Monmouthshire Merlin

UTIME :J NEWPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 28, 1843. SOUTH WALES. Since our last publication, we have been at the seat of war" against toll gates and toll exactions, and regret to find that an extensively organised and formidable system of Agrarian intimidation, vio- lence, and outrage, is rapidly spreading. The Government are adopting prompt and vigo- rous means to repress and punish those engaged in violence and outrages, and to enforce obedience to the laws. Official persons of intelligence have been sent down from head quarters to the Principality, and a considerable military force, under active officers, are at hand, to carry out the measures deemed ne- cessary to be adopted by the civil authorities. We trust, however, that the just and prudent course of investigating the causes of this deep and general disaffection in Carmarthenshire and the neighbouring counties, will be forthwith adopted, with a view of an immediate and searching redress of those grievances, which every unprejudiced person, conversant with the state of large portions of South Wales, admit, are oppressive and unjust to the poor. Confidence in being able to crush with the strong arm of military power, should not induce an apathy to the complaints of the people. Whilst riotous farmers are hunted down, the unjust farmers of tolls and trustees of roads, should not be suffered to plunder the poor with impunity. Wherever you turn, with whomsoever of the rural classes you converse, in the disturbed districts, sad complaints of the inflictions upon struggling po- verty and honest industry, reach your ear whilst the outcries against road trustees, charged with ille- gal toll exactions, and the unfeeling plunderers" Z, of the small farmers (a class exceedingly needy in Carmarthenshire) by side bars, are so general as to induce a conviction on the mind that a great wrong has made Rebeccaites of the great bulk of the po- pulation. With the existence of such a feeling and such sympathies over the length and breadth of whole counties, it is easy to assign good cause for tll,- Go- vernment declining to send Rebecca rioters for trial by Carmarthenshire juries. It is easy to account for the extreme difficulty of obtaining evidence against the nocturnal Guerillas. It is easy to ac- count for the effectiveness of spies on the move- ments of the military, and the vigilance which pro- h 0 tects what is deemed the popular cause, against the surprize of a preventive force. An intelligent cor. respondent writes thus "Although the dragoons are on the saddle every night, scour- ing the country, they happen to be always in the wrong place, and the work of outrage continues not only undiminished, but with increased and increasing audacity. On Thursday, foi instance, the dragoons started with Captain Edwards, of Rhj- dygorse, a magistrate at their head, and proceeded to Llange- willy but while they were thus engaged the Rebeccaites en- tered the ancient town of Kidwelly, eight miles from Carmar- then, where they had previously pulled down the gate, and at which a temporary one with iron bars had been erected they broke down the iron posts, destroyed the gate, and then proceeded to demolish the toll-house. Having finished the work of destruction, they piled up the timber which had been used in the building of the toll-house, and placed the broken gate upon it, set fire to it and burned it to ashes. This was done in the piecints of the town containing hundreds of inha- bitants. The outrage was perpetrated by comparatively a very small number of persons, and yet not asingte inhabitant inter- fered to prevent the work of destruction. While this was going on at Kidwelly, Prendergast-gate, situate at Haversfordwest, was destroyed in the most daring manner, while the militaiy were in the town, but not a single person gave them the slightest hint of what was going on." And again, Intelligence having been received (says the writer ) that it was intended to make attacks on several gates during the night, and that the village of Porthrhyd had been threatened to beset on file, Colonel Love immediate] y issued orders for the Dragoons to patrol the whole of the roads leading to the places threatened, and for this purpose they were divided into six sections, who at once scoured the roads from Llandovery, Llandilio, and around Carmarthen. The troop had not, however, traversed more than three miles on the road from Carmarthen, before it became evident that they were watched from the hill tops, and shortly after two signal guns were heard. Within an hour after the troop of Dragoons had possed through the Bethania-gate, which is almost immediately above the hill called Pumble, on the road leading to Llanon, a sky-rocket was sent up from one of the hills in the neighbourhood, and in a few minutes several large bonfires were lit on the various hills around, as answerss to the signal given by the firing of the rocket. The consequents of these signals soon manifested themselves to the inhabitants of the surrounding country by the almost instantaneous appear- ance of about 1C00 men, colliers and others. who appeared to be in a well-organised condition. It will be seen that the followers of Rebecca have commenced the levelling system in Glamorganshire, and that in the execution of a warrant for the cap- ture of a person charged with a participation in the pulling down of the Bwlgoed and other toll-gatas in the neighbourhood of Swansea, a violent and sa- vage assault was committed on a most meritorious office and his assistants, in the discharge of their duty. As we have given details of the event in this paper, we shall not dwell further, at present on the nature of popular discontents in Wales, but proceed to one of the great causes of our adversity, the con- dition of one of the great staple trades with us, and we deem it a duty to take up this subject in con- sequence of conversations which we have had with intelligent men of great experience, who practically know the effects resulting from the conduct of our incompetent Government, as well as by perceiving that since our last publication, the Times, as the or- gan of the do-nothing policy, has put forth another elaborate accusation, with its usual platitudes, against the Iron Masters of South Wales and Staf- fordshire, as the wilful and obstinate causes of the present unparalleled stagnation of their trade. It is because we are inclined to think that the impor- tatice of this great question, at a time when ruin threatens our large establishments and the tens ot thousands employed by them, is not thoroughly un- derstood by people at a distance, that we recur once more to it, with a view of answering, once for all, the erroneous and pernicious doctrines advocated at the present crisis by the anti-free trade party, and also of laying bare in its very serious consequences, the present danger. First and foremost, as to the degree of blame to be attached to the master-miners. An array of figures has been brought forward to show that the production of iron has increased du- ring the last ten years, at a ration quite unprece- dented, either by force of improved methods ol smelting, cheapened production, or increased de- mand, the latter caused by the sudden and enor- mous, but, at the same time, transient and acciden- tal demand for railways. The iron-masters are ac- cused of suicidal competition, originating in a selfish grasping after inordinate profits, and ending in a n zn- wasteful and unnecessary investment of capital, which they have no right to expect the public to keep up, by a consumption of their superabundant produce. The Times, and other organs of the Government, have been ingenious after this fashion, and have had certain smart writers nearer home to us, to follow on the principle, "I say ditto to what Mr. Burke said." It has been attempted to be proved that because the make of iron only increased at the ayearge an- nual rate of 12,000 tons for seven or eight years after 1830, that the increase of the last three or four, being at the rate of 80,000 tons per annum, proves on the very face of it, a prodigious and unpardona- ble over-calculation of the demand in their markets. There is nothing like facts, and we are obliged to say that a full statement of all the circumstances connected with the Iron Trade during the last few years, to our mind, amply absolves the iron mas- ters of all culpability or improvidence, either as re- gards themselves, their workmen, or the public, but also leaves an impression that it is in a totally dif- ferent quarter that the authors of the distress are to be sought. It must be evident to all men that the pertna- t nence of this distress in the Iron trade depends opoø .1 whether our Home and Foreign Markets for I can or cannot be extended. If they cat be J¡rp up, even at the old rates and prices of a iew ye\ ago, the distress will vanish if they cannot,. thing is hopeless ? our furnaces must be extin guished, our population thrown out of employme^ our capitalists reduced to ruin, and though last, D d least, the peace of our country must be For the last six or eight months it is notorious' this district, that every ton of iron produced b: been sold at a loss to the owner, generally to t extent of 20s. If it had not been for the enormous amount of capital invested in this manufacture, which obliged the masters to keep working at 3 small loss rather than encounter a larger loss hy tot?il cessation of works, the whole district wou have come to a stand still long long since. But tfl hope of some change which would re-inspire proS^ perity, has buoyed up the capitalists and them discharging their workmen, and if n°" thing be done, and the views of Sir Robert unfolded to the Staffordshire Deputation, the day, be not reformed altogether, ruin, utter ruin soon stare the masters in the face, and the object 0 all will be to escape from the struggle, with what tune that may be saved from the wreck, leaving theIr poorer brethren to stand the brunt of the distress After the losses which they have suffered for soJlle months past, it would be be unreasonable, if not tbe height of criminality, to blame them for doing so. t It is the part of every rational man to asslS. in removing the true and fundamental cause 0 the mischief, and to help the capitalist to sa^e as much as possible of the fund which, better times, is to give the poor man employmeI1 and assistance. If master and men are reduced to one commol1 level of poverty, then indeed the mischief is irre" mediable. When we consider the hardy and deter- mined character of the mining population, who not poor, broken down, half-starved weavers aD, cotton spinners, but brawny athletic fellows, like fighting cocks in good times, and full of pbj^' cal vigour, and at the same time, be it lamented' not the most enlightened people in nature we must confess that no where, not even amongst th Rebeccaites of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire* nor even Dan's finest organised repeal-loving peasantry in the world, does there exist so pronJl" sing a raw material for agitation, Rebecca and bef dutiful daughters give more trouble to the troops and civil powers in South Wales, than did all the tens ef thousands of Manchester turnouts last aU- tumn. The colliers too, are not one whit behind thelf kindred population in fierceness, determinatiol1, and impatience of wrong, and in the north we per- ceive by the public prints, they are now using Ian" guage of a very inflammable kind. In such a state of things, and with such element of mischief and disorganisation at work, we con" fess we do not exactly see how the Premier's pre" sumption of doing nothing and letting things taItB their course, will get us out of the scrape. 10 suppose that things will blow over, and by some unaccountable method or other, we shall find out oppression gradually relaxed, our iron in full t" quest, and Rebecca pacified, while the landlord* rents are maintained at the same high pitch—^ suppose that we shall some fine morning that we are endowed with the blessings of Trade, and at the same time cloyed with the sweete of monopoly, is, we confess, rather more than can swallow, even upon the authority ol Sir Peel. We think we could establish a better systeuJ of treatment ourselves in this particular case. For instance, as it is notorious that one of principal and immediate causes of distress is exclusion of British iron from the United State market by their new tariff, we would remedy it b1 sending a man of common business habits to Washington with powers to negociace a treaty 011 the basis of fair reciprocity. We take upon ourselves to say that Mr Webster, and ,ø1 such Envoy, would settle the matter in half an hour, and gi.1I fresh 3pur to the industry of millions. It is truly monstroUS to hear of "over-production," and Sir Robert Peel's grave sha^* of the head in answer to the deputation. Gravity is the esseoc of imposiure. We shall see how he will look, if the swarmi1^ myriads of lhe Principality are added lo the Repealers 0 Ireland. I Look at the state of the American iron trade! Mr —the member for W olverhampton-got a return from t IØ ment, which showed that the declared value of the expor I 5 Ibe United States, of iron and steel for the year 1838, £634,395; for 1939, £ 801,198 while for 1842, it wa» o»V £ 394,854! Can we wonder, then, that our iron mID I are distressed, when the expoits to America have falleD so immensely 1 And why have they fallen off! Is rt b the American backwoodsmen need fewer axes, fewer plooB fewer railroads, than in 1839? By no means )A| Kentucky wants a thousand miles of railroad South W"de wants a million barrels of flour:—the rails lie rusting besl t the forges of Merthyr, near our great hives of industry, our wharfs the flour lies rolling on the shores of —but the Custom House officer says "I forbid the bannl Legislation says to the backwoodsmen You shall want 1001., axes, ploughs, communications; or you shall pay double fo' them." To the miner of Monmouthshire You shall iron but you shall eat it before you exchange it for bread But we are told that we can never hope for such anotbet demand for iron, as the first formation of railroads occ.; sioned. Indeed! and why not ? Why are no more rail"I{. being made in this country? Have we enough? Has Sc land enough? Has Ireland enough! Certainly not. have not a tenth of what we should have, if there did exist virtually a tax of £6000 per mile upon the construe" of railways, laid on for the benefit of the monopolists. extra cost of British railways arises from the necessity of P iog extravagant prices for land, and of bribing parliament confer the necessary powers. Many hundreds of miles of railroads might be contracted J the sums thus extorted, as is proved by the cost of IboS8 the United Staies, as compared with ours.0 Railways are discouraged in every possible way. If oil use for the manufacturers of iron to expect any additi0 demand for their rails, so long as the landed interest Jøt feres to settle its own advantage in them first of all, o(j Then look at France' Consider what an immense der#' for iron exists among her thiriy-six millions of people, 'he jority of whom are farmers, and require it for their impleme cll of agriculture. We have it upon the authority of a statistical writer, M. Annison, that the loss annually 'D^'a,i' on the agriculture alone of France, by the high duties on tish iron, is about two millions sterling I 0, As it is quite clear that they must lose as much on the tity used in manufactures, and for other purposes, we may cOld ceive with what willingness the bulk of the French people buy our cheap iron, instead of their own dear, monopoly 0011 tered, charcoal-smelted iron, if we only look off the duty their wines, brandies, and silks. ce, But our parliament will not listen to free trade with Fr*" all and France locks herself up in her own circle, suffering of manner of inconvenience, and retarding the developerneo 0" her own powers, for want of this piime necessary of all pf 011 perity. She charges aboul eleven and a half per cent du<y t all commodities whiih she may import from us. But we cn forty-three per cent on all commodities which we import her. This is Ihe sort of legislation which makes iron a the market; some of its great producers, bankrupts; population, Chartists and Rebeccaites.