ABSTRACT
It was six weeks before Lord Liverpool recovered to the point of being able to reply to his wife’s comforting assurances that he would soon be well enough to resume his duties, ‘No, no, not I – too weak, too weak.’ 1 In the interval there was much speculation about his replacement, but it was in everyone’s interests to postpone a decision. The King refused to discuss the matter, telling Canning that ‘it would be a great satisfaction to us all, when Lord Liverpool came to himself sufficiently to learn what had passed, that there had been no step taken, or even mooted, for the disposal of his succession.’ 2
