DEATH OF LORD BEACONSFIELD.

Patea Mail, 21 April 1881, Page 3

DEATH OF LORD BEACONSFIELD.

Special by Cable. London, 19 th. Earl Beaconsfield suffered a severe relapse during the night and died. A bulletin published this morning states that after a severe relapse which his lordship suffered during the night, he sank rapidly and breathed his last at half-past four this morning. He passed away without much pain, and as peacefully as if sleeping. The news of Earl Beaconsfield’s death has been received with universal sorrow and regret throughout the country. The following sketch of his career is taken from “ Men of the Time”;— Benjamin Disraeli was the eldest son of the late Isaac DTsracli, Esq., of Bradenham, Bucks, the celebrated author of the “ Curiosities of Literature,” was bom in London, Dec. 21, 1801, and became an author while yet a minor. In 1825 he took the novel-reading public by surprise with “ Vivian Grey,” followed at intervals by “ The Young Duke,” “ Henrietta Temple,” “ Conlarini Fleming,” “ Alroy,” and other brilliant works of imagination. After extensive travels in the East, he returned to England in 1831, and contested the borough of Wycombe, being defeated by a small majority. In 1837 bo was elected to the Plouso of Commons for Maidstone, which constituency he exchanged in 1841 for Shrewsbury. In 1847 ho was returned for the County of Buckingham, in which hia estate of Hugbenden Manor was situated, and which he has continued to represent to the present time He adhered to Sir XL Peel’s party, until that minister became a convert to the doctrines of free trade, and from that date allied himself closely with the Conservative party, of which he became the acknowledged leader in the House of Commons after the death of Lord George Bentinck. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Derby’s three administrations, and on the resignation of that nobleman in Feb. 1868, was appointed by the Queen Prime Minister of England, which office he resigned at the end of the year. On the Liberal Government being defeated on the Irish University Bill, by a majority of 3 (March 12, 1873), Mr Gladstone tendered his resignation to Her Majesty ; and the Queen, having accepted it, sent for Mr Disraeli, who, however, declined to take office in the circumstances. Mr Gladstone accordingly reconstructed his cabinet, and remained in office till the commencement of the following year, when most unexpectedly, after the Parliament had been summoned to meet for the despatch of business, he rashly resolved on an appeal to the nation. The returns of the general election—the first which occurred under tiie system of ballot—was completed on Feb. 27, 1874, and showed a total of 351 Conservatives and 302 Liberals, inclusive of the Home Rulers, whose allegiance to the Liberal cause was by no means to be relied on. Of course Mr Gladstone, without daring to meet Parliament, at once resigned, and Mr Disraeli succeeding him in the Premiership, formed his cabinet earl}’ in March. Mr Disraeli was elevated to the peerage by the title of the Earl of Beaconsfield, Aug. 16, 18 7G. Together with the office of First Lord of the Treasury, he held that of Lord President of the Council from Aug., 1876, till Feb., 1878. His policy, which was severely criticised at the time, with regard to the Eastern Question, resulted in the assembling of the Congress of Berlin, at which the Earl of Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury assisted as the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, It is interesting to know that Lord Beaconsfield went to Berlin at the earnest solicitation of Lord Salisbury, who felt that the Prime Minis-

ter, “ speaking, as he alone was able to do, with the full mandate of the English people, would produce an effect on the negotiations and the action of the Powers such as no other man could have produced.” Tlie Congress held its final sitting on July 13, 1878, when the Treaty of Berlin was signed by all the plenipotentiaries. Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury, on returning to London on the 16th, were met with a most enthusiastic reception at Charing Cross, and were enabled to announce that they had brought back “ peace with honor.” On July 22nd, Lord Beaconsfield was invested by the Queen with the Order of the Garter. A few months previously the same honor had been offered to him, but, with Her Majesty’s permission, it was then declined. The policy of the Government which brought about the Treaty of Berlin, and the signing of the Anglo-Turkislr Convention, and the occupation of Cyprus, led to much discussion in Parliament. The Marquis of Harrington moved in the House of Commons a resolution directed against the policy, and after a debate of four nights the action of the Government was sup ported by the overwhelming majority of 143, there being 196 votes for the resolution, and 338 against it (August 2, 1878). The day after this decisive political victory had "Been-—achieved the Earl of Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury were presented with the freedom of the City of London, and subsequently entertained at a grand banquet at the Mansion House, Lord Beaconsfield is an honorary D.C.L, of Oxford and Edinburgh, a Privy Councillor, a Trustee of the British Museum, a Governor of Wellington College, an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, and a Deputy-Lieutenant for Bucks ; and was a Royal Commissioner of the Great Exhibition of 1851. He was installed Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, Nov. 19, 1873, and i-e-electcd to that office in Nov., 1874. Among his publications since his entrance on political life, are “ Coningsby,” “ Sybil,” “ Tattered,” works curiously compounded of politics and fiction; “ A Vindication of the English Constitution,” “ A Biography of Lord G. Bentinck,” and “ Lothair,” n novel, 1870. An early poetical work, entitled “ A Revolutionary Epic,” was republished in 1864. He married, in 1839, Mary Anne, only daughter of the late John Evans, Esq., of Branceford Park, Devon, and widow of Wyndhara Lewis, Esq., M P. In acknowledgement of her husband’s official services, Mrs Disraeli was raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom, as Viscountess Beaconsfield, Nov. 28, 1868. Site died Dec, 15, 1872, aged 83.