1841

Palmerston to Commons: 'As long as England remains pre-eminent on the ocean of human affairs, there are none, be they ever so unfortunate, none, be their condition ever so desperate or forlorn, who do not turn with a look of hope to the light that beams from here. They may be beyond the reach of our power, still our moral sympathy and our influence can support them under their reverses, and hold out to them, in the midst of their difficulties, the hope of better days.'

The London Straits Convention. All warships were barred from the Straits except the Sultan's allies during wartime, thus keeping Russian warships out of the Mediterranean. (Why did Russia tolerate this?)

In late 1841 Metternich tried again to bring the Empire closer to the Zollverein. He wanted to exploit the patriotic fervour of the Rhineland crisis to push Austria to reform internally, improve railway links etc. On 17/11 there was a secret ministerial conference to discuss his ideas. He encountered 'unwavering resistance' (Siemann p709) and the ideas again came to nothing. The Bohemian aristocracy supporting Kolowrat did not want tariff reforms. After 1848 Metternich claimed that old Emperor Franz had, when approaching death, confessed to Metternich that his failure to adopt Metternich's ideas on tariff/economic reform had been a huge mistake. Metternich argued that the paralysis created by Kolowrat led directly to the chaos of 1848.