DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16513#0009
lutrohiction
♦
VOLUME Y. JULY TO DECEMBER, 1843.
THE PEEL CABINET.—1843.
First Lord of the Treasury ............ Sir 11. Peel.
"Lord Chancellor Lord Lyndhurst.
Chancellor of the Exchequer ......... ... Right Hon. H. Goulburn.
President of the Council ............. Lord Wharncliffe.
Privy Seal Duke of Buccleugh and Queensbury.
.Home Secretary .............. Sir James Graham.
.Foreign Secretary .............. Karl of Aberdeen.
Colonial Secretary .............. Lord Stanley.
Commander of the Forces Duke of Wellington.
First Lord of the Admiralty Earl of Haddington.
President .if the Board of Control Earl of Ripon (vice Fitzgerald).
President of the Board of Trade ........... Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone (vice Eakl ov
Ripon), with a Seat in the Cabinet.
"Vice-President of the Board of Trade ....... . . Earl of Dalhousie.
Secretary at War .............. Sir H. Hardinge.
Treasurer of the Navy and Paymaster of the Forces ....... Sir E. Knatchbull.
POLITICAL SUMMARY.
T
HE year 1843 was distinguished by three alarming com-
motions in South Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, viz. : the
Rebecca Riots, the Secession from the Church of Scotland,
and the Repeal Agitation. The Rebecca Riots [Rebecca
and her Daughters] will always be regarded as a curious
chapter in the history of popular outbreaks, the cause which
induced them being so insignificant, the mode of proceeding so
grotesque and original, and the success so complete and rapid.
The grievance which made the inhabitants of this usually
peaceful district break out into outrage and resistance was
entirely local, and arose from the vexatious and heavy tolls
to which they were subjected by the mismanagement and
abuses of the Turnpike system. Obtaining no relief from the
authorities, the people resolved to take the law into their own
hands, and riotous proceedings commenced in Pembrokeshire
and Carmarthenshire where the first act of gate-breaking had
taken place as far back as the year 1839. When it had been
proposed, on the part of the trustees, to restore those gates,
many magistrates and gentlemen qualified themselves to vote
as trustees and overruled the proposition. This decision
encouraged the discontented and let the gate-breakers know
their power, and the lesson was not forgotten in 1843. In
the early part of this year an attack was made on the turn-
pike gates of the Whitland Trust, in the same district, and
the war was carried on very systematically.
The name of the leader "Rebecca" was derived from a
preposterous application of the following passage in Genesis
xxiv. 60, " And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her . . .
let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."
The Rebeccaites always made their marches and attacks by
night, and were assembled by the blowing of horns and firing
of guns, and they usually announced their arrival at the
devoted gate by similar noises. The leader of the party who
gave the word of command and directed those called "her
daughters," wore afemale dregs, with a bonnetor head-dress, and
the face blackened so that the disguise was complete. Rebecca's
daughters adopted similar means of concealment, rode on
horseback, and generally appeared in great numbers. They
were rapid in all their movements, and soon razed the offend-
ing structure. They generally sawed oft' the gate posts close
to the ground, broke the gate to fragments, and pulled down
the toll-house to the foundations. They invariably treated the
gate-keepers with kindness, and helped to remove their
furniture before beginning the work of destruction. The
work done, Rebecca and her daughters galloped off, firing
their guns and blowing their horns, and no one could tell
whence they had come or whither they had retreated; nor did
anything in outward appearance by day, even while their
nightly outrages were at their height, give indication of the
extensive and compact organisation which was known to exist
among the population. The turbulent spirit soon spread into
other districts, and Brecknockshire alone, of the South Wales
counties, was exempt from these disturbances. In Carmar-
thenshire, out of some hundred and odd gates, between seventy
and eighty were destroyed, and in some trusts not a single
toll-house was left standing. In Pembrokeshire and one
division of Cardiganshire the destruction was equally com-
plete, and the trustees finding the gates demolished as soon
as erected, succumbed at last to the popular will. None of
the disturbed counties, except Glamorgan, possessed a paid
constabulary, or any force that could check the proceedings
of the rioters, and the magistrates were compelled to make
appeal to the Government for protectioa and support. The
insurgents, on the other hand, gaining courage from their
♦
VOLUME Y. JULY TO DECEMBER, 1843.
THE PEEL CABINET.—1843.
First Lord of the Treasury ............ Sir 11. Peel.
"Lord Chancellor Lord Lyndhurst.
Chancellor of the Exchequer ......... ... Right Hon. H. Goulburn.
President of the Council ............. Lord Wharncliffe.
Privy Seal Duke of Buccleugh and Queensbury.
.Home Secretary .............. Sir James Graham.
.Foreign Secretary .............. Karl of Aberdeen.
Colonial Secretary .............. Lord Stanley.
Commander of the Forces Duke of Wellington.
First Lord of the Admiralty Earl of Haddington.
President .if the Board of Control Earl of Ripon (vice Fitzgerald).
President of the Board of Trade ........... Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone (vice Eakl ov
Ripon), with a Seat in the Cabinet.
"Vice-President of the Board of Trade ....... . . Earl of Dalhousie.
Secretary at War .............. Sir H. Hardinge.
Treasurer of the Navy and Paymaster of the Forces ....... Sir E. Knatchbull.
POLITICAL SUMMARY.
T
HE year 1843 was distinguished by three alarming com-
motions in South Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, viz. : the
Rebecca Riots, the Secession from the Church of Scotland,
and the Repeal Agitation. The Rebecca Riots [Rebecca
and her Daughters] will always be regarded as a curious
chapter in the history of popular outbreaks, the cause which
induced them being so insignificant, the mode of proceeding so
grotesque and original, and the success so complete and rapid.
The grievance which made the inhabitants of this usually
peaceful district break out into outrage and resistance was
entirely local, and arose from the vexatious and heavy tolls
to which they were subjected by the mismanagement and
abuses of the Turnpike system. Obtaining no relief from the
authorities, the people resolved to take the law into their own
hands, and riotous proceedings commenced in Pembrokeshire
and Carmarthenshire where the first act of gate-breaking had
taken place as far back as the year 1839. When it had been
proposed, on the part of the trustees, to restore those gates,
many magistrates and gentlemen qualified themselves to vote
as trustees and overruled the proposition. This decision
encouraged the discontented and let the gate-breakers know
their power, and the lesson was not forgotten in 1843. In
the early part of this year an attack was made on the turn-
pike gates of the Whitland Trust, in the same district, and
the war was carried on very systematically.
The name of the leader "Rebecca" was derived from a
preposterous application of the following passage in Genesis
xxiv. 60, " And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her . . .
let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."
The Rebeccaites always made their marches and attacks by
night, and were assembled by the blowing of horns and firing
of guns, and they usually announced their arrival at the
devoted gate by similar noises. The leader of the party who
gave the word of command and directed those called "her
daughters," wore afemale dregs, with a bonnetor head-dress, and
the face blackened so that the disguise was complete. Rebecca's
daughters adopted similar means of concealment, rode on
horseback, and generally appeared in great numbers. They
were rapid in all their movements, and soon razed the offend-
ing structure. They generally sawed oft' the gate posts close
to the ground, broke the gate to fragments, and pulled down
the toll-house to the foundations. They invariably treated the
gate-keepers with kindness, and helped to remove their
furniture before beginning the work of destruction. The
work done, Rebecca and her daughters galloped off, firing
their guns and blowing their horns, and no one could tell
whence they had come or whither they had retreated; nor did
anything in outward appearance by day, even while their
nightly outrages were at their height, give indication of the
extensive and compact organisation which was known to exist
among the population. The turbulent spirit soon spread into
other districts, and Brecknockshire alone, of the South Wales
counties, was exempt from these disturbances. In Carmar-
thenshire, out of some hundred and odd gates, between seventy
and eighty were destroyed, and in some trusts not a single
toll-house was left standing. In Pembrokeshire and one
division of Cardiganshire the destruction was equally com-
plete, and the trustees finding the gates demolished as soon
as erected, succumbed at last to the popular will. None of
the disturbed counties, except Glamorgan, possessed a paid
constabulary, or any force that could check the proceedings
of the rioters, and the magistrates were compelled to make
appeal to the Government for protectioa and support. The
insurgents, on the other hand, gaining courage from their