Disraeli

BENJ AMI N DI S RAELI
DISRAELI
GLENN HOROWI TZ BOOKS ELLER
NEW YORK CI TY
MMI V
ts Patrick McGrath xn Glenn Horowitz
c o r s r i o u : o o o i r u o r o wi z t o o x s r i i r r, i c .
o i r u o r o wi z t o o x s r i i r r
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I LLUS TRATI ONS
Passport of Benjamin Disraeli [recto] :
Autographletter to the Morning Chronicle, ca.July.: c-
Passport of Benjamin Disraeli [verso] ,,
( , )
T
HE ARCHIVE covers every aspect of Disraelis mature life, beginning
with the manuscripts for the Home Letters, a series of dispatches to family
members from stops on his rst tour of the continent in .,o and .,.
(bound with Ralph Disraelis corrected proofs for the posthumous rst edition).
Those exuberant communications contrast sharply with the chaos and despera-
tion of the thirty-two letters to his tailor cum banker Richard Culverwell, com-
posed at the crucial juncture following the success of Vivian Grey, his rst novel,
but prior to his inaugural election to Parliament in .,-. In both series we witness
the transformation of a tumultuous boy-man into a sober Parliamentarian; we see
Disraeli abandon his mistresses and enter into marriage (in the letter he sent his
solicitor about his pre-nuptial agreement as well as the one he dispatched to his
sister Sarah about preparations for the wedding ceremony); and in the proud,
playful accounts to Sarah detailing his experiences in the House of Commons we
calibrate his growing condence. In all, there are almost ,o letters from the early
Parliamentary years; an equal number covering the period from the .c- Reform
Bill until Disraelis defeat in the General Election of .o; :- letters on tactics and
intrigues to his Parliamentary whip, William Hart-Dyke; and, nally, the massive
collection of letters and manuscripts to Algernon Turnor, his Second Private Sec-
retary during his last administration from .- to .o.
The Turnor material an archive within the Archive is an exceptional
resource for understanding the Prime Ministerial Disraeli. Rich in letters on gov-
ernance, it has telegrams in Disraelis holograph to the Queen and other Euro-
pean heads of state, some in cipher, as well as a crucial Cabinet memorandum
( - )
about the crises in Afghanistan and India. The lengthy correspondence to Turnor
and Hart-Dyke, along with those to female intimates like Lady Chesham and
Lady Forester, also afford glimpses into Disraelis private emotions as he balanced
the privileges of power. Each contains moving expressions of frustration about
failing health (he commenced his second term as Prime Minister at -o), exasperat-
ed comments about the press and the obstinacy of public opinion, and humorous
jibes at almost everyone he encountered. Throughout, the Archive is saturated by
the legendary wit with which Disraeli entertained allies and skewered enemies for
decades.
This is, we believe, the most extensive Disraeli collection offered in decades,
and it constitutes the largest holding of Disraeliana outside of British institutions.
What follows is a Baedeker to the Archive, arranged, roughly, in accord with the
chronology of Disraelis life.
The Grand Tour and the Home Letters
Disraeli was already notorious and more than a little disreputable when this
collection picks up his story in the late .:os, soon after the publication of Vivian
Grey. The novels succs de scandale generated a backlash when the public learned
that the author was not the experienced man of affairs the narrator purported to
be, but a twenty-something on the make, whose sole achievement was a pile of
debt from stock market speculations. Sensitive to his sinking fortunes, both eco-
nomic and social, Disraeli tried to bolster his position with self-laudatory articles
and pamphlets, but not even his burgeoning literary skills could transform imsy
ventures like the Anglo-Mexican Mining Association into viable enterprises. A
stab at newspaper publishing proved equally disastrous, compounding his debts.
He needed to get away.
In late .:, Disraeli may have suffered a nervous breakdown or, more likely,
played host to one of those mysterious psycho-physical ailments that seemed
rampant in nineteenth-century life and letters: one doctor gave him the preposter-
ous diagnosis of chronic inammation of the membranes of the brain, and rec-
ommended rest and a change of climate. Disraeli himself would describe his state
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t r j x x i n i s r x r i i
as one of those tremendous disorganizations which happen to all men at some
period of their lives, and which are perhaps equally necessary for the formation of
both body and constitution. Whether I shall ever do anything which may mark me
out from the crowd, I know not. I am one of those to whom moderate reputation
can give no pleasure, and who in all probability am incapable of achieving a great
one. Isaac DIsraeli characterized his sons malady as one of those perplexing
cases which remain uncertain and obscure, till they are nally got rid of. Mean-
while patience and resignation must be his lot two drugs in human life, bitter of
digestion, in an ardent and excitable mind (Monypenny, i, ..c).
With nancial aid from his father and proceeds from the sale of a hastily
composed novel, The Young Duke, Disraeli, along with his sister Sarahs anc
William Meredith, set off for the east in the spring of .,o. Almost immediate-
ly he began sending letters to his father, his brother Ralph, and his sister the
correspondence that makes up the Home Letters. They have, as biographer
Lord Blake put it, a zest, a vitality, and a self-serving egotism which seldom fail
to fascinate. Whether writing about ponderous British ofcials, exotic foreign
potentates, or memorable servants, Disraeli was always vivid, witty, and sharp.
The Judge-Advocate-General in Gibraltar, for example, was a true lawyer, ever
illustrating the obvious, explaining the evident, and expatiating the common-
place. The Turkish Grand Vizier was an approved warrior, a consummate
politician, unrivalled as a dissembler in a country where dissimulation is the prin-
cipal portion of their moral culture. Disraelis audience with the pillar of the
Turkish empire was a heady experience, as was his conversation with an Austri-
an diplomat who said with the self-possession of a morning call that the Grand
Vizier has destroyed in the course of the last three months upwards of four
thousand of my acquaintance. His route took him to Gibraltar, Spain, Malta,
Albania, Greece, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Egypt, and his letters home
demonstrate profound powers of observation. The membranes of his brain had
obviously healed.
On July ., .,o Disraeli reports on news of King George IIIs death, lament-
ing that the obligatory period of black-clad mourning would be the destruction
( , )
u r o r x n o u r x n u r u o x r i r r r s

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