Daniel
McNaughton. Poor Mr. Drummond did not die at once, but lingered for a
few hours. It was believed by very many people, myself among the number,
that it was a political assassination, the Secretary being taken for the
Premier, but the man got off on a plea of insanity, a plea which was very
fashionable in favour of criminals at that time, and highly conducive to
their benefit.

An episode in the Social History of England, almost unknown to the rising
generation, was the reappearance, in Wales, of "Rebecca and her
daughters," a riotous mob, whose grievance was, at first, purely
local--they resisted the heavy and vexatious tolls, to which, by the
mismanagement and abuses of the turnpike system, they were subjected.
Galled by this burden, to which they were rendered more sensitive by
reason of their poverty, and hopeless of obtaining any assistance or
relief by legitimate means, the people resolved to take the law in their
own hands, and abate the source of so much annoyance and distress by the
strong arm.

The first act of destruction of the toll gates occurred in 1839, and the
gates then destroyed were particularly obnoxious to the people, who
entertained doubts of the legality of their erection. They were broken
down in open day, with no attempt at concealment, by a mob of persons
rather in a spirit of mischievous frolic than otherwise. The proposal to
re-erect these gates, on the part of the trustees, was overruled by a
large body of magistrates and gentlemen, many of whom qualified for
trustees expressly for the occasion. This decision gave strength and
encouragement to the discontented, and, no doubt, prepared the way for
further violence. The gate breakers had learned their power and though
they did not immediately renew the exercise of it, the lesson was not
forgotten, although it slumbered until the commencement of 1843, when it
appeared in a systematic and organised form.

This organization was called "Rebecca and her daughters," their leader
having taken this scriptural name from a misconception of the meaning of
_Genesis_ xxiv., 60: "And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her. . . .
'let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.'" This captain
of the gate breakers in the guise of a woman, always made her marches and
attacks by night, and her conduct of the campaign manifested no small
dexterity and address. A sudden blowing of horns and firing of guns
announced the arrival of the assa