To give a complete précis of the speech in the
space at our command would be impossible. We may note, however, 'as especially admirable, the passage in which Lord Rose- bery advised all owners of realised property, however small or however large their holding might be, to scrutinise 'carefully the contagious nature of the principles on which this Budget is framed. ." These principles are eminently eon- .tagieus. There are a great many Members of Parliament- 's; considerable number at any rate—sitting behind the Treasury Bench who honestly wish that these principles should be contagious.' They are hostile to every form of property." Excellent, too, is the passage in which Lord Rosebery asked why. owners of land should be " so peculiarly penalised " a When had the landowners become part of the criminal elasd ? They had rendered great service to the State for many centuries, they have been centres of employment and bounty—I don't say there have not been exceptions to this as in every class—but, as a rule, I think you will endorse what I am saying. They have been centres of employment and bounty and civilisation. From land have come most great servants of the State ; they have con- ducted the arduous rural administration of the country without emolument and without pay—a fact which fills every foreign visitor with admiration and with envy—and then suddenly a new Government comes in and tells them they are pariahs, and may go about their business. I believe that at the very foundation itself of what are called the lower classes—certainly among the artisan classes—there is a fund of justice to which these cases will appeal, and which, even with alLthe resources at the disposal of an able and powerful Government, will not be appealed to in vain."
