Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston: Trending quotes (page 4)

“He loved his country and his country loved him. He lived for her honour, and she will cherish his memory.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

The Marquis of Lorne, Viscount Palmerston, K.G. (London: 1892), p. 235

Love , Making love , Memory , Country

“Even if England still continues to increase in civilization and opulence, she may yet, as other stronger states also rapidly augment, perhaps not long retain her present commanding position in the world; and it may be that in future ages the name of Palmerston will be synonymous with her greatest glory. From one generation of Englishman to another, the saying will be handed down: We are all proud of him.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Palmerston's obituary in the Cologne Gazette, 20 October 1865, as translated in the next day's Times

World , Future , Age

“Warmed by the instincts of a knightly heart, That roused at once if insult touched the realm, He spurned each Statecraft, each deceiving art, And met his foes, no vizor to his helm. This proved his worth; hereafter be our boast: Who hated Britons hated him the most.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Bernal Osborne adapting a Bulwer-Lytton poem at a speech to the Reform Club, 1850

Hate , Heart , Art

“Then you know what to avoid. Do the exact opposite of what he did. His administration at the Foreign Office was one long crime.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

John Bright to Lord Rosebery in 1886, after asking him whether he had read about Palmerston's policies at the Foreign Office. (The Fifth Earl of Rosbery's journal, 17 March 1886)

“We shall drink the cause of Liberalism all over the world. The reign of Metternich is over and the days of the Duke's policy might be measured by algebra, if not by arithmetic.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Letter to Henry Sulivan in response to the French Revolution of 1830 (1 August 1830), quoted in Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (1970), p. 103
1830s

World , Drink

“What business is it of ours to ask whether the French nation thinks proper to be governed by a king, an emperor, a president, or a consul? Our object and our duty is to cement the closest ties of friendship between ourselves and our nearest neighbour... There is nothing, I am convinced, in the real interests of England and France which can stand in the way of the most cordial friendship between the two nations.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1849/feb/02/the-address-in-answer-to-the-speech#column_206 in the House of Commons (2 February 1849)
1840s

Business , Thinking , Way , Friendship

“Now the English nation is able to make war, but it will only do so where its own interests are concerned. We are a simple and practical nation, a commercial nation; we do not go in for chivalrous enterprises or fight for others as the French do.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Remarks to Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (10 March 1839), quoted in Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander I, Vol. II, ed. Adam Gielgud (1888), p. 340
1830s

Fight , War , Making love

“Governments are not at liberty to act solely from motives of generous sympathy for the sufferings of an oppressed people, they are bound by the severer rules of general principles, to respect rights which are inherent in other nations.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Letter to Viscount Granville on the Portuguese Civil War (10 August 1831), quoted in Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (1970), p. 166
1830s

Motivation , Suffering , People

“To punish the guilty adequately exceeds the power of any civilised man; for the atrocities which have been committed are such as to be imagined and perpetrated only by demons sallying forth from the lowest depths of hell.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Speech in the Guildhall, London, on the Indian Mutiny (9 November 1857), quoted in The Times (10 November 1857), p. 7
1850s

Hell , Imagination

“[I]f they were negotiating with a foreign country on a matter which might threaten war, it was so far from embarrassing the negotiation, that it would strengthen it, to place ourselves in a position to repel any sudden and unforeseen attack.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1845/jun/13/maritime-defences#column_524 in the House of Commons in favour of rearmament (13 June 1845)
1840s

War , Country

“If anything were calculated to render permanent and secure our friendly relations with great neighbouring Powers, it was the placing ourselves in a position of security against any sudden or unforeseen attack. There was no complete security for friendly relations between different countries, except in a state of mutual defence.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1845/jun/13/maritime-defences#column_520 in the House of Commons in favour of rearmament (13 June 1845)
1840s

Relation ships , Country

“Sir, a wise Government in its home policy considers the reasonable wants of the people; in its foreign policy, it is prepared to resist the unjust demands and the unreasonable views of foreign powers.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1843/jul/28/state-of-the-nation#column_1462 in the House of Commons (28 July 1843)
1840s

Home , People