The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-30 00:00:00

The Lancet, writing of Lord Beaconsfield, says :

"Those who closely watched the health of Lord Beacons-
3, during the last fifteen years particularly, cannot fail
have noticed the struggle which has been maintained
by the mind against, and, to some extent, at the expense of,
the body. While Mr. Disraeli sat in the House of Commons
his life was an almost continuous effort. His imperturbable
bearing, his habit of emotional self-restraint, his almost
uniformly placid style of delivery—artistically, and always
as the result of purpose, never involuntarily—varied by
lighter and brighter passages of elocution, were the fruits
of effort. The statuesque posture, the motionless face,
the abstracted or seemingly indifferent manner, which
the superficial observer mistook for indications of a con-
stitutional lack of sensibility, were, in truth, tokens of the
intensity of the emotional nature they disguised. Lord
Beaconsfield was a man of profoundly deep feeling and a
highly sensitive temperament, but, with an indomitable
will habituated to self-control, the customary expressions of
such feeling as he possessed were interdicted. For example,
in place of movements of the ordinary excito-motor type,
the noble lord's physical habit was, in the later-middle
period and towards the end of his career in the Commons,
characterised by slight and seemingly automatic, but really
conscious, acts of the slightest kind often repeated. It
was very curious and profoundly interesting to study
these movements from the psychological standpoint. Under
ordinary circumstances Mr. Disraeli would sit for long
stretches of time during the violent or terribly irritating
attack of a political opponent, with nearly closed eyes, as
though asleep. When the onslaught waxed furious he
would, as though with all-engrossing intent, fix his gaze at
the toes of his boots, moving them slowly so as to bring all
points under observation. If the taunts or reproaches
hurled at him were of so grievous a nature as to make any
other man furious, he would straighten himself and brush
some particle of dust from the front of his buttoned frock-
coat, or from the sleeve of his left arm. Then he would
examine his nails, and, as a climax, when few statesmen
so assailed could avoid some token of emotional restless-
ness, be would, perhaps, take out his single eyeglass, and,
fixing it firmly, look for an instant at the clock in the front
of the gallery opposite Mr. Speaker, dropping the glass with
one quick elevation of the eyebrow. This last-mentioned
trick being the only part of a series of actions which, though
familiar to his observer, was never a mere matter of habit.
Probably, and it is worth noting in reference to the recent
incident of his approaching the Ministerial bench in the
House of Lords after the division at the close of the
Candahar debate, the noble lord was less a man of habit in
the true sense of that term—i.e., as implying the relegation
of large classes of actions to the sub-consciousness to be
performed automatically—than the average brain-worker.
The fact is interesting as throwing light on the type of his
physico-mental constitution, and as illustrating the character
of the strain which the life and enterprise of the deceased
statesman imposed on his mind-power. . . . It was, practi-
cally, too late when Mr. Disraeli became Earl of Beaconsfield
to prolong a valued life by the means adopted. Speaking
now freely, we believe the deceased statesman would have
lived longer if he had not thus late retired to a scene qf
comparative quiet, upon which he ought, in the interests of
his health, to have entered when the Queen urged him to do
so some years before. As it was, Lord Beaconsfield was
deprived of his accustomed mental stimulus at the precise
moment when he most needed it; and although his imme-
diate personal feelings were those of relief, the physical ease
was purchased at too great a price." . . .

fiel,
to

Mr. George H. Parkinson writes to The Times from
the Central Office, Royal Courts of Justice :
"The enclosed extract from my diary of 1852 may
be aoceptable. I was clerk to Baron Parke (Lord
Wensleydale) at the time, and can vouch for the cor-
rectness of the incidents referred to
"'Saturday, June 12, 18.52.—Mr. Disraeli, the new Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, came down about two to be
sworn in. He was quite alone, and Davis, the usher,
showed him into the Judges' private room, where I hap-
pened to be, arranging some papers. I placed him a
chair, and said I wouldego and tell the Judges he had ar-
rived. In a few minutes they came in—Lord Chief Baron
Pollock, Barons Parke, Alderson, Rolfe, and Platt. All
seemed to know him, and all talked and laughed together.
His new black silk robe, heavily embroidered with gold bullion
fringe and lace, was lying across a chair. "Here, get on
your gown," said Baron Alderson ; "you'll find it monstrously
heavy. "€h, I find it uncommonly light," said the new
Chancellor. "Well, it's heavy with what makes other things
light," said the Lord Chief Baron. "Now, what am Ito say
and do in this performance?" was the next question. "Why,
you'll first be sworn in by Vincent, and then, y.ou'll sit down
again; and if you look to the extreme left of the first row of
counsel you will see a rather tall man looking at you. That
is Mr. Wiles out of court, but Mr. Tubman in court, and you
must say, `Mr. Tubrnan, have you anything to move?' He
will make his motion, and when he sits down you must say,
Take a rule, Mr. Tubman,' and that will be the end of the
affair."

'"The ushers were summoned, and all marched to the
Bench—Baron Platt as junior baron first, Mr. Disraeli last,
immediately preceded by the Lord Chief Baron. Mr. Vin-
cent, the Queen's Remembrancer, administered the ancient
oath, in Norman-French, I think. Mr. Tubman (afterwards
Mr. Justice Wiles) made some fictitious motion, wan duly
desired to "take a rule," and the Chancellor and Barons
returned to the private room. "Well, I must say
you fellows have easy work to do if this is a specimen,
said Mr. Disraeli. "Now, don't you think that, or you'll
be cutting down our salaries," replied one of the Judges.
"Take care of that robe," said Baron Alderson; "you can
leave it to your son when the Queen makes him a Chan-
cellor." "Oh, no; you' ye settled that business," said the
new Chancellor, "you'd decide that was fettering the Royal
prerogative." There was a general roar at this witty allu-
sion to a very important case just decided in the use of
Lords, in which the Peers had held that a large monetary
bequest by the late Earl of Bridgewater to his son on condi-
tion that he should obtain the title of Duke within a certain
time was void on the ground that it was a fettering of the
Royal prerogative."
" ' There was a mutual shaking of hands, and all parties
separated.'"
- -

Mr. Sidney Smith also writes to The Times from 46,
Watling-street, London, under date April 22 :
"In your interesting biographical notice of the 20th re
lative to the Earl of Beaconsfteld, there occurs this passage:
--‘ Proud of his race, and lenient to its creed, he only tardily
assented to the removal of its disabilities.' It has been my
duty very recently to examine the division lists of the House
of Commons on the various motions connected with the sub-
.. _ _ _ _

jeci of Jewish disabilities, from the first return of the late
Baron Lionel de Rothschild to the final settlement of the
question, and from these records it appears that Lord
Beaconsfield voted in every division, and in all I have had
the means of verifying he steadily and uniformly supported
every movement in favour of Jewish emancipation."
A Correspondent writes : _ _ .

" It may be interesting to note the chief ecclesiastical
appointments made by the Earl of Beaconsfield. He
nominated the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tait), the
Bishop of London (Dr. Jackson), the Bishop of Durham
(Dr. Lightfoot), the Bishop ot Hereford (Dr. Atlay), the
Bishop of Lincoln (Dr. Wordsworth), the Bishop of Peter.
borough (Dr. Magee), the Bishop of Rochester (Dr.
Thorold), the Bishop of St. Alban's (Dr. Claughton), on
translation from Rochester; the Bishop of St. David's (Dr.
Basil Jones), the Bishwp of Lichfield (Dr. M'Lagan), and
the Bishop of Sodor and Man (Dr. Rowley Hill), while 119
recommended the first Bishops of the new Sees of lruro
and Liverpool (Dr. Benson and Dr. Ryle). The ex-premier
also nominated the Rev. A. Purey Cust to the Deanery of
York ; Dr. Bickersteith to the Deanery of Lichfield (both
having been Archdeacmis of Buckingham) the Hon. George
Herbert to the Deanery of Hereford, the Rev. Dr. Stewart
Perowne to the Deanery of Peterborough, Dr. Burgon to
the Deanery of Chichester, the Hon. Grantham Yorke to the
Deanery of Worcester, and on his decease Lord A. Compton
to the same; and the Rev. G. D. Boyle to the Deanery of
Salisbury. Lord Beaconsfield likewise appointed Canon
Gregory to St. Paul's, Canon Leighton to W estminster, Canon
Birch to Ripon, Canon Bright to Oxford, and Canons For-
rester and Fleming to York."

"X. M. P." writes to The Times from Woodford :—" On
one of the few occasions that I was in the sam3 lobby
with Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons I men-
tioned to him the fact of his old school being within the
limits of the constituency I represented. He showed great
Interest in this, and spoke most highly of Dr. Cogan's
character and attainments. There is a curious story which
I had fronr a late valued friend, well known in Essex, of the
way in which Isaac D'lsraeli's children came to be brought
up as Christians. I do not remember whether my friend
gave his authority, still less do I know what amount of
reliance may be placed on the story. Perhaps some of your
readers may know more about it. It ran that Mr. Sharon
Turner called upon Isaac one day, and in the course of
conversation, asked him whether he did not think it would
be an advantage to the children in life to be brought up as
Christians. Somewhat to Turner's surprise, Isaac fell in
with this idea very easily, and fearing he might change his
mind, Turner obtained his consent to their being imme-
diately baptized. He took them then and there in a hackney
coach to a friend's church—two boys and a girl—and had the
rite performed. The girl, however, my friend added, never
conformed to Christianity, but remained a Jewess to the
end of her days."

The Jewish World, in an article on Lord Beaconsfield,
hp
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that the name of Benjamin Disraeli will occupy an important
place in its pages. The deceased nobleman has himself
written much and eloquently on Jewish character and the
force of Jewish ability, has expatiated with all the enthu-
siasm of his own Israelitish sympathies on the beneficent
nature of the Jewish factor in general culture ; but it was re-
served for himself to exemplify the theory which he hadf ormed
from a contemplation of the history of his race, and to
impress upon his times more indelibly than any other man
the stamp of Jewish ability. Living in an age of rapid
change, at times distracted by the collision of ancient mono-
polies with a wild and impracticable Radicalism, Lord
Beaconsfield consistently fought throughout his lifetime
for one definite and intelligible cause with all the tenacity
and moral courage of his Jewish character. And what was
this cause? The harmonising of conflicting elements, the
conciliation of opposing pretensions which, once conciliated,
would be of immense value to one another. Here we see
the working of that practical Jewish intellect which eman-
cipated from class prejedices and popular extravagancies,
stood midway between the two, and sought to bring them in
harmony; the working of that practrical expediejicy and
Judicious compromise which so peculiarly distinginified the
Jewish character."

The Jewish Chronicle says : "The loss of Loyd Beaconsfield,
which has been generally deplored by politicians of all shades
of opinion in this country, and by many to whom politics Fe
an uninteresting puzzle full of strange fictions of assertion
and insincere laudation and reproach, will be felt asa special
calamity by those who belong .
to the historic race which
Lord Beaconsfield was always proud to trace his pedigree. He
was a living monument of the greatness of the Jewish race,
ofits capacity to produce individuals equal in mental
stature to the loftiest among mankind. No figure in
the Victorian era stands out more boldly, in none will
posterity trace more plainly the lineaments of a great man.
Inheriting obloquy, he achieved illustriousness; born with
maimed and imperfect rights of citizenship, he rose to the,
first among private citizens. Of the results of his public

policy it is too soon to speak. No statesman can be judged
till his work is proved by time. But against his personal
character no word of reproach can be uttered by the worst
of his enemies. No corrupt means procured his rise to
power; he ruled a great party, and through it a mighty
empire, by the right of the fittest. From an early part of
his career the mind of Benjamin Disraeli was fixed on a
conspicuous position in the counciLs of the nation as the
most desirable object of laudable ambition. The German
critic, Brandes, has pointed out how it is to the applause
of his fellow-countrymen that the hero of Disraeli's early
novels always looks. Fixing his eyes on that goal, to de-
serve by public service the praise of the public voice, he
pursued his path towards it with an admirable unity of pur-
pose, a skilful and admittedly pure selection of means.
His career has two facts in it which are especially encourag-
ing to persons of his race. He offered at one and the same
time a brilliant example of the precocity of the Jewish
intellect, and of its enduring vitality. He came early to his
inheritance of mental vigour and retained it long. Before
he was much more than 20 years old he was famous by his
writing ; when his years exceeded 70 he presided in the
Areopagus of Europe."

The Athenceunt observes that by the death of Lord Beacons-
field a far greater gap is made in the circle of contemporary
politicians than id that of contemporary authors. "The
name of Beaconsfield, indeed, has hardly any place in litera-
ture, while that of Disraeli is sure of enduring fame among
the writers of clever and representative books, even though
the fame may be partly eclipsed by the greater eminence in
politics which has at the same time tended to greatly
enhance it. The critics of the future will have an interesting
problem to solve in considering how far Disraeli's
success as an author was due to his greater success as a
politician; but this success in authorship has been con-
siderable enough to secure for him a prominent position in
nineteenth century literature. It has been said that in Lord
Beaconsfield a great novelist was spoiled by political success.
This is, of course, a paradox. And yet it is impossible to
pronounce judgment on his novels apart from his politics.
the political spirit pervades the best of them, and they can-
not be considered as mere works of art. Indeed, so con-
sidered they would not rank high, nor would they be destined
to endure long; but whatever judgment posterity may pass
upon his statesmanship, whether it regards him as a patriot
or a charlatan, or both, or neither, it will certainly declare
him to be as remarkable a man of genius as this century has
produced in England.

The Law Times says :—" An overwhelming national
calamity in the death of a great statesman dwarfs ordinary
occurrences into insignificance. It is said that very early in
his wonderful career the late Lord Beaconsfield was in the
office of an attorney. We do not care to inquire into the
accuracy of this statement, for it cannot be pretended that
the law can claim any share in the formation of his
character. Rather, if it be true, is it matter for congratu-
lation that his exuberant genius so quickly escaped from
the cramping operation of a lawyer's avocations, and the de-
pressing influence of a lawyer's office upon the imagination.
It is for us only to recognise in his death the loss of one whose
oratory soared far above that of any judge or advocate of his
generation, and who in the European Council, where the
debate assumed the most difficult form of contentious pro-
ceedings, exercised in their highest perfection the art, the
skill, and the tact which carry men to the highest
pinnacle of forensic fame. To the deceased the legal
profession owes a great deal as one of the most brilliant
romance writers of the age, in whose works the tired
pleader has found refreshment and relaxation, and the
weary advocate reinvigorated his mind in the intervals of
work in preparation for renewed efforts in the dusty arena
of courts of justice. Sharing, as many lawyers do, in the
double contest of the Bar and the Senate, they appreciate
most thoroughly the severe loss which the country and the
world has sustained, and we feel sure that no body of men
regrets more profoundly than the legal profession of the
disappearance of Lord Beaconsfield from the scene of his
splendid triumphs."

Early on Sunday morning the mortal remains of the
Earl of Beaconsfield were taken from London to the
quiet Buckinghamshire home he loved so well, snd
were placed in the drawing-room in Hughenden
Manor. To avoid the violence which would have
been done to the late Earl's wishes if his remains had
been escorted on their way from his house to the
grave by a throng arresting the traffic of a great city,
the time of the departure from Curzon-stieet was
studiously concealed. Except the servants, the
undertaker's men, and the railway officials concerned
with the business of the removal, no one but the
reporters and one devoted political adherent (a Con-
servative candidate at the last election) witnessed
the removal. At a quarter to one on Sunday morn-
ing the hearse drove up to the door, the coffin was
taken.,out, and carried into the house. The shell was
placed in the coffin, and an hour afterwards was on its
way to the Great 'Western terminus. Before it left,
white wreaths were laid upon the coffin.
A special train, conveying the hearse, and the pair
of horses, left Paddington at 2.25 for High Wycombe.
The station-master at High Wycombe had been
warned by telegraph, and the hearse on its arrival,
at about 3 a.m., was driven to Hughenden Manor,
preceded by another conveyance with the bier. Rain
was falling when Curzon-street was left, and rain fell
again just as the grounds were entered at Hughenden.
The early song of birds was just commencing in the
beech-woods, and when the gloomy convoy came near
to the house the lugubrious crowing of the peacocks,
which had been accustomed to feed from Beacons-
field's hands, was heard.
The oak and brass-bound coffin was laid upon a
wheeled bier in the centre of the darkened room
leading out of the hall, the feet towards the side
whence the light comes, the head towards the wall on
Which hangs the portrait of the Queen, presented to
the late Earl by Her Majesty herself on his 70th
birthday, when he was her Prime Minister. Other
cherished gifts, books, statuettes, &c., were the orna-
ments of the room, and from the chimney wall on the
left hand the portrait of Lady Beaconsfield, taken
when she was a young woman of winning aspect,
looks down. The coffin was completely covered with
a long white cloth, which hung down to the floor on
all sides. The following is the inscription on the
brass plate "The Right Honourable Benjamin
Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughen-
den, K.G. Born December 21, 1804. Died April 19,
1881."

The room chosen as the temporary resting-place of
the body opened by one door on the hall, aa:d by the
other to the library, the room which the Earl of
Beaconsfield, when he b
;had finished his morning's work
iin his study n the upper part of the house, inhabited
for the rest of the day; the room in which he knew the
place of every volume on the shelves, and could pick
out any book he wanted without consulting the title.
It is more gaily decorated than libraries often are, with
yellow furniture, a Dresden cabinet, &c, and opens
on a delightful green lawn. The trees planted by
the Queen and Princess Beatrice when they visited
Hughenden in 1877 are here to be seen. The
library is chiefly rich in historical works, from
Gaisford's " Herodotus," through Holinshed, &c.,
to the later annals, but also contains a good collection
of ancient classical and French literature. The French
Revue des Duex Mondes was always carefully studied,
with the current English reviews and newspapers, by
the late statesman. Only a portion, of course, of the
5,000 volumes selected by the late Earl from his
father's collection of 25,000 are to be found in this
library. They entirely occupy the walls, and leave
room only for two sketches to represent here the
pictorial wealth profusely spread over the rest of the
house. The sketches are playful drawings in Indian
ink of the late Earl's reception at the University of
Glasgow, of which he was installed Lord Rector in
1873. They were executed by the wife of one of the
Professors and contain clever portraits of Lord
Beaconsfield, Another portrait of the late Earl as a
young man, very similar to Maclise's etching of
Disraeli the Younger, hangs in the hall just out-
side, and close to iris tha portrait of the Marquis
of Salisbury, Lord Beaconsfield's companion at the
Congress of Berlin. On the opposite wall hangs
the portrait of the late Earl of Stanhope, with an
open book in his hand, as befitted the historian
and President of the Society of Antiquaries. The
, hall and staircase are thickly studded with other
paintings of the friends of the late statesman—
Earl Cairns, the late and the present Earl of Derby,
Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Oxford, Napoleon
111, George Smyth (Lord Strangford), of the Young
England party, James Clay, and the first Lord
Lytton, whose youth was recently sketched in
" Endymion," the portrait presented by his son.
Here also are the beautifully painted bust of Lady
Blessington, the portrait of the present Lady
Derby, and the picture of the late Lord Beaconsfield's
early friend, Lord Lyndhurst, with whom he is
described as walking arm-in-arm in the Opera Colon-
nade vehemently expounding his political ideas. The
painting is by Count D'Or-say, and was presented to
its late owner by the Carlton Club, and much valued
by him on that account and for the sake of the brilliant
and versatile lawyer whom it represented. Count
D'Orsay's own portrait hangs near in the hall, and at
the foot of the stairs is the portrait of Lord Byron, so
sympathetically described in " Contarini Fleming,"
near to the portrait, by Van Angeli, of the private
secretary who served the Minister in power and out of
power with so much tact and devotion, Mr. Montagu
Carry, now Lord Rowton. Lord Ossington, Lord
Bradford (Lord Chamberlain under the late Adminis-
tration), and many others are also represented on the
walls.

Hughenden Manor is a large white baronial house
of stone, square, with two square wings, which stands
on a hill sheltered by well-grown plantations, with
younger plantations of firs coming on in the park.
Great patches of white anemones, violets, and prim-
roses diversify the terraces in which the grounds des-
cend. Through the park a swift stream races to
join the Wye; and in the park itself stands St.
Michael's Church. In driving from Wycombe,
from which the place is about two miles distant,
the first conspicuous object whicl) strikes the eye
is the obelisk erected on a neighbouring hill by
the Viscountess Beaconsfield to the memory of Isaac
Disraeli. An inscription in memory of her now
occupies one slab at its base, another slab records the
fame of the author of the "Curiosities of Literature,"
and there are still two sides vacant. This is in a
clear space between two woods on the estate called
Great and Little Tinkers; another height is crowned
by the Millfield-wood. The road to the house goes
through the park for some distance up the hill, that
to the church enters it about a hundred yards from
the sacred building by a lodge kept by an old wood-
man and his wife pensioned off in this cottage by the
late Earl.