ABSTRACT

THE difficulties of Canning are nowhere more clearly seen than in his relations with the King, which seriously affected foreign policy. The first two Georges had indeed made British diplomacy difficult by their attachment to Hanover, but on the whole they were reasonable and straightforward men. George III., though he tried to bend all to his will at home, had been British enough when he looked abroad. But the fourth George, by his attachment to foreign diplomats and sovereigns and by his incurable love of intrigue, threatened gravely to complicate foreign relations. There was a real danger that a double system of foreign policy might be pursued, similar to that by which Louis XV. alternately outwitted or betrayed his accredited Foreign Minister. George was not indeed a Louis XV. any more than Lady Conyngham was a Pompadour, but he was a despot in Hanover and absolutely controlled Hanoverian diplomats. As Canning had no personal connection with Continental statesmen, the King had an opportunity of which he might make a dangerous use.