LORD BEACONSFIELD'S "POPULARITY."
NO question connected with Lord Beaconsfield's career is quite so puzzling as his relation to the masses of the people. There can be no doubt that, next to Mr. Gladstone, he was the best-known man in England, known to an extent to which no other leading Tory is known, and, with the exception of Mr. Bright, perhaps no other leadiug Liberal ; and that of itself is a very remarkable fact. Educated people, more especially if they are interested in polities, have a way of assuming that all prominent statesmen must be known ; but it is, we believe, to an extent which they would deem incredible, an illusion. Men have repeateilly risen almost to the top in England who were nearly unknown even by name to the great body of their countrymen, or, if known, known merely as names. That is the case to-day with the Duke of Richmond. The Duke has sat in a Cabinet, has led his party in the House of Lords, and is regarded by the chief men in his own party as a statesman who might be trusted and followed as a safe and judicious head of any Conservative Government. Yet we venture to say that out- side the circle engaged in discussing politics, not ODO English- mau in three would truthfully assert that he recollected his name, or knew anything whatever abont him, except possibly, if the speaker had any interest in "sport," that he was the proprietor of Goodwood. And the Duke is by no means an exceptional instance. Not one man in three in the middle-class, and not one in ten among the wage-receivers, can give off-hand the names of the present or the past Cabinet; while to millions the only figures visible in those Cabinets are those of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, and Lord Beaconsfield. There are heads of Departments belonging to both parties who think themselves, and who are, men of vast influence ; who are, nevertheless, outside the districts from which they come, not known to the people at all, not even to those who are supposed to read newspapers and to have some kind of political opinions. How many persons in a million know why Lord Kimberley is placed in the Cabinet P Even in a country like this, where some kind of education is beginning to spread, and men are free to talk, and there is interest in celebrities, the work of becoming known to twelve or fourteen millions of adult persons, intent, for the most part, on getting their bread by attentive and strenuous toil, is inconceivably difficult. For any but statesmen or soldiers, it is impossible. A student of history was asked the other day by what names the period of English life between 1.835 and 1880 would hereafter be indicated, as we now indicate periods by mentioning Milton, Addison, or Marlborough. He replied at once, "By the names of Stephenson, Tenny- son, and Darwin ;" and whether he was right or wrong, this much is clear, that he mentioned three names of the first celebrity, and that the body of the people know next to nothing of any. one of the three. Politicians have more advantages, yet even for a politician to become a household word is an achieve- ment of the first magnitude, not often effected by three men in
a generation. Yet Mr. Disraeli succeeded in making himself universally known, and this under two names, one of which totally superseded the other, and yet did not produce any con- fusion of identity, or loss of separate individuality. No Com- moner ever lost so little by becoming a Peer. Some attraction in Lord Beaconsfield, some quality, some kind of glitter, had caught and fixed the popular attention, till be was known in a hundred towns, and a thousand villages, as well as any local leader. Fora quarter of a century past no Englishman, if he heard either of Mr. Disraeli or Lord Beaconsfield, has asked " Who is he ?" "What has he done P" or " What like of man will he be IP' He may have known nothing, but he thought he knew.
That universal recognition is an enormous power, and it is a most interesting problem to fix, if possible, its origin. Sir Robert Peel was known, because everybody wishes to eat, and he gave everybody a cheap loaf. Wellington was known, because "he won Waterloo." (The body of the people do not now know the rest of his biography.) Mr. Gladstone is known, because of the relief he has given from taxation, because of his abundant, as well as admirable, eloquence, and because, at a time when democracy is still only advancing, ho is believed by a whole people to be convinced that we "are all one flesh and blood." Lord Beaconsfield never did any- thing that the body of the people could remember,—never passed a great law, never lifted a great burden, never even presided over a victorious campaign. He was supposed, quite unjustly, we admit, to be an opponent, not a friend, of the sovereignty of the people. his speeches, never very numerous, never can have attracted the masses very mu& ; indeed, it is questionable if he has, as an orator, any great popular fame. Skill in epigram. making, and taunts, and, satire, will never make an English- man universally known ; awl of his literary power the masses could have had no conception. They hare not road " Tancred," nor would they, if they did read it, be attracted. Nor do we think that the carious occasional felicity of expression which so attracted politicians and the literary class, and gave them a kind of enjoyment apart altogether from their view of the truth or merit of the enjoyed sentence, was ever recognised far down. Enjoyment of Mr. Disraeli's or .Lord Beaconsfield's best phrases required knowledge, appreciation of the circumstances, acquaint- ance with the history of the phrase, recognition of the intel- lectual audacity of the man who uttered it. What did "a scientific frontier" mean in Clerkenwell or Shoreham, that it should be re- ceived with a shout ? Or how would artisans and ploughmen in- terpret the charge against the Liberals of "blundering and plundering " to the credit of the speaker ? Lord Beaconsfield always professed great interest in the working-man, but it is more than doubtful if the working-man believed him ; and the rest of his opinions, with one exception, were in no way of the popular kind. The exception, his idea that England ought to be the leading Power in the world, came late, and after his popularity had been formed, and was, moreover, rejected by the majority of the people.
We believe that the people recognised him, and in their way liked him with some cordiality, first of all, because he "made the race,"—which, of course, it takes two horses to make. They have been accustomed all through their lives, and indeed all through modern history, to look on politics as a struggle,—a battle, or a tournament, or a race ; and though they wish victory to one side, they are interested in the other, and like to see it well led,— led pluckily, led by a man who understands and observes the rules of the game. They looked on Mr. Disraeli and Lord Beacons- field as they look on a clever Counsel who is fighting against heavy odds for a client sure to lose in the end, and admired his courage and resource and coolness,—coolness as of an advocate in the hour of defeat. Whether leading in the Commons, or leading both parties in the Peers, Lord Beaconsfield never broke the rules of the contest, always, so far as eye could see, fought fairly, and as advocate, rather than as suitor ; and that once perceived, the people thought that he had a right to do the best he could for the side which had adopted him. They might hate that side, and from time to time they did hate it, but they never hated him. To compare great things with small, they had, generally the. feeling for him which a few had for Dr. Keuealy. They liked his courage, his sallies, his telling sentences, his appeals to the Constitution, his " dodges"—for some of his public acts were often no better—just as they like those things in a bril-
liant counsel who has taken up the losing side. In the height of their enthusiasm for Mr. Gladstone they never detested his oppo- nent, did not, in fact, attribute opposition to him, but recognised that it was his business to oppose, and that he did it well. Even his occasional insolence, as a rule so irritating to Englishmen, did not annoy them. Insolence is permitted to a barrister in Court, and if it is clever insolence, directed against the power- ful, is more than tolerated,—it is enjoyed. They were not con- cerned much about the issues at stake. They knew the verdict rested ultimately in their own hands, and they looked on at the fight, pleased that both sides should be so well represented, and delighting in every good hit. Here was a man who could tackle even Mr. Gladstone, who could fight even the Liberal party, who could resist even the people, who could and did always make a good fight, when otherwise, perhaps, there would have been no fight at all ; and who would be brave, and humor- ous, and good-tempered, and dignified all the time. They did not want him to believe all he said, or to be very prudent, or very consistent, or even very scrupulous, though always within the laws. They wanted him to fight, and he did fight, as hardly any man ever fought, and they delighted in him for his fighting. An individual might have made the mistake that the fighting was done by others, but a crowd never makes that blunder. It has an instinct to help it on that subject, and knows quite well who is in front, who really leads, whose fall will imply total defeat,—who, surviving, may yet recover all. It sees Nelson through any .screen of Admiralties. Then, at last, the great advocate took power, and was opposed in- stead of opposing, and the masses grew tired and bored, when
suddenly by a flash of genius he threw himself into oppo- sition again. This time the opponent was Russia, and the whole people seemed to shako with delight. They did not expect him to declare actual war, but to oppose Russia pluckily, astutely, successfully, and without too much cost, to be what he had always been,—a fighting diplomatist ; and he did, or seemed to do, those things. They watched hie defiant speeches, and his demands for votes, and. his BIMMI011s to Sepoys, and his departure to the great Consultation of Counsel at Berlin, as so many moves in the suit,—clever moves, brave moves, and strictly within the rules. 'He was sure to say something at Berlin which would worry or defeat opposing counsel. When they thought for a moment he had won the main suit without the cost of war, they were enthusiastic in his praise ; and even when undeceived, they still pointed to the seizure of Cyprus as a marvellous evidence of ability, as proof that Lord Beaconsfield could even lose a suit, and yet recover costs. That was the kind of man they took him to be, and as that is the kind of man they like, when he is advocate and not principal, and as they recognised instinctively that Lord Beaconsfield was always advocate, they liked him. He could not refuse anything they wanted,—did not, as they perceived, wish to refuse auything ; but he could keep up the contest, without which the suit would be dull and the jury bored, and the English use and wont of litigation would not be maintained. "1 like Brougham," said the juryman, "he does speak up so well." "And Mr. Erskine P" "Oh, I think nought of him." "Why not ; he wins a great many cases 9" "Yes, just because he always happens to be on the right side."
Previous page
