A Critical Look at Welsh Nationalism
This book, first published in 1911 is described by its author, in his introduction, as 'an attempt to analyse some of the elements that have contributed to the making of small nations'. It is divided into two parts, the first being potted histories of four 'small nations', ancient Greece, the Dutch Republic, Switzerland and Scotland, while the second (and longer) part deals with Wales as she was in the first decade of the twentieth century. The book is commentary, rather than history, with moral and spiritual lessons being drawn from the stories of these small states, which Morgan portrayes as positive examples.
The second part constitues a critical review of Wales in 1911. Morgan had begun life as a Liberal in politics and a nonconformist in religion. By 1911 he was leaning towards Conservatism and had joined the Anglican Church. His disagreement with the temper of contemporary Wales is palpable. Morgan defends the widely attacked Welsh landlords and Welsh Nonconformity. Mild criticism is expressed of David Lloyd George. Morgan deals with a number of the major figures of the day, including Thomas Ellis and Lloyd George, both of whom Morgan had known in the 1890s.
A number of the comments that Morgan makes are controversial. His dismissal of the campaign for Welsh Home Rule as of little interest for the mass of the Welsh people may sound brutal, but the events of the twentieth century seem to bear him out. His prediction of the death of the Welsh language within twenty years will offend lovers of the Welsh language, although the reader must be aware that Morgan was a Welsh speaker.
Morgan is unable to avoid theological digressions in the chapters dealing with religion in Wales, introducing his own pet issue of universalism for apparently no reason at all. Readers of Morgan's books will find this issue appears also in his 'The War and Wales' and his book on the Welsh Revival. However, this book is less discursive than many of Morgan's other works.
Highly critical of the Welsh nationalist establishment of the day, this book will prove of interest to the serious student of Welsh history as providing a very different perspective on Wales before the Great War.