AND now I will grapple with the noble Lord [Palmerston]① on the ground which he selected for himself, in the most triumphant portion of his speech, by his reference to those emphatic words, Civis Romanus sum .② He vaunted, amidst the cheers of his supporters, that under his administration an Englishman should be throughout the world what the citizen of Rome had been. What then, sir, was a Roman citizen? He was the member of a privileged caste; he belonged to a conquering race, -to a nation that held all others bound down by the strong arm of power. For him there was to be an exceptional system of law; for him principles were to be asserted, and by him rights were to be enjoyed, that were denied to the rest of the world.
Is such, then, the view of the noble lord, as to the relation that is to subsist between England and other countries? Does he make the claim for us, that we are to be uplifted on a platform high above the standing-ground of all other nations? It is, indeed, too clear, not only from the expressions, but from the whole spirit of the speech of the noble Viscount, that too much of this notion is lurking in his mind; that he adopts in part that vain conception, that we, forsooth, have a mission to be the censors of vice and folly, of abuse and imperfection among the other countries of the world; that we are to be the universal schoolmasters; and that all those who hesitate to recognize our office can be governed only by prejudice or personal animosity, and should have the blind war of diplomacy forthwith declared against them……Sir, the English people, whom we are here to represent, are indeed a great and noble people; but it adds nothing to their greatness or their nobleness, that, when we assemble inthis place, we should trumpet forth our virtues in elaborate panegyrics, and designate those who may not be wholly of our mind as a knot of foreign conspirators. Now, the policy of the noble lord tends to encourage and confirm in us that which is our besetting fault and weakness, both as a nation and as individuals. Let an Englishman travel where he will as a private person, he is found in general to be upright, high-minded, brave, liberal, and true: but with all this, foreigners are too often sensible of something that galls them in his presence; and I apprehend it is because he has too great a tendency to self-esteem-too little disposition to regard the feelings, the habits, and the ideas of others.
I doubt not that use will be made of our present debate to work upon this peculiar weakness of the English mind. The people will be told that those who oppose the motion are governed by personal motives, have no regard for public principle, no enlarged ideas of national policy. You will take your case before a favourable jury, and you think to gain your verdict; but, sir, let the House of Commons be warned-let it warn itself-against all illusions. There is in this case also a course of appeal. There is an appeal, such as one honourable and learned member has already made, from the one House of Parliament to the other. There is a further appeal from this House of Parliament to the people of England. But, lastly, there is also an appeal from the people of England to the general sentiment of the civilized world; and I, for my part, am of opinion that England will stand shorn of a chief part of her glory and her pride, if she shall be found to have separated herself, through the policy she pursues abroad, from the moral support which the general and fixed convictions of mankind afford-if the day shall come in which she may continue to excite the wonder and the fear of other nations, but in which she shall have no part in their affections and their regard.
- WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE
NOTES
① Lord Palmerston.-Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston, one of the most successful foreign ministers of England. He was a member of nearly every Liberal Government from 1809 till his death in 1865. His firm and decided policy made the name of England be respected all over the world. Mr. Gladstone contends in this speech that the tendency of Lord Palmerston"s policy was to make England be regarded with fear rather than with affection. The occasion of the speech was a rupture with Greece in 1850. Some British subjects in Athens having suffered loss by the violence of a mob, compensation was demanded. When this was refused, Admiral Parker, with the Mediterranean fleet, was ordered to blockade the Pir?us, the port of Athens-a step which led to the debate in Parliament.
② Civis Romanus sum-I am a Roman citizen.
③ William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of England from 1868 till 1874, from 1880 till 1885, again in 1886, and a fourth time in 1892. He entered public life as a follower of Sir Robert Peel, under whom he took office in 1834. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1852 till 1855, and again from 1859 till 1866. The fiscal reforms accomplished during these years raised him to the first rank as a finance minister.
