Sir, it is not for any man in this House, on whatever side he sits, to indicate the policy of this country in our foreign relations—­it is the duty of no one but the responsible Ministers of the Crown.  The most we can do is to tell the noble lord what is not our policy.  We will not threaten and then refuse to act.  We will not lure on our allies with expectations we do not fulfil.  And, Sir, if it ever be the lot of myself or any public men with whom I have the honour to act to carry on important negotiations on behalf of this country, as the noble lord and his colleagues have done, I trust that we at least shall not carry them on in such a manner that it will be our duty to come to Parliament to announce to the country that we have no allies, and then declare that England can never act alone.  Sir, those are words which ought never to have escaped the lips of a British Minister.  They are sentiments which ought never to have occurred even to his heart.  I repudiate, I reject them.  I remember there was a time when England, with not a tithe of her present resources, inspired by a patriotic cause, triumphantly encountered a world in arms.  And, Sir, I believe now, if the occasion were fitting, if her independence or her honour were assailed, or her empire in danger, I believe that England would rise in the magnificence of her might, and struggle triumphantly for those objects for which men live and nations flourish.  But I, for one, will never consent to go to war to extricate Ministers from the consequences of their own mistakes.  It is in this spirit that I have drawn up this Address to the Crown.  I have drawn it up in the spirit in which the Royal Speech was delivered at the commencement of the session.  I am ready to vindicate the honour of the country whenever it is necessary, but I have drawn up this Address in the interest of peace.  Sir, I beg leave to move the resolution of which I have given notice.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI EARL OF BEACONSFIELD JULY 18, 1878 BERLIN TREATY

My Lords, in laying on the Table of your Lordships’ House, as I am about to do, the Protocols of the Congress of Berlin, I have thought I should only be doing my duty to your Lordships’ House, to Parliament generally, and to the country, if I made some remarks on the policy which was supported by the Representatives of Her Majesty at the Congress, and which is embodied in the Treaty of Berlin and in the Convention which was placed on your Lordships’ Table during my absence.

My Lords, you are aware that the Treaty of San Stefano was looked on with much distrust and alarm by Her Majesty’s Government—­that they believed it was calculated to bring about a state of affairs dangerous to European independence, and injurious to the interests of the British Empire.  Our impeachment of that policy is before your Lordships and the country, and is contained in the Circular of my noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in April