But the weak side of Celtism and of its Celtic
glorifiers, the danger against which they have to guard, is clearly
indicated in that letter; and in the remarks reprinted in this
volume,--remarks which were the original cause of Mr. Owen's writing
to me, and must have been fully present to his mind when he read my
letter,--the shortcomings both of the Celtic race, and of the Celtic
students of its literature and antiquities, are unreservedly marked,
and, so far as is necessary, blamed. {0b} It was, indeed, not my
purpose to make blame the chief part of what I said; for the Celts,
like other people, are to be meliorated rather by developing their
gifts than by chastising their defects. The wise man, says Spinoza
admirably, 'de humana impotentia non nisi parce loqui curabit, at
largiter de humana virtute seupotentia.' But so far as condemnation
of Celtic failure was needful towards preparing the way for the
growth of Celtic virtue, I used condemnation.
The Times, however, prefers a shorter and sharper method of dealing
with the Celts, and in a couple of leading articles, having the
Chester Eisteddfod and my letter to Mr. Hugh Owen for their text, it
developed with great frankness, and in its usual forcible style, its
own views for the amelioration of Wales and its people.
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