The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-07-17
DISRAELI As 4 PUBLIC MAN.

4
known 10 the public as literary man.
The incidents of his political lite are
less familiar; and we accordingly copy
from a recent English periodical the fol-
lowing interesting sketch OF his rise and
progress as a politician:
We have left ourselves but small space
to refer to the political career of Mr.
Dlsraei; but it isnot necessary we should !
refer to this at any length. The fever
isheXcitement of the Reform Bill brought !
him out in the character of d RadiUai, |
or rather hater OF the Whigs-because,
after all, he never seems to have chung |
very closely to Radicalism. However,
he went down to High Wycombe as a
candidate tor the borough, in 1882, re-
commended by Mr.. Hume and Sir f.
l.. Bulwer. Mr.. O'Connell was at the
same time, applied to for character.
MIR. Disraeli was defeated; a second
election took place in the same year,
when he was again defeated; and he tried
The borough third time, in 1885, when
he was a third time defeated.
Joseph Hume, on whom he called
gave him ''the cold shouder;' for the
old veteran could not see very clearly
through the hodge podge notions OF
Anti-Whig Liberalism, Tory Radical
ism, and Ahsolutist Democracy, which
be had ust developed in an address to
the electors of High Wycombe, under
the tide of Tile CRISIS Eramined. SO,
abandoning the hope of getting into
Parliament on Joseph Hume's or Daniel
O'Connell's shoulders, the Young En-
glander suddenly wheeled round on the
other tack, and forthwith came out III
the character Of tull-bloWn Tory. He
went down to Taunton to oppose Mr..
Labouchere, and was defeated. A turi-
Gus alteration between him and O'Con-
nell afterwards took place, in which
the latter denounced HIM, in his usual
coarse, Swlit-Iiie style, as one who, ''lt
his grnealogv were traced, would be
found to be the true helr-at- law of the
impenitrnt thief who died upon the
cross On this, Disraeli stung 10 mad
ness, challenged Morgan D'UonneIl to
fight him in duel, but Morgan decln-
ed: Disraer was bound over to keep the
peace: and the correspondence was pub.
Ii>hed. In his letter to O'Conncll, he
concluded with these Words We shaN
mect at Phthppi where | will seize the
first opportunity of iniiicting caStigation
for the insults YOU have lavished upon
me-" The correspondence was IA good
deal laughed at, and Dl$raeli had by this
time crrtain succeeded in reducing
himself to the lowest possible plight as
a public man. But he had genius in
him, and resolu'on; and he worked his
way upward again, as we shall see.
He began to recover himself through
means of the Press, always his great
power He wrote very clever, bril-
liant, and admirable Essay, entitled II
JMdtcntioa QtMe EngiiM Constitution;
and about the same time be edited a
morning newspaper called Tile Repre-
Scnfatre, published by John Murray,
which turned out failure. But soon
after, he appeared in the Times news
paper, III series OF very clever letters,
afterwards published in volume, en-
titled the Letters Of R~nnymede. They
were racy, brilliant, satiricaI, and we'll.
informed, though occasionally rather
inSolent in their smartness. 1t is lso
supposed that, about the same time, aud
even down to recent date, Mr.. Dlsraell
contributed frequently to the leading
columns OF Tile Wunderer.
At length, Mr.. Disraeli succeeded in
obtaining admission to Parliament, as
one OF the members for the Borough of
Maidstone. This was at the general
election In 1897. No great expectations
We're formed of him, and yet there was
some curiosity excited respecting his
dc6ut as an orator. He had delivered
some blazingphilipplcs against the Wings
out of doors, and uttered sundry mystic
speeches crammed with classics. The
gentlemen Of the House of Commons
expected that he would make fool OF
himself: and he did not disappoint them,
His first effort was ludicrous failure
his maiden speech was received with
cloud bursts of laughter" The news
papers said of him that he went up like
rocket, and came down like its stick.
You may conceive the chagrin of the
young observation-disclosures speech had
been composed IN the grandest and most
ambitious strain of eloquence, but was
received as if every period concluded a
pun or flash Of wit. 1t was as if Ham
let had been played as comedy. But
towards the conclusion, he threw in a
sentence worthy Of being quoted, for it
was true prophecy. Writing under
the shouts of laughter which had drown
ed so much of his studied eloquence, he
exclaimed in an almost savage voice: 81