His sympathies were numerous , and his toleration was large .sx There is amazing attraction in a man of first-class intellect who , in loco , is quite indifferent to the intellectual equipment of the hour's companions .sx As Gibbon said of his society at Lausanne :sx " I am too modest , or too proud , to rate my own value by that of my associates ; and whatsoever may be the fame of learning and genius , experience has shown me that the cheaper commodities of politeness and good sense are of more useful currency in the commerce of life .sx " Most of us have known two or three such social philosophers , but I have never quite seen Rosebery's equal in this respect .sx Not that he ever suffered fools gladly , or endured boredom for long , for he showed remarkable skill in slipping away from uncongenial surroundings when unrestrained by shame or duty .sx Thus did Rosebery start on his voyage of municipal discovery , for discovery it certainly was .sx The London County Council came into being , overshadowed on the one hand by the majestic traditions of the Guildhall and the Mansion House , and somewhat tarnished on the other by the recent ineptitudes of London local government .sx When the full Council met , there were no established rules of order for a body of 137 , too large for committee procedure , and barely large enough to accept the discipline of a legislative assembly .sx Then some twenty committees had to be formed .sx Rosebery's absorption in the work of these was no little surprise to the Council and to some of his friends .sx Charles Fox , asked at St. Anne's Hill why he was doing some laborious and monotonous work in the garden , replied , " Because I am a very painstaking man .sx " Rosebery shared some of Charles Fox's tastes and foibles ; but he too was a very painstaking man .sx From February 13th , committees met every day , sometimes sitting for five hours on end ; and now and then two or three met consecutively .sx The notesof these consecutive days are instructive , just as he .sx jotted them down .sx Before his election he had pledged himself to a Liberal meeting in the Edinburgh Corn Exchange .sx There were 4,000 people present , and a row of Scottish M.P.'s on the platform .sx The story begins on the previous day :sx February 18th .sx - " Committee of Council Meeting at 12 till 4.30. Then to Harcourt .sx " February 19th .sx - " Left by 10 train for Scotland .sx Arrived at Edinburgh at 6.30. Crowd .sx To Royal Hotel , where H. Then with her and Lord Hamilton to meeting .sx Spoke for one hour 20 minutes .sx T. P. O'Connor spoke for 30 or 40 .sx At 10.20 left meeting for London .sx " February 20th .sx - " Arrived in London .sx Bought a horse at 9 .sx To John Morley at 11 and walked with him .sx Attended Metropolitan Board of Works Parks Committee .sx " " Gave dinner to about 20 of the Opposition leaders .sx Mr. G. fresh from Italy very well but voice husky .sx " " To Durdans by last train .sx " The next day he was back in London , attending committees in morning and afternoon .sx This was an unusual rush ; but he was always tempted to try a splendid constitution too highly .sx Possibly , but for the calamity that soon broke up his home , he might have done so with impunity for many years .sx Four-fifths of the Edinburgh speech were devoted to Ireland .sx He made excellent play with the effort of the English minority to excite Protestant opinion in Scotland against Irish Catholics :sx " You are familiar with our visitors from the South , the sort of gentleman who in the railway carriage between Berwick and Perth thinks it his duty to assume a kilt .sx I have observed that in the same way it is customary for the random Unionist who visits Scotland to assume as he passes the border the aspect and guise of a beleaguered Protestant .sx " The whole speech was full of banter , and concluded with a grave appeal for Imperial Unity .sx In London relations with the expiring Metropolitan Board were at first difficult , and it fell to Rosebery .sx ( March 20th ) to give three instances in which the County Council , still a provisional body , had been treated with neglect and contempt by their moribund predecessors .sx Consequently the emergence of the Council from its chrysalis stage could not be delayed .sx and on March 21st , meeting at the Board room of the extinct body in Spring Gardens , it fell to the Chairman to review for his colleagues the work done in their provisional stage .sx The Metropolitan Board had failed in collective courtesy , but their Chairman , Lord Magheramorne , had been most helpful .sx They them-selves had found how little they disagreed , and that they could trust each other .sx It was altogether a very cordial gathering , and of good omen .sx The Council continued to hold its weekly meetings at the Guildhall until April in the following year , when the Chamber at Spring Gardens was reconstructed , but the latter building housed most of the Committee meetings .sx In May , a salary of 2,000 a year was voted to the Deputy-Chairman , it being thought convenient to appoint a salaried officer under this name in the first instance , instead of a Clerk instituted with a permanent title .sx Mr. J. F. B. Firth , M.P. , a man of large municipal experience , was first appointed , but he died in the early autumn .sx Rosebery paid his memory the high tribute that , having given up his position as leader of a party to become the servant of the Council , he had disarmed every antagonist , and shown absolutely unrivalled capacity for the place he filled .sx The Improvements Committee was keenly active , and wished to begin the widening of the Strand by clearing the south side of Holywell Street ; Rosebery , with excellent foresight , pleaded for a large and comprehensive scheme , though trusting that preliminary plans should be lodged by the end of November .sx This would show that they were at work , and meant to take power to improve London .sx There were one or two personal disputes , some of them acrid , over loans and contracts , but the chief excitements of theautumn were connected with licences for music and dancing .sx At the first meeting at which the Council sat as Licensing Authority Rosebery , for once making a regular speech , reminded his colleagues that they were not meeting as a popular representative body for debate , but in a quasi-judicial capacity , and should endeavour , without the spirit of harmless repartee , to arrive in a spirit of dignity at a resolution on the very arduous problems to be submitted to them .sx Several bodies had wished to send deputations , but the Council would have had to spend days in the blameless and insipid occupation of receiving them .sx The appeals from the Licensing Committee were mostly granted .sx They had secured the incomparable services of Sir Charles Russell,' and Rosebery observed with pleasure how he recited music-hall songs , with the same modulation he might have used for Tennyson .sx In announcing the Council's decision Rosebery paid compliments to the Licensing Committee , who had undertaken serious exertions ( in attending music-halls ) when others were endeavouring to obtain rest and recreation else-where .sx He could see nothing to laugh at in this tribute .sx He also praised Sir Charles Russell's conduct of the principal case , and went on to speak of the standards of wit and taste that obtained at music-halls .sx If they were going to insist on a higher standard , they ought to give warning of this intention to the proprietors .sx It would not be fair first to condemn persons for maintaining the existing standard because they wished to establish a new one , thus causing injury and injustice to innocent parties .sx In the second place , he dreaded going beyond the temperature of public opinion in these matters .sx Public fastidiousness had greatly increased since Thackeray wrote about the " Coal Hole " ; and if they tried to outstrip popular progress there was risk of reaction , which would cause the very evils they were trying to eschew .sx On November 7th , at the Guildhall Statutory .sx Meeting , Rosebery was unanimously re-elected Chair-man amid a chorus of grateful praise .sx He replied congratulating the Council on its neglect of political considerations .sx His only complaints were , first , that the Government had declined to meet , by a simple Act , their distinct needs as the London Council ; secondly , that they had been badly treated financially , losing the old Coal and Wine dues of London without receiving the promised compensation to the rates ; and thirdly , that a dead set had been made against them by the public , and by the majority of the Press .sx Superior people preferred the classic quietude of their predecessors , that slow but deep stream .sx Nevertheless , in their short stormy life they had gained a great deal of esprit de corps .sx He spoke of the future County Hall that would have to be built some day ; mean-while , they would be regarded by their more splendid successors as men who in difficult circumstances endeavoured to do their best .sx For himself , he asked that his re-election might hold good only till the summer recess , not until that time next year .sx To carry on the tale of Rosebery's first connection with the County Council , Council and Committee Meetings continued congestedly till December 17th , when the Council met at noon and cleared off arrears till 7 , enabling him to catch the 8 p.m. train from King's Cross to Edinburgh for the winter holiday .sx When the Council reassembled ( January 14th , 1890 ) , there was a curious dispute over the proposed municipal welcome to Mr. H. M. Stanley , just returned from his famous expedition in search of Emin Pasha .sx Mr. John Burns did not question the traveller's ability or pluck , but he had been responsible for the death of hundreds of human beings when trying to get the 160,000 tons of ivory which Emin Pasha had gathered .sx The reverend gentleman who had suggested the welcome complained that his own Christian character was being aspersed by these comments .sx A long discussion ensued , with Rosebery refusing to admit any points of order in what one of the speakerscalled the most disagreeable discussion into which the Council had ever entered .sx The motion was finally withdrawn ; but one can picture the fires which would have blazed under a weak or excitable chairman .sx Humanity is the most intoxicating of sentiments or ganja in a controversy .sx There was much discussion ( March 14th ) over the proposed Blackwall Tunnel , a legacy from the Metropolitan Board , and it fell to Rosebery to close the debate in a closely divided session of the Council .sx He thought there was something of a pledge to East London for its construction , but had long hesitated because hundreds of acres of marshland would appreciate in value , possibly fifty-fold , and there could be no provision for betterment in the rate-payers' interests .sx If they could secure this , it would be right to wait , but he saw no prospect of a Parliamentary measure , and had come down on the side of proceeding at once .sx In the event , this course was favoured , but only by a majority of nine .sx At a later meeting ( March 25th ) the scheme again only scraped through by small majorities .sx Rosebery's unfailing attendance at Council and Committee meetings went on till July 16th , when his resignation was handed in , and the Vice-Chairman , Sir John Lubbock , said all that an accomplished speaker could say at such a moment .sx Three leading members followed , including the Deputy-Chairman .sx All of them laid special stress on his work in the Committees , besides , of course , referring to his brilliant chairmanship .sx Said one :sx " The whole work of creating committees and forming and marshalling the staff was done with the instincts of a man of business and the judgment and authority of a statesman .sx His watchfulness of the smallest detail in committee absorbed his time to an extent hardly appreciated .sx " Another declared that a few months ago the Chairman had found them a mere collection , so to say , of atoms , and it had been his labour of love to weld those atoms together , apart from opinions , into one harmonious .sx whole , and to convert them into a machine of no mean working order .sx The Deputy-Chairman dwelt on Rosebery's willingness to give help and guidance to individual members , and on his ubiquity in and out of the Committee rooms , and his power of instantly taking up the questions there under consideration .sx