The Willis's Rooms meeting-Defeat of Lord Derby's ministry-Lord Palmerston and Azeglio--The Sardinian Contingent-The Con- gress of Paris-The mission of Kossuth-The treaty of Villa- franca-Policy of the English Cabinet-The cession of Nice and Savoy-Lord Palmerston's efforts on behalf of Italy-His speech Lord Palmerston's Second Cabinet-His relations with the Radicals and the Opposition-The Reform Bill-Lord Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone-The Paper Duties Bill-His views on the National Defences-The Fortifications Bill-Legislation and Appointments Lord Palmerston's distrust of Napoleon-Permanent and Special Reasons-Speech on the Fortifications Bill and Conversation with Count Flahault-The Anglo-French Expedition to China-The The Polish Rebellion-Policy of the Cabinet-The proposed European Congress-The Schleswig-Holstein Question-Motives of the Powers-English advice to Denmark-The Cabinet determines on neutrality-The Conference of London-Lord Palmerston on the state of Europe-The Danish debate-Palmerston's last victory The General Election of 1865-Lord Palmerston's last illness and The Temples-Lord Palmerston's father and mother-At Harrow, Edinburgh, and Cambridge-Attempts to get into Parliament-A Lord of the Admiralty-Maiden Speech-Secretary at War-The New Whig Guide-Palmerston in Society-His habits, tastes, and disposition-Development of his political views-Attempt to eject him from Cambridge-In the Canning, Goderich, and Wellington Cabinets-He resigns office-The Portuguese speech-Its faults and merits-Final breach with the Tory party. THE Irish branch of the Temple family, from which Lord Palmerston sprang, was founded in the reign of Elizabeth by Sir William Temple, the grandson of Peter Temple, who was lord of the manors of Stowe and Butlers' Marston in the times of Henry VIII. Sir William, who was secretary to Sir Philip Sidney, and afterwards to Essex, and a typical example of the Elizabethan epoch, withdrew to Ireland after the breakdown of the Essex rising. His son, Sir John Temple, was Master of the Rolls in Ireland, wrote an ultra English History of the Irish Rebellion, and at one time sat in the English House of Commons as burgess for Chichester. Of his family, the eldest son was Sir William Temple, the well-known diplomatist, statesman, man of letters, and patron of Swift; the second, Sir John, who rose to be Attorney-General and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, was Lord Palmerston's great-great-grandfather. The title dates from Sir John's son Henry, who was created a peer of Ireland by the titles of Viscount Palmerston, of Palmerston, co. Dublin, and Baron Temple, both in the peerage of Ireland. In spite of their long connection with Ireland, the Temples remained for the most part English in interests, and almost entirely English in blood, notwithstanding Mr. Kinglake and other writers who talk about the Foreign Secretary's Celtic temperament. Lord Palmerston's father, the second Viscount, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1757, and sat for several years in the English Parliament as member for East Looe, Hastings, and Winchester. By his first wife, the daughter of a Cheshire baronet, he had no issue; he married secondly, Mary, the daughter of Mr. Benjamin Mee, of Bath,* and the sister of a director of the Bank of England; and their eldest son Henry John was born at Broadlands, Hants, his father's English seat, on the 20th of October 1784. The second son, William, who was born in 1788, and died in 1856, became of some note as Minister to the Court of Naples; and of the two daughters, the eldest, Frances, married Admiral Sir William Banks, and the second, Elizabeth, the Right Hon. Lawrence Sulivan. The story that Lord Palmerston's father and mother became acquainted through * Chester's Registers of Westminster Abbey, p. 517, note. |