LORD ROSEBERY'S SPEECH.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14013, 18 September 1909, Page 2

LORD ROSEBERY'S SPEECH.

PREFACE TO A REVISED VERSION By Electric Telegraph.- -Copjii^lit LONDON, Sept. 17. * Lord Rosebery, in a pietico to tinauthorised version ot hih hpeei-n, published by iiumpln.ys vi j iic -»»io, u*ider the title ot "1 !•••.• Luc,; L : It, i*::.iciples and Scope," rennrt. "It is difficult to Know uheuifr an.vone w lio is outside politics should undn .m\ circumstances return thereto, for Ins. reappearance has an air ot intrusion aim is resented. On the other hand, there are occasions ttiic:i common jioi.^.ii and honesty seem to compel anyone ot deep convictions not to withhold them from his countrymen. J think tic crisis in which the speech was delive.ed is one of this kind. It is paintu. loi anyone to have to put himtitk i« oi»p-oo»-tion to old friends and tlv paity he

has long been connected will.. As, how"evor. Liberal Iradcrs have all declared the speech wholly inofiectml and rr.nnl, they have evidently sustained no damage from its delivery. 1 ir.aj ucli.i-, however, the all<><;j-tion that I h : v-j -n: denly left the Liberal party. 'Hie f-»ct would be more accurately stated it it were said tli \t the alleged Liberal pails has left ire . They ITavc S-:ne S -:ne s head at an alarming velocity and left mo behind. I am where I was in respect Of party ties five, ten, or thirteen years ago. When I severed my official con, nection with the party in 1896, I reSlimed complete independence m political action. That independence I claim to have exercised ever since, and I propose to continue to exercise it— a clnim I am astonished anyone at this time or

day should grudge, for there is n°™> in & enviable or profitable about it. There is nothing to jsain. Any reward, if there be one, is invisible. At every accession to the throne the old Great Sonl is broken and invalidated and a new one made and utilised, giving only an authorised impression. In the same way, at every general election a new brand is made for the Liberal party; those not bearing its mark are outside the legitimate ranks, but it does not follow that they do not belong to the old party and bear the old stamp.