George Canning

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The Rt Hon. George Canning</font></caption>
Image:Canning.jpg
Period in Office: April 10 - August 8, 1827
PM Predecessor: The Earl of Liverpool
PM Successor: The Viscount Goderich
Date of Birth: April 11 1770
Place of Birth: Marylebone, London
Date of Death: August 8 1827
Place of Death: Chiswick, Middlesex
Political Party: Tory

The Right Honourable George Canning (11 April 1770-8 August 1827) was a British politician who served as Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime Minister.

Contents

Early Life

Canning was born in London. His father was a gentleman of limited means, having renounced his right to inherit the family estate in exchange for having his debts paid. When Canning was one year old, his father died, and his mother took work as a stage actress, a profession then not considered respectable by society.

Because Canning showed unusual intelligence and promise at an early age, family friends persuaded his wealthy uncle, Stratford Canning, to become his nephew's guardian and provide him with an income and an education. Stratford Canning's financial support allowed the young Canning to study at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

While at school, Canning achieved renown for his skill at writing and argument. He struck up friendships with Lord Liverpool, Granville Leveson-Gower, and John Hookham Frere. After receiving his BA from Oxford in the summer of 1791, Canning became a lawyer, but wanted to become a politician.

Entry into Politics

Stratford Canning was a Whig, and he introduced his nephew in the 1780s to Whigs such as Charles James Fox, Edmund Burke, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan (George Canning's friendship with Sheridan would last for the remainder of Sheridan's life). George Canning's impoverished background and limited financial resources, however, made unlikely a bright political future with the Whigs, who were led by those members of the wealthy landed aristocracy in opposition to the Crown. Also, Canning became more conservative in early 1790s in reaction to the radicalism of the French Revolution.

When Canning decided to enter politics, then, he sought and received the patronage of the leader of the Crown party, William Pitt the Younger. In 1793, thanks to the help of Pitt, Canning became a Member of Parliament for Newtown on the Isle of Wight, a rotten borough. In 1796, he changed seats to a different rotten borough, Wendover in Buckinghamshire.

Political Style

Canning rose quickly in British politics, mainly because of his effectiveness as an orator and writer. His speeches in Parliament and his essays gave the Pittites a rhetorical power they had previously lacked. Canning's skills gave him leverage within the Pittite faction that allowed him to influence its policies and to get himself promoted within the Cabinet.

Over time, Canning became a prominent public speaker as well as a parliamentary speaker, and was one of the first politicians to campaign heavily in the country.

As a result of his charisma and promise, Canning early on drew around himself a circle of supporters, later known as the Canningites. However, Canning was also an arrogant and divisive man who alienated many actual and potential supporters.

Elevation to Office

On 2 November 1795, Canning received his first ministerial post: Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In this post he proved a strong supporter of Pitt, often taking his side in disputes with the Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville. He resigned this post on 1 April 1799.

In 1799 Canning became a commissioner of the Board of Control, followed by Paymaster of the Forces in 1800. When Pitt resigned in 1801, Canning loyally followed him into opposition and again returned to office in 1804 with Pitt becoming Treasurer of the Navy.

When Pitt died in 1806, Canning left office but the next year he was appointed Foreign Secretary in the new government of the Duke of Portland. Given key responsibilities for the country's diplomacy in the Napoleonic Wars, he was responsible for planning the outmanoeuvring of Napoleon Bonaparte at Copenhagen.

Duel with Castlereagh

In 1809 Canning entered into a series of disputes within the government which were to become famous. He entered into arguments with the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Lord Castlereagh over the deployment of troops which Canning had promised would be sent to Portugal but Castlereagh sent to Holland. The government became increasingly paralysed in disputes between the two men, with most Cabinet ministers siding with one or the other. Portland was in deteriorating health and gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation unless Castlereagh was removed, hopefully replacing him with Lord Wellesley. Portland agreed to make this change when it was possible and kept the agreement secret.

Castlereagh discovered the deal in September 1809 and was furious, demanding redress. He challenged Canning to a duel, which was fought on September 21 1809. Canning had never before fired a pistol. In the conflict Canning missed whilst Castlereagh wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much outrage that two Cabinet Ministers had resorted to such a method. Shortly afterwards Portland resigned as Prime Minister due to his health and Canning offered himself to George III as a potential successor. However he was not chosen, with Spencer Perceval instead being appointed, and Canning left office once more. He had, however, achieved a Pyrrhic victory as Castlereagh also left office.

Return to government

Upon Perceval's assassination in 1812 the new Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool offered Canning the position of Foreign Secretary once more. However Canning refused as he also wished to be Leader of the House of Commons and was reluctant to serve in government with Castlereagh. In 1814 he became the British Ambassador to Portugal, returning the following year. He received several further offers of office from Liverpool and in 1816 he became President of the Board of Control.

Canning resigned from office once more in 1820, on this occasion in opposition to the treatment of Queen Caroline, wife of the new King George IV who had become estranged from her husband. Canning and Caroline were personal friends and are believed to have had a brief affair.

Another return

In 1822 Castlereagh, now Marquess of Londonderry, committed suicide and Canning succeeded him as both Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. In his second term of office he sought to prevent South America from coming into the French sphere of influence and in this he was successful. He also gave support to the growing campaign for the abolition of slavery.

Prime Minister

Image:George-Canning-arms.PNG

Liverpool retired as Prime Minister in 1827 and Canning was chosen to succeed him, in preference to both the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. Neither man agreed to serve under Canning and they were followed by five other members of Liverpool's Cabinet as well as forty junior members of the government. The Tory Party was now heavily split between the "High Tories" (or "Ultras", nicknamed after the contemporary party in France) and the moderates supporting Canning - often called 'Canningites'. As a result Canning found it hard to form a government and recoursed to inviting a number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, including Lord Lansdowne. The government agreed not to discuss the difficult question of parliamentary reform, which Canning was opposed to but the Whigs supported.

However Canning's health was already in decline and on August 8 1827 he died in the very room as Fox had done so, 21 years earlier. Canning holds the dubious record of having served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the total shortest period - a mere 119 days. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Legacy

Canning has come to be regarded by some as a "lost leader", with much speculation about what would have happened had he lived. His government of moderate Tories and Whigs continued for a few months under Lord Goderich but fell apart at the start of 1828. It was succeeded by a government headed by the Duke of Wellington, initially including some Canningites but which rapidly became a "High Tory" rump, with many of the Canningites drifting over to the Whigs, and which soon went down to massive defeat. Some historians have seen the revival of the Tories from the 1830s onwards, in the form of the Conservative Party as the overcoming of the divisions of 1827. What would have been the course of events had Canning lived is highly speculative.

To some later Conservatives, most prominently Benjamin Disraeli, Canning came to be regarded as the forerunner of liberal One Nation Conservatism, providing a contrast to Sir Robert Peel, who Disraeli attacked bitterly.

Family

Canning married Joan Scott (1776-1837) on 8 July 1800, with John Hookham Frere and William Pitt the Younger as witnesses.

George and Joan Canning had four children:

Trivia

Canning was one of the first prominent politicians of the era to openly use the label "Tory", which came into use in the 1790s as a term for the Pittites. Later, in 1824, he was almost the first to use the term "Conservative".

In honour of the role he played in the Greek War of Independence, Canning's name was given to one of the central squares in downtown Athens (Πλατεία Κάνιγγος).

George Canning's Government, April - August 1827

Changes

Preceded by:
Dudley Ryder and Thomas Steele 		Paymaster of the Forces
1800–1801
(jointly with Thomas Steele) 		Succeeded by:
Thomas Steele and The Lord Glenbervie
Preceded by:
George Tierney 		Treasurer of the Navy
1804–1806 		Succeeded by:
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Preceded by:
Viscount Howick 		Foreign Secretary
1807–1809 		Succeeded by:
The Earl Bathurst
Preceded by:
The Earl of Buckinghamshire 		President of the Board of Control
1816–1821 		Succeeded by:
Charles Bathurst
Preceded by:
The Marquess of Londonderry 		Leader of the House of Commons
1822–1827 		Succeeded by:
William Huskisson
Foreign Secretary
1822–1827 		Succeeded by:
The Viscount Dudley and Ward
Preceded by:
Frederick John Robinson 		Chancellor of the Exchequer
1827 		Succeeded by:
John Charles Herries
Preceded by:
The Earl of Liverpool 		Prime Minister
1827 		Succeeded by:
The Viscount Goderich


References

  • Dixon, Peter. George Canning: Politician and Statesman. New York : Mason/Charter, 1976.
Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/George_Canning.html"


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