LORD ROSEBERY AT GLASGOW.
WE should say, on the whole, that Lord Rosebery had lost ground since his Chesterfield speech, and that it will not be regained by the speeches made at Glasgow. T,he country was pleased with his appearance in Derby- shire because it is uneasy at the absence of any visible alternative Government, and hoped, if Lord Rosebery marched forward firmly and his friends followed him, that it might discover one. He has not, however, marched forward firmly, and though his friends have followed him, it has been with some evidences of hesitation. He struck out a line for himself, and avowedly appealed to the nation over the heads of both parties, while they think it necessary to disavow any intention of quitting the Liberal party. He tried to be above, and they wished rather to remain within, the ancient tabernacle. Since that time he has weakened his position. We will not say that, finding response a little less complete than he had hoped, Lord Rosebery has endeavoured to hedge ; but he is a man who rather dreads opinion, and whenever it cools towards him either becomes less confident or withdraws into himself. Now, the English people wanted a light, and not a mirror. The first sign that he was weakening was his talk about "spade-work," which is really an appeal for new wirepullers. Men wanted a leader, not wirepullers. It is very doubtful if committees, and associations, and leagues, and the rest of the machinery for influencing elections, effect much even in quiet times; but it is quite certain that in times of crisis the voters disregard them, that they make up their minds as to who shall rule, and that they seat the object of their choice in power without attention to anything but their own convictions. They thought in this instance that Lord Rosebery was above spade-work, and were disappointed. One speech clarifying all men's ideas as to what he precisely meant at Chesterfield, and de- manding of the people that they should accept his pro- posals or reject him and them together, would have done more for him than six months of spade-work by inferior agents. No such speech came at Liverpool ; and at Glasgow it was not only wanting, but there was a posi- tive tendency to draw back from the attitude originally assumed of strong conviction. Upon the war, it is true, Lord Rosebery was as firm as ever, and his determined words, "We must put this thing through," were the more heartily welcomed because the country had just been annoyed by news of an unexpected check, and wanted to express in some simple but final way its unalterable reso- lution. Lord Rosebery's phrase, which was, if we recollect rightly after the forty years' interval, also Abraham Lincoln's, exactly met this need. Upon all other subjects, however, he is a little weaker. 'Upon Home-rule, though he still rejects absolutely the idea of an "independent Parliament" for Ireland—which would, of course, mean either the independence of Ireland, or, more probably, ten years of civil war between North and South—he seems ready to concede powers of self-govern- ment upon which a Parliament of some sort might gradually be built. Representative Parliaments, what- ever their powers, can never be hindered from represent- ing, and that includes, whenever their electors choose, hampering or defying the controlling authority. Even as regards his own position Lord Rosebery is weakening. If he did not offer himself as leader either of a national or of a revivified Liberal party, his speeches at Chester- field and Liverpool have no meaning ; but at Glasgow he assured Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the world that he was seeking no leadership, and almost apologised for presuming to be so prominent. "I have no designs," he said, "on the leadership of the Liberal party. I have no personal ambition or object in view." That he has no selfish object in view may be true enough, and at all events it is usual to disclaim such motives ; but if Lord Rosebery has no ambition, what is the use of him ? What the country is asking of him, so far as it is asking anything at all, is that he should have an ambi- tion, and a lofty one,—namely, to prepare an alternative Government, which can criticise, strengthen, or, if need ever arises, supersede the present one. Lord Rosebery is even willing to leave much of that function to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who is opposed to the war, and in favour of Home-rule for Ireland ! At least he says : "I could not if I wished supplant Sir Henry as leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, and I have no ambition to be the Liberal leader in the House of Lords." Where, then, is he, who has by his own confession "disowned the leadership" of the Member for Stirling District, to be a leader ? Clearly outside Parliament, in Dalmeny or Mentmore, perhaps, which is precisely the old and useless position he occupied during his five years of retreat, when he looked on meditating and pitying, but ineffectual. Yet all the while Lord Rosebery is looking forward to a possible Premiership, for he makes, as regards any suggestions of internal re- form, the regular excuse of future Premiers: "I cannot pre- scribetill I am called in," and then proceeds to indicate three pressing questions—rehousing, education, and temper- ance—and to declafre about each of them a policy. As regards rehousing, inunicipal powers must be increased ; as regards education, much more must be spent, as in Germany, and efficiency secured as it is there; and as regards temperance, Lord Peel's scheme is an excellent one, and a smaller one would do. All the while, what the country wants is an effective and sufficient Army without conscription or unendurable weight of taxes. Those are not the tonics to put more red blood into the veins of a party suffering from amemia. That new writing on the slate is the writing of some old wirepuller or Parlia- mentary agent, not of a man who is to infuse new vigour into the life of an Empire. The effect of such a speech can be only depressing, and Lord Rosebery will find, if he pursues this course, that the hope which he had awakened has died away, and that the country will turn to candi- dates who, lacking many of his gifts, and with less charm for mighty audiences, are more confided in, because men are sure that up to the level of their powers they "mean business."
It is a great pity, for without a strong Liberal party the kingdom is but half provided with means for its system of government by deliberation, and no Liberal party can be effective without an effective and corn pletely trusted leader. The friends of that party con- stantly boast of the variety of opinion which exists within its ranks, and compare its multiform vivacity with the drilled and dull homogeneity of its opponents. They might be right, or at least would have an arguable case, if governments had never to act ; but the business of governing is as concrete as the business of soldier- ship, and the very vivacity of the Liberal party tends to an indiscipline which makes the authority of its general vital to its force. The regiments must act together to succeed, and they never act together unless one man is suffered to direct their course. Sand needs something to bind it even more than clay, and you build walls, as the Arabs have it, with bricks, not diamonds. The ascendency of Mr. Gladstone concealed for years the Liberal tendency to disintegration. Lord Rosebery could never be Mr. Gladstone; but he had something of his charm for great audiences, he had overcome all that difficulty of becoming known to the ignorant which impedes even men who have been Cabinet Ministers, and he was sound on the one question upon which the masses had irrevocably made up their minds. A widely diffused hope therefore fastened upon him, and would, had he fulfilled it, have carried him, if not into power, which was, we think, im- possible, at least into a position in which he could have effectively helped in the guidance of the machine. That hope is not quite dead yet ; but it has become much fainter, to the great loss alike of Parliament, of the people, and of party government. Parliament loses from the absence of an Opposition strong enough to compel atten- tion; the people, in the absence of reasoning, are divided by anything rather than reason ; and party government is seen at its worst when irresistible force is opposed by powerless, and therefore spluttering, anger. It is a great pity, as we said ; but the signs of the hour seem to us to show that the whole Rosebery movement will die away infructuous, those who have been drawn by it gliding off as their idiosyncrasies lead them into the Unionist ranks, or the Radical ranks, or the ranks of the great party of lookers-on.
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