The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-02
A GREAT LITTLE PEOPLE
THE WELSH AND THEIR STRUGGLE
TO RETAIN THEIR LANGUAGE.
They Do Not Like the English, hut
Are Too Few to Demand Independ-
ence Like IreIand-Unjust Tithes.
r. o. Russell, in New York Independent.

T. o. Russell, in New York Independent.
| The population of Wales is nearly a mill
ion and a half inhabiting territory not
much larger than the State of Connecticut.
Geographically this territory froms part OF
the island of Great Britain, but it is, in al
most every other respect, totally different
country. If Wales were divided from Eng
land by natural barrier of mountain or of
sea the striking distinctions that exist be-
tween the Welsh and the English might.
in some measure, be accounted for, but
there are no natural barriers between Eng
land and Wales There are neither noun
tains nor rivers the mountains of Wales
are in the interior. The valley of the Severn
has formed part of England for many CEN
turtles The Welsh once claimed the Severn
as their eastern boundary, but it is well
known that even in Saxon times the eastern
reaches of that river lay far outside of
Welsh territory, and that the Welsh Ian
guage was not within historic times spoken
by the jewellers on its banks The place
names in the valley of the lower Severn
show plainly that Cymric population never
permanently inhabited it, for very few of
them are Welsh. The Welsh have kept their
language and national peculiarities intact
without any assistance from nature. They
| have achieved probably the most note
worthy feat of national preservation of any
people in the world and the world at large
has not by any means sufficiently recognized
| the extraordinary feat they have performed.
! There is a great deal of mystery about
| the Welsh. 1t is a mystery how they pre-
served their language against that most ag
| gresslve and conquering language English.
1t is a mystery where they came from. for
ancient Britons they are not. They are COM
| paratively newcomers in Wales. 1t has re-
Gently been proved that wherever Celtic
nomenclature exists in England it is in an
immense majority of cases Gaelic, and not
Cymric. Recent philologic and historic re-
searches have proved that Gaelic people
occupied Wales before the Welsh. Where
then, did the Welsh come from? History
may be said to be absolutely silent about
| this, but 1t is generally supposed that they
came to Wales from some part of the south
| OF Scotland, that the Gaels drove them out
| of Scotland some time in the early centuries
Oh the Christian era, and that they, in their
| turn drove the Gaes out of Wales but
authentic history throws hardly any light
on the subject.
The WELSH LANGUAGE.
The great distinguishing difference be-
tween Wales and England is language. To
| know how very much alive the Welsh lam
guage is in Wales one must leave the track
of summer tourists and go into the country
| towns. In towns of four or five thousand
| inhabitants, where English tourists do not
| go, the English language is hardly any
| more heard than in Normandy or Lorraine;
| and even in the watering places and towns
| that TEEN with English-speaking tourists in
| the summer time, when winter comes and
| when the tourists go the English language
| goes with them, and nothing is heard but
! Welsh. In the large towns however. like
| Cardiff and Swansea, English seems to have
| taken firm root but outside of these two
! towns, and places close to the English Dor
der, Welsh may be said to be the universal
| language. Many who are only partially ac-
| quainted with Wales think that Welsh is
| only the language Of the peasantry and
poorest classes; but this is a great mistake
1'lergymen of almost all denominations
| speak it, Even clergymen of the Church of
| England must, in most cases, know Welsh
man. even if he understands English thor
| oughly must, as general rule. have his
own language preached from the pulpit
! Welsh sermons are preached in many places
where every one OF the congregation, the
| very young possibly excepted, understands
| English. No Welshman no matter how
| well he understands English, will, as a
rule, read an English Bible when he can
get a Welsh one. 1t is the church that has
helped to make Welsh language such pow
er and SO full of vigor. The Welsh are
most religious people: Almost every one:
whether Methodist Baptist, or Church of
England Protestant, goes to church twice
every Sunday, and hardly hears a sermon
| but in Welsh. Very different has been the
course pursued by the Roman Catholic
clergy in Ireland from that pursued by the
Protestant clergy in Wales with respect to
| the national languages OF both countries;
| the Welsh Protestant clergy have done their
| best to keep Welsh alive in Wales, while
| the Irish Roman Catholic clergy have, with
| a few noble exceptions, done their best to
kill Irish in Ireland; and they have very
| nearly succeeded.
A GREAT LITERATURE
| The Welsh language is quite abreast Of
any other modern form of speech re-
| CARDS the quantity of literature it contains;
| that is in proportion to the number of
peaple who speak it. There is, probably, no
other language in the world spoken by
| little over million people in which there
| is so great a literature as there is in
Welsh. There are in Wales about twenty
| weekly newspapers published entirely in
| Welsh as we'll as fifteen or twenty month
! " magazines, two bi-monthly reviews and
| one quarterly. These figures are taken from
| a recent issue OF Chambers's Encyclopaedia.
| A very large number of English books of
| general interest have been translated into
| Welsh that person knowing no Ian
| guage but Welsh be possessed of a
! good education and be almost as we'll
versed in general literature as if he knew
| English. A Welsh gentleman wrote recent
| ly to the Gaelic Journal, Of Dublin, stat
ing that 100000, or nearly $4,000 are an
nually spent for Welsh books in Wales and
England, for there are fully half million
of Welsh in the latter country and they
! stick to their native language for at least a
| generation. A Welsh Methodist clergyman
residing in Dublin informs me that there
| are twelve Welsh churches in Liverpool, in
| every one of which the Welsh language
| and generally it only is used in the pulpit.
COSTLY PATRIOTISM.
1t must however, be confessed that the
magnificent patriotism Of the Welsh in
holding on to their national language has
cost them great deal and has handica mod
them in many ways. A Welsh boy studying
| to pass an examination for the civil service
has generally twice as much work to per-
form English-speaking boy who
studies the same branches for the Welsh
boy generally has to learn strange Ian
| guage in addition to his tasks. The BIZ
| lingual people of continental Europe par
| ticularly those in Switzerland and Alsace-
| Lorraine, generally know French and Ger
| man equally well, for they hear both lam
| guageS spoken from their childhood, and
| neither of them is much associated with
| the idea of nationality; but with the Welsh
| their language is everything; il is the only
| evidence of nationality they have, and con-
| sequently 1t becomes the language of the
hearth and home, generally TO the entire
| exclusion of England. The Welsh know
| that their love for their language has cost
| them a great deal; but they seem deter
| mined to stick to it to the bitter end The
sometimes prosecute them in a mild way
about their "barbarous language" but the
| Welsh go on speaking it, printing papers
| periodicals and books in it, and pay no at
| tention whatever 10 the sneers of their Eng
! lish neighbors. The heroism the Welsh