Lord Palmerston is dismissed as Secretary of…

Lord Palmerston is dismissed as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for overt support of Louis-Napoleon.

On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon—who had been elected President of France in 1848—had carried out a coup d'état by dissolving the National Assembly and arresting the leading Republicans.

Palmerston had privately congratulated Napoleon on his triumph, noting that Britain's constitution was rooted in history but that France had had five revolutions since 1789, with the French Constitution of 1848 being a "day-before-yesterday tomfoolery which the scatterbrain heads of Marrast and Tocqueville invented for the torment and perplexity of the French nation".

However, the Cabinet had decided that Britain must be neutral, and so Palmerston had requested his officials to be diplomatic.

Palmerston's widespread support among the press, educated public opinion, and ordinary Britons causes apprehension and distrust among other politicians and angers the Court.

Prince Albert has complained that Palmerston had sent a dispatch without showing the Sovereign.

Protesting innocence, Palmerston resigns on December 26, 1851.