A PRESS PARLIAMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 15

A PRESS PARLIAMENT

MEMORABLE GATHERING IN LONDON LORD ROSEBERY'S GREAT SPEECH. (Faoir OtjbT Own Coeeespojtoent.) LONDON, June 11. After a wet and gloomy week in London the oversea delegates to the Imperial Press Conference assembled on Saturday night for the inauguration of their programme oi debate and hospitality Not merely to the delegates from the oversea dominions, but to hundreds of the leading literary journalists in England, will the scene at" the Palace of Music at the % Exhibition remain a stirring memory. Except perhaps on the South African veldt the British Empire has never seen gathered together so representative an assembly of its far-flung interest*. Even the conferences of Prime Ministers did not bring together at one time a convention so sympathetically representing the British face in all its world-wide Aspects and aspirations. It was a parliament of the best talent of the Empire — not too much ' of tbe .academic talent, wt too -touch of j tne^xongn- practical! talent wifieh' ,"»n the., , new countries is apt to' hurry a growing ; ' evil out -of- the" hack doopr without barring , '•the front against the approach of agreater. It represented to a nicety the man and the .policies which t in ' half a century have "made. a. greater, and undreamed 'of Britain-across-the-seas. ■So man could move • in- tliat gathering without feeling that be had dropped suddenly into a concentration of the fascinating world which passes and moves about him quietly and sadly and greyly\ iv historic Fleet, street year in and year .out. Every paper in England worth reading was represented by its editor or one of bis dose associates. The vast hall, one of tie finest in -London, was reduced to a habitable perspective by a canopy of red ensigns. The floor space was large enough to hold 70 tabke seating 700 guests, and it was so arranged that at most, of the tables was one of the guests fronVthe Outer Empire. lord Burnham, who as Sir Edward Lawson became chief proprietor of the Daily Telegraph many years ago, and earned his ■way' to wealth, a peerage, and the King's favour, was chairman of the committee. He received the guests and presided at the dinner. On his right sat Sir Hugh Graham, who started life as an office .boy and is now proprietor of the Montreal »Stai-. An unhappy figure he was, pale and obviously nervous under the gteat honour of replying for the press of the Outer Empire: Next Lord Northcliffe, young for his honours, clean-shaven, and as N smart as the smartest commercial journalist in London should be; wearing dark spectacles, M* H. A. Gwynne, who passed ■' through numerous bloody campaigns to the editorship of the Standard ; Lord Faber and Mr Kennedy Jones (director "of the Associated KeTrspfipew), Qn 'the chairman's right Lord Boaebery, well kept, "with the jwak, - boyish-, -Tmwrinkled ittce that only Englishmen can preserve, mating the ribbon of the Garter; the Arehdeaooa of London, Mr Frank Lloyd, Mr G. E. Bu<*le (editor of The Times), and Mr J. S; R. Prillips (a typical Engluh provincial journalist). firm of Lyons and- Co., which is steadily monopolising wholesale catering not only in London, where it has more Hwa a hundred shops, but also in the chief provincia 1 towns, was responsible lor the catering. During dinner the band of the King's Colonials played suitable airs, the anthems of the self-governing octanes {from which New Zealand was atoent) being heartily cheered. Mr Harry Brittain, the Wretary, read the telegram which had been sent by tfee delegates to the King :— " The overseas delegates to the Imperial Press 'Conference desire to express their fervent loyalty to your Majesty, and trust that you may long he spared to the people and the Empire." And his Maj*3ty's reply :— " The King -thanks most' warmly the overseas delegates ip-the- imperial Press Conference for their kind telegram, and hopes that they enjoy their stay in England." . s . . THE WELCOME. . The loyal toasts, were proposed by Lord IBuraham, who -then, in calling on Lord Jtesebexy to speak, made a few -appropriate remarks :—": — " Frond as I ana, and nave, always ' been, of the profession to vfhich X have the, honour to bejoag, I have never been so proud of ' it as at "this moment, when 1 find myself face to face with an assemblage such as never Ijefore has been gathered together. — <( Cheers). Never in the past has any man stood -before a compact body of all the most prominent journalists of the entire- British Empire. Our earnest hope And our firm belief have always been -that nothing but good could ensue from -a meeting of those in Great Britain who seek to form and to guide public opinion with men, known to them mainly by fame, who have undertaken a similar duty in regions that are in many ways bound to ths Mother Country. — (Cheers^. The response to our invitation has iiftieed ■excelled our most sanguine expectations. There is one thing that it would be well for us all in this country ever to remember, and that it, that in speaking to you "we do not speak to you alone — we speak through you to countless thousands of oar kinsmen — to men of* our own flesh and blood, who may never have seen the land in which their forefathers were born, bat who' are keen and eager to prove, as they have* often proved in the past, out never more forcibly than by their recent actions and offers, that they ar». animated by a' spirit of splendid patriotism, and are absolutely convince! that in closer union lies the secret -A irresistible power. — (Loud cheers). These, it seems to me, are the men who, from the Greater Britain beyond the seas, stretch forth' their hands to us in the fervent expectation — which I hope to <3od may never be disappointed— *bat we

shall grasp them with all the strength and grip of a loyal ~ and lasting friendship." LORD ROSEBERY'S ORATION. Lord Rosebery's- speech in proposing the health of the overseas delegates has since been ' acclaimed as one of the greatest that accomplished orator has ever made. The boyish figure of the exPremier garbed in the usual evening dress relieved by the blue sash of the Garter, the keen eye and the set face, held all in wrapt and silent attention. No need now for the burly toastmaster to hiss with outstretched hands and appeal to my lords and gentlemen for silence. The clear voice of the orator, the studied phrases, the appealing sentiments, the stirring admonitions all exacted their meed of respect. It is true that from the colonial standpoint the noble lord would appear at times to be transgressing the bounds of political etiquette at such a gathering, but theassembly was. more than willing to forgive him since it was only on wide Imj peria] topics that he erred. The speech ! lasted more than half-an-hour. The pith of the importance of it we may compress into ten minutes. Rising friend- 'cheeking? :Eord- Rosebery "said': We" have had- conferences before, I many of them conferences of " great" imj^portance, at which the £rime Ministers ' r and Ministers of the Empire have met together to consult, on the great matters of policy concerning the Empire. It is no disparagement to -those gatherings to say that this ' is more important stiH. — (" Hear, hear.") I have the greatest respect for the Prime Ministers, but whatever their splendour may be when they are in the ascendant, they are essentially transient bodies — (laughter), — except, I* believe, in Canada — (laughter), — where good newspapers are, or ought to be, eternal. The power of a great newspaper in the double function of guiding and embodying the public opinion over which it exercises influence is assuredly greater than any statesman's could be. It is my duty, I suppose, to make a speech, and not immediately to sit down. But if I carried" out my own sense of the mission, if "I carried out what I believe to be required "on this occasion, I should confine myself to two words, and then sit down. They are the only two essential words; they are the simplest and perhaps the sweetest that can be heard by mortal ear, and yet they are the only two words in which I can urn up what I have to say to our guests beyond the seas . to-night— " Welcome Home." Yes, that is the motto oi this occasion — " Welcome Home." Some of you, many of you, have never seen your home, and you will see; something in the course of the next- fortnight which I- will not boast of, but which in its way is unmatched in the; wo>ld, You will see an ancient and a stately civilisation.. You will, see that embodied in our old- -abbeys and cathedrals, built in the age of faith, and surviving and testifying that* that faith is not <kaa". JSftm- wilftsee it" in -the ancient colleges of rOxfoKf and Cambridge. an* St. Andrew's and Aberdeen.; seats oi learning which are -venerable not only from their antiquity.* You will see as you pass about the country the little villages clustering about the heaven-directed spires as they have clustered for centuries. You will see the ancient mother of all Parliaments, the most venerable progenitor of free institutions — the • House of Commons. I cannot promise you the even greater pleasure of teeing the House of Lords — (laughter), — because that will not be sitting during the period of your visit. — (Laughter.) Arid throughout you will see those, old manor-bouses where the squirearchy of Great Britain have lived for centuries — almost all of them inhabited long before the discovery of. Australia, ! and some even before the discovery of America, where the civilisation of country life — which I advise you ail to see en your present visit, because when you next come it may not be here for you to see — exists. — (Laughter.) i Proceeding onwards from these more rural scenes, from all this which ie embodied history, wiikh represents the antiquity and tradition of a thousand years, you will go on to the teeming communities .^jvhkh represent the manufactures, the energy, the alertness of* the commercial life of Great Britain. — {" Hear, bear.") Then, last of all, surrounding all and guarding all, you will see a prodigious Armada — a prodigious bub always inadequate Armada. — (Laughter and cheexe.) All these, gentlemen, are yours as much -as ours, your possession, yonr pride, and yonr home. — (Cheers.) What do yon bring to us, because that is quite as important — it .is, indeed, more important to us than what you can take from us. What is it you bring? You bring, I trust, the youth of your vigorous communities ; you bring the candour, the acute criticism, the frankness of speech which belong to yonr young dominions beyond the seas. You bring to us, I hope, the freshet new*, the most recent information, as to all tlie aspirations and policy of the communities among which you live. You bring, I suspect, that same massage which you, sir. quoted just now, which the Prince of Wales brought back and condensed into those admirable woids after a tour round the Empire — " Wake up. Old Country !" The otlier night I ventured to dream a dream, which is a great and favourite practice of retired politicians. — (Laughter.) Thinking of that vast armada, the surplus of which is so constantly scrapped at what seemed wholly inadequate prices to the taxpayer, I could not help imagining how admirably some of there large ships might be tised, not for the purposes of war, but for the purpa?es of peace. I thought to myself that if I were the lay disposer of events in this country I should like Parliament to vote supplies for two years, and then pack itself up in three or four of those obsolete warships and go for a. trip in order to find out tomething about the Empire. — (Laughter.) Should I include the House of Lords in this expedition? Well, I think the House of Lords might accompany them on con-

* dition of paying their owa. expenses. — (Laughter.) That, I may explain to colonial visitors, is the great distinction between the House of Lords and the House of Commons — the House of ' Commons votes the taxes and the House of Lords pays them. — (Laughter.) Therefore I think my proposal would place them on an equitable basis. — (Kenewed laughter.) j Whatever their present relations may be, j I should not bs afraid of putting them in j the same vessel, because I am confident i that the wnolesome discipline of the j ocean would, soon shape' them, down to a condition of parity, if not of amity. — ! (Laughter.) j Taking them from point " to point of . the Earpire, Lord Roeebery remarked en i passant: I would take them, on to New i Zealand, and there in New Zealand they I would see most of the policies at which . they aim and which they are endeavour- \ i ing to construct for this country carried out under the advantages of a virgin soil and a total absence of tradition and complexity. Then, on to Australia, that most marvellous continent, where everything is abnormal — the marsupials, the duck-billed platypus, even to the fact that a population of about two-thirds of the " population of the capital of this country - is able -to maintain seven; legislatures, . seven capitals, and seven Ministries without any serious , inconvenience. In pur ; coantry we t«ve always found one -of each I of these as much as and it shows the. vigour of the new continent to be able -to support such a multiplicity of each. And my expedition, -which is sup- * posed to take its kisore, might indulge in the permanent sport of Australia, the . hunt for the Federal capital. — (Laughter.) J i Referring to the European situation, which Lord Rosebery described as a tacens bellum, in which the la«t drop of . blood was extracted by the' lancets £| ■ European statesmen, he* proceeded : I myself feel confident in the resolution and power of this country to meet any reasonable conjunction" of affairs, but when I see this bursting- out of navies everywhere, when I see one country alone asking for £25,000,000 of extra taxation for , warlike preparation, when I see the absolutely unprecedented sacrifices which "are asked from us on the same ground, I do begin to feel uneasy as to the outcome of it all, to wonder where it. is going to stop — if it is going to bring back Europe into a state of barbarism, or whether it will cause a catastrophe in which the [ working men of' the world will say, " We ! will have no more of this madness and foolery which is grinding us to powder." —{Load cheers.) Gentlemen, we can and we will build Dreadnoughts, or whatever the newest type of ship may be, as. long as we have a shilling to spend on. them, or a man to put into them.' — (Loud and prolonged cheers,) AIJ that we can and -will do; but I am not sure even__that- will be enough, and I think it may be your duty 'to take back to your young .dominions across the seas this message and this impression, that some. -,personal duty and. 'responsibility.. for national defence rests on ev.ery\ man, and. citizen of the Empire. — (Gheer3.') ' Gentlemed, take that mes"sage back with you. Tell your peoples, if they can believe it, the deplorable way in which Europe is lapsing into militarism, and the pressure which is put on this little island to defend itself, its liberties, and yours. — (Loud cheers.) Bat take this message also back with you, that the Old Country is right at heart — (loud and prolonged cheers), — that there is bo failing or weakness in her, and that she rejokes ib renewing her yottth in her giant dominions beyond the seas. — (Cheers.) For her own salvation she must look to herself, but should that fait her she must look to you. I ask your pardon for having detained you so long.— -(Cries of "Go on !") I hope that whatever may be the outsome of tfcis visit you will return strengthened for your high function* as the guides of your communities in matters of opinion. Yoo will return, I hope, convinced of the necessity and the mission of that communion of commonwealth which constitutes the British Empire. Having come; as I hope, believers in that faith, you .will return to your homes missionaries of Empire, missionaries of the most extensive and the 'most unselfish Empire which is known to history. — (Cheers.) - At the end of the speech the cheering was prolonged and persistent, and the company stood and sang " For he's a jolly good fellow." SIR HUGH GRAHAM'S REPLY. In responding, Sir Hugh Graham (proprietor of the Star, Montreal), made a long, and at times interesting speech, in the course of which he administered a quiet rebuke to the party press of Great Britain :—": — " I trust it will not be considered ungenerous or inconsiderate if I allude to a question that is often asked here and in the colonies. A great deal has been said and written about the power of the press. Not in censure, not in reproach, but in a spirit of goodwill it might be asked if something could not be said about tlie weakness of the press, as shown sometimes by a disinclination on the part of journalists to join forces for the good of their country in times of great national crises. It requires only a short residence in this' country to see that the loyal people are broadly tolerant of the widest differences of opinion en nearly al! subjects discussed, but they deplore, and deeply deplore, disunion on the great question of national defenc. It is believed that if the papers of the Empire, throwing party considerations, aside, were "to agree on a safe policy looking to the absolute security of the Empire, there would be no important opposition to it in the country, and little opposition in. Parliament, and you would make it Jfpr ever impossible to" degrade this sacred question to the level of party politics." — (Cheers). Mr J. S. R. Phillips, editor of the Yorkshire Post, and a typical journalist i from the English provinces, proposed the j health of the chairman, and Lord Burn- ( ham's reply brought to an end a night j

that will fee- memorable in the history of journalism and of the Empire. Besides the band of the King's Colonials, there was a choir of boys to sing the National Anthem, in which the company joined.