Welsh Journals

George III under the Tories, who inherited Whig tradition on this point, towards Wales and all things Welsh, because of the part that Wales had played in the Civil Wars. But, even if the Welsh parliamentary repre- sentatives had not been heirs to Tudor ideas of uniformity; even if there had been no increasing Whig hostility towards Wales, the proportional insignificande of the Welsh representation in Parliament -better than none at all, no doubt, and fairly adequate in view of comparative popu- lations-was, is, and, on the basis of numbers, must always be, entirely inadequate to give ex- pression to Welsh feeling and Welsh needs. I don't know whether I am quite right, but I am certainly not far wrong, when I say that under the vastly improved political conditions inaugurated by the Tudors, right down to 1860, there was not a single measure introduced into Parliament or conceded by it, which dealt with a single special need of Wales. The only measure I can recall in those years, which specifically dealt with a Welsh subject, was the abolition of the Welsh judicature with its seat at Ludlow, a very doubtful benefit, indeed, to Wales, and one dictated purely in the interests of a theoretical uniformity. There was no political oppression of Wales in those days. As I have said, political oppression ended on Bosworth Field: but something else took its place, a complete apathy in regard to Wales, an ignoring of its separate existence, amounting, at times, to an irrational irritability MIS IONAWR MIS IONA WR-myglyd dyffryn, m Blin trulIiad, treiglad clerddyn; Cul bran, anaml llais gwenyn; Gwag buches, diwres odyn; Cynnwy march, distaw aderyn; Hir ei blygain, byr brynhawnyn. Gwir a ddywed Cynfelyn­ Goreu cannwyll pwyll i ddyn. on the subject, which has lasted even till to-day. We know, only too well, the instinctive, un- reasoning, not-to-be-argued-with, in some ways contemptuous, opposition to any mention of the fact that Wales has some special needs of her own, and often a different way of looking at a thing. What was the result? Wales in political life, down to 1860, was a wash-out. Its representa- tives, who did not represent it, were, invariably identified, simply and solely, with one or other of the political parties in England, who cared not one straw for any special needs of Wales; and, at any rate, from the Restoration to 1860, I can recall no politician of Welsh origin who made the slightest mark upon the course of history. I do not count Robert Owen a politician; he was concerned not directly with the work of government so much as with social changes. The effect of the Tudor policy, well-conceived and of immense value to Wales in many ways, ended in Wales being politically moribund for nearly three centuries. From 1860 on there was a great change. Wales sprang for a time into real political activity and importance, and achieved some- thing. But the flood tide of achievement has ebbed away, and we are becoming politically moribund again, for the simple reason that we have not succeeded in shaking ourselves free from the shackles of the political party system. The course of politics from 1860 on we must, however, leave for another article. "ENGLYNION Y MISOEDD" JANUARY JANUARv-smoke-filled the valley, Wearv the butler. on his rounds the minstrel; Lean is the crow, rare the voice of bees; Empty the milking-shed, cold the kiln; Spirited is the horse, silent the bird; Longsome the dawning, short the afternoon. It is true what Cynfelyn saith- Man's best candle is reason.