The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-24 00:00:00

men, no doubt the preservation of peace, with
honour, with consistency, with the interests and
dignity of the country, with its interest at hr me and
its dignity and reputation abroad, the pr. scrvation
of peace upon such conditions is the p mary duty
of any administration that may be chlrged with the
conduct of national affairs. (llean) Ido not think
it desirable that we should be of that section, which
I believe really does not now exist, although it is a
bye word sometimes used, I do not think it desirable
that we should be of the peace-ateany-price party.
I do not believe that those who are commonly de-
signated,by that name are at heart insensible to the
honour and interest of the country. (Cheers.)
There may be differences of opinion as to the meg•
nitude of the case, as to the validity of the reasons
which may induce the country to draw the sword;
but I am persuaded that there is no Englishman
who would hot, if he thought the interests and
honour and dignity of the country were at stake,
join in its defence by whatever means, personal or
otherwise, which he might be able to command.
(Cheers.) There have been, indeed, of late years
during the five years which I have been in office
several cases which might hive led this country
into war. We might have embarked in war, and
with great acquiescence in popular feeling, for the
rescue of the Poles. Well, we deplore their unhappy
fate; we endeavoured to enlist in their cause the
moral and political action of all the different Pewers
of Europe, and we did so; but they unfortunately
failed, and perhaps it was in the nature of things
that our efforts should not succeed. But however
the enthusiasm of a large portion of the community
might have urged us to take more active measures,
we did not think—and I believe the majority of
the country is of opinion that we thought right—
we did net think that was an occasion on
which it would be justifiable to call on the
people of England to make those exertions and
sacrifices which such a war would have called for.
Then there was the American civil war. There is
much diversity of opinion as to the merits of the
contending parties. Some are for the North on the
ground of their hatred of slavery; some are for the
South on the ground of their love of freedom and
independence. We might have been involved one
way or the other if we had listened to many of those
who urged different courses of action, we might
have been involved in the quarrel ; but I believe the
country is glad we have abstained from taking that
course. (Cheers.) We could have had nothing to
gain, and we should only have added thousands of
our own sons to the hetacomb of victims which that
calamitous and bloody slaughtering war has sacri-
ficed. (Cheers.) We may hope that time and re-
flection and recent advices from Americashow some
favourable symptoms—we may hope that time and
reflection, and the fact of the immenses losses which
have been sustained, and the slight hopes of success
which appear on the part of the North—we may
hope that many months will not elapse before some
progress will be made towards healing that tremens
dons breach which now exists. (Cheers.) But of
this I am convinced, that if we had yielded to those
who, from the purest motives and from a sincere
conviction, urged us to interfere to offer our media-
tion to endeavour to reconcile the quarrel between
the parties before matters were ripe for our adjust.
ment, we should not only have failed in accom-
plishing that object, but we should have embittered
the feelings between that country and this, and
have rendered the future establishment of good
relations between us and them less easy and more
difficult. (Hear.) Therefore I think our neutrality
was wise, and I am sure that it is appreciated by
the country at large. (Cheers.) Well, then came
that unfortunate Danish question, and I am sure
every Englishman who has a heart in his breast and
a feeling of justice in his mind, sympathises with
those unfortunate Danes—(cheers)—and wishes that
this country could have been able to draw the sword
successfully in their defence—(continued cheers)—
but I am satisfied that those who reflect on the season
of the year when that war broke out, on the means
which this country could have applied for deciding
in one sense that issue, I am satisfied that those who•
make these reflections will think that we acted
wisely in not embarking in that dispute. (Cheers.)
To have sent a fleet in midwinter to the Baltic every
sailor would tell you was an impossibility, but if it
could have gone it would have been attended by no
effectual result: Ships sailing on the sea cannot
stop armies on land, and to have attempted to stop
the progress of an army by sending a fleet to the
Baltic would have been attempting to do that which
it was not possible to accomplish. (Hear, hear.) If
England could have sent an army, and although we
all know how admirable that army is on the peace
establishment, we must acknowledge that we have
no means of sending out a force at all equal to cope
with the 300,000 or 400,000 men whom the 30,000,000
or the 40,000,000 of Germany could have pitted
against us, and that such an attempt would only
have insured a disgraceful discomfiture—not to the
army, indeed, but to the Government which sent
out an inferior force and expected it to cope success.
fully with a force so vastly superior. (Cheers.) We
are, as a nation, I trust, sufficiently strong to defy
attack from any enemy. We have, in round num-
bers, 300,000 militia and volunteers, in addition to
the regalar army, and, as they can be immediately
increased, we have force amply sufficient to defy
attack from whatever quarter it may proceed.
(Cheers.) We have a fleet growing every year,
adapting itself to the modern requirements of naval
warfare, and fully adequate for the defence of the
country. Oar object is defence—not aggression.
(Cheers.) Bat this state of things does not allow

this country to undertake vast operations beyond its
confines; calling on the ration to make great exer-

....
tions, to make great sacrifices, both of men and
money, in order to send ont an army fit to cope with

_ .
the vast establishments maintained by other countries.
(Cheers.) Well, we did not think that the Danish

cause would be considered as sufficiently British,
and as sufficiently bearing on the interests and the

security and the honour of England, as to make it
justifiable to ask the country to make those exer-
ticns which such a war would render necessary ; and

I am sure that the verdict of the country will be
that, in this respect, the Government judged
rightly. (Cheers.) But, while we have preserved
peace, the nation has been doing its work too. It
is the duty of the Government to keep the country
at peace as long as it can do so without sacrificing
its honour, its dignity, or its interests. It is the

duty of the people of the country to prosper its
trade, to extend its commerce, to increase its re-

sources, and to promote its Ni elfa r e of every sure
. . _ _ _

and kind. This duty has been nobly performed
by the people of this kingdom ; and there never

was a period of Equal length during which this

country has made such enormous strides in wealth

and in everything which constitutes the comfort,
the happiness, and the welfare of the nation.
(Cheers.) The Government can only eontribute to
these results by removing obstacles and affording
facilities, but it remains for the people themselves
to make those exertions by which alone these results
can be obtained. (Cheers.) Government cannot
interfere with private enterprise. Every now and
then we are called upon to subsidise or assist this
or that enterprise; we are told that a little contri-
bution from the public revenue would set up this
manufacture, would assist another, would give scope
to industry, and would foster a rising commerce;
but these things are only done in countries where
the people are paralysed by despotic power, and
where they require the vivifying and electrical
touch of the Government to rouse them to en exer•
tion which is not their natural condition, nor their
habitual practice. (Cheers.) In this country every
man is alive, every man knows best how to employ
his capital, how to direct his genius, whatever it

may be; whatever line you may take, whether it

be active exertion in distant parte, or the studious
labour of invention at home, or the direction of the

industry of thousands of our manufacturing Rork-

men, in this country every man knows besth. ow to
contribute to the public wealth and to his own
prosperity and advantage, and all that the Go-
vernment has to do is to leave things alone,
to throw down barriers and obstructions, where
barriers and obstructions are pressed, and
to give that freedom to industry and
activity to commerce by which alone the general
welfare of the country can be advanced. (Cheers.)
That has been our task, and I think we have per-
formed that task Well and successfully, and if any.