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dip lomatist has to attain the objects of the governing classes without offending the prejudices and the feelings of the governed classes . * Above all , he is fettered in this respect : he cannot at a particular moment run risks and be bold , because he may be repudiated ( as Colonel Bose was the other day ) by the governing classes , or be hissed by the governed ; at any rate , may be leit without the fleet and the army to back him , and thus rendered the laughing stock , not merely of Europe , which he despises , but of the diplomatists , with whom he is engaged to dine , of other nations .
When such a man as Lord Palmerston is at the Foreign Office , the British diplomatist is in a most impracticable position . Lord Palmerston talks the Bermondsey policy , and acts the Russian ; and though a clever , agile man , like Lord Palmerston , with an easy , stupid , insular race to deal with , cjui contrive adroitly to combine the purpose of cultivating despotism , and yet pleasing the British people , very- few of the diplomatists can do as much ; for , granting that they are as clever , they may be more scrupulous and more honest- —say , like Lord Redcliffe . Yet Lord Palmerston
only does in a" bold , dashing , daring "way what every Foreign Secretary has to do ; and thus the difficulty of our diplomatists is chronic and invincible . England is a constitutional country ; therefore English foreign policy is to promote constitutionalism . But English foreign policy is also the policy of non-intervention , and therefore is a negative policy ; and hence we have to pursue a negative policy , and talk positive principles—result , offending peoples and outraging kings ;¦¦ negative policy Tendering England consequently a negation in Europe . Such is a broad description of English efforts abroad ,
and of England ' s position ; but such a general description is subject to various modifications . England adopts the negative policy for the purpose of preserving peace ; but , in certain cases , there may be a positiTe policy without endangering peace . That is to say , England has a negative policy with the big states—a positive policy with the little states . When France changes her governnient we accept the new government . Lord Palmerston , for instance , enthusiastic lover of freedom as he is , not only accepted but applauded Louis JSTajiolcon's coup d ' etat . To Russia again we arc very respectful , and the United States we take care not to
offend—except through our leading journals . But our tone to the small monarchies is very different , jmd our theory of non-intervention amounts just to this—we will only interfere with the little states . We bullied Greece for a Don Pacifico ; but we are perfectly polite to Russia , though the destiny of the East , and perhaps of the West , is in question . We accept a change in the French Government , and we do not recommend Louis Napoleon to bo constitutional , but we recommend King Bomba to imitate tlio institutions of a country which glories in a House of Commons into which any
man with 7001 . can buy his way ; and we warn the Duke of Tuscany that he must not imprison Protestant tract deliverers , though tract delivering is an impertinence offensive to Tuscan institutions . In short , we talk Liberalism , and act respectfully in favour of Despotinm , with tho big states , bullying insolence with the little states ; and even these mere pretensions to liberalism we contradict in our policy towards our own colonies . With no real principles , then , to lay down , and with a contradictory policy to pursue , contradictory to our antecedents and contradictory to our
contemporaries , what chance , in mich conl ' uoion , has the JSritinh diplomatic ? For tho Britinh diplomatist getting out of England , and out of reach of tho Great Britons , tfotH a new point of view of his beloved country ; and , bwirinfr tho Htartling- narcaninn of foreign politician ^ lie begum to perceive that ho haa no right whatever to net u iis tho representative , par excellence , of a free-«<> untry , as tho natural propagandist of liberal imititutioiiH . Ho detects that England hortwlf in not free , whilo enduring an electoral trystem wliioli inaken tho " ¦ ud paramount , and a pmss oyfltem which erivtvi a
¦ mon opoly to one or two journals ; and Iio RHCortainfl << bivt outside England , from Dublin to Madras , the 'MUinh empire in an oinpiro held together by a , de . spotitim ; i paternal dnnpotimn . Ooiihciouh of tho untoniibilit y ol ' hiH ponition , tho British diplomatint can never [ w a iree agent or ; i micco / wCnl man ; ho can nover act without orders from homo ; and nine fciniou out often ' »¦ cannot accept thouo orders . And whiles ho is l ) l » if ? ling , twaddling , and trying to build uj » a falno portion , tho Frenchman or iho ICuasian In paiming on —laid winning . That in tho hintory of J 3 ritiali
diplomacy since the battle of Waterloo , and it accounts for the ludicrous attitude of Great Britain , in every capital in Europe , in 1848-9 , and for the contempt for England which Czar Nicholas has manifested in 1853 . A-great Power ceases to Jbe a great Power when she misses a policy ; whatever respect remains to be paid her is paid to her material strength merely . On the other hand , the moral strength of Russia fights battles in advance for the Czar . Were secret diplomacy ah advantage for diplomatists , Lord Stratford de Redcliffe would be a very successful man . In Paris or Vienna a British Minister must
negotiate to some extent publicly ; for French and Austrian despotisms have this advantage over British constitutionalism—they confide more to their publics , having less reason for concealments in all foreign discussions ; and the English diplomatist must , then , speak in society as well as write protocols , and must speak out . But Constantinople is the harem of secret diplomacy . There you" have is no tangible public , no " society ; " no newspaper correspondents to worry and > ore out small secrets and suggest hints of great facts , which hints have , now and then , to be officially
contradicted —— the contradiction being a hit for the correspondent . In Constantinople , too , a British Minister meets no one to upset his theories about his free country , and may talk with enormous conceit at half-civilized Turkish secretaries and attache ' s . There is no one to deny his assumptions and his assertions ; and it is taken for granted that a British Minister sent to the Divan represents the positive ideas , the fixed policy , of a consistent , great nation . And , in a large degree , Lord Redcliffe has profited by all his advantages . He has , in fact , ruled Turkey fust as an
English Envoy to an Indian Court rules the Indian ' ruler ; and Abdul Medjid has an immense notion of Lord Redeliffe , as also has Eedschid Pasha . At Constantinople there is this further advantage for a Minister sent out there : his airs as the representative of a free country do not interfere with English policy in Turkey ; and English policy in Turkey is tolerabl y clear , definite , and precise . England is protector of Turkey ; and her policy in supposed to be—Lord Aberdeen differs with olhoiv ; of the (/ overrun < r cl'i ' -aeri on this point—to keep Russia , nut of Constantinople ;
and the mission of Lord Eoclcliffe to Constantinople was to represent that idea to the . Sultan . And as the Muscovite is not yet in Stiunboul , Lord Redcliffe ia concluded to havo succeeded . But Lord Redcliffe does not think so : Lord Redeliffe believes that England lias gone down " , and that Russia has gone up in the East ; and he might find the reason in the fact , that the policy of England in the East was too closely confined to the technical preservation of Constantinople as if Russia would not be tolerably content with the key of her house being in her own lodger ' s bands . Lord
Rcdcliffo is not a man of startling strength of mind but tho faults be has commi ttcd are- less personal , than attributable to his weak position—with no determined Government , or instructed people , behind him , to act his advico in the East . Inspired by a conscientious detestation of Czar Nicholas , who onco refused to receive 8 ir Stratford Canning at St . Petersburg , an honourable , well-informed , clear-headed man , liko Lord Iiedelilfe , could havo conquered Russia in the East , had ho ovor felt the certainty that ho would be sustained . But lie never had this
consciousness ; and the result is , that indirectly Lord RudcliUb has been tho ruin of Turkey . TJie present Sultan has followed him blindly , and ha . s cultivated " reforming " Viziers upon bis counsel ; and has nil but emasculated tho ompiro . Lord KedoliiTo , doubtful about Lord Aberdeen , still more doubtful of tho Peaces Society did not daro to advise the Sultan to declare war ai'siinNb Russia when . Russia entered tho PrineipalitieH and Turkey will novor recover that blow unless kIio oonqu ' ors in a war , which is not likely . Whether Lord . Redcliffe has at last advised the declaration of wir bv
Turkey is not yet known ; but let us hope that he did not deprive himself of the only honours which could rodeem the calamities he I inn caused . At a curtain point , wo do know the goniuH of the Sultan asserts it . Helf , and he tramples upon tho feeble technicalities of such a politician : \ h Lord Hedolifie wine only | , the extent of being cautious , not wise to the degree ' of courage . Lord UedoliUo adviijod the Sultan not to shelter KohhuUi ; and in the same oireumstanecH Lord Itudcliffo would givo the name advice for Uio name roaaontt—booaiiBo , though r < ir » ruaonUUvo of a rvout
Power , the great Powers insist that he is only an in < dividual . That is the fate and perplexity ' of all British diplomatists . What Lord Redcliffe would do in a new capacity ( he Was spoken of once as Foreign Secretary ) , or on a nearer European mission ( his former ones were unimportant ) , we may infer from two facts : he is an admirer of Lord Derby , and he is a " Protestant champion . " Both these faiths are disqualifications . Long
resident from his native country , Lord Redcliffe may be excused for his ignorance of Lord Derby ; while at the same time , such an ignorance unfits him for a master of English politics . But the man who has had so many opportunities of seeing that the Turk is a nobler fellow than the Christian , and yet considers that Turkey would be improved by nasal meetinghouses , declares his complete incapacity for the comprehension of the century . Non- Elector
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A HERO IN THE CAUSE OF HEALTH . Me . Godwin-, of the JBuilder , Is a man to be honoured . His first taste has been for art , and his labours have seconded a love of what is natural and beautiful , in every way , and to use happily a pleasant pen has been his duty for years . Yet he steps from the sphere of such quiet duties , to encounter the ugliest and most unwholesome terrors of London . He goes about doing good . He has been among the dons of Agar-town , and the courts round Drury-lane , and in many another place where dirt -abounds , and he g-oes to show why pure abundant water should refresh homes squalid for its want , and how the cheerful light of day should be made to pierce into dark cellars and reeking yards . He has chosen to preach the virtue next to Godliness , but if , as lcig-k Hunt tells in his tale of Abou-Ben Adam , those who love their neighboursWell are first of those who love God , the task our fellow-labourer has taken up is second
to no human duty . Many a peril and a bitter cross arc in tlio path of the sanitary soldier . There are arrows of death ijying around him , unseen . Minute enemies steal up from the standing pool , and through tliat opened door comes _ the fevered breath of tho poor child , gasping for pure air , where there is none . Men fight duels when insulted , or face a single enemy , in battle , when ( lie blood is roused to mere animal heat , but be who exposes lriimxvlf to feel wba ' , wrotchcH feel , lruu-t do so by an impulse no £ common , mad with a . thought us noble as it is kind . We step out of ouv way to pvaiw- ; Mr . Godwin . TVc do so dcliljcrafrly . 'We think il , right r . mv , while Iho rrood work i . i being dmu :, and while our iruchfju-fed I'vit ' her ia doing wHl hi . s uiio ; en ftif . k , to tell him , IVcm our hc (\ yt , ihfiMnero arc many who , without , even a Knowledge of lii . s portion , honour him for his good intent and useful action . Bettor thus than recene our praise for » = et occasions of " silver ' tent inionial , or for empty word . * , to " fioollie the dull cold enrol" death . "
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NEW SOCIETY OF UKifOliATRUS . Untxkii the somewhat grand title of "The London Confederation of Rational iieforriHTs , " a new society lms sprung into existence , composed , we bolicvo , of teeetlei-s from an ishimielitish body of politicians , headed by a wellknown anf ; i-pucific agiinfur , Mr . J . li . O'Brien . We arc n < tt sin-prised that there should he tieceders from the National Reformers , who have seceded from everybody ; but wo were not prepared to find them professing to pursue their ideas oi roform
in a genial , earn <> Ht , and friendly spirit . In an initiatory tract published by them , they define ' - ' liberty " as " the realization of the sovereignty of the individual , " a definition derived from tho school of . losiah Warren . Tlio policy and patient , good . sense of the American reformers of i . lodern Times , will be found an improvement upon tho iinpul . sivo agiUtionnofi )(> innark-sl : reeL Proceedintf by a method the reverse of the communistic , Ibis new London Confederation weeks reform by tt'&Mrn / ation innlead of aq-(/ reflation . Thrir liUlo ivm \{ , on liliA tinUmco of Xociefy tic-HiirvcH a word as a novelty in Unjrliiih democratic litom ' ture .
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Til JO M 0 . KM 0 N 1 T . KS AND THEM PlCItMlflOUTOItW . ( To the . MUtoroflha Leader . ) ? Silt ,- — -In my hasty sketch of JMorinonito doingH in Moiner » otnhire , to which you kindly gave a place in your last wooIc ' h ]> aj ) er , 1 ]) romi . 'i
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October 15 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 999
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[ IN THIH UKl'AKTMlfNT , AH AI . I , OriA'lONfl , HOWIiVKK ISXTIIKMlf , MM Alil . OWlCl ) AN liM'IH ! , 'i . SI ( W , TUH IUJITOU N KCIitlHAKU . r HOl . DH lUJUHJU / ff H 1 C WOK MM 1 , 15 VOH N () N 1 ! . ' |
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J . 'Jioro in no loin-nml rn : in l > vi . U will eon four ; ) m ii .-il . li xnuoli ]> i'oti t . iui l > y ro [ ii : llii |'{ (; f . ) nt . rov « jrfuiwi , Jii .-. M ( in . 'u ; ii aw : i ] cnrioiJ , ; aid Jn . 'i judi'imnul , : ) J . nir |)( .: ruul . It ' , t . hc . a , it bo pro ( . i inbic . ii \ - liim to i'oihI . why uhould it , nol :, n r , 3 o ; i .: it , Do toioi ' . 'iblfi l ' ci liin iidvori aryl . o wi'ito . —Mir / r <) K .
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 999, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2008/page/15/
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