_Hatchford, November 8th._--Granville made a speech in defence of Canning, at a dinner given at the Mansion House to the Duke of Cambridge. He writes me word it was 'rather uphill work,' and I was told it was not very well received, but nevertheless it produced an effect, and it acted as a check upon the 'Times,' which without retracting (which it never does) has considerably mitigated its violence. It was the first word that has been said for Canning in public, and it has evidently been of great use to him. The most interesting event during the last few days is the failure of the attempted launch of the big ship (now called 'Leviathan),' and it is not a little remarkable that all the _great_ experiments recently made have proved failures. Besides this one of the ship, there was a few weeks ago the cracking of the bell (Big Ben) for the Houses of Parliament, and not long before that the failure of the submarine telegraph in the attempt to lay it down in the sea. The bell will probably be replaced without much difficulty, but it is at present doubtful whether it will be found possible to launch the ship at all, and whether the telegraphic cable can ever be completed. _November 10th._--Palmerston pronounced a glowing eulogium on Canning last night at the Lord Mayor's dinner, which will infallibly stop the current of abuse against him. It has already turned the 'Times.' He seems to have been induced to do this by the great pressure brought to bear on him, for otherwise he had no desire to stand forth and oppose public opinion and the press; but Clarendon, Lansdowne, and others all urged him strenuously to support Canning, and he did it handsomely enough. His speech in other respects was an injudicious one, full of _jactance_ and bow-wow, but well enough calculated to draw cheers from a miscellaneous audience. [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S SPEECH AT THE MANSION HOUSE.]