11-13-2005, 07:25 AM
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#24 (permalink)
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Location: York, England
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Survival of the Welsh Language: Part VII
In Chambers' Edinburgh Journal (vol 2, 1849), there is an entry that shows the prevalence of attitudes towards "native languages" in other parts of Britain as well as Wales: That until the middle of the nineteenth century the Celtic tongue in its varieties of Gaelic, Welsh, Irish and Manx, should be employed as a vernacular, is a matter not less of surprise than of national discredit . . . No thought appears to have been bestowed on the fact that large masses of the population were isolated from general progress on account of their inability to speak English The great Welsh industrialist David Davies of Llandinam expressed similar concerns. In a speech at the National Eisteddfod, Aberystwyth, in 1865 (long before the all-Welsh rule was established), he said: I am a great admirer of the Welsh language, and I have no sympathy with those who revile it. Still, I have seen enough of the world to know that the best medium to make money is by the English language. I want to advise everyone of my countrymen to master it perfectly; if you are content with brown bread, you can of course, remain where you are. If you wish to enjoy the luxuries of life, with white bread to boot, the only way to do so is by learning English well. I know what it is to eat both In the same year, in a speech to the Congregational Union, Welshman Griffith Richards stated: It would be an enormous advantage to the Welsh and to the English if the Welsh language became extinct before tomorrow morning and the Welsh became absorbed into the English nation The situation was not universally applauded; there were those such as Thomas Price, speaking before the Congregational Union in the same year, who deplored what he saw happening to the language and to his people: Englishmen, English capital and enterprise, English customs, and unhappily English vices, are rushing in upon us like mighty irresistible torrents carrying away before them our ancient language, social habits, and even our religious customs and influence over the masses H.L. Spring also commented wistfully on the situation: Had the mineral wealth of the principality been discovered by the natives, and could it have been properly put to use before they were subdued to English rule, they might have preserved their language and have been the foremost amongst British subjects in wealth, manufactures and arts; but as the English have, through Providence means of opening out her resources, it is plain that the English element must universally prevail. (H.L. Spring, Lady Cambria 1867) In Caernarfon, Gwynedd, an area still predominantly Welsh-speaking in the 1990's, there is a high school named after Sir Hugh Owen, a pioneer in education in Wales. Owen's untiring efforts to secure a university for Wales led to a commission to promote the idea in 1854, the university itself to be established through voluntary contributions. Owen's pleas to the government for financial help were unheeded, and it was public subscription that brought to fruition the old dream of Owain Glyndwr. In 1872 Aberystwyth University opened its doors to twenty-six students in a very impressive building on the seafront designed as a hotel, but which was fortunately vacant at the time. For the first few years of its existence, the college depended greatly on voluntary contributions from the nonconformist chapels, but it attracted many who would come to have profound influence on the culture of their nation. In so many areas it provided the foundations that led to the national revival of Wales in the late 1890's.
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