ABSTRACT

THE last struggle in which Canning engaged was perhaps the fiercest, as it was certainly the most triumphant, of his life. It was called by Metternich ' The Hundred Days' of Canning, and in that brief space were crowded all sorts of intrigues and counterplots which ended in a tragedy. It witnessed the grapple of old prejudices with new parties; the appearance of a new Prime Minister, opposed by factions and by old par· liamentary hands, but, like the two Pitts, visibly called to office by the voice of the nation. His advent not only signalised the end of old combinations at home; it also had a message and a meaning for the world. After three months of strife and uncertainty he adjourned Parliament with a triumphant majority. Within a fortnight the nation was applauding a new and epoch· making phase in foreign policy. A fortnight more and sinister rumours began to flit about, and a week later the new Prime Minister was dead.