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


body would undervalue the oratorical endowments
Lord Rosebery possesses voice. presence, power OF
CLAIR thinking and the rest But an orator who is
IN move the people must be man of the people at
bot,op,-not democrat in the politcalsenSe, not by
ony means necessarily radical but one who holds
with Jefferson that men are born equal, OF. at any
rots ara born men. This conviction will in the
| long rnn make him irresistible. Already speaker
If remarkable powers, he destined to rank, il he
cares TO- at no distant date orator in the high
and rare sense Of the word.
| Lord Rosebery surprised his audience by speak
ing without notes No scrap of paper was visible
from beginning to end of the fifty minutes during
which. in the not too elegant House of Commons
| phrase he was his legs 1t turned out after
ward that LIE had left his notes in London. includ-
ing those from which he meant to complete the
preparation of his speech: an accident which adds
to the interest of the effort. There are few more
awkward situations than that OF n man who relies
on n little manuscript help and finds himself
obliged to speak without it. The rule here is
notes MI Bright always uses Them or almost
always Mr. Gladstone has if nothing more NOM
oranda of the leading figures and perhaps facts. he
is going to use. Mr.. Chamberlain spoke last night
with the and of four or five sheets of paper. No
doubt Lord Rosebery's address lost something in
finish and smoothness by his mishap. But 1t was
worth all it cost as practice.
Mr.. Chamberlain followed Lord Rosebery. 1t
happens that have not heard Mr.. Chamberlain on
platform for some three years. j say on plat
form because the oratory which moves "a popular
audience is thing so extremely different from that
debating dexterity which is more in demand IN the
House of Commons than anything else In the IN
terva Mr. chamberlain. whom | had known as
clever speaker. has become an orator; in very
true If not in the very widest signlhcation 1he
mower and breadth of his address last night cannot
be expressed by any word of narrower meaning
than that. The point OF view has changed. The
measure and proportion of speech arc no longer the
same The intellectual poss is more sure the
range greater aud the knowledge of his audience
more intimate Probably in Birmingham Mr.
Chamberlain is to be seen at his best. but the es
sental qualities of his oratory as they we're dis
closed on Friday cannot greatly vary. lie mas
studied Mr.. Bright not in VAN yet between MI
Cbamberlans methods and Mr. b rights the diver
cepces are more remarkable than the points OF
identitv. That which gives Mr.. Bright bis neon
,as+obe snperiority to all other English orators of
tins time is not 10 be copied 10y anybody. what
his Younger colleague has derived from him Is an
acquaintance with thUse processes OF public speak
ing which are in fact imitable OF communicative
the technical secrets Que to practice. to knowledge
Of u
pathetic power of Mr.. Bright his sounding CT the
depths of the human heart. or bis elevation OF
thought. Mr. Chamberlains manner Is now one OF
conulete sell. posse sson-a man, you would say at
once sure of himself and of his audience. lie has
shaken Oft the prmness OF his earlier DAYS There
used TO be q certain schoolmaster air about hlin,
and n pedantry of diction, which have given place
TO greater freedom Of bearing and freedom OF
speech The phrases still carefully picked nut
they are fluent and the mar OF the world mas got
the better Of the student. The smell OF the lamp
has vanished. If ever there was parOchiaI tone
of thought in the ex-Mayor of Birmingham. thai
too has vanished. The tone may now larry Dc
called statesmanike. Familiarity Win large
affairs has been an education as it always TO the
man who proves equal to them. and Mr. Chamber
Iain's survey of Imperial topics Is now sueh as
might be expected from Cabinet Minister.
Save for two passages this speech of the Presi-
dent of the Board OF Trade WAS as convincing ana
;nnrecnable in substance as it was admirable In
form, The personal attack Lord Salisbury as an
aristocrat and owner OF autobiography s indeien-
siole. the more so because Lord RoSebery was
sitting by and some OF Mr.. Chamberains invectve
,,.s inst as applicable ~ one Peer as TO the Other
Rpt the attack had "a graver fault than want OF
taste: it was all but communistio IN tone. Mr.
Chamberlain assaulted Lord Salisbury az the
spokesm of q class, " OF the CLASS 10 Mnlcn nc
himself belongs who toll not neither DO they spin
whose fortunes as in his case, have originated in
grants made in times long ago for the services which
courters rendered kings, and have since grown and
increased while they have slept. by levylng an
unearned share on all that other men have done by
toll and labor to ado to the general wealth and pros
merit, of the country of which they form part"
That IS said with eloqunce and energy and IS FER
fectly misleading and mischevous statement.
The other point is of course an Irish point. Mr.
Chamberlain renewed once more his already too
oft repeated in vtation to Irish agitators to perse
we're in evil doing. Again he denounced force as no
remedy for discontent-as If anybody ever SAID II
was Again he referred TO crime and outrage rs
only the expression of the of disconten-the
extreme and unjustifabc expression. he called tbem
hut what is the use Of saying that the operation OF
n social law is unjustlfabc You might as well COM
nla,n of the criminalitv of earthquakes while in
that they caused by Irish landlords But
Ar Chamberlain's line IL Irish matters is known
and right or wrong docs not diminish tue rhetorical
mrrits of a speech which was impressive through
ont full of telling hits at foes and staunch defence
of friends: the speech Of man with beliefs, and
with abundant capacity OF advocating them be-
fore the public. o. W. B.