The Chartist Movement/Chapter 14

by Mark Hovell

CHAPTER XIV

O'CONNORISM

(1841–1842)

On August 30, 1841, Feargus O'Connor was released from York Gaol, six weeks before the period of his imprisonment was complete. With this event the Chartist Movement commences another phase. It is the period of the development of the absolute personal supremacy of O'Connor. It is interesting to see how this supremacy was attained. There are several factors in the process, the personal gifts of O'Connor himself, the Northern Star, which ruthlessly manufactured and exploited opinion, the ignorance of his followers, and the fact that leaders inclined to independence of opinion were at work in separate organisations, and so left the National Charter Association at the mercy of O'Connor.

Of O'Connor's personality something has already been said. A jovial, tactful, obliging person, to whom no exertions were wasted which procured one more adherent, a boon-companion of a highly entertaining character, suiting his conduct exactly to the standards of his company, a racy and not too intellectual speaker, a master-hand at flattery and unction, a poseur of talent and resource, O'Connor was well equipped to gain the affections of uneducated men to whom sympathy with their hard lot was more than dissertations upon democratic freedom and exhortations to self-culture. Social antipathy, not political bondage, was at the bottom of Chartism, and the immense exertions of O'Connor, a member of the favoured classes, in the cause of the poor, vain, futile, and self-glorifying as those exertions were, were nevertheless a passport to the fidelity and affection of many thousands of followers.

There is a repulsive aspect to this relationship in the manner in which O'Connor exploited this intense loyalty. That this exploitation did not exhaust the sources of affection is a witness alike to the intensity of the feeling and the blind ignorance of the followers. O'Connor had that rare commercial instinct which enabled him to derive profit from the most unlikely sources. Nothing escaped his notice—the Northern Star, his imprisonment in York Gaol (though only remotely connected with Chartism), and the bad memories of his followers, were alike sources of profit and power. A few samples may be given.

On the eve of his commitment to York Castle O'Connor penned an article of Napoleonic arrogance^[1] to his followers. It is a farewell message:

Before we part, let us commune fairly together. See how I met you, what I found you, how I part from you, and what I leave you. I found you a weak and unconnected party, having no character except when tied to the chariot wheel of Whiggery to grace the triumphs of the Whigs. I found you weak as the mountain heather bending before the gentle breeze. I am leaving you strong as the oak that stands the raging storms. I found you knowing your country but on the map. I leave you with its position engraven upon your hearts. I found you split up into local sections. I have levelled all those pigmy fences and thrown you into an imperial union.…

Early in 1841 he produced a long recital of his political career and addressed it to the English People.^[2] It culminates in the amazing assertion:

Now attend to me while I state simple facts. From September 1835 to February 1839 I led you single-handed and alone.

In this way O'Connor, in true Napoleonic fashion, succeeded in throwing a haze of legendary magnificence about the early dubious venturings of his post-Parliamentary career. The last statement was a master-stroke. When he wrote, February 1839 was but two years past and memories reached back to it; it was not safe to allegorise the career of the Convention. Nor was it expedient, for by giving up his leadership at that moment, O'Connor divested himself of responsibility for the futilities which followed. He followed up this bold step a week later by presenting a version of his career as a Conventional. He had always opposed physical force. In fact, in the Convention he had alone opposed the idea of a Sacred Month, and had succeeded in putting a stop to it. He had always opposed the talk about arms, not as illegal, but as inadvisable.^[3] The truth was, that having steadfastly shouted with the larger crowd, O'Connor could safely claim to have supported and opposed every policy which the Convention discussed.

Along with this process of self-glorification, O'Connor endeavoured successfully to enlist sympathy for his sufferings in gaol.^[4] From the first week of his imprisonment O'Connor was able to publish in the Northern Star long accounts of his evil plight, his ill-health, the despondent verdicts of the doctors, the ruthless tyranny of governor and Government. These accounts were followed by multitudinous meetings of protest. A fortnight after his commitment to gaol the reports of these meetings occupy six closely printed columns on the front page. On July 11, 1840, O'Connor's article upon the subject occupied eight columns. These whinings, which aroused the contempt of Lovett and others, were not the sentimental drivelling of cowardice, but the manœuvres of a diplomat who knew what he was about. He was establishing a claim to Chartist martyrdom. His imprisonment was for a serious libel upon the Warminster Guardians, and was therefore not a Chartist affair, except in so far as he had later become a Chartist. But he affected to believe that the case had only been pressed to get him out of the way just as his release was supposed to be dictated by craft and fear.^[5] So the O'Connor legend grew. The mere fact that O'Connor was able, nearly every week, to write long articles to his paper, does not encourage belief in his sufferings. Nor does the remarkable energy which he displayed from the moment of his release support such belief. That the confinement did cause some discomfort is beyond doubt, but whether, as a result, O'Connor could, like John Collins, stick his hard felt hat inside the waistband of his trousers^[6] may be doubted.

From the gaol, too, O'Connor was able to take no little part in the conduct of the National Charter Association. His plan for the reorganisation of the movement had already received attention. In the early part of 1841 a project was on foot for a second Petition, combining the requests of the National Petition with one for the release of various prisoners, especially Frost, Williams, and Jones. O'Connor proposed that a Convention of ten should be elected to supervise the Petition. He suggested a list of twenty persons who might be elected. When the election was complete nine out of ten of his nominees were elected. The tenth was Collins, who raised a great storm in the Convention.^[7] The proceedings of this body show that even careful selection of delegates was not an antidote to disunion. O'Connor followed up this manœuvre with another of the same kind. He drew up a list of eighty-seven individuals whom he described as Chartists who may be trusted. All the Lovett men are omitted, as well as Collins and the Christian Chartists. It was a purely partisan selection. Thomas Cooper, for the time a blind follower of O'Connor, is described as a host in himself. O'Brien and Benbow find places, but Rider and Harney do not, being on the staff of the Star, and therefore not available for organising and delegate work. The obvious intention was to ensure the selection of these men in the choice of officials and representatives. The list was joyfully accepted and resolutions of confidence passed in the "old list" and "the 87."^[8]

In this development of O'Connorism, in which personal loyalty to O'Connor was at least as requisite as sound Chartism, the Northern Star played a great and decisive part. It was the only really prosperous Chartist paper, and stood head and shoulders above its struggling contemporaries. The great collapse of 1839 dragged down many rival newspapers, and those which took their places were Chartist pamphlets rather than newspapers, for they were unable to publish "news," being unstamped.^[9] The Chartist body was unable to support more than one journal of any size, and so the Northern Star shone alone in the firmament. It was almost the sole source of Chartist news, and it was the chief channel of communication. Its able and unscrupulous editor, William Hill, employed it exclusively to further the despotism of its proprietor. He suppressed news and garbled it. He allowed attacks upon suspected individuals and prevented replies. He made and unmade reputations in his columns. Through the Star the policy of Chartism was made and directed. Not that the rank and file were unable to obtain a hearing in its columns, far from it; but preference was given to particular persons, and opinion was overriden by the ipse dixi of editor or proprietor.

Not merely on the journalistic side was this newspaper a potent O'Connorising instrument, but its commercial side was exploited, too, for the same purpose. A newspaper must have agents, distributors, reporters, and so on, and O'Connor and his staff had built up an efficient body of news-collectors and news-distributors. Naturally none but Chartists were eligible for this purpose. O'Connor, however, was not content with this perfectly legitimate employment of Chartists; he strove deliberately to turn his employees, reporters, and agents into instruments for furthering his personal supremacy. We have seen how he offered to pay a Convention, and how he offered to turn Chartism as a whole into a newspaper syndicate under his control. These projects came to naught, but he attained part of their purpose by the use of the Star. He turned Chartist leaders into paid reporters,^[10] and paid reporters into Chartist leaders, and he used them, as in the case of Philp at Bath, to eliminate from the movement men of independence.^[11] He ruthlessly exploited financial obligations, as in the case of O'Brien.^[12] He allowed his newspaper agents to fall into debt if he thought he could keep a hold on them thereby.^[13] So great became the power of the newspaper that a new species of lèse majesté became possible. Deegan was solemnly tried at Sunderland on the charge of speaking evil against the Northern Star; he was mercifully acquitted.^[14] Cases of Anti-Northern-Starism became possible and not infrequent. Thus, as Place relates: "O'Connor obtained supremacy by means of his volubility, his recklessness of truth, his newspaper, his unparalleled impudence, and by means of a body of mischievous people whom he attached to himself by mercenary bonds."^[15]

There is, however, another side to the matter. Says Thomas Cooper:

Feargus O'Connor, by his speeches in various parts of the country and by his letters in the Northern Star, chiefly helped to keep up these expectations (i.e. that the Charter would soon be obtained). The immense majority of Chartists in Leicester, as well as in many other towns, regarded him as the only really disinterested and incorruptible leader. I adopted this belief because it was the belief of the people: and I opposed James Bronterre O'Brien and Henry Vincent and all who opposed O'Connor or refused to act with him.^[16]

Nothing shows more clearly the strength of O'Connor's influence than that a leader of Cooper's calibre should unhesitatingly follow the crowd of which he was supposed to be leader, in its blind adoration of that famous demagogue. It would be idle to suppose that O'Connor in no wise deserved this fidelity; men do not gain such homage without cause or merit. But O'Connor's character was such that no man of independence, talents, and integrity could long co-operate with him. O'Brien, Cooper, William Hill, Gammage, Harney, Jones, and a crowd of others served him with zeal and quitted him with contumely. Yet there was something gained by the supremacy of O'Connor. The disunion which had been so disastrous in 1839 was avoided, and the National Charter Association stood as a very enthusiastic and very hopeful compact body. The ruthless and unsparing ostracism of the anti-0'Connorite leaders is a tribute to the desire for solidarity in the rank and file as well as to the jealousy and power of O'Connor. But within the association movement was restricted, criticism was gagged, and initiative discouraged. Chartism became the faith of a sect rather than the passionate cry of half a nation.

On his release from prison O'Connor at once jumped into the saddle. He was greeted with tremendous ovations. The great Huddersfield demonstration deserves special mention. The following is a list of the banners and mottoes:

1. Full-length portrait of O'Connor.
2. Banner setting forth the points of the Charter.
3. "We demand Universal Suffrage."
4. Justice holding the scales with Equal Rights balanced against the People's Charter.
5. "The Charter our Right."
6. "Equality of All before the Law."

   "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny and ought to be resisted."

7. "The Right of every Man to Liberty is from God, from Nature, from Birth, and from Reason."

   "The whole of the principles contained in the People's Charter we demand."

8. "God save the Queen, for we fear no one else will."

   "The Glorious Republic of America, and soon may England imitate that country: its people happy and contented."

9. "England expects every man to do his duty."

   "God helps those who help themselves."

10. "The Land, the Land, the right of every living man."

    "The Rights of Labour, soon may they be acknowledged throughout the world."

11. "Every man his own Landlord."

    "Down with the accursed factory system, the school of immorality, profaneness, wickedness, and vice of every description."

12. "England, Home, and Liberty."

    "No Bastilles: the Right of every man to live upon his native land."

13. "Equal Representation."

    "No distinction before the Law."

14. "Honesty is the best policy: No Humbug: No Corn Law Fallacies: the full rights of all we ask, no more we demand, this we will have."

    "God gave the earth for man's inheritance: a faction have taken it to themselves. Justice, Justice, Justice!"

15. "Universal Suffrage."

Then came:

Operatives sixteen abreast
The Carriage

drawn by four greys; postillions, scarlet jackets, black velvet caps and silver tassels; containing the People's Champion

Feargus O'Connor, Esquire,

along with Messrs. Edward Clayton, Robert Peel, and other friends.

Transparent lamps on each side.
Green silk flags on each side of the carriage.
Operatives sixteen abreast.^[17]

Apart from their variety, which embraces everything from opposition to the League to overthrowing the monarchy, the aspirations blazoned on the banners are remarkable for the significance already attached to the land as a factor in national regeneration. O'Brien, Leach, O'Connor, Hobson (publisher of the Northern Star), and many other leaders were in various ways agitating the question, and a movement was already on foot which was destined to swallow up the Chartist movement itself.

Another example of O'Connor worship may be quoted:

Working Men of Huddersfield and vicinity Arouse, Arouse! and join the ranks of Freedom. Shake off the chains of servile bondage. Be Men, Men determined no longer to be serfs, or wear the galling mark of Slavery. Up then in your wonted might, and show to your oppressors, you know how to estimate such men as O'Connor, who will be in Holmfirth at Noon on Saturday, December 4, 1841.^[18]

As a matter of fact the arrangements for O'Connor's reception fell far short of what was intended, on account of his unexpected release. Special demonstration committees were set on foot in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and demonstrations were arranged for York, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Colne, Keighley, Halifax, Bradford, Todmorden, Bolton, Stockport, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Barnsley, Rochdale, Middleton, and Blackburn.^[19] These demonstrations were of course intended to be a great recruiting tour, but unfortunately the fates decided against them. O'Connor showed himself, however, perfectly indefatigable. Early in November he made a successful tour throughout Scotland where, in spite of his declarations against physical force, he took pleasure in attacking Brewster and his Chartist "Synod" at Glasgow. His report on this journey is written in a style strongly suggestive of megalomania.^[20] A few days later he was quitting London for a tour in Lancashire and Yorkshire, visiting Stockport, Ashton, Oldham, Rochdale, Heywood, and Bolton in five days. At Stockport there was so large a crowd that the floor collapsed.^[21] He then visited Dewsbury, Bradford, and Halifax. If O'Connor attained supremacy within the National Charter Association, it was partly because he worked for it, for none of his followers, Cooper perhaps excepted, could compare with him in activity. He rejoiced in the work; he enjoyed the excitement and the applause. Controversy he almost welcomed, as if politics were a great Donnybrook. Year after year his herculean frame enabled him to continue, but the malady which was slowly unseating his reason caused his feats of endurance to be less and less controlled as the years went on. Chronic incoherence characterised his later activities. But in these earlier years O'Connor's ubiquity and superhuman energy were invaluable to the cause. He brought in recruits wherever he went. He kept the agitation alive through good report and evil report. So far as Chartism spurred on governments and public opinion to a more sympathetic treatment of the poor and the industrious classes, O'Connor must not be denied some of the praise for the good which indirectly ensued from his immense activities.

From the moment of O'Connor's release the policy of the National Charter Association took on a firmer shape. Much had been done since the Manchester Delegate Assembly of July 1840. A lively agitation was organised; a Convention had been held, and a petition, very successful in point of signatures at least, had been presented in May 1841 by T. S. Duncombe to the House of Commons, praying for the release of the Chartist convicts. Duncombe's motion that the Queen be requested to reconsider the cases of all political prisoners was lost only on the casting vote of the Speaker, who declared that the motion was an interference with the Royal Prerogative.^[22] On the occasion of an O'Connor demonstration at Birmingham in the September following, MacDouall, as one of the Executive, put forward a programme of agitation which included another National Petition and Convention.^[23] All efforts were to be concentrated upon these objects and the Petition was to be presented in 1842. The organisation was strung up to a higher degree of activity. Delegate meetings, representative of large areas, were called to supervise the arrangements.^[24] In October 1841 the Executive published the programme outlined by MacDouall. The Convention was to meet on February 4, 1842, and to sit for four weeks. The Petition was to be presented without any delay such as occurred in 1839. The Convention was to consist of twenty-four delegates, for each of whom a sum of £15, exclusive of travelling expenses, must be furnished by the constituents. The representatives would be nominated by ballot and elected in public meetings. The Executive would stand for election and the "parliamentary candidates" would have a prior claim to the suffrages of the Chartist body.^[25] Thus the intention was to bring the renewed agitation to a climax early in 1842. Nothing was specified as to the subsequent proceedings, and there was no foolish talk about ulterior measures. But before the Convention met or the Petition was presented, much water flowed under the bridge, and in it many Chartist hopes foundered.

1. Northern Star, April 25, 1840.
2. Ibid. January 16, 1841.
3. Northern Star, January 23, 1840.
4. No more extraordinary example of self-glorification can surely be found than the stanzas written by O'Connor in York Gaol and intended to be recited by Lovett and Collins at the reception in Birmingham. There are thirty-one in all.

   1.	From East to West, from North to South, Let us proclaim the Charter! We'll send all tyrants right about Who dare oppose the Charter.
   3.	In England's name her own King John Once tried to sell her Charter. But England's sons now dead and gone All rose for England's Charter.
   5.	Will Lovett, Collins, and the rest Who suffered for the Charter, In old St. Stephen's shall be placed To rule us by the Charter.
   7.	O'Connor is our chosen chief. He's champion of the Charter: Our Saviour suffered like a thief Because he preached the Charter.

   As the poem progresses the quality declines, but stanzas 24 and 25 are interesting:

   24.	The sons of men must have their field Protected by the Charter. The earth will then profusion yield. Made fertile by the Charter.
   25.	The gaols are full; the Whigs did bribe To damn the People's Charter. But for their wives we will subscribe In honour of the Charter.

5. Northern Star, August 28, 1841, Leading Article.
6. See the account in Lovett's Life and Struggles.
7. Northern Star, May 8, 15, 22, 29, 1841.
8. Ibid. April 24, 1841; May 1, 1841.
9. A list of eleven Chartist papers in the Northern Star, October 23, 1841. Few were of importance as compared with the Star itself.
10. George White, Harney, Rider, Griffin, Cooper, Lowery, and others were connected in this way with the Star.
11. Northern Star, March 12, 1842; March 19, 1842.
12. See below, pp. 236-7.
13. Case of R. Lowery, Northern Star, February 13, 1841.
14. Northern Star, February 13, 1841.
15. Additional MSS. 27,820, p. 3.
16. Life, p. 179.
17. Northern Star, December 11, 1841.
18. Ibid. November 27, 1841.
19. Ibid. August 21, 1841
20. Ibid. November 13, 1841.
21. Ibid. December 4, 1841.
22. Northern Star, June 6, 1841. For, 58; against, 58.
23. Ibid. September 25, 1841.
24. See the cases of Bath (Northern Star, October 16, 1841), and Birmingham (Ibid. November 6, 1841).
25. Northern Star, October 9, 1841.