His advice was again taken when it was necessary to settle upon what
plan the young Prince of Wales should be educated.
Stockmar's judgment of men was singularly correct and just. He formed
the highest opinion of Sir Robert Peel, and on the Duke of
Wellington's death in 1852 he wrote in a letter to the Prince a
masterly analysis of the great commander's character, concluding
with these words: "As the times we live in cannot fail to present
your Royal Highness with great and worthy occasions to distinguish
yourself, you should not shrink from turning them to account . . .
as Wellington did, for the good of all, yet without detriment to
yourself."
The Prince corresponded regularly with 'the good Stockmar,' and
always in time of doubt and trial came sage counsel from his trusted
friend. In fact, the Prince took both the Queen and his friend equally
into his confidence; they were the two to whom he could unbosom
himself with entire freedom.
Disraeli, afterward Lord Beaconsfield, obtained the Queen's fullest
confidence and won her friendship to an extent which no Minister
since Melbourne had ever been able to do. 'Dizzy,' the leader of the
'Young England' party, the writer of political novels, was a very
different person from the statesman of later years. It is difficult
to remember or to realize in these days that it was looked upon as
something quite extraordinary for a member of a once despised and
persecuted race, the Jews, to hold high office.
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