TOPICS OF THE DAY.
LORD ROSEBERY'S POSITION. LORD ROSEBERY'S sudden speech at the City Liberal Club on Friday week confirms us in the belief that we expressed last Saturday,—that there is no place for him in English politics, and that since he insists upon maintaining a position inconsistent with the whole de- velopment of our political system the country has no use for him. His last speech is a culminating proof of his determination to stand outside and above party, and to pose as the necessary man. He made it clear to the City Liberals that though he had left party he had not left politics and public life. " I left the Liberal party," said Lord Rosebery, " because I found it impossible to lead it, in the main owing to the divisions to which I referred in my letter. The Liberal party in that respect is no better now, but rather worse; and it would indeed be an extra- ordinary evolution of mind if, after having left the Liberal party on that ground, I were to announce my intention of voluntarily returning to it in its present condition. No, gentlemen, so far as I am concerned, I must repeat what I have said on that subject in all my speeches, that for the pre- sent, at any rate, I must proceed alone. I must plough my furrow alone. That is my fate, agreeable or the reverse ; but before I get to the end of that furrow it is possible that I may find myself not alone." Lord Rosebery may dream of some group of politicians " voluntarily," as he would say, rallying round him in his lone furrow, but it is an idle dream. Men will only do that under one of two condi- tions. Either the lone leader round whom they rally must in previous days have done great public services, or else he must be preaching a new doctrine, showing a new path, and impressing men with the belief that he, and he alone, knows what the nation needs. If Lord Rosebery were a pilot who had once weathered a storm, but who. had then for some reason or another been politically neglected, we can easily imagine in times like the present that the country would turn to him as it turned to Mr. Pitt at the end of the Addington Adminis- tration, or again as men would certainly have reverted to Peel if Peel had lived another five years. But it is impos- sible by any stretch of imagination to describe Lord Rose- bery as " the pilot that weathered the storm." His Premiership, whether through his fault or that of others is no matter, was short and inglorious. He accepted the policy of Home-rule in theory but undermined it in prac- tice, and then explained away his undermining action. When he fell he was the most " disconsidered " Premier of modern times. The warmth of personal feeling inspired in all who come close to him by his charm of manner and personal magnetism may have concealed from him the want of confidence with which he was finally regarded by the nation, but that cannot alter the fact that men felt that as the head of an Administration he had been tried and found wanting. He obtained the Premiership by " placating " every section of the Liberal party in turn, but the great " placator," the great political " boss," turned out a most disappointing Premier.
The notion that the country will turn to Lord Rosebery as the man who once got it out of a tight place, and will do so again if only he is appealed to and given a free hand, is, in truth, one that will not bear a moment's examination in the light of contemporary history. It is equally impossible that men should rally round Lord Rosebery as the exponent of a new and better way. If he were a man who preached a particular political doctrine, if he were the ex- pounder of a special creed, if he had , some great and growing principle to set forth, he might educate the 'nation to follow him, and so draw all men's hearts to him. But Lord Rosebery has no political doctrine to preach. His views are sound and sensible enough, but they are, and always have been, views that are in the air, not the views of an original political thinker. Even on foreign policy his attitude has been in no sense creative or original. It is impossible to imagine a situation in which the country would really feel,—' Well, Lord Rosebery has always been right about our attitude towards this or that foreign country when other ,.ple were wrong, and we had better place ourselves in his ds.' He has often, no doubt, been a very sensible critic of the details of foreign policy, but he has never proposed to treat our foreign relations on any special plan. Very possibly he has been quite right in this respect, but that does not alter the fact that neither in home nor in foreign politics does he even profess to offer the nation a new and better way. As long, then, as Lord Rosebery keeps to his policy of ploughing the lone furrow we feel convinced that he will be disappointed in his expectations of a clear and irresistible call from the country. If he were to return to his party, were loyally to abide by the party system and to let the country know whom were t'he men he was acting with, then he might expect a call, and the nation would feel that he had done good work in providing an alternative Government. As it is, the man of the lone furrow is too much like a rogue elephant to have any real place in our politics.
In dealing with Lord Rosebery as a politician one is always confronted with the thought—How is it that a man of such great personal charm, such wide experience of affairs, such knowledge of political subjects, and such a gift of phrase in speech and writing is so decided a failure as a statesman ? Lord Rosebery is apparently possessed of every gift of nature and of art in the treasury of states- manship, and yet they are all of no avail. We believe that the failure is due to the fact that Lord Rosebery has wanted to win in the abstract rather than to further any special set of political views. He has thought too much about the prize, too little about the game. He has wanted to make a big score rather than to help his side to win. We do not mean, of course, to talk as if he were person- ally more ambitious than other statesmen. All statesmen, or almost all, are personally ambitious, and it is a good thing that they are, or we should lose a great incentive to sound service, but Lord Rosebery, as we read his character at any rate, seems to detach the personal desire to win from other considerations. Ordinary politicians attach their personal ambition to a party, or to a set of views and principles, fuse them together, and fight for the party as much as for the personal win. Lord Rosebery, on the other hand, seems to desire a triumph in vacuo. That is, he apparently longs to be at the top in politics not so much out of the desire t'to rule the nation according to his own ideas as to win a specially brilliant decoration. But such an attitude of mind must ruin any political career. Those who habitually play for the win and not for the game may gain a single match, but they are not the best players. To say this, however, is not to suggest that Lord Rosebery is not at the same time a sincerely patriotic man. Most certainly he is, as are all our statesmen, according to their lights. Patriotism, fortunately, may be assumed as existing in all our public men.
In our belief, then, Lord Rosebery by persisting in maintaining the attitude of the man outside party—the man of the lone furrow—has made himself impossible as a British statesman. Frankly, we do not think it is a cause of regret. Lord Rosebery has not, in our opinion, the qualities which fit him for statesmanship and for directing the affairs of a great Empire. For literature, however, and for the non-political side of our public life he has gifts and qualities which must always render him one of the most interesting and fascinating of figures. Few historians and men of letters have so deep a knowledge of our history during the last hundred and fifty years. None possess such a charm for transferring the vivid impres- sion of the historian to the mind of the reader. Again, Lord Rosebery's most remarkable power of humour and his unrivalled capacity for phrase-making render him a master of public oratory. Thus, even if, as we cannot but believe will be the case, Lord Rosebery is not recalled to politics, he will have ample scope left him in our public life. As the man of vast wealth and great position who can successfully compete with men of letters on their own ground, and as the best public speaker in the country on abstract questions, Lord Rosebery will never find him- self forgotten or alone. Men will always seek him, though it will not be for political help and guidance.
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