New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-01

spening session Of the University OF
Wales was celebrated here to-day
rhis evening the principal speaker was
Vyhitelaw Reid, the American Ambas-
,ador. He was frequently applauded
IN the course Of his address. Mr.. Reid
rho took for his subject Zone Welsh
man." said;
] must begin by expressing my warm
appreciation Of this welcome as WEI"
as Of the high honor you have con-
ferred in summoning me to this Oldest
of Welsh universities, TO follow the
long line Of eminent scholars ana pun"
,Ic,sts who have dignifed these aca-
aennic occasions by their service. How
ever unworthy your present speaker
NAV feel himself for place in that
line, he has imagined that at any rate
he might be thought to show respect
for this large and select audience anu
for the dignity Of the occasion by al
effort TO estimate a great transatlantic
representative Of your own blood anu
10 recall 10 your minds some details Ill
his career.
COMPARISONS are rarely agreeable ana
often delusive. The general outlines
of the career referred TO have oeeh la
miliar to you and to all the worio Io'
a century. Since you are not known
70 have assigned TO this man the ram
nesida the famous Welshmen who nave
illuminated your long and brilliant 90
mestic history which we should nave
Thought deserved. it may be because
Won know your history far better thah
we do or because you have not rated
n,s achievements so high as we 90
You observe do not allow for eNas
peration in our own estimate'-We rare
" do, But I do not think nave peeH
under any temptation to eXaggera'e
his merits, and I certainly am not pima
TO his faults.
Founder of a Political Party
He was the founder and lifelong
,eadsr of q political party l profoundly
distrusted. and in my small way nave
spent my life in opposing. In spite VI
a., am about 10 venture on rash
and fear ungracious task. am 60
ing 70 bespeak your friendly Afternoon
en- few reasons for thinking that some
york ~ this transatlantic oHshoot Oh
.he Welsh stock does almost as much
honor 10 the Welsh land ana race a'
that Of any Of your great sons 'hro"sn
out you- history. I am even oolu
enough TO think he has made the "o''D
Rte debtor as much as did LleWelyh'
ebIest and most successful OF all "eiSn
nr,nces. or as much as that famous
ruler and rebel, owen Glendo"er' WIN
Ave hundred years ago held MS 'oui'
near this town.
The peaceful laurels Of your Ameri-
ran Welshman may last even longer
than those bestowed by your gra'elul
country on Griffith ap Rhys, for VIC
tories over Norman and Flemish
troops. We cannot pretend to claim
for him the eulogy earned later by the
pew Griffith Jones. rector OF Llano-
dowror-that nearly one-third OF the
,,boIA population Of his state had neen
Taught to read in his schools. ANA Se'
oven in fields akin TO that he do TWO
.nines that I we'll know insure welsh
respect As a young legislator he sue
chsded against the ruling and fashion
able classes) in making the slaVe-Iraoe
unlawful in his state; and as weary
old man after having climbed to the
very ton Of the ladder of his nation
greatness. having spent forty years III
continuous public service, under ma
RAISING responsibilities. having shaken
the world. changed its geography and
largely remoufded It's government ne
gave hts declining years to the organ-
zation Of a state university; ana as
his diving wish asked that that shoulo
he ore of the three acts Of his life SIM
clad out for record on hts tombstone!
= NV observations have not led me 10
think Wales particularly backward
T, any more than my own country IN APP
FORMULATING and raising to at least their
trpe level the high records If her sons
when they are dead and gone Yet
IN the recitals Of great things done by
the Welsh blood I have not often seen
this mans work credited TO the on To
spring of the gallant little principally
sim II was exactly in the field that be-
longs peculiarly to this land Of noun
tains and Of liberty:
"or did sat Freedom on the heights,
The thunders breaking at her feet;
An 1ye her shook the starry lights,
She heard the torrents meet
Possibly Welsh writer's may have
been restrained by the doubt limited by
the man himself as TO his actual line
age, He began his autobiography by
saving that II was a tradition IN his
fathers family that his ancestor came
from Wales and from the mountain Of
snowdon. But the stress Of politics
as we shall see, had thrown him Into
an ultra democratic pose as - any an
cestors at all. The pose became more
necessary to his politics because OF the
hatred engendered in that aristocratic,
cavalier colony by his early success in
certain radical and levelling measures;
and il was made more real ny his own
copeciousness that after all he had