ABSTRACT
In 1849 Lord Aberdeen, too, formally gave his support to the cause, declaring that the very possession of large and powerful armaments was a danger to peace, since it made nations eager to test their efficiency. Though rebuffed, Richard Cobden continued to press the expediency and need of a reduction of armaments, preferably by Great Britain and France reciprocally, in virtue of a formal convention, or, if that were impossible, by this country alone. For once Cobden found himself in agreement with Lord Palmerston, whose doctrine admirably suited his book. From the Foreign Secretary’s proposition, however, he drew the conclusion that the gain of a prolonged period of peace would be diminished, and the prospect of its permanence be menaced, unless the opportunity which it afforded for curtailing armaments were courageously used. Chancellor of the Exchequer in Palmerston’s second Administration of June 1859, as he was in Lord John Russell’s second and succeeding Administration of November 1865.
