PALMERSTON FOREIGN SECRETARY, NOVEMBER, 1830, TO NOVEMBER, 1834.
We here begin the record of that portion of Lord Palmerston’s life which
is of truth important to the English reader. In years, his life was more
than half over. He was already forty-five, and had been in office for
more than twenty years; but had he then died, he would have passed away
as one of those unimportant statesmen whom, though they may do good work
for their country, it is not worth their country’s while to remember.
But though he was forty-five, Lord Palmerston’s period of importance was
yet to begin, and to be continued during thirty-five additional years of
uninterrupted labour.
Lord Dalling, in the short preface which he has prefixed to his
unfinished life of Lord Palmerston, speaks as follows of the condition
of England at this time in reference to the political state of Europe.
“That period begins with a certain struggle against the resistance of
the northern Cabinets to any change in the affairs of Europe; and a
struggle at the same time against that reactionary spirit sprung from
the Revolution of 1830 in France, which wished to change everything.”
The writer means to imply that England was anxious to stand between the
despotism of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and the democratic
tendencies of France. In this he describes accurately the position which
Lord Palmerston took as the exponent of English foreign politics, and
which from the first to the last he maintained with a consistency which
it has been given to few men to achieve, whose concern in the matter has
lasted so long, and whose influence has been so great. Throughout his
career it was his object to repress the personal power of the occupants
of thrones; but at the same time so to repress that power as to give no
inch of standing ground to demagogues. If that be true, it must be
acknowledged that whether his attempts were good or evil, they were made
in strict accordance with established English principles. And it will
probably be admitted by most who may read these pages, that the efforts
were good. That they were pre-eminently successful, it will be my duty
to endeavour to show. That in making these efforts Lord Palmerston fell
into various errors of manner, that he was frequently led away by human
frailty, and often puffed up by pride and a spirit of personal success,
is no doubt true. And it is true also that he seldom rose to any
specially exalted view of human nature. He saw all things from a
common-sense point of view, with what we may call mundane eyes. But we
are not sure that such a point of view and such eyes are not the most
useful for a British statesman. And of Lord Palmerston, it may be said
that his followers would always know what political teaching they were
expected to follow. He was not gifted with that fine insight into
matters which enables a man to discern to-day something better than what
he saw yesterday. Such still advancing improvement in sight is within
the capacity only of the highest genius. But as an English politician
can work only by the means of others, and needs many followers, the
followers should see as quickly as he does, and if they be left in the
dark they will not follow long. Lord Palmerston left none in the dark,
and was therefore successful to the last by means of the true following
of an attached party who always knew their man, and were sure that they
never would be led whither they did not wish to go.
“As soon as Lord Grey was commissioned by the King to form an
administration, he sent for me.” These are the concluding words of that
autobiography, of which mention has been made. Lord Grey sent for him,
and he became Foreign Minister.
Writing to his brother on the 22nd of December, 1830, Lord Palmerston
says; “I’ve been ever since my appointment like a man who has been
plumped into a mill race, scarcely able by all his kicking and plunging
to keep his head above water.” We can understand that the kicking and
plunging must have been very violent. The question had already arisen
whether Belgium should or should not be made a kingdom of itself, with a
king and constitution of its own. By the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 it had
been decreed that for certain purposes which were in themselves no doubt
wise, Belgium and Holland should be one. The United Provinces would be
strong enough to form a barrier against the encroachments of France, and
the balance of power in Europe and the maintenance of liberty might be
so maintained. But the governing power had been left with the Dutch, and
it was felt that the Dutch had oppressed the Belgians. The King of
Holland had, as a temporary measure, assumed the power of appointing the
judges in the two lands, and was unwilling to abandon it. He had then
been assisted by the judges in depriving the Press of its liberty. And
the Dutch had insisted that their language should be used in all public
documents and all trials, although the Belgians had a language of their
own, the Flemish language, and although French was the language of
society, of the Courts and shops. And in all matters affecting religion
and education, a strong bias was shown in favour of Protestant Holland
over Catholic Belgium.
It can be understood that here in England feelings on this subject
should run strong, and that the entire weight of the opposition to the
new Government should be enlisted on the side of Protestant Holland. The
Treaty of Vienna had been partly their work, and Lord Palmerston, who
was now the Whig Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had co-operated
as Tory Secretary at War in the work which he was now anxious to
dissolve. As regards the Treaty of Vienna, this division of Holland and
Belgium was, no doubt, a breach of that compact; but a treaty can be
only binding when taken as a whole, and this breach of it was justified
by the breach of one of its terms made by the King of Holland in
assuming to himself powers which had been expressly taken out of his
hands by the Treaty. This, however, was understood much less accurately
by those out of office than by those in, and Lord Palmerston no doubt
became more hot in his own defence the more he was attacked by his
opponents.
We have his correspondence respecting the affairs of Belgium with Lord
Granville, our Ambassador at Paris, and it is interesting to see how
speedily and how warmly he takes up the Belgian question. An Englishman
reading this should of course remember that Lord Palmerston was an
English Minister, filled with English convictions at the moment, and
that he (the reader) will of course only get the English view. But the
letters do leave the impression that the English Minister only wanted
what was just; and our history tells us that his views have been carried
out, and that the measure, as directed by him, has been pre-eminently
successful. But there is from the very first a tone of superiority in
them which, though they were addressed to our own Ambassador, must have
been offensive to French Ministers as they trickled through to their
ears. Talleyrand, who was the French Ambassador in London, had asked
that, as part of the arrangement, “Luxembourg might be given to France.”
But Palmerston would not hear of it, and he then writes to Lord
Granville; “It may not be amiss for you to hint, upon any fitting
occasion, that though we are anxious to cultivate the best understanding
with France, and to be on terms of the most intimate friendship with
her, yet that it is only on the supposition that she contents herself
with the finest territory in Europe, and does not mean to open a new
chapter of encroachment and conquest.” Then we are told that, when the
Luxembourg question had been given up, Talleyrand “fights like a dragon”
for two Belgian fortresses,--Philippeville and Marienburg. “We had no
power,” says Palmerston, “to give what belongs to Belgium and not to us,
and we could not, under the pretence of settling the quarrel between
Holland and Belgium, proceed to plunder one of the parties, and that,
too, for the benefit of one of the mediators.” Talleyrand has asked
questions about some increased force to our navy. “You may as well
mention this conversation to Sebastiani, and take that opportunity of
asking again about the Toulon ships. It is no harm, however, that the
French should think that we are a little upon the alert with respect to
our navy.” Then there is the question, Who shall be the new King of
Belgium? as to which our Minister had at first wished that a son of the
King of Holland should be named. Louis Philippe wished that one of his
sons should have the new throne. But Lord Palmerston will not hear of
it. “I must say that if the choice falls on Nemours, and the King of the
French accepts, it will be a proof that the policy of France is like an
infection clinging to the walls of the dwelling, and breaking out in
every successive occupant.” “We are reluctant even to think of war; but
if ever we are to make another effort, this is a legitimate occasion;
and we find we could not submit to the placing of the Duc de Nemours on
the throne of Belgium without danger to the safety, and a sacrifice of
the honour of the country.” “If they are straightforward in their
intentions, why cannot they be so in their proceedings? Why such endless
intrigues and plots, and such change of plans, all tending to the same
object.” Then there comes a letter, purposely written and sent in an
unusual way, that it may certainly be read by Sebastiani. For it was
sent through the French Foreign Office, and not by our own messengers;
as to which Lord Granville observes that it will have the desired
effect. “Sebastiani should really be made to understand that he must
have the goodness to keep his temper, or, when it fails him, let him go
to vent his ill-humour upon some other quarter, and not bestow it upon
England. We are not used to being accused of making people dupes.” What
was Sebastiani’s personal nature, we do not know. This may have made him
keep his temper. But it must surely have taught him to think that our
Minister was very uncivil, as he of course knew well why the letter had
been sent through the French Foreign Office.
Other attempts are made by the French to get other morsels of territory
into their hands, and a strong French feeling is roused in Belgium,
which troubles Lord Palmerston almost as much as the French overtures
made for direct French objects. A Regent, in the interests of France,
was appointed during the vacancy of the throne, of whom Palmerston
refuses to take any notice. “The greater part of our difficulties with
the Belgians have arisen from the double diplomacy, double dealing
infirmity of purpose, and want of principle in the French Government.” A
M. D’Arschot is sent to England as a diplomate, but Lord Palmerston
refuses to see him officially. “I shall be happy to receive M. D’Arschot
at my house as an individual; I cannot ask him to the office.” Then he
goes on. “The moment we give France a cabbage garden or a vineyard, we
lose all our vantage-ground of principle; and it becomes then a mere
question of degree or the relative value of the different things which,
one after the other, she will demand.” And he lays down a general
principle, by which it will be found that he always acted. “You don’t
stave off war or stop demands by yielding to urgent demands, however
small, from fear of war. The maxim of giving way to have an easy life
will, if you follow it, lead to your having a life without a moment’s
ease.”
At length the question as to what king should be chosen was settled by
the election of Leopold to the throne of Belgium,--altogether with the
good-will of Palmerston, though a Dutch Prince had been his first
choice, as has been already said. But this had been done without the
assent of the King of Holland; and Dutch troops marched into Belgium on
one side, and French troops on the other to support Belgium. The French
obtained some success, and immediately there arose the renewal of French
encroachments. “As to the fortresses,” says Lord Palmerston, still
writing to Lord Granville, “if they expected that we were to sign a
treaty with them for the destruction of those fortresses, I would tell
him that I would never put my hand to such a treaty, even if the
Government agreed to it.” “One thing is certain,--the French must go out
of Belgium, or we have a general war, and war in a given number of
days.” “I told him we never would agree to mix up the two questions, the
departure of the French troops, and the question of the fortresses. I
asked him whether his Government wished that people hereafter should
believe the French Government or its word.” “I have seldom seen a
stronger feeling than that of the Cabinet about the question of the
fortresses.” “But let us stave off all these nibblings,” he says in
reference to a demand expressed by Prussia that Philippeville and
Marienburg should be given up to France. “If once these great Powers
begin to taste blood, they will never be satisfied with one bite, but
will speedily devour their victim.”
At last the Belgian question was settled, and a kingdom was formed,
which has since remained, respected by all men, and the strongest in its
circumstances among the lesser nations of the earth. To name Belgium, is
to speak of good faith and constitutional well-being. The love for it
which England bears was strongly evinced during the German and French
war in 1870, when Bernal Osborne asked a question in the House of
Commons as to the part which England would take if either party carried
their armies over the frontier into Belgium. The French at that moment
had been driven up into a corner at Sedan, and were compelled either to
surrender or to trespass on the Belgian territory. But the question
asked in the House of Commons, and the answer given, sufficed for the
purpose; and no armed Frenchman and no armed German trod upon the soil
which had become the Kingdom of Belgium.
Lord Palmerston had no doubt done his work well in helping the
arrangement. He was disinterested throughout on the part of England, and
wise, and honest, and very brave. He had allowed no foreign diplomate to
hoodwink him. England, looking back at his conduct, has reason to be
proud of him. But there can be no doubt that he did make himself very
offensive to his French colleagues in the arrangements, and took upon
himself to speak, as though he were the only honest man concerned in the
work. Whether it was essential to his purpose that he should do so must
now be a matter of opinion; but there can be no doubt that he made
himself odious to Louis Philippe and the French Ministers, who must have
looked upon him as an English bear altogether unacquainted with
diplomatic courtesies. Such I think must have been the opinion held by
Louis Philippe to the end. For in these years of his life it seems to
have been Palmerston’s business to have thwarted Louis Philippe in all
his politics.
But, during the period in which the Kingdom of Belgium was being formed,
the English Reform Bill was passed, a measure of such vital importance
to England as almost, in English eyes, to obliterate these first
struggles of Belgian infancy. But Lord Palmerston, true to his theory of
political life, took but little heed of the Reform Bill. He did speak on
the subject, as it was essential that he should do so; and explained
how it had come to pass with him, as with others, that he had grown
wiser as he had grown older. It was necessary that one, who had come
into power among Lord Liverpool’s Tories, should defend his vote by such
an argument. But there is nothing to make us think that his heart was
with the Reformers. Indeed, as long as he remained at the Foreign Office
his heart was with foreign affairs. And though, as a member of a
Cabinet, he was bound to support that Cabinet’s measures, I should doubt
whether he asked many questions on the subject. His heart was then in
Belgium, and in the Quadruple Alliance for establishing free
institutions in Spain and Portugal, and afterwards in creating the
kingdom of Greece, and in endeavouring to stop the abominable iniquities
of Louis Philippe in reference to the Spanish marriages. But he
supported the Reform Bill, and in consequence of his doing so,--or in
consequence, rather, of his belonging to a Whig Ministry,--he lost his
seat for the University of Cambridge, and, at the general election 1832,
was returned to Parliament by South Hampshire, his own county.
Allusion has been made to the pride which Lord Palmerston took in the
Quadruple Alliance. The Quadruple Alliance was a compact made between
England, France, Spain, and Portugal, for preserving the thrones of
Spain and Portugal on behalf of Isabella and Maria, and defending the
two Princesses from the machinations of their uncles, Don Carlos and Don
Miguel. That the two Princesses were the legitimate heirs to the thrones
need not now, specially in England, be more than stated. But the
collateral object was to ensure freedom under the rule of the two
Queens, instead of despotism, with all its bitterness, under the two
Kings. That at least was Lord Palmerston’s object; though, when we come
to the story of the Spanish marriages, we shall find that Louis Philippe
had a further object of his own. For some account of the kind of misery
to be looked for under Don Miguel, to whom Palmerston was specially
hostile, I may refer my readers to an article in the _Edinburgh Review_
of September, 1831, on the condition of Portugal.
In looking back at Lord Palmerston’s career, and the entire success of
his political life, we have to own that it was due to the teaching, or
rather to the genius, of Mr. Canning. He had fallen into Mr. Canning’s
hands, and though without that fine intellect which would have enabled
him to imitate the lessons which he had so learned, he was quick enough
to perceive their merit, and wise enough to follow them, whether he were
called Whig or Tory. Canning died, and in carrying out his lessons
Palmerston had become a member of Lord Grey’s Cabinet. It was not much
to him whether men called him Whig or Tory. But he saw the wisdom of
going still on; and whether he were Member for the University which
demanded a Tory to represent it, or for his own county, which afterwards
in turn again repudiated him, or for the borough of Tiverton, where he
could be one or the other, he remained always true to the precepts of
the school which he had adopted. “A Tory Government,” he says, writing
to his brother, in June, 1833, “is an utter impossibility in the present
state of the public feeling; the country would not stand it.” Then he
goes on to speak of what he and the Cabinet had just done for the
abolition of slavery. “To be sure, we give the West Indians a tolerably
good compensation. I really believe that the twenty millions which are
to be voted for them are about the whole value of all the estates at
the present market price; so that they will receive nearly the value of
their estates, and keep their estates into the bargain. I must say it is
a splendid instance of generosity and justice, unexampled in the history
of the world, to see a nation (for it is the national will, and not
merely the resolve of the Government or the Parliament) emancipate seven
hundred and fifty thousand slaves, and pay twenty millions sterling to
their owners as compensation for the loss they will sustain. People
sometimes are greatly generous at the expense of others, but it is not
often that men are found to pay so high a price for the luxury of doing
a noble action.”
“Some persons on the Continent want to have it supposed that the English
are so bent upon economy and retrenchment that no provocation or injury
would rouse them to incur the expense of another war. This vote of so
large a sum for the satisfaction of a principle ought to show those
persons that it would not be safe to rely too much upon their
calculation.” In this he takes great pride to himself; but it is a pride
in the glory of his country; and it is exhibited in private letters in
which an absence of reticence is not unbecoming.
Some time previous to this he had shown the same determined spirit.
Writing to our Minister in Spain in March, 1831, he says, “It is well
known that every river on the coast of Africa, where slaves are
obtained, still swarms with slave ships, bearing openly the flag of
Spain; while vessel after vessel sails for that coast from the Havannah,
returns laden with these slaves, of whom even the number on board is
probably known, lands them unmolested at the back of the island of Cuba,
re-enters the port of the Havannah in ballast, and is again fitted up,
rapidly and without impediment, for a fresh expedition in this
prohibited traffic.”
In 1834 the Slave Commissioner, at Sierra Leone, writes to him on the
subject. “The traffic under the Portuguese flag, which for years past
had been almost unheard of, appears now to be carried on to as great an
extent as it was before Brazil ceased to belong to Portugal.” In the
same year Mr. Macleay, our British Commissioner at the Havannah,
complains to him on the same subject,--of the trade as carried on under
the new Captain-General of Cuba. From this we may see that our Foreign
Minister found ample matters on which to write to the servants of other
Crowns so as to make himself enemies. It is not to be doubted but that
he did write with all the pertinacity of purpose which is apt to be
odious to people who entertain opinions opposed to those who exercise
it.
The above references have been taken from the _Quarterly Review_ of
December, 1835. If we turn to the July number of the _Edinburgh Review_
for 1836, we shall find him and the slave trade spoken of in the same
spirit; but the tone is so hearty that I will venture to quote the
passage:--“Every Power in Europe has acknowledged that a solemn
obligation is upon them to contribute to the abolition of the accursed
traffic in our fellow creatures. Each also admits that their formal
declaration to that effect, made more than twenty years ago, has to this
hour been fruitless, and the pledges then given to use every means in
the power of each to effect it, still unredeemed. The frivolous pretexts
which have been advanced by some for not adopting the only means which
experience has shown to be effectual, require only to be refuted, and
the object to be sincerely and heartily pursued by us, and complete
success cannot be far distant. We have abundant evidence before us that
no exertions will be wanting on the part of Lord Palmerston. His urgent
remonstrances and representations have been poured into every country of
the civilized world. His tone has been firm and decisive when our slave
treaties have been infringed. He has used argument and persuasion where
as yet there had been no obligation. After a careful perusal of the
documents before us, we hesitate not to say that his zealous,
consistent, and able advocacy of this great cause, while it tends to
raise his country high among nations for enlightened humanity and for
moral worth, will constitute, next to the preservation of peace, his
worthiest title to a lasting reputation.”
His work is incessant, and he can hardly allow himself a few days of
holiday when the Session is over. “I may then manage to get down to
Broadlands for a week, and I long for a little rest.” At the end of the
year he joins a shooting party, but is not able “to get out of town for
more than four days at a time. I had three days shooting at Woburn last
week, and pretty good sport. An official party, Grey, Brougham,
Lansdowne (now combatants), Althorp, Melbourne, Ripon, Graham, John
Russell, Auckland, Ellice, myself, young Ellice and Lord Charles
Russell, were the sharpshooters.” We see from the names above given,
that he had now fallen entirely among the Whigs; for Sir James Graham
was then a Whig. “I must say that this reformed House of Commons is
growing to be wonderfully like its predecessors; impatient of fools,
intolerant of blackguards.” It is much the same thing at present, though
now the blackguards have to be tolerated. Then he speaks exultingly of
the Quadruple Alliance between England, France, Spain and Portugal for
the expulsion of Carlos and Miguel. He speaks almost boastingly of his
own power. “I carried it through the Cabinet by a _coup de main_, taking
them by surprise, and not leaving them time to make objections.” This is
the spirit in which he looks at all his own doings as Minister for
Foreign Affairs, and though we may be angry at the boasting, we cannot
but acknowledge that it was this spirit which kept him up. Then we have
him for a week down in Hampshire among his race-horses. But his papers
follow him. “I was a week at Broadlands entirely by myself, working all
day, and almost every day, at F. O. boxes and Holmes’s accounts for the
last three years, which I had not before been able to look at; they were
all right, however.” After this he tells us of that wicked Thresher who
only provided sixteen pheasants for five guns to kill in Yew Tree. After
that he speaks again of the Quadruple Alliance, and again exults. “This
treaty was a capital hit, and all my own doing.” Mr. Ashley, however,
adds that “this treaty was a full completion of Mr. Canning’s policy.”