xx] LORD PALMERSTON’S DISTRUST. 769

fre in England which a breath of arr might blow into a con-Bagration,

The experts in foreign politics surpassed themselves in
the elaborateness of their ignorance. One peer who had
tually been minister for foreign affairs, gravely argued
that if the annexation of Savoy should take place, the
formation of a strong kingdom in the north of Italy would
Rot be feasible, as that kingdom would be open at both
®Xtremities, by the Alps to France, and by the Mincio to
Austria, The newspapers and debates teemed with foolish
largon of this kind. It is like a return to the light of day
Yo come upon that short but most pithy speech (Mar. 2,
1860), in which the orator said that he did not want the
Government to give the slightest countenance to the project
of annexation, but, he exclaimed in a memorable phrase,
“Perish Savoy—though Savoy will not perish and will not
Suffer—rather than the Government of England should be
volved in enmity with the Government and people of
France in a matter in which we have no concern whatever.”
Unfortunately, Ministers shared the common panic. Lord
Palmerston had, until the winter of 1859, been the partisan
of the French Empire. He had been so ready to recognize
it, that his haste involved him in a quarrel with his colleagues
‘nd the Court. He was the minister of that generation who,
More than any other, had shown penetration and courage
*nough firmly to withstand the Germanism which Prince
Albert, in natural accordance with his education and earliest
SYropathies, had brought into the palace. He had come
to power in 1859, mainly because the people expected him
bo stand by the Emperor in the emancipation of Italy. But
in the winter of 1859 he wrote a letter to Lord John Russell,
then the Foreign Secretary, saying that though until lately
he had strong confidence in the fair intentions of the Emperor
towards Kngland, yet he now began to suspect that the
2n

1860.

Mr. bB.