Salt, whilst Fussell stayed in Birmingham to agitate. Since the end of March the behaviour of the Chartists had become more and more provocative.[1] The Bull Ring, a triangular space in the centre of the town, and a gateway into the poorer quarters, was crowded day after day with excited meetings, and the tone of the speeches became more and more inflammatory. The shopkeepers in the High Street were half ruined by the stoppage of their business. The Mayor[2] professed to believe that there was no danger of any serious disturbances, but the manager of the Bank of England branch feared for his strongboxes.[3] A letter from Fussell to Brown, dated May 7, describes the excitement in Birmingham. The Bull Ring is daily beset by crowds "waiting to hear the result of the Petition." All the week no work has been done, and Fussell has addressed the crowds during the day-time "to preserve the peace." The soldiers are all under arms and the Riot Act has been read "to exasperate the people." "And Depend upon it no stone shall be left unturned by Mee for the Purpose of keeping up the excitement." "I shall continue my exertions though the Workhouse be My Doom." He urges Brown, who no doubt kept him informed of the course of events in the Convention, to use all his force to get the Convention to transfer its sittings to Birmingham "as this was their battlefield and the men of Birmingham their forces."[4] The next day, however, the magistrates of the town forbade meetings in the Bull Ring and also meetings of any sort where seditious and inflammatory language was used. On the 9th MacDouall and a certain James Duke, of Ashton-under-Lyne, were in Birmingham ordering a score of muskets and bayonets to be sent to the latter's home at Ashton, and promising an order for several hundred more if these were approved.[5]
These indications suggest strongly that the "movement party," both in the Convention and in Birmingham, desired the removal to that town because they thought it a better base of operations for the intended outbreak. The supposed weakness of the newly created municipal body, which included a large sprinkling of the ex-leaders of Birmingham Chartism, the supposed strength of the physical force Chartists, and the existence of large stores of munitions of war, encouraged the
- ↑ A speech of March 28, probably by Brown: "We know the use of barricades. We know how to make use of the lanes and alleys. We know the use of broken glass bottles. We know the use of aqua fortis," etc.
- ↑ William Scholefield.
- ↑ Home Office, 40 (49), Birmingham.
- ↑ Additional MSS. 34,245, A, p. 414.
- ↑ Home Office, 40 (49). Sworn deposition of gunmaker at Birmingham.
