The latest Blog by Jac O' the North should be read everyone interested in Welsh Politics.
You don't have to agree with him entirely (I certainly don't )but much of his research is valid).
Its his conclusion that I have a problem with.
But from the very start of a Welsh Identity in modern politics the Cause of Wales was party of a World view.
This from the Peace Pledge Union website
There is much more however ,
He was Less well known for his anti-slavery work and unable to support the American Civil War as an appropriate means to end slavery, Henry Richard was nevertheless respected in this field. Indeed, a few weeks after his death, the Anti-Slavery Society, now Anti-Slavery International, published an obituary in their journal, The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigine's Friend.
And maybe he was right and if the American Civil war had not happened (and it was not initially about slavery) then Slavery would have ended din America without the legacy of racism and segregation which still exists in the US.
Even before his his election for Merthyr in 1868 has become active in the cause pf Wales and d become known as one of the foremost nonconformists in the House of Commons. Here he was a leading member of the party which advocated the removal of Nonconformist grievances and the disestablishment of the church in Wales.He fought for the Disestablishment of the Church of England inn Wales and was Prominent in the controversy of "The Treachery of the Blue Books" ( Brad y Llyfrau Gleision)
Which was the name given in Wales to the Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales published in 1847. The term Brad y Llyfrau Gleision was coined by the author Robert Jones Derfel in response to the Reports' publication.
The public inquiry was carried out as a result of pressure from William Williams, Radical MP for Coventry, who was himself a Welshman by birth and was concerned about the state of education in Wales. The enquiry was carried out by three English commissioners, R. R. W. Lingen, Jellynger C. Symons and H. R. Vaughan Johnson. The commissioners visited every part of Wales during 1846, collecting evidence and statistics. However, they spoke no Welsh and relied on information from witnesses, many of them Anglican clergymen at a time when Wales was a stronghold of nonconformism.
The work was completed by 3 April 1847, and Lingen presented his report to the Government on 1 July of that year in three large blue-covered volumes ("blue books" being a widely used term for all kinds of parliamentary reports). The report was detailed.
It concluded that schools in Wales were extremely inadequate, often with teachers speaking only English and using only English textbooks in areas where the children spoke only Welsh, and that Welsh-speakers had to rely on the Nonconformist Sunday Schools to acquire literacy. But it also concluded that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral, and that among the causes of this were the use of the Welsh language and nonconformity. This resulted in a furious reaction in Wales, led by Robert Jones Derfel, a bard, whose book-length response, Brad y llyfrau gleision was published in 1854 by I. Clarke in Ruthin; it had no immediate political consequences, although it was instrumental in the birth of the modern Welsh self-government movement. A measure of the anger aroused by the report in Wales is the subtitle Brad y Llyfrau Gleision. It is a reference to the infamous "Treachery of the Long Knives" when, according to Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Saxons began their campaign of conquest against the native Britons.
Critics such as the Rev Evan Jones (Ieuan Gwynedd), Rev William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), Rev Thomas Price and the Henry Richard and thegained wide publicity for their trenchant criticisms of the reports. Over time these criticisms evolved into an organised political action, which culminated at the General Election of 1868 which saw Henry Richard elected to the House of Commons.
It would be wrong to say Henry Richard was a Welsh Nationalist but I would like to think that his Progressive mixture of being the first MP to "Stand Up for Wales" and abolitionism and particularly the promotio0n of peace is the political legacy though of us who call for Welsh Independence should continue.
You don't have to agree with him entirely (I certainly don't )but much of his research is valid).
Its his conclusion that I have a problem with.
To understand Plaid Cymru you need to know that Plaid today is a bound-for-oblivion alliance of a socially conservative rural grass-roots with a leadership stratum made up of ‘progressives’ fighting UK-wide or even global battles against the forces of darkness.
While Trump is president, Brexit looms, the globe warms, the right marches in Freedonia, and Wales lacks transgender toilets in every coffee shop, Wales is too small and too poor to interest such ‘progressives’.
But from the very start of a Welsh Identity in modern politics the Cause of Wales was party of a World view.
This from the Peace Pledge Union website
HENRY RICHARD
Henry Richard was born on 3 April 1812 in the little market town of Tregaron, near the coast of mid-Wales. The son of a Calvinistic Methodist Minister, he felt a call to the ministry, and, unusually for someone from rural Wales in those days, he went to train at a college in Highbury, north London, and then became a minister at a Congregational church in the Old Kent Road. His pastoral work made him aware of the needs of the poor, and gave him a strong interest in social reform and education for all.At that time the Napoleonic wars were a living memory, and Henry Richard become more and more concerned with the idea of international peace. In 1848 he became Secretary of the Peace Society, which had been founded in 1816 as a direct result of those wars and to try to stop such war happening again. The Peace Society was not able to stop the Crimean War, but Henry Richard did play a part in the Treaty of Paris which ended the war in 1856, so that a declaration was included saying that in future arbitration would be the best way of settling disputes rather than going to war.Because of his constant concern for peace, and his travels over Europe organising regular international conferences, or Peace Congresses, as they were known, Henry Richard became known as ‘The Apostle of Peace”. From 1868 he was able to continue his zeal for both peace and social reform inside Parliament, after he was elected MP for Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Welsh affairs had long been considered of little importance, but Henry Richard voiced the needs of the people of Wales with such strength that whilst still being the Apostle of Peace, he was also known as the ‘Member (of Parliament) for Wales’.Henry Richard died on 20 August 1888, three years after giving up his long leadership of the Peace Society, but whilst still MP. His statue in his birthplace, Tregaron, bears a quotation which sums up his belief that peace is the ultimate responsibility of ordinary people rather than governments:
‘My hope for the abatement of the war system lies in permanent conviction of the people, rather than the policies of cabinets or the discussions of parliaments.’
There is much more however ,
He was Less well known for his anti-slavery work and unable to support the American Civil War as an appropriate means to end slavery, Henry Richard was nevertheless respected in this field. Indeed, a few weeks after his death, the Anti-Slavery Society, now Anti-Slavery International, published an obituary in their journal, The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigine's Friend.
And maybe he was right and if the American Civil war had not happened (and it was not initially about slavery) then Slavery would have ended din America without the legacy of racism and segregation which still exists in the US.
Even before his his election for Merthyr in 1868 has become active in the cause pf Wales and d become known as one of the foremost nonconformists in the House of Commons. Here he was a leading member of the party which advocated the removal of Nonconformist grievances and the disestablishment of the church in Wales.He fought for the Disestablishment of the Church of England inn Wales and was Prominent in the controversy of "The Treachery of the Blue Books" ( Brad y Llyfrau Gleision)
Which was the name given in Wales to the Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales published in 1847. The term Brad y Llyfrau Gleision was coined by the author Robert Jones Derfel in response to the Reports' publication.
The public inquiry was carried out as a result of pressure from William Williams, Radical MP for Coventry, who was himself a Welshman by birth and was concerned about the state of education in Wales. The enquiry was carried out by three English commissioners, R. R. W. Lingen, Jellynger C. Symons and H. R. Vaughan Johnson. The commissioners visited every part of Wales during 1846, collecting evidence and statistics. However, they spoke no Welsh and relied on information from witnesses, many of them Anglican clergymen at a time when Wales was a stronghold of nonconformism.
The work was completed by 3 April 1847, and Lingen presented his report to the Government on 1 July of that year in three large blue-covered volumes ("blue books" being a widely used term for all kinds of parliamentary reports). The report was detailed.
It concluded that schools in Wales were extremely inadequate, often with teachers speaking only English and using only English textbooks in areas where the children spoke only Welsh, and that Welsh-speakers had to rely on the Nonconformist Sunday Schools to acquire literacy. But it also concluded that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral, and that among the causes of this were the use of the Welsh language and nonconformity. This resulted in a furious reaction in Wales, led by Robert Jones Derfel, a bard, whose book-length response, Brad y llyfrau gleision was published in 1854 by I. Clarke in Ruthin; it had no immediate political consequences, although it was instrumental in the birth of the modern Welsh self-government movement. A measure of the anger aroused by the report in Wales is the subtitle Brad y Llyfrau Gleision. It is a reference to the infamous "Treachery of the Long Knives" when, according to Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Saxons began their campaign of conquest against the native Britons.
Critics such as the Rev Evan Jones (Ieuan Gwynedd), Rev William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), Rev Thomas Price and the Henry Richard and thegained wide publicity for their trenchant criticisms of the reports. Over time these criticisms evolved into an organised political action, which culminated at the General Election of 1868 which saw Henry Richard elected to the House of Commons.
It would be wrong to say Henry Richard was a Welsh Nationalist but I would like to think that his Progressive mixture of being the first MP to "Stand Up for Wales" and abolitionism and particularly the promotio0n of peace is the political legacy though of us who call for Welsh Independence should continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment