Page:Karl Marx - The Story of the Life of Lord Palmerston - ed. Eleanor Marx Aveling (1899).pdf/30

 24 in his opinion, unjustifiable, step of the dethronement of the Emperor."—(House of Commons, July 9, 1832.)

"He could also say that the Poles were the aggressors, for they commenced the contest."—(House of Commons, August 7, 1832.)

When the apprehensions that Poland would be extinguished became universal and troublesome, he declared that "to exterminate Poland, either morally or politically, is so perfectly impracticable that I think there need be no apprehension of its being attempted."—(House of Commons, June 28, 1832.)

When reminded afterwards of the vague expectations thus held out, he averred that he had been misunderstood, that he had said so not in the political but the Pickwickian sense of the word, meaning that the Emperor of Russia was unable "to exterminate nominally or physically so many millions of men as the Polish kingdom in its divided state contained."—(House of Commons, April 20, 1836.)

When the House threatened to interfere during the struggle of the Poles, he appealed to his ministerial responsibility. When the thing was done, he coolly told them that "no vote of this House would have the slightest effect in reversing the decision of Russia."—(House of Commons, July 9, 1833.)

When the atrocities committed by the Russians, after the fall of Warsaw, were denounced, he recommended to the House great tenderness towards the Emperor of Russia, declaring that "no person could regret more than he did the expressions which had been uttered"—(House of Commons, June 28, 1832)—that "the present Emperor of Russia was a man of high and generous feelings"—that "where cases of undue severity on the part of the Russian Government to the Poles have occurred, we may set this down as a proof that the power of the Emperor of Russia is practically limited, and we may take it for granted that the Emperor has, in those instances, yielded to the influence of others, rather than followed the dictates of his spontaneous feelings."—(House of Commons, July 9, 1833.)

When the doom of Poland was sealed on the one hand,