BEACONSFIELD'S "LIFE:"

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12213, 7 March 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

BEACONSFIELD'S "LIFE:"

It has often been asked why Lord Rowton has withheld for so many years the biography of Beaconsfield which, he was selected by the deceased statesman to write. The Morning Advertiser has solved the mystery by referring to what was accessible to all, Lord Beaconsfield's will, which no one previously had thought of looking up. The terms of the literary trust and the conditions of publication are clearly set out in this document as follows :—"I give to the said Montagu Corry full discretion with regard to the publication of all or any of such documents, leaving him to decide as to the time and mode of publication. ... I give the above discretion to the said Montagu Corry in the full assurance that he will scrupulously respect every confidence reposed in me, and will cause or allow nothing to be published calculated to do injury to the public service, or to inflict , needless pain on the living or on the families of the dead. And I especially and- expressly desire and direct that no portion of my correspondence with Her Majesty Queen Victoria shall be published or made known until the said Montagu Corry' shall have ascertained, and shall have satisfied himself that no objection is entertained to such use of the sned correspondence on the part of Her Majesty herself during her life, or after her death, on the part of those who may, in the belief of the said Montagu Corry, be likely to be conversant with her wishes and opinions on the subject." With such limitations it is no wonder the "Life" has not yet seen .the light; nor is it likely to in our generation.