New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-28
LORD RANDOLPH.
ais COLLECTED srEfcHs-norDrsrs IN
Ills CAREER-HIS REAL POLITICS
AND CHARACTER

lOnuOn, April Is.
4 Mr. Jennings has edited and Messrs Longmans
\ have published in two volumes selection Of the
,r.eches OF Lord Randolph Churchill from 1880
4 ,n,sss They arc interesting from several points
\ Az view most of all. perhaps, "Apoogia
! .ro vita suao Lord Randolph was born Just forty
h ,cars ago. his public career really began it may
~ said less than ten years ago III, had been
ncmber for Woodstock Sin years earlier but OF
those siA years little trace is TO he found in Par
Il haloentary annals and none AT all IN these vol
ame> His active and continuing interest in prac-
neal politics is coincidcnt with Mr.. GadstOnes
sn,ry into Office in $50. and the specific mission
Il which he then accepted TO make things I'M
comfortable for the Liberal Government lie laid
down his platform in sentc ncc-would that all
platforms equally bricf-it is the duty of an
/ Opposition 10 oppose. Because his own chief
would not oppose with sufficient energy, his mis-
sion gradually, and as il by force of crcum-
stances. enlarged Itself. II became his duty TO
make things uncomfortable for those of his party
leaders and friends who would not themselves
make II uncomfortable for the enemy
lie first joined, then organized, then led the
Fourth Party and the regular people soon found
that the Fourth Party under Lord Randolph had
10 tc not merely counted but weighed and rcck-
oned with. Probably sowed more
political wild oats in a gwen space OF time than
lid this young guerrilla chief in the session Of
1850. The crop has not been harvested for this
book. Lord Randolph's views broadencd his
convictions became more settled his ideas Of pol
icy enlarged his aims began TO had him into
fresh and ever more extensive fields. The Irish
question attracted him. Thr first speech In the
6rst of these two volumes is on Landlord and
Tenant Then comes Coercion and all the rest.
Mr.. Ghdstone's amazing foreign policy was too
tempting 10 the critic 10 be let alone, and IRE
suently the critic makes Egypt speciality.
Financial Reform follows though not till 1884.
Tory Democracy lad already made its appearance,
and in the same year the bold Inventor OF it de-
hvcrcd his Trust the People, speech at Biz
mingham. In the year. in May, came the
srraicnmcnt 81 Mr. Gladstonc's Government for
its declared resolve 10 desert General Gordon;
speech that. read now. reads like fulfilled proph-
ecy.
Rv this time Lord Randolph had become the
most popular Of Tory orators in the country, what
ever he light be in the House of Commons and
among those Ia whom he ironically referred as his
leaders. No speaker was in such demand. In 1884
alone thrrc nine speeches 10 great popular
audiences in such great towns as Brming CHAM,
Leeds Manchester ard others less great, bat
always important political centres. The attacks
on Mr. Gladstonc's Government are incessant
India Is added 10 the Young orators rapertOry, and
Russia IN her relation 10 lndia-anothor gloomy
page in the Liberal Prime Minister'S Foreign Pol
icy So !; zoe, on through SD. till the general
election and TIC Tory triumph. Five years had
passed since Lord Randolph had taken his seat on
the from bench below the cangway II" hal Tough,
on his own line. # not for his own hand, vet so
great w,> the place hr had wrn formidable
had he been found. 50 Indispensable had hc made
himself that who, Lord Salisbury formed his
Ministry he could not do less than offer Lord Ran
dolph the S"crctaryShip of State for India with IA
seat IN the Cabinet Office stcadicd him, rs office
usually does the most impotuouS and gifted His
guns were turned, the whole broadsidc against
The enemy. with no reservations in favor of his
friends Then came the Tory defeat SO 10
be followed hy the Tory, at any rate, Anti-flomc
Rule AMI IuIOuist triumph of 1856 and with II
fnr ;;nauccllor>hp Of the ENch'quer aHd Leader
ship If he House of Commons. TO be followed
more speedily >tin by his resignation. All the
outlines Of this exciting period will ~ found drawn
with q firm hand IN these speeches, and many of
The INCIDENTS and episodes filed in with no lack of
color The hartford speech belongs 10 the official
ported the whole. the most famous Of all the
spccch,. thc official declaration and adoption of
Tory Democracy. with It's hardly less remarkable
supplement, delivered At Bradford three weeks
later From the time of his unlucky resignation
down 10 the present, he appears more often than
otherwise the champion OF retrenchmcnt ana
reform, the pitilcss of departmental mis-
mama cement. The attacks on Mr.. Gadstc1e do
not cease. Ireland never disappears from his horl-
zon. and his last word IS protest against the
Tory policy III Egypt.
These volumes, 1t Will be seen, not meant,
or not primarily meant, an appeal for verdict
upon Lord Randolph a> an 'Oritor. Their
primary purpose is clearly political Mr.. Jcn-
nings'. very interesting and spirited Introduction
deals almost wholly with politics; with Lord
Randolph> relation To The public hie Of his
country since lsoo, and To his own party. mat
he has been consistent, that he has seen how
things goInI, that hc, like Disra,li, has
educa ted hl> party, that he has taken strong and
coherent views on great questions, that he has
stead tasty opposed policy of mere coercion and
nothing else Tor Ireland, policy of NEEDLE and
mudde for Egypt, policy Of inefficient en-
travacancc i'll the administration Of great pubic
departlncntS. these and such ds these are the
poiuts on which Mr. Jennings lays stress II not
ALWAYS convincing, he Is always readable lie has
Told the story Of Lord lAndoph'> resignation, not
fully for II cannot yet be told fully, but IN such
WHY As challenges reply, If reply there be There
is An obvious suggestion all through 'hl> narrative
,h., ia. mart!, OF DI>rach has fallen on Lord
kandopi'N shoulders. lherc Is very measured
sps,,,prd successive, and most damaging attack
an ,d SI.burv TIE contrast between Lord
H.t,>,r,'s conduct 10 his colleagues on his with
a,,,.I from, The Derby Ministry IN 1867, ana
Inrd Haudolph's conduct on his withdrawal from
The Salisbury Ministry at the end of 1885, Is very
Ak fully drawn The whOlc Introducuol' III i"c'
4 Is a clever p.ece of political arsuh'eh"'i "HO
che reader cannot but INFER from 1T thS' '''' mum
object Of III. republication of the spc'cheS i ~