to elect the delegates to the Convention. These delegates had to be elected by public meeting and not by definite organisations. Otherwise the Convention would become in the eyes of the law a political society with branches, which was illegal under the infamous Acts of 1819. The day following the Kersal Moor meeting, a similar demonstration took place at Sheffield, Ebenezer Elliott being in the chair. Sheffield definitely and Manchester largely[1] were not strongly moved by the oratorical fireworks of Stephens and O'Connor. The speeches at Sheffield were conspicuously mild. Elliott declared that the objects the people had in view were, "Free Trade, Universal Peace, Freedom in Religion, and Education for all." Another speaker placed the Repeal of the Corn Laws in the forefront of his programme, followed by "a thoroughly efficient system of Education for all," "good diet for the people and plenty of it," and "facilities for the formation of Co-operative Communities." A huge demonstration at Bradford took place on October 18. Hartshead Moor was like a fair, a hundred huts being erected for the sale of food and drink. The Chartists declared that half a million people were present: a soberer estimate divides that number by ten. It was a fiery meeting. Everybody talked about arms, O'Connor upon the virtues of tyrannicide.
Similar meetings took place in practically every important manufacturing town between Glasgow, London, and Bristol, and the election of delegates proceeded rapidly. In October meetings were held for the purpose of collecting the funds destined for the support of the Convention. But the joy experienced at this rapid progress was clouded by apprehensions, for which a terrifying change in the character of the northern meetings was responsible. In October meetings began to be held at night in the murky glare of hundreds of torches, in various parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, on the pretext that the factory-owners objected to meetings during working hours, whereby much time was lost. The psychological effects of large crowds and excited speakers were emphasised by the eerie surroundings; it was but a short step from torchlight meetings to factory burning. The authorities were pardonably anxious and tried to put a stop to these meetings. But their action only increased the temperature of the speeches, which became
- ↑ Manchester itself was not unlike London, possessing a strong middle class, e.g. Cobden, and a class of superior artisans who shared middle-class Radical views. But Manchester itself was sometimes swamped by the influx from the smaller towns, which were unanimously Chartist.
