Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Quote

The American assault on Ireland under the name of Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far from from impossible that the American conspirators may try and obtain in our North American provinces compensation for their defeat in Ireland.


Letter to Lord de Grey (27 September 1865), quoted in Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (London: Constable, 1970), p. 581.


The American assault on Ireland under the name of Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far...

The American assault on Ireland under the name of Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far...

The American assault on Ireland under the name of Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far...

The American assault on Ireland under the name of Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far...