Welsh Responses to the French Revolution

Press and Public Discourse, 1789-1802

Marion Löffler

• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780708324899
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780708324905
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• List of Figures
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Editorial Principles
• Introduction
• 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’svengeance
• William Pitt’s tax on dogs
• An account of the history of the eisteddfod
• The Welsh discovery of America
• A petition from Carmarthen town for abolishing theslave trade
• A declaration of loyalty from Talgarth, Breconshire
• A declaration of loyalty from Dissenting ministers of threecounties in west Wales
• The execution of Marie Antoinette
• Rioting in west and north Wales
• Rioting at St Clears, Pembrokeshire
• A report of an organized protest in the Forest of Dean
• Paternalistic action for the relief of the poor in Cardiganshire
• An account of the French landing at Fishguard
• A letter about the French landing at Fishguard
• A letter explaining the meaning of ‘Jacobin’ and ‘Jacobinism’
• A letter defending the public fast-day in support of the war
• A report from a Cardiff trial for sedition
• A report from a Merthyr Tydfil trial for rioting
• A report and letter on rioting
• A letter reporting loyalist ritual in the town of Aberystwyth
• Celebrating the coming of age of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn
• Further celebrations of the coming of age of Sir WatkinWilliams Wynn
• The editor confirms his loyalist stance
• Loyalist celebrations
• A blacksmith and a tailor examine ‘democrate’
• A loyalist poem
• Two Welsh loyalist poems on peace
• The Act for Raising Men for the Navy
• A poem on Bala lake
• The Methodist response to the Fishguard landing
• An appeal for Welsh unity against the French
• A report of Irish refugees landing in Pembrokeshire
• The Carmarthenshire militia
• A St David’s Day poem
• The Ancient British Fencibles
• A Welsh poem on the attempted assassination of the king
• The Cardiff Volunteer Cavalry
• Rioting in Chirk
• The execution of two rioters
• The editors defend the new paper against accusations ofJacobinism
• The Supplementary Militia Act
• Reports of the French landing from the London Gazettes
• A letter on the trial of the Dissenters accused of assistingthe French at Fishguard
• A report of the Gwyneddigion eisteddfod of May 1790
• The burning of Thomas Paine’s effigy
• A declaration of loyalty
• An anti-war poem
• A loyalist poetic competition
• A threatening letter and the editor’s reply
• An anti-war poem from Denbigh
• Two anti-war letters
• Advertisement for a radical Welsh periodical
• Two letters from a Flintshire magistrate on the price ofgrain
• A Welsh anti-fast-day hymn with translation
• A poem claiming the Duke of Norfolk for Wales
• The Fishguard landing
• A satirical Welsh litany
• A patriotic appeal
• A Welsh elegy for David Samwell
• St David’s Day celebrations
• A letter on allegations of atrocities in Ireland
• An ode to Anglesey
• The burning of Thomas Paine’s effigy
• Rioting in Denbighshire
• A Latin loyalist poem from Anglesey
• The Fishguard landing
• An appeal for the reinforcing of coastal defences
• First instalment of an essay on government
• Religious liberty
• Prince Madog’s speech on leaving Wales
• The search for the descendants of Prince Madog in America
• News from the Continent
• The enlightenment of the Welsh
• Against the Established Church
• America’s example to the world
• Home and foreign news
• A poem denouncing the traitor Dumourier
• The execution of Marie Antoinette
• The demise of the periodical
• Ecumenical appeal by the editor
• A fast-day prayer
• A fast-day hymn
• A prayer for liberty
• A poem in praise of the Welsh language
• A sermon on the early church
• A letter from America
• An attack on Seren tan Gwmmwl
• In defence of Seren tan Gwmmwl
• News from the Continent
• A Welsh version of the ‘Marseillaise’
• An attack on Seren tan Gwmmwl with a response by theeditor
• An address in praise of the periodical
• A response by the author of Seren tan Gwmmwl
• An anti-war poem
• Select Bibliography
• Regular Bardic Names of Welsh Poets and Authors
• Index