BENJAMIN, Earl of BEACONSFIELD, author and statesman, eldest son of ISAAC, was b. in London, 1805; he received a private education, which was care fully superintended by his father. At the age when most other young men who rise to political distinction are sent to a university, he was articled to a solicitor, with a view of qualifying him for a situation in a government office, which had been obtained for him by his father. The drudgery of a lawyer's office being distasteful to him, he contributed to a tory journal, the Representative, which came to an untimely end. In 1827, he published his novel Vivian Grey, which was succeeded at intervals by other brilliant works of fiction, including The Young Duke; Contarini Fleming; The Wondrous Tale of Alroy; and Henrietta Temple. He also wrote The Rise of Is/Lander; A Vindication, of the British Constitution; and The Revolutionary Epic. After visiting Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, he returned to England, to find the country involved in the reform bill agitation. His sympathies appear now to have inclined to radicalism in politics; and having obtained recommendations from Mr. Hume and Mr. O'Connell, he presented himself in 1832 to the electors of Wycombe, but was defeated. At the general election in 1835, he met with no better success. In April in the same year, he contested Taun ton on conservative principles, but again without success. In 1837, his desire for a political career being unabated, he contested Maidstone in the conservative interest along with Mr. Wyndham Lewis. He was elected, and at the age of 32 took his seat in the house of commons. His maiden speech, which was in a high-flown style, and delivered with extravagant gestures, excited the laughter of the house of commons. He was so much disconcerted, that he stopped short abruptly, but not without uttering the remarkable prophecy: "I shall sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me." In 1838, Mr. W. Lewis died, and in the following year D. married the widow of his late colleague. He then carefully studied the style of successful parlia mentary orators, making few speeches. It was not till 1849 that he began to attract notice, and not long afterwards he gained the ear of the house as the leader of the Young England party. After entering parliament, D. wrote several novels—Coningsby (1844); Sybil (1845); and 2ancred (1847), in which the principles of Young England are most ingeniously blended with theories about the intellectual supremacy of the Jews, inaccurate scientific notions, and misconceptions of English social life. At the general election in 1841, he obtained a seat for Shrewsbury. He then became the organ of the dissatisfaction with which the lauded aristocracy and country gentry regarded sir Robert Peel's relaxations of the system of protection to native industry. His brilliant
invective and polished sarcasm inspired the protectionist party with fallacious hope and confidence. On the death of lord George Bentinck in 1848, D. succeeded to the leader ship of the protectionist party in the commons. He bore generous testimony to the political consistency and private worth of his predecessor in his Lord George Bentinck, a Biography. in 1852, the earl of Derby, having undertaken the construction of a cabinet, offered him the post of chancellor of the exchequer. It was the first time a brilliant novelist had ever figured as the finance minister of a great commercial state, and it argues well for the versatility of his genius that lie emerged with honor and credit from the ordeal. His second budget, in 1853, failed, however, to find acceptance with the house of commons, and the government being outvoted upon it, the Derby cabinet ceased to exist. D. resumed the leadership of the opposition, from which he was again summoned in 1858, to fill the post of chancellor of the exchequer in the second administration of lord Derby. In 1859, he introduced a measure of parliamen tary reform, which, being thrown out, was followed by the resignation of the govern ment. For seven years the liberals remained in power, and Mr. Disraeli, in opposition, displayed talents as a debater, and a spirit and persistency under defeat, which won for him the admiration of his opponents. When lord Derby returned to power in July, 1866, D. again returned to the post of chancellor of the exchequer. It was he chiefly who induced the conservative party to pass the reform bill of 1867, his argument being, that the working-class householders are more conservative than those to whom the franchise had been previously extended. In Feb., 1868, D. succeeded lord Derby as premier, but, in the face of a hostile majority, he resigned in the following Dec. On this occasion, Mrs. Disraeli, in acknowledgment of her husband's services, was raised to the peerage as viscountess Beaconsfield (died 1872). In 1870, D. published another novel, Lothair, marked by most of the merits and defectsmf those which preceded it. In 1873, the popularity of Mr. Gladstone subsided, and the election of 1874 giving the conservatives a large majority, D. returned to power as prime-minister. In 1877, D. took his seat in the upper house as earl of Beaconsfield. Still premier, the earl was the guiding spirit of his cabinet during the critical years 1877-78, seeking by energetic action in eastern affairs to give an " imperial " character to English policy; and he returned from the congress of Berlin bringing, as he said, "peace with honor." He is LL.D. of Edinburgh, D. C.L. of Oxford, has twice been lord rector of Glasgow university, and holds many other honorary offices and titles.