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THE LIBERAL IMPERIALISTS: THE IDEAS AND POLITICS OF A POST- GLADSTONIAN elite. By H. C. G. Matthew. Oxford University Press, 1973. Pp. 331. £ 5.50. The Liberal Imperialists have been more abused than studied. Indignant Liberals, considering Imperialism to be no part of the Liberal creed, have decried them as illegitimate offspring. Imperialists, on the other hand, have felt little need of support from those who would qualify their Imperialism with the word Liberal. Dr. Matthew's interesting book is the first to treat them in a serious and scholarly fashion. The Liberal Imperialists, at least the elite who form this study, were, for the most part, young men who came into parliamentary politics during the Home Rule crisis. They saw their party in an unhappy and divided state under a leader, Gladstone, whom they respected but did not revere. They felt that if they, and it, were to have a future, the party would have to find a new creed and a new leader, for Gladstone could not go on for ever. Whether they believed-as the blurb claims-that the question before the party was whether it could 'regain its position as the natural party of British government' is another matter. The essential members of the group were Haldane, Asquith, Grey, Acland and Munro-Ferguson, with a number of outriders occasionally coming into the inner circle. Asquith, Grey and Acland all had Balliol connexions but too much should not be made of them. Asquith and Grey had different social backgrounds, academic achievements and personal interests, though this did not prevent a lifelong political association. Haldane and Grey were personally close, but were very different charac- ters. Henry Hartly Fowler was a Wesleyan solicitor from Wolverhampton, and Munro-Ferguson was a Scottish soldier-laird. Sociologically, there- fore, the Liberal Imperialist elite were a mixed bunch. They needed a leader and a policy, but could never make up their minds which was the more important. It did not take long, however, for their hero to emerge. Brilliant, exasperating, in turn incisive and vacillating, daring and endearing, Rosebery was their man. The fiasco of his govern- ment, in which some of them had a taste of power, did not shake this conviction. The next decade, however, saw them lose hope. Rosebery, described by A. G. Gardiner as 'the Flying Dutchman of politics', seemed indeed a phantom vessel floating about on the wide seas without anchor and without a port. It is not, perhaps, surprising that Grey and Haldane bolted for the Campbell-Bannerman harbour where Asquith was ready to welcome them ashore. That decade, however, amidst the turmoil of the Boer War, had seen anxious moments for the Liberal Party. The Imperialists could never quite decide whether to push the party to breaking point. The outline of these conflicts is well known. Dr. Matthew fills in the details, particularly in his chapter on the Liberal League. His general verdict on their performance is not flattering but not unjust. The second, and lengthier, part of the book discusses 'ideas and policies'. With all their faults, the Liberal Imperialists were trying to find