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Conduct of Foreign Policy

37

of the third Lord Malmesbury,^[1] to whom reference has already been made—'no occasion, no provocation, no anxiety to rebut an unjust accusation, no idea, however tempting, of promoting the object you have in view, can need, much less justify, a falsehood. Success obtained by one, is a precarious and baseless success. Detection would ruin, not only your own reputation for ever, but deeply wound the honour of your Court. If, as frequently happens, an indiscreet question, which seems to require a distinct answer, is put to you abruptly by an artful Minister, parry it either by treating it as an indiscreet question, or get rid of it by a grave and serious look; but on no account contradict the assertion flatly if it be true, or admit it as true, if false and of a dangerous tendency.'^[2]

par la force, et qui n'est au fond qu’une collection de traités souvent contradictoires que les vainqueurs dictent aux vaincus, qui sont respectés tant que dure la lassitude de la guerre, et que rompt l'ambition, dès que les circonstances offrent une chance favorable à son avidité.'—iii. 373. 'Les affaires sont conduites par les hommes; les hommes sont plus souvent égarés par les passions qu'éclairés par la justice. La politique ne peut être fixe, puisque sa direction varie suivant les caractères des hommes placés par le sort à la tête des gouvernements. Il faut donc établir le systéme fédératif sur des bases morales, et non sur des bases géographiques.' iii. 377–8.

↑ Editor of the Diaries and Correspondence of the first Earl. In his own Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, under date March 11, 1852, he alludes to the staff of the Foreign Office being surprised at his knowing the routine work when he was appointed Foreign Secretary. This equipment he attributes to his preparation of his grandfather's Diaries and Correspondence for publication. During two years he had gone through more than two thousand dispatches to ministers at home, and to brother-diplomatists abroad, just as if he had been an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office for the forty years—1768–1809—which they covered, 'arranging and collating them, and investigating their contemporary history'.
↑ Letter, April 11, 1813, to Lord Camden, who had sought advice in the interest of his nephew 'destined for the foreign line', Diaries and Correspondence, iv. 414. This letter is given in full in the Appendix below, pp. 234–6.

[2] Editor of the Diaries and Correspondence of the first Earl. In his own Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, under date March 11, 1852, he alludes to the staff of the Foreign Office being surprised at his knowing the routine work when he was appointed Foreign Secretary. This equipment he attributes to his preparation of his grandfather's Diaries and Correspondence for publication. During two years he had gone through more than two thousand dispatches to ministers at home, and to brother-diplomatists abroad, just as if he had been an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office for the forty years—1768–1809—which they covered, 'arranging and collating them, and investigating their contemporary history'.

[3] Letter, April 11, 1813, to Lord Camden, who had sought advice in the interest of his nephew 'destined for the foreign line', Diaries and Correspondence, iv. 414. This letter is given in full in the Appendix below, pp. 234–6.

[1]

[2]