Sybil, Or, The Two Nations

by Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli

  "His lordship has not yet rung his bell, gentlemen."

  It was the valet of Lord Milford that spoke, addressing from the door ofa house in Belgrave Square, about noon, a deputation from the NationalConvention, consisting of two of its delegates, who waited on the youngviscount in common with other members of the legislature, in orderto call his particular attention to the National Petition which theConvention had prepared, and which in the course of the session was tobe presented by one of the members for Birmingham.

  "I fear we are too early for these fine birds," said one delegate to theother. "Who is next on our list?"

  "No. 27, -- Street, close by; Mr THOROUGH BASE: he ought to be with thepeople, for his father was only a fiddler; but I understand he is quitean aristocrat and has married a widow of quality."

  "Well, knock."

  Mr Thorough Base was not at home; had received the card of the delegatesapprising him of the honour of their intended visit, but had made up hismind on the subject.

  No.18 in the same street received them more courteously. Here residedMr KREMLIN, who after listening with patience if not with interest,to their statement, apprised them that forms of government were of noconsequence, and domestic policy of no interest; that there was onlyone subject which should engage the attention of public men, becauseeverything depended on it,--that was our external system; and that theonly specific for a revival of trade and the contentment of the people,was a general settlement of the boundary questions. Finally, Mr Kremlinurged upon the National Convention to recast their petition with thisview, assuring them that on foreign policy they would have the publicwith them.

  The deputation in reply might have referred as an evidence of thegeneral interest excited by questions of foreign policy, to theimpossibility even of a leader making a house on one; and to the factthat there are not three men in the House of Commons who even pretendto have any acquaintance with the external circumstances of the country;they might have added, that even in such an assembly Mr Kremlin himselfwas distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea,--and that waswrong.

  Their next visit was to WRIGGLE, a member for a metropolitan district,a disciple of Progress, who went with the times, but who took particulargood care to ascertain their complexion and whose movements ifexpedient could partake of a regressive character. As the Charter mightsome day turn up trumps as well as so many other unexpected cardsand colours, Wriggle gave his adhesion to it, but of course onlyprovisionally; provided that is to say, he might vote against it atpresent. But he saw no harm in it--not he, and should be prepared tosupport it when circumstances, that is to say the temper of the times,would permit him. More could hardly be expected from a gentleman in thedelicate position in which Wriggle found himself at this moment, for hehad solicited a baronetcy of the whigs, and had secretly pledged himselfto Taper to vote against them on the impending Jamaica division.

  BOMBASTES RIP snubbed them, which was hard, for he had been one ofthemselves, had written confidential letters in 1831 to the secretary ofthe Treasury, and "provided his expenses were paid," offered to come upfrom the manufacturing town he now represented, at the head of a hundredthousand men, and burn down Apsley House. But now Bombastes Rip talkedof the great middle class; of public order and public credit. He wouldhave said more to them, but had an appointment in the city, being amost active member of the committee for raising a statue to the Duke ofWellington.

  FLOATWELL received them in the politest manner, though he did not agreewith them. What he did agree with was difficult to say. Clever, brisk,and bustling, with an university reputation and without patrimony,Floatwell shrunk from the toils of a profession, and in the hurry skurryof reform found himself to his astonishment a parliament man. There hehad remained, but why, the Fates alone knew. The fun of such a thingmust have evaporated with the novelty. Floatwell had entered public lifein complete ignorance of every subject which could possibly engagethe attention of a public man. He knew nothing of history, national orconstitutional law, had indeed none but puerile acquirements, andhad seen nothing of life. Assiduous at committees he gained thosesuperficial habits of business which are competent to the conduct ofordinary affairs, and picked up in time some of the slang of economicalquestions. Floatwell began at once with a little success, and he kepthis little success; nobody envied him it; he hoarded his sixpenceswithout exciting any evil emulation. He was one of those characters whoabove all things shrink from isolation, and who imagine they are gettingon if they are keeping company with some who stick like themselves. Hewas always an idolater of some great personage who was on the shelf,and who he was convinced, because the great personage assured him ofit after dinner, would sooner or later turn out the man. At present,Floatwell swore by Lord Dunderhead; and the game of this little coterie,who dined together and thought they were a party, was to be courteous tothe Convention.

  After the endurance of an almost interminable lecture on the currencyfrom Mr KITE, who would pledge himself to the charter if the charterwould pledge itself to one-pound notes, the two delegates had arrived inPiccadilly, and the next member upon their list was Lord Valentine.

  "It is two o'clock," said one of the delegates, "I think we mayventure;" so they knocked at the portal of the court yard, and foundthey were awaited.

  A private staircase led to the suite of rooms of Lord Valentine, wholived in the family mansion. The delegates were ushered throughan ante-chamber into a saloon which opened into a very fancifulconservatory, where amid tall tropical plants played a fountain. Thesaloon was hung with blue satin, and adorned with brilliant mirrors: itscoved ceiling was richly painted, and its furniture became the rest ofits decorations. On one sofa were a number of portfolios, some open,full of drawings of costumes; a table of pietra dura was covered withrichly bound volumes that appeared to have been recently referred to;several ancient swords of extreme beauty were lying on a couch; ina corner of the room was a figure in complete armour, black and goldrichly inlaid, and grasping in its gauntlet the ancient standard ofEngland.

  The two delegates of the National Convention stared at each other, asif to express their surprise that a dweller in such an abode should everhave permitted them to enter it; but ere either of them could venture tospeak, Lord Valentine made his appearance.

  He was a young man, above the middle height, slender, broad-shouldered,small-waisted, of a graceful presence; he was very fair, with dark blueeyes, bright and intelligent, and features of classic precision a smallGreek cap crowned his long light-brown hair, and he was enveloped in amorning robe of Indian shawls.

  "Well, gentlemen," said his lordship, as he invited them to be seated,in a clear and cheerful voice, and with an unaffected tone of franknesswhich put his guests at their ease; "I promised to see you; well, whathave you got to say?"

  The delegates made their accustomed statement; they wished to pledge noone; all that the people desired was a respectful discussion of theirclaims; the national petition, signed by nearly a million and a half ofthe flower of the working classes, was shortly to be presented to theHouse of Commons, praying the House to take into consideration thefive points in which the working classes deemed their best interestsinvolved; to wit, universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annualparliaments, salaried members, and the abolition of the propertyqualification.

  "And supposing these five points conceded," said Lord Valentine, "whatdo you mean to do?"

  "The people then being at length really represented," replied one of thedelegates, "they would decide upon the measures which the interests ofthe great majority require."

  "I am not so clear about that," said Lord Valentine; "that is the verypoint at issue. I do not think the great majority are the best judges oftheir own interests. At all events, gentlemen, the respective advantagesof aristocracy and democracy are a moot point. Well then, finding thequestion practically settled in this country, you will excuse me for notwishing to agitate it. I give you complete credit for the sincerity ofyour convictions; extend the same confidence to me. You a
re democrats;I am an aristocrat. My family has been ennobled for nearly threecenturies; they bore a knightly name before their elevation. They havemainly and materially assisted in making England what it is. They haveshed their blood in many battles; I have had two ancestors killed in thecommand of our fleets. You will not underrate such services, even if youdo not appreciate their conduct as statesmen, though that has often beenlaborious, and sometimes distinguished. The finest trees in Englandwere planted by my family; they raised several of your most beautifulchurches; they have built bridges, made roads, dug mines, andconstructed canals, and drained a marsh of a million of acres whichbears our name to this day, and is now one of the most flourishingportions of the country. You talk of our taxation and our wars; and ofyour inventions and your industry. Our wars converted an island intoan empire, and at any rate developed that industry and stimulated thoseinventions of which you boast. You tell me that you are the delegatesof the unrepresented working classes of Mowbray. Why, what would Mowbrayhave been if it had not been for your aristocracy and their wars? Yourtown would not have existed; there would have been no working classesthere to send up delegates. In fact you owe your every existence tous. I have told you what my ancestors have done; I am prepared, if theoccasion requires it, not to disgrace them; I have inherited their greatposition, and I tell you fairly, gentlemen, I will not relinquish itwithout a struggle."

  "Will you combat the people in that suit of armour, my lord?" said oneof the delegates smiling, but in a tone of kindness and respect.

  "That suit of armour has combated for the people before this," said LordValentine, "for it stood by Simon de Montfort on the field of Evesham."

  "My lord," said the other delegate, "it is well known that you come froma great and honoured race; and we have seen enough to-day to show thatin intelligence and spirit you are not unworthy of your ancestry. Butthe great question, which your lordship has introduced, not us, is notto be decided by a happy instance. Your ancestors may have done greatthings. What wonder! They were members of a very limited class which hadthe monopoly of action. And the people, have not they shed their bloodin battle, though they may have commanded fleets less often than yourlordship's relatives? And these mines and canals that you have excavatedand constructed, these woods you have planted, these waters you havedrained--had the people no hand in these creations? What share in thesegreat works had that faculty of Labour whose sacred claims we now urge,but which for centuries have been passed over in contemptuous silence?No, my lord, we call upon you to decide this question by the result.The Aristocracy of England have had for three centuries the exerciseof power; for the last century and a half that exercise has beenuncontrolled; they form at this moment the most prosperous class thatthe history of the world can furnish: as rich as the Roman senators,with sources of convenience and enjoyment which modern science couldalone supply. All this is not denied. Your order stands before Europethe most gorgeous of existing spectacles; though you have of late yearsdexterously thrown some of the odium of your polity upon that middleclass which you despise, and who are despicable only because theyimitate you, your tenure of power is not in reality impaired. You governus still with absolute authority--and you govern the most miserablepeople on the face of the globe."

  "And is this a fair description of the people of England?" said LordValentine. "A flash of rhetoric, I presume, that would place them lowerthan the Portuguese or the Poles, the serfs of Russia or the Lazzaroniof Naples."

  "Infinitely lower," said the delegate, "for they are not only degraded,but conscious of their degradation. They no longer believe in anyinnate difference between the governing and the governed classes of thiscountry. They are sufficiently enlightened to feel they are victims.Compared with the privileged classes of their own land, they are ina lower state than any other population compared with its privilegedclasses. All is relative, my lord, and believe me, the relations of theworking classes of England to its privileged orders are relations ofenmity, and therefore of peril."

  "The people must have leaders," said Lord Valentine.

  "And they have found them," said the delegate.

  "When it comes to a push they will follow their nobility," said LordValentine.

  "Will their nobility lead them?" said the other delegate. "For my partI do not pretend to be a philosopher, and if I saw a Simon de Montfortagain I should be content to fight under his banner."

  "We have an aristocracy of wealth," said the delegate who had chieflyspoken. "In a progressive civilization wealth is the only means of classdistinction: but a new disposition of wealth may remove even this."

  "Ah! you want to get at our estates," said Lord Valentine smiling; "butthe effort on your part may resolve society into its original elements,and the old sources of distinction may again develop themselves."

  "Tall barons will not stand against Paixhans rockets," said thedelegate. "Modern science has vindicated the natural equality of man."

  "And I must say I am very sorry for it," said the other delegate;"for human strength always seems to me the natural process of settlingaffairs."

  "I am not surprised at your opinion," said Lord Valentine, turning tothe delegate and smiling. "I should not be over-glad to meet you in afray. You stand some inches above six feet, or I am mistaken."

  "I was six feet two inches when I stopped growing," said the delegate;"and age has not stolen any of my height yet."

  "That suit of armour would fit you," said Lord Valentine, as they allrose.

  "And might I ask your lordship," said the tall delegate, "why it ishere?"

  "I am to represent Richard Coeur de Lion at the Queen's ball," said LordValentine; "and before my sovereign I will not don a Drury-Lane cuirass,so I got this up from my father's castle."

  "Ah! I almost wish the good old times of Coeur de Lion were here again,"said the tall delegate.

  "And we should be serfs," said his companion.

  "I am not sure of that," said the tall delegate. "At any rate there wasthe free forest."

  "I like that young fellow," said the tall delegate to his companion, asthey descended the staircase.

  "He has awful prejudices," said his friend.

  "Well, well; he has his opinions and we have ours. But he is a man;with clear, straightforward ideas, a frank, noble, presence; and asgood-looking a fellow as I ever set eyes on. Where are we now?"

  "We have only one more name on our list to-day, and it is at hand.Letter K, No.1, Albany. Another member of the aristocracy, theHonourable Charles Egremont."

  "Well, I prefer them, as far as I can judge, to Wriggle, and Rip, andThorough Base," said the tall delegate laughing. "I dare say we shouldhave found Lord Milford a very jolly fellow, if he had only been up."

  "Here we are," said his companion, as he knocked. "Mr Egremont, is he athome?"

  "The gentlemen of the deputation? Yes, my master gave particular ordersthat he was at home to you. Will you walk in, gentlemen?"

  "There you see," said the tall delegate. "This would be a lesson toThorough Base."

  They sat down in an antechamber: the servant opened a mahoganyfolding-door which he shut after him and announced to his master thearrival of the delegates. Egremont was seated in his library, at a roundtable covered with writing materials, books, and letters. On anothertable were arranged his parliamentary papers, and piles of blue books.The room was classically furnished. On the mantelpiece were some ancientvases, which he had brought with him from Italy, standing on each sideof that picture of Allori of which we have spoken.

  The servant returned to the ante-room, and announcing to the delegatesthat his master was ready to receive them, ushered into the presence ofEgremont--WALTER GERARD and STEPHEN MORLEY.

  Book 4 Chapter 6