ights or the assumption of
their existence is the best possible government, the only natural
one, the only one capable of perpetuating itself without constant
and violent changes. Kept on the defensive by the forward movement
of the people, as well as by the tendency towards Liberalism or
Radicalism shown by the men of highest education among the
aristocratic classes themselves, the English Conservatives were
delighted to find a man of great ability and striking eloquence, who
seemed to have a religious conviction that "Toryism" was the only
means of saving society and ensuring progress. It is characteristic
of his mind and his methods, that he does not shrink from calling
himself a Tory. He is as proud of bearing that reproach as Camilla
Desmoulins was of being called a Sansculotte. When a man is thus
"for thorough," he becomes representative of all who have his
aspirations or share his tendencies without his aggressiveness. No
doubt Disraeli's speeches are the best embodiment of Tory principle,
the most attractive presentation of aristocratic purposes in
government made in the nineteenth century. No member of the English
peerage to the "manner born" has approached him in this respect.
It is not a question of whether others have equaled or exceeded him
in ability or statesmanship. On that point there may be room for
difference of opinion, but to read any one of his great speeches is
to see at once that he has the infinite advantage of the rest in
being the strenuous and faith-inspired champion of aristocracy and
government by privilege--not the mere defender and apologist for
it.

In the extent of his information, the energy and versatility of his
intellect, and the boldness of his methods, he had no equal among
the Conservative leaders of the Victorian reign. His audacity was
well illustrated when, after the great struggle over the reform
measures of 1866 which he opposed, the Conservatives succeeded to
power, and he, as their representative, advanced a measure "more
sweeping in its nature as a reform bill than that he had
successfully opposed" when it was advocated by Gladstone. In
foreign affairs, he showed the same boldness, working to check the
Liberal advance at home by directing public attention away from
domestic grievances to brilliant achievements abroad. This policy
which his opponents resented the more bitterly because they saw it
to be the only one by which they could be held in check, won him