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CHAPTER III.
GOVERNMENT COMMISSION OF 1846 — BISHOP THIRLWALL — "SUNDAY" SCHOOLS
AND STATISTICS OF LANGUAGE TAUGHT — CONDITION OF DAY SCHOOLS IN ENGLISH AND
IN WELSH-WALES — INEFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS — WELSH LANGUAGE GENERALLY EXCLUDED
— PARENTS — TRUSTEES AND MANAGERS — MONMOUTHSHIRE — DELINQUENCY OF EMPLOYERS
OF LABOUR — LEWIS EDWARDS, OF BALA — IEUAN GWYNEDD — SIR T. PHILLIPS —
DEFECTIVE MORALS.
In 1846 the Government undertook to direct an enquiry into the state of
Education in the Principality of Wales, especially into the means afforded to
the labouring classes of an acquiring a knowledge of the English language.
The terms of the enquiry called forth the following able criticism from the
acute and learned Bishop Thirlwall of David's, well known in English literary
circles as the author of one of the Standard Histories of Greece. He acquired
sufficient knowledge of the Welsh language to be able to preach in it, and
was the only Bishop who had the courage to vote for the Disestablishment of
the Irish Church. He says in 1848: —
" I think it is to be regretted that, according to the terms in which
the object of the enquiry was originally described, it was directed to be
made, not simply into 'the state of education in the principality of Wales,'
but 'especially into the means afforded to the labouring classes of acquiring
the knowledge of the EngUsh language.' I think this addition was unnecessary,
because the investigation of this point must have formed a main part of a
full enquiry into the state of education in Wales; while the putting it thus
prominently forward was attended with two unhappy effects: one is, that it
lent a handle to those who wish to represent the Commission as an engine
framed for the purpose, among others equally injurious, of depriving the
people of Wales of their ancient language. The other is, that it tended to
suggest
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[CHAP. III. WALES AND HER LANGUAGE. 49
or confirm an exaggerated conception of the efficacy of schools,
in producing a change in the language of the country. This I
regard as one of the most pernicious errors that beset the subject;
and I am afraid that it prevails very extensively among persons
who have great influence over the management of schools. It
might have been thought, that a very little observation and
reflection must be sufficient to convince every one that a school,
however well conducted, must, of itself, be almost utterly powerless
for such an object, where a language taught in it for a few hours
in the day is one which the children never think in nor use at any
other time. It ought, I think, to be evident, that a general
change in the colloquial language of the country is only to be
expected from the operation of very different causes; though the
school learning may, in conjunction with them, contribute to
promote it. But the persuasion of its adequacy for the purpose is
not simply a theoretical error, but one which, so far as it prevails,
tends most seriously to obstruct the progress of good education.
For, under this impression, the managers of schools prohibit, not
only the learning of the Welsh letters, and the reading of Welsh
books, but all use of the language in school hours."
Now I wish my readers, though I fear some of those I desire to reach will
fight shy of this volume, from the very beginning, would just give due weight
to these words, — "one of the most pernicious errors;" "tends
most seriously to obstruct the progress of good education." Are they the
words of an hot-headed Eisteddfodwr, or of a man of one sided culture, on
whose opinions the successors of the broken down schoolmasters of 1846, look
down with indifference from their superior vantage ground of 1891. No, they
came from the "Esgob call Tyddewi," who has left his mark in
English literature, not a Welshman, but an Englishman, who deserved to be
listened to because he knew what he was talking about, which could not be
averred in the case of nine out of ten utterances on the subject by
representative persons.
Gr
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50 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [chap. III.
The names of the Commissioners were R. R. W. Lingen, M.A., Jelinger C.
Symons, and Henry Vaughan Johnson, each of whom furnished the Lords of the
Committee of Council on Education with a report on the district,* undertaken
by them individually. These reports contain valuable information, and will
doubtless, be again and again referred to by future historians of Wales, We
must, however, bear in mind, that they were drawn up by men to whom Wales was
a foreign country, and who were obliged to accept much evidence at
second-hand without using such discrimination as would have laid in their
power, had the sphere of their labours been in London; we must also bear in
mind that their reports shew very little evidence, that they were, in the
first place, any way adequately acquainted with the social, moral, and
intellectual state of the labouring class in England. * If they had been, I
think, they would have received the facts presented to them in Wales, with a
judgment tempered by a wider range of experience. It is true they were not
called upon to give a judgment, so much as to collect and classify evidence,
which they did in a laborious and, in some respects, admirable manner;
nevertheless, the inferences drawn from the facts were not, on the whole,
adequately representative of the reality.
The reports evoked forth quite a storm in Wales; the whole incident was
called "Bred y Llyfrau Gkision."f Sir Thomas Phillips, a Welsh speaking
Welshman — the Mayor of Newport who withstood the Chartists in 1839, appeared
in the lists as the Champion of Wales, and shewed clearly that on the score
of morality, instead of Wales being, as might have
* E. W. Lingen took Carmarthen, Pembroke and Glamorgan. J. C. Symons
—Cardigan, Brecknock, Radnor, and part of Monmouth. H. V. Johnson- North
Wales. + "The Treason of the Blue Books."
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CHAP. III. J HER LANGUAGE. 51
been gathered from the Commissioners' report, utterly in the shade, side by
side with England— though they did not say so in so many words — so far as
statistics of illegitimacy are indications, six out of nine Enghsh districts,
including Yorkshire and the Northern Counties, were worse than Wales; and,
moreover, that the worst county in Wales in this respect Radnorshire is
almost entirely AngUcized in speech; Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire being
the next, neither of which are thoroughly Welsh counties.
Many of the Commissioners' remarks on the extremely inefficient and defective
means of intellectual and moral training would, doubtless, have applied to
some parts of England as well as to Wales. Even Wm. Howitt, the son of a man
of property, "went to a dame school, and then to one kept by a merry
little man, the baker of the village. This schoolmaster was wont to come
whistling out of his hot bakehouse to hear his pupils read, and to set them
their copies in the intervals of setting his bread."*
Events move rapidly in our days: the railway and the telegraph, and almost an
universal system of schools under efficient, trained teachers and inspectors,
are now taken as matters of course, and we almost forget how near we are
still living to the time when the machinery of education was on an altogether
different basis, when these and other developments of civilization were still
in their infancy.
Since the publication of this Report, in 1848, a new generation has had some
time to grow up, and now mainly occupies the scene of action. To many of them
it will appear almost incredible, that Wales was what it was at that time;
they will, however, bear in mind that the description of the country, given
by the Commissioners, does not illustrate an all-round
* See Records of a Quaker Family. London: Harris & Co., 1889, p. 181.
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52
WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
view, but rather some aspects of it, as presented to the minds of persons who
had apparently the disadvantage of no previous common bond of sympathy or
association with the people they went to visit.
J. C. Simons and R. W. Lingen, in particular, naturally looked to the
Established Church, and its dignitaries, to perform the office of Virgil,
when he conducted Dante into purgatory, and the last mentioned Commissioner
was provided with powder and shot in the shape of introductions to the Lords
Lieutenant and the Bishops of his district. The former (J. C. S.) had letters
of introduction from the Bishop of Hereford, and a circular letter from
Connop ThirlwaU, Bishop of "St." David's.
Although, as will be seen, education has put on a new face since the time of
the Commissioners, I propose to take up some pages of this book, with extracts
from the reports, which will, I believe, not be altogether unwelcome to many
who may not readily be able to refer to the originals, and which are
necessary to my purpose of endeavouring to present materials for an
historical manual of Welsh Education in its relation to the language. The
pages refer to the 8vo. edition.
In the Government instructions issued to the Commissioners, they were
reminded of the fact that "numerous Sunday schools have been established
in Wales, and their character and tendencies should not be overlooked in an
attempt to estimate the provision for the instruction of the poor." The
Reports, accordingly, contain a mass of statistics of these schools, which
would be out of place for me to attempt to reproduce here. I will however, include
some of them bearing on the question of language, besides various remarks
made by the Commissioners, or other persons which appear worthy of attention.
For convenience sake the extracts will be grouped together
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 53
under separate headings, one of which will refer to those called Sunday
schools, and others to day schools in English speaking parts of Wales, others
to the Teachers, the condition of the school houses, School Patrons and
Managers, character of the teaching, Welsh language and literature, and
General Remarks.
FIRST DAY (SUNDAY) SCHOOL.
A prominent feature in the Report was a full amount of detail of the schools
on the first day of the week, known as Sunday Schools. Here, the Welsh
language, excluded from the day schools, found, and does still find, a place
— and an important place; but the real fact remains, that in consequence,
much secular instruction was given in the way of teaching reading in that
language: and this did not escape the notice of Commissioner Symons, who
uttered a protest which has been repeated by some of the friends of Wales of
late years.
I cannot close these remarks on Sunday-schools without venturing to express
my disapproval of the practice, common alike to Church and Dissenting
schools, of allowing young children to learn and read in them. This is surely
a perversion of the object and spirit of the institution. I have frequently
seen persons occupied in teaching little children to speU and pronounce small
words, not only engrossing their time with the drudgery of elementary
instruction, but disturbing the rest of the scholars. Schools thus conducted
cease to be seminaries of relio-ious knowledge and sink into week-day schools
of the lowest class. It is a fallacy to say that no secular instruction is
given in Welsh Sunday-schools: this is secular instruction, and of the most
profitless and least spiritual kind. (Symons, p. 285.)
The Commissioner objects to the burden of teaching reading, in these schools,
which afforded the only opportunities for the mass of the population to learn
to read their mother
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54 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
tongue, and yet he objects to the more preferable way of teaching it in the
day schools. If reading had not been taught there, what could have been
taught except viva voce? He embodies in his report, without comment, the
testimony of John Saunders (Independent preacher), that these schools
supplied much of the deficiency of the day schools.
This was an evil then, and it is an evil now: the proper place for secular
instruction is the day school — not a gathering professedly for religious
purposes. Is it not surprising that the leaders of the people have not long
ago given due weight to the considerations which occasioned the above quoted
remarks?
What is the remedy? Plainly, nothing else than to teach Welsh children at the
day schools to read Welsh in all districts where there is a considerable
proportion of them attending Welsh classes and Welsh preaching on the first
day of the week.
Henry V. Johnson, the North Wales Commissioner, gives some very apposite remarks
on the educational effect of these schools; and although it would not be true
to say that the resources of the language in every other branch, except
theology, are meagre, the character of the demand for current Welsh
literature is very considerably modified by the fact that the terms used in
many books of a secular character are too unfamihar to make them popular. He
says —
The language cultivated in the Sunday schools is Welsh; the subjects of
instruction are exclusively religious: consequently the religious vocabulary
of the Welsh language has been enlarged, strengthened, and rendered capable
o£ expressing every shade of idea, and the great mass of the poorer classes
have been trained from their childhood to its use. * * They have enriched the
theological vocabulary, and made the peasantry expert in handling that branch
of the Welsh language, but its resources in every
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 55
other branch remain obsolete and meagre, and eyen of these the people are
left in ignorance, (p. 519.)
What wonder that its resources in other branches remained obsolete, when no
further means of cultivating it were afforded.
The following two paragraphs illustrate Lingen's attitude to these schools: —
They gratify that gregarious sociability which animates the Welsh towards
each other. * * The Welsh working-man rouses himself for them. Sunday is to
him more than a day of bodily rest and devotion. It is his best chance, all
the week through, of showing himself in his own character He marks his sense
of it by a suit of clothes regarded with a feeling hardly less sabbatical
than the day itself. I do not remember to have seen an adult in rags in a
single Sunday school throughout the poorest districts. They always seemed to
me better dressed on Sundays than the same class in England. (Lingen, pp. 5
and 6.)
Most singular is the character which has been developed by this theological
bent of minds isolated from nearly all sources, direct or indirect, of
secular information. Poetic and enthusiastic warmth of rehgious feeling,
careful attendance upon religious services, zealous interest in religious
knowledge, the comparative absence of crime, are found side by side with the
most unreasoning prejudices or impulses, an utter want of method in thinking
and acting, and (what is far worse) with a wide-spread disregard of
temperance whenever there are the means of excess, of chastity, of veracity,
and of fair deaUng. (do., p. 9.)
If this isolation from secular information is so prejudicial, why be so
jubilant (as will be seen further on) that there should be no secular
institution for a distinctively Welsh education, which might pave the way for
a wider scope of mental ideas.
A 1st day (Sunday) school teacher in the Welsh part of Caio hundred,
Carmarthenshire, sent the learned Commissioner
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56
WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. III.]
a letter, from which the following, verbatim et literatim, is
extracted: —
I am very please to take little trouble to answer your letter about the
Sunday Schools, in hope that your Searching about the Daily and Sunday
Schools, will come to good consequence to the Welsh Nation.
Our Creator make many of them a People of Strong Abilities, and a possessors
of various talents, but because their ignorance Spend their time in poverty
to get their living in Slavery as a pig and his snout in the ground they got
no advantage to make use of their abiUties in defect of learning and
knowledge. But Some of the young people are under good education, the Children
of the Noblemen and Gentlemen farmers but the greater part of them in Towns:
and in the countrys one here and one there. The major part of the welchmen,
not knoweth in what quarter of the world they live? this thing I think is
very true.
In the time ago riseth up some Excellent people in Philosophy and Theology
among the welch Nation as one of the *welch Poet say's about one of them,
called The Eeverend Mr. Rowlands Llangaetho,
Talentau ddeg f e roddwyd iddo
Pe'i marchnattodd hwy yn iawn Ae* o'r deg fe'i gwnaeth hwy'n gannoedd Cyn
maihludo 'i haul brydnhawn.
I hope that you'll not be angry with me, because I have on my mind to desire
on you, Sir, to give me a httle presant, that is, the Map of the land of
Canaan, (do., pp. 185 and 186.)
At Llanelly, in connection with the Capel Als School (Independent), some of
the parents objected to their children "being taught Welsh on
Sundays." This objection would now be scarcely so likely to occur.
* William Williams, Pantycelyn. The stanza is given as printed, but I am
inclined to think that the errors in the Welsh spelling were due to the
compositor or the transcriber.
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[chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 57
The following observation is undoubtedly just: —
[Grilead School, wholly Welsh]. Eeadiness and propriety of expression, to an
extent more than merely colloquial, is certainly a feature in the
intellectual character of the Welsh. (Lingen, p. 136.)
J. C. Symons says of the Dissenting schools, that the routine is admirable,
and of the "Church Sunday Schools," they want life. The whole
system is spiritless and monotonous and repulsive instead of attractive to
children;" and in the way of general remarks —
I have heard very curious and recondite inquiries directed to solve even
pre-Adamite mysteries in these schools. The Welsh are very prone to mystical
and pseudo-metaphysical discussion, especially in Cardiganshire. The great
doctrines and moral precepts of the Grospel are, I think, too little taught
in Sunday Schools. They are more prone to dive into abstract and fruitless
questions upon minute incidents, as well as debatable doctrines, — as for
example, who the angel was that appeared to Balaam, than to illustrate and
enforce moral duties or explain the parables. (Symons, p. 285.)
Somewhat contrasting with the remarks of Lingen on such schools are those of
the third Commissioner, H. V. Johnson, he says: —
As the influence of the Welsh Sunday school decreases, the moral degradation
of the inhabitants is more apparent. This is observable on approaching the
English border. * «> *
The humble position and attainments of the individuals engaged in the
establishment and support of Welsh Sunday schools enhances the value of this
spontaneous effort for education; and however imperfect the results, it is
impossible not to admire the vast number of schools which they have
estabhshed, the frequency of the attendance, the number, energy, and devotion
of the teachers, the regularity and decorum of the proceedings, and the
striking and permanent effects which they have produced upon society, (p.
519.)
H
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58 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [OHAP. HI.
It may interest some of my Welsh readers to consult the following tables,
which may be taken as fairly correct for 1846. I have only inserted the
statistics of some counties for fear of swelling the list to an immoderate
size.
Statistics oe "SriTDA'r" Schools BULOifGiNG to the peincipal
DBjrOMIITATIONS IN VAEIOITS CoTOfTIBS, SHEWING PEE CBNTAGB
AS TO Language in which insteuotion is giten.
English and
rotal number
Welsh only
English only
Welah
CAEMARTHEKSHIRE.
of .schools.
per cent.
per cent.
per cent
Episcopalian
48
18-8
22-9
58-3
Calvinistic Methodists
78
68-0
1-3
30-7
Independents
no
46-4
•9
52-7
Baptists
55
45-5
—
54-5
glamoeganshire.
Episcopalian
92
4-3
79-4
16-3
CaMnistic Methodists
90
72-2
4-5
23.3
Independents
99
52-6
5-0
42-4
PBMBEOKESHIEB.
Episcopalian Schools
52
9-6
82-7
7'7
Calrinistic Methodists
44
50-0
25-0
25-0
Independents
57
38-6
31-6
29-8
BRECKNOCKSHIRE.
Episcopalian
40
10-0
77-5
12-5
Calvinistic Methodists
45
80-0
4-4
15-6
Independents
51
43-1
2-0
54-9
monmouthshiee.
Episcopalian
30
3-3
80-0
16-7
Independents
34
11-7
20-6
667
Baptists
40
5-6
22-5
72-5
CARNARVONSHIRE.
Episcopalian Schools
16
18-7
25-0
56-3
Baptists
16
80-0
20-0
Calvinistic Methodists
137
99-2
•8
Independents
49
93.7
2-1
4-2
DENBIGHSHIRE,
Episcopalian
32
6-3
28-1
65-6
Calvinistic Methodists
104
83-7
7-7
8-6
Independents
40
72-5
7-5
20-0
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CHAP. HI.] WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE].. 59
Eadnoeshibe — 6 out of 53 schools were conducted in English and Welsh.
What difference in these proportions is observable in 45 years I am. unable
to say. The figures do not afford a trustworthy index of the proportion of
the population speaking Welsh, because they give per centages of schools and
not of scholars; and as R. W. Lingen remarks of those in both languages in
his district, the English class is generally very small; he says, in
reference to indirect means for spreading English —
The Sunday schools in nowise conduce to such an end. Thirty-eight per cent,
of them are conducted in Welsh only, and 36"4 per cent, in hoth
languages. In the latter, however (excepting the Church schools), the BngUsh
class is generally very small, being composed either of those children who
are going to a day school, and whose parents object their being taught Welsh
on Sundays, or else of those adults who are not of the labouring class. (p.
51.)
We find, however, that the Episcopalian body are foremost [then under English
bishops] in carrying forward what Lingen and Symons regarded as the important
work of superseding the Welsh language. In Glamorganshire, 79'4 per cent, of
their schools were conducted in English only; but 72 "2 per cent, of the
Calvinistic Methodist schools, in Welsh only.
The following table of Pembrokeshire statistics shew that these schools were
attended by a larger proportion of the population in the Welsh speaking
district, than in the English.
COIINTT OF PEMBROKE.
Total per cent, of
population attending 1st day (Sunday) school.
Per cent, of
Scholars
attending
Episcopalian.
Castlemartin Hundred
lOj
82-0
(English speakmg District)
Dewisland (Welsh speaking District)
25
7-0
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60 WALES AND [OHAP. III.
That is to say in Castlemartin of the small proportion of the population,
viz., 10| per ceat., who went to the "Sunday" school, four-fifths
attended those managed by the Episcopalians, whereas in "Dewisland"
93 per cent, were attenders in Non-conformist schools.
DAY SCHOOLS IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARTS OF WALES.
R. W. Lingen remarks on the greater number of resident gentry and proprietors
in the part of Pembrokeshire called "Little England beyond Wales,"
and connects this fact with a superior class of day schools, which he says
" compensates for the absence of Sunday schools." {Report, p. 174,
Castlemartin hundred and Borough of Pembroke.) It will be seen, however, by
the folio wiag extracts, that very much had to be said on the other side.
— Davies, Independent minister of Grolden, near Pembroke, considered that in
and about Pembroke there was a general carelessness on the subject of
education, and that, as regards religious knowledge, the people were inferior
to those in the "Welsh districts. The Sunday schools are fewer, and
worse attended.
The master of the Apprentices' school [at Pater] said —
It was difficult to realize, except by experience, the bai'-kwardness or
rather utter absence of secular education in Wales. * * The style of the
Scriptures, their only reading-book, did not enable them to read with
intelligence the most ordinary work upon subjects of common information. Such
was the experience of a man who was coming into daily contact with what are
rather the ilite of the Welsh labouring classes in an English-speaking part
of the country, (p. 175.)
The reader will here note — inability to "read with intelligence the
most ordinary work," in a place which has been English speaking for
centuries.
It is not uncommon to hear the Welsh advised to learn
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 61
English for the sake of its literature, but I venture to say now,
and shall have reason to repeat myself, that the mass of the
English people have not yet learned English in the sense
of the authors of those platitudes. Barbarian manners and
inability in the Welsh to master literary Enghsh are largely
ascribed to the influence of their language. Why not ascribe
all the torpidity of good, honest Hodge to the influence of
his language. On the whole it is very much to be doubted
whether the limited range of ideas which Lingen notices was
greatest in the Welsh or the English speaking districts, and if
so, what ground has he to say of the Welsh workman that his
" language keeps him under the hatches." If it was true of
poor Tafly going from his mountain hut to the ironworks, why
not of the above-mentioned Hodge. Probably the latter had
fewer difficulties in some directions to contend against in
working his way to be overman, and then to be manager, but
the former had a skill in dialectics which the other did not
possess, and which was not so easily marketable in £ s. d., as
mechanical ability.
The statement above referred to was a slipshod one, which though made 44
years ago, I have seen quoted in 1890. There was no evidence to warrant
R.W.L. m saying this; he had ample evidence for saying that ignorance of English
kept Welsh workmen under the hatches; but knowledge of Enghsh, as the
passport to advancement in the material world, does not necessarily imply
ignorance of Welsh. He would with much more justice have said that a faulty
system of education had that depressing eSect.
What of the late David Davies, chairman of the Barry Dock and Railway
Company; what of Edward Williams, son of Taliesin ap lolo, late manager of
Bolckow, Vaughan and Company, Middlesbro'? The writer happens to be
acquainted with the shipping agent for a large and well known firm of
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62
WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. III.]
colliery proprietors, who remarked not long ago, " While I am speaking to
you I am translating from Welsh (mentally) into English;" at any rate
that fact did not disqualify him for a responsible position.
Pursuing the point further —
"The non-comprehension of what they read is by no means confined to the
children who speak "Welsh, and read EngUsh; it prevails also amongiSt
those of whom English is the mother tongue. The reason is that the Enghsh
they read is not the English they talk. * * * I found children who read
fluently, constantly ignorant o£ such words, as ' obssrre,' ' conclude,' '
reflect,' ' psrceive,' ' refresh,' &c." (Symons, p., 255, 256.)
He rightly observes that one reason of this is that English children are
Anglo-Saxon born, while the books use words of Norman-French or Latin
derivation. It does not seem to have occurred to him that Welsh children
receiving information on an abstract subject through the medium of Welsh
would have, in this respect, an advantage over English ones of the working
class, in that little or no time need be wasted in drilling the meaning of
the words into them.
A schoolmaster's wife in the Eaglish part of Radnorshire informs him —
The parents do not wish it [questioning on mental teaching]: they do not send
their children to day-schools to get rehgious, or, in fact, "'any mental
education; they send them purely from a money motive, that they may advance
themselves more easily in life; and to this end, reading English, writing,
and ciphering, are esteemed certain and sufficient means. {Symons, p. 242.)
At Presteign, Radnorshire, endowed school: — " The children evinced no
symptoms of mental culture of any kind."
At Buttington, Montgomery (H. W. Johnson's report): — AU were ignorant of
Scripture; and a scholar in the first class believed that St. Matthew wrote
the History of England.
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 63
At Bersha/m, in the county of Denbigh, scholars were questioned on outlines
of Scripture History: — " They were ignorant of everything."
Ignorance of English was not confined to teachers who were natives of Wales:
the master at Holt, Denbighshire, " speaks English with a broad Cheshire
dialect, and very ungrammatically."
At Northop, Flintshire: —
English is spoken in this part of the parish of Northop; but notwithstanding
this, the children recently admitted could not tell me which was their right
hand and which their left. (p. 499.) SCHOOL-HOUSES AND SUBEOUNDINGS.
Very little comment is needed from me under this or the succeeding head, the
paragraphs given, will, it is hoped, elucidate the History of Wales in the
second quarter of the nineteenth century.
The school was held in a room, part of a dwelling-house; the room was so
small that a great many of the scholars were obliged to go into the room
above, which they reached by means of a ladder, through a hole in the loft;
the room was lighted by one small glazed window, half of which was patched up
with boards; it was a wretched place; the furniture consisted of one table,
in a miserable condition, and a few broken benches; the floor was in a very
bad state, there being several large holes in it, some of them nearly half a
foot deep; the room was so dark that the few children whom I heard read were obliged
to go to the door, and open it, to have sufficient light. (Lingen, p. 21.)
This school is held in the mistress's house. I never shall forget the hot,
sickening smell, which struck me on opening the door of that low dark room,
in which 30 girls and 20 boys were huddled together. It more nearly resembled
the smell of the engine on board a steamer, such as it is felt by a sea-sick
voyager on passing near the funnel, ('do., p. 25.)
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64 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP, III.
This school is held in a ruinous hovel of the most squalid and miserable
character; the floor is of bare earth, full of deep holes; the windows are
all broken; a tattered partition of lath and plaster divides it into two
unequal portions; in the larger were a few wretched benches, and a small desk
for the master in one corner; in the lesser was an old door, with the hasp
stiU upon it, laid crossways upon two benches, about half a yard high, to
serve for a writing-desk! Such of the scholars as write retire in pairs to
this part of the room, and kneel on the ground while they_write. On the floor
was a heap of loose coal, and a litter of straw, paper, and all kinds of
rubbish. The Vicar's son informed me that he had seen 80 children in this
hut. In summer the heat of it is said to be suffocating; and no wonder, (do.,
p. 25, 26.)
This school is held in the church. I found the master and four little
children ensconced in the chancel, amidst a lumber of old tables, benches,
and desks, round a three-legged grate full of burning sticks, with no sort of
funnel or chimney for the smoke to escape. It made my eyes smart till I was
nearly blinded, and kept covering with ashes the paper on which I was
writing. How the master and children bore it with so little apparent
inconvenience I cannot tell, (do., p. 26.)
The schoolroom was originally a cow-shed, converted into a schoolroom without
any attempt even to mend the paving of the floor, which was weU worn and so
uneven that the rough benches in it were propped up by large stones; the
walls were of mud, the roof of decayed thatch, without any attempt at a
ceiling; and there were only two small windows at each end, affording little
light in the middle of the place. Each child had a book, and nearly all were
reading aloud, each by himself. The master, a poor half-starved looking man,
came out rod in hand to met us. Our visit, he said, was not unexpected, as he
heard we were going about. (Symons, pp. 274, 275.)
Until the winter was far advanced, although the weather was
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[chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 65
most severely cold and damp, fires were rarely found in these desolate places
in Cardiganshire, p. 239.
I found the schoolroom used as a receptacle for churning materials,
gardening-tools, and sacks of flour. * * Of these [49] only 14 knew the
alphabet.
At Mydrolin, the room in which the school is held is a low, dark, damp building,
erected partly of stone and partly of mud, and thatched with straw,
altogether unfit for a place to conduct a school in. The floor of it, on the
day I visited it, was completely covered with mud and water, worse than some
places on a country road on a wet day. (Symons, p. 277.)
A Radnorshire school — The door guarded by a pig!
Having been assured it was at the church, I tried in vain to gain access to
the building itself; and as I was turning away in despair, I heard the hum of
a school in a wooden hut, in the last state of decay, with extensive plains
of mud in front, and a pig asleep at the door. The thatch was mouldering
away, and there was scarcely a whole board in the entire building. Having
passed through a sepulchral sort of kitchen, I obtained access through it to
the school-room — an inner room, or rather a slip of one, in which it was not
easy to steer one's way safely through the beams and rafters by the dim light
of two minute windows, one at either end. A handful of children were ranged on
rude seats along the walls. [Nantmel, English speaking district.] (Symons, p.
272.)
THE HEADMASTERS DESCRIBED.
The present average age of teachers is upwards of 40 ye3,rs; that at which
they commenced their vocation upwards of 30; the number trained is 12-5 per
cent, of the whole ascertained number; the average period of training is 7-30
months; the average income is £22 10s. 9d. per annum; besides which, 16-1 per
cent, have a house rent-free. {Lingen, p. 53.)
Of course, these figures apply to his district — Carmarthen, Glamorgan and
Pembroke. Imagine the schools of Wales, in
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WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE].
[OHAP. III. 1891, being staffed with teachers that is, head masters and
mistresses (for in those days paid assistants were so few as to be unlikely
apparently to affect the return), whose average income was only £22 10s. 2d.
per year, and that only 16"1 per cent, lived rent free. In North Wales
the gross average income from all sources, so far as returns were given, was
£26 19s. 2d.
The list of previous occupations of these so called teachers presents a
miscellaneous medley, affording room for reflection e.g., it includes clerks,
carpenters, cooks, drapers, milliners, farmers and farm servants, labourers,
mariners, and married women, whereas only one in eight had served any
apprenticeship to it. Think, moreover, of a private school, " somewhat
superior," when, after attempts to fix a charge of 10s. a quarter, it
was found necessary to make a separate bargain for each child, according to
the means and willingness of the parents.
J. C. Symons remarks that "the established belief for centuries has been
that it requires no training at all" to be a schoolmaster; but even in
those early days there was a certain amount of negative uniformity among the
masters, as indicated by the following, in which it transpires that they were
usually found doing anything but teaching, while in this instance
"blindman's buff" supplied the place of a fire.
It is singular that in three or four instances only have I found a
schoolmaster occupied in teaching on suddenly entering a school of the common
class. I have far oftener found them reading an old newspaper, writing a
letter or a bill, probably for some other person, reading a "Welsh
magazine, or doing nothing of any sort. At one school, near Aberystwyth, I
was attracted, while passing along the road, by the boisterous noise in
school, and on entering it found the whole of the scholars playing at
blindman's-buff, or some similar game, though the dust and confusion
prevented me
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CHAP. Ill,] HER LANGUAGE. 67
from ascertaining what it was. I found that the master was absent, and had
gone to warm himself at a neighbouring cottage; and on arriving he said that
he told them "to have a bit of play, just to warm them."
The following paragraph refers to the usual equipraent of schools: —
A Welsh schoolmaster of the ordinary description thinks himself well supplied
if he is provided with two long tables and one short table, two or three
forms for the children, a chair for himself, a score of Bibles, slates, and
Vyse's spelling books, a few copy books, plenty of primers, two or three
Walkinghame's Tutor's Assistant; an old newspaper, a rod, and if it be
winter, a heap of peat in the corner, complete the sum of his wants, and of
the recognized requirements of the scholars. The area of the room is often
ludicrously insufficient, and at other times uncomfortably large. (Symons, p.
240.)
H. Vaughan Johnson, after referring to mere youths being put in charge of
wholly undisciplined and ignorant scholars, says, still worse results are
occasioned by employing aged persons and cripples, e.g. the master at Kilkin,
Flintshire, was a miner, disabled by ill health.
I will however summarize some of the notable features of the schoolmasters in
his district in short sentences following the name of the place they belonged
to. Penbleddtn — Income, £19. Apparently induced to accept
these terms by the loss of one eye. Pbntrecaehelyg (Vale of Clwyd) — A
quarryman fractured
his leg. Determined to commence teaching, but studied
Latin and Greek! for nine months instead of undergoing any
training. Llanbrynmair, Mont. — A village shopkeeper — children
laughed at everything that was said to them. Penygroes, Mont. — Untrained,
made innumerable errors in
catechizing the scholars, pronounced wild weeld, region,
ragion.
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68 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [OBU.P. III.
Holt, Denbigh. — Englishman, spoke very ungrammatically, when he thought a blunder
was committed, corrected it by committing another.
Halkin, Flint. — Englishman, says whoole for whole, han for an.
Aberfpraw Free School. — Master assured H. V. Johnson that the children
understood nothing of what they read in English, but he attempts no kind of
explanation.
"Church" School, Ruthin.— An Englishman, with no system of
interpretation. Scholars all Welsh. His questions few, slowly conceived, and
commonplace.
DoLwrDDELEN, Carn. — Master 54. Previously cattle dealer and drover. Scholars
positively laughed at his attempting to control them.
Overton (Enghsh Flintsh.) Free School. — ^Only 2 out of 6 who profess to know
arithmetic, could work a plain sum in addition.
Epailrhqd, Denbigh. — Formerly a farm servant. His method of teaching grammar
is unusual. He reads the book and the children repeat after him, as if making
responses at church.
"Church" School, Llandysilio. — A mere boy (19), untrained, knew
but little Welsh, while only one scholar knew English.
"Church School," Llanynys, Denbigh.— Pupils stated that Pharaoh was
king of Israel, and the master commended them, saying, "very good."
Called British, Brutish, and the like.
Grespord (English part of Denbigh). — Master in a public-house at 10 a.m.;
boys playing with all their might. Afternoon, master again absent, boys
playing at horses.
Llanpynydd, Flint. — Master did not attempt to suppress the tumult, uproar
and disorder prevailing during the visit. Commissioner feared lest a general
fight should ensue before examination was finished.
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CHAP. Ill,] HER LANGUAGE. 69
"St." David's "Church" School, Festiniog. — Continual
uproar. Girls sweeping the school floor unbidden, and struck the heads of the
boys with a broom while the examination was going on.
Rhyl. — Had taught for four months only. Was extremely deaf. Cannot detect
mistakes nor ascertain when scholai-s are making a disturbance.
Llandyrnog "Church" School — Aged and infirm. Appears to have had
no education.
Rhiwlas, Llansilin. — Formerly a blacksmith, for father he smAfayther and
gounzillor for counsellor.
"Church" School, Ruthin. — Master trained for eight months at
Westminster. The folio w^ing extract is really of too outre a character to be
condensed: —
Neither master nor scholar appeared to have any idea of manners or disciphne.
While I examined the school, all remained sitting, including the master; I
could not do the same, as there was no seat left. The boys sat lolling
luxuriously with their hands in their pockets, and answered or not, just as
they felt inclined. In the mean time all business was abandoned by the rest,
who collected themselres in groups, looking on and talking. One or two
monitors amused themselves by wandering about, striking the younger boys, but
indiscriminately, and with no useful object in view. I could with difSculty
walk across the room without catching the saUva which the boys were spitting
in all directions — not through disrespect, but from habit.
Please note — The Commissioner standing, boys lolling luxuriously, amusements
of the monitors, the "difficulty" of walking across the room,
&c.
British and Foreign School. Ruthin. — One of the best in North Wales. Master
inspired the pupils with a desire for knowledge, but neglected discipline.
The Commissioner
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70 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. III.]
regrets that scholars so intelligent, and making such progress in all subjects,
should not be taught manners. Few schools in North Wales were found destitute
of a cane or birch rod.
PATRONS AND MANAGERS.
A large class of the promoters of schools were unqualified to "select
masters or superintend institutions." For instance, the promoters of a
British school of great reputation, represented in high terms the extent of
instruction and attainments of the pupils, but when examined, in grammar, it
was found that the pupils had never heard of the singular or plural number.
H. V. J. next describes how the children are specially coached up to answer
questions gone through beforehand, so that when "the gentry visit
them" * * "they gain great approbation and obtain the credit of
being excellent institutions."
Speaking of schools richly supported by the "clergy and wealthy
classes," H. V. Johnson says —
The visitors and promoters of such schools appear to have overlooked the
defect which lies at the root of all other deficiencies — the want of books
expressly adapted, and of teachers properly qualified, to teach English to
Welsh children. The majority appear conscious (sic) that English may remain
an unknown language to those who can read and recite it fluently; others have
frequently assured me that Welsh parents would not endure any encroachment
upon their language — an argument which would seem to imply great ignorance
of the poor among their countrymen, who, as I have already stated, insist on
having English only taught in the day-schools, and consider all time as
wasted which is spent in learning Welsh, (pp. 477, 478.)
The complaints have been generally made by persons among the higher classes,
who, through neglect, have aUowed their schools to become extinct, or,
through misapprehension of the character
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGtTAGE. 71
and temper of the inhabitants, have failed to adapt the style and subjects of
instruction to the requirements of those whom they professed to teach, (p.
486.)
A fatal delusion has misled the promoters of schools in North Wales. They
have supposed that, if children make use of the Bible as a handbook to learn
reading from the alphabet upwards, and if catechisms be carefully committed
to memory, the narratives and doctrines therein contained must be impressed
on their understandings and affections, (p. 500.)
Bear in mind, good reader, that we are now adverting to persons who were the
victims of a "fatal delusion," and permitted in the schools under
their care a defect which lay at the "root of all other
deficiencies." Did they belong to the lower stratum of society? No; we
may reasonably suppose that some of them had received an English University
education, and yet in the year 1891 there is evidence that exactly the same
defects would be found in the schools under the care of their successors, had
not they in some respects reaped the benefit of other men's labours; and in
one important matter — the want of books expressly adapted for teaching
English to Welsh children, the "clergy and wealthy classes" are
content, and many of them very well content, with the system which the
Commissioner of 1846 condemned, which degrades Welsh without properly
elevating English; while they appear to receive with stolid indifference any
outcry for a more reasonable and more natural method.
In the discharge of his duty the North Wales Commissioner collected some
valuable evidence about endowments and school fiinds which it would be out of
place to reproduce, at any great length, in this book. In North Wales the
endowments exceeded £4,000, excluding a large amount under litigation. Of
this a considerable proportion was misapplied.
At Bryneglwys, Denbigh, for instance, there was an endow-
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72 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
ment, but the school was closed. The clergyman appointed himself master,
i.e., pocketed the stipend of one.
Llanerftl, Mont. — A valuable endowment. One of the trustees farms the
charity estate without accounting for rents, in return for which he professed
to act as schoolmaster. Had eight scholars, and was frequently absent.
Outbuildings out of repair and occupied by geese, hatching. RuABON Grammar
School. — Valuable endowment of £100 per year.
I found the school-room, which would accommodate 81 scholars, partly filled
with coals, and the remainder used as a lumber-room, being covered with
broken chairs and furniture. The glass of the windows was broken, and the
room neglected and filthy in the extreme. The lumber and dirt appeared to
hare been accumulating for several months, and, except some tattered books,
without covers, in the window-seats, there was no^vestige of the school
vi'hich is said to have been held there. Deythur, Montgomery — Endowment
reduced by Law Suits; £88 paid to the nominal master, a clergyman; school
conducted by an usher, previously an agricultural labourer, and was inferior
to the average of the lowest schools in North Wales. Pupils understood more
EngUsh than Welsh.
Here is plain speaking about supporters of National Schools, giving a notable
illustration of pleidgarwch or sectyddiaeth in the Establishment.
In addition to the above-mentioned abuses, it is important to state that it
is a practice in North "Wales for the trustees of endowed schools which
are not absolutely connected with the Established Church, to allow waste and
dilapidation, and to neglect to visit and examine the scholars, with the
professed object of inducing their parishioners to consent to have the
schools united with the National Society. I allege this upon the authority of
their own statements, in which the practice and the motives of it were
avowed.
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[CHAP. III. [WALES AND] HER LANGUAGE. 73
We can imagine such pious trustees holding up their hands in holy horror at
the wrangling in the denominational literature of the benighted Dissenters; for
this, it is evident they had but two remedies; one was to extinguish the
Welsh language, the other to drive the wanderers back to the bosom of their
Mother Church.
H. V. Johnson finds that out of the funds of 517 schools the rich subscribe
£5,675, and the amount raised by the poor is £7,000, adding—
It is important to observe the misdirection of these branches of school
income, and the fatal consequences which ensue.
The wealthy classes who contribute towards education belong to the
Established Church; the poor who are to be educated are Dissenters. The
former will not aid in supporting neutral schools; the latter withhold their
children from such as require conformity to the Established Church. The
effects are seen in the co-existence of two classes of schools, both of which
are rendered futile— the Church schools supported by the rich, which are
thinly attended, and that by the extreme poor; and private-adventure schools,
supported by the mass of the poorer classes at an exorbitant expense, and so
utterly useless that nothing can account for their existence except the
unhealthy division of society, which prevents the rich and poor from
co-operating, (p. 511.)
The report further speaks of parents purchasing exemptions from the rules
requiring conformity in religion by payment of a small gratuity, to increase
the "slender pittance" of the master — of expulsion where poor
parents held out — of a compromise in other cases, the children being
cautioned by the parents not to believe the Catechism, and to return to the
"paternal chapels" as soon as they have finished schooling— of the
"inexpedience" of such a system being not yet apparent, except to a
few; and moreover when speaking of private adventure, and dame schools of an
utterly worthless character,
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74 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [OHAP. Ill,
"tliat nothing can account for their existence except the determination
on the part of Welsh parents to have their children instructed without
interference in matters of conscience," while such schools exhaust the
greater part of the £7,000 contributed by the poor towards education.
The intellectual results produced by the present class of Church
schoolmasters, reduced as they are to such extremities, has been already seen
in the ignorance of scholars, not only respecting the distinctive doctrines
of the Church, but of the first element of Christianity, (p. 512.)
H. V. J. complains respecting indiiference as to education on the part both
of parents and children. After alluding to the fact that many scholars walked
eight miles a day, he very justly remarks, considering the value of the
instruction, they cannot be expected to " expend more time in an
occupation so unprofitable."
WELSH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
In dealing with the Welsh language and literature, as might be expected, the
three Commissioners were very largely dependent for information upon other
persons.
Lingen and Symons pass by the phenomena of existing Welsh literature with
very scant notice indeed. Johnson, on the other hand, makes what appears to
be an honest attempt to analyze its character, though he was far from doing
it justice. Lingen and Symons adopted a directly antagonistic position to the
existence of the language. Johnson stood more on neutral ground: the two
former, however, obtained the ear of the Government, and not long after the
publication of the report Lingen was given the important post of Secretary to
the Committee of Council on Education, and it may well be beheved that his
subsequent attitude towards Welsh education was very much influenced by the
judgment he had
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CHAP. III.] HER LAJi^GUAGE. 75
previously formed on imperfect data, and more or less in conjunction with
preconceived opinions.
He comes across a characteristic of Wales, though a by no means universal
one, parents wishing to exclude Welsh from the secular education of their
children (this is much more the case in thoroughly Welsh districts, than
partially Anglicized ones), coincident with their choice of Welsh as the
"natural exponent" of nearly every social relation and all
religious exercises.
Tet, if interest pleads for English, afEection leans to Welsh. The one is
regarded as a new friend, to be acquired for profit's sake; the other as an
old one, to be cherished for himself, and especially not be deserted in his
decline. Probably you could not find in the most purely Welsh parts a single
parent, in whatever class, who would not have his child taught English in
school; yet every characteristic development of the social life into which
that same child is born — preaching — prayer-meetings — Sunday schools —
clubs — biddings — funerals — the denominational magazine (his only press),
all these exhibit themselves to him in Welsh as their natural exponent,
partly, it may be, from necessity, but, in some degree also, from choice. * *
He [the Welshman] possesses a mastery over his own language far beyond that
which the Englishman of the same degree possesses over his. (p. 10.)
Couple this statement with the confession of Symons, that children at
Presteign, where Welsh has been extinct for generations, evinced "no
symptoms of mental culture of any kind," and vidth the evidence of Rees,
the publisher of Yr Haul:—
The Welsh peasantry are better able to read and write in their own language
than the same classes in England. Among them are many contributors to Welsh
periodicals. (Lingen, p. 10.)
The process of instruction being conducted entirely with English books led,
however, to the following remark: —
It would be impossible to exaggerate the difficulties which
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76 WALES
AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
this diversity between the language in which the school-books are written and
the mother-tongue of the children presents. In proportion as the teacher
adheres to English, he does not get beyond the child's ears; in proportion as
he employs Welsh, he appears to be superseding the most important part of the
child's instruction. How and where to draw the line — how to convey the
principles of knowledge through the only medium in which the child can
apprehend them, yet to leave them impressed upon its mind in other terms, and
under other forms — how to employ the old tongue as a scaffolding, yet to
leave no trace of it in the finished building, but to have it, if not lost,
at least stowed away — all this presupposes a teacher so thoroughly master of
the subjects which he is going to teach, and also of two languages most
dissimilar in genius and idiom, that he can indifferently represent his
matter with equal clearness in one as in the other. (Lingen, p. 52).
Why should he be so anxious to leave "no trace" of the old tongue,
to which he is a stranger, in the "finished building" of the completed
education of the youth in Wales. A person entrusted with such a responsible
post should have seen at once that English per se is not "the most important part of the child's
instruction." Many thousands of English agricultural labourers have
learned English from their early childhood, but they are still "under
the hatches," and their intelligence remains comparatively undeveloped.
In 1847, as now, the parents of Welsh children were eager to have them taught
English almost without exception, and being themselves ignorant, were quite
content with the mentally wasteful way which is continued down to the present
day of having all school-books solely in English.
We see in the above extract how the Commissioner appears nearly to come to
the conclusion of the Welsh Utilization Society, that it would be best to
employ bilingual books, but he shrinks from expressing it, evidently from the
fear that
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CHAP. III.] [WALES AND] HER LANGUAGE. 77
while the children are learning English they will also learn the language he
wishes to see extirpated from the country.
Although he acknowledges that the language cannot be "taught down"
in schools, yet, the idea of an advanced bilingual education scarcely seems
to have entered his head, as he speaks of schools not being called upon, —
To impart in a foreign, or engraft upon the ancient, tongue a factitious
education conceived under another set of circumstances (in either of which
cases the task would be as hopeless as the end unprofitable), but to convey,
in a language which is already in process of becoming the mother-tongue of
the country, such instruction as may put the people on a level with that
position which is offered to them by the course of events.
Now, what the meaning of this mass of verbiage was, it is not easy to
discover, but it is squarely evident that in substance it amounted to a
repudiation of Welsh as a subject of instruction, and yet he acknowledges
that the best mode of teaching English was found at the Venalt Works School,
where the class was taught to translate, clause by clause, into Welsh; a
system which he compares to the Hamiltonian viva você. How is it possible to carry this excellent method into
practice without interfering with the idea of employing the "old tongue
as a scaffolding," and leaving "no trace of it in the finished
building?" I venture to assert it is an impracticability, and is
repugnant to the laws of the human mind. How was it again, that when R. W.
Lingen's name figured as Secretary to the Education Department, and he
doubtless had the power of initiating many reforms, that this "best mode
of teaching" English was not recommended to all schools receiving the
Government grant in Welsh schools?
Amid the gross inefficiency of the schools in his district J. C. Simons sees
one gleam of light, but we fear it was a short-sighted vision; he says: —
"There is one most striking and important peculiarity in
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78 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP: III:]
them, which will be a subject of the utmost satisfaction to every friend to
Wales: it is the fact that there is but one day school out of the entire
number — the three counties of Brecknock, Cardigan, and Radnor — where the
Welsh language is taught. It seems scarcely to have occurred to him that it
is impossible to teach an English boy the French grammar without, to some
extent, teaching him English; likewise, that a Welsh boy taught English
thoroughly and in the most expeditious way, would have to be taught his
mother tongue as well."
It is this fear of children learning Welsh, and which exists at the present
time, that has been and continues to be one of the drawbacks of the intellectual
progress of Wales, and has degraded Welsh schools from being the arenas of
rational intellectual exercises of a higher stamp than those met with in
English school life; into scenes of mechanical, irrational drudgery.
Notwithstanding the fact which Symons says, was "a subject of the utmost
satisfaction to every friend to Wales," he has to admit that teaching
English by the methods then in vogue were a failure.
Any inference, therefore, that the children were extensively learning BngUsh,
drawn from the facts that the schools everywhere try to teach it, would be
utterly fallacious.
It is strange that with the many improvements of modern education there are
still schoolmasters, and possibly inspectors too, who cling to the old
injurious system of excluding Welsh entirely from the day schools except for
the purpose of simple explanation, so as to admit no books whatever printed
in that language.
For otherwise well educated people in responsible positions to ignore Welsh
as a medium of direct mental culture, and to regard it as an inconvenient
obstacle to progress, appears rather
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 79
a sheepish following of custom and tradition under the influence of the
Government regulations in force until recently, than the result of a well
matured and honest endeavour to fit the minds with which they are brought in
contact for the circumstances.
I say that schoolmasters cling to the old method, not simply because they
have been obliged to — although there is no obligation to read the English Bible at the commencement of
schools — but because they, or at least their managers, have generally
evinced so little disposition, to change a system condemned by such varied
and respectable authorities, as are adduced in the course of this work, for
one which would develop a better standard of intelligence in English,
although involving a better mastery of Welsh.
J. C. Symons says the "Welsh language is a vast drawback to Wales, and
that it is not easy to over-estimate its evil effects," and that there
is no Welsh literature worthy of the name, although he had never read a page
of what there was, while in a note he utters a half sneer at the
Cymreigyddion y Fenni then in existence, and at their making English speeches
once a year in defence of Welsh literature, saying, "Its proceedings are
perfectly innocuous.
If what he and his modern representatives say is true, how is it that in
Radnorshire and east Breconshire, where Welsh is extinct, we do not find the
people intellectually far in advance of Carnarvonshire? Let them give a
proper answer to that question before being so persistently dogmatic on an
unstable foundation.
Of course, my readers will bear in mind that some of the evidence must be
looked on with suspicion; we find for instance the magistrates' clerk at
Lampeter says, "the Welsh monthly magazines do more harm than
good," and he believes there is not a single Welsh weekly newspaper in
existence.
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80 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [OHAP. III.
The following is from the pen of E. C. Hall, a barrister at Newcastle Emlyn:
—
The two languages are a great facility to perjury. The want of accuracy in
the knowledge of the language seems to remoye the feeling of degradation * *
The Welsh language is
peculiarly evasive which originates from its having been the language of
slavery!! (p. 34-5.)
Did it never occur to this man that if barristers, such as he, and the Judges
of Assizes, and Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, were not allowed to perform
their duties without a knowledge of Welsh, it should put a stop to some of
the perjury he speaks of; and if he is so shocked at perjury, why does he
bring in a shameful mis-statement about the Welsh language. Would he have
called leuan Gwynedd's language, which I shall refer to presently, evasive
had he been able to read it?
Colonel Powell, Lord-lieutenant for Cardiganshire, complains of people being
disposed to shew less respect to the old families of the county than they
used to be, and that the Welsh language is a great obstruction to the
improvement of the people.
A land agent at Aberystwyth who held courts leet for the Lord-Lieutenant,
echoes his master's words, and says that the language is an impediment to the
improvement of the people; but he adds that the people are very much attached
to it, although a preacher in the same county says they would not value a
school teaching Welsh.
Now, while Commissioner Symons dismissed the subject of Welsh literature as
scarcely worth discussion, and Lingen scarcely alludes to it all, Vaughan
Johnson took the trouble to prepare an abstract of Welsh literature, or
rather, I suppose, employed some one to do it for him, in which it appeared
that at that time there were current 405 works (Welsh) printed and read in
North Wales, of which 64 were books of poetry.
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[chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 81 46, prose
works on miscellaneous subjects. Although he ventured to remark about the
latter, that most of them, besides books on domestic medicine, and diseases
of cattle, were of a "frivolous character," he is candid enough to
say that he was unable to obtain an impartial statement of the character of
the periodicals, and accordingly printed in his appendix a translation and
brief abstracts of their contents.
A "communication" is given on the "Exclusive character of
Welsh literature," from which I extract the following:—
The poverty and indifference of the Welsh people, and the difficulty of
withdrawing any of their attention from questions of theology and polemical
religion, forbid all hope of extending Welsh literature, without the hearty
and continued co-operation of the wealthier classes. No person would venture
to set up a periodical of a merely literary or scientific character, unless
he had the support of some religious party; and such a support cannot be
obtained to any extent, (p. 251).
How can the wealthier classes co-operate, if they too are shut out from a
knowledge of the medium whereby they might share their superior advantages
with their poorer neighbours.
Take away every field of activity but one, from a Welshman as such, and why
blame him or his language because he appears to be exclusive. Religion was
undoubtedly intended to leaven the whole life and not to be the foundation
for the battering rams of party animosities, or a vain love of disputation,
which perhaps after aU has been a form of intellectual restlessness finding
vent in an unusual way, but going unhappily under the name of religion, while
the paths of general knowledge are made unnecessary hard and rugged.
The Commissioner alludes to numerous periodicals pubUshed in Welsh by means
of which "all that goes on in England is known in Wales, being read by
the quarrymen and tradesmen, but not by the farmers, they read nothing. * *
It matters
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82 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
not how plain and colloquial the style of a book, the farmers complain that
they cannot understand it."
A sixpenny or at most a shilling book of a relig^ious character is the only
safe publishing speculation in the Welsh language, and even this would be a
loss, if it were not "pushed" in religious circles. It is by no
means an uncommon thing for books to be advertised from the pulpit, in
dissenting places of worship, (p. 522.)
To some extent, though not nearly so much as formerly, this remark holds good
to day. There are populous sections of the country where Welsh theological
works occasionally sell well, considering the class of buyers. Yet if a
person were to write a general treatise in Welsh on a scientific subject, say
agriculture, the same readers would find a difficulty in understanding him,
and the sale would be small.
This is explained, not by lack of interest in those subjects, but because the
opportunities of the people have been too limited to acquire a sufficiently
extensive Welsh vocabulary (other than in the domain of Theology) to read
general literature with interest.
I was not long ago at Mountain Ash, among a mining population, where a
bookseller, with a Scotch name, assured me that he had sold one hundred
copies of the 2/6 edition of Principal Edwards' Eshoniad ar yr Hebreaid
(Commentary on the Hebrews). This is the more remarkable, as English is the
usual language of the children; but the probability is that some of those
very children will be added to the circle of Welsh readers, at least to that
of Theological ones. In this instance, the large sale is accounted for by the
Hebrews being at the time, a subject of examination among the Oalvlnistic
Methodists. The same bookseller also told me that he had sold several copies
of another religious work at 5/-.
NoWg so long as the language is scouted, frowned at, and thwarted in its
growth in the day school, and the people are
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CHAP, III.] HEK LANGUAGE. 83
denied secular instruction in it, would it be a matter of wonder that "
its resources in the other branches remain obsolete and meagre"? Would
it be a matter of wonder that books on general subjects do not find a ready
sale? It is however not correct to affirm that the resources of the language
are meagre, and the wonder is that they have been developed so much as is the
case.
Symons and Lingen, both of them comment on the extraordinarily unintelligent
way in which Education was carried on, yet neither of them suggest such an
improvement as bilingual books; although David Charles, Principal of Trevecca
College, very sensibly said in a communication to J. C. S. — " I would
also recommend that the Welsh receive their knowledge of the English language
through the medium of their own, at first by means of Welsh books. The want
of this mode of instruction has been a great drawback which I have often
desired to get removed."
Not merely did David Charles make this objection, but another leading
dissenter, Lewis Edwards, of Bala, held the same view, as shewn in the
following translated extract from the Traethodydd of 1850. (See Traethodau
Llenyddol, p. 120):—
Prom the bottom of our hearts we give our consent to every word that is said
by Sir Thomas Phillips about the necessity of teaching Welsh children in the
Welsh language. * * The truth is, that the easiest way for them to learn
English is to give them a taste /or and knowledge in the Welsh language.
The North Wales Commissioner displayed more practical ability than his
colleagues, in severely commenting on the exclusive use of English books, and
the English language, and says that the promoters of schools appear
unconscious of the difficulty (as some are to-day), and the teachers of the
possibUity of its removal.
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84 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
After saying that he had found no class of schools in which an attempt had
been made to remove the children's difl&culties of first learning
English, he makes the following general remarks: —
Every book in the school is written in English; every word he speaka is to be
spoken in English; every subject of instruction- must be studied in English;
and every addition to his stock of knowledge in grammar, geography, history,
or arithmetic, must be communicated in English words; yet he is furnished
with no single help for acquiring a knowledge of English. As yet no class of
schools has been provided with dictionaries or grammars in Welsh and English.
The promoters of schools appear unconscious of the difficulty, and the
teachers of the possibiUty of its removal.
Speaking of the Grammar School at "St." Asaph,
Those who learn Latin are provided with grammars, dictionaries, and
vocabularies; but here as elsewhere no hand-books have been provided for
learning EngUsh, although English is to many of the pupils as unintelligible
as any dead language.
Nearly fifty years have passed away, Welsh education has been, very much in
the hands of the English Government, clerical officials, and other persons,
who have sought a share in its management, and yet this monstrous anomaly so
disgraceful to the civilization of the nineteenth century remains, and it is
even defended by a certain class of teachers bred under the influence of long
standing customs and EngUsh laws.
H. V, J. introduced into his report a mention of the "Welsh note,"
a stigma of disgrace transferred to the last boy heard speaking Welsh. Among
other injurious effects this custom has been found to lead children to visit
stealthily the houses of their schoolfellows, for the purpose of detecting
thbse who speak Welsh to their parents, and transferring to them the
punishment due to themselves."
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CHAP. III.] HER LAIWJUAGE. 85
The same Commissioner speaks of the impediment to efficient teaching oflfered
by the prejudices of Welsh parents against the employment of their own
language, even as a medium of explanation: " In the day schools we want
our children to be taught English only; what good can be gained by teaching
us Welsh? We know Welsh already." There are too many School Boards in
1891, where this kind of ignorance appears to prevail — concomitant recollect,
with a genuine attachment to Wales."
The following table may be of some interest:-^
CLASSIFICATION OT DAT SCHOOLS ACOOEDING TO LANGUAGE IN
1846-7.
Language of Instruction.
Welsh only
English only
Welsh & English books
English books only* ] but Welsh spoken I 118 63 48 25 8 -- 7
in explanation J
Grammar of English.. 74 127 67 57 35 12 37 „ of Welsh . . — _ _ _ — — _ of
both . . 2 2 1 ^ — — —
It should be borne in mind that Welsh spoken in "explanation" may
simply mean that an ignorant schoolmaster used that language as the ordinary
medium of converse with his scholars. It does not appear that there was any
systematic bilingual instruction except in a few schools, and those where the
habit prevailed to get the children to commit to memory the English of
certain Welsh words.
He says (though incorrectly) "of this amount one-half have always spoken
English '; thinks that English has not dis-
* For Pembroke, Cardignn and Radnor, information simply states "
instruction given in Welsh and English." North Wales — Particulars not
given.
Carmarthen.
Glamorgan.
Pembroke.
Cardigan.
1
Breeli;nocls.
Ead- Mon- nor. moiithi. (Part of.)
52
258
155
75
88
43 120
9
1
—
—
—
— —
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86 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. IIL]
placed one-tenth part of Welsh; and looks to good schools to expedite its
progress.
Symons estimates the amount of population in his district, of whom English is
the fireside language: —
In Brecknockshire, 23,500 out of 55,603 speak English. In Cardiganshire 3,000
„ 68,766 In Eadnorshire 23,000 „ 25,356
50,000 „ 149,725
A Brecon Curate, named Jas. Denning, writes to J. C. S.: —
I cannot too strongly express my opinion about the necessity of getting rid
of the Welsh language. * * The bigotry of the preachers would be driven away.
(p. 359.)
Lingen gives no estimate of this kind, but alludes to the district within
which the English language may be considered as the mother-tongue of the
people, as lying south of the London mail road — roughly speaking, we should
say the Great Western trunk-line — from Cardiff to the coast of the Irish
sea, except between Swansea and "St." Clears, which may be
considered to have been Welsh.
Is it not a striking fact, that more than 40 years have passed since these
enquiries were made, and since it was found that Welsh books were wholly
excluded from the day schools with very trifling exceptions, and yet, that
the Welsh speaking population has increased probably 20 per cent.: and there
is more Welsh literature now than ever.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Symons alludes to the small proportion of the whole number of children in day
schools who ever learn to write, but speaks highly of their proficiency in
arithmetic, saying he had never witnessed more, after so small an amount of
instruction, in any school either in England or on the Continent.
"Wherever
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CHAP, m.] HBK LANGUAGE. 87
the children remain long enough in school their proficiency in figures is
wonderful."
" Though they are ignorant, no people more richly deserve to be
educated. In the first place, they desire it to the full extent of their
power to appreciate it; in the next, their natural capacity is of a high
order, especially in the Welsh districts. They learn when they are even badly
taught with surprising facility."
The perpetual Curate of Builth (R. H. Harrison) writes: — " The
"Welsh people are much quicker than the EngUsh. I have been much
concerned in schools in England, and have succeeded well with them; but the
"Welsh have much better and readier powers of perception; their
reasoning powers are much less developed. There are, however, beautiful
faculties lost here for want of proper cultivation. They would learn quickly
and profit greatly by good schools." (p. 341.)
This was in an English speaking district — nearly entirely so. I have,
however, heard a Welsh schoolmaster say that the reasoning faculties of
bilingual boys were better developed than when they know one language only.
The following, from the pen of a witness, then President of the Independent
College, Brecon, only recently deceased, who was, I believe, intimately
acquainted with the language and habits of the people: —
Taken as a whole, 1 believe the "Welsh peasantry are decidedly superior
to the EngUsh. Having spent twelve years as a minister in England, and in
daily communication with the poor, I may perhaps be allowed to speak with
some confidence. But all the other classes among us are immeasurably
inferior, in point of information, to the corresponding classes in England.
Nothing can be more worthless than the schoohng ordinarily given to the
children of our small farmers and shopkeepers. This is especially the case
with respect to girls all through Wales. Let me add, the
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88 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. HL
whole community suffers from the absence of that teaching, which would tend
to fit boys to excel as mechanics or artizans. (p. 361.)
There haye been ministers among us, men of great mental and moral power and
prodigious influence, men whom we need not blush to class with England's
best, and whose memoirs will be instructiye to the end of time, but who
nevertheless knew nothing of English, and never were able to write their
names! In hundreds of our cottages, at this day, you may find men of most
elevated habits of thought and feeling who never read a page in their lives
but the Bible, (p. 362.)
Johnson speaks of the true method of teaching geography being inverted — that
of home being neglected, children perfected in definition, can point out
islands, straits, &c., yet suppose that such phenomena have no existence
in North Wales.
Grammar— not taught a science, but as a matter of memory, a fault to which
doubtless the Inspectors of 1891 could also attest.
The definitions and explanations in these works [Murray's Grammar, &c.J,
which would be difficult to an English scholar, are incomprehensible to Welsh
children, and the teacher, even if competent to interpret, neglects to do so.
No part of the subject is illustrated by familiar examples suited to the
capacity of children; and in the conversation of the teacher, the rules of
syntax and grammar are far more frequently broken than observed.
MONMOUTHSHIRE.
As J, C. Symons subsequently devotes a special Report to ■ the eighteen
westerly parishes of Monmouthshire, with a population at that date of about
100,000, and as I am writing in that county, my readers will, I hope, deal
leniently with the desire to notice it a little more prominently than its
relative importance warrants.
It is impossible not to admire the ability and integrity dis-
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[chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 89
played in this production. It is evident that the previous few months'
experience had fortified him for the undertaking. The electors of the
Monmouth Boroughs, we fear, did not allow themselves to be much benefitted by
it, as they shortly afterwards sent to Parliament, Crawshay Bailey, one of
the iron-masters of the district, whom it may be lawful to make an exception
to the rule, de mortiiis nil nisi bonum.
At the period of which I am writing the population of the county had
increased at a faster rate than that of any other in the kingdom, being 36'9
per cent, between 1831 and 1841, when the Glamorganshire rate was only 3 6
'2. The population, it must be recollected, was by no means exclusively a
Welsh one, there having been then, as is the case now, a considerable
immigration from England and Ireland, which, combined witli the exclusion of
Welsh from the day schools, has undoubtedly done much towards diminishing its
use as a, family language, though there are at least 130 Monmouthshire
congregations in 1891 to whom Welsh is preached weekly.* Possibly this
immigration and other facts which the report brings to fight, had something
to do with the low standard of attainment in Government examinations, which
was shewn by the county not many years ago, and for long after a much more
perfect system had been established.
In this county there was an improvement in the school-teachers, but a custom
was frequent in the large works for the masters to make a deduction from the
workmen's wages for the support of the school, and in some cases the
Commissioner had to state that there was ground to believe that the masters
made a profit on it, and the workmen did not "derive an equivalent from
the fund usually raised from the wages, and to which they are compelled to
pay."
* In the Appendix I hope to give exaet statistics of each denomination. M
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90 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [chap. III.
As regards training or mind teaching "it exists only in one or two
schools, and there too owing to the shortness of the stay of the children
among the older classes alone."
The understanding of ninety per cent, of the children who pass through these
schools is just as Uttle improTed or informed as when they entered it. There
is the same book-labour and rote-labour as in "Wales, with the same
utter inactivity of mind. There is the same absence of thought and of desire
to be taught to think. Schooling is desired simply because it is deemed a
stepping-stone to gain, and a means to adyancement in Ufe. On that account is
it alone sought for. The Bible is universally read in the day-schools, both
great and small. Little children are found stammering through the Pentateuch
or the Eevelations, who may be reading the Koran with equal profit, (p. 379.)
I am writing in a time when much attention is being devoted to Welsh
Intermediate and BQgher Education, and with the consciousness that
Welsh-Wales has produced, and has now within her borders many self-taught
men, who are able to make mental comparisons, suggested by times and
conditions, other than those by which they are immediately surrounded, and of
whom it would not be just to say the discipline (schooling if we like to term
it) to which they have subjected themselves, has been "desired simply
because it is deemed a stepping-stone to gain;" but while this much is
said, it applies to those who have a higher ideal of education than the
average school manager in Wales. There is too much of the spirit of 1847 left
behind, too much of the idea of turning Board schools and intermediate
schools into money-making machines.
Quite true it is that there is a need for an education that shall better a
child for after life, and so far as a more practicable scheme than the
current one can be introduced, let it be so. The discrepancy really lies in
the interpretation of the term "after life." Members of School
Boards are too apt to confine
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CHAP, ni.] HER LANGUAGE. 91
it to the technical work of the office, the shop, or the workshop. Perfectly
necessary in their way, as these are, a real educationalist applies it to the
tout-ensemble of the future man, so far as any mechanical or material course
of training can aflfect it. He of course sees the intimate connection between
language and the use of ideas, hence he cannot afford to allow a vocabulary
acquired in infancy to be dormant while he is endeavouring to develop the
power of using and developing ideas and knowledge, entirely through a medium
to become familiar with which involves a long period of mechanical drudgery.
It is his clear duty (in Wales at least) to induce familiarity with this
foreign medium, but to do it at the expense of sacrificing all culture in
that which nature has provided ready to hand, as is done in the majority of
schools in Wales, means a needless delay of the child's development.
At Tredegar Town Schools, under a wealthy Company, in which Samuel Homfray
had a leading position, and for which he had selected an able master, the
funds appear to have entirely come from the stoppages in workmen's wages.
Much dissatisfaction was expressed at the children being compelled to attend
the Church Sunday School though many of the parents are Dissenters. Some of
the men are therefore compelled to pay for schooUng which they cannot
conscientiously avail themselves of for their children, (p. 387.)
SiRHOWY Day School — Belonging to the Company. To persecute one [scholar]
said meant to preach, and none could set him right * * Two thought the people
in Scotland black.
Speaking of schools held on First day (" Sunday") he says — The
Dissenting schools are superior to the Church schools in
every respect as means of reUgious instruction; the far larger
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92 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
attendance of teachers, sittings each'witt their own classes, I'eading With
and questioning' them, would alone give this superiority. I should fail in my
duty, were I not to give a prominent place to this source of the slight moral
right which prevails among this population; but one-sixth" part of whom
it thus appears are subjected to this discipline, and their attendance is
irregular, (p. 291).
Somewhat mourufully J. 0. S. adds —
The clergy are scattered and few in numberj and can make little way with the
people against the combined jtiumbers and activity of the Dissenting bodies,
who are inspiried no less by emulation among each other than by zeal for the
sake of truth.
Speaking of the population generally —
Whatever is unsettled or lawless, or roving or characterless among
working-men, as long as bodily strength subsists, has felt an attraction to
this district, and a surety of ready acceptance and good wages which very few
other districts have afEorded in so great a degree.
The whole district and population partake of the iron chara,cter of its
produce; physical strength is the object of esteem, and gain their chief god.
(p. 394.)
In fact, it seems to have been the policy of some ironmasters or colliery
proprietors of that day, to collect together a band of ruffians, if they
could get no others, settle them down to spread corruption among a population
less deeply steeped in vice, and then keep them under their thumb by means of
the truck system, or otherwise favour their being penniless. For instance
"one or two benevolent ladies tries to get up a Provident Society,"
to encourage the men to lay something by, and applied to a large mine
proprietor for his contribution and patronage.
" Indeed," he said, " I cannot give you either, for if I did,
I would be arming the men against myself, and enabling them to strike for
wages. I want them to spend their earnings and not
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 93-
hoard them." This waS an unusual case of candoiir, but hy no" means
unusual policy. I taentibned it to a neighbouring magistrate, who told me he firmly
believed it; and I heard from others, in whom I can place confidence, that
the desire to deprive the men of the means of striking for wages, and to
subjugate them to their employers, is said to animate their conduct, and it
appears to be even more at the root of the truck-system than the immediate
gain which springs from it. (p. 398.)
What a trust in Belial! It reminds one of that concern existing at the
present day called the Rhymney Iron Company, Limited, whose sphere of
operations is in or near Rhymney, Monmouthshire; they own a good part of the
tow% consequently can manipulate houses and tenancies at will, they are
reputed, moreover, to carry on an underhanded species of compulsion to induce
workmen to deal at a large shop close to^ their works, and have on two
occasions had to pay legal punishment through carrying out a miserable system
of putting on the screw which led to positive contraventions of the Truck
Act.
They also own a large brewery close at hand, which, I am informed by a local
tradesman, is worth about half-a-million. Providence has so far prospered the
endeavours of this beery- irony-grocery Company, as to enable them recently
to declare a dividend of £0 Os. Od. percent. If the property is shortly in
the market, it is to be hoped that it will fall into the hands of persons who
will confine their attention to coal and iron. Having a number of Irish
workmen, the Company is obliging enough to their priest to make stoppages
from the men's wages (by their consent) towards his salary. la return for
this service, it is scarcely beside the mark to suppose that they (the
Company) expect a quid pro quo in the shape of influence on his flock in
their favour.
We must however go back to Monmouthshire in 1846. .
Even the physical condition of the people seems almost-as if
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94 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. III.]
contrived for the double purpose of their degradation and the employers'
profit. Some of the works are surrounded by houses built by the Companies
without the slightest attention to comfort, health, or decency, or any other
consideration than that of realizing the largest amount of rent from the
smallest amount of outlay. * * An immense rent, in comparison to the
accommodation, is paid to the Company or master for these miserable places,
(p. 397.)
The CommissioQer regarded the degraded condition of the people as "
entirely the fault of their employers," and found the "grossest
ignorance prevailing;" but on religious subjects they were generally
better informed, when they knew anything, than any other subject. He issued a
circular letter to various persons in the county, containing 11 questions,
mostly referring to education and morals, one of which was —
Is the Enghsh language gaining ground; and is it desirable that it should be
better taught, and if so, for what reason?
I make bold to give my reader extracts from the replies which reflect in some
degree the state of mind of influential persons in Monmouthshire at that
time, but apparently they mostly belonged to the Episcopalians, so that we
are somewhat at a loss to know in what light the mass of the population were
regarded by educated persons of other persuasions.
E. H. Phillips, M.D., of Pontypool, says- It is impossible to think of the
social and pohtical conduct of the people without alarm. Their dissolute
habits, their recklessness of living, their contempt for authority, their
"speaking evil of dignities," must, if unchecked, bring on a state
of things in this country which it is frightful to contemplate. I would not
needlessly make invidious remarks, but I cannot help observing that much of
that turbulent insubordination, and that haughty independence which spurns
control, manifested by the people, may be
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CHAP, ni.] HER LANGUAGE. 95
attributed to the violent and inflammatory harangues which they often hear
from platforms and pulpits of dissenters, (do., p. 400.) One of the reasons Dr.
P. alleges why English should prevail more than than at present is that —
It would extend the influence and power of the Established Church, because it
would remove the cause of complaint on the part of many "Welsh persons
that they cannot get Welsh exclusively in the Establishment, which they
forsake for Dissent, where this exclusiveness is generally found; and
consequent upon this would be the general improvement of the people in due
deference to their superiors and respect for the law of the land, (do., p.
401.)
This is followed by a short laudation of the "more peaceful and
submissive character of the lower orders," who are members of the Church
of England, over those of other sects.
The author of this book never had any personal acquaintance with Dr. PhiUips.
At the time in which he wrote, English was the prevailing language at
Pontypool, as is proved by the fact that within a few years afterwards, say
1860, Welsh was abandoned in the dissenting pulpits of the town, and its use
has only quite recently been resumed. It is however doubtful whether the
mother-church has correspondingly extended her "power and
influence." Of course the reader will recollect that the terms
"turbulentinsubordination," "haughtyindependence,"
"inflammatory harangues from the pulpits of dissenters," were
written before there was a local Daily Press to pass its comments. Whatever
the character of the Daily Press is, and I will not venture to stand as its
apologist, it certainly would not be behindhand in giving Dr. Phillips an
amply sufficient audience, even if one not much inclined to enter into the
state of "alarm" in which he foimd himself.
Owen PhiUips, Pontnewydd, speaks of great ignorance among the poor, chiefly
those from Gloucester and Somerset,
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96 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
and of the natives of the Principality, being for the most part tolerably
well informed, especially in religious subjects.
Jas. Hughes, Rector of Llanhilleth, writes from the point of view of the
semi-educated Welsh Episcopalian with whom his own language is a
"nuisance."
The English language is gaining ground but very imperceptibly. As the Welsh
language has no valuable writings, either in prose or poetry, and as the
Welsh people have not one single interest unconnected with the English, I
consider the language to be a nuisance and an obstacle, both to the
administration of the law, and to the cause of religion, imposing on pastors
a double degree of work (or duty), by their having the Welsh and the English
por-tion of the community to attend to.
He hoAvever speaks very plainly on the extremely harmful custom of agents of
works keeping pubKc houses, where the men are expected to spend their earnings.
Again —
I have met with Welsh cottagers capable of arguing on the most abstruse
theological points, and taking them as a whole, they are very well acquainted
with the Bible; but the Welsh have absolutely a distaste for any other kind
of reading. Seldom will you see a Welshman reading a newspaper, but he reads
with unusual fondness such publications as extol his rehgious party or expose
theiaihngs of those sects to which he does not belong. This fondness for
divinity subjects, to the exclusion of all secular knowledge, I ascribe in a
great measure to the absence of day-schools, which were nowhere to be seen in
Wales until of late years..
I>id it never occur to Jas. Hughes, and to others who have made similar
remarks that if some secular instruction were imparted in Welsh it would
naturally open the way for the acq uirement of secular knowledge? He may have
been a, well-meaning tna,n^ though it seepis he was in the habit of .putting
on green spectacles when he looked at his countrymen, i
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[chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 97
Let not my English readers go away with the idea that Welshmen do not read
newspapers; they do, probably much more in proportion than Englishmen out of
large towns. I speak of vernacular papers, though there is now a considerable
coexistent circulation of English papers including much trash, especially in
South Wales. As to the language having no "valuable writings," and
being a "nuisance," it is scarcely necessary to say that such
statements, and from such a quarter, should be met by a sufficiently
prominent warning, — "Beware of the dog."
The Incumbent of Trevethin writes, —
One need only read the Welsh publications to be convinced of the non-utility
of the language for any practical purpose whatever, religious, or commercial,
and the sooner it becomes dead the better for the people.
How could it be of religious use when the country was swarming with
Dissenters, who disseminated their schismatic principles by means of it,
when, for some unexplained reason, the people took more kindly to them than
to the holder of the Episcopal crook? How could it be of political use when
it had not long before been proved that it was a stepping stone for
"noisy demagogues" to get the ear of the people? As for commerce,
Welsh was not much used therein, and therefore one did not need to read the
periodicals to be satisfied of the fact.
Augustus Morgan, Rector of Machen, considered it very desirable that English
should supersede Welsh for three reasons. 1. So that judge, counsel, and
jury, in law courts may not be dependent on an interpreter. 2. To insure a
more regular attendance of the rising generation in "parish
churches." 3. Because revolutionary meetings had been held in Welsh, so
that their proceedings might not be discovered.
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98 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. ILL
In the winding-up of this Report, the following outspoken paragraph occurs, indicating
the judgment of the Commissioner, that this tax on wages as the only method
of providing educational funds was an unhealthy one: —
The fierce struggle of interests (believed to be adverse) is ever present,
fomenting envy, bitterness, malice, and all the inhumanities of hatred. It
pervades the entire conception of the relation between labour and capital.
There is, therefore, no confidence in the class through whose medium the
remedy should be administered; nor are they inclined to administer it by
other means than a tax on wages, which renders it repulsive to the
recipients, whose sympathy and appreciation it is so essential to secure. No
effective, voluntary efforts on the part of the people to obtain sound
education can be expected whilst they are too ignorant to value it; nor will
any voluntary exertion be made by those who can so well afford it, whilst
that feeling prevails among the majority of the employers of labour which it
has been my painful duty to develop and attest.
So much for the work of the three Commissioners and their reports, which
displayed undoubted ability, and on the whole a desire to conscientiously
fulfil their duties.
As far as the writer is aware, those portions of the reports which dealt
mainly with education, did not call forth any great degree of comment in
Wales. The Welsh people were generally aware of their deficiencies, and glad
to have them rectified, but were unable, from various reasons, to oppose
intelligent criticism to such of their conclusions as appear to have been
other that the fruit of a well balanced, well informed judgment, though it
will be seen that these weak points were not wholly unnoticed.
What was however keenly resented, was the very strong language used in each
report on the moral character of the people. As to whether or not this
judgment was formed on evidence arriving from prejudiced sources I will not
take upon
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GHAP. m.] HER LANGUAGE. 99
me to decide. It is however quite clear that in some parts of the country
customs prevailed which had an exceedingly deleterious effect on the people.
In the Traeihodydd for 1850 Lewis Edwards, of Bala (father of the present
Principal T. C. Edwards), dealt with the subject calmly and clearly.
He said, "We cannot do less than express our conviction that the reports
of the visitors should get a greater hearing than they have done. It was
natural and proper to turn from the misleading descriptions they gave, but in
the zeal to disprove untruth, the truth that they contained has been too much
overlooked."
Quite of another spirit was the stinging lampoon of leuan Gwynedd, which
appeared in the Almanac y Cymry, 1849, published by John Cassell. He there
describes the commotion caused by the books of the "Three Spies."
Mae'r wlad jn llawn o ddwndwr.
A chodwyd fi drwy cynwr'; Ac achwyniadau sydd heb ri'
Ar lyfrau tri Tsbi'wyr.
He then alludes to the clerical informants of the "Spies,"
"who (Balaam like) taught them — the Commissioners — to run us down''
(diraddio).
T gwjr mewn dillad duon, A elwir offeiriadon,
A'u dysgent i'n diraddio am (Pel Balaam) Iwgr wobrwyon.
How thoroughly Welsh it is to drag in a Scripture simile when possible. The
ParUamept he gives credit for picking out "sharp lawyers" for the
work.
Anfonodd dri Tsbiwr,
Fob un yn llwm gyf reithiwr;
A'r tri yn Saeson uchel ben, I Grymru wen mewn fEwndwr.
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100 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [OHAP. III.
Y tri w^r awdurdodol
A aent mewn brys rhyf eddol,
I gasglu pob budreddi cas
Tn llyfrau glas anferthol. * * * *
Ar ol eu cael yn gryno, Hwy aethent oil i lunio
Ehyw dri o lyfrau gleision hyll, "Wnant yn mhob dull ein beio.
The four bishops are touched oflF in a verse each. Here is the long-headed
Connop Thirlwall {call is scarcely translatable by any one word in English)
advising a Government grant from Sioni (Lord John Russell), which leuan fears
will be for the purpose of "buying" over the children. Mae Esgob
call Tyddewi Yn dweyd mai callach tewi,
Ac ail ymdrechu prynu'r plant Drwy geisio grant gan Sioni.
leuan treats with biting sarcasm the charge brought by the Commissioners
against the morals of the people, but the impartial reader will find that the
evidence was of far too decided a character in each of the three reports to
leave room to doubt that in some country districts, away from the polluting
influence of large industrial centres, with their unsettled populations, the
standard of popular feeling with regard to chastity was a low one, though at
the same time the Methodists, and other religious bodies, had endeavoured to
purify the atmosphere, evidently with some success. It is certain, as shewn
before, that statistics failed to substantiate the imputation that
Welsh-Wales was worse than England, and we cannot but feel that R. W. Lingen,
in particular, made one or two unjustifiable remarks when dealing with the
matter.
In Volume II. of Yr Adolygydd, a quarterly periodical for
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CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 101
"November," 1851, appeared an excellent article on "Anmweir-
deb" (unchastity), dealing in very plain, and yet not too plain.
terms with the subject. Probably the Commissioners' report
had called the writer's attention to the subject. He ends with
this beautiful and metaphorical language, after calling on his
countrymen to sound the trumpet of war against the evU* —
Os rhaid arloesi anialwch, codi pantiau, palu mynyddoedd, sychu
corsydd, a holiti creigiau, na ddigalonwch, mae Duw o'ch plaid.
Os parhewch i fed yn fEyddlon, cewch. weled eich gwlad wedi ei
gwaredu, eich cenedl wedi ei phuro, a'ch mabonau yn rhodio yn
rhydd. Pan waredir Cymru oddiwrth y gelyn mawr hwn, dawnsia
ei mynyddoedd gan lawenydd, llama ei bryniau gan orfoledd, a
chura ei choedwigoedd eu dwylaw gan falchder. Pryd hyn bydd
gorfoledd ar y ddaear, a Uawenydd yn y nef .
We must not dismiss without further notice the hostile
criticism oflFered to the Reports by Sir Thos. Phillips, then a
barrister in London, who published in 1849 a volume entitled
"Wales: the language, social condition, moral character, and
religious opinions of the people, considered in their relation to
Education." He writes from the Episcopalian standpoint,
mildly chiding some of the shortcomings of that church in
Wales, and apologising, as it were, for the existence of Dissent,
with which he was not wanting in sympathy.
He desires teachers for his own denomination, who will
"train up the young of her flock in accordance with the solemn
vow, promise, and profession made for each of them when
they were grafted into the body of Christ's Church," (he
evidently thinks the "graftmg" took place when a little water
* If you have to clear the wilderness ground, raise the valleys, lay low the
mountains, dry up the bogs, rend the rocks, be not discouraged, God is on
your side. IE you continue to be faithful, you will see your country
delivered, your nation purified, and your sons walking free. When Wales is
delivered from this great enemy, her mountains will dance for joy, her hills
will leap vnth rejoicing, and her forests will clap their hands for gladness.
Then there will be praise on earth and joy in heaven.
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102 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. CHAP. III.]
was sprinkled on the child's face), and quotes Archdeacon
Williams: —
The parish schoolroom is now the battle-field of the Church; and within, its
walls must he decided the share of influence which
she is to exercise over the hearts and affections of the next
generation. Her influence, her very existence as an estahUshment,
are at stake: they must be won or lost upon this cast.
I refrain from quoting more, but the assumption of the Archdeacon in the next
sentence, that the spread of true religion is at stake in this matter, is
astounding.
Sir Thos. Phillips did not unite with the attitude of the Report towards the
Welsh language. He says in his Preface —
The opinions expressed by the Commissioners on the language of the country,
to which they attribute injurious influences on the character and condition
of the people, have provoked much controversy, and are opposed to the views
of competent judges. And he thus alludes to the statement as to moral
character —
Such imputations, instead of being cast at random in public Reports, whjch,
from their character, give force and poignancy to the charge, should be
conveyed in language carefuUy \\'eighed, and strictly hmited by the extent
and character of the evil. When indiscriminately scattered abroad, they
excite a strong sense of injustice.
It is the admission of men, who have traveUed far and seen much, that in no
country have they found women of greater gentleness and interest than the
peasant girls of Wales.
Owing in good degree to the efifoi'ts of Su- T. P., the Committee of Council
on Education, made an important concession to Wales in 1849, by allowing a
good and systematic knowledge of Welsh to be accepted in pupil teachers'
examinations in lieu of two subjects, and a less perfect knowledge in lieu of
one subject oiily.
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CHAP, III. J HER LANGUAGE. 103
Shortly after, however, R. W. Lingen, was appointed Secretary to the
Committee, and whether from this cause or from the lack of facilities,
whereby pupil teachers were able to attain this "good and systematic
knowledge," or from any other reason it was not much acted on, and many
years ago the privilege was abolished, which were it revived now, could much
more easily be made available on account of the great increase of Welsh
educational books.
There is additional evidence that elementary education was in a most
neglected state, not merely in Wales but also in England, if not
contemporaneously with the visit of the Commissioners, only some seven years
before.
The following paragraph from the introduction of Gibbs and Edwards'
"Code of 1876," summarizes the state of things in England and Wales
prior to 1839: —
Good schools were few and far between, the school houses were often squalid,
with miserable furniture, few books, and scarcely any other school
appliances. The attendance of the children was irregular, their attainments
were wretched. The teachers were often ignorant adventurers, who had adopted
the profession when they had proved their utter incompetency for any other
calling, while those who possessed any knowledge were ignorant of good
methods of imparting it. Eiot and disorder were kept under only by the most
savage discipline."
In 1839, Government grants were first made to assist in the erection of
schools. In 1843 they were extended towards the purchase of apparatus and the
erection of training schools for teachers. In 1846, the year of the
appointment of the Welsh Commissioners, in order to assist in keeping up a
body of efficient teachers, provision was made for the augmentation by
Government of the salary paid by managers to teachers who had obtained by
examination a certificate of merit, and whose schools were well reported
annually by Inspectors, and where satisfaction was also given to the managers
themselves.
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104 WALES AND [HER LANGUAGE]. [CHAP. III.
In 1853 and 1856, Capitation Grants were made, by which from six shillings to
four shillings were paid per head for each child under certain conditions.
The result of these successive educational advances was such a change over
the face of the country that when W. E. Forster's Act of 1870 was passed with
Compulsory Education in its train, there was no short and sharp transition
between such destitution as had existed only 30 years before that, and the
completed system we see in form to day. I say complete with regard to its
exterior mechanism, as to the completeness of the results, I will here
abstain from expressing an opinion.
As regards Wales, in particular, there are not many facts to add, but having
noticed an article in Yr Adolygydd, for 1851, which appeared to indicate that
the period of inefficient teachers had then passed away, I wrote to Wm.
Williams, M.A., Chief Inspector for Wales, who has kindly sent a
communication, from which I extract the following: —
I have a slight recoUection of the article to which you refer in Yr Adolygydd
on " Yr Ysgol/eistr fel y mae," and I may say confidently that it
could refer to only a comparatively small number of teachers, i.e., to the
few teachers who had been trained between 1846 and 1851, at the British and
Foreign Training College, Borough Eoad; the National Society's Training
College, at Battersea; the Normal College started at Brecon, about the
beginning of 1846, removed to Swansea in 1848, and conducted by the late Dr.
Evan Davies, who was the author of the articles in Adolygydd, and possibly a
few trained in Scotland.
The number of Church and National Schools in Wales increased, comparatively
rapidly, from 1846 or '47, and this was due to several causes. The grants
towards the erection of schools were from about this time increased and were
very Uberal, amounting, I believe, to about 40 per cent., and as the value of
school sites, which were often given, and the cost of haulage often done
without
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[OHAP. III. HER LANGUAGE. 105
pay, could also be counted in the expenses, the grant in many cases amounted to
probably 50 per cent of the actual money spent.
During this time Dr. Davies, of the Normal College, Swansea, and some of the
leading Nonconformists in South Wales (like the late David Rees, of
Llanelly), were opposed in toto to receiving grants towards the erection or
maintenance of schools, and this greatly retarded for a time the spread of
British and undenominational schools, and allowed the ground to be covered by
Church schools. The Nonconformists of South Wales subsequently decided to
accept grants, and British Schools spread comparatively fast from about 1855
to 1870, whilst a considerable number of the Church Schools fell into a state
of inefficiency, or were closed.
By 1870 accommodation had been provided in Wales for probably from one-third to
one-half of the population, but this was very unevenly distributed, and there
were large tracts of country with no efficient school in them.
By what precedes it will be seen that the advancement of Welsh and English
education was nearly collateral, and to ascribe the backward state of the
former to the deleterious effects of the Welsh language, in spite of the
strange adventures of the tri wyr awdurdodol, is an unfair inference.
For another generation, however, the people of Wales ignored secular education
in Welsh, hoping that they might thereby learn English better,
notwithstanding the more enlightened views of some of their leading men; and
the Government ignored it both with that mistaken notion, and with the
additional hope, there is ground to believe, of shortly effecting a
linguistic bouleversement in the country. Just as Llewelyn ap Gruflfydd's
head was welcomed outside the Tower of London with savage delight, so there
have not been wanting men of position who would hail with satisfaction a bulletin
conveying intelligence of the last expiring groans of the language spoken by
that ancestor of our present Sovereign.
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Statistics for
Welsh Texts Section / Ystadegau’r Adran Destunau Cymraeg