object in the mental vision of all the leading men of his time as in that of his proud mother, or of his adoring family and private friends. His mind and his name did indeed occupy a great space in the world, from the year 1822 till his death; and when he was gone, there was a general sensation of forlornness throughout the nation, which made the thoughtful ponder how such dismay could be caused by the withdrawal of one from amidst its multitude of men.

CHAPTER III.

Lord Goderich, Premier-His Colleagues-Affairs of Greece-Treaty of London-The Porte-The Egyptian Fleet-Battle of NavarinoAmbassadors leave Constantinople-Greek Pirates-Troubles in the Cabinet-Dissolution of the Ministry-Duke of Wellington, Premier.

THE Catholics were now eager to learn their fate; and the nation-indeed many nations-had the strongest interest in knowing whether Mr. Canning's principles were still to reign by the administration of his friends, or whether the old Tories were to return to power. It was soon known that there was still to be a mixed cabinet, under the premiership of Lord Goderich.

Mr. Huskisson, feeble in health, and cast down by the loss of his life-long friend, wished to leave office. He had turned homewards on hearing the bad news, and remained a few days at Paris, partly to await the arrival of the dispatches which were travelling after him, and partly for needful rest. If the Tories should come into power, or if a successor of his own views could be found, he intended to winter in the south of Europe. When his letters arrived, however, he found that he had no choice. The new premier earnestly pressed him to take the colonial office; and the king had emphatically expressed his desire that Mr. Huskisson would return to enter upon his function as soon as possible. Thus, then, it was clear that Mr. Canning's policy was to be in the main pursued, and this was not the

less believed for the Duke of Wellington's returning to the command of the army; for he made an open declaration that he did so for the sake of the public service, and by no means from any sympathy with the proceedings of the cabinet, of whose mixed character he disapproved as much as he had done five months before. He desired to be considered as standing aloof from the policy of the cabinet. Of course, people asked why he could not have held his command in the same way during Mr. Canning's administration; to which he replied by an intimation that there were personal reasons for his secession at that time. The great difficulty was what to do about the office of chancellor of the exchequer, filled by the departed premier. It was declined by two members of the administration, and by Mr. Tierney; and at last it was given-unfortunately as it turned out-to Mr. Herries, who had been secretary of the treasury under Lord Liverpool. If there were before too many conflicting elements in the government to be securely controlled by any hand less masterly than Mr. Canning's, matters were pretty sure to go wrong now, after the admission of a functionary so little powerful in himself, and so little congenial with his colleagues, as Mr. Herries. The Whigs were very near going out at once; but they were persuaded to stay and make a trial. Lord Harrowby yielded his place to the Duke of Portland, Mr. Canning's brother-in-law, who had been lord privy seal; and Lord Carlisle, an excellent moderator and pacificator, succeeded to the Duke of Portland.

This was the third administration which had existed within seven months, and it had no great promise of stability. The recess, however, was before it-the greatest advantage to a new cabinet; and the nation supposed that by the end of the year it would be seen what it was worth; whether it could hold together, and what it proposed to do. By the end of the year the case was indeed plain enough that it was about the weakest administration on record. Difficulties occurred in several departments; but the most confounding were in that of foreign policy. The foreign secretary, Lord Dudley, raised to an earldom in September of this year, was a man of great ability, and much earnestness in his work; and he was fully possessed

with Mr. Canning's views. At a former period, he had suffered under a nervous depression which too clearly indicated the probability of that insanity which ultimately prostrated him; but at this time, he appeared to be capable of business, and to be eccentric in manner only, and not in ways of thinking. Some inconveniences occurred from his singularities, which made it rather a relief when he retired, in May of the next year; but they did not occasion any serious difficulties. He was in the habit of thinking aloud; and, amusing as this might be in cabinet-council, it was dangerous anywhere else; and it is believed that in the autumn we have now arrived at, he directed to the Russian ambassador a letter intended for the French--to Prince Lieven a letter intended for Prince Polignac. Prince Lieven took this for a ruse, and boasted of his penetration in being aware of the trick. It was the state of a portion of our foreign affairs which might have made this accident a most disastrous one. The truth is, the difficulty was great enough, without any aggravation from carelessness and unfortunate accidents.

The aspect of the Greek cause was much altered by the part the ruler of Egypt had been for some time taking in the war. Mohammed Ali, the Pacha of Egypt, a tributary and vassal of the Porte, had brought all his energy, and all his resources, to the aid of his sovereign. Before he did this, the war dragged on, as it might have done for ever, if the parties had been left to their rivalship of weakness. But when the pacha sent his son Ibrahim with ships, troops, money, and valour, to fight against the Greeks, everything was changed. By the end of 1826, the whole of Western Greece was recovered by the Turks; and the Greek government had transferred itself to the islands. Men who find it at all times difficult to agree, are sure to fall out under the provocations of adversity; and the dissensions of the Greek leaders ran higher now than ever. Each was sure that the disasters of the country were owing to some one else. It was this quarrelling which prevented the Greeks from taking advantage of some successes of their brave general Karaiskaki, to attempt the relief of Athens-closely pressed by the Turks. The Turkish force was soon to be strengthened by troops already on their

march; and now, before their arrival, was the time to attempt to relieve Athens. Some aid was sent; and some fighting went on-on the whole with advantage to the Greeks; but nothing decisive was done till Lord Cochrane arrived among them, rated them soundly for their quarrels, and took the command of their vessels-the Greek admiral, Miaulis, being the first and the most willing to put himself under the command of the British officer. In a little while, Count Capo d'Istria, an official esteemed by the Russian government, was appointed president of Greece for seven years. The Turkish reinforcements had arrived, absolutely unopposed, before Athens; and this rendered. necessary the strongest effort that could be made for the deliverance of the place. General Church brought up forces by land, and Lord Cochrane by sea; and by the 1st of May, the flower of the Greek troops, to the number of ten thousand, were assembled before the walls of Athens. It was soon too clear to the British commanders that nothing was to be done with forces so undisciplined and in every way unreliable. The troops of Karaiskaki lost their leader, and incurred disaster by fighting without orders; and then, through a series of mistakes and follies, the issue became hopeless. Between eight and ten o'clock in the morning of the 6th, all was ruined. The killed and wounded of the Greeks amounted to 2500; and the rest were dispersed, like chaff before the wind. Of those who escaped, the greater number took refuge in the mountains. Lord Cochrane was compelled to throw himself into the sea, and swim to his ship. General Church strove hard to maintain his fortified camp at the Phalerus, with 3000 men whom he had collected; but when he found that some of the Greek officers were selling his provisions to the enemy, he gave up, and retired to Egina-sorely grieved, but not in despair. Lord Cochrane kept the sea -generally with his single frigate, the Hellas, contributed to the cause by the United States-and now and then with a few Greek vessels, when their commanders had nothing better to do than to obey orders. He was alone when he took his station off Navarino, to watch the fleet of the Egyptian Ibrahim; and he had better have been alone when he went on to Alexandria, to look after the fleet

which the pacha was preparing there; for, when the Egyptians came out to offer battle, the Greeks made all sail homewards.

The Turks now supposed they had everything in their own hands. On the intervention of the French admiral, De Rigny, they spared the lives of the garrison of the Acropolis, permitting them to march out, without their arms, and go whither they would. Then, all seemed to be over. The Greeks held no strong places but Corinth and Napoli, and had no army; while the Turks held all the strong places but Corinth and Napoli, and had two armies at liberty-that of the Egyptian leader in the west, and of the Turkish seraskier in the east-to put down any attempted rising within the bounds of Greece. But at this moment of extreme humiliation for Greece, aid was preparing; and hope was soon to arise out of despair. While Mr. Canning was fighting his own battles in parliament, he had his eye on what was passing in Greece; and the fall of Athens, and the dispersion of the Greek forces, only strengthened his resolution that the powers of Europe should hasten the interposition he had planned long before.

It was important to Russia that Turkey should be weakened in every possible way; and Russia was therefore on the side of the Greeks. The sympathies of France and England were on the side of the Greeks; but they must also see that Greece should be freed in reality, and that Turkey should not be destroyed; so they were willing to enter into alliance with Russia to part the combatants, preserve both, impose terms upon both, and see that the terms were observed. The Duke of Wellington had gone to St. Petersburg to settle all this; and the ministers of the three courts laid before the government of the Porte at Constantinople, the requisitions of the allies. The great object was to separate the Turks and Greeks-the faithful and the infidels-who could never meet without fighting; and it was proposed, or, we may rather say, ordained by the allies, that all the Turks should leave Greece, receiving compensation, in some way to be devised, for the property they must forsake. The Greeks were to pay a tribute to the Porte, and to be nominally its sub