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Liberal Premier's Great Speech.…

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Liberal Premier's Great Speech. i new Government was on the 21st inst., launched upon its career by a great Liberal j d-emonstna,tion held in the Albett, Hall. Al- though that place of meeting is the largest in the Metropolis, it was by no means ade- quate to satisfy the extra ordi nary demands of the occasion. The audience numbered about 9,000, but applications for tickets had been received from nearly ten times that number. It was considered fitting that the first dec- laration by the Premier as to the policy f his Ministry should be made in the Capital, and the arrangements were therefore entrusted to the London Liberal Federation. That body did not however, confine its facilities to the Metropolitan area, for the home counties as well as London were invaded. The tickets of admission, for which no charge was made, were distributed through the local Liberal Associations, whose officials found the task of them a most difficult one. The only tickets issued by the Central Federation were those admitting members of Parliament and can- didartes to reserved seats upon the platform or to special boxes on the grand tier. Owing to the unique importance of the occa sion, public interest in the proceedings was not limited either to the Liberalism of the tooality, or even to the membership of one political party, and this fact induced an un- usually large representation of the Press of the entire Kingdom. The doors were not supposed to be opened until .seven o'clock but long before that hour the vast area resounded with echoes of a. rehearsal by the organist and choir of a musical programme prescribed to beguile the preliminary interval of waiting. The leaders even of this portion of the pro- ceedings had appropriately enough a political character, the organ being played by Mr i JUlIes Bert nam, Liberal candidate for North Herts, whilst Mr A. Waldemar Lawrence, Liberal candidate for the Strand, vigourously led the singing of a. number of political airs set to familiar dhoruses. Eight o'clock was the time fixed for the meeting to begin, but considerably before th.it time the huge hall was crqwded in every part by an audience who heartily joined in the popular airs to various songs, one entitled 1 "No more Joe," another beginning with the words, "Stamp, stamp, stamp upon Protect- ion." and a third beginning, "D'ye ken Bob Peel ?" The intervals between the musical selec- tions were filled up with interest to the aud- ience in watching the arrival of well-known political personages upon the platform. One of the first members of the Cabinet to arrive was the venerable Marquis of Ripon, who was TeOOived with a special cheer. Fresh out- bursts of enthusiasm greeted other Cabinet Ministers as they came separately upon the scene, especially in the case of Mr John Burns and still more in that of the Prime Minister 'himself, Sir H. Campbell Bannerman, in whose honour the whole upstanding assem- blage sang, "He's a jolly good Fellow." Mr W H. Dickenson, president of the London Liberal Federation, occupied the chair. The following members of the Cabinet were present:—Sir Robert Reid, the Lord Chan- cellor; Earl of Crewe, Lord President of the Council; The Marquis of Ripon, Lord Privy Seal; Mr Herbert Gladstone, Home Secretary the Earl of Elgin, Colonial Secretary Mr R. B. Haldane, War Secretary; Mr John Morley, Indian Secretary Lord Tweedmon th, l'irst Lord of the Admiralty; Mr John Burns, President of the Local Government Board; Earl Oarrington, President of the Board of Agriculture; Mr A. Birrel, K.C., President of the Board of Education Mr Sidney Buxton, Post-master General; Mr John Bryce, Chief Secretary for Ireland. Otiher members of the Ministry present included t-heo Earl of Aberdeen; Mr Lewis Harcourt, Mr R. McKenna, Lord Justice Walker, Mr G. Wihiiteley, Lord E. Fitzmurioe Mr. H. Samuel, Mr Winston Churchill, Mr T. Lough, Mr R. K. Caust,on, Mr E. Robertson, Mr T. R. Buchanan, Sir J. Lawson Walton, Sir W. S. Robson, Mr T. Shaw, Mr J. A. Pease. Among others present were Earls Grant-i-d and Denrnan, Lord Brassey, Lord Davey, Mr F. A. Channing, M.P., Sir K. Digby, Mr A. E. Emmott, M.P., Sir W. Bram ton Gordon, Bart., M.P., Sir W. H. Holland, M.P., Sir H. Kitson, M.P., Sir H. Lawsom, M.P., Mr J. Fletcher Moulton, K.C, M.P., Lord Monkswell, Dr Macnamara, M.P., Mr. R. W. Perks, M.P.. Mr Richard Cavendish, M.P., and Mr J. H. Dalziel, M.P. The Chairman said he wished as chairman of the London Liberal Federation and on be- half of the Liberals of London to express to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman their appre- cia.tion at his decision to make his first speech to a meeting of workers of Liberalism in Lon- don. (Cheers). They had every confidence in the Prime Minister, and therefore they must give him security of tenure. He hoped thait in, a few weeks there would be ushered in not only a New Year but a new era of poli- tical righteousness and practical r form. (Loud dheers). THE PREMIER'S SPEECH. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who was Sgain greeted with loud and prolonged cheers on rising, saidMr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,—We are met to-night as Liberals in a position which we 'have not occu- pied for ten years. The Unionist Government is gone.(Cheers). It has executed what we may oaill a moonlight flitting. (Laughter). It has run away, not in the broad day of the Session, not even in the twilight of October, but in the murky midnight of December. (renewed laughter). They have gone! They bad long ago lost. as they knew well. the con- fidence of the country (cheery. They still possessed in a feeble and uncet trun way a hoM on the confidence of the House of Com- mons, but last of all, the worst of all, they lost confidence in themselves, rvnd they are gone! (cheers). We were told-tolld empha- rtically and abundantly—that the method of their going would be a. masterpiece of practi- cal skill (laughter). "Tactics," "tactics!" Ladies and gentlemen, the country is tired of their "tactics" (cheers). It hnd Wn better for them if they had less-of tactics and more of reality, but they have lived for some years on nothing but tactics. Now they have died of tactics (laughter and cheers). Two characteristics are outstanding above all others in the last Administration-first of all the,ir "cleverness," which was not always clever, and secondly an exhaustive fund of self-approbation (laughter). Of this last quality they were possessed of so much that they even now have some left for their obitu- ary notices, and you will observe that each of them is going about giving himself and his colleagues the most marvellous testimonials (laughter). They even carried self-esteem so far that they convinced themselves that they were the only people in this kingdom AMO could form a Government, and that if any- one else tried the effort any Cabinet that could be got together would be at once dis- tasteful to the country and destitute of strength and of unity. You see here where the wonderful "tactics" come In. That was the design that lurked in the December resig nation, and it has all come to naught (cheers) A GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN FORMED (cheers) amid the respect of our opponents which I gratefully acknowledge, and amid the confidence and satisfaction of our friends (cheers). What lesson then are we to draw— for let us be taught by the conduct of our enemies—what lesson are we to draw from their discomfiture? Surely this: to avoid those evil practices of boastfulness and over- cleverness which has brought them to ruin (cheers). We have a hew Government and shall shortly have I hope, a new and strength- ened and rejuvenated Parliamentary party (dheers). It rests with you largely to furnisih ns with that, but this is not the moment of our triumph, it is the moment of our trial (hear, hear). We are not ending our battle, we are arming for it. and I hope you will not think me too sober and too serious in my esti- mate of the necessities of the situation when I remind you of two old maxims always wise and singularly applicable to this situation. "Let him that standeth take heed le..9t lie fall," and "Let not him that putteth on his armour boast himself ias he taketfh it off" (cheers). In this surprising resignation, which took place in the most inconvenient period that could have been rihosen in the Whole year-,incoilvenient for Parliament and for the country as well-t,here was a two-fold purpose. In the first place, they hoped bv resigning in this way to place us in a danger- dus predicament (hear, hear). In the next place they hoped to evade the day of reckon- ang for all their past administration, and they hoped also to evade, so far as we can judge from what has happened, to EVADE THE GREAT ISSUE fphieh they themselves had placed before the country. The first of these purposes we bare surmounted (hear, hear). We are in no predicament, and this meeting shows it, øhoors). As to the second, it is for us not to allow them to escape from the responsibility for the past action and the judgment of the country, both on their fiscal policy and on their conduct of affairs (hear, hear). Their fiscal policy, what is it—cheers—and where is it? (more cheers). After three years of turmoil, in which the work of Parliament has been paralysed, in which the thoughts of the nation have been almost concentrated upon this one problem, lias echoed and re-echoed. from one end to the other of the laiid--after all this we have the late head of the overu- mene of tariff reorm hurrying into opposition in order to minimise and belittle as well as he can the issue which was to stand in the fore- front of his programme and to hide it away behind some other issue (hear, hear). But, ladies and gentlemen, he is making a mistake (hear, hear). It is not for him or for anyone like him to fix the issue at a General Election especially so important an issue as he had al- ready been a party to raising. Mr Balfour seems to think he can arrange the issues at a General Election somewhat as a holiday trip- per going into a. railway station and reading the advertisements may exercise a choice be- tween Ramsgate and Margate for his destina- tion (laughter). The issue, sir, is fixed- (hear, hear, aiiitl c,lieei-,)-and is fixed by cir- cumstances largely of his own creation, and, as to their conduct of affairs, we will take care that neither resignation nor dissolution, nor anything else, will prevent the people of this country from pronouncing judgment upon it (cheers). In any oa-se OUR DECISION TO ACCEPT OFFICE was not arrived at by any nice calculation of of advantage and disadvantage. We faced a plain duty—(cheeirs)—which lay before us. We did not shrink from taking up the bur- den which others had laid down, and the decisive consideration was tihat the country should have at the earliest opportunity—and there should be no delay in any way, no faint-he:artedlleffi on our part, or any regard for our own party interests—the opportunity of pronouncing upon the whole conduct of the late Government. Xow the catastrophe has occured. A Liberal Government is in power (a laugh). If one had any doubt—and for my part I protest I never had any doubt as to the wisdom of our taking office-I think it would be dispelled by certain reassuring cir- cumstances. In the first place there has been no shudder through the Chancellories of Europe—a laugh-as Mr Balfour kindly anti- cipated. Sir Edward Grey tells me (cheers) that foreign Ambassadors came to see him just as if nothing had happened (laughter). Again, Consuls, instead of tumbling down. as they ought to have done, have actually risen (hear, hear, and cheers). In the third place, Mr Brodrick, who ought to know all about these matters, cannot he labouring un- der any apprehension as to the effectiveness of the military defences of the Empire, be- cause this is what he said the other day, "TIle Army requires a. judicious review of past efforts rather than fresh schemes, and he be- lieved that a period of rest from doubts as to their prospects would be of great advantage to officers and men." Let me add that. the doubts of which lie speaks can only have come from the operations of himself and of his colleagues. Last of all, we. have THE LATE PREMIER. His stratagem halving completely succeeded, and the trap being pulled, he continues con- fidently after his resignation, as 'he was lie- fore it, that the General Election will leave llis friends ina woeful minority (hear, hear). Now, Mr Chairman. I see it anticipated, and you have rather lent yourself to the antici- pation, that I am going to make some new pronouncement, to-night. There is no new pronouncement to make. There is no room for it, and there is no occasion for it. At this point a woman in the upper gallery rose and repeatedly shouted, "What about women's votes?" Her interruption was greeted with cries of "Shut up," "Sid down," and "Order." The general programme of policy comes at a General Election, and the particular pro- gramme of work to be done comes at the beginning of the Parliamentary Session, and this is neither the one nor the other; and be- sides our policy is well known ('hear, hear), known even to those who feign to be ignorant of it and curious about it. After the greater part of 20 years of Tory rule great allowance must be made for a Liberal Government com- ing into power (hear, hear). We have the house to set. in order (cheers). We have dilapidations to repair, and that will take time. But we are not destitute of an active policy of legislation and administration. We have nothing we care to conceal and nothing that we evade. Let me briefly take a survey of the field, and I begin with our own posses- sions abroad What has been going on of quite recent days in India? It has been a pretty unbroken rule, a wise rule, that we assuredly will not be the first to break, to keep qusetions of the internal administration of India outside the area of party politics (hear, hear). So far as questions of the day are concerned I expect that it will not be your friend and mine, Mr John Morley (cheers) in whom the doings of the late Government will find their most eloquent and energetic and inspiring critic. No, it will be one of the most distinguished and power- ful members of their own party, I mean LORD CURZON. One of the problems arising from the system of military administration in India has raised an angry controversy in which a Prime Minis- ter, a Secretary of State, a Viceroy, and a Commander-in-Chief have each taken their part, and which has been marked by a vehe- mence of altercation and recrimmination that would be unedifying anywhere, but is more than unedifying where the stage of such a scene is the great dominion of India. Talk of Liberalism! I know nothing, I can ima- gine nothing less like a sense of our imperial responsibilities than the spectacle of this con- trovery so rashly raised, so tactlessly handled so recklessly published. You may be sure that it will be our aim to restore that spirit of caution and vigorous common-sense which has been the boast of British rule in India. xou may also be sure that we shall make our- selves party to no steps that involve any in- vasion of the sacred principle—for it is a principle recognised by each party through- out the lcimgdom-fhe sacred principle of the subordination of the military to the civil authority (loud cheers). Now I turn to the Colonies. It is surely unnecessary for us to make public protestation of our affection for the Colonies (hear, hear), our desire to bring them closer and closer to ourselves, and I wouild say thus that the relations 'between the Colonies and the mother country have never been settled on the lines of party poli- tics. But if it were so, that they had been so fixed, and were to be so conducted, surely the democratic and progressive interests and institutions of those great communities would have found more affinity among us than them, but I have heard with relief and plea- sure from Lord Elgin that he finds no trace of that tendency to disruption of which we were told but a few months ago-no sign of ten- sion or friction. Everything is smooth, save one ruffled spot—South Africa. In South Africa the difficulties and complications are as you know, great. I have no general state- ment to make to you, for we have not had time adequately to examine them, but one conclusion the Government has. arrived at and it is this, to stop forthwith, as far as it is practicable, the recruitment and embarka- t,i on of COOLIES IN CHINA. (loud and enthusiastic cheering, the audience rising and waving hats and handkerchiefs), rM^0rn^'Inen^ ar'd embarkation of coolies Tf a their importation into South and instructions Shavo boon tjivc'ii to t,hat effect (great cheering). Sir, [ pass from Colonial affairs to Foreign affairs. A few mvinfaS°, ll}- 1 referred to our -V\th for€iSn Powers, and I th^al™ .u w^h approval and pleasure wiselv°«r^i m*? Lord Lansdowne tion m>' admira- all ranks ant? all' my c°"»trymen of preat nation I Pa""tw>s •entertained for that great nation. And I am glad to sSy that mv sentiment expressed m opposition is morl than confirmed in office, and I wish empha- tically to reaffirm my adhesion to the policy of the entente cordIale. Even more import- ant than any actual amicable instrument is the real friendship developed between the two people, and one of the objects of our policy will be to maintain that .spirit unimpaired for the reason to which I have referred. I alluded very briefly to the great trial through which Russia is now passing. All I will say now and all I said then is this—we have noth- ing but good feelings towards that great people (hear, ],111.) IN THE CASE OF GERMANY also (cheers). I see no cause whatever of c&tu angoment in amy of the interests of either

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Liberal Premier's Great Speech.…