HENRY JOHN TEMPLE

This is an interesting historical quotation because it shows the role of the Queen in the English Government at the middle of the 19th century. What the quotation shows is that the drafts of significant foreign policies were sent to the young 29 year old Queen for approval. However, her review was not perfunctory, In {630732} it showed how she analyzed proposed policies and pointed out flaws and shortcomings. In this quotation she not only criticized a part of the draft policy but actually wrote her own copy to be included. War was then raging in Lombardy between the Austrians under Marshal Radetzky and the Piedmontese under the King of Sardinia and she believed the Palmerston draft did not do enough to make the Austrians see England as an objective party. And she wanted to be much more proactive and have the British Foreign Ministry mediate the conflict. This would be like a President of the United States taking a draft of a foreign policy from the State Department, instead of either approving or disapproving it, redrafts it to add some additional elements and make the language more comfortable for the parties. And she did this when by U. S. standards she was not old enough to even run for Congress. (And women in the United Kingdom could not even vote.) Note that the formality of the time required that the Queen refer to herself in the third person and not the first.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. This historical quotations illustrates the worst of the British Empire. British merchants were making large profits shipping opium to China and selling it there. Drug addiction became a major problem and some local Chinese Authorities passed laws banning the importing and selling of opium. However, the English merchant ship captains paid no attention to these laws claiming their rights as Englishmen to free trade. The Chinese finally seized a number of shipments of opium and burned them. The British then appointed Captain Elliot to lead a squadron of ships to China, arrange for payment in compensation for the value of the seized opium and to open up the opium trade, by force if necessary. The Chinese position was not unreasonable and Captain Elliot was not able to secure the concessions the English government wanted without starting a small war with the loss of many lives. Temple, who was the Foreign Minister at this time, fired Elliot and replaced him with someone who was less concerned about problems of drug addiction and the Chinese. Thus began the First Opium War. Note that the then British view of equity was that if they had to send an expedition of ships and soldiers to force the Chinese to allow the English to sell opium, then part of the terms must be that the Chinese pay the costs for the British ships and soldiers who invaded their country and forced them to keep poisoning their own people. See {621319} for Captain Elliot’s view.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. Lajos Kossuth was the Hungarian leader of anti-monarchists who were agitating for a Parliament. While many English people sympathized with Kossuth, his government, which had good relations with England, did not want any of the other European Governments to officially meet with him. It was considered insulting to a government if a friendly government met officially with a politician who was not approved by his own government. Palmerston, as Temple was referred to, wanted to show English sympathy with the reforms advocated by Kossuth. He was then the Foreign Minister and wanted to invite Kossuth to the Foreign Ministry. However the Cabinet had a meeting and voted against the idea which would not only inflame the Hungarian government, but would outrage all the other countries in Europe for this diplomatic insult. Palmerston then decided that he would meet with Kossuth in his private residence. When the Prime Minister discovered this plan, he sent a note by messenger telling Palmerston that he was the Foreign Minister and inviting Kossuth to his home could not be seen as an official action. Palmerston has his own political base and had enough supporters in Parliament that if he would be fired, he could bring down the coalition government. So in effect he told his Prime Minister off and dared Russell to fire Palmerston. Then he went ahead with the meeting. The cabinet was upset, Queen Victoria was outraged (she never cared for Palmerson as a Foreign Minister), the Newspapers had a field day, and all the European counties complained vehemently to the Queen and the Prime Minister. But Russell didn’t dare fire Palmerston at that point. However, with Queen Victoria’s shrewd political maneuvering and Russell coalescing support, he was able to demote Palmerson to Home Secretary and assume the Foreign Ministry himself in 1952. However, Palmerston had the final winning hand, when 3 years later, he was elected Prime Minister and he and the Queen had to make a rapprochement.

A problem often exists when a citizen of one country is in another and is accused of wrongdoing. In many cases the local country’s laws. Constitutional guarantees, and corrupt or incompetent judiciary are of a very low standard. How active should a nation be in protecting its citizens in foreign countries to be sure that they are treated fairly and with justice. This is a matter of foreign policy and at the time, some British politicians wanted the government to avoid interfering in individual cases as the consequences were often bad relations and occasionally war to protect citizens. Temple would have none of it, and the last sentence of this quotation is his famous statement of the role of England towards their citizens wherever they might be. This problem only exists for powerful nations as weak ones are in no position to protect their citizens abroad. The United States has never been as strong as Ancient Rome or England in the protection of its citizens abroad, but has not been entirely disinterested either. It depends on the facts of the individual case, the foreign policy situation with the country involved and the particular government in power.

3rd Viscount Palmerston

3rd Viscount Palmerston

3rd Viscount Palmerston. France has had, ever since their bloody revolution, factions that were for revolution and factions for stability have both always existed.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. Afghanistan geographically is in a very strategic place, and for centuries major powers have wanted to either control it or have a very friendly government there. The highly independent Afghans are fierce fighters and have repulsed all the major powers who have tried to colonize it. The same independence makes governing the country very difficult, and there has not been a competent government that could control the country at any time in history.

3rd Viscount Palmerston

3rd Viscount Palmerston

He was at the time referring to Greece where the King’s ministers controlled the judges of the nation. He stressed the importance of judicial independence if justice is to be obtained.

A problem often exists when a citizen of one country is in another and is accused of wrongdoing. In many cases the local country’s laws. Constitutional guarantees, and corrupt or incompetent judiciary are of a very low standard. How active should a nation be in protecting its citizens in foreign countries to be sure that they are treated fairly and with justice. This is a matter of foreign policy and at the time, some British politicians wanted the government to avoid interfering in individual cases as the consequences were often bad relations and occasionally war to protect citizens. Temple would have none of it, and the last sentence of this quotation is his famous statement of the role of England towards their citizens wherever they might be. This problem only exists for powerful nations as weak ones are in no position to protect their citizens abroad. The United States has never been as strong as Ancient Rome or England in the protection of its citizens abroad, but has not been entirely disinterested either. It depends on the facts of the individual case, the foreign policy situation with the country involved and the particular government in power.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. France has had, ever since their bloody revolution, factions that were for revolution and factions for stability have both always existed.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. This historical quotations illustrates the worst of the British Empire. British merchants were making large profits shipping opium to China and selling it there. Drug addiction became a major problem and some local Chinese Authorities passed laws banning the importing and selling of opium. However, the English merchant ship captains paid no attention to these laws claiming their rights as Englishmen to free trade. The Chinese finally seized a number of shipments of opium and burned them. The British then appointed Captain Elliot to lead a squadron of ships to China, arrange for payment in compensation for the value of the seized opium and to open up the opium trade, by force if necessary. The Chinese position was not unreasonable and Captain Elliot was not able to secure the concessions the English government wanted without starting a small war with the loss of many lives. Temple, who was the Foreign Minister at this time, fired Elliot and replaced him with someone who was less concerned about problems of drug addiction and the Chinese. Thus began the First Opium War. Note that the then British view of equity was that if they had to send an expedition of ships and soldiers to force the Chinese to allow the English to sell opium, then part of the terms must be that the Chinese pay the costs for the British ships and soldiers who invaded their country and forced them to keep poisoning their own people. See {621319} for Captain Elliot’s view.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. Julius Jacob von Haynau, 1786–1853, was a vicious Austrian General who had committed many atrocities in Italy and Hungary which today would be considered War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. He even had women publicly flogged who were heard saying anything sympathetic about the freedom fighters who the General suppressed brutally. On a visit to London, he was attacked and beaten by draymen at the Barclay & Perkins brewery, which he was visiting. (When Giuseppe Garibaldi came to England in 1864, he insisted on visiting the brewery to thank "the men who flogged Haynau.") The Austrian government complained to Queen Victoria about his treatment and the quotation is from the Foreign Minister’s letter reporting the facts to the queen. A letter of apology was sent by Temple to Austria, but it was worded in such a way that it was clear that the English government felt that the beating should never have taken place but it was not morally unjustified. This even angered the Austrians more. Haynau was known and despised by military men the world over. See {630983} for an American use of Haynau’s name.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. Lajos Kossuth was the Hungarian leader of anti-monarchists who were agitating for a Parliament. While many English people sympathized with Kossuth, his government, which had good relations with England, did not want any of the other European Governments to officially meet with him. It was considered insulting to a government if a friendly government met officially with a politician who was not approved by his own government. Palmerston, as Temple was referred to, wanted to show English sympathy with the reforms advocated by Kossuth. He was then the Foreign Minister and wanted to invite Kossuth to the Foreign Ministry. However the Cabinet had a meeting and voted against the idea which would not only inflame the Hungarian government, but would outrage all the other countries in Europe for this diplomatic insult. Palmerston then decided that he would meet with Kossuth in his private residence. When the Prime Minister discovered this plan, he sent a note by messenger telling Palmerston that he was the Foreign Minister and inviting Kossuth to his home could not be seen as an official action. Palmerston has his own political base and had enough supporters in Parliament that if he would be fired, he could bring down the coalition government. So in effect he told his Prime Minister off and dared Russell to fire Palmerston. Then he went ahead with the meeting. The cabinet was upset, Queen Victoria was outraged (she never cared for Palmerson as a Foreign Minister), the Newspapers had a field day, and all the European counties complained vehemently to the Queen and the Prime Minister. But Russell didn’t dare fire Palmerston at that point. However, with Queen Victoria’s shrewd political maneuvering and Russell coalescing support, he was able to demote Palmerson to Home Secretary and assume the Foreign Ministry himself in 1952. However, Palmerston had the final winning hand, when 3 years later, he was elected Prime Minister and he and the Queen had to make a rapprochement.

3rd Viscount Palmerston. Afghanistan geographically is in a very strategic place, and for centuries major powers have wanted to either control it or have a very friendly government there. The highly independent Afghans are fierce fighters and have repulsed all the major powers who have tried to colonize it. The same independence makes governing the country very difficult, and there has not been a competent government that could control the country at any time in history.