The Dissolving Society
SIR.--Many Welshmen will agree with Lord Rad- cliffe that we must 'get quickly back to the active realisation of our identity as a nation.' but they will ask, what nation does he speak of? Throughout his perceptive article 'Britain' is used as a synonym for 'England' and 'English' is equated with 'British.' This is the custom of English writers and historians, as many histories of England testify.
According to an ancient tradition, when the whale swallowed Jonah it spoke thus. 'Now, Jonah. you and I are one. And I am that one.' Similarly. England and Wales, since the Act of Union. 1536. are one, and we are given to understand in a thousand ways that England is that one: though recently she has sometimes taken to calling herself 'Britain.'
Is there a Welsh nation? If there is, where does she come into Lord Radcliffe's philosophy, which you commend? Is it right for the Welsh. whose laws were codified more than a thousand years ago and whose literature dates from the sixth cen- tury, to resolve to 'get quickly back to the active realisation of our identity as a nation'? In particular, would this be right for Welsh Conservatives?
If we did this, perhaps it would help the English people, who suffer today from a confusion of identity. Who are they? Arc they English. or are
they British? If the Welsh lived their own national life: if they could be themselves as Welshmen, per- haps this would help to clarify the identity of the English.
The situation is bedevilled by the concept of British nationality. Most people would agree that there are in these islands four nations, the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh. In what sense is there a British nation? This is a recent development, follow- ing the demise of the Scottish state with the Union of 1707. There exists a British state and a legal British nationality: but the concept of a British nation, as distinct from people. seems to arise from a confusion of state and nation. Because it is proper to speak of a British state it does not follow that there exists a British nation. The British state is multi-national.
Although I am very much in sympathy with Lord Radcliffe. I speak for Wales. Political and economic organisation in these islands should be directed to creating conditions in which our four nations live a full national life, at one with their long past.
GWYNI OR EVANS
President Plaid Cymru. 8 Queen Sired). Cardiff
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