Two Cabinet Ministers, Lord Rosebery and Mr. Asquith, addressed the
first meeting of the London Reform Union on Thursday night. Both made effective speeches, Lord Rose- bevy dwelling most on the necessity of including the City, and making the Lord Mayor the head executive officer of the whole Metropolis. To secure that end, he would offer the City " liberal terms," and though he did not explain what he meant, we presume he had in his mind some plan of fusion rather than simple absorption. Having been called " Citizen Rosebery " during the meeting by Mr. Haldane—who forgot, apparently, that the phrase would be " Citizen Primrose "—he repudiated that designation because, until the centre was included, there was no London to be citizen of. Mr. Asquith warmly com- mended the same idea on the ground that until its organi- sation was complete, a London patriotism could not be developed. Such a patriotism would have an immense work to accomplish, everything in London being on the gigantic scale. He knew, for example, as Home Secretary, that London, though she had not many factories in the strict sense, had more workshops nominally under sanitary super- vision than any town or cluster of towns in the Kingdom. They are to be counted by tens of thousands, and to make them healthy and decent places requires the strength of a municipality, as well as of the State. The object of the meeting was to conciliate the London vote ; and we suppose we may take it that, with this end, the Cabinet is ready to fuse the City with the congeries of cities governed by the County Council. If the work is fairly done, we have no ob- jection to raise, for the City will bring into London much- needed conservative traditions, and a body of capable, con- servative men.
Previous page
