The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-25 00:00:00

MR. CANNING'S SPEECHES.

"RIDGWAY-LONDON.

The Speeches of Mr. Canning have just issued
from the Press. They appear under circumstances
which impart to them an authenticity and a value
beyond any collection of-speeches which have been
published in this country. Of the speeches of our
eminent Parliamentary Speakers (with the excep-
tion of those of Burke);- there is no -authentic record
to which posterity can refer as a satisfactory test of
their Statesmanlike views and eloquence. Chatham
is only -known by tradition, and by the assurance"
given to us of the powerful effects which he some-
times produced. The speeches of Fox have been
'collected, and although in some of them the vigour
of his -masculine understanding is preserved in its
glowing perfection, yet the record transmitted to us
of his eloquence, is not, upon the whole, quite equal
to the living reputation which the orator enjoyed.
The speeches of Erskine and Itomilly have indeed
been preserved in a suitable form, but then the re-
nown which they obtained was rather the reputation
of lawyers than the more exalted renown of states-
inen. Windham's speeches and those of the immortal
Pitt, have been published ; but here again, from the
circumstance of their speeches not having been re-
vised by themselves, as well as from their deficiency
in the most attractive requisites of oratory—imagina-
tion and fervour—we doubt whether the perusal of
their speeches will impress upon the mind of the
reader of the present day, a sense of their merits cor-
responding to that which was entertained of them
during the lifetime of the orators. What imparts to
the present publication of Mr. Canning's speeches a'
value surpassing that of all those Statesmen who pre-
ceded him, is, that he really possessed an assemblage
of oratorical endowments—a capacity for wit—for
argument—for classic elegance—for historical illus-
tration—not surpassed by any of the eminent men
whose names we have enumerated. Add to this, he
was judiciously sedulous of his own fame in his
lifetime. He corrected his speeches, and the pre-
Sent collection of them has been edited by a Barris-
ter (Me. Therry), who engaged in the task of
editing his speeches with the express sanetion of
4r. Canning.

Besides other qualifications, Mr. Therry has
brought to the performance of the task which he
has undertaken, a great admiration of the orator
whose eloquence he records. To the first volume
of the work, a " Memoir of the Life of Mr. Can-
liing," by Mr. Therry, is prefixed. In preparing this
llemoir, through the kindness of some surviving
friends of Mr. Canning, lie is enabled to state many
circumstances relating to Mr. Canning more accu-
rately than they have hitherto appeared. These cir-
cumstances relate principally to the family of Mr.
Canning—to his early friendships—his first entrance
into public life—his habits of composition and speak-
ing—and the circumstances of his death. From the
,navy interesting passages which the Memoir contains,
we subjoin a few extracts. After giving a table,
exhibitive of the pedigree of Mr. Canning, Mr.
Cherry proceeds to narrate a most amiable trait in
his private character
" It is, perhaps, opportune to state that Mr. Can-
ning took the earliest occasion of relieving his mother
from the necessity of obtaining a maintenance by the
public exercise of her talents. With an affection,
truly duteous and exemplary, he not only applied a
portion of the means allowed him by his family, for
the prosecution of his collegiate studies, to her sup-
port, but devoted to that praiseworthy purpose the
first fruits of his public services. When he retired,
in 1801, from the office of Under Secretary of State,
he was entitled to a pension of 5001. a year; instead
of appropriating that sum to his own uses, he re-
quested to have it settled as a provision on his
mother. His attention to his mother throughout his
whole life was most kind and affectionate, and will
be contemplated with delight by those who love to
appreciate the private qualities which- endear, in pre-
ference to the more glittering, though not more
substantial or admirable ones, which dazzle and
astonish. Mr. Canning not only paid a yearly visit
o his mother at Bath, where she resided, but made
it a rule, which he invariably observed, to write to
her every Sunday. So strictly did he observe this
rule of addressing a- weekly letter to his mother,
that, during his embassy at the Court of Lisbon,
even when opportunities of intercourse between
Portugal and England did not occur sometimes for
several weeks together, he neiertheless wrote his
Sunday letter, so that his packet often conveyed four
or five letters together to his mother. These letters
his grateful parent preserved; and she delighted in
reading them in the circle of her friends at Bath."

The commencement of Mr. Canning's acquaint-
ance with Mr. Pitt presents an interesting and novel
feature in the Memoir. Hitherto much uncertainty
*veiled as „to the manner in which Mr. Canning
was first introdUced to the acquaintance of Mr. Pitt.
" The commencement of his acquaintance with Mr.
Pitt, though somewhat curious in its circumstances,
is attributable to the same honourable source from
which he derived all his distinction in after life—his
own talents. The celebrity of those talents reached
the Minister. Mr. Pitt, through a private chan-
nel, communicated his desire to see Mr. Canning.
With this requisition, Mr. Canning, of course, rea-
dily complied. Mr. Pitt proceeded immediately on
their meeting to declare to Mr. Canning the object
of his requesting an interview with him ; which
was to state that he had heard of Mr. Canning's
reputation as a scholar and a speaker, and that if he
concurred in the policy which Government was
then pursuing, arrangements would be made to faci-
litate his introduction, nto Parliament. After a full
explanation between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Canning, of
the feelings of each on all the important public
questions of the moment, the result was, on Mr.
Canning's part, the determination to connect himself
politically with Mr. Pitt ; and on the part of Mr.
Pitt, the offer of a seat in Parliament. He may
have confided this determination to Mr. Sheridan,
or possibly.may have consulted him; but even the
assertion, so frequently made, that 'Sheridan's ad-
vise mainly influenced him in this important step, is
sustained by no competent authority. This ac-
quiescence in the proposal of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Can-
ning's friends knew to be consistent with his previ-
ously avowed and conscientious conviction, as when
he had no motives of interest to sway him in adopt-
ing that conviction, and very strong ones to dis-
suade him from it, he had uncompromisingly ex-
pressed it in the Whig circle in which he principally
moved, and by which, in the, ordinary course of
events, it was natural he should have expected to be
introduced into Parliament."

The duel with Lord Castlereagh is touched uptni
with great deliCacy. All the circumstances connect-.
ed with this painful topic are detailed with great im-
partiality, as well as with more accuracy, than in any
narrative of the, transaction which has hitherto ap-
peared. The Memoir, althoiigli evidently drawn up
with a view of illustrating the Speeches, throws
some new light on the various political negociations
and changes of Administration. in which Mr. Canning
took a prominent part. The circumstances of his
connectiopublicnwithfor
the first time. From the
Liverpool, are also here stated
firs
to
accuratelyenn to the
attractive and curious details with which the Me-
moir abounds,. we make the following selections on
topics of leading interest :

AIR. C ANNING'S MODE OF CORRECTING HIS SPEECHES

" AS to .11r, Cannines- mode of correcting 'his
speeehes, of which a fac simile representation is
given in the first volume ;*—it would appear from
the corrected proofs of them, in the possession of
the Editor of this work, that the process of correct-
ing his speeches had been to him a, very arduous and
This specimen of the newly invented art of Typoli-
thography, is not only curious, but really astonishing, and
does high credit to the ingenious originator of it, Mr. W.
Ross.. Mr. Canning bad made some corrections, which
could not be conveniently written on the -margin, on a 'se-
parate slip of paper. This paper was of a softer kind than
that of the proofs--of course the writing became thicker,
by the spreading of the ink, The difference thus occa4
sinned in the hand 'writing is exactly imitated ; and a Note
to Mr. liuskisson serves to show the usual appearanCe of
Mr. C's ,band in epistolary correspondence,