THE LATE LORD CANNING.

Otago Witness, Issue 567, 11 October 1862, Page 6

THE LATE LORD CANNING.

Charles John Canning was born at Glocester I.odj»e, Bromnton— a hou«e now incorporated with the Kensington Mus-eum— in 1812, the third .son of the celebrated George Canning. The most important fact connected with his early life is his education at Christ Church, Oxford. We ha\e often had to record the glory of this ollege as the chief uuT&im? mot'iei 1 of statesmen in our time. In the previous guneiution Trinity Co lege, Canibi id}>e, had this honor j but the race ot' veterans whom she reared are now idino.st gone, Lord Lansdowne bcin^ one of the very few kft, and Lord Palmcrston being claimed by Hi. John't. Christ Church was the intellectual home of Peel and the followers of Peel. Among- the followers of Peel, irdeed, wo cannot count Sir George Lewis, but there remain Lord Stanhope, Mr. Gladstone, Lords Dalhousic, Cunning, anil lilgin. The last four were at colle.ee together; the last three graduated very nearly at the same time. They al! obtiiued honors ; but the two who were wholly Scotch were le.'ibt high, while the two who were only half Scotch .stood the highest. Lo>ds Elfiiu and Dalhousie were respectively first cla~s and fourth claws in classic* ; Mr. Gladstone, on the other hand, was a double fust, while Lord Canning all but reached this position, for ha was of the first class iv classics, and of the second in mathematics. Three of the.se have been Mieee;.sively lifted to one of the most splendid positions, which a British subject can enjoy. Lord Dalhousio was Governoi -General of India from the beginning of 1848: Lord Canning succeeded him early in 185(5. Let us hope that Lord Elgin, upon whom the honor has fallen in the present year, will enjoy a happier iortune than that of either of his college friends Lord Canning, then Mr. Canning- (for the peerage which his father hnd earned was given in the first instance to his mothf r) entered upon public life in 1836, when he appeared in the House of Commons as member for Warwickshire, In the following year his mother died, and he went to the Upper House.' When Sir R. Peel came into power in ISil, he was appointed Under-Seoretary for Foreign Alf iis. He held this post till 181G, in spite of tlie inconvenience of having both the Secretniy and Under-Secrctary of the same department in the House of Lords. Of course, Lord Aberdeen could not be spared from the Foreign-office, and it may be imagined both (hat Lord Canning would feel anxious to distinguish himself in the same political line as his father, aud that Sir Robert Peel, in tender memory of the past, would be particularly ready to further the political aspiratiors of George Canning's son. For a month or two, in the reconstructed Ministiy of Sir Itobert Peel, Lord Canning was Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests ; but in July, 1846, he resigned with Ida

pirty, and. d"olinin x 'ugh office at the hands of Lord Derby, returned with tlie Coalition Ministry in 1853. In tlie Govdrnmont of Lord Aberdeen, Lord Can nine: was Postroaster-Genere.l, and distinerni&hed himv! F as far as possib'e in such a department by his adinini? trative capacity. H<: worke I v.:i-y bar I, made rainy chmgps in the infernal or jranizili >n ofth'" 1 dc;urtine.it and set on fo >t the practice of sabmit'ng annna'ly !o I'arl'ame'nt a report of tho work, and e«p •- ci.illy tin piogres-, achieved by tin Post-- ffi.-e. He hel 1 the same appointment for a short time in Lord Palmerston's C:vl>in«-t, but it became necessary, as the year 1835 woic on, to select a successor to Lord Dalhoir.ii'. and none seemed so fit to send out as his 0 )lleire friend Lord Canning. Tho peculiar fitness of thh selection lay in the fact that the Gove.rnor(jenoraifehip was, tho destined prize of which G^ome Canning litid been balked. He hvl received the appointment, ho was on the eve ofstartinc; for India, v Inn Jiord Castleresi_'h committed suicide, and the Forelirn-ollice wan left without a h^ad. Oannin<r, a comparatively poor m.n, gave up the cb inces of"a".quirins a fortune in the splondirl post ot Viceroy, in order to secure a name f..r himself at home) and pernaps to reach the Premiership. He di I win a nani", an 1 he did become First Minister, but he died in the eilbi t. Thpse were events which Lord Palmerston, p.-s a Canningite. could not forgot, and Lord Canning, otherwise well qualifi"d for the post, was appointed to succeed Lord l)alhoii-ie

He began his reign in India on the last day of FfcbiMary, 1856, and the events of it are so recent, besides being, by their importance, so well known, that it can scarcely be necessary for us here and now tojvriie their history. In the year aft n r he assumed office the mutiny broke out, md he had to stem it as he could. Never has any Governor-Opiionl of India had to g) tiircnsfli so fierce a trial. H^ had a feirful load of responnhility ; for a moment the Indian Empire seemed almost lost; in Calcutta the Kuropcm inhabitants were in the greatest consternation ; and Lord Canning was accused of weakness and softness in dealina 1 with the crisis. The Indian Empire was fai^vd as by a mirne'e. It was saved by the firmnass and the resolution of a very small band of men, chief among whom ranks Loul Canning. For a time even the frien Is of the (lovernor-Genernl were in doubt as to the wisdom of his pnlicv ; but it is now conf ssed that iv that terrible emergency he disn'ayed extraordinary courage, great a<lmit<iitrativo and yery E resit moral qualities. There are few finer thinsr" in modern history than the fact of hi> quietly rennininp; at liis po^t after receiving Lord Ellonborough's outraeeous despatch ou the government of Oude. As he hnd before been accused of too much leniency to the native, he was no-,y accused, an 1 that, too, by the Home Government, nrA in the mot extracravant teuns, of too much seventy. After such a public rebuke, especially in the knowledge that it was undeserved, he cmld easily hnve es\aped fr>m the labor of a most arduous task, the pacification of India. He might have resigned, and let some new man undertake the work, ne held on, however. He k-iew that under the circumstances resignation would be most embarrassing to fie public service, and that no one could do the work of pacification so effectually as hira«elf. He remained where he was, and he has h«d the vitis-faetion of Kioinu Tndii once ino'-e happy and content, once more abie to make the revenue meet the expenditure, once more promise to rhi from Ksdecav, and to fi mrish in a new life. Having faced such unexampled dancers, having grappled with such enormous^ di'licul ie.s, and having n-.v unplwhnfl «uch 'vondeifiii triunndis, Lord Canning cam? home for a littio repo c. The repose which he sought he has found in death.

Lnrd Canning, who wns raised to an e.vldnm in cons, quenee of liis Fcvioes in India, has left no family. His titles, therefore, die with him, and t'le line of George (Jannin'r now survives only in Lalv Clanrioarde and her children.