LORD ROSEBERY'S POSITION.
HOW does Lord Rosebery stand at the present moment? Has he improved his position since the Chester- field speech, or has it declined ? We have no wish to say anything to prejudice Lord Rosebery, for we most sincerely desire that he should reconstruct the Liberal party on the lines of the Chesterfield speech ; but looking back across the six weeks that have elapsed since it was made, we are reluctantly obliged to come to the conclusion that he reached his zenith on that occasion, and that since then there has been a perceptible decline. We ventured directly after the Chesterfield speech to remind Lord Rosebery of the example of General Boulanger, and to point out to him that if he wished to avoid the fate of that meteoric General he must follow up his bid for power and leader- ship by instant and strenuous action. Unfortunately, no such action has taken place, and we greatly fear that Lord Rosebery, instead of moving forward, is treading a path which will lead him to a political fiasco. The analogy with General Boulanger is painfully close. After General Boulanger had reached his highest point, the world waited to see whether he would follow up his success by striking boldly at the French Government. But General Boulanger waited and did nothing, and the French Governments finding he was not going to hit them, hit him. The result was that General Boulanger left France, and . from Belgium and England issued manifestoes tolling France in general, and his supporters in particular, that he was always at their disposal, and that the moment he was. summoned by a general consensus of his countrymen he would appear and put himself at their head. Needless to say, General Boulanger never received such a summons, and the cause he represented—in this case very much for the good of France and the world— gradually " petered out." As we have said, we fear—for here there is real cause of regret—that something very like this is gradu- ally happening in the case of Lord Rosebery. Lord Rosebery made his speech, and there was a general sense that a big man had done a big thing, and the world looked for immediate consequences. For the first few days after the speech no one in the Liberal party dared to show any serious opposition. Hardly a nose protruded even from the most pronounced Pro-Boer burrows. Every one had " gone to cover " in the expectation that a strong man had arisen to rule the Liberal party, and that there would be no future in that party for those who did not come into line with Lord Rosebery. But after a short time it became evident that the speech was not to be followed up, and that the opponents of Lord Rosebery were not in danger of getting any further knocks. Then happened what happened in the case of General Boulanger, and what will always happen as long as human nature is human nature. The men who saw that Lord Rosebery was not going to hit them at once determined to hit him. Immediately the opponents of Lord Rosebery began to work, and very soon gave signs of activity. At the public meeting addressed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in London handbills viru- lently attacking Lord Rosebery were distributed, and there were evident signs that a concerted anti-Roseberyite movement was on foot. That movement has grown, and no one who looks impartially at the situation can doubt that at the present moment Lord Rosebery's position as .a leader is not anything like as strong as it was. Recent events in the Commons show this with great clearness. The Liberal party during the past week has gone through something like a crisis in the House of Commons, but Lord Rosebery has had no active share in the matter. No doubt Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has suffered also, but there has been no corresponding gain to Lord Rosebery. But such inactivity in a leader, or would-be leader, is impossible. A leader must lead, must make his leadership active and vital in every portion of the body of men whom he desires to lead. The man who says " Here am I ready to lead you, and as soon as you have got all things ready, and can assure me that everything is nicely prepared and in perfect order, and that no opposition or disturbance is to be feared, I will come down and lead you," will never lead anything. The political leader cannot thrive who waits for such conditions to be fulfilled. He must descend into the fray and bear not only a hand, but a chief hand, in clearing out his opponents and making his leadership respected. The true leader never says "Go on" but always "Come on." He is in front dealing the shrewdest blows of all, not pacing up and down outside the me7.46 waiting to be called on. A witty and trenchant critic of the present Government at the beginning of its career—if we remember rightly, it was a writer in the Westminster Gazette—described its condition as that of " coma, tempered by fits." Whether that was a true description we will not now discuss, but most certainly no one who aspires to be leader can adopt a policy of coma, tempered by fits—even if they are fits—of brilliant activity. He must show activity, alertness, leadership, in season and out of season. A leader can never be off the stage or in retreat. To say " I am quite ready to lead you when you tell me you are ready to be led " is, as all Pretenders—. Pretenders are necessarily would-be leaders—have found, an utterly hopeless position. Mr. Gladstone would never have re-led the Liberal party if he had simply intimated that he was willing to lead. Instead he descended into the arena, and led. He was already leader when he was ' formally welcomed back into the seat he had vacated.
We shall be told, no doubt, that we are not quite fair in expecting such activity as we have described from Lord Rosebery. It will be said that his position is a very difficult one, that he is not in the House of Commons, that ho is not in very robust health, that he is a man too sensitive to push Himself actively, and, finally, that he is not ambitious for himself, and only wants to lead thd Liberal party if they are really anxious to be led by him. Again, it will be urged that we are in too great a hurry, and that if we only give Lord Rosebery time we shall see him, accompanied by his new Patroclus, Lord Heneage, come down into the press of battle and bear all before him. We can only say that we sincerely hope that we may prove wrong, that Lord Rosebery may falsify our fears, and that movements of which we know nothing are already at work in silence, and will very soon make him the acknowledged leader of a united Liberal party. Meantime, we can but have the courage of our opinions and declare once again our belief that unless Lord Rosebery takes immediate action, and without waiting for invitations and pressings, voluntarily and of his own will assumes the position of leadership, his chance will be gone for ever. We should be loth to say, and do not say, that the chance has already gone. We believe that the opportunity still remains, but it must be seized speedily. If Lord Rosebery immediately after the Chester- field speech had asked his friends to convene a meeting of the Liberal party, and, in effect, invited them to proclaim him leader, we believe he would have at once carried all before him. If he did that now he would probably only carry a section of the party with him, but even that would be better than nothing. His section would have in it the best men in the party, and if led with vigour and assiduity it would, we believe, soon gather to it the rest of the Liberal party. A party led by Lord Rosebery and supported by men like Mr. Asquith, Sir Edward Grey, and Sir Henry Fowler, taking the line they take on the war and yet opposing the Government, would not suffer from that unpopularity which Mr. Lloyd-George rightly notes as the difficulty of the existing Opposition. Unpopularity of the kind that attaches to the Pro-Boers must wither any party. But a party led by Lord Rosebery would be popular, and a party which is popular is living and will grow, and must soon attract to itself all the vigorous elements in the nation which for one reason or another are opposed to the Government, and now have no rallying centre. Lord Rosebery need not trouble as to the numbers of his followers at the beginning. Let him " give them blood " in the way of effective and yet patriotic opposition, and he may be sure that in the end, whatever Mr. Lloyd-George may say, he will lead a united Liberal party. The Pro-Beer section could not, of course, :ome in till the war is over, but directly it is over even that section will enlist under the banner that gives them the prospect of victory.
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