Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-11-25

~ ne ana MS party
>NH were once COM
LORD RosEBERY. mitted. and now it
it is probable that there is not more
strenuous opponent to that policy to
be found in British public life.
Rosebery's renewed activity in public
life and his high station make a study
Of his character interesting and much
light upon this subject is given by the
London Mail in recent article.
Lord Rosebery, says the Mail, Is one
of the wealthiest and quite the most
brilliant of the British aristocracy. He
is a scholar Of erudition, an author Of
distinction ana the finest orator of his
day. He stands out from amid q
wealth of mediocrity In solitary and
grand distinction.
But, underlying all this scintillating
surface, there is a grim and terrible
pathos in his life-the pathos Of utter
solitude. Unseen by the crowd OF ad-
mirers who worship and envy him In \
his proud supremacy, unrecogni2ed
even by those who write and speak of
him as of a well-known friend, there
is an almost tragic loneliness in his po-
sition-not merely in his political sta
tus, but in his domestic life. He Is
probably at the present moment the
most closely observed of all public men,
the best known to the general run of
his countrymen. His circle of ac-
quaintances Is probably larger than
that Of any other person not of royal
rank. His friends are legion. Yet 1t
would be scarcely overstepping the
truth to say that he has not single
intimate-that there is not a living
creature with whom he can ever en-
tirely throw off that reserve that hides
his inner self as a garment. He is,
even in the midst Of the applauding
multitude, at reception, or at his own
dinner table, always alone. 1t is only
natural that this loneliness Of DISPOSE
tion should beget love of solitude.
1t is not far to seek for the cause Of
this pathetic seclusion. Lord Rose
bery's life, with all its glories, with
all it's achievements, has been sad
one. From his earliest days Fortune
squandered her richest gifts on him
with lavish hand. Born Of a mother
as beautiful, as fascinating as she was
intellectually brilliant-a former maid
of honor and bridesmaid to Britain's
late sovereign-heritor of proud title
and of great wealth, blessed with men,
tai gifts and aptitudes SURPRISING
those Of any man since Disraeli, and
possessed Of a sound If not robust con-
stitution, the world lay at his feet when
ho foil in 1nvo
with the wealthiest heiress of his time
Miss Hannah Rothschild, heiress to
the wealthiest and most powerful
branch of that distinguished family.
His meeting with her was as romantic
as anything ever conceived by any
novelist His carriage collided with
hers, and by extraordinary agility,
combined with no less extraordinary
presence Of mind, he sprang out and
caught her as she fell after having been
thrown upward by the force of the
impact Then he carried her, stunned,
to a neighboring house.
He devoted to her all the ardor and
passion of a great nature, and, despite
the most relentless opposition on the
part of her father, he finally succeeded
in winning her. The love that had
stood the stress of a trying courtship
lasted unimpaired during the whole of
his married life. His wife was some
thing more than wife to him. She
was his maker. She threw herself
heart and soul into his work and into
his sport. 1t was she that had made
him a politician; it was she that set
| him out on that brilliant career which
she never lived to see him consummate.
The effect on such a man of the trag-
| ically early death Of such a helpmeet
| can be understood. 1t accounts for all
his love of solitude. his preference for
quietly tending his roses at the Dur
dams, or wandering up and down the
terraces at Mentmore, to the gayety Of
a social life.
Lord Rosebery Is one of the most
restless men in the United Kingdom.
He is troubled with insomnia and he is
constantly travelling from seat to seat
in vain efforts to rid himself Of his
|