[37] The intrigue between Lord Palmerston and Napoleon III. at Compiègne, in November, gave great and justifiable offence to the Tory Ministry, and was regarded with disapproval by the country.
[38] Lowe’s Life of Bismarck, Vol. I., p. 236.
[39] Martin’s Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. XC.
[40] Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, Vol. II., p. 155.
[41] See Martin’s Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. XC.
[42] Votes were given to persons who had £10 a year in Bank Stock or the Funds, or a deposit of £60 in a Savings Bank, or a pension from the State of £20 a year, and to University graduates, members of the learned professions, and certain schoolmasters.
[43] Martin’s Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. XCII.
[44] Martin’s Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. XCIII.
[45] Lord Palmerston’s organs in the Press were, during this controversy, virtually official organs of the French Emperor, and were embarrassing ministers with factious opposition. Lord Malmesbury, writing in his Diary on the 21st of February, observes, “Lady Tankerville says that Lady Palmerston told her that the attack upon the Foreign Policy of our Government, for which her husband had given notice to-morrow, was made in compliance with the Emperor’s wish!”—Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, Vol. II., p. 158.
[46] Lord Malmesbury warned Prussia that England could not approve of her going to war with France, and would give her no assistance in protecting the German coast against an attack by a French or a Franco-Russian fleet.—See Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, pp. 204, 205.