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m 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 No one can rogrot more than the translator the total impos- 
 .sil)ility of reproducing in works of a purely literary character 
 the varied charms of style. The charm of the style, at once, 
 rich, chaste, and free, of the Hon. Joseph Tas.s6 would linj^'er 
 long in the memory after this little brochure had been laiil 
 aside, but style is, in fact, Hid r/p.neriH, and like the sun, reigns 
 alone. 
 
 The theme, however, — the grandly interesting theme — is there, 
 and no greater theme can possibly occupy mature brains and 
 facile pens for a long period to come. 
 
 It is the memory of our heroic contests, of our hard won 
 battles, of the heroes who fought, and conquered, and died, in 
 their country's service, which animates and incites our youth to 
 manly exertion, to noble deeds worthy of fame ; to a home in 
 the hearts of their fellow-countrymen . 
 
 (Jan we do better than point to the brilliant examples of a 
 
 BEAGONSb'IELD, of a Sill JoiIN MaODONALD ? 
 
 No ! They occupy, and will continue to occupy, the highes t 
 niche in the temple of fame. 
 
 JAMES PENNY. 
 MoNTUEAL, June, 1891. 
 

 
LORD BEACONSFIELD 
 
 AWD 
 
 SIR JOHN MACDONALD 
 
 A PARALLEL 
 
 -> 
 
 A Canarlian journal recently puhlishcd an tsni^ravinf^ repre- 
 senting Lord Boaconstield and Sir John Macdunald, in order to 
 show in full relief the marvellous resemlilance of these two 
 political celehrities. Both possessed a high and resounding tenor 
 voice, a countenance, changeable and expressive, a proiriinent 
 nose, eyes at once full of intelligence and tin^, a mouth and 
 lips linn and sardonic, a forehead well tleveloped, hai- vith a 
 strong tendency to curl and slightly silvered by tinie ; these are 
 in fact the principal traits of resendilance in their remarkable 
 physiognomies and physical outlines. It has even been said 
 in the Limdon World, that if Sir John Macdonald would 
 clothe himself in a coat of the fashion usually worn by Lord 
 Beaconsfield and would then present himself in the Chandier 
 of Peers, no official wouUl dream of the counterfeit and obstruct 
 his entry, and further, that they would see Loi'd Salisbury 
 press upon him his usual coniplimeuts and felicitations, without 
 a shadow of doubt or mistrust, so perfect is the resemblance, so 
 lifelike the mystification. 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield counts well upon his head his seventy-five 
 winters, for until of late his health has been wonderfully 
 
— 6 — 
 
 pnsL'rycd ; but the govt Imving lately nuxdo serious attacks upon 
 him his gait has become heavy and vacillating, and we find no 
 longer in the advance of the illustrious old man the "youno- 
 Disraeli, so ircsh, so rosy, and so spiritual, as he appeared to his 
 friends, and as he was faithfully pourtrayel by the American 
 
 With two luotres in hand, these two years younger in age, Sir 
 John Macdonald carries his years so m'cU that they are not a 
 burden to him ; they could even say truthfully that he has had 
 a renewal of youth since the popular favour has reinstated 
 him in power. Neither the storms of an active and turbulent 
 life, nor the fierce and absorbing contests of the tribune, nor 
 the immense pressure of public interests and affairs in this 
 widely separated community and country have been able to 
 change in any appreciable degree that marvellous nature of 
 which the pliancy is admirably matched by its power of resist- 
 ance, passive or otherwise. 
 
 When we have known one, as him, indifferent to labor and 
 fatigue and personal annoyance, in order to procure the accept- 
 ance of his programme by body after body of electors ; when 
 wo can find one like him able to fulfil all the rude, weighty and 
 constantly annoying labours of leadership, and appear prompt 
 alert and vigorous after the most prolonged sittings of the' 
 House of Commons we have a right to hope and expect several 
 years of life comljined with physical and mental power. 
 
 Does this resemblance between the two first Ministers or 
 Premiers, of England and Canada, limit itself to the outward 
 physKlue alone ? We believe not. In studying the moral and 
 intellectual strength of these two highly interesting and very 
 celebrated personages we shall be able to trace, in addition to 
 the former, most striking and undeniable traits of affinity 
 
 In his recent travels in England Sir John Macdonald went to 
 pass several days in the magnificent retreat of his friend Lord 
 Beaconsfield at Hughenden, and his illustrious host was much 
 struck by the intelligence of his second self, by the similitude 
 of his manners, by his fac'le and ready conversation, by his 
 gentlemanly lone and temperament. 
 
 Both are charming, and conspicuous by their courtesy in 
 
m 
 
 private life ; their conversation, turn by turn grave and light, 
 is sown with philosophic reflections, with anecdotes, with smart 
 and piquant repartees, of which they both appear to have an 
 inexhaustible fund, and which they know how at need to turn 
 with refined art against their adversaries. 
 
 To see them pass their leisure hours in a fashion so intensely 
 happy and full of enjoyment, so full of real abandon, we should 
 be far from suspecting that one presides over the destinies of 
 one of the most vast, and one of the most powei-fu' empires 
 on earth, and that the other governs one-half of a continent 
 destined to become a greater Britain by its population, as it is 
 already by its immense territory. 
 
 How interesting must have been th'3 first meeting of these 
 two men, botk the successful products of their own labors, the 
 architects of their own fortunes and successes both arrived at 
 the summit of their ambition ; how strange that two spirits so fine, 
 so little valued in the battles of political life should have formed 
 a mutual and spontaneous admiration for each other ; that their 
 meetings beneath the shade of the fresh foliage of the Park at 
 Hughenden may have been of the highest importance ; th>'tthey 
 may have considered in detail the most important interests of 
 the British Empire, and then and there concerted a plan most 
 probably hardy in its scope and outline, to insure the prompt 
 development of the latent resources of Canada. This view of 
 their friendly meeting is one that no person, having the slightest 
 acquaintance with the character of the two parties, would 
 attempt to doubt. 
 
 We have proof, in any case, of the skill with which our Prime 
 Minister has known how to seize that auspicious occasion to 
 interest the head of the English Cabinet in our needs and welfare 
 in the discoui'se pronounced recently by Lord Beaconsfield at 
 Aylesbury — a discourse which explains and emphasizes the 
 advantages that Canada offers to emigration, and the influence 
 that it is doubtless called upon to exercise upon all European 
 markets by the abundant productiveness of its soil. In effect, 
 we have no recollection of a single example where a Prime 
 Minister of England has dilated so long and so flatteringly upon 
 our country, above all, on an occasion where there was no 
 
— 8 — 
 
 imperative necessity to broach the subject as part and portion 
 of the programme. 
 
 That discourse was evidently for the most part inspired by Sir 
 John Macdonald-and Mr. DisraHi gives us to thoroughly 
 understand-includos some few slight errors which it is not 
 desu-able to exaggerate, but it would be worth all the cavils 
 all the objections possible, to fix the attention of the public 
 favorably upon the brilliant future reserved for the Canadian 
 Confederation and the field it so opportunely opens to the 
 energies of the ambitious youth of Gaelic or Saxon blood. 
 
 II 
 
 If these two Statesmen had a considerable resemblance in their 
 physical, moral, and intellectual (jualities there was also a 
 distinct and appreciable analogy and resemblance in their 
 political careers, notwithstanding there were points of very 
 distinct contrast. The limits which the demands of journalism 
 put to this sketch will permit us but to note and indicate 
 the most striking points of these two remarkable characters- 
 yet we believe that they alone vnll suffice to establish the 
 exactitude and truth of the comparison. 
 
 Let us say, primarily, that their debuts, their entrance into 
 public life, differed very considerably. Before entering Par- 
 liament, and even during his political career-ZoiAfur° dates 
 but of the year 1870-Mr. Disraeli had not made himself a 
 reputation, as formerly, Sheridan, by the production of comedies 
 bu„ by romances, which, in general, obtained a brilliani .^uccess' 
 He has inherited the literary talent from his father Isaac 
 Disraeh who has left, as a legacy to posterity, some works which 
 are highly esteemed, of which the best known is entitled • 
 Cun.osthes of LiteraHre. 
 
 Several of his works, romances, notably, Vivian Qrey o,nd 
 Gonarmv neming-tivst-hnit. of his youthful genius-are still 
 read with avidity and we are sometimes tempted to believe that 
 he has. consciously or unconsciously, personified himself in the 
 characters of some of the heroes so charmingly conceived and 
 brilliantly pourtroyed by his vivid imagination. We may ask 
 
 / 
 
— 9 — 
 
 for example, if he has not indicated and painted to the very 
 letter his own aspirations in the adventures of one of his 
 characters of Jewish race: " that young man, a stranger to that 
 TBce and to that C(,antry and whose sentiments were distinctly 
 opposed to t^ie popular notions, had. however, signally drawn to 
 uniself he full confidence of the masses of the people and hoped 
 to be able some future day to control und govern them " Was 
 not this the end that Mr. Disraeli had assigned to his aml>ition 
 when he avowed of old, that he was engaged preparing to 
 become a Prime Minister. 
 
 As for Sir John Macrlonald he has never written a romance 
 although he is endowed with a lively and fertile imagination' 
 nor has he ever delivered himself over to the charms of the 
 literary syren, and yet he has evidently studied with admirable 
 resulte the works of the best authors, using freely at need 
 the choicest flowers of rhetoric or the most charming poetical 
 quotations, apropos to the sentiment of his harangues. It was 
 at the Bar that the Canadian Prime Minister first distinguished 
 himself, and he would there have achieved the most si<mal success 
 had not politics tempted him away, at an early ,Iate, from his' 
 clients. But some writer has said with much wisdom, it is very 
 rare that men truly superior to their fellows become old in the 
 legal profession; many traverse its dusty paths, but few take 
 up their permanent abode there. However. Sir John Macdonald 
 returned time after time to his clients— who have always received 
 him with a hearty welcome-on each occasion when power has 
 slipped from his grasp, a contretemps he has not been slow to 
 remedy and repair. 
 
 We ought to mention here the fact that Mr. Disraeli b.^fore 
 embracing the profession of literature and politics, studied law 
 tor the space of three years with an attorney, under whose 
 roof, according to his own testimony, he slept three years 
 leading at the same period a gay and joyous life elsewhere' 
 during the day. That is probably all that he gaine.I in con- 
 nection with the details of English law and jurisprudence 
 
10 — 
 
 III 
 
 Disraeli was elected a member of the House of Commons, 
 by the town of Maidstone, in Kent, in 1837, the year of the 
 coronation of Qaeen Victoria, whoso enlightened counsellor he 
 became some years later on. He was 32 years of age. This 
 was perhaps comparatively late in life in a country where men 
 with political tendencies make their debid when, as is said, they 
 k'loe scarcely cut or developed their wisdom teeth. 
 
 We know tliat in one remarkable instance, that of the 
 eelebratoil Fox, he entered the House of Commons when he was 
 bai-ely nineteen years of ago. It is true that it was not the 
 fault of Disraeli that he did not take his seat at an earlier date 
 for, many iimes previously, he had attempted to force the 
 portals of parliament, but his ambition was badly appreciated 
 and seconded by the electors, particularly by those of High 
 Wycombe, Buckingham, who made him sufFer three checks 
 in succession, precursors of a fourth defeat at Taunton, in 
 Somersetshire. After having represented the towns of Maidstone 
 and Shrewsbury, he found in 1847, a county favorable to his 
 candidature, th^i county of Buckingham, which has not ceased 
 to be faithful to him until his elevation in 1876, to the House 
 of liords, that is to say, for a periol of twenty-nine years. A 
 series of uninterrupted triumphs having succeeded his long list 
 of early reverses we are forcibly reminded of the prophetic 
 character of his words, when he said to the electors at High 
 Wycombe the day following his second defeat : " I am not 
 discouraged. In no fashion do I feel myself beaten, possibly it 
 is because I am so much accustomed to defeat. I can almost 
 appropriate to myself the words of an illustrious Italian general, 
 who when asked in his old age, how it was that he was always 
 victorious, responded calmly, "Because, in my youth, I was 
 almost always beaten." 
 
 The county of Buckingham can felicitate itself upon being a 
 veritable nursery of Prime Ministers, for in fact it had furnished 
 not le.ss tJian four before electing the man who subsequently 
 honored their choice by winning the high grade of a Peer of the 
 realm with the title of Lord Beaconsfield. A sinrmlar and 
 
 0) 
 
 •/; • 
 
— 11 — 
 
 interesting parallel is found in the case of the State of Virginia, 
 which has been the birth place of no less than four Presidents' 
 of the United States. 
 
 Sir John Maclonald knew intuitively how to conquer at one 
 blow, as by a flash of lightning, the suffrages of the public. He 
 was not thirty years of age when in 1841 the City of Kingston 
 entrusted him with the honorable task of representing it in the 
 ancient Chamber of Assembly of United Canada. The electors 
 remained faithful to him during the long period of thirty -one 
 years, and— astounding fact— turned their backs upon him in the 
 grand and most severe struggles of 1878, and took to their 
 hearts a man highly respectable but entirely unknown to fame, 
 and this, at the identical moment, when almost the entire country 
 raised his Hag on high with an enthusiasm beyond bounds and 
 almost without parallel. 
 
 But what imports it to the general that he should fall upon 
 the field of battle, so that he is able to lead his troops to victory ? 
 Yes, v-ictory, without doubt or challenge ? Sir John Macdonald 
 was only wounded— wounded deeply doubtless in his self-love 
 as chief of the party— but he was not vanquished. Two electoral 
 divisions of the extreme West of Canada— Marquette, Manitoba 
 and Vancouver, British Columbia— promptly disputed the honor 
 of having a Prime Minister for their representative, and he 
 finally cast in his lot with tlie far distant electors of Vancouver, 
 In their turn th(ise repaired a fault similar to the one committed 
 by the electoral Division of East Montreal in 1872, when it 
 refuseil its confidence, in a moment of popular frenzy and . 
 blindness, to the best friend of its true interests, to the chief of 
 the Province of Quebec, to the regretted Sir George E. Cartier. 
 This fault the electors of Provencher, Manitoba, were happy to 
 be able to efface and condone in electing by a unanimous vote 
 one of our greatest statesmen. 
 
 It is probable that the indifference and intitlelity of Kingston 
 is but ephemeral and that it will hasten to make it pass into 
 oblivion on the first occ^ision tiiat may fairly be offiired. 
 
 That example of popular inconstancy is not rare in the history 
 of England ; several of its celeljrities— notably Burke, Slieridan, 
 Peel, Macaulay and Gladstone— have not been treated with more 
 
12 — 
 
 regard or consideration hy tlio " sovereign people." Similarly 
 to Mr. Disraeli his illustrious rival Mr. Gladstone has suffered 
 four rejections in his candidature. After having represented, 
 turn by turn, the University of Oxford, Newark, Lancashire, and 
 Greenwich, the leading Liberal has seen himself abandoned by 
 each of these electoral centres and compelled afterwards to seek 
 election elsewhere in " fresh fields and pastures new." 
 
 IV 
 
 On their entry into their respective parliaments, our two 
 heroes were able to distinguish themselves by their talents, by 
 their knowledge, and by their ardour in the contest. It is 
 true that the first discourse of Mr. Disraeli was derided and 
 whistled down, but he hesitated not in concluding to cry in his 
 most piercing tone, " I am not in the least surprised at the 
 reception I have received. I have commenced many things, 
 many times, in the course of my life and I have finally 
 succeeded. Thus it will happen some day, not far distant, that 
 I shall compel you to listen to me." He had a full consciousness 
 of his innate value, for it is the fact that for many long years 
 there has been no English politician whose words have been 
 more attentively received and treasured, although there are 
 several of his contemporaries and rivals who can dispute with 
 him the gift of oratory. 
 
 After twelve years of parliamentary life, Mr. Disraeli became 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer in the cabinet of Lord Derby — 
 who lived but a few mcjnths longer — and he took at the same 
 time the leadership of the Conservative party in the House of 
 Commons, which he has known how to keep, if not without 
 contest, at least, without -^hange or interruption, until his 
 elevation to the Peerage. He took the same position as 
 Chancellor of the Exchefjuer in the second cabinet of Lord 
 Derby, in 1858, and again in 18(56, in the third Administration 
 formed by that statesman. Two years later. Lord Derby having 
 put in operation his frequently announced intention of quitting 
 his post of power, he designated Mr. Disraeli as being the only 
 man capable of taking the reins and becoming his successor as 
 First Minister. 
 
 I 
 
 -X 
 
 1 
 
— 13 — 
 
 I 
 
 "During twenty years," wrote the Ti-meH, " Mr. Disraeli has 
 httle by little reorganized the forces of his party in Parliament 
 and he ha« led it, no less than three times, to place and power. 
 The hour has now arrived for the faithful servant and ally to 
 take the command in his due turn and Mr. Disraeli was a])le 
 to accept a situation on a higher plane and without a moral and 
 political decadence which would have been unworthy of him and 
 his antecedent; and which would have done but little honour 
 to his party." 
 
 The success of the Canadian Minister Sir John Macdonald 
 was much more rapid. Hardly was he seated in the House the 
 brief space of two years and a half than he was named Receiver- 
 General in t)ie Draper- Daly cabinet, then, quickly. Commissioner 
 of Crown Lands. He then passed six years in opposition, from 
 1848 to 1854, but, if we except the forty-eight hours of existence 
 of the Brown-Dorion Ministry in 1858— the most ephemeral 
 cabinet we have ever known— the Liberal reign of 1863 and 1864, 
 then the five years of the Mackenzie administration, he formed 
 part of all the other governments which have presided over the 
 destinies of the country, for a very long period as First Minister, 
 and almost always as chief of the English Conservative party! 
 That is to say, that he has been a Minister of the Crown during 
 twenty-four years, and a member of the Lower Chamber more 
 than thirty-five years. As to Mr. Disraeli he could count forty- 
 two years of parliamentary life, having filled the functions of 
 a legislator— as, it ple..ses us to say it in the language of the 
 Bible— as many years as King David reigned. The influence 
 that these two politicians have exercised during this long period 
 of time upon the legislation of their respective countries has 
 been too great for us to be able to adequately appreciate and 
 discuss in this short study of their lives. 
 
 By the force of his talent alone Mr. Disraeli has been able to 
 dominate the Tory party-the party the most aristocratic in 
 the world, notwithstanding its lively prejudices against one 
 whom they style with contemptuous lips a mere maker of 
 
14 — 
 
 roiiinncL's, without an ancestral coat-of-ainis, without fortune 
 and without having in his veias — as he said in his initial dis- 
 course to the electors — tlie blood either of a Plantagenet or a 
 Tudor; and notwithstanding antipathies much more strongly 
 pronounced against his race, the Jewish race, to which his 
 ancestors jnoperly belonged. We all know that the sons of 
 an Israelite have been admitted to the House of Connnons 
 in England only after two y( ars of fierce and acrid contests 
 and controversies, and long after the doors of the Canadian 
 legislature had been thrown wide open, the colony giving, as it 
 were, a most useful lesson in liberality and generosity of 
 sentiment to the mother-country, whose instincts are so essentially 
 timid, conservative and averse to change. In effect, the political 
 emancipation of the Jews in Canada dates back to 1832, whilst 
 it took twenty-six years longer of fierce struggle and opposition 
 to Ijeconie law in the Imperial Parlinment of England. 
 
 The origin of Disraeli lias been the cause of a multitude of 
 sarcasms— a multitude of invectives again.st him : hy.t far from 
 blushing at them or seeking to hide the fact, on the contrary, 
 he has not erased to exalt his race— a prosci-ibed and unjustly 
 persecuted nice — as l)eing the most ancient race in existence. 
 The most excruciating outrage upon that subject that he ever 
 received came from the so-called liberator O'Connell, who said 
 in an open and full public assembly that " the representative Jew 
 evidently descended in a direct line from the impenitent thief 
 who died upon the Cross." The celebrated Irish Patriot thus 
 revenged himself for the volte-face or change of opinions made 
 by Mr. Disraeli who, it was affirmed, although but partially 
 believed, had canvassed the electors of High Wycombe in 1837 
 under the broad ajgis or shield of the two radicals Hume and 
 O'Connell, after having launched a programme in which it was 
 afllrmed that be did not wear the livery of any party and that 
 " ill order to fortify and strengthen the principles of democracy 
 it was necessary to have recourse to triennial parliaments and to 
 a secret scrutiny." A profession of faith so little in accordance 
 with Conservative notions that he was always prompt and ready 
 to deny it during the rest of his eventful career. 
 
 Notwithstanding such a multitude of obstacles to advancement 
 
 Hfl 
 
— 15 
 
 m 
 
 in his career hs a politician Mr. Disraeli never lost faith in h\o 
 .tar: he .skilfully conciliated the good graces of the lemling 
 fanuhes among the aristocracy, after having drawn portraits of 
 thoin m his romances but little flattering to their vanity • he 
 triumphed over the jealousies of his rivals, by the superiority of 
 his versatile talents ; and personified the national sentiments 
 and feelings of the people in his public speeches and harangues 
 as well as by his actions, to the point, that he was accepted by 
 almost the whole nation definitively as one of then.H(>lves a irue 
 born Eng ,hman. Although no man has had more difficulties 
 to contend with in his aidbition to become the first Prime 
 Minister of the Queen we cannot refuse to recognize that he has 
 worthily and nobly responded to the high confidence imposed in 
 him m later years. In effect, history will say that this son of a 
 Jew-of whom Mr. Gladstone one day said in tones of reproach 
 " that he had not one single drop of English blood in his veins" 
 —has shewn himself as anxious for the high prestige and 
 aggrandizement of England as any Minister who has held office 
 before him, not even excepting Palmerston, nor yet the illustrious 
 Pitt, that Englishman — par excellence — as they have called 
 hi m. Ego te intus et in cute novi. " I know you thoroughly " 
 In order to arrive definitely to the direction of the Conserv^ative 
 party Disraeli did not hesitate in 1844, to abandon his late 
 chief Sir Robert Peel ; in this he was supported by a numerous 
 phalanx commanded by Lord George Bentinck, to whose memory 
 his ancient lieutenant ha.s consecrated a most interesting book 
 However, personal ambition cannot be said to be the^sinrrl,. 
 veritable cause of his defection from the ministerial benches, for 
 Peel had commenced to relax the system of Protection with wliich 
 the Conservative members, representing principally the rural 
 districts, were, until that moment, absolutely identified. By one 
 stroke of the pen he had abolished the Customs duties upon 
 seven hundred articl(;s of import, as a stepping stone to the 
 establishment, two years after, of Free Trade at the demand of 
 all the Liberal party, Cobden, Bright and Russell, at its head. 
 
 It was in that unpitying unswerving contest, the war a 
 outrance, that he waged against Sir Roliert Peel — a contest 
 that finished only with the fall of the cabinet — that Mr. 
 
— 10— . 
 
 DiHrnuli drew upon liiniHt'lf the genorul attontion, vvliile lavishing 
 all tiie rcsourccH of his oi-ntorical talent, and of his most l)itin<' 
 stinging sarcasms, in order to denounce tlie infidelity of the 
 I'lime Minister to the recognized principles of Conservatism. 
 
 It is not without interest to notice that in tliis instance Mr. 
 Disraeli combatted Sir Robert Peel because of his assertion of the 
 old flag Protection, which course he himself afterwards found it 
 necessary to adopt. Such are the anomalies, the exigencies of 
 political life. As a trait of English political manners and 
 customs we may add that this implacable war— a war to the 
 knife— was no obstruction to the fact that to-day the son of 8ir 
 Robert Peel counts among his most ardent partisans the enemies 
 of his father in the House of Commons. 
 
 Sir John Macdonald took in 1856 the direction of the Upper 
 Canadian Conservative jiarty. His pre.lecessor Sir Allan MacNab 
 had then lost much of Jiis force and of his popidarity ; he 
 inspired also almost insurmountable antipathies among a 
 portion of the reformist party in unison with the Tories, and it 
 was the current idea that it was far better to confide the leader- 
 ship to a uian more active, less compromised, in the sharp 
 contests (;f party, and less attached to the traditions of the past. 
 Sir Allan MacNab found it difficult to pardon his former 
 lieutenant for having been chosen as his successor, and ever 
 voted against the cabinet of which Sir John formed a part. 
 However that discord did not remain forever, because the 
 Conservatives carried in l.S()2, their ancient chief to the presi- 
 dency of the Upper Chamber. 
 
 4 
 
 A critic of 
 to a class of 
 never exacts 
 rupture, and 
 sacrifices, not 
 enemies. 
 
 Under his 
 inclined to r 
 
 VI 
 
 Mr. Disraeli tells us that he has educated his party 
 ideas which are dear to his own intellect, but he 
 too much, never stretches the cord to the point of 
 consents even to temporize and make opportune 
 only for his friends but, in like manner, for his 
 
 direction, the Tories, occasionally intolerant and 
 ■etrograde, have been transformed detiuitely into 
 
— 17 — 
 
 Conservatives, that is to say, into men attached to the traditions 
 of the past, attached to tiie very essence oven of the En^^Iish 
 institutions, but knowinf:^ iiow to nieot the necessities of modern 
 life, of modern thoui^ht, and of modern progress ; knowing 
 how to redress all secuhir abuses, knowin;^ how to prune the 
 venerable constitutional tr(;e of its worm-eaten branclu's. " In 
 atttsmptin;,', notwithstanding' my foebloneas, to direct the affairs 
 of the jrreat party to which wo arc proudly alHliated," said Mr. 
 Disraeli on a public occasion, " I am always compelled to 
 attempt to separate in its opinions whatever is unchangeable 
 and immutable from what is simply accidtmtal. Always, also, 
 I endeavour to give it a broad and natural base, because I 
 deem it essentially and profoundly a national ]>arty, and one 
 whose attachment to the national institutions rests upon the 
 conviction that they are the result of the true needs and 
 requirements of the country, and are, by that strong title, the 
 surest guarantee of the liberties, of the greatness, and of the 
 prosperity, of our beloved country, England." 
 
 In one of his early writings : A Vindication of the Gonditu- 
 tion, Mr. Disraeli attributes the same role as a reformer of the 
 Tory Party to Lord Bolingbroke — one of t'ne contemporaries 
 of Walpole — (I rdk t\v\t he .shov.d have continued to follow 
 beneath the cheering beams of a success much more remarkable 
 than that of Disraeli. 
 
 " In a series of writings which, by their inspired patriotism, 
 by their judicious and profound views, and by the elo((uenco 
 with which they are so strongly permeated, have not been 
 surpassed in our literature, Lord Bolingbroke, said Mr. Disraeli, 
 purged Toryism of all those ab.surd and odious doctrines which 
 that party had fortuitously adopted, exposed clearly its essential 
 and permanent character, prepared for its return t(j power and 
 subsequently for that ])opular and triumphant career that the 
 politics of an ailministration, inspired by the spirit of our free 
 and ancient institutions, should in all cases inevitably produce." 
 In Canada the same transformation of party ideas was effected 
 by Sir John Macdonald, by means of the alliance of the Tories 
 of Upper Canada and the Reformers of the Baldwin school with 
 the French party founded by Lafontaine and Morin ; an alliance 
 
— IS — 
 
 11 
 
 which has given l)irth to the powcirfiil (vonsorvativi; party which 
 has ruIo<l and j^ovorned th(^ country durinj^Ho many yiiar.s. That 
 tmnsfonnation is not a little Hiirprisin;f wh(!n w(! rticall tin; 
 ancient contests of the Tories against the rights asserted, and 
 chiims demanded, by our French compatriots heforo tlio Union : 
 then the stirring discussicjns — which narrowly escaped assuming 
 the proportions of a popular rising and outl)rcftk — occasioned by 
 the (pieation of indemnifying tlio losses entailed upon the 
 iMhal)itants of Lower Canada in conse(|Uence of the insurrection 
 of iH'il. From being sworn foes of the French and their cause, 
 the Tories, thus regenerated, became our most faithful allies, the 
 best, most zealous defenders of our rights. 
 
 In like manner, during fifteen years, they have assisted us to 
 hold in check the " clear grits " who, in that long period, stirred 
 up in a most deplorable fashion all our religious and national 
 prejudices and antipathies. 
 
 After having well considered the faults of his party, the 
 deputy from Kingston, bocoino Ministin-, was not slow to com- 
 prehend that th(! union of the two races was indispensable to 
 impress upon the nation a cliaracter of homogeneity and strength, 
 and consolidation in its political institutions ; and the efforts he 
 has maile to this end, freipiently at the expense of his ease and 
 popularity among his particular compatriots, now, and ever, will 
 be one of his most potent claims to consideration and glory, in 
 this as well as in future ages. 
 
 It is not too much so say that he has worked to cement the 
 diverse elements of French and English nationality in one grand 
 whole with the same ardour that Mr. Disraeli has displayed in 
 order to unite by the strong bonds of mutual interest the two 
 powerful nations from which we have descended, and to make 
 them march proudly, shoulder to shoulder, at the head, in the 
 very van of civilisation. 
 
 I. 
 
 VII 
 
 We have affirmed heretofore, that Mr, Disraeli has always 
 had in sight the prosperity and the power of his country. He 
 protbsses also the highest admiration for the English constitu - 
 
T 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 — 19 — 
 
 tion, tho moat porfoct, acconliii}^ to him, of all tho known fonna 
 oF ^overniiujtit, anciont and modorn. Let us luNir what In,' has 
 said in a discourso which still retains its celohrity : " If 
 anticjuity, no more than tho recent experience of tho modern 
 epoch, can not offer us a simihir (sxample of a free ^,'ovorniiieiit 
 founded upon tho widest base of popular ri},dits, and comhiniug 
 the full lihertios of the people, with ilw }fuaraiit<i(!S, that preserve 
 the existence of a distinct class of aristocracy and a constitutional 
 monarchy ; if the cultivated spirit of the Greeks, the <(rand souls 
 of the Romans, tho brilliant j^enius of feudal Italy, have not 
 boon able to accomplish a similar happy nisult, let us rest 
 satisfied, and more and more attached to that incomparable 
 creation of our wis(; ancestors. Let us honor the Enj^lish 
 constitution with sentimcMits still more profound, and still more 
 chariTcd with veneration and with (gratitude. That constitution, 
 my Lord, has established civil equality in an age still rude ; and 
 its beneficent effects have preceded by several ages tho sublime 
 theories of modern philosophy ; having first given us equality, 
 they now guarantee us freedom. It has founded an empire as 
 durable as that of Rome, as rich as the Carthaginian Republic. 
 It has at tho same time assured tho most complete progress of 
 our agricultural industry ; the most vast development of our 
 commerce ; it has given us the most skilful manufacturers and 
 artisans ; victorious armies, invincible Hoots of men-of-war. 
 Under its beneficent shield and protection the intellectual 
 power of England, its indomitable valour, its immense .store 
 of national energy, have inarched side by side with its political 
 a<Tfrandizeuient. Enurlish authors have formed and moulded 
 the spirit of Europe an<l impressed the breath of life upon the 
 vigorous genius of a new world." 
 
 The Liberal party had seemed to do all in its power to enfeeble 
 the colonial bonds, to detach from the mother-country those 
 numerous dependencies, sown in the five portions of the globe, 
 forming one of the most stupendous Empires that has ever 
 existed. But Mr. Disraeli has better known how to comprehend 
 the immense interests confided to his cares. Very far from 
 favorincr the dismemberment of England, he has worked inces- 
 santly to strengthen the bonds of union with its colonies, which 
 
— 20 
 
 constitute its riches and its foico ; an union which, in tho case of 
 war, would he of incalculable advantage, and would permit it 
 to say, as said Pyrrhus, when speaking of the Roman Empire : 
 " I shall have but to px'ess the land when legions will rise to my 
 command ! " 
 
 In a sphere necessarily more restricted, Sir John Macdonald 
 has served the national cause with equal zeal. In all cii'cum- 
 stances he has championed the ailvantages of the Union of 
 Canada with England, consecrating all his energy to seat upon a 
 tirm and stable basis the British political institutions to the Noi-th 
 of this continent. 
 
 The Canadian Prime Minister dreams a grand Anjjflo-Saxon 
 alliance of which the Metropolis will be the central power, and 
 the colonies the auxiliary powers, all united by ^ common 
 devotion to Britannic interests. By adopting this plan the 
 empire would find itself oi-ganized upon nearly the same base or 
 system as the planetary system ; England would be the pivot 
 around which the colonies would revolve, as so many satellites, 
 its numerous and necessary dependencies. It is truly a grand 
 idea which should not fail to fall at once into the domain of 
 public discu.ssion — because our colonial relations are evidently 
 in train for a radical transformation, of which it is difficult at 
 present to foresee all the final consequences. 
 
 Let us gather up some few of the words that Sir J. Macdonald 
 pronounced not many years gone by with a view to the 
 development of that vast project that he intimated in 1865 
 during the debate upon the Confederation of Canada. 
 
 " Twenty-five years " — said he — " is but a day in the life of 
 a nation, yet, however, that short space of time will see the 
 accomplishment of this project. Great Britain will have then 
 forty millions of souls ; Canada, ton millions ; Australia, several 
 millions; Southern Africa will have obtained a c jnsiderable 
 development ; and these countries united to New Zealand, 
 which is almost as large as England, will be just so many 
 distinct auxiliary countries, all united around the original 
 central power, England. I do not desire the actual representation 
 of tho colonies in the Imperial Parliament because it might 
 reclaim the right of imposing taxes upon us, but I wish to see 
 
— 21 — 
 
 an alliance accomplished between all these auxiliary powers and 
 the Central Governement, based upon a treaty similar to the one 
 which actually unites Canada to England. That alliance should 
 be offensive and defensive, and whoever would be bold enough 
 to attack one of these powers would attack at the same a half- 
 dozen of powerful nationalities sworn to a common defence." 
 
 This same superb plan was fondled and caressed in the mind 
 of Lord Beaconsfieid, in whom the colonies have ever found an 
 enlightened defender, because he fully believed that *heir 
 interests, their welfare, are intimately associated with the future 
 welfare of England itself. As self interest is one of the best 
 and most powerful bonds, that immense confederation woukl he 
 able probably to organize also upon a fair commercial basis, in 
 such a manner as to facilitate the exchange of climatic products 
 and manufactures between these numerous populations and 
 races, who, dispersed under so many diverse latitudes would 
 however, increase and prosper under a common flag, the flag 
 that has so long braved the battle and the breeze, the Red Cross 
 of old Albion. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Before these later days, the English Conservative party 
 depended principally upon the influence of those aristocratic 
 families, who, among themselves alone, possessed the principal 
 portion of their native soil. Per contra, the Whigs recruited 
 their ranks principally from the ranks of the merchants, trades- 
 men and workmen of the cities. With a rare intelligence and 
 ability Mr. Disraeli has found means to check and triumph over 
 the open hostility of the artisan world against the Conservative 
 pai-ty, to draw them towards him by a comprehensive and 
 progressive line of public policy, and then to enroll them by 
 thousand)? under his own flaar. 
 
 The electoral reform that he operated in 1867, was much 
 more liberal, much more radical tlian that which the Whigs had 
 proposed, who, during more than thirty years, had made of that 
 question tlieir chief charger, or war horse, in the wordy strife. 
 
 "They have reproached us," .said Mr. Disraeli, some time 
 after the adoption of the law, " of being opposed to a reform 
 
" 
 
 — 22-- 
 
 which was in itself but of a minor character, and of having 
 carried a reform very large, full and comprehensive ; but that is 
 not, in truth, a reproach against us, it is our principal merit. 
 We have combated the first measure because in our eyes it 
 did not offer a positive solution of the question ; and, because, 
 if the country demanded any solution whatever it should 
 be a complete and peimanent solution." That was not the first 
 time that the Tories went further than the Whigs in the way of 
 t he practical development of large and generous ideas ; because 
 it is a matter of history that the question of the emancipation 
 of the Catholics was adopted by a Tory Cabinet, presided over 
 by the Duke of Wellington. Furthermore, Mr. Disraeli has con- 
 tended that under all circumstances, the Tories are, rather than 
 the Whigs, true Reformers. 
 
 In addition to the law of reform Mr. Disraeli had acquired 
 many other titles to the thanks and consideration of the working 
 man, notably by the change and reform of the legislation upon 
 labor in manufactories, by the law upon insalubrious dwellings, 
 and by several other acts which gave evidence of his solicitude 
 for the toiling sons of poverty. Thus that recognition took a 
 very touching form when, the day following his elevation to the 
 peerage, he was presented with an Earl's coronet, the product 
 of a general subscription organized among the workingmen of 
 England for the purpose of rendering fitting homage to his 
 merit. 
 
 It was in the general elections of 1874 that the Tory Chief 
 above all succeeded in obtaining the adhesion of the working 
 classes, a fact that he has saluted as a reassuring sign of the 
 permanent union of all the social forces of England, of property, 
 of labor, and of capital. 
 
 On his side Sir John Macdonald has known how, by multi- 
 farious acts, to rally to his side the votes of the agriculturist, 
 the mamifacturer, the mechanic, and the working man, whose 
 alliance and whose power are irresistible at the polls and on 
 the day of polling. The head of the Canadian Con;iv;rvative 
 party has thus found the solution of a problem that his enemies 
 have not feared to qualify as a monstrous phenomenon— the 
 creation of a In^us naturcv — a Tory workingman. 
 
' 
 
 23 
 
 IX 
 
 Assuredly, fixity of principles, of ideas— above all in political 
 economy— has never been the character of British statesmen. 
 Their main object has seemed to be to adapt themselves to the 
 needs, to the circumstances, and to the dominant sentiments of 
 the country at large. The constant changes and tergiversations 
 of politics are unhappily of all time, and we should say that it 
 was to excuse them that Horace wrote this celebrated ver.se : 
 Tempora mutaniur et nos mutaviur in illis. " Times change, 
 and we change with them." 
 
 We have seen, for example, Lord Palmerston emigrate from 
 one camp to another, and by this means assure himself of a long 
 uninterrupted possession of power : one would but little suspect 
 that Mr. Gladstone has formed part of a Conservative cabinet, 
 and that he has published a book in favor of the Union of 
 Church and State, he, who has become Chief of the Liberal party 
 and has suppressed or disestablished the Church of Ireland. We 
 have already mentioned that Sir Rol)ert Peel has not hesitated 
 to sail under the colors of the enemy after having been champion 
 of the protectionist army and system. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli is no exception to the rule, and once Minister, 
 he has wandered widely from principles that he had warmly 
 espoused when in the opposition ranks. These variations or 
 aberrations need not cause us much surprise, i*' it is true that 
 he once enunciated the maxim that a statesman should not 
 trouble himself about his own private opinions, but carefully 
 search for what was most useful and necessary to his country, 
 and conform to the spirit of the times. In 1845, he declared that 
 protection was not a principle but an expedient ; and, the year 
 following that protection was, according tc his idea, not only 
 a principle but that the country owed to it all its prosperity. 
 " I affirm that the country is prosperous," said he, in the House 
 of Commons, "because you have given it a judicious and 
 moderate protective law." He was then detached from the 
 chief of the Conservatives, Sir Robert Peel, who had repealed the 
 Customs duties, and he feared not to designate his Government 
 as " an organized hypocrisy." Words that a Canadian politician 
 
— 24 
 
 lias evidently Ij()1tu\vi.(1 fioui him in applying them to the 
 Lilitral party, and which have liecome very much in vogue. 
 
 That did not hinder Mr. Disraeli from accepting at a later 
 period the fail accompli, and even in enrolling himself under 
 the banner of F'lee Trade, to which he has not ceased since to 
 be faithful. " My conscience," said he in a discourse under date 
 September 17, 1851, " renders me witness that, when the system 
 of protection has been attacked, I have done my best to defend 
 it, but it is one thing to defend a system which already exists, 
 and another to replace a legislation which has been abrogated." 
 It is true that the ideas of Adam Smith had so deeply inoculated 
 all minds in England at the close of the famous crusade against 
 the Corn Laws, that it would have been totally impossible to 
 return to the ancient system of Customs duties upon corn, and, 
 the more so, that England, thanks to the magnitude of its 
 i ndustries, to its perfected machinery, could easily sustain with 
 dii'ect advantage the concurrence and agreement of foreign 
 countries. 
 
 During several years, however, England has seen birth given 
 to powerful rivals who dispute with her her industrial supremacy, 
 and, circumstances ' anging, the system of protection — or what 
 is vaguely termed ivciprocity of tariffs — might well become 
 before long the economic creed of that country. In effect, very 
 far from progressing, the cause of free exchange of commodities 
 suffers a movement in the world incontestably of a retrograde 
 character. Thus would it be necessary for the mother country 
 to protect herself dctinitively against a great part of Europe and 
 America in the same manner that Canada has used a policy of 
 reprisal against the United States which had closed their 
 markets against the major portion of our pi'oducts. 
 
 If free exchange has beeit established in England by a pro- 
 tectionist of a decided stripe like Sir Robert Peel ; if it has been 
 maintained by an ancient enemy of free trade, Mr. Disraeli, per 
 contra, protection has been instituted here by a man who is, 
 we believe, favorable to the theory of free trade, or who, rather, 
 is of opinion that the fiscal system of a country — an opinion 
 that we entirely .share — should be based upon the needs and the 
 pressing circumstances of the present hour. 
 
— 25 — 
 
 It is quite true that a free oxchftii^ro of products is inapplicable 
 to Canada— even in supposing that they would be able to replace 
 the indirect imposts of the Customs by direct imposts of taxes in 
 order to produce the necessary amount of revenue — >ince the 
 American Republic, with which for some years past the greater 
 part of our commerce has been made, not only refuses to give 
 free access to our goods, l)ut loads them with duties almost 
 prohibitive. It is that unfriendly course of action which has 
 made so many of our theoretical free traders acquiesce in 
 and sanction the national policy recently inaugurated by the 
 Conservative party. 
 
 X 
 
 In a speech made by Mr. Disraeli, some years since, he emitted 
 the hardy opinion, that England was an Asiatic power of which 
 the centre of gravity was to be found in Calcutta. 
 
 Imbued with that startling idea, which lays claim to a certain 
 amount of truth anrl ju. ^ness, — the British Empire having in 
 Asia alone three parts of its subjects, about one hundred and 
 Hfty millions — the Tory Chief has moved heaven and earth, sea 
 and land, in the attempt to extend the inlluence of his country, 
 and to assure it a free untrammeled route towards its immense 
 oriental possessions. It is with that view that it has taken the 
 necessary measui'es to control the company charged with the 
 administration of the affairs of the Suez Canal — that canal 
 designed and opened by a French genius, M. de Lesseps, for the 
 great future profit of England : it is with that view it has 
 acquired from Turkey the isle of Cyprus — that isle so celebrated 
 in ancient history, and which had notably been con(piered by 
 Richard Coeur de Lion in the twelfth century : it is in the same 
 view and with the same policy, that it has resisted the encroach- 
 ments of the Russian colossus, the greatest enemy of the British 
 Lion, who desires to aggrandize himself in the East not less than 
 in the West : it is with the same view that Mr. Disraeli has 
 found means to ad<l to the Crown of Queen Victoria a pearl of 
 inestimable price, the glorious title of Emi'uess of India, a title 
 tliat none of the predecessors of the Queen until then had dai-ed 
 to stretch forth a hand to grasp. 
 
2() — 
 
 At the commencement of this little treatise, we have said that 
 Mr. Disraeli had appeared to desire to personify some one of the 
 heroes of his romances, or, otherwise, to accomplish some of the 
 high deeds or projects, more or less ambitious, that he has 
 attributed to them. That is undeniably true in so far as what 
 concerns Asia and Africa is concerned — the cradle of his own 
 ancestors — which lie has visited with intense interest in his 
 youth, and which have inspired his most vivid and gorgeous 
 descriptions, as a dream of surpassing splendour and glory, a 
 <lream even of the celestial regions. If there is any doubt on 
 this subject, read, for example, the language of the Emir 
 Fakredin, in the justly celebrated romance Tancred, published 
 about thirty years ago : " You Englishmen, your duty is to 
 carry out in its fullest detail the grand conceptions which 
 of old, permeated the heart and brain of Portugal. You will do 
 well to quit a little country, which is no longer suitable to your 
 power, nor equal to your aspirations, for another, a vast and 
 magnificent empire ! Let the Queen of England assemble her 
 fleet, let her embark her treasures, her ready money, her vessels 
 of gold and her invaluable arms, and so, escorted by all her 
 court and the principal personages of her realm, let her transport 
 the seat of her Government to Delhi ! She will find there an 
 excellent army and inexhaustible revenues. For my part, 
 1 shall take care of Asiia Minor and of Syria; it is by the 
 Persians and the Arabs they can govern the Afghans. We shall 
 recognize the Empress of India for our Sovereign, and we shall 
 assure her of the guardianship of the shores of the Levant. If 
 she desires it, she shall have Alexandria as she has Malta ; and 
 that shall be the greatest, grandest, Empire that the sun has 
 ever shone upon ; and in addition to all this, the new Empress 
 will be freed for ever from the ennuis and annoyances wliich 
 her two Chambers of Deputies, the Houses of Lords and 
 Commons, incessantly cause her." 
 
 It is no longer a portion of this fantastic programme — if we 
 except, doubtless, the suppression of the two houses of parlia- 
 ment — which would be likely to preoccupy Lord Beaconsfield 
 after he became Prince Minister. As an English writer said, one 
 however, who was in entire sympathy with his theories, " if he 
 
 li 
 
 s 
 
 
— 27 
 
 • 
 
 has not embarked his Queen for the country of sandal wood and 
 diamonds lie has introduced the Sepoys into Europe in her defence, 
 and he has proclaimed her the vtiritahle Empress of India. He 
 has made her sovereignty of Asia Minor to be recognized, and if 
 he has loosed his hold upon Alexandria in order not to ofl'i'nd 
 French sympathies he has obtained the quid j)ro quo by taking 
 possession of the Isle of Cyprus." 
 
 In a sphere certainly more restricted, the Canadian first minister 
 pursues the same course, at the very moment, of working to open 
 
 up to free colonization the vast territories of the North-West 
 
 destined to receive in the near future millions of inhabitants, and 
 
 to modify the economical conditions of the whole world he 
 
 consecrates all his energies in the construction of a railroad to 
 the Pacific Coa.8t— the now well known C. P. R. — which, once in 
 operation, will be the route the most rapid, the most direct, the 
 most free, between England and all the various countries in the 
 East. Thus then, the mother country could not do better to 
 favor and encourage her own true interests than in facilitating 
 with all her influence, with all her strength, the permanent 
 establishment of that colossal enterprise. In addition to the 
 important fact that the road will give a second and an indepen- 
 dent route, and unobstructed communication with the Indies, it 
 will develop a vast territory where England will be able to 
 locate the surplus of her energetic population which, too often, is 
 directed towards the United States, whose political feeling is 
 almost always antagonistic to the interests of England and 
 Englishmen. The millions of dollars expended in einigration 
 wi"ll cousequently be more profitable to England than the fa- 
 bulous sums engulphed in ruinons expeditions to the North 
 Pole in the barren hope of finding the shortest route between 
 Asia and Europe. 
 
 - XI ^ 
 
 They have reproached Sir Robert Peel, said a biographer of 
 Mr. Disraeli— with being only, in a medium fashion, amiable 
 towards his friends, and of reserving all his smiles and courtesies 
 for his enemies, all, in fact, that there was in him of kindness 
 and courtesy. The partisans of Mr. Disraeli would not be 
 
2.S — 
 
 justified in inakin<r the hmwo rcproaeli a^miiist hilii. But if hn 
 haH much roj^ard for tht! sliucp of his Mock, lie iiuuiagus no loss 
 the slieep of his neighl)oin-'s Hock, and his sarcasms — of which 
 ho makes use to a high (higroe — are sown hroadcast with a free 
 hand. It was a past mastcn- in raillery an<l banter who Ims said 
 in one of his writings: a HViile for a friend, a surer for the 
 ivorld, is the bed way to rpvern vuinJcind. This can ho 
 translated in the following fashion ; " a smile for one's friends, 
 a sarcasm for the outside world, it is thus that they govern all 
 hinnan nature." 
 
 In the same manner as the head of the English Conservatives, 
 Sir John Macdonald knows how to conciliate the affection and 
 the devotion of his partisans. He has for them, in general, those 
 friendly regards and attentions which rarely fail to produce an 
 effect. Ho spares not his adversaries when it is necessary to 
 strike, but he avoids sterile and unseemly displays of passion, 
 confining himself usually within the bounds dictated by a mind 
 richly endowed with a smart, keen, and sparkling spirit of 
 raillor}'' and repartee. We can see that he fully comprehends all 
 the value of that mixture of good humour and sang-froid that 
 Lord Liverpool reconnnends to politicians : an ounce of good 
 temper is worth a pound of wit ; " line once d'empire sitr soi- 
 meme vaiit toute icne livre d'esprit." In addition, his rare 
 courtesy and happy style of address have often gained him 
 valuable recruits, even among his most hardy and energetic 
 antagonists. 
 
 It would be ever an error to believe that Sir John Macdonald 
 does not exv ito intense hatred in his enemies' camp. In fact, 
 none of his i '-odecessors have been attacked with more warmth 
 and pertina' .ty by the Liberal party, than he has, for they can- 
 not pardon him for having for so long a period closed the portals 
 of power against them. They have not been content to reproach 
 him with all his political faults and shortcomings, 1)ut they 
 have raked over every act of his private life, without shame or 
 mercy, to find an efibctive arm against him. During thirty years, 
 if we except the ephemeral period of the alliance between 
 Brown and the head of the Conservative party, having in view 
 the establishment of the Confederacy, tliere has been scarcely one 
 
 «| 
 
29 — 
 
 «r 
 
 single iumil)or of tlu' Globr, in which Sir Jjilm MacJonaUl has 
 not boon painted as the very JJcelzehuli of his party. Conse- 
 quently we can see here another truii of reseni). lance to Mr. 
 Disraeli, who says than to have many enemies — to be the bed 
 abused man of EmjUmd, — nothing is more interesting. 
 
 " Glory is more brilliant after a calumny 
 
 " And Bhinee much brighter aftfr it has been teen tarnished." 
 
 To neither of the two, Beaconsfield n(;r MacdonaUl, would they 
 he able to address the reproach that they have made against 
 Palmcrston, that of surrounding himself with mediocre talent in 
 order that he liimself might he seen to greater advantage, 
 because they are compelled to enlist in their party, politicians of 
 an appreciable value, and of bringing forward into the full light 
 of day young and rising men of merit. Desirous above all of 
 rendering the public service as perfect as possible, they have not 
 even liesitated to confer most important charges into the hands 
 of such of their opponents as they believed more fitted than any 
 others to perform the duties in a satisfactory and worthy manner. 
 We have seen that Mr. Disraili has almost always acted as 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer in his ministerial career. Finance, 
 however, was not the characteristic bent of lii.s genius and talent 
 —although that maker of romances had learned to treat the 
 most abstract matters with acumen and clearsightedness — and 
 ho is probably only second in that respect to Mr. Gladstone, who 
 has accjuired considerable reputation by his brilliant statistical 
 dis(iuisitions and his economic reforms. Mr. Disraeli was content, 
 ordinarily, to explain the position of affairs in a very brief 
 and lucid manner, and once even his speech u})ou the budget 
 lasted but the brief space of tifty-five minutes, while most of his 
 predecessors, Chancellors of the Exche(iuer, would have consumed 
 several hours with a no more lucid result. He abandonetl to the 
 secretaries of the treasury the task of discussing and elucidating 
 all the minor details, saying to himself, doubtless. Dux aum et 
 super arithmeticam. " I am the chief and above all figures." 
 
 Even if finance did not possess much attraction for him, he 
 understood the art of politics, tlu; constitutional history, and 
 the mechanism of the English constitution better probably than 
 
— 30 
 
 any of his conttiiiporniioR. Like him, evon hero, Sir John 
 Macdoiiald excels in this tiiy'lc acciuin nient, several of his dm- 
 courses and of his State papers distinctly shew, for example, a 
 knowledge of constitutional right and law, that few of the 
 representatives of the mother-countiy possess to the some degree. 
 
 Neither the one nor the other, are, properly speaking, great 
 orators. Their language, fluent, tosy, and incisive is, perhaps, 
 less elo(iuence than action spoken. That, however, is no harrier 
 to the fact, that they know how, better than any of their 
 compeers, by the selection of their words, to control a House, 
 to mould it in favour of their own ideas, their own sentiments, 
 the which is, certainly, one of the grandest triumphs of the 
 oratorical art. 
 
 As a remarkable result of the power of elocjuence wo do not 
 remember one more vividly stamped upon our memory than that 
 obtained by Sir John Macdonald when he induced, by the simple 
 force of his persuasive and convincing arguments, the House of 
 Commons to approve by a considerable majority, of the Treaty of 
 Washington. We all know that that treaty, in which he took part 
 as a special representative of Canadian interests, raised, at that 
 particular epoch, the most lively opposition throughout the whole 
 of the country, notwithstanding that its results have not been 
 as injurious or as fatal as was at first apprehended. The majority 
 which ratified the treaty was composed, not only of his partisans, 
 a great number of whom were at first obstinate and intractable, 
 but of several Liberals who had in advance condemned the 
 convention as sacrificing the national 'ntercsts to the profit and 
 advantage of the United States. 
 
 Both understood to the highest degree the strategic parlia- 
 mentary po.sition. None of their rivals knew better how with 
 consummate address to take advantage of the infinite resources 
 of that difficult art. They excelled in masking the points of 
 their play, in detecting the weak places in their opponents' 
 cuirass, and in placing snares at their feet which it was almo.st 
 impossible for them to avoid. In addition they wore prompt to 
 take at need the most hardy, the most energetic decisions, of 
 adopting the most unexpected, the most surprising measures, 
 which naturally put to full route all the calculations ar.d plans 
 
— Sl- 
 ot- the onciny. "That is not all." wrote- Mr. Disrai-Ii i„ his 
 romance. Vcvucn (Jrey, " to In. al.lo t.> .ovorn n..n it is ,.ecess.u-y 
 also to he ahlo to astonish thoni." No .liplonintist of th. ,„■, sc/t 
 .lay practises with more success upon the vast tln-atrc of 
 European politics the art of sudden surprises than did Mr 
 Disraeli in his day. ' 
 
 XII 
 
 True to the historic example of many celehrated personam-s 
 both oi these prominent characters owed much to their wives 
 Ihesc play sometimes a rdle more considerable than we are apt 
 to 1 magme in the political arena, their influence being in inverse 
 ratio to Its visibility ; the more strong the less perceptible We 
 can truly say that Lady Beaconsfield has not a little contributed 
 to assure a brilliant future to her husband in brin-in.. him a 
 considerable fortune, without which it is almost imposTsible to 
 achieve success in England. " I do not run after money "-said 
 Macaulay-"but everyday I am more and more convince.l 
 that ease in circumstances is necessary to any man who desires 
 to become illustrious, and render essential service to his country " 
 When in 1839, Mr. Disraeli solicited the hand of his future 
 companion, she was the widow of a rich proprietor, Mr.Wyndham 
 Lewis, who had previously represented the town of Maidstone, 
 in Kent. In no wise handsome, at least twelve years older 
 than her husband, not even remarkable for high intelligence 
 or wit, but endowed with clear good sense and calm healthy 
 Judgment, she has given him, in her unalterable affection and 
 devotion, true domestic happiness " sole .source of a pure and 
 permanent joy," as said the author of the romance, the Youvu 
 Duke, who is no other than Disraeli himself. At the very apex 
 of his brilliant career, Mr. Disraeli acknowedged his obligations 
 to his wife, even proclaiming that he owed all his success^in life 
 to her influence upon him. 
 
 Following a very ancient custom, thev diRtril)ute every year 
 in Dunmow, in the County of Essex, a" fiitch of bacon to the 
 married couple who can swear upon the Bible before the altar 
 of the Church, that during a year and a day, the domestic peace 
 and comfort has not once been troubled by any matrimonial 
 
— 32 — 
 
 (juarrol. Now, Mr. and Mrs. DiHrat'li did not hesitate some 
 ycnrs since, to present thuniselves before the autltorities of 
 Dunmow and demand the prize of an entire year of patience, 
 love, and mutual a|j;reement, and their demand was accede<i to 
 with all the due formalities of the occasion. 
 
 Although not dating further hack than twelve years, the 
 union of Sir John Macdonald with Miss Susan Agnis Bernard, 
 daughter of the late Hon. RI. Bernard of Jamaica, has had, also, 
 the most happy influence upon the latter part of his career. A 
 woman of high intelligence, of great distinction of manner, 
 of a generous and devout disposition. Lady Macdonald has nohly 
 shared the had as well as the good fortune of her husl)and, and 
 has gained the respect of all classes of society. Thus when the 
 chief of the Conservative party triumphantly traversed the 
 country at the close of the last electoral campaign saluted by the 
 acclamations of the ])opular voice, even in the strongholds of his 
 opponents. Lady Macdonald has fre(]uently had a full share of 
 the ovations decreed to her husliand, receiving most flattering 
 addresses accompanied Ity presents of considerable value. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Very freijuently tin y have announced the retirement of the 
 two politicians who are the .subject of this paiallel, but we do 
 not believe that either of them has ever given a serious thought 
 to such an id(>a. Their party has never sought out other chiefs, 
 for, although fully sensible of all tfieir faults and errors, they 
 were accu -corned to believe that they could not entrust the 
 command of their party to more firm and skilful hands. On the 
 other sile, the chiefs would not be able to find partisans more 
 induUrcf,' and more faithful, and they arrived at the natural 
 conciu~;on that they were each made, one for the other. In order 
 to give him a tangible mark of their appreciation of his services 
 the friends of Sir John presented him, some years gone by, with 
 a considerable sum of money, the fruit of a public subscription, 
 duplicating, by this means, the idea of a tangible recompense for 
 acknowledged services formerly awarded to Fox, the British 
 statesman. 
 
— 33 — 
 
 When in tho year 1873 Mr. Disracili was eluctcnl Lor.l Rector 
 ot th„ .uuvorsity „f (ilas;,.,w-an omincmfc .Ustinction rocentiy 
 c=oM ern.l upon Mr.(ila.l.stone-h,. was invit.-l toa ^^ran.l luuHmot 
 m tl.at City, and he ornbraco.l tho opportunity to ron.in.i his 
 ».<>ar(.r.s in tones of legitimate satisfaction that he ha.l heen head 
 ot the Conservative party for a hunger period than the annals ot 
 England coul.l show to have been tho lot of any other man He 
 n-fkoned then tw.mty-Hve years and r.^tained office five years 
 longer, thirty in all, being just five years more than ^'^^ prototype 
 Sir John Macdonald. The words that he then en ,.. .,1 have 
 a more than ordinary interest : " Tho reason why I have remained 
 tor so long a period at the head of the party, in circumstances 
 at once <hfficult and disco.n-aging, is, that tho party 1 represent 
 IS the most generous and the most indulgent that has ever 
 existed. Somotimcs, I can scarcely control my laughttr when I 
 hear constantly repeated insinuations from people who pretend 
 to know the secrets of the world of politics, and say that the 
 Conservative party ardently desires to get rid of my services 
 Every time that I have expressed a dosire to abandon the rlirec- 
 tion of the party it has with extreme benevolenct begged of 
 me to retain it, and if in the course of events I commit an error 
 the only difference that can be perceived in its attitude toward 
 me IS that its indulgence, kin.lness, and personal consideration 
 IS more than redoubled." 
 
 Political life, with all its alternatives of reverses and succes.ses 
 IS, in truth, the native element of both those men, and they would 
 have found it difficult to live without it. They have made the 
 service of the country not only a duty but a portion of their life 
 and being. Consetiuently it always appeare.l probable that they 
 would stand in the breach until the last moment, .succumbino- 
 only, as the late Lord Chatham, after having pronounced a dis''- 
 course on the floor of the House, to defend the interests of the 
 nation. 
 
 Wo come now to speak of the faults and errors of these two 
 famous prime ministers. Neither the one, nor the other, ever 
 pretended to po.ssess infallibility, an<l, on more than one occasion, 
 they have declare " chat, if it was possible to live over again 
 certain portions of their political life they would act very dm'e- 
 
— 34 
 
 rently. We liave heard Sir John frankly avow his errors in 
 lanjfuage very similar to that used by Mr. Disraeli, some years 
 gone by, before the electors at Buckingham. ' No one knows 
 better than I, that in tlie course of a turbulent political life and, 
 already, alas, of a duration much prolonged, I have done many 
 things that I much regret, I have said many things that I much 
 deplore ; but the career of a public man should be judged as a 
 whole and by its dominant characteristics. As to me, I can say, 
 in all sincerity, than I have always sought to maintain the gran- 
 deur of my country ; I have never entertained one single though t 
 of a low, sordid, or exclusively personal interest ; and of all the 
 ambitions that have most stirred my mind the one, that in all 
 circumstances reigned paramount, was to deserve the esteem and 
 sympathy of my fellow citizens, no matter under whatever poli- 
 tical banner they may have been ranged." 
 
 Although neither one nor the other was young, their disap- 
 pearance from the bu.sy scenes of public life was looked for long 
 before it took place. Longevity was the rule in Disraeli's family. 
 This last was often pleased to recall the fact that his grand- 
 father had lived to be ninety years of age, and that his father 
 had died in his eightieth year, and even then the robust old man 
 had be( n cai'ried oft" by a prevalent epidemic. 
 
 At the age of Sir John, the public men of Europe are not 
 always at the apogee or summit of their glory. The greatest 
 ministers of the epoch are very old men, and it answers our 
 pui-pose to mention Disraeli, Bismarck, and Gortschakoff, without 
 counting those who still, by their lively intelligence and ex- 
 perience, continue to hold tlie sceptre of power. Thiers, Guizot, 
 and Palinerston, all died octogenarians, the last even while he 
 was first minister and a member of the House of ([Commons. The 
 most brilliant act 5 of the astonishing career of Disraeli himself 
 were accon;plished while he was a septuagenarian. Let us point 
 out in particular, the protectorate of Asia Minor, the creation of 
 the Empire of the Indies, th(! ac(iuisitiou of the Suez Canal, the 
 treaty of Berlin, one of the most remarkable diplomatic successes 
 of modern times. 
 
 In approaching the termination of their earthly course, it must 
 have been a source of gratification to thein to know that they 
 
— 35 — 
 
 had for so many years preserved the esteem of their countrymen, 
 that they had reached the zenith of ambition by having obtained 
 tlie highest and most enviable position to which an Enghsh 
 subject in their respective countries could possibly aspire ; and 
 that the recompenses they received for their services were of 
 the most signal and striking description. 
 
 Queen Victoria could not render a more flattering homage to 
 Mr. Disraeli than, at the very moment he was about to r(!sign 
 power, conferring a Peerage on his noble companion and wife, 
 who thus became Countess of Beaconsfield several years before 
 the elevation of her husband to the House of Lords. In fact, it 
 is possible to cite but a very few examples of a distinction 
 of that nature in the whole history of England, one, notably, 
 being the wife of the premier Pitt, created a Peeress in her own 
 name, while that illustrious man, her husband, retained .still the 
 more humble title of Lord Chatham. 
 
 It is well known that Mr. Disraeli refused the Paorago when 
 it was first offered to him, not being desirous, so relatively early, 
 to escape the cares and burdens of his official position. He 
 disliked, probably, to follow the example of Lord Chatham, 
 whose influence perceptibly waned when age induced him to 
 leave the arena, and abandon the active contests of the House of 
 Commons — called proudly the firnt and finest assembly of 
 gentlemen in Europe — in order to take refuge in the more 
 peaceful but more imposing walls of the House of Lords, which 
 has often been compared, and with reason, to the Roman Senate. 
 Very far from diminishing, the influence of Lord Beaconsfield 
 had not ceased to increase during several years, and his activity 
 sometimes manifested itself under the most audacious forms in 
 the diplomatic contests of the entire world. Possosing the confi- 
 der."" of the whole nation, enjoying an almost absolute power, 
 overwhelmed with the most signal honors, we can say of him as 
 of his predeces.sors : 
 
 " Nor King, nor deputy of Kings, 
 " Yet greater than all Kings." 
 
 On his side, Sir John Macdonald has obtained the most eminent 
 distinction wliicb has ever been conferred upon a representative 
 
— 36 — 
 
 of Colony when he was named as member of the Privy Council 
 of England. In his recent travels beyond the sea, the Queen has 
 evinced the most tiattering regard for his character, inviting him 
 to her private table ; and we have already mentioned that he was 
 the welcome guest of her Prime Minister, honors, doubtless, to 
 which he was duly sensitive. 
 
 There is no shadow of doubt but that he has not had so vast 
 a theatre for the exercise of his talents as the English statesman, 
 but we do not Hatter ourselves in saying that he was sufficiently 
 brilliantly endowed with talent to enable him to play a leading 
 ri)le among the six hundred and fifty members who compose 
 the House of Commons in England. FoisLoi ity vvoalu not forgot 
 liis name, even had nothing been done, in order to preserve 
 it, but his own most impoi'tant contribution towards laying 
 the base of that grand and now imposing Confederation, which 
 following the prophetic words of Montalembert, would on. 
 day, from the mouth of Oregon to that of the St. Lawrence, 
 become a powerful rival of the United States. A name 
 inscribed upon (mck a monument cannot possibly perish, or 
 fade into oblivion. 
 
 Whatever may be the judgment of history, the two First 
 Ministers of England and Canada — of whom we have just com- 
 pared the career — are brilliant examples of the success reserved 
 to talent, to industry, and to perseverance, in countries absolutely 
 free. If they have been able truthfully to say that it is possible 
 to find the bdton of a field marshal in the knapsack of every 
 French soldier, we can also scy without danger of contradiction 
 tliat there is no step so high in the social and political scale to 
 which every .subject of Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Victoria, 
 may not attain, who knows how, and, knowing, tries, to merit 
 the confidence and support of his fellow citizens. 
 
 JOSEPH TASSE. 
 

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