The accession of the Rosebery Administration has been singularly easy
and unembarrassed. Mr. Labouchere, who states in Truth that if he had had any notion of what was afoot, he could have got more than one hundred signatures to his pro- test against having any Prime Minister not a member of the House of Commons, has, as a matter of fact, made nothing of his opposition ; and the deputation to Mr. Marjoribanks last week has ended in a mere fizzle. Mr. Storey has stated that -he was compelled to go abroad immediately after the inter- view, and that on his return he found everything settled, and that he does not wish to divide the Liberal Party to no pur- pose. In short, it would appear that the Liberal Party feel as little objection to exchanging Mr. Gladstone for Lord Hosebery as the Conservative Party in Germany felt to ex- changing Prince Bismarck for Count Caprivi. And perhaps the party that loves change is less inconsistent in accepting -change with equanimity, if not satisfaction, than was the German party that professed the most rigid Conservatism, in accepting a similar somersault—more especially as, in this case, it has been on the late Minister's own initiative -that the change has taken place. Perhaps Mr. Gladstone has been in some degree even too earnest for his Parliamentary followers, though in the country it is that impressive earnest- ness which has gained him his almost immeasurable influence.
