Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848

Chapter X (2)

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"I visited this school on the 24th of November; it is held
in a ruinous hovel of the most squalid and miserable
character, which was originally erected by the parish, but
apparently by encroachment. On Sunday the Calvinistic
Methodists hold a school in it; the floor is of bare earth,
full of deep holes; the windows are all broken; a tattered
partition of lath and plaster divides it into two unequal
portions; in the larger were a few wretched benches, and a
small desk for the master in one corner; in the lesser was
an old door with the hasp still upon it, laid crossways upon
two benches, about half a yard high, to serve for a
writing-desk! Such of the scholars as write retire in pairs
to this part of the room, and kneel on the ground while they
write. On the floor was a heap of loose coal, and a litter
of straw, paper, and all kinds of rubbish. The vicar's son
informed me that he had seen eighty children in this hut. In
summer the heat of it is said to be suffocating; and no
wonder.

"The master appeared a pains-taking and amiable man, and had
a very good character given of him. He had been disabled
from following his trade (that of a carpenter) by an
accident. He was but indifferently acquainted with English;
one of the copies set by him was 'The Jews slain Christ.' I
stood by while he heard two classes--one of two little
girls, and another of three little boys and a girl--read.
The two first read an account of our Lord's temptation; the
master asked them to spell a few words, which they did, and
then to give the Welsh equivalents for several English
words, which they also did; he asked no other questions. The
other class read small sentences containing a repetition of
the same word, _e. g._, 'The bad do sin--wo to the bad--the
bad do lie,' &c. They were utterly unable to turn such
sentences into Welsh; they knew the letters (for they could
point to particular words when required,) and they knew to
some extent the English sound of them; they knew also the
meaning of the single words (for they could give the Welsh
equivalents,) but they had no idea of the sentence. With
them, therefore, English reading must be (at best) a mere
string of words, connected only by juxtaposition."

Mr. Symons gives the following report of a school at Llanfihangel Creiddyn, in Cardiganshire.

"This parish contains a very good modern school-room, but it
is not finished inside. There is no floor of any sort. The
school, nevertheless, is of the most inferior description,
devoid of method in the instruction, and of capacity in the
master. During the whole of last summer the school was shut,
and the room was used by the carpenters who were repairing
the church. One of their benches is now used as a writing
table. Few of the children remain a year; they come for a
quarter or half-a-year, and then leave the school. Fourteen
children were present, together with two young men who were
there to learn writing. Four of the children only could read
in the Testament, and the master selected the 1st chapter of
Revelation for them to read in. They stammered through
several verses, mispronouncing nearly every word, and which
the master took some pains to correct. None of them knew the
meaning, or could give the Welsh words for 'show,' 'gave,'
or 'faith.' One or two only knew that of 'grace,' 'woman,'
'nurse.' Their knowledge of spelling was very limited. Of
Scripture they knew next to nothing. Jesus was said to be
the son of Joseph; one child only said the Son of God;
another thought he was on earth now; and another said he
would come again 'to increase grace,' grace meaning
godliness. Three out of the five could not tell why Christ
came to the earth, a penny having been offered for a correct
answer. Two could not tell any one thing that Christ did,
and a third said he drew water from a rock in the land of
Canaan. None knew the number of the Apostles; one never
heard of them, and two could not name any of them. Christ
died in Calvary, which one said was in England, and the
others did not know where it was. Four could not tell the
day Christ was born, or what it was called. The days of a
week were guessed to be five, six, four, and seven. The days
in the month twenty and fifteen, and nine could name the
months. None knew the number of days in the year; and all
thought the sun moved round the world. This country was said
to be Cardiganshire, not Wales. Ireland one thought a town,
and another a parish. England was a town, and London a
country. A king was a reasonable being (creadwr rhesymnol.)
Victoria is the Queen, and it is our duty to do every thing
for her. In arithmetic they could do next to nothing, and
failed to answer the simplest questions. I then examined the
young men, promising two-pence to those who answered most
correctly. They had a notion of the elements of Scripture
truths. Two of them had no notion of arithmetic. The third
answered easy questions, and could do sums in the simple
rules. On general subjects their information was very little
superior to that of the children."

And Mr Vaughan Johnson, in examining the church school of Holyhead, in the Isle of Anglesey, reports as follows:--

"_Holyhead Church School._--A school for boys and girls,
taught by a master and mistress, in separate rooms of a
large building set apart for that purpose. Number of boys,
96; of girls, 47; 10 monitors are employed. Subjects taught,
reading, writing, and arithmetic, the Holy Scriptures and
Church catechism. Fees, 1d. per week.

"This school was examined November 9. Total number present,
117. Of these, 20 could write well on paper; 40 were able to
read with ease; and 22 could repeat the Church catechism, 15
of them with accuracy. In knowledge of Holy Scripture and in
arithmetic, the boys were very deficient. Scholars in the
first class said that there were 18 gospels, that
Bartholomew wrote one and Simon another; that Moses was the
son of David. These answers were not corrected by the rest.
By a lower class it was said, that Jerusalem is in heaven,
and that St Paul wrote the gospel according to St Matthew;
another believed it was written by Jesus Christ. The oldest
boy in a large class said, that Joseph was the son of
Abraham. A child about 10 years old said, that Jesus Christ
was the Saviour of men; but, upon being asked 'From what did
he save mankind?' replied, 'from God.'

"Having heard from the patrons that the scholars were
particularly expert in arithmetic, I requested the master to
exhibit his best scholars. Thirteen boys accordingly
multiplied a given sum of £ _s. d._ by (25 + ½.) The
process was neatly and accurately performed by every boy. I
then examined the same class in arithmetic, and set each boy
a distinct sum in multiplication of money. Instead of (25 +
½) I gave 5 as the number by which the several sums were
to be multiplied. I allowed each boy for this simple process
twice as much time as he had required for the preceding,
which was far more complicated; but only two of the 13
could bring me a correct answer. This is well worthy of
remark. The original sum appears to be one which they are in
the habit of performing before strangers; many had copied
the whole process from those next them, without
understanding a single step.

"The girls were further advanced in arithmetic and in Holy
Scripture. But the 2d class asserted that St Matthew was one
of the prophets; that Jesus Christ is in the grave to this
day; and two stated that Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary
were the same person. Although these questions were put in
English and in Welsh, few of the children could understand
what they heard or read in the English language. The
questions were therefore interpreted."

We should here observe that a considerable number of the examinations were conducted not by the inspectors themselves, but by persons hired by them, more or less on account of their knowledge of the Welsh language. To these we attach little or no weight, because they have not the sanction of a Government commission, nor do the persons themselves hold any official or private rank by which their capacities for conducting such examinations can be ascertained.

As a specimen of the state in which some of the peasantry are, we find Mr Lingen, while in Pembrokeshire, remarking thus:--

"I entered two cottages, where the children were said not to
be attending school. In the first I found an extremely
well-spoken and intelligent girl of twelve or thirteen years
old, and her brother somewhat younger. They had been to
Yerbeston day-school for about a quarter, and to Molleston
Sunday-school for about two years, though not for the last
month. It was closed during the bad weather and short days.
She read about Jesus in the Testament; but could tell me
_nothing_ about him except that he was called the Son of
Man. She said, 'They only teach us to read; they don't tell
us any of these things at the Sunday-school.'

"In the other cottage I found two little children, a boy and
girl, going, and having been, to no school of any kind. The
girl was nursing an infant: there were two other children
from home. The mother of four of them was a widow, the fifth
child was apparently a pauper, billeted upon her in
consideration of 5s. per week from the parish. At the time
of my visit the mother was out at farm-work (winnowing), and
had to be called; I could get no answer from the two
children. The girl, who was the eldest, and in her ninth
year, only replied to my questions by a cunning, unpleasant
grin, though her face was intelligent and not ill-looking.
The boy had a most villainous expression of sullen
stolidity; he was mixing culm with his hands. They knew no
prayers, nor who to pray to--and of course never prayed. The
mother could not read nor write--'worse luck,' as she said;
her only chance of educating these children was a
free-school. The entire 5s. went in food at the present high
prices, and 'not enough then.'

"In this same neighbourhood I asked some questions of a
little boy, nearly seven, whom I met on the road. It was in
vain that I tempted him with half-pence to answer; he knew
nothing of Sunday--of God--of the devil--'had heard of Jesus
Christ from Jemmy Wilson,' but could give no account
whatever about him; he knew neither the then day of the
week, nor how many days in a week, nor months in a year; he
had never been in any school; his brother and sister were
going to St Issell's school. I had to repeat my questions
two or three times over before they seemed to impress any
thing more than his ears. The first answer _invariably_ was,
and it was, often repeated half a dozen times--'_What ee'
say?_' and the next '_Do' know_.'"

The condition of the buildings in which the schools are commonly held in the country parishes is wretched in the extreme. Take the following brief accounts, some of which might furnish admirable sketches to a Cattermole or a Maclise:--

"(1.) The school was held in a miserable room over the
stable; it was lighted by two small glazed windows, and was
very low; in one corner was a broken bench, some sacks, and
a worn-out basket; another corner was boarded off for
storing tiles and mortar belonging to the chapel. The
furniture consisted of one small square table for the
master, two larger ones for the children, and a few benches,
all in a wretched state of repair. There were several panes
of glass broken in the windows; in one place paper served
the place of glass, and in another a slate, to keep out wind
and rain; the door was also in a very dilapidated condition.
On the beams which crossed the room were a ladder and two
larch poles.

"(2.) The school was held in a room built in a corner of the
churchyard; it was an open-roofed room; the floor was of the
bare earth, and very uneven; the room was lighted by two
small glazed windows, one-third of each of which was patched
up with boards. The furniture consisted of a small square
table for the master, one square table for the pupils, and
seven or eight benches, some of which were in good repair,
and others very bad. The biers belonging to the church were
placed on the beams which ran across the room. At one end of
the room was a heap of coal and some rubbish, and a worn-out
basket, and on one side was a new door leaning against the
wall, and intended for the stable belonging to the church.
The door of the schoolroom was in a very bad condition,
there being large holes in it, through which cold currents
of air were continually flowing."

If, however, the condition of the school-buildings is thus unsuitable, the previous education and training of the teachers is not less faulty. The subjoined extract from Mr Lingen's report is borne out by precisely similar statements from those of his coadjutors:--

"The present average age of teachers is upwards of 40 years;
that at which they commenced their vocation upwards of 30;
the number trained is 12·5 per cent of the whole ascertained
number; the average period of training is 7·30 months; the
average income is L.22, 10s. 9d. per annum; besides which,
16·1 per cent have a house rent-free. Before adopting their
present profession, 6 had been assistants in schools, 3
attorneys' clerks, 1 attorney's clerk and sheriff's officer,
1 apprentice to an ironmonger, 1 assistant to a draper, 1
agent, 1 artilleryman, 1 articled clerk, 2 accountants, 1
auctioneer's clerk, 1 actuary in a savings' bank, 3
bookbinders, 1 butler, 1 barber, 1 blacksmith, 4
bonnet-makers, 2 booksellers, 1 bookkeeper, 15 commercial
clerks, 3 colliers, 1 cordwainer, 7 carpenters, 1
compositor, 1 copyist, 3 cabinet-makers, 3 cooks, 1
corn-dealer, 3 druggists, 42 milliners, 20 domestic
servants, 10 drapers, 4 excise-men, 61 farmers, 25
farm-servants, 1 farm-bailiff, 1 fisherman, 2 governesses, 7
grocers, 1 glover, 1 gardener, 177 at home or in school, 1
herald-chaser, 4 housekeepers, 2 hatters, 1 helper in a
stable, 8 hucksters or shopkeepers, 1 iron-roller, 6
joiners, 1 knitter, 13 labourers, 4 laundresses, 1
lime-burner, 1 lay-vicar, 5 ladies'-maids, 1 lieutenant R.
N., 2 land-surveyors, 22 mariners, 1 mill-wright, 108
married women, 7 ministers, 1 mechanic, 1 miner, 2 mineral
agents, 5 masons, 1 mate, 1 maltster, 1 militia-man, 1
musician, 1 musical-wire-drawer, 2 nursery-maids, 1
night-schoolmaster, 1 publican's wife (separated from her
husband,) 2 preparing for the church, 1 policeman, 1 pedlar,
1 publican, 1 potter, 1 purser's steward, 1 planter, 2
private tutors, 1 quarryman, 1 reed-thatcher, 28
sempstresses, 1 second master R. N., 4 soldiers, 14
shoemakers, 2 machine-weighers, 1 stonecutter, 1 serjeant of
marines, 1 sawyer, 1 surgeon, 1 ship's cook, 7 tailors, 1
tailor and marine, 1 tiler, 17 widows, 4 weavers, and 60
unascertained, or having had no previous occupation.

"In connexion with the vocation of teacher, 2 follow that of
assistant-overseer of roads, 6 are assistant overseers of
the poor, 1 accountant, 1 assistant parish clerk, 1
bookbinder, 1 broom and clog-maker, 4 bonnet-makers, 1 sells
Berlin wool, 2 are cow-keepers, 3 collectors of taxes, 1
drover (in summer,) 12 dressmakers, 1 druggist, 1 farmer, 4
grocers, 3 hucksters or shopkeepers, 1 inspector of weights
and measures, 1 knitter, 2 land-surveyors (one of them is
also a stonecutter,) 2 lodging-house keepers, 1 librarian to
a mechanics' institute, 16 ministers, 1 master of a
workhouse, 1 matron of a lying-in hospital, 3 mat-makers, 13
preachers, 18 parish or vestry clerks (uniting in some
instances the office of sexton), 1 printer and engraver, 1
porter, barber, and layer-out of the dead in a workhouse, 4
publicans, 1 registrar of marriages, 11 sempstresses, 1
shopman (on Saturdays,) 8 secretaries to benefit societies,
1 sexton, 2 shoemakers, 1 tailor, 1 teacher of modern
languages, 1 turnpike man, 1 tobacconist, 1 writing-master
in a grammar-school, and 9 are in receipt of parochial
relief."

Upon this the inspector observes with great good sense--

"No observations of mine could heighten the contrast which
facts like the above exhibit, between the actual and the
proper position of a teacher. I found this office almost
every where one of the least esteemed and worst remunerated;
one of those vocations which serve as the sinks of all
others, and which might be described as guilds of refuge;
for to what other grade can the office of teacher be
referred after the foregoing analysis? Is it credible that,
if we took 784 shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, or any other
skilled workmen, we should find them (one with another) not
to have commenced their calling before 30 years of age? nor
more than 47·3 per cent of them who had not previously
followed some other calling nor more than 1 in every 8 who
had served any apprenticeship to it, nor even this 8th man
for a period much longer than half a year? The miserable
pittance which they get is irregularly paid."

The pecuniary part of the question, the ways and means for supporting an efficient system of education in Wales, may be very fairly inferred from the following extract of the report on three of the most prosperous counties in the principality, corroborated as it is by similar statements and returns in other districts:--

"There is a great and general deficiency of voluntary funds
for the maintenance of schools for the poor in the rural
parts of South Wales. By far the most liberal contributors
to such schools in England are the clergy. The following
table exhibits the clerical income of the beneficed clergy
in my district. I would beg to call particular attention to
the average area and population of the parishes in
Carmarthenshire, and to the income of the clergy in the
remote hundreds of Dewisland and Kemess:--

+----------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+--------------+
| | | | | | |
| |Number of| |Vicarages or|Number of | Total Income |
| Counties. |Parishes.|Rectories.| Perpetual | Glebe |of Clergy from|
| | | | Curacies. | Houses. | Benefices. |
| | | | | | |
+----------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+--------------+
| | | | | | £ |
|Carmarthenshire,| 77 | 16 | 72 | 26 | 9,974 |
|Glamorganshire, | 125 | 53 | 83 | 33 | 18,101 |
|Pembrokeshire, | 140 | 58 | 85 | 34 | 17,418 |
+----------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+--------------+
|The three | 342 | 127 | 240 | 93 | 45,493 |
|Counties, | | | | | |
+----------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+--------------+

+----------------+------------------+--------------+-----------+------------+
| | Average | Number of | |Average area|
| | Income of | Parishes on | Average | of square |
| Counties. | Clergy per | which the |population | miles |
| | Parish. |average Income|per Parish.|per Parish. |
| | | is taken. | | |
+----------------+------------------+--------------+-----------+------------+
| | £ _s._ _d._| | | |
|Carmarthenshire,| 119 13 0 | 75 | 1,380 | 12 |
|Glamorganshire, | 153 7 11 | 118 | 1,364 | 6 |
|Pembrokeshire, | 129 0 5 | 135 | 255 | 4 |
+----------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+-------------+
|The three | 133 0 4 | 328 | 1,068 | 6 |
|Counties, | | | | |
+----------------+------------------+--------------+-----------+------------+

"The poor provision which the church offers to an educated
man, and the necessity of ordaining those only, for the
great majority of parishes, who understand the Welsh
language, are facts which bear powerfully upon the education
of the country. A large portion of the Welsh clergy complete
their education exclusively in Wales. The licensed grammar
schools, from which they were formerly ordained, have been
superseded for St David's College, Lampeter.

"Still, so far as daily education has hitherto been
supported by voluntary payments, this has been mostly in
connexion with the church. For, putting aside 31·1 per cent
of the day-scholars as belonging to private adventure
schools, and 10·9 percent for children in union workhouse
and workmen's schools, there remains 39·9 per cent of the
day-scholars in connexion, and 18·1 per cent not in
connexion, with the church."

Whatever deficiencies there may be in the system of daily and secular education, much more zeal and energy is shown in the Sunday schools; the causes and objects of which are so graphically and accurately described by Mr Lingen, that we must again quote his own words:--observing that the two other reports tell the same tale exactly, only in different language--

"The type of such Sunday schools is no more than this. A
congregation meets in its chapel. It elects those whom it
considers to be its most worthy members, intellectually and
religiously, to act as 'teachers' to the rest, and one or
more to 'superintend' the whole. Bible classes, Testament
classes, and classes of such as cannot yet read, are formed.
They meet once, generally from 2 to 4 P.M., sometimes in the
morning also, on each Sunday. The superintendent, or one of
the teachers, begins the school by prayer; they then sing;
then follows the class instruction, the Bible and Testament
classes reading and discussing the Scriptures, the others
learning to read; school is closed in the same way as it
began. Sections of the same congregation, where distance or
other causes render it difficult for them to assemble in the
chapel, establish similar schools elsewhere. These are
called branches. The constitution throughout is purely
democratic, presenting an office and some sort of title to
almost every man who is able and willing to take an active
part in its administration, without much reference to his
social position during the other six days of the week. My
returns show 11,000 voluntary teachers, with an allowance of
about seven scholars to each. Whatever may be the accuracy
of the numbers, I believe this relative proportion to be not
far wrong. The position of teacher is coveted as a
distinction, and is multiplied accordingly. It is not
unfrequently the first prize to which the most proficient
pupils in the parochial schools look. For them it is a step
towards the office of preacher and minister. The
universality of these schools, and the large proportion of
the persons attending them who take part in their
government, have very generally familiarised the people with
some of the more ordinary terms and methods of organisation,
such as _committee_, _secretary_, and so forth.

"Thus, there is every thing about such institutions which
can recommend them to the popular taste. They gratify that
gregarious sociability which animates the Welsh towards each
other. They present the charms of office to those who, on
all other occasions, are subject; and of distinction to
those who have no other chance of distinguishing themselves.
The topics current in them are those of the most general
interest; and are treated in a mode partly didactic, partly
polemical, partly rhetorical, the most universally
appreciated. Finally, every man, woman, and child feels
comfortably at home in them. It is all among neighbours and
equals. Whatever ignorance is shown there, whatever mistakes
are made, whatever strange speculations are started, there
are no superiors to smile and open their eyes. Common habits
of thought pervade all. They are intelligible or excusable
to one another. Hence, every one that has got any thing to
say is under no restraint from saying it. Whatever such
Sunday-schools may be as places of instruction, they are
real fields of mental activity. The Welsh working man rouses
himself for them. Sunday is to him more than a day of bodily
rest and devotion. It is his best chance, all the week
through, of showing himself in his own character. He marks
his sense of it by a suit of clothes regarded with a feeling
hardly less Sabbatical than the day itself. I do not
remember to have seen an adult in rags in a single Sunday
school throughout the poorest districts. They always seemed
to me better dressed on Sundays than the same classes in
England."

As a specimen of the relative number of Sunday schools belonging to the different religious persuasions in North Wales, we will take Mr Johnson's summary, which gives the following tabular result; and which is nearly in the same proportion in the rest of the principality:--

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Church of England, 124
Baptists, 73
Calvinistic Methodists, 545
Independents, 232
Wesleyan Methodists, 183
Other Denominations, 4
----
Total, 1161

But if we take the returns of the daily schools for the same six counties, the proportions will be found to, be greatly changed:--

DAY SCHOOLS FOR THE POOR.

Schools. Scholars.
Church, 269 18,732
Baptists, 0 0
Calvinistic Methodists, 3 140
Independents, 6 275
Roman Catholics, 2 55
Wesleyans, 2 285
British and Foreign, 42 4,979
Schools, not British and Foreign, 29 1,726
Workhouse Schools, 8 463
Factory, 1 30
Private adventure, 216 5,348
--- ------
Total, 578 32,033

Out of these daily schools for the poor, not less than 269, or 46½ per cent of the whole number, (to say nothing of many of the private schools,) are publicly provided by the Church; and it should be remembered that of the Dissenting Sunday schools nearly all are held in their meeting-houses, and form part and parcel of their religious system; whereas the Church Sunday school is mostly an institution apart from the church itself, and established on its own separate footing.

With regard to the funds for supporting schools, the following remarks by Mr Johnson, as applied to North Wales, are too important to be omitted. He says:--

"It appears, from the foregoing analysis of the funds of 517
schools, that the amount annually raised by charitable
contributions of the rich is (in round numbers) £5675, that
raised by the poor £7000. It is important to observe the
misdirection of these branches of school income, and the
fatal consequences which ensue.

"The wealthy classes who contribute towards education belong
to the Established Church; the poor who are to be educated
are Dissenters. The former will not aid in supporting
neutral schools; the latter withhold their children from
such as require conformity to the Established Church. The
effects are seen in the co-existence of two classes of
schools, both of which are rendered futile--the Church
schools supported by the rich, which are thinly attended,
and that by the extreme poor; and private-adventure schools,
supported by the mass of the poorer classes at an exorbitant
expense, and so utterly useless that nothing can account for
their existence except the unhealthy division of society,
which prevents the rich and poor from co-operating. The
Church schools, too feebly supported by the rich to give
useful education, are deprived of the support of the poor,
which would have sufficed to render them efficient. Thus
situated, the promoters are driven to establish premiums,
clothing-clubs, and other collateral inducements, in order
to overcome the scruples and reluctance of Dissenting
parents. The masters, to increase their slender pittance,
are induced to connive at the infringement of the rules
which require conformity in religion, and allow the parents
(sometimes covertly, sometimes with the consent of the
promoters) to purchase exemption for a small gratuity; those
who cannot afford it being compelled to conform, or expelled
in case of refusal. Where, however, the rules are
impartially enforced, or the parents too poor to purchase
exemption, a compromise follows. The children are allowed to
learn the Church catechism, and to attend church, so long as
they remain at school, but are cautioned by their parents
not to believe the catechism, and to return to their
paternal chapels so soon as they have finished schooling. A
dispensation, in fact, is given, allowing conformity in
matters of religion during the period required for
education, provided they allow no impression to be made upon
their minds by the ritual and observances to which they
conform. The desired object is attained by both parties.
Outward conformity is effected for the time, and the
children return in after-life to the creed and usages of
their parents."

The fact is, that the farmers and all the lower classes care little for education _per se_, though they wish their children to profit by a knowledge of English, in order to facilitate their advancement in after life; and they are unwilling, at the same time, to support schools in connexion with the Church. That Church is to them the church of the rich man as distinguished from the poor; of the conqueror as distinguished from the conquered; of the Englishman as distinguished from the Welsh; it is the Church of England, not of Wales; and their affections as well as their prejudices are all opposed to it. This again is one of the main causes--and it is so pointed out by the commissioners--of the slow progress of education in Wales, supported, as it mainly is, by the upper classes. It is not the proper place to enter here into any further discussion as to _all_ the causes of dispute in Wales; we will merely state that we believe it to be now confirmed, not only by the national antagonism of the two races, but also by the democratic principles which are so widely diffused throughout the country, and which are sure to break out again to a most dangerous extent in Wales on the first opportunity. Hear what Mr Lingen states on the subject:--

"Most singular is the character which has been developed by
this theological bent of minds isolated from nearly all
sources, direct or indirect, of secular information.
Poetical and enthusiastic warmth of religious feeling,
careful attendance upon religious services, zealous interest
in religious knowledge, the comparative absence of crime,
are found side by side with the most unreasoning prejudices
and impulses; an utter want of method in thinking and
acting; and (what is far worse) wide-spread disregard to
temperance, wherever there are the means of excess, of
chastity, of veracity, and of fair dealing. I subjoin two
extreme instances of the wild fanaticism into which such
temperaments may run. The first concerns the Rebecca riots.
W. Chambers, jun., Esq. of Llanelly House, kindly furnished
me with a large collection of contemporary documents and
depositions concerning the period of those disturbances. An
extract from the deposition of one Thomas Phillips of
Topsail, is illustrative of the vividly descriptive and
imaginative powers of the Welsh, and of the peculiar forms
under which popular excitement among them would be sure to
exhibit itself.

"Shoui-yschwr-fawr and Dai Cantwr were _noms de guerre_
borne by two ringleaders in these disturbances.

"Between ten and eleven o'clock on the night of the attack
on Mr Newman's house, I was called upon by
Shoui-yschwr-fawr, and went with the party. On my way I had
a conversation with Dai Cantwr. Thomas Morris, a collier, by
the Five Cross Roads, was walking before us, with a long
gun. I said "Thomas is enough to frighten one with his long
gun." Dai said, "There is not such a free man as Tom Morris
in the rank. I was coming up Gellygwlwnog field, arm in arm
with him, after burning Mr Chambers's ricks of hay; and he
had a gun in the other hand, and Tom said, "Here's a hare,"
and he up with his gun and shot it slap down--and it was a
horse--Mr Chambers's horse. One of the party stuck the horse
with a knife--the blood flowed--and Tom Morris held his
hand under the blood, and called upon the persons to come
forward and dip their fingers in it, and take it as a
sacrifice instead of Christ; and the parties did so.' And
Dai added, 'that he had often heard of a sacrament in many
ways, but had never heard of a sacrament by a horse before
that night.'

"The other instance was told me by one who witnessed much of
the Chartist outbreak. He said that 'the men who marched
from the hills to join Frost, had no definite object beyond
a fanatical notion that they were to march immediately to
London, fight a great battle, and conquer a great kingdom.'
I could not help being reminded of the swarm that followed
Walter the Penniless, and took the town which they reached
at the end of their first day's march for Jerusalem."

We could point out several districts in Wales, in which few gentry reside, such as the south-western portion of Caernarvon, and some parts of Anglesey, where the most republican and levelling doctrines prevail extensively among the farmers and the labouring classes, and where resistance to tithes, and not only to tithes, but to rents, is a subject fondly cherished for future opportunity. The town of Caernarvon itself is a pestilent hot-bed of discontent; so is Merthyr Tydvil; so is Newtown; so is Swansea; and so are many others.

The commissioners dwell rather lightly on this part of the subject--on these consequences of the past and present condition of the country, and of the defective education existing in it. Many of the assistants employed by the commissioners were Dissenters, and their examinations of Church schools may be therefore suspected; at least we fancy that we can discern a certain warmth of admiration, and intensity of unction, in the reports on the Dissenting schools, which are not bestowed on the others. However this may be, we cannot but admit that these reports do actually show the existence of a very defective state of things in the principality; and we find the commissioners justly pointing out and reprobating two glaring vices in the Welsh character, the existence of which we admit, and to which we shall, of our own knowledge, add a third.

The first refers to the want of chastity, or rather to the lax ideas of the common order of people on that subject previous to marriage. This, with every wish to excuse the national feelings and failings of the Welsh, we must allow to be proved by the concurrent testimony and experience of every one well acquainted with the principality. This vice, however, is more systematically established in the northern than in the southern counties; and the existence of this system is, we have no doubt, of very long standing, ranking, indeed, among the national customs which lose their origin in the night of ages. The common notion prevalent among the lower classes in Wales, and generally acted on, is, that want of chastity before marriage is no vice, though afterwards it is considered a crime, which is very rarely committed. Before we pass a sweeping condemnation on the rude population of the Welsh mountains for this laxity, let us remember that, such is the false state of "over-civilisation" in England, the same ideas and practices exist universally among the male portion, at least, of the people, and pass without any thing beyond a formal, we might almost say, a legal reprimand: that in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and, it may be, other countries of Europe, this laxity exists not so much _before_ as _after_ marriage; and that therefore the poor Celtic mountaineers do not stand alone in their ignorance of what is better.

It appears by the official returns, that the proportion of illegitimate children in North Wales shows an excess of 12·3 per cent above the average of all England and Wales upon the like numbers of registered births. We know ourselves of a union of 48 parishes in which there are now 500 bastard children supported out of the poor-rates; and, in fact, the prevalence of the vice is not to be denied. The volumes of these reports contain numerous minutes of evidences and letters from magistrates and clergymen corroborative of this fact; and they all agree in referring it to the ignorance of the people. We are not inclined to lift the veil which we would willingly allow to hang over the faults, the weaknesses, and the ignorance of a poor uncultivated people; believing, as we do, that the remedies for such a state of things are not far off, nor difficult to find; and knowing that, if there be any palliation of such a state of things, it is to be found in this circumstance, that the married state is most duly honoured and observed in that country, and also, that the women marry early in life, and support all the duties of their state in an exemplary manner. We could also pick out county after county in England, where we know that the morality of the lower orders is little, if at all, elevated above this standard, and where the phenomenon of the pregnant bride is one of the most ordinary occurrence. The statement of these facts, as published by the commissioners, has caused great indignation throughout Wales, and has set the local press in a ferment, but has not produced any satisfactory refutation of the impeachment.

Another vice, correlative to, and consequent upon the other, is the want of truth and honesty in petty matters observable throughout the land. This is the common complaint of almost every gentleman and magistrate in the twelve counties--that the word of a Welshman of the lower classes is hardly to be trusted in little matters; and that the crime of false swearing in courts and at quarter-sessions is exceedingly frequent. In the same manner, the people generally, in the minor transactions of life, are given to equivocations and by-dealing, and make light of telling an untruth if it refers only to a matter of minor importance. Were a Welshman called as a witness in a case of felony, we think his oath might be depended upon as much as an Englishman's; but is he called up on a case of common assault, or the stealing of a few potatoes from his neighbour's field--or is he covenanting to sell you coals or corn at a certain price and weight--we should be uncommonly careful how we trusted to his deposition or his assurances.

A clergyman of Brecknockshire says:--

"The Welsh are more deceitful than the English; though they
are full of expression, I cannot rely on them as I should on
the English. There is more disposition to pilfer than among
the English, but we are less apprehensive of robbery than in
England. There is less open avowal of a want of chastity,
but it exists; and there is far less feeling of delicacy
between the sexes here in every-day life than in England.
The boys bathe here, for instance, in the river at the
bridge in public, and I have been insulted for endeavouring
to stop it. There is less open wickedness as regards
prostitution than in England. Drunkenness is the prevailing
sin of this place and the county around, and is not confined
to the labouring classes, but the drunkenness of the lower
classes is greatly caused by the example of those above
them, who pass their evenings in the public-houses. But
clergymen and magistrates, who used to frequent them, have
ceased to do so within the last few years. I have preached
against the sin, and used other efforts to check it, though
I have been insulted for doing so in the street. I think
things are better than they were in this respect.... I do
not think they are addicted to gambling, but their chief
vice is that of sotting in the public-houses."

A magistrate, in another part of the county, gives the following testimony:--

"Crimes of violence are almost unknown, such as burglary,
forcible robbery, or the use of the knife. Common assaults
are frequent, usually arising from drunken quarrels. Petty
thefts are not particularly numerous. Poultry-stealing and
sheep-stealing prevail to a considerable extent. There is no
rural police, and the parish constables are for the most
part utterly useless, except for serving summonses, &c.
Sheep and poultry stealers, therefore, very frequently
escape with impunity. Drunkenness prevails to a lamentable
extent--not so much among the lowest class, who are
restrained by their poverty, as among those who are in
better circumstances. Every market or fair day affords too
much proof of this assertion. Unchastity in the women is, I
am sorry to say, a great stain upon our people. The number
of bastard children is very great, as is shown by the
application of young women for admission into the workhouse
to be confined, and by the application to magistrates in
petty sessions for orders of affiliation. In hearing these
cases, it is impossible not to remark how unconscious of
shame both the young woman and her parents often appear to
be. In the majority of cases where an order of affiliation
is sought, marriage was promised, or the expectation of it
held out. The cases are usually cases of _bonâ fide_
seduction. Those who enter the workhouse to be confined are
generally girls of known bad character. I believe that in
the rural districts few professed prostitutes would be
found."

The clerk, to the magistrates at Lampeter observes:--

"Perjury is common in courts of justice, and the Welsh
language facilitates it; for, when witnesses understand
English, they feign not to do so, in order to gain time in
the process of translation, to shape and mould their answers
according to the interest they wish to serve. Frequently
neither the prisoner nor the jury understand English, and
the counsel, nevertheless, addresses them in English, and
the judge sums up in English, not one word of which do they
often understand. Instances have occurred when I have had to
translate the answers of an English witness into Welsh for
the jury; and once even to the grand jury at Cardigan I had
to do this. A juryman once asked me, 'What was the nature of
an action in which he had given his verdict.'

"Truth and the sacredness of an oath are little thought of;
it is most difficult to get satisfactory evidence in courts
of justice."

Upon the above evidence, Mr Symons, the inspector, remarks:--

"Notwithstanding the lamentable state of morals, the jails
are empty. The following comparison between the relative
criminality of the three counties in my district with that
of the neighbouring agricultural county of Hereford,
exhibits this moral anomaly in the Welsh character very forcibly:--

"Crimes, therefore, are twice as numerous in Herefordshire
as in Radnorshire or Brecknockshire, and five times more so
than in Cardiganshire.

"I attribute this paucity of punishable offences in Wales
partly to the extreme shrewdness and caution of the people,
but much more to a natural benevolence and warmth of heart,
which powerfully deters them from acts of malice and all
deliberate injury to others. And I cannot but express my
surprise that a characteristic so highly to the credit of
the Welsh people, and of which so many evidences presented
themselves to the eye of the stranger, should have been left
chiefly to his own personal testimony. Facts were
nevertheless related to me which bore out my impression; and
I may instance the ancient practice among neighbouring
families of assisting the marriages of each other's children
by loans or gifts of money at the 'biddings' or marriage
meetings, to be repaid only on a similar occasion in the
family of the donor, as well as the attendance of friends at
times of death or adversity, as among the incidents which
spring from and mark this honourable characteristic."

Notwithstanding all this, we know, from official sources, that the proportion per cent of commitments for North Wales is _sixty-one_ per cent _below_ the calculated average for all England _and Wales_, on the same amount of male population of the like ages. In fact, the jails of Wales are commonly empty, or the next thing to it; and the whole twelve counties would hardly keep one barrister, on the crown side, above starving-point. Maiden assizes are any thing but uncommon in that country.

That particular _foci_ of evil do exist, we have asserted before; and we find the following trace of this portion of the subject in the report of Mr Vaughan Johnson on Montgomeryshire:--

"The following evidence relates to the parishes of _Newtown_
and _Llanllwchaiarn_, which contain 6842 inhabitants:--

'It appears that, previously to the year 1845, no district
in North Wales was more neglected, in respect of education,
than the parishes of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn. The effects
were partly seen in the turbulent and seditious state of the
neighbourhood in the year 1839. The permanent evils which
have sprung from this neglect it will require many years of
careful education to eradicate. A memorial, presented by the
inhabitants to the Lords of the Committee of Council on
Education, at the close of the year 1845, contains the
following plea for assistance in providing popular
education:--

"In the spring of the year 1839 the peace of the town and
neighbourhood was threatened by an intended insurrection on
the part of the operative class, in connexion, it is
supposed, with other parts of the kingdom, with a view to
effect a change in the institutions of the country; but such
an insurrection, if intended, was prevented by the presence
of an armed force; and a military force has ever since been
stationed in the town, with a view of preserving its peace.

'Your memorialists believe that, if the inhabitants had had
the benefit of a sound moral and religious culture in early
life, the presence of an armed force to protect the peace of
the town would not be needed in so comparatively small a
place; and your memorialists are under a firm conviction
that no better way can be devised for the removal of all
disposition to vice and crime, than by enlightening the
ignorant, and especially by sowing in early life, by the
hands of the teacher, the seeds of religion and morality.'"

'The alarm occasioned by these disturbances has passed away;
but I ascertained, by a careful inquiry among the persons
best acquainted with the condition of the working-classes,
that even at the present day low and unprincipled
publications, of a profane and seditious tendency, are much
read by a class of the operatives; that private and secret
clubs exist for the dissemination of such writings, by means
of which the class of operatives have access to the writings
of Paine and Volney, to Owen's tracts, and to newspapers and
periodicals of the same pernicious tendency. It is stated
that many persons who read such works also attend Sunday
schools, from their anxiety to obtain a knowledge of the art
of reading, which they cannot otherwise acquire. It is the
opinion of those who are best acquainted with the evils
complained of, that the most efficacious remedy would be the
circulation of intelligent publications on general subjects,
within the comprehension of the working-classes, by the help
of reading-societies and circulating libraries, at terms
which the operatives would be able to afford.'"

The third vice--for it is a vice--which we know to be prevalent in Wales, is the extreme dirt and untidiness of all the inhabitants. Go into any Welsh town or village, and observe the squalid shabby look of the houses and their tenants; visit their farms and cottages, and see the wretched filth in which men and animals herd together, and you will bear witness to the truth of our assertion. There is no spirit of order and improvement among them; every thing is done on the principle of the least possible present trouble. Were the Welsh blessed with the climate of Naples, they would, every one of them, become pure Lazzaroni,--as it is, they approximate to the Irish in their innate indolence and love of dirt. Whenever the commissioners for the health of towns receive their full power, they will have an Augean stable to cleanse, comprising the whole Principality.

Even here, however, we are disposed to find some excuse for the people. They have so few resident gentry, at least of the larger proprietors; their country is so wild and so lonely; the difficulties of poverty and bad weather which they have to contend against are so great, that the philanthropical inquirer must make large allowances for them on this head. The commissioners found most of the country schools conducted in the most wretched buildings; but perhaps these buildings were some of the very best and cleanest in the district: they thought them neglected, and in bad repair; whereas the inhabitants might have supposed that they "had done the correct thing," and had adorned them in a style of lavish expenditure.

We might go on multiplying our extracts and our comments _ad infinitum_, but we purposely abstain; and we shall conclude our review of these highly important documents with one or two inferences that seem to us obviously necessary.

In the first place, as long as the Welsh language cannot reckon, among its literary treasures, the principal portion of the good elementary books of instruction which have long been employed in England, and are still issuing from the English press, it is obviously impossible to place the education of the Welsh on the same level as that of their Saxon neighbours. Not only should the best English books be translated into Welsh--we mean for the instruction and amusement of the middle and lower classes,--but translations might be made most advantageously from other tongues; and the literature of Wales might become permanently enriched with the best fruits of all nations. We by no means coincide in opinion with those who would discourage the study of Welsh, and would even attempt to suppress that language altogether; we look upon it as one of the most interesting and valuable, though not one of the most fortunate and gifted, of European tongues. In _ancient_ literature, in poetry, and in an immense mass of oral tradition, it is uncommonly rich, and, by the mere dignity of age, is worthy of its place being ever kept for it among the languages of the world. But, further than this, though it operates to a certain extent as a social bar to the more intimate connexion of the Welsh and English populations, it serves also as a strong bond and support of Welsh nationality, and keeps alive in their breasts that indomitable love of their country, and that spirit of national pride, which is the best safeguard of the liberties of the realm, and its protection from democratic invasion. It hinders the operations of centralisation--that odious and destructive principle of government which Whigs and Democrats are so fond of copying from their masters, the revolutionary French; and it teaches the people to rely on their own resources, and to preserve the ancient freedom of their country. In times like these, when the aggressive levelling spirit of democracy is actively at work, and when the ancient liberties of the country are gradually falling beneath the scythe of radical innovation, any thing that may serve as a check to the decline and fall of the empire is not to be lightly despised or abandoned. The Welsh, like the Basques, like the Bretons, like the Hungarians, have preserved their national language and feelings, though all these are united to empires and people far more powerful and numerous than themselves; and thus are destined to form the most energetic and abiding portions of those empires, when the excessive advance of civilisation, and the destruction of all national virtues, shall have brought about their disruption and ruin. Let the higher orders and the government of the country show, the former more enlightened and more energetic patriotism, and the latter more intelligence and foresight than hitherto. Let them provide the people with the materials of education and instruction; let them call forth the numerous learned men to be found amongst the clergy of the Principality; let them require and pay for the formation of an elementary literature, and the nucleus thus originated will grow betimes into a goodly mass, fit for the work required, and itself generating the means of its future increase. The natural acuteness of the Welsh people is such--and the Commissioners bear ample testimony to the fact--that, had they but books in their own tongue, the facts of knowledge would be universally acquired. They would make as much progress in secular as they now do in theological research; and were their powers of acquisition well directed, the whole character of the nation would undergo an elevating and improving change.

We would have them taught English as a foreign language--as an accomplishment, in fact. It belongs to a totally different family of languages, and must always be a foreign tongue to a Celt--but still it may be acquired sufficiently for all the common purposes of life; while all facts, all instruction, all matters for reflection and memory, should be conveyed in the national tongue, the pure Cymric language.

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Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848Chapter X (2)

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