The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-01 00:00:00

BENJAMIN DISRAELI.

Benjamin Disraeli was born in London, December,
JBO5, and is son of the Bathe ,of the " Curiosities of
' --t-agiteWeEthe visited Germany.: aud
.on retteedirgle•Enklitiitl puislignid; while yet a trneer,
his first work, called " Vivian Grey." In 1821 he
visited Italy and Greece, and was in Albania during the
civil war. He passed the winter of 1829.30 in Constan-
tinople, and in the spring travelled in Syria, Egypt, and
tasesturei—
Nubia. Returning to England in 1831, he found the
nation in all the excitement of the reform agitation.
Anxious to obtain a seat in Parliament, entertaining a
Tory party hatred of the Whigs, then in the ascendant,
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and not naturally illiberal, Disraeli determined to con-
combe, he put forward a strong case against the Whigs,
in the form best calculated to secure the suffrages of the
Radical party, to whom he had obtained a recommen-
dation from Mr. Joseph Hume, and, in addition, spoke
in favour of short Parliaments and vote by ballot. He
lost the election in two contests,—the Radicals appa-
rently distrusting their candidate. In 1833 he published
the novel, " Contarini Fleming," which he called a
psychological romance ; and in the following year,
a " Vindication of the British Constitution." Ia 1835,
when the Conservative party had been restored to
office, Disraeli became a candidate for the borough of
Taunton. The danger of the country
coming under the
sway of a Whig oligarchy had now, he said, passed
away; accordingly he renounced vote by ballot and short
Parliaments as unnecessary, and declared himself a sup-
porter of Sir Robert Peel. This change brought down
upon him the attacks of the opposite party, and he was
denounced throughout the kingdom as a political rene-
gade. In the course of one of his speeches at Taunton,
be made an. uncomplimentary reference to Daniel
O'Connell, then in the zenith of his fame. The agitator
a few days alter returned his invective with interest, and
declared, alluding to Mr. Disraeli's Hebrew origin, that
" he made ne doubt that, if his genealogy could be
traced, he would be found to be the true heir-at.law of
the impenitent thief on the cross." The reply to this
outrage was a challenge, not to the speaker, who was
known uniformly to decline duelling, but to his son. No
duel, however, took place, but the correspondence was
published in the newspapers. A published letter, written
to O'Connell by Disraeli, concluded by the magniloquent
boast, "We shall meet at Philippi." This prophecy
was fulfilled, in 1837, by the return of Disraeli
for the borough of Maidstone. He sought an
early . opportunity of addressing tho House; but
having neglected to study the tastes of • his new
audience as to the temper and style of oratory, his first
attempt was one of the most egregious failures on record,
and be sat down amid the derisive cheers of the blem-
hers, consoling himself by exclaiming, " The time will
come when you will hear me!"—a prediction which has
proved truer than the greater number uttered under such
discouragements. At the general election of 1841 he
was returned for Shrewsbury, and in the course of the
session spoke several times with a self-possession and
business-like aim which showed that he had profited by
his first unpleasant lesson, and won him the ear of the
House. During the year 1843 he supported Peel; bat in
1844, perceiving the erowiag development of that policy
or the great Minister whin effdect in free trade. Disrat Ii
seceded from his side to become a leader of the protec-
tionist party, and ecmmeneed upon his former chief a
series of personal attacks, which, for elaboration, point,
and length of duration, have no parallel iu the
annals of the House of Commons. Various rea-
sons were assigned for the personal aim of Disraeli's
opposition ; but it was on all hands agreed
that the orator had successfully studied the
character which he assailed. For three sessions the House
listened with surprise and alarmed attention to speeches
delivered at intervals, in which the solemn mys-
teriousness, the pompous commonplace, the high disdain,
and lastly, the imputed treachery of the Minister, were
of alternately mocked or denounced with indignation. The
retreat of Peel removed the occasion of these well-pre-
pared displpaier hopelessaelidid caalul
thate. A u
s could be aye, and the triumph of free trade left Dis-
raeli
catede:
mended of a party leader, and having, to borrow an
oprotection,cause.
the
expression from one of his recent addresses, "hacked on
the fight until his sword was notched from point to hilt,"
he has intimated his intention not to be the advocate of
exclusive privilege. It has hitherto been Mr. Disraeli's
lot to excite expectations by his talents which have
ended in disappointment. At the present moment he
has ne higher reputation in the House than that of a
clever debater; while many men of less natural ability
have acquired authority by their steadier application.
He has, however, youth on his side; and, emancipated
from the association of a narrow-minded party, may
yet do the state good service, in following his naturally
liberal inclinations. As a speaker he rarely enunciates
a new principle, but is constantly startling
his audience by setting old ones in unex-
pected lights and combinations. His oratory is
unimpassioned, and his manner even ungainly; but the
felicity of his language, the aptitude and wide range of
his illustations, and a certain ingenuity and adaptation
which run through all his speeches, always secure for
him the pleased attention of his audience. Besides the
novel already mentioned, Mr. Disraeli has written
three works, " Coningsby," " The Sibyl," and " Tan-
cred," full of graphic sketches of character, but chiefly
remarkable as the vehicle of the writer's political and
social views.