Source 8F

Recent by-elections prove that the country is sick and tired of Mr Balfour’s baton-and-bayonet rule in Ireland, and of his desperate attempts to repress by martial law legitimate aspirations of a generous nation. I come before you as a firm believer in and admirer of Mr Gladstone’s noble alternative of Justice to Ireland. Whilst fully recognizing that the wrongs of Ireland must of necessity have the first claim upon the attention of the Liberal party, I am deeply impressed with the fact that Wales has wants and inspirations of her own which have too long been ignored, but which must no longer be neglected. First and foremost amongst these stands the cause of Religious Liberty and Equality in Wales. If returned to Parliament by you, it shall be my earnest endeavour to labour for the triumph of this great cause. I believe in a liberal extension of the principle of Decentralization. There are also such questions as ‘One Man One Vote’, Graduated Taxation, ‘A Free Breakfast Table’, and many another much-needed Reform; but what availeth it even to enumerate them while there is a Tory Government in power?

(From Lloyd George’s election address, Caernarfon Boroughs by-election, April 1890 in H. du Parcq, Life of David Lloyd George, vol. I, London, 1912, pp. 95, 96 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] )