An Arcadian In Parliament

In 1804 a Carmarthenshire youth of sixteen, encumbered only by a small bundle of spare clothing set out in Dick Whittington fashion to seek his fortune in London. There were those who thought he would soon be back, seeking the comforts of home after beating a disillusioned retreat from the chilling realities of an unfamiliar world, but they deceived only themselves, for they failed to appreciate the youth's determination to succeed, supported by a nimble brain and a natural aptitude for commerce. For win a fortune he did and a seat in the Court of the Common Council of the City of London to boot. He might even have become Lord Mayor—although his forthright independence might have been an impediment—had he not turned his attention in another direction, a path which was to lead into Parliament, where he became an influential member during a career there of twenty-seven years. Although he spent the whole of his adult life in England, he never forgot the land of his birth or his native language, but he deeply resented the squalid social conditions most of his compatriots were obliged to suffer. He believed that, given the `blessings of education', the lot of the masses in Wales, as elsewhere, would improve and lead to more meaningful life. It was this conviction that led him to persuade the Government to set up an inquiry into the state of education in Wales, but the raging storm of controversy that followed was something that neither he nor anybody else could foresee.