Leader (1850-1860), 29th June 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 315, Untitled Article

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  into prison like a common malefactor without redress ? In his conduct towards Greece Lord Palmerston could not have taken more effectual measures to extinguish British influence in the Levant and to extend that of Russia had he been really a foreign Minister . Reviewing his policy in the affairs of Switzerland and of Italy , he asked how that policy had conduced to the honour and dignity of England , or even to the extension of liberal principles .
  
  Mr . Anstey spoke chiefly in vindication of Lord P almerston , but could not vote in favour of the motion , because instead of conveying a direct negative to the resolution of the Lords , it travelled over the whole question of foreign policy , and involved an affirmation of every act of diplomacy since the accession of the present Ministry to power . This entire approval he declared himself unable to give ; and , in address the various
  
  after detailing a very prolonged incidents which had transpired during the last six years in the intercourse between the Foreign Secretary and other powers , he admitted that to all that had taken place since February , 1848 , he could accord a sincere concurrence , but could notjoininthe approbation expressed in the resolution a 3 to the previous policy . IJnder this divergent impulse , therefore , he felt it to be his duty to vote neither way .
  
  Mr . Cochranb accused Lord Palmerston of having been , not only a revolutionary propagandist , but of having acted with bad faith towards every nation of Europe . His policy was anything but English , being based upon oppression of the weak and concession to the strong . Lord PAiiMERSTON , who was received with a burst of enthusiastic cheering when he rose to address the House , commenced by insisting upon the importance of the question , which concerned , not merely the tenure of office by an individual or a Government , but involved principles of national policy , and the interests , honour , and dignity of this country . He observed that those who had thought themselves
  
  strong enough to try to take the Government by storm ought not to have been content with obtaining an expression of the opinion of the House of Lords ; it was either their duty to have sent down the resolution for the concurrence of this House , or those connected with the party there should have proposed a confirmation of the resolution . However , the question now was whether this House would adopt the resolution , which involved the future and the past , laying down for the future a principle of national policy which he considered totally incompatible with the interests ,
  
  rights , and honour of this country , and the happiness of other countries . The principle , which the person who moved it was obliged to modify , was that British subjects in foreign lands were entitled to nothing but the protection of the laws and tribunals of the country in which they might happen to be , and were not to look for any protection from their own country ; and the House of Lords had not limited this principle to constitutional countries . He denied this doctrine , which was a doctrine upon which no English Minister had acted , and the people of England would never suffer contendedhow
  
  any Minister to act upon it . He , - ever , tor no such principle as that British subjects in foreign countries were to be above the laws . In the first instance , they were bound to have recourse to the laws of the land ; but there might be cases in which the tribunals were not of a character to inspire confidence , and the rule would not apply to despotic or nominally constitutional Governments . He then gave a brief history of Greece under King Otho , and endeavoured to explain how its want of a constitution had led to many abuses . This was followed by another complete account of the Greek quarrel , the last fourteen
  
  through all its meanderings for years . Turning to the claim founded upon individual wrongs , he observed that the ridicule that had been lavished upo n them , though much more convenient than argument , was worthy neither of those by whom , towards whom , or before whom it was offered . He then went through the details of those occurrences , and contended that the claims were at all events well founded in principle , while justice was so long delayed or so industriously baffled as to justify the Government in taking them up . In this contingency the coercive measures were ordered , and Sir W . Parker received instructions accordingly . With respect to the
  
  mediation of France and the proceedings arising out of it , great stress had been laid upon his not sending out on the 9 th of April , to Mr . Wyse , information as to the arrangement with M . Drouyn de Lhuys ; but this had already been rendered unnecessary , for on the 25 th of March he had sent Mr . Wyse instructions , which , if acted upon in the spirit in which they were sent , would have answered precisely the same purpose . He denied that Mr . Wyse had received any information on the 24 th of April from Baron Gros , apprising him of the convention of London . It was admitted by the French Government that Baron Gros himself had not then received information of that convention , and the fact was . that until the 2 nd of May , Mr , Wyse
  
  ] had not known of it , so that he was fully exculpated j from the charge of having used force after he knew that in London pacific terms had been agreed to . It was , therefore , Baron Gros who withdrew , generally and officially , from his mission . He proposed afterwards to retract this withdrawal . Mr . Wyse made a proposal to test his sincerity of intention in such latter proposition , and met with a refusal . A private negotiation between Baron Gros and the Greek Government procured still further indulgences from Mr . Wyse ; but all proving in vain , Mr . Wyse , at last , took the only step that remained . Lord Palmerston then said that negotiations had since gone on between France and England , which , he was happy to say , had terminated satisfactorily , on the basis of adhering to such part of the London convention as was still available . He then went over the various points of our foreign policy on which Sir James Graham had founded his condemnation of Ministers , contending that in every case he had acted rightly , and that the result had justified the wisdom of the course taken . In that part of his speech where he referred to France he said : — " They had been told that from the question about the Spanish marriages arose differences between the two Governments of France and England , and between two men in those Governments , which , according to the right honourable baronet , led to the overthrow of the French monarchy . Here , again , comes that fancy for narrowing great and national questions down to the smallest of personal differences . It is said that it was my dislike of M . Guizot , arising out of the occurrences of his Administration , which overthrew the throne of France . { Hear , hear . ) What will the French nation say , that high-minded and spirited nation , full of the sense of their own dignity and value , when they hear it stated in the British House of Parliament that it was in the power of a British Minister to overthrow their Government ? { Hear , hear . ) Why , sir , it is a calumny upon the French nation to suppose that personal dislike on the part of any foreigner to one of their Ministers could have that effect . They are a brave , a generous , a noble-minded people ; and if they thought that a knot of foreign conspirators were caballing against one of their Ministers—{ loud cheers )—and for no other reason than that he thought he had promoted the interests of his own country—{ hear , hear )—and if , moreover , they thought that that knot of foreign conspirators had coadjutors in their own land—(/ tear , hear )—I say that the French , who are a brave , noble , and spirited people , would scorn to be thus led , and would only cling the closer to and protect the more , the man against whom such attacks were made . { Hear , hear . ) Therefore , I say , that if the French had thought that I , or any English Minister , wanted to overthrow M . Guizot , so far from that accomplishing its purpose , it would have rendered him stronger and more firm in the post he occupied . " { Hear , hear . ) As to the charge brought against him and his colleagues of having acted the part of propagandists in Italy , during the last two years , he went on to say ; — " "We are accused of being abettors , and supporters , and encouragers of revolution . It has been the fate of all men who advocate temporary changes and conditional improvements to be designated as the champion of revolution . { Hear , hear , and loud cheers . ) It is the easiest way of putting them down . It is the established doctrine of those who are the advocates of arbitrary governments never to mind the real revolutionists ; the dangerous men are the moderate reformers . { Cheers . ) The best way of setting the world against him is by calling him a revolutionist . ( Cheers . ) But there are revolutionists of two kinds . There are those violent , hotheaded , and unthinking men , who fly to arms to overthrow an established government without any regard to the consequences , and without measuring the difficulties which they have to surmount , or comparing their strength with those with whom they have to compete , and who inundate their country with , blood , and draw down immeasurable calamities on their fellow-countrymen . { Cheers . ) There are those of another kind ; blindminded men who , animated by antiquated prejudices , dam up the current of human improvement , until the irresistible operation of accumulated discontent breaks down the opposing barriers , and overthrows and levels to the earth those very institutions which the timely application of renovating moans would render strong and wholesome . { Loud cheers . ) Such , sir , are the revolutionists who call us revolutionists . " { Cheers . ) In conclusion ( having spoken uninterruptedly for four hours and three-quarters ) he said that he had , he thought , disposed of the charges hitherto brought against him . The principles , on which he had acted , were , he believed , those of the mass of the English people , and were the principles of humanity , of advancement , and of civilization . He did not complain of the assaults upon him , for a position in the Government of this country was alwuys an object of laudable ambition , and never so much so as now ; when almost every country in Europe had been agitated into bloodshed , England stood alone , a proud example of liberty combined with order . But , contending that in the foreign policy of the Government nothing had been done to forfeit the confidence of the country , he fearlessly challenged the ve rdict of the House . Tremendous and reiterated cheering followed the close of the speech . On the motion of Sir John Walsh the debate was adjourned till Thursday , and the House adjourned at half-past two .
  
  The adjourned debate on Mr . Roebuck s resolution , with respect to the foreign policy ^ of the Government , was resumed on Thursday evening by Sir J . Walsh , who , although he could not agree with any portion of the policy of Lord Palmerston , could not withhold his unbounded admiration of the speech he had delivered , which was an extraordinary effort of parliamentary eloquence and talent . He dissented from the principle laid down by the noble lord , exonerating British subjects residing in foreign countries from implicit reliance upon the laws of
  
  those countries . Such a principle was calculated to lead to dangerous misunderstandings and collisions with foreign states , and could not be generally insisted on without constantly endangering the peace of Europe . After going at considerable length into an investigation of the claims against Greece , and insisting that that country had great reason and justice on her side in resisting them , he condemned the mission of Lord Minto to Italy , and contended that the policy of the noble lord was not only offensive to foreign nations , but also very injurious to the best interests of his own . Under these circumstances he
  
  certainly could not concur in any vote testifying an approval of the noble lord ' s foreign policy , which had not only involved this country in many calamities , but had very much tended to weaken her influence with the rest of Europe . He -feared that , if the House agreed to the vote approving of the foreign policy of the noble lord , the consequence would be that those feelings of irritation and animosity which at present exist would not be confined to courts and governments , to ministers , or ex-ministers , or expectant ministers , but would embrace whole populations , or at least such portions of them as are desirous of resisting the progress of anarchy and revolution ; and that at no distant time we might find ourselves no longer passive but in active hostility to the whole civilised world .
  
  Sir H . Verney rejoiced at the proposition put forward by the honourable and learned member for Sheffield , for he believed that the speech drawn from the noble lord the other night would be attended with the best results , not only to every Englishman abroad , but to every one interested in commercial transactions . So far from thinking that the course pursued by the noble lord was calculated to lead to war or revolution , he believed that it was most conducive to the peace and happiness of mankind all over the civilised world .
  
  Sir R . Inglis said he would have felt some difficulty in coming to the vote which he was about to give upon the question had it been confined to the policy of Government with respect to Greece : but the resolution went the whole length of approving of the whole foreign policy of the Government in every particular , and to such a resolution he was not prepared to accede . He deprecated the speech of Lord John Russell in reply to the question of Mr . Roebuck , as implying that it was the opinion of the noble lord that in this country , as well as in Australia , a single chamber would be more beneficial inion which
  
  than two Legislative Assemblies—an op he would say the noble lord had not exercised his usual discretion in giving utterance to . The speech of Lord Palmerston he believed to be the greatest display of . power which had ever been heard within the walls of that House , and , feeling indebted to the noble lord for his successful efforts in checking the slave trade , it was with great pain he felt called upon to withhold from him his vote in approbation of his conduct . He could not approve of his foreign policy generally , and he also felt that even in the case of the slave trade the noble lord had , while suppressing it with the one hand , been supporting it by a
  
  mischievous policy with the other . The Marquis of Gkanby did not consider Lord Palmerston ' s explanations satisfactory with respect either to Greece , or Italy , or Switzerland , and as he could not approve of the general foreign policy of the Government , he should vote against the motion . Sir William Molesworth said that those who applauded the rule of policy laid down by Lord Palmerston shrank from pushing his lordship ' s doctrines to their legitimate conclusion . This would be the making the Foreign Secretary of England the chief policeman in each foreign land to which Englishmen might stray . Lord Palmerston had quoted a classical ed that ho wished to
  
  expression , and had signifi place the Englishman on the same footing as the ancient Roman , but he forgot that the Roman spoken of was really the master of the world . If we claimed that position , what fleets , what armies , and what taxes would be necessary to preserve it ! lie objected to the propagandist system which made us the political pedugogues of the world , and caused us to be hated wherever our name was known . As regarded the results of this motion he was not terrified by the fear of Ministers going out of office , for he believed that her Majesty had as efficient subjects elsewhere ; nor was he afraid of a dissolution , for he was a supporter of triennial Parliaments , and this one had already
  
  lasted threo years . " But it is said some of us will lose our scats ; so much the better ; for the assumption proves that we do not represent the people . { Hear , hear . ) These picas and pretexts for voting against one's principles are well
  
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  Jcwe 29 , 1850 . ] < Ef ) £ 3 Leatjer . 315
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- Leader (1850-1860), June 29, 1850, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1844/page/3/

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