726 



PALMERSTON 



PAI.MISTKY 



he renamed the soals of the Foreign t Mliee. His 

 econd foreign administration fumi-hcd various 

 subject* <>i ho-tile party criticism, among which 

 may be mentioned tlie civil war in Swit/.erland, 

 the S|ianii<li marriage* (see (Jri/.iiTI. thr Kuio|>can 

 i. -toliuioif in IS4S, tin- rupture of ili|iliiiiiutic rcla 

 lion* between Spain ami (ireat llritain, and finally, 

 the affair of I ton Pacilico (a (iihrallai Jew In ing 

 in \tln-n-. who claimed the privileges of a llritish 



milijert ), mid the consequent quarrel with C Mi 



Hi- strenuous self assorting chnracti-r, his brusque 

 speech, his frequently hasty interferences in foreign 

 affairs, were little calculate! ti ccmriliate oppo- 

 nent-, at home, and secured him inuny enemies 

 alnoad the name ' Firebrand Palmei>ton ' Mill 

 clinging to him on the Continent. A vote of 

 censure cm tin- foreign policv of the government 

 wa in 1850 carried in tin- EMMM of I/ord* on the 

 motion of I,ord Stanley (aAwwwdi Karl of Derby). 

 A counter-resolution, approving the foreign policy 

 of the government, was thereu|Min nioveil by Mr 

 Roebuck in the Lower House. The debate lasted 

 four night*. In a sjieech of live hours' duration 

 that Hpperh,' said Sir Kolert I'eel, which made 

 us all so |iiinid of him' Palmerston entered upon 

 a manly and dignified vindication of his foreign 

 policy ; and Mr Koebuck's motion was carried by 

 a majority of forty six. 



In Dmmbar 1S,~>1 the public were itartle<l 

 at the news that l'almer-n>ii wan no longer a 

 member of the Kusscll enhinet. He had expiessed 

 to tlie Fi-ench ambassador in London his appro- 

 bation of the ctnt/i il'ilut of Louis Na)>oleon, 

 without ron-iilting either the premier or the 

 t^ueen ; and, a* explanations were refused, Lord 

 John Kussell advised his resignation. Palmer- 

 -i-iii. in tin' general opinion, was 'smashed;' but 

 In- -<Kin got his 'tit for tat ;' for in the following 

 February, soon after the meeting of parliament, he 

 avenged him-clf by shattering the Itussell adminis- 

 tration to piece, on a comparatively trilling ques- 

 tiona Militia Bill. He refused an oiler from the 

 Karl of Il.-rby to join the government which he 

 wax commissioned to form, hut accepted the post 

 of Home Sccret.at v in the coalition administration 

 of the Karl of Alterdcen in IS.VJ. The fall of this 

 coalition government in the winter of l,S.">4-f>5, on 

 Mr Koehuck's motion for a Seltastojiol committee, 

 placed Palmers ton in his seventy lirst year in the 

 po-ition of prime minister, to which he was unani- 

 moiislv clle<l by the voice of the nation ; in hi.s 

 own phrase he was ' the inevitable.' He vigorously 

 pro-cciitcd tin- Itussiaii war until Seh;u-lopol wa-. 

 taken, ami peace wax made. His government w.-i- 

 defeate<l in March 1857 "ii Mr CoUlrn's motion 

 condemnatory of the Chinese war. Palmentton 

 np|M-al-.l to ill- country, ami nn-t tln> House of 

 I oiiimoiK witli a largely inereawnl majority, lint 

 bix ndiniiiistiatioii f.'ll in Fc-bruary 1HS8, over the 

 Hill, inti-ndeil to pioteet the French 

 again-l tin- inacliin/ilioim of plotting 

 refuge~i. A short Conservuiive a/lministration 

 followed ; but in June 1S.VI Palmerston wax again 

 r.ill.-il to the' |M>st of First l,ord of the Treasury, 

 which lie continued to lill up to hix death, (lie 

 rlnef event* of this jiremii'rsliip U-ing the Ameiican 

 civil war (with its Trent ami Alnliiunn incidi-ntx), 

 Na|Hdeon'x war with Austria, and the Autro 

 1'nwwion war with Iicnmark. Hix hiM gieat 

 peech wan his defence of the policy of his go\ern 

 inent. Heliveritl in .Inly Isiil, in reply to tin- attack 

 I Mr Ihoraeli. He .I].-. I at his country seal. 

 limcketl Hall. IHih (icioln.r isii.'.. and wax'buiic,! 

 in W<itminler Ald-y. Itolh his titles became 

 \iinct with him. 



It wax his ambition to IK- considered the minister 

 of a nation rather than the mini-tcr of a political 

 fxwty; and his op[H>ncnU have been constrained to 



admit that he held otlice with more general accept- 

 ance than any Kngli-h minister since the time of 

 the great I. mil Chatham. As an orator he was 

 usually homely and unpielciiiliiig, but ah 

 hcn-ili)e and practical. He was a dexterous 

 tactician, of irrepressible spirit, and a ready, 

 witty, and often brilliant debater, lie was popular 

 as a minister, liecaiise In- was thoroiighlv Knglish in 

 hi- ends and aims. K\ en his rolm-t hi alth. oil' hand 

 manner, manly and usual jaunty liearing, and ph\ >i 

 cat vigour were elements of his popularity, becau-e 

 they were n>gardeil as a gloritical ion of the Knglish 

 sport-, which he was never ashamed to patronise. 

 He desired nothing so ardently as to promote the 

 pro-perity, influence, and grandeur of (Jreat 

 liritain, and his national character and national 

 spirit were thoroughly appreciated by his country- 

 men. 



See Life of Patmertton, by Lord Hailing (3 vols. 1870), 

 continued by Evelyn Ashley (2 vol.*. 1879) ; and smaller 

 work* by Anthony Trollope (1882), Lloyd Sanders 

 (1888), and the Marquis of Lome (1891). 



I'ulmwston (Australia). See PORT DARWIN. 



Palmer-worm, a name given to many large 

 kinds of grub, the larva' of coleopterous insects, 

 destructive to various vegetable substance-. 



Pallll>ttO-leavrS. the leaves of the Palmyra 

 palm (see PALM. p. 7'23), imported into Kurope for 

 the manufacture of hats and mats. For the palm 

 known as Palmetto, see PALM, p. 720. 



l':illllirri. LriGl, meteorologist, born 2-Jd 

 April I NO", taught mathematics, liecame in ls-17 

 professor at Naples, and in 1S.~>4 director of 

 the observatory on Vesuvius. He invented many 

 meteorological instruments, and wrote on volcanoes 

 and seismology. He died 0th September 1896. 



I'almi polos, also called NATATOHES, or 

 SWIMMKHS, the web footed birds.'in some classi- 

 fications an order of Birds. See I'.IKU. 



Palmistry, or CHIROMANCY (Gr. ctieir, 'the 

 band, and mtnitike, 'divination'), is the art of 

 'reading the palm' the art which professes to 

 discover tlie tcni|>erament and character of any one, 

 a- well as the past ami future events of his life, 

 from an examination of the /ml m of his hand, and 

 of the lines traced upon it. As a considerable body 

 of very complicated rules and directions have IM-CII 

 laid down by authorities, ancient and modem, to 

 enable the student to read the palm, palmistry 

 claims to lie regarded as a ' science.' or at least as 

 a branch of an interpretative science of the hand in 

 general, to which tlie name ( '/, //i/.v/y///y has been 

 given. The other branch of this general science 

 has been called CkiroyHomg, and is concerned 

 with the interpretation of the form and character 

 of the hand and lingers, while Chiromancy treats 

 of the palm only (see I )t\ ivvnuN -. 



As an art palmistry appears to be of great 



antiquity. Mr Neslield, in bis Kejiort on ll aste 



system in the North west Provinces and Oudh 

 ( ls*.">), tells us that there is a caste of lirahman-. 

 called .loshi, who profess the art of fortune telling 

 by means of marks on the palms of tlie hands, the 

 face, and the Ixxly generally ; and who seem to 

 have piacti-ed it from remote times. Palmistry 

 ha an ancient literature of its own in India; the 

 ancient Samudriki appear* to have had some 

 acquaintance with letters, but the Joshi, his 

 modem representative, is quite illiterate, though 

 he generally carries about with him a manual of 

 palmistry, of whose contents he knows in, thing. 

 Thcie are also a number of wandering outcasts in 

 India who tell fortunes by palmistry. 



That palmistry was to some extent at least 

 known to the ancient Creeks we have evidence 

 in the writings of the Stagirite himself. In his 



