New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-10-11
Literary WesUs and Criticism

Osiieo by Queen Victoria to be Mr.. c;,adsto,o.s
successor as Liberal Prime Minister. he has
Deen ai'ernateiy free lance like Lord Ran
80 sAse IA 'he lonely furrow; ana nov
that his party is strongly intre,cbaa =.
ne mas strayed from camp and in his aIoorness
from current politics is something ~ a ,ros
thinker. With firm conviction tb., =. -.
belong anywhere and is equally r.,s,I.a -. 49,,
parties. AS Liberal InpertaI,r, =. -. -
IN sympathy with the narrower views o- I9,.t,.b
pohcy at home and abroad which ara oso,,oa
py working class England; and certainly he &c
strenuous opponent OF Irish Home Rule with
separate legislature, TO which the nresa,t GOV,
ernment Is preparing TO make q close annroacb
II the Liberal Ministry repels him q, ,,o,,
points. although his former colleagues o-a a., g.
the Unionist party does not attract him. for he
is an incorporating Free Trader. a con-
ternptuous critic OF hollow articles IN education
IKE MI Balfours act, and an advanced thinker
=" many oe'ais OF radical policy. If his primary
political faith has lost its grip upon him he does
NOT know Of any change OF base that Is worth
making So there he is-a voice crying IN the
wilderness without knowing what n ANTS
refugee from both camps because he cannot he
orlnooox IN any party sense. He leaves his
readers iree TO take up the parable and to con-
oernn MIN with fine irony as a DISTINGUISHED
nature as he does Lord Randolph Churchill
VINO had ideas and incompatible gifts OF leader
snip yet could not overcome his political in
compatibility. Judicious observers will prefer
10 wait few years before accepting the
analogy. They perceive already that Lord Rose
perry IN retirement is force in reserve, and
that while he remains in isolation the govern
ment OF the day will continue to fear his crfti-
cism and viii hesitate before revtving Glad
Home Rnla
Win the fact that he IS a philosopher, who does
not take either serious or a melancholy view
or his detachment from current politics Lord
hanoolph's later life may have been tragedy,
because he knew that he was dying and was
the chief mourner az his own protracted ~
neral" Lord Rosebery is not even a tragic
comedian He enjoys his liberty and his leisure
and has both HIS books and his bright thoughts
10 console him
Lord Rosebery without doubt IS thoroughly
sincere when he contends that brilliant men are
inevitably the victims of the double party sys-
TEN because they cannot control "the machine"
and are ultimately crushed by It. He probably
has In mind his own relations with official LIB
erelism and the independent action Of the Lib
eral League when he asserts that the machine
Is now so perfectly developed that no individual
however gifted. can fight against it. Peel twice
and Disraeh once did succeed IN antagoniztng
the party organization effectively, but one fell
after the passage of his bill and the other was
too wary 10 repeat the experiment These at
tempts were made when "the machine" was not
In It's present state Of efficiency. Lord Randolph
Churchill was more popular in 1885 than either
Peel or Disraeli ever was. but his prestige was
not according TO Lord Rosebery, q sufficient
base for revolution in policy, or for march
ing the Tory party 10 Liberalism" The
party system in short was behind the failure
Of the impetuous leader OF Tory Democracy;
and II restricts and often paralyzes the activ-
tiles OF the most accomplished men IN public
Ire. Before this conclusion is accepted as a
hnalty one needs 70 recall Mr.. Gladstone's re-
Elections in HIS old age on the Peel movement
ana other third party causes, and the philo-
sophicsl gravity with which he contended that
the double party system was Indispensable ana
that whatever interfered with its normal onere
ton was Ill timed and likely to do more harm
than good. Lord Rosebery has not yet reached
a point where he can separate himself. as Mr
Gladstone was able TO do. from his political past
He writes about his friend and current politics
brilliantly and thoughtfully but unconsciouslv
he finds 81 every turn resembIances or contrasts
10 his own career. and converts what was de-
signed TO be book review into "a rerniniscence
and study" OF himself; and a most interesting
one l. INF.