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field before dissensions exhausted part of its energy . Tne Cobbett school of Democrats began virulently to attack the O'Connor Section , and dealt not in reasonings , but in accusations of treachery . And this gave the cue to every future Chartist fracas . When the Charter had been promulgated as a watchword of union , the men who agreed upon its principles were irreconcilably divided upon the means of giving effect to
them . . It was not enough that they harmonased in politics ; they quarrelled over the Methods of agitation ; and from this point of departure engaged rancorously in mutual opposition . At * accusation of treachery , we have said , gave the cue to the long series of Chartist recrimination . Suspicion and jealousy , the imputation of mean motives , and the discovery of invidious selfishness , form characteristics of those men who confused and misled
the Working-classes . O'Connor could not sfcse j ^ -BBAiiit Duncan for the first time at a public meeting without pointing him out as a traitor , with the words , " Beware of that man—for he is not to be trusted . " This suspicion of individuals struck at parties as well , and incited such persons as O ' Connor and O'Bbibn to stigmatise the [ Free-trade movement as a hollow and selfish agitation . Habotsy was rebuked for assuming ridiculous badges , and he retorted by insinuations of
treason . Some members of the " Convention" resigned when the language of that body was too violent for their opinions , and " treachery" the impeachment hurled after them . Thus the Chartist ranks were gradually thinned , until Chartism was occupied more by its own embroilments than by the advancement of its political position . Exasperated against the Whigs , the Chartists . permanently injured their cause by
supporting the Tories , though a minority resisted this improvident act of revenge , and , by their secession , again split the party asunder . A rival association was created , and had scarcely commenced its action , when disputes—not debates—arose , " upon a question of policy . " Because some of the members offered a plan of agitation which was not generally approved , others fell back upon the cheap resources of calumny , and denounced them as in treacherous collusion with the middle-classes .
! Next , a proposal was started to preach Chartism from the pulpit in England * as it had already been successfully preached in Scotland . TDhis , again , was abused , and scouted as a malevolent innovation—though it is fair to state that the Chartist majority was then directed , deluded , and intoxicated oyFuABGUs O'Connob . The popularity of Feabgfs O'Connor , however , proved to demonstration that Chartism was impracticable .
An endeavour was made in 1842 , by Joseph Sttjrgb , to combine the working with the middle-classes , and Conferences were assembled to arrange the preliminaries of tnat which might have been a favourable union . Bbontjerbe O'BiiiEir , on this occasion , took part with the pacificators ; but he was accused of an attempt to sell his party . Q ? h © movement failed , and then arose a battle of mutual abuse j of coarse and savage satires , of vindications , of inuendos , of ferocious
repartees , above which the invariable cry of treason sounded as fiercely as ever . In one quarter democracy fell into a " nest" of democratic " hornets ; " in another , " a tool " of the middle-classes was detected ; in another , a " renegade" was hissed—elsewhere . ' . a quarrel took place as to whether a speaker should stand a few steps higher or lower < at a public meeting . One fraternal agitator required his quondam associate to kneelJ ( 'tb' him ; and the entire strife was traceable , not to crimes or desertions on either
side , but to intolerance , produced by egotism , by ignorance , by want of moral culture , of moral courage , and of faith in that political justice , which these noisy spouters were assembled to obtain . The most conspicuous men of the Chartist body seem to have treated every dissent from their opinions as a personal offence . They did not argue—they accused ; they did not persuade—they suspected ; they dia not
debate—they bickered and bandied insulting expletives , until Chartism was frittered away to absurdity and insignificance . " Johnny Campbell is O'BaiEN-ising—he must be stopped "—such was the spirit of the agitators who talked of concord , of equality , peace and goodwill among men . The mass of people , swayed by their passions , but not sharing their selfishness , were unhappily confounded with them , and punished for their offences .
Nothing , to all appearance , could persuade the Chartists * of their error . " When an . alliance with the middle-classes was proposed , at the end of 1842 , the jealousy and bigotry of the half-taught speakers produced , as we have said , a riot at the Conference , and a conspiracy was denounced , which was probably as unreal as the democratic plots to destroy " society" in France , and Julian Hainey , one of the most melodramatic of the old
Chartist body , described one ofhis fellow-delegates as a " hell-fiend . " O ' Connor plainly enough implied that his colleagues had the reputation of rogues , and Cooper was followed on his provincial tour by epithets from political sympathisers , too gross and abominable to be printed . It is " with loathing and disgust" that Mr . GrAMMiAGE , an advocate of Chartism , concludes his record of squabbles and taunts between its leaders . And it is
with such feelings that we hope the majority of the working-classes will now look back upon their career . They have still to achieve their political position . But they have been kept from it , not by the power of the upper orders alone , but by the trickery , egotism , and mutual distrust of their own bawling incendiaries , who have tried , by turns , to seduce them into anarchy and disorder ; to deliver them bound hand and foot into the Tory camp ; to create a perpetual breach between them and the middle-classes , the first-born of' English freedom , and the natural balance of the State . It has been seen that the Chartist leaders , through their personal jealousies , incapacitated themselves from forming a party . We shall proceed to show that the conduct of the majority was so mad and so blind , that it justified repugnance as well as alarm .
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" THE STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . [ The responsibility of the Editor in regard to those contributions is limited to the act of giving them publicity . The opinions expressed are those of the writer : both the Leader and " The Stranger" benefit by tho freedom which is left to his pen and discretion /] " Our facetious contemporary" might illustrate the division o last night by a drawing o the Premier as clown , being pulled down the tide by a team of geose , for his lordship is the buffoon to the last , and makes not the least effort to disguise the character of tho cattle attached to his car . In the course of
his argument on Monday evening , summing up some logic , ho exclaimed , " Well , here wo are , then ; " and one # an fancy how triumphantly jaunty he will bo in his place next Monday week , twirling his venerable head at the Opposition , putting his flexible tongue in his illustrious cheek , and doing the whole " Here wo are" process to which he is accustoming those members , who never cross tho bridge to Astldy ' s . No doubt we have to reflect in tho Whitsun holidays that he has had a great victory over all hia competitors — Lord Ellenborough , Lord Grey , Lord Derby , Mr . Disraeli . Mr . Gladstone has made a fttfeo step , and Lord John has been awfully shown
up—having , indeed , assisted in the exhibition ; and these are the only five men with pretensions inconvenient to a Premier who knows very well that though he has got the heroic business to do , he is but a very low comedy man , and that the court is finding out that the court jester is an abolished institution . But the humiliation of Lord Derby is the most complete . De Clare , Ellenborough , and Disraeli have alike broken down this Epsom week , and th e betting in the party is all astray . It is true that the House of Commons has not voted that ithas confldence in Lord Palmerston : but it has voted " that though
we have no confidence whatever in Lord Palmerston , we have a good deal less confidence in Lord Derby "—a very logical vote , and highly practical in the eyes of M . P . ' s with objections to dissolution . The country is , o course , disgusted : but if the country selects and sustains such a wretched assembly as this House o Commons , why object to a government which accurately represents the House—its want of object , want of earnestness , want of intellect ? There was some hope of a Mountain in the House—an administrative Reform party , b . ut here , on the first trial , the administrative Reformers , acting on the old principle of Radical incoherency that you must
keep the Whigs in that the Tories may be kept out , plump for the old Lords—plump with passionate eagerness to show that they are not to be taken in by the Tories . It would seem as if the administrative Reformers , having had private communications with Lord Palmerston , calculate on being taken in by the Whigs . There is Mr . Phinn has got a good permanent place : and we are bound to be delighted , for what are we all demanding but that our merits should not be overlooked ? So intensely are administrative reformers for the right man that they would not altogether insist on the right place . The wrong place will do very well .
Mr . Disraeli ' s errors , amounting together to a failure , were great on Thursday . To begin with , he seems to have made the move with the reckless impatience for prominence of a fussy member , as if merely for the sake of the fuss , without counting the consequences to his party or to the country . He may have consulted Lord Derby and one or two more , but the bulk of his paxty were taken by surprise by his notice , and the bulk of his party , restless about him , discontented and disgusted , are not put into good-humour by being thus insultingly led . Sir William Heathcote ' s amendment , Lord Granby ' s speech , Mr . Rer Seymer ' s speech , showed at
once that Mr . Disraeli was being guilty of individuality , in this matter , and the absence of the prestige of party power damaged his oration . The oration was a mistake . It was a criticism on secondary points , and of annihilated personages like Lord John : and the want felt now , from all our statesmen , is not of debatey finessing , but of straightforward definitions of the conditions of peace and the character of the war . Mr . Disraeli ' s resolution condemned the ambiguous language of Lord Palmerston ; but Mr . Disraeli ' s speech seta no example of clear statement . Mr . Disraeli had come down to show that he was a clever fellow , and did
show that , but he disappointed those , and they were the whole of the thinking part of his audience , who asked from Mr . Disraeli , at the mom ent he was bidding for leadership , to declare whe re he would lead us to . Then the style and manner hia speech were bad . Ho spoke for nearly three hours , to a grand audience , crammed House , distinguished strungers , including the c lever corps diplomatique , and crowds of peers ; and yet , during tho greater part of the time he treated this Assembly with contempt by a button-holding style of conversational tediousnoss , —talking with conceited
slowness , tho most sprawling ' sentences , which wore damnably iterated until it is no exaggeration to say he—bored . He loaned sideways against tho table , and he loitered with his subject like a man reposing against a ship ' s bulwarks in a smooth summer sea on a long voyage . lie wuu lazily clever , and got out his sneers at L ord Joha and Lord Palmorston oleepily — so that whoa he fell back tranquilly into his place and then strolled out to drink his seltzer water , tho brilliant House was glad of it , for though they had conscientiously sat through tho lymphatic
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r 4 &q ^ THE LEAD E It . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 496, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2092/page/16/
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