The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-07 00:00:00

The Universal Review.

As usual in this publication, we meet with a
great variety, and some papers of importance and
Interest The article on Mr. Disraeli is most ad-
mirably done, and reflects great credit on the
writer, who has given so many details, and gone
back, with minute accuracy, into various events of
the past in order to make manifest his assertions
and demonstrate his theories. It is said at the
commencement—" Were we to be asked to describe
his career up to the present time, in as few words
as possible, we should say that Mr. Disraeli was
one of the greatest leaders of a party that England
has ever seen—it is in the conduct of the Conserva-
tive party in the House of Commons that his great-
est laurels have been gathered." All who attentively
study public men, and who critically analyse poli-
tical events, will subscribe to the truth of this as-
sertion ; and, while they contrast the unanimity of
the Conservatives with the disorganised ranks of
their opponents, will admit that it is no easy task to
have attained such an object or achieved such a re-
sult. If the leader of the Opposition may now
rest awhile, it is that he has been engaged in no
slight struggle, and been victorious in no mean
encounter. The compiler of these pages has faith-
fully depicted the discouraging circumstances that
existed when the death of Lord George Bentinck
summoned Mr. Disraeli to the post of leader. An
effective sketch is given of the first Derby Admini-
stration, in which so many obstacles arose, but in
which the subject of these remarks greatly enhanced
his reputation and increased his influence. It is
almost without a parallel in Parliamentary annals
for the first appointment that a man receives to be
the leader of the House, but when the brief but
stormy contest was over both sides combined in
offering favourable testimony to their new leader,
who, as Lord John Russell observed, had to fight
almost single-handed the battles of his party.
Of course, in recording the events of 1858, there are
still greater triumphs to be registered, and had it
not been for the unfair and unjust conduct of their
opponents they would have done much more , but
it was not alone the enthusiasm of party zeal'which
was uttered at the Liverpool manifesto to Lord
Derby, when, in reference to his brilliant successes
as a Premier, it was said, "History will regard
your administration as a bright page in our coun-
try's annals." In referring to the time, of course
especial allusion is made to the celebrated mo-
tion on the Canning despatch, which they ex-
pected to carry by a majority first of one hundred,
then of eighty, and afterwards of forty or fifty,
but which finally had to be withdrawn amid the
derision of the whole house ; who that remembers
the supercilious air of the Whig party and the
vaunting language of their journals—who that saw
the editor of their chief Sunday paper swaggering
about the Reform Club and predicting a majority
of ninety, but can sympathise with the witty exul-
tation of the Slough Banquet." It is a source of
satisfaction to retire with honours from a high posi-
tion ; and no just critic can deny that the late Go-
vernment did go out with a far higher charac-
ter and in a more chivalrous spirit than their
adversaries came in. It is the fashion to
forget all awkward reminiscences, and to
state, if pressed on an important point, that
the great men to whom are entrusted
all destinies have sacrificed themselves for the good
of their country, but these kind friends forget that
no great country can accept from her sons the sacri
fice of principle, and the language of a patriot
would be, " I could not love thee half so much
loved I not honour more." In concluding our re-
marks on this excellent article we subjoin some
passages of interest :
" It is evident not only that great and protracted party
conflicts must periodically occur, to the total neglect of
public business, but also that the power of leading a party
in battle is a qualification inferior to none which an Eng-
lish statesman can possess. Yet since tho younger Pitt
struggled through a whole winter against the furious an I
repeated charges of a Whig majority, no other display of 4'
gallantry and skill has been witnessed in the House of
Commons equal to that exhibited by Mr. Disraeli and his
party. lie fought their battle with consummate coolness
and judgment. They obeyed his directions with unflinch-
ing confidence and fortitude. During the time that he led
the House of Commons, many new supporters hail been
converted into fast friends ; and some old enemies into film
allies. Among the latter was Mr. Gladstone."

" Wo have no hesitation in saying, then, that the ser-
vices of Mr. Disraeli to the Conservative party have bcsa
such as hardly any other living statesman could have
performed. His peculiar style of eloquence, admirably
adapted for the formularisation of great principles, and his
unrivalled powers of wit and sarcasm, were exactly the
weapons which his party most required. Having been
thoroughly linten on a point of detail, it was more than
ever necessary that they should be able to extricate them-
selves from the smoke and dust of the conflict, and show
that what the Conservative party was before 1845, that fur
all essential purposes it continued to be afterwards. Being
exposed to the incessant jibes of the daily and weekly press,
it was peculiarly important that they should have at least
one chamkion who could crush any efforts of this sort within
the walls of Parliament. His personal qualifications for his
position were, therefore, unrivalled. Ilis policy, we main-
tain, was only such as every Conservative statesman who
aspired to any real influence over public affairs has been
more or less obliged to adopt."
" There are trials which embitter the career of an Eng-
lish statesman, and are unfortunately of more frequent oc-
currence than the pleasures we have described in our open-
remarks. Mr. Disraeli, however, has as yet been
fortunate in having more of the former than the latter. Ile
has long commanded the enthusiasm of four-fifths of his own
party, and he has during the last few years attained a high
place in public estimation. Nothing could have been more
gratifying to the right hon. gentleman's feelings than the
trifiute of respect recently paid to him by a political oppo-
nent, in vindication of his Parliamentary career, And cer-

tain we are that the judgment of future generations will be
conceived in a similar spirit ; that they will recognise in the
right hon. member fir Buckinghamshire a statesman who
had profoundly studied the history of the British constitu-
tion, and had arrived at broad views in political philoso-
phy ; and a party leader who, if Sir G. C. Lewis be right
in his assertion that great measures are brought about
by party moves,' then, as much as any man living, deserves
the appellation of greatness."

The singular story of Sir Everard's Daughter is
concluded as might have been pre-supposed in a
most melancholy style. Perhaps it might have
been better if the reader was allowed to know one
way or the other whether Lucy was guilty in thought
only or in deed, but it is most powerfully nar-
rated how the stings of her guilty conscience ever
tortured her, and made the life of happiness with
him she loved one long scene of anguish—a fore-
taste and emblem of the worm that dieth not, and
the fire that is not quenched. Among other articles
of various sorts we may make especial mention of
the criticism on Nathaniel Hawthorne, which is
done with great skill, and which is well worthy of
attention. There is an epitome of all his produc-
tions; and in mentioning his last novel," Transfor-
mation," it is wisely suggested to the author not to
take such morbid subjects again, but to let his nea ti
work be of a more cheerful and varied tendency.