Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-03-23

sions. His speeches are witty and eloquent,
and he has way of poking fun at the peers
that greatly pleases the commoners, while
it stops just short of offending the nobility.
Nearly 10 years ago he was first spoken OF
as Gladstone's legitimate successor. Eight
years ago Mr.. Gladstone introduced him to
a mass meeting at Manchester as 1.-The man
of the future" Experience alone can show
whether the mantle of the Grand Old Man
will sit comfortably ON his shoulders for
any length of time.
The new premier's name is Archibald
Philip Primrose He is the fifth Earl of
Rosebery, Scotch peerage dating from
1908, and figures as Baron Rosebery in the
peerage of the United Kingdom, the barony
having been conferred upon his GRANDPA
Their, the fourth earl, in 1923.
The present earl had barely attained his
majority and was preparing to take seat
in the commons when his grandfather died,
and he was relegated to the rotten ranks of
hereditary legislators. He at once identi-
fed himself with the Liberal party and
showed a determination to be a lawmakeT
in earnest AS well as in theory His very
first speech marked him a leader, and he
never lost place. His admirers say that all
through his public life he has had wit
enough never to say foolish thing Ger
tainly he has done nothing liable to make
him unpopular and has done much that
has had the contrary effect His principal
business in life, in fact, has been to court
popularity, and to the fact that he has sue
ceeded so well he owes his present political
pre-eminence.
Undoubtedly he also owes much to the
favor of Mr.. Gladstone, whose acquaintance
he formed while still an undergraduate at
Oxford, and whose particular protege he has
ever since been. He first met Disraeli about
the same period, and it is significant of the
success with which he carries water on both
shoulders that he never afterward lost the
friendship of either of these great leaders.
Both of them were present at his marriage,
and Lord Beaconstield, then prime minis
ter, gave away" the bride and signed the
register as witness. So did the Prince OF
Wales, though even then Lord Rosebery )
/ democratic notions had been aired suffi-
GENTLY to give arlstocracy that amellorated
shock which always thrills it when such
utterances COME from the mou hs of safe
peIsons-persons, that IL, whose sympathy
with the masses is not liable to lead them
into violating the privileges of the classes.
Lord Ro cherry is now widOwer, but
he married one of the richest heiresses in
| England-Hannah, only child of the late
Baron Meyer de Rothschld-who had
| $4,000 a year in her own right and
brought him any amount of landed prop
erty, among which was the celebrated
| Mentmore estate in Buckinghamshire.
His lordship's pAternal seat is Dalmeny
Park, near Edinburgh, where Mr.. Glad
stone has frequently been his guest. An
other of his places is The Durdans, near
EPSON Downs, where gay and brilliant
company assemblies during racing week.
The premier, like Derby and Palmerston,
his predecessors, is "A great patron of the
turf and keeps racing stable. His horse
Ladas is pronounced favorite for this
years Derby, and if Rosebery can add the
halo of Derby winner to the nimbus of
the premier it is safe to say he will be canon
lied in English hearts as divinely appoint
ed idol IL will also fulfill story now told
in London, which, though il has the ear
marks of II prediction after the event, ought
to be true 1t is that while he was boy at
Eton he made wager that he would marry
the heiress of her year, become prime minis
ter and win the Derby before he died.
Lord Rosebery has twice visited Ameri-
b and has travelled extensively in the Unit
ed States. He is prOfe- sedls and perhaps
professionally IA warm admirer of our peo-
pie and institutions and is said to be pune
tiliously civil to his American acquaint-
ances. But il must not be forgotten his
lordship is above all things "A politician,
and that he has undoubtedly observed the
tendency of the times toward democracy.
1t may be that he is radical by convic-
ton, but he is also conservative by in
stinct, and if he undertakes to carry out
Gladstone's threats against the lords it will
be in obedience to the inevitable. He is
the man of the hour and reconciles more
variant interests than any other English
politician could. Whether he is also, as
Gladstone said, 1.-THE man of the future
depends upon the votes of English electors.
ii. Il. WHITE.