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117-552: The Anti-Jacobin, or, Weekly Examiner was an English newspaper founded by George Canning in 1797 and devoted to opposing the radicalism of the French Revolution . It lasted only a year, but was considered highly influential, and is not to be confused with the Anti-Jacobin Review , a publication which sprang up on its demise. The Revolution polarized British political opinion in the 1790s, with conservatives outraged at

234-601: A rotten borough . In 1796, he changed seats to a different rotten borough, Wendover in Buckinghamshire. He was elected to represent several constituencies during his parliamentary career. Canning rose quickly in British politics as an effective orator and writer. His speeches in Parliament as well as his essays gave the followers of Pitt a rhetorical power they had previously lacked. Canning's skills saw him gain leverage within

351-415: A Father – but a Father should not sacrifice me, with my good will. Most heartily I forgive him, But he has to answer to himself, and to the country for much mischief that he has done and much that is still to do." Pitt wished for Canning to enter Henry Addington 's government, a move which Canning looked on as a horrible dilemma but in the end, he turned the offer down. Canning opposed the preliminaries of

468-518: A box at the trial". The day after he wrote that he had received a letter the previous night which provided an "account of the French being actually about to do that act of hostility, the possibility of which formed the groundwork of my Baltic plan. My fear was that the French might not be the aggressors – and then ours would have appeared a strong measure, fully justifiable I think and absolutely necessary, but without apparent necessity or justification. Now

585-489: A certain amount of unofficial aid – arms and volunteers – from outside, but no outside official help at any stage from Britain or any other power. Britain refused to aid Spain and opposed any outside intervention on behalf of Spain by other powers. Royal Navy veterans were a decisive factor in the struggle for independence of certain Latin American countries. In 1825 Mexico, Argentina and Colombia were recognised by means of

702-553: A duel. Canning accepted the challenge and the Castlereagh–Canning duel was fought on 21 September 1809 on Putney Heath . Canning, who had never before fired a pistol, widely missed his mark. Castlereagh, who was regarded as one of the best shots of his day, wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much outrage that two cabinet ministers had resorted to such a method. Shortly afterwards the ailing Portland resigned as prime minister, and Canning offered himself to George III as

819-561: A few days later Canning moved for leave to introduce a measure of Catholic Emancipation (for lifting the exclusion of Catholics from the House of Lords). This passed the Commons but was rejected by the Lords. In August 1822, Castlereagh committed suicide. Instead of going to India, Canning succeeded him as both foreign secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. He gave support to the growing campaign for

936-431: A foreign master? And does the word deliverance still sound unintelligibly in his ear? Has he heard of the rescue and salvation of Naples, by the appearance and the triumphs of the British fleet? Does he know that the monarchy of Naples maintains its existence at the sword's point? And is his understanding, and his heart, still impenetrable to the sense and meaning of the deliverance of Europe? Pitt called this speech "one of

1053-558: A glossary to accompany a proposed edition of the Middle English romance King Alisaunder by his friend Thomas Park, but Park eventually abandoned the idea. He also encouraged William Owen Pughe in his translation of the Mabinogion , began to learn Welsh, and proposed to write a preface. In the event, the translation only ever appeared incomplete in various periodicals, and no preface was called for. Ellis provided Joseph Ritson with

1170-484: A lengthy historical introduction, largely based on Thomas Warton 's History of English Poetry and Thomas Tyrwhitt 's edition of The Canterbury Tales , but written in a more lively and readable style. The Poets proved to be a popular work, going through six editions between 1790 and 1851, and on the strength of it Ellis was hailed in 1804 in the Critical Review as "the hope of poetic archaeology". His format

1287-399: A letter to George Ellis on 19 October 1797. This letter contained Canning's proposal to write a periodical that was to include humour, good principles, and frank reasoning that would influence the public to side with the anti-Jacobins. With the help of fellow Tory Parliament members John Hookham Frere (Canning's school friend) and George Ellis, Canning was able to commission the publication of

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1404-584: A major trading advantage for British merchants and supported the American Monroe Doctrine . The historian G. M. Trevelyan wrote For five years England had been guided by the genius of Canning, and seldom have so much brilliancy and so much wisdom combined to produce such happy results. The constitutional medium through which that genius worked was the loyal friendship of the prime minister, Lord Liverpool. When Lord Liverpool resigned in April 1827, Canning

1521-430: A permanent breach between the two of them as it would cast a slur on his conduct. He offered Canning the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland but he refused on the grounds that this would look like he was being got out of the way. Canning eventually decided not to resign and wrote that "I am resolved to 'sink or swim' with Pitt, though he has tied himself to such sinking company. God forgive him". Canning left office with

1638-658: A poet), as “Mr. Higgins of St. Mary Axe", and “Mr. Higgins, poet and dramatist, supposedly writes some of the major parodies of the Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: ( The Progress of Man , The Loves of the Triangles , The Rovers ). This figure is used to represent an individual who utilizes literature (didactic poetry) to enhance the Jacobin's cause. According to David A. Kent and D. R. Ewin's book, Romantic Parodies' 1797-1831 , “The Anti-Jacobin

1755-461: A potential successor. The King appointed Spencer Perceval instead and Canning left office once more. He took consolation in the fact that Castlereagh also stood down. Upon the Assassination of Spencer Perceval in 1812, the new prime minister, Lord Liverpool , offered Canning the position of foreign secretary once more. Canning refused, as he also wished to be Leader of the House of Commons and

1872-475: A preferential commercial treaty), less than three years after Brazil's declaration of independence. George Ellis (poet) George Ellis was born in Jamaica on 19 December 1753, the posthumous son of a sugar-planter. His grandfather, also called George Ellis, was Chief Justice of Jamaica , and Edward Long , author of The History of Jamaica , was a maternal uncle. His full name was George Rose Ellis. He

1989-423: A reputation as a divisive man who alienated many. He was a dominant personality and often risked losing political allies for personal reasons. He once reduced Lord Liverpool to tears with a long satirical poem mocking Liverpool's attachment to his time as a colonel in the militia. On 2 November 1795, Canning received his first ministerial post: Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In this post he proved

2106-645: A speech, in the words of Lord Glenbervie , so "very witty, very eloquent and very able". In November 1807, Canning oversaw the Portuguese royal family's flight from Portugal to Brazil. In 1809 Canning entered into a series of disputes within the government that were to become famous. He argued with the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies , Lord Castlereagh , over the deployment of troops that Canning had promised would be sent to Portugal but which Castlereagh sent to

2223-416: A strong supporter of Pitt, often taking his side in disputes with the foreign secretary , Lord Grenville . At the end of 1798 Canning responded to a resolution by George Tierney MP for peace negotiations with France: I for my part still conceive it to be the paramount duty of a British member of parliament to consider what is good for Great Britain ... I do not envy that man's feelings, who can behold

2340-660: A successor to the Duke of Portland in favour of Spencer Perceval . He rejected overtures to serve as foreign secretary again because of Castlereagh's presence in Perceval's Cabinet and he remained out of high office until after Perceval was assassinated in 1812. Canning served under the new prime minister the Earl of Liverpool as British Ambassador to Portugal (1814–1816), President of the Board of Control (1816–1821) and foreign secretary and Leader of

2457-550: A verse translation of the "Lament for the Death of Simon of Montfort", though this did not appear until after both their deaths, in Ritson's Ancient Songs and Ballads (1829); he also pulled strings to ensure Ritson's Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës (1802) was published. He had better success in his Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances (1805), which presented a selection of Middle English romances, not in full editions but in

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2574-482: Is all raw; no person living ... can find a meal in it, till some good cook (suppose yourself) comes in and says, "Sir, I see by your looks that you are hungry; I know your taste – be patient for a moment, and you shall be satisfied that you have an excellent appetite." Ellis's work was published in three volumes in 1805, with a second edition in 1811, and a third in 1848. James Orchard Halliwell later wrote that It is, indeed, difficult to estimate too highly

2691-424: Is all". Canning disliked being out of office, and wrote on to John Hookham Frere in summer 1801: "But the thought will obtrude itself now and then that I am not where I should be – non-hoc pollicitus ." He also claimed that Pitt had done "scrupulously and magnanimously right by everyone but me". At the end of September 1801 Canning wrote to Frere, saying of Pitt: "I do love him, and reverence him as I should

2808-503: Is now remembered for its parodies of Robert Southey more than for its journalism, patriotic verse, or Latin imitations”. Southey was the victim to four parodies written in the Anti-Jacobin because of his usage of experimental meters in poetry and sympathies in politics towards the republicans. Three poems that were made into parodies by the Anti-Jacobin were, Southey's “Inscription”, “The Widow”, and “The Soldier’s Wife”. Canning wrote “For

2925-546: Is now the case) or to be sent out there". Canning was appointed Paymaster of the Forces (and therefore to the Privy Council as well) in 1800. In February 1801, Pitt resigned as prime minister due to George III's opposition to Catholic Emancipation . Canning, despite Pitt's advice to stay in office, loyally followed him into opposition. The following day, Canning wrote to Lady Malmesbury: "I resign because Pitt resigns. And that

3042-517: Is principally remembered because of the satire “The Love of the Triangles”. The Anti-Leveller of 1793 is considered an “elder relative” to the Anti-Jacobin . Alexander Watson's The Anti-Jacobin, a Hudibrastic Poem in Twenty-one Cantos (1794) had a similar motif and also contained stanzas filled with heavy sarcasm and rhymed couplets. Historians consider both of these works less interesting than

3159-547: The COUNTRY in which we live , notwithstanding the daily panegyrics which we read and hear on the superior virtues and endowments of its rival and hostile neighbours. We are prejudiced in favour of her Establishments, civil and religious; though without claiming for either that ideal perfection, which modern philosophy professes to discover in the more luminous systems which are arising on all sides of us. Canning set out his "most serious, vehement and effective onslaught in verse" on

3276-509: The Anti-Jacobin Review , a Monthly Political and Literary Censor , which was considered a weaker, clumsier periodical compared to its parent. It was started by John Gifford and ran until 1821. George Canning George Canning ( / ˈ k æ n ɪ ŋ / ; 11 April 1770 – 8 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as foreign secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of

3393-602: The Anglo-Norman Lais of Marie de France and the Latin Historia Regum Britanniae and Vita Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth . He arranged his romances by the cycle to which they belonged, and non-cyclical works by what he conceived to be the national origin of their subject-matter, thus anticipating the practice of many more recent literary historians. His texts were taken from inedited manuscripts and early prints, mostly provided for him by

3510-556: The Anti-Jacobin satirized individuals who were considered to have disturbed the Popean didactic poem. The following works were satirized by the Anti Jacobin : The Botanic Garden (1792) written by Erasmus Darwin , The Progress of Civil Society, a Didactic Poem in Six Books (1796) by Richard Payne Knight . The Anti-Jacobin depicts William Godwin , philosopher and novelist (though not

3627-534: The Anti-Jacobin that contributes to these positive remarks: the mass amount of factual material and the straightforward, brief nature that the material was presented in. The Anti-Jacobin is believed to have originated from George Canning's involvement in peace negotiations with France in 1797 when he was the undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. The coup d'état caused these negotiations to end abruptly on 4 September 1797. This led Canning to revert his attention towards his home, England, where he decided to write

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3744-606: The Anti-Jacobin to Wright. The anti-Jacobins established their headquarters in a vacated, secret house nearby Wright where they would congregate every Sunday before each new issue was released. William Gifford, the editor of the periodical, had established his style by writing poems like the Baviad (1794) and Maeviad (1795), which satirized Robert Merry , a Jacobin writer, and the Della Cruscans . Pitt, Jenkinson, Hammond, Baron Macdonald, and Marquis Wellesley were also contributors to

3861-558: The Anti-Jacobin , Canning paid the cartoonist James Gillray to publish plates themed on the Anti-Jacobin' s principles, and some believe that twenty Gillray plates were the fruit of this arrangement. William Pitt the Younger , the Prime Minister , also contributed to the newspaper. The Anti-Jacobin estimated that its total readership was 50,000. They multiplied the regular weekly sale of 2,500 by seven (arriving at 17,500) because that

3978-514: The Anti-Jacobin . Since the Anti-Jacobin was a wide success, it was reprinted in its entirety several times during 1799. Two of these were in quarto and also an octavo fourth edition that was edited. The Beauties of the Anti-Jacobin was also published that year, and was similar to the Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin . The Anti-Jacobin ’s final publication was immediately followed by the publication of

4095-529: The Caymanas Park plantation, but John insisted "upon my keeping the Caymanas in my own hands". In the end, John won that battle of wills. George received an income dependent on the plantation's output, which ranged from 40-80 hogsheads of sugar and 20-40 puncheons of rum. He travelled to Jamaica early in 1780, inspected his property there, contracted fever, and returned to England in late 1781. When his uncle John

4212-678: The Peace of Amiens signed on 1 October. He did not vote against it due to his personal devotion to Pitt. He wrote on 22 November: "I would risk my life to be assured of being able to act always with P in a manner satisfactory to my own feelings and sense of what is right, rather than have to seek that object in separation from him." On 27 May 1802 in the Commons Canning requested that all grants of land in Trinidad (captured by Britain from Spain) should be rejected until Parliament had decided what to do with

4329-637: The shortest-serving prime minister in history , a title he held for 195 years until Liz Truss ' premiership in 2022, which lasted 49 days. Canning was born into an Anglo-Irish family at his parents' home in Queen Anne Street, Marylebone , London. Canning described himself as "an Irishman born in London". His father, George Canning of Garvagh , County Londonderry , in Ulster , the northern province in Ireland ,

4446-578: The 16th and 17th centuries, in modern spelling, with historical and biographical notes. The second edition, published in 1801, was expanded from one volume to three, and extended the chronological range so as to include the Anglo-Saxon poem " The Battle of Brunanburh ", "The Land of Cockayne" from 14th-century Ireland, substantial extracts from The Squire of Low Degree and Layamon 's Brut , and other poems in Middle English and Middle Scots . It had

4563-528: The Anti-Jacobin are humorous, some patriotic poems are written in dull Latin and are therefore more serious and tedious. “The political targets of the Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin are manifold: the villainy of the French, the treachery of the Irish, the hypocrisy of the Whigs, the philanthropic cant of the radical”. Many poets and intellectuals were attacked by the Anti-Jacobin because of their pro-French position. Also,

4680-404: The Anti-Jacobin were Orientalism, Gothic, Darwinian didactic couplets, German drama, and sentimentalism. In 1799, William Gifford compiled the most memorable and innovative parts from the Anti-Jacobin : the poems. The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin resembles another great work written at the time: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Poems of Political Recantation . Though a great many poems in the Poetry of

4797-500: The Board of Control . Canning resigned from office once more in 1820, in opposition to the treatment of Queen Caroline , estranged wife of the new King George IV . Public opinion strongly supported the Queen and thereby Canning was strengthened. On 16 March 1821 Canning spoke in favour of William Plunket's Catholic Emancipation Bill. Liverpool wished to have Canning back in the Cabinet but

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4914-501: The British fleet began bombarding Copenhagen until when at 7 pm on 5 September the Danes requested a truce. On 7 September the Danes agreed to hand over their navy (18 ships of the line, 15 frigates and 31 smaller ships) and naval stores and the British agreed to evacuate Zealand within six weeks. On 16 September Canning received the news with relief and excitement: "Did I not tell you we would save Plumstead from bombardment?" he wrote to

5031-625: The Countries Comprehended between the Black Sea and the Caspian , published anonymously in 1788, but almost certainly by Ellis; and The History of the Dutch Revolution (1789), which had the unusual distinction of being translated into French by the future king Louis XVIII . In 1793, Malmesbury turned Tory and entered Pitt's government, and Ellis followed him, becoming a close friend of

5148-511: The Danish fleet sent by the British envoy at Copenhagen. Canning replied with a speech nearly three hours long, described by Lord Palmerston as "so powerful that it gave a decisive turn to the debate". Lord Grey said his speech was "eloquent and powerful" but that he had never heard such "audacious misrepresentation" and "positive falsehood". On 2 March the opposition moved a vote of censure over Copenhagen, defeated by 224 votes to 64 after Canning gave

5265-792: The Door of the Cell in Newgate, where Mrs. Brownrigg, the Prentice-cide, was confined previous to her Execution”—a response to Southey's lines from “For the Apartment in Chepstow Castle where Henry Marten the Regicide was imprisoned for thirty years”. This piece had been considered an idealistic, republican, and well-written Jacobin piece. Canning replaces the main character, Marten, with the character Elizabeth Brownrigg, who

5382-669: The English beau monde but even at Versailles , where Horace Walpole noted that Ellis was "a favourite". He went on to contribute to the anti- Pitt satirical work, The Rolliad (1784–85). Ellis bought The Cedars , a prominent house in Sunninghill, Berkshire from the politician John Yorke . When his father, also named George, died young, the slave estates of the young George Ellis were run by his paternal uncle John Ellis. However, George would later complain to his maternal uncle, Edward Long, about John's avarice. George favoured leasing

5499-466: The French revolutionaries' principles and motifs. Another Southey work was satirized by Canning, Frere, Gifford and Ellis in "Poetry of the New Morality". This piece, in the style of Pope's "Dunciad", appeared in the last issue of the Anti-Jacobin. “Like that of Byron after them, the parody and satire of the contributors to the Anti-Jacobin is the voice of a vibrant neo-classicism, engaging in debate with

5616-662: The French sphere of influence, and in this he was successful. He helped guarantee the independence of Brazil and the Spanish colonies, thereby acting in support of the Monroe Doctrine and aiding British merchants to open new markets across South and Central America. Britain had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, and opening the newly independent Latin American colonies to its trade. The Latin Americans received

5733-407: The House of Commons (1822–1827). King George IV disliked Canning and there were efforts to frustrate his foreign policies. Canning gained much public support for his policies. The historian Paul Hayes argues that he achieved several diplomatic coups in relations with Spain and Portugal, by helping to guarantee the independence of the American colonies of Portugal and Spain . His policies ensured

5850-541: The King was strongly hostile to him due to his actions over the Caroline affair. The King would only allow Canning back into the Cabinet if he did not have to deal personally with him. This required the office of Governor-General of India. After deliberating on whether to accept, Canning initially declined the offer but then accepted it. On 25 April he spoke in the Commons against Lord John Russell 's motion for parliamentary reform and

5967-565: The Lake in the Quarterly Review , though he was more critical of The Lord of the Isles there. Scott wrote two cantos of Marmion at Ellis's home, The Cedars , at Sunninghill , on the edge of Windsor Great Park , and dedicated one of them to him, calling Ellis "My guide, my pattern, and my friend", and addressing him, Thou, who can give to lightest lay, An unpedantic moral gay, Nor less

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6084-563: The Navy (1804–1806) under William Pitt the Younger . Canning was foreign secretary (1807–1809) under the Duke of Portland . Canning was the dominant figure in the cabinet and directed the Battle of Copenhagen , the seizure of the Danish fleet in 1807 to assure Britain's naval supremacy over Napoleon . In 1809, he was wounded in a duel with his rival Lord Castlereagh and was shortly thereafter passed over as

6201-435: The Navy . In 1805 he offered Pitt his resignation after Addington was given a seat in the Cabinet. He wrote to Lady Hester to say he felt humiliated that Addington was a minister "and I am – nothing. I cannot help it, I cannot face the House of Commons or walk the streets in this state of things, as I am". After reading this letter Pitt summoned Canning to London for a meeting, where he told him that if he resigned it would open

6318-508: The Netherlands. The government became increasingly paralysed in disputes between the two men. Portland was in deteriorating health and gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation unless Castlereagh were removed and replaced by Lord Wellesley . Portland secretly agreed to make this change when it would be possible. Castlereagh discovered the deal in September 1809 and challenged Canning to

6435-524: The Pittite faction that allowed him influence over its policies along with repeated promotions in the Cabinet. Over time, Canning became a prominent public speaker as well, and was one of the first politicians to campaign heavily in the country. As a result of his charisma and promise, Canning early on drew to himself a circle of supporters who would become known as the Canningites . Conversely though, Canning had

6552-470: The Reverend William Leigh. On 24 September he wrote to George Rose : "Nothing was ever more brilliant, more salutary or more effectual than the success [at Copenhagen]". On 30 September he wrote Lord Boringdon that he hoped Copenhagen would " stun Russia into her sense again". Canning wrote to Gower on 2 October 1807: "We are hated throughout Europe and that hate must be cured by fear". After

6669-523: The Time of Shakspeare: With Notes (1808), all under the imprint of Ellis's publisher, Longman . His second project, a collaboration with Gregory Lewis Way, was an edition of a number of 12th- and 13th-century French fabliaux , taken from the collection edited by Pierre Jean Baptiste Legrand d'Aussy. Ellis provided the preface, notes and appendix, Way the translations, and woodcuts were commissioned from Thomas Bewick and other engravers. Ellis's contribution

6786-494: The Tories gave point to a Whig sarcasm,—that men had often turned their coats, but this was the first time a boy had turned his jacket." So when Canning decided to enter politics, he sought and received the patronage of the leader of the "Tory" group, William Pitt the Younger . In 1793, thanks to the help of Pitt, Canning became a member of parliament for Newtown on the Isle of Wight ,

6903-469: The Tsar a great naval combination against Britain, of which Denmark and Portugal would be members. On 30 July a military force 25,000 strong set sail for Denmark, with Francis Jackson travelling the day after. Canning instructed Jackson that his overriding aim was to secure the possession of the Danish navy by offering the Danes a treaty of alliance and mutual defence whereby they would be given back their fleet at

7020-401: The United Kingdom for the last 119 days of his life, from April to August 1827. The son of an actress and a failed businessman and lawyer , Canning was supported financially by his uncle, Stratford Canning, which allowed him to attend Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford . Canning entered politics in 1793 and rose rapidly. He was Paymaster of the Forces (1800–1801) and Treasurer of

7137-449: The abolition of slavery. Canning continued many of Castlereagh's foreign policies, such as the view that the powers of Europe (Russia, France, etc.) should not be allowed to meddle in the affairs of other states. This policy enhanced public opinion of Canning as a liberal. He also prevented the United States from opening trade with the British West Indies. Canning signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 which resolved outstanding matters from

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7254-567: The aggression will justify us fully ... I am therefore quite easy as to the morality and political wisdom of our plan". Napoleon had on 31 July instructed his foreign minister, Talleyrand , to inform the Danes that if they did not wish for Holstein to be invaded and occupied by Jean Bernadotte they must prepare for war against Britain. Canning wrote to his wife on 1 August: "Now for the execution and I confess to my own love, I wake an hour or two earlier than I ought to, thinking of this execution. I could not sleep after asses' milk today, thought I

7371-417: The appearance of the Anti-Jacobin all the eloquence (except for Burke's) and all the wit and ridicule had been on the side of Fox and Sheridan. Canning and his friends changed this. A young Whig, William Lamb (the future Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister) wrote an 'Epistle to the Editors of the Anti-Jacobin' , which attacked Canning: Who e'er ye are, all hail! – whether the skill Of youthful CANNING guides

7488-451: The best ever heard on any occasion". He resigned his position at the Foreign Office on 1 April 1799. Canning was involved in the founding of the Anti-Jacobin , a newspaper which was published every Monday from 20 November 1797 to 9 July 1798. Its purpose was to support the government and condemn revolutionary doctrines through news and poetry, much of it written by Canning. Canning's poetry satirised and ridiculed Jacobin poetry. Before

7605-444: The bibliophile Francis Douce and by a new friend, the poet Walter Scott . Scott was preparing his own edition of the Middle English Sir Tristrem , and the two antiquaries exchanged a stream of enthusiastic letters, helping each other through the difficulties of their researches. Ellis explained to Scott his preference for readability over scholarly rigour thus: A library is like a butcher's shop: it contains plenty of meat, but it

7722-459: The conversers he had ever known, but his undoubted social graces did not charm everyone. Robert Southey thought Ellis had "a little too much of the air of high life, a little too much of the conversationist ... and something in his manners which showed, or seemed to show, that it was a condescension in him to be a man of letters." The bibliographer Samuel Egerton Brydges ' memories of him were of "an elegant versifier and writer, but not deep; he

7839-449: The death of Pitt; he was not offered a place in Lord Grenville's administration. Canning was appointed foreign secretary in the new government of the Duke of Portland in 1807. Given key responsibilities for the country's diplomacy in the Napoleonic Wars , he was responsible for planning the attack on Copenhagen in September 1807, much of which he undertook at his country estate, South Hill Park at Easthampstead in Berkshire. After

7956-418: The defeat of Prussia by the French, the neutrality of Denmark looked increasingly fragile. Canning was worried that Denmark might, under French pressure, become hostile to Britain. On the night of 21/22 July 1807 Canning received intelligence directly from Tilsit (where Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I of Russia were negotiating a treaty ) which appeared "to rest on good authority" that Napoleon had proposed to

8073-412: The dullest theme bid flit, On wings of unexpected wit; In letters as in life approved, Example honoured, and beloved George Ellis died on 10 April 1815. George and his wife Anne did not have any surviving children, and his Jamaican sugar estates and slaves passed to his cousin Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford , the son of his uncle John Ellis. In his journal Scott ranked Ellis first among all

8190-433: The end of the war. On 31 July Canning wrote to his wife: "The anxious interval between this day and the hearing the result of his [Jackson's] expedition will be long and painful indeed. Long, I mean, in feeling . In fact, it will be about a fortnight or three weeks ... I think we have made success almost certain. But the measure is a bold one and if it fails – why we must be impeached I suppose – and dearest dear will have

8307-403: The feelings of that man, who can view the peoples of the Netherlands driven into insurrection, and struggling for their freedom against the heavy hand of a merciless tyranny, without entertaining any suspicion of what may be the sense of the word deliverance. Does such a man contemplate Holland groaning under arbitrary oppressions and exactions? Does he turn his eyes to Spain trembling at the nod of

8424-400: The following of a nation; he must endure the attachment of a people whom he has saved." In private Canning was fearful that if Pitt did not return to power, Fox would: "Sooner or later he must act or the country is gone." Canning approved of the declaration of war against France on 18 May 1803. Canning was angered by Pitt's desire not to proactively work to turn out the ministry but support

8541-469: The form of abstracts with numerous extracts. In this way he produced a work calculated to appeal to the reading public at large rather than to antiquarian specialists. Ellis included versions of eighteen Middle English romances, including the Stanzaic Morte Arthur , Guy of Warwick , Beves of Hamtoun , Sir Isumbras , Sir Eglamour of Artois and Amis and Amiloun , as well as eight of

8658-581: The good and the fears of the wise Shall turn to the Pilot that weathered the Storm. In November Canning spoke out openly in support of Pitt in the Commons. One observer thought that Canning made incomparably the best speech and that his defence of Pitt's administration "one of the best things, either argumentatively as to matter, or critically and to manner and style" that he could ever remember. On 8 December Sheridan spoke out in defence of Addington and denied that Pitt

8775-415: The home of his uncle, who provided him with an income and an education. Stratford Canning's financial support allowed the young Canning to study at Hyde Abbey School , Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford . Canning came out top of the school at Eton and left at the age of seventeen. His time at Eton has been described as "a triumph almost without parallel. He proved a brilliant classicist , came top of

8892-405: The idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along." Kingdoms rise and fall due to what degree they are upheld "not by well-meaning endeavours ... but by commanding, over-awing talents ... retreat and withdraw as much as he will, he must not hope to efface the memory of his past services from the gratitude of his country; he cannot withdraw himself from

9009-462: The island. The threat that it could be populated by slaves like other West Indian islands was real. Canning instead wanted it to have a military post and that it should be settled with ex-soldiers, free blacks and creoles, with the Native American population protected and helped. He also asserted that the island should be used to test the theory that better methods of cultivation in land would lessen

9126-572: The killing of the king Louis XVI of France , the expulsion of the nobles, and the Reign of Terror . Great Britain went to war against Revolutionary France. Conservatives castigated every radical opinion in Great Britain as "Jacobin" (in reference to the leaders of the Terror ), warning that radicalism threatened an upheaval of British society. The Anti-Jacobin sentiment was expressed in print. William Gifford

9243-633: The latter days When Christ shall come, and all things be fulfilled. Canning wrote: For one long Term, or e’er her trial came, Here BROWNRIGG linger’d. Often have these cells Echoed her blasphemies, as with shirll voice She screamed for fresh Geneva. No to her Did the blithe fields of Tothill, or thy street, St. Giles, its fair varieties expand; Till at the last in slow-drawn cart she went To execution. Dost thou ask her crime? SHE WHIPP’D TWO FEMALE ‘PRENTICES TO DEATH, AND HID THEM IN THE COAL-HOLE. For her mind Shap’d strictest plans of discipline. Sage schemes! Such as LYCURGUS taught, when at

9360-455: The mind of the people right upon every subject." One of Canning's biographers described its purpose as to "...deride and refute the ideas of the Jacobins , present the government's point of view on the issues of the day and expose the misinformation and misinterpretation which filled the opposition newspapers." In its first issue Canning said he and his friends: ...avow ourselves to be partial to

9477-587: The ministry when it adopted sound policies. However, in 1804, to Canning's delight, Pitt began to work against the Addington government. After Pitt delivered a stinging attack on the government's defence measures on 25 April, Canning launched his own attack on Addington, which made Addington furious. On 30 April Lord Eldon , the Lord Chancellor, asked Pitt to submit a new administration to the King. Canning returned to office in 1804 with Pitt, becoming Treasurer of

9594-428: The name of England from his heart...": No – through th'extended globe his feelings run As broad and general as th'unbounded sun! No narrow bigot he ; – his reason'd view Thy interests, England, ranks with thine, Peru! France at our doors, he sees no danger nigh, But heaves for Turkey's woes the impartial sigh; A steady patriot of the world alone, The friend of every country – but his own. To publicise

9711-489: The nearby village of Burbage , where he took up residence in a house along Church Street, which in later years the house would become ‘Burbage Constitutional Club’. In 1814 Canning became the British Ambassador to Portugal , recently liberated from the French by Wellington's forces. He returned to Britain the following year. He received several further offers of office from Liverpool. In 1816 he became President of

9828-425: The need for slaves. Addington acceded to Canning's demands and the Reverend William Leigh believed Canning had saved 750,000 lives. At a dinner to celebrate Pitt's birthday in 1802, Canning wrote the song "The Pilot that Weathered the Storm", performed by a tenor from Drury Lane, Charles Dignum : And oh! if again the rude whirlwind should rise, The dawnings of peace should fresh darkness deform, The regrets of

9945-466: The new spirit of age”. Although the Anti-Jacobin satirized many poetic works well-known at the time, some of them benefited from the attention. According to Dorothy Marshall, Erasmus Darwin's “Love of the Vegetables” and Payne Knight's “Progress of Civil Society” would probably have been lost to history if the Anti-Jacobin's witty satire had not been written. Similarly, Erasmus Darwin's “The Botanic Garden”

10062-406: The news of Russia's declaration of war against Britain reached London on 2 December, Canning wrote to Lord Boringdon two days later: "The Peace of Tilsit you see is come out. We did not want any more case for Copenhagen; but if we had, this gives it us". On 3 February 1808, the opposition leader George Ponsonby requested the publication of all information on the strength and battle-worthiness of

10179-601: The periodical. The Anti-Jacobin satirized many famous poets, scientists, philosophers, politicians, explorers, pedagogues, and demagogues. "It was to its satire that it owed both its influence and its fame, and of this satire much was in verse, some of the most telling poems being from Canning’s pen", (Marshall 179). These groups and individuals included: the French and their British allies, radicals, William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Robert Southey , Erasmus Darwin , Thomas Paine , William Godwin , and Mary Wollstonecraft . Styles of poetry that were commonly mocked in

10296-704: The previous treaty intended to redistribute colonies formerly administered by the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies, which had been seized during the Napoleonic Wars by the British East India Company owing to Britain's position in the wake of the Napoleonic conquest of the Netherlands of recognising its holdings as hostile territory; the most violent conquest resulting from this policy

10413-594: The ranc'rous quill; With powers mechanic far above his age, Adapts the paragraph and fills the page; Measures the column, mends what e'er's amiss, Rejects THAT letter, and accepts of THIS; In 1799 Canning became a commissioner of the Board of Control for India. Canning wrote on 16 April: "Here I am immersed in papers, of which I do not yet comprehend three words in succession; but I shall get at their meaning by degrees and at my leisure. No such hard work here as at my former office. No attendance but when I like it, when there are interesting letters received from India (as

10530-473: The ratification of commercial treaties with Britain. In November 1825 the first minister from a Latin American state, Colombia, was officially received in London. "Spanish America is free," Canning declared, "and if we do not mismanage our affairs she is English ... the New World established and if we do not throw it away, ours." Also in 1825, Portugal recognised Brazil (thanks to Canning's efforts, and in return for

10647-415: The real, imminent and awful danger which threatens us." Also, he objected to the notion that Britain could choose between greatness and happiness: "The choice is not in our power. We have ... no refuge in littleness. We must maintain ourselves what we are, or cease to have a political existence worth preserving." Furthermore, he openly declared for Pitt and said: "Away with the cant of 'measures, not men.,

10764-506: The rising young politician George Canning . Ellis was elected in 1796 as an MP for both Westbury and Seaford , and chose to sit for Seaford. However, he is not known to have spoken in the House of Commons . In 1796 and 1797, he assisted Malmesbury in peace negotiations with France. On his return to England, he joined Canning and William Gifford in founding the Tory newspaper The Anti-Jacobin , and

10881-481: The school, and excelled at public orations". Canning struck up friendships with the future Lord Liverpool as well as with Granville Leveson-Gower and John Hookham Frere . In 1789 he won a prize for his Latin poem The Pilgrimage to Mecca which he recited in Oxford Theatre. Canning began practising law after receiving his BA from Oxford in the summer of 1791, but he wished to enter politics. Stratford Canning

10998-530: The services which Ellis rendered to literature by the publication of this work. The interminable ballad romances of the middle ages had daunted all but the few initiated; but then, as if by magic, they became the friends and companions of thousands. Ellis, in fact, did for ancient romance what Percy had previously accomplished for early poetry. Scott reviewed the Romances favourably, commenting on their wit and elegance, and Ellis responded by praising The Lady of

11115-516: The shrine Of the Orthyan Goddess he bade flog The little Spartans; such as erst chastised Our MILTON, when at College. For this act Did BROWNRIGG swing. Harsh Laws! But time shall Come When France shall reign, and Laws be all repealed! Through parodies such as “For the Door of the Cell in Newgate, where Mrs. Brownrigg, the Prentice-cide, was confined previous to her Execution,” Canning and other contributors felt that they were exposing

11232-413: The sufferings of Switzerland, and who derives from that sight no idea of what is meant by the deliverance of Europe. I do not envy the feelings of that man, who can look without emotion at Italy – plundered, insulted, trampled upon, exhausted, covered with ridicule, and horror, and devastation – who can look at all this, and be at a loss to guess what is meant by the deliverance of Europe? As little do I envy

11349-425: The sun’s delightful beams; Save when through you high bars he pour’d a sad And broken splendour. Dost thou ask his crime? He had rebelled against a King, and sat In judgment on him: for his ardent mind Shap’d goodliest plans of happiness on earth, And peace and liberty. Wild dreams! but such As Plato lov’d; such as with holy zeal Our Milton worshipp’d. Blessed hopes! A while From man with-held, e'en to

11466-465: The time. Indeed, when in 1827 it looked as if Canning would become prime minister, Lord Grey remarked that "the son of an actress is, ipso facto , disqualified from becoming Prime Minister". Because Canning showed unusual intelligence and promise at an early age, family friends persuaded his uncle, London merchant Stratford Canning (father of the diplomat Stratford Canning ), to become his nephew's guardian. George Canning grew up with his cousins at

11583-402: The values of the French Revolution in a long poem, New Morality , published in the last issue of the Anti-Jacobin (No. 36, 9 July 1798). Canning considered these values as "French philanthropy" that professed a love of all mankind whilst eradicating every patriotic impulse. He described anyone in Great Britain who held these values as a "pedant prig" who "...disowns a Briton's part, And plucks

11700-406: The wealthy landed aristocracy in league with the newly rich industrialist classes. Regardless, along with Whigs such as Burke, Canning himself would become considerably more conservative in the early 1790s after witnessing the excessive radicalism of the French Revolution . "The political reaction which then followed swept the young man to the opposite extreme; and his vehemence for monarchy and

11817-437: Was a Whig and would introduce his nephew in the 1780s to prominent Whigs such as Charles James Fox , Edmund Burke , and Richard Brinsley Sheridan . George Canning's friendship with Sheridan would last for the remainder of Sheridan's life. George Canning's impoverished background and limited financial resources, however, made unlikely a bright political future in a Whig party whose political ranks were led mostly by members of

11934-545: Was a frequent contributor of satirical pieces to it. In 1801 he married Anne, daughter of Admiral Sir Peter Parker , but they had no children. In the general election of the following year, he declined to stand, perhaps because of increasing ill-health, and he never again stood for Parliament . Ellis's first work of literary antiquarianism was his Specimens of the Early English Poets (1790). In its first edition this anthology only included lyric poems dating from

12051-423: Was a gentleman of limited means, a failed wine merchant and lawyer, who renounced his right to inherit the family estate in exchange for payment of his substantial debts. George Sr. eventually abandoned the family and died in poverty on 11 April 1771, his son's first birthday, in London. Canning's mother, Mary Ann Costello , who was also Irish , took work as a stage actress, a profession not considered respectable at

12168-420: Was a man of the world,– of very polished manners,– but a coxcomb and a petit maître ". Ellis's epitaph, written by George Canning, includes these lines: His Knowledge was various profound and accurate; and he imparted it without effort or ostentation. His Wit illuminated every object which it touched, but its brilliancy though powerful was unoffending. In the maturity of literary excellence he listened with

12285-500: Was brought to England in 1755, and according to the ODNB educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge . He soon made a name for himself in Whig society as a young man of wit, charm and literary talent. Ellis published two volumes of light verse, Bath; Its Beauties and Amusements (1777) and Poetical Tales of Gregory Gander (1778), which gained great popularity not just in

12402-442: Was chosen to succeed him as prime minister, ahead of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel . Both of them declined to serve under Canning and the Tories split between Peel and Wellington's Ultra-Tories and the Canningites . Canning then invited several Whigs to join his cabinet. His health collapsed, and he died of pneumonia at Chiswick House on 8 August 1827, whilst still in office. His tenure of 119 days in office made him

12519-747: Was imitated by several writers connected with the Lake School . Robert Southey intended his Specimens of the Later English Poets, with Preliminary Notices (1807) as a sequel to Ellis's work, and it was followed by George Burnett 's Specimens of English Prose-Writers, from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches Biographical and Literary (1807), and Charles Lamb 's Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, Who Lived about

12636-511: Was its editor. Its first issue was published on 20 November 1797 and during the parliamentary session of 1797–98 it was issued every Monday. The Anti-Jacobin was planned by Canning when he was Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs . He secured the collaboration of George Ellis , John Hookham Frere , William Gifford , and some others. William Gifford was appointed working editor. Canning founded it, in his words, "...to be full of sound reasoning, good principles, and good jokes and to set

12753-481: Was later praised in The Gentleman's Magazine as including "some of the purest and most classical passages of Addisonian composition which this age has produced". The two volumes of Fabliaux, or Tales were published in 1796 and 1800, and a three-volume edition, with corrections, appeared in 1815. Ellis was a natural collaborator, but some of his ventures around this time did not reach completion. He worked on

12870-504: Was lost at sea in 1782, George took control of his slave plantations in Jamaica, but did not pursue his original objective to lease Caymanas. In 1784, he was employed as an aide by his friend the Whig diplomat Sir James Harris (later Lord Malmesbury), with whom he travelled widely on the Continent. Taking advantage of his experience of diplomacy, he produced two prose works: Memoir of a Map of

12987-495: Was not in bed till 1/2 p. 2". On 25 August he wrote to Granville Leveson-Gower : "The suspense is, as you may well imagine, agitating and painful in the extreme; but I have an undiminished confidence as to the result, either by force or by treaty. The latter however is so infinitely preferable to the former that the doubt whether it has been successful is of itself almost as anxious as if the whole depended on it alone". On 2 September, after Jackson's negotiations proved unsuccessful,

13104-511: Was popularized by the work the Newgate Calendar. In this piece of literature, Brownrigg is depicted as a villain who awaits screams, curses, and demands for a strong drink before her execution. For instance, Southey wrote: For thirty years secluded from mankind Here Marten linger’d. Often have these walls Echoed his footsteps, as with even tread He pac’d around his prison: not to him Did Nature’s fair varieties exist; He never saw

13221-534: Was reluctant to serve in any government with Castlereagh. Castlereagh was appointed foreign secretary by Liverpool, replacing Wellesley who had resigned. Castlereagh remained in the post until his suicide in 1822, overseeing British participation in the final years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna which redrew the map of Europe. In April 1811, George moved the family from Castle Hill House in Hinckley to

13338-667: Was ruled directly by the EIC from that point on, with the former arrangement of equal control between Sultan Hussein Shah , Temenggong Abdul Rahman and Resident of Singapore William Farquhar declared null and void in its aftermath. During his first period in the Foreign Office (1807–1809), Canning became deeply involved in the affairs of Spain, Portugal and Latin America. In his second term of office, he sought to prevent South America from coming into

13455-555: Was the 1811 invasion of Java led by Stamford Raffles . After the war, Raffles' extra-legal establishment of a trading post in Singapore , a vassal of the Dutch-backed Johor Sultanate , formed the flashpoint for the 1824 renegotiation. This treaty's impact has lasted until the present day, with the established borders essentially being those between the modern nation-states of Malaysia and Indonesia ; Singapore also

13572-462: Was the average size of a family—and added 32,500 based on the assumption that many readers lent their copies to their poorer neighbours. The Anti-Jacobin consisted of 36 issues printed from 20 November 1797 until 9 July 1798. These 36 issues amounted to only 288 pages; however, the Anti-Jacobin is considered one of the most influential and effective periodicals published for both literature and politics. There are two significant stylistic features of

13689-484: Was the only man who could save the country. Canning replied by criticising the Addington government's foreign policy and claimed that the House should recognise the greatness of the country and Pitt, who ought to be its leader. He argued against those, such as William Wilberforce , who held that Britain could safely maintain a policy of isolation: "Let us consider the state of the world as it is, not as we fancy it ought to be. Let us not seek to hide from our own eyes ...

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