THIS WEEK'S GREAT DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 302, 21 December 1926, Page 6

THIS WEEK'S GREAT DAY.

DEC. 21.—BIRTH OF LORD BEACONSFIELD. HOWLED DOWK IS COjIMOJCS. A PROPHETIC (By CHARLES COWTAY.) One hundred and twenty-two years ago. on tie 21st December, ISO 4. Beniamin Disraeli, afterwards the Earl 01 Beaconsfiekl. the famous Victorian statesman. ffi= born. • At the time of Wβ birth his parents j were still members of the Jewish Church. ; and when he was eight days old Ben- j janyn was admitted into it with all the I usual rites. It was not until twelve j years later that his father. Isaac Dis- j raeli. a distinguished literary man. ; renounced the faith of his ancestors and ; had Benjamin baptised inio the English Church. In a worldly sense this was a most fortunate occurrence for the future statesman, as it opened his way to honours which it would have been impossible for him io secure while a follower of the Jewish religion. First Novel at 22. At the age of 17. when lie was placed in a lawyer's office with the object of studying for the Bar, he commenced j writing for the newspapers, and at the j age of 22 he published the first of his many novels —"Vivian Gray," which created a sensation by its audacity and slightly-veiled portraits of living celebrities. During the next ten years he produced a series of brilliant novels, which secured for hira a high place among the most popular writers of the day. He made several unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament before he was returned to the House of Commons in 1537. His fellow members were prepared to treat him with ridicule, owing to the extravagant nature of his election addresses and the eccentricities of his dress and mannerisms,' and when he stood up in the Commons to deliver his maiden speech he was refused a hearing. He was howled down, but before he resumed his seat he made the dramatic and prophetic announcement that the day would come when the House would ■be compelled to listen to him. He was not at all discouraged by his first failure, and five days later, when he made a second attempt, he was rewarded with the quiet attention of the House. Representative Imperialist In 1845 he delivered a series of brilliant speeches against the abolition of the Corn Laws, which established his reputation as a debater and oraPor, and within three years he wa.s chosen as leader of the Conservative party in the House of Commons, but it was not until IS6B that he was called upon to form a Cabinet and become Prime Minister for the first time. In IS7C, during his second term as Premier, failing health compelled him to seek the quieter life of the House of Lords, and he then took his title from the little town of Beacons field, near which his country home, Hnghenden Manor, was situated. He was the favourite Minister of Queen Victoria, and in his later years he became one of he most trusted* personal friends' and advisers. He is possibly more widely and affectionately remembered than any other of the great statesmen of.fter record reign, and in the Motherlaotrte will always be regarded as the representative and regenerator of Imperialism. It was not until aitei his death, which occurred on April 19, 1881, that the extent of his popularity with th& general public was fully reafised. and even the staunchest of his supporters were surprised at the unpreceiented outburst of grief throughout the Empire on the passing of the first anc only Jewish Prime Minister of Greai Britain.