Lord Rosebery's speech at the Eighty Club on Tuesday was
chiefly devoted to the task of insisting that the appeal to the country must be on " the annihilation of the House of Lords as regards its legislative preponderance." This is an artfully com- posed phrase ; but as we have shown elsewhere, it will probably be taken in the country as meaning very much the same as "Down with the Lords ! "—the phrase in which the active opponents of the hereditary principle focus their desire for dealing with the problem. The rest of Lord Rosebery's speech was instructive. He urged the need for concentration, and dwelt with marked emphasis on the dangers of a multifarious programme. That is, in a sense, true ; but it is hardly loyal of Lord Rosebery to lay all the blame on the poor Newcastle programme. Besides, bad workmen always complain of their tools. If Lord Rosebery had only had nerve as well as adroit- ness, and had had one genuine political conviction—even an entire belief in himself would have done—he would not now be searching for explanations of defeat. His speech contained a curious personal outburst. " I have never known the sweets of place with power, but of place without power, of place with the minimum of power,—that is a purgatory, and if not a purgatory it is a hell." We, of course, understand very well what Lord Rosebery means, but the real leaders of men do not whine like this over their worries and troubles. It reminds one of the old charwoman who always finds everything so " contrary-like."
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