Book by Benjamin Disraeli
(Penguin, 1979 (first published 1845))
Reviewed by Peter Franklin on 1 January 2002
KEY POINTS
· Sybil is the most important political novel of the nineteenth century.
· In terms of plot and dialogue the novel sometimes sinks into melodrama, as does Disraeli's somewhat wayward view of British history.
· Despite its flaws as novel and history book, Sybil's strengths outweigh its weaknesses.
· In particular, the vivid descriptions of urban and rural poverty can still shock today, and caused a sensation when originally published.
· The narrative also contains a compelling exploration of the tension between conservative instincts and the desire for social justice
· Rather than resolving that tension itself, Disraeli's novel points towards an eventual resolution in his subsequent political career.
· Disraeli's One Nation Conservatism demonstrated that the Conservative Party could be a Party for rich and poor alike.
· At a time when the Conservative Party is relearning this lesson, Sybil once again provides a source of inspiration.
*****
When Sybil was published in 1845 it caused a sensation. Never before had the reading public been exposed to such vivid descriptions of the sufferings of the poor. Even today, Sybil is regarded as the most important British political novel of the Nineteenth Century. It certainly contributes to our understanding of Disraeli's era, but does it contribute to an our understanding of our own?
The two nations
Disraeli's protagonist is Charles Egremont, a Conservative MP and minor aristocrat. In winning his pretty rotten borough he had incurred debts and was thus forced to wait upon his unsympathetic elder brother for financial help. Whilst touring his brother's estate, Egremont chances upon the ruins of Marney Abbey where the most famous scene of the novel unfolds, an exchange of views between the MP and two strangers - Walter Gerard, a factory worker, and Stephen Morley, a journalist:
'"....Well society may be in its infancy," said Egremont... "but say what you like, our Queen rules over the greatest nation that ever existed."
"Which nation?" asked the young stranger, "for she reigns over two... Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy: who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws."
'"You speak of -", said Egremont, hesitatingly.
'"THE RICH AND THE POOR."'
Disraeli's view of history
There is more to this speech than the articulation of social conscience, it is no accident that its backdrop should have been a ruined abbey. The setting serves as a symbol of Disraeli's view of English history and, in particular, the long shadow cast by Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. He contends that Henry not only robbed the Church, but the people too. This is because the monasteries owned huge estates on which the peasantry were treated justly - in contrast with the lands of the aristocracy.
Disraeli's sense of history then goes somewhat awry. He claims that the confiscation of the monastic estates and their division amongst Henry's supporters created a new ruling class, whose interests came in time to be represented by the Whigs - the political foes of the Tories. This is more or less correct. But he grossly oversimplifies matters, by portraying a great division between the ruling class on the one hand and the monarchy and people on the other. In particular, Charles I is exalted as martyr in the people's cause. In fact, in their treatment of the people, there was little to distinguish the Whigs from the monarchy or its Tory supporters.
A subconscious conscience
Disraeli's historical errors are acknowledged in his writing, perhaps subconsciously. Egremont, the fictional Tory MP, represents Disraeli, the real Tory MP. In the story Egremont is greatly influenced by Walter Gerard and Stephen Morley who are fictional leaders of the Chartists - radical campaigners for democracy and social justice. Egremont is also in love with Gerard's daughter, Sybil, a living embodiment of compassion and everything that is true and noble in the oppressed people of England.
One could read the book as an attempt to reconcile the Tory and radical sides of Disraeli's politics. Interestingly, the narrative frequently veers from politics to religion, providing a parallel subtext in which Egremont's High Tory Anglicanism flirts with the Roman Catholicism of Walter Gerard and his daughter.
Tories and Radicals
Reconciling one's gut conservative instincts with a thirst for social justice is something that many Conservative Christians can identify with today. Disraeli's solution is, in part, a bad one. His biased and sentimental view of history creates a fiction in which Whigs are all bad and Tories are all good. But he redeems himself in two ways. First of all he satirises the greed, hypocrisy and stupidity of the rich and powerful - Tories and Whigs alike. Secondly, and more importantly, he sets aside whole chapters of the book as windows into the wretched lives of the poor and their exploitation by the rich and their middlemen.
It is true that Disraeli's narrative recommends no specific solution for this state of affairs. However, the brutal honesty of his writing had a major impact on public opinion at the time of Sybil's publication, and it is probably fair to say that this accelerated the process of reform by which the condition and status of the poor was improved over subsequent decades. Indeed, some of these reforms were pioneered by Disraeli himself in his time as Prime Minister - not least the radical extension of the franchise.
In short, Disraeli made it possible for the Conservative Party to emerge from its semi-feudal, Tory past and become the leading part of the democratic Britain that was to come. And in this respect, Sybil is a foundational text.
Lessons for today
The most important lesson that Disraeli teaches us is that the Conservative Party must be, and be seen to be, the Party of One Nation. As we emerge from a period in our history where that lesson appeared to have been forgotten, what else can we learn from Disraeli in general and Sybil in particular? Firstly, that we must be honest about the problems facing our nation, especially its poorest citizens. Secondly, that we can trust the people with power - not just at the ballot box, but a trust that will be reciprocated there. Thirdly, that Conservatives can and should be idealistic. Indeed it is Conservative ideals that have the greatest chance of becoming reality.
Thanks for writing this, I thought it an excellent piece. I read Sybil when I was a teenager and a TRG member - this review brought it all back. It's amazing, isn't it, when you look back, how much you are shaped by forces which at the time you don't understand fully? (Not claiming to understand them fully now, but there's a longer historical perspective!).
Posted by: G | March 17, 2006 at 05:16 PM