HENRY WARD BEECHER ON GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 162, 9 July 1881, Page 4

HENRY WARD BEECHER ON GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI.

DuriDg a racent discourse in Plymouth Church, Mr Beecher had occasion to illustrate a portion of hia argument, by reference to tbe career of illue!riouß men. He especially drew attention to tbe late Lord Beaeonefield and the present Minister- of England pointing a lesson out which was much to the disadvantage of the dead statesman. "No generous heart," he said, " loves to speak of faultaj but, when I ; look at the moving ideas of Beaconsfield's life— the line of his literature, the line of his statesmanship, the line of his inspiration — I ask myself : j What new truth has he discovered? "What oid truth has been left burning brighter than ifc wae? What more heroic ideal has he attained in human life? What advance in human society? What single good quality has be made more resplendent, noble, and desirable of tbe whole human race? He is one of those names that like a pyrotechenie display, stand out- brilliantly for the admiration of tbe crowd. When the wheel ceases to revolve ifc goes out — it is forgotten His life iB ended, his power ended and he leaves nothing behind him bufc the name— the name ! But when he who stands bigh to day in the administration of the Empire of Great Britain shall die, he will have left many a wrok behind him in the line of scholarship and elegant literature, and he will have left an example of a christian statesman seeking the best things by the highest and purest ways ; and it God spares his life, and he will have scattered, I think, from his country those great clouds which threaten so much and betoken the rise of a better day — of a purer nationality and a nobler morality. God bless our motherland 1 I bave affection for her glory, and I both honour and revere that nobler man, who, as a Christian statesman, stands proudly pre-eminent in tbe councils ofthe world, for I know of no other. Not him of Germany ! And.in my own land where is the man ? Of politicians we have enough ; bufc where is the man thafc embodies in himself the royal idea of divine love ; the learning, wisdom, and skill in affairs ? There is room for such a man, and may God send him speedily."