But these things belong to the past. Great blame, in the eyes of an impartial observer, may be attached to Peel for the course he then took, and great blame may also attach to Disraeli; much, on the other hand, may be said in palliation of the conduct of both. The one has long ago been forgiven by the great party which he irreparably injured; the other will, we firmly believe, prove himself, at no distant period, as firm and enlightened a Minister as he is now one of the most talented and accomplished statesmen that ever adorned with his eloquence, or controlled by his wisdom, the legislation of the British Parliament.
We now conclude by urging the necessity there is for the reascendancy of the Conservative party. We are evidently on the verge of a momentous period. Are we to commit the guidance of our affairs to a Government whose conduct, as yet, has been one course of bungling—the result of dissension, of abortive speculations—the result of a misplaced self-confidence, and of unsuccessful negotiation—the result of an infatuated love of peace? We make, then, our appeal to the Protestants of England; are we any longer to truckle to the Pope of Rome—are we still to devote the public money to the support of Roman Catholic priests, and then call it “religious bigotry?” We make our appeal to the friends of Turkey amongst us: are we to have a Ministry in power who are divided in their opinions concerning the vitality of the country which we are desirous of protecting, and amongst whose supporters are men who deny our right to go to war at all? We make our appeal to the foes of Russia; shall we have a Premier who declares that “what is called the security of Europe” has nothing to fear from Russian aggression, and then says that he has nothing to retract or explain? Let us have a Ministry of able men, united amongst themselves, prepared to uphold our Protestant religion, agreed upon the vitality of Turkey, resolved to resist Russia, determined to secure a durable peace; and, above all, one that is strong in the confidence of the country, and supported by a united majority. Let us tear down the emblems of the most incapable and mischief-making Coalition that ever any country was cursed with, and proclaim over its fall the reascendancy of Conservative principles.
Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh.
[1]. Σπυριδῶνος Τρικουπη ἱστορία τῆς Ἕλληνικῆς ἐπαναστάσεως. Τόμος Α. London, 1853. (History of the Greek Revolution. By Spiridion Tricoupi, Greek Minister, London. Vol. i.)
[2]. History of Europe from the Fall of Napoleon in 1815, to the Accession of Louis Napoleon in 1852. By Sir Archibald Alison, Bart. Vol. iii.
[3]. The work, when completed, will, we understand, consist of four volumes octavo; the second volume is expected to appear in a few weeks.
[4]. Sir A. Alison, perhaps, as we shall see afterwards, confines his sympathy to the assertion that, after the infamous butchery of the Greeks at Chios, the intervention of the Christian States in behalf of the oppressed Christian people became a duty.
[5]. That this “bloody and brutal” policy is still exercised by the Turks, when they have their free swing, is evident from the letter of Mr Saunders, the British Consul at Prevesa, which appeared about two months ago in the Times, and of which a Greek translation now lies before us in the Αθηνᾶ—an Athenian newspaper—of the 9th June.
[6]. It may be interesting to observe here, as a proof of the permanency of the Greek language, that the phrase used by our modern Greek ambassador in this place, ατενίσας είς τον ουρανον, is exactly the same as that used by St Luke in the account of the martyrdom of St Stephen, Acts, vii. 55. Indeed, the vocabulary of the living Greeks, as well as their syntax, is strongly tinged by the language of the Septuagint and the New Testament; a fact, of which our students of theology, if they have any sense, will take note.