Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-04-23
DEArH OF BENJAMIN DEsRAELR
ex-PREmEER OF ENGLAND D.
When Il great man dies his DIV

UEArH Of BENJAMIN DASRAELA
Ex-PREMEER OF ENGLAND.
When a great mar dies his own
nation, If not the world, mourns,
and people generally desire to know
somethingof MS history and the de-
tails of his life and death. BENJAMIN
Disraeli, the Earl Of Beaconsfield.
died in London last Tuesday, the
18th inst, at 5 O'Clock Il. M. Tia his
death England lost her most noted
and conspicuous nun, and one who
has been very prominently connect
ed with her political history for
over forty years. He was born
at Enfield, near London, on
December p, 1904, of Israel Disraeli
and wife, nee Basevi. His father
was a man of distinguished literary
abilities, being the author of ''Curi-
ositie5 of Literature" and other
works. His parents were Jews,
and at n time members of the
Jewish Church, but while he was
yet a child, his parents withdrew
from that faith, and young Disraeli
was bsptised into the church of
England. Very little is known
in this country of his early educa-
ton, it not being reported that he
was the graduate of any college, but
his brilliant career and undoubted
learning would indicate that he
must have received a pretty thor
Ough education and early training.
When still in his teens he was ap.
prenticed to an attorney, but soon
fOrsOok the law for the lighter and
more facinating calling of literature,
and produced his first, and as the
critics say, greatest novel at the age
of twenty-five. His literatry efforts
from this on met with brilliant sue
cess in England, and in other coun-
tries, having been translated into
many different languages. A few
years after the production of his
first work, he travelled extensively
on the continent, and while there
wrote other books. Upon his re-
turn To England, he began to take
an interest in politics, and present
ed himself three or four times to
different boroughs for parliament,
each time to meet with defeat. In
1897 however, at the beginning of
VictOria's reign, he was returned to
parliament for the borough of Maid
stone, being now in his thirty-third
year. The indomitable will and
courage which so distinguished him
i'm after life were thus wildly fore
Swallowed in his early political con-
tests. A man of lesser nerve and
spirit would have become disheart-
ened and quit the political arena.
1t is said that his first experience in
parliament, Is d debater, was no
less encouraging than his first pOlit-
zeal aspirations, but he never for
once faltered. He was made of
that stuff which seems to have an
intuitive piescience of success. 1t
was in this parliament that, when
ridiculed and Kissed in his first
speech, he exclaimed 81 am not
surprised at the reception l have re-
ceived. Ihave begun several times
many things, and 1 havesucceededa at
last. / shall sit down now, but the
time will come when you will hear
me-" What a brave prophecy, and
how completely was it's fruitiOn en-
joyed He had an abiding faith in his
oWna bility. On one occasion when
asked by his opponent upon what
he STOOD" he replied, ''upon my
head" From the time he first en-
tered politics, he ceased to
mingle in them until the last few
years, and was alternately in and
out Of power. He was the acknowl-
edged leader of the Tory party in
the lower house, and conducted all
their campaigns with marked abil-
ity. In the NEAR time he did not
neglect his literary persuits, having
brought out novel, after novel, the
last two of which, LOthair and En-
dymion, are familiar to every reader
of the present day. His novels are
of a semi-poIitical nature, and pur-
haps are not as universally read as
they otherwise would be, on that
account. While there is much to
admire in his writings, often
Astounding as they do in epigrams
and brilliant wit and humOr, still
on the whole they are not what will
please the habitual novel readers.
He seems to have written more to
please Disraeli himself, and to dis
cant upon the virtues, fOibies and
manners of his Own contemporaries
than with any desire to be consid-
cred a great novelist. He was a man
of singularly marked versatility of
talents, his brilliant genius having
displayed itself both in literature
and politics and in their broadest
and highest sense.
He was truly a great man, and
take him, all in all, we doubt if En-
gland holds his equal. His death
will bring forth a new interest in
his life and a freshstudy of his liter
airy productions. We believe he
will be remembered longer for his
political career, than as a %literatuer.
\ BILL for the settlement of the
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