MR. DISEAELI'S PLAGIARISMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 124, 21 May 1853, Page 5

MR. DISEAELI'S PLAGIARISMS.

Mr. Disraeli having, in his celebrated eulogy on the Duke of Wellington, appropriated without acknowledgment some ideas of M. Thiers, has been bespattered with no slight abuse by the " small fry" of literature. The Times vindicates the late Chancellor, and administers the following cutting rebuke to these gentlemen :

" An awful clatter has been raised about an alledged piece of appropriation by no less a personage than the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Last Monday, in virtue of his office, he had to move some resolutions with regard to the public iimeral; and in doing so made a speech which might, perhaps, be rather more elaborate than suited the occasion, but was still much admired, and what is more, made a very deep impression. It was speedily discovered that one passage in it was almost identical with a quotation that appeared four years ago in one of our morning contemporaries.- This, of course, was a grand discover}'. A shout of 'Stop thief!'

was raised, and a whole pack of jealous literatews were immediately on the scent of their offending, and perhaps too successful, brother. The robbery was posted in the evening Hue and Cry, with all the particulars, description, date, injured party, and everything but the height, dress, and hair of the culprit. So serious, so distinct, and so undoubted was the crime, that detectors expected at least to see a consciencemoney paragraph from the distinguished plagiarist restoring the stolen paragraph to its rightful owner with suitable apologies. For our part, the thing appeared so trivial, that we were only sorry a speech which we had read with pleasure should he liable to any exception whatever. It is evident that Mr. Disraeli had adopted a practice deliberately recommended and extensively practised by no less an authority than Cicero—viz., storing in the memory a variety of ' topics' or common-places, and producing them whenever matter might be wanting, or the thread of the speech lost for the moment. The passage in question, describing the peculiar difficulties and excellencies of military genius, is exactly such a topic as Cicero meant, and is one which even now, after this terrible exposure, our young readers may do well to store in their memory. As for plagiarism, there is not a great orator or poet who has not been a plagiarist, and that on a very extensive scale. The calendar would include every author "worth reading since the world began. Divers of our contemporaries, however, having neither bowels of compassion nor even common sense, as it appeared to us, fell foul of the alleged robber with honest rage and awful severity. In the fury of their censure they gave up all discrimination. The man, the very tone of his voice, and the passage itself, were all abused ; the article from which it was first taken was described as trashy ; the French marshal about whom it was said to be written was pronounced third-rate; and M. Thiers himself came in for some spatterings of the wide-spread vituperation. "A letter from Mr. Smythe shows that the affair is by no means exactly as these candid gentlemen have hastily assumed. As far as regards the morning contemporary quoted in the above-mentioned Hue and, Cry, instead of Mr. Disraeli being indebted to it for the passage in question, it was indebted to Mr. Disraeli. We believe the real truth to be much as follows:—A good many years ago Mr. Disraeli had the happiness to receive a copy of the Revue Trimestre, containing a favourable notice of his novel Vivian Grey, then lately published, and was encouraged thereby to look into the rest of the articles. Among them was one not particularly on Marshal St. Cyr, who was then alive, but on military genius, or some such wide subject. That it was written by M. Thiers rests on no other evidence than that M. Thiers who was then scarcely known, was a contributor to the Revue Trimestre. Mr. Disraeli was pleased "with the article, committed some of the passages to memory, and the passages so learnt have furnished successively a striking paragraph to a morning contemporary, and to a speech in the House of Commons. All this is very natural. But why did not Mr. Disraeli give the name of the author? We believe iHs not known. The passage is from an anonymous article in a review, probably, tut not avowedly, by M. Thiers. To give the name of an authority'is always difficult in a speech ; much more so when it is a review or other periodical. But the fair account of the matter is, that Mr. Disraeli found himself in the passage before he had time to affix the proper titlepage, introduction, and table of contents. It is one of the evils of a well-stored memory that a man cannot help quoting ; but nothing destroys the interest of a speech and the confidence of the hearers so much as avowed quotations. In many cases the hearers and the passage itself gain quite as much as the speaker can possibly do by the omission of the author's name, it is so, on the admission of Mr. Disraeli's most merciless critics, in the instance before us. In the ardour of depreciation, they tell us that M. Thiers, the article, the Revue Trimestre, and Marshal St. Cyr are all one as bad as another —trashy, obscure, third rate, French, false, and everything that is bad and insignificant. Yet the'gem .extracted out of this'rubbish, and inserted in a speech, is so conspicuous and admirable that a "whole mob of authors run mad to deprive him of the supposed glory attaching to its authorship. "Now, we bug to suggest to these gentlemen, whether it is worth their while to be flinging as much dirt as they can on the only litterateur

who has ever yet succeeded in breaking that solid avistocratical phalanx which has hitherto monopolised the high offices of the State. Why are authors to drag down every one of their fraternity who may happen to become a Minister of State ? It is thus that literature cuts its own throat in this country. We may depend upon it, that authors will never have their proper consideration, in the face of Dukes, millionaires, squires, and prize cattle, till they are loyal to their own body, and help one another to rise, when the opportunity offers. Chastise Disraeli's political errors as much as you please, but don't help the country party to throw off the accomplished horseman who is riding them with such admirable effect. We are delighted to see them put through their paces by one not of themselves. They would rather, of course, he were a descendant of William the Conqueror, even though he had a dozen bars of bastardy in the quarterings of his shield. Unfortunately, however, the aristocracy of England is not fertile in ministerial, or any other talent, that they are forced to look abroad, not only for money, but even for intellect. Their necessity is the opportunity of literature, and we trust it will turn to good account."