“_Nihil intactum reliquit, nihil tetigit quod_”--I cannot say, “_non ornavit_,” but “_non conturbavit_.” The foreign policy of the noble Earl, as far as the principle of non-intervention is concerned, may be summed up in two homely but expressive words--“meddle” and “muddle.” During the whole course of his diplomatic correspondence, wherever he has interfered--and he has interfered everywhere--he has been lecturing, scolding, blustering, and retreating. Seriously--for though there may be something ludicrous about it, the matter is of too great importance to be treated only in a light and jocular manner--I cannot but feel as an Englishman that I am lowered and humiliated in my own estimation, and in that of other nations, by the result of the noble Earl’s administration of foreign affairs. Thanks to the noble Earl and the present Government, we have at this moment not one single friend in Europe, and, more than that, this country, the chief fault of which was that it went too direct and straightforward at what it aimed, which never gave a promise without the intention of performing, which never threatened without a full determination of striking, which never made a demand without being prepared to enforce it, this country is now in such a position, that its menaces are disregarded, its magniloquent language is ridiculed, and its remonstrances are treated with contemptuous indifference by the small as well as by the great Powers of the Continent. With regard to the policy of keeping up a good understanding with France, there is hardly a single question in which Her Majesty’s Ministers have not thwarted the policy of the Emperor. From the Mexican expedition it had withdrawn, and it had not supported the Emperor’s policy in relation to the Confederate States of America. It had also declined the Emperor’s proposition of a Congress. ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND TOWARDS THE AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN ATTACK ON DENMARK (1864). =Source.=--_Ashley’s Life of Viscount Palmerston_, vol. ii., pp. 249–251. (Richard Bentley and Son.) LETTER FROM LORD PALMERSTON TO LORD J. RUSSELL. 94, PICCADILLY, _May 1, 1864_. MY DEAR RUSSELL,