Lord Palmerston: a biography

帕默斯顿的公共生涯是漫长而戏剧性的。他于1807年首次进入议会，曾担任多个重要公职，分别担任海军少将(1807-09年)和战争大臣(1809-28年)，然后分别担任外交大臣(1830-34年、1835-41年、1846-51年)、内政大臣(1852-55年)和首相(两次：1855-58年、1859-65年)等政府最高职位。这是一个重要的职业，不仅因为它的寿命，而且因为它的影响：帕默斯顿在这些年里主导了辉格党和自由党的政治，他的影响延伸到外交事务和国内生活。当帕默斯顿去世时，威廉·格拉德斯通有充分的理由观察到，“死亡确实让森林中最高大的鹿角倒下了”。帕默斯顿的一生跨越了很长的时间段(1784-1865)和戏剧性的社会和文化变化。帕默斯顿出生在法国大革命之前，活着就算不是看到了19世纪后期的“大规模城市民主”时代，至少也见证了它的诞生；目睹了“大英帝国”的崛起和衰落；经历了一段激烈的社会和经济变革时期；帕默斯顿的一生是一面棱镜，通过它可以看到现代英国和欧洲形成过程中最重要的一些发展和过程。然而事实证明，这是一个很难解释的一生。帕默斯顿跨越了从保守党到辉格党再到自由党的政治光谱，他被描绘成一个反动人物和一个进步的民主政治家。他经常被描述为一个矛盾的人物：既是精英派又是民粹主义者；自由派和保守派；鲁莽的战争贩子和谨慎、温和的外交家。目前还没有关于帕默斯顿的全面研究，它考虑到目前关于19世纪英国历史的工作，或者探索帕默斯顿如何操纵他的环境和环境，甚至塑造了一种新的政治方法(例如，将政治带到威斯敏斯特之外)。早期的研究都局限于关注他生活或职业的一个特定方面或时期。一本新的传记将考虑帕默斯顿的个人事务和习惯，以及维多利亚时代贵族生活的文化史，为探索19世纪英国政治文化中的重要主题提供了机会。例如，在这本书中，它将考虑关于自由主义和摇摆主义以及关于政治代表、国家认同和大众政治的有问题但意义重大的辩论，同时也将适当重视和关注帕默斯顿作为那个时期主要外交部长的职业生涯和活动的更熟悉的方面。这本书将是一本政治传记，探讨帕默斯顿在19世纪英国和国际历史上的地位。这将是第一次对帕尔默斯顿政治的演变、意义和影响进行连贯考察的研究，它将帕默斯顿视为一个好战、咆哮的外交政策流派的化身。值得注意的是，根据最近的工作，它将考虑到帕默斯顿在公众中的地位和帕默斯通主义的表现。它将超越直接的生活叙事，通过考察帕默斯顿与政治文化运动的互动；不仅考虑帕默斯顿做了什么，而且考虑这对同时代人意味着什么，他是如何塑造形象的，以及这种形象是如何被利用和操纵的。本书的方法和方法在“目标”部分和支持案例中有进一步的概述。

Palmerston's public career was a long and dramatic one. He first entered Parliament in 1807 and served in a number of important public offices, as a Junior Lord of the Admiralty (1807-09) and Secretary at War (1809-28) before entering into the highest offices of government as Foreign Secretary (three times, 1830-34, 1835-41, 1846-51), Home Secretary (1852-55) and Prime Minister (twice: 1855-58, 1859-65). It is a career important not just for its longevity but for its impact: Palmerston dominated Whig and Liberal politics during these years and his influence extended over foreign affairs and also domestic life. With good reason did William Gladstone observe when Palmerston died that, 'Death has indeed laid low the most Towering Antlers in all the forest'.Palmerston's life spanned a long chronological period (1784-1865) and dramatic social and cultural change. Born before the French Revolution and living to see if not the age of 'mass urban democracy' of the later nineteenth century, at least its inception; witnessing and indeed presiding over the rise and arguably also the fall of the 'pax Britannica'; living through a period of intense social and economic change; Palmerston's life is a prism through which to view some of the most important developments and processes in the fashioning of modern Britain and Europe.Yet it is a life that has proved difficult to explain. Palmerston spanned the political spectrum, from Tory to Whig to Liberal and he has been presented as both a reactionary figure and a progressive democratic politician. He is described frequently as a paradoxical figure: simultaneously elitist and populist; liberal and conservative; reckless war-monger and careful, moderate, diplomat. There is currently no fully rounded study of Palmerston which takes account of current work on nineteenth century British history or which explores the way Palmerston manipulated his environment and circumstances, indeed even fashioned a new approach to politics (in taking politics beyond Westminster, for example). Earlier studies are all limited by focusing upon a particular aspect or period of his life or career. A new biography, which will consider Palmerston's personal affairs and habits, as well as the cultural history of Victorian aristocratic life, offers an opportunity to explore important themes in nineteenth century British political culture. Within this, for example, it will consider the problematic, yet highly significant, debates about liberalism and whiggery and about political representation, national identity and popular politics, while also giving due weight and attention to the more familiar aspects of Palmerston's career and activities as a leading foreign minister of the period.The book will be a political biography examining Palmerston's place in nineteenth century British and international history. This will be the first study to offer a coherent examination of the evolution, meaning and impact of Palmerstonian politics, looking at Palmerston as more than simply the embodiment of a bellicose, blustering, school of foreign policy. Significantly, and in the light of recent work, it will take account of Palmerston's standing with the public and representations of Palmerstonism. It will go beyond a straight-forward narrative of the life by examining Palmerston's interaction with movements in political culture; to consider not only what Palmerston did, but what this meant to contemporaries, how he fashioned an image and how this was used and manipulated. The methodology and approach to this book are outlined further in the 'Objectives' section and in the Case for Support.