New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-25
ENGLISH ORATORY.
CHAMBERLAIN AND LORD RosEBERY.

TX. L
,vpox THE REGunAx CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
BIRMINGHAM. April l.
lord Salisbury has been speaking here Tor two
Savs hut of him shall not nave much to say be-
ieauss did not hear him. / gather that he made
seod impression on Birmingham as platform
snesker and o very bad one as statesman; which
might, be expected. This is not place where
Toryism has much root. People talk OF 1T rs bold
thing on Lord Salisburys part to attack the Lib
eral enemy in his chief English stronghold. THIS
sort of metaphor, like metaphors in general is
misleading. 1t requires no courage for a Conserv-
alive TO address a Birmingham audience. lie Is
not peltvd nor even Kissed. The radicailsm CT 'he
Midland metropolis IS robust enough 10 ehuuio
with patience all that Lord Salisbury can say
AGAINST IT, to Its face OF behind It's back. feopie
who have sat under Mr.. Asntneau paI"o'' Vi
Colonel Burnaby might willingly lena tnelr cars
10 a man who. whatever else may DC saiu vi hin
.on sraou The presence of the Tory chief IN
R,rp,n cham il less "a proof OF his own valor thah
tribute to the central Importance OF Birmingham id
.aI,t,.. Idon't know whether his many audiences
or any of them, were largely composed OF oppo
nents What heard was that the Midland counties
had been ransacked 10 provide him with hearers
enough to fill the Town Hall. On Thursday even
ing said an American friend who had come from
London to sit at Lord Sali,oury's feet (anu VINO
had TO stand instead of sitting, the platform "ss
covered with white ties and the BODY OF inc nouSo
was filled with men more accustomed 10 using
ploughs than making them.
Most of my pilgrmages to Birmingham have
bsen made to hear Mr.. Bright. This one was to
listen to younger men. 1t Is too soon TO say that
Mr.. Bright belongs TO the past, though his recent
addresses and especially his Corn Law speech at
Glasgow the other day, might be taken TO sieni1y
that he himself prefers living over the days when
his fame was won and his great services performed,
to striking out new line in the days that are.
He is to be heard only too seldom and no pains or
trouble are too great to hear him, for the number
of speeches he will deliver cannot now be very
great But to one whose business it is to study.
among other things. English politics, the men OF
today and of tomorrow are not less important
than those of yesterday. j came to Birmingham
10 listen to Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Rosebery;
tvc of that younger generation who are to have
hand In shaping English affairs for tho next
twenty years or They are both SO well
known to you that fresh account OF either at this
moment would be thrown away. IL bracket then
together ii is only that they Happen both 10 speak
from the same platform on the same night. lhey
have almost many points OF difference as OF Ike
ness Lord Rosebery is ten years younger than MI.
Chamberlain the man of to-day IN ScotlHnu Vi
tomorrow in England; on the threshold OF the
newspapers Mr.. Chamberlain. among whose
fanlts want of success is not to be reckoned-suc-
cess won by abilities and his own ehorts-alwaYs
recalls the celebrated epigram of Talleyrand upon
Theirs. long ago. Somebody called Theirs, as
there are Tories angry enough to call Mr. CHAMBER
lain now a parvenu. Non. answered Iaueyrahd,
IL NEST pas pdrrenu, IL est drrir6.
Town Hall audience 10 Birning CHAM is of itself
werth coming to see especially if the conner be an
American, as dare say have urged before now.
Often as have seen it. to see 1t again is always
fresh surprise, unlike is IL to every other audi
ence in England. My American friend instantly
described 1t as $50 American; and 1t Is. Amer
lean in keenness of feature, and still more Amerl-
can in its quite marvellous quickness of mind ana
rapid Judgment on men aud on what men have 10
saw There is no great manufacturing town IN
England where so many wOTkingmen are their
own masters Their habit of thinking for them
selves on public affairs, which has given Birning-
ham its political fame, acquired by thinking
fol themselves about their own business and about
the business of their town for the Wise conduct OF
which latter they have also deserved celebrity, TO
which Mr.. Chamberlain has contributed. 1t Is the
most difficult and critical audience a public
speaker in this country can be called on to face
some FIVE thousand men extremely wide-awake and
wel-informed. and taught by Mr.. Bright TO be ex-
acting IN the matter of oratory.
Lord Rosebery was to address them as president
of the Junior Liberal Association OF birmingham
He said later in the evening that IL TINS was inc
Junior Association he should be glad TO know
what the Senior was like. 1t was enough that 1t
was Liberal meeting-n0 need TO CLEAN Tor hearers
in the agricultural outskirts of the town. or dis
turb the patrician repose of three counties. Lerd
Rosebery was stranger 70 them,-thls Is his first
appearance in Birniu gham.-but whether from his
Lie fOrN hat al
reason. they gave him the sort of welcome CON-
monty reserved for old friends. 1t expected of
him to answer Lord Salisbury. and to Lord Sails
bury accordingly The greater part OF his speech as
devoted. The answer was minute and effective,
but it had the disadvantage of being an answer.
Disady antage because Lord R0sebery has a con-
structye power which may be put to better use
than is to be found for Ii in controversy and retort
His talent for repartee may be employed on lesser
occasions; here 1t would have been worth HE
while To state his case from his standpoint,
and leave Lord Saisbury's sinister sarcasms to
answer themselves; or to be answered by Mr.,
CHAMBERLAIN. since to him II to anybody the cbal
lenge from Hatfield vas addressed. The account Of
the Conservative leader given in the opening SEN
fences would have left sufficient impression
After describing Lord Salsbury's first speech al
dealing with politics in spirit / will not call
captous but in q spirit Of onciseness" Lord Rose
berry proceeded:
He touched on every point very much as sore
throat is touched. with caustic. He dealt VIII
every point IN "a single sentence, aud pointed
every sentence with sneer; anu when you re-
member that the late Lord Beaconsheld, the chiel
whose shade and whose memory the Tory party
now vainly invoke once accurately described h
colleague Lord Salisbury q master OF houts anC
sneers, IL would not be decorOus IN humble people
like ourselves TO quarrel with the definition oil 81
eminent a master.
That is a sentence to bring party cheers. and il
brought them, did most of Lord Roseberys pc
RODS. But when he had passed from Lord Sails
bury and entered upon peroration devoted to .
definition of Liberalism and the worth of Liberal
ism to the country, the speech reached hghe
level; and even its epigram became more glitter
ing. 1t might be difficult to put sense ant
wit into phrase than are condensed in Lord Rose
bery's summary of his own speech: That the IN