ed it to be an erroneous one. And then, to aggravate
the difficulty, the prime minister goes down to Parliament, declares
that there is only one interpretation to be placed on the treaty,
and defies and attacks everybody who believes it susceptible of
another.

Was there ever such a combination of negligence and blundering? And
now, gentlemen, what is about to happen? All we know is that her
Majesty's ministers are doing everything in their power to evade the
cognizance and criticism of Parliament. They have received an
answer to their "friendly communication"; of which, I believe, it
has been ascertained that the American government adhere to their
interpretation; and yet they prolong the controversy. What is about
to occur it is unnecessary for one to predict; but if it be this--
if after a fruitless ratiocination worthy of a schoolman, we
ultimately agree so far to the interpretation of the American
government as to submit the whole case to arbitration, with feeble
reservation of a protest, if it be decided against us, I venture to
say that we shall be entering on a course not more distinguished by
its feebleness than by its impending peril. There is before us
every prospect of the same incompetence that distinguished our
negotiations respecting the independence of the Black Sea; and I
fear that there is every chance that this incompetence will be
sealed by our ultimately acknowledging these direct claims of the
United States, which, both as regards principle and practical
results, are fraught with the utmost danger to this country.
Gentlemen, don't suppose, because I counsel firmness and decision at
the right moment, that I am of that school of statesmen who are
favorable to a turbulent and aggressive diplomacy. I have resisted
it during a great part of my life. I am not unaware that the
relations of England to Europe have undergone a vast change during
the century that has just elapsed. The relations of England to
Europe are not the same as they were in the days of Lord Chatham or
Frederick the Great. The Queen of England has become the sovereign
of the most powerful of Oriental States. On the other side of the
globe there are now establishments belonging to her, teeming with
wealth and population, which will, in due time, exercise their
influence over the distribution of power. The old establishments of
this country, now the United States of America, throw their
lengthening shades over the Atlantic,