Mr. Gladstone on Saturday last assisted at the opening of
the new line across the Wirral Peninsula, which not only shortens the journey between North Wales and Lancashire, but opens up a country hitherto untouched by the railways. At the inevitable luncheon Mr. Gladstone treated the guests of the company to some pleasant talk about railway extension. Railways began by radiating from London, but since then the need for good cross-transport had grown up, and was being provided for. " I remember," said Mr. Gladstone, " how, as a little boy, I used to stroll upon the sands of the Mersey now occupied for the most part by the Liverpool docks, and look across the Mersey on the Hundred of Wirral and upon the Welsh hills beyond, just as an Englishman standing on the cliffs of Dover now looks across to France." In point of fact, added Mr. Gladstone, that was a feeble illustra- tion, because France is now far nearer the Englishman at Dover than ever Cheshire or North Wales was to the in- habitants of Lancashire seventy years ago. This passage has delighted the country, as do all Mr. Gladstone's reminiscences of his childhood. The public love a living link with former generations, and they also delight in the thought of a man in whom meet the Englishman's two loves,—one for the past and the other for progress.
Previous page
