New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-05-14
BRITISH PUBLIC MEN.
pooK oF Poll TICAI PORTRAITS.

Earl, RUssEILs NEEDLESS INYENTIVENEsS-
LORD HALIFAX THR SUPERFICIAL POLITICIAN.
tFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBuNE.l
LONDON April 26-Nothing is more common than
attempts at cotempOTaneous political portrait
naipting; nothing more rare than successful like
ness IL we want many such, we must turn over
good many books in search Of them, and almost all
the really fine specimens the works of art, not
cotcmporaneous but historical. 1t is all the more
surprising to find assembled in single volume
considerable number of excellent sketches of men
now prominent, and some of them eminent, in the
conduct of English affairs. Perhaps it is even more
surprising that they should have appeared at first IN
daily newspaper; surprising simply because daily
newspapers edited with certain degree OF haste
"a haste to which Mr.. Gladstone. in his lofty way
in the House. the other evening attributed what ne
chose TO describe their incorporate heat-and no
not always aim at that careful finish which belongs
70 a purely literary essay.
The newspaper in question is The Daily Ne1rs' ana
these articles were there published as sketches OF
"Our Public Men" They have been collected INTO
volume entitled Political Portraits revised and
with some important additions. There are twenty
Of them in all Mr.. Gladstone and Mr. Disraei
naturally lead off. followed by Mr. Lowe and Mr..
Bright whose antagOnism in everything but party
relations is almost as distinct that of the chiefs
Of the two great parties of England. Then come
Lord Salisbury and Lord Derby, who again offer
marked example of unhkeness in the two members
of the Conservative party who rank next after its
leader: aud then another dscordant pair, MIR. Card
well and Lord Russell so that the principle of selec-
ton and arrangement seems almost malicious
Probably il was adopted in order to impress more
sharply on the reader the contrasting traits Of each
individual, just as a good CoorSt combines first the
hues Of blue and buff and presently puts by the side
of them two shades of green. But whoever has re-
marked the pattern of a carpet or any other fabric
from the hands of any of those wonderful Onentals
who beat the world in their knowledge of colors and
do things 10 European dare attempt, must have
noticed that two masses of any color are always
divided 10y a hin line of some third color which at
once separates and harmonizes them. This secret
our author has caught, and his dividing line be-
tween his pairs of subjects is not always, nor ever
merely party line hut a characteristic distinction
With few exceptions the whole book might be dis
tIibuted in this way.
The three Englshmen in whom Americans are, /
suppose most interested though for very different
reasons, are Mr.. Gladstone, Mr.. Disraeh, and Mr..
Bright. The portraits of these three are by no
means however, the best done in the book and for
an easy reason. They are men on whom fierce
light beats, as upon the Throne. and whose salient
TRAITS have long stood out in the public view, and
been seen Of all men, The obvious remarks have
often been made about them, and those not obvious
seem less lust new writer is driven to repeat
what has been said before him. If he seeks for nov
elites he runs the risk of disturbing the settled con-
victiOns or settled pTejudices of his readers, and
there is nothing against which an English reader
makes stout a resistance as any effort to dispace
az old idea by new one. In the mind of an AmeTi-
can the conceptions of their characters naturally
less clear or less complete. and if they are not ex
act there is also less inertia 10 be overcome by
placing them by another more accurate. Ipresume
therefore that these three sketches would
he estimated more highly in the United States
relatively to the other sketches than they been in
England. All wish to guard the American reader
against is the suppOsitiOn that they are the best
specimens of the peculiar and admirable manner of
this book The best are those treating of men com
paratyely unknown in the United States, except by
very attentive students of English politics and poll
ticans. Such are the portraits of Lord Halifax, of
Lord John Manners, aud of Mr.. Ayrton. In any one
of the twenty there are touches which show the
hand Of a master. Nobody would set himself to
write book Of this kind without some interest in
the subject without also power of observation
some capacity for analysis of character. 1t is no
great praise to say of the writer that he has all
which be possesses them. His interest is that of a
panstaking student of politics with great praeti
cal concern in affairs. His mind has been trained
not merely to watchful observation but to the habit
OF forming and stating judgments, which in many
cases must he rapid and in all cases must be
rate under the penalty of that ndicule which
attendstthe publication of an inaccurate in the
leading article of next mornings paper. The writer
IS in fact Mr.. Frank Hill, the editor of the journal
in which these portraits were first published.
There is, il must be confessed note of deprecia-
ton in all these judgments. Nothing like personal
luminosity is percepdble, but the author. whether
from the natural bent of his genius or from his
training as journalist, has grown skllful in dis
covering the weak points Of mems characters. All
these sketches critical, and in of them the
negative or defective side of the subject is brought
out much more clearly than the positive side. The
result is in such instances. incomplete picture of
the man, and an opinion based on what is here said
of him would do him injustice. The paper on Mr.
W. Z. Forster is an example The author, however,
explains in his preface that the sketches are not
meant for biographies that they essay in each case
no more than 10 illustrate certain leading features
Of character which may afford some clue to the
career and the associated qualities of men, knowl-
edge Of the main outlines of whose public lives may
fairly be assumed in English readers.
Nevertheless, the dstiuctness of the authors
eeption Of each character and Of its separate traits
is one of his striking merits. Mr.. Cardwell is the
Respectable Politician and the idea of responsibility
thus incanated is evolved deliberately and with end
less variety of illustration. There are plenty of
other respectable men, but Mr.. CaIdwel is the type
Responsibility itself we told, does not express
a distinct quality in a character so much as the i'm
preston made 10y a character group Of qualities
in the mind of observer; and this impression,
distinct but indefnable, Mr. Cardwell makes in a
more perfect manner than any Of his cotempora-
ries His demeanor is the very triumph of
--....l:I;t,. Thar ~ a nrirn grace and altnos+