PARTY POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 3

PARTY POLITICS.

SPEECH BY LORD ROSEDERY. DANGERS OF DEBATING. Lord Roscbery, in addressing the undergraduates of Liverpool University last .month on receiving the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, made an interesting speech .on the function of a University, dealing in particular with debating and party politics. Lord Roscbery, who was introduced as our '."Only Orator," remarked that . he description was enough to cow any inan (laughter)—and make him jvish to retire to the seclusion of his bedchamber. To,face such a very large audience would be a sufficiently severe j? a ,, f°r 2ii old fossil taken from .one the dustiest shelves of our national museum, without' having it announced vo the assembled multitude tnat: he ?. 50011 e , m 't sweet sounds. (Great inon'' t, cheers.) "Now, gentle- > } vel1 * on: "What is a University Union..', (Ahl all I and laugiii ai " not thinking the riddlS— (more lauglit-or)— I am asking you to consider what is the meaning of a University Umonp AVe know wnat a'trade union 'is, but tile university union is something, to those who have, not been at a university, which has a somewhat mystic character. A university union in its origin, of course, dates back to the two famous'societies of' Oxford and Cambridge, where they first 'appeared. 1 remember very well Lord Houghton. . .a festival of the-Cambridge Union lug a short history of the society, winch is iiot without piquancy on such an occasion as this; He said that in those early_days when he was an-under-S ua ; ■ suppose, somewhere about itsoU (cries of- "Oh,", and laughter)— is there anything peculiarly' distaste'ful m. that - date '—(laughter)— somewhere about,the year 1830 they met in what ) ho called a. "tavernous cavernous room at the back of a public-house, th®. name, of which I forget, but m which all tho great minds of that genoration, including Tennyson and Arthur aailam, and men of that description, strove. intellectually' with, each other and carried on their debates without any disparagement to the locality in which they .met.. (Laughter.) " Iheso '.'ere not men whom ■ you could despise, Tenuyson and that generation were, perhaps, the most brilliant that the University of Cambridge has over known. Of course I do not say, being a son of tho other university,/that th<i University of Oxford could not name a great, many better—(laughter)'—but they were the best names which tho University of Cambridge could boast! Eovd Houghton, gives' a very interesting account of the transactions which occurred in connection, with that union. There was at the • Union of Oxford, which was also,' I fancy, in'.very uncomfortable quarters, ' a young Liverpool undergraduate of the name ' of Gladstone—(prolonged cheors) —and : hd •and his: friend Sir Francis Doyle who was not merely a poet- but a professor of poetry—quite ,a different' thingchallenged' the Cambridge Union to an intellectual tournament with them as. -to the comparative merits of Shelley and Byron. '. Cambridge upheld the. cause of Shelley and Oxford defended the cause of-Byron.- The deputation set out from Cambridge in tho month of December, in bitter cold. The leader'of the party was not oiio of the eminent names . I have .mentioned then at Cambridge,. but .a man named Sunderland, who /was/;, acknowledged ' by all, those brilliant;beings to .bo ;bj ;i far ,tho' leading genius of tlienr all, and who, by. some mysterious fate.- from '.tho moment that ho left Cambridge, where lie dazzled everyone.- disappeared altogether from the sight of man. ■

... UNDERGRADUATE POLITICS. Some of you' may think that the principal'function', of a' union is debating. 1 am not disparaging debating, but. I rather hope that that will not be tho characteristic of. your union. It is not for i me to undervalue the faculty of debating, but'l think it'exercises an unI due and disproportionate influence in 'the affairs of men. . Wliat wo want in our country and in our history is ( action ,aiid not speech. (Cheers.) Though I am ■ inclined to think that the art of. speaking is extremely valuable as a means of influencing your own generation and your own time and your own fellow-men, I have the humblest opinion of it as a permanent agency for good. ■ When I think of tho many rrilli#ns of speeches, political, legal, complimentary, and-every kind that have been poured forth in the last century on suffering mankind—(laughter)—and on the extremely small, tangible result that remains of all tliis.ilood of oratory, I think you will .agree with me that I am justified in my scepticism as to the great value and effect of oratory.' The speeches you can read a week after they have been delivered can be counted on the fingers of your.hand, whilo as to tho sermons-rbut I see that it is a delicate subject—(laughter)—l. seo '.ome divines present,, and delicacy forbids,mo to' say more.. on that — I think you-.will admit'that it. is true of all the many speeches and sermons you have listened to, and as'you grow, up you will bq fortified in this, that-of the speeches and sermons uncommonly little remains after a short interval. Therefore when I have sometimes been asked for advice by students as to how they should learn- to speak, I have always refused to give; any, 'first, because I do not know any advico to give, and secondly, because I would not' encourage then: in the art of 1 speaking. It is quite true that as it is a very handy moans' of influencing your fellow-men, it will always be. practised, because a man prefers to" be ; well known and .esteemed and notorious even in. his generation than to wait the extremely uncertain result of posthumous famo with posterity. I suppose, gentlemen, you aro going to debate;'though L earnestly urgo that is not tht most important .part of the functions - of your union. Slit I have now a'very strenuous piece of advice to give you with regard to your debating which I'earnestly hope you will accept. It is, that on the door of your debating society-room you will inscribe in largo letters "No one is. bound hereafter by any opinion he may express . within ' these walls." (Laughter and cheers.) Letyour. debate be dialectic and not the expression of a confirmed and chastening faith which you would', be very uuwise to declare so prematurely as now. Ten years hence you will think-probably, oil all subjects very differently from what you do now. Politics .that are the result of reading history and. of study are very apt not to stand the friction of the world, and therefore I believe there, is nothing more fatal for a yoking man or a young woman, while they are in a. position of what we used to call in stau pupillari, to undertake the. responsibility of party politics or of politics in any form before they have the. possession of the voto which is the only thing that necessitates their practical dealing with politics. I believe there is nothing so unwis'o or so fatal as for young people in that position to tar themselves with a particular budge and call themselves politicians before they aro fitted to have a practical acquaintance with politics. (Hear, hear.) I 'do not want you not to take up any sides you may like in debate, but I do implore you earnestly not to take them as definite and lifelong opinions but as intellectual exercises, not compromising tho intellectual arid political future of your lives. (Cheers.) Politics at best are a gruesome study. (Laughter.) Wo like them much better at eighteen than wo like tliem at fifty-eight. (Laughter.) But at any rate'they are the study that do require an acquaintance—a practical ac- l quamtonce—with mankind and the affairs I

of mankind and cannot be acquired, I think, by any study in the classroom or tho university. Let me tell you gentlemen, this is not merely a question which I urgo upon you for' your own benefit—on tho very best .ground—because I have known many men become compromised by having joined political clubs in London at twenty or twentyone years of ago and finding themselves in a very disagreeable condition when they beeamo twenty-five. But if you rise to eminence, as Ihope you all will, if you wish to you may find it extremely disagreeable to refer back to the rccords of your university debates, and therefore I trust oil'every ground that I have urged upon you you will undertake to hold yourselves unbound by any opinion you. may express in your debates in our union. THE STORMY CLASH. In a short time you will find, yourselves in the. most stormy clash that politics can . produce., The winds will blow from every quarter and you-will have tho flood, tho hurricane, the storm, and hail which aro characteristic of political contests. What I hope is that you will not go out and break any windows— (laughter)—but that you will find in the University of Liverpool an . ark of safety from which you may serenely and dispassionately look out on tho typhoon that is raging around you. (Cheers.) I said something about waiting before you tar yourself with any- party brush, or label yourself with any party brand. I do not myself see any great necessity for you to do. cither. TJiat, ,I'admit, is an unpopular point of view, and it is not unlikely, to lead to my expulsion from this hall. (Laughter.) But there is no necessity for anybody, however deeply interested they may be in politics, to take tho badge of either political party, because, if you ask me, in mj''honour and my conscience; my faith in that matter, it is that the welfare, the stability, nay, the salvation of Great Britain do not rest on either political'party, but on that great impartial mass which, belongs to neither, and which gives a judicial decision at every election. (Loud cheers.) I am afraid, my Lord Derby, you will say that'you did not bring me hero to denounce the party spirit, but perhaps you may derive some consolation when' I say that it is to'both parties that my remarks apply, and not to one alone.

Lord Rogebery. having dealt with _the duties of a University-Union, which, ha pointed out, was to "supply'si'heart and centre to the .students' life, and where thc.v would come to know mankind and form friendships, crossed the platform of the \centml hall, and drew the veil from the taolet. .It showed the ngure of a Sphinx' with an inscription beneath recording the present ceremonial. "Why, he asked, have they chosen tho : Sphinx as .their own? To him it had always seemed to ..be tho embodiment of the eternal. This Sphinx would look on a long march of generations, of youth, full, of generous enthusiasm, fortified by the instruction they received within those walls, instinct with patriotism and with duty, animated by gratitude to their country and determination to do their best for it, ensuring -that the little portion of it that they themselves inhabited and influenced should be the better for their lifo and career on earth. (Louc cheers.) ■ ■ .