"fjc ilopectator," Iflarcb 2111:1, 1850
BENJAMIN DISRAELI Peel took three years to construct his Conservative party on the ruins of the old Tory party.. . . That party has performed its office, and is already gone. . . . In the briefer space since Lord George Bentinck's death, Disraeli has reconstructed a new Tory party, already mustering soMe two hundred and fifty. ...
Disraeli hts been underrated, and the miscalculation is corrected by an apt retribution in his rise. He has genius of a certain kind—for genius is an inborn and special capacity for labour ; which he possesses. . . . He has toiled up the giant's staircase of ambition ; but it is a staircase of sand, and to keep his footing as he scales the castle of statesmanship is a feat half of heroism half of posture-making: yet he does it deftly ; he has self-possession to spare for graceful and ornamental sallies ; he falls to recover himself with cool adroitness. . . .
Disraeli possesses many qualities of statesmanship, but not all. He is a quasi-statesman. Fit is an artist where states- manship as an art is forgotten.... He has the respect of a critic for what is great and beautiful—and he wishes to be both ; but he will not consent to seek greatness through short cuts not indicated by dignity ...
What beyond? Will this lively Jack of the Beanstalk be content with what he has got, and "live happy for many years after," slumbering on the old couch of Protection? or will the denouncer of Peel one day emulate that statesman's versatile energy, and aspire to, conduct the nation to its next stage of onward progress—the wider and brighter region yet unseen to view, and wholly unsuspected by his present followers? Already the aspirant must dream of that great day ; it is in the book of historical parallels—that glowing romance which is his perpetual study and incentive.
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