Welsh Journals

It was only on such specific occasions that he introduced politics into his sermons, all his other published sermons being free from any reference to political questions either at home or abroad. Most of the sermons he preached on the American war were not published, but those that appeared were very eagerly read. In one of them he replies to those who, Price pointed out had already on another occasion supported the very views about civil liberty which were condemned in Price's writings. Replies to Price's views were numerous. It would be very interesting to give, did space allow, some sample quotations from them. One of them actually fell back upon the divine right theory which Filmer had tried to give new life to, but which the English Revolution which Price and others were fond of commemorating, had put an end to for ever. But it was not opposition alone that he received, though so far as publica- tions were concerned very many more were against him than for him. The most signal mark of approval he received was the Freedom of the City of London, an honour of which he was very proud. London was then, as it is now, the chief city in the world, and its public appeal not only comforted Price, but helped materially the cause he was defending. Age, and the continued illness of his wife, were the reasons for Price's refusal of a flattering request that he should make his home with those whom he had so well befriended, and, as its honoured citizen, assist in making the financial arrangements of the new Republic of the United States of America. One more event towards the close of Price's life shook the foundations of the old order. Two years before his death, the French Revolution burst upon the world. He was well-informed of the situation both before and after the actual outbreak, and so was in a good position to under- stand the real meaning of the whole revolutionary movement. Whatever he would have said of the grim aspect which the movement was soon des- tined to take, but which he did not live to see, he made no secret of, or apology for, the fervent welcome he extended to the first news when it reached England. It was to him that the friends of France in this country, and especially in Lon- don, looked for a pronouncement upon it. None was more qualified to give it, none whose words The Education of the Adolescent.* By Olive A. Wheeler, M.Sc. (Wales), D.Sc. (London). THE early post-war enthusiasm for the League of Nations has passed away. Cynics, like Birkenhead, now openly rail against the venture as a phantastic dream, based on a false conception of human nature. Even ideal- would be more eagerly listened to or read. He preached a sermon, under the auspices of a society established to commemorate the English Revolu- tion, and delivered an Address at a Dinner held by the same company on the same day. The sermon, "On the love of our country," was pub- lished and aroused the vituperative anger of Burke who replied with his well-known "Re- flections on the French Revolution," a work which contained the philosophy of Toryism with a deal of fierce hatred and anger, expressed in well-phrased and high-sounding sentences. Such was the answer of Toryism seeing red, to one whose work in the cause of the people had by then made him one of the best-known men in both Europe and America. Price's Address reached France and was received there with great enthu- siasm. The admiration of the French for Price and his work was almost boundless. He attended several other gatherings inspired by sympathy with the Revolution. It was just when the glory of the great event so prophetically regarded by him as the dawn of a new era was passing under the cloud of happenings grim and stern that Price ceased to be a witness of it. He died on April 19th, 1791, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, London, where so many Dissenting stal- warts rest. His passing was marked by univer- sal sorrow and wide-spread mourning. Price's life was a very full one. What has been said in this article cannot possibly give an adequate idea of his manifold interests nor of the status he had in the world in which he turned. He was a man of very exceptional talents. For profound skill in mathematical calculations, which have necessarily been only scantily touched upon here, he had perhaps no equal in the kingdom. And he always employed his skill generously to promote the benefit and the happiness of the whole community. On the subjects nearest his heart he wrote and spoke with manifest zeal, and some- times with the energy of a Brutus, for he had the eye to see around him despotism swaying an iron sceptre over almost the whole earth, and the ear to hear the cry of misery arising from the oppressed, and a heart to feel deeply their woes and sufferings. He numbered amongst his friends some of the greatest men of the age, and the honours he received-D. D., LL.D., F.R.S.- were but a small tribute to his rare and outstand- ing worth. ists begin to doubt the efficacy of the organisation which they set up in their first enthusiasm. They begin to see that the mere machinery has no magic power to improve international relationships; for any scheme may defeat the very purpose for which it was conceived, if it is not administered in the spirit which gave it birth. There is, indeed, no short cut to the improve- ment of human relationships in any department of life. All real advances depend ultimately *The substance of an address given at the Welsh School of Social Service.