The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-03-10

plead fes mercyfn behalf Of the struggling Briton,
and while the waves OF the Atlantic were laundering
east Of the prncipality, the Welsh gathered around
their ancient British affairs aud appealed to God for
the justice Of their cause. They hurled defiance at
Cymr~ fyd 20" Cambria that was, and ever shall
be p " Ira NOR ira Brython ~" While exists the
sea, the Briton shall bew And pouring forth from
their mountains, led on by Gwynedd Owain,
they gloriously defeated and drove back the forces
of Henry Have not their declarations been full
filled? The scene tonight is proof that {" Brtons
yet exist Do you seek for the cradle OF modern
civil and religious liberty, you have only to study
the ancient British laws and history.
To begin the history of Magma Charter. and of the
principles embodied in the American Declaration of
Independence and in the American constitution, you
must 60 back to the ancient British laws where they
are on record though couched it may be, in an I'M
couth form. You will find these principles prevalent
wherever Welshmen are found. They broke out
against the papal Stuars, when Cromwell, otherwise
Williams, the son of Welshman, overthrow tyrant
king, and proclaimed commonwealth we hnd
origin on his mothers side, and whose sublime
imagination scared nearer to heaven than the
English language could describe, and whose wife,
Mary Powell, was also of Welsh family,
stood by Cromwell and liberty, as his Latin
secretary. Without Cromwell, we probably should
never have heard of the Puritans of Plymouth Rock
whose race contains large admixturc of Welsh
blood. We find the Welsh in America the same
lovers Oh freedom hS uL uOWes we unO lORcT w ii.
iams, of Welsh descent, proclamng religious free
dom in Rhode Island and William Penn, said to be
of Welsh descent proclaiming liberation and peace
in Pennsylvania. There was also a large Welsh
emigration to the colony Of Virginia, Among the
sgners of the Declaration Of Independence we find
fourteenth elshmen, or men of Welsh descent Thomas
Jeferson's family were Welsh, and he boosted of it,
and visited the graves of his ancestors in Wales.
He not only the author Of the Declaration OF In
dependence, but mainly contributed to the dissou-
ton Of church and State the abolition of prmogeni-
ture and in making the constitution an instrument
of limited powers. His fayorite motto was:-" Sic
sem1er tyrannis" -"Always a foe to tyrants." He
was the first to plant our flag on the Pacific
Ocean; while Lewis, who accompanied Clark on the
expedition was of Welsh family. The only man
they lost during their long and perous journey, was
Floyd, Welshman. General Stephens, of Virginia,
who nobly fought at Guildford Court House; Cen
eral Daniel Morgan, who won imperishabe ho-
nor at Saratoga and the Cowpens; Robert Morris,
the secretary of the revolutionary treasury (but often
empty boxes) Gen Morgan Lewis, of N. York; Gen.
Cadwallader, OF Philadelphia; Gen. Anthony Wayne,
whose mother was born in Wales; and the Thomases,
Rogerses, and Wamses, at the same period, were all
OF Welsh families We also find them at sea in the
late war; in the Perrys, Joneses Rogerses Morgans,
WiDgates, &c.
The Welsh did not wage war against the inof-
fensive mass of the Saxon people, but against
their bigoted and tyranncal rulers, including their
papal successors Of the Norman line. They waged
war in defence Of their freedom Of conscience, guar
anteed to them in their laws and traditions for
thousand years. The attempts to chain the conscience
Of men, have caused oceans of blood to be she'd
and the end of this carnage from bgoty has not yet
come. So far from the Brtains wagng war on the
Saxon people, in the contiguous and other parts Of
Saxon England, they freely intermarried with them,
giving rise to the great and universal British Saxon
race, whose language the sun never sets. Amidst
all the invasions and revolutions Of England, the Br
fish Saxon character Of the mass of the people, has
never changed The Danes, as we have seen, were
either eXterminated or driven out. When William,
the testamentary successor to the weak and bgoted
Edward tie Confessor, came over, he brought with
him large force from Franco Britanny, called
Blitagnes, who were Of the Welsh race, and who fol-
lowed him, not to fight the Welsh but to assist him
to the throne. Hence, they commenced the battle Of
Hastings by singing the song Of Rowland"
Welsh air. The few military followers of William
did not in the least tend to change the British Saxon
character Of the masses. Hence those writer's, who
ascrbe the great success of the BrtishSaxon race,
or that al that is due to the Briton belongs
to the Teuton, Saxon, Dane, or Norman, or other
outsiders, are either ignorant or wfuly misrepre-
sent history. The Welsh language is rich in poetry
but is unknown, because not popuarized into Eng.
lish verse, like the Scotch. Paradise Lost" and
" Watts Hymns, with most other good English
poetry, have been translated into Welsh. David
Richards, known as David Ivnwr, wrote poem
called The Trinity in Welsh, which is considered
by those conversant with both languages to be equal
in imagination to Paradise Lost" The Welsh Ian.
guage is studied almost alone by WelshInen because
it does not embody modern science and discoveries
Strangers do not learn 1t now, (although Welshmen
as proud and as jealous of their language as Of
their ancient laws,) from the fact that now
Welshmen give their discoveries to the world in
English. Thus the learning of Sir Humphrey Davy
Sir William Jones, Professor Owens including large
number of nguists learned dvines, poets and ursts
&C., have published their works in English. Gold
smith, the author was Of Welsh descent on his moth
ers side, whose name was Jones, and whose family
went over to Ireland with the Welsh ancestors Of
Archbishop Hughes, Father Mathew, the Morrises
1ffay,t ~ he Nr.f
fins, Recess, Merediths, Prices, Pritchards, Pow
ellis, Howells, &C.. with the Earl of Pembroke
(Tywder, or Tudor,) sir-named Richard the Strong
Bow, in the reign of Henry II, in the 18th century
traced back in their origin to Wales. A num-
Der of the distinguished men of France can be
traced back, by name, to Breton, Bretagne. or
Brittany, in France, or to the Britons of Eng
Hugo or Hue, in French; Morris, probably Mau-
rice; Rogers, Roge; John, Jones, is Jean; James,
Jacques; Rowland, Rollin. &c. Among the French,
ALSO occur the names of Morgan or Moran; Louis for
to the introduction Of christianity among the Britons
the names Of Jones' James Mathew, Ellis or Eli
as, Stephens, Daniels David, &C., did not occur.
The surnames were distinguished by localities or
from Nor" sea- and " Gan" near. But after
the advent Of christianity, if Morgan had son,
he would call him John ab Morgan; and if John
had son he would call him Stephen alb John
OF Joucb, anu III Stepucn nad y Bon ne would per-
haps be named David, Mathew, Elias, or James alb
Stephens, and on until all the Christian names be-
came sirnames without any prefixes examinations,
(such as Nc, Fitz, and O. sony custom which dis
tnguishes Welsh names from those Of all other
nations. And hence whenever we hear Welsh names
called, we know that they are of Welsh origin.
With sincere desire for the perpetuty of the race,
| can say with Welshmen, " Oes byd er cath
Cymrneg,"-" May the Welsh tongue flourish for
ever" And above all, may their ancient principles
Of civila religious liberty flourish everywhere and
for ever. | conclude by giving you the following
sentiment; "Cymru fu Cymru fyd,"-" Cambria
that was and ever shall be-
[Dr. Jones has appended to his address the follow
ing references to historical authorites-Edl
We beg leave to state that we have made no asser-
tons that do not rest upon the cearest historical a
thority. We could not give in the body of our re-
marks the sources from whence our facts have
mas Jones' History of the Celebrations Of St. Da.
yid's Day, London, IVA; The Cambrian Plutarch