Between Prince Edward and Llewelyn, in so far as the latter represented his grandfather's policy, there was no fundamental conflict of ideal. The essence of that policy was that Wales should remain independent and united, but within the bounds of allegiance to the King of England. To the modern man, who has inherited from the century of the Reformation the conception of national sovereignty, such a position may appear to be an impossible one; but to the man of the Middle Ages, accustomed as he was to the underlying principles of feudalism, there was nothing at all paradoxical in the position. Now in recent years we have again learned the soundness of the principle; and it has become the foundation upon which the British Empire rests. There are many of the elements of real tragedy in this mighty conflict between Edward and Llewelyn. Both were able, {86} valiant, sincere, and high-minded men. Both were statesmen of more than ordinary capacity. It is hard that a _modus vivendi_ should not have been discovered between them; and it looks as if some cruel Fate had placed each of them in a false position of inevitable hostility the one towards the other. To Edward the Welsh appeared in the light only of rebellious subjects. They owed him fealty; and with the strict sense of feudal obligations which, with Edward, amounted almost to an obsession, he viewed their disobedience as the breach of a legal and a moral duty. "The last survivor of that race of traitors" were the words with which the Parliament of Shrewsbury described Davydd, Llewelyn's brother. To Llewelyn and the people of Wales, on the other hand, the struggle was that of an independent State, fighting for the preservation of its independence against the encroachments of a powerful neighbour. It was unfortunate that Edward had come to think of Llewelyn as shifty and faithless, and that Llewelyn had come to think of Edward as cruel, crafty, and deceitful. The two men regarded one another with intense personal hatred and suspicion; and an accommodation which might have proved fairly easy of {87} attainment in an atmosphere of goodwill and confidence, was rendered quite impossible by the atmosphere of dislike and distrust in which negotiations were conducted.