ABSTRACT
The journalist A.G. Gardiner's astringent assessment in 1908 concluded that Rosebery lacked 'character', and invoked the observation of his tutor at Eton that he desired 'the palm without the dust'. Rosebery was born into landed affluence and grew considerably wealthier, first on becoming fifth Earl of Rosebery in 1868, and then on his marriage to Hannah Rothschild, heir to the family fortune, in 1878. By the beginning of 1894 it looked likely that Gladstone, having had his second Irish Home Rule Bill thrown out by the Lords, would resign as prime minister. More to the point was the ominous tone set from start regarding Rosebery's premiership, and in particular his relationship with his Chancellor, Harcourt, in the Commons. The deceptive chorus of acclaim for his oratory emboldened Rosebery to establish the Liberal League early in 1902, but the ending of the South African War in May of that year rapidly marginalized it as vehicle for change in the Liberal party.
