LORD ROSEBERY IN EXPLANATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 18 September 1909, Page 3

LORD ROSEBERY IN EXPLANATION.

LONDON, Friday.

Lord Rosebery, in a prefac'o to an authorised ycrsionTof his speech, pub lished by Humphreys' Picadilly, tinier the. title of '.'The 'Budget: Its Principles and Scope,"' remarks: "It is difficult to know whether anyone who is outside of politics .should under any" circumstances return thereto, for. his appearance has. an air of intrusion-, and' is resented. : On the other -hand, there are occasions when common honour and honesty wpuld seem./to compel any one of deep convictidhs'not to withhold them from! -'lis .fellow-countrymen. The crisis in whichk this .speeeh.7 was delivered was one , pf this kind. It is painful for anyone to haye to put himself in opposition to -his old friends and- the party with which! he was long connected. As, however, the Liberals .haye 1 all "declared my speech -wholly ineffectual and vapid, they have evident ksustained.no damage by its delivery. I may notice, however, the allegation that I have suddenly left the Liberal Party. ... .The -fact ; more Accurately stated is that the al-jegei-Liberai Party has left me. They hayerigone ahead! with alarming velocity; to. a- spot far in advance, and bayeßeft me-' behind. I am where I wai* in; respect of the party ties of .five/-- tea', and. thirteen, years ago. ■When^ T'severcd hiy official connection with" tie party in 1896, I resumed as the price of that sacrifice my coraplete. independence of political action. That independence. I have claimed and have .'exercised ever since, and I propose tp continue to 'exercise and claim

it.' ■■ I am astonished that anyone at this* time of- day should grudge it, for there. -;is -nothing .enviable, or profit-able-about-it; there is. nothing in it ,to .gain .any reward, and if there be one.. it is ;inviaible; At every accession to the throne the old Great Seal •s^brpken and invalidated, and a newone . fabricated, giving only the authorised impression. . In the., same way at 'eyery general election a'hew brand is made for the Liberal Party, those not bearing its mark being out"?Me ;'the legitimate ranks. But it does not foftbw, that they did not belong ■to ."the old party and bear the "old stamp./'