THE BATTLE OF MERTHYR.
"Well, sir, it is, as you say, a long time ago, but it was one of those
things, look you, that a man meets with only once in his lifetime; and
that being so, I might call it all to mind if I began slowly, and went
on so as to keep my pipe alight to the end."
The speaker was a little, white-haired miner, who had been employed for
fifty years by the Crawshays, of Cyfarthfa. We were sitting in the
sanctum of his kitchen, the beautifully sanded floor of which smote me
with remorse, for I had walked up from Merthyr, and was painfully
conscious of two muddy footprints in the doorway.
Mrs. Morgan Griffiths, engaged upon the task of repairing Mr. Morgan
Griffiths's hose, was seated in the middle of the room opposite the
fireplace, having against the wall on either side of her a mahogany
chest of drawers in resplendent state of polish. Mr. Morgan Griffiths
sat beside the fireplace, with his pipe in one hand, the other resting
affectionately upon another mahogany chest of drawers, also
resplendently polished, standing in a recess at his left. The other side
of the fireplace was occupied by the visitor, who, if he had turned his
head a little to the right, might have seen his face reflected in the
resplendent polish of a third mahogany chest of drawers, which somewhat
inconveniently projected from the recess on the side of the fireplace.
Apparently, every well-to-do Welsh collier marks his status in society
by the possession of a mahogany chest of drawers--if mounted in brass
so much the better--which it is the pride and privilege of his wife to
keep in a state of resplendent polish. Mr. Morgan Griffiths having had a
long run of prosperity, and being of a frugal mind, had launched out
largely in the purchase of mahogany chests of drawers, and his kitchen
may be said to bristle with them. Each had its history, and it was to
the patient listening to the repetition thereof, and to the expenditure
of much appreciative criticism upon the varied styles of architecture
displayed in their construction, that I completely won Mr. Morgan
Griffiths's confidence, and overcame the cautious fencing with which
he met my first inquiries touching his recollection of the memorable
Merthyr Riots of 1831.
Perfect confidence reigned between us now, and I discovered that,
though it is exceedingly hard to get a Welsh miner to talk freely to
"a Saxon," when he opens his heart, and can look back for a period of
fifty years, he is a very interesting companion.
"Yes, it's a long time ago," Mr. Morgan Griffiths repeated, in short,
clipping intonation of the English language I will not attempt to
reproduce, "but I've often talked it over with Mrs. Morgan Griffiths,
and I can see it all now. Times was sore bad, and there was a deal
of poverty about. Bread was dear, and iron was cheap--at least so Mr.
Crawshay said when we went up to ask him if he couldn't give us
miners a trifle over the twelve or thirteen shillings a week we was
earning. Everybody I knowed was in debt, and had been in debt for
some time, and was getting further in every week. The shopkeepers
up at Merthyr were getting uneasy about their money, and besides
saying plump out to some of us that we couldn't have any more bread,
or that, without money down on the nail, they served out all round
summonses to what was called the Court of Requests. That was all
very well, but as we couldn't get enough to eat from day to day
upon our wages, it was pretty certain we couldn't go and pay up
arrears. But the summonses came all the same, and it was a black
look-out, I can tell you.
"One day, in the middle of the summer of this year 1831, there was
a great meeting out on Waun-hill of all the miners of the country.
I can't rightly tell you the day of the month, but it was about
three reeks after we rescued Thomas Llewellin, who had been sent
to gaol on account of the row at Mr. Stephens's. We talked over
our grievances together, and we made up our minds that we couldn't
stand them any longer, though we meant no more mischief than our
little Morgan who wasn't born then, me and Mrs. Morgan Griffiths
not being married at the time, nor indeed set eyes on each other.
After the row opposite the Bush Inn, I went back to my work till
such time as the petition we had agreed to send to the King was
written out by Owen Evans, and had come round to be signed by us
all. But there was others not so peaceably minded, and a lot of
them, meeting outside Merthyr, marched over the hill to Aberdare,
where they went to Mr. Fothergill's and treated him pretty
roughly. They ate up all the victuals in the house, and finished
up all the beer, and then took a turn round the town collecting
all the bread and cheese they could lay their hands on.
"A lad sent by Mr. Fothergill came running over the mountain with
a letter to the magistrates, telling them what was happening in
Aberdare, and pressing them to send off for the soldiers. It was
said the magistrates did this pretty quick, but we had no railways
or telegraphs then, and, ride as quick as you might, the soldiers
could not get here before morning. The men from Aberdare were back
here the same night, and marched straight for the Court of Requests,
where they made poor Coffin, the clerk, give up every scrap of book
or paper he had about the Court's business, and they made a bonfire
of them in the middle of the street. Then they came over here, and
swore we should all turn out and join them.
"I remember it well. I was just coming up from the pit to go to my
tea, when they came bursting over the tips, shouting and waving
their sticks, and wearing in their hats little bits of burnt paper
from the bonfire opposite Coffin's house. They were most of them
drunk, but they were very friendly with us, and only wanted us to
leave off work and go along with them. I was a young fellow then,
up to any lark, and didn't make much fuss about it. So off we
went to Dowlais, freed the men there, and we all had a good drink
together.
"Next day the soldiers came in earnest: Scotchmen with petticoats
on, and nasty-looking guns on their shoulders. I stood in a passage
whilst they marched down High Street from Cyfarthfa way, and didn't
like the look of things at all. But close upon their heels came all
our fellows, with bludgeons in their hands, and one of them, a man
from Dowlais, had tied a red pocket-handkerchief on a stick and waved
it over his head like a flag. The soldiers tramped steadily along till
they got just above the Castle Inn, and there they halted, our men
pressing on till they filled the open place below the Castle, as well
as crowding the street behind the soldiers, who looked to me, as I
hung on by the hands and legs to a lamp-post, just like a patch of red
in the centre of a great mass of black. The soldiers had some bread
and cheese and beer served out to them, but they were a long time
getting it; for as soon as any one came out of the Castle with a loaf
of bread and a piece of cheese some of our men snatched it out of
their hands and eat it, jeering at the soldiers and offering them bits.
"The soldiers never said a word or budged an inch till the Sheriff
looked out of the window and asked the little fellow who was their
commander-in-chief to draw them up on the pavement close before the
hotel. The little fellow said something to them; and they turned round
their guns so as the butt ends were presented, and marched straight
forward, as if our fellows were not on the pavement as thick as ants.
There was a little stoppage owing to the men not being able to clear
off because of the crowd on the right and left. But the thick ends of
the guns went steadily on with the bare-legged silent soldiers after
them, and in a few strides the pavement was clear, and the soldiers
were eating their bread and cheese with their faces to the crowd, and
a tight right-handed grip on their muskets.
"The Sheriff got on a chair in the doorway of the Castle, with the
soldiers well placed between him and us, and made a rigmaroling
speech about law and order, and the King; but he said nothing about
giving us more wages. Our master, Mr. Crawshay, was in the hotel too,
and so was Mr. Guest, of Dowlais. Evan Jones, a man who had come over
from Aberdare, got up on the shoulders of his mates and made a
rattling speech all about our poor wages.
"'Law and order's all very well," he said, "but can you live on twelve
shillings a week, Mr. Sheriff, and bring up a lot of little sheriffs?'
"Then we all shouted, and old Crawshay coming up to the doorway, I got
down from the lamp-post, not wishing to let him see me there, though I
was only standing on my rights. But Mr. William had a voice which,
something like an old file at work, could go through any crowd, and I
heard him in his quiet, stern way, just as if he was talking to his men
on a pay-day, say it was no use them crowding there with sticks and
stones to talk to him about wages.
"'Go home, all of you' he said; 'go to bed; and when you are sober and
in your senses, send us a deputation from each mine, and we'll see what
can be done. But you won't be sensible for a fortnight after this mad
acting; so let us say on this day fortnight you come with your
deputation. Now go home, and don't make fools of yourselves any more.'
"We always listened to what Mr. Crawshay said, though he might be a
little hard sometimes, and this made us waver. But just then
Lewis-yr-Helwyr, shouting out in Welsh, 'We ask for more wages and they
give us soldiers,' leaped at the throat of the Scotchman nearest to him,
and snatching the musket out of his hand, stuck the bayonet into him.
"In the twinkling of an eye the great black mass jumped upon the little
red patch I told you of, and a fearful struggle began. The attack was so
sudden, and the soldiers were at the moment so earnest with their bread
and cheese, that nearly all the front rank men lost their muskets and
pressed backward on their comrades behind. These levelled their pieces
over the front rank's shoulders and fired straight into the thick of us.
The little officer had hardly given the word to fire when he was knocked
down by a blow on the head, and a bayonet stuck into him, Our men
pressed stoutly forward and, tumbling over the dead, fell upon the
soldiers, who could move neither arm nor leg. The rear rank were, as
fast as they could bustle, filing into the hotel, but not before they
had managed to pass over their heads the little officer, who looked very
sick, with the blood streaming down his face.
"At last the soldiers all got inside the doorway of the hotel, where
they stood fast like a wedge, two kneeling down shoulder to shoulder
with their bayonets fixed, three others firing over their heads, and
others behind handing up loaded guns as fast as they fired. There was a
lane speedily made amongst us in front of the doorway; but we had won
the fight for all that, and cheered like mad when the soldiers turned
tail.
"In a few minutes we shouted on the other side of our mouths. Without
any notice the windows of every room in the hotel suddenly flew up, and
out came from each the muzzles of a pair of muskets which flashed death
down upon us at the rate of two men a minute; for as soon as the first
couple of soldiers fired they retired and reloaded whilst two others
took their places and blazed away. A rush was made to the back of the
hotel, and we had got into the passage, when the bearded faces of the
Scotchmen showed through the smoke with which the house was filled, and
the leaders of our lot were shoved back at the point of the bayonet. At
the same time the windows at the back of the house flew up as they had
done in the front, and the muzzles of the muskets peeped out as they
had done before.
"This was getting rather hot for me. Men dead or dying were lying about
everywhere around the Castle Inn. If I had been asked that night how
many were killed, I think I should have said two hundred; but when the
accounts came to be made up, it was found that not more than sixty or
seventy were shot dead, though many more were wounded. I was neither
hurt nor dead as yet, and I thought I had better go home if I wanted to
keep so. I was below the Castle Inn at the time, and not caring to pass
the windows with those deadly barrels peeping out I turned down High
Street, and walked through the town. It was raining in torrents, and I
never saw Merthyr look so wretched. Every shop was closed, and
barricades placed across some of the windows of the private houses; and
as I walked along, trying to look as if I hadn't been up at the Castle,
I saw white faces peeping over window blinds.
"Merthyr was trembling in its shoes that day, I can tell you; and it
came out afterwards that every tradesman in the place had got together
all the bread, cheese, meat, pies, and beer he could put his hands on,
ready to throw out to the mob if they came knocking at his door.
"It was late at night when I got home, having gone a long way round, and
I saw nothing more of our fellows; but I heard that the wounded soldiers
had been taken up to Penydarren House, which was fortified by their
comrades, and held all night against our men. Somehow the word got
passed round that we were to meet the next morning in a quiet place on
the Brecon road, and when I got there I found our gallant fellows in
great force. I, having neither sword nor gun, was told off with a lot of
others to get up on the heights that bank the turnpike road near
Coedycymmer, and roll down big stones, so that the fresh troops expected
up from Brecon could not pass. This we did with a will; and when, in the
afternoon, a lot of cavalry came up, we made it so hot for them, what
with the stones rolled down from above and the musketry that came
rattling up from our men who had guns, that they cleared off pretty
smartly.
"This cheered us greatly, and another lot of ours, who had been posted
on the Swansea road to intercept troops coming up in that direction,
soon after joined us, with news of a great victory, by which they had
routed the soldiers and taken their swords and muskets. We thought
Merthyr was ours, though I'm not sure that we quite knew what we were
going to do with it. When somebody shouted, 'Let's go to Merthyr!' we
all shouted with him, and ran along the road, intending to take
Penydarren House by storm. On the way we met Evan Price and some others,
who had been to see Mr. Guest, and had been promised fine things for the
men if they would give up their arms and go peaceably to work. Some
jumped at this offer and sneaked off; but I had got a sabre now, and was
in for death or glory. There was a good many in the same boat, and on we
went towards Penydarren House, enough of us to eat it up, if the walls
had been built of boiled potatoes instead of bricks.
"When we got in sight of the house, we found they were ready for us, and
had got a lot of those soldiers drawn up in battle array. There was a
deal of disputing amongst our leaders how the attack was to commence,
and whilst they were chattering the men were dropping off in twos and
threes, and in about an hour we were all gone, so nothing more was
done that night.
"We lay quietly in our own homes on Sunday, and on Monday had a great
meeting on Waun-hill again, colliers coming up by thousands to join up
from all parts around. Early in the forenoon we began to move down
towards Merthyr, everybody in high spirits, shouting, waving caps, and
brandishing swords. I saw one man get an awful backhanded cut on the
cheek from an Aberdare collier, who was waving his sword about like a
madman. Nobody knew exactly where we were going, or what we were going
to do; but when we got as far as Dowlais we were saved the trouble of
deciding, for there was Mr. Guest, with a great army of soldiers drawn
up across the road. Mr. Guest was as cool as myself, and rode forward
to meet us as if we were the best friends in the world. He made a good
speech, begging us to think of our wives and families, and go quietly
home whilst we had the chance. Nothing came of that, however, and he
pulled out a paper, and read an Act of Parliament, after which he
turned to the commander-in chief of the soldiers, and said he had done
all a magistrate could do, and the soldiers must do the rest.
"'Get ready,' shouts out the commander-in-chief; and the soldiers
brought their muskets down with a flash like lightning, and a clash that
made me feel uncomfortable, remembering what I had seen on the Friday.
"'Present!'
"There was ten murderous barrels looking straight at us. Another word,
and we should have their contents amongst our clothes. It was an awful
moment. I saw one black-bearded fellow had covered me as if I were a
round target, and I said to myself as well as I could speak for my lips
were like parched peas, 'Morgan Griffiths, twelve shillings a week and
an allowance of coal is better than this'; and I'm not ashamed to own
that I turned round and made my way through the crush of our men, which
was getting less inconveniently pressing at the end nearest to the
levelled barrels.
"There was, to tell the truth, a good deal of movement towards the rear
amongst our men, and when Mr. Guest saw this he rode up again, and,
standing right between the guns and the front rank of our men, said
something which I could not rightly hear, and then our men began running
off faster than ever, so that in about half an hour the soldiers had the
road to themselves.
"That was not the last of the riots, but it is all I can tell you about
them, for I had had quite enough of the business. There is something
about the look of a row of muskets pointed at you, with ball inside the
barrels and a steady finger on the triggers, which you don't care to see
too often.
"Anyhow, I went home, and there heard tell of more fighting all that
week on the Brecon road, of Merthyr in a state of panic, and at last of
Dick Penderyn and Lewis the Huntsman being taken, and the whole of our
men scattered about the country, and hunted as if they were rats.
"It was a bad business, sir--a very bad business, and I know no more
than them as was shot down in the front of the Castle Hotel how it came
about or what we meant to do. We were like a barrel of gunpowder that
had been broken up and scattered about the road. A spark came, and
poof!--we went off with a bang, and couldn't stop ourselves. Yes, this
is a bad business, too, this strike of to-day, and there's a good many
thousand men going about idle and hungry who were busy and full a month
ago. I don't feel the bitterness of it myself so much, because I have a
little store in the house. I had been saving it to buy another chest of
drawers to stand there, opposite the door, but it's going out now in
bread and meat, and I don't know whether I shall live to save up enough
after the trouble's over, for I'm getting old now, look you."