Liberal Cross-Currents

967

plosion of a somewhat different nature, for on the following evening Sir William Harcourt delivered a speech at a Welsh dinner which was construed into a violent attack on Lord Rosebery. Sir W. Harcourt's speech was not reported until some days afterwards, and then it was only produced in the form of a brief summary. It is a pity that no full report of Sir W. Harcourt's remarks appeared at the time or subsequently; but, whether or not he attacked Lord Rosebery's policy as violently as some who were present asserted, Lord Rosebery's speech stands, and, if read carefully, can in no sense be construed into the abandonment of any Liberal principle, for Lord Rosebery has abandoned none. To teach the doctrine that unity is strength, and that a political party must be cohesive and disciplined if it is going to win elections and carry out its programme, is not to go back upon any principle. The discussion about Lord Rosebery's speech and Sir W. Harcourt's alleged rejoinder had, however, one good effect. It emphasised the fact that the cross-currents in the Liberal ranks were strong and serious; and, that being so, the sooner the party at large recognised the truth, and set itself to bring those currents into line, to combine them, and to make them a flowing tide in one direction, the better for the party and the better for the progress of Liberal principles. It does not appear that the Liberal 30

VOL. II.

party has learned the lesson well, but there are, happily, evidences that it has gone home to a considerable and rapidly increasing section, who will, it may be hoped, ere long be joined by the rest of the party.

The political flavour of his speeches was not confined to this one address to City Liberals. He had endeavoured to teach a lesson to the Liberals of the country. At Edinburgh, on December 1, he gave a much-needed one to the "new diplomatists," objecting to the practice, which seemed to be increasing, of "flouting foreign nations. There had, indeed, been a good deal of provocation in the autumn of last year, when some of the gutter newspapers on the Continent had, in their hatred of England, been publishing disgusting caricatures of the Queen, which had far better have been left to find their sale in vicious Continental districts than have been accorded a great advertisement by English statesmen. There was, in fact, serious danger in calling attention, as Mr. Chamberlain did, to these productions, the inspection of which was sufficient to make the blood boil of every Englishman and decent-minded man anywhere. Lord Rosebery

administered a rebuke to Mr. Chamberlain for the provocative language he had used in connection with these incidents, in apparent forgetfulness that Governments are not responsible for every stupid and objectionable act of individuals. The

The Edinburgb Merchant Dinner

969

occasion of the speech was on December 1, last year, at the two hundred and eighteenth annual dinner of the Edinburgh Merchant Company, which took place in the hall of the Company, Hanover Street, Edinburgh. The Merchant Company is one of the wealthiest corporations in the kingdom, with accumulated funds of nearly one million; and in the educational world it occupies a prominent place because of the many excellent secondary schools established and maintained by the Company in Edinburgh. Mr. John Macmillan, the Master of the Company, presided, and the principal guest of the evening was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, M.P. The toast of Our Guests" was proposed by Mr. W. W. Robertson, one of the past members of the Company.

Lord Rosebery, in reply, said:

"It is very kind of you to drink this toast so heartily, and of Mr. Robertson to propose it with so much eulogium. You will forgive me, however, if I do not respond at length, because I am pinched,' being a person of such infinite variety, as Mr. Robertson has said, I am pinched between a variety of engagements this evening, and I had asked the Master to allow me to come as a silent and private individual for the reason that I am only here as the coachman and host of your distinguished guest, and I should in any case be totally unable to answer for all the categories of