There is one point upon which I could have wished that the noble Lord
had also touched--I know there were so many subjects that he could
not avoid touching that I share the admiration of the House at the
completeness with which he seemed to have mastered all his themes; but
when the noble Lord recalled to our recollection the deeds of admirable
valour and of heroic conduct which have been achieved upon the heights
of Alma, of Balaklava, and of Inkermann, I could have wished that he had
also publicly recognized that the deeds of heroism in this campaign had
not been merely confined to the field of battle. We ought to remember
the precious lives given to the pestilence of Varna and to the
inhospitable shores of the Black Sea; these men, in my opinion, were
animated by as heroic a spirit as those who have yielded up their lives
amid the flash of artillery and the triumphant sound of trumpets. No,
Sir, language cannot do justice to the endurance of our troops under the
extreme and terrible privations which circumstances have obliged them to
endure. The high spirit of an English gentleman might have sustained him
under circumstances which he could not have anticipated to encounter;
but the same proud patience has been found among the rank and file. And
it is these moral qualities that have contributed as much as others
apparently more brilliant to those great victories which we are now
acknowledging.
Sir, the noble Lord has taken a wise and gracious course in combining
with the thanks which he is about to propose to the British army and
navy the thanks also of the House of Commons to the army of our allies.
Sir, that alliance which has now for some time prevailed between the two
great countries of France and Britain has in peace been productive
of advantage, but it is the test to which it has been put by recent
circumstances that, in my opinion, will tend more than any other cause
to confirm and consolidate that intimate union. That alliance, Sir, is
one that does not depend upon dynasties or diplomacy. It is one which
has been sanctioned by names to which we all look up with respect or
with feelings even of a higher character. The alliance between France
and England was inaugurated by the imperial mind of Elizabeth, and
sanctioned by the profound sagacity of Cromwell; it exists now not more
from feelings of mutual interest than from feelings of mutual respect,
and I believe it will be maintained by a noble spirit of emulation.