Life of Viscount Palmerston

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This is an OCR edition with typos.
Excerpt from book:
CHAPTER III. THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE. 1830-1838. Affairs in Greece, Italy, Germany, and Poland—Tyranny of Dom Miguel in Portugal—Satisfaction obtained by England and France —Dom Pedro's descent on Portugal—He is aided by English Volunteers—Death of Ferdinand of Spain—Combination of the two Pretenders—The Quadruple Treaty—Its immediate success— Coolness between England and France—Its effect on Spanish politics—The Spanish Legion—End of the Carlist war. During the first years of his reign at the Foreign Office the affairs of Belgium appear to have absorbed Palmerston's attention almost entirely. He played only a subordinate part in the negotiations which seemed for the time being to have brought the Greek troubles to a close, when in February 1833 Prince Otho of Bavaria was sent by the Powers to rule over the Hellenes, with a guaranteed loan and a considerably better frontier than that which had been offered to Leopold of Saxe- Coburg. His comments, however, show a just appreciation of the worth of the settlement; the new frontier was " beautiful," but he saw that the choice of a youth of eighteen to govern the distracted kingdom was to be deplored. In a similar spirit he contented himself with a mere expression of adverse opinionwhen Austria proposed to tighten her hold on Italy through the device of a confederation under her protection, and when Metternich endeavoured to persuade the Diet of Frankfort to compel the minor potentates ofGermany to abrogate the free constitutions which tad been granted under stress of popular discontent. With regard to the rebellion in Poland, he maintained an attitude of almost ostentatious indifference, taking his stand on the ground that the Treaty of Vienna must be maintained. This appeal to a treaty which he was doing his best to conver...