Welsh Responses to the French Revolution

Marion Löffler

Description

The serial literature current in Wales between 1789 and 1802 is the most important public repository of radical, loyalist and patriotic Welsh responses to the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars. This anthology presents a selection of poetry and prose published in the annual Welsh almanacs, the English provincial newspapers published close to Wales's border and the three radical Welsh periodicals of the mid-1790s, together with translations of the Welsh texts. An extended introduction sketches out the printing culture of Wales, analyses its public discourse and interprets the Welsh voices in their British political context.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History
• Wales
• France
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 04 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708324905
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Wales and the French Revolution

Welsh Responses to the French Revolution Press and Public Discourse 1789–1802

Marion Löfler

University of Wales Press

WALES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

General Editors: MaryAnn Constantine and Dafydd Johnston

WALES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Welsh Responses to the French Revolution: Press and Public Discourse 1789–1802

MARION LÖFFLER

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS CARDIFF 2012

© Marion Löffler, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library CataloguinginPublication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9780708324899 eISBN 9780708324905

The right of Marion Löffler, to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Typeset in Wales by Eira Fenn Gaunt, Cardiff Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham,Wiltshire

Impromptu. On the new Impost on Newspapers.

Says Billy to Harry “These prints make me ill:” “A fresh impost lay on them,” Says Harry to Bill. “By the L– –d we must choak them, (Cries PITT to DUNDAS) “Or they’ll prove me a ROGUE, “And your Worship an ASS . . .”

Chester Chronicle, 7 July 1797.

Y Cylchgrawn uniawn a’i enwi – drws yw I drysor goleuni; Llyfr hoff, hardd, er hyfforddi Trigolion bro trwy gael bri.

(The upright Magazine to name it – is a gate to enlightenment treasure; marvellous, handsome book, for instructing the inhabitants of a country by acquiring esteem.)

D. Sa[u]nders inCylchgrawn Cynmraeg, no. III (1793), 121.

WALES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution of 1789 was perhaps the defining event of the Romantic period in Europe. It unsettled not only the ordering of society but language and thought itself: its effects were profoundly cultural, and they were longlasting. The last twenty years have radically altered our under standing of the impact of the Revolution and its aftermath on British culture. In literature, as critical attention has shifted from a handful of major poets to the noncanonical edges, we can now see how the works of women writers, selfeducated authors, radical pamphleteers, prophets and loyalist propagandists both shaped and were shaped by the language and ideas of the period. Yet surprising gaps remain, and even recent studies of the ‘British’ reaction to the Revolution remain poorly informed about responses from the regions. In literary and historical discussions of the socalled ‘four nations’ of Britain, Wales has been virtually invisible; many researchers working in this period are unaware of the kinds of sources available for comparative study. The Wales and the French Revolution Series is the product of a fouryear project funded by the AHRC and the University of Wales at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. It makes available a wide range of Welsh material from the decades spanning the Revolution and the sub sequent wars with France. Each volume, edited by an expert in the field, presents a collection of texts (including, where relevant, translations) from a particular genre with a critical essay situating the material in its historical and literary context. A great deal of material is published here for the first time, and all kinds of genres are explored. From ballads and pamphlets to personal letters and prizewinning poems, essays, journals, sermons, songs and satires, the range of texts covered by this series is a stimulating reflection of the political and cultural complexity of the time. We hope these volumes will encourage scholars and students of Welsh history and literature to re discover this fascinating period, and will offer ample comparative scope for those working further afield.

MaryAnn Constantine and Dafydd Johnston General Editors

List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Editorial Principles

Introduction

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Contents

SELECTION OF DOCUMENTS

Welsh almanacs An astrological prediction A loyalist address in the wake of the Fishguard landing A patriotic song A poem on Thomas Paine as the instrument of God’s vengeance William Pitt’s tax on dogs

2TheHereford Journal 2.1 An account of the history of the eisteddfod 2.2 The Welsh discovery of America 2.3 A petition from Carmarthen town for abolishing the  slave trade 2.4 A declaration of loyalty from Talgarth, Breconshire 2.5 A declaration of loyalty from Dissenting ministers of three  counties in west Wales 2.6 The execution of Marie Antoinette 2.7 Rioting in west and north Wales 2.8 Rioting at St Clears, Pembrokeshire 2.9 A report of an organized protest in the Forest of Dean 2.10 Paternalistic action for the relief of the poor in Cardiganshire

xi xiii xvi xvii xix

1

73 75 76

80 86

88 89

89 90

92 93 94 96 97 98

viii

CONTENTS

2.11 An account of the French landing at Fishguard 2.12 A letter about the French landing at Fishguard 2.13 A letter explaining the meaning of ‘Jacobin’ and ‘Jacobinism’ 2.14 A letter defending the public fastday in support of the war 2.15 A report from a Cardiff trial for sedition 2.16 A report from a Merthyr Tydfil trial for rioting

99 100 102 103 105 106

3 TheShrewsbury Chronicle 3.1 A report and letter on rioting 109 3.2 A letter reporting loyalist ritual in the town of Aberystwyth 110 3.3 Celebrating the coming of age of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn 111 3.4 Further celebrations of the coming of age of Sir Watkin  Williams Wynn 112 3.5 The editor confirms his loyalist stance 113 3.6 Loyalist celebrations 114 3.7 A blacksmith and a tailor examine ‘democrate’ 116 3.8 A loyalist poem 116 3.9 Two Welsh loyalist poems on peace 118 3.10 The Act for Raising Men for the Navy 119 3.11 A poem on Bala lake 120 3.12 The Methodist response to the Fishguard landing 120 3.13 An appeal for Welsh unity against the French 121 3.14 A report of Irish refugees landing in Pembrokeshire 123 3.15 The Carmarthenshire militia 123 3.16 A St David’s Day poem 124 3.17 The Ancient British Fencibles 125 3.18 A Welsh poem on the attempted assassination of the king 126 3.19 The Cardiff Volunteer Cavalry 128 3.20 Rioting in Chirk 128 3.21 The execution of two rioters 129

4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

5 5.1

TheSalopian Journal The editors defend the new paper against accusations of Jacobinism The Supplementary Militia Act Reports of the French landing from the London Gazettes A letter on the trial of the Dissenters accused of assisting the French at Fishguard

TheChester Chronicle A report of the Gwyneddigion eisteddfod of May 1790

130 131 133

135

137