19 MAY 1894, Page 3

The four Welsh Members who have thought it right to

-desert the Government on the ground that Welsh D;sestab- lishment has not been given that important position in the procedure of the Session which they had been promised that it should receive, attended a meeting of Mr. Lloyd-George's -constituents at Bangor on Wednesday, and defended the -course they had taken. Mr. Lloyd-George spoke first, Mr. Frank Edwards next, then Mr. Herbert Lewis, and lastly, Mr. D. A. Thomas. Mr. D. A. Thomas appears to have been the mildest of the four, for he said that they were only hostile to the Government to this extent, that they did not intend to help them to break their pledges to Wales, and that he did -not think independence incompatible with friendliness ; while Mr. Herbert Lewis's tone was very threatening, and showed a -keen jealousy of the predominance of Scotchmen in the Cabinet. The meeting cheered the recalcitrants cordially, voted down an amendment intended to direct Mr. Lloyd-George not to break with the Government, and a vote of confidence in the action of the four Members was carried by an overwhelming majority. Little Wales is, as it appears, not only " gallant " but aggressive. Aggressiveness paid the Irish party well ander Mr. Parnell. Why should it not pay the Welsh party well under Mr. Lloyd. George ? The centrifugal forces affect- ing every distinct section of the community have been fright- fully stimulated by Mr. Gladstone's conversion to Home-rule. All the fragments of the nation are now seeking to fly off in -opposite directions.