The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-03

We are pleased to no hat the
effort which is being ma, to get
Wales recognized on the Royal Arms
and the National Standard is receiving
widespread support. The Cardiff Coun-
oil has distributed a large number OF
circulars to the local governing bodies
of the Principallty, and there are many
signs that the request for support VIII
be forthcoming. A very successful
meeting on the question was held dur
ing the week at the South Wales Uni
versity College, when the Marquis OF
Butte was invited to become President
of the Committee, and ii was decided
to secure the aid of every representa-
tive body in Wales to petition the
Privy Council in favor of including
Wales among the emblems and heral-
die signs representing the British ma
tion. In the year when SO many grac-
ious acts are expected to be performed
by the Queen, 1t may fall out that
Wales will receive due recognition as
an integral and an important portion
of Great Britain. Wales has been ne
elected too long, but that is as much
the fault of Wales and her representa-
tives as it is of the national Govern
ment. Why should Wales alone of the
constituent portions of Great Britain
be neglected? England, Scotland and
Ireland are duly and fully represented.
Not, surely, because Wales has no ma
tional emblems? There is the red
dragon and leek, and there are druidi-
cal sign which might be drawn
upon in lieu of anything better. But
the neglect is not due to any lack of
emblems or of national signs; it is
rather the consequence of misunder-
standing and ignorance of the country
and the people We need not remind
our readers how Wales was neglected
by Royalty, how Wales was left with
out any adequate system of education
These things, happily. belong to. the
past and Wales can afford to let the
past bury it's dead We live in the
present and for the future, and we see
how great a change has come over the
spirit of the scene during the last two
decades. Wales today is not the ne
elected and unknown nation she was
then. She has a fine educational sys-
TEN, three University Colleges, and a
a national University to crown the ed
ucational monument And lower down
than these, but equally important, Is
the system of Intermediate or Secon-
dary education. with a fine network
of schools that are being erected over
the country. The old spirit of exclu-
siveness, fostered by the neglect of the
rulers of the country is fast disap-
pearing, is already dead indeed, and
we have the better spirit, the right at
titude for advancement displayed today
In the demand for recognition of Wales
on the Royal Arms and the National
STANDARD. We are constantly declaring
that Wales is not understood, and we
have another proof of the fact in a
work from the pen of Sir Walter
! Besant on THE Rise of the Empire 8
The view which he holds of Wales
II at all general, may well account fol
the neglect of the country and the, mis-
understanding which exists. For the
benefit of our readers we will produce
the whole paragraph in which he states
his opinion of Wales. The novelist
is writing history" and not fiction
and this is what he says after summar
ising the story of the conquest o
Wales:-"Now, what have we done
with Wales? Although we have i'm
posed our laws upon the country tn,
people remain still in their mountain!
as they always have done; they main
tain their own language, their customs
superstitions, literature, traditions they
do not court the friendship of tn,
Saxon; they do all they can to keeI
apart. In other words, extension 90
empire) in the direction of Wales is al
illusory as in the direction of France.
Such a statement as this is manifesto,
absurd on the face of it. A century ag,
1t would have had some semblance o
truth, but today there is nothing in /
but fiction. Wales loves its traditions
Its language, and literature still, bu
not in the sense in which Sir Waite
Besant implies. If any answer wer
needed to this farrago of misrepresen
tation, 1t is provided in the unanimou
demand of Wales forerecognition of tn
Principality on the Royal Arms an
the National Standard This does no
indicate eXclus!veness and hatred O
the Saxon, but desire to be account
ed as a living and loyal part of tn
British nation.