RADICAL RUMPUS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 389, 14 April 1902, Page 3

RADICAL RUMPUS.

EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION'

London, February 21. Almost incredibly comical is the latest history, up-to-date, of that extraordinary assemblage of mutually-hating individuals, which is facetiously known as “The Great Liberal Party,” and of its varied and diverting antics. . , The day before yesterday a meeting ot the National Liberal Federation was held at Leicester. This meeting was intended to undo the mischief which it was fancied had been done by the previous gathering at Derby, and by the curious proceedings thereat. This was to be a great and solemn assemblage, which was to heal all differences and to cobble up all breaches in the hapless party. It began beautifully w.th a motion condemning the policy of • unconditional surrender ” m °oum Africa, welcoming Lord Rosebery s peace suggestions. and calling on all Liberals loyally to support Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman in advocating them. This idea of Sir Henry Campbell.Bannerman supporting Lord Rosebery s [policy was especially lovely m view of what Campbell-Bannerman* was saying at the moment elsewhere. men an amendment affirming the declaration made at the Derby meeting m favor of a peace policy was moved and seconded. The seconder said he would welcome anyone’s interposition in favor of peace, “ even Lord Rosebery’s.” This produced an instant uproar, and a furious demand for the withdrawal of the word “ even.” The speaker tried to explain that he used it merely because he had previously regarded Lord Rosebery as a staunch supporter of warlike policy. But this did not satisfy the meeting, and the uproar continued.

As a soothing observation the speaker, Mr Madd'ison, remarked that lie could get a fair hearing at Tory meetings, but not, it seemed, at a Liberal one. This elicited yells of rage. The delegate from ultra-Radical Northampton suavely observed that “ the malignant, fervour with which Liberals were trying to bate each other was growing wearisome.” This profound and pointed and pungent remark 'well deserves embalming. The delegate proceeded in the same attractive style of dictum to implore the meeting to put aside all amendments “ however attractive or stimulative ” they might be. And then there was a holy “ old shindy,” as one man characterised it, the end being that all the amendments were compulsorily withdrawn on the ferocious insistence of the meeting, and all discussions having thus been snuffed out by dint of force mapstic, the original resolution was carried and unanimity (?) reigned supreme. At the same time, in the same yown under the auspices of the same Aberal Federation, Sir Henry Campbell Rannerman was addressing a large audience, to whom witli reference to Lord Roseberry's suggestion that the Liberals should ‘‘clean their slate,” he most emphatically : “ I confess 1 am still bewildered as to my nob'.e friends meaning. But in groping '"ovi ■ I have laid hands upon one de nite doctrine, and I regret to say that it is one to which I can give no a ffierence whatever. lam no beiie -°r in the doctrine of the clean slate. * am in fact, wholly opposed to that which I am sure is not intended to he Ms accompaniment, but seems to met» be its inevitable accompaniment, the practice and penitence of he white siieet. I am not prepared to 'rase fiom ' the tablets of my creed any principle or measure, or pnpos d or aspiration of Liberalism. I ems Titer a story current of the Esqu re t- - el, in the University of Camb.:iJge, _ who in that capacity has to attend the Vice-Chancellor every Sunday in term at the sermon preached in the CmversLy Church. This is always preached by some eminent divine selected m order that he may contravene some ot the recent fallacies in religion. H was said of this gentleman that he was after 30 years’ of this experience heard to congratulate himself that ne still retained some lingering belief m ttie elementary doctrine of the Lhnstian religion. Sir, I improve upon the importance of this Esquire Bedel, inasmuch as I have had 30 years and more of Parliamentary life, I have listened to an endless number of Liberal speeches, and have attended an endless number of Liberal me3 ..ngs, and not only remain through be* /ears an unpenitent Liberal, but, with the ye it:-, have grown more and more t:onV 'Secondly, as to Lord Rosebery’s vigorous denunciation of Home Rule on the ground of the openly-declared disloyalty of the Irish Nationalists, from whom the demand for it came, Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man said:—ls our Irish policy a thing that we can lightly abandon (cries of “No” and “Yes”)—because it happens for the moment to be inconvenient ? (No, no) I believe that I have been blamed because on the first night of the session, when speaking of the actual condition of Ireland, I said the polby of national selfgovernment has been, and is, the remedy approved by the Liberal party. Home Rule, to give it its convenient name, is often spoken of as if it were a Btrange, fantastic, almost whimsical, and madcap policy, rashly adopted in a random way to secure the Irish vote. It is to be easily and lightly dropped at any moment when an equal amount of support can be obtained from any other quarter. Not a very noble view of the case —not, in truth, a very creditable or even a decent view of the case—but intelligible enough if there were in this matter no principles and no facts. What are these principles and facts ? The virtues, the efficiency, the justice of selfgovernment. is one Liberal principle. The appreciation and encouragement of national sentiment. That is another Liberal principle. The recognition of the popular will, constitutionally expressed through the people’s representatives, that is another Liberal principle.” He continued : “I. am well aware that British feeling bitterly resents the hostility to our country which prominent Irish politicians have shown, and the injurious language they have used I admit. I condemn it; I deplore it; and it would probably be doing nothing to extenuate it if I said it was nothing new. It shocks us all, but the deduction I draw from it is not that which in sane minds militates against the idea of Home Rule. The deduction I draw is that there must be some deep, underlying cause which creates this exceptional political enmity against us exceptional within the whole bounds of the Empire; and that our duty and our interest alike demand that we should search for that cause and remove it. The temper of the Irish people towards us is the fruit of all the generations through which they have been governed from this country. Force has been the main feature of that government, and we are reaping the result. Is it not time that we should try something else ? That, gentlemen, is why I adhere to this old policy. Directly Lord Rosebery read in his morning papers yesterday the report of what Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman had said the previous evening—as quoted by iiio above—he sat down and addressed to the Editor of the Times a letter which duly appeared in this morning s issue of that journal, and which is variously characterised in this evening’s papers as “ A Bombshell,” “ A Trumpet Blast,” “ A Thunderbolt,” and “A Wedge of Fatal Cleavage.” . That historic letter ran as follows :—“ Sir, —In his speech last night my friend Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man asks me if I speak from the interior of his political tabernacle or from some vantage ground outside. He says that he ‘ practically ’ put that question to me a month ago, and that I have not behaved quite fairly in not answering it. “I am ashamed to say that I did not understand him to have asked this question a month ago. But as he has a perfect rioht to ask it, he shall receive a reply without a moment’s delay, and has, indeed, answered it itself. , “ Speaking pontitically within his ‘tabernacle ’ last night, he anathematised my declarations on the ‘ clean slate and Home Rule. It is obvious that our views on the war and its methods are not less discordant. I remain, therefore, outside his tabernacle, but not, I think, in soli-

tude. “Let me add one word more at this moment of definite separation. No one appreciates more heartily than I do the honest and well-intentioned devotion of Sir Henry to the Liberal Party, and what he conceives to be its interest. I only wish that I could have shared his labors, and supported his policy.—l am, sir, yours respectfully,

“ Rosebbry.” That at least is definite and specific enough. It is not surprising that, commenting upon Lord Rosebery’s letter the Times says “ The rupture is now complete, and Lord Rosebery stands committed to action. He must know as well as anyone that it is not enough to declare his independence of the tabernacle. He must adopt and pursue with untiring energy a policy of reconstruction. We are far from under-rating the difficulty of the task in the actual conditions. It is exceedingly hard to formulate a Liberal policy at once free from the fatal follies of the official Liberalism and sufficiently distinct from Unionist policy to excite enthusiasm or secure extensive support. But the task, though difficult, is not hopeless. What the country wants is not a brand-new set of principles, but a new set of men capable of replacing the present set without upsetting the policy of the Empire. The lines of cleavage in opinion upon domestic questions do not coincide with any party divisions, and not to recognise this fact can only be an element of weakness. Then, though Sir Henry Campbell-Ban-nerman at present commands the party organisation, that organisation does not command any party worth mentioning. No caucus can ever put him in power, since he is obstinately retrogressive and stubbornly opposed to the national desires at home and abroad. Lord Rosebery and those who may join him have to impress the country with the belief that they are entirely different from the pro-Boer Home Rule section, and that they may be trusted to infuse business energy and. capacity into the prosecution of an Imperial policy. It the fruition of effects in that direction

may seem remote, we can only say that it may come sooner than anybody expects, and that success by any other method is remoter still.”—Truth.

The approaching Coronation Holds first place in conversation, The world will stop still Edward’s crowned, Then recommence its daily round; While those who gave a loyal cheer May be dead within the year, Unless for colds they do procure W. E. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.