We have looked on every side; we have searched diligently in order to find out the causes of distress so sore and so long continued. We can discover none in nature or in Providence. Heaven has dealt graciously by the people, nor have the people abused its grace, but the foolishness of our rulers has made the goodness of our God of none effect. The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in building up the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its resources squandered for their aggrandisement. The good of a part has been advanced at the sacrifice of the good of the nation. The few have governed for the interest of the few, while the interests of the many have been sottishly neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon. It was the fond expectation of the friends of the people that a remedy for the greater part, if not for the whole of their grievances, would be found in the Reform Act of 1832. They regarded that Act as a wise means to a worthy end, as the machinery of an improved legislation, where the will of the masses would be at length potential. They have been bitterly and basely deceived. The fruit which looked so fair to the eye, has turned to dust and ashes when gathered. The Reform Act effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to another, and left the people as helpless as before. Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship of liberty, which has aggravated the painful feelings of our social degradation, by adding to them the sickening of still deferred hope. We come before your honourable house to tell you, with all humility, that this state of things must not be permitted to continue. That it cannot long continue, without very seriously endangering the stability of the throne, and the peace of the kingdom, and that if, by God's help, and all lawful and constitutional appliances, an end can be put to it, we are fully resolved that it shall speedily come to an end. We tell your honourable house, that the capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due profit; that the labour of the workman must no longer be deprived of its due reward. That the laws which make food dear, and the laws which make money scarce, must be abolished. That taxation must be made to fall on property, not on industry. That the good of the many, as it is the only legitimate end, so must it be the sole study of the government. As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite changes as the means by which alone the interests of the people can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that those interests be

confided to the keeping of the people. When the State calls for defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call. Required, as we are universally, to support and obey the laws, nature and reason entitle us to demand that in the making of the laws the universal voice shall be implicitly listened to. We perform the duties of freemen; we must have the privileges of freemen. Therefore, we demand universal suffrage. The suffrage, to be exempt from the corruption of the wealthy and the violence of the powerful, must be secret. The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power of our uncontrolled exercise. We ask for the reality of a good, not for its semblance, therefore we demand the ballot. The connection between the Representatives and the people, to be beneficial, must be intimate. The legislative and constituent powers, for correction and for instruction, ought to be brought into frequent contact. Errors which are comparatively light, when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of compulsory endurance. To public safety, as well as public confidence, frequent elections are essential. Therefore, we demand annual parliaments. With power to choose, and freedom in choosing, the range of our choice must be unrestricted. We are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives men who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties, or have little sympathy with them; merchants who have retired from trade and no longer feel its harrassings; proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its evils and its cure; lawyers by whom the notoriety of the senate is courted only as a means of obtaining notice in the courts. The labours of a representative who is sedulous in the discharge of his duty are numerous and burdensome. It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered. We demand that in the future election of members of your honourable house, the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualification, and that to every representative so chosen, shall be assigned out of the public taxes, a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon to devote to the public service. The management of this mighty kingdom has hitherto been a subject for contending factions to try their selfish experiments upon. We have felt the consequences in our sorrowful experience. Short glimmerings

of uncertain enjoyment, swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering. If the self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will, at least, remove their repinings. Universal suffrage will, and it only can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity. May it therefore please your honourable house, to take this our petition into your most serious consideration, and to use your utmost endeavours, by all constitutional means, to have a law passed, granting to every male of lawful age, sane mind, and unconvicted of crime, the right of voting for members of parliament to be in the way of secret ballot, and ordaining that the duration of parliament, so chosen, shall in no case exceed one year, and abolishing all property qualifications in the members, and providing for their due remuneration while in attendance on their parliamentary duties.

"And your petitioners shall ever pray."

(History of the Chartist Movement, R. G. Gammage, London, 1894. p. 87.)

222. Presentation of the National Petition

Gammage

The climax of the Chartist movement occurred upon April 10th, 1839, the date of the presentation of the "monster petition." The apprehension of the Government, the attitude of Parliament, and the motives and actions of the leaders of the Chartists are well shown by the following selection from the works of a prominent agitator.

The ever memorable 10th of April arrived, and vast preparations were made by the Government. Beside the regular troops quartered in the metropolis, others poured in from Windsor, Hounslow, Chichester, Chatham, Winchester, and Dover. The marines and sailors of the Royal Navy at Sheerness, Chatham, Birkenhead, Spithead, and other government towns, as well as the dockyard men, were kept under arms. The Thames police kept watch upon the mercantile marine, lest they should show any leaning towards the Chartists. Heavy gun-batteries were brought from Woolwich, and placed at various points. The marines were stationed at the Admiralty. Many of the troops were disposed of secretly, to be ready in case of necessity. The mounted police were armed with broad swords and pistols. All the public buildings were put in a state of defence. Two thousand stand-of-arms were supplied to the general postoffice, for the use of the clerks and officers of that department, who were all sworn in as special constables; and the

officials at other public places were equally well provided. All the steam vessels were ordered to be ready for any emergency, in order to convey troops. At the Tower the guns were examined, the battlements strengthened by barricades, and the troops held in readiness to march at a minute's notice. The labourers at the docks were sworn in as specials. The city prisons were guarded by military, and the churches were converted into barracks. The public vehicles were generally withdrawn from the streets. In the city seventy thousand persons were sworn in as special constables, and military officers commanded them. The royal carriages and horses, and other valuables, were removed from the palace. The military force amounted to nine thousand men. It being believed that the procession would go from Kennington Common over Blackfriars Bridge, to the House of Commons, great preparations were made in that quarter. At Stepney Green, Finsbury-square, and Russell-square, bodies of the Chartists met with bands and banners, and paraded the streets on their way to Kennington Common, where six thousand police, and eight thousand specials were in attendance. Before eleven o'clock Trafalgar-square was filled with police. The approaches of Westminster Bridge were, on the Surrey side, guarded by strong bodies of that force, and the bridge was placarded with bills, announcing that no procession would be allowed to accompany the Petition to the House. Every commodious place in the vicinity was filled with military, police, or specials. The artillery was also present. Various bodies continued to arrive on the Common with music and banners, bearing various inscriptions, such as "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"; "Ireland for the Irish." The Convention assembled at nine o'clock, Reynolds occupying the chair. The delegates' names were called. When the name of Bronterre O'Brien was called, McCarthy said he understood O'Brien had resigned, and he wished to know when he attended last. Doyle said they had no notice of his resignation officially, and he had not attended since the day before the proclamation was issued from the Government. Doyle also announced that he had received a letter from the Commissioner of Police, in reply to one sent by him that the route of procession was altered. The letter stated that the contemplated procession would on no account be allowed to take place. O'Connor delivered a precautionary speech; took the blame off the Government for the preparations they had made, and charged it upon those who had talked of an

armed demonstration. He said he was prepared to ask the meeting "in the name of courage, in the name of justice, in the name of God, not to hold the procession, and thus throw their great cause into the hands of the pickpockets and scoundrels, and give the Government an opportunity of attacking them." He then stated that the preparations had been made for shooting from certain windows on the leaders of the movement. He was told this by Alderman Humphery in the House of Commons, by the police, and others. The delegates started from the Convention Room at ten o'clock. The procession was headed by a car, decorated with various banners, and drawn by four horses. This car was to convey the National Petition. This was followed by a second car, drawn by six horses, and containing the delegates. On the front seat were Feargus O'Connor, Doyle, McGrath, Jones, Wheeler, and Harney. This car, like the preceding one, was profusely decorated. As the delegates left a body of people fell into procession behind them, eight abreast. Having arrived at the National Land Company's office, the procession stopped to take up the petition. This accomplished, the procession resumed its march through Holborn, Farringdonstreet, and New Bridge-street, to Blackfriar's Bridge. Two or three hundred pensioners were on the Steamboat Pier, who, on being recognised, were loudly cheered by the people in the procession. Quite as many police were on the other side of the Bridge, and a little further on were fifty mounted police with cutlasses. As far as the Blackfriar's-road most of the shops were open, but from the Bridge they were mostly closed. The procession at length reached the Common, where the several bodies of men, with their bands and banners, formed into a dense mass, estimated at from one hundred and fifty thousand to one hundred and seventy thousand, and who burst into loud cheering as the delegates' car came upon the Common....

... The meeting being at an end, the Petition was placed in three cabs, and the Chartist Executive accompanied it to the House of Commons. The police guarded the bridges, and for upwards of an hour after the meeting, prevented any approach on the part of the people. Some endeavoured to effect a passage, but the police used their staves, often with very little moderation. The masses did not, however, risk a collision with the police, and considering the excitement previously existing, the day passed off in a singularly peaceful manner.