Wales came out victorious in religion, in politics, in education, and in social matters. Even industrialism, the most potent foe of nationality, was kept at bay; and between it and the Welsh spirit the contest still goes on. With the Industrial Revolution itself, enormous as its influence was, we need not concern ourselves here; for in Wales it followed practically the same course as in England. The mineral wealth of Wales had been tapped by the Romans; but a new impetus was given to mining by the invention of the steam engine, of improved machinery, and by the new means of transport which came into being in the first half of the nineteenth century. In many parts of the land agriculture had to yield place to quarrying and mining; for there was slate in Carnarvon and Merioneth, copper {236} in Anglesey, zinc in Denbigh, lead in Flint and Montgomery, gold in Merioneth, silver in Cardigan, and iron and coal in both North and South Wales. At first iron was regarded as the most important, coal being valued only for the part which it played in smelting operations. With the coming of Guest to Dowlais, and of Crashay to Merthyr, towards the close of the eighteenth century, the industry began to expand rapidly in Glamorganshire and Monmouth. It was not until the middle of the following century that the coal industry became important in itself; but once its importance was recognised, it was worked with the utmost energy, and exported to every part of the world. To-day upwards of a quarter of a million men work in the pits, and more than half the total population of Wales is contained in the mining valleys. The majority of these labourers are not Welsh; for to the pits, and to the great ports on the Bristol Channel, immigration has been taking place regularly, and on an enormous scale. Except for the thinly populated counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Carmarthen, South Wales is no longer Welsh in any sense of the word, and it has ceased to sympathize with the political, the cultural, and the religious ideals of the North. This is the most difficult {237} problem with which Welsh statesmen are to-day confronted. While the Chartist Movement was in full swing, the Rebecca Riots broke out. The new roads which had just been constructed were maintained by tolls, which were levied at turnpike gates placed at short intervals along them. As there were no railways, and as the small farmers of Cardigan and Carmarthen had often to carry great quantities of lime, for the fertilization of their land, over thirty or forty miles, the tax became an extremely burdensome one. Finding that protests availed nothing, some of the younger men, in 1843, disguised as women, broke the obnoxious gates in pieces. Their unruly conduct had two beneficial effects--it drew attention to a real grievance, and it taught the Welsh people to look to Parliament to redress their wrongs.