A charming reminiscence comes from Edward Brown:
“In 1927 the great man accepted the Honorary Presidency of the University College of Wales (Aberystwyth) Debates Union. The undergraduates resolved that he should be conveyed from the station to the Queen’s Hotel in a manner worthy of his greatness and of our reputation for hospitality. An old fashioned vehicle of the ‘growler’ variety was dug out from the lumber yard of an inn and some of the dust and signs of neglect were removed therefrom.
“As Secretary of Debates Union I demanded and won, the privilege of driving this state coach. Our Officers Training Corps received permission to act as escort but were refused the privilege of carrying arms. They accordingly armed themselves with hoes, rakes, spades, axes, etcetera.
“It had been arranged that the President of the Union should sit with Chesterton (‘back to the engine’) and the President of Ladies’ Hostel ... fortunately a very small lady ... with Mrs. Chesterton. But as soon as the two guests had taken their seats, the O. T. C. rushed the coach and some half dozen of them secured a seat or footing of some sort. A burly sergeant with battle axe (borrowed from the Art Department) sat beside Mrs. Chesterton facing G. K. C. My stolid steeds were replaced by forty undergraduates, and we tore through the narrow streets at a most reckless pace.”
In reply to the demand for a speech, G. K. C. stood at the top of Queen’s Hotel steps and said,
“You need never be ashamed of the athletic prowess of this College. The Pyramids, we are told, were built by slave labor. But the slaves were not expected to haul the pyramids in one piece!”
In his address that evening he commented on the ancient custom of sending a condemned man to his death in the same coach as the executioner; and described his feelings as he faced the great axe in the coach. Later he presented the “executioner” with an exquisite caricature of them both with the axe between them. The caricature now hangs in the Men’s Union.
An Honorary President of the Debate Union at Aberystwyth is always elected by the D. U. Committee (all students, save for one Lecturer). The name is submitted to the Senate for its approval. The Debate Union was formed from an amalgamation of the Literary and Debating Society and the Political Union in 1925 about a year before G. K. C.’s Presidency. Chesterton was succeeded by John Drinkwater, John van Druten, and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
G. K. C.’s speech was on “Liberty: the Last Phase,” by which he explained he meant the latest phase. Just as barons had fought against the tyranny of would-be despots, just as yeoman had fought those same barons for freedom of property and action, just as ... etc. factory-hands; electors ... so ought men today to band in a great crusade to defend the common man’s freedom of the highway, a freedom which was being denied him by the motorist. The cause was obscured by the common man’s desire to join the enemy as soon as his means permitted him to do so. Envy of our enemy inspired a desire to emulate him. His chariots were objects of admiration, instead of loathing and furious hostility ... But the fact remained that our roads, our ancient highways were being wrested from us. “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
The Senior History Lecturer and some others were of the opinion that the whole thesis of the address was a gigantic leg-pull!