From: INSIGHTS
Subject: IRAQI ABUSE - UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTAL ORIGINS
Date: 
Message-ID: <0YQ3JE1S38115.2110300926@Gilgamesh-Frog.org>
MARK SHEILDS  - versus - DAVID BROOKS  =   GLADSTONE - versus - DISRAELI

David Brooks was the ugliest and most mischievous tonight putting a spin on
the iraqi abuse.

THE FALSE CONVERT, THE JEWISH SPY, THE INFILTERATOR, BENJAMIN D'ISRAELI
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On the one hand the conservative Benjamin Disraeli, a passionate
advocate of imperial power and glory.

And on the other, his lifelong adversary, the liberal William
Gladstone, who championed the moral vision of Prince Albert and David
Livingstone.

Gladstone was driven by a sense of high moral purpose, and a heavy
burden of guilt, in part because his own family had once made a
fortune from slave labour.

As the leader of the Liberal Party Gladstone campaigned for the export
of civilised values through commerce, not conquest.

Gladstone feels that the empire is there, there's not much you can do
about it.

He doesn't want to add to it and he believes that imperialism is a
creed which can contaminate the British people, make them warlike,
aggressive.

Whereas he thinks of a world in which there is universal peace.

When he looks at imperialism he says this, is this Godly and he
decides it isn't.

He sees it as might somehow triumphing over right.

And he's rather frightened, if the British people get entranced with
empire they'll go gallivanting off fighting wars here there and
everywhere, spend a lot of money and cease to be a moral force in the
world.

This view was fiercely contested by his great rival, Benjamin
Disraeli. Disraeli first moved into the Prime Minister's office in
1867 and for the next 15 years he and Gladstone would alternate in
power.

Disraeli believed in the expansion of the British Empire.

He liked to claim that his ancestors had been rich Venetian merchants
trading with the Orient and this gave him a romantic enthusiasm for
imperial adventures.

Disraeli viewed the empire as an extraordinary asset. The empire made
Britain a great power, a global power and also enabled it to have
plenty of muscle in Europe.

And Disraeli of course likes the glamour of Empire. He sees it
bestowing prestige on the country. He eventually hopes that the white
colonies will not follow the American course but remain emotionally
tied to Britain particularly through the person of the Crown.

But Victoria was still in mourning. Since the death of Prince Albert
she had lost interest in the Empire and all other affairs of state.

Victoria went into what I call Purdah I think because she felt
incompetent to handle being a Queen. Albert had done the work for her
so long, Albert had done everything, thought out everything for her,
arranged everything for her that she did not feel she was up to it
again.

The Queen found some consolation with the Scotsman John Brown. She
began writing about him a few months after Albert's death:

"I have an invaluable Highland servant who is my factotum here and
takes the most wonderful care of me, combining the offices of groom,
footman, page and maid, I might almost say as he is so handy about
cloaks and shawls. He always leads my pony and always attends me out
of doors ... "

I think she also enjoyed his picking her up in his arms and putting
her on her horse. And taking her off her horse again. For the first
time since Albert, she had a strong, brawny man who held her in his
arms. And I think that's as far as the sexuality really went. But
she enjoyed it

To the dismay of her family and government, the Queen and her highland
servant became inseparable. A section of press and public called her
"Mrs. Brown" and her absence from public duty was widely condemned.

There were cartoons in the newspapers about this, showing an empty
throne. There were editorials in the newspapers about it, why are we
paying so much money to maintain a Royal Family because the Royal
Family is the symbol of the Empire and of Britain and here we don't
have one.

It was Disraeli who would rekindle the queen's interest in public
affairs.

His relationship with Victoria had begun badly.

She saw him as an upstart, an opportunist, what the British call a
chancer, but Disraeli with his considerable charm, set out to win
her. His official dispatches to her were spiced with social gossip and
witty anecdotes.

Part of Disraeli's job as Prime Minister was to write an account of
what was happening in Parliament and what was going on in the cabinet
to the Queen

And Disraeli's letters to the Queen were wonderfully detailed and
rather gossipy, and actually rather indiscreet. He probably told the
Queen far more than he ought to have done particularly about divisions
of opinion.

Most people, Prime Ministers, made these letters very brief and rather
official, but Disraeli's letters to Victoria were full of sort of
protestations of affection and love and loyalty, really saying nothing
at all, they were largely sugar, but Queen Victoria lapped it up.

And for once the Queen was amused. She wrote to her eldest daughter
Vicky: "Mr. Disraeli's reports are just like his novels - highly
coloured."

She had never had such letters in her life, she declared, and had
never before known everything. Her attitude to the upstart underwent
a dramatic change.

"Mr Disraeli has achieved his present high position entirely by his
ability, his wonderful happy disposition ... and I have nothing but
praise for him."

She sent him primroses that she picked herself.

In return, Disraeli gave her a set of his novels.

Victoria had just published a book of her own, a reminiscence of her
days with Prince Albert at their palace in Scotland.

Disraeli was awfully good at just saying the tactful remark that Queen
Victoria would enjoy. For example one of the best was Disraeli saying
to her, we authors ma'am, which was precisely what Victoria longed to
hear, that they were both part of the same club of writers.

Disraeli bewitched the Queen with his romantic vision of the British
Empire. It would have horrified Prince Albert. In the future,
Victoria and Disraeli would form a powerful alliance for the imperial
cause - but it would be some time before their partnership would bear
fruit.

Disraeli first term as Prime Minister lasted less than a year. When
he was voted out of office, the Queen had to send for the leader of
the liberals - Gladstone.

Victoria began by liking Gladstone, he seemed to be an upright man. He
was ambitious but he was also extremely smart.

Prince Albert had warmly approved of Gladstone. When the new Prime
Minister came to the palace to receive the seals of office, the Queen
recorded her approval:

"He is very agreeable, so quiet and intellectual, with such a
knowledge of all subjects and is such a good man ... "

But her satisfaction did not last. Gladstone embarked on a whirlwind
of liberal reforms that revived conservative instincts in the Queen
that had been dormant while Albert was alive.

"Mr Gladstone is a very dangerous man. And so very arrogant,
tyrannical and obstinate, with no knowledge of the world or human
nature ... All this and much want of regard towards my feelings make
him a very dangerous and unsatisfactory Premier."

She was not amused when he proposed that sailors might be permitted to
grow beards. And she was horrified by moves towards female equality.

"The Queen draws Mr Gladstone's attention to the mad and utterly
demoralising movement of the present-day to place women in the same
position as men."

But it was Gladstone's private life that caused Victoria the most
concern.

"Because of his fanatical religion he felt everyone had to be
converted to his ways of morality and ethics. He would go out on the
streets at night, even when he was Prime Minister, and solicit
prostitutes, take them back to their rooms, give them bibles. He
would give them money and he would ask them to tread the straight and
narrow ways.

Victoria got to know this because her maids in waiting told her
everything and it repelled her. At one point when Gladstone was to go
up to visit Victoria at Balmoral, she sent him a letter telling him
that when he arrived it was to be with a new suit of clothes that he
had never worn before. It was very clear that she wanted nothing of
the degrading atmosphere of his involvement with these ladies of the
evening."

Gladstone was unconcerned by the Queen's personal disapproval of him
But he was appalled the imperialist ideas she had picked up from
Disraeli. His own more liberal views of Britain's role were
confidently being put to the test in Africa.

David Livingstone had returned to his Dark Continent. This time he had
been sent on an official mission to find a trading route into the
interior and to achieve his dream of combining Commerce, Civilisation
and the Christian religion.

To this end he was provided with generous funds by the British
government and accompanied by six British scientists and his wife,
Mary, herself a devoted missionary.

Livingstone believed that the Zambezi River could become a great
highway for British industrial goods.

But as they voyaged along the river, the expedition ran into dangerous
rapids.

VICTORIA: I saw Mr. Disraeli at quarter to three today. He knelt down
and kissed hands saying: 'I plight my troth to the kindest of
Mistresses'." The silver-tongued charmer was back in office. As he
had once confided to a friend:

DISRAELI: "You have heard me called a flatterer and it is true.
Everyone likes flattery and when you come to royalty you should lay it
on with a trowel."

Disraeli always loved the company of women and he was very good at
flattering women. And I think with Queen Victoria he was able to see
that she was lonely. And Disraeli was able to charm her, and to
flatter her. And I think very importantly one of the things that
Disraeli did was to encourage her to take a far more active role in
public affairs. The result of this was that basically he had Queen
Victoria as an ally particularly when he was Prime Minister.

And this was absolutely crucial I think to the success of Disraeli's
Ministry. That the Monarchy was behind it. Disraeli set out to
increase Britain's prestige and expand Victoria's Empire, and within a
year of taking office fate dealt him a brilliant opportunity.

Just five years before the Suez Canal had been carved through the
Egyptian desert. It permitted ocean-going ships to pass between the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea, linking Europe and the East. For
Britain it was the lifeline to her greatest imperial possession.

India with 400 million people was the largest overseas territory any
empire has ever owned. The Queen called it the most precious jewel in
her crown and Disraeli feared that a rival power would cut the new
imperial artery.

The Suez Canal was absolutely crucial to Britain's Empire. Suez was
the jugular vein if you like of the British Empire.

It was through the Suez Canal that the route to India, the short route
to India which was so strategically important happened.

So for Disraeli it was very important and he was quite right in this I
think, that Britain should have a controlling influence over the Suez
Canal.

The shares in the Suez Canal company were owned by a number of French
investors and the ruler of Egypt, the Khedive.

The Khedive had spent Egypt's wealth on palaces, museums and
railways. Now, he was deep in debt to banks in London and Paris. The
Canal showed no prospect of paying a dividend for years and he
desperately needed funds. In 1875, he made a secret offer to the
British.

Disraeli wrote urgently to the Queen:

DISRAELI: "Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty to your Majesty: the
Khedive, on the eve of bankruptcy, appears desirous of parting with
his shares in the Suez Canal and has communicated, confidentially ...
'Tis an affair of millions, about four at least but it is vital to
your Majesty's authority and power at this critical moment that the
Canal should belong to England. The Khedive now says that it is
absolutely necessary that he should have between three and four
millions sterling by the 30th of this month! Scarcely breathing time!
But the thing must be done!"

The Queen replied by telegram the following day, approving his course
of action but fearing that it would be difficult to arrange.
Normally, Parliament could have granted a government loan. But
Parliament was not in session and a French consortium had already bid
for the shares.

Disraeli sent his private secretary to seek help from an old friend.

Baron Rothschild was head of the great banking family and one of the
richest men in the world. The secretary explained that Disraeli
needed four million pounds - the price of the Khedive's shares in the
Suez Canal.

"When?" asked Rothschild. "By tomorrow," said the secretary.

Rothschild picked up a grape, spat out the pips, and said: "What is
your security?" "The British Government," was the reply. "You shall
have it," said the Barron

Disraeli wrote to the Queen in triumph:

DISRAELI: "It is just settled: you have it, Madam. The French
Government has been outgeneraled and the entire interest of the
Khedive is now yours."

The Queen was delighted. Disraeli treated her not only as his monarch
but as a woman and a woman of intelligence.

When the Canal deal was done she wrote in her journal: "Complete
security for India! An immense thing. Mr. Disraeli said that my
support had been a great help. His mind is so much greater and his
apprehension of things great and small so much quicker, than that of
Mr. Gladstone."

Gladstone was strongly opposed the deal because he thought it would
draw Britain into new imperial commitments. He was right.

The Suez Canal was to drag the British deeper and deeper into the
murky politics of the Middle East. The overlords of the entire region
were the Turks but many of their subject peoples were rising against
them. Faced with rebellion on all sides, the Turks resorted to mass
slaughter. Russia backed the rebels and Disraeli feared that the
Turkish Empire would collapse and open the way for the Russians to
advance on the Suez Canal. However badly they treated their subjects,
Disraeli thought Britain had to support the Turks. But Gladstone
thought otherwise.

He was no longer leader of the Liberals. He had retired to his
country estate where he relaxed by chopping down trees and setting
down his thoughts on God. But he was appalled by stories of Turkish
atrocities against their Christian subjects. He thought the corrupt
and crumbling Turkish empire should be brought to an end. He laid
down his axe and took up his pen.

GLADSTONE: There is not a cannibal in the South Sea Islands whose
indignation would not arise and overboil at the recital of what has
been done ... Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only
possible manner, namely by carrying off themselves ... This thorough
riddance, this most blessed deliverance, is the only reparation we can
make to the memory of these heaps and heaps of dead; to the violated
purity alike of matrons, maiden and of child ... "

Disraeli called the style of Gladstone's protest vulgar, remarking
that of all the atrocities Gladstone's writings were probably the
worst.

But Gladstone had caught the public mood and in the House of Commons,
Disraeli was forced to choose his words with more care:

DISRAELI: Our duty at this critical moment is to maintain the Empire
of England. Nor will we agree to any step, though it may obtain for a
moment comparative quiet and a false prosperity, that hazards the
existence of Empire."

Disraeli backed his words with action. As the Russians
advanced on the Turkish capital, he dispatched a British fleet, led by
the most powerful battleship in the world, HMS Devastation. Public
opinion swung to Disraeli's side.

SINGERS: "We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do, We've got the
ships, we've got the men, we've got the money, too!"

War fever swept through the pubs and music halls of Britain. The
British may not have liked what the Turks were doing to their
Christian subjects but they shared Disraeli's determination to stop
the Russians.

Fearful of war with Britain the Russians agreed to negotiate. Disraeli
set off to attend peace talks.

He returned in triumph. His diplomacy had forced the Russians to halt
their advance on the Middle East. The lifeline to India was secured.
Victoria shared the public rejoicing and decided it was the right
moment to claim what she considered to be long overdue.

VICTORIA: "In common conversation I am sometimes called Empress of
India. Why have I never officially assumed this title? I feel I
ought to do so and wish to have preliminary inquiries made." 

Disraeli introduced a bill in Parliament to bestow on Victoria the
title: Queen-Empress of India. Gladstone led the opposition, calling
the move:

GLADSTONE: "Theatrical bombast and folly."

But the title was granted and the Queen was delighted. She expressed
her gratitude by making Disraeli an Earl.

LAWRENCE JAMES: She was deeply grateful to Disraeli for this. It was
if you like, embellishing the British Monarchy. And at the same time
the Queen is given a new sense of responsibility. She is deeply
interested in India. Immediately she is made Empress she sets out to
learn Hindustani. Doesn't make much headway but a lot of good will
there. And she also hires Indian servants.

Between them, the Queen-Empress and her newly ennobled Prime Minister
appealed to an imperial spirit that was spreading through large
sections of the British public.

An aggressive spirit, flexing British muscle and lording it over the
world. Gladstone continued to oppose it. He called it "Showy
imperialism."

Even Disraeli's own Foreign Secretary wrote privately of his concerns:
DERBY: "Disraeli believes thoroughly in 'prestige' and would think it
in the interests of the country to spend 200 millions on a war if the
result was to make foreign States think more highly of us."
 
The Queen backed Disraeli to the hilt.

VICTORIA: If we are to maintain our position as a first rate power, we
must with our Indian Empire and large colonies be prepared for attacks
and wars somewhere or other CONTINUALLY" 

But the strain of
this imperialist policy was beginning to show

British forces in southern Africa had clashed with the most powerful
warrior nation on the continent - the Zulus.

At the battle of Isandhlwana 600 British soldiers were wiped out to a
man. It took 17,000 British reinforcements armed with the latest
artillery to defeat an enemy armed largely with spears.

Back in England a powerful voice was raised in protest.

GLADSTONE: "Remember the rights of the savage as we call him.
Remember that the happiness of his humble home. 

Gladstone
was no longer in control of Parliament, so he appealed directly to the
British people.

GLADSTONE: The sanctity of life in the hill villages, is as inviolable
in the eye of Almighty God as can be your own." 

The power of
his oratory drew vast crowds. Ten thousand Zulus had died, he claimed
.

GLADSTONE: "For no other offence than to defend against your artillery
with their naked bodies their hearths their homes, their wives, their
families ...

ROY JENKINS: I mean it is one of the great mysteries about Gladstone,
how his oratory was so effective. Because he wasn't a tremendous
phrase maker and he didn't talk down to his audiences, he rather
talked up to them. And yet he held them for these very long periods,
an hour and a half was quite normal in great mass meetings.

I think it was essentially his physical presence, the flash of his
eagle's eye. The drama of his gestures, the cadence of his voice.

The Queen was outraged. She complained in her journal: "Mr. Gladstone
is going about like an American stumping orator making most violent
speeches."

But to her surprise and dismay Gladstone had struck a popular chord.
Once more, he had appealed to the British sense of justice and fair
play. They voted the Liberals back into power with a massive
majority.

Gladstone wrote exultantly of the defeat of Disraeli and the showy
imperialism he represented.

GLADSTONE: It is like the vanishing of some magnificent castle in an
Italian romance. 



Prince Albert would have shared Gladstone's
pleasure at the dismissal of Disraeli's war mongering government. But
Victoria had turned her back on Albert's moral vision for the
Empire. She stubbornly refused to accept Gladstone as her new Prime
Minister.



---------- Cecil Rhodes helped my Jewish Maximes - the weapons of mass
murder -----------


Africa. The Dark Continent of the early explorers became the stage for the
final act in the story of Queen Victoria's Empire. In the footsteps of
missionaries like David Livingstone, the powers of Europe conducted a
brutal race for colonies, a race that would become known as the Scramble
for Africa.