The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MARcit 27, 1858.

that he wanted both ability and inclination to
enter the lists against the hardy champions of
the empire. Abova all, comparisons were in-
stituted between him and his immediate pro.
decessor, in which Lord CLARENDON was en-
dowed with all the qualities of which Lord
MALMESBURY was said to be so lamentably de-
ficient; and the Prime Minister was severely
censured for having intrusted a post which,
from the circumstances of the crisis, was the
most important in the State, to a man whose
official antecedents and whose personal qua.
titles and predilections utterly disqualified
him to fill it. _ _

It might have been expected from these
vaticinations that we should, by this time,
either have become involved in a European
war, or have ignominiously submitted to the
demands of France, and surrendered that
right of asylum which is the proudest boast of
our island home But in this instance, as in
so many others, the arrow of calumny has
overshot its mark, and Lord MaLathsauttv's
reputation has only gained a brighter lustre
from the unscrupulous attempts that were
made to blacken it. Having been told that
they had nothing to expect, the British public
are only the more delighted to find that they
have received a great deal ; and just in pro-
portion to the suspicion with which they had
been led to regard the new Foreign Secretary
is the confidence which they are now, by the
natural reaction of generous minds, disposed
to extend towards him. They find that,
having acceded to office at a most critical
conjuncture, under considerable personal dis-
advantages as well as political difficulties
almost unexampled, the Noble Lord has con-
ducted his country in safety through its hoar
of peril;—they find that, by maintaining the
supremacy and sufficiency of English law, he
has succeeded in allaying the clamours of
France for the alteration of that law, and in
impressing on the French Government the
necessity of bowing to the decisions of our
regular tribunals ;—they find that, without
blustering about Roman citizenship, he has
obtained the liberation of one of the English
engineers at Naples, secured the comfort and
expedited the trial of the other, and refused
to assent to the extradition of Mr. HODGE.
And seeing that all this has been done quietly
and without fanfaronnade, the English people
ask themselves,—Why was not all this done
before? and why were we called upon to
distrust the man who has done all this?
The fact is, that the foreign policy of Eng.
land is now conducted on sound principles—
principles which commend themselves at once
to the judgment of every thinking man, and
upon which it is hard to understand why
Ministers have not uniformly acted. In his
speech of the 27th of February, 1852, Lord
Dzaav laid down these principles in words
which cannot be too often quoted or too can?,
fully borne in mind:—

I believe (said the noble lord) that peace will be best
maintained by observing to all foreign States, whether
powerful or weak, a calm, temperate, deliberate, and con-
ciliatory course of conduct, not in acts al me, but in words
and expressions also ; by a Ihering, with strict fidelity, to
the obligations imposed on us by treaties; ant! by respect-
ing the independence of nations, whether great or small,
as well as by admitting their full right to regulate to their
own will the internal affairs of their own administiation.
In the conduct of our affairs with other
nations, there is more dignity, if any of the subjects of
the State conceive themselves injured by a foreign power,
in acting with forbearance than with violence. The digni-
fied course, in public as in private life, is, in case of neces-
sity, to require as well as to offer such reparation as in our
conscience we deem desirable. Such is my opinion as
regards our own fellow-countrymen. On the other hand,
I am convinced that if we have reason to complain of the
course taken towards us by a foreign country, the
best course to adopt is calmly, without malignity
or vituperation or intemperate language, to submit
our cause to the honour and justice of the tribunal
to which we make our complaint, and to require (rain that
tut' ial that rimed of justice which we should be prepared
to concede ourselves.

It would almost seem that, during his late
communications with foreign Powers, Lord
MALMESBURY had these words in his mind :
they certainly furnish the clearest exposition
of the principles by which he has been guided.
Let him continue to conduct the foreign policy
of Englai,d upon this basis, and, in spite of
the malignity of detractors, he will go down
to posterity us a Minister who rescued the
honour of his country from the peril in which
it had been involved by a reckless Administra-