The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-23 00:00:00

FIGHTING HIS WAY IN THE FACE OF DIFFICULTIES.

The Daily News, in a leader, says :—" For nearly fifty
years Lord Beaconsfield was a conspicuous figure in litera-
ture and in politics. For thirty years at least tie was one of
the foremost men moor political world. His career was one
of peculiar interest. Other orators, other statesmen, other
leaders, even greater thaa he, have not had aboiit them
anything like the same strange fascination for the outer
world. Lord Beaconsfield was probably the most successful
min of his time. When he that endeavoured to obtain a
hearing from the House of Commons and failed, he told
that audience deflantN that he had begunmany things and
had often succeeded at last, and that he would succeed
one day in making them hear him. Looking back at that
time and comparing what Mr. Disraeli had tried then with
what he had accomplished since, the observer would hardly
say that he had attempted many things before his first Parlia-
mentary experiment. But he had even then made more
than one remarkable success, and since that time he did
indeed begin many things and win many a success. He fought
his way in the face of difficulties that must have daunted

a less daring spirit than his own. Almost everything
that could be against a man in English politics was
against him in the earlier part of his career. His foreign
origin, his foreign name, the fantastic style of his
novels, the extraordinary opinions which he avowed,
the whimsical nature of his early Radicalism, the fact that
he was not rich and had no connection with any great family
—all these constituted obst,cles to a great polnixal success
at that time which might have seemed insurmountable. Mr.
D:sraeli surmounted them all by sheer force of energy, or self-
confidence, of perseverance, and of genius. He rose to the
highest position that an English statesman can hold. But he
was not merely a Prime Minister. Men have held that
place, and held it successfully, who had not Mr Disraeli's
varied Parliamentary gifts. As a debater he held his own
with the very greatest of his time. He must have been
one of the very foremost speakers in the House of Commons
even if he had never led a party and never attained to
high office. On the other hand he achieved for him-
self a literary success so distinct that in its own way
it had no rival. No political novels in our language
are worthy to be mentioned in the same breath
with the best of Mr. Disraeli's—with "Vivian Grey," and
" Coningsby," and " Tanered," and even " Endymion."
Some of them he threw off in mere intervals of what seemed
to the world an absorbing political career. Everything
came to him in the end. Even in society—in the proudest
English society—he must have attained his uttermost
ambition. Life to the last enjoyed," were Churchill's
words about himself. " Life to the last enjoyed" might,
one would think, have been a fitting description of Lord
Beaconsfield's career. . . .

The Times says that :—" Since the close of Lord Palmer-
ston's long and memorable career, no more conspicuous gap
has been made in the circle of English political life than that
caused by the death of Lord Beaconsfield. No dissentient
voice will break in upon the tribute of admiration, in which
foes, we are sure, will cordially join with friends, that must
be paid to Lord Beaconsfield's high courage, his unswerving
purpose, his imperturbable temper, and his versatile mastery
of parliamentary tactics. The causes of his failure might be
easily shown, were the occasion fitting. But the fact remains
that he won and wielded power as great as that of any of his
predecessors, and that under him England once more became
a potent factor in the policy of Europe. When defeat came
upon hiLn he knew how to bear himself with dignity and
reserve."

The Morning Post says :—" Among all who will mourn
Lord Beaconsfield's death few will have more real sorrow
than her Majesty. The Queen truly appraised the character
and services of her faithiul Minister. His ready perception
and caution made him an invaluable counsellor, and gave
her .N 1 ajesty a most comforting confidence in his advice.
Though no longer a Minister of the Crown, he was the
Queen's friend, and would have occupied that honourable
post of confidence in an unofficial character which had before
been held successfully by t'ae Duke of Wellington, Lord
Lansdowne, Lord Derby, and Lord Palmerston—a post of
honour due to veteran statesmanship independently of party
politics. Lord Beaconsfield largely shared her Majesty's
confidence in this capacity, and by her his death will be
deeply felt."

The Globe remarks :—" The death of a public man is a
public event. But the death of Lord Beaconsfield appeals to
social sympathy. It touches the heart as well as the head,
and stirs the fancy as well as the feelings. It is the finish
of a life which was a romance, the end of a career which
proved that power and fortune are the creatures of him who
has the strength to master them. It is given but to the
"sacred few," to the kings of men, to do so, but the dream is
open to the crowd, and if they cannot attain themselves
they can admire those who have the faculty
which assures attainment. When it was announced that
Lord Beaconsfield was ill, the news evoked a warm display
of popular sympathy. There were not only representatives
of Royalty and Princes of the Blood, Peers and commoners,
the rich and titled of the land of all creeds and parties, who
called day after day at Curzon-street in solicitous inquiry
atterthe sick man. The people gathered, too, and showed
the ir unaffected anxiety about the health of one whose life
appealed to their best feelings, and whose political course,
however, it may be challenged, was at all events patrio-
tic," . .

The Pall Mall Gazette remarks : "One of the most extra-
ordinary careers in our political history has at length come
to its close. The disappearance of so conspicuous a figure,
of so remarkable a character, of a man who has filled such
eminent station, and played so singular and important apart
on the great stage of the world's affairs, is an event that im-
presses the imagination and touches the public sympathy. The
great interest which has been manifested in the metropolis and
elsewhere is a testimony to the share whi 11 Lord Beacons-
field had in the thoughts of the country. It was natural
that it should be so. He had been, for forty years and
more, prominently before the world. His long struggle
from obscurity to the height of power and distinction
had kept him constantly in men's minds The fact that he
stood much aloof, that he was wholly unlike every ally and
every adversary, that he was remote from the genius of
English public life, only made the curiosity and the
interest about him the keener. It has never been so keen
as during the seven closing years of his long life. The
general sentiment at his death is not indeed deepened, as it
has been in the case of some other pi.blic men, I,y the
thought that he has been carried away in the full vigour
of his powers-, and in the ripeness of his man-
hood Lord Beaconsfield had done his work before
he was struck down by his last illness. It must be a painful
reflection to those who admired his policy that
his great chance came to him so late in life.
Until the election of the last Parliament he
had been painfully and laboriously occupied for nearly a
whole generation of time forming his party and reconciling
the oonstituencies to trust the destinies of the nation to his
hands. Then at last his chance came, bringing with it
supreme political power, unbounded social distinction, and
the coveted lustre of playing a high and leading part among
the Sovereigns and statesmen of Europe.". . . .

"Lord 13eaconsfield is no more, and even his opponents
will now join with his friends in deploring such a loss to the
nation. The death of this renowned and patriotic man
marks the near passing away of a political generation With
the exception of his great rival Mr. Gladstone, he was in his
last days the only survivor in either House of Parliament
of those who took a leading part in public life during the
Ministry of Sir Robert Peel. The close of Lord Beacons-
field's long and stirring career suggests not merely party
results, but wistful personal recollections of the days when
the eyes now closed shone with the light of Parliamentary
battle, and the voice now silent for ever provoked tem-
pestuous cheers. In the cases of all men who have been
remarkably active in public life there stands forth this
striking contrast between the marble calm of the dead and
the stormy vivacity of the past; but the mortal close of Lord
Beaconsfield's career especially recalls the comparison. For
there never was a political leader who brought .more of his
own individuality into his work."—Leader in Daily Telegraph.

"When defeat came upon him he knew how to bear
himself with dignity and reserve, vigilant for the interests
of his party, but never descending, as his bitterest
assailants will admit, to facti.us opposition. It is the
highest tribute to I sr' Beaconsfield's influence upon those
who were closely associated with him that since the
disaeers of the general election his will, and even his name,
rather gained than lost in potency over the great historical
party which he led in the [louse of Commons for a quarter
of a century, and of which he continued to be for thirteen
years, down to the hour of his death, the undisputed shief."
—Leader in The Times.

Speaking at Liverpool on Tuesday, Bishop Ryle
said: "It is just one single year since I had the honour—
the only time in my life—of having an interview with Lord
Beaconsfield. Upon April 14, 1880, he did me the honour to
send for me to bring before me the most important event in
my own little life— viz., whether or not I would accept the
position of being Bishop of Liverpool which I have the
honour to hold this day, and therefore as long as I live
I shall always remember Lord Beaconsfield with deep
respect, and I think, whatever people may say about his
political opinions, we may say, as Sir Robert Peel said of
Lord Palmerstcn, at the end of a debate in which they had
not all agreed, but in which Lord Palmerston upheld his own
opinions: We are all proud of him as being one of our
greatest Englishmen. So I think that we may also say that
Lord Beaconsfield has gone leaving behind him a gap which
hardly*nybody can filL'

On Tuesday afternoon, the Rev', Canon Fleming. before
preaching the second Spital Sermon to the boys of the Blue-
coat School, in Christ Church, Newgate-street, London, in
the presence of the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and a large
congregation, paid a flattering tribute to the memory of
the Earl of Beaconsfield. He said that in the presence of
the chief magistrate of the City of London, it was only
right that some mention should be made of the
lamented death of the Earl of Beaconsfield, which had
occurred that morning. A thousand wires had flashed the
news across the country and the world, producing feelings
of sorrow and regret everywhere. Lord Beaconsfield was
one who, while he had hewed out a path for his own life, had
made that life so felt that his existence was regarded as a
necessity to England, and while he still lived England could
not believe that she was to lose him yet. He was a man
who did not know how to hesitate or vacillate when he saw
what he believed to be his duty—a man who did not undo
to-day what he had done the day before. Fearless, inde-
pendent, he was true to his convictions and hold in his
action. He was a man who would rather look defeat in the
face than he false to his principles. His influence would
live beyond himself, and his death, like ripened fruit, would
lend new currency to his life-thoughts, and give a fresh im-
petus to the teaching of his life-work.

The Earl of Lathom, speaking at Southport on Tuesday
night, referred to the death of Lord Beaconsfield. We
have, said his Lordship, lost a great man—a man whose
place will not easily be filled, and whose death will be
deplored throughout the country, not only by Conservatives,
but by Liberals also. I have lost in Lord Beaconsfield a per
and very dear friend of my own.

The Berlin Correspondent of The Times gives the following
anecdote :—A well-known diplomatist here was not long ago
conferring with Prince Bismarck in the latter's private
cabinet, when the conversation chanced to turn on the
Berlin Congress and the conspicuous part which the chief
Plenipotentiary of Great Britain had taken at it. " There,"
said the Chancellor, pointing to the wall, "there hangs the
portrait of my sovereign, there on the right that of my
wife, and on the left there that of Lord Beaconsfield."

Lord Beaconsfield spent in the retirement of Ilughenclen
the leisure given him by the late general election (says the
Deity News). He sought repose in repose, and not, as the
illustrious rival who survives him is wont to do, in varia-
tion Of activity. When someone condoled with him upon his
withdrawal from official life and its excitements he replied
that it was ample compensation to be able to spend the spring
in the country, and to see for the first time for many years
the buds at Hughenden. Lord Beaconsfield, though en-
joying society on occasion, and brilliant in it when he chose
to exert himself, was essentially a solitary-minded man—
never less alone than when alone, and apparently most
alone on the Ministerial or Opposition bench in Parliament
and in crowded drawing rooms. Not many months ago he
replied to a friend who expressed some compassion for his
loneliness at Hughenden that he felt no loneliness and lived
among the images of the past. He hact no expectation of pro-
longed life, and not much desire of it. He spoke of a sharp
attack of gout under which he laboured last autumn as
having probably given bins a renewal of health until the
end should come, which lie said cannot now be many months
distant. From the character of Lord Beaconsfield's speeches,
and from the reported sayings of his which float up and down
in society, the impression prevails that he was what is called
a great talker. He did not, however, care to be so. In
mixed society he was habitually and continuously silent,
only now and then interposing with a phrase which impaled
some absurd person or saying.
.Along with one or two men
or, better, women whom he liked, Ile talked freely and
amusingly.

Lord Beaconsfield lived so thoroughly in politics (observes
another writer) that little remains to be said of his private
or domestic life. He was a man of very kind and genial
nature, particularly fond of children, and though addicted
to silence, was not remarkable for reserve. At his own
table he desired others to talk rather than himself, and if
he caught a remark which seemed to possess any merit, he
would immediately call attention to it, and take care that it
was properly appreciated. His style of living was com-
paratively simple, and at Hughenden, though he and Lady
Beaconsfield took great delight in the beautiful woods
which surrounded them, there were no appliances for field
sports. Lord Beaconsfield neither kept hunters nor pre-
served game. leaving it to his tenants to supply him at their
own discretion. But he felt all a politician's interest in
the Chiltern Hills, and was fond of driving among them
with an appre3iative stranger, showing him Great Hampden
and Chequers Court, and repeating anecdotes of the Great
Rebellion, which, as he used to say, was hatched in these
recesses.

All the Berlin papers, both Liberal and Conservative, have
published long articles on the late Lord Beaconsfield. These
articles for the most part hardly touch on the politics of the
preient day, but simply refer to the life and acts of the late
Earl.

The semi-official Norddeutsche Allgenteine Zeittung, which
has always been most friendly to the Conservative Govern-
ment in England, says :—" The loss which England has sus-
tained by the death of Lord Beaconsfield will be felt not
only in Great Britain, but throughout the entire civilized
world."

The National Zeitung, remarking on the career of the late
Premier, says that the Conservatives may wait a long time
before they And auclra leader as Lord Beaconsfield.

The Boersen Courier* says that Benjamin Disraeli owed his
success to his tenacity, and not to his political strength.
His desire was always to s-cirptise the World, and that in a
theatrical manner.
The Progressist organ. the Vossisehe Zoitung, says it be-
lieves that Lord Beaconsfield has always done what he be-
lieved to be the best for the interests of England, and acted
throughout in a Patriotic way; but hi..sforeip,'n policy espe-
cially was fantastic, and sometimes lost it.,3ett in
even to the disregard of home interests.
The Conservative Post, in an exceedingly eulogla tic article
on Lord Beaconsfield, says that he not only showed
himself a great leader in the political world, but also in
literature. His works of fiction, says the Post, are .a great
inheritance for future generation!.

The news of Lord Beaconsfield's death hal caused a -Vt;>."Y,
painful sensation in Vienna, as the deceased wg,s considert,
a friend of Austria. liis literary works, too, have many ad-
mirers. All the newspapers are ringing with his praiseg.
The Nell!! Freie Presse says that one of the nmst
eminent men Of the century. whose mmie is all-
important, not in linglish history alone,
,but in
the history of all Eur,pe, has died with Lord
Beaconsfield. His death must, it rays, be a severe blow
to the Conservative party, whose brilliant leader he wag.
Hopes Were entertained lately that he would coon rise from
his sick bed and take his place at the head of the Opposition
again, serving it with the irresistible power of his eloquence.
The general sympathy with him in his last illness shows, the
paper thinks, that he will be regretted even by the followers
of the present Government.

The Diritto of Rome speaks of the deceased statesman as
having had unbounded expectations. He thirsted for power,
and power almost uncontrolled was his. He dreamed of
seating himself among the statesmen of urope, and the
dream became a reality; and in Berlin he had the gratifica-
tion of hearing Prince Bismarck, from deference to him, open
the discussion in the Congress in English. But perhaps his
most cherished wish was to be popular in that England in
which as an alien he had so long been the object of aversion and
scorn. This, too, was fulfilled. • His return from Berlin was
a triumphal progress, and the acclamations that hailed his
famous phrase "Peace with honour' must have contrasted
strangely to his ears with the laughter that greeted his
maiden speech forty years before. But to judge of the
influence and significance of his life so hurriedly is, the
Diritto says, difficult, The man appears greater in himself
than in what he has done for his country, in which perhaps
more fame and phosphorescence is to be found than real
and durable advantage.

All the Paris papers had articles on Lord Beaconsfield's
death. The Francais remarks :
"The son of Isaac D'lsraed ends his existence environed
with all the honours and all the regrets that England can
bestow upon a subject of the Queen. The noble lord
has, in his seventy-seventh year, brought to a close
one of the most extraordinary and most active of
careers. History no doubt will not invariably ap-
prove all the acts done throughout his life by
this dauntless champion, who conquered the first rank by
dint of sheer strength of will and talent: but it can never
contest the great services he rendered his country and the
Party which chose him as its chief. The embarrassment in
which his death will leave the Opposition, the sincere
regret of his adversaries now in office, the general mourning
at his loss, in which the Queen herself takes a leading part,
alike testify to the great position Lord Beaconsfield held in
the institutions of his country and to the great void caused
by his departure from this world."