Welsh Journals

gramme of their own which may have nothing whatever to do with any questions of foreign policy, although the latter may concern the vital issues for which they have so nobly fought and bled. Under existing conditions and without some form of devolution they will have no oppor- tunity of deciding separately on these two sets of questions in both of which they are supremely interested. To sum up, then, a real democratic control of foreign policy can only become possible after a scheme of devolu- tion has been put into operation. It is not my object to inquire at the present stage what precise functions and powers are to be assigned to the provincial assemblies, whether we are to adopt the American constitution whereby only the powers of the national government are enumerated, all others-except those specifically prohibited-being left to the separate State governments or reserved to the people, or the Canadian model, according to which the Dominion Parliament has control of all matters not expressly given to the Provincial legislatures. This country has always had a horror of written constitutions, but some form of written constitution appears now to be inevitable. The Canadian example, defining the exact status and the subject to be dealt with by the local assemblies, leaving all other questions to the Imperial Government, would seem to offer the best solution. Grave difficulties are bound to crop up in the adjustment of financial relations and these will require to be overcome. The whole machinery of local government and the functions now exercised by County Councils may also have to be over- hauled and modified, and no one will deny that in this field there is plenty of scope for reform and for a greater degree of efficiency. A still wider horizon opens before us when we come to consider the question of Imperial Federation with which some scheme of devolution is indissolubly bound- By opening the doors of the Cabinet to the Premiers of the Dominions we have entered upon a new era of inter- Imperial relationship. But while Dominion Ministers I remember a day in June- 'Twas far back among my years, For I knew not a sorrow then,- In a sky like hard, dull copper, The sun seemed to throb, Like a well of molten gold. A line of delicate bluebells skirted the road Tall, gorgeous foxglove flamed in the hedge above, And the scent of flowering beans wandered in the air, Chased by a fitful breeze. By the road stood a little chapel, Square, and bald as a barn, Squeezed into a corner of poor man's land, Between two fields of the rich; On its tiny, withered lawn, little children stood- Girls, dressed in white cotton frocks, And boys, in homespun and corduroy. They did not play. may sit, when their counsel is thought necessary, in the British Cabinet, they cannot share the responsibility of British Ministers to the home Parliament, which is a body elected to fulfil local functions as well as to supervise the interests of the British Commonwealth as a whole. The times are past when this double task can be adequately performed by any single assembly, and we cannot have a Parliament representative of the whole Commonwealth, and a Cabinet representative of all the Dominion Ministries, until there is a specialisation of function and local assemblies created which can assume the control of all purely local affairs. Last but not least, there is the progress and development of the principle of Nationality. So far all our arguments have been based upon the provision of the best constitu- tional forms for the good government of this country and the Empire. It may sound illogical to reinforce these considerations with a plea for the small nationalities who desire an opportunity of developing their own culture in their own way. Scotland, Ireland and Wales, moved by no selfish spirit, would in the words of the late Tom Ellis, work out their own destinies. Such a legislature," he said, speaking with special reference to Wales, will be the symbol and the cementer of pur unity as a nation, our instrument in working out social ideals and industrial welfare, the pledge of our heritage in the British Empire, the deliverer of our message and example to humanity, the rallying point of our nationality and fulfiller of our Hopes as a people." The period of reconstruction is the psychological moment when the small nations must come to their heritage in the true interests of the British Empire no less than in their own. The whole world is now in the melting-pot, fresh ideas and new ideals are permeating mankind. Force must make way for reason, prejudice must give way to common sense. Good government, no less that the claims of nationality, demands a policy of devolution. David Davies. IN WALES Then men and women came, rough, bearded men, With faces like autumn days after storms, And women mostly withered and worn, With patient faces and kind. They filed into the little chapel, soberly and silently, And I went in, and sat by the door. There was singing, reciting and prize-giving A white-haired shepherd, whose face was a winter's day, Had written a poem on Spring And a crippled mountaineer, with a scarred left hand, Had carved a stick and a wooden spoon. Ten boys and girls recited a poem About the Faith of a Dog, And a pale-faced man, with a cough, had worded his thoughts Of the Soul's immortality.