The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-22

could possibly be thought Of ~ q leader
For a short time only was Lord Georg'
Bentinck q nominal exception As TO
B~entinck. his whole life had been devoted h
the turf, and. although he had considerable
natural abilities, they were not Of a kind h
qualify him for political leadership. Hi
high birth, his perfect honesty n the evi
don't sincerity Of his opinions did, never
theless, raise him 10 such o position for q
moment; but over this obstacle wa
speedily removed out Of tho way Of Dizzy
In the prime Of life, with q person the hand
soonest In the House Of Commons and or
appearance Of manly strength which In
iteeK was attractive, lord George Bentincl
fell dasd on O lonely footpeth that led across
one Of his ancestral felda.s The Duke goes
on 10 show that, by this strange event
Disraeli, so far as the House Of Commons
was concerned, was left absolutely alone
QIord Stanley having gone 10 the upper
House a. Lord Derby); the only piece upon
tho board on that side Of politics that wa
above the level Of o pawn. Tho deduction
drawn in this autobiography 10 that what
| Is true Of Disraeli 10 not that he conquered
his own position and. made his o~wn'oppor-
SuuhtHCp put ttaS Ic hi8a DoAAh bp~O 49,
which enabled him to take advantage Of
several purely accidental openings, alto
gether unprecedented In their width and
facility Of passage. He was like . subaltern
In o crest battle, where every single superior
officer was killed or wounded
The Duke Of Argyll goes on TO maintain
that no less wide Of tho mark IL tho popular
impression respecting some supposed dis
abilities over which Disraei II said 10 have
triumphed only by supreme ability. Il IN
true, Of course, that In The ordinary social
sense In which the words are used by Eng
lish aristocrats he was o man Of no birth,
He was q foreigner and q Jew. According
to our author, however-and he certainly
speels as an expert. II social status be o
qualihcation-"the circumstances were no
impediments whatever In his way. Tho
British ~aristocracy was called q proud
ono by Lord John Russell In 1876, but what
ever faults 1t may have, It has never had
any vulgar prejudice against new msn.'
Out Of such mon IL has been itself built
up by the continuous incorporation and
welcome of them for TOO years. The
Duke proceeds to deny as roundly that
there now exists In England any Of that
disgraoeful antipathy TO jews which still
prevails on the Continent Of Europe. BE-
sides all this, Disraeli was the son Of q man
highly distinguished in literature, who
long had beer naturalized In England and
was an accepted quest In the best society.
Young Dizzy himself, although in dress
and me Q fantastic fop, had long
before made his mark In the literature Of
fiction. His novels, full Of absurdities and
paradox as they were, had 30 arrested
attention that Dean Milman spoke Of one Of
them as being 70 clever as Byfon's poem
Of Don Juan We are also reminded Of
Q fact, often forgotten, that in n Of his
early, but abortivo, attempts to win q seat
In Parliament Disraeh had actually en-
joyed the support Of such splendid patrons
as Wellington and Lyndhurst Nor can
It DO denied that In London society be was
received everywhere with distinction,
though It may have been largely mined
with curiosity and amusement
In view Of all these circumstances the
DUKE ~pronounoes II really nonsense TO
talk Of Disraei a. q moro Jew boy who
by the force Of nothing but extraordinary
genius attained the leadership OF q great
party. Tho only impediments In his way
were moi any want of external advan-
tages. but his OWE often groteeque and
uninteIligibb opinions. Even these, how
ever, served all the&nore to arouse curiosity
and arrest attention. What. then, II the
final judgment hero ~expressedf It Is this.
that no power Possessed by Disraeli would
ever have secured for him the place he
came K OCCUPY II the normal division Of
parties had continued and II the Con-
servattves had no boon suddenly deprived
Of all their leaders In the House OF Commons.
IF such men a. constituted Peel's STAFF, II
Sir james Graham and Sidney Herbert
and Gladstone and Daihousie had con-
tinued to be chiefs in that party; they never
could have been pushed aside or super
seeded by such qualities as Disraeli had
But whom q clean sweep vas made OF all
the official leaders and Of other promising
persons from the Conservative ranks an
vacuu was created into which
Dizsy wa just the mar to step. On the one |
side. he had been for nine years a member |
Of the House Of Commons; he had been q |
speaker; he was an old parlia-
mentary hand. On the other side; he had
no opinions Of his own. he had no ira
ditions with which to break. He wa free
10 play with p~rejudioes in which he did
uOt kihi oNu w OARiOoo PaoclOLB WHICH, l
were not his own, except in so far as they
tinged with personal resentment.
he was an adept In the art Of i~nventing
skilful phrases, and these, carefully pre-
pared and backed with the venom Of the
protectionists. were the very
weapons needed to concentrate on the
great fallen Minister the vindictive ami
Of an angry and defeated party
Lest this severe ~arraignment should be
not to reflect his ripper judgment,
he author, who penned the words Just
moro than fifteen years after Dis
-aeli's death, Is careful to say: 'Iwrite now
Is / saw and felt then; later reflection has
rot altered my opinion
v.
It was by his fathers death In April, |
Is47, that the Marquis OF Lorne succeeded
the dukedom and estates Of Argyll.
II the opening Of the session Of lsxs he
vent up to town and took his scat In the
House Of Lords a. Baron Sundridge, the
barony above referred to, which
been conferred on his grandfather.
This, We repeat, was the formal title by
for thirty years in the House OF
lords he was called upon 10 speak. Where