utions upon Her Majesty's present Government without
injustice, I should still be unwilling to concur in them, unless I
could find some better security than either the Resolutions themselves
afford, or, as I regret to be obliged to add, the antecedents and
recorded sentiments of Noble Lords opposite afford, that by bringing
about the change of administration which these Resolutions are
intended to promote, I should be doing a benefit to the public
service. My Lords, I cannot but think that at a time when it is most
important that the Government of this country should have weight and
influence abroad, frequent changes of administration are _prima
facie_ most objectionable. I happened to be upon the Continent when
the last change of Government in this country took place; and I must
say it appeared to me, that a most painful impression was created in
foreign states with respect to the instability of the administrative
system of this country by these frequent changes of administration. I
do think, indeed, that not the least of the many calamities which this
war has brought upon us is the fact, that it has had a tendency in
many quarters to throw discredit on that constitutional system of
Government of which this country has hitherto been the type and the
bright example among the nations.

After all, what is chiefly valuable to nations as well as to
individuals, and the loss of which alone is irreparable, is character;
and it appears to me that, viewed in this light, many of the other
calamities which we have had to deplore during the course of this war
have been already accompanied by a very large and ample measure of
compensation. To take, for instance, the military departments:
notwithstanding the complaints we have heard of deficiencies in our
military organisation, I believe we can with confidence affirm, that
the character of the British soldier, both for moral qualities and for
powers of physical endurance, has been raised by the instrumentality
of this war to an elevation which it had never before attained. In
spite of the somewhat unfavourable tone which, I regret to say, has
been adopted of late by a portion of the press of America, I have
myself seen in influential journals in that country commentaries upon
the conduct of our soldiers at Alma, at Balaklava, and at Inkerman,
whi