And yet, though
so momentous are the consequences of the mismanagement of our
foreign relations, no one thinks of them till the mischief occurs
and then it is found how the most vital consequences have been
occasioned by mere inadvertence.

I will illustrate this point by two anecdotes. Since I have been in
public life there has been for this country a great calamity and
there is a great danger, and both might have been avoided. The
calamity was the Crimean War. You know what were the consequences
of the Crimean War: A great addition to your debt, an enormous
addition to your taxation, a cost more precious than your treasure
--the best blood of England. Half a million of men, I believe,
perished in that great undertaking. Nor are the evil consequences
of that war adequately described by what I have said. All the
disorders and disturbances of Europe, those immense armaments that
are an incubus on national industry and the great obstacle to
progressive civilization, may be traced and justly attributed to the
Crimean War. And yet the Crimean War need never have occurred.

When Lord Derby acceded to office, against his own wishes, in 1852,
the Liberal party most unconstitutionally forced him to dissolve
Parliament at a certain time by stopping the supplies, or at least
by limiting the period for which they were voted. There was not a
single reason to justify that course, for Lord Derby had only
accepted office, having once declined it, on the renewed application
of his sovereign. The country, at the dissolution, increased the
power of the Conservative party, but did not give to Lord Derby a
majority, and he had to retire from power. There was not the
slightest chance of a Crimean War when he retired from office; but
the Emperor of Russia, believing that the successor of Lord Derby
was no enemy to Russian aggression in the East, commenced those
proceedings, with the result of which you are familiar. I speak of
what I know, not of what I believe, but of what I have evidence in
my possession to prove--that the Crimean War never would have
happened if Lord Derby had remained in office.

The great danger is the present state of our relations with the
United States. When I acceded to office I did so, so far as
regarded the United States of America, with some advantage. During
the whole of the Civil War in America both my noble friend near me
and I had maintained a strict and fair neutrality. This was fully
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