The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-04-27

irical works, died Wednesday night on the
Goth Of gout, from which he had been suf-
ferer for several weeks. Disraeli has played
a wonderful and peculiar part in the polit
lcal drama Of his day, and one is at o loss to
gauge him properly. The brilliancy of his
literary productions followed him into the
political field. and the sarcasm Of his STYLE
became part Of his policy. A man who was
in character mountebank, by the efforts of
art and the nature Of his circumstances be-
came the representative Of that portion of
| England's society which is farthest removed
from charlatanry. This representation was
| one of the peculiarities of the man, in whom
| the art of pleasing was more than second
nature-it was his very nature-and he would
| talk with the Vigor of truth to deputation
Of tenants about the early probability of the
| depopulation Of the United States, from lack
OF fertile soil to support populations, and
with the elegance of q French courtier Of the
old school pour honied words into the ear of
his queen. and gain her consent to crown her
Empress Of India His literary works are
full of startling misconceptions of the age he
lived in, and his judgment seemed one
more of futurity than of the present. He
could discern changes in his imagination
which he could not realize when they actu-
| ally occurred, and was q man who could
never perceive the means by which results
were achieved. There is something SO very
unlike the English in him that we cannot
conceive how such q matter-of-fact and cul-
tured body as the British Conservatives
should set him up as their fgure-head
and standard-bearer. AS an author, he is
sarcastic, pungent, witty and fluent, but his
| pictures of life are strained and unnatural,
yet his characters say 50 much and say it SO
we'll that his capacity as an author cannot
be assailed only on grounds of incongruity,
and that, so long as it is understood, does not
initiate his vlgor.
But it is principally as the leader OF the
| Tories during their recent predominence that
| he is best known to the world, although from
| the time he wrote Vivian Grey until
| Lothian was penned, his literary celebrity
| has been as wide as the English tongue, and
| by no means unknown among the reading
classes of the continent of Europe. During
that period of predominence he was the leader
of the party and premier of the government.
| His career here was gorious-failure. We
all remember when he made the after dinner
speech on the The Turkish -Servian question
and threw down gauntlet to Russia that
was taken up Immediately by the Gear, and
Beaconsfeld compelled to make an inglo-
rious apology-for nothing but an apology
could his protestations of having misunder-
stood him be called. We all remember his
attitude of belligerency, and how he refused
the settlement of the eastern Question" Of
fered in the Berlin Memorandum, and how
he afterward sent Salisbury to the Constan-
tinople Conference on that very basis, and
how the overtures were refused, almost with
contempt, by Igantieff We remember how
he pushed the unspeakable Turk into war,
and then left him to fight alone the colossal
adversary. We remember how he met with
the Congress at Berlin, and placed himself
in the attitude of pacifcator and arbitrator
and then with sublime Clique went home
waving the banner that had been won by
Bismarck. How he fought in the Congress
for the line of the Pruth, for the line of the
Danube, for the line Of the Balkans, and
against the pretensions Of Russia, Roumania,
Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, and Greece, and
how he lost them all. How he threatened to
lombard, when his fleet could not pass the
Russian cannon lining the Dardaaelles, and
how he did-nothlng. How he was pacifed
with Cyprus, as child with toy, and with
what celebrations, and reioicings and parades
he covered his defeat in the eyes Of the Eng
lish people with the glamor of victory
gained and unearned. His success was in
his perfect adaptation to the humors Of his
time, and the love of his countrymen-we
mean English-for appearances. He was
constantly attitudinizing and posturing for
theatrical efforts, and OF charlatanry he was
the best master since the great Napoleon,
without any of his ability in an executive ca
pacity. AS leader he was successful from
the hopes he raised in what he would do, and
not in confidence established from actions al
ready accomplished. His premiership was
series of disastrous blunders, made to re- |
cover a prestige lost when Germany arose
from the ruins of the German aristoc-
racies His love for theatrical effects was