f, and made him also think that the working
classes were ready to follow the lead of the rich. He perceived that
the Liberal ministry of 1868-74 had offended certain influential
sections by appearing too demiss or too unenterprising in foreign
affairs, and fancied that the bulk of the nation would be dazzled by a
warlike mien, and an active, even aggressive, foreign policy. Such a
policy was congenial to his own ideas, and to the society that
surrounded him. It was applauded by some largely circulated newspapers
which had previously been unfriendly to the Tory party. Thus he was
more surprised than any other man of similar experience to find the
nation sending up a larger majority against him in 1880 than it had
sent up for him in 1874. This was the most striking instance of his
miscalculation. But he had all through his career an imperfect
comprehension of the English people. Individuals, or even an assembly,
may be understood by dint of close and long-continued observation; but
to understand a whole nation, one must also have sympathy, and this
his circumstances, not less than his character, had denied him.

It was partly the same defect that prevented him from mastering the
general politics of Europe. There is a sense in which no single man
can pretend to understand Europe. Bismarck himself did not. The
problem is too vast, the facts to be known too numerous, the
undercurrents too varying. One can speak only of more or less. If
Europe had been in his time what it was a century before, Disraeli
would have had a far better chance of being fit to become what it was
probably his dearest wish to become--its guide and arbiter. He would
have taken the measure of the princes and ministers with whom he had
to deal, would have seen and adroitly played on their weaknesses. His
novels show how often he had revolved diplomatic situations in his
mind, and reflected on the way of handling them. Foreign diplomatists
are agreed that at the Congress of Berlin he played his part to
admiration, spoke seldom, but spoke always to the point and with
dignity, had a perfect conception of what he meant to secure, and of
the means he must employ to secure it, never haggled over details or
betrayed any eagerness to win support, never wavered in his demands,
even when they seemed to lead straight to war. Dealing with
individuals, who represented material forces which he had gauged, he
was perfectly at home, and deserved the praise he obtained fr