LORD ROSEBERY'S POSITION.
SPECULATIONS as to the exact nature of Lord Rosebery's position in our political life are very common just now. And they are very natural. A con- siderable portion of the public have a great belief in Lord Rosebery's ability and insight, and faith in his views especially as to foreign affairs, but they want to know how he stands, and who are the men with whom he may be expected to act in the future. This general expectation must sooner or later have the effect of making Lord Rosebery declare himself. However unwilling he may be to commit himself—and it is one of his chief characteristics, and a not unnatural one, to dislike com- mitting himself—his keen power of political diagnosis will, we feel sure, convince him before long he must either take up a more well-defined attitude, or else lose a con- siderable part of his hold on the country. He will see that he cannot hold himself back indefinitely without creating a sense of weakness and uncertainty which would greatly impair his influence and his usefulness. Two lines of action are open to Lord Rosebery, and upon the wisdom of his choice between them his future must depend. One course is to stand outside all party com- binations while yet remaining in public and political life. The other course is to return to his former political allegiance, and to strive his best to reform the Liberal party on the lines which he regards as soundest and best. It is our desire to consider which of these will conduce more to the public interest, and to the interest also of the statesman with whose actions we are dealing.
No one who has read Lord Rosebery's recent speeches or watched the development of his ideas during the last two years can doubt that he has recently been greatly attracted towards the first of these courses,—towards, that is, trying to fill the position of a Chatham, the great political leader who stands outside and above all mere party combinations, and who is willing when and if the country calls him to serve and save the State irrespective of the ordinary political ties. In other words, it is evident that the notion of acting as a sort of saviour of society— on quiet English lines, of course, and not in the revolu- tionary, Continental sense—has passed across Lord Rose- bery's mind. He sees one of the great parties in the State, a party at one time almost supreme, torn and racked by the war of jarring sects and factions, and its influence and authority reduced to ruin. The other party he sees strong in numbers, but to some extent demoralised by a plethora of power and by the carelessness and want of cohesion which come from the absence of criticism and competition, and so without that political discipline which is one of the best results of our party system. Again, he must have noticed as the result of these conditions a certain restlessness and impatience in the public mind in regard to party ties. Indifference to party has for the time come into fashion, and it is no un- common thing to hear men declare that they do not care a fig for the old names, and only want to see the best men in power. They are ready to follow a good man wherever he is to be found, and do not mean to trouble about the label on his back. Keen as he is to notice the movements of the public mind, and sensitive always to the emotions of the moment, it is no wonder that Lord Rosebery has shown himself half inclined to give these floating and half- formed ideas substance, and to let it be known that he would be willing to recognise the breakdown of the party system, and to found a new system on its ruins,--a system under which the best men of all kinds should rule without any absurd and artificial distinctions of Liberal and Conservative. No doubt the cries of "A plague on both your Houses !" " Let the best men rule !" and " Down with this farce of the ins and outs !" are most attractive to the ear, but Lord Rosebery will make a capital mistake if he yields to them, and will injure not only himself but the country. In spite of its present mood, the country does not really want a statesman who stands outside and above party. To borrow a phrase from across the Atlantic,—the nation " has no use" for saviours of society. They are an utterly un-English expedient, and even when the part was filled by such men as Cromwell and Chatham, the nation soon grew restless, uneasy, and dissatisfied. Englishmen love, and always have loved, the rhetorical abuse of party, and talk about giving up to party what was meant for man- kind will never fail to win a cheer, but in spite of that the party system is ingrained in the English character. It is a necessary instrument of government. At the bottom of his heart the Englishman feels that, though it is a sin to belong to any side but the right side, it is better to be on the wrong side than on no side at all. Hence the party system is in reality indestructible, and will emerge the moment after it has been apparently destroyed. The reason of this is to be found in the Englishman's very right and proper hatred of trusting to the exercise of unlimited and unrestricted rule, and to the one-man power. Other races like "one-man rule." They like to choose out a single man and then to fling everything at his feet,—to make an abstraction of their ruler, and to imagine that he can act alone and in isolation like a beneficent power of nature. Englishmen, however, though they like a strong man and like guidance, like also to have guarantees and safeguards. Directly a man claims to guide them they want, first of all, to ask "with whom he is acting," and "who are the men who share his views, will support him, and will, as it were, go surety for him." " It's all very well," says the Englishman, " but who's going to act with him ? What he says is sound enough, and I believe him to be a first- rate man, but who's going in with him ? Of course it's all right that he should choose his own men, but I want to know who they are before I give him my vote." But when a man has to proclaim publicly whom he is acting with, and so has to give those men an assurance of continued association, the party system has already sprung up. In other words, this desire for the guarantee and assurance of co-operation with definite, even if subordinate, persons, instead of the free and unfettered will of the one man, necessitates the party system. To become specific,—Even if Lord Rosebery were to come forward as the saviour of society and the chief above party, he would immediately be forced to say who he was acting with, and these men would of course insist on a regular programme, and so he would be back again once more in the party system, though a party without the dignity of tradition and liable to the taunt of being a, mere clan, and so showing the worst side of party.
But if Lord Rosebery must abandon the attempt to be a saviour of society, what is he to do ? Without hesita- tion, we say that it is his interest as well as his duty to return to his old party allegiance and to do his best to place that party on a sound and strong foundation. It is impossible for him to say that his Imperialistic views pre. elude that course, and that the Liberal party cannot contain a man of his views. Sir Henry Fowler is every whit as good an Imperialist as Lord Rosebery, and so are Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey, to mention only a few names. Yet these clear-sighted and independent men find it perfectly possible to remain in the Liberal party. Lord Spencer told Lord Rosebery in his speech on Tuesday that there was no reason why he should have retired from the party leadership, and it is equally true that there is no reason why he should not return, if not to the leadership, at any rate to his place in the party. When there, he and those who agreed with him would naturally try to convert their fellow-Liberals to their views, and, if they could, to reorganise their party on their own lines. We do not mean to say that we should like to see them drive out the Little Englanders or convert the Liberal party into a purely Imperialistic organisation, because though Imperialists ourselves we think that there are quite enough Imperialists among the Unionists, and want to see the other point of view properly and temperately represented. But that is another question. We would rather see Lord Rose- bery convert the Liberals to Imperialism and work through the regular party system, than abandon the attempt and try to stand alone. That can only bring humiliation and disappointment to all concerned, and must ruin Lord Rosebery's usefulness to the country. We trust, then, that Lord Rosebery will resist the temptation to- wards coining forward as a saviour of society, and that instead he will return to active work in the Liberal party, and in combination with his friends will strive to reunite that party on some reasonable compromise on the question of Little Englandism or Imperialism. If he can do that, and can once more give us a sound Liberal party, and so an alternative Ministry, he will have conferred a great benefit on the nation. The present state of the Liberal party is a national danger, and it is the duty of a leading statesman who retains the name of Liberal—as apparently Lord Rosebery still does—to try to place the Liberal party once more upon a strong and permanent basis.
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