PhD Thesis: Episode 2.3 (Patreon)

[PATRONS]

Welcome back to chapter two of my PhD thesis! Last time we concluded the First Opium War, and the conflict in Afghanistan, noting how Britain tended to treat powers outside of the West when insults were received. But how would Britain react to an insult which was plainly inconvenient to pursue? When Madrid insulted the British ambassador by rudely demanding his expulsion, there was certainly good reason to expect that the usual formula of satisfaction would follow insult, yet this is not what happened. Even with Palmerston having returned as Foreign Secretary, with a new Whig government led by Lord John Russell from 1846, the reaction showed that national honour could contain some unexpected caveats.

This was explained by the idea of forbearance, which essentially stipulated mercy when Britain received an insult from another power. If the power was sufficiently weak, this could justify Britons standing back and refusing to take offence. But what on the surface seems like a curious ideological quirk of national honour, could in reality be a useful method for avoiding costly, unrewarding confrontations. With no appetite for war with Spain in 1848, the news of the Spanish insult placed the Whig government in a difficult position. There was no option, if peace was preferred, but to indicate that Britain would not seek to punish Spain for its act. Yet, as always, the opposition were on hand to demand that the usual formula be pursued, and to challenge the government’s line that national honour was upheld.

Consistency was important in this sense, and as forbearance had been established as a legitimate option to beleaguered governments, we shouldn’t imagine Palmerston as the creator of this Option C. While this consistency mattered, what seemed to matter more was context. Having spent many years attempting to improve Anglo-Spanish relations – which really meant trying to keep Madrid out of France’s orbit – Palmerston recognised that antagonistic policies would only hinder this policy goal. By showing mercy, Palmerston could avoid these complications and a thankless war, but could he survive the political reaction to his failure to acquire satisfaction? Let’s find out, in our penultimate episode on Chapter Two!