Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin

by Earl of James Bruce Elgin

But even (he continued) if I could bring myself to believe, which I have failed in doing, that censure might be passed in the terms of these Resolutions upon Her Majesty's present Government without injustice, I should still be unwilling to concur in them, unless I could find some better security than either the Resolutions themselves afford, or, as I regret to be obliged to add, the antecedents and recorded sentiments of Noble Lords opposite afford, that by bringing about the change of administration which these Resolutions are intended to promote, I should be doing a benefit to the public service. My Lords, I cannot but think that at a time when it is most important that the Government of this country should have weight and influence abroad, frequent changes of administration are primâ facie most objectionable. I happened to be upon the Continent when the last change of Government in this country took place; and I must say it appeared to me, that a most painful impression was created in foreign states with respect to the instability of the administrative system of this country by these frequent changes of administration. I do think, indeed, that not the least of the many calamities which this war has brought upon us is the fact, that it has had a tendency in many quarters to throw discredit on that constitutional system of Government of which this country has hitherto been the type and the bright example among the nations.

After all, what is chiefly valuable to nations as well as to individuals, and the loss of which alone is irreparable, is character; and it appears to me that, viewed in this light, many of the other calamities which we have had to deplore during the course of this war have been already accompanied by a very large and ample measure of compensation. To take, for instance, the military departments: notwithstanding the complaints we have heard of deficiencies in our military organisation, I believe we can with confidence affirm, that the character of the British soldier, both for moral qualities and for powers of physical endurance, has been raised by the instrumentality of this war to an elevation which it had never before attained. In spite of the somewhat unfavourable tone which, I regret to say, has been adopted of late by a portion of the press of America, I have myself seen in influential journals in that country commentaries upon the conduct of our soldiers at Alma, at Balaklava, and at Inkerman, which no true-hearted Englishman could read without emotion: and I have heard a tribute not less generous and not less unqualified borne to the qualities of our troops by eminent persons belonging to that great military nation with which we are now so happily allied. To look to another quarter—to contemplate another class of virtues not less essential than those to which I have referred to the happiness and glory of nations—I have heard from enthusiastic, even bigoted, votaries of that branch of the Christian Church which sometimes prides itself as having alone retained in its system room for the exercise of the heroic virtues of Christianity,—I say I have frequently heard from them the frank admission, that the hospitals of Scutari have proved that the fairest and choicest flowers of Christian charity and devotion may come to perfection even in what they are pleased to call the arid soil of Protestantism. But, my Lords, can we flatter ourselves with the belief that the character of our statesmen, of our public men, and of our Parliamentary institutions has risen in a like proportion? Is it not, on the contrary, notorious that doubts have been created in quarters where such doubts never existed before as to the practical efficiency of our much-vaunted constitution, as to its fitness to carry us unscathed through periods of great difficulty and danger? I believe, my Lords, that there is one process only, but that a sure and certain process, by which these doubts may be removed. It is only necessary that public men, whether connected with the Government or with the Opposition, whether tied in the bonds of party or holding independent positions in Parliament, should evince the same indifference to small and personal motives, the same generous patriotism, the same disinterested devotion to duty, which have characterised the services of our soldiers in the field, and of the women of England at the sick-bed. And, my Lords, I cannot help asking in conclusion, if—which God forbid—it should unhappily be proved that, in those whom fortune, or birth, or royal or popular favour has placed in the van, these qualities are wanting, who shall dare to blame the press and the people of England, if they seek for them elsewhere?

From the tone of this speech it will be seen that Lord Elgin had not at this time joined either of the two parties in the State. He was, in truth, still feeling his way through the mazes of home politics to which he had been so long a stranger, and from which, as he himself somewhat regretfully observed, those ancient landmarks of party had been removed, 'which, if not a wholly sufficient guide, are yet some sort of direction to wanderers in the political wilderness.' While he was still thus engaged, events were happening at the other ends of the earth which were destined to divert into quite another channel the current of his life.

[1] Mac Mullen's History of Canada, p. 527.

[2] It Is a singular fact, as illustrating the tenacity and coherence of the Church of Rome, that while all Protestant endowments were thus indiscriminately swept away, no voice was raised against the retention, by the Roman Catholic clergy, of the vast possessions left to them by the old French capitulation.—Mac Mullen, p. 528.

[3] Despatch of December 18, 1854.

[4] Despatch of August 16,1853

[5] Despatch of December 18, 1854.

[6] Despatch of December 18,1854. The abolition was shortly afterwards, satisfactorily effected.

[7] Vide supra, p. 48.