Palmerston
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
HENRY JOHN TEMPLE, VISCOUNT, an English statesman; born in 1784. In 1807 he was named a lord of the Admiralty under the Tory administration of the Duke of Portland. In 1809 he was appointed Secretary of War, and remained in the 20 years. His political Wellington's administration in 1828. Resumed his work in the Foreign Office the following year, after the fall of the Peel ministry. He became famous as foreign minister in the six years of office. Was appointed Foreign Secretary in the Whig administration of Lord John Russell. Serious differences with his colleagues over Napoleon's coup d'état, forced his resignation. On the accession of the Coalition Administration in the following year, he took the office шe LORD PALMERSTON Secretary. The mismanageaffairs in the Crimea caused the fall of the Coalition ministry in 1855; immediately after which Lord Palmerston reached the apex of power as First Lord of the Treasury, and prime minister of Great Britain. As prime minister he successfully carried out the policy of alliance with France and the war with Russia which ended with the fall of Sebastopol, in September, 1855. Feebly supported, however, by his colleagues, he lost strength in the House, and his administration finally fell, February, 1858, on the Conspiracy Bill. The second Derby administration succeeded, but a year later Palmerston was again called to be prime minister. With surprising energy and industry, he directed the English policy through the Italian War, the American War, and the Polish insurrection. He died Oct. 18, 1865.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The bare facts in Collier's 1921 sketch still stand, though the printed text is plainly garbled in places: Palmerston was born in 1784, held office almost continuously from 1807, and died on 18 October 1865, two days short of his eighty-first birthday and still prime minister. What has moved is the judgement rather than the record. Modern historians give far more weight to two things Collier's passes over entirely: his long campaign against the Atlantic slave trade, which he himself counted his best work, and the assisted emigration of hundreds of his Irish tenants from his Sligo estates during the Famine of 1847, which has become the sharpest charge against him. His private papers, kept at Broadlands, were secured for public research and are now consulted by scholars at the University of Southampton, which has underpinned a steady stream of reassessments of his gunboat diplomacy.
Written for this edition, 2026.