The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-07-17

his place, the greatest orator within the
walls of the British Parliament. O..
The subsequent career Of Disraell fur
nishes an admirable lesson to all men;
il shows what determination and'energy
will do. For he has owed all his sue
cess to hard work and patient industry.
He began carefully to unlearn his faults,
to study the character of his audience,
to cultivate the arts of parliamentary |
knowledge. He soon felt that success
in oratols was not to be obtained in a
bound, bot had to be worked patiently
for. His triumph did come, but it came
slow, ahi hs- degreess.sHe atslepgtb
learned to make the House laugh aHh
him, instead of at him. A year and a
half elapsed before he again attempted
to address the House; and then the result
of his care and study showed themselves
in an excellent speech, on the prcsenta-
ton of the Chartist Petition. He had
thrown away his poetic feelings and retain
ed his strong common sense. In the fol-
lowing year, he delivered a speech full
of strong sympathy tor the incarceratcd
Chartists, Lovett and Collins, disclaim-
ing the plea of mercy on the part of the
state in their behalf, and insisting that
they We're the really aggrieved parties.
His speeches on copyright and education
in the following year were much adj
foreign consular establishments in the
session OF 1912. These speeches served
to eiiace the recollection of his first
egregious failure, though he had not yet
achieved very high position in the
house. He was, however, steadily work
ing his way towards that, as we shall
see.
In 1914, Mr.. Disraeli commenced his
series of oratorical attacks on Sir Robt.
Peel, and continued them with invinci-
bic pertinacity, and with growing power
and force of satire until the fall Of that
! lamened statesman, and even for some
time after. 1t Is SAID that Disraeli had
been sighted in his aspirations for office
at all events, he had been overlooked:
for Sir Robert Peel always preferred to
have under him men of strong practical
qualities. How that may be. we cannot
tell. but certainly, the vehement pers>-
nal attacks-the singing, biting satire,
launched through the terth--the almost
vengeful wrath with which Dlsraeli pur.
sued the minister, and met him with his
poisoned shafts at every turn exhibit
a determined personal hostility, which
must have had its foundation in some
sighted ambition or eXaspnratrd Indl-
vldual feeling. So far as Di,rarli was
concerned. it was war to the knli' and
to the death. \ series of IS aultS, SO long
sustained, and so vindictive, is probably
quite uneXampled in the history of Par
:, liamentary warfare. There was large
and growing party of malcontrnts, too
in tie House, who did not fail to seconC
the satire of Disraeli by their laughter
and applause. His irony become more
and more polished, keen, and penetrating
:. His speeches were full of refinement
but equally full of venom. The adder
lurked under the rosrleaves; the golden
arrows We're tipped with deadly poison
No wonder that the sensitive subject o.
all those speeches should so often have
writhed under them; and shuddrred IN
der the hands of his ruthless, but too skill
full anatomist.
Disraeli's boldness increased with hi.
success. There was no other man or
} his side to compare with him. He tow
cred lntinltel y above the host of country
gentlemen, who, though eXaSperatec
, Protectlonists, were nevertheless, for the
most part, dumb, and could only find ;
/ vent for their eloquence in cheerins
$ Disraeli's bitter attacks upon the Pre-
mier. The session of 1916 brought hi:
oratory to climax. He then took the
lead in opposing theaPremler's measure
$ Of Corn Law Repeal, and delivered or
the occasion several of his ablest speech
es, full OF cutting sarcasm and powerful
S lnvective. In the debate on the thirc
; reading of the Corn Bill, in strain o
, whitening irony, he acquitted the Pre-
mler of meditating deception in his adop
ton of Free Trade principles, "seeine
that he had all along, for thirty or forty
years, traded on the ideas of others; tina
| his life had been one great appropriation
clause; and that he had ever been the
, burglar Of other mems intelects.' He
also denounced him as the "poltica
) peddler, who, adopting the principle.
of Free Trade, had bought his party IN
the cheapest market, and sold them in
the dearest" The feeling which die.
| tated these speeches was obviously not
so much based on deep-rooted convic
t tions as on personal malrgnity and re-
A venge; and though Disraeli's follower.
may have cheered; they could not but