Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-07-03
LORD PALMERSTON.

ICulJ cOhu IcmpIe, isCouuG dlulelS'
ton, was born on the 10th of October, 1884,
the representative of a family deriving des.
cent, so say the peerage- e-mongers, from the
grand old Saxon Earls of Mercia, and, by
the-by, from that celebrated. Lady Godiva,
whose extraordinary equestrian exploit is
still annually commemorated with becoming
gratitude by the inhabitants of Coventry
Educated at Harrow, at Edinburgh, and at
Cambridge; and arriving at years of discre-
ton about the time when the shattered frame
of William Pitt was consigned to the Abbey
of Westminster, the young Irish peer, in
1906, contested the representation Of the
University of Cambridge with Lord Henry
Petty, now Marquis of Lansdowne; and hav-
ing been quite unsuccessful, was fain' to find
his way to the Tory benches Of the House
of Commons, as Member for the "pocket
borough" of Bletchingley. He was soon
after elected for Newport. il the Isle of
Wight; and on the formation of the Duke
of Portland's ministry, in 1907, appointed a
Lord ofthe Admiralty. Two years after en-
tering upon official life, he was, on the res
ignation of Lord Castlereagh, promoted to
the post of Secretary War and he con-
tinued to gil that Office during the long pc
Rod when the destinies of the empire were
presided over successiyely by Mr.. Percival,
the Earl of Liverpool, Mr.. Canning, Lord
Goderich, and the Duke of Wellington
During that long period, comprising more
than two decades, of years, Lord Palmers-
ton seems to have been the most docile of
subordinates and the most unobtrusive of
senators. Indeed, he exercised with great
success what Mr. Carlyle describes as the
"talent of silence" save when discussing
matters relating to his own department. No
one, of course, could then have prognostica-
ted that the very humble, and rather servile
official, who appeared to have no opinion Of
his own, whose voice was,never heard except
when the annual estimates were under dis
cussion, was, as time passed on, to figure as
a very important parliamentary parsonage,
any more than that writer in the ttNew
Whig Guide" and the pupil of Canning,
was to become the subordinate of Grey and
the colleague of John Russell. It was how
ever, ordered that it should be so
About the time when the Wellington Cabi-
net was constructed, Lord Palmerston gave
indications of having some notion that
change was at hand The elevation to the
Premiership of a man Of genius, in the per-
son of Mr.. Canning, long kept down as a
political adventurer, had shaken parties to
their centre; and his sudden death left them
in state of disorganization The uncom-
promising hostility shown by Peel and Wei
lingtou to all reform, made men of spirit cast
their eyes to the Opposition ranks, presided
over by Earl Grey; and the present Premier,
seeing how the wind blew, had little scruple
in turning his coat. The event proved that
he was wise in his generation, for, when
Earl Grey, in 1880, formed government
on the principles of tpeace, .retreuchment,
and reform, "cLord Palmerston was installed
as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
position, from the peculiar state of Europe
at the time, requiring the exercise of much
knowledge, frmness, and address.
= Having retired for awhile during Sir r.
Pcel's first and deplorable attempt atadmin.
istration, Lord Palmerstou, on the accession
of the Melbourne Ministry, returned to his
former post, which events renderedit the re-
verse Of a sinecure. The junction of the old
Tory party, under Sir r. Peel, with those
Canningites and constitutional Wings who.
followed Lord Stanley, brought into exis-
tence Parliamentary Opposition, powerful
in numbers, influential in following, and