Lord Palmerston

by Jasper Ridley

Lord Palmerston was one of the most successful of all British politicians. Linking the world of the Regency with the middle of Queen Victoria's reign, he was made Secretary at War in 1809 at the age of twenty-five, and held the post for nineteen years. From 1830 to 1841 he was Foreign Secretary. At first he was regarded as weak and ineffectual, a 'Lord Cupid' who was more active in love affairs than in diplomacy; but before the end of his term of office he had raised English prestige in Europe to a record height. Without any special following in Parliament, he became the most popular statesman in the country, because of his vigorous defence of the rights Englishmen abroad.He played a crucial part in the creation of Belgium, saved Portugal and Spain from complete tyranny, rescued Turkey from Russia and saved the route to India from France. He was again Foreign Secretary from 1846-51, when he was in effect dismissed by Queen Victoria after undertaking to show her his foreign dispatches and then manifestly failing to do so. He would probably have averted the Crimean War if he had been Foreign Secretary at the time; and in 1855, at the age of seventy, he finally became Prime Minister, because the public believed he was the only man who could win the war. With a break of sixteen months, he was Prime Minister until he died in 1865.Palmerston was not greatly concerned with morality. His policy, first, last and all the time, was to protect and strengthen British interests, not least by a policy of brinkmanship that preserved the international balance of power and thus made British nineteenth-century prosperity possible.His personal energy and vitality were phenomenal-at the age of seventy-nine he rode from Piccadilly to Harrow in fifty-five minutes-and his treatment of his fellow men and women, from the humblest clerk in the Foreign Office to Metternich, Napoleon III and Queen Victoria, was consistently robust.

Genres: History, Biography, 19th Century

689 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Jasper Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister, before starting to write. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and was, by his own account, violently abused while in a detention camp. He served on St Pancras Borough Council from 1945 to 1949, and stood, unsuccessfully, as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955 general election.

Reviews

[Harry Fay]

A beautifully written book, and a very good coverage of an intricate and complicated life and career.

2 stars are lost due to the fact that, as with palmerston, this book is a product of its time. It suffers from the downsides of many biographies, capturing key world events almost solely through individuals, or ‘great men’, while not taking into account any form of institutional influence. It very much treats the foreign office, the war office and downing street as a one man show.

Thats one star down.

The next comes from some serious historical oversights. And that is only from those facts and figures i myself noticed and can corroborate denials of. Shaving a significant number of deaths (only maybe 1.6-1.8 million of the total 2 million) off the Great Famine, and also claiming (for some reason? With a complete lack of elaboration) that Parnell wasnt Irish.

Almost all other information and claims leave me totally responsible to the diligence of the author for its veracity. So i cant confirm how impartial the account is.

This strikes me clearly as an account from an author who looks fondly upon that long, golden age of aristocracy, and glorifies the mastermind behind its rearguard action in the 19th century.

However, not all is negative. The author captures palmerston’s malleability very well, and presents his nuances clearly and reflectively. So there is a certain understanding of that aspect of his character.

Although i give it three stars, i loved the book. Its a deligtful read, and i cant recommend it enough.

Just keep a critical eye on it as you do.

[John Ward]

160 pages of a 600 page on his premiership seems to be focusing too much on his early successful career. But good information on Europe in the 1800’s. Good intro to some topics like Crimea.

[Czarny Pies]

This book which won the James Tait Black Prize in 1970 is without question an outstanding work of scholarship. Anyone interested in British politics or foreign policy in the 19th century will find this biography highly rewarding.

[Mauberley]

This is a first-rate political biography that uses Palmerston's papers to document his actions and re-actions primarily as the Foreign Secretary at the height of the British (English) Empire. I only wish that there was more about Palmerston the man. His fervent belief that England's constitutional monarchy has the quality of a divinely ordered political arrangement means that he was committed to all the baggage the such a position entailed, e.g., a suspicious aversion to the democratic republic of the United States as well as an overarching support of the 'excellence' and natural superiority of the English upper classes. If Palmerston's 'inner life' is left largely unexplored, Ridley is excellent in underscoring Palmerston's seemingly unlimited personal energies. Ridley gave up his law practice to work on this book and everyone who is curious as to Palmerston's political career stands in debt to the book's author.