Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-03-25
Miscellany.
DisraeIi's Trials and Triumphs

1t was not until 1852 that he was first
called to office as Chancellor of the
EIchequer. Twice afterwards he was
compelled to take the same post, with
minority at his back. At length still
greater responsibilities were pressed
upon him. In the early part of 1865
Lord Derby, under whom Mr.. Disraeli
had SO often served, found his health
rapidly declining. He retired from
Office, and Mr.. Disraeli received the
commands of the Queen to form a
Cabinet. When he went down to the
House of Commons, on the night of
March 5, 1868, everybody expected a
memorable speech. The House was
crowded. and the new Premier was vehe-
mently cheered as he passed through
Westminster Hall. In the House itself
he was received with equal warmth.
The galleries were filed with people
eager to hear the great speech. But
Mr.. Disraeli does not care to surprise
people-at least not in the way they
expect. He delivered q short and
modest address, and instantly applied
himself to the practical work of the
House-work which few Prime Minis
tiers have ever managed SO well. The
interest felt by the public in his acces-
sion to power was not unnatural. Since
Mr.. Disraeli had entered Parliament,
more than thirty years before, only five
men had succeeded in climbing before
him to the chief place in the country
Peel, Aberdeen, Russell, Palmerston,
and Derby. He had beaten his rival,
Gladstone, in the race. Many great
men had come and gone during those
thirty years, and had missed the chief
mark. Sir George Cornewall Lewis,
Sir James Graham, Arthur Butler, the
Duke of Newcastle, were men of great
influence and abilities but the un-
known member, whose faith was that
all things in this life will fall to those
who wait and persevere, achieved the
distinction which they failed to reach.
He had fought out his struggle with
grand courage which would alone render
him a man memorable in history. He
set himself to accomplish his purpose,
not in a feverish or impulsive spirit, but
with an heroic patience, an indomitable
endurance, and splendid self-reliance
which enabled him to face all anita
gonists, to rise again and again from
repeated reverses and blows, to mock
at all difficulties, and finally to vanquish
every obstacle which was thrust In his
path. He had always led solitary life.
He had no intimate friends, outside a
very small circle of men with whom he
has been acting for years. He began
as a solitary man in the wastes of Lon
don. with the chances of success incal-
culably against him. He sought no
help from outside. He paid court to
no man, and, what must be the strangest
thing of all to aspiring politicians, to
no newspaper. Social preiudices stood
in front of hin like wall of iron. Not
the least of these preiudices was that
which related to the race from which
he sprung. His family traced its des-
cent from the pure Sephardim stock
they were Hebrews of the Hebrews.
For two generations at least they had
been Christians, but still the fayorite
taunt levelled at Mr.. Disraeli was
founded on his Jewish origin. These
reproaches, as usual, he met with def
ance. So far from repudiating his race,
he has always gloried in it. He fought
its battles in the House of Commons,
and to him fell the honor of completing
the removal of Jewish disabilities. He
succeeded in gaining for Jews the right |
to sit in the House OF Commons, and he
has done more to break down the un-
Just prejudice against them than any
man of his generation. He has made
people at last understand that they do
not insult him by calling him Jew
they only pay him q compliment
Atlantic Monthly.