Lord Granville was not on the whole, perhaps, a successful
Foreign Minister, for he fell upon extremely difficult times, when the United States were sore, sensitive, and yet imperious ; when Russia was enabled by the Franco-Prussian War to tear up the Treaty of Paris ; and when the weakness of France rendered her at once very reluctant to take her full share of European burdens, and yet excessively jealous of any rival who supplanted ben And, moreover, he was the Foreign Minister of a Government which rather made it a point of honour not to follow Palmerstouian traditions. But be was not a weak Minister, if weakness means failing to stand by your own principles ; and he was exceedingly clear-headed, good-humoured, and adroit. As leader of a hostile House of Lords, no man ever discharged a difficult duty with greater ease and a more subtle grace.
