Lord George Bentinck

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: ISO-8859-1
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GEORGE BENTINCK ***

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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 end, and there
was that pang in the public heart which accompanies the unexpected
disappearance of a strong character.
What manner of man this was, who thus on a sudden in the middle term
of life relinquished all the ease and pleasure of a patrician existence to
work often eighteen hours daily, not for a vain and brilliant notoriety,
which was foreign alike both to his tastes and his turn of mind, but for
the advancement of principles, the advocacy of which in the chief scene
of his efforts was sure to obtain for him only contention and unkindly
feelings; what were his motives, purposes and opinions; how and why
did he labour; what were the whole scope and tendency of this original,
vigorous, and self-schooled intelligence; these would appear to be
subjects not unworthy of contemplation, and especially not
uninteresting to a free and political community.
The difficulty of treating cotemporary characters and events has been
ever acknowledged; but it may be doubted whether the difficulty is
diminished when we would commemorate the men and things that have
preceded us. The cloud of passion in the first instance, or in the other
the mist of time, may render it equally hard and perplexing to
discriminate.
It should not be forgotten that the most authentic and interesting
histories are those which have been composed by actors in the

transactions which they record. The cotemporary writer who is
personally familiar with his theme has unquestionably a great
advantage; but it is assumed that his pen can scarcely escape the bias of
private friendship or political connection. Yet truth, after all, is the
sovereign passion of mankind; nor is the writer of these pages prepared
to relinquish his conviction that it is possible to combine the accuracy
of the present with the impartiality of the future.
Lord George Bentinck had sat for eighteen years in Parliament, and,
before he entered it, had been for three years private secretary to Mr.
Canning, who had married the sister of the Duchess of Portland. Such a
post would seem a happy commencement of a public career; but
whether it were the untimely death of his distinguished relative, or a
natural indisposition, Lord George--though he retained the seat for
King's Lynn, in which he had succeeded his uncle, the late
governor-general of India--directed his energies to other than
parliamentary pursuits. For some time he had followed his profession,
which was that of arms, but of late years he had become absorbed