The high average of intellectual power among the Jews need not be attributed to purity of race; it is sufficiently explained by their history. Nor is it clear that where two of the more advanced races are mixed by intermarriage, the product is inferior to either of the parent stocks. On the contrary, such a mixture, _e.g._ of Teutonic and Slavonic blood, or of Celtic and Teutonic, gives a result at least equal in capacity to either of the pure-blooded races which have been so commingled. [6] He had an intellectual arrogance, which made him dislike what may be called the Radical conception of human equality. In the _Life of Lord George Bentinck_ he remarks, "The Jews are a living and the most striking evidence of the falsity of that pernicious doctrine of modern times, the natural equality of man.... All the tendencies of the Jewish race are conservative. Their bias is to religion, property, and natural aristocracy." [7] On one occasion he went so far as to deny that he had asked Peel for office, relying on the fact that the letter which contained the request was marked "private," so that Peel could not use it to disprove his statement (_Letters of Sir Robert Peel_, by C. S. Parker, vol. ii. p. 486; vol. iii. pp. 347, 348). [8] See Sir S. Northcote's report of a conversation with Disraeli in his last years (_Life of Sir Stafford Northcote_, vol. ii.). [9] In the _Life of Lord George Bentinck_ (written shortly after Peel's death), Disraeli, after dilating upon the loyalty which the Tory aristocracy had displayed towards Peel, observes, "An aristocracy hesitates before it yields its confidence, but it never does so grudgingly.... In political connections the social feeling mingles with the principle of honour which governs gentlemen.... Such a following is usually cordial and faithful. An aristocracy is rather apt to exaggerate the qualities and magnify the importance of a plebeian leader." [10] When he did set himself to examine the condition of the people, the diagnosis, if not always correct, was always suggestive, _e.g._ the account of the manufacturing districts given in _Sybil, or the Two Nations_. [11] "The old Jew, that is the man." [12] In the _Life of Lord George Bentinck_. [13] +Oio pepnusthai, toi de skiai aissousin+ (_Od._ x. 495). Used of Tiresias, in the world of disembodied spirits. [14] To defend Disraeli by arguing that his policy had not a fair chance because his colleagues did not allow him to carry it through is to admit another error not less grave, for the path he took was one on which no minister ought to have entered unless satisfied that the Cabinet and the country would let him follow it to the end. [15] _Inf._ vii. 77.