Disraeli Defence Force

In BROS, Benjamin Disraeli appears to have been abducted and replaced by a pod person. Consider the following speech:

“We are preparing to make war against the United States, and in support of the Southern insurrectionists. There has been a great controversy in the House, and in this great City, as to the origin of the insurrection. Who are the rebels? What are the rebels? Sir, I maintain that we have nothing to do with the American rebels. Whether they are patriots, or whether they are brigands, is nothing to the people of England. The status of the rebels is a question for America, not for England; and if we attempt now in this illegitimate and roundabout manner to support this rebellion, we shall ultimately be involved in yet another American war, and for a different object from that which we have hitherto taken. I say it is a matter of great importance, at a moment when we hear for the first time of a reduction of public expenditure, that we should not got involved again in an American war. American wars have been one of the most considerable causes of financial embarrassment in this country, and have led very much to that increase of taxation against which we have heard so many murmurs lately.” - “Disraeli’s Speech at Guildhall, December, 1861” as excerpted in The Life of Benjamin Disraeli: Hero of Two Nations, by Sarah Weintraub (1993). New York: Simon & Schuster

In reality, this is what Disraeli was saying about the Trent affair in both public and private:

'The passions of the people are very high at the present moment, and if the Ministry chose to send fifty thousand men to Canada they would be supported.' (source)

'I am a man of peace, but if we are attacked, the honour of England must be asserted and vindicated.' (Birmingham Daily Post, 12 December 1861)

Horrendous mischaracterisation is only one of the probems with this section. Why is anybody speaking at the Guildhall at all? The London Guildhall is the home of the corporation of the City of London. On 9 November 1861, there was a banquet to celebrate the incoming Lord Mayor of London at which both Palmerston and the Union minister Adams spoke. In December, there was no such event.

More importantly, why is Disraeli in London in December? On 24 November 1861he was staying at Alnwick Castle in the north-east of England. He spoke at Seaham on 8 December 1861, in which he made his announcement about 'the honour of England' being 'asserted and vindicated'. He then went back south- but to Torquay, not London, where he arrived on 17 December 1861 and stayed until January 1862. Once again, TFSmith shows himself unable or unwilling to research an individual's location at a particular point in time- and more than willing to outright lie about that individual's views in order to suit his story.