Lord Rosebery closed his speech by an unmistakable refer- ence
to the fact that it may before long become necessary to found a Centre Party, in which all who are opposed to Socialism can unite. The passage must be quoted verbatim :—
" I honestly believe that the time may come when, organise as you may, the Liberal League will not be enough for the purpose which I have indicated. A time may come—it may not be in my time, for me there is only to-day or to-morrow, I do not think of the dim and distant future—but a time may come when all the forces that oppose Socialism and that oppose Protection may have to gather together, to unite, to make their influence felt.
I ask you to-day, then, to rally to the programme of which I have given you the five salient points,—sane Imperialism, Free-trade, hostility to an Irish Parliament, hostility to Socialism, a reformed and efficient Second Chamber. I believe if you are willing to do this, you will achieve a great work lying to your hands to-day,—to maintain principles sound in them- selves, to combat the forces of disunion and chaos and operations that can only spell disaster to the Empire, and to provide a centre for men all over the country—and they are many—who desire to work together on this basis and for these objects."
Lord Rosebery's political programme is excellent as far as it goes, but we wish he had added to it the maintenance of the Established Church, resistance to the demand for female suffrage, the reduction of the over-representation of Ireland, and some scheme of proportional representation.
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