' The War Scare with France '
Palmerston and Bright on July 23, 1860
Read by Felix Aylmer
This evening's great parliamentary occasion took place during a foreign affairs debate in the House of Commons at a time when British public opinion was gravely suspicious of the Emperor Napoleon III of France. This monarch had annexed
Nice and Savoy, torn up the provisions of the Vienna settlement of 1815, heavily fortified Cherbourg and increased the naval works there.
Palmerston feared that Belgium might soon be annexed and England attacked. As a result a volunteer movement swept the country, rallying to the various public services. Palmerston drew the attention of the House to the position as he saw it, declared that steam had bridged the Channel, and urged fortification of Britain's shores.
Bright, for his part, declared that
Britain's strength remained in her Navy and that sweet reasonableness with Napoleon was the only answer.
Felix Aylmer 's own grandfather took an active part in the volunteer movement of 1860.