equally true that
in the course of the discussion, which arose out of this represen.
tation, it was proposed to Mr. Canning, and accepted-by him,
as the condition of his consenting to retain the seals of the Foreign
Office, that a change should be made in the Wur Department.
But it is not true that the time at which that change was ulti-
mately proposed to be made, was of Mr. Cniming's :choice ; and .
it Is not true that he was party or consenting to the concealment
of that intended change from Lord Castlereagh:
With respect to the concealment, Mr. Canning., some short
time previous to the date of Lord' Castlereagh's letter, wkhont• -
the smallest suspicion of the existence of any intention on the'part of Lerd Castlereagh to make such an appeal to Mr. Canning
as that letter contains, but upon information that some misap-
prehension did exist as to Mr. Canning's supposed concurrence
in the reserve which had been practised towards Lord Castle-
reagh, transmitted to one of Lord Castlereagh's most intimate
friends, to be communicated whenever •Ire'shight think proper,.
the copy of a letter addressed.by Mr. Canning to the Duke of
Portland, in the month of July, in which Mr. Canning requests,
" in justice to himself, that it may he remembered, whenever
hereafter this concealment shall he alleged (as he doubts not that
it will) against him, as an act of injustice towards. Lord. Castle.
reagh, that it did not originate in his suggestinns—that so far
from desiring it, he conceived, however erroneously, Lord Cam.
deli to be the sure channel of communication to Lord Castle-
reagh; and that up to a very late period he believed such com-
munication to have been actually made."
The copy of this letter, and of the Duke of Portland'sanswer
to it, " acknowledging Mr. Canning's repeated remonstrances
against' the concealment," are still in the possession of Lord Cal-
tlereagit's friend.
.. The communication to Lord Camden, to which this letter re-
era;' was made on the 28th of April, with Mr. Canning's know.
ledge, and at his particular desire. Lord Camden being the near
connection and most confidential friend of Lord Castlereagh, it
never occurred to Mr. Canning, nor was it credible to him, till
he received the most positive asseverations of the fact, that Lord
Camden had kept back such a communication from Lord Cas-
tlereagh. •
With respect to the period at which the change in the War
Department was to take place, Mr. Canning was induced, in the
first instance, to consent to its postponement till the rising of
Parliament, partly by the representations made to himself of
the inconveniencies of any change in the middle of a Session,.but
principally from a consideration of the particular circumstances
under which Lord Castlereagh shod in the House of Commons
after Easter; circumstances which would have given to his re-
moval at that period of the Session, a character whicit it was
certainly no part of Mr. Cunning's wish that it should bear.
Mr. Canning, however, received the most positive promise,
that a change in the War Department should take place imme-
diately upon the close of the Session. %Viten that time arrived,
the earnest and repeated entreaties of most of Lord Castlereagh's
friends in the Cabinet, were employed to prevail upon Mr. Can-
ning to consent to the postponement of the arrangement.
At length, and most reluctantly, he did give his consent to its
being postponed to the period proposed by Lord Castlereagh's
friends, viz. file termination of the Expedition then in prepar-
ation; but he di.iso upon the most distinct and solemn assuran-
ces, that whatever might be the issue of the Expedition, the
change should take place at that period; that the Seals of the
War Department should then be offered to Lord Wellesley (the
person fur irhose accession to the Cabinet, Mr. Canning wan
known to be most anxious), and that the interval should foe
diligently employed by Lord Castlereagh's friends, in preparing
Lord Castlereagh's mind to acquiesce in such au arrangement.
it was therefore a matter of astonishment to Mr. Canning,
whet) at the issue of the expedition, he reminded the Duke of
Portland, that the time was now mine for his Grace's writing.
to Lord. Wellesley, to find, that so far from the interval having
been emlilo3ell by Lord Cast let-y:1;01's friend°, in preparing Lord

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