Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/92

 62 CAUSES INVOLVING FRANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP. But after all, and especially in questions cf ^"" foreign policy, the bulk of a nation must lean for ^riijin guidance upon public men ; and unless it appear nation*iooks ^^^^^ tlid'e werc statesmen deserving the ear of K'bi'if the country who faithfully tried to make a stand '"^"^ against error and failed for want of public sup- port, it is unfair to charge the fault upon the people. There were two Statesmen high in office, and high in the confidence of the nation, who, more than most other men, were known to be attached to the cause of peace. To them every man looked who desired that his country should not be drawn into war without stringent need. The impression" produced upon the Court of St Petersburg by the heedless language of our Prime Minister has been already described ; but the effect which he wrought upon the public mind of England by remaining at the head of the Govern- Lor.i inent is still to be shown. Lord Aberdeen's hatred of war was so honestly and piously entertained, and was, at the same time, so excessive and self- defeating, that in one point of view it had the character of a virtue, and in another it was more like disease. His feelings, no less than his opin- ions, turned him against all war: but against a war with Eussia — our ally in great times against Napoleon — he was biassed by the impressions of his early life ; and perhaps, too, he had a dim foresight of the perils which might be brought ipon Europe by a forcible breaking-up of the ties established by the Congress of Vienna and riveted