o his lordship at a
great meeting held in the Guildhall, presided over by the Lord Mayor, Sir
William Macarthur, in April, in 1881. The committee of the Ragged School
Union took the initiative to do honour to their president.

As a newspaper man in Cardiff and a comparative stranger to the town I
had a somewhat unscrupulous opponent, the editor of the local organ, _The
Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian_. He was a very unscrupulous man,
apparently all smiles and friendship, but I never could trust him. Nor
was I surprised to learn that when he became secretary of the Cardiff
Savings Bank there was a very serious defalcation in the funds. The man
always seemed to me utterly untrustworthy, but his civil manners
apparently won him many friends. As editor of a Liberal newspaper I had
to fight the battle under very great disadvantages. It was no easy thing
to run a newspaper then. The taxes on knowledge were a great impediment.
On every paper a penny stamp had to be paid, and the advertisement duty
was eighteenpence on every advertisement. The repeal of these taxes was
a great boon for the local papers; and then there was a tax on paper,
which was an additional obstacle. As to telegraphs, they were unheard
of; and it was to the London dailies that we had to trust for foreign
news. One of the most important events when I was at Cardiff was the
opening of the South Wales Railway as far as Swansea. The first train
was driven by Mr. Brunel, the eminent engineer, accompanied by a
distinguished party of directors and local magnates. I joined the train
at Cardiff. At Swansea the event was celebrated in grand style. All the
population seemed to me to have turned out to witness the arrival of the
train. There were flags and decorations everywhere, and later on a grand
banquet, at which I was privileged to assist so far as eating and
drinking and cheering the speakers went. And thus my reminiscences
close. I cannot look back on my career at Cardiff with unmixed
satisfaction. I was by no means the steady old party I have since
become. It is not always easy to put an old head upon young shoulders,
but at any rate in my small way I did something for the advent of that
brighter and better day which has dawned not only upon Cardiff but on all
the land.

In this connection I may naturally add a few particulars of worthy
Welshmen I have known. The Scotchman who prayed that the Lord would give
them a good conceit of themselves,