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CHAPTER II.

BELGIAN INDEPENDENCE.

1830-1833.

Palmerston and home politics-At the Foreign Office-Activity of his policy-Its general features-Objections to it-The Belgian Revolution-Meeting of the London Conference-The Eighteen Articles-Possibility of a war with France-Leopold of SaxeCoburg becomes King of the Belgians-Modification of the Eighteen Articles-The Dutch declare war and the French enter Belgium-Firmness of Lord Palmerston-The Twenty-four Articles-Anglo-French expedition-Feeling in England-Stability of Belgium.

IN the Ministry of Lord Grey, Palmerston held the post of Foreign Secretary, for which he had been marked out by his exploits and knowledge, and he continued to hold that appointment, except during Peel's "hundred days" in 1834 and 1835, and his still shorter tenure of office in 1839, until the downfall of the Whigs in 1841. During this long period he occupied himself very little with home affairs, and maintained a serene satisfaction with their conduct even under Lord Althorp's management of the House of Commons. He spoke, indeed, on the Reform Bill, replying very effectively to those who taunted him with deserting the principles of Mr. Canning, that the "gigantic mind" of the departed statesman “ was not to be pinned down by the Lilliputian threads of verbal quotation," and that

the best key to Canning's opinions was to be found in his saying that "they who resist improvement because it is innovation, may find themselves compelled to accept innovation when it has ceased to be improvement." He also, while strongly in favour of a large creation of peers in the last resource, took a creditable part in negotiating the interchange of views which caused the Waverers to desert the Tory majority in the House of Lords, and thereby rendered possible the passing of the Bill. But for the most part he was silent on internal topics; and as the nation knew little, and cared less, about Belgium and Portugal, Palmerston's name, though renowned on the Continent, was held in light regard in England. Hence it is hardly surprising that in 1831 he should have been beaten at Cambridge for advocating Parliamentary Reform, and in 1835 should have been turned out of his seat for South Hants. It was thought that Lord Melbourne would send him to the Paris Embassy; but after a few weeks he found refuge at Tiverton, which borough remained faithful to him for the remainder of his life.

At the Foreign Office he reigned supreme; though his absolutism was less marked under Lord Grey than under Lord Melbourne, under whose loose and haphazard régime the strong-willed Foreign Secretary soon acquired practical independence, and brushed aside with jaunty nonchalance the remonstrances addressed to him by the more energetic of his colleagues, particularly Lord Holland and Lord Clarendon. Under his auspices. England entered upon a period of diplomatic activity which for its extent, duration, and success, has but few parallels in our history. It must be acknowledged that Palmerston had peculiar opportunities. During his first years in office the flood of revolution, having burst its

boundaries at Paris, was sweeping over the face of Europe and shaking the great monarchies to their foundations. Hence, with insurrection menacing them at home, they had but little leisure or inclination for a forward policy abroad; and the English Foreign Secretary had a comparatively unobstructed course before him. Still there were times when his position was extremely critical, and it was chiefly through sheer pluck and address, aided perhaps by a considerable share of good fortune, that he rode over difficulties which would. have overwhelmed a warier man. Greville has recorded the admirable dictum of Lord Granville, that contempt. for clamour and abuse was one of the finest of his characteristics, and it was one that never failed him.

He was undoubtedly well served, particularly by Lord Beauvale at Vienna-less well by Lord Ponsonby at the Porte-and certainly deserved the steady co-operation of his subordinates. His chief faults in dealing with people arose from an inability to see that they might possibly be right if they differed from him in opinion; and in a want of consideration, which was markedly exhibited in his unpunctual habits. Hence he occasionally annoyed those who came in immediate contact with him either at the Foreign Office or in the Corps Diplomatique. But the représentatives of England at foreign courts knew that in the Foreign Secretary they had a friend who would not stint his praise when it was due, and who would not withdraw his protection from them if they were visited by unjust suspicions or royal caprice. He once answered Mr. Cobden as follows:

The hon. gentleman says that all the difficulties which have come upon this country in various parts of the world have been due to my meddling policy, and to my habit of supporting those who act under

me. Again I confess to the charge preferred against me. I do think that those who employ officers in distant parts of the globe are bound to support and defend them, as long as they believe that they have done their best according to their sense of duty, and have not acted in a manner deserving of just blame. That has been my practice as far as I have had to deal with such matters; and, therefore, I am rather proud to have this testimony from the hon. member that our agents in remote parts of the world act in the confidence that they will be borne out and supported by the Government at home.

On the other hand, they were sometimes apt to hector foreign courts, and to become more Palmerstonian than Palmerston himself. There was, in fact, a good deal of unnecessary friction connected with our relations with the Great Powers during this period, for which the Foreign Secretary was partly to blame. Though an indefatigable worker, to the extent of denying himself all social pleasures during the Session of Parliament, he seems to have been somewhat deficient in method. Important despatches remained unanswered for weeks, much to the annoyance of foreign statesmen; in his anxiety to prove himself in the right, he sometimes overstated his case and made reconciliation difficult. He was also indiscreet, and some of the private letters accompanying his despatches are written in a very slapdash and inconsiderate manner. Lord Beauvale, it is said, seldom paid any attention to them, but acted solely on his public instructions. A most characteristic instance of his gratuitous flippancy is preserved in the memoirs of Metternich. In 1834, when William IV. dismissed Lord Melbourne's first Ministry, the Foreign Secretary sent a brief notice of the change of Ministry to the Viennese embassy, with the following P.S.:—“ Take this note, without loss of time, to Prince Metternich. I am certain that he will never have been more delighted in his life than when he reads it, and that I shall never

have been so popular with him as on my departure from office." No wonder that the Austrian Minister was of opinion that the English Foreign Secretary's character was hateful and inexplicable."

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But his genial presence as a rule disarmed resentment, and if he was unpopular with the continental courts, he was personally esteemed by the Corps Diplomatique. They all bore witness to his high character as a man; and of his general qualifications for the management of foreign affairs, a most favourable estimate is to be found even in the memoirs of Count Beust, who had no occasion to love him. The creator of the Dual Monarchy says that "by his easy and attractive, yet very dignified manners, by his knowledge of foreign countries and languages, by his keen sympathy with the national currents which influence the intercourse of England with other Powers, Palmerston was the very ideal of a Foreign Minister."

As might be expected, Lord Palmerston had no cutand-dried system of policy. Of course, he had far too much common sense not to be throughout his life a firm believer in the doctrine of balance of power. As he remarked in the last great speech which he ever delivered on foreign affairs

We are told that the balance of power is an exploded doctrine belonging to ancient times. Why, it is a doctrine founded on the nature of man. It means that it is to the interest of the community of nations that no one section should acquire such a preponderance as to endanger the security of the rest; and it is for the advantage of all that the smaller Powers should be respected in their independence, and not swallowed up by their more powerful neighbours.

And at the outset of his career, to maintain the balance he saw, indeed, the value of the entente cordiale with Orleanist France, and would have liked, if possible, to

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