based upon morality. I do not care for military greatness or military
renown. I care for the condition of the people among whom I live.
There is no man in England who is less likely to speak irreverently
of the Crown and Monarchy of England than I am; but crowns, coronets,
mitres, military display, the pomp of war, wide colonies, and a huge
empire, are, in my view, all trifles light as air, and not worth
considering, unless with them you can have a fair share of comfort,
contentment, and happiness among the great body of the people.
Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, stately mansions, do not make
a nation. The nation in every country dwells in the cottage; and
unless the light of your constitution can shine there, unless the
beauty of your legislation and the excellence of your statesmanship
are impressed there on the feelings and condition of the people, rely
upon it you have yet to learn the duties of government.
I have not, as you have observed, pleaded that this country should
remain without adequate and scientific means of defence. I acknowledge
it to be the duty of your statesmen, acting upon the known opinions
and principles of ninety-nine out of every hundred persons in the
country, at all times, with all possible moderation, but with all
possible efficiency, to take steps which shall preserve order within
and on the confines of your kingdom. But I shall repudiate and
denounce the expenditure of every shilling, the engagement of
every man, the employment of every ship which has no object but
intermeddling in the affairs of other countries, and endeavouring to
extend the boundaries of an empire which is already large enough to
satisfy the greatest ambition, and I fear is much too large for the
highest statesmanship to which any man has yet attained.
The most ancient of profane historians has told us that the Scythians
of his time were a very warlike people, and that they elevated an old
scimitar upon a platform as a symbol of Mars, for to Mars alone, I
believe, they built altars and offered sacrifices. To this scimitar
they offered sacrifices of horses and cattle, the main wealth of the
country, and more costly sacrifices than to all the rest of their
gods. I often ask myself whether we are at all advanced in one respect
beyond those Scythians. What are our contributions to charity,
to education, to morality, to religion, to justice, and to civil
government, when compared with the wealth we expend in sacrifices
to the old scimitar? Two nights ago I addressed in this hall a vast
assembly composed to a great extent of your countrymen who have no
political power, who are at work from the dawn of the day to the
evening, and who have therefore limited means of informing themselves
on these great subjects. Now I am privileged to speak to a somewhat
different audience. You represent those of your great community who
have a more complete education, who have on some points greater
intelligence, and in whose hands reside the power and influence of the
district. I am speaking, too, within the hearing of those whose gentle
nature, whose finer instincts, whose purer minds, have not suffered as
some of us have suffered in the turmoil and strife of life. You can
mould opinion, you can create political power. You cannot think a good
thought on this subject and communicate it to your neighbours, you
cannot make these points topics of discussion in your social circles
and more general meetings, without affecting sensibly and speedily the
course which the Government of your country will pursue. May I ask
you, then, to believe, as I do most devoutly believe, that the moral
law was not written for men alone in their individual character, but
that it was written as well for nations, and for nations great as this
of which we are citizens. If nations reject and deride that moral law,
there is a penalty which will inevitably follow. It may not come at
once, it may not come in our lifetime; but, rely upon it, the great
Italian is not a poet only, but a prophet, when he says:
The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite,
Nor yet doth linger.
We have experience, we have beacons, we have landmarks enough. We
know what the past has cost us, we know how much and how far we have
wandered, but we are not left without a guide. It is true we have not,
as an ancient people had, Urim and Thummim--those oraculous gems
on Aaron's breast--from which to take counsel, but we have the
unchangeable and eternal principles of the moral law to guide us, and
only so far as we walk by that guidance can we be permanently a great
nation, or our people a happy people.
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE
AUGUST 8 AND 10, 1870
THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM
Sir, in view of the approaching prorogation of Parliament, I am
anxious to state at as early a period as possible that Her Majesty's
Government are not in a position to lay further papers upon the table
relating to the subject alluded to in the Question of the hon. member
for Wakefield (Mr. Somerset Beaumont). Knowing well the anxiety which
the House must feel with reference to the course which the Government
intend to follow, I will, in a few sentences, explain to them exactly
what we have done and what we have endeavoured to do. In so doing I
shall confine myself strictly to statements of fact, not mixing up
with them anything in the nature of explanation or defence, if,
indeed, defence be requisite, but will allow such explanation or
defence to stand over until the proper opportunity for making it shall
arrive. On Saturday, the 30th of July, the Government made a proposal
to France and Prussia severally in identical terms, and that proposal
was that an agreement should be contracted by this country with
each of them, whether under the name of a treaty or whatever other
designation might be given to the agreement, to this effect: that if
the armies of either one of the belligerents should, in the course
of the operations of the war, violate the neutrality of Belgium,
as secured by the terms of the Treaty of 1839, this country should
co-operate with the other belligerent in defence of that neutrality
by arms. It was signified in the document so transmitted that
Great Britain would not by that engagement, or by acting upon that
engagement in case of need, be bound to take part in the general
operations of the war. And, of course, the other contracting party was
to enter into a similar undertaking to use force for the preservation
of the neutrality of Belgium against the offending Power. We proposed
that the treaty or engagement--for it has now taken the form of a
treaty--should hold good for twelve months after the ratification of a
treaty of peace between the two belligerent Powers, after which period
it is stipulated that the respective parties, being parties to the
Treaty of 1839, shall fall back upon the obligations they took upon
themselves under that treaty. Briefly stated and divested of all
technical language, that, I think, is the whole of the contents of the
proposed treaty. On the same day--last Saturday week--and two days
before the discussion which occurred in this House in connexion with
foreign affairs, the whole proposal was made known by the British
Government to the Austrian and Russian Governments, and confidence was
expressed that, under the extreme pressure that existed as to time,
those Powers would not hesitate to adopt a similar measure. That is
the course Her Majesty's Government have followed in the matter. Now
as to the reception of this proposal by the other Powers. As far as we
have been informed, the Governments of both Austria and Russia take a
favourable view of the proposal. I will not say that the negotiation
has proceeded so far as to entitle us to regard them as held bound to
a particular course, but, in the main, I may say that the reception
of our proposal has been favourable by both of those Powers. And now,
with regard to the two belligerent Powers. The proposal, having been
sent to Lord Augustus Loftus on the 30th ult., on Friday, the 5th
inst., Count Bernstorff informed Earl Granville that Count Bismarck
had left Berlin for head-quarters, and that, consequently the
communication with him through Lord Augustus Loftus had been delayed.
The terms of the proposed treaty, however, having been communicated on
the same day--Saturday week--to the respective Ambassadors in London,
Count Bernstorff had telegraphed their substance to Count Bismarck,
who had informed him that he had not then received any proposal from
Lord Augustus Loftus, that he was ready to agree to any engagement
that would tend to the maintenance of the neutrality of Belgium; but
that, as the intended instrument was not before him, he could only
give a general assent to its purport, and must not be regarded as
bound to any particular mode of proceeding intended to secure that
neutrality. Count Bernstorff subsequently informed Earl Granville
on the same day, on the 5th of August, that he had received a later
telegram from Count Bismarck to the effect that he had then received a
summary of the draft treaty from him, that he had submitted it to the
King of Prussia, and that he was authorized to state that His Majesty
had agreed to the plan. Later still on the same day Count Bernstorff
informed Earl Granville that Count Bismarck again telegraphed to him
stating that he had seen the actual document, and authorizing him to
sign the treaty. Count Bernstorff has not yet--at least, had not when
I came down to the House--received his full powers in the technical
sense, but he expects to receive them in the course of the day,
and therefore I think that the engagement may be regarded as being
completed on the part of Prussia. Now as regards France. That country
has accepted the principle of the treaty, but the French Government
were desirous to introduce some modifications into the terms of the
instrument that were not of a nature, as we thought, in any degree to
interfere with the substance of the clauses. The House will perceive
that as we had made an identical proposal to the two Powers, it was
impossible for us to undertake to alter the body of the instrument,
for fear the whole arrangements might come to nothing, although
the sole object of the modifications so proposed was to prevent
misunderstanding. We had no difficulty in giving such an explanation
as we thought amounted to no more than a simple and clear
interpretation of the document. That explanation was sent to Paris
on Saturday evening. Perhaps the pressure of affairs in Paris may
naturally account for the fact that an answer did not arrive by return
of post in a regular manner this morning; but we have reason to
believe that this explanation will remove all difficulty on the part
of the French Government and will lead to the signing of the treaty.
Possibly, therefore, even before the termination of the present
sitting it will be in our power to make a further communication to the
House. In the meantime I shall be glad to answer any question, if my
statement has not been sufficiently clear; but, as I said before, I
should wish to refrain from saying more than is absolutely necessary
on the present occasion, and I hope the House will not enter into any
general discussion upon the subject.