Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/179

 same object, between Princess Mary of Cambridge and Prince Jerome Napoleon. Malmesbury heard of it, and said he hoped it was not true, for the sake of the Princess; but it was strongly pressed by Palmerston on the Queen, and was only put an end to by the Princess's absolute refusal to listen to it.

If Palmerston ever believed in the Emperor's fidelity to the English alliance, he did not do so permanently. All through the negotiations which finally led up to the Crimean War, Palmerston and his coadjutor at Constantinople, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, urged on his country, not only to war, but to immediate war. Palmerston knew his man. It was Louis Napoleon's present purpose in 1853 and 1854 to fight on our side; England's policy, in Lord Palmerston's view, was to clinch the matter before he had turned against us.

When Palmerston was dismissed in 1851, his defence of himself in the House of Commons at the opening of the Session of 1852 was such a complete failure that people went about saying "Palmerston is smashed." But the epithet was misapplied. The Government of which he had been the life and soul was smashed. In less than three weeks' time the debate on his dismissal, the Government was defeated, and the Russell Administration resigned. Palmerston wrote to his brother: "Dear William,—I have had my tit-for-tat with John Russell, and I turned him out on Friday last." Lord Derby formed a Government which he invited Lord Palmerston to join. The offer was declined, but, as already pointed out, Palmerston continued practically to direct our foreign policy. The Conservative Government was of very short duration. Before the year was out, Mr.