The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord George Bentinck, by Benjamin Disraeli

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Title: Lord George Bentinck
A Political Biography

Author: Benjamin Disraeli

Release Date: December 3, 2006 [EBook #20007]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD GEORGE BENTINCK ***

Produced by David Widger

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK

A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY

By Benjamin Disraeli

'He left us the legacy of heroes: the memory of his great name and the
inspiration of his great example.'

TO

LORD HENRY BENTINCK,

IS INSCRIBED

This Political Biography

ONE FOR WHOM HE ENTERTAINED A DEEP AFFECTION,

AND WHOSE TALENTS AND VIRTUES

HE SHARES.

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK

A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY

[Illustration: bentink-page009]

CHAPTER I.

_The Man_

THE political career of Lord George Bentinck was peculiar. He had, to
use his own expression, 'sate in eight Parliaments without having taken
part in any great debate,' when remarkable events suddenly impelled him
to advance and occupy not only a considerable but a leading position
in our public affairs. During three years, under circumstances of great
difficulty, he displayed some of the highest qualities of political
life: courage and a lofty spirit; a mastery of details which experience
usually alone confers; a quick apprehension and a clear intelligence;
indomitable firmness; promptness, punctuality, and perseverance which
never failed; an energy seldom surpassed; and a capacity for labour
which was perhaps never equalled. At the very moment when he had
overcome many contrarieties and prejudices; when he had been most
successful in the House of Commons, and, sustained only by his own
resources, had considerably modified the legislation of the government
which he opposed on a measure of paramount importance; when the nation,
which had long watched him with interest, began to congratulate itself
on the devotion of such a man to the business of the country, he was in
an instant taken from us. Then it was that, the memory of the past and
the hope of the future blending together, all men seemed to mourn over
this untimely en