PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RACE-HORSES 



he would make no success as a sire, and accordingly, 

 at the age of seven, he was sold for 510 guineas. 

 Frail is the judgment of the breeder ! Whalebone 

 became the sire of three winners of the Derby, 

 and of the Oaks winner, Caroline. His line is 

 handed down by some of the most illustrious 

 names in the Stud Book. The Duke never won 

 the St. Leger, but he twice won the Oaks : in 

 1804 with Pelisse, a daughter of Prunella, and in 

 1808 with Morel, whom he bred from Sorcerer and 

 Hornby Lass. The year after Whalebone's Derby,, 

 the Duke of Grafton's racing career was ended 

 by his death. 



Ill 



Viscount Palmerston. — Lord Palmerston was 

 a Minister whose political life opened in 1808 

 and ceased only with his death in 1865. During 

 this long period he was rarely unemployed. His 

 disposition was pleasant, his principles easy, and 

 in his day he eminently suited the average man, 

 both inside and outside the House of Commons. 

 To Parliament he was devoted, and he gave his 

 life to it. In Palmerston's time the success of a 

 leader depended upon the closest attendance in 

 the House ; an occupation that has always en- 

 couraged the illusion that the dust and din of 

 debate, the worry of the Lobby, and the boredom 

 of the Committee-room are the main cause of the 

 great social movement. As a Minister he made 

 much stir in the outer world by interference in the 

 affairs of foreign nations and by bluster concern- 

 ing the rights of Englishmen abroad. He enjoyed 

 frequent triumphs in vindicating his conduct, and 



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