LORD ROSEBERY AND THE " IMPERIAL LIBERALS." T HE Imperial Liberal
Council has celebrated its suc- cesses at the General Election by a banquet. The eminent politicians who furnished the after-dinner speeches had a difficult part to play. They had to be Ministerialist in the matter of policy, and anti-Minis- terialist in the matter of person. If they failed in the first point, where would be their Imperialism ? If they failed in the second point, where would be their Liberalism ? On the whole, they acquitted themselves well. If now and again the guests might have imagined themselves listening to Mr. Powell Williams, they were soon reassured by some such happy phrase as Mr. Cecil Harmsworth's reference to "the infamous campaign con- ducted by the Secretary of State for the Colonies." (To prevent misapprehension, we hasten to add that the cam- paign in question was conducted in Great Britain, not in South Africa.) Speaking generally, however, the refer- ences made to the Government were of the mildest possible type. Lord Brassey is quite pained by the theory that "the first and only duty of an Opposition is to oppose." Surely, he pleads, they are wrong who say this. The duty of an Opposition is of quite another complexion. It is to help in every way to promote the good government of the country. Consequently, when the leadership of the Liberal party is in bad hands, as, according to Mr. Cecil Harmsworth, it certainly is at this moment, the duty of the Opposition is to give this help " by silent support of the policy of the Government. They also serve who only stand and wait.' " A bad Opposition, Lord Brassey explains, scrambles for the loaves and fishes ; a good Opposition waits until they fall into its month. The Imperial Liberals are always ready, always on the watch, but they are never impatient, they never snatch at office, or seek to anticipate the summons which the country is certain to address to them one of these days.
It is essential to political success that the party which seeks it should have a leader like-minded with itself. As we read Lord Brassey's description of the ideal Liberal party it was impossible not to recognise in it an equally accurate description of the ideal Liberal leader. Lord Rosebery has realised as clearly as Lord Brassey that they also serve who only stand and wait. He too knows when to promote the good government of the country by criticism and suggestion, and when to help Ministers by silent sup- port. Why, then, is not Lord Rosebery leading the Oppo- sition at this moment ? For the answer to this question we must turn to Dr. Heber Hart. Lord Rosebery, he tells us, will lead the Liberals when the Liberals show themselves worthy of him. This is something like plain speaking. A less candid friend might have been tempted to enlarge upon the qualifications required in a leader, and then to show how these quali- fications are united in Lord Rosebery. Dr. Heber Hart knows better. He sees that the reason why Lord Rose- bery does not lead the Liberals is that the Liberals do not deserve to be led by him. His evident wish was that each diner should go home in a temper of chastened introspec- tion, and ask himself ere he slept : ' What must I do to make myself worthy of Lord Rosebery ? What are the shortcomings in me which compel him to stand aloof from the party which yearns for his return ? ' None of the other speakers expressed himself to so much purpose as Dr. Heber Hart. By his side Lord Brassey and Mr. Perks were commonplace. Lord Brassey was probably hampered by his desire to make himself pleasant all round. He will not allow for a moment that the Liberal party are driven to make Lord Rosebery their leader by any lack of the necessary qualifications elsewhere. " We," he says boldly, " can find leaders whom we trust." It is no question of Hobson's choice. There are other "steady and consistent Liberals" who are also "eminent for intellectual power." But somehow all their steadiness, all their consistency, all their intellectual power, do not quite fit them to fill the vacant place. " The union of all sections of Liberals can be best accomplished under Lord Rosebery."
We shall be interested in noting how Lord Rosebery receives this encouraging assurance. The invitation has quite an Advent ring about it. A great political party, a party which for years ruled England and thought that it would go on ruling England for many more years, implores Lord Rosebery to rescue it from something like annihilation. But as yet Lord Rosebery has turned a deaf ear to its cry. The Deliverer will not listen, and Dr. Heber Hart's explanation of his indifference is probably the true one. He does not think the Liberal party worth leading. He wants, it may be, to command an army, but he has no taste for the work of creating an army. He is a fair-weather pilot, not "a daring pilot in extremity." When Dr. Heber Hart preaches to the Liberals that they must show themselves worthy of Lord Rosebery, what does this mean but that it is the party that must do the work, and Lord Rosebery that must have the glory ? The general under whom a section of the Opposition are so anxious to range themselves has no taste for the long uphill task that lies before any politician who undertakes to lead to victory a defeated and discredited party. Leadership to Lord Rosebery—at least, so we are tempted to think—. means the command of a trained and disciplined army, an army that can "go anywhere and do anything." But armies such as this have to be made. They do not grow up of themselves. They are knocked into shape by the experience that comes of frequent reverses and occasional victories, and by seeing how under com- petent guidance the reverses become fewer and the victories more numerous. Dr. Heber Hart has a better notion of what has to be done than any other speaker at Monday's dinner, for he does see that the faults that have brought the Liberal host into its present condition are faults belonging to the rank-and-file. They do not deserve that Lord Rosebery should lead them, and if they wish him to do so they must first show him that they are more worthy of his guidance than he has hitherto thought them.
But though Dr. Hart does see this much, he does not see the further truth that the improvement of which the Liberal army stands in such urgent need must be effected under a leader, not in the absence of a leader. If the Duke of Wellington had put off his journey to Spain until there was an army fit for him to command, the Peninsular War would have had a different ending. If all that the Liberal party needed were to be knocked into shape, the best advice that could be given to Lord Rosebery would be to take the command without a day's delay. Until the party is properly led it cannot hope to possess the qualities which can alone transform it from a mob into an army. Before it can do anything effectual either in Parliament or in the country its members must be trained to obey orders, to act in concert, to submit to the control of leaders who can see further, and judge affairs with better materials and more wisdom, than the mass of those who follow them. The para- mount need of the Opposition is discipline, and discipline can only be imposed on men who have lost the habit of obedience by a leader who is on the spot and gives his whole time and strength to the task. Still, this is not the only view of the situation that can be taken, and we do not think that it is the view that Lord Rosebery himself will be likely to take. There have been armies before now which not even a Cromwell or a Napoleon could have made into a fighting force. They were too anxious to attack one another to have any energy to spare for an attack on the common enemy. This is precisely the case with the Opposition at this moment. The speeches at the Hotel Cecil are evidence of it. Now and again there was in them some semblance of criticism of the Government, but the really hard words were reserved for the Liberals who are not in sympathy with the Imperial Liberal Council. Their " disloyal action," their "open sympathy with the enemies of their country," their want of " an intelligent and enlarged patriotism," were the theme of almost every orator. When to these radical differences on the question of the hour, and the proper temper in which that question should be handled, are added the personal differences which exist among the occupants of the Front Opposition Bench, we have no difficulty in understanding Lord Rosebery's attitude. While party politics and Imperial politics are what they are his assumption of the leadership could only make the Liberal position worse than it is already. The Imperialist section has done its best to make the Liberal schism patent and permanent ; we shall be surprised if it finds Lord Rosebery disposed to aid the effort by taking the command of a fraction of a party which can never succeed except as a unit.
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