Never has Welsh so flourished as a literary language as at present. At least nineteen weekly Welsh papers are published in Wales, eighteen monthlies, and six quarterlies; in addition to which Liverpool has its own Welsh weekly, the United States one, and Patagonia one. The output of Welsh books is not very large, but it cannot be computed at much less than a hundred in the course of every year. And Welsh is not only widely read, it is also widely spoken. In North Wales, and in at least two counties in the South it is still the language of the home, of the playground, and of public worship. And wherever the Welshman goes he carries his language with him. In America, in Patagonia, in Africa, and in Australia, there are Welsh colonies, with {242} Welsh societies and Welsh chapels. In the United States alone the number of Welsh chapels is close upon four hundred. In Great Britain, outside Wales, the tale is the same. The numerous Welshmen who have left their own quiet homes in order to push their fortunes in the great cities have never forgotten the traditions of their youth. London has over thirty Welsh places of worship, Liverpool about the same number, Manchester nine, Birmingham four, and Bristol three, while many other English, Scottish, and Irish towns have at least one each. The political calm of Wales was broken in 1859, the year of the last but one of the great Revivals. There was a General Election, and the tenant farmers of Merioneth decided, for the first time, that they would refuse to vote for the landlord's nominee, and would run a candidate of their own. Ruthless evictions followed; and ere long it had become the settled policy of most of the great estate holders to examine into the political, and even the religious, views of their tenants, and to expel all Radicals and Nonconformists. Persecution, however, only stiffened the determination of the people; and the contest went on. The Reform Act of 1867 helped the democratic movement; and in the following {243} year Henry Richard was returned at the head of the poll at Merthyr Tydvil. Richard was one of the most able, and most interesting men of the day, and would have been an ornament to any representative assembly. As an advocate of peace he became known all over Europe; and was the first Welshman, in modern times, to occupy an international position. At the same Election seven Liberals were returned for Wales. Fresh evictions followed, and Welsh farmers emigrated in scores to the United States. But a measure of relief was at hand: in 1872 the Ballot Act was passed. From that day Liberalism swept onwards from victory to victory. In 1886 Tom Ellis, the noblest and most far-sighted of the men sent by Wales to Parliament, was elected for Merionethshire. Four years later David Lloyd George became Member for Carnarvonshire, and in the same year Samuel Evans (afterwards to become a famous President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Court) was elected for Glamorgan.