New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-22
ENGLISH ORATORY.

frpoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
BIRMINGHAM. April l.
\ Lord Salisbury has been speaking here for two
days. but of him shall not nave much to say be-
ieause did not hear him. gather that he made q
sood impression on Birmingham as platform
epesker and q very bad one as a statesman; which
might, be expected. This is not place where
Toryism has much root. People talk of it 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 Consery-
alive TO address a Birmingham audience. lie Is
not peltvd nor even Kissed. The radicalism CT the
Midland metropolis IS robust enough TO endure
with patience all that Lord Salisbury can say
against II. to Its face or behind its back. People
who have sat under Mr.. Ashmead Bartlett or
Colonel Burnaby might willingly lend their ears
IN man who whatever else may be said OF him.
.an sneax The presence of the Tory chief in
Birn,jnQham is less u proof OF his own valor than
trbute to the central importance of birmingham IN
nolitcs Idon't know whether his many audiences,
or any of them, were largely composed OF oppo-
pents What heard was that the Midland counties
had been ransacked 10 provide him with hearers
enough to fill tho Town Hall. On Thursday even
ing. said an American friend who had come from
London to sit at Lord Sali,oury's feet land who
had to stand instead of sitting, the platform was
was filled with men more accustomed TO using
ploughs than making them.
Most of my pilgrimages to Birmingham have
been 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 signify
that he himself prefers ly ing over the days when
his fame was 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 bear him, for the number
of speeches he will deliver cannot now be very
great But to whose business 1t is to study,
among other things. English politics, the men OF
to-day and of tomorrow are not less important
than those of yesterday. i came to Birmingham
10 listen to Mr.. Chamberlain and Lord Rosebery;
two of that younger generation who are to have
hand in shaping English affairs TOR the next
twenty years or more. They are both so well
known to you that fresh account of either at this
moment would be thrown away. II bracket them
together il is only that they happen both TO 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 Mt.
Chamberlain; the man of today in Scotland; OF
tomorrow in England; on the threshold OF the
Cabinet, to which he every day gazetted by the
Mr.. CnamOcrlan, Wuoso
faults want of success is not to be reckoned-suc-
cess won by abilities and his etiorts-always
recalls the celebrated epigram of Talleyrand upon
Theirs, long ago. Somebody called Theirs, as
there are Tories angry enough to call Mr.. Chamber
dam now, q parvenu. Non. answered Taleyrand,
IL NEST pas pdrrenu, IL est drrir&
Town Hall audience ia Birmingham 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 il, to ii again is always
fresh SURPRISE so unlike is it to every other audi
ence in England. My American friend instantly
described 1t as SO American; and 1t Is. Amer
lean in keenness of feature, and still more Ameri-
can in its quite marvellous quickness of mind ana
rapid iudament men aud on what men have 10
say. There is great manufacturing town in
England where so many wUrkingnen are their
own masters. Their habit of thinking for them
selves on public affairs, which has given BirEing-
ham its political fame. was 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 public
speaker in this country can be called on to tace,-
some FIVE thousand men extremely wide awake and
well-nformed and taught by Mr.. Bright TO be ex-
acting IN the matter of oratory.
of the Junior Liberal Association of Birmingham
He said later in the evening that If this the
Junior Association he should be glad to know
what the Senior was like 1t was enough that it
was Liberal meeting-no need TO CLEAN for hearers
in the agricultural outskirts of the town. or dis
turb the patrician repose OF three counties Lcrd
Rosebery was a stranger 70 them,-ths Is his first
appearance in Birmin gham.-but whether from his
reputation. his face and manner, for whatever
reason, they gave him the sort of welcome COM
monty reserved for old friends. 1t was expected of
him to answer Lord Salisbury. and to Lord Sails
bury accordingly The greater part of his speech as
devoted. The answer minute and effective
but it had the disadvantage of being an answer.
Disadvantage because Lord Rosebery has
structiye power which may be pat to better use
than is to he found for in controversy retort
His talent for repartee may be employed on lesser
occasions; here 1T would have been worth his
while to state his own case from his standpoint
and leave Lord Salisbury's sinister sarcasms to
answer themselves; or to be answered by Mr.
Chamberlain, since to him IL to anybody the cba-
lenge from Hatfield .gas addressed. The account of
the Conservative leader given in the opening
fences would have left sufficient impression.
After describing Lord sslsbury's first speech as
dealing with politics in a spirit will not call
captious but in a spirit of onciseness" Lord Rose
berry proceeded:
He touched on every point very much as sore
throat is touched, with caustic. He dealt with
every point IN single sentence, aud pointed
every sentence with O sneer anu when you
member that the late Lord Beaconsfeld, the chief
whose shade and whose memory the Tory party
now vainy invoke, once accurately described his
colleague Lord Salisbury a master OF hOuts and
sneers, IL would not be decorOus in humble people
like ourselves 10 quarrel with the definition OF so
eminent a master.
That is a sentence to bring party cheers. and it
-lA IA.
RODS But when he had passed from Lord Sails
bury and entered upoa peroraton devoted to q
definition of Liberalism, and the worth OF Liberal
ism to the country, the speech reached a higher
level and its epigram became moro glitter
ing. 1t might DO difficult to put more sense and