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    Oct. 18, 1851.] WtfC *«**«*? 991. 4 ' : ...

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    TIIU APOLOGY OF PALM HUSTON. I'akmkkston...

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    Not "Repudiation," Bui Postponement. Fou...

    a calamity ; the stringent action of the PoorLaw ^ and the Encumbered Estates Act , are trials wnich demand indulgence ; the exode of the People , in despair of maintaining existence at home , is Ihe consequence of misgovernment , for which those who have governed are responsible . Yet , at the precise time when these agencies and the astounding flight of the People—of the ratepayers—have placed the whole property of some parts of Ireland in jeopardy , when the distress has not ceased , and the whole land throbs with the agonies of social change , in

    steps the Whig Prime Minister and insists on the immediate repayment of the instalments due upon the advances made in the hour of famine . Speaking abstractedly , Irish landlords in general deserve iio ° pity , no help , no mercy . But is it the part of a statesman to ruin a nation , in exacting the uttermost penalty at the stipulated time , upon the shortsighted pretext of dealing justly , but rigidly , by one offending , but helpless , class ? Lord Lucan is right in asking for postponement ; and the Catholic priests are substantially right in denouncing the landlords , and Lord John Russell

    is in the reverse of right in the course he has taken ; because there is no sense , no economy , in pursuing a bankrupt to the verge of ruin—nay , beyond it—with the insane notion that you can get a dividend from him when you are depriving him of the means of making one . Unless Ministers are prepared to see a supplemental Encumbered Estates Act in operation in Ireland , and to bring nearly every property to the hammer , they must not insist on present repay mentl If they are

    prepared to sell up Ireland , why not do it franklys and without circumvention . Unions which can pay , ought to be made to pay ; but it is inhuman to press hardly upon unions still swarming with poor , and totally unable to furnish the necessary rates . True economy , and real generosity , lie not in a rigid enforcing of the law , but in a wise adaptation of it to altered times ; not for the sake of the Irish landlords , with whom we have no sympathy , but for the sake of the People .

    Besides , the question arises , is Ireland an integral portion of this kingdom , or merely a province of the empire ? If an integral portion , then in times of dire calamity , like the famous famine , relief and assistance are hers by right ; since it is the duty of the body politic to succour the limbs . It , is a perfect mockery to talk of a union which exists only on parchment , which is simply

    political , and , in all other respects , an armed occupation . It is a farce to speak of Ireland as represented in Parliament , and then to treat her as a conquered province . It is not " sisterly . " When you lend a friend money in his hour of distress , what is the worth of your friendship if you seek to exact the repayment of the loan before he is out of his distress ? Yet that is exactly tlie state of the case between Lord John Russell

    and Lord Lucan , the Treasury and the Southwestern Unions of Ireland . Lord Lucan does not deny the debt ; he simply asks for time : he does not desire to repudiate ; he demands leave to postpone . His language may be indiscreet , his logic ill applied ; but what statesman , wonhy to be so called , persecutes an afflicted nation for the ill chosen words of one man' / Time and help are debts still due to Ireland , from the harsh and misgoverning Government of -Kngl . uul—debts larger , and due longer , than the instalments on the famine advances .

    Oct. 18, 1851.] Wtfc *«**«*? 991. 4 ' : ...

    Oct . 18 , 1851 . ] WtfC *«**«*? 991 . 4 ' : : :

    Tiiu Apology Of Palm Huston. I'Akmkkston...

    TIIU APOLOGY OF PALM HUSTON . I ' akmkkston is an established Article of Faith to your Whig and Liberal believers . We who don't believe in Pulmerston , arc unorthodox , infidels , iconoclasts . Week after week wo arc condemned to register professions of faith , written and real , in our noble l ' oreign Secretary . Aggressively worded they are " < 't content with " I believe in Palmerston : " but assume tho minatory , dogmatic , Athanasian ' onnula , " Whoever believes not in I ' ahiicralon i « not . a true Liberal : let him be anathuum . " ¦

    We arc in receipt , of a letter from a courteous ! and " constant " reader , " a lover of freedom and a » atcr of persecution , " miverely complaining of our habitual treatment of the object of his admiration , ''« cannot tell " the why nor the wherefore : it '" ay be a certain , though secret , knowledge of the Jb . plomat . ic movements of that noble lord , or it may ln a personal hatred of the man . If the former , wl » y not , put t | u . f , u . ; m i ,, t ; elligible shape before y <» ur readeiH ; if the latter , which 1 will not hastily 'eneve , it is unworthy of a paper professing to bo awoted to the principle of fair play . "

    Our correspondent only does us justice in not hastily adopting the latter suspicion . There is not a writer in the Leader that would not sooner throw away his pen and abandon a profession as capable as any of honour and independence , than descend to the possibility of such an imputation . Fair play is not a boast , it is a sacred duty . In the present case we are not ashamed to confess , we do not say an absence of dislike , but a warm involuntary attraction to the private and personal qualities of the subject of our controversy . We have not the honour of Lord Palmerston ' s acquaintance . We wish we had ; for from all we know of him by authentic testimony , as well as by

    general estimation , we do not believe our country contains a more finished type of that somewhat faded race of beings the frank , fearless , generous , elegant , amiable , accomplished , high-bred , and high-spirited English gentleman . Blest with a happy and richly gifted organization : much enjoying , much admiring , and much admired : a strong clear brain , a bright keen eye , a firm will , a cool and composed judgment , a quick discernment , a brilliant vivacity , an easy and refined wit : all th ® qualities that make a hearty friend , a delightful companion , a hero of uncounted successes , and a victor of enthusiastic attachments : a man whose manner is a spell , and whose address a fascination : in short , who knows

    not" The glass of fashion and the mould of form ? * * * * - * What a grace is seated on his brow : Hyperion ' s curls ; the front of Jove himself . An eye like Mars , to threaten or command . A station like the herald Mercury , New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill I A combination and a form , indeed ; Where every god did seem to set his seal To give the world assurance of a man . " Such is Palmerston , the English gentleman . But the Foreign Minister , the juvenile-converted Tory , the quasi-revolutionary Whig of some forty years wear and tear . Ah ! here he stands at the bar of public opinion , of conscientious appreciation , of inexorable history .

    Large have been his professions ' , infinite the confidence reposed in them . It is difficult to decide whether the attacks of ungrateful Tories , or the boundless faith of too grateful Whigs have served him best . " It may be a certain though secret knowledge of the diplomatic movements of that noble lord . " No : we are not it ; the secrets of Palmerston . That we have special reasons for our opinion of his diplomatic " successes " we do not deny . These special reasons , however , as they do not bear any but the most distant allusion , so they are

    as nothing in the actual formation of our judgment . They may have led us to concentrate a closer scrutiny upon the changing and restless game of his diplomatic exploits . They may have , unconsciously perhaps , sown the first seeds of suspicion ; but into what a harvest of conviction has the seed sprung up in the course of a diligent study of this Protean career . In a former article we offered an Explanation of Palmerstonism ; for the man has become a system , a

    system not less fatal to the political liberty , than Jesuitism is to the religious liberty of Europe . We do not care from what point you enter upon the examination of this Minister ' s policy . From ' 28 if you will : arid you shall find these five , phases in regular succession . Profession of liberalism : excessive activity of protests , protocols , and manoeuvres ) change or backing out exactly at the crisis ; apparent , failure ; and then all the bearing of a man who has quite succeeded ; as he has , in the real , though not , perhaps , in the ostensible object .

    To seize upon a few of the more salient peculiarities of this hybrid liberalism , mark well the number and the weight of his official protests , and of bis official HyinpathiiiB . But in a course of policy scattered over so vast , a apace and time , how can the casual observer trace the system which embraces , and the sequences which connect the more salient acts ? We do not . get at the facts as they occur , to enable us to form a clear judgment of their wisdom mid necessity . It is only in ' 51 that we

    get an inkling of the policy of * 4 O , through the garbled pages of a Blue Book full of asterisks . The initicliief baa been done to the satisfaction of all but the sufferers : we lose the trace of the past in the ronfunion of present intrigues . History , indelible history , informs us that Palmerston protested against the absorption of Poland , and the infraction of the Treaties of Vienna . France would have moved to her defence , but Paliner « tou protected : and where ia Poland now ? Pulincrstou

    protested against the incorporation of Cracow , in the teeth of treaties . Whose is Cracow now ? Palmerston protested against Galician massacres . Palmerston protested against the attack on Rome , but approved of the restoration of the Pope . The same Foreign Minister sympathized with Poland , with Hungary , with Italy . Are his sympathies or his protests the more fatal to their objects ? Oh f but what bold things he has done ! He set up the neutral kingdom of Belgium ?

    Well , here we find an " Uncle " supplied with a pleasant little neutral kingdom ; and Palmerston supplied with a " royal " mediator in many future mystifications . He amazed all Europe in the autumn of 1840 , by that Syrian war and complete abasement of Mehemet Ali . Very dashing , no doubt : the results problematical to Turkey , to Egypt , and to ourselves . Remember how he encouraged " the benevolent Pius" in ' 47 , and through Lord Minto shouted Italian independence from Florentine windows ! Remember how he stimulated Sicily , upon the faith of treaties , and in the hour of need left her to the tender mercies of Filangieri .

    He did not protest against the Russian invasion of Hungary , for one sovereign power has the right to interfere in favour of another ; but he held out false hopes to the Hungarian Constitutionalists in case of their success against Austria and Russia . He suggested to Russia to withdraw so soon as her righteous work should be accomplished . Remember how he struck at Russian influence when he backed Don David Pacifico ' s little bill with a tremendous fleet . Yes ! and threw Greece into the very bosom of Russian protection . How boldly he adopted Mr . Gladstone ' s pamphlets on the Government of Naples .

    Yes ! and while his own brother is representing us near the Court of the best of Kings , " Palmerston presents a note to whom ? to Bomba ? to Novarro ? to Peccheneda ? expressing the horror and indignation of England . Ridiculous notion ! He sends a copy of Mr . Gladstone ' s pamphlets to the President of the resurrectionist Diet of Frankfort , composed of thirty-seven delegates of bureaucracy and despotism . He requests this select Diet , representatives of Freedom and Progress , d la Warsaw , Berlin , and Vienna—a Diet which lias already carried reaction back beyond ' J 4—to appeal to the tender mercies of his Sacred Majesty of Naples ! Was not this bold ? almost too bold even for so liberal a Minister .

    lie gets a handsome rebuff for his pains ; such intervention is unwarrantable . " What a glorious fellow is Palmerston ! " say Liberals at home ; " but positively his hatred of despotism carries him too far . " Ah ! yes , indeed , it carries him too far ; it carries him where English applause and Russian connivance meet . But ought we not to support our Minister , whom every reactionist journal on the Continent vilifies ? Such abuse as that is meat and drink to him . Honest English Liberalism applauds . Nenselrode , Seh \ var / A > nbeig , Manteuil ' el , MeUcrnich , wink approval . Diplomacy , PalmerKtonism , duplicity ( the words are synonymous ) flourish . The name and eiUcacy and office of diplomacy flourish . All who enter into that inner circle " have eaten tlu ; lotus

    and forget their country . " In that estimable , fraternity which Nelson judged so truly and well , I ' ahnerston is " perpetual grand . " What is w . mting to his praise ? lias he not promised us a peaceful and tranquil ' 5 'J ? Ay ! even to Naples ? Now , who pretends to deny the skill , the tact , the sagacity , the immense official experience in all the mysteries and details of the '" office , " the practised ambiguity of glance and hand , the fnuiliar ease in tho conduct of affairs , and in waiving anidti the daring attacks of outward antagonists J" the

    Commons , all which our present Foreign Ministei brings into t , he service of bis country ? We do not even doubt that be may believe it to be for the good of his country and for the liappinesH of the world that diplomatic solidarity should bo paramount , and bureaucracy tlw controlling power of Europe Bui . we do not fcho h ' . »» f «» r our partperHist in asserting our conviction , that the Hystem of which Lord I ' a'mciston jh tho incarnation , is fatal to the development of the free energies of ( be Continental nalioiiH , and tends to make Hnirln ' ml tho up "' - oi' Absolutist , mystification , and the xluvc of bureaucratic intrigues . If the tost by

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1851, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18101851/page/11/