The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
_March 28th._--At Althorp the last two days. Palmerston's address to
Tiverton, following his speech, at the Mansion House, has excited great
indignation in all who are not thorough Palmerstonians. Both were full
of deception and falsehood. John Russell is particularly incensed,
and said these two productions were unworthy of a gentleman, and so
they were. Malmesbury has addressed to Palmerston a letter in the
newspapers on the subject, which though not well written is true, and
fully justified by what Palmerston said; but all this signifies very
little, the current is too strong to be opposed, and it is provoking to
see the Conservatives endeavouring to bolster up their pretensions by
saying they would have supported Palmerston on the China question, if
they had been in Parliament, or promising to support him if they are
elected. Yesterday, which was the first day of returns, does not give
much difference; to-day is the polling for the City, and nobody has an
idea how the election will go, whether Lord John will come in, and if
he does which of the four will go to the wall. He was enthusiastically
received yesterday, and the show of hands was unanimous in his favour,
but this proves very little, and his organisation is miserably
defective; had it been better and begun earlier, it is probable that
his success would have been certain; he is the favourite as it is.
Palmerston's speech at Tiverton yesterday was less objectionable than
his address and speech at the Mansion House, and he left himself
entirely unfettered on the subject of Reform, and rightly. The
Parliament promises to be a Radical one, and I fully expect that the
result of all this great commotion will be to give a stimulus to
organize Reform; nor will it surprise me if Palmerston should find it
conducive to his interest as minister to appear in the character of a
Reformer, if he were to fling overboard all his old opinions, and to
pay this price for a renewed lease of his own power. Wilkes used to say
he had never been a _Wilkite_, but Palmerston has never been anything
but a Palmerstonian, and I firmly believe that at seventy-three years
of age his single thought is how to secure for himself power for his
life, and that he will not scruple to accept measures which, so far
as he thinks about it, he believes to be constitutionally dangerous
and mischievous if by so doing he can maintain himself on the Treasury
Bench.
[Sidenote: RESULTS OF THE ELECTION.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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