The London Welshman

MR. LLOYD=GEORGE ON THE WELSH NATIONAL POLICY. Mr. D. Lloyd-George, M.P., visited Barry on Saturday last and addressed two crowded meet- ings in connection with the Welsh national policy, and the development in reference to the local Roman Catholic School. He was re- peatedly and enthusiastically cheered on rising to address the gathering, and announced at the outset that he had come to Barry in support of the Welsh national policy, and, at the same time, to support the candidature of Mr. W. Brace, whom he had known for some years, and would welcome as an acquisition and a source of strength to the Labour party in the House of Commons. When would they have an oppor- tunity to exercise their choice ? The Govern- ment were in no hurry to ask their opinion. It was wonderful the amount of mental resource which even a man of average capacity possessed when he wanted to find reasons for putting off unpleasant operations. He never thought there were so many clever men in the Ministry until he noticed their numerous expedients and excuses for continuing in office, but he was not surprised that they were not anxious to go to the country. The weather was rather bad, and although the ship was sinking they could not pluck up courage to take to the boats. Mr. Chamberlain the other day said in the House of Commons, In my judgment there ought to be an immediate dissolution." They would take almost anything from Mr. Chamberlain. If he said to them, "Tax food," they cried, "First rate." If he said, "Let's have war," they said Capital notion "-and if anybody contradicted him they would fling a brickbat at him, and a good many brickbats. If he said, "Let's have more taxes," they said, A grand idea," but the moment he said Dissolution," they said, "Ah, not that." Still, even there a time would come. They might have to wait a little longer, but the longer they waited the heavier the reckoning. It might be even two years, but when it came the country would pronounce a verdict upon this Govern- ment that would be a warning to all future Governments of the same character not to play tricks like this Government had played upon the people of this country. The Education Act was undoubtedly a trick practised upon the electors of this country. In the election five years ago Conservatives went about the country saying the sole issue was the war, and that Nonconformists and Liberals could vote for them without con- travening the slightest principle. Mr. Chamber- lain said that the sole issue was the war, and Nonconformists and Liberals voted for the Government on that assumption. The Govern- ment got their. majority on that explicit under- standing, and used it for the promotion of the sectional interests of their own party, and this Act was one of the worst instances of their breach of faith. Now that the Act had been passed the question was what should be done? In this country there were two sets of schools. At Barry the first, and luckily more numerous, set were such as they had in France, the United States, and the Colonies, and those who talked about the people of the Colonies being so much wiser than themselves ought to be reminded now and again of the educational system of the Colonies. It was a system of perfect equality, in which the children were not catalogued according to the church or chapel they attended. And any man who, when considering a teacher's qualifications asked a teacher his religious belief was breaking the law. Everybody was called upon to contribute towards these schools, and as there was equality in contribution there was equality in treatment. The second class of schools were managed by one sect-maybe, as in Barry, Roman Catholic, and as in Merioneth- shire, Anglican. He was not attacking any particular sect's schools, for he was there to fight what he regarded as A Vicious Principle. in public life. In these schools before you could become a foundation manager, you had to say that you were a member of a particular communion, yet what on earth had that to do with the management of a public school? The same thing applied to the teachers, and there were 14,000 teacherships in England and Wales only open to members of either the Roman Catholic or Anglican communion, notwithstand- ing the fact that they were all paid with public money. If the rate collector who knocked at the door asked the occupier his religious belief and imposed the taxes accordingly, he would not say a word. If there were no test on the rate book there should be none in public appointments either. This was not a squabble, as some* thought, between rival religious denomi- nations. In this matter he laid down a pro- position which he was prepared to see contro- verted by anyone present, and which he was prepared to maintain, viz. there is no country in this Empire which is freer from bigotry than Wales. Wales, on the whole, was Conservative until the year 1868, when it became overwhelm- ingly Liberal. What made it Liberal? The fight for religious equality for the Catholics of Ireland. In 1880 Wales returned an over- whelming preponderance of Liberals fighting for freedom for the Greek Church in the East, for men whose religious doctrines most Welshmen probably abhorred. The most remarkable example of all-and he asked his Irish Catholic friends to bear this in mind—was in the year 1886. In 1885 Wales returned a Liberal majority largely to secure Disestablishment for Wales, but when Mr. Gladstone introduced his Home Rule Bill Wales gave up the question upon which she had set her heart—Disestablishment— in order to fight for the redress of a greater grievance of a race that embraced a religion that was not her own. That was not the action of a nation of bigots. That was the nation that was now standing for the same principle, and said, "As we fought for religious freedom for the Catholics in Ireland we demand the same for our own faith." They asked for nothing more. At Barry there was going on a part of the Great National Struggle. They were not going to apply the whole of the resources of Welsh nationalism and the resources of friends in England-and they had millions of them-in order to merely persecute a little school in Barry. A system which began to segregate them and create caste as in India- whether it was religious, social, or political caste- and train children at the beginning in a sort of Chinese compound, with a clerical overseer to look after them to see that they did not mix up with anyone else, was a bad, vicious system. The first duty of the State should be to obtain the co-operation of all classes and creeds, and thus make them better citizens. If this prin- ciple were applied to the workshop as well as the school, what would be the result? Trade unions would have something to say on that. Then the objection was raised Don't Catholics and Church people pay rates ? If they pay rates why shouldn't they have their schools ? You have got yours." Where were theirs ? As Nonconformists they were supposed to be lumped together as if their different dogmas were of no account. Nonconformists sank their individual differences in order to arrive at a common standard and get one common school. They had no more right to require the State to teach their own religious dogmas than they had to demand State teaching of their political con- victions. The councils dare not attempt to trample on the consciences of even the smallest sect in the land. In these denominational schools, however, dogmas were taught which were an offence to all the other sects in the country. The demand that the State should pay for religious dogmatic teaching was extra- ordinary. It would be equally just to demand that the State should teach only a particular side to history, and allow Socialists and Anar- chists to set up schools for little Socialists and Anarchists. The Agapemonites, if they had thirty scholars, could set up a school-in fact, there was no limit to the question of State support to the teaching of religious doctrine-

dwyn cyfleusderau goreu addysg i gyrhaedd y werin, a chredai yr un mor angerddol y dylai y werin ei hun aberthu er mwyn hynny. Teithiodd i gyfarfodydd bychain a mawrion yn Sir Gaer- narfon a Sir Fon a rhanau eraill o Ogledd Cymru, drwy bob math o dywydd, ar bob oriau o'r dydd a'r nos, a byddai yr un mor feddylgar a hyawdl wrth anerch hanner dwsin o ffermwyr yn Lleyn a phan yn anerch llond neuadd o fasnachwyr Caernarfon neu Llandudno Iddo ef yn benaf oil yr ydym yn ddyledus am sicrhau hen Ysgol Ramadegol Bottwnog yn eiddo i'r genedl. Yn ystod ei arosiad ym Mangor hefyd yr ysgrifenodd ei Lyfr ar Browning, Ilyfr a dynodd sylw anghyffredin, ac a sicrhaodd i'w awdwr le ym mysg awduron penaf ei oes. Sicrhaodd poblogrwydd personol iddo ddarlleniad dyfal gan bob Cymro deallus a diau iddo arwain lliaws o feddyliau i edrych ar bethau mewn goleuni gwahanol i'r hyn yr edrychent arnynt o'r blaen. Mae ei effaith yn amlwg ar ein pregethu a'n barddoniaeth. Llyfr Henry Jones yn fwy na dim arall gynyrchodd y bardd newydd yng Nghymru, y bardd y ceir cymaint o wahanol syniadau yn ei gylch. Ond ni ddiangodd yr awdwr heb gyfarfod tynged pob un sy'n arwain cenedl i diriogaethau newyddion. Codwyd y gri ei fod yn anuniongred ac yn gyfeiliornwr. Ni wnaeth ef unrhyw sylw o'r enllib- ion hyn, ac eto nid ydym heb gredu iddo eu teimlo yn ddwys. Ni bu calon fwy defosiynol a phur erioed na chalon Henry Jones. Na feddylier i werin Cymru golli ei chariad ato; personau hwnt ac yma a'i herlidient. Ni wyddom a fu rhywbeth a fynai yr erlidiau hynny a pheri iddo adael Cymru neu beidio, ond er galar i filoedd, ac er colled anrhaethol i ddadblygiad y genedl ym mhob cyfeiriad, Dychwelodd i Ysgotland Pennodwyd ef i Gadair Athroniaeth Foesol yn Aberdeen yn 1891; acyn 1894, pan appwyntiwyd Edward Caird i lenwi lie y diweddar Jowett fel meistr Coleg Baliol yn Rhydychain, dewiswyd Henry Jones, mab Elias Jones, y crydd, o Lan- gernyw, i fod yn olynydd ei hen athraw yng Nghadair Athroniaeth ym Mhrifysgol Glasgow. Yno g werthfawrogir ef gan bawb yn ddiwahaniaeth. Edrychir arno fel ail Henry Drummond. Bob nos Sul traddoda bregeth neu ddarlith leygol yn ymdrin a pherthynas Cristionogaeth a Gwydd- oniaeth, Llenyddiaeth, Barddoniaeth, &c., a llenwir y neuadd bob tro gan dorf o ddynion ieuainc mwyaf goleuedig a deallus y Brifysgol a'r ddinas. Heddyw, anwyla Cymru ef yn fwy nag y gwnaeth erioed, a chredwn fod ei gariad yntau ati yn parhau yr un mor angerddol a chynt, serch na chafodd ganddi y cyfleusdra hwnnw i'w gwasanaethu y dyheai ei galon am dano.