AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
The political campaign of the session might be said to have opened on the 4th of February, when Lord Stanley demanded explanations from ministers in reference to the affairs of Greece. The Marquis of Lansdowne gave a clear, temperate, and just exposition of the facts, and of the policy of the government. Lord Aberdeen animadverted upon that policy in a manner that was deficient in all those qualities which characterized the speech of the ministerial leader. It was neither clear, temperate, nor just.
In the commons, Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Milner Gibson, both addressed demands for explanation, Mr. Disraeli in the interest of the tory opposition, and Mr. Gibson in the interest of the “Peace at all price” party, as a certain knot of gentlemen in the house was designated. The answers of Lord Palmerston were lucid and statesman-like; his opponents were no more than children in his hands. He had neither the eloquence of Disraeli, nor the assurance, which ignorance alone can supply, possessed by Mr. Milner Gibson, who, whatever his merits, was innocent of all knowledge, for good or evil, on subjects of foreign policy; but his lordship showed his perfect cognizance of all the bearings of the dispute, of international law, and of the policy which his country could alone pursue, with honour to herself, and justice to her injured subjects.
So long as the Greek question remained open both these sections of opponents tormented the ministry, and when, on the 15th of May, the French ambassador suddenly left London, a perfect storm of hostility fell upon the cabinet. Lord Palmerston defended the policy of the foreign office throughout with candour, courtesy, and yet with a satirical wit, which keenly annoyed the opposition, while no excuse was left them to impeach the veteran minister’s politeness, or constitutional respect for the house. The ministry were not apprised that the French ambassador had been withdrawn from any dissatisfaction with England, but the explanations given in the French Assembly soon left no doubt of that. Lord Stanley brought on a debate on the 18th of June. He arraigned the policy of government with an eloquence which was most formidable. He was supported by Lord Aberdeen in a disingenuous and un-English speech. The government was never more feebly defended, and the result was a signal defeat, Lord Stanley’s motion of censure being carried by a large majority.
In the commons, Mr. Roebuck brought forward a resolution of confidence in the cabinet on the 24th of June. The speech of the honourable member was constitutional and effective. Lord Palmerston delivered a most powerful exposé of his foreign policy. Sir Robert Peel took much the same views in the commons as Lord Aberdeen did in the lords, and, considering that both these statesmen had by their impolicy allowed the grievances to accumulate which it devolved upon Lord Palmerston to redress, their conduct was equally inequitable and ungenerous in withholding from him their support, not to say opposing him. The speech of Sir Robert Peel was the last he ever delivered, and was remarkable for that circumstance as well as for the ability it displayed; but the principles of foreign policy put forth by the illustrious baronet were such as tended to make the country weak in its foreign relations, and were more calculated to subserve the immediate interests of Lancashire than the permanent interests of that powerful district, or the honour and weal of the empire at large. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Cobden were also among the prominent opponents of Lord Palmerston’s policy. The minority was large, the government policy having been supported only by a majority of forty-six.