Cymro a'r Celt Llundain

DR. MACNAMARA AND WALES. In his address to the members of the London Welsh Union of Literary Societies on Saturday, March 16th, at Jewin Chapel, Dr. Macnamara paid a high tribute to our zeal for education. Being the eve of St. Patrick," he said, I am very pleased to be here among you, a Celt amongst Celts. As an Irishman I have a great deal in common with you, the people of Wales; and I appre- ciate all your enthusiasm for the cultivation of your language, music, and national feel- ing. I may be permitted to go further and say that I am not only among Welshmen, but that I am not far from being a Welsh M.P. You can reason it out for yourselves. When the ancient Britons came over here under King Brut he gave the western portion of the country to his son Camber, and the legend says that the country has been called Cambria ever since. Further, it is stated that the sacred well in the neighbourhood of Old Kent Road, called Camberwell, was also his possession, and as I represent that division in Parliament it does not take an amount of logic to state that I represent a Welsh constituency. (Laughter.) I have always had a great regard for the educational zeal of Wales, and as a proof of it have sent my only daughter to Aberystwyth College, because I knew she would be among,'friends, and am pleased to say that she is already quite at home there, thanks to the interest of Mrs. Tom Ellis and others. Many years ago I myself was honoured on a visit to that country by being created Eos Tydnl after giving a pong at the Gorsedd in Merthyr. Had I stuck to music after that, honour was conferred upon me, I might, by this time, be filling an honoured position in a back row of a chorus company, instead of endeavouring to deliver speeches from the front bench of the House of Commons. There is one remarkable fact about Wales, that for so small a people, you have succeeded in producing a large proportion of great men of thought. You commenced by producing a patron Saint of your own. All the other nationalities had to seek elsewhere for their Saints. St. George never set foot on merry England, St. Patrick was born in Scotland, of Welsh parentage, and St. Andrew never saw the country he was the patron of. Tradition says he was a Jew, and that ex- plains a great deal. (Laughter.) Wales gave England the Tudor dynasty, the most successful of all periods in its history, and it has produced many heroes from Owen Glyndwr to Picton, and poets from Goronwy Owen to Ceiriog and Islwyn not to mention Die Aberdaron, missionaries like John Williams, and dreamers like Robert Owen. Every day I see the effect of one of your noble sons-the late Sir Hugh Owen, in the department I have to deal with. I have been greatly struck with the Welsh character, by the entire absence of snobbishness. The Welsh are thoroughly democratic, and seem to feel more proud that a great man or poet has risen from the democracy, than if he were the son of a lord or a duke. Even your literature prove that, and is emphasised in the old motto, Trech gwlad nac Arglwydd," and out of this zeal for demo- cracy in Wales has sprung the zeal for education. Goreu arf, arf dysg," is a splendid motto, and fully represents the belief of the Welsh in the power of educa- tion. The country shows its faith in it, too, for when we look at figures, we find that while rich England spends only 7d. in the £ on its schools, and Scotland, with all its boast, 9-id., Wales goes so far as to spend Is. 2 in the £ it has been a good expenditure. Another proof of this is the sum per head these three nations spend on the training of its young, England 3s., Scotland 4s. 10id., 2 and Wales 5s. 9d., or nearly double that of England As for Welsh enthusiasm for Higher Education, I could not speak with too much eulogy. You are only 17 years old, but you have already provided a system of Secondary Schools, which will, bear comparison with the very best in the civilized world. When I look at it, I marvel at the rapidity of growth and efficiency of the schools, and all is due to the Welsh enthusiasm for education. You have already 9284 pupils in the Secondary Schools, of which eighty per cent. have come from the Elementary Schools, and that is a problem that will require your care and attention. As the Elementary Schools provide four out of every five of your higher pupils you will have to see that the founda- tion of your system is properly laid. During the last few years I regret to say that the Elementary system has been sadly neglected, and is suffering to-day from these terrible sectarian troubles. It is time that these squabbles be brought to an end, and I hope that a truth of God will fall 'on their un- happy position ere many months are past. When your new council is properly at work and these sectarian differences are overcome, you will have every reason to be proud of the future condition of your country and of your youth. Nay the Empire itself will be proud of it, for the best asset of Britain to-day is its cultivated youth, and the fertile and resourceful brain of an educated Celt, whether he be Irish or Welsh.