Stratford Canning (1786-1880)
1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe
" . . . Stratford has been called the last of the great English ambassadors, and great indeed he was if measured merely by the authority he wielded in Turkey at intervals during half a century. A long official career at Constantinople (he was secretary to a commission sent there in 1808 and Ambassador as early as 1825) allowed him able scope to indulge his naturally autocratic inclinations; advancing age (for he was seventy in 1856) seemed only to increase his energy and industry; whilst his sense of honour in dealing with the Turks, together with his customary practice of combining personal feeling with official business, won from the Turkish Ministers a respectful deference not uncoupled with fear. His long ascendancy at the Porte must be attributed largely to his gifts and faults of character and personality: a fine physique, a commanding presence and a temper which rarely brooked opposition to his will---all were qualities which impressed the Oriental mind." (East: 99)
the Pretty
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