Lyndhurst, and the Marquis of Clanricarde, showed a large acquaintance
with the subject, and their orations against the policy of the
government were the happiest political and parliamentary efforts ever
made by those noblemen. In the commons, Mr. Layard, Lord Dudley Stuart,
and Mr. Duncombe, made severe and eloquent denunciations against
the ministerial policy, which "out-of-doors" encountered universal
reprobation. It was the general opinion that Lord Palmerston ought to
be placed at the head of affairs: even the conservative section of the
country desired such a change, but were of opinion that his lordship
should serve as minister for foreign affairs, or minister of war, under
Lord Derby as premier. It was plain that while Lord Palmerston supported
his colleagues ostensibly, he did not interfere much in foreign affairs,
but attended to the duties of the homeoffice, which had never before
been so efficiently performed. He was an object of jealousy, both to
the Russell Whigs and the Aberdeen Peelites, and possessed more of the
confidence of his opponents than of either. Much dissatisfaction was
created throughout the country by the temper and policy displayed by
Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Mr. Fox, and other gentlemen of the Manchester
school. The great abilities of those gentlemen, the general conviction
entertained of their honesty of purpose, and their past services to
their country, on economical questions especially, made men reluctant
to exhibit the dissatisfaction felt, and which, at a later period,
displayed itself by strong practical demonstrations. These gentlemen
lauded Russia as a highly civilized and Christian state; Turkey, on
the other hand, was denounced as a robber power, which ought to be
dispossessed. It was asserted that it was for the good of English
trade that Russia should succeed in conquering Turkey; and that, at all
events, it was the interest of England to be neutral, and leave France,
Turkey, and Russia to concuss, as the waves of the sea against one
another and the shore. A general impression, however, arose, that as the
Manchester trade with Turkey and Eastern Europe was mainly transacted
through Greek merchants and agents, it was the commercial interest
of these men to conciliate the enemies of the sultan, apart from the
political aspect of their relations. The cabinet was undoubtedly much
influenced by this section of its supporters in the blind confidence
it snowed to the czar, in their pres