text: benjamin disraeli benjamin disraeli , 1st earl of beaconsfield , kg , pc , frs ( 21 december 1804 – 19 april 1881 ) was a british politician and writer , who twice served as prime minister . he played a central role in the creation of the modern conservative party , defining its policies and its broad outreach . disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs , his political battles with the liberal party leader william ewart gladstone , and his one - nation conservatism or " tory democracy " . he made the conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the british empire . he is the only british prime minister of jewish birth . disraeli was born in london . his father left judaism after a dispute at his synagogue ; young benjamin became an anglican at the age of 12 . after several unsuccessful attempts , disraeli entered the house of commons in 1837 . in 1846 the prime minister , sir robert peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the corn laws , which involved ending the tariff on imported grain . disraeli clashed with peel in the commons . disraeli became a major figure in the party . when lord derby , the party leader , thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s , disraeli served as chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the house of commons . he also forged a bitter rivalry with gladstone of the liberal party . upon derby 's retirement in 1868 , disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year 's election . he returned to opposition , before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 election . he maintained a close friendship with queen victoria , who in 1876 created him earl of beaconsfield . disraeli 's second term was dominated by the eastern question — the slow decay of the ottoman empire and the desire of other european powers , such as russia , to gain at its expense . disraeli arranged for the british to purchase a major interest in the suez canal company ( in ottoman - controlled egypt ) . in 1878 , faced with russian victories against the ottomans , he worked at the congress of berlin to obtain peace in the balkans at terms favourable to britain and unfavourable to russia , its longstanding enemy . this diplomatic victory over russia established disraeli as one of europe 's leading statesmen . world events thereafter moved against the conservatives . controversial wars in afghanistan and south africa undermined his public support . he angered british farmers by refusing to the corn laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain . with gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign , his liberals bested disraeli 's conservatives in the 1880 election . in his final months , disraeli led the conservatives in opposition . he had throughout his career written novels , beginning in 1826 , and he published his last completed novel , endymion , shortly before he died at the age of 76 . early life childhood disraeli was born on 21 december 1804 at 6 king 's road , bedford row , bloomsbury , london , the second child and eldest son of isaac d 'israeli , a literary critic and historian , and maria ( miriam ) , née basevi . the family was of sephardic jewish italian mercantile background . all disraeli 's grandparents and great grandparents were born in italy ; isaac 's father , benjamin , moved to england from venice in 1748 . disraeli later romanticised his origins , claiming that his father 's family was of grand spanish and venetian descent ; in fact isaac 's family was of no great distinction , but on disraeli 's mother 's side , in which he took no interest , there were some highly distinguished forebears . historians differ on disraeli 's motives for rewriting his family history : bernard glassman argues that it was intended to give him status comparable to that of england 's ruling élite ; sarah bradford believes " his dislike of the commonplace would not allow him to accept the facts of his birth as being as middle class and undramatic as they really were " . disraeli 's siblings were sarah ( 1802 – 1859 ) , naphtali ( born and died 1807 ) , ralph ( 1809 – 1898 ) , and james ( " jem " ) ( 1813 – 1868 ) . he was close to his sister , and on affectionate but more distant terms with his surviving brothers . details of his schooling are sketchy . from the age of about six he was a day boy at a dame school in islington that one of his biographers later described as " for those days a very high - class establishment " . two years later or so — the exact date has not been ascertained — he was sent as a boarder to rev john 's st piran 's school at blackheath . while he was there events at the family home changed the course of disraeli 's education and of his whole life : his father renounced judaism and had the four children baptised into the church of england in july and august 1817 . isaac d 'israeli had never taken religion very seriously , but had remained a conforming member of the bevis marks synagogue . his father , the elder benjamin , was a prominent and devout member ; it was probably from respect for him that isaac did not leave when he fell out with the synagogue authorities in 1813 . after benjamin senior died in 1816 isaac felt free to leave the congregation following a second dispute . isaac 's friend sharon turner , a solicitor , convinced him that although he could comfortably remain unattached to any formal religion it would be disadvantageous to the children if they did so . turner stood as godfather when benjamin was baptised , aged twelve , on 31 july 1817 . conversion to christianity enabled disraeli to contemplate a career in politics . britain in the early 19th century was not a greatly anti - semitic society , and there had been members of parliament ( mps ) from jewish families since samson gideon in 1770 . but until 1858 mps were required to take the oath of allegiance " on the true faith of a christian " , necessitating at least nominal conversion . it is not known whether disraeli formed any ambition for a parliamentary career at the time of his baptism , but there is no doubt that he bitterly regretted his parents ' decision not to send him to winchester college . as one of the great public schools of england , winchester consistently provided recruits to the political élite . his two younger brothers were sent there , and it is not clear why isaac d 'israeli chose to send his eldest son to a much less prestigious school . the boy evidently held his mother responsible for the decision ; bradford speculates that " benjamin 's delicate health and his obviously jewish appearance may have had something to do with it . " the school chosen for him was run by eliezer cogan at higham hill in walthamstow . he began there in the autumn term of 1817 ; he later recalled his education : i was at school for two or three years under the revd . dr cogan , a greek scholar of eminence , who had contributed notes to the a [ e ] of bishop blomfield , & was himself the editor of the greek gnostic poets . after this i was with a private tutor for two years in my own county , & my education was severely classical . too much so ; in the pride of boyish erudition , i edited the eclogue of theocritus , was privately printed . this was my first production : puerile pedantry . 1820s in november 1821 , shortly before his seventeenth birthday , disraeli was articled as a clerk to a firm of solicitors — swain , stevens , maples , pearse and hunt — in the city of london . t f maples was not only the young disraeli 's employer and friend of his father 's , but also his prospective father - in - law : isaac and maples entertained the possibility that the latter 's only daughter might be a suitable match for benjamin . a friendship developed , but there was no romance . the firm had a large and profitable business , and as the biographer r w davis observes , the clerkship was " the kind of secure , respectable position that many fathers dream of for their children " . although biographers including robert blake and bradford comment that such a post was incompatible with disraeli 's romantic and ambitious nature , he reportedly gave his employers satisfactory service , and later professed to have learned a good deal from his time with the firm . he recalled , " i had some scruples , for even then i dreamed of parliament . my father 's refrain always was ' philip carteret webb ' , who was the most eminent solicitor of his boyhood and who was an mp . it would be a mistake to suppose that the two years and more that i was in the office of our friend were wasted . i have often thought , though i have often regretted the university , that it was much the reverse . " the year after joining maples 's firm , benjamin changed his surname from d 'israeli to disraeli . his reasons for doing so are unknown , but the biographer bernard glassman surmises that it was to avoid being confused with his father . disraeli 's sister and brothers adopted the new version of the name ; isaac and his wife retained the older form . disraeli toured belgium and the rhine valley with his father in the summer of 1824 ; he later wrote that it was while travelling on the rhine that he decided to abandon his position : " i determined when descending those magical waters that i would not be a lawyer . " on their return to england he left the solicitors , at the suggestion of maples , with the aim of qualifying as a barrister . he enrolled as a student at lincoln 's inn and joined the chambers of his uncle , nathaniel , and then those of benjamin austen , who persuaded isaac that disraeli would never make a barrister and should be allowed to pursue a literary career . he had made a tentative start : in may 1824 he submitted a manuscript to his father 's friend , the publisher john murray , but withdrew it before murray could decide whether to publish it . released from the law , disraeli did some work for murray , but turned most of his attention not to literature but to speculative dealing on the stock exchange . there was at the time a boom in shares in south american mining companies . spain was losing its south american colonies in the face of rebellions . at the urging of george canning the british government recognised the new independent governments of argentina ( 1824 ) , colombia and mexico ( both 1825 ) . with no money of his own , disraeli borrowed money to invest . he became involved with the financier j. d. powles , who was prominent among those encouraging the mining boom . in the course of 1825 , disraeli wrote three anonymous pamphlets for powles , promoting the companies . the pamphlets were published by john murray , who invested heavily in the boom . murray had for some time had ambitions to establish a new morning paper to compete with the times . in 1825 disraeli convinced him that he should proceed . the new paper , the representative , promoted the mines and those politicians who supported them , particularly canning . disraeli impressed murray with his energy and commitment to the project , but he failed in his key task of persuading the eminent writer john gibson lockhart to edit the paper . after that , disraeli 's influence on murray waned , and to his resentment he was sidelined in the affairs of the representative . the paper survived for only six months , partly because the mining bubble burst in late 1825 , and partly because , according to blake , the paper was " atrociously edited " , and would have failed regardless . the bursting of the mining bubble was ruinous for disraeli . by june 1825 he and his business partners had lost £ 7 , 000 . disraeli could not pay off the last of his debts from this debacle until 1849 . he turned to writing , motivated partly by his desperate need for money , and partly by a wish for revenge on murray and others by whom he felt slighted . there was a vogue for what was called " silver - fork fiction " — novels depicting aristocratic life , usually by anonymous authors , read avidly by the aspirational middle classes . disraeli 's first novel , vivian grey , published anonymously in four volumes in 1826 – 27 , was a thinly veiled re - telling of the affair of the representative . it sold well , but caused much offence in influential circles when the authorship was discovered . disraeli , then just twenty - three , did not move in high society , as the numerous solecisms in his book made obvious . reviewers were sharply critical on these grounds of both the author and the book . furthermore , murray and lockhart , men of great influence in literary circles , believed that disraeli had caricatured them and abused their confidence — an accusation denied by the author but repeated by many of his biographers . in later editions disraeli made many changes , softening his satire , but the damage to his reputation proved long - lasting . disraeli 's biographer jonathan parry writes that the financial failure and personal criticism that disraeli suffered in 1825 and 1826 were probably the trigger for a serious nervous crisis affecting him over the next four years : " he had always been moody , sensitive , and solitary by nature , but now became seriously depressed and lethargic . " he was still living with his parents in london , but in search of the " change of air " recommended by the family 's doctors isaac took a succession of houses in the country and on the coast , before disraeli sought wider horizons . 1830s together with his sister 's fiancé , william meredith , disraeli travelled widely in southern europe and beyond in 1830 – 31 . the trip was financed partly by another high society novel , the young duke , written in 1829 – 30 . the tour was cut short suddenly by meredith 's death from smallpox in cairo in july 1831 . despite this tragedy , and the need for treatment for a sexually transmitted disease on his return , disraeli felt enriched by his experiences . he became , in parry 's words , " aware of values that seemed denied to his insular countrymen . the journey encouraged his self - consciousness , his moral relativism , and his interest in eastern racial and religious attitudes . " blake regards the tour as one of the formative experiences of disraeli 's whole career : " [ t ] he impressions that it made on him were life - lasting . they conditioned his attitude toward some of the most important political problems which faced him in his later years — especially the eastern question ; they also coloured many of his novels . " disraeli wrote two novels in the aftermath of the tour . contarini fleming ( 1832 ) was avowedly a self - portrait . it is subtitled " a psychological autobiography " , and depicts the conflicting elements of its hero 's character : the duality of northern and mediterranean ancestry , the dreaming artist and the bold man of action . as parry observes , the book ends on a political note , setting out europe 's progress " from feudal to federal principles " . the wondrous tale of alroy the following year portrayed the problems of a medieval jew in deciding between a small , exclusively jewish state and a large empire embracing all . after the two novels were published , disraeli declared that he would " write no more about myself " . he had already turned his attention to politics in 1832 , during the great crisis over the reform bill . he contributed to an anti - whig pamphlet edited by john wilson croker and published by murray entitled england and france : or a cure for ministerial gallomania . the choice of a tory publication was regarded as strange by disraeli 's friends and relatives , who thought him more of a radical . indeed , he had objected to murray about croker 's inserting " high tory " sentiment : disraeli remarked , " it is quite impossible that anything adverse to the general measure of reform can issue from my pen . " moreover , at the time gallomania was published , disraeli was electioneering in high wycombe in the radical interest . disraeli 's politics at the time were influenced both by his rebellious streak and by his desire to make his mark . at that time , the politics of the nation were dominated by members of the aristocracy , together with a few powerful commoners . the whigs derived from the coalition of lords who had forced through the bill of rights in 1689 and in some cases were their actual descendants , not merely spiritual . the tories tended to support king and church , and sought to thwart political change . a small number of radicals , generally from northern constituencies , were the strongest advocates of continuing reform . in the early 1830s the tories and the interests they represented appeared to be a lost cause . the other great party , the whigs , were anathema to disraeli : " toryism is worn out & i cannot condescend to be a whig . " there were two general elections in 1832 ; disraeli unsuccessfully stood as a radical at high wycombe in each . disraeli 's political views embraced certain radical policies , particularly democratic reform of the electoral system , and also some tory ones , including protectionism . he began to move in tory circles . in 1834 he was introduced to the former lord chancellor , lord lyndhurst , by henrietta sykes , wife of sir francis sykes . she was having an affair with lyndhurst , and began another with disraeli . disraeli and lyndhurst took an immediate liking to each other . lyndhurst was an indiscreet gossip with a fondness for intrigue ; this appealed greatly to disraeli , who became his secretary and go - between . in 1835 disraeli stood for the last time as a radical , unsuccessfully contesting high wycombe once again . in april 1835 disraeli fought a by - election at taunton as a tory . the irish mp daniel o 'connell , misled by inaccurate press reports , thought disraeli had slandered him while electioneering at taunton ; he launched an outspoken attack , referring to disraeli as : a reptile ... just fit now , after being twice discarded by the people , to become a conservative . he possesses all the necessary requisites of perfidy , selfishness , depravity , want of principle , etc . , which would qualify him for the change . his name shows that he is of jewish origin . i do not use it as a term of reproach ; there are many most respectable jews . but there are , as in every other people , some of the lowest and most disgusting grade of moral turpitude ; and of those i look upon mr. disraeli as the worst . disraeli 's public exchanges with o 'connell , extensively reproduced in the times , included a demand for a duel with the 60 - year - old o 'connell 's son ( which resulted in disraeli 's temporary detention by the authorities ) , a reference to " the inextinguishable hatred with which [ he ] shall pursue [ o 'connell 's ] existence " , and the accusation that o 'connell 's supporters had a " princely revenue wrung from a starving race of fanatical slaves " . disraeli was highly gratified by the dispute , which propelled him to general public notice for the first time . he did not defeat the incumbent whig member , henry labouchere , but the taunton constituency was regarded as unwinnable by the tories . disraeli kept labouchere 's majority down to 170 , a good showing that put him in line for a winnable seat in the near future . with lyndhurst 's encouragement disraeli turned to writing propaganda for his newly adopted party . his vindication of the english constitution , was published in december 1835 . it was couched in the form of an open letter to lyndhurst , and in bradford 's view encapsulates a political philosophy that disraeli adhered to for the rest of his life . its themes were the value of benevolent aristocratic government , a loathing of political dogma , and the modernisation of tory policies . the following year he wrote a series of satires on politicians of the day , which he published in the times under the pen - name " runnymede " . his targets included the whigs , collectively and individually , irish nationalists , and political corruption . one essay ended : the english nation , therefore , rallies for rescue from the degrading plots of a profligate oligarchy , a sectarianism , and a papacy , round their hereditary leaders — the peers . the house of lords , therefore , at this moment represents everything in the realm except the whig oligarchs , their tools the dissenters , and their masters the irish priests . in the mean time , the whigs bawl that there is a " collision ! " it is true there is a collision , but it is not a collision between the lords and the people , but between the ministers and the constitution . disraeli was now firmly in the tory camp . he was elected to the exclusively tory carlton club in 1836 , and was also taken up by the party 's leading hostess , lady londonderry . in june 1837 william iv died , the young queen victoria , his niece , succeeded him , and parliament was dissolved . on the recommendation of the carlton club , disraeli was adopted as a tory parliamentary candidate at the ensuing general election . parliament back - bencher in the election in july 1837 disraeli won a seat in the house of commons as one of two members , both tory , for the constituency of maidstone . the other was wyndham lewis , who helped finance disraeli 's election campaign , and who died the following year . in the same year disraeli published a novel , henrietta temple , which was a love story and social comedy , drawing on his affair with henrietta sykes . he had broken off the relationship in late 1836 , distraught that she had taken yet another lover . his other novel of this period is venetia , a romance based on the characters of shelley and byron , written quickly to raise much - needed money . disraeli made his maiden speech in parliament on 7 december 1837 . he followed o 'connell , whom he sharply criticised for the latter 's " long , rambling , jumbling , speech " . he was shouted down by o 'connell 's supporters . after this unpromising start disraeli kept a low profile for the rest of the parliamentary session . he was a loyal supporter of the party leader sir robert peel and his policies , with the exception of a personal sympathy for the chartist movement that most tories did not share . in 1839 disraeli married mary anne lewis , the widow of wyndham lewis . twelve years disraeli 's senior , mary lewis had a substantial income of £ 5 , 000 a year . his motives were generally assumed to be mercenary , but the couple came to cherish one another , remaining close until she died more than three decades later . " dizzy married me for my money " , his wife said later , " but , if he had the chance again , he would marry me for love . " finding the financial demands of his maidstone seat too much , disraeli secured a tory nomination for shrewsbury , winning one of the constituency 's two seats at the 1841 general election , despite serious opposition , and heavy debts which opponents seized on . the election was a massive defeat for the whigs across the country , and peel became prime minister . disraeli hoped , unrealistically , for ministerial office . though disappointed at being left on the back benches , he continued his support for peel in 1842 and 1843 , seeking to establish himself as an expert on foreign affairs and international trade . although a tory ( or conservative , as some in the party now called themselves ) disraeli was sympathetic to some of the aims of chartism , and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class . after disraeli won widespread acclaim in march 1842 for the formidable lord palmerston in debate , he was taken up by a small group of idealistic new tory mps , with whom he formed the young england group . they held that the landed interests should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by middle - class businessmen . for many years in his parliamentary career disraeli hoped to forge a paternalistic tory - radical alliance , but he was unsuccessful . before the reform act 1867 , the working class did not possess the vote and therefore had little political power . although disraeli forged a personal friendship with john bright , a lancashire manufacturer and leading radical , disraeli was unable to persuade bright to sacrifice his distinct position for parliamentary advancement . when disraeli attempted to secure a tory - radical cabinet in 1852 , bright refused . disraeli gradually became a sharp critic of peel 's government , often deliberately taking positions contrary to those of his nominal chief . the best known of these stances were over the maynooth grant in 1845 and the repeal of the corn laws in 1846 . but the young mp had attacked his leader as early as 1843 on ireland and then on foreign policy interventions . in a letter of february 1844 , he slighted the prime minister for failing to send him a policy circular . he laid into the whigs as freebooters , swindlers and conmen but peel 's own free trade policies were directly in the firing line . the president of the board of trade , william gladstone , resigned from the cabinet over the maynooth grant . the corn laws imposed a tariff on imported wheat , protecting british farmers from foreign competition , but making the cost of bread artificially high . peel hoped that the repeal of the corn laws and the resultant influx of cheaper wheat into britain would relieve the condition of the poor , and in particular the suffering caused by successive failure of potato crops in ireland — the great famine . the first months of 1846 were dominated by a battle in parliament between the free traders and the protectionists over the repeal of the corn laws , with the latter rallying around disraeli and lord george bentinck . an alliance of free - trade conservatives ( the " peelites " ) , radicals , and whigs carried repeal , and the conservative party split : the peelites moved towards the whigs , while a " new " conservative party formed around the protectionists , led by disraeli , bentinck , and lord stanley ( later lord derby ) . the split in the tory party over the repeal of the corn laws had profound implications for disraeli 's political career : almost every tory politician with experience of office followed peel , leaving the rump bereft of leadership . in blake 's words , " [ disraeli ] found himself almost the only figure on his side capable of putting up the oratorical display essential for a parliamentary leader . " looking on from the house of lords , the duke of argyll wrote that disraeli " was like a subaltern in a great battle where every superior officer was killed or wounded " . if the tory party could muster the electoral support necessary to form a government , then disraeli now seemed to be guaranteed high office . however , he would take office with a group of men who possessed little or no official experience , who had rarely felt moved to speak in the house of commons , and who , as a group , remained hostile to disraeli on a personal level . in the event the matter was not put to the test , as the tory split soon had the party out of office , not regaining power until 1852 . the conservatives would not again have a majority in the house of commons until 1874 . bentinck and the leadership peel successfully steered the repeal of the corn laws through parliament , and was then defeated by an alliance of all his enemies on the issue of irish law and order ; he resigned in june 1846 . the tories remained split and the queen sent for lord john russell , the whig leader . in the 1847 general election , disraeli stood , successfully , for the buckinghamshire constituency . the new house of commons had more conservative than whig members , but the depth of the tory schism enabled russell to continue to govern . the conservatives were led by bentinck in the commons and stanley in the lords . in 1847 a small political crisis occurred which removed bentinck from the leadership and highlighted disraeli 's differences with his own party . in that year 's general election , lionel de rothschild had been returned for the city of london . as a practising jew he could not take the oath of allegiance in the prescribed christian form , and therefore could not take his seat . lord john russell , the whig leader who had succeeded peel as prime minister and like rothschild was a member for the city of london , proposed in the commons that the oath should be amended to permit jews to enter parliament . disraeli spoke in favour of the measure , arguing that christianity was " completed judaism " , and asking the house of commons " where is your christianity if you do not believe in their judaism ? " russell and disraeli 's future rival gladstone thought it brave of him to speak as he did ; the speech was badly received by his own party . the tories and the anglican establishment were hostile to the bill . samuel wilberforce , bishop of oxford , spoke strongly against the measure and implied that russell was paying off the jews for helping elect him . with the exception of disraeli , every member of the future protectionist cabinet then in parliament voted against the measure . one who was not yet an mp , lord john manners , stood against rothschild when the latter re - submitted himself for election in 1849 . disraeli who had attended the protectionists dinner at the merchant taylors hall , joined bentinck in speaking and voting for the bill , although his own speech was a standard one of toleration . the measure was voted down . in the aftermath of the debate bentinck resigned the leadership and was succeeded by lord granby ; disraeli 's own speech , thought by many of his own party to be blasphemous , ruled him out for the time being . while these intrigues played out , disraeli was working with the bentinck family to secure the necessary financing to purchase hughenden manor , in buckinghamshire . the possession of a country house , and incumbency of a county constituency were regarded as essential for a tory with ambitions to lead the party . disraeli and his wife alternated between hughenden and several homes in london for the rest of their marriage . the negotiations were complicated by bentinck 's sudden death on 21 september 1848 , but disraeli obtained a loan of £ 25 , 000 from bentinck 's brothers lord henry bentinck and lord titchfield . within a month of his appointment granby resigned the leadership in the commons , feeling himself inadequate to the post , and the party functioned without a leader in the commons for the rest of the parliamentary session . at the start of the next session , affairs were handled by a triumvirate of granby , disraeli , and john charles herries — indicative of the tension between disraeli and the rest of the party , who needed his talents but mistrusted him . this confused arrangement ended with granby 's resignation in 1851 ; disraeli effectively ignored the two men regardless . office first derby government in march 1851 , lord john russell 's government was defeated over a bill to equalise the county and borough franchises , mostly because of divisions among his supporters . he resigned , and the queen sent for stanley , who felt that a minority government could do little and would not last long , so russell remained in office . disraeli regretted this , hoping for an opportunity , however brief , to show himself capable in office . stanley , on the other hand , deprecated his inexperienced followers as a reason for not assuming office , " these are not names i can put before the queen . " at the end of june 1851 , stanley 's father died , and he succeeded to his title as earl of derby . the whigs were wracked by internal dissensions during the second half of 1851 , much of which parliament spent in recess . russell dismissed lord palmerston from the cabinet , leaving the latter determined to deprive the prime minister of office as well . palmerston did so within weeks of parliament 's reassembly on 4 february 1852 , his followers combining with disraeli 's tories to defeat the government on a militia bill , and russell resigned . derby had either to take office or risk damage to his reputation and he accepted the queen 's commission as prime minister . palmerston declined any office ; derby had hoped to have him as chancellor of the exchequer . disraeli , his closest ally , was his second choice and accepted , though disclaiming any great knowledge in the financial field . gladstone refused to join the government . disraeli may have been attracted to the office by the £ 5 , 000 per year salary , which would help pay his debts . few of the new cabinet had held office before ; when derby tried to inform the duke of wellington of the names of the queen 's new ministers , the old duke , who was somewhat deaf , inadvertently branded the new government by incredulously repeating " who ? who ? " in the following weeks , disraeli served as leader of the house ( with derby as prime minister in the lords ) and as chancellor . he wrote regular reports on proceedings in the commons to victoria , who described them as " very curious " and " much in the style of his books " . parliament was prorogued on 1 july 1852 as the tories could not govern for long as a minority ; disraeli hoped that they would gain a majority of about 40 . instead , the election later that month had no clear winner , and the derby government held to power pending the meeting of parliament . disraeli 's task as chancellor was to devise a budget which would satisfy the protectionist elements who supported the tories , without uniting the free - traders against it . his proposed budget , which he presented to the commons on 3 december , lowered the taxes on malt and tea , provisions designed to appeal to the working class . to make his budget revenue - neutral , as funds were needed to provide defences against the french , he doubled the house tax and continued the income tax . disraeli 's overall purpose was to enact policies which would benefit the working classes , making his party more attractive to them . although the budget did not contain protectionist features , the opposition was prepared to destroy it — and disraeli 's career as chancellor — in part out of revenge for his actions against peel in 1846 . mp sidney herbert predicted that the budget would fail because " jews make no converts " . disraeli delivered the budget on 3 december 1852 , and prepared to wind up the debate for the government on 16 december — it was customary for the chancellor to have the last word . a massive defeat for the government was predicted . disraeli attacked his opponents individually , and then as a force , " i face a coalition ... this , too , i know , that england does not love coalitions . " his speech of three hours was quickly seen as a parliamentary masterpiece . as mps prepared to divide , gladstone rose to his feet and began an angry speech , despite the efforts of tory mps to shout him down . the interruptions were fewer , as gladstone gained control of the house , and in the next two hours painted a picture of disraeli as frivolous and his budget as subversive . the government was defeated by 19 votes , and derby resigned four days later . he was replaced by the earl of aberdeen , with gladstone as his chancellor . because of disraeli 's unpopularity among the peelites , no party reconciliation was possible while he remained tory leader in the house of commons . opposition with the fall of the government , disraeli and the conservatives returned to the opposition benches . disraeli would spend three - quarters of his 44 - year parliamentary career in opposition . derby was reluctant to seek to unseat the government , fearing a repetition of the who ? who ? ministry and knowing that despite his lieutenant 's strengths , shared dislike of disraeli was part of what had formed the governing coalition . disraeli , on the other hand , was anxious to return to office . in the interim , disraeli , as conservative leader in the commons , opposed the government on all major measures . in june 1853 disraeli was awarded an honorary degree by oxford university . he had been recommended for it by lord derby , the university 's chancellor . the start of the crimean war in 1854 caused a lull in party politics ; disraeli spoke patriotically in support . the british military efforts were marked by bungling , and in 1855 a restive parliament considered a resolution to establish a committee on the conduct of the war . the aberdeen government chose to make this a motion of confidence ; disraeli led the opposition to defeat the government , 305 to 148 . aberdeen resigned , and the queen sent for derby , who to disraeli 's frustration refused to take office . palmerston was deemed essential to any whig ministry , and he would not join any he did not head . the queen reluctantly asked palmerston to form a government . under palmerston , the war went better , and was ended by the treaty of paris in early 1856 . disraeli was early to call for peace , but had little influence on events . when a rebellion broke out in india in 1857 , disraeli took a keen interest in affairs , having been a member of a select committee in 1852 which considered how best to rule the subcontinent , and had proposed eliminating the governing role of the british east india company . after peace was restored , and palmerston in early 1858 brought in legislation for direct rule of india by the crown , disraeli opposed it . many conservative mps refused to follow him and the bill passed the commons easily . palmerston 's grip on the premiership was weakened by his response to the orsini affair , in which an attempt was made to assassinate the french emperor napoleon iii by an italian revolutionary with a bomb made in birmingham . at the request of the french ambassador , palmerston put forward amendments to the conspiracy to murder statute , proposing to make creating an infernal device a felony rather than a misdemeanour . he was defeated by 19 votes on the second reading , with many liberals crossing the aisle against him . he immediately resigned , and lord derby returned to office . second derby government derby took office at the head of a purely " conservative " administration , not in coalition with any other faction . he again offered a place to gladstone , who declined . disraeli was once more leader of the house of commons and returned to the exchequer . as in 1852 , derby led a minority government , dependent on the division of its opponents for survival . as leader of the house , disraeli resumed his regular reports to queen victoria , who had requested that he include what she " could not meet in newspapers " . during its brief life of just over a year , the derby government proved moderately progressive . the government of india act 1858 ended the role of the east india company in governing the subcontinent . disraeli had supported efforts to allow jews to sit in parliament — the oaths required of new members could only be made in good faith by a christian . disraeli had a bill passed through the commons allowing each house of parliament to determine what oaths its members should take . this was grudgingly agreed to by the house of lords , with a minority of conservatives joining with the opposition to pass it . in 1858 , baron lionel de rothschild became the first mp to profess the jewish faith . faced with a vacancy , disraeli and derby tried yet again to bring gladstone , still nominally a conservative mp , into the government , hoping to strengthen it . disraeli wrote a personal letter to gladstone , asking him to place the good of the party above personal animosity : " every man performs his office , and there is a power , greater than ourselves , that disposes of all this . " in responding to disraeli , gladstone denied that personal feelings played any role in his decisions then and previously whether to accept office , while acknowledging that there were differences between him and derby " broader than you may have supposed " . the tories pursued a reform bill in 1859 , which would have resulted in a modest increase to the franchise . the liberals were healing the breaches between those who favoured russell and the palmerston loyalists , and in late march 1859 , the government was defeated on a russell - sponsored amendment . derby dissolved parliament , and the ensuing general election resulted in modest tory gains , but not enough to control the commons . when parliament assembled , derby 's government was defeated by 13 votes on an amendment to the address from the throne . he resigned , and the queen reluctantly sent for palmerston again . opposition and third term as chancellor after derby 's second ejection from office , disraeli faced dissension within conservative ranks from those who blamed him for the defeat , or who felt he was disloyal to derby — the former prime minister warned disraeli of some mps seeking his removal from the front bench . among the conspirators were lord robert cecil , a young conservative mp who would a quarter century later become prime minister as lord salisbury ; he wrote that having disraeli as leader in the commons decreased the conservatives ' chance of holding office . when cecil 's father objected , lord robert stated , " i have merely put into print what all the country gentlemen were saying in private . " disraeli led a toothless opposition in the commons — seeing no way of unseating palmerston , derby had privately agreed not to seek the government 's defeat . disraeli kept himself informed on foreign affairs , and on what was going on in cabinet , thanks to a source within it . when the american civil war began in 1861 , disraeli said little publicly , but like most englishmen expected the south to win . less reticent were palmerston , gladstone ( again chancellor ) and russell , whose statements in support of the south contributed to years of hard feelings in the united states . in 1862 , disraeli met prussian count otto von bismarck for the first time and said of him , " be careful about that man , he means what he says " . the party truce ended in 1864 , with tories outraged over palmerston 's handling of the territorial dispute between the german confederation and denmark known as the schleswig - holstein question . disraeli had little help from derby , who was ill , but he united the party enough on a no - confidence vote to limit the government to a majority of 18 — tory defections and absentees kept palmerston in office . despite rumours about palmerston 's health as he passed his eightieth birthday , he remained personally popular , and the liberals increased their margin in the july 1865 general election . in the wake of the poor election results , derby predicted to disraeli that neither of them would ever hold office again . political plans were thrown into disarray by palmerston 's death on 18 october 1865 . russell became prime minister again , with gladstone clearly the liberal party 's leader - in - waiting , and as leader of the house disraeli 's direct opponent . one of russell 's early priorities was a reform bill , but the proposed legislation that gladstone announced on 12 march 1866 divided his party . the conservatives and the dissident liberals repeatedly attacked gladstone 's bill , and in june finally defeated the government ; russell resigned on 26 june . the dissidents were unwilling to serve under disraeli in the house of commons , and derby formed a third conservative minority government , with disraeli again as chancellor . in 1867 , the conservatives introduced a reform bill . without a majority in the commons , the conservatives had little choice but to accept amendments that considerably liberalised the legislation , though disraeli refused to accept any from gladstone . the reform act 1867 passed that august , extending the franchise by 938 , 427 — an increase of 88 % — by giving the vote to male householders and male lodgers paying at least £ 10 for rooms . it eliminated rotten boroughs with fewer than 10 , 000 inhabitants , and granted constituencies to 15 unrepresented towns , with extra representation to large municipalities such as liverpool and manchester . this act was unpopular with the right wing of the conservative party , most notably lord cranborne ( as robert cecil was by then known ) , who resigned from the government and spoke against the bill , accusing disraeli of " a political betrayal which has no parallel in our parliamentary annals " . cranborne , however , was unable to lead an effective rebellion against derby and disraeli . disraeli gained wide acclaim and became a hero to his party for the " marvellous parliamentary skill " with which he secured the passage of reform in the commons . derby had long suffered from attacks of gout which sent him to his bed , unable to deal with politics . as the new session of parliament approached in february 1868 , he was bedridden at his home , knowsley hall , near liverpool . he was reluctant to resign , reasoning that he was only 68 , much younger than either palmerston or russell at the end of their premierships . derby knew that his " attacks of illness would , at no distant period , incapacitate me from the discharge of my public duties " ; doctors had warned him that his health required his resignation from office . in late february , with parliament in session and derby absent , he wrote to disraeli asking for confirmation that " you will not shrink from the additional heavy responsibility " . reassured , he wrote to the queen , resigning and recommending disraeli as " only he could command the cordial support , en masse , of his present colleagues " . disraeli went to osborne house on the isle of wight , where the queen asked him to form a government . the monarch wrote to her daughter , prussian crown princess victoria , " mr. disraeli is prime minister ! a proud thing for a man ' risen from the people ' to have obtained ! " the new prime minister told those who came to congratulate him , " i have climbed to the top of the greasy pole . " first term as prime minister ; opposition leader first government ( february – december 1868 ) the conservatives remained a minority in the house of commons and the passage of the reform bill required the calling of a new election once the new voting register had been compiled . disraeli 's term as prime minister , which began in february 1868 , would therefore be short unless the conservatives won the general election . he made only two major changes in the cabinet : he replaced lord chelmsford as lord chancellor with lord cairns , and brought in george ward hunt as chancellor of the exchequer . derby had intended to replace chelmsford once a vacancy in a suitable sinecure developed . disraeli was unwilling to wait , and cairns , in his view , was a far stronger minister . disraeli 's first premiership was dominated by the heated debate over the church of ireland . although ireland was overwhelmingly roman catholic , the protestant church remained the established church and was funded by direct taxation , which was greatly resented by the catholic majority . an initial attempt by disraeli to negotiate with archbishop manning the establishment of a roman catholic university in dublin foundered in march when gladstone moved resolutions to disestablish the irish church altogether . the proposal united the liberals under gladstone 's leadership , while causing divisions among the conservatives . the conservatives remained in office because the new electoral register was not yet ready ; neither party wished a poll under the old roll . gladstone began using the liberal majority in the house of commons to push through resolutions and legislation . disraeli 's government survived until the december general election , at which the liberals were returned to power with a majority of about 110 . despite its short life , the first disraeli government succeeded in passing a number of pieces of legislation of a politically sort . it ended public executions , and the corrupt practices act did much to end electoral bribery . it authorised an early version of nationalisation , having the post office buy up the telegraph companies . amendments to the school law , the scottish legal system , and the railway laws were passed . disraeli sent the successful expedition against tewodros ii of ethiopia under sir robert napier . opposition leader ; 1874 election with gladstone 's liberal majority dominant in the commons , disraeli could do little but protest as the government advanced legislation . accordingly , he chose to await liberal mistakes . having leisure time as he was not in office , he wrote a new novel , lothair ( 1870 ) . a work of fiction by a former prime minister was a new thing for britain , and the book became a best seller . by 1872 there was dissent in the conservative ranks over the failure to challenge gladstone and his liberals . this was quieted as disraeli took steps to assert his leadership of the party , and as divisions among the liberals became clear . public support for disraeli was shown by cheering at a thanksgiving service in 1872 on the recovery of the prince of wales from illness , while gladstone was met with silence . disraeli had supported the efforts of party manager john eldon gorst to put the administration of the conservative party on a modern basis . on gorst 's advice , disraeli gave a speech to a mass meeting in manchester that year . to roaring approval , he compared the liberal front bench to " a range of exhausted volcanoes . not a flame flickers on a single pallid crest . but the situation is still dangerous . there are occasional earthquakes and ever and again the dark rumbling of the sea . " gladstone , disraeli stated , dominated the scene and " alternated between a menace and a sigh " . at his first departure from 10 downing street in 1868 , disraeli had had victoria create mary anne viscountess of beaconsfield in her own right in lieu of a peerage for himself . through 1872 the eighty - year - old peeress was suffering from stomach cancer . she died on 15 december . urged by a clergyman to turn her thoughts to jesus christ in her final days , she said she could not : " you know dizzy is my j.c. " after she died , gladstone , who always had a liking for mary anne , sent her widower a letter of condolence . in 1873 , gladstone brought forward legislation to establish a catholic university in dublin . this divided the liberals , and on 12 march an alliance of conservatives and irish catholics defeated the government by three votes . gladstone resigned , and the queen sent for disraeli , who refused to take office . without a general election , a conservative government would be another minority , dependent for survival on the division of its opponents . disraeli wanted the power a majority would bring , and felt he could gain it later by leaving the liberals in office now . gladstone 's government struggled on , beset by scandal and unimproved by a reshuffle . as part of that change , gladstone took on the office of chancellor , leading to questions as to whether he had to stand for re - election on taking on a second ministry — until the 1920s , mps becoming ministers , thus taking an office of profit under the crown , had to seek re - election . in january 1874 , gladstone called a general election , convinced that if he waited longer , he would do worse at the polls . balloting was spread over two weeks , beginning on 1 february . disraeli devoted much of his campaign to decrying the liberal programme of the past five years . as the constituencies voted , it became clear that the result would be a conservative majority , the first since 1841 . in scotland , where the conservatives were perennially weak , they increased from seven seats to nineteen . overall , they won 350 seats to 245 for the liberals and 57 for the irish home rule league . the queen sent for disraeli , and he became prime minister for the second time . second government ( 1874 – 80 ) disraeli 's cabinet of twelve , with six peers and six commoners , was the smallest since reform . of the peers , five of them had been in disraeli 's 1868 cabinet ; the sixth , lord salisbury , was reconciled to disraeli after negotiation and became secretary of state for india . lord stanley ( who had succeeded his father , the former prime minister , as earl of derby ) became foreign secretary and sir stafford northcote the chancellor . in august 1876 , disraeli was elevated to the house of lords as earl of beaconsfield and viscount hughenden . the queen had offered to ennoble him as early as 1868 ; he had then declined . she did so again in 1874 , when he fell ill at balmoral , but he was reluctant to leave the commons for a house in which he had no experience . continued ill health during his second premiership caused him to contemplate resignation , but his lieutenant , derby , was unwilling , feeling that he could not manage the queen . for disraeli , the lords , where the debate was less intense , was the alternative to resignation from office . five days before the end of the 1876 session of parliament , on 11 august , disraeli was seen to linger and look around the chamber before departing the commons . newspapers reported his ennoblement the following morning . in addition to the bestowed on mary anne disraeli ; the earldom of beaconsfield was to have been bestowed on edmund burke in 1797 , but he had died before receiving it . the name beaconsfield , a town near hughenden , also was given to a minor character in vivian grey . disraeli made various statements about his elevation , writing to selina , lady bradford on 8 august 1876 , " i am quite tired of that place [ the commons ] " but when asked by a friend how he liked the lords , replied , " i am dead ; dead but in the elysian fields . " domestic policy reforming legislation under the stewardship of richard assheton cross , the home secretary , disraeli 's new government enacted many reforms , including the artisans ' and labourers ' dwellings improvement act 1875 , which made inexpensive loans available to towns and cities to construct working - class housing . also enacted were the public health act 1875 , modernising sanitary codes through the nation , the sale of food and drugs act ( 1875 ) , and the education act ( 1876 ) . disraeli 's government also introduced a new factory act meant to protect workers , the conspiracy , and protection of property act 1875 , which allowed peaceful picketing , and the employers and workmen act ( 1875 ) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts . as a result of these social reforms the liberal - labour mp alexander macdonald told his constituents in 1879 , " the conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the liberals have in fifty . " patronage and civil service reform gladstone in 1870 had sponsored an order in council , introducing competitive examination into the civil service , diminishing the political aspects of government hiring . disraeli did not agree , and while he did not seek to reverse the order , his actions often frustrated its intent . for example , disraeli made political appointments to positions previously given to career civil servants . in this , he was backed by his party , hungry for office and its emoluments after almost thirty years with only brief spells in government . disraeli gave positions to hard - up conservative leaders , even — to gladstone 's outrage — creating one office at £ 2 , 000 per year . nevertheless , disraeli made fewer peers ( only 22 , and one of those one of victoria 's sons ) than had gladstone — the liberal leader had arranged for the bestowal of 37 peerages during his just over five years in office . as he had in government posts , disraeli rewarded old friends with clerical positions , making sydney turner , son of a good friend of isaac d 'israeli , dean of ripon . he favoured low church clergymen in promotion , disliking other movements in anglicanism for political reasons . in this , he came into disagreement with the queen , who out of loyalty to her late husband , albert , prince consort , preferred broad church teachings . one controversial appointment had occurred shortly before the 1868 election . when the position of archbishop of canterbury fell vacant , disraeli reluctantly agreed to the queen 's preferred candidate , archibald tait , the bishop of london . to fill tait 's vacant see , disraeli was urged by many people to appoint samuel wilberforce , the former bishop of winchester and leading figure in london society . disraeli disliked wilberforce and instead appointed john jackson , the bishop of lincoln . blake suggested that , on balance , these appointments cost disraeli more votes than they gained him . foreign policy disraeli always considered foreign affairs to be the most critical and most interesting part of statesmanship . nevertheless , his biographer robert blake doubts that his subject had specific ideas about foreign policy when he took office in 1874 . he had rarely travelled abroad ; since his youthful tour of the middle east in 1830 – 1831 , he had left britain only for his honeymoon and three visits to paris , the last of which was in 1856 . as he had criticised gladstone for a do - nothing foreign policy , he most probably contemplated what actions would reassert britain 's place in europe . his brief first premiership , and the first year of his second , gave him little opportunity to make his mark in foreign affairs . suez the suez canal , opened in 1869 , cut weeks and thousands of miles off the journey between britain and india ; in 1875 , approximately 80 % of the ships using the canal were british . in the event of another rebellion in india , or of a russian invasion , the time saved at suez might be crucial . built by french interests , much of the ownership and bonds in the canal remained in their hands , though some of the stock belonged to isma 'il pasha , the khedive of egypt , who was noted for his profligate spending . the canal was losing money , and an attempt by ferdinand de lesseps , builder of the canal , to raise the tolls had fallen through when the khedive had threatened to use military force to prevent it , and had also attracted disraeli 's attention . the khedive governed egypt under the ottoman empire ; as in the crimea , the issue of the canal raised the eastern question of what to do about the decaying empire governed from constantinople . with much of the pre - canal trade and communications between britain and india passing through the ottoman empire , britain had done its best to prop up the ottomans against the threat that russia would take constantinople , cutting those communications , and giving russian ships unfettered access to the mediterranean . the french might also threaten those lines from colonies in syria . britain had had the opportunity to purchase shares in the canal but had declined to do so . disraeli had passed near suez in his tour of the middle east in his youth , and on taking office , recognising the british interest in the canal as a gateway to india , he sent the liberal mp nathan rothschild to paris to enquire about buying de lesseps 's shares . on 14 november 1875 , the editor of the pall mall gazette , frederick greenwood , learned from london banker henry oppenheim that the khedive was seeking to sell his shares in the suez canal company to a french firm . greenwood quickly told lord derby , the foreign secretary , who notified disraeli . the prime minister moved immediately to secure the shares . on 23 november , the khedive offered to sell the shares for 100 , 000 , 000 francs . rather than seek the aid of the bank of england , disraeli asked lionel de rothschild to loan funds . rothschild did so and controversially took a commission on the deal . the banker 's capital was at risk as parliament could have refused to ratify the transaction . the contract for purchase was signed at cairo on 25 november and the shares deposited at the british consulate the following day . disraeli told the queen , " it is settled ; you have it , madam ! " the public saw the venture as a daring british statement of its dominance of the seas . sir ian malcolm described the suez canal share purchase as " the greatest romance of mr. disraeli 's romantic career " . in the following decades , the security of the suez canal , as the pathway to india , became a major focus of british foreign policy . a later foreign secretary , lord curzon , described the canal in 1909 as " the determining influence of every considerable movement of british power to the east and south of the mediterranean " . royal titles act although initially curious about disraeli when he entered parliament in 1837 , victoria came to detest him over his treatment of peel . over time , her dislike softened , especially as disraeli took pains to cultivate her . he told matthew arnold , " everybody likes flattery ; and , when you come to royalty , you should lay it on with a trowel " . disraeli 's biographer , adam kirsch , suggests that disraeli 's obsequious treatment of his queen was part flattery , part belief that this was how a queen should be addressed by a loyal subject , and part awe that a middle - class man of jewish birth should be the companion of a monarch . by the time of his second premiership , disraeli had built a strong relationship with victoria , probably closer to her than any of her prime ministers except her first , lord melbourne . when disraeli returned as prime minister in 1874 and went to kiss hands , he did so literally , on one knee , and according to richard aldous on his book on the disraeli / gladstone rivalry , " for the next six years victoria and disraeli would exploit their closeness for mutual advantage . " victoria had long wished to have an imperial title , reflecting britain 's expanding domain . she was irked when czar alexander ii held a higher rank than her as an emperor , and was appalled that her daughter , the prussian crown princess , would outrank her when her husband came to the throne . she also saw an imperial title as proclaiming britain 's increased stature in the world . the title " empress of india " had been used informally with respect to victoria for some time and she wished to have that title formally bestowed on her . the queen prevailed upon disraeli to introduce a royal titles bill , and also told of her intent to open parliament in person , which during this time she did only when she wanted something from legislators . disraeli was cautious in response , as careful soundings of mps brought a negative reaction , and declined to place such a proposal in the queen 's speech . once the desired bill was prepared , disraeli 's handling of it was not adept . he neglected to notify either the prince of wales or the opposition , and was met by irritation from the prince and a full - scale attack from the liberals . an old enemy of disraeli , former liberal chancellor robert lowe , alleged during the debate in the commons that two previous prime ministers had refused to introduce such legislation for the queen . gladstone immediately stated that he was not one of them , and the queen gave disraeli leave to quote her saying she had never approached a prime minister with such a proposal . according to blake , disraeli " in a brilliant oration of withering invective proceeded to destroy lowe " , who apologised and never held office again . disraeli said of lowe that he was the only person in london with whom he would not shake hands and , " he is in the mud and there i leave him . " fearful of losing , disraeli was reluctant to bring the bill to a vote in the commons , but when he eventually did , it passed with a majority of 75 . once the bill was formally enacted , victoria began signing her letters " victoria r & i " ( regina et , that is , queen and empress ) . according to aldous , " the unpopular royal titles act , however , shattered disraeli 's authority in the house of commons " . balkans and bulgaria in july 1875 serb populations in bosnia and herzegovina , then provinces of the ottoman empire , rose in revolt against their turkish masters , alleging religious persecution and poor administration . the following january , sultan abdülaziz , who ruled the empire , agreed to reforms proposed by hungarian statesman julius andrássy , but the rebels , suspecting they might win their freedom , continued their uprising , joined by militants in serbia and bulgaria . the turks suppressed the bulgarian uprising harshly , and when reports of these actions escaped , disraeli and derby stated in parliament that they did not believe them . disraeli called them " coffee - house babble " and dismissed allegations of torture by the ottomans since " oriental people usually terminate their connections with culprits in a more expeditious fashion " . gladstone , who had left the liberal leadership and retired from public life , was appalled by reports of atrocities in bulgaria , and in august 1876 , penned a hastily written pamphlet arguing that the turks should be deprived of bulgaria because of what they had done there . he sent a copy to disraeli , who called it " vindictive and ill - written ... of all the bulgarian horrors perhaps the greatest " . gladstone 's pamphlet became an immense best - seller and rallied the liberals to urge that the ottoman empire should no longer be a british ally . disraeli wrote to lord salisbury on 3 september , " had it not been for these unhappy ' atrocities ' , we should have settled a peace very honourable to england and satisfactory to europe . now we are obliged to work from a new point of departure , and dictate to turkey , who has forfeited all sympathy . " in spite of this , disraeli 's policy favoured constantinople and the territorial integrity of its empire . disraeli and the cabinet sent salisbury as lead british representative to the constantinople conference , which met in december 1876 and january 1877 . in advance of the conference , disraeli sent salisbury private word to seek british military occupation of bulgaria and bosnia , and british control of the turkish army . salisbury ignored these instructions , which his biographer , andrew roberts deemed " ludicrous " . nevertheless , the conference failed to reach agreement with the turks . parliament opened in february 1877 , with disraeli now in the lords as earl of beaconsfield . he spoke only once there in the 1877 session on the eastern question , stating on 20 february that there was a need for stability in the balkans , and that forcing turkey into territorial concessions would do nothing to secure it . the prime minister wanted a deal with the ottomans whereby britain would temporarily occupy strategic areas to deter the russians from war , to be returned on the signing of a peace treaty , but found little support in his cabinet , which favoured partition of the ottoman empire . as disraeli , by then in poor health , continued to battle within the cabinet , russia invaded turkey on 21 april , beginning the russo - turkish war . congress of berlin the russians pushed through ottoman territory and by december 1877 had captured the strategic bulgarian town of plevna ; their march on constantinople seemed inevitable . the war divided the british , but the russian success caused some to forget the atrocities and call for intervention on the turkish side . others hoped for further russian successes . the fall of plevna was a major story for weeks in the newspapers , and disraeli 's warnings that russia was a threat to british interests in the eastern mediterranean were deemed prophetic . the jingoistic attitude of many britons increased disraeli 's political support , and the queen acted to help him as well , showing her favour by visiting him at hughenden — the first time she had visited the country home of her prime minister since the melbourne ministry . at the end of january 1878 , the ottoman emperor appealed to britain to save constantinople . amid war fever in britain , the government asked parliament to vote £ 6 , 000 , 000 to prepare the army and navy for war . gladstone , who had involved himself again in politics , opposed the measure , but less than half his party voted with him . popular opinion was with disraeli , though some thought him too soft for not immediately declaring war on russia . with the russians close to constantinople , the turks yielded and in march 1878 , signed the treaty of san stefano , conceding a bulgarian state which would cover a large part of the balkans . it would be initially russian - occupied and many feared that it would give them a client state close to constantinople . other ottoman possessions in europe would become independent ; additional territory was to be ceded directly to russia . this was unacceptable to the british , who protested , hoping to get the russians to agree to attend an international conference which german chancellor bismarck proposed to hold at berlin . the cabinet discussed disraeli 's proposal to position indian troops at malta for possible transit to the balkans and call out reserves . derby resigned in protest , and disraeli appointed salisbury as foreign secretary . amid british preparations for war , the russians and turks agreed to discussions at berlin . in advance of the meeting , confidential negotiations took place between britain and russia in april and may 1878 . the russians were willing to make changes to the big bulgaria , but were determined to retain their new possessions bessarabia in europe and batum and kars on the east coast of the black sea . to counterbalance this , britain required a possession in the eastern mediterranean where it might base ships and troops , and negotiated with the ottomans for the cession of cyprus . once this was secretly agreed , disraeli was prepared to allow russia 's territorial gains . the congress of berlin was held in june and july 1878 , the central relationship in it that between disraeli and bismarck . in later years , the german chancellor would show visitors to his office three pictures on the wall : " the portrait of my sovereign , there on the right that of my wife , and on the left , there , that of lord beaconsfield " . disraeli caused an uproar in the congress by making his opening address in english , rather than in french , hitherto accepted as the international language of diplomacy . by one account , the british ambassador in berlin , lord odo russell , hoping to spare the delegates disraeli 's awful french accent , told disraeli that the congress was hoping to hear a speech in the english tongue by one of its masters . disraeli left much of the detailed work to salisbury , concentrating his efforts on making it as difficult as possible for the broken - up big bulgaria to reunite . disraeli did not have things all his own way : he intended that batum be demilitarised , but the russians obtained their preferred language , and in 1886 , fortified the town . nevertheless , the cyprus convention ceding the island to britain was announced during the congress , and again made disraeli a sensation . disraeli gained agreement that turkey should retain enough of its european possessions to safeguard the dardanelles . by one account , when met with russian intransigence , disraeli told his secretary to order a special train to return them home to begin the war . although russia yielded , czar alexander ii later described the congress as " a european coalition against russia , under bismarck " . the treaty of berlin was signed on 13 july 1878 at the radziwill palace in berlin . for the first time , the title of britain 's lead signatory was given as " prime minister " . disraeli and salisbury returned home to heroes ' receptions at dover and in london . at the door of 10 downing street , he received flowers sent by the queen . there , he told the gathered crowd , " lord salisbury and i have brought you back peace — but a peace i hope with honour . " the queen offered him a dukedom , which he declined , though accepting the garter , as long as salisbury also received it . in berlin , word spread of bismarck 's admiring description of disraeli , " der alte jude , das ist der mann ! " afghanistan to zululand in the weeks after berlin , disraeli and the cabinet considered calling a general election to capitalise on the public applause he and salisbury had received . parliaments were then for a seven - year term , and it was the custom not to go to the country until the sixth year unless forced to by events . only four and a half years had passed since the last general election . additionally , they did not see any clouds on the horizon that might forecast conservative defeat if they waited . this decision not to seek re - election has often been cited as a great mistake by disraeli . blake , however , pointed out that results in local elections had been moving against the conservatives , and doubted if disraeli missed any great opportunity by waiting . as successful invasions of india generally came through afghanistan , the british had observed and sometimes intervened there since the 1830s , hoping to keep the russians out . in 1878 the russians sent a mission to kabul ; it was not rejected by the afghans , as the british had hoped . the british then proposed to send their own mission , insisting that the russians be sent away . the viceroy , lord lytton , concealed his plans to issue this ultimatum from disraeli , and when the prime minister insisted he take no action , went ahead anyway . when the afghans made no answer , the british advanced against them in the second anglo - afghan war , and under lord roberts easily defeated them . the british installed a new ruler , and left a mission and garrison in kabul . british policy in south africa was to encourage federation between the british - run cape colony and natal , and the boer republics , the transvaal ( annexed by britain in 1877 ) and the orange free state . the governor of cape colony , sir bartle frere , believing that the federation could not be accomplished until the native tribes acknowledged british rule , made demands on the zulu and their king , , which they were certain to reject . as zulu troops could not marry until they had washed their spears in blood , they were eager for combat . frere did not send word to the cabinet of what he had done until the ultimatum was about to expire . disraeli and the cabinet reluctantly backed him , and in early january 1879 resolved to send reinforcements . before they could arrive , on 22 january , a zulu impi , or army , moving with great speed and stealth , ambushed and destroyed a british encampment in south africa in the battle of isandlwana . over a thousand british and colonial troops were killed . word of the defeat did not reach london until 12 february . disraeli wrote the next day , " the terrible disaster has shaken me to the centre " . he reprimanded frere , but left him in charge , attracting fire from all sides . disraeli sent general sir garnet wolseley as high commissioner and commander in chief , and and the zulus were crushed at the battle of ulundi on 4 july 1879 . on 8 september 1879 sir louis cavagnari , in charge of the mission in kabul , was killed with his entire staff by rebelling afghan soldiers . roberts undertook a successful punitive expedition against the afghans over the next six weeks . 1880 election gladstone , in the 1874 election , had been returned for greenwich , finishing second behind a conservative in the two - member constituency , a result he termed more like a defeat than a victory . in december 1878 , he was offered the liberal nomination at the next election for edinburghshire , a constituency popularly known as midlothian . the small scottish electorate was dominated by two noblemen , the conservative duke of buccleuch and the liberal earl of rosebery . the earl , a friend of both disraeli and gladstone who would succeed the latter after his final term as prime minister , had journeyed to the united states to view politics there , and was convinced that aspects of american electioneering could be translated to the united kingdom . on his advice , gladstone accepted the offer in january 1879 , and later that year began his midlothian campaign , speaking not only in edinburgh , but across britain , attacking disraeli , to huge crowds . conservative chances of re - election were damaged by the poor weather , and consequent effects on agriculture . four consecutive wet summers through 1879 had led to poor harvests in the united kingdom . in the past , the farmer had the consolation of higher prices at such times , but with bumper crops cheaply transported from the united states , grain prices remained low . other european nations , faced with similar circumstances , opted for protection , and disraeli was urged to the corn laws . he declined , stating that he regarded the matter as settled . protection would have been highly unpopular among the newly enfranchised urban working classes , as it would raise their cost of living . amid an economic slump generally , the conservatives lost support among farmers . disraeli 's health continued to fail through 1879 . owing to his infirmities , disraeli was three - quarters of an hour late for the lord mayor 's dinner at the guildhall in november , at which it is customary that the prime minister speaks . though many commented on how healthy he looked , it took him great effort to appear so , and when he told the audience he expected to speak to the dinner again the following year , attendees chuckled — gladstone was then in the midst of his campaign . despite his public confidence , disraeli recognised that the conservatives would probably lose the next election , and was already contemplating his resignation honours . despite this pessimism , conservatives hopes were buoyed in early 1880 with successes in by - elections the liberals had expected to win , concluding with victory in southwark , normally a liberal stronghold . the cabinet had resolved to wait before dissolving parliament ; in early march they reconsidered , agreeing to go to the country as soon as possible . parliament was dissolved on 24 march ; the first borough constituencies began voting a week later . disraeli took no public part in the electioneering , it being deemed improper for peers to make speeches to influence commons elections . this meant that the chief conservatives — disraeli , salisbury , and india secretary lord cranbrook — would not be heard from . the election was thought likely to be close . once returns began to be announced , it became clear that the conservatives were being decisively beaten . the final result gave the liberals an absolute majority of about 50 . final months , death , and memorials disraeli refused to cast blame for the defeat , which he understood was likely to be final for him . he wrote to lady bradford that it was just as much work to end a government as to form one , without any of the fun . queen victoria was bitter at his departure as prime minister . among the honours he arranged before resigning as prime minister on 21 april 1880 was one for his private secretary , montagu corry , who became baron rowton . returning to hughenden , disraeli brooded over his electoral dismissal , but also resumed work on endymion , which he had begun in 1872 and laid aside before the 1874 election . the work was rapidly completed and published by november 1880 . he carried on a correspondence with victoria , with letters passed through intermediaries . when parliament met in january 1881 , he served as conservative leader in the lords , attempting to serve as a moderating influence on gladstone 's legislation . suffering from asthma and gout , disraeli went out as little as possible , fearing more serious episodes of illness . in march , he fell ill with bronchitis , and emerged from bed only for a meeting with salisbury and other conservative leaders on the 26th . as it became clear that this might be his final sickness , friends and opponents alike came to call . disraeli declined a visit from the queen , " she would only ask me to take a message to albert . " almost blind , when he received the last letter from victoria of which he was aware on 5 april , he held it momentarily , then had it read to him by lord barrington , a privy councillor . one card , signed " a workman " , delighted its recipient , " don 't die yet , we can 't do without you . " despite the gravity of disraeli 's condition , the doctors concocted optimistic bulletins , for public consumption . the prime minister , gladstone , called several times to enquire about his rival 's condition , and wrote in his diary , " may the almighty be near his pillow . " there was intense public interest in the former prime minister 's struggles for life . disraeli had customarily taken the sacrament at easter ; when this day was observed on 17 april , there was discussion among his friends and family if he should be given the opportunity , but those against , fearing that he would lose hope , prevailed . on the morning of the following day , easter monday , he became incoherent , then comatose . disraeli 's last confirmed words before dying in the early morning of 19 april were " i had rather live but i am not afraid to die " . disraeli 's executors decided against a public procession and funeral , fearing that too large crowds would gather to do him honour . the chief mourners at the service at hughenden on 26 april were his brother ralph and nephew coningsby , to whom hughenden would eventually pass . queen victoria was prostrated with grief , and considered ennobling ralph or coningsby as a memorial to disraeli ( without children , his titles became extinct with his death ) but decided against it on the ground that their means were too small for a peerage . protocol forbade her attending disraeli 's funeral ( this would not be changed until 1965 , when elizabeth ii attended the rites for the former prime minister sir winston churchill ) but she sent primroses ( " his favourite flowers " ) to the funeral , and visited the burial vault to place a wreath of china blooms four days later . disraeli is buried with his wife in a vault beneath the church of st michael and all angels which stands in the grounds of his home , hughenden manor , accessed from the churchyard . there is also a memorial to him in the chancel in the church , erected in his honour by queen victoria . his literary executor was his private secretary , lord rowton . the disraeli vault also contains the body of sarah brydges willyams , the wife of james brydges willyams of st mawgan in cornwall . disraeli carried on a long correspondence with mrs. willyams , writing frankly about political affairs . at her death in 1865 , she left him a large legacy , which helped clear up his debts . his will was proved at £ 84 , 000 . disraeli has a memorial in westminster abbey . this monument was erected by the nation on the motion of gladstone in his memorial speech on disraeli in the house of commons . gladstone had absented himself from the funeral , with his plea of the press of public business met with public mockery . his speech was widely anticipated , if only because his dislike for disraeli was well known , and caused the prime minister much worry . in the event , the speech was a model of its kind , in which he avoided comment on disraeli 's politics , while praising his personal qualities . legacy literary blake comments that disraeli " produced an epic poem , unbelievably bad , and a five - act blank verse tragedy , if possible worse . further he wrote a discourse on political theory and a political biography , the life of lord george bentinck , which is excellent ... remarkably fair and accurate . " but it is on his novels that disraeli 's literary achievements are generally judged . they have from the outset divided critical opinion . the writer r. w. stewart observed that there have always been two criteria for judging disraeli 's novels — one political and the other artistic . the critic robert o , concurring , writes , " it is after all , even if you are a tory of the staunchest blue , impossible to make disraeli into a first - rate novelist . and it is equally impossible , no matter how much you deplore the extravagances and improprieties of his works , to make him into an insignificant one . " disraeli 's early " silver fork " novels vivian grey ( 1826 ) and the young duke ( 1831 ) featured romanticised depictions of aristocratic life ( despite his ignorance of it ) with character sketches of well - known public figures lightly disguised . in some of his early fiction disraeli also portrayed himself and what he felt to be his byronic dual nature : the poet and the man of action . his most autobiographical novel was contarini fleming ( 1832 ) , an avowedly serious work that did not sell well . the critic william kuhn suggests that disraeli 's fiction can be read as " the memoirs he never wrote " , revealing the inner life of a politician for whom the norms of victorian public life appeared to represent a social straitjacket — particularly with regard to what kuhn sees as the author 's " ambiguous sexuality " . of the other novels of the early 1830s , alroy is described by blake as " profitable but unreadable " , and the rise of iskander ( 1833 ) , the infernal marriage and ixion in heaven ( 1834 ) made little impact . henrietta temple ( 1837 ) was disraeli 's next major success . it draws on the events of his affair with henrietta sykes to tell the story of a debt - ridden young man torn between a mercenary loveless marriage and a passionate love - at - first - sight for the eponymous heroine . venetia ( 1837 ) was a minor work , written to raise much - needed cash . in the 1840s disraeli wrote a trilogy of novels with political themes . with coningsby ; or , the new generation ( 1844 ) , disraeli , in blake 's view , " infused the novel genre with political sensibility , espousing the belief that england 's future as a world power depended not on the complacent old guard , but on youthful , idealistic politicians . " coningsby was followed by sybil ; or , the two nations ( 1845 ) , another political novel , which was less idealistic and more clear - eyed than coningsby ; the " two nations " of its sub - title referred to the huge economic and social gap between the privileged few and the deprived working classes . the last in disraeli 's political novel trilogy was tancred ; or , the new crusade ( 1847 ) , promoting the church of england 's role in reviving britain 's flagging spirituality . disraeli 's last completed novels were lothair ( 1870 ) and endymion ( 1880 ) . the first , described by daniel r schwarz as " disraeli 's ideological pilgrim 's progress " , is a story of political life with particular regard to the roles of the anglican and roman catholic churches . endymion , despite having a whig as hero , is a last exposition of the author 's economic policies and political beliefs . disraeli continued to the last to pillory his enemies in barely disguised caricatures : the character st barbe in endymion is widely seen as a parody of thackeray , who had offended disraeli more than thirty years earlier by lampooning him in punch as " " . disraeli left an unfinished novel in which the priggish central character , falconet , is unmistakably a caricature of gladstone . political in the years after disraeli 's death , as salisbury began his reign of more than twenty years over the conservatives , the party emphasised the late leader 's " one nation " views , that the conservatives at root shared the beliefs of the working classes , with the liberals the party of the urban élite . disraeli had , for example , stressed the need to improve the lot of the urban labourer . the memory of disraeli was used by the conservatives to appeal to the working classes , with whom he was said to have had a rapport . this aspect of his policies has been re - evaluated by historians in the 20th and 21st centuries . in 1972 b h abbott stressed that it was not disraeli but lord randolph churchill who invented the term " tory democracy " , though it was disraeli who made it an essential part of conservative policy and philosophy . in 2007 parry wrote , " the tory democrat myth did not survive detailed scrutiny by professional historical writing of the 1960s [ which ] demonstrated that disraeli had very little interest in a programme of social legislation and was very flexible in handling parliamentary reform in 1867 . " despite this , parry sees disraeli , rather than peel , as the founder of the modern conservative party . the conservative politician and writer douglas hurd wrote in 2013 , " [ disraeli ] was not a one - nation conservative — and this was not simply because he never used the phrase . he rejected the concept in its entirety . " disraeli 's enthusiastic propagation of the british empire has also been seen as appealing to working class voters . before his leadership of the conservative party , imperialism was the province of the liberals , most notably palmerston , with the conservatives murmuring dissent across the aisle . disraeli made the conservatives the party that most loudly supported both the empire and military action to assert its primacy . this came about in part because disraeli 's own views stemmed that way , in part because he saw advantage for the conservatives , and partially in reaction against gladstone , who disliked the expense of empire . blake argued that disraeli 's imperialism " decisively orientated the conservative party for many years to come , and the tradition which he started was probably a bigger electoral asset in winning working - class support during the last quarter of the century than anything else " . some historians have commented on a romantic impulse behind disraeli 's approach to empire and foreign affairs : abbott writes , " to the mystical tory concepts of throne , church , aristocracy and people , disraeli added empire . " others have identified a strongly pragmatic aspect to his policies . gladstone 's biographer philip magnus contrasted disraeli 's grasp of foreign affairs with that of gladstone , who " never understood that high moral principles , in their application to foreign policy , are more often destructive of political stability than motives of national self - interest . " in parry 's view , disraeli 's foreign policy " can be seen as a gigantic castle in the air ( as it was by gladstone ) , or as an overdue attempt to force the british commercial classes to awaken to the realities of european politics . " during his lifetime disraeli 's opponents , and sometimes even his friends and allies , questioned whether he sincerely held the views he propounded , or whether they were adopted by him as essential to one who sought to spend his life in politics , and were mouthed by him without conviction . lord john manners , in 1843 at the time of young england , wrote , " could i only satisfy myself that d 'israeli believed all that he said , i should be more happy : his historical views are quite mine , but does he believe them ? " blake ( writing in 1966 ) suggested that it is no more possible to answer that question now than it was then . nevertheless , paul smith , in his journal article on disraeli 's politics , argues that disraeli 's ideas were coherently argued over a political career of nearly half a century , and " it is impossible to sweep them aside as a mere bag of burglar 's tools for effecting felonious entry to the british political pantheon . " stanley weintraub , in his biography of disraeli , points out that his subject did much to advance britain towards the 20th century , carrying one of the two great reform acts of the 19th despite the opposition of his liberal rival , gladstone . " he helped preserve constitutional monarchy by drawing the queen out of mourning into a new symbolic national role and created the climate for what became ' tory democracy ' . he articulated an imperial role for britain that would last into world war ii and brought an intermittently self - isolated britain into the concert of europe . " frances walsh comments on disraeli 's multifaceted public life : the debate about his place in the conservative pantheon has continued since his death . disraeli fascinated and divided contemporary opinion ; he was seen by many , including some members of his own party , as an adventurer and a charlatan and by others as a far - sighted and patriotic statesman . as an actor on the political stage he played many roles : byronic hero , man of letters , social critic , parliamentary virtuoso , squire of hughenden , royal companion , european statesman . his singular and complex personality has provided historians and biographers with a particularly stiff challenge . cartoons , 1846 – 86 works by disraeli novels vivian grey ( 1826 ) ( 1828 ) the young duke ( 1831 ) contarini fleming ( 1832 ) ixion in heaven ( 1832 / 3 ) the wondrous tale of alroy ( 1833 ) the rise of iskander ( 1833 ) the infernal marriage ( 1834 ) henrietta temple ( 1837 ) venetia ( 1837 ) coningsby , or the new generation ( 1844 ) sybil , or the two nations ( 1845 ) tancred , or the new crusade ( 1847 ) lothair ( 1870 ) endymion ( 1880 ) falconet ( unfinished 1881 ) poetry the revolutionary ( 1834 ) drama the tragedy of count ( 1839 ) non - fiction an inquiry into the plans , progress , and policy of the american mining companies ( 1825 ) lawyers and legislators : or , notes , on the american mining companies ( 1825 ) the present state of mexico ( 1825 ) england and france , or a cure for the ministerial gallomania ( 1832 ) what is he ? ( 1833 ) the vindication of the english constitution ( 1835 ) the letters of runnymede ( 1836 ) lord george bentinck ( 1852 )