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 Rye, October 10th, 1903.

coming before such a gathering as this, a gathering representing a party to which I have hitherto been politically opposed, you will, I trust, permit me to say a few words more or less of a personal character, explaining the reason why I find it necessary to change my political allegiance.

My political faith was inspired by Lord Rosebery. Having had unrivalled opportunities of seeing the various parts of the British Empire, I set out on my political career with the determination to do what in me lay to promote the unity of that great empire. Lord Rosebery's speeches in the eighties did much to prepare the way for the work which Mr. Chamberlain has been able to do in the nineties. Ever since the retirement of Mr. Gladstone, whose leadership was unquestioned, the Liberal Party has been torn by divisions. One section, that led by Sir William Harcourt, by Mr. Morley, and later by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, has always been looking to the past. They have been repelled by the growth of the Empire, dismayed at the growth of our Imperial responsibilities, and attributed the neglect of social and domestic reform to what is described by that somewhat vague word, 168