The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-10-10
ENGLAND AND BEACONSFIELD.

| ~~A-NNy ~ 49,
that threatens to be total. Less thar
two years ago its popularity was un
bounded. 1t was period of ovations tt
| the Prime Minister who had giver
England "peace without war and with
out dishonor," at a time when Europe
was bristling with bayonets.
The then impending conflict with Rus
sia had been warded off. Constantinople
had been rescued from capture. Cyprus
had been gained to the British flag. The
troublesome war in Afghanistan was
declared ended by triumph to British
arms and an embassy established at
Cabul. The African war in Zuklland
was considered as closed. Egypt was
held as by leash in British hands. The
prestige of England's name was re-estab.
lished in European Courts. The whole
horizon, previously so lowering, seemed
cleared up; and Beaconsfeld, on return
ing from the Congress of Berlin, was
received with plaudits universal and sin
cere.
But now again clouds are gathering
about England's welfare. The Afghan
war has burst out afresh. The British
Embassy at "Cabul has been mercilessly
slaughtered. Numerous tribes in the
region of the Koosh are combining with
the revolted Afghans against the British
invading army. That army reduced by
sickness and disaster, is placed in great
jeopardy. Russia is glowering over the
northern boundary of British India, and
her Generals are asking how far it is to
Delhi and the valley of Cashmere.
The African war has been prolonged,
and its end is not yet. The Zulu King
has been captured, but peace is not Sc
cured. Cyprus has proved so unhealthy
that the British troops have been nearly
all removed. Turkey has turned cold
and contumacious towards England, and
the promised reforms are neglected. The
Turkish provinces on the Danube are
disaffected, and becoming more Russian
than British. The treaty of Berlin, for
which Beaconsfeld was so glorifed by
all England, is already becoming obso-
lete.
At home the Ministry sees an unparal-
leled prostration of business and all in
dustrial pursuits, famine stricken labor
ers in all the manufacturing marts, Sc
rious elimination in the public revenue,
summer without harvest, and millions
of gold going abroad to buy bread Be-
sides all this, insurrecton is pending in
Ireland, where the people in mass are de-
manding the privilege of living upon the
land that they cultivate.
The concurrence of these events is Gre
ating doubts in the minds of the British
public whether the Beaconsfeld manage
ment was not rather an adroit example of
than the exercise of sound
political wisdom and far-seeing sagacity.
The people see that all that so glorified
Beaconstield is vanishing away as a phan-
tasmagoria. They begin to surmise that
his apparent success was unreal, like the
tricks of juggler whose dexterity has
deceived them, though they can not tell
how.
To those who have watched Disraeli's
career, eliminating in becoming Lord
Beaconsfeld and Prime Minister of Eng
land, it must seem that his craftsmanship
partakes of the unique and fantastic.
Like his own "Tancred," he is adroit, ex-
pert, full of resource, perplexing and
enigmatical to others, secret in his
schemes, labyrinthine in his plans, with
talents brilliantly gliding the public
Imagination without Illuminating the pub
lie mind.
AS Lord Beaconsfeld he is just what as
Disraeli he was-a politician in his nov-
els, and novelist in his politics; resort
ing to "indirection to find direction out"
delighting in bringing about romantic
situations and dramatic surprises; and
all as means Of exalting his own repu
tation for governing sagacity and minis
terial skill. Straightforwardness to any
end he knows nothing about. To open
heartedness of declaration as to purpose
he is a stranger. His mind, like his
race, is essentially Oriental. Though
reared an Englishman, he remains Ash
attic.
He is endowed with great ability; but
it is Oriental ability, savoring more of
cunning than of wisdom, looking more to
promote present personal eclat than fu-
ture national greatness. Such a mind is
exactly fitted to bring out the particular
results that at the beginning of his ad-
gave such halo to himself
and to his country the flush of grandeur.
But both are dispersed. The ending of
the romance has escaped his control.
The novel that he acted he could not con-
clude at his will. Here he encountered
actualities that, as a novelist, he could