Mr. Gladstone has been ascending Snowdon as the guest of
Sir E. Watkin, to whom the mountain now belongs, and en route delivered on Monday and Tuesday two little speeches to applauding crowds. Their drift was to compliment Wales for returning twenty-eight Glaclstonians out of thirty, to reward that devotion by approving the Welsh desire for Disestablish- ment and lower rents, and to warn Welshmen that they must first get Ireland out of the way by conceding Home- rule. They must combine the virtues of "ceaseless energy and reasonable patience." He told them to quicken their sym- pathies for Ireland by reading the history of Wales, and so understanding in what condition their country was kept until the accession of the Tudor House, which, he implied, abolished her oppressions ; but which, we may remark, did not grant Home- rule. He sweetened his speech by lavish and repeated praises of Welsh music, which, by itself, he said, proved that Wales had a separate nationality,—a remark we commend to the Scotch Highlanders. They also must make a nation, for have they not the bagpipes, which used so to delight Charles Keene We have said enough of the speeches elsewhere, but must add here that the journey yielded one uncomfortable omen. Mr. Gladstone, though he displayed both "a ceaseless energy "and "a reasonable patience," failed to ascend Snowdon. The mountain be had set himself to climb was too much wrapped in mist
