But Palmerston likes to put his foot on their necks! Now, no statesman must triumph over an enemy that is not quite dead, because people forget a real loss, a real misfortune, but they won’t forget an insult. Napoleon made great mistakes that way; he hated Prussia, insulted it on all occasions, but still left it alive. The consequence was that in 1813 they rose to a man in Prussia, even children and women took arms, because they had been treated with contempt and insulted.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "But Palmerston likes to put his foot on their necks! Now, no statesman must triumph over an enemy that is not quite dead, because people forget a real loss, a real misfortune, but they won’t forget an insult. Napoleon made great mistakes that way; he hated Prussia, insulted it on all occasions, but still left it alive. The consequence was that in 1813 they rose to a man in Prussia, even children and women took arms, because they had been treated with contempt and insulted." in the context of "Early Belgian colonial Efforts: The long and fateful shadow of Leopold I King Leopold I of Belgium in a letter to Palmerston. After both Victoria and Palmerston agreed and united against Leopold in forcing him to accept the treaty with Holland, thus settling for less than he and the Belgian people had hoped for after the revolution of 1830." to mean that wisdom is timeless.