Talk:Castlereagh–Canning duel/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: Michael G. Lind (talk · contribs) 23:13, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Tim riley (talk · contribs) 09:59, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Starting first read-through. Tim riley talk 09:59, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Initial comments after first read-through

• First, and most important, the article is written in a mishmash of AmE and BrE – mostly the former. It should all be in BrE: see MOS:TIES. At present we have behavior, favor, favorite, fulfill, honor, skepticism, theater, and any number of –ize endings. (This is not necessarily a comprehensive list – just the ones I spotted.) (Later: forgot to add dueling/duelling and variations thereof.)
• It would be helpful to your readers to explain why Lord Castlereagh was not in the Lords but was in the Commons.

Individual points

• Prime Minister Portland – WP:FALSETITLE – you wouldn't say "Good morning, Prime Minister Portland". .
• King George III and other members of the cabinet:
  • ambiguous: George III was not a member of the cabinet.
  • You are inconsistent throughout the article on whether to capitalise "cabinet" or not. Likewise the job titles of cabinet ministers.
• the ascension of Spencer Perceval as the new prime minister: unexpected and rather odd use of "ascension".
• due to his humble origins – In AmE "due to" is accepted as a compound preposition on a par with "owing to", but in BrE it is not universally so regarded. "Owing to" or, better, "because of" is safer.
• Aside from Pitt – the usual BrE is "apart from".
• He also assumed control of the War Office – sounds like a coup. Do you mean Pitt appointed him as Secretary of State for War?
• After Fox' death – needs a possessive apostrophe.
• Grenvilles scheme .. Grenvilles offer – ditto.
• The real figures of importance were a foursome of Pittites: – if this sentence is intended to refer to Castlereagh, Canning, Perceval and Hawkesbury in the following paragraph you need to make that clear by reformatting.
• inherited the title Earl of Liverpool in 1808 after the death of his father, with which he became famous) – he was famous with the death of his father?
• Despite his own significant internal criticism – meaning unclear. Do you mean Canning was under criticism in Britain? And "significant" is a word to be used with care. This is from Gowers: This is a good and useful word, but it has a special flavour of its own and it should not be thoughtlessly used as a mere variant of important, considerable, appreciable, or quite large ... it ought to be used only where there is a ready answer to the reader's unspoken question 'Significant, is it? And what does it signify?'.
• Canning and Castlereagh also increasingly disagreed about the optimal strategic approach – is "optimal" here just a pretentious way of saying "best"?
• military pressure on the ally Austria – whose ally?
• Prime Minister Portland – another false title.
• During Easter recess only a few days later – a definite article before "Easter" would be usual.
• he met with Portland – in BrE one meets with disaster, triumph etc but when it's people one merely meets them.
• prevent the ascension of the talented Canning – another ascension: getting needlessly Messianic, perhaps?
• He did not trust Canning as he had earlier supported Catholic emancipation – who had? Canning or George?
• Canning, who observed the country in a state of imminent peril – I think you may mean he regarded the country as in that state.
• renewed his demands at Portland – curious choice of preposition: one would expect "to" here.
• on the verge of a negative turn – fancy way of saying "on the verge of going badly".
• Prime Minister Portland – false title again.
• he argued against the next prime minister from the House of Lords – needs clarity. You mean he argued against having the next PM in the Lords.
• Douglas Hurd also perceived Canning's actions – we could do with a word or so of introduction explaining why we should be interested in what Hurd says.
• Within days, he ultimately demanded – the adverb doesn't work if, as I take it, you mean his demand was an ultimatum.
• duels still occurred on a regular basis – you mean "regularly".
• Fox supporter George Tierney – another false title.
• The leading Whig, Charles Grey, saw Castlereagh – as I take this to be a restrictive rather than a non-restrictive phrase you don't want the commas, I think, otherwise Grey is the one and only leading Whig, which I don't think you mean.
• King George III was amused to be informed by Canning – unclear why this amused the King.
• With Canning and Castlereagh now on the backbenches – two points here. First, unless I've missed it (a possibility not to be ruled out) there is no previous mention that Canning and Castlereagh had left the government by this point, and secondly either here or preferably at earlier mention you might explain for non-British readers what the backbenches are.
• came to an agreement with Castlereagh to serve as the new foreign secretary – this needs redrawing for clarity: they came to an agreement that C would serve as the new foreign secretary.
• two distinguished Cambridge historians – we could do without the adjective: see MOS:PEACOCK.
• and forbade Castlereagh to be privy to the discussions – he didn't forbid Castlereagh, but rather forbade everyone else to tell Castlereagh about the discussion.
• as a partially irrational act – can one be partially irrational?
• Castlereagh's career would have been over. Less driven by ambition than Canning, he had taken the loss of his office in stride. – You've told us this before.

Over to you. I can't promote the article to GA with the prose in such need of attention, but I look forward to seeing it in better shape. I'll put the review on hold for a week to give you time to address these points. Tim riley talk 12:30, 6 October 2024 (UTC)