Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-05-28
DIsRAELT's UNsCRUPULOUs-
NESS.

Three or four years ago, bitter, fac
tious attack was made in the House of
Commons upon Mr.. Stansfeld, then
holding Office in the Liberal Govern
ment, because Of his open and avOWed
friendship for and intimacy with MAJ
zini. This was at time when the
French Government were endeavOring
to connect Mazzini with plot to assas-
sinate the Emperor Napoleon. Mr.
DisraeIi was very stern in his condem-
nation Of Mr.. Stansfeld for his friend
ship with one who, twenty odd years
before, had encouraged young enthu-
slaSt as the enthusiast Sa1d) IN de-
sign to kill Charles Albert, King of Sar-
dinia. Mr.. Bright, in moderate and
kindly speech, deprecated the idea of
making unpardOnablec crimes out of the
hot-headed follies of enthusiastic mon
in their young days and he added that
he believed there would be found in a
certain poem, written by Disraeh him-
self some twenty-five or thirty years
before, and called g A Revolutionary
Epiek, 2 some lines of eloquent apOstra-
phe in praise of tyrannieide. Upsprang
Mr. Disraeli, indignant and excited,
and vehemently denied that any such
sentiment, any suen line, couid De
found in the poem. Mr.. Bright at once
accepted the assurance; said he had
never seen the poem himself, but only
heard that there was such passage IN
it; apoIogized for the mistake-and
there most people thought the InatIef L'3
would have ended. In truth, the vol
ume which Disraen had published a
generation before, with the grandilo
Quent title, q A Revolutionary Eplck "
mot - epic.'' in the common way, but
dignifed, old-fashioned epick ~, was
piece of youthful, bombastic folly,
long out Of print, and almost wholly
forgotten. But Disraeh chose to attach
great importance to the charge he sup
posed to be made against him; and he
declared that he felt himself bound to
refute it utterly by more than mere
denial. Accordingly, in 16W weeks,
there came ont a new edition of the
Epick, with a dedication to Lord Stan
ley, and a preface explaining that, as
the first edition was out of print, and
as a charge founded on passage IN It
had been made against the author salo
author felt bound to issue this new edl-
tion, that all the world might see how
uufounded was the accusation. sure
enough, the publication did seem to
| dispose of the charge effectively. There
was only one passage which in any way
bore on the subject of tyrannlclde, and
1 that certainly did not express apprO-
val. What could be more satisfactory!
/ UnIuclzily, however, the gentleman on
whose hint Mr.. Bright spoke happened
| to possess one copy of the original edl-
| tion. He compared this, TO make as,
suranee doubly sure, with the copy al
| the British Museum, the only othel
! copv accessible to him, and he found
! that the passage which contained the
| praise of tyrannicide had been partly
altered, partly suppressed, IN 5ne new
edition specially issued by Mr.: DisraeIl
/ in order to prove to the world that M
had not written a line in the poem u
imply that he sanctioned the staying o.
a tvrant. Now, this was small anC
trif1ing affair; but just see how slgnlh
| cant and characteristic 1T was 1t sure
| Iv did not make much matter whether
| Mr.. Disraei, in his young, nonsens1ca
davs. had or had not INDUCED In
| burst of enthusiasm about the slay1nt
/ of tyrants, in a poem so bombastic tina
no rational man could think of 1t witt
any seriousness. But Mr.. D1srae1
chose to regard his reputation as Sc
riouslv assailed. And what did he dC
to vindicate himself? He published ;
new edition, which he trumpeted as no
merely authentic, but as issued for tn
sole purpose of proving that he had no
/ praised tyrannicide, and he deliberate
Il " excised the lines which contained
the passage in question: The contro
versy turned on some two lines and
half; and of these Mr.. Disraeli cut ou
all the dangerous words, and gave tn
garbled version to the world as his au
thoritatiye reply to the charge mad
NOUS q annexation . of one of Thiers
speeches, and the delivery of it as
, panegyric on the memory of the Duk
of Wellington, and after the approprl
alton of a page or two cut out of an es
say by Macaulay, and its introduction
Disraeli's novels.-Jlesti'' McC0Tthy, 4
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