himself a
decided Free Trader. He was not a man who would have elbowed his way
upward. But elbows were not needed. His abilities, as well as his
industry and the confidence he inspired, speedily brought him to the
top. He was appointed Secretary to the Treasury in 1859, entered the
Cabinet in 1866, when a new Tory Ministry was formed under Lord Derby;
and when in 1876 Mr. Disraeli retired to the House of Lords, he
became, being then Chancellor of the Exchequer, leader of the majority
in the House of Commons, while Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the only other
person who had been thought of as suitable for that post, received a
peerage. Mr. Hardy was a more forcible and rousing speaker, but
Northcote had more varied accomplishments and a fuller mastery of
official work. Disraeli said that he had "the largest parliamentary
knowledge of any man he had met."

As an administrator, Sir Stafford Northcote was diligent, judicious,
and free from any taint of jobbery. He sought nothing for himself; did
not abuse his patronage; kept the public interests steadily before his
mind. He was considerate to his subordinates, and gracious to all
men. He never grudged labour, although there might be no prospect of
winning credit by it. Scrupulous in discharging his duties to his
party, he overtaxed his strength by speaking constantly at public
meetings in the country, a kind of work he must have disliked, and for
which he was ill fitted by the moderation of his views and of his
language. Parliament is not a good place for the pursuit of pure
truth, but the platform is still less favourable to that quest. It was
remarked of him that even in party gatherings, where invective against
political opponents is apt to be expected and relished, he argued
fairly, and never condescended to abuse.

As a Parliamentarian he had two eminent merits--immense knowledge
and admirable readiness. He had been all his life a keen observer
and a diligent student; and as his memory was retentive, all that he
had observed or read stood at his command. In questions of trade and
finance, questions which, owing, perhaps, to their increasing
intricacy, seem to be less and less frequently mastered by practical
politicians in England, he was especially strong. No other man on his
own side in politics spoke on such matters with equal authority, and
the brunt of the battle fell on him whenever they came up for
discussion. As he had now his old master for his chief antagonist, the