On the same day O'Connor presented the Petition to the House, which he stated was signed by five million seven hundred thousand persons. He also presented one for the same object, signed by thirty thousand persons. He moved that the first Petition be read by the clerk at the table, which was accordingly done. Lord Morpeth stated that Sir George Grey was unavoidably absent on account of business; but he might say for him, that whatever might be his sentiments on the prayer of the Petition, he would not wish to appear wanting in respect to that or any other petition, signed by a large number of his fellow-subjects. The Petition being rolled out of the House, Bright presented a petition from delegates at Manchester, representing six thousand persons, praying for the six points of the Charter; the abolition of the law of entail and primogeniture; a limitation of the hours of labour; and local boards for the regulation of wages. Lushington gave notice that on Friday next he would ask whether it was the intention of the Government to introduce any measure of parliamentary reform during the session....

On the same day that the last three motions were adopted, an important scene occurred in the House of Commons on the subject of the National Petition. Thornley brought up a report from the Committee on public petitions. He stated that with the assistance of thirteen law stationer's clerks, the petition which O'Connor had said contained five million seven hundred thousand signatures, had been examined, and it was found to contain only one million nine hundred and seventyfive thousand four hundred and ninety-six, and amongst the rest were signatures such as Victoria Rex, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Colonel Sibthorpe, etc. There were also a large number of fictitious names, such as Pugnose, Longnose, Flatnose, Punch, Snooks, Fubbs, and other obscene names, which he would not offend the House or its dignity by repeating. O'Connor denied that it would be possible for thirteen clerks to count one million nine hundred thousand signatures in the time, and moved for a committee to enquire into the subject. He attributed the fictitious names to Government spies. He believed the number of signatures he had stated was correct. He did not believe he should have any difficulty in obtaining fifteen million or double or treble that number. Thornley said the Committee was not appointed specially to examine that Petition, but it was appointed in the early part of the session, to examine all petitions presented to the House. O'Connor had stated that the

Petition was contained in four large bundles, and it took himself and four other persons to lift the largest. The Petition had been weighed that morning, and was found to weigh 5cwt. 48 lbs. The Committee was, he trusted, too well known to render any further statement necessary. Lord John Russel expressed himself satisfied with the report. The Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Maurice O'Connell, and Sir R. H. Inglis having spoken, Cripps, one of the Committee, got up and confirmed the statement of Thornley, and stated out of ten thousand signatures, eight thousand two hundred were women. He made some strong remarks upon O'Connor, who replied that he could not be answerable for every signature contained in the Petition. He had palmed no falsehood upon the House, nor had he charged the Committee with practising a deception. After he had spoken O'Connor left the House. (History of the Chartist Movement, ed. cit., p. 312.)

223. Suffering of the "Lower Classes"

Contemporary Newspaper

The following letter to the Sun throws powerful light upon the sufferings of the English poor in the days of Chartism and Reform: The description of the poverty of the lower classes is as vivid as it is painful, and the prophecy with which the letter concludes shows the impression made by the conditions of the times upon men of thought.

Sir, I have been at the siege of Bolton-for nothing but some such cause suggests itself as adequate to the phenomenon. And is it not a siege? Not carried on perhaps by any enemy within gun-shot, but by one working on a wider radius, and making his blockade by sea upon the means of life.

Many sights it has been my chance to see. I think I know what is the minimum of help by which horse, ass, dog, hog, or monkey, can sustain existence, and when it must go out for want of appliances and means of living. But anything like the squalid misery, the slow, mouldering, putrefying death, by which the weak and the feeble of the working classes are perishing here, it never befel my eyes to behold, nor my imagination to conceive. And the creatures seem to have no idea of resisting or even repining. They sit down with Oriental submission, as if it was God, and not the landlord, that was laying hand upon them. And when their honourable representative in Parliament gave a description

of their sufferings, "liar" was the best word applied to him by the organs of tyranny.

Did you ever set your eyes on a pennyworth of mutton? Come here, and you shall see how rations are served out under the landlord's state of siege. It might bait a rat-trap; though a well-fed rat would hardly risk his personalities for such a pittance. Pennyworths of mutton, and halfpennyworths of bread cut off the loaf, are what the shopkeepers of Bolton deal out to the inhabitants of their Jerusalem. I saw a woman come for one halfpenny-worth of bread, which was to be the dinner of herself and her children twain; and when I reflected that of this transparent slice the other one was gone to buy the landlord's sack, astonishment possessed me at the endurance of that long-bearing ass the public, and the extent to which ignorance and divisions will drop the rich man's robbery.

I saw another mother of a family, who said she had not tasted meat for many months; and on one of the children being sent off to the butcher's for some of the strange luxury, she was discovered making many efforts to intercept the messager. Her anxiety was to instruct the boy to bring back nothing but one pennyworth of bacon; there was a tomorrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, for which she had conceived the idea of spinning out existence by means of the remainder of the funds.

If you are curious in human misery, if you are anxions to know what a shabby tyranny can bring the rank and file to suffer, come, at your leisure, to the "leaguer" of Bolton, and see what the people sleep upon, if they do sleep. Chopped dirt, the sweepings of a henhouse, mingled with a portion of sparrows' nests, to show that men had heard of straw, would be the best representatives of what they huddle upon in corners, and call it resting. And all this because Sir Having Greedy votes in the House of Commons for closing honest trade, as the means of doubling them by confiscation of the poor man's bread.

There is danger in their schemes. Already people of all kinds are paradying the sentiment of the Italians - "Ad ogni uomo puzza questo barbaro dominio?" which may be translated for English use, "Neither man nor woman will endure this dynasty of clodhoppers." It wants nothing but the private of the regiment to know what hurts them, and to get rid (as they are doing fast) of the various false lights thrown out to induce them to run in every direction that will

preserve the evil; and a quicker end than pleasant may be put to mischief, which nobody would remove by an earlier application of the prudentiai virtues.

(Recollections of Richard Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League, H. Ashworth, Lond. p. 36.)

224. Repeal of the Corn Law

Levi

The Anti-Corn-Law movement finally met with the success it merited, though not without encountering fierce opposition. The landed interest was inimical, almost as a unit. Legislation in the interest of the masses found little favour among the upper classes of England at that period, and the voice of the multitude, reduced to the borders of starvation, was long raised in vain. Sir Robert Peel's defection from the opponents of the Bill largely aided its ultimate passage, but to Cobham and Bright belong the greatest meed of praise for the final triumph of the cause of the people.

Their

The Anti-Corn-Law agitation was one of those movements which, being founded on right principles, and in harmony with the interests of the masses, was sure to gather fresh strength by any event affecting the supply of food. It was popular to attempt to reverse a policy which aimed almost exclusively to benefit one class of society.... The economic theorists had the mass of the people with them. gatherings were becoming more and more enthusiastic. And even amidst Conservative landowners there were not a few enlightened and liberal minds who had already, silently at least, espoused the new ideas. No change certainly could be expected so long as bread was cheap and labour abundant. But when a deficient harvest and a blight in the potato crop crippled the resources of the people and raised grain to famine prices, the voice of the League acquired greater power and influence. Hitherto they had received hundreds of pounds. Now, thousands were sent in to support the agitation. A quarter of a million was readily contributed. Nor were the contributors Lancashire mill-owners exclusively. Among them were merchants and bankers, men of heart and men of mind, the poor labourer and the peer of the realm. The fervid oratory of Bright, the demonstrative and argumentative reasoning of Cobden, the more popular appeals of Fox, Rawlins, and other platform speakers, filled the newspaper press, and were eagerly read. And when parliament dissolved in August 1845, even Sir Robert Peel showed some slight symptoms of a conviction that the days

of the corn laws were numbered. Every day, in truth, brought home to his mind a stronger need for action, and as the ravages of the potato disease progressed, he saw that all further resistance would be absolutely dangerous. A cabinet council was held on October 31 to consult as to what was to be done, and at an adjourned meeting on November 5 Sir Robert Peel intimated his intention to issue an order in council remitting the duty on grain in bond to one shilling, and opening the ports for the admission of all species of grain at a smaller rate of duty until a day to be named in the order; to call parliament together on the 27th inst., to ask for an indemnity, and a sanction of the order by law; and to submit to parliament immediately after the recess a modification of the existing law, including the admission at a nominal duty of Indian corn and of British colonial corn. A serious difference of opinion, however, was found to exist in the cabinet on the question brought before them, the only ministers supporting such measures being the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Sidney Herbert. Nor was it easy to induce the other members to listen to reason. And though at a subsequent meeting, held on November 28, Sir Robert Peel so far secured a majority, it was evident that the cabinet was too divided to justify him in bringing forward his measures, and he decided upon resigning office. This resolution having been communicated to the Queen, her Majesty summoned Lord John Russell to form a cabinet, and, to smooth his path, Sir Robert. Peel, with characteristic frankness, sent a memorandum to her Majesty embodying a promise to give him his support. But Lord John Russell failed in his efforts, and the Queen had no alternative but to recall Sir Robert Peel, and give him full power to carry out his measures. It was under such circumstances that Parliament was called for January 22, 1846, and on January 27 the government plan was propounded before a crowded house. It was not a immediate repeal of the corn laws that Sir Robert Peel recommended. He proposed a temporary protection for three years, till February 1, 1849, imposing a scale during that time ranging from 4s. when the price of wheat should be 50s. per quarter and upward, and 10s. when the price of wheat should be under 48s. per quarter, and that after that period all grain should be admitted at the uniform duty of Is. per quarter. The measure, as might have been expected, was received in a very different manner