Fenianism may be now held to have failed, but the snake is only scotched and not killed. It is far from impossible that the American conspirators may try and obtain in our North American provinces compensation for their defeat in Ireland." - Meaning and context.">
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Letter to Lord de Grey (27 September 1865), quoted in Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (1970), p. 581
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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 impossible that the American conspirators may try and obtain in our North American provinces compensation for their defeat in Ireland.

— Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "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 impossible that the American conspirators may try and obtain in our North American provinces compensation for their defeat in Ireland." in the context of "Letter to Lord de Grey (27 September 1865), quoted in Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (1970), p. 581" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston" (Quotes, 1860s) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

Tags

#Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston#american#ireland#may#conspirators#compensation#impossible#fenianism#provinces#scotched#assault#failed

About Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 - 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century. Popularly nicknamed "Pam", he was in government office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865, beginning his parliamentary career as a Tory, switching to the Whigs in 1830, and concluding it as the first Prime Minister of the newly-formed Liberal Party from 1859.