PRIME MINISTER HENRY JOHN TEMPLE (GREAT BRITAIN) - AUTOGRAPH ENVELOPE SIGNED - HFSID 224733

PRIME MINISTER HENRY JOHN TEMPLE (GREAT BRITAIN)
The 3rd Viscount Palmerston signed addressed this private correspondence to John Bowring, whom he would appoint Governor of Hong Kong.
Autograph Envelope signed: "Palmerston", 5x3. Addressed in his hand: "Private/ Dr. Bowring/ Queens Square/ Westminster". Prime Minister Henry John Temple of Great Britain (1784-1865), popularly known as Lord Palmerston due to his Irish Peerage title as the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was Britain's Secretary of State for War (1809-1828), Foreign Secretary (1830-1834, 1835-1841, 1846-1851) and Prime Minister (1855-1858, 1859-1865). He held office almost continuously for nearly half a century from 1807 until his death. Because he held an Irish peerage rather than an English one, he was able to sit in the House of Commons. Disliked by Queen Victoria and often abrasive in dealing with foreign governments - he held a lifelong antipathy to the United States - Palmerston was nevertheless effective in promoting British interests. Although he opposed slavery, Palmerston sympathized with the Confederacy on the grounds that a breakup of the United States would benefit Britain. Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), a merchant, Parliamentarian, and liberal reformer who spoke 100 languages and dabbled in espionage, was appointed by Palmerston as Consul in Canton, where he supervised Anglo-Chinese trade, and then Governor of Hong Kong, where his activism helped trigger the Second Opium War (1856-1860). Right edge ragged at top. Soiled and toned. Ink smeared at signature.