The New York herald., 1874-12-11
Disraelf.

Disraelf.
A despatch published in yesterdays HERALD
should not escape attention. Mr.. Disraeli,
the English Prime Minister, is reported as
having retired into an inland English village,
refusing to see deputation and remarking
''that his absence from London would proba-
bly, be protracted." The recent English pa
pers announce that he had been confined to
his room with an attack of the gout. The
London correspondent of provincial paper
pictures the Premier as ''sitting before q fire
with his limbs wrapped in flannel" We
know his long planned visit to Ireland was
postponed because Of his illness. All these
circumstances 60 to confirm the impression
that the Premier is ILL., 1t is therefore
not surprising to learn, as we do from recent
dispatches, that meeting of Conservatives
has been held to determine upon whom the
leadership of the party should fall in the
event Of his retirement or death.
Disraei is an old man, if we may call
seventy years the beginning Of old age. He
is now approaching his SEVENTEEN year, and
for fifty years he has been very busy man
nearly fifty years have elapsed since he wrote
his rhapsody of "Vivian Grey" 1t is nearly
forty years since he came into public life. He
has had remarkable career. His race, his
education, his associations, his character, all
against him, he has had to fight his way step
by step until he, the descendant of foreign
refugee and an alien faith, became the leader
of the proud tory party of England, and the
head of the Cabinet in which sat as his ser
wants the Earl Of Derby, the Marquis of Sails
bury, the Duke of Richmond, and others, repre-
senting the proudest names and bluest blood of
Great Britain. A career like this would natu-
rally make the strongest man grow old before
his time; and there have been many indica-
tions that Mr. Disraeli is failing. His blunder
at the Guildhall dinner, and his public apol-
ogy in the columns of the Times few days
after, were the greatest errors that an English
statesman could commit. They could only be
attributed to a weakening mind Mr.. Dis
raeli is the last statesman who would sue for
mercy at the feet Of Bismarck; the astonishing
effect of this humiliation in the British mind,
the general condemnation that has fallen upon
him for his course, the certainty that it will
be matter of reproach in the next Parlia-
ment, and the brilliant stroke of Gladstone in
summoning to his banner the Protestant
party, whose alienation led to his defeat, may
all contribute to that illness of mind which so
often accompanies the ailing body.
Mr.. Disraeli's retirement from public life
would be the close of a brilliant and ex-
traordinary career. There has been no such
career in England since the time of Canning.
In many respects he resembles Canning-in
his lowly fortunes, the struggles of his life,
his facility in rhetoric, his felicity of leader
ship. Canning grasped the Premiership and
died after brief tenure of Office. He was
surrounded by the same elements xof dissatis-
faction that surround Disraeli Wellington
opposed him; the King accepted him with
reluctance; his cabinet never forgot that he
was in, many respects an adventurer. If he
had not died it is q question whether he
would have succeeded in the founding
of policy or party. But Can
ming left behind him sentiment
which his early death developed into party,
and this, we fear, Disraeli will not leave. He
is an evidence of what patience, courage and
skill will do in any calling. He is the toler-
ated, if not the recognized leader of the tories.
The true leader would be Lord Salisbury,
who is Intellectually the strongest man in the
Cabinet who has already mutinied under the
leadership Of Disraeli, who, only few
months since, was publicly rebuked for this
mutiny, and who gives his chief sullen and
scornful service, more in the interests of his
party than its Premier. Lord Derby is q
cold man, who owes his position largely to his
wealth, ancestry and family alliances. If Mr..
Disraei passes away the leadership will no
doubt devolve upon Lord Derby or Lord
Salisbury. We cannot think that either of
these noblemen has the quality necessary to
found party that will be at all in sympathy
with the progressive sentiment of modern
England.
THE SINKING FUND SECURITIES. SIT is sim
gular that Comptroller Green should exhibit
SO much anxiety to have the sinking fund Sc
curities examined by some parties other than
the authorities on whom the charter devolves
that important duty. At the meeting Of the
Sinking Fund Commission yesterday, on
motion Of the Comptroller, Mayor Vance and
Chamberlain Lane were appointed commit
tee for that purpose. This is entirely un-
necessary since the charter requires that the