THE LIFE OF DISRAELI.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170307, 1 September 1920, Page 4

THE LIFE OF DISRAELI.

_____ The concluding volumes of the life of i/israeii, \\inv..i navo iippealuu Una vietiiv, aiu ainguiariy oppon.--j.io '.jjVs a. writer m tne 'DpccUuur ). rue uooic was dciayeu ior years, nrst i>y me unuctuiy oi seieci-iiig a uiogiapher, tueu oy Alt Ai.ouy_)Ciiuy s piuiiiuiuru ueut-n, men by tiio Wiir. rsut _ur JiUckie, who Ju>s noiv brought it to a most biicce.ssiin coiiciuuion with tncse voiinnes ou me periou ironi iHOo to IS6L, lias no reason to regret tne long uitappomtmenl. i'or no nas been able, now unit ad cuneurnea aie acad, to print Disraeli's intimate corresj.oiiuunco wit-n tjuccii Victoria and Willi Ins devoted iiienos Daily JjraufurU anu Anne, Lauy Cuestoiiieid, whim .1 rows new ligiit on tiie history of 111s .Ministry anu on the Uerlin Congress. Jt'urthermoie, JJisraeu s . reputation has grown steadily with the lapse of time, filter ins ueath, 111s great rival idled the stage ior many years, and the Cladstoniaii iegeud was ai tiuciahy maintained by Dord Moriey's promptitude m publishing his very ai>i; biography or his olu chief. iJut 111 tne new era in which we now live it m becoming more and more apparent that uismeii understood worm problems better than Gladstone, and that we have less to learn irom the sentimental and sen-centred iiigli Churchman than rrom tlie brilliant and dispassionate Jew. 'J he outbreak of the war milked tne bankruptcy ot Gladsieiuaiiism as an international policy. Dependence on the pacmo pioiessions of foreign Powers nearly brought us to tne ground. Disraeli, who in contrast to nis rival teok toreigu politics very seriously, believed that the .British Jtmpire was too great to remain passive until a crisis arose m Jtiuopc. i_le . had faith in the power of a resolute diplomacy to avert any breach ot the peace, and his instinct told him when imager was threatened. He was cynical, 110 doubt,, but who will venture to say, after tlie experience of the last few years, that hno moral sentiments are an effective substitute for determined statesmanship in curbing the militarism of Central and Eastern Europe or the barbarism of tho Turk? JNIr Buckle's detailed narrative of Disraeli's handling of the Eastern Question between 18<o and lt>7B, which is of course the main feature of his closing volumes, is full of interest and instruction for the present generation. Whatever one may think of the policy or its results, it id clear that Disraeli made it his definite object to defend British interests and that he attained that object by sheer persistence and by great skill in dealing with men. ...

Throughout his famous Premiership i i Disraeli was a martyr to asthma and I gout. His resolute will alone enabled ! him to transact business and perform, the social duties which ho regarded as an important part of a, Prime Minister's work. It is clear that ill-health. alone induced him to take a peerage in August, 1576. He offered to resign, but Lord' Derby, his chief colleague, would neither take the lead nor serve under nny other chief. After reading the details of Disraeli's incessant bouts of sickness, year a iter year, we are moved to astonishment at the courage ami endurance winch enabled him to carry en and to achieve his purpose. His paintul ailments accounted lor the petulance that he occasionally displayed, in rue House, especially towards (jiladstone, though it must be said that Uiadstone. in his persistent and 1 urious personal abuse oi Jjisraeli was the greater offender of the two. On the oilier hand, Disraeli's fortitude under suffering strengthened the affection which his followers liad for him and undoubtedly made a great impression on the Queen's mind. The correspondence between the Queen and her lavotuite Minister is profoundly interesting. She had an implicit l-.titu in iiim, and told him so daily. But Disraeli, although a devoted courtier, was far too strong a man to let "the Jb'aery ' —as ho called hnr. with a- reiereuco to Spenser's "Jb'aery Quean" — dictate his policy. "When he disagreed witn Jier i>iopoialSj lie gave ner lus reasons frankly and courteously, anu, sue invariably bowed to Ins doi.-it.ion, except perhaps in the caso of the Indian J.Hies .bill, winch, she was more anxious to expedite than, ho was. Disraeli s account of the Berlin Congress, written lor the Queen, is note ivortny, especially lor tlie notes on Bismarcii, wno had "a sweet and gentle" voice and "an ogre-like form" and who indulged in ' •liabelaisian monologues—enuiess revelations of things ho ought j not to mention." Bismarck m nis turn was impressed by the "old .Jew," , who named ins terms irankly and, when Kussia hesitated, ordered lus special train to uilie linn lionie. One remark ol jjisniarck's is wortn quoting nowauays wneu a .bauour paper attempts at once to encourage Boisnevisin dud tne xurf. Bismarck iiad asiied JJisraeu whether racing was still popular in xmgiaud, and was assured tnat it. was never more so. i

■•Xiieii," cried the Prince eagerly, "there never will be Socialism in Jinglauu. lou are a happy country, lou are sale, as long as me people are de\otea to racing."

Disrueu's letters abound in good things, access 10 wnicn is iacilitateu by au excellent; inuex, ana numerous enaracieiisuo quotations are given Irorn liis speecnos. 'Xo Mr Bueiue, Pilose couiMuumg estimate ox i->israeu is buuuguuui anu ]UuiCiOUt>, lie "appeals u, giaixu. anu luagiuncenu nguxe, o.anuliig solitary, lavi cimg aOOto ins contemporaries ; tue man ox lervia imagination ana vision wiae ana deep, aima a nation ol; narrow practical lUinus, pliiiisuue, A-'uritau-riduen ; ius lite a* once a romance and a tragedy but a splendid tragedy; imnselt van greatest ox our statesmen since tne uays ol Uuattiam and ol A'ltt."

The "limes Literary Supplement" concludes its review ou a sinui&r note: But alter all (it says), for. trie biographer of Disraeli trie greatest is JJisntcii imnseii. iti is the num. iiiiaseii, v.-Jiac ho nils more than anything iha.T, lio aid, which will provide three-quar-ters or the reacters ol tins hook. He is always Ins biographer's subject, whatever others, vneDher rueii or affairs, give their name to the page. A reviewer cannot pretend to attempt wjuvt has taken the biographer six volumes to accomplish. Jio can only reler the reader who is anxious tor a general impression to two summaries, given here, the work of the two biographers. The first, printed at- trie end of the fifth, volume, is Mr buckle's estimate of Disraeli as an orator and Parliamentarian. There are few better things of the kind anywhere. Ic exhibits Mm,, by tho testimony of many and adverse witnesses, as tho man who, after overthrowing "the greatest member of Parliament that ever lived," became himself, by patience, by by constant attendance and industry, by wib > irony, invective eloquence, above all by sheer power of intellect and imngination, the acknowledged, masts-, aa well as the pride and delight, cf 'the House of Commons. George Russell a ■\Vhig and a Ritualist, said that the difference between him and others was tho difference between genius and talent. Sir William Harcourt wrote that his departure from the House left it a chessboard without the queen and its game "a petty struggle of pawns." A hostile writer said that no orator had carried further the art of compelling :ui audience to listen to every word" That, perhaps, gives a hint cf the point in which he, like Lord Salisbury after him, was so inferior to Gladstone His gift was intellect and imagination'

which are solitary things, not emotion, and particularly not moral emotion, v.hich insists on sharing and being ■shared. He could compel his hearers to listen to him; hut lie himself stood aloof, more perhaps than iVIr iiucklo allows, catching opportunities for impromptu illu.stra.cion of repartee, but .seldom or never catching or allowing himself to be caught by any of those waves of emotional inspiration which, coming from oho Hearers, continually renew, mo speeches ot the very greatest orators. ihat loneliness is also the imai impression iert by the man. At tne cnu o-i nis last voiuine Alt- iiuckie prints an extremely. interesting ana subtle study ot Uasiaeli, whieu was loujiu among air ivionypoiinys paters. Mc ivtoiu-ypeiiiiy begins It by oayuig: "l Jiaiu auiiwimud ueen askcu u my book woulu at last uispci tne mystery inaii surrounds jjisraen; iiua my answer lias invariahiy ooeu tiuit, uiness tne mystery remained wneii 1 nad finished my 1 snouia have i ailed in my lask oi portiaitiuo; ior mystery uas uf mo essence or the man." 'inat is a proiound remark. So better last, v.ora coulu he iomid ior anything, great, or small, tuat is written aoouu Disraeli, it na& many meanings, not all oi wluch are to lie seinea at mo hrsc giance. iSut one of them, anu study tiie central one, muse lie mat Disraeli was m his chosen, liekl a kuid of ''man of destiny," and ' aat n lie abounded in surprises and inconsistencies, and often seemed to ignore tlie ordinary mouves and mor.uties of men, it was partly because no wis impelled Uy a lurce, of winch no liimseii could scarcely iiave said wiietner itwas within iiim or without, that indeiinabie force which must always remain a secret and a mystery, the force to which we give the name of grains. It is a dangerous iorce. its [.redact, occupied witn himself, and moving he scarcely knows where, is often nalr charlatan as well as half prophet. We see it in one way in Cromwell, in another in Chatham. It is what we do not find in J.'itt or Peel or Gladstone. It is what makes the eternal i'as< ina tiou of Disraeli.