Unity has arisen in spite of the bilingual difficulty. Rather more
than one half of the people now habitually speak English. For three
centuries an Act--a dead letter from the beginning--ordered all
Government officials to speak English; for many generations, until
recently, Welsh children were not taught Welsh in schools, and they
could not be taught English. The bilingual difficulty is now at an
end. The two languages are taught in the schools, and as living
languages. It is clear, on the one hand, that every one should learn
English, the language of the Empire and of commerce. It is also
clear that, on account of its own beauty as well as that of the great
literature it enshrines, Welsh should be taught in every school
throughout Wales.

Next to its unity, a characteristic of modern Wales is its democratic
feeling. It is a country with a thoughtful and intelligent
peasantry, and it is a country without a middle class. There is a
very small upper class--the old Welsh land-owning families who once,
before they turned their backs on Welsh literature, led the country.
They have never been hated or despised, they are simply ignored.
Their tendency now is to come into touch with the people, and they
are always welcomed. But a middle class, in the English sense, does
not exist. The wealthier industrial class is bound by the closest
ties of sympathy to the farmer and labourer. The farmer's holding is
generally small--from 50 to 250 acres--and he always treats his
servants and labourers as equals.

The three great levelling causes--religion, industry, {5} and
education--have been at work in Wales in recent years. Education
helps and is helped by equality. In town and country alike all Welsh