The excitement was intense, and the confusion
great. When the figures were announced, another wild scene of disorder
prevailed and there was prolonged cheering. "Ten minutes later the great
forum was empty and the excited assembly had found its way to the quiet
outside under the stars."
Monday, August 15, 1892, Mr. Gladstone repaired to Osborne on the Royal
Yacht, and became for the fourth time Prime Minister. Since 1868 he had
been the undisputed leader of his party. His main supporters in all his
reform measures were the Nonconformists, whose claim for "the absolute
religious equality of all denominations before the law of the land,"
must, in time, it was thought, bring about the disestablishment of the
Episcopal Church.
In September, 1892, Mr. Gladstone went to Sir E. Watkin's _Chalet_ on
Mount Snowdon, Wales, where he made his Boulder Stone speech. To
commemorate his visit a slab of gray Aberdeen granite was "let into the
actual brown rock," on which is the following inscription in Welsh and
in English: "September 13, 1892. Upon this rock the Right Honorable
W.E. Gladstone, M.P., when Prime Minister for the fourth time, and
eighty-three years old, addressed the people of Eryi upon justice to
Wales.
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