Welsh Journals

THE UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES* By WILLIAM REES, M.A., D.Sc., F.S.A. (University College, Cardiff). THE year 1936 marked the fourth centenary of the Act of Union of England and Wales. The time, therefore, seems appropriate to review, in the light of our present knowledge, the circum- stances surrounding an event so important in the history of our country. In the long interval which has elapsed since the passing of the Act, opinion regarding the measure has undergone considerable change. The praise accorded by the writers of an earlier day has of late years given place to criticism and not infrequently it is maintained that the dynasty of Tudor, despite its Welsh origin, was, more than any other, responsible for depriving Wales of its heritage as a nation. To what extent the decay of the national culture can be attributed directly to the Act of Union is a debatable question, for no one, viewing the matter in broad perspective, can ignore the fact that the Act was but a stage--and that a relatively late one-in a long process of Anglicisation, that political independence had been lost two centuries and a half earlier and that in such vital matters as land tenure, law and social organization, Welsh society had been seriously undermined long before the passing of the Act. Certain social changes, indeed, sometimes ascribed to the Act, are the result not of that measure, but of more subtle forces operating within the body politic, forces of self-interest or of economic pressure. Legislation alone will not change the habits of a people-a truism more strictly applicable to our forefathers than to us-and the highway of the past is littered with the debris of ineffective legislation, ineffective because it departed too far from the social habits and practices of the people. It is not the main purpose of this paper to trace the effects of the Act of Union upon the national life of Wales, but rather to consider the conditions precedent to the measure and to Address delivered at a meeting of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion on 13th November, 1936. Chairman: Sir John E. Lloyd, M.A., D.Litt., F.B.A. The writer wishes to express his gratitude to Principal J. F. Rees for his kindness in reading the MS. of this paper and for his very helpful comment.