New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-04-19

of cuTls, its theatrical air ana us sUpucilcS ol
expression, ranging all the way from craft and
slyness to supcrcilousncss and mystery, bring
smiles to the face of Staid and serious world.
Lord Beaconsiicd's course is run. Yet Is 1t so
natural to look for dramatic surprises and gro
tcsquc aspects in the shifting scenes OF his
career that one does not think of that grim
spectre Death. a. creeping stcalthly into the
statcsman's chamber and softly closing his eyes
but rather as ringing down the curtain with
flourish of trumpcts and Il grim pleasantly rs
an aside to the audience.
Yet that career, taken ~ whole, has been
something of triumph as such things 20.
This man, who began rs romance writer
and was coughcd down in his maiden speech,
and who was iidculcd and dcSlscd a. an
alien adycnturcr for a whole generation, and
when his luck turned was lunpooncd IA
political charlatan and an Oriental conjurcr At
last entered London like a Grand Mogul,
while all England was sounding his praises.
This man, whose lineage was never forgotten,
80 that in li> pllInic,t days he was invariably
represented a. an I'M English Premier. filling
to the brin the cup Of Eastern entertainments
and beguiling the fancy of nation Woarrd
low the prosaic studies Of the Manchester
school ovcrcamc the prciudiccs OF race and
class. This man, whose very name, when twisted
into a lyword. was one of the stock jokes OF
modern politics, rose from ob-culity To the
front rank Of his party. and became the Soy
crcicn'. favoritc Minister. peer of the realm,
and Premier whose will was law in Cabinet
and in Commons during one of tie most cN-
citing periods Of English history. II is easy 10
ascribe his marvellous successes 10 luck or 10 au-
dacitv. but they could not have been achieved
if the son of Isaac Disracl had not been man
of phenomenal grit. The world has laughed 10
long over Lord Bcaconsield's adventures and
follies that now that lac is dead it can AFFORD To
do him this simple justice.
The fashion has been to speak disparaHnely
of Lord BcaconsGcld n an imaginative
Premier. so hc was in the sense that
he gave his fancy fall play in
affairs of State requiring Sohcrnc~- and
stcadincss of Judgment and invariably APP
pcalcd in domestic and especially in foreign
policy not to the practical instincts, but TO the
imaginations of his countymcn. BIT he WAS
none the less one of the most saeacpu> States
men of the time. A. a party-lcadcr, whether
in opposition or in majority, he bad con~un-
mate tact and unriyallcd judgment, a- was
shown by tie compact organization which hc
maintained during the Ciimcan War and the
personal aSccndancy which gave him absolute
control over the Commons for -iN years. Patty
manag cmcat requires practical talents Of high
order, and he hal them. He WIS clcar-~ishtcd
when the Judgment of his associates and
rivals was NJ fault. He forc-dw that
the results Of the Reform bill of
1867. and of freehold suffrage ia the counties,
would not be Immediately favorable 10 the
Liberals, and the elections of 1911 proved
that he was right During the earlier stages
Of the American Civil Wan, when Mr.. Clad
stone went astray, Mr. DisIaci predicted that
the North would inevitably tIinmph. Finally,
the fact must not be overlooked that, while
his last appeal to the country brought disl-tcr
upon his party it was not made Immediately
after his return from Berlin, when hc was
anxious to order general election. If his
Judgment had not been questioned by the
whips and his more cautious a,~ociatcs. hc
might have been in power when he died, and
thus have carried the prestige Of success to
the grave.
What was lacking in Lord Bcaconsfcld was
sincerity. He had no absorbing cOnyicti0ns-
no immutablc principles in politics or morals.
Ridicuing him ut tho outset, Euglishmen came
to tolerate him as an unfaling source of poti-
cal humor ana finally to admire him for the
versatility of his talents and the boldncss of
his conceptions. But they never believed in
him. Even his closest followers distrustcd
him. so that among the Lords or in the Com
mons be seemed to stand apart from
friend and foe-a mysterious figure. This
lack of popular confidence wis as con-
spicuous during his days of triumph
after he had won his highest distinction, ~ it
was when lac was vibrating between Radical
ism and Conservatism, breaking faith with Sir
Robert Peel or dishing" the Wings on free
hold suffrage He had assumed that the Ma
ton was weary of political economy and
insular aims that it had planted colonies in
all quarters of tie world and was anxious TO
make its influence ard weight felt in the
European capitals and that Government
which made Mt least " u show of fighting
would command respect at home and abroad.
He may not have been 40 far out Of the way
in interpreting the tendencies of popular
thought. But when he had carried out his
IGlicy, when he bad given the Queen her new
tile, purchased the Sucz shares aided the
Turks in Cabinet and Congress, mcnaccd Rus
sia, acquired Cyprus, invaded Afghanistan, an
ncxed the Transvaal and conquered Zulnland,
the country was not surprised to find out that
the advantages in Egypt had been FILTERED
away, that India was 10 safer than it had been
before, that the campaigns had been both I'M
profitable and unnecessary, and that no useful
purpose had been served by so many years of
menace, racket and bloOdshed. They we're not