[Nothing which Lord Palmerston ever said or did made more for his
popularity and reputation than the closing passage of his speech
in the Commons in the "Don Pacifico" debate in June, 1850. He had
been speaking for five hours, and it was almost morning when he
flung out these high-spirited words.]
I believe I have now gone through all the heads of the charges
which have been brought against me in this debate. I think I have
shown that the foreign policy of the government in all the
transactions with respect to which its conduct has been impugned,
has throughout been guided by those principles which, according
to the resolution of the honorable and learned gentleman, ought
to regulate the conduct of the government of England in the
management of our foreign affairs. I believe that the principles
on which we have acted are those which are held by the great mass
of the people of this country. I am convinced these principles
are calculated, so far as the influence of England may properly
be exercised with respect to the destinies of other countries, to
conduce to the maintenance of peace, to the advancement of
civilization, to the welfare and happiness of mankind.
I do not complain of the conduct of those who have made these
matters the means of attack upon her Majesty's ministers. The
government of a great country like this is, undoubtedly, an
object of fair and legitimate ambition to men of all shades of
opinion. It is a noble thing to be allowed to guide the policy
and to influence the destiny of such a country; and if ever it
was an object of honorable ambition, more than ever must it be so
at the moment at which I am speaking. For while we have seen, as
stated by the right honorable baronet, the political earthquake
rocking Europe from side to side; while we have seen thrones
shaken, shattered, leveled, institutions overthrown and
destroyed; while in almost every country of Europe the conflict
of civil war has deluged the land with blood, from the Atlantic
to the Black Sea, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, this
country has presented a spectacle honorable to the people of
England and worthy of the admiration of mankind.
We have shown that liberty is compatible with order; that
individual freedom is reconcilable with obedience to the law. We
have shown the example of a nation in which every class of
society accepts with cheerfulness the lot which Providence has
assigned to it, while at the same time every individual of each
class is constantly striving to raise himself in the social scale
not by injustice and wrong, not by violence and illegality, but
by persevering good conduct, and by the steady and energetic
exertion of the moral and intellectual faculties with which his
Creator has endowed him. To govern such a people as this is
indeed an object worthy of the ambition of the noblest man who
lives in the land, and therefore I find no fault with those who
may think any opportunity a fair one for endeavoring to place
themselves in so distinguished and honorable a position; but I
contend that we have not in our foreign policy done anything to
forfeit the confidence of the country. We may not, perhaps, in
this matter or in that, have acted precisely up to the opinions
of one person or of another; and hard indeed it is, as we all
know by our individual and private experience, to find any number
of men agreeing entirely in any matter on which they may not be
equally possessed of the details of the facts, circumstances,
reasons, and conditions which led to action. But making allowance
for those differences of opinion which may fairly and honorably
arise among those who concur in general views, I maintain that
the principles which can be traced through all our foreign
transactions, as the guiding rule and directing spirit of our
proceedings, are such as deserve approbation.
I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this House, as
representing a political, a commercial, a constitutional country,
is to give on the question now brought before it-whether the
principles on which the foreign policy of her Majesty's
government has been conducted, and the sense of duty which has
led us to think ourselves bound to afford protection to our
fellow-subjects abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those
who are charged with the government of England; and whether, as
the Roman in days of old held himself free from indignity when he
could say, Civis Romanus sum, so also a British subject, in
whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful
eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against
injustice and wrong.