New-York tribune., 1912-02-19
GARTERED COMMONERS
How Queen Victoria Disappoint.
ed DiSraeIi's Life Dream.

Copyright. 1912 by the Brentwood Company)
King Georges action in bestowing the
Order of the Garter upon Sir Edward Grey
serves to recall the now almost forgotten
fact that BENJAMIN Disraeli aspired to SINH
lar distinction long before he was raised to
the peerage as Earl of Beaconsfeld Ac-
customed throughout his long life to the
atmosphere Of the House of Commons,
where all his great political victories had
been won, which had been the scene of his
triumphs. and where he had achieved his
fame, he felt, like his great adversary
Gladstone. that he would not find the
House Of Lords congenal,l and II was
the dream of his life 10 end his days in
the lower house Of the national legislature
but as Sir Benjamin Disraeli, Knight of the
Order of the Garter. 1t was an honor that
appealed TO him far more deeply than any
earldom, marquisate or even dukedom. lie
peerage would involve political oblivion and
historical obscurity. whereas the knighthood
Of the Garter bestowed upon him as
commoner would render his name re-
nowned for all time.
Queen Victoria, however, much aa she
liked Lord Beaconsfield, who toward the
latter portion of his career became a par
ticular favorite. had very exalted ideas
about the Garter. The idea that it should
be borne in conjunction with the name of
Benjamin Disraeli seemed to shock her
sense Of the fitness Of things, and she gave
him clearly to understand that II was only
after he had accepted a peerage that she
could confer upon him the honor which he
craved above all others Nor was 1t until
he became the Earl OF Beaconsfield that he
received the order in question.
1t is not quite correct to assert that Sir
Edward Grey is the only commoner since
the days OF Sir Robert Walpole (the cele-
brated Premier of George I and George I'D
to receive the Order Of the Garter. The
latter has been worn In at least two other
instances that | can remember here by
members of the House of Commons, since
his day. One Of them was Lord Palmer
ston the we'll known statesman of the VIC
torian reign, whose parliamentary career,
from 1907 until his death, in 1865, as
Prime Minister. was entirely spent in the
House of Commons, where he was enabled
to sit for English constituencies, owing to
his viscounty being an Irish one. He re-
ceived the order OF the Garter about
quarter of a century before his death, and
sometimes, returning to the House of Com
mons after dinner, took part in the debates
there with the blue ribbon of the order
crossing his breast.
Lord Castlereagh at the time when he
received the Order of the Garter for his
services as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs during the later years Of the Ma
poleonic wars, and as principal British rep
resentative at the Congress of Vienna, was
not even an Irish peer. but a commoner IN
the eyes of the law, his title Of viscount be-
ing merely one of courtesy. He only sue
ceeded 10 the peerage as second Marquis OF
Londonderry on his fathers death, In l2l'
and. since the marquisate was an Irish dig
nifty. retained his seat in the House Of Com
mons from the time when he became
Knight Of the Garter, in 1916. until his
suicide, some seven or eight years after
ward