The Washington herald., 1910-11-18
DISRAELPS LIFE
FULL OF ROMANCE

stage and an expectaHt audience. IL has
been a matter for speculation these thirty
years when the veil would be Withdrawn
which so persistently has piqued and
/ baffied the curiosity not only Of Eng
| lishmen, but of many among other ma
tons. regarding one OF the most notable
personaees in modern history Before me
/ IS the first volume of five to be pub
/ lished. setting forth the entire career Of
/ Disraeh II covers. to my mind, the
most romantic and the most controversial
period Of his life
IL would appear that in those early
years. eliminating In 1897. Disraeli's
genius and temperament show their most
/ inercurial aspects. We see him as stu
dent. as exquisite" politician, wit. and
novelist in almost beWlldering alterna-
Ton, always challenging and sef-asser-
/ tive, always paradOxical and even irregu-
lar always implacable in his quality. yet
i never more than half satisfying in his
/ performance. To separate in this daz-
zling but embryonic personality the ores
/ OF sincerity from allo-s Of irony and
selt-consciousness, 10 trace effective de-
velopment as distinct from enerveseency,
these are problems for a synthetic UNDER
standing.
A publicist in his own day disposed Of
the riddle presented Dy Dsraeh by tho
sharp answer that he was a political
adyentuTer with the audacity Of the
| hOcus-pOcus and the principles of a
quack doctor But il must not be for
gotten that the opposition shows little
mercy in judging even the purest Of poll
ticians or statesmen, and even the bald
est radical Of to-day scarcely will care
10 saddle democracy with the charge OF
Having committed its trust TO a perfectly
immoral practitioner of self-interest and
lmystihcauon.
Let Is be said right here that English
men never quite understood this ORR
entail who ruled them any more than they
understand the Oriental communities
which they rule. Every one who knew
lyOung Disraeli realized that IN some way
he was extraordinary. and with his bent
ION introspection he could not but know
lit himself He had too much genius and
too much Of the craving for self-expres-
sion 10 harmonic with any sphere upon
(which he conld not place the stamp and
enjoy the reflection OF his personality.
| What We feel most preponderantly
about Dlsraeli is that he was overwhelm-
ingly young. The eagerness OF his enter
lprises. the assurances OF his powers. the
capacity for enjoyment, the delight in
public appreciation. all suggest a spirit
Of juvenescence. free from the inhibitions
OF the ordinary English temperament. 1t
is quite apparent in his writings now and
then. For instance: The dandy who
exulted in his power OF astonishing and
paradeh Valetta in a rainbow costume
followed by one-half OF the population OF
the place. and, as he said. putting com
lplete stop to all business
find this annexation in the diary OF
one OF his intimate friends:
'B. D. TO dine with me. He came VI
! Regent street when il was crowded in
his blue surtout. a pair OF military light
blue trousers. black socks with rec
stripes. and such shoes. The people
he told me. quite made way for me as
passed 1t was like the opening of tbs
Red Sea, which now l perfectly believe
from experience, Even well-dressed PEG
pie stopped 10 lock al mer (Of course
they did,
II was only the sublimity OF b0yhood
that found relish in such triumphs. jus;
I
that attempted cat twenty 10 organize
John Murray. Loekhart, and Sir Walter
Scott into a newspaper syndicate that
slashed O'Connel with a rhetorical whiI
and that flew at fiction, poetry, politics
finance-in short, at any game that was
high and big and promised triumph anC
reclamation.
Il Was only to one who possessed re
serve along with the impetus Of you'll
that success was possible under the han
/ dicap Of youthful error. One of the frs
spells 10 which the future politician paiC
tribute was that OF the stock exchange
and~its penalties were tragicaL DisTaeii
at the age OF twenty, incurred a debt o
several thousand pounds. which was no
liquidated finally until some thirty year
later when already he had led the HOua'
Of Commons and had been chancellor o
the exchequer. 1t must have made
grim appeal to his sense of irony whei
hostile voters at Maidstone saluted hin
with cries of 'Shylock
During a great part of his life, and il
these years especially. Disraeli was il
the grip OF money lenders, never escap
ing from an atmosphere of bills, WTits
annuities. renewals, discountings. assign
ments of pay and all OF the other proc
esses which are the implements and ap
purtenances of usuTy. Amid the worrie
and veXati0ns OF such a life most mel
would have found serious work or evel
serious enjoyment utterly impossible bu
. Disraeh cOntrived TO pursue his pleas
: ures, his laboTs, and his ambitions witt
a surprising serenity. This is shown by
note which in 1893 he sent 10 his frien,
Austen: las from fear of the Philistine
. I cannot come and dine viii you, yol
must come and dine with me-
In those critical years, when his pOlit
ical hopes We're just barely approaching
frUitiOn, the anxiety never was absen
lest the roseate vision should be Oblit
Grated by the ineffaceable scandal Of al
arrest for debt he observes IN lette
in, 1895: "Our county Conservative dinner
which viii be the most important assem-
bly, of the kind yet held, takes place Fri
; day. I have been requested TO move tn
principal toast, The House of Lords.
/, trust there is no danger of my beins
nabbed. as il would be a fatal contre
temps, inasmuch as in all probability
am addressing my future constituents.
We can only marvel AT the resilienc
of a temperament which, though devour
ed by such care, yet could scintillate il
the exhibition of social gifts. of literar.
powers. and of political exertions, rap
turous abandon, and a Marlowesque in
p vocation OF the heights Of destiny. Nor
than that, he always could eontemplat
with irony the fervid spirit that carrie
him along: Il advise you to fake car
Of my letters. for. If I become half a
famous as I intend to be. you may SCI
5 then for ten guineas apiece" is not Z
? be taken as the hippancy of an uncon
scious egotist. He was really able Z
satirize such self-conhdence. At twenty
nine his diary says:
..,rhe rnrId calls me cnnceited Til