SPEECH

OF MR. CANNING ON THE FALL OF BONAPARTE, DELIVERED AT LIVERPOOL, JANUARY 10, 1814.

INTRODUCTION.

MR. CANNING was elected member for Liverpool, in opposition to Mr. Brougham, in the autumn of 1812, and at the end of fourteen months he visited his constituents to congratulate them on the success of the Allies on the Continent, which had filled all England with exultation and triumph.

After the retreat of Bonaparte from Moscow, in the winter of 1812-13, nearly all Europe combined for his overthrow; and though he still maintained the contest, his fall was rendered certain by the advance of an overpowering force from every quarter to invade the French territory.

The speech of Mr. Canning on this occasion, for selectness of thought, for beauty of language, for ardor and enthusiasm, was perhaps superior to any of his productions.

SPEECH, &c.

Alarming pre

have failed.

Perseverance

ples the source

triumpus.

We can not forget, gentlemen, the sinister day in a state of public affairs as doubtful as that omens and awful predictions under in which we took leave of each othdictions which which we met and parted in October, er; if confederated nations had been in these princi1812. The penalty denounced upon still arrayed against this country, and of the present you for your election of me was embarrassment the balance of Europe still trembling to the rich and famine to the poor. I was warned in the scale, I should not have hesitated now, as that, when I should return to renew my acquaint- I did not hesitate then, to declare my decided and ance with my constituents, I should find the grass unalterable opinion, that perseverance, under growing in your streets. In spite of that denun- whatever difficulties, under whatever privations, ciation, you did me the honor to elect me; in spite afforded the only chance of prosperity to you, beof that warning, I venture to meet you here again. cause the only chance of safety to your country; It must be fairly confessed that this is not the sea- and the only chance of safety to the country, beson of the year to estimate correctly the amount cause the only chance of deliverance to Europe. of superfluous and unprofitable vegetation with Gentlemen, I should be ashamed to address you which your streets may be teeming; but, with- now in the tone of triumph, if I had not addressout presuming to limit the power of productive ed you then in that of exhortation. I should be nature, it is at least satisfactory to know that the ashamed to appear before you shouting in the fields have not been starved to clothe your quays train of success, if I had not looked you in the with verdure; that it is not by economizing in face and encouraged you to patience under diffithe scantiness of the harvest that nature has re-culties. It is because my acquaintance with you served her vigor for the pastures of your Exchange.

This failure ow. ing not to the clioice of men,

But, gentlemen, I am sure you feel, with me, that these are topics which I treat with levity only because they are not, nor were, at the time when they were seriously urged, susceptible of a serious argument; they did not furnish grounds on which any man would rest his appeal to your favor, or on which your choice of any man could be justified. If I have condescended to revert to them at all, it is because I would leave none of those recollections untouched which the comparison of our last meeting with the present, I know, suggests to your minds as well as to my own; and because I would, so far as in me lies, endeavor to banish from all future use, by exposing their absurdity, topics which are calculated only to mislead and to inflame. That the seasons would have run their appointed course, that the sun would have shone with as genial a warmth, and the showers would have fallen with as fertilizing a moisture, if you had not chosen me for your representative, is an admission which I make without much apprehension of the consequence. Nor do I wish you to believe that your choice of any other than me would have delayed the return of your prosperity, or prevented the revival of your commerce.

but adherence

ples.

commenced in times of peril and embarrassment, and because I then neither flattered nor deceived you, that I now not only offer to you my congrat ulations, but put in my claim to yours, on the extinction of that peril, on the termination of that embarrassment, and on the glorious issue to which exertion and endurance have brought that great struggle in which our honor and our happiness were involved.

Gentlemen, during the course of a political life, nearly coeval with the commencement of the war, I have never given one vote, I have never uttered one sentiment, which had not for its object the consummation now happily within our view.

I am not ashamed, and it is not unpleasing or unprofitable, to look back upon the Elevated posi dangers which we have passed, and tion of England. to compare them with the scene which now lies before us. We behold a country inferior in population to most of her continental neighbors, but multiplying her faculties and resources by her own activity and enterprise, by the vigor of her Constitution, and by the good sense of her people; we behold her, after standing up against a formidable foe throughout a contest, in the course of which every one of her allies, and at times all of them together, have fainted and failed-nay, have been driven to combine with the enemy against her-we behold her, at this moment, rallying the nations of Europe to one point, and leading them to decisive victory.

I make these admissions without fear, so far as concerns the choice between indito great princi- viduals. But I do not admit that it was equally indifferent upon what If such a picture were merely the bright visprinciples that choice should be determined. Iion of speculative philosophy, if it were presentdo not admit, that if the principles which it was then recommended to you to countenance had unfortunately prevailed in Parliament, and, through the authority of Parliament, had been introduced into the counsels of the country, they would not have interfered with fatal operation, not indeed to arrest the bounty of Providence, to turn back the course of the seasons, and to blast the fertility of the earth, but to stop that current of political events which, "taken at the flood," has placed England at the head of the world.

Gentlemen, if I had met you here again on this

ed to us in the page of the history of ancient times, it would stir and warm the heart. But, gentlemen, this country is our own; and what must be the feelings which arise, on such a review, in the bosom of every son of that country? What must be the feelings of a community such as I am now addressing, which constitutes no insignificant part of the strength of the nation so described; which has suffered largely in her privations, and may hope to participate proportionably in her reward? What (I may be permitted to add) must be the feelings of one who

this has been effected by change of principles, to specify the change. What change of principles or of government has taken place among the nations of Europe? We are the best judges of ourselves-what change has taken place here? Is the Constitution other than it was when we were told (as we often were told in the bad times) that it was a doubt whether it were worth defending? Is the Constitution other than it was when we were warned that peace on any terms must be made, as the only hope of saving it from popular indignation and popular reform ?

achieved

From the contemplation of a spectacle so The consequence mighty and magnificent as this, I of adhering to her should disdain to turn aside to the long-established principles. controversies of party. Of principles, however, it is impossible not to say something; because our triumph would be incomplete, and its blessings might be transient, if we could be led astray by any sophistry; if we could consent, in a sort of compromise of common joy, to forget or to misstate the causes from which that triumph has sprung. All of one mind, I trust and believe we are, in exulting at the success of our country; all of one mind, I trust, we now are throughout this land, in determining to persevere, if need be, in strenuous exertion to prosecute, and I hope, to perfect the great work so happily in progress. But we know that there are some of those who share most heartily in the public exultation, who yet ascribe effects, which happily can not be disputed, to causes which may justly be denied. No tenderness for disappointed prophecies, gentlemen, ought to in-house, as well as in the Senate: I suppose it is duce us thus to disconnect effect and cause. It would lead to errors which might be dangerous, if unwarily adopted and generally received.

These not

pretended,

We have heard, for instance, that the war has now been successful, because the princichanged, as ples on which the war was undertaken during the have been renounced; that we are at contest. length blessed with victory, because we have thrown away the banner under which we entered into the contest; that the contest was commenced with one set of principles, but that the issue has been happily brought about by the adoption of another. Gentlemen, I know of no such change. If we have succeeded, it has not been by the renunciation, but by the prosecution of our principles; if we have succeeded, it has not been by adopting new maxims of policy, but by upholding, under all varieties of difficulty and discouragement, old, established, inviolable principles of conduct.

We are told that this war has of late become But the peo a war of the people, and that by the

ple brought to act with their rulers.

operation of that change alone the power of imperial France has been baffled and overcome. Nations, it is said, have at length made common cause with their sovereigns, in a contest which heretofore had been a contest of sovereigns only. Gentlemen, the fact of the change might be admitted, without, therefore, admitting the argument. It does not follow that the people were not at all times equally interested in the war (as those who think as I do have always contended that they were), because it may be, and must be admitted that the people, in many countries, were for a time deluded. They who argue against us say that jarring interests have been reconciled. We say that gross delusions have been removed. Both admit the fact that sovereigns and their people are identified. But it is for them, who contend that

There is yet another question to be asked. By what power, in what part of the The powers world, has that final blow been struck which have which has smitten the tyrant to the the victory. ground? I suppose, by some enlightened republic; by some recently-regenerated government of pure philanthropy and uncorrupted virtue; I suppose, by some nation which, in the excess of popular freedom, considers even a representative system as defective, unless each individual interferes directly in the national concerns; some nation of enlightened patriots, every man of whom is a politician in the coffee

from some such government as this that the conqueror of autocrats, the sworn destroyer of monarchical England, has met his doom. I look through the European world, gentlemen, in vain : I find there no such august community. But in another hemisphere I do find such a one, which, no doubt, must be the political David by whom the Goliath of Europe has been brought down. What is the name of that glorious republic, to which the gratitude of Europe is eternally due which, from its innate hatred to tyranny, has so perseveringly exerted itself to liberate the world, and at last has successfully closed the contest? Alas, gentlemen, such a republic I do indeed find; and I find it enlisted, and (God be thanked!) enlisted alone, under the banner of the despot. But where was the blow struck? Where? Alas for theory! In the wilds of despotic Russia. It was followed up on the plains of Leipsic by Russian, Prussian, and Austrian arms.

instinctive

But let me not be mistaken. Do I, therefore, mean to contend-do I, therefore, give Patriotism to our antagonists in the argument the active advantage of ascribing to us the base feeling. tenet that an absolute monarchy is better than a free government? God forbid! What I mean is this, that, in appreciating the comparative excellence of political institutions, in estimating the force of national spirit, and the impulses of national feeling, it is idle-it is mere pedantry, to overlook the affections of nature. The order of nature could not subsist among mankind, if there were not an instinctive patriotism; I do not say unconnected with, but prior and para1 This slant at America was, of course, to be ex

pected in time of war, and had quite as little bitter

ness in it as we should naturally look for in a man of Mr. Canning's temperament, at a moment of so much exultation.

Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,
So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar
But bind him to his native mountains more.

mount to, the desire of political amelioration. It I can may be very wrong that it should be so. not help it. Our business is with fact. And surely it is not to be regretted that tyrants and What Goldsmith thus beautifully applied to conquerors should have learned, from the lessons the physical varieties of soil and climate has of experience, that the first consideration sug- been found no less true with respect to political gested to the inhabitant of any country by a institutions. A sober desire of improvement, a foreign invasion, is, not whether the political con- rational endeavor to redress error, and to correct stitution of the state be faultlessly perfect or not, imperfection in the political frame of human sobut whether the altar at which he has worship-ciety, are not only natural, but laudable in man. ed-whether the home in which he has dwelt But it is well that it should have been shown, from his infancy-whether his wife and his chil-by irrefragable proof, that these sentiments, even dren-whether the tombs of his forefathers- where most strongly and most justly felt, superwhether the place of the Sovereign under whom sede not that devotion to native soil which is the he was born, and to whom he, therefore, owes foundation of national independence. And it is (or, if it must be so stated, fancies that he, there- right that it should be understood and rememfore, owes) allegiance, shall be abandoned to vio-bered, that the spirit of national independence lence and profanation.

produced by the French Revolution.

alone, aroused where it had slumbered, enlightThat, in the infancy of the French Revolution, ened where it had been deluded, and kindled Delusion on many nations in Europe were, unfor- into enthusiasm by the insults and outrages of this subject tunately, led to believe and to act upon an all-grasping invader, has been found suffia different persuasion, is undoubtedly cient, without internal changes and compromises true; that whole countries were over- of sovereigns or governments with their people run by reforming conquerors, and flattered them--without relaxations of allegiance and abjuraselves with being proselytes till they found themselves victims. Even in this country, as I have already said, there have been times when we have been called upon to consider whether there was not something at home which must be mended before we could hope to repel a foreign invader with success.

tions of authority, to animate, as with one pervading soul, the different nations of the conti nent; to combine, as into one congenial mass, their various feelings, passions, prejudices; to direct these concentrated energies with one impulse against the common tyrant; and to shake (and, may we not hope? to overthrow) the Babel of his iniquitous power.

But a try

late d

of the war. That this country is sufficient to its own defense, sufficient to its own happiness, sufficient to its own independence; and that the complicated combinations of continental policy are always hazardous to our interests, as wel as burdensome to our means, has been, at severa periods of the war, a favorite doctrine, not only with those who, for other reasons, wished to em

It is fortunate for the world that this question should have been tried, if I may so say, to a dis- Gentlemen, there is another argument, more advantage; that it should have been tried in peculiarly relating to our own councountries where no man in his senses will say try, which has at times been inter- can stand as that the frame of political society is such as, ac-posed to discourage the prosecution cording to the most moderate principles of regulated freedom, it ought to be; where, I will venture to say, without hazarding the imputation of being myself a visionary reformer, political society is not such as, after the successes of this war, and from the happy contagion of the example of Great Britain, it is sure gradually to become. It is fortunate for the world that this question should have been tried on its own mer-barrass the measures of the government, but with its; that, after twenty years of controversy, we should be authorized, by undoubted results, to revert to nature and to truth, and to disentangle the genuine feelings of the heart from the obstructions which a cold, presumptuous, generalizing philosophy had wound around them.

foundation of

men of the most enlightened minds, of the most benevolent views, and the most ardent zeal for the interests as well as the honor of their country. May we not flatter ourselves, that upon this point, also, experience has decided in favor of the course of policy which has been actually pursued?

England

those of ether

One of the most delightful poets of this counA love of one's try, in describing the various propor- Can any man now look back upon the trial native soil the tions of natural blessings and advant- which we have gone through, and The interests of patriotism. ages dispensed by Providence to the maintain that, at any period during various nations of Europe, turns from the luxu- the last twenty years, the plan of in-eted th riant plains and cloudless skies of Italy to the sulated policy could have been adopt- matina rugged mountains of Switzerland, and inquires ed, without having in the event, at this day, whether there, also, in those barren and stormy prostrated England at the foot of a conqueror? regions, the "patriot passion" is found equally Great, indeed, has been the call upon our exerimprinted on the heart? He decides the questions; great, indeed, has been the drain upon our tion truly in the affirmative; and he says, of the resources; long and wearisome has the struggle inhabitant of those bleak wilds, been; and late is the moment at which peace is brought within our reach. But even though the Goldsmith's Traveler.

Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms;
And, as a child, when scaring sounds molest,

difficulties of the contest may have been enhanced, and its duration protracted by it, yet is there any man who seriously doubts whether the having associated our destinies with the destinies of other nations be or be not that which, under the blessing of Providence, has eventually secured the safety of all?

as all schemes of violence naturally terminate, not by a mild and gradual decay, such as waits upon a regular and well-spent life, but by sudden dissolution; at an end, like the breaking up of a winter's frost. But yesterday the whole continent, like a mighty plain covered with one mass of ice, presented to the view a drear expanse of barren uniformity; to-day, the breath of heaven unbinds the earth, the streams begin to flow again, and the intercourse of human kind revives.

Can we regret that we did not, like the fainting traveler, lie down to rest-but, indeed, to perish-under the severity of that inclement season? Did we not more wisely to bear up, and to wait the change?

Right for En

It is at the moment when such a trial has come Peace could not to its issue, that it is fair to ask of have been safe those who have suffered under the ly made at any earlier period. pressure of protracted exertion (and of whom rather than of those who are assembled around me for by whom have such privations been felt more sensibly ?)-it is now, I say, the time to ask whether, at any former period of the contest, such a peace could have been made as would at once have guarded the national inter- Gentlemen, I have said that I should be ashamests and corresponded with the national charac-ed, and in truth I should be So, to adter? I address myself now to such persons only dress you in the language of exultaas think the character of a nation an essential tion, if it were merely for the indulpart of its strength, and consequently of its safe- gence, however legitimate, of an exty. But if, among persons of that description, uberant and ungovernable joy. But they who there be one who with all his zeal for the glory have suffered great privations have a claim not of his country, has yet at times been willing to merely to consolation, but to something more. abandon the contest in mere weariness and de- They are justly to be compensated for what they spair, of such a man I would ask, whether he can have undergone, or lost, or hazarded, by the conindicate the period at which he now wishes that templation of what they have gained. such an abandonment had been consented to by the government and the Parliament of Great Britain?

Not when Bonaparte first

Is it when the continent was at peace-when, looking upon the map of Europe, you saw one mighty and connected sysusurped power. tem, one great luminary, with his attendant satellites circulating around him; at that period could this country have made peace, and have remained at peace for a twelvemonth? What is the answer? Why, that the experiment was tried. The result was the renewal of the war.

prevalence of the continental

gland to exult her long priva

in the results of

tions.

nations of Eu

We have gained, then, a rank and authority in Europe, such as, for the life of the Her pre-emilongest liver of those who now hear nence among the me, must place this country upon an rope. eminence which no probable reverses can shake We have gained, or rather we have recovered, a splendor of military glory, which places us by the side of the greatest military nations in the world. At the beginning of this war, while there was not a British bosom that did not beat with rapture at the exploits of our navy, there were few who would not have been contented to compromise for that reputation alone; to claim the Was it at a later period, when the continental sea as exclusively our province, and to leave to Not during the system had been established? When France and the other continental powers the two thirds of the ports of Europe were struggle for superiority by land. That fabled system. shut against you? When but a sin- deity, whom I see portrayed upon the wall,3 was gle link was wanting to bind the continent in a considered as the exclusive patron of British circling chain of iron, which should exclude you prowess in battle; but in seeming accordance from intercourse with other nations? At that with the beautiful fiction of ancient mythology, moment peace was most earnestly recommended our Neptune, in the heat of contest, smote the to you. At that moment, gentlemen, I first came earth with his trident, and up sprang the fiery among you. At that moment I ventured to rec-war-horse, the emblem of military power. ommend to you perseverance, patient persever- Let Portugal, now led to the pursuit of her ance; and to express a hope that, by the mere flying conquerors-let liberated Spain The benefits strain of an unnatural effort, the massive bonds-let France, invaded in her turn by which she has imposed upon the nations of the continent might, those whom she had overrun or men- gained it. at no distant period, burst asunder. I was heard aced with invasion, attest the triumphs of the by you with indulgence-I know not whether army of Great Britain, and the equality of her with conviction. But is it now to be regretted military with her naval fame. And let those who, that we did not at that moment yield to the even after the triumphs of the Peninsula had bepressure of our wants or of our fears? What gun, while they admitted that we had, indeed, has been the issue? The continental system was wounded the giant in the heel, still deemed the completed, with the sole exception of Russia, in rest of his huge frame invulnerable-let them the year 1812. In that year the pressure upon now behold him reeling under the blows of united this country was undoubtedly painful. Had we nations, and acknowledge at once the might of yielded, the system would have been immortal. British arms and the force of British example. We persevered, and, before the conclusion of another year, the system was at an end: at an end,

A figure of Neptune.

to Europe by