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 706 CANNING ment was announced Lord Chancellor Eldon, the duke of Wellington, Lord Bexley, Viscount Melville, Robert Peel, and others, resigned, and compelled him to solicit an alliance with the whigs. He was supported by Mr. Brough- am, Sir Francis Burdett, and Mr. Tierney, but had to sustain a most formidable opposition. Declaring himself, finally, inimical to parlia- mentary reform, and to the repeal of the test and corporation acts, he was left without a party, and it was the vigor of his foreign policy alone which kept him in position. He spoke for the last time on June 27, 1827, and the next month signed the treaty between Eng- land, France, and Russia, for the settlement of the affairs of Greece. He then retired for a change of air to the duke of Devonshire's villa at Ohiswick, where he died. He was buried in Westminster abbey, his tomb being close by that of Pitt. His oratorical abilities were of a high order, and his poetical talent not incon- siderable. Among his more marked speeches were one against making peace with the French republic (1798) ; several in defence of the ex- ministry (1801-'5) ; in favor of Catholic eman- cipation (1812) ; in favor of the recognition of the new governments in Spanish South Amer- ica (1825-'6); and against the repeal of the test and corporation acts (1827). His "Speeches," with a memoir by R. Therry, have been published (6 vols. 8vo, London, 1828); and his poems, which are remarkable for wit and point, are given in the " Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin " (enlarged ed., London, 1854 and 1858). II. Charles John, viscount and earl, a British statesman, son of the pre- ceding, born at Brompton, Dec. 14, 1812, died in London, June 17, 1862. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where in 1833 he took a first class in classics and a second class in mathematics. In 1836 he represented War- wick in the house of commons ; and in March, 1837, after his mother's death (on whom the peerage was conferred in 1828), he took his seat in the house of lords as Viscount Canning. In 1841 he was made under secretary of state for foreign affairs, and in 1842 chief commis- sioner of woods and forests. He took a promi- nent part in the great industrial exhibition of 1851, and in 1853 became postmaster general, with a seat in the cabinet, under the Aberdeen administration. On the resignation of Lord Dalhousie in 1855 he was appointed governor general of India. The sepoy mutiny broke out during his administration, and he was as much censured for his leniency at the beginning of the outbreak as for his severity afterward. His proclamation confiscating the lands of the talookdars of Oude elicited a strong condemna- tory counter-despatch from Lord Ellenborough, president of the board of control, and was vetoed by the home government. His subse- quent conciliatory course did so much toward the pacification of India, that in April, 1859, he received the thanks of both houses of par- liament. He was raised to the earldom of CANNON Canning, May 21, 1859, and was made knight of the garter, May 21, 1862. He died without issue, and the title became extinct. In 1871 a statue of him, by Foley, was erected in West- minster abbey. III. Stratford. See STRATFOED DK REDOLIFFE. CANNON, a heavy implement used to set pro- jectiles in motion by means of the explosion of gunpowder. Its general form is that of a tube closed at one end. The term is applied to all heavy firearms which are discharged from car- riages, in contradistinction to small arms which are discharged from the hand or shoulder. The introduction of cannon followed the inven- tion of gunpowder. The first used were conical, and resembled an apothecary's mortar inter- nally and externally. They were called mor- tars, bombards, and vases ; they were fired at high angles, and in consequence of the slow combustion of the gunpowder of that day, the stone missiles which they threw moved with little velocity. (See AETILLEEY.) To econo- mize the action of the powder, and to give greater accuracy to the fire, the bore was after- ward made nearly cylindrical, and from four to eight calibres long, terminating at the bot- tom in a very narrow and deep chamber, the object of which was to increase the effect of the powder by retarding the escape of the gas. These cannon were further improved by making the bores perfectly cylindrical, and were called perrieres, from the fact that they fired stone balls. The first bombards were made of bars of iron bound together by hoops ; they were afterward made of wrought iron, and finally of cast metals, bronze, iron, and steel. Bronze cannon were used in the time of John the Good of France (1350-'64). Cannon loaded at the breech were among the earliest forms intro- duced, but they were abandoned for want of strength in the mechanism. The introduction of cast-iron projectiles led to the invention of a new kind of cannon called culverins, the shape Fro. 1. Cnlverta. and appearance of which were very similar to those of the guns now in use. The great strength of these cannon and their projec- tiles permitted the use of larger charges of gunpowder, and marked an important step in the improvement of artillery. The idea pre- vailed among ancient artillerists that the range increased with the length of the piece, and consequently many culverins of enormous length were cast. A remarkable piece of this kind, familiarly known as "Queen Anne's pocket piece," is still to be seen at Dover, England. It is 25 ft. long, and carries a ball weighing only 25 Ibs. In 1478 an attempt was made to use mortars for throwing hollow projectiles filled with powder, to which was attached a