PALMERSTON SUCCEEDING.
TEE Foreign Secretary is the cleverest man at official business in her Majesty's councils, and one of the most active, with the widest range for his activity; but, in the long run, as we have before ob- served, the results of his action are almost uniformly in diametri- cal opposition to his wishes and expectations as they are expressed by himself. Two instances are before us this week. Lord Palmerston, in common with all Englishmen, is very anxious for the liberation of Kossuth, detained a prisoner by Tur- key at the requisition of Russia and Austria ; it is very well known that Turkey, dislikes her office of jailer, and looks to Eng- land for support in declining to continue it. We all remember what " spirited protests" Lord Palmerston made on behalf of Hungary, at the time when Kossuth was leading the resistance to Russia and Austria. We all remember, too, how the British fleet made a show of entering the Dardanelles to support Turkey ; and how that act was " explained away" to the Russian representa- tive at Constantinople, so that it could serve as a " demonstra- tion" only in the eyes of the Commons in England, and not at all in those of the great Autocrat. Kossuth and his companions were to be detained for a year—just expired; and Sir Stratford Canning negotiated to effect their release. M. Titow negotiated in the opposite sense ; and after a great display of diplomatic struggling, Lord Palmerston is " beaten by M. Titow." This is most amazing : Lord Palmerston has been beaten in a court where he was the fa- vourite, on a point already prejudged in his favour. But the question arises—has he been beaten? England is disappointed, Turkey is thwarted, Kossuth is detained ; but has Palmerston been beaten, disappointed, or thwarted ? Did he not expect M. Titow's victory?
Lord Palmerston is acquainted with the turf, and must know, as a fact, that sometimes a jockey will ride not to win, but to lose; and in such a case you cannot say that the jockey has been beaten. He seldom looks downcast by his defeat.
In an opposite quarter of the world, Lord Palmerston is suc- ceeding, most triumphantly ; and his success in the West appears to us to throw no small light upon this failure in the East. We seldom catch Lord Palmerston in the act of success ; the process is seldom open to the view. He is coercing Brazil to oppose the slave-trade, and urging her not only to surrender captured ships to British ships, but to place her forts at British disposal. It is very remarkable, that this increased vigour against our ally is adopted just as the Anti-Slavery party in Rio de Janeiro has come to full power, is able to give effect to the principles which it shares with Lord Palmerston according to his own professions, and is actually capturing slavers. In time past he has been comparatively apa- thetic towards Brazil; but now, precisely at the time when she is sincerely and successfully engaging in the suppression of the slave- trade, then it is that Lord Palmerston seizes her, to humiliate her Government, cripple it, and paralyze it, on the plea that she is not vigorous or successful enough ! Brazil beginning to act, and to succeed, Lord Palmerston seizes upon her, crying, " No, no—leave this to me ; you can't do it." And, thus far, he succeeds in bullying a sincere and active ally, who was making way in the very process that he dictated, and that he so desired, as he said, to promote.
That success, we say, sheds a very remarkable light on Lord Palmerston's failures elsewhere • for it is curious that the practical issue of his success should be identical with the practical issue of his failures—that is to say, totally destructive to the objects which he professes to hold so dear. He exhorts Brazil to a crusade against the slave-trade ; at length Brazil consents, and then she finds herself in his gripe. He desired the liberation of Kossuth; he was active in that behalf, and Kossuth was not liberated. He desired to sustain British influence in Greece, already strong ; he was very active, and British influence was annihilated. He was most solicitous for the popular cause in Hungary, in Sicily, Rome, Lombardy, Venice, Hungary, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Spain, Portugal ; and we have seen the end. Yet all the while, he has not the chapfallen countenance of a beaten man ; quite the con- trary—the gay confident air of a highly successful man. Now, when England has been beaten throughout the world, Russia being her favourite victor, was Lord Palmerston defeated. Perhaps M. Titow could solve that riddle to simple Englishmen ?
Previous page
