Welsh Journals

pressing for a Royal Commission on Secondary Education. Not one such as issued the Report on the Welsh University. But a Royal Commission which would hold its sittings in public and in various places in Wales; which would serve as much a constructive purpose as that of educating public opinion. There is a great deal of enthusiasm for education in Wales, but it is at present misdirected and ill informed. A Welsh Com- mission holding its meetings in public would do much to bring Welsh education back again to the old democratic cultural ideals which once A HOME RULE BOOK Wales: Its Politics and Economics, by Edward T. John. Cardiff The Welsh Outlook Press, 43, Penarth Road. Is. By post Is. 2d. 56 pp. Two or three months ago I was told that certain Welsh Coalition M.P.'s, among them Mr. Towyn Jones, Sir Edgar Jones, and Mr. J. Hugh Edwards, were terribly concerned about the growth of Bol- shevism in Wales, and were planning the foundation of a Welsh League to combat the baleful activities of this Russian exported heresy. I wondered when I heard this news, and am still wondering, why these gentlemen did not raise some cry that would attract to their anti- Bolshevik cause some of the enthusiasm that inspires the zealots of the heresy which they dread. I agree with them that there is a considerable danger that Bolshevism may become a power in the industrial districts of South Wales. The soil here has been well prepared, not only by a brilliant crusade led by enthusiasts, but by the utter absence of any higher appeal by the opposing forces. The one force which could oppose Bolshevism is Nationalism. Only in one district on the Russian marches is any real enthusiasm against Bolshevism apparent, and that is in Poland. Poland is a country in which nationalism has been watered by heroism and suffering, and in Poland the great industrial proletariat shews itself deaf to the appeals of International Revolution. But the lesson of Poland is lost on the Welsh Coalition M.P.'s They do nothing to educate their countrymen in the principles of Welsh Nationalism, and when the Lord Chancellor flouts these principles in the House of Lords, they take it lying down. But this is not the gravest charge that can be brought against them. Not only have they failed to organise Welsh Nationalism in Wales or to champion it at West- minster, they must share the responsibility for the exclusion from the House of Commons of the one Welshman who in 'modern times has laboured to make Welsh autonomy a living question, who has raised the one issue that might check Bolshevism in industrial Wales. If the politicians to whom I have referred had cared for Wales one-tenth as much as Czech and Polish patriots care for Bohemia and Poland, they would never have allowed a man who has trodden so loyally as Mr. E. T. John has trodden in the footsteps of Henry Richard and Tom Ellis to be excluded from the House of Commons. That, after all Mr. John's efforts for Wales, he should have been tem- porarily shut out of the House of Commons is a matter over which the future historian of Wales will one day blush. Still his enforced retire- ment from Westminster is not without compensating advantages for his country. He has been able to review the whole problem of Welsh politics alike on their administrative and economic side, and to give us a book from which every Welsh patriot may learn much, all the more, because it is the work of a man- "Who broke no promise, serv'd no private end, Who gain'd no title, and who lost no friend." Si In the main this volume consists of articles already published in the Welsh Outlook, revised and brought up to date. There are, however, some valuable additions, such as the text of the Government of Wales Bill of 1914. Generally, the volume presents the case for Welsh Self- Government in a succinct and readable form, and deserves the careful study of every Welsh literary or political society. In the opening chapter, Mr. John approaches the general subject with a breezy confidence, influenced by those high hopes which President Wilson inspired in us during the earlier part of the present year. I wonder, if to-day, he is of opinion that the treaty to which the President has set his seal, really foreshadows a future condition of international relations based mainly upon moral authority, reducing to negligible dimensions. if not altogether, armaments of whatsoever nature." inspired it. Apparently the Commission win not be appointed. When, however, the newly appointed Departmental Committee meets, we hope it will be decided to hold its meetings in Wales and to conduct its pro- ceedings in public. And, whilst apparently it has not been possible to obtain representation of those who later will have to shoulder the burdens now being created in this present time of reconstruction, we trust that at least their views will not be allowed to pass unheeded. S.H.W. No useful purpose can be served by refusing to face the fact that President Wilson has in great measure failed to realise his ideals, and that, apart from the foundation of the League of Nations, the settle- ment of Versailles is as little likely to guarantee an era of peace as the settlements embodied in the Peace of Utrecht and the Treaty of Vienna. It is true that the scheme for a League of Nations redeems the Versailles Treaty from the reproach of utter failure, and opens a possible path to a better world order. Still, even the League of Nations contem- plated in the treaty is rather a league of sovereign states than of Nations, and, unless carefully watched, may be used to crush small nationalities; while, except in the case of Germany, no serious steps have been taken for the reduction of armaments or for the prevention of tariff wars. The old world of despotism may perhaps be dead, the new world," to which Mr. John looks forward, is still struggling to be born," and the high hopes of his first chapter have not yet been realised. What are these hopes? With admirable courage he declares himself on the Irish question a pure Sinn Feiner. Ireland's claim to have a Republic can," he says no more be legitimately resisted than that of Poland or of Bohemia-the interest and claims of England being no more sacrosant than those of Germany and Austria." He goes further. Not only ought Ireland to receive independence, it is the duty of Wales to help her to secure it. It is a chivalrous proposal, and one which would doubtless have received the support of Henry Richard and of Tom Ellis in his earlier days. On the principle of self-determination, nay even on the principles underlying the Welsh disestablishment struggle, a strong case may be made out for Irish independence. Unhappily, the President has for the moment failed. Little as we may like it, an end has not been made of Imperialism, Militarism and Tariffs. It is no doubt true that in a world enjoying perpetual peace and free trade, with its international affairs amiably settled by a League of Nations, in which every nation great or small counted for one, and no nation for more than one, great empires would be anachronisms, and an Irish, Scottish or Welsh Republic would be perfectly natural, and, so far as England is concerned, perfectly harmless. Unfortunately, we are far from such a consummation. There are men among our Allies like M. Clemenceau to whom Mr. John's principles would be utterly repulsive, men whose political ideas are still fixed in the grooves of the 17th century. And were it otherwise, even supposing that Versailles had established the International order for which Mr. John yearns, what guarantee has he that the rise of a new religion in the East might not shatter his world as completely as Mahommedanism shattered the Byzantine Empire? Still, as he sees, interest and duty alike compel us to take up the Nationalist question both in Ireland and Wales. Matters being as they are, however, it is arguable that an attempt should first be made to settle the Irish question on the basis of Dominion Home Rule. The difficulties would no doubt be great. Ireland is justly incensed with England and is rightly sceptical of the professions of British politicians. Still a measure of Dominion Home Rule on the federal basis applicable to Wales and Scotland as well as to Ireland, might be offered, and I think might be accepted. Any way, it is the plain duty of Wales to throw her whole strength into this demand. To do otherwise would not only be to desert a sister Celtic nationality, to jeopardise her own claim to autonomy, it would be a be- trayal of the memory of her own dead, Henry Richard and Tom Ellis. In taking the view that Wales should demand for herself a thorough measure of self-government, our author is clearly right. The day for half measures is past, and it is idle to suppose that now that Bohemia and Poland have secured absolute independence, Welsh Nationalists will be content with less than a parliament supreme in all local affairs.