TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 136099, 25 April 1908, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Lord Rosebery remains Lord , the great puzzle of BriRosebery. tish politics. A Unionist who listened to his speech on Socialism, a report of which appears elsewhere, says that, while his ship's personal problem is as insoluble as the Irish question, his methods are as perennial. Hβ is still fascinating and inconclusive. Of his audience, some were amused, some sceptical, some angry, some depressed, but all were puzzled, and to a certain extent spellbound- in spite of themselves. They felt 'like mediaeval men at cross-roads, rooted to the spot by some impalpable magic of the moon, prevented from moving in any. direction whatever, bnt {convinced that most of the courses, if available, would be wrong. Lord Rosobery stimulated us with one sentence and paralysed: us with the next." In short, there was much light but no leading, .and Unionists were again reminded that "Lord Rosebery is still on the wrong side in politics and cannot make up his mind to leave it." His whole temperament is in sympathy with the other side, through which hie purposes must be" worked, but he remains with his old side, and preaches "at more than Sabbatarian intervals to a party which is becoming more and more impervious to his influence, oblivious of his views, and uriregardful even of his existence." He is still the im»t accomplished orator in the country. He hewed the Ministerial policy with regard to the House of Lords to pieces, spoke of Socialism as tie end of all, and of the "hideous alternative" of Socialism and Protection, but further than that he "would give no lead. He expressed no opinion on the Licensing Bill, tlie Education Bill, or Old Age Pensions, and the audience was led to tihe conclusion that in spite of ite attitude towards the Lorde and its coquetting with Socialism, the Government was the true bulwark of the Constitution. Lord Rosebery merely "added! another extraordinary episode to the bewildering record of his own unfathomable mystery." "Not Heaven itself over the past hath power; for what has been, has been ; and I havo had my hour"— do these words apply to him, as they did to Lord Randolph Churchill P

The Bishop of London A delivered an address to Bishop's city onen in an old Influence, chtfrch in CornhiH the

other day, en address similar to the one he gave in Wall street, New York. Financiers filled tie church to overcrowding and he talked to them earnestly on the responsibilities of the rich. The fact is that I>r. Wionington-Ingram has a way with him that commends itself to men especially. Hβ is, says the London correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald," one of the personalities of the time. The high office which he holds has been. held, by men of the highest character, of great eloquence, and exceptional inteUectual gifts; but it is doubtful if it has ever been filled by a man. 6o widely esteemed and revered as its present occupant. He has nothing like the intellectual power of same of his predecessors, and many of his contemporaries of hie Church, aud no gift of oratory, buthehoWs c finer eway than any of them over the hearts of tena of thousands. The men who gibe at the clergy ore silent when Dr. Ingram's name is mentioned, for they feel that here is c man indeed. JBis long labours in the East

End and his comradeship with the submerged ere well-known. "Now that be has succeeded to the larger oversight of London,, he remains the man he was. Ho leaves the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral to others. Far himself, he works, day in. day out, elsewhere—generally where the poor church or the overworked parson needs a hand. "His princely income as Bishop is distributed in ell directions save his own. He gives away every penny of it, save what is necessary for his support. And whether he is pleading for the poor in some Duchess' drawingroom or haranguing the financiers of New York from the top of a soapbox in. Wall street, or preaching in some poor East End church, he is the same man, and he receives the same homage and affection." The sermon, be preached to the city men was the simplest the correspondent had ever heard, and the preacher, a shorty un-distinguished-looking man, spoke with an unmusical voice, and no graces of speech, but the honesty of the man, ' and the absence of aids to popularity, and of morbid appeals to sentiment, had an effect which mero eloquence could never have achieved. The congregation listened intently as the Bishop epoke of the needs of the London poor, and the chance words caught as the crowd moved out left little doubt a* to the success of the appeal.

No. 10 Downing No. 10 street, tih© official Downing ettreefc. residence of tho Prime Minister, has had a book written about itself. It seems that the man from whom tho famous street takes its name was not a particularly worthy person-, and deserves to be forgotten by the public. Sir George Downing served Cromwell, and-became ambassador at The Haguej where he distinguished himself by his masterful and pugnacious temper. When Gharles came over he proclaimed th.imsalf an aadant Itoyaiiet, hunted down, regicides, amassed a fortune, and finally gave his name to the most important street in tho Empire. In the words of the Dictionary of National Biography, he was servile, avaricious, and treacherous. Downing was followed as tenant of No. 10 by Horace Wolpole, who was the last of tho private tenants The King then insisted that Sir Robert Walpole should take up his quarters there, and since that time No. 10 has been: an official residence. The entire street was not officialised until 1855. No. 10 is very characteristic of the nation to wlhioh it belongs. It is unpretentious to look a,t, but commodious insid-e. "No monuments of any actions, whether of Sovereign, Prime 'Minister, or King's ' confidential servants,' are to be seen depicted on its walls. A few portraits here and there, a marble bust or two, and no more." No otibex nation in the world, we are told, houses its first MdnJeber in less lordly style. Tho rooms are described as being mostly of moderate size, old-fasihioned, comfortable, and cosy, with two or three moTo modern and larger apartments. The Cabinet room is a handsome apartment, lined with bookshelves. Tihe long table at which momentous questions of Empire are decided is covered with green cloth. goodly coUectaon of material from tihe Stationery Office rests upon it, ail very new and all very useful. Further, we notice a fine assemblage of stout mahogany chairs with dark green leather eoais. Ttbese stand within reach, suvhaJbile for the accommodation of more apparently than the ordinary number of his Meujesty's confidential servants. The central chair .ae-arest the fire-place is tho Premier's. One portrait only, that of Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albane, hangs in the Cabinetroom, apt reminder of many things. ,. Do Cabinet Ministers, as they look at bra portrait, remember that according to him, meni in. great places have freedom " neither in tihcdr persons, nor in thoir actions, nor in their times," and that standing in high places is slippery?