The reception of the news in the Liberal party has
been such as might have been expected. So far as we can judge, after reading a multitude of speeches, letters, and telegrams, the great body of the party remains unmoved. It had in truth forgotten Lord Rosebery, it looked to Sir William Harcourt as leader ad interim, and it postpones even in its mind the question of the next Liberal Premiership. It will therefore, if let alone, make no election, but wait quietly for such cues as Sir William may be able to give. As his speech at Rhymney shows, he is not inventive. On the other hand, some Liberal leaders and many Liberal politicians are exceedingly angry, not so much because Lord Rosebery is deposed as because they think him badly treated by Sir William, who, it is guessed, thwarted his chief in the Cabinet, and who, it is known, never mentioned him in public with approval. In his speech at Ebbw Vale, in suggesting the denunciation of the Treaty of Cyprus, snatched the seals of the Foreign Office out of his hands. This charge is clearly well founded, and will, we imagine, create such a number of heartburnings between individuals that the cohesion of the party will be difficult to restore, perhaps will not be restored until some new man is accepted as the inevitable chief. He is not above the horizon yet.
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