The morning call., 1894-03-09
THE NEW PREMIER.

In a recent article in THE CALL atten-
:ion was drawn TO the splendid opportunity
which was offered TO the man on whose
shoulders Gladstone's mantle would fall.
The veteran has done so much preliminary
work that what remains is comparatively
easy; very nearly majority, If not an
actual majority, OF the people of the United
Kingdom are prepared for local se'f-gov-
eminent and The abolition of hereditary
privilege. Mr.. Gladstone's successor may
reap triumph without having borne the
heat and burden of the day. 1t is quite
likely that Lord Rpsebery may be the man.
Archibald Primrose was originally a
Scotch peer whose grandfather was Earl
of Rosebery; he succeeded him when the
old man died In 1868. He has since been
made peer of the United Kingdom. The
Roseberys were poor, but bright. When
the present lord came to this country some
twenty years ago, lie was supposed to be
looking for an heiress. and runor had him
engaged to the daughter of William Il.
Duncan of the clearinghouse of Duncan.
sherman u Co. AS ii was. he left the
United States fancy free, and he shortly
afterward married the only daughter of
Baron Meyer de Rothschild and received
with her fortune which made him inde-
pendent of the world. She died in 1890.
Fog year or more it has been common
talk at the clubs of London that he was
contemplating an alliance with one of the
daughters of the Prince OF Wales and that
the Prince favored his suit. 1t has been
limited that he deferred his offer until Mr..
Gladstone's retirement made him the
natural head of the Liberal party. He
has now attained the goal of his ambition
and it must be admitted that he would be
a better match than Lord Fife.
He is IS years old-rather mature for
youthful Prncess-but 10 Europe girls ex-
pect 10 wed middle-aged men. If any mar
riage takes place it Will probably be the
Queens doing, and the alliance would lead
to the curious result that her Majesty
would have TO take her orders in political
matters from her granddaughter hus-
band, who might be seriously Influenced
by his wife. Rosebery is not an orator.
but is rd-working politician, who has
filed all sorts of important offices and has
always discharged his duty faithfully. As
Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet
in 1886 he gave general satisfaction.
The most singular anomaly in the situa-
ton is that Rosebery is a thorough paced
radical. friend of John Burns. speaker
at labor meetings and no reSpector of
crown or church, or even of the House of
Peers to which he belongs. Young no.
blemen often pretend to be radicals, ana
as Thackeray said. democracy sits pref
tily on their patriclan brow. But Rose
berry IS no boy, bursting with ardent i'm
pulses fer the betterment of the working
class. He has arrived st middle age, and
his convictions are as thoroughly settled
as they ever will be. He is satisfied that
the day of hereditary privilege is over.
and that it is only by large and liberal
concessions that the nobility and the
crown can be saved. Ii will be curious if
the British constitution Is brought into
touch with modern democracy by men,
Der of the House of Lords, who by mar
rage is also allied with the royal family.
But the thing has happened before. No
man dealt such staggering blows to the
French aristocracy as the patrician Mira
beau; no man sapped the foundations Of
the French church more effectually than
the Able Sieyes. For that matter, the
most powerful democrat that Rome ever
knew was Julius Cesar, who was the head
of one of the noblest families in the coun-
try; the mobiles had to Kill him TO prevent
his establishing democratic republic. 1t
is hardly to be supposed that the British
nobility will murder the Earl of ROsebery,
but if he lives and does not change his
opinions under the seductive influence OF
power his little finger may weigh more
heavily on the British aristOcr acy than
Gladstone's loins.