Sir Edward Grey's speech at Newcastle on Tuesday is a
significant rejoinder to the Pro-Boers who have sought to minimise Lord Rosebery's references to the war and the settlement. Speaking—if we except his inconclusive allusion to the Irish question—with the lucidity and firmness that always mark his utterances, Sir Edward Grey observed that the unity of the Liberal party could only be obtained on the lines laid down in Lord Rosebery's speech, " because there are some of us who adhere to those lines with such intensity and conviction that though we may be prepared to make some sacrifices of individual opinion if necessary, we are not prepared to abandon those lines under any conditions:, As regards the settlement, Sir Edward Grey would recall all the proclamations except that incorporating the Boer dominions in the Empire, and he advocated the extension of lavish aid to the Boers after peace was restored. But he held (1) that in Cape Colony it would be necessary to give compensation to the man who had fought -for us, and temporarily disfranchise the man who had fought against us ; (2) that we could make no overtures to the Boers for peace, and that before any negotiations took place the talk of independence must drop. The speech, in short, was a commentary on Lord Rosebery's Chesterfield address, defining very clearly the minimum concessions which the Imperialist stalwarts are prepared to make. As the Daily Chronicle reads it, " if Lord Rosebery's speech is to be accepted as a means of reuniting the Liberal party, it must result in the conversion of Derby to Chesterfield."
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