Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth CenturyJoy, James Richard
History
Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century
Joy, James Richard
England -- Biography
I believe I have now gone through all the heads of the charges
which have been brought against me in this debate. I think I have
shown that the foreign policy of the government in all the
transactions with respect to which its conduct has been impugned,
has throughout been guided by those principles which, according
to the resolution of the honorable and learned gentleman, ought
to regulate the conduct of the government of England in the
management of our foreign affairs. I believe that the principles
on which we have acted are those which are held by the great mass
of the people of this country. I am convinced these principles
are calculated, so far as the influence of England may properly
be exercised with respect to the destinies of other countries, to
conduce to the maintenance of peace, to the advancement of
civilization, to the welfare and happiness of mankind.
I do not complain of the conduct of those who have made these
matters the means of attack upon her Majesty's ministers. The
government of a great country like this is, undoubtedly, an
object of fair and legitimate ambition to men of all shades of
opinion. It is a noble thing to be allowed to guide the policy
and to influence the destiny of such a country; and if ever it
was an object of honorable ambition, more than ever must it be so
at the moment at which I am speaking. For while we have seen, as
stated by the right honorable baronet, the political earthquake
rocking Europe from side to side; while we have seen thrones
shaken, shattered, leveled, institutions overthrown and
destroyed; while in almost every country of Europe the conflict
of civil war has deluged the land with blood, from the Atlantic
to the Black Sea, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, this
country has presented a spectacle honorable to the people of
England and worthy of the admiration of mankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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