EMINENT STATESMEN.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3173, 21 April 1879, Page 1

EMINENT STATESMEN.

" LOBD BiACOHSWUD. -

l^he lion, of a distinj'aiislicd ibao, i Mr., $vaM r .ba^jpjgpbjtf);' ra^n|^tjme , ohlj^, a ,'^Qung, literary inan^ notions of politics. It is not necessary to charge him,with deliberateincqwistency,because (from, baring bach a Itadiaal of the most •dWnrrH trigwa ha bt> nantfe by an easy leap ■! romantic Tory. It la ML lUeli imuau- : the beginning of hi* Icsreer he had any very elearJideaß in ©booeetion with the words Tory or Badical. He wrote a letterto Mr W:JrFoi, already 6*e»orib€d as an eminentpUmfcaria^? minister and rising politician^ jnt which be declared that bis /or(e was. sedition,, v j£ost clever young nieqwbx) ai;e not born to fortune, andiwjio feel drawn into political^ life, fancy toQ.~ : thrt sedition. When young JDisraeli found that sedition and eyen adranced.liadipalisui did nqt'do . much to get him into he probably I fcegaa to ask himself .whether hia ■ Liberal eonwctioM were f so deeply rooted as to call for : the sacrifice of r» career. He thought the question over, and doubtless,found himself erjrstallising fast into an advocate^ $( the.established order of things. In a j palely perional light thij^was a fortunate conolusioa for tbe ambitious young politician. . . . <No-trace of the progress of oonversiou caa be found in his speedbes or his writ* ings. It is not unreasonable to infer that he took up Radicalism at 'the beginning bceause it looked ' the most picturesque and romantic thing to do, and* that only as lie found it fail to fiaswer his personal object did it occur to liim that he,had after all more affinity with' the cause of the country gentlemen.' Tho reputation 'he had made for himself before his going into Parli(icnent-was^of,it nature., rather calculated to retard than to advance a political career. He was looked upon •(most universally as an eccentric and audacious adventurer, who was kept from beiag dangerous by tl,ie affectations and absurdities of his conduct. , He dressed in the extremest style of preposterous foppery; he talkedablenctfnttof.cynicism and leotiments; he Mi, made the most reckless statements; his boasting was almost outrageous; bis rhetoric of abuse was, even in that, free-spoken time, astonishingly vigorous and unrestrained. Even his literary efforts did not then receive anything like the appreciation they have obtained since. At that time they r were, regarded -rather as audacious whimsicalities, the 'fantastic"freaks of a clever youth,'than as genuine works of a s certain. fcM of **t- ,• »,V Hi» ( «tyle wa« always extravagant; hit rhetoric constantly .degenerated into vulgarity ; his wibxtle manner was that of the typical foreigner whom English people, regard ai the illustration of all that is vehement and unquiet^j