COURTING THE ORACLE.
"THE deputation withdrew, highly gratified with the warm re- ception they had received from the noble Viscount." Of course ; when did a deputation ever wait upon Lord Palmerston without coming away highly gratified at its reception, and believing that it had taken something by its motion ? Such is the case in the pre- sent instance : Lord Palmerston is thought to have "spoken out to the Islington and Finsbury deputations and you naturally look to see what it is that he really gave. lie gave them, no doubt, some very agreeable demeanour and a very favourable impression of himself; but what did they realize as teeny pledge or enlighten- ment on foreign affairs ? Let us see.
"Being in friendly alliance with Foreign Powers, he could not concur in some of the expressions which had been used in the addresses ; but it was highly gratifyingo to have been instrumental in aiding the cause of the patriotic Hungarians and Poles, who, without Britishintervention, would no doubt have been doomed to perpetual imprisonment, and sacrificed their freedom, if not even their lives, in the cause of their country's independence." A sentence indisputably well rounded. It sounds as if Lord Palmer- ston were cheerfully instrumental in aiding " the cause" of the patriotic Hungarians and Poles and the independence of Hungary and Poland. Nothing could be less real. The utterer is gratified only at having saved the lives of men who might have sacrificed their lives to the cause, &c.
"One of the difficulties," he says, "'with which Government has to contend, is the indifference of the people on foreign affairs " ; and he applauded, not "the recent demonstrations," but those in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, London, which asked him to interfere at a time now bygone. He derived great strength
from the manifest wish of the people that be should interfere, and prevent, if possible, that which other powers were demanding.' So that if the people ask him, he can say that the people are ask- ing him ; and then he may, ff possible, prevent what other powers are demanding. "The Government has no desire to be urged on to war, although they are desirous of upholding the nationality of foreign countries.' "The nationality "—a word current just now among the great " demonstrations " which Lord Palmerston disclaims it sounds as if he were holding their language ; it sounds as if the Government might be "urged on to war against its desire. But you will ob- serve that there is nothing more than the sound. Speaking for the Foreign Secretary, the Morning Post denies this sentence, and, by presumption, all the rest ; assuming that it must be wrong, and that its own more abridged version of the report came nearer to the truth—by stating less. Possibly the reporter of the Times was not so nice as the speaker : but, lucky man, Lord Palmerston is now doubly furnished—with the credit of those "spirited' words, or with the repudiation ; and his [licit& can taii4 which they like, or which best suits the particular occasion. What Lord Palmerston really relies upon is "the moral power of the Government." "It is not necessary that England should exercise its power with its armies with its bayonets and its ,can- Dons " ; "the moral power, when the Government ha Lacked by the people, would do a great deal more." "Moral power is greater than anything else." Lord Palmerston speaks of moral power as one who has the authority of experience on his side. But, he assures us, "the moral power of the British Government is im- mense, more than the people generally imagine." To be immense, it must indeed be more than the people generally imagine ; especi- ally afeer the dischnures of' the Bt. Albones Commission and the Londoe Dock capitulation. But-what is moral power ? Lord Palmerston gives us some in- sight as to his idea of its constituent elements. He defends "the secrecy of diplomacy," on the ground of analogy with "the ordi- nary transactions of life, in which men do not generally tell their bargains until they are completed : but, as Kossuth says, they don't let their clerks keep the secrets from principals, and why should nations ? Perfect straighforward honesty seldom asks for secrecy. In this exercise of moral power, there was, says Lord Palmer- ston, "not only the support of the people, not only the Sultan's cooperation, but also"—and here, it is implied, was the function of 'Lord Palmerston with his moral power—" a great deal of good generalship, judgment, and judicious bottleholding." From these frank and ingenuous expressions we infer that the "moral power" of the Government is derived from its secrecy, its tact in driving sharp bargains, and its bottleholding. If that be the meaning of moral power, it may perhaps be reconcileable with the experiences of the .St. Alban's Commission.
That problem, however, seems to be the acquisition which the deputations took away -with them; and, carrying it to their own homes, they can amuse themselves with the labour of solving it at their leisure. It may serve for a new and instructive Christmas game, as a variety to "Bob," "What is my thought like ? " or "Animal, vegetable, and mineral" You may play at " What is Palmerston's thought like ? " or "What makes moral power ?"
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