The times., 1898-12-11
GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI.

lf'rom the New York Evening Post
Still more light. and apparently the final
| needed gleam, has been cast upon the
story Of Browning, Disraeli and Glad
stone. George Russell first told 1t
vaguely: then he was corrected and ex-
panded by Mr.. Lionel Tollemache, who
went on the authority of an Informant"
and now comes Canon MacCon to speak
as an eyewitness. His version has an an
tecedent probability in making out Brown
ing to be the rather obtuse and intolerant
man instead of Gladstone. The Canon
publishes his account of the matter in the
Observer:
| At one of Mr.. Gladstone's breakfast par
ties in Harley Street in 1878 1 CHANGED to
be one of the guests 1 sat between
Browning and White. and right opposite
to me was Mr.. Gladstone. Someone hap
pening to refer to the then music hall
song. 1--WE Don't Want to Fight" etc,
| Browning exclaimed, I'm dead sick of
| that doggerel. Besides, / have composed
a much better version of my own" Asked
what 1t was, he recited three verses. of
| which only the first has stuck to my MEM
ory Here 1t is:
II don't want to fight;
But, by Jingo, il do,
The man whose head I'd ike to punch
Is Beaeonsfeld, the jew"
Having finished his verses, he declared
| emphatically that he regarded Lord Bea-
consfield as "the greatest liar living" and
| then proceeded to tell the following story
, by way of illustration.
1.-TWO years ago. said Browning. AZ
was at the Academy dinner. Mr.. Disraen
made the speech of the evening, and his
theme was the extraordinary display of
the imaginative faculty in the pictures of
ttrat Ia.a., to-
and said, How do you, Mr.. Browning?
was taken aback, for we had never been
introduced, and / had never spoken TO
him So / replied: Very well, thank you,
Mr.. Disraeli; but think you mistake me
for somebody else oh, no, said he; 1T
Is impossible to mistake Mr.. Browning.
| What do you think of the pictures of this
years exhibition / was so taken aback
| by his addressing me at all that, Ike
! fool. instead of giving my opinion. 1
/ asked. What do you think of them, Mr.
Disraeli?' forgetting that it was only half
| an hour before that l heard him give his
opinion in his speech. Stroking his chin,
he replied, Well, Mr.. Browning, if 1 had
to make any special criticism ii would be
to say how woefully lacking the pictures
of this year are in the imaginative facul-
| ty.' I stood dumb and rooted to the spot.
1t was only half an hour before that I
heard this man say that what particular
| ly struck him in the pictures was the ex-
| traordnary display of the imaginative
| faculty. 1 repeat''-with tremendous en-
| ergy-"he is the greatest liar living
! Mr. Gladstone laughed. l b<lieVe quite
at much at Brownings vehement indig-
| nation as at the story and tn n
offered the following vindication of Lord
| Beaconsfield:
| ~ think you take Lord Beaconsfield
| too seriously. Mr.. Browning. l have often
known him to make false statements.
| but false statements are not necessarily
! lies. To begin with. you must remem-
| Der that Lord Beaconsfield is. in tie
| whole cast of his mind as well as by
descent. an Oriental, and exhib IS in his
own person an extraordinary display Of
| the imaginative faculty. i sometimes de-
| bate with myself whether he ever lad in
his mind a clear line of demarcaton be-
I tween truth and falsehcod, but il he had
l am sure that for years past his mind
| has been in state of baptlsmal inno-
| cence with regard 10 the difference. Men
tell lies to serve a purpose, but l have
known Lord Beaconsfield TO make false
| statements which could be of no manner
of use to him. but rather the c7ntra- y"
| Canon MacColl goes on to say that Mr..
| Gladstone had marked tendency to de-
! fend his political opponents when they
| seemed to him to be unfairly attacked.
! He adds:
Il once wrote an anonymous apprecia-
| ton of Lord Beaconsfeld which interest,"
| ed Mr.. Gladstone. He asked ME If knew
| who wrote it. When | told him, he said:
| I think you are quite fair TO him except
| on one point. You think him a man of
| political animosities.' / assented. L be-
| lieve you are quite wrong he said. I
| have sat opposite him for a good many
years, and my belief is that he has no
\ political animosities. No doubt he would
have scrupled at few things in order to
| trample upon me while stood in his way
as leader of the liberal party. But now
| that l am no longer leader I don't be-
| lieve that Lord Beaconsfield feels the
| slightest animosity toward me. And
| there are three things for which 1 shall
| always admire him-his devotion to his
| wife, his defense of his race and his
| splendid Parliamentary pluck.