Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-03
LORD PALMERSTON.
Personal "Reminiscences and Anec-
dOfeS.

hO WV
raphical sketch of Lord Palmerston, from
which we extract the following interesting
paragraphs;
HIS INA ILLNESS n DEATH.
For some days previous to his last i'll
ness he had been staying at Brocket Halt
Herts, one of the country seats of the Mel
bourne family, of which his wife was the
heiress. On Friday, the 18th of October,
he took a carriage drive, as usual, and on
returning home discovered that he had
caught a severe cold. Unfavorable symp-
toms quickly manifested themselves, and
on the following Sunday night his friends
we're notified that he was seriously i'll
kilograms were sent to Queen Victoria,
in Scotland, and to Sir George Grey. Inc
Queen was most assiduous and thoughtful
in her inquiries as to the aged statesman's
condition. On Monday morning Lord
Palmerston was reported somewhat better,
and a letter received by one of his rela-
tives stated that his condition had not al
tered for the worse during the day. The
next morning Tuesday still more hope
full an~ticipations were raised, and his
physicians issued a hopeful bulletin, stating
that the noble lord had been seriously Ill
in consequence of having taken cold, but
had steadily improved duringi the past
three DAYS, and was then much better
Before night a change for the worse
set in, and the papers of Wednesday MORN
ing issued the following statement;
ILord.Palmerston's illness has become
worse since the morning. Without any
desire to cause pain to the friends OF the
noble Premier. it cannot be disguised that
he is. very seriously i'll"
Before the morning was over came the
tidings of his death:
aLord Palmerston expired at a quarter
to eleven this "Wednesday morning. His
nearest relatives-the Earl and Coun-
tess of Shaftesbury, Right Hon. w. Cow
per, NJ. P, and V~iscountess Jocelyn-
were at Brocket Hall. at the time Of his
death. The immediate causeof death was
an affection of the bladder. 1t is stated
that Lord Palmerston was unconscious
for some hours before death, and that he
died without suffering"
HIS P~ARENTAGE.
He was the first born of the second and
very romantic marriage of his father, Wis
count Palmerston, with Mary Nee, the
deaughter of an Irish halter. The story
has never been fully authenticated, but
has never been authoratively denied, and
has been frequently reproduced in various
novels and plays. The story is as follows
The Viscount, after his bereavement of
his first wife, was riding on horseback
through the streets of Dublin, and was
thrown, and had one of his limbs fractur-
ed. He was carried into an adjacent house
and, upon medical assistance being sum-
moned, it was found that it would be dan
gerous or fatal to have him removed. The
house was occupied by a respectable hat
ter in middling circumstances. The hat
ter's daughter undertook the task of nurs-
ing the injured peer. The consequence of
her attentions was that they fell in love
with each other, and the result was their
marriage. We cannot at all vouch for the
accuracy of this gossip, but, to say the
least, a colorado possibility is lent to it by
the fact that in Burke's peerage and IN
such temporary authorities and ~chroniclers
of aristocratic doings, as the Gentleman
Magazine no further reference is made
to the second wife of Viscount Palmer
ston than that her name was Mary Nee
and that her father was Benjamin Nee.
Burke calls him benjamin Nee, Esq"
In the absence of all a~llusion to her fami-
" connections the inference is almost if
not quite inevitable that the lady was of
obscure birth. Mary Nee became a peer
ess in the right of her husband, by her
marriage, on the 18th of January, 1888.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE n CHARACTER
IsTICs.
Of full height, well knit in figure, easy,
| self-possessed, and commanding, in all his
movements, except when govt hid him
by the leg, Lord Palmerston from his
physique alone was Il notable figure in the
British Parliament. His c~ountenance al
ways wore an air of genial openness and
candor, hardly to be expected in so wary
a diplomatist. Even in his most sarcastic
moments the expression of good humored
6onhomnsie never left his mouth and eyes.
In his youth he dressed with admirable
taste and care, and even in his latter years
the Marquis of Normandy, that prince of
a~Ivi1Irt dasdivs, HardlJ uavvvdv1 Liz" ia
the scrupulous neatness of his attire. Age
failed to efface his g~allantry. At sixty
years of age he was called Cupid, the
Juvenile whig," and at eighty he seldom
made an after dinner speech without
bringing down the house by some we'll
| timed. graceful compliment to thefair sA~
Much OF his wonderful vlgor in old age
| WAS uOuUliCSS Ollb " hAS abA VI liz
He thought nothing of a thirty mile gal
lep on horseback before dinner. At row.
ing, walking and athletic exercises he was
an adept, and even in the severest wealth
er, at one or two o'clock in the morning,
after a long and anxious Parliamentary
debate, he would often trudge home on foot
from the House of Commons to his man.
sion in Piccadilly, a distance of two or
three miles, frequently unattended and
unnOticed.
The secret of England's admiration for
the man while alive was his genuine
English "pluck." An instance of Pal
merston's own estimation of this quality is
widely known. Soon after the great fight
between Heenan and Savers at Farnbo-
rough n subscription was raised for Toms
benefit. 1 happened, says a friend who
relates the incident, to be in one of the
corridors of the House Of Commons when
a gentleman came along with a hat in his
hand, and, after taking several sovereigns
from passing members he approached the
%Hiaunty premier" Holding out the hat
he said, "a sovereign, if you please, for
Tom Savers "BY all means. Tho brave
fellow. Let inc make it FIVE" And Lord
PalmerstOn dropped his subscription into
the hat.
HIS MARRIAGE.
Lord Palmerston was not married until
he was ffty-fve years of age. His chosen
wife was the widow of the Earl Of Cowper.
At the time of their marriage Lady Pal
merston was about thirty-seven years of
age. She also had four children, the issue
of the Earl of Cowper, and all of whom
were married at the time Of her second
marriage. One of the daughters, Emily
Caroline Catherine Frances, was married
to Lord Ashley, heir to the earldom of
SALISBURY, and the other to ViscOunt
Jocelyn. Her eldest son by Earl Cowper
is the present peer of that name. Lady
Palmerston was an accomplished and fas
cinating woman, and after her second
marriage attained u celebrity liz the social
life of the metropolis scarcely inferior to
that which the political ability and active
genius of her husband have won for him
on the Continent of Europe. She was,
like her husband, a great diplomatist. 1t
was through her efforts that the ~reconcilia-
ton took place between her husband and
Lord Russell, which resulted in the forma-
ton of the Cabinet now dissolved by Pal
merston's death. She was an early fame
of Palmerston's when she was Lady Emily