Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 094.djvu/116

106 lative spirit; his lofty bearing, blended as it was with a simplicity of manner very remarkable; the ardour of his friendships, even the fierceness of his hates and prejudices; all combined to form one of those strong characters, who, whatever may be their pursuit, must always direct and lead.

Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a material form which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He was tall, and remarkable for his presence; his countenance almost a model of manly beauty; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling; the forehead lofty and white; the nose aquiline and delicately moulded; the upper lip short. But it was in the dark brown eye that flashed with piercing scrutiny that all the character of the man came forth; a brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of deception or of being deceived.

Although he had not much sustained his literary culture, and of late years, at any rate, had not given his mind to political study, he had, in the course of his life, seen and heard a great deal, and with profit. Nothing escaped his observation; he forgot nothing, and always thought. So it was that on all the great political questions of the day he had arrived at conclusions which guided him. He always took large views, and had no prejudices about things, whatever he might indulge in as to persons. He was always singularly anxious to acquire the truth, and would spare no pains for that purpose; but when once his mind was made up, it was impossible to influence him. In politics he was a Whig of 1688, which became him, modified, however, by all the experience of the present age. He wished to see our society founded on a broad basis of civil and religious liberty. He retained much of the old jealousy of the court, but had none of popular franchises He was for the Established Church, but for nothing more, and very repugnant to priestly domination. As for the industrial question, he was sincerely opposed to the Manchester scheme, because he thought that its full development would impair and might subvert our territorial constitution, which he held to be the real security of our freedom, and because he believed that it would greatly injure Ireland, and certainly dissolve our colonial empire.

In undertaking the labour of love which, in this political biography, has occupied Mr. Disraeli, he was impressed by the conviction that it was "possible to combine the accuracy of the present with the impartiality of the future." We have read the volume carefully and dispassionately, and have no hesitation in saying that these difficult requirements have been fulfilled in the exactest manner. The accuracy of Mr. Disraeli's statements is unimpeachable, and for their impartiality we have only to refer to the sketch of Sir Robert Peel.

Mr. Disraeli's work commences at the close of the year 1845, when the failure of the crops had begun to excite apprehensions of famine, and the great question arose whether the ministry would suspend the import duties on foreign corn by an Order in Council or by the immediate sanction of Parliament, to be immediately assembled for that purpose. Mr. Disraeli gives a rapid but clear aperçu of the state of parties at that critical time, and exposes in plain, forcible language the peculiar condition of affairs. The four Cabinet Councils which were held in one week, the change which had taken place in Sir Robert Peel's opinion respecting the policy of retaining the Corn Laws, his proposal for their suspension, and the rejection of that proposition by a majority of the Cabinet, come first under review. Then comes an account of Lord John Russell's letter from Edinburgh—renewed discussion in the Cabinet—the concession made by the Duke of Wellington—and the refusal of Lord Stanley, the Abdiel of the Council—which refusal broke up the ministry. In noticing here the changed