At the same dinner Sir Charles Adderley made a remarkable
speech, in which he declared that it was an advantage to a man in Parliament to be "disparaged in the country," and that this dis- paragement had helped him to carry his Merchant Shipping Bill ; and then he wait on to say that he regarded the success of the present Premier as less due even to his own brilliant talents than to "the mistakes and wretched tactics" of his opponents. As the low opinion formed in the Press of Sir Charles Adderley conduced to his Parliamentary victory, so the low opinion formed by Mr. Gladstone of Lord Beaconsfield's Eastern policy was conducing to Lord Beaconsfield's victory. If, then, the Press had thought Sir Charles Adderley a heaven-born Minister of trade and navigation, and Mr. Gladstone had admired pro- foundly Lord Beaconsfield's policy on Turkey, the success of both would have been much less, even if it had not been turned into failure. Well, that is at least a very modest view, as it ascribes both these great Ministers' achievements, not to any intrinsic ex- cellence in their proposals, but to the contentious spirit excited in their friends by the criticisms of their foes. We are disposed to think there may be something in the suggestion. At all events, any hypothesis which tends to exclude intrinsic excellence from amongst the causes of the favour conceded to the policy of Sir Charles Adderley and Lord Beaconsfield, has, at any rate, a plausible ease for careful consideration.
Previous page
