THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 153 



and with Majesty itself, with the result that 

 Palmerston was summarily dismissed from his 

 place. Even this severe experience did not 

 loosen his hold on popular admiration and sym 

 pathy. The Whigs could not carry on the gov 

 ernment without him, and fell from power; the 

 Aberdeen coalition cabinet drifted into the 

 Crimean War through the force of the Palmer- 

 stonian influence, but failed to develop the 

 vigor that the situation required. In 1855, 

 sorely against her own wishes, but responsive 

 to an overwhelming popular demand, the Queen 

 summoned Palmerston himself to form a cab 

 inet. For more than eight of the remaining 

 ten years of his life he was prime minister, and 

 British foreign relations were presumed to fol 

 low the lines associated with his name, though 

 actually his policy and methods were substan 

 tially modified in passing through the hands of 

 the foreign secretaries, Clarendon and Russell. 

 It was well for the cause of amity that Polk 

 and Palmerston did not synchronize more pre 

 cisely in their political ascendancy. A serious 

 clash between the two would have meant 

 disaster. The crude and narrow Tennessee 

 Democrat offered a strange contrast to the 

 broad culture and long experience of the Brit- 



