The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-13 00:00:00

A HANDSOME APOLOGY.

(From the Examiner,)
We have received the following communiea.
tion

" Will you allow me to correct an error into
which the writer of the article in to-day's Exammert
entitled ' Mr. Disraeli and President Lincoln,' has
fallen. He comments with great severity on a pas-
sage in Mr. Disraeli's
speech, alluding, as the eon-
text clearly s'lows, to Lord George Bentinck, under
the idea that the speaker was referring to Sir
Robert Peel.
" The only ground for the error is that the death
of Bentieck is spoken of es occurring twelve years
instead of fifteen years ago. But this inaccuracy is
corrected by the description given in the speech
of the condition of the'Tory party at the time al-
luded to, which answers very well for 1848, but is
entirely inapplicable for 1851. I should have
thought, moreover, that Mr. Disraeli's antecedent,
would have precluded the idea that he could dwell
on the memory of Peel with 'admiration and afec
twzohne.n' Thewe last
recollect
term,t however, is most appropriate
is
intimate relations to Lord
George Bentinck.—l am, &c.,
exaggeration that caused our
18i6r03;e'ssie:n that Mr. Disra‘e‘lAi's. Cal.lu-
" 4th July,
Oar correspondent is right, and we desire all we
said, under the
.t man
. of great sagacity and
'usld not recognise Lord George
sion was to Sir Robert Peel, to be considered ea
unsaid. The fault, however, is not solely ours. It
rußweiasnattai Mkn
cer.k.
great heart. The description sufficiently fitted Sir
Robert, and the circumstances referred to were cir-
cumstances of the Tory party. under his leadership
iDnmitsr:raeeceloirnlnen
but anterior to the date mentioned. The idea never,
struck us that any other fory statesman of recent
times could be spoken of in. such exalted terms of
praise, Nor was our false impression corrected
by
the recollection of Mr. Disraeli's former judgments,
as it A, C." thinks it should have been, for we are
certainly not unprepared for inconsistency in Mr.
Disraeli's sentiments. The profession of affection
was indeed rather startling, but Bacen tells us that
,c good things are never seen in their full beauty
till they turn their backs and be passing away;"
and Shakspeare to the same effenir_
,4 . . • • lt so falls out,
That what we.have we prize not to be worth,
Whiles we enjoy it ; but being lack'd and lost,
Why then we rack the value ; then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us."
Uedeniably there was a time when Mr. Disraeli
must have thought well and kindly of Sir Robert
Peel, and these sentiments might have been revived
after party differences had been closed by the tomb.
But we were wrong, misled by Mr. Disraeli's pre-
posterous estimate of a very mediocre politician,
whose placein memory is not of a magnitude to
dispense with name. We say this without y
meaning
any disparagement of a
nobleman who had many
high qualities commanding the respect of 1-
opponents,
as
well
as winning the love of followers; but emi-
nent statesmanship is another matter.
The Sun had lectured us very severely for our
mistake, and we have profited by its lesson as it
will see, in the spelling of Mr. Disrael"" '
which, for want of knowing better, arid notn
name,
which,
in
"spiteful pertinacity," we have spelt D'lsraeli, as
his father spelt it before him. We did
not know the
offence that lay in the D'.

The Sun charges us with a doggedly-cherished
to Mr. Disraeli, an implacable enmity,
antipathy
over-bitterness of feeling. Yet we have repeatedly
seized occasion to blame Mr. Disraeli's party for its
in,Jatitude to the man whose talents have made it
and without whom it would be as a rope what it is,
of sand.

Our lecturer also rebukes us for faults of manner,
homely or familiar fig
we cannot reply urea and expressions, to which
W•thout repeating our offence. We
must drive our ass in our own way, for no good ever
came of counsel taken in that business. Or
if the metaphor of the ass be too vulgar for ears
polite, let us resort to another, and avow that we do
but to any that are appropriate.
not pique ourselves on dancing our bear to genteel
tunes,

Mr. FRITH is workingtdiligently at his picture of
the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales. The
Prince gave him a sitting on Tuesday last.
DR. COLENSO'S LAST I__« Why is it impossib,e
for two Bishops to row in the same boat F' " Because
,hey are in different seas (sees) 1" Not bad—for Colenso,