The multitude sang Cymric hymns and 'The Land of My Fathers.'"
December 29, 1892, Mr. Gladstone celebrated his eighty-third birthday.
Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone were at Biarritz. Congratulatory telegrams and
messages were received in great numbers, besides many handsome presents.
The event was celebrated all over England. The Midlothian Liberals sent
congratulations upon the return of the Liberal Party to power under his
leadership, and the completion of his sixty years' service in the House.
Resolutions were passed deploring the wickedness of the dynamite outrage
at Dublin, December 24, and yet avowing the justice of granting to
Ireland the right to manage her own affairs.
January 31, 1893, Parliament was opened. In the House of Commons there
was a brilliant gathering, and nearly all the members were present, many
of them standing. Just before noon the Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel,
Speaker, took his seat, and Archdeacon Farrar, Chaplain, offered prayer.
When Mr. Gladstone entered from behind the Speaker's chair, every
Liberal and Irish Nationalist stood up and greeted him with prolonged
and enthusiastic cheers; and when he took the oath as Prime Minister,
he received another ovation. The members were then summoned to the House
of Lords to hear the Queen's speech, which was read by the Lord High
Chancellor, Baron Herschall.
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