The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-11 00:00:00

WALES.

THE RIOTS IN WALES.—The Hon. G. R. Trevor,
M.P. Vice-Lieutenant of Carrnarthenshire, in a letter to
a contemporary, says :—.` The account given of the attack
on the workhouse here (Carmarthen) is greatly exagger-
ated, both as regards the number of those who came into
the town, and also in almost every other particular. It is
true that many turnpike gates have been destroyed in dif-
ferent pats of Carmarthenshire, but otherwise we are in a
state of perfect quiet, which I have every hope to see con-
tinued uninterrupted by any other sort of disorder."

MORE GATES DESTROYED.—About four o'clock, on
Tuesday morning last, Rebecca, with a numerous gang of
her children, paid a visit to Penygarn gate, near Llaneg-
on the Llandilo road. They demolished the gate in a
short time, and then stripped the roof of the toll-house,
and left the walls in a tottering condition. When they
had completed the work of destruction, they fired off
fifteen vollies, and then immediately dispersed in various
directions. They were all well armed, and disguised in
woman's clothes. On Wednesday night, Gurrey-fach
gate, near Llandilo, was completely demolished ; and the
noise of the rioters was distinctly heard at the town of
Llandilo, but none dared go out to prevent their outra-
geous proceedings. Several other gates and bars were de
stroyed in this county during the last week : and we are
very sorry to hear that the gate-destroying mania is now
spreading very fast through the whole of Cardiganshire,
and hardly a night passes without some gate being des-
troyed, notwithstanding the presence of the military in
the various towns within the disturbed districts.—Car.
marlhen Journal.

MORE GATES DESTROYED.—We are sorry to see that
the destructive spirit of Rebeccaisrn has now spread itself
over the whole of the Three Commots District. Amongst
others, Pontyeats, inke, Pontyberem, and both gates at
Kidwelly have been destroyed. The gate-keeper at Cas-
tellyrhirgyll, seeing a cart coming up on the full trot,
threw the chain across the road, which made the horses
stumble; the chain was instantly destroyed, and the gate-
keeper soundly thrashed. At Vanissa, a private gate which
secured a limekiln belonging to J. E. Saunders, Esq., of
Glanrhwdw, was destroyed, and burnt ;in the limekiln.
The Bridge-End gate, near Llangennech, :has been de-
molished, and the toll-house much damaged; and the
Forest gate, between Pontarddulais and Llanedy, was
destroyed, add afterwards burnt. On Friday night,l a
visit was paid by Rebecca and her children to the village
of Llanddarog, about six miles from Carmarthen. They
mustered about 500, armed with guns, swords, and pick-
axes. Notice had been previously given that Rebecca in-
tended paying a visit to the above gate, and accordingly,
about midnight this renowned lady and her daughters ful-
filled their promise. When they arrived at the gate, they
enquired of the toll-collector what was to pay, to which
the frightened gentleman instantly replied, " Nothing for
you, ma'am. Rebecca having acknowledged the polite-
ness of the collector, desired him to go into his dwelling
and shut himself in, which he immediately did, and her
orders were given for the destruction of the gate. In a
short time it was levelled with the groued, amid the exul-
tation of the family and the firing of guns. They then
proceeded to Trcedyrhiw gate, which met the same fate.—
Carmarthen Journal.
THE REBECCA RIOTS.—A correspondent of one of the
London papers, who writes from the scene of the distur-
bance, gives the following reasons for the extraordinary
proceedings of the Rebeccaites The chief tillage of
this country is lime, and a great number of limekilns are
erected in different places, often with bye-roads to them ;
and it is the custom of the farmers to buy their own stone,
and often their own coal, and carry them to these kilns to
be burned into lime, and then convey away the lime to
their lands. Often the farmers of a district were enabled
to get to these kilns without going through any turnpike ;
upon which the toll contractors complained to the trus-
tees that they could not continue to pay the full amount
of their contract price of the tolls unless toll-bars were
erected on these bye-roads. These applications have been
listened to, and there are scarcely two miles of bye-road
or high-road without a turnpike. The consequence is,
that where heretofore the farmer paid Is. for a load stone
which he had taken to the quarry with his team, he is
now compelled to pay Is. in addition for turnpikes, ano-
ther shilling toll on his coal, and, again, has toll demanded
on bringing away his lime. This, therefore, has become
a very serious tax upon the farmer, and has greatly en-
hanced the cost of the tillage for his land. Again, it has
been the custom if ever a bridge had to be built, a road to
be made less circuitous, or a hill to be cut down, to erect
s turnpike to defray the cost of the improvement. These
new additional turnpikes have been continued and tolls
exacted long after the cost of the bridge or other improve-
ment has been over and over again defrayed. In other
places parishes are compelled to repair the roads at their
own cost, and the farmers who have contributed to this
cost, contend that it is unjust that they should be called
upon to pay toll as well. From these several causes, in-
credible as it may appear, I have been informed by several
persons likely to be acquainted with the fact, that, taking
the whole county of Carmarthen, on an average there are
not three miles of road without a toll bar. From Pontar-
dulais-bridge, the boundary of the county, to this town, a
distance of only 19 miles, I myself counted no less than
11 toll-bars, or rather 10 and the clean-swept foundation
where one stood last week. The farmers of the county,
a most peaceable, quiet, and orderly population, were
roused to such a pitch of indignation by this abuse, that
at length, under a leader more daring than the rest who
assumed the name of " Rebecca," several of these newly
set up gates were pulled down. It is remarkable, and
proves that it is their sense of justice only which is out-
raged, that none of the old established gates originally
placed on the road have been meddled with."

The London Journal of Commerce affirms, on the
authority of a well-informed correspondent at Berlin, that
a further attempt will be made this year, by the German
Customs Union, to increase the duties on British goods.