We have remarked elsewhere upon the speech delivered by Mr.
Gladstone at Mold as President of the Eisteddfod. It was one of his less happy speeches, where he appears as scholar rather than statesman, and allows the sympathies of the moment to carry him away. His theory that the quickest way to kill a language is to let it alone is altogether questionable ; and he forgot entirely that the Welsh do not want to kill their tongue, but to preserve it, which under his regime of respect he evidently believes they will not be able to do. He made an odd remark, too, upon Unions, saying that Wales could not be torn away from England though there was no Act of Union. Certainly not, any more than there is with Northumberland, which was not in England at the Conquest, but does Mr. Gladstone really think conquest or legislative action the better guarantee of friendship ? Wales conquered is friendly, but Scotland joined to us by Act is much more so, while Ireland, both conquered and joined by legislation, is not friendly at all. All this theorising would be interesting, and even valuable, if it came from a literary Member of Parliament; but we do not like to see a Premier playing, how- ever gently, with the foundation-stones of the Empire. There is no official " Wales," any more than an official "Eastern England."
