Mr. Forster made a powerful speech at Rotherham on Satur-
day, to a meeting of 2,500 Liberals, in the drill-hall. He began it with a very generous testimony to the success Rf Lord Har- tington as the Liberal leader. Lord Hartington, he said, " had the faculty of judgment, beyond almost anybody I know." "I believe the Liberal party would have made the greatest possible mistake, if they had taken me, instead of Lord Har- tington." " In industry, in honesty, in courage,—abo-ve'all,lin determination to do what he thinks to be right, irrespective of
the opinions of others," Lord Hartington had shown him;'elf to .
be growing steadily ever since his appearance in his new posi-
• 3
tion. We have no doubt that Mr. Forster's encomium is, on the whole, as just as it is generous. Lord Hartington is _a man of very strong head, -and very cool purpose. But what, he has L not, unfortunately, is _ any large amount of popular sym.- r pathy, nor, indeed, any very deep natural interest in politics at all. • He gives too much the impression of a political leader who, in his heaii, if not with his tongue, damns politics at least once or twice a week, when he finds it interfering with a good run with the houlds or a pleasant appointment on the . race-course. Perhaps, the pure judgment is none the worse for that sort of cool detachment from the passions and conflicts of politics, but it involves a coldness of temper which is hardly the temper to lead to victory.
