The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-05-12 00:00:00

THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH IN WALES.

Before Sir Robert Peel quitted the office of First Lord of the
Treasury, a memorial was addressed to him from a number of
Welch clergymen on the subject of church reform.
The memorialists, after expressing their attachment to the
venerable church of which they were ministers, and their satis-
faction at that part of the King's speech which recommended
the removal of any existing abuses so as to render it more pure
and efficient, express an opinion that dissent from the church
has been occasioned, or at least materially increased, by the
appointment of bishops for the last one hundred and thirty years,
who have been ignorant of the Welch language. They est: how
the people of England would approve of the adoption of a simi-
lar course towards them ?
The memorial then proceed as follows :
In stating the grounds on which the Welch church claims the
appointment of eminent and approved Welch scholars to pro-
vide over its interests and direct its operations, we beg to sub-
mit with all possible brevity an outline of its history from the
earliest to the present time.
The ancient Britons, now represented by the Welch, received
the gospel and embraced christianity in the days of the
apostles. and had a regularly established episcopal church long
before the arrival and settlement of the Saxons in England:
For it is an historical fact, that three British or Welch bishops
were at the council of Arles, in France, in the year 314, whose
names are subscribed to that council. Several Welch bishops
subsequently attended the famous council et Nice, in the year
325; of Saralee, 3-19 ; and of Ariminum, in 359. The Saxons
arrived in England in 449, of which they dispossessed the na-
tives, and succeeded in driving them, before the close of the
sixth century, beyond the Severn and the Dee, which formed
at that time the eastern and northern boundaries of Catnbria.
Augustine, the monk, arrived from Rome to preach the corrupt
faith of that apostate church to the Saxons in England in the
sear 597, and was,consecrated archbishop of Canterbury iu 599.
In the year 602 he attempted to persuade the Welch bishops to
accept him for their archbishop, with, aeileteeto reduce the
Welch church under his own jurisdiction,: and unite it to the
church of Rome: The Welch bishops.. and clergy in convoca-
tion refused submission on two grounds i—elsat he taught doe-
trinnc i t pastor.n which to them were Crew, and ishicl. titay 6._
lieved to be unscriptural; and that they were already subject to
a metropolitan of their own,—the ,archbishop of Caerleon.
This refusal on the part of the Welch bishoeie and clergy called
forth a threat from Augustine, which was etteried into effect not
many years after in the massacre of one thousand two hundred
Welch clergy, at or near the monastery of Bangor—an event
which filled the minds of the Welch with such abhorrence of the
Ruinan catholic religion that a union • between the Welch
church, which retained its primitive purity, and the Saxon,
which was so full of the spirit and corruptions. of popery, became
from that moment hopeless and item acticablee Upon this
followed a succession of unprovoked wars against Wales, which
were carried on for .the space of four hundred years by the
Saxon kings, at the instigation of the priests, for the purpose of
subjugating by force that church which, shielded by its lofty
mountains, still maitained its independence, had formed a stub-
born exception to the universal dominion of the pope.
The first attempt to nominate strangers and men of another
language to the Welch bishoprics was made in the ninth cen-
tury, when, "on the death of Einion, Bishop of St. David's, in
S7''2 Hubert, a Saxon, was intruded." Another was made in
1089, when " Joseph, Bishop of St. David's, was deposed by
King William, and Wilfrid intruded; and a third in 1112,
when, " on the death of Griffri, realm', of the same see, Bar-
nard, a Norman, was intruded by Henry 1., and the see lost
its privileges." In the reign of floury 11.. Baldwin, Archbishop
of Canterbury, made a tour through Vales,. under pretext of
raising recruits for the crusade, but with the real object of say-
ing mass in the cathedrals and churches, in order to lay a
foundation for subjecting them to the see -of Canterbury. From
that time the Archbishop of Canterbury usurped the authority
of consecrating bishops to the see of 13angor and St. Asaph;
but the Welch, still averse to
.popery, opposed his appoint-
ments, by making it impossible, in most instances, for the En-
glish bishops to reside, and by nominating at the same time
bishops of their own. This state of things continued to the
time of Henry VII., in whom Wales became more cordially
united to England; and the Welch church then reluctantly
yielded to the appointments of Canterbury, in consideration
that the monarch then occupying the British throne was of
Welch extraction—the grandson of Owen Tudor, from the Isle
of Anglesea. The reformation commenced under Henry
Vlll.—another prince of the same house, in whose reign the
Welch church, after a severe struggle for a thousand years, in
defence of its own independence, witnessed with inexpressible
joy the separation of the English church from the dominion and
corruptions of the chinch of home ; and there remained but one
more obstacle in its way to become fully incorporated with the
English church, which was happily removes-by Queen Eliza-
beth, of blessed memory ; who, in the second 'year of her reign,
promoted to the see of St. Asaph Richard Davies, a man emi-
nent fur his piety and profound knowledge of the Welch lan-
guage, Who was afterwards translated to St. David's, where he
sent forth the first edition of the new testament in Welch, ac-
cempanied by en elaborate epistle of his own, on the sub-
ject of the reformation, written in the same tongue, and ad-
dressed to " All the Welch," which produced on their morals
a powerful and salutary effect. Elizabeth appears to have
adopted the same just and patriotic policy to all the Welch
sees, to the incalculable beuefit of the country; (or in her reign
we find Hugh Jones, William Blethyn, and. Morgan,
bishops of Llandaff; Richard Davies ancl.M, Middleton, bishops
,of St. David's; Rowland Merrick gull Richard Vaughan,.
bishops of Bangor; Richard Davies, Themes:, Davies, ;William
Hughes, and William. Morgan, berhepS„of
.St, Asaph ; all
eminent end "profound Welch 'seholers, jp eilrom the Welch
people are indebted foe their Wahl bible.- enele-Wehis -prayer-
books, which were first translated at the edueniantt of Queen
Elizabeth, to supply the reading-desks: and prilpits of all the
cathedrals and parish churches in Waleseated; which afterwards
became multiplied for the use of the nation-all large, under the
superintendence and correction of other Welch bishops and
dignitaries. The principle laid down by Elizabeth, of giving
to Wales Welch diocesans, was acted upon, With a few excep-
tions, by her successors, James 1., Charles -I:, James 11., and
William and Mary ; in whose reigns we. find Morgan Owen,
Hugh Lloyd, Francis Davies, and William Lloyd, bishops of
Llandaff; William Thomas and John Lloyd, bishops of St.
David's; Henry lowlands, David Dolbee, ,Edmund Griffith,
William Roberts, Robert Morgan, Humphrey Lloyd, and
Humphrey Humphreys, bishops of Bangoii; Richard Parry,
John Owen, George Griffith, and William .Lloyd, bishops of
St. Asaph; all of whom, through their knowledge of the
Welch language, were enabled to carry out in detail the great
principles of the reformation, which had beep- diligently sown
by their zealous predecessors, and from whiCh wane that erich
harvest of civil and religious privileges which Wales has ever
since so abundantly enjoyed. And
five successive monarchs,
tEoLlizhaeh:eint4fi,ueannede oafitthe
riiwwarids:
andaop
treidghte
thoughou s pioelaiac eeex
er
tenv,i
ivveedi
vby
by
must undoubtedly be ascribed those hie...aureole blessings of in-
ternal peace, loyalty to the king, obedience tothe laws, harmony
between landlords and tenants, and true religion and piety
among all classes, which have long and signally characterized
that province of his majesty's dominions. And it is our deli-
berate opinion, that had a similar practice been adopted to-
wards Ireland, a different tale might new be told of that un-
fortunate and distracted country.
But this practice is no gouger continued towards the princi-
pality. It began to be laid aside in a more marked manner by
Queen Anne, in vanse we find ouly one Welch bishop in
all Wales—John E Bishop of Bangor. In the reign of
George I. we find only one—John Wynne, Bishop of St.
Asaph. In the reign of George 11. there were two—John
Harris, Bishop of Llandaff, and Richard Trevor, I3ishop of
St. David's; but in subsequent reigns we find . none. The
Welch people consider themselves in this respect aggrieved and
ill-requited for the peace and loyalty which have uniformly
distinguished their conduct towards the British throne and cons
stitution. And we, your memorialists, actuated by no other
motives than the strong attachment which we bear to our coon-
ttv and the established church, and our anxious desire for their
eriesperity and welfare, beg to express our deep regret, that a
reeliey so ancient and just, and which was productive of such
tfiqitestiunable benefitseo the Principality, hes been gradually,
'and'at length entirely,- lost sight of by the Government, to the
obidous and general injury of the established 'church.
' We therefore timidity beg to suggest, that in eour Contem-
plated measures of church reform a provision be graciously
made to secure in future the appointment of pious and approved
Welch scholars to each of the Welch bishoprics, as long as the

Welch tongue shall remain the vernacular language of that
country; to the intent that every bishop may be able to decide
for himself, and not, by proxy, on the competency of candi-
dates for orders and applicants for preferments, "to preach the
word and administer the sacraments" in the Welch language,
and that at" the laying on of hands" in the solemn and apos-
tolic site of confirmation, he may be able to bless the Welch
children in the only language they understand, that the apos-
tle's declaration may. uo more be verilieti in the Welch church-
es:—" If I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to
him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a
barbarian to me."
_ _

Its concluding this memorial, we beg to assure you, that we
have intruded on your time and patience only from a desire of
conveying to you the sentiments and feelings vs hich prevail,
not only among the Welch clergy, but also among the laity
that are sincerely attached to, and anxious for, the success and
stability of the established church in Wales. And it will be
our earnest and constant prayer to Almighty God, that he will
be pleased to direct and prosper you, and others His Majesty's
!Ministers, in all your consultations, "to the advancement of
his glory and the good of his church; that peace and happiness,
truth, and justice, religion', and piety, may be established
among us for all generations."