What Birmingham thought of all these proceedings on the part of O'Connor had better be left to the imagination. The excitement was raised still higher by the news that Stephens had been arrested at Manchester on a charge of seditious speaking and lodged in New Bailey gaol. The Ashton followers of Stephens had long ago threatened with dire punishment the men who should dare to lay hands on their hero,[1] but they for the present contented themselves with threats and efforts to procure arms. Stephens was released on bail after a few days' confinement and was at liberty for some months. He was compelled to moderate his language for fear of damaging his case. Meanwhile a subscription was opened to conduct his defence.[2] It raised over £1000. The conduct of the northern agitation fell more completely into O'Connor's hands.
In spite of the dissension, the excitement, and the confusion, the organisation of the movement proceeded. The signing of the Petition and the collection of the "Rent" (an idea borrowed from O'Connell) went on merrily, and informal meetings of delegates took place at Manchester, Birmingham, and Bury with a view to clearing the way for the Convention. The month of January passed in comparative harmony, whether the result of Stephen's arrest following upon other evidences of the Government's watchfulness, or the consequence of suppressed excitement, is difficult to say. All attention was concentrated upon the 4th of February, when the Convention was to meet. Doubt and desperation, disquiet and uncertainty, struggled with hope and confidence for the souls of thousands of working men during the first five breathless weeks of the New Year. Was the New Year to bring the hoped-for reform or the half-dreaded insurrection?
The Convention met on February 4, 1839, at the British Hotel, Cockspur Street, Charing Cross.[3] It consisted, nominally, of some fifty-three members, but as several did not attend, its effective strength was less than the forty-nine required to avoid the consequences of the Act of 1819, which placed certain restrictions upon the holding of adjourned meetings. It turned
- ↑ Northern Star, October 27, 1838.
- ↑ Northern Liberator, January 19, 1839.
- ↑ After two days its meetings were transferred to Bolt Court, Fleet Street, "in the Hall of the Ancient and Honourable Lumber Troop" (Life and Struggles, p. 201; Gammage, p. 105). See the contemporary description of it by the French féministe. Flora Tristan, quoted in Dolléans, i. 286-7. Where not otherwise noted the authority for the debates in the first Convention is the Charter newspaper.
