"What is this diplomacy? It is a costly engine for maintaining peace. It is a remarkable instrument used by civilised nations for the purpose of preventing war. Unless it be used for that purpose, unless it be used to appease the angry passions of individual men, and check the feelings which arise out of national resentment, unless it be used for that purpose, it is an instrument not only costly but mischievous. If then your application of diplomacy be to fester every wound, to provoke instead of soothing resentments, to place a minister in every court of Europe for the purpose, not of preventing quarrels, or of adjusting quarrels, but for the purpose of continuing an angry correspondence in this place, or of promoting what is supposed to be an English interest by keeping up conflicts with the representatives of other powers, then I say that not only is the expenditure upon this costly instrument thrown away, but this great engine, used by civilised society for the purpose of maintaining peace, is perverted into a cause of hostility and war."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandAcademics from the United KingdomConservative Party (UK) politiciansPeople from Manchester
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in the House of Commons on the Don Pacifico affair (28 June 1850), quoted in James Richard Thursfield, Peel (1891), pp. 244–245
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Peel
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834-1835) and twice as Home Secretary (1822–1827 and 1828–1830). He is regarded as the father of modern English policing, owing to hi
84 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Robert Peel →
Related Quotes
"For a quarter of a century, at least, he was without question the first public servant of England; not the first in p…"
"[W]hat was Peel really notable for? It was surely the perfection of what may be called “concessionary” Conservatism. …"
"[F]or God's sake, be sure, if the King is driven to the wall, of Peel. An appeal to him and his countrymen could not …"
"Whether he was a model of statesmanship may be doubted. Models of statesmanship are rare, if by a model of statesmans…"
"Peel is, in fact, the embodied reflex of the public mind of England."
"Peel's speech is, to me, the most affecting public event which I ever remember: no return of Cicero from exile, no tr…"
"[T]he right hon. Baronet at the head of the Government is a man of considerable capabilities as a legislator: he poss…"
"Lord Robert Cecil while at Oxford occasionally joined in the debates of the Union Society, taking the strong Tory sid…"
"[T]he people at large did care and enthusiastically care for the Conservative statesman who had sacrificed power to g…"
"He says no other Minister but Sir Robert Peel could have carried the repeal of the Corn Laws; that half the commercia…"