LORD ROSEBERY'S RETIREMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12425, 14 February 1901, Page 4

LORD ROSEBERY'S RETIREMENT.

The incessant invitations from friend) and foe alike to Lord Rosebery to come out of his obscurity and show himself have apparently had the result of driving him out of party politics altogether. Since the last General Election ho has been held up as the one man who could unite the scattered elements of the once great Liberal party. He did indeed 1 make a half-hearted endeavour to lorin an Imperial Liberal code, but the move only weakened the Opposition and the ex-Premicr never definitely posed as a leader; The “ Times ” declared that if •he would only obey the universal summons he would draw to his side not the Liberals alone, bub a substantial proportion df the Unionists. The “ Spectator, 1 ’ evidently desirous of shaming him into action, accused him of political insincerity and of want of patriotism. He refused to use his great intellect in the service of the State, it declared, lest he should help Lord Salisbury to remain in office. His brief, brilliant incursions into general politics have only increased' the anxiety of all parties to see him once more in harness. Quite recently, however,- the tone of Lord Rosebery's critics has distinctly changed. In the “Nineteenth Century” for January'Sir Wemyss Reid speaks of “ a desperate intrigue woven by those who desire any alternative—even the permanent -ruin - of the Liberal paidy—rather than the return of Lord Rosebery to the leadership ” ; and in the same number Mr Sidney Low openly invites the exPxemier and the Liberal Imperialists to come over to the Unionists. We can hardly believe that the great Radical leader would desert the cause for which he has worked so many years, yet his determination to retire for a period from party warfare is certain to be attributed to a desire to succeed Lord Salisburjr as head of a strong and united following. It is far more likely that Lord Rosebery; finally disheartened by the, strong opposition of the official Liberals, has followed the brnt of his own inclinations. He has deeddred that politics have no fascination for him, and except when he controlled the Foreign Office, his attitude has always been that of an unwilling fighter. The loss to politics will probably mean a gain to literature. The success of his recently-published volume on Napoleon no doubt convinced him that the more congenial sphere of activity is the best and highest. He.might have figured as.

the -greatest statesman of the new century he may yet prove himself one of the most notable men of letters.