Welsh Journals

WALES. Vol. Ill] AUGUST, 1896. [No. 28. A RED LETTER DAY. HE twenty-sixth of June, 1896, will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most important in Welsh annals. It was a day which saw per¬ fect unity of Welsh purpose. On no previous day, possibly, had there been such unity within our country of mountain boundaries and river limits, of parties and sects formed by superabundant but untrained intellectual activitj7. This happy day crowned the efforts of those who, in their most sanguine moments, never dreamed of the brilliant success upon which it smiled. It commenced, let us hope, a period of greater intellectual activity, of more enlightened and better guided service, of that devotion to mankind which is the result of the highest patriotism. To Lord Rendel, first of all, as the President of the University College of Wales, is due the splendid success which characterised this occasion of the greatest national importance. Of all the services that the genial and generous nobleman has done to Wales, his efforts to make this crowning day worthy of so great an occasion do not form the least. Then comes the assiduous and energetic work of Dr. Isambard Owen, — the Senior Deputy Chancellor, — whose services to the University, rendered with unfailing good-natured courtesy, must have recently taken up the whole time of even a man who knows how to do the greatest amount of work in the shortest possible time. The Vice-Chancellor, also, performed his 22 difficult duties with the perfect grace be¬ seeming the most important day that the University will, perhaps, ever see; his clear voice gave his Latin the sonorous majesty which it deserved in the creation of the first graduates of the University of Wales,—the Princess of Wales, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Herschel, and Lord Spencer. To these three men, — Lord Rendel, Dr. Isambard Owen, and Principal Viriamu Jones, — especially, the perfect success of the day must have come as a triumph. "The stars in their courses," said the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, "seem to be fighting for you to-day." The towns of Aberystwyth and Machynlleth did their share in ensuring the success of the installation day. Like Machynlleth, Aberystwyth was very prettily decorated ; and Great Dark Gate Street,—possibly the finest street in Wales, —looked quite glorious. It would be unkind to criticise while writing one's im¬ pressions of such a day,—but, must bunting and Venetian masts adorn, and often dis¬ figure, places graced by visits of royalty ? In Germany, the flags of the various districts of the Fatherland, with their pleasing variety of design and colour, adorn the streets on such occasions. But in Wales, whether the Prince of Wales comes to Bangor or to Aberystwyth or to Cardiff, he sees the very same bits of bunting. The lions of Llywelyn, Owen Glendower's golden dragon on a green ground, the devices of the County Councils,—would these not be welcome additions as a break in the monotony of bunting ? Many asked why Cardigan county and Aberystwyth town were so prominent in connection with what was a purely Uni¬ versity day, a day that was not more 337