The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1900.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11684, 17 March 1900, Page 6

The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1900.

The Earl of Kosebery delivered one of his vigorous and vivid speeches at Chatham on January 23. We should say that, with the exception of Sir Edward Grey (who as yet is hardly of the first rank), Lord Rosebery is the only prominent statesman on the Liberal' side to whom the .war period ha.s brought | heightened prestige. -It is true that his present connection with the Liberal party is of an informal and even vague character, and that the discomfiture of Sir Henry Campbell-Baunerniau and Co. would not be like.y to cost him many sighs ; but these considerations need not detract- from the value of the prompt and whole-hearted patriotism with which lie has supported the action of her Majesty's Ministers aim strengthened the political force of the Empire.. He has done the right thing, and there is not' the shadow of a raasnn for questioning

the integrity ,pf his motives. It could be wished that some of vis old jcolleagues would do the right thing, even with an impure motive. Lord Rosebery's active countenance has been of the utmost service to the Government during this trying time, and his utterances—always cordial and confident,, and even vivacious in the hour of anxiety—have had no small share in helping the publio to keep a good heart and a clear head. Had Ministers made—as,, happily, they have not made—a blunder serious enough to deprive them of the publio confidence, the disappointed people would almost certainly have turned to Lord Rosebery in their hour of need. As it is, he is regarded as. a. most valuable reserve force, and it is by no means unlikely that when Lord Salisbury's time comes he will be found working with Mr Balfour and Mr Chamberlain, neither of whom is so well known or so highly thought of in the centres of European government.

The popularity of Lord Rosebery's oratory is, not surprising, for his speeches represent a not very, common blend: they are at once trenchant and genial. Lord Salisbury's utterances are trenchant enough, and'they- have a finer, though not more attractive, intellectual quality; but it never occurred to anyone to celebrate their geniality. The same may be said of Mr Chamberlain's speeches,—barring the mention of intellectual quality. Mr Balfour, on the other hand, is often genial, but the force of his address is too often spoiled (for the general ear) by touches of fastidiousness and casuistry, and even (certainly a too raro defect) by an excess of ideas. Lord Rosebery's ideas are seldom new, but he deals freely in the happiest illustrations, has a smack of what may be called popular b'ookishness, says the fairly obvious tiling in a fresh and sometimes frisky fashion, and altogether is a most effective exponent of what Mr John Morley somewhere styles " the generous commonplace." Moreover, he is English—or Scottish, which is the .same thing—from top to toe. Chatham's effigy, to the eye or Maeaulay, seemed to -bid England l*e of good cheer and hurl defiance at her foes. Lord Rosebery's bearing has a similar message for his countrymen; and he may yet have to act Chatham's part,—ho, who has so finely told the story of Chatham's .son.

And it was at Chatham that Lord Rosebery was speaking on January 23. Needless to say, he did not ignore the import of the name. "Ho was glad to hear that the town of Chatham was mindful and proud of the fact that the elder Pitt, when he had to choose a title, wished to associate himself wit!) this great dockyard and arsenal. Tliey had so far recognised that fact as to embody the arms of the Pitts in those of Chatham. That was a noble and praiseworthy thing to have done. It showed that the town of Chatham, ancient as it was, was determined to maintain its historical connection with the glorious name which took the manufactures of Chatham further and more triumphantly over the globe than any names we had read of." Lord Rosebery's speech dealt with the lessons of the war, so far'as the war had gone. with the balance of gain and loss, —and his moral may, perhaps, be gathered from the following simple remark : "At a time of ,war which stretches us on the rack of expectation—a war more formidable in some respects than any in which we have ever been engaged— Chatham proceeds placidly to open its' town hall,"—for that wa.s the duty which had brought Lord Rosebery to the military town. A letter from our London correspondent, which appears in another portion of this issue, gives several extracts from this fine speech, which may be recommended to the study of our readers. We shall content ourselves here with noticing one or two points only. Lord Rosebery, even on January 23, held that the war had been a profitable transaction for England. There is jr.uch to be placed on the debit side, everyone can make out the list, —but the entries on the credit side are more than a counter-balance. The testing of the character of the nation counts for much. All doubts have been set at rest on that score.

I think that many of us of late years, in watching the march of nrosperity, the mrirch of luxury, the march of ease in this country, the .leedlcssness with which we were assuming enormous responsibilities abroad without really thinking sufficiently of how we were to sustain these responsibilities.' must have begun to fear that the nation might, be suffering from fatty degeneration of ihc heart—(laughter) ;—that the nation might prove itself unworthy of its high destiny; that it had had too easy a time; and that it required to be braced up and tested by adversity. Wo have been braced and tested by adversity. I venture to tlnnk that if that week which ended with the battle of the Tugela had been passed in some countries and among Rome peoples, it would have ended—perhaps not -in revolution, thouga not impossibly in that—yet in such disquiet, such mortification, such accusations ot hetrayal ana treachery against; their chiefs that the end of the nation might have been visible. I for my part was never so proud of my country as at the end of that week.

Then the Empire has been finally shown to be a reality, not a name, and it need not be said that Lord Bosebery (who was one of the first of modern Imperialists) spoke veil on this branch of his subject. He had heard from Australia (he said) only the day before, and there, ho knew, the Imperial movement had been, " not so much the work of Governments, as the spontaneous impulse of the peoples tliemselves." That, of cour.se, we know even better than Lord Rosebery can know it. Again, there is the advantage of the military and general lessons thn.t have been learned, —the need of methodical and scientific organisation. This is a need, declares Lord Rosebery, in. commerce and education as well as in war. "We must take example of Germany, and bring science to bear upon all our methods. Things must be put generally o-,i a business footing. "We have not finished the war. We have first to take in hand the bringing of it to a triumphant ooncln-

sion. "We have, secondly, when that war is completed, to brace ourselves for the settlement of the dominions and territories which it has ravaged, and to take care that that settlement shall make it safe from any similar experience —(cheers); —and when that is done you will, a,s I honestly and conscientiously believe, have to set yourselves to the third function, and the most important of all—that of setting your Empire on a business footing." Perhaps, that passage is better worth quoting than the more eloquent but less practical perora-

With dramatic swiftness Lord Roberts is lending his victorious troops through the enemy's country in South Africa. He does not allow the Boers much breathing space. They are at present, in fact, unable to " come up to time." Bloomfontein, of vnich possession was taken on Tuesday last,'-.does not, as our military contributor has already explained, possess much strategic import-

ance. If it did the Boers would uot have permitted it to be captured: without some show of resistance. It was realised, however, by them that they could not hope to defend the town, and it was for this reason that the Free | Staters some time ago transferred their capital to; Winburg. The possession of Bloemfonteia by Lord Roberts is not, however, an insignificant event, apart altogether from the moral effect which the -sight of the emblem of British occupation floating on" the flagpole above :the Presidency' must have upon the burghers, its consequence 'must be to facilitate, the provisioning of the British army, for, once Norvals Pont is secured and the railway Hues are pieced together where they have been .destroyed, Bloemfontein will bo in direct communication with the seaports of Cape Colony. The importance of this will be manifest. In his inarch across the.Orange Free State, prior, to his occupation of Bloemfontein' Lord Roberts was daily increasing the distance between himself and the Kimberley line, upon which he had to rely foV his supplies. Now that he has again readied the railway line, with the certainty that he will shortly have uninterrupted . communication with his rear, lie is placed in a position that will enable him to move rapidly forward to the Transvaal. And there'is no doubt that his movements will be prompt and energetic. The welcome that was extended to him on his arrival at Bloemfontein is one of the gratifying incidents of the war. The burghers of the Free State have probably never been greatly in sympathy with the attitude into which President Steyn ho.s forced their Republic in the war, and it h tolerably plain that they are now heartily desirous of the termination of the struggle. Nor is if likely, however much President Steyn may protest in company with President Kniger, that there is any depth of feeling in the Free State in favour of the retention of its independence.