The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
Lord Rosebery's Estimate Of Lord RAN
doIph ChurchiI.

Ne hing that has appeared in print about
Lord Randolph Churchill-not even the
voluminous life Of him by his n is so
satisfactory as the small book OF 200 pages
in which Lord Rosebery has recorded his
personal impressions OF him (Harpers).
The author OF this sketch knew Churchill
as a contemporary, and, as he reminds US,
the knowledge possessed by a oontem-
porary is essentially different from that
possessed by a son. Lord Rosebery suR-
gests that Mr.. Winston ChurchiII's memoir
OF his father is not a complete disclosure.
For example, IL does not eradicate. he
thinks, the impression that the relations
between Lord Randolph and the Irish
Nationalist party up to June, 1885, were in
the nature Of a close understanding little
short Of an alliance. From the fact that no
document directly or indirectly referring
to the subject has been preserved" Mr..
Winston Churchill has drawn the inference
that nothing approaching an alliance can
have existed. Lord Rosebery says that a
suspicious man of the world would per-
haps draw from the very circumstance
adduced a directly opposite conclusion.
Neither Parnsll nor Lore. Randolph was
likely to commit his negce ations to writ
ing; political negotiations rarely or never
are so recorded. Lord Rosebery himself
holds that there can be no question in anv
impartial mind tina there was a valid
though unwritten understanding with the
Irish leader of which many In high position
among the Tories may have been uncon-
scious and Of which Lord Randolph was
the medium and the channel. Lord Rose
berry, indeed, Is convinced tina Churchill
in 1885 was prepared to concede almost
all Irish demands except that which il
popularity and sentimentally known as
home rule. On that issue, however.
he was immovable. The author Of this
sketch never heard him use but one kind of
language with regard to it-namely. that IL
was impossible. He never varied from the
opinion expressed in a private letter that
"to put home rule into a bill was an abso-
lutte impossibility. You might as we'll try
to square the circle"
What will be Lord Randolph Churchilps
place In history? Probably nobody is better
able to foreshadow the verdict of the future
han is Lord Rosebery. He
thinks that the nearest parallel in British
parliamentary annals to Randolph Churchill
may be found in Charles Townshend. who.
like him, was a young politician; like him.
for a space, the darling Of the House of
Commons; like him, Chancellor Of the En-
chequer for a tenure to be countad nv
months. Both were sparkling, wayvard
and incalculable. Both summarizes wer..
for their hour, to use Burke's phrase. LORDS
OF the ascendant. Both had to a~cknovIedSa
the overshadowing presence Of a mishtier
figure-Townshendin Chatham and churchill
in Gladstone. Both ended young. Towns-
bend died Chancellor OF the Exchaoua-
at a.; Churchill's official life terminated
at 81. Lord ROsebery deems It scaroelv
worth while TO pursue the analogy further
Everything we read Of Townshend tends "a
the conviction that he was a poor creature
with a brilliant brain. Randolph Churchill
had a brilliant brain, but nobody will ever
call him a poor creature. T~ownshend left
a sinister memory in the loss Of the Amer-
lean colonies. Churchill, on the contrary.
was the Instrumental adding Burma TO
the Empire.
Putting Townshend aside and endeavor-
ing TO guess what will be Churchiu's his
torical position. the author Of this estimats
comedies hat he cannot all a Iarge na1a
for he left behind him no great measure ON
the statute book. He did not found a
school or inaugurate a policy. for Tory
democracy lie now seldom mentioned. an
cept in mournful accents. OF Psrbansn-
tary reputation, on the other hand, Churchill
Is pronounced assured. We are reminded