Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/216

 2O2 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1827- will be resumed by you early in the ensuing session, and that such an arrangement of it may finally be adopted as shall satisfy the reasonable wishes, and reconcile the substantial interests, of all chsses of his Majesty's subjects." This challenge was never to be vindicated. The frame of Canning, undermined by previous illness, broke down under the excitement and the grief caused by the defection of his old colleagues, and the fierce attacks of some members of the party to which he had always belonged ; and on the 8th of August he died at Chiswick, in the same house in which Fox had breathed his last. So passed away one of the greatest of English statesmen, before he had been able to realize the objects on which his mind was most earnestly set, but not before he had created an important effect upon the state of political parties, and upon the whole future policy of his country. With an intellect clear and richly stored, an imagination vivid and active, and a nature at once tender and enthusiastic, he was formed to endeavour to embody high principles in national policy, and to allure and encourage men to unaccustomed courses by the charm of his manner as much as by the earnestness of his nature. He was the first of three famous men who have left the Tory party for the sake of carrying out measures which they believed to be essential to the well-being of the State. Unlike Peel, he was not induced by the pressure of events to adopt a course of which he had not formerly approved ; unlike Gladstone, he never became thoroughly imbued with general Liberal principles ; but, like them both, he did not hesitate to sacrifice party loyalty and personal associations for the sake of what he considered public duty. The first to enter upon the path, he was subjected to the most violent attacks, and was destined to achieve the least practical success. The influence of Canning, though less direct in the way of actual legislation, was scarcely less important than that of his two successors as regarded the future history of parties. So strongly intrenched were the Tories, not only in the House of Lords, but through their territorial influence in counties and