Description
LORD PALMERSTON Autograph Letter Signed.
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston. British Tory and subsequently Whig politician who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1855-58 and 1859-65).
ALS. 1p. Broadlands. 25th September 1863. To Mr Dowie, Bootmaker, 567 Strand. Together with original autograph envelope.
"I send you a draft for the amount of your account and request a receipt. Yours sincerely, Palmerston".
8vo. Approx 18 x 12 cms. Browning and offsetting to foot of letter from the gum and wax seal of the original envelope that was previously affixed but is now separate. Mounting residue to verso. Else very good.
A letter signed whilst in his last term of office as Prime Minister. In 1863 Palmerston dealt with being named in a divorce suit which turned out to be nothing more than an attempted blackmail. In June that year, he faced a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons over his handling of the Schleswig Holstein question and his policy towards Otto von Bismarck and Germany. Palmerston was also involved in formulating Britain's political stance in the light of the American Civil War. Amid all this, it is heartening to see that the aged but still quite dandified Palmerston found the time to write to his bootmaker.
|