tion of that same splendid victory, for which the Duke must ever deserve the gratitude of his Country. But though the glory of that day might be more than sufficient to cover any defects in the future conduct of its Hero, yet he would probably not thank his friends for employing an argument, which, from not defending his conduct on its own merits, created a suspicion that they were conscious that he had been betrayed into errors, which the laurels of Waterloo were required to hide.

Mr. Peel went on to argue, that all Mr. Baring had said of the Duke of Wellington was applicable to Mr. Huskisson, because he (Mr. Huskisson) had "suggested" the amendment.

Mr. Huskisson vindicated himself against the charge of being its author. In so doing he read nearly all the correspondence that had passed with the Duke upon the subject: the substance of it has been already stated.

Mr. Western shortly replied, and Mr. Canning made some few remarks on what had occurred in the debate: he said that he had at heart the interests of the agriculturists, in the bill that had failed; showed the essential difference between protecting duties and prohibition; and in answer to the objection to the temporary nature of the measure which he then proposed, said that he did not introduce a permanent one, because he would not subject it to the fate

which had attended the last in the House of Lords.

He concluded by expressing his hope, that a measure similar to that which had failed would be carried in the course of the following session.

As soon as he had sat down, the House divided: for Mr. Canning's amendment, 238; for Mr. Western's motion, 52.

On the 22d the Bill passed through the Committee, when Sir Edward Knatchbull expressed his doubts whether the late measure could fairly be called Lord Liverpool's. To this Mr. Canning replied, that, in bringing forward the late measure," he had spoken from Lord Liverpool's own memorandum, as from a

brief; and that though he certainly had in"troduced one clause, viz. that which em

66

powered the King to stop the importation "from any particular Country with which the "interests of England made it inconvenient that "we should deal, yet that clause had never been objected to."

66

The bill went through its remaining stages without opposition; and on the 25th Lord Goderich moved its second reading in the House of Lords. Lord Malmesbury objected The Duke of Wellington read the two letters left unread by Mr. Huskisson of their correspondence, and disclaimed having

to the measure.

been influenced by party feeling, or faction. The bill was then read and passed without further discussion.

Thus closed the proceedings in either House upon this question, so important in its nature, and so embarrassing in its course to the new Administration.

After the Corn Bill nothing of any consequence took place in the House of Commons.

The last time that Mr. Canning spoke was in answer to an unimportant question from Mr. Wood, the member for Preston. This was on the 29th of June. On the 2d of July Parliament was prorogued with a short speech, in which the deliberations on "the important

66

question of the Corn Laws were recommend"ed to be resumed at an early period of the ensuing Session, with a view to such final "arrangement as should satisfy the reasonable "wishes, and reconcile the substantial interests "of all classes of His Majesty's subjects."

Shortly after the prorogation, Mr. Canning, whose health had continued very indifferent, went for change of air to the Duke of Devonshire's villa at Chiswick. He arrived there on the 20th of July; and from that period until the 3d of August he occupied himself with publick business, occasionally going to Downing Street. On the evening of that day he was attacked with internal inflammation, and, after

very severe suffering, breathed his last on the morning of the 8th.

He was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to Mr. Pitt. The funeral was private, but there were present some hundreds of his friends. It would be difficult to give a more affecting description of the sad scene, than is contained in the following verses, written by a distinguished and highly gifted young nobleman*:

"Canning is dead! I heard the sound, and cried,
'Let funeral splendours wait on him who died;
Let all the land he lived to serve and save
Heap gorgeous honour round his patriot grave.'

"I stood beside his tomb; no choral strain

Pealed through the aisle, above the mourning train;
But purer, holier, seemed to rise above

The silent sorrow of a people's love.

"No bannered scroll, no trophied car was there;
No gleaming arms, no torches' murky glare:
The plain, and decent homage best defined,
The simple tenour of his mighty mind.

"His hard-earned, self-acquired, enduring fame
Needs not what wealth may buy, or birth may claim:
His worth, his deeds, no storied urns confine
The page of England's glory is their shrine.

"Are others wanting? Mark the dawn of peace
That gilds the struggle of regenerate Greece:
On Lisbon's heights see Britain's flag unfurled,
See freedom bursting o'er an infant World!

Lord Morpeth.

"Ask ye, how some have loved, how all revere ?
Survey the Group that bend around his Bier;
Read well the heaving breast, the stifled moan,
Kings, with their kingdoms, could not win that groan.

"Away! a scene like this brooks no controul;
Theme of my lyre, and master of my soul,
In dreams more wrapt than ever bard has sung,
How my young fancy on his accents hung!

"Others, they tell, more terribly sublime,

Have hurled their thunder against fraud and crime;
Could harping seraphs charm our earthly sphere
While he but spoke, I had not wished to hear.

"His was the high, indomitable zeal,
The spirit to aspire, the heart to feel;
The mind with every brilliant treasure stored,
So vast, so mild, so feared, and so adored.

"Disease unnerved him, Calumny assailed,
His labours paused not, nor his spirit quailed;
In the last tortures of its frail abode,

His soul was turned to England and to God."

The day after the funeral the King wrote to his widow, to offer her a peerage, as a testimony of his high sense of the services of her lamented husband; and a subscription, which has amounted to several thousands, has been raised, for the purpose of erecting a monument to his name.