The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli

by Richard Aldous

This central relationship of the Congress of Berlin would quickly develop into genuine mutual admiration, liking and respect. For years afterwards Bismarck would point to three pictures on the wall in his office. ‘There hangs the portrait of my Sovereign, there on the right that of my wife,’ he would tell visitors, ‘and on the left, there, that of Lord Beaconsfield.’ Indisputable synergy existed between the two statesmen. Both men were skilled in the art of realpolitik. Neither had time for what they considered the moral bleating of those espousing humanitarian causes or an ethical foreign policy. Each was cynical yet romantic. Both revelled in flamboyant gestures and lofty statements, concerning themselves with grand strategy while minions worked out the details.