[Footnote 68:  It is believed that a proposal to reform the constitution of the Egyptian Legislative Council and to extend somewhat its powers is now under consideration.  Any reasonable proposals of this nature should be welcomed, but they will do little or nothing towards granting autonomy to Egypt in the sense in which I understand that word.]

“THE SPECTATOR”

VIII

DISRAELI

"The Spectator,” November 1912

No one who has lived much in the East can, in reading Mr. Monypenny’s volumes, fail to be struck with the fact that Disraeli was a thorough Oriental.  The taste for tawdry finery, the habit of enveloping in mystery matters as to which there was nothing to conceal, the love of intrigue, the tenacity of purpose—­though this is perhaps more a Jewish than an invariably Oriental characteristic—­the luxuriance of the imaginative faculties, the strong addiction to plausible generalities set forth in florid language, the passionate outbursts of grief expressed at times in words so artificial as to leave a doubt in the Anglo-Saxon mind as to whether the sentiments can be genuine, the spasmodic eruption of real kindness of heart into a character steeped in cynicism, the excess of flattery accorded at one time to Peel for purely personal objects contrasted with the excess of vituperation poured forth on O’Connell for purposes of advertisement, and the total absence of any moral principle as a guide of life—­all these features, in a character which is perhaps not quite so complex as is often supposed, hail from the East.  What is not Eastern is his unconventionality, his undaunted moral courage, and his ready conception of novel political ideas—­often specious ideas, resting on no very solid foundation, but always attractive, and always capable of being defended by glittering plausibilities.  He was certainly a man of genius, and he used that genius to found a political school based on extreme self-seeking opportunism.  In this respect he cannot be acquitted of the charge of having contributed towards the degradation of English political life.

Mr. Monypenny’s first volume deals with Disraeli’s immature youth.  In the second, the story of the period (1837-46) during which Disraeli rose to power is admirably told, and a most interesting story it is.

Whatever views one may adopt of Disraeli’s character and career, it is impossible not to be fascinated in watching the moral and intellectual development of this very remarkable man, whose conduct throughout life, far from being wayward and erratic, as has at times been somewhat superficially supposed, was in reality in the highest degree methodical, being directed with unflagging persistency to one end, the gratification of his own ambition—­an ambition, it should always be remembered, which, albeit it was honourable, inasmuch as it was directed to no ignoble ends, was