Ibrahim was staining his victories in the Morea by gross excesses which Canning more than once declared to the Porte it was impossible for the western powers to endure. In April 1826 the Duke of Wellington signed a protocol at St. Petersburg, according to which England and Russia agreed to offer their mediation to Turkey on the condition that Greece should remain a tributary but otherwise independent state, acknowledging only the suzerainty of the Sultan (much like Egypt); the Porte being informed at the same time that, in case of its refusal, the christian powers would withdraw their ambassadors from Constantinople, and would ‘look to Greece with an eye of favour, and with a disposition to seize the first occasion of recognising, as an independent state, such portion of her territory as should have freed itself from Turkish dominion, provided that such state should have shown itself substantially capable of maintaining an independent existence, of carrying on a government of its own, of controlling its own military and naval forces, and of being responsible to other nations for the observance of international laws and the discharge of international duties.’
The refusal of Austria and Prussia, however, to concur in the protocol rendered the first menace unavailing, while the failure of any part of Greece to comply with the conditions essential to the acknowledgment of its independence equally neutralised the second. Turkey rejected the proposals altogether, the result being that the protocol was converted into the treaty of London, signed by England, France, and Russia on 27 July 1827, the terms of which were nearly the same as those of the protocol, with the exception of a secret article, on the right interpretation of which a great deal of controversy has hung. It was resolved by the signatory powers that the Porte should be required to agree to an armistice in order to give time for the quarrel to be composed by amicable negotiation. The secret article provided that, if within a month's time the Porte did not accede to this proposal, the allies should take the necessary measures for establishing an armistice of themselves, and putting an end to the barbarities and also the piracies by which the contest was disfigured, but in such a manner, nevertheless, as might not amount to a breach of their friendly relations with the Porte. Canning had always been careful to repudiate any intention of using force. As late as 4 Sept. 1826 he wrote to Prince Lieven that the ‘continuance of a contest so ferocious, and leading to excesses of piracy and plunder so intolerable to civilised Europe … did justify extraordinary intervention and render lawful any expedients short of positive hostility.’ It is clear then that Canning saw in his own mind some plain distinction between the use of force to prevent one country from making war upon another, and making war upon either of them ourselves. The ‘high powers’ were to use all the means ‘which circumstances should suggest to their prudence, to obtain the immediate effects of the armistice,’ but ‘without taking part in the hostilities between the contending parties.’ It is certain that from first to last Canning had no idea of going to war with Turkey to compel her to acknowledge the independence of Greece. It is equally certain that he must have contemplated the possibility of firing on her ships and soldiers if she persisted in her efforts to put down the insurrection. How he could have done the one without doing the other it is not very easy to understand, nor shall we now ever learn. To the great misfortune of this country he died little more than four weeks after the signature of the treaty.
We must now retrace our steps for a short distance to the time when it became known that Lord Liverpool would be unable to resume his duties at the treasury. On 5 Jan. 1827 the Duke of York died, and was buried by night in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The members of the cabinet who attended dined at Canon Long's, and afterwards proceeded to the chapel, where they were kept waiting for two hours standing on the cold flagstones in very bitter weather. Canning made Lord Eldon stand upon his cocked hat, but he took no such precaution himself, and the result was a cold, from which he never entirely recovered. A few days afterwards he went with his private secretary to Bath on a visit to Lord Liverpool, who was there for the benefit of his health, and Stapleton records the delightful dinners they used to have when, on the pretext of amusing the youngster, the two old college friends told stories of their own youth which were evidently, he says, quite as entertaining to the old as to the young. From Bath, Canning went to stay with Huskisson at Eastham, where he was obliged to pass a day in bed, and on arriving at Brighton became so seriously ill that Stapleton thought it his duty at once to communicate with Lord Liverpool. It was while reading one of these letters, on 17 Feb. 1827, that Lord Liverpool was seized with a fit, and on Canning's partial recovery, as soon as it was seen that further delay was useless, he had an interview with the king to consult on the formation of a new ministry.
