The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-06
NEW BOOKS.
Br,ce's Brief Biographies.

Bryce's Brief Biographies.
II IL long since we have had occasion to
welcome collection OF essays 20 attractive
on the score both Of subjects and OF treat
ment as will be found In the volume entitled
Studies In Contemporary Biography"
(Macmillans), by James Bryce, we'll known
to US, not only as an eminent member OF
the British Liberal party, but az the author
Of 'The American Commonwealth" and
The Holy Roman Empire or the twenty
biographical sketches here brought to-
gether. six deal with politicians. to
wit, Gladstone. Beaoonsfeld, Cairns,
Northcote. Lowe, and Parnell; five with
mon eminent from a religious point OF view,
namely, Archbishop TAFT, Cardinal Man
ming, James Fraser. Bishop OF Manches-
ter; Dean Stanley, and William Robertson
smith. The list Of subjects includes also
three historians, E. A. Freeman, j. r. Green,
and Lord Acton, and one novelist, Anthony
Trollope. There are also interesting pa
pers on Sir George Jessel, Master OF the
Rolls, and on Edwin Lawrence Godkin, as
we'll as on two or three other Englishmen
comparatively little known on this side OF
the Atlantic.
II we were asked to single out the
essay which best exhibits the authors
singularly judicial spirit, we should point
to the paper on Lord Beaconsfeld. To
say that Mr.. Bryce does justice to the
Conservative leader would be to under
state the fact. He evinces an amount Of
appreciation and even sympathy which
is little short Of astonishing to those who
remember how Disraeli used to be regarded
by British Liberals az late as the early
'70s. Some Of us can recall that at
Oxford thirty years ago Disraeli's name
was never mentioned without a sheer,
even by Conservatives. There is not q
trace OF disdain In Mr.. Bryce's retrospective
estimate. 1t is not asserted, indeed
that Disraeli may challenge a great place
in history on the ground that things would
have been very different twenty or fifty
years after his death, IL he had never lived.
Tried by this standard, the results OF Dis
raeli's personal actions upon the course Of
events are not numerous, though some OF
them may be deemed momentous. By
comforting upon Queen Victoria the title
Empress of India he apparently slim
ulated the imperial instincts OF English
men. There is no doubt that he became
the founder Of what has in later days been
called Tory Democracy, winning over a
large section Of the humber classes to a
banner under which the majority of the
rich and the holders of vested interests
already stood arrayed. 1t is even more
certain that the Franchise act OF 1857. by
Fastening a change that induced other
changes, affected permanently the course
OF events, and it remains the chief monu-
ment Of his Parliamentary skill On the
whole, Mr., Bryce would not maintain that
Disraeli raised the tone Of English public
life. 1t is, at the same time, frankly ac-
knowledged that his was wonderful
career. An adventurer. foreign in race,
in ideas. in temper, without money or family
connections, climbs, by patient and I'M
aided efforts, to lead great party, master
n powerful aristocracy, sway vast en-
pire. and make himself one OF the four or
Ave greatest personal forces in the world.
His head is not turned by his elevation He
never becomes demagogue: he never
stoops to beguile the multitude by appeal
ing to sordid instincts He retains through
life certain amplitude Of view, a due sense
OF the dignity OF his position, due regard
for the traditions Of the ancient assembly
which he leads and. when at last the des-
TIMES OF England fall into his hands he
feels the grandeur OF the charge. and seeks
to secure what he believes to be her i'm
perial place in the world. Whatever iudg-
mont history may ultimately pass upon
him, she will find in the long annals of
the English Parliament no more striking
figure"
In the essay on Charles Stewart Parnell
the opinion is expressed that the swiftness
- l.. - -.
power which intellectual concentration and
a strenuous will can exert. for he had no
adventurous help from wealth or family
connection or from the reputation of hav-
ing suffered for his country When he
entered Parliament. he was only thirty.
with no experience Of affairs and no gift Of
speech but the quality that was in him Of
leading and ruling men, Of taking the in
itiative, OF seeing and striking at the weak
point Of the enemy and fearlessly facing
the brunt Of an enemy's attack, made itself
felt in few months and he rose without
effort to the first place. Mr.. Bryce is con-
-inced that Parnell, though he had some
intellectual limitations and some great
faults. will stand high in the long and melan-
choly series OF Irish leaders: -lees lofty
than Grattan. less romantic than Wolfe
Tone, less attractive than O'Connell, less
brilliant than any OF these three. yet en-
titled to be remembered az one of the most
remarkable characters that his country has
produced in her struggle Of many centuries
against the larger isle
We suppose that nobody now doubts
that Parnell made mistake in cinginR to
the headship Of his party when prudence
prescribed temporary withdrawal Mr..
Bryce is one Of those who believe that had