In drawing an indictment against the present Government, Lord Rosebery
dwelt. upon the fact that they had not "probed the Raid," and bad not made the'Committee a reality. They refused to press for those documents which it was claimed would have thrown a - new light upon the Raid and its causes,—" not that I believe it would have done anything of the kind," somewhat inconsequently added Lord Rosebery. To refuse to press for these papers, "which the Colonial Office had seen, and of which the Colonial Office must have retained copies," had created a -very bad impression. We agree ; but Lord Rosebery must not forget that his con- demnation injuriously affects the Liberal members of the Committee quite as much as the members of the Govern- ment who served on it. It was, the duty of the Libefal, members to insist that the Committee as a whole. should judge of the importance of the documents in question. If the. Committee, as Lord Rosebery suggests, was a failure beCause the production of the documents was not insisted on, the responsibility of the failure rests no less on the ' Liberal party than on the Government.
