ON TUESDAY a gathering of the Welsh nation comparable only with the assembly which greeted the Prince of Wales on his investiture at Carnarvon acclaimed the Bishop of St Asaph as Archbishop of Wales. The ceremony was in truth an historic one, for it marked the end of a long and bitter quarrel; an end in which neither party can claim victory but, in the Prime Minister’s words, each can see appeasement. Thus such implacable foes as the Bishop of St Davids and Mr Lloyd George were each able to rejoice in the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the Welsh Church and nation. The photographs we have seen show the new Archbishop to great advantage. Alone of the prelates assisting at the ceremony Dr Edwards was vested in cope and mitre. The rest elected to attend either in their walking-out dress or Convocation habit.
That we are able to offer an account of the enthronement of the Archbishop of Wales must be set down to our credit rather than to that of the authorities responsible for the arrangements at St Asaph. For the Church Press was ignored. We realize, of course, that the seating accommodation in St Asaph Cathedral is small, but, small as it was, there was room, we gather, for persons who cannot even be accounted Churchmen. But lack of accommodation, even so, would seem rather to offer a reason for ensuring that the tens of thousands of ardent Churchmen unable to attend should have as full and accurate an account of the proceedings as possible. The withholding of all information respecting the arrangements is the odder when contrasted with the liberality with which we in this office have been kept supplied with news of the financial needs of the Welsh Church and the manner in which it was hoped to induce English Churchmen to help meet them.
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