The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-17
ROSEBERY is PROSY
FORMER LIBERAL LEADER GIVEN
A GREAT RECEPTION AT
CHESTERFIELD
LAME IN PROPOSING REMEDIES

CHESTERFIELD, Eng, Dec. 16.-Lord
Rosebery, the former Liberal premier.
was accorded great reception when hs
appeared here this evening. He said
that he had come by invitation and did
not wish to indulge in phraseology, but
to speak his mind and offer the Liberals
some dispassionate advice. The Liberal
party, he continued, had passed through
a long and trying illness, but was now
approaching convaleScence, one of the
signs of which was that 1t had gotten rid
of the Irish alliance. The Liberal party
must now regain unity, though he would
not advise just how this should be done.
That the speech was a finished ora
torical effort was amply testified by the
frequent applause with which the speak,
er was interrupted. But 1t Is doubtful,
when he had finished, If his most ad-
miring listener could have given any JUS
LITIGATION for his enthusiasm, save that it
was Lord Rosebery.
Resolved into its elements the speech
merely said: Get together"
The speaker himself conf essed that he
did not pretend to say how this cohesion
should be accomplished. In urging his
fellow Liberals to reorganize, Lord Rose
berry quoted the following words from the
messe ge of President Roosevelt:
I'VE hope to keep going by slow steps,
not by bounds. We must keep our eyes
on the stars, but We must also remember
that our feet are or the ground"
Following was the tenor of the former
premier's speech:
Says Ministry Was Wrong.
The ministry was wrong, but the Lib
erals should be very careful how they
tried to set 1t right.
Turning from the immediate outbreak
of the war. Lord Rosebery touched upon
education in which, he said. Great Brit
ain was woefully behind her sister ma
lions. He maintained discreet vague
ness on the question of his personal in
clinations concerning the leadership OF
the Liberal party. He said that he could
not imagine himself in the position of
minister. But in the next breath he told
how he would reorganize the war office
if 1t fell to his lot. He said this reor-
ganization, however, should be post
poned until after the war. The speak
er's receipt for the proposed reorganiza-
ton of this Office was a characteristical-
ly American one, namely, the appoint
ment of a commission.
Concerning the governments conduct
of the war, Lord Rosebery was severe
and scornful. The complaint of the gov
o-.cinent that the Beers had not made
Dir according to the recognized rules
reminded him that the same thing had
been said by the old Austrian generals
of the young Napoleon when the latter
was beating them. He was particularly
sarcastic at the expense Of the explana-
ton Of the Earl of Salisbury, the lord
chancellor, that only a sort of warfare"
was now going on, and he strongly con-
demned what he termed the scandalous
Misrepresentation by which the govern
ment had precipitated the last general
election.
Lord Rosebery heavily blamed the gov
eminent for. its tactlessness, which he
declared had produced unparalleled Ill
will towards Great Britain in every Eu-
ropean population, and which he attrib-
uted largely to what he called the provo
cative oratory of Mr.. Chamberlain, thu
colonial secretary.
Beers Not Banditti.
No sane Boer now hoped for anything
but annexation, he said, and for many
reasons 1t was urgent that the war
should be ended. The Beers should not
be unnecessarily Inundated. The Iormer
premier protested alphabetically against
treating the Beers In the field as BAN
ditti To Beers swearing allegiance, he
said, he would give the largest possible
amnesty and the fullest civil rights. Tho
10000 prisoners must be resettled in Soucn
Africa and harsh treatment of the Beers
would be Ike applying sparks to gunpow-
der.
Scornfully rejecting the idea that such
an empire as Britain could not provide an
alternative government to the existing
ministry, Lord Rosebery said that in All
his life. from all the bitterest foes OF
Great Britain, he never had heard such
disparagement of her as that doctrine
implied. If that were true. he continued.
the nation was more fitted tn control
cabbage garden than an empire.