ing in the British service, and as
Commander-in-Chief in Chili, Peru, Brazil, and Greece, was successful,
and so would the protracted and unaccomplished undertaking, so injurious
to the result of negotiation, have succeeded, had I possessed sufficient
influence to be patiently listened to."

The petition aroused much interest among the public, but was unheeded by
the House of Commons, and therefore produced very slight effect on the
Ministry. "My published petition," wrote Lord Dundonald to Viscount
Palmerston on the 17th of March, "has brought me numerous letters, and,
amongst others, a communication, I believe from high authority, that if
I do know any means whereby to spare the slaughter that must take place
on storming Sebastopol, I ought to make it known. I wish I could impart
to your lordship what I feel under the present circumstances, and how
anxiously I desire that a speedy decision may succeed the lingering
delays that I have so long endured."

A few days after that, chiefly through the assistance of his friend Lord
Brougham, Lord Dundonald obtained an interview with Lord Palmerston, at
which he further detailed his plans, and urged that they should be
promptly employed in hastening a conclusion of the war with Russia. To
Lord Palmerston he also wrote again on the 31st of March. "It has
occurred to me," he said, "that the supposed inhumanity of my plans may
have caused the use of the word 'inexpedient' in the report of the
commission appointed in July last by the Admiralty, and may even now
influence the decision of the Cabinet. Perhaps another view may have
been taken of the consequences of divulging my plans, as regards the
security of this kingdom." To these possible objections he urged that no
conduct that brought to a speedy termination a war which might otherwise
last for years, and be attended by terrible bloodshed in numerous
battles, could be called inhuman; and that the most powerful means of
averting invasion, and, indeed, all future war, would be the
introduction of a method of fighting which, rendering all vigorous
defence impossible, would frighten every nation from running the risks
of warfare at all.

Those arguments appear to have had some weight; but, after further
correspondence, Lord Palmerston's Government, like all the other
Governments to which they had been offered, refused to put the plans in
execution. Further evidence in their favour was obtained from some
eminent scientific men;