The London Welshman

Cyfeirierpob Gohebiaetlz a fwriedir l'll colofnau, The Editor" pob Hysbysiad, The Adver- tising Managera phob Archeb, The Manager," a'r oll i'r Swyddfa, 45, 46, 47, St. Martin's Lane, W. C. Bydd yn hyfrydwch gan y Golygvdd dderbyn gohebiaeihau ac erthyglau i'w hystyried, ond nis gellir ymrwymo i ddychwelyd vsgrifau gwrthod, edig. The Editor invites correspondence. All letters must be signed with the full name of the writer. and the address must also be given, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

Notes of the Week. The General Eleetion.-The election is now in full swing, and before the end of this week some dozens of constituencies will have given their verdict on the questions referred to them. On no occasion for many years has the fight been so general and so severe. The Liberals are contesting every seat with only eight or nine exceptions, and they refrain from contesting nearly all these because there are Unionist Free Traders in the field. The only Unionist candidates allowed to go unopposed as Unionists are the Speaker and the two candidates for the University of Oxford. At the time of writing from 25 to 28 constituencies are without either Balfourite or Chamberlainite candidates, though it is not improbable that Tariff Reformers may appear in some of them before the day of nomination. Nearly half of these uncontested seats are in Wales. It is very instructive to compare this state of things in the Principality with the state of things in 1892, the only elec- tion before now when religious equality was made the test question. Then the Church party did not allow a single seat to go by default. And it will be quite as interesting to watch the result. In 1892, 28 out of the 30 members for Wales were pledged to support Disestablishment, and the average majority in these 28 cases was over 2,000 votes. The Closure.-It is a thousand pities that elections could not be fought without rowdyism and the breaking up of meetings, though we are afraid that such will be the case whenever feelings run so high as they do now, and as they did in 1900. We live in a free country, and freedom of speech is our most precious heritage, and should be religiously guarded. Every candidate should be allowed to have his say, however foolish and impracticable his opinion may be. But, unfortunately, many candidates, especially of the Tariff Reform colour, fail to get a hearing at all. Mr. Chamberlain travelled from Birmingham to Derby to be howled down, and Mr. Balfour has had very rough treatment in Manchester. The position of these men ought to be enough to secure for them respect- ful hearing. But it is a case of measure for measure. Six years ago no man who opposed the war was allowed to express his sentiments, and Mr. Balfour, when the matter was brought to his notice in the House of Commons justified the hooligans. Mr. Chamberlain never said a word in rebuke of those of his adherents in Birmingham who made an attempt not only to close the mouth but on the life of Mr. Lloyd- George, and it is a salutary lesson to all who smile upon rowdyism that they themselves should have a taste of it. But it is very regret- able, and we are very pleased to find that the men who were closured by the mob six years ago emphatically condemn such retaliatory measures on the part of their followers. More Russian Visions!—Is the Russian Admiral Rojhdestvensky subject to hallucina- tions which make him irresponsible for his statements ? Or are the wild notions with which he is periodically possessed called to existence by some spirit other than Divine that moves upon the face of the waters ? Evidently he is a very queer man, one of the queerest that ever filled a responsible position. When he started on his fatal expedition into the East he transformed British fishing smacks into Japanese torpedo boats. Now that he has returned home, a defeated and a disgraced leader, he maintains that there was a British fleet awaiting within measurable distance of Tsushima with orders to annihilate him if he had the best of the encounter with Admiral Togo. Unless the man is mad this statement is inexplicable. At that time there was no alliance between Great Britain and, Japan, and our Government observed absolute neutrality. In the same statement this Russian visionary says further :hat Togo kept all his movements quite secret from the fleet that was to avenge his defeat, which knew not at what point he would give battle The whole story is a piece of silly nonsense, and fortunately our diplomatists regard it as such--otherwise it might be the cause of a very serious quarrel between the Lion and the Bear. 'Tis Twenty Years Ago."—The publication of the life of Lord Randolph Churchill, written by his son, is the most important literary event of the season, and it has revived the memory of one of the most interesting and enigmatic per- sonalities that figured in British politics during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Everything pointed at one time to his becoming Z7, the leader of the Tory party, or rather of a new Tory party moulded after an original pattern. The rapidity of his success was phenomenal. In less than six years he worked his way from being an obscure private member to be the leader of the House of Commons, and only served about six months in office before he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. "The old gang" as he called the men who had led the party for quite a generation were kicked aside to make room for him and his friends. His ideas were most ambitious, and also, for those days, most revolutionary from a Tory point of view. His audacity and brilliancy seemed invincible. But he was in too great a hurry, and his decline was more rapid than his advance. From the day he resigned office because of disagreement over a paltry sum of ^300,000 his sun slanted towards the west. The spell of his witchery was broken, and he found himself alone in the Chamber where he had ruled. The story of the last years of his life was a pitiful one, and is yet to be written in detail. But until the whole generation that watched the campaigns of the early eighties has passed away, political talk and gossip will be enlivened by many recol- n lections of the meteoric and marvellous career of Lord Randolph Churchill.

Am Gymry Llundain. Y FRWYDR.—Dyma ni ynghanol yr ymgyrch etholiadol, ac am y pythefnos nesaf ni siaredir am ddim ond am yr ymgeiswyr llwyddianus. LLUNDAIN. Disgwylir gornestau lied bybyr yn Llundain. Dechreuir ar yr ethol heddyw, a chwblheir y gwaith erbyn nos Fercher nesaf. FULHAM.—Da genym ddeall fod cadgyrch Mr. Timothy Davies yn dra addawol, ond gan fod y mwyafrif mor enfawr myn y Toriaid na chipir y sedd. Mae llu o'r Cymry yn gweithio yn galed o blaid Mr. Davies. GORNEST Y BEL.—Heddyw, ddydd Sadwrn, mae gornest y bel droed rhwng y Cymry a'r 11 Saeson. Disgwylir i wyr y Cenin gadw i fynu urddas yr Hen Wlad yn yr ymrysonfa hon etto. TORIS MEWN CAPEL.—Bu'n ffrwgwd boeth yn nghapel Shirland Road pwy noson. Yr oedd yr ymgeisydd Toriaidd wedi sicrhau'r ystafell er cynal cyfarfod o'r etholwyr, ond gan fod ymraniad yn y blaid daeth torf o'i wrth- wynebwyr yno, a llwyddasant i roddi taw ar y gwyr oeddent wedi sicrhau'r capel. Wedi hynny bu ymladd poeth yn yr ystafell a gwnaed cryn ddifrod ar y lie. MR. RICHARD ROHERTS, Y.H.—Mae'n llawen genym weled enw Mr. Richard Roberts, Canon- bury, yn cefnogi'r ymgeisydd Rhyddfrydol dros ei ranbarth. Rhyw ugain mlynedd yn ol nid oedd un gwr yn fwy ei barch a'i ddylanwad yn rhengoedd Rhyddfrydol y rhanbarth na Mr. Roberts, ond yn helynt yr Horn Riwl trodd yn Undebwr, a chollwyd y sedd i'r Toriaid o