Note 55 — PART II. THE EASTERN QUESTION.

“Our ultimate object is the peace of the world; but let it not be said that we cultivate peace either because we fear or because we are not prepared for war. The resources created by peace are the means of war. In cherishing these resources we but accumulate those means. Our present repose is no more a proof of our inability to act than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I have seen those mighty masses that float in the waters above your town is a proof they are devoid of strength and incapable of being fitted for action. You well know how one of those stupendous masses now reposing on their shadow in perfect stillness, how soon, upon any call of patriotism or necessity, it would assume the likeness of an animated thing, instinct with life and motion; how soon it would ruffle, as it were, its swelling plumage; how quickly it would put forth all its beauty and its bravery, collect its scattered elements of strength, and awake its dormant thunders. Such as is one of these magnificent machines when springing from inaction into a display of its strength, such is England herself, while apparently passive and motionless she silently causes power to be put forth on an adequate occasion” (Canning’s speech at Plymouth, August, 1823).