LORD

CHAPTER XXII

ROSEBERY AS COUNTY COUNCILLOR-AND ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PEOPLE-TWICE CHAIRMAN OF THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL-MUNICIPAL PROGRESS IN LONDON-THE INFLUENCE OF BOOKS-INTELLECTUAL FREEMASONRY-THE MUNICIPAL RENAISSANCE.

L

ORD ROSEBERY in 1889 was a singularly happy man. It has been recorded of him that he told Mr. Gladstone he would gladly give up his peerage for a seat in the House of Commons. His character and con

stitution fitted him for an active position. It is not possible yet for a peer to decide to leave the Gilded Chamber alone, and take his chance of securing a seat in the Commons Chamber by the will of the electors. It was possible, however, for Lord Rosebery to stand before the public as a candidate for their votes at the London County Council election. The Local Government Act of 1888 had brought into existence the London County Council, and sent the old Metropolitan Board of Works to an unregretted grave. Lord Rosebery consequently stood at the first election under the Act. He became a candidate

The Problem of London

613

for the City, running in conjunction with Sir John Lubbock. Lord Rosebery addressed many meetings, and when the figures were announced it was shown that he had polled 8,032 votes. Sir John Lubbock secured 8,976. And now that Lord Rosebery was one of the people's representatives, elected by their votes, he threw himself heart and soul into the work. To his personal influence more than perhaps to that of any other man was due the distinction which was at once given to the London County Council meetings. The Council had been jeered at by those who were responsible for its creation, and who since have been so anxious to claim credit for all its works. Lord Rosebery was not only elected to the London County Council, but he was made its chairman, the voting figures beingfor, 104; against, 17.

its

Lord Rosebery was very earnest in his County Council work. The problem of London appealed to him by vastness, by its complexity, by its urgency. He desired to see a London that should not be merely the biggest city in the world, but one of the brightest, healthiest, and best. And with these high ideals before him he took his coat off to it and worked with all his energies to achieve great results. He was no ornamental chairman. He set the example of active labours for the objects hoped for. The mere figures of his attendances

are an indication of how he laboured. In one year alone he attended nearly three hundred committee meetings and over forty public sittings of the Council, The result was that while at first there were a few, like Mr. John Burns, who raised objections to Lord Rosebery's presence, the whole Council soon became most ardent admirers of the Earl, and his personal popularity helped him largely in his work. He found time to hold a kind of informal reception in the tea room on the days of the Council meetings. In the meantime he was fulfilling many other duties attending a fire brigade display one day, opening a public library another, attending, as he did on one occasion, a midnight meeting of discontented omnibus drivers, to whom he spoke kindly, firmly, and genially, and to whom he not only gave good advice, but found that it was appreciated and followed. During these early County Council days he found, too, time to visit many towns and address political meetings everywhere, increasing his reputation and coming to be regarded by many as the certain successor of Mr. Gladstone whenever the time should come for such a selection to be made. Lord Rosebery was never better in health and never more thoroughly enjoyed his public life than during the County Council days; and he was able to see the great City and County of London making municipal progress at a pace

Policy of the Progressives

615

and in directions which a few years before would have been regarded as impossible. Between the first County Council election in 1889 and the second one in 1892 that great sorrow of the loss of Lady Rosebery had fallen upon the Earl. It caused him to retire from the chairmanship. Nevertheless, when, two years after Lady Rosebery's death, the London County Council elections came round, Lord Rosebery again consented, though unwillingly, to stand. He felt that London had now been brought to a clear understanding as to its greatness and its municipal possibilities and needs, and that his exertions were no longer needed, That, however, was not the view of the people of London, for they wanted Lord Rosebery to continue the work which had been so splendidly begun. In a letter which Lord Rosebery at this time wrote he defined the policy of the new Council thus:

"(1) The removal of petty and annoying restrictions on the Council's expenditure.

"(2) London's right to control its own water supply.

"(3) The readjustment of local taxation, so that the incidence of rates might fall more fairly on different classes.

"(4) Municipal control of the police. "(5) The unity of London.

Of all London

reforms I lay infinitely the most stress on this . .

VOL. II.

8

I am not blind to the difficulties, but they will have to be faced and overcome."

He defended the past work of the Council, which had aimed at removing from London the reproach of being a quarter of the very rich, surrounded by a vast section of the very poor.

Lord Rosebery had declined invitations to again stand as a candidate, but, after attending numerous meetings, his determination not to sit again gave way under pressure, and he became the colleague of Mr. J. Williams Benn in East Finsbury. So he stood, and was elected at the top of the poll; and again he was elected chairman, though he pointed out that it would be impossible for him to tie himself to the position over the general election.

Lord Rosebery has delivered many speeches on municipal work in London, and from them two are here given which indicate his view of the problem. On October 25, 1892, he opened a new library at Whitechapel, and his address on that occasion was as follows:

"I cannot help being struck by the contrast between the occasion to-day and the last meeting that I attended in Whitechapel. That was an electoral meeting. Everything was at fever heat; the crowd bulged against the platform, and had to be diverted into the open space outside for fear some accident should occur. You would have thought then that the country would go to pieces