religion, and participation in the previous insurrections of the Greeks, afforded the emperor of Russia a pretext for assuming the exclusive tutelage. Mr. Canning, to guard against this, whilst he should rescue Greece, proposed a combined mediation by England, France, and Russia; and the duke of Wellington, charged with a special mission, signed a protocol with this view, in April, 1826, at St. Petersburgh. It was not, however, until the 6th of July in the following year, that the treaty of London, for an armed mediation between the Turks and Greeks was signed by the English, French, and Russian ministers. In the autumn of 1827, the allied squadrons constituted an imposing force in the Levant and the Archipelago, and endeavoured to give effect to the treaty of London. But the treaty was urged in vain by the ambassadors upon the divan, and by the allied admirals upon the Turkish commanders. Ibrahim continued and aggravated his atrocities in the Morea. The combined Egyptian and Turkish fleets were collected in the bay of Navarino, and blocked in there by the combined English, French, and Russian squadrons - the two latter respectively commanded by admirals Rigny and Heyden, and the whole commanded in chief by sir Edward Codrington. The Greeks accepted the armistice under the treaty. Ibrahim refused it, and continued to burn villages and put all to the sword. The allied admirals determined to enforce the armistice, and in order "to impose by their presence," pressed into the bay of Navarino upon the Ottoman fleet, on the 20th of October. A battle seemed inevitable yet each

side professed to have no hostile intention. The fire commenced by a few shots, said to be accidental; continued without plan or concert until it became general; and after four hours' fighting the bay was covered with the wreck of the Turkish and Egyptian ships. The news of the disaster did not dismay the sultan, or even ruffle his temper. He demanded reparation; and, with an approach to civilised usages, allowed the Christian ambassadors to depart in safety.

No amendment was proposed in the house of lords, and the debate was desultory. Lord Londonderry pronounced a panegyric upon the new military premier, who, he said, would "cut off the unsound parts if the dry rot should attack his government." The address was passed also in the house of commons without amendment or division. In this, as in the other house, the chief topic was the battle of Navarino, with the exception of some remarks, at once rhetorical and profound, which were drawn from Mr. Brougham by the phenomenon of a military prime minister.* It was on this occasion he used the phrase "the schoolmaster is abroad," which has penetrated wherever the English language is read or spoken. "These," said he, "are not times when the soldier only bears sway. A new power has arisen. The schoolmaster is abroad. I trust to him and to his primer, and do not fear the soldier with his bayonet."

In this, as in the former instance of ministerial change, all the chief actors entered into explana-.

*The duke of Wellington resigned the command of the army to his favourite Peninsular lieutenant, lord Hill.

tions, of which, as before, the main points have been anticipated. One incident only has been omitted as personal to Mr. Huskisson, and subsequent to the change. Mr. Huskisson declared, in an election speech at Liverpool, that before he joined the duke of Wellington he obtained "guarantees" from the duke. Upon the appearance of this expression in the newspapers, the duke of Wellington took fire, negatived the assertion with contemptuous indignation in his place in the house of lords, and asked what right Mr. Huskisson had to set himself above any other member of the cabinet. Mr. Huskisson received the rebuke with discreditable submission, and said, that when he used the word guarantee, he meant only the security of having his friends lord Dudley, lord Palmerston, and Mr. C. Grant with him in the cabinet. The explanation was pitiful.

That committee of finance, of which the chairmanship had proved so fatal, was in the mean time appointed on the motion of Mr. Peel, the leader in the house of commons. He introduced his motion with a comprehensive financial statement, from which it appeared that a reduction of forty-eight millions and a half in the debt, funded and unfunded, had taken place since 1815, and that the actual capital of the unredeemed debt was 777,476,000l. labours of this committee were multifarious and important; and it reported several suggestions for the advantage of the public in the course of the session.

The

The widow of Mr. Canning received a peerage. When the estimates of the year were presented, it

was proposed that a pension of 30007.

year should

be granted to his second son as a provision for his family. The second son was preferred, from the perils to which the elder was exposed in the naval、 service.* The grant was agreed to by the great body of the house of commons. The opposition to it was ungracious and unjust. Mr. Canning had spent, not only his life, but his wife's fortune, the inheritance of his children, in the public service. It should be known, in justice to those who hold the higher offices under the crown, that their salaries fall short of the expenses to which they are subjected by the manners of the country, and a mischievous convention. This gorgeous scale of living has the double effect of giving an example and impulse to extravagance through every department of the public service, and of securing-perhaps by design-to private wealth, a monopoly of administration. A man vigilantly prudent might, perhaps, have lived within his income in Mr. Canning's situation; and it is known that he had no prodigal or expensive tastes; but it is also known that he had that utter carelessness of money through which fortune is not less effectually dissipated.

The duke of Wellington was not long minister when he met with a defeat. On the 26th of February, lord John Russell introduced, with an able speech, the consideration of the sacramental test and corporation acts, and moved that they should be referred to a committee of the whole house,

* Captain Canning was, not long afterwards, accidentally drowned.

with a view to their repeal. Arguments in favour of religious liberty have no longer any interest, when the conquest has been achieved; and those used in support of "the bulwarks of the church" would now be read with pity. In spite of the whole force and influence of ministers, including the ministerial emancipationists, the motion was carried by a majority of 237 to 193. This was a serious check soon after the opening of the campaign. Nothing remained for the ministers but to surrender their opinions or their places. They thought it their duty to keep their places, even at the sacrifice of their private opinions. Mr. Peel declared that he could not think of pressing his opinion against that of the majority, and joined lord John Russell in the profane work of rasing "the bulwarks of the church." An idle declaration to keep the peace towards the established church was introduced in the repeal bill, which was sent up as a cabinet measure to the house of lords. Supported by the prime minister, it was approved by the lords spiritual, but opposed by lord Eldon, who declared that, much as he had heard of "the march of mind," he never expected to see it march into their lordships' house, with the duke of Wellington and the bishops consenting parties." For my part," said his lordship, "I will not give up the church: let that be the work of others; whether within or without the church I care not." After several attempts in the committee, to narrow the principle, and catch the conscience of the declarant under the bill, it passed, without opposition, through its remaining stages. The duke of Wellington recovered ground by the