The Voice of the People

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE:

THE LOYAL REFORMERS' GAZETTE AND THE PASSING OF SCOTTISH REFORM 1832

A Thesis

Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies

The University of Guelph

MARK DORSEY

In partial fulfilment of requirements

for the degree of

Master of Arts January, 2011

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1+1 Canada ABSTRACT

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Mark Dorsey Advisor: University of Guelph, 2011 Professor G. Morton

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, based out of Glasgow, was a small grassroots publication that found its place in being instrumental in the passing of the Scottish Reform of 1832. The Gazette was one of the leading unstamped periodicals that provided low-wage workers with critical information concerning the Scottish Reform Act 1832, making the paper hugely influential in the creation of class consciousness at the time. The Gazette was considered dangerous enough by the state to prosecute - due to its focus on political corruption and changing the parliamentary system - and throughout its publication, the paper faced dogged persistence for not withdrawing from the protest.

The larger implications of case study on The Loyal Reformers' Gazette are the findings it offers on the nature of radicalism in Scotland at the time, an ongoing historiographical debate among those interested in the level of "flammability" of the nation.

With the help of some influential allies - such as Francis Jeffrey and Earl Grey - the paper helped to lead Scottish radicalism with a strong sense of unionist-nationalism and adherence to the principles of participation in civil society. Despite legal proceedings trying to shut the

Gazette down, the paper persevered in debating the idea that monetary worth is directly correlated to intellect and understanding, and preaching that political reform offered an answer to poverty and other social problems. As a result of their role in establishing reform and acting as the "voice" of the Scottish people - something that other newspapers were not doing - the Gazette acted as a public forum for Scottish political and social issues and a conduit to class formation and solidarity. 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1 -4

Chapter 1 - The formation of working-class consciousness 5 - 37

Chapter 2 - Specific political and social demands of the Gazette 38 - 59

Chapter 3 - Training workers how to agitate within the constitution 60 - 93

Conclusion 94 - 98

Bibliography 99-103 1

INTRODUCTION

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette began publication in Glasgow, Scotland, on May

7, 1831. The paper was created and edited by Peter MacKenzie, a long-time advocate of the Reform movement to make representational changes in the electoral system. The weekly periodical joined a number of other cheap, unstamped newspapers aimed at disseminating information about the Scottish Reform Bills to the working-class men in the west of Scotland. The Gazette lasted as a weekly publication until the imprisonment of MacKenzie in late 1832. Following his release, the paper became a twice-monthly publication, lasting in that form until May 1836.1 The Gazette under MacKenzie closely followed the path of Reform legislation, and once Reform was passed, the paper reported on the debates taking place in the reformed parliament.

This case study explores The Loyal Reformers' Gazette in order to try and demonstrate that the paper helped establish Reform by acting as the self-appointed

"voice" of the Scottish people. In doing so, the Gazette became a public forum for national political and social issues and a conduit to class formation and solidarity at the time. Throughout the Reform debates, the Gazette acted as a platform on which to champion Scottish politicians who were both nationalistic and Reform-minded. While the

Gazette often veered into using literary rhetoric in its calls for parliamentary change, this research will show that the paper nevertheless unceasingly promoted civility, respectability, and constitutionalism. As will be seen, the Gazette demonstrates how the unstamped press played a central role in promoting and sustaining class consciousness amongst the working classes in Glasgow. The paper did so by expressing its loyalty to the

James MacLehose, Memoirs and portraits of one hundred Glasgow men who have died during the last thirty years and in their lives did much to make the city what it now is (Glasgow: James MacLehose & Sons, 1886), 202. 2 monarchy and the constitution and by being critical of the anti-Reformers, the stamped middle-class press, and the "oppressive organs" of the state, especially the Stamp Office.

In this study on The Loyal Reformers' Gazette as a source, I will show, first, that

MacKenzie's effort to create a working-class voice and platform was a deliberate effort that did not just arise out of a vacuum. As the themes in the wider literature that are present in this study will show, by 1832 there were a number of social problems that existing creating tensions for the working class. The historiography discussed by English historians such as E.P. Thompson, and Scottish historians like T.C. Smout, R.J. Morris and Graeme Morton is drawn upon to show that Glasgow was not alone and that working- class consciousness intensified as a whole during this period. During this period being studied the Gazette was able to benefit from factors such as a high literacy rate among its population, as well as what would have probably been a fairly wide circulation. As will be seen by the Gazette's public debates with other Scottish newspapers and with the local elites in Glasgow, the paper deliberately set itself up as a symbol of the working class.

The paper's defiance of the Stamp Office was a larger part of MacKenzie's goal to give the working class a free press. Therefore, freedom of the press was used by the Gazette to justify its struggle against the state in the name of working-class cohesion.

In the second chapter, I intend to show that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette had very specific political demands under MacKenzie. For instance, the paper paid close attention to Scottish Reform, which was of a slightly different nature than the Reform

Bills being discussed and in England, Wales and Ireland at the time. By printing the actual Reform document, and by reporting on developments in Parliament that related specifically to Scotland, the Gazette shows that the Glasgow working class was interested in Reform for specific reasons. The Gazette never gave its working-class readers the idea 3 that full suffrage would come with Reform, but Reform was promoted by the paper as a very important step in the process of eventually getting a working class vote. After the passing of Reform, the paper closely followed the upcoming elections and gave its opinions on specific political candidates. In addition to emphasizing the specific demands of the Gazette, another theme that is central to this chapter is the language that the paper used to create working-class consciousness. The literary strategies employed by the

Gazette certainly were not revolutionary; in fact, they were very common for the time.

However, the paper's complex mixture of exaggeration, militaristic language, satire and humour really appealed to the working-class audience of the paper. The rhetoric and the vibrant narrative provided by MacKenzie helped to project a sense of working-class consciousness in direct opposition to the elites that were being satirized. A good example of this is the way in which the Gazette used the issue of cholera in order to condemn elites and to argue for the importance of the press in revealing the true nature of the disease.

Finally, chapter three sets out to demonstrate that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was dedicated to training workers to agitate for political change within the parameters of the constitution. There is no denying that the paper used the threat of violence and that actual incidents of violence did occur and were reported by the Gazette; however, in general, the Gazette's support for the constitution meant that it supported mass engagement and popular protest that was of an organized, orderly, and non-violent nature.

The paper did so by reporting on Reform meetings and debates in order to try and show readers the appropriate ways of gathering for political purposes. The final chapter also looks at the ways in which the Gazette tried to create working-class consciousness by supporting politicians who were acting to bridge the gap between workers and their elite representatives. The Gazette's base in the constitution meant that it sponsored state 4 figures such as George Warrender and Francis Jeffrey and English figures like Earl Grey and the King; nevertheless, the paper also made clear that its support for state representatives depended upon their continued support for Reform cause and for working- class causes in general. The last part of this study ventures into how the Gazette used national issues to try and articulate a uniquely Scottish working-class identity. The paper was somewhat nationalist in nature, and as a result, the type of working-class consciousness being fostered by the Gazette relied on appealing to Scottish figures like

William Wallace and Robert Burns and by looking at specifically Scottish issues such as the patronage crisis.

Although The Loyal Reformers' Gazette continued under different names for quite some time after 1833,1 have restricted this inquiry to the period immediately before and after Reform because this was the stage in which the paper played an important role in creating and sustaining a working-class voice. In order to illustrate this point, the experience of the average worker has been generalized. As will be seen, the biases of the

Gazette are reflected in the substance of this analysis because the paper never claimed impartiality. The Gazette tried to represent the working class as a unified entity in its effort to portray itself as the voice of the workers in the Reform debates. Also, I am not suggesting that the Gazette offers a definitive picture of the working-class consciousness in Glasgow in 1832. Instead, I have tried to illuminate the underlying trend of the paper and to trace the relationship between both the workers and the elites and the workers and the press. Ultimately, my goal of examining the Glasgow working class and the Gazette is part of the wider historiography and, hopefully, furthers an understanding of the way that the unstamped press acted as a voice for the working class voice. 5

CHAPTER ONE

The formation of working-class consciousness through the Gazette

From the outset, the Gazette made its loyalties clear. On the one hand, the paper supported the King and the Constitution, and on the other it promoted political Reform and the liberty of the press. The following chapter sets out to show how an analysis on

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette is part of a wider literature on the theme of working-class consciousness and on the role of newspapers as facilitating and exemplifying a working- class voice. As will be seen, social problems created huge tensions between the elite and the working class; tensions that the paper appealed to. The pages of the Gazette show that the paper was in a very lively and public debate with both its competitors in the press and with the certain members of the aristocracy. The Gazette seemed to relish in its opposition role and used its defiance against the Stamp Duty as a way of strengthening working-class identity and fighting for the freedom of the press

According to The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the push for Reform was not an act of seeking new rights; instead, the paper made a point of arguing that the "People" had traditionally had rights but they had been usurped. The paper was making the argument that they were simply seeking to re-establish rights that had been taken away from the working classes.2 The subject of Reform was more often than not the main article on the first page of the weekly Gazette, followed by articles on a variety of other related subjects such as biographies of public figures, a record of public debt and taxes, letters to the editor, and transcriptions of political debates, amongst many other items. The radical political nature of the Gazette meant that the paper existed illegally and did not pay the

2 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette (Glasgow: Muir, Gowans, and Co., 1831), Volume I, May 7, 1831,1. 6 stamp duty that was imposed on newspapers by the Stamp Office. The Gazette was devoted to a free press, arguing that the stamp duty legislation existed only as a means of censoring dissenting working-class voices. Considering the difficulties associated with printing and distributing an unstamped newspaper at the time, it is quite astounding that a paper with a relatively small-scale operation like the Gazette has been preserved. A large part of the reason why the paper has been preserved is because of the effort of

MacKenzie, who wanted the Gazette immortalized in book form, separated into two separate volumes of thirty issues each. That had been MacKenzie's goal from the beginning, evidenced by the fact that as early as November 26, 1831, the paper was expressing the intention to bind its first thirty editions, complete with a title-page and an index, probably to be sold to wealthy supporters and to be sent to the libraries of

Mechanics' Institutes.3

Since the industrial structure of Glasgow contributed very much to the sense of working-class consciousness that the paper was able to exploit, consideration of The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette will be aided by briefly looking at the general state of Scottish society around the time of Reform debates. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s Scotland was experiencing severe political and social instability spurred on by rapid population growth.4 By 1830, Scotland had a population of 2,300,000.5 Along with a population explosion, early nineteenth-century Scotland also experienced other factors that created much social volatility, including trade cycles caused by agricultural depression and industrial decline, and high unemployment rates in the textile industry, which was not

3 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, November 26, 1831, 473. 4 Edward Royle and James Walvin, English Radicals and Reformers, 1760-1848 (Brighton: Harvester, 1982), 88. 5 Gordon Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform, 1830-1832", The Scottish Historical Review 85.1 (2006), 103. 7 creating enough jobs for weavers.6 Even for those lucky enough to be employed, the low- pay that most workers received created an increasing strain on labourers who had to work long hours in order to make enough to support an average sized family.7 There is evidence of a huge fall in cotton weavers' wages at this time, and Devine suggests that it is indicative of an emerging crisis in the labour market at as a whole. The labour market was defined by a sense of fragility as nearly 40 percent of the population was reliant on the singular industry of cotton textiles. Urban centres like Glasgow suffered from deteriorating housing and public health, problems that hit the poor people in the slums harder than the middle classes.9 The pages of the Gazette not only reveal these social anxieties taking place at the time, but the paper also made it a point of correlating living and social conditions with a sense of antagonistic political class-consciousness in its effort to push forward the issue of Reform.

As the geographic base for MacKenzie and his publication, the state of Glasgow in 1832 greatly shaped the political goals expressed in The Loyal Reformers' Gazette.

Glasgow, to put it broadly, was dominated by the business and industrial classes but it is important to keep in mind that the business and professional classes were still a small percentage of the population compared to the labouring classes.10 By 1831, Glasgow's population reached 274,000, which was considerably more than the 180,000 people who lived in the nation's capital, Edinburgh.1'As an example of its rapid expansion, between the years 1801 and 1841, the population of Glasgow rose 60 percent. Also, the textile

6 Royle and Walvin, English Radicals and Reformers, 88. 7 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, September 1, 1832, 120. 8 Devine, "The Urban Crisis", 410. 9 T.C. Smout, A History of the Scottish People (London: Fontana Press, 1969), 380. Smout, A History of the Scottish People, 383. 11 T.M. Devine, The Scottish Nation 1700 to 2000 (London: Penguin, 2006), 448. industry grew to the point that there were 134 cotton mills within 25 miles of the city.

Surrounded by an abundance of natural resources - and with the Clyde River acting as a major trade way - Glasgow had become a hotbed for commerce, filled with merchants involved in international trade and the shipbuilding industry.12 However, while money was streaming up and down the Clyde River as a result of Glasgow's economic growth during this period, there still exists much historiographical debate on whether or not the standard of living increased in Glasgow because as the Gazette demonstrates for 1832 at least, the working classes faced tremendous economic struggles. It has been argued by

T.M. Devine that the growth of Glasgow and its transformation into an urban industrial powerhouse may have brought the city more prominence within the British Empire, but that the city's economic progress and its material advances obscured the fact that there were large numbers of the poorer population, who suffered from and despite successful urban economy that had developed around them.13

As a result of all the hardships being faced by the Scottish working-class, the readers of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette would have likely been susceptible to the paper's calls for major parliamentary reform - views they already held which were being reinforced by the paper. As Sidney and Olive Checkland argue, the challenge to reform parliament started amongst educated young gentlemen but soon grew to include many more men in urban centers who resented the old oligarchy of interests that the Tories represented.14 The calls for parliamentary Reform actually started much prior to 1832.

12 John Butt, "The Industries of Glasgow", in Glasgow: 1830 to 1912, eds. T.M. Devine, W. Hamish Fraser, Gordon Jackson, Irene Maver (New York: Manchester University Press, 1996), 120. 13 Devine, "The Urban Crisis", 410. 14 Sydney and Olive Checkland, Industry and Ethos: Scotland 1832 to 1914 (London: Edward Arnold, 1984), 218. 9

Early nineteenth-century Scottish radicals had a long history of Reform agitation on which to build upon, from the various Jacobite scares throughout the 1700s to the radical leanings of late eighteenth-century groups such as the Edinburgh-based Friends of the

People Society. In 1819-1820, the calls for Reform erupted into what became known as the Scottish Insurrection - a series of strikes, marches and sometimes violent protests which were put down by the state. The protests led to the conviction of twenty four weavers, tailors, shoemakers, and day labourers, all of whom were sentenced to death and three of whom were actually executed. After the failure of the Radical War of 1820, and the subsequent penal transportation sentences passed on many leaders of the uprising, there was a significant lack of radicalism among Scottish reformers who had consistently seen their battles for reform violently quashed by the state. Furthermore, increased prosperity in the 1820s took away from some working class discontents, meaning few working-class Scots were publicly devoted to the cause of parliamentary reform during the 1820s.15 However, during the summer of 1830, a decade after the last major reform movement had failed in Scotland, radical reform-oriented political agitation started to once again become a major public concern.

The use of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette as a way of determining working-class consciousness is shaped by two major theoretical frameworks. The first framework that this study of the Gazette hinges on is the use of the term "working class" to describe the large number of Scottish urban workers who came together in support of Reform. The second theoretical framework for this case study is the use of newspapers as a source in determining how the Scottish working classes collectively responded to Reform. It will

Hamish Fraser, Scottish Popular Politics: From Radicalism to Labour (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), 41; Alexander Wilson, The Chartist Movement in Scotland (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1970), 2-14. first be beneficial to consider what the term "class" implies by looking at the linguistical and historical meanings surrounding the use of the term; in other words, to shift from class in terms of classification to social class. To begin with, the seminal work by E.P.

Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, is an important reference point in

Marxist historiography, and more widely, for anybody discussing class consciousness.

Although Thompson focuses on the English working class, his thesis is still relevant to a discussion on Scottish society due to similarities in the Reform movements of Scotland and England. First published in 1963, Thompson's lengthy analysis focuses on artisans and low-wage workers during the early nineteenth century. Thompson claims that there was indeed working-class consciousness in England by 1832, a situation bolstered by a diverse group of workers from different backgrounds who had come together under a common identity of interests against another group of men who had interests separate from their own.16 To try and prove his theory, Thompson focused on the struggles of

English Jacobins, trade unionists, hand-loom weavers and other oppressed workers.

According to Thompson, when the Reform Bill Crisis started in early 1831, the demands for parliamentary change arose from "the people". He argues that the Reform movement was systematic, skilled, and undertaken with steady perseverance by members of the very lowest class. Of course, it is important to remember that Thompson also argued that many people involved in radical struggles were not working-class but were lawyers and other educated men who worked for enlarged, and often universal male suffrage. Since the release of E.P. Thompson's seminal work, historians have lined up on two sides of the debate: those who agree with Thompson that the working class was unified and hostile towards the other classes in society, and those who see no collective

16 E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (New York: Penguin, 1970), 8-13. 11 class self-consciousness by 1832. In fact, it has been argued by William H. Sewell that every labour historian is in dialogue with Thompson, and that the ideas expressed in The

Making of the English Working Class are central to any discussion on working-class history.17 Thompson's centrality within the historiography shows the need for a more systematic review of his theory and its influence in the discipline.

In 1969, six years after the release of The Making of the English Working Class,

T.C. Smout released A History of the Scottish People. In the book, Smout argues that - in comparison to England - Scotland was radically inactive, had no class conception, and generally failed to view their employers as their enemies. According to Smout, the

Scottish working class was made up of various individual trades that only fought for the protection of their own interests; therefore, it is his claim that the working-class did not view themselves as a unified class at all.18 Of course this is in direct contrast to claims of

E.P. Thompson who argues that there was indeed a palpable sense of united class awareness that had been growing since the seventeenth century as a result of the growing artisan culture. Smout's claim that Scotland was largely radically inactive is known as the theory of Scottish "inflammability" - a hypothesis that has generated a significant amount of debate amongst Scottish historians who have found much evidence that the Scottish people did indeed possess a strong sense of radicalism. For instance, in confrontation with

Smout, J.D. Young published The Rousing of the Scottish Working Class in which he contended that Smout had focused too much on large-scale signifiers of class- consciousness instead of the underlying social processes. Young asserts that revolutionary leaders, along with a substantial base of working-class support, had been in existence in

17 William H. Sewell, "How Classes are Made," in E.P. Thompson: Critical Perspectives, ed. Harvey Kaye and Keith McClelland (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), 56. 18 Smout, A History of the Scottish People, 419-421. 12

Scotland since the late eighteenth century. He claims that there was significant support for radicalism in Scotland, as evidenced by the large-scale state attempts to quash challenges to the status quo.19 In debate with Smout and Young, both T.M. Devine and C.A. Whatley offer more moderate approaches in their analysis on the level of radicalism in Scottish society. Devine argues that the enormous amount of power that the Scottish elites enjoyed meant that the progression into urbanization and industrialization was met without a revolution, while Whatley contends that the Scottish working classes were not quiescent; it was just that they were able to bring about social change by mobilizing the collective strength of the people without the use of violence.

In his article entitled "The Language of Class and Radicalism," published in 1997,

Edward Royle argues that the late eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of what he termed the "language of class", used to describe broad categories of people in different social standings. By the time of the Scottish Reform Act of 1832, "class" had become a term widely used to portray society as stratified into antagonistic layers struggling over economic and political power.21 Many historians like Royle have tried to narrow the definition of "working class" in order to make clearer the distinction between those who earned their living and those who did not work, instead living off rental income and investments. This was a common theme in The Loyal Reformers' Gazette which argued that "the People" or "the workers" were those who contributed directly to Scotland's national wealth through their labour, and that they were much different from many middle-class men who benefitted from renter income rather than business or professional

19 James Young, The Rousing of the Scottish Working Class (London: Taylor & Francis, 1979), 68-73. 20 Christopher A. Whately, "An Uninflammable People?" eds. Ian Donnachie and Christopher Whatley. The Manufacture of Scottish History (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1992), 71. 21 Edward Royle, "The Language of Class and Radicalism," History Review, No. 29, 1997, 65. 13 earnings.22

In their book English Radicals and Reformers, Edward Royle and James Walvin argue that when the Reform Act 1832 fell short of extremist demands for universal manhood suffrage, it actually created divisions between Reformers and a split in the political movement. On one side were the members of the middle class who were now directly represented in Parliament. On the other side were members of the working class who had little or no property, and still had no right to vote. Royle and Walvin argue that a growing sense of popular working class antagonism developed towards members of the middle class who were no longer viewed as part of "the People". Rather than a focus on individual political rights - which the working class had been fighting for - there was still only a representation of capitalist interests after 1832 and the middle class became viewed as a newly strengthened element within the system of oppressors.23

The argument that 1832 was a landmark year for class consciousness was also put forward by Marxist historian John Foster in Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution.

In the book, Foster argues that a mature class-consciousness dedicated to an alternative social order developed after the Reform Act of 1832. To demonstrate his point, Foster examines militant workers in the English town of Oldham and contrasts them with workers in other industrial towns. He argues that the Oldham workers reflected a wider political consciousness that was about more than just occupational solidarity, ultimately becoming mass class-consciousness. It is Foster's claim that the Oldham radicals represented the ability of the working class to create fundamental change. Foster points to some important preconditions that helped to create a sense of class-consciousness in

Royle, "The Language of Class and Radicalism," 88. 14

Oldham. One was the ability of sectional trade groups to overcome their particular loyalties and work together. Another condition is that there was evidence of some sort of intellectual conviction among the workers. The Oldham workers were not necessarily in utter despair but their suffering was enough, combined with their political conviction, that

Reform was something all workers could agree was something worth standing up for.

In his book Class, Sect and Party, R.J. Morris provides an in-depth case study on the social structure in Leeds, England. In the study, Morris unveils the different types of experiences that existed for workers in Leeds, in an attempt to prove how diverse the working-classes were as a whole.25 In other words, Morris concludes that any use of the two-class model of social classes must also insist on the existence of sub-classes. Along the same lines, John Elster has pointed out that class consciousness is not necessarily the same as mass-consciousness, and that workers had goals individual to their line of work.

To Elster, the idea of a social "class" was nothing more than the ability of different segments of workers to come together in solidarity to achieve social and status objectives.

This suggests that the members of the working "class" may have been working towards the same ends without knowing that they were actually doing so. Elster finds this was certainly the case in mid-Victorian Britain, which saw a number of different tradesmen, who were quite different in lifestyle and strongly divisive in defense of their own craft interests, working collectively to achieve radical social and political goals.26

In a way that is similar to John Elster's discussion of class, Pierre Bourdieu points

John Foster, Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution: Early Industrial Capitalism in three English Towns (London: Routledge, 1977), 23. 25 R.J. Morris, Class, Sect and Party: The Making of the British Middle Class, Leeds 1820 - 1850 (New York: Manchester University Press, 1990), 119. 26 Gordon Marshall, David Rose, Howard Newby and Carolyn Vogler, Social Class in Modern Britain (London: Routledge, 1989), 220. 15 out that it is important to remember that people have multiple belongings and identities.

Individuals with similar amounts of capital will often group together, but that does not automatically leap from "class-on-paper" to "real" class. To Bourdieu, social classes are generally in the process of realization and almost never get realized.27 In recent decades, psychologists have strengthened this idea by determining that human identity is greatly affected by how we see ourselves as individuals and how we see ourselves fitting into a larger group setting.28 Important to remember in terms of individual versus group identity is the post-modern identity theory, which argues that we define ourselves by more than just class.29 Workers were not just workers and aristocrats were not just aristocrats; they were separate individuals whose identities were also greatly influenced by other factors as well, such as gender, race and religious allegiances. In such a complex and varied world, working class identity is too ambiguous to be reduced to one dominant focal point.30

While all of these are important considerations, historical specificity insists that social class can be the dominant identity at certain times in history, but not so at other times.

By 1832, traditional skilled craftsmen in and around Glasgow had lost much of their independence and they became increasingly dependent on wage labour, largely in the form of factory-based work in the steam driven cotton mills. This is one of the main reasons that - as W. Hamish Fraser argues - Glasgow was unusual in the amount of working class involvement in the campaign for Reform because the effort of working people to cope and to comprehend the changes in their quality of life had brought about

Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (London: Routledge Press, 1984), 66. 28 Theodore Sarbin and Karl Scheibe, Studies in Social Identity (New York: Praeger, 1983), 281. Sarbin and Scheibe, Studies in Social Identity, 9. 30 Sarbin and Scheibe, Studies in Social Identity, 14. 16 the formation of a recognizable working class in Glasgow by 1832.31 This particular case study uses The Loyal Reformers' Gazette to similarly demonstrate that working-class consciousness was something that was indeed in existence by 1832, encouraged by supporters of Reform who saw the benefits of shared worker awareness. Although the usefulness of the term "class" will fluctuate amongst time periods, during the Reform debates in Glasgow there was a real sense of connectedness among Scottish workers. Of course there were different groups of trade workers that had minor squabbles over the details concerning Reform but the majority of working class Reformers could all agree that Reform was at least a step in the right direction. Subsequently, it can be concluded that radical newspapers like the Gazette did offer the working classes a public forum in which Scottish political and social affairs could be discussed, thus acting as the pathway to class formation in this period.

In the same way that the notion of class consciousness needs to be brought up when discussing the use of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the issue of using newspapers as a source is also something that needs to be addressed in order to understand why the paper is a valuable source for understanding Scottish history. The use of newspapers as a source to try and determine class consciousness can be a somewhat contentious issue within historical circles because papers are mediated through a number of factors such as censorship, the political views of the owner, and the financial viability of the newspaper.

Though not speaking directly about newspapers, Quentin Skinner decries the lack of historicity in the treatment of linguistic artifacts as historical sources in general. Skinner argues that in order to understand a historical text, the historical context and the author's intended meaning must be uncovered. Historians need to keep in mind the

31 Fraser, Scottish Popular Politics, 41-42. 17 methodological distinction between the "locutionary" meanings of a text - the substance of what is written, and "illocutionary force" - and the intended meaning in the author's writing.32 Therefore, to try and comprehend the Gazette, this thesis considers both the argument within the text and the point that the paper is trying to make. Keeping these discussions in mind, a newspaper like the Gazette still makes it possible to capture a

"provisional truth" or at least a "sufficiently plausible" conclusion about working-class consciousness at the time of Reform.33 Ardent post-structuralists might argue that all authors are "dead" but there is indeed authentic knowledge about Scottish class if we accept certain biases and we ensure that the study of newspapers is done in their geographical, social, economic and intellectual contexts. Therefore, using the Gazette as a guide provides an in-depth view into the political aims of one paper and its readers, which can then be used to more broadly reflect class consciousness.

One interesting aspect about using The Loyal Reformers' Gazette as a historical source is that the mass consumption of newspapers facilitates an imagined community and thus contributes to the sense of class-consciousness within the readership of a particular newspaper. At the time of Reform in particular, newspapers were a way that members of all social classes in Scotland could share ideas and express their social and political concerns. As Mark Hampton indicates in his essay entitled "Understanding

Media: Theories of the Press in Britain, 1850-1914", newspapers often stood in for discussions on the changing relationship between the elite and popular classes. In both parliament and in professional organizations, elite attempts at making sense of the

32 Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory 8 (1969), 53. 33 Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt and Margaret Jacob, "Telling the Truth About History," in The Postmodern History Reader, ed. Keith Jenkins (New York: Routledge, 1997), 217. 18 popular press also represented attempts at understanding the changing relationship between the social classes.34 Radical, unstamped newspapers like the Gazette held an amount of social and political power that should not be underestimated. Although an obvious exaggeration, famed Scottish author Thomas Carlyle argued that each newspaper editor was a "ruler of the world, being a persuader of it."35

A.E. Musson points out that the nineteenth century as a whole witnessed remarkable changes in the breadth of newspaper production and also in the ways news was gathered and presented to the public. The invention of the iron hand press in 1798 by

Lord Stanhope vastly increased the rate of possible output compared with older wooden press models; this, coupled with better transportation meant that it was easier and cheaper to reproduce the printed word. A growing literate population and an increase in marketing and advertising meant that the press expanded at a previously unseen rate.36 According to

I.G.C. Hutchinson, Scotland had a high literacy rate amongst its population in 1832. At the time, sales figures for newspapers were particularly high in Scotland in general compared to others countries for a number of reasons. This was true to the extent that basic literacy statistics were higher for Scottish women (77%) in the middle of the nineteenth century than for English men (70%).37 There were a few reasons for this; one of the main ones being that in Scotland there was access to a range of learning institutions. For example, Glasgow had a variety of educational institutions, ranging from

34 Mark Hampton, "Understanding Media: Theories of the Press in Britain, 1850-1914," Media Culture Society, 23, 2 (2001), 213-230. 35 David F Roberts, "Early Victorian Newspaper Editors," Victorian Periodicals Newsletters 14, 4 (1971), 1-5. 36 A.E. Musson, "Newspaper Printing in the Industrial Revolution", in The Economic History Review 10, 3, (April, 1958), 413. 37 I.G.C. Hutchison, "Scottish Newspapers and Scottish National Identity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" Lecture, 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 18-24, 2002. 19 the Glasgow University to the Andersonian Institute and although it was true that the universities of the 1830s were dominated by the middle-class, there were still a significant proportion of working-class students in attendance at the schools in Glasgow.

By the time of the Scottish Reform Act 1832, news had become a fashion for all the social classes. Most residents of Glasgow could read and those who did not would have surely known somebody who could have read The Loyal Reformers' Gazette aloud to them.39 Also, many papers were read by members of the working class in public houses, taverns and coffee houses, meaning that sales figures cannot account for that type of influence.40 In a letter to the editor of the Gazette, it is noted that in Edinburgh, the working-classes had established a reading-room in which they had access to over forty of the most popular political newspapers of the day for only three and a halfpence a week.

The author of the letter goes on to suggest that Glasgow should have such a reading- room, though the Andersonian probably did have one.41 Other public rooms in which the

Gazette would have been available during the Reform debates would have included coffee houses and gin shops as well as public meeting halls, all of which would have been important places for the dissemination of the paper. To offer some context as to how successful some of the Gazette's contemporaries were, in just a few months after its first publication in 1832, a cheap weekly like Chambers' Edinburgh Journal was eagerly read by Glasgow factory workers, helping the paper to reach sales of over 30,000.42 However,

Chambers' Edinburgh Journal was a big operation so its sales figures would reflect this.

38 Fiona A. Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press: The Contribution of Glasgow 1831-1836," The Scottish Historical Review 59, 168 (Oct., 1980): 154-170. 39 Royle and Walvin, 76. 40 Patricia Hollis, Pauper Press: Study in Working-class Radicalism of the 1830s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), x. 41 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, September 29, 1832, 222. 42 Hollis, Pauper Press, 137. As well, William Chambers was an active supporter of the Whig cause who was content to have working class readers accept wholesome advice of a non-controversial nature.

In terms of other contemporaries and competitors who were less confrontational than The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, there were quite a large number of them involved in the Reform debates, which all varied in size and method. For example, four months into its publication run starting in 1832, a cheap monthly like Johnstone's Political Register attained a circulation in Scotland of 5,000 copies. Around the same time some other notable papers included the Whig-sponsored Scotsman, the conservative Glasgow Herald, and the Reformist paper, Tait 's Edinburgh Magazine. Tait 's Edinburgh Magazine was founded by William Tait in 1832, just one month before the passage of the first Reform

Bill. Like the Gazette, Tait's claimed that it represented no particular party and that it spoke for the general good of the people. By avoiding showing loyalty to any specific politicians, a paper like Tait's could appeal to a broad base of readers. However, unlike the Gazette, Tait's included contributions from middle-class writers, alongside those authored by artisans and members of the working class.

According to an article printed in the Glasgow Courier in 1832, many passed themselves off as being devoted to one particular paper, even though they would take a look at all of the most popular papers in which Reform was being discussed. Glasgow was divided into different sections or cliques who had many different individual causes that they supported. Thus, the war of words between the papers in Glasgow was more frequent and controversial than it was in Edinburgh. The Glasgow Courier, published

43 A. Tyrrell, "Political Economy, Whiggism and the Education of Working-Class Adults in Scotland 1817-40," The Scottish Historical Review 48, 146 (Oct., 1969): 156. 44 Mark A. Weinstein, "Tait's on 'The Cheap and Dear Periodicals'" in Victorian Periodicals Review 14, 4 (Winter, 1981), 141. three times a week, was principally considered a high Tory newspaper that was too expensive to obtain large circulation. Due to the fact that the Courier had wealthy subscribers and was widely available in reading rooms, the paper was one of the most important avenues for advertising during its publication run from October 1830 and ending in February.45 The Glasgow Argus, published from 1833 to 1847, was a liberal

Glasgow biweekly, known to be run by the Clique in support of James Oswald, who was

MP for Glasgow. The Scottish Guardian was the organ of the High Churchmen of the

Presbyterian Establishment and devoted most of its space to church questions about the clergy and laity. The Glasgow Journal and the Glasgow Evening Post were connected to each other, as they were both operated by the same proprietors. The Glasgow Chronicle was run by John Douglas and was known for being popular and influential amongst the farmers in Lanarkshire. The Chronicle was known for a long time as the people's paper, although by 1832 it was no longer considered to be closely aligned with the causes important to workers. The Scots' Times was primarily read by wealthy merchants and manufacturers. The Glasgow Constitutional was a Tory organ aimed at portraying the stance of Reformers as being unconstitutional. This idea did not hold much weight and, as a result, the Constitutional did not receive a whole lot of circulation. The Liberator was the paper of the working-classes. Edited by John Tait, it devoted most of its space to municipal politics. It featured lots of contributors, and thus acted less like a newspaper and more like a large miscellany. Nevertheless, it was widely read by the middle-class and the workers, which meant that in general it issued more copies than any other paper of the West of Scotland except for The Herald to the Trades' Advocate, produced by a

45 "General Hints Regarding Parliamentary Reform in Letters and Suggestions", published in the Glasgow Courier (Greenock: John Hislop, 1832), 229. 22 collection of trades committees and cooperative groups. The Herald to the Trades

Advocate lasted for eight months before the threat of prosecution shut it down. Amongst all of the paper's listed above that were circulating at the same time as The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette there was a general agreement about the importance of Scottish prosperity and the principles of public government and constitutionalism.46

Despite the lack of sales records for The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, it is clear that an unstamped newspaper in its confrontational style was not just a shot in the dark. In fact, there were plenty of similar publications that demonstrated hostility towards the contemporary political and economic system, a theme common to all of the unstamped newspapers.47 For example, during the period from 1831 - 1836 there were thirty-four unstamped newspapers published in Scotland. Of those, sixteen were political ones, with the others intended to tackle social issues like theater, crime, and medicine. Radical newspapers like the Gazette acted as a way of criticizing the government and supporting state reforms by offering citizens radical viewpoints that were not broached in more mainstream and conservative papers such as the Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald.

Glasgow had one of the largest circulations of unstamped newspaper in Britain, largely because people in Glasgow were marked by a spirit of contentious independence, unafraid to voice their displeasure at unfair monopolies or other examples of unchecked market and industrial power.49 Unstamped newspapers in Glasgow acted as one of the only political voices for the working class since many workers felt that the political parties were not properly representing the issues important to them.

45 Hamish Fraser, "The Working Class", in Glasgow: 1830-1912, 310. 47 Trygve Tholfsen, Working Class Radicalism in mid- Victorian England (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), 59. 48 Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 160. 49 John F. McCaffrey, "Political Issues and Developments", in Glasgow: 1830-1912, 188. 23

While sales figures can give a good indication concerning the breadth of newspaper circulation for the middle class and upper class, for an unstamped working- class publication like The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, sales figures cannot reveal the full extent of the readership. One main reason for this is because many unstamped papers like the Gazette did not keep official track of their sales. However, there are several indications of the extent of the paper's reach: for example, an article entitled "Knowledge to the People!" states that the paper had just received a copy of Joseph Hume's address entitled "On the necessity of an extension of Moral and Political Instruction among the

Working Classes." The Gazette noted that the address had obtained unprecedented circulation throughout England. The paper figured that even if it sold Hume's address at three pence a copy, that it would sell 50,000 copies of it throughout Scotland.50 Of course, it is important to keep in mind that it is hard to tell if the Gazette realistically thought that it could sell 50,000 copies of Hume's address. It needs to be remembered that the paper was prone to exaggeration and may have been boasting about the size of its audience or may have had inflated expectations for sales of Hume's address.51 Either way, part of the reason that an unstamped newspaper would have had a great circulation is because of its low cost. During its publication run, the Gazette came into frequent debate with a number of papers including The Herald to the Trade's Advocate, The Glasgow Constitutional, and

The Glasgow Courier, amongst others. The editor of The Glasgow Courier was in direct opposition to the Gazette, prompting the Gazette to solicit reports from its readers about people that entered the Courier's printing offices so that they could be labelled Anti-

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 24, 1831, 342. Hollis, Pauper Press, vii. 24

Reformers.52 After outlining its rivals in the printing industry, the Gazette addressed its frustration with its competition in an article entitled "The Glasgow Press versus

Ourselves." In the article, the Gazette argued that "Newspaper conductors are hostile and unfriendly towards the Gazette because of their Tory alliances . . . they are cowards for their fear of losing a seven and sixpenny advertisement." The Gazette claimed that it was being denounced by Glasgow Tories who were in constant cahoots with the Stamp

Office.53 The Gazette accused many competitive newspapers of being in collusion with the state in attempting to shut the paper down, although there is no proof that the accusations were anything more than just rhetorical swipes at their opponents.

In an article entitled "Charges against the Gazette'", Peter MacKenzie argued that it would "fill a volume" were the paper to narrate all the obstacles that it had experienced, and all the attempts that were made to put it down. He claimed that upwards of a dozen of weekly periodicals had been set up against The Loyal Reformers' Gazette but that they had all fallen, one after the other, because of lack of public support.54 It was the opinion of MacKenzie that the editors of other newspapers recognized the popularity of the

Gazette, which is why they were doing everything that they possibly could to make things difficult for his operation. The Gazette was well aware of the competition, and even went out of its way to constantly bring up its struggles against its opponents in the press:

We have oftener than once stated, that the conductors of the Newspaper Press in this city, if they do not entertain a spirit of hostility towards us, entertain, at least, no sort of friendship. The reason is blamed on their Tory biases...Yes, let the Glasgow FREE Press, and its fellow the Courier, alias the slavery Press, become our prosecutors, and, we venture to say, that it will be the roughest and the toughest business for

52 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, December 3, 1831,9. 53 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 339. 5 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 13, 1831, 233. 25

them they ever meddled with!55

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette went on to reprint the words of the Glasgow Courier, which called the Gazette a political pest and expressed pleasure that the Gazette would not last another few days, since the Solicitor of Stamps in Edinburgh, Mr Richards, had gone after them.56 Another newspaper, The Quizzing Glass, published a section called

"Editorial Ravings", reprinted by the Gazette. The Quizzing Glass put down the Gazette stating that its newspaper had too much respect for it to "stoop to those base arts" that the

Gazette was employing to make people buy it, insinuating that the Gazette was trying to appeal to the lowest and most potentially radical segment of society.57

Due to its focus on political corruption and its status as an unstamped newspaper,

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette faced persistent antagonism for not withdrawing from the protest throughout the Reform debates. The Gazette frequently used the opposition against them to proactively contrast itself to the other newspapers of its time, arguing that other editors were forced to answer to proprietors concerning the revenue of their papers.

According to MacKenzie, money had little or no influence in restraining him from writing about whatever was considered inimical to the welfare of the country.58 However, it is important to note that while the Gazette claimed not to care about money it still did charge its audience two-pence for each issue. The Gazette frequently made a point of reminding its readers that cheap publications also needed the monetary support of the public so that they could help break the monopoly of the mainstream state-sanctioned newspapers, maintained by the Stamp Duty, which is referred to as a "villainous

55 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 388. 56 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 388. 57 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 3, 1831, 281. 5 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 23, 1831, 193. 26 enactment" against the poorer classes. In an article entitled "Stamp Act versus Cheap

Publications", the Gazette states that the editors of the other newspapers in Glasgow are well aware of the corruption of men in power but that they are being constrained by the caution of their proprietors whose only object is to make money. While the Gazette claims not to fault this "selfish caution" of the other newspaper proprietors, the truth is likely that MacKenzie did fault them since he accused other papers of not acting in the public interest and since the Gazette felt it had values closer to those of everyday, working-class people.

Due to the politically charged views expressed in The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the paper had always existed as an unstamped newspaper, operating outside of the legislation imposed by the Stamp Office. Since an unstamped newspaper offered an important means of protest and organization for the working-classes, the freedom of the press from the Stamp Tax became one of the main demands of the Gazette. As R.J.

Morris has argued in Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, the unstamped press helped to articulate class-consciousness and the persecution of that press also further developed the sense of class opposition, since it was seen as an attempt by the government to subdue the workers.59 Lasting from 1712 to 1855 the "taxes on knowledge" was considered necessary by the state not only as a source of revenue but also as a means of censoring seditious voices by driving up the prices of newspapers and making them less available to the working class.60 However, if the Stamp Tax did not stop people like MacKenzie from publishing a newspaper, it certainly would not stop members of the working class from reading newspapers. One of the reasons that it was

59 R.J. Morris, Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, 1780-1850 (London: Macmillan, 1979), 39. 60 Hollis, Pauper Press, vii. 27 still possible for the working-classes to access them was that newspapers had the tendency to get re-circulated to the point that readership was often three to four times the number of newspapers purchased. Reform agitation in the early 1830s caused a revival of the "seditious press" who were in open defiance of the obstructing stamp legislation in a battle that became known as the "war of unstamped." It was during this same period that being a radical journalist as a profession emerged, since the unstamped press had begun generating enough sales that some editors and booksellers could now make a living by editing and selling only radical periodicals.61 By the mid-1830s, it was estimated that unstamped circulation surpassed the circulation of state-approved newspapers.

The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette used its defiance against the Stamp Tax as a way of fighting for the freedom of press. The Gazette constantly tried to give its audience the credit of being intelligent enough to recognize that the paper was not seditious, but was in fact acting as a legitimate political voice for the working classes. An article entitled simply "The Press" expresses the views of the Gazette concerning its competitors and the ability of its readers to see that some of the claims being made against them were exaggerated:

The Opposition appears to have come to a unanimous resolution of making dead set at the Press. This is now their bug-bear. The licentious Press - the corrupt Press - the profligate Press - these are now their favourite expressions when alluding to the injured innocent in question . . . But all parties will equally fail in their attempts on the Press. Their motives for the attempt are too glaring to be disguised, and too absurd to be successful. The People, besides, are able to think and judge for themselves: they know that the Press has been the main instrument in paving the way for their regeneration.63

Fortunately for unstamped newspapers like The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, they did have

Royle and Walvin, English Radicals and Reformers, 76. Morris, Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, 39. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 23, 1831, 193. 28 the help of some state representatives in their fight for the freedom of the press. For instance, in a Parliamentary Debate on June 14, 1832, Whig politician Edward Lytton rose to argue for the repeal of the "taxes on knowledge". Lytton started out by indicating that he felt as though the Stamp Tax had done nothing to eliminate the radical publications, since there were still a vast number of them circulating in defiance of the

Stamp Office. Lytton noted that men of property could defend their political points of view in the "letters to the editor" section of state-approved newspapers. However, Lytton bemoaned the fact that "honest and well-affected men", like him, were unable to educate the mass of working-class people to differing political views, since it would surely not be proper to engage with a radical paper that operated outside of the law. Lytton pointed out that newspapers were one of the only pieces of literature that working-class people were tempted to read and thus "A newspaper, then, was among the most popular and effectual modes of instructing the people."64 Due to the fact that the Stamp Tax was supposedly placing the education of the "ignorant" on the "wildest" of the political writers - meaning that the working class could only afford the cheap publications put out by radical journalists - Lytton argued that the principal tax on knowledge should certainly be abolished. Lytton noted that he had recently talked to a working-class mechanic who indicated that he and his fellow workers would go to the public house to read the seven- penny newspaper but that it was indeed the cheap unstamped press that formed their opinions, since it could be read over and over again at home. Lytton, like many other men of wealth in his position, was beginning to see the importance of an educated working class. According to him, there was an inseparable connection between crime and ignorance. Lytton did not think that the working classes were too ignorant to be trusted

64 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, June 23, 1832, 465. 29 with the elective franchise and that the Stamp Tax ensured greater circulation of only the most "respectable" journals.65

In terms of its actual struggle against the state, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette proves that the Stamp Office was not just threatening action and that it were actually going after those associated with disseminating a non-state sanctioned publication. The

Gazette was well aware of the Stamp Act but did not believe at first that its newspaper would be affected, believing that:

On account of the terms on which their publication was to be conducted, and the entire absence of advertisements from its pages, and the loyal and constitutional spirit in which it was to be conducted, that the provisions of that Act could not fairly reach them.66

Despite the paper's lack of advertisements and the loyalty shown by 77*e Loyal

Reformers' Gazette, it did not take long for the newspaper to draw the attention of the authorities and the proprietors were charged soon after the paper started publication. On

Saturday, May 28, the Gazette, having apparently learned that various members of the

"upper class" had sent incriminating information about the Gazette to the Stamp Office, reported that "The Borough-mongers are now in full and active operation against us."

While the Gazette was being threatened, it did not stop MacKenzie - always defiant - from continuing his written assault on the privileged. The Gazette argued, "we repeat that we are not in the slightest degree afraid of all or any of the Borough-mongers," and went onto claim that they are not scared of jail either because they can still "write there just as well as at home - perhaps better - for the walls of the prison would only excite us to sharpen our pens and to write more keenly against them than ever."67 From jail the editor

5 Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, June 1832. 66 77ze Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 3, 1831, 298. 67 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 27, 1831, 265. 30 claimed that the paper could still achieve its main purpose, which was to provide the public with the names and designations of their political rivals by selling the list of the

Anti-Reform Freeholders of Lanarkshire - a list that was made available at its printing offices for one half-penny.

A brief biographical account of Peter MacKenzie reveals why it was that he came to hold such radical viewpoints. MacKenzie was born in Dumbarton in 1799. He went through the Burgh school and then at the age often he started working in the clerk's office under a lawyer who had a large county practice. As a young man, MacKenzie attended the law lectures at the Glasgow University and also became a member of the famous debating club called the Literary and Commercial Society. In 1814, MacKenzie left his law career and turned to newspapers, developing his own business as a writer. He saw his job as being both an editor and professional advocate of Reform. Along with publishing The Loyal Reformers' Gazette from 1831-1833, MacKenzie was also the

Secretary of the Glasgow Political Union, further proof that the line between journalist and political activist was often blurred for this editor.69

When The Loyal Reformers' Gazette received word from the Stamp Office that penalties had already been levied against it for the issues that had been written and published, the paper decided to appeal to members of the English justice system who were known to be opposed to the Stamp Tax in the hope that a few influential English politicians might be able to pressure the Scottish authorities into easing the legal demands being made against the paper. The Gazette was sure that the justice system would find them innocent, eagerly reprinting the words of the Attorney General of England, Thomas

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 27, 1831, 265. MacLehose, Memoirs and portraits, 202. 31

Denman, who had stated in Parliament that he would be "glad to see the Six Acts of

Sidmouth and Castlereagh done away with, and that it would not be advisable to prosecute any publication, unless public opinion went with the government."70 The

Gazette constantly tried to use the rationale that it had not violated any laws. In a showing of its steadfast belief that the paper existed legally, the Gazette sent its case to Sir Thomas

Denman, the English representative who had trumpeted the freedom of the press in

Parliament. The paper claimed that should Denman decide that the paper was in the wrong, it would desist with its entire journal. On Saturday, July 9, 1831, the Gazette happily announced that it had finally obtained a personal interview with Thomas

Denman. The paper called Denman an "honest man" and a "patriot" after he told

MacKenzie that he would never intend to "repress or shackle" any publication like the

Gazette because of the service it provided in disseminating useful knowledge to the people. However, despite the personal meeting with Denman, the Attorney-General informed MacKenzie that he had no control over the Fiscal and Revenue Departments in

Scotland, and therefore, could not help the paper's cause.72 Thomas Denman's comments on the Gazette supports the idea that there many government figures who thought radical papers such as the Gazette were harmless, and not the great radical voice of the people the paper presented itself as being.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was comforted by the support it received from the

English justice system but the paper still claimed to remain incredulous as to why anybody would want to charge it with sedition against the King. The paper constantly reiterated that it had "love and revere" for the King and MacKenzie swore that he had The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 16, 1831, 129. 71 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 23, 1831, 151. 72 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 9, 1831, 145. 32 never uttered or written anything that could be construed as seditious in any way.

MacKenzie claimed that the charges were almost laughable, which only made the paper more eager to stand up to the Stamp Office.73 Even when prosecution against the Gazette seemed imminent, MacKenzie encouraged and provoked his rivals to take the paper to court because he wanted to paint the legal struggle of the paper as a key part of the larger goal of achieving Reform. The challenges that the paper faced from its political enemies only seemed to strengthen the resolve of MacKenzie to create a working-class political consciousness aligned with his own. The Gazette always made sure to document the proceedings against it, which ends up revealing a lot about Scottish civil society in action at the time. This documentation was likely done for two reasons. First, proper documentation of all the claims against the Gazette might protect the paper in court and, second, a record of the developments would also alert the paper's audience to what was happening, which would hopefully drum up popular support for its cause.

A number of articles throughout the middle months of 1831 reveal the initial legal steps that were taken to shut down The Loyal Reformers' Gazette. The article

"Prosecution against Us!" reported that "the Boroughmongers - the stamp office, are at last up in arms against us."74 MacKenzie stated that he had just received a letter from the

Solicitor of Stamps in Edinburgh, stating that the Solicitor was sending one of his assistants to the Gazette's printing office with a subpoena. The letter informed the editor and the printers of the Gazette that they were expected to show up at trial in ten days:

Sir, You may expect to see the Assistant Solicitor of Stamps at the Printing-Office of Messrs. Muir, Gowans, & Co. To-morrow or Saturday, to attend to the service of the Process, and to affect an arrangement for the hearing of the matter on the 5th of September" Your

73 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 28, 1831, 56. 74 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 27, 1831, 265. 33

obedient, H. Richards.75

MacKenzie thought that it was likely that the Anti-Reformer Lord Chief Baron

Abercrombie would be their judge, which would "seal their fate."76 On September 3,

1831, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette reported that its case was being handed over to the

Justice of the Peace, who was likely a Tory or an anti-Reformer. The paper then explained that it was enlisting Mr. J.M. Bell, an advocate and also a Reformer, to help fight its legal battle against the state. With the help of Bell, the paper expressed confidence that it would win its legal battle against the Stamp Office, stating: "It is utterly impossible to put down the press; - our enemies may as soon think to stop the diurnal motion of the earth."77 Only one week later, on September 10, 1831, the Gazette rejoiced with the words "The Boroughmongers are beat. We are victorious!" In the end, the paper reported that hundreds of supporters had attended its trial and that prosecution against the

Gazette was not sanctioned or approved by any of the Ministers.78

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette escaped the first prosecution brought against it but it would not be the paper's last legal battle in the Scottish courts. The paper remained unbothered by the state until May, 1832, when the Solicitor of Stamps once again subpoenaed MacKenzie and the paper's printers to appear for trial before the Barons of

Exchequer in Edinburgh. In court, the proceedings against the Gazette stalled until

November, 1832. The Gazette hoped that it would be tried by a jury of twelve, since only one jury member needed to be a Reformer in order for the paper to be found "not guilty".

The trial was postponed again until December, 1832, due to the confusion as a result of

75 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 27, 1831, 265. 7Jlbid. 77 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 3, 1831, 281. 78 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 1, 1831, 348. 34 the general election taking place, however, in December the proprietors of the paper could not escape the authority of the Stamp Office. As reported by Johnstone's Political

Robert Muir and Henry Gowans, printers of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette along with Peter M'Kenzie, its editor, were apprehended and lodged in Glasgow jail, by virtue of a writ issued by his Majesty's Barons of Exchequer, for a debt due by them to the Crown, of two thousand one hundred pounds, for printing and circulating unstamped newspapers.

With the printers and the editor of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette in jail, the paper disappeared for a number of weeks and its future was in obvious jeopardy. Nonetheless, if the resoluteness of the paper before imprisonment was any indication, the Gazette was bound to emerge again at the earliest opportunity.

By February 23, 1833, Peter MacKenzie was out of jail at which point he published the first edition of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette since MacKenzie's conviction. In its first issue back, the paper stated that the sight of the Gazette would no doubt mortify its enemies who had likely hoped that the legal action against the paper would lead to it being gone for good. MacKenzie used the paper's first issue back to describe how was it that he came about to be imprisoned and then how it was that he was released and able to return to printing. In a long article the Gazette explained that it first received correspondence from the Solicitor of Stamps on the 18th of September 1831. The paper was allowed to go on until May, 1832, at which point it was served with a subpoena by the Solicitor of Stamps, stating that the proprietors of the Gazette were to appear sometime before November in front of the Barons of the Exchequer in Edinburgh. In

September 1832, the paper received something called an "Information" from the Solicitor

Johnstone's Political Register, and Monthly Chronicle of Public Events, Scottish Lists, &c. (Edinburgh: John Johnstone, 1832), 6. 35 concluding that the penalties of upwards of £2000 were being charged against the Gazette and that the trial for the paper was being set for November 28, 1832. At that point, the

Gazette explained that it was encouraged by its lawyer, Mr. Bell, to withdraw its plea from the Exchequer Court and to submit its case to the Lords of the Treasury in England.

MacKenzie stated that he was under the impression that the paper had up to ten days to submit its case by petition to the Treasury, something that the editor claims he did. The

Gazette never heard back from the Treasury, something that MacKenzie stated did not alarm him because he assumed the silence was a result of the holidays or the elections that were going on in England. However, as it turned out, the Treasury had not accounted for the paper's plea and therefore the Gazette was still under the handling of the

Exchequer Court. Accordingly, after not having heard from the paper, the Solicitor of

Stamps in Edinburgh ended up taking out a writ against the paper and sent the Sheriff of

Lanark County after them with peremptory orders that the proprietors of the Gazette were to be apprehended and jailed on January 11, 1832.

Once in jail, one of the first things that Peter MacKenzie did was contact the Lord

Advocate, Francis Jeffrey. MacKenzie reported that Jeffrey did indeed reply to his letter in jail and that Jeffrey had assured the editor that he had not heard of the sanctions against the paper, nor was he aware that MacKenzie had even been incarcerated. MacKenzie claimed that he frequently wrote to Francis Jeffrey throughout his jail sentence and that he was thankful to always receive a prompt reply from the Lord Advocate who was constantly sure to remind the editor that he was concerned for him. Along with corresponding with Francis Jeffrey, MacKenzie also wrote to the Lords of the Treasury and to Joseph Hume. Upon receiving his letter, Joseph Hume went to the Treasury and personally gave the paper's position to Lord Althorp. Hume's intervention seemed to give 36 a sense of urgency to the paper's situation, evidenced by the fact that soon after his meeting with Hume, Althorp had his secretary respond to The Loyal Reformers' Gazette.

In the letter, which MacKenzie received in jail, Lord Althorp's secretary explained that he would look into verifying the fact that the paper had indeed submitted its plea to the

Lords of the Treasury, and had not simply been defying the orders of the Stamp Office.

Ultimately, the paper's plea must have been found because the Solicitor of Stamps was informed by the Treasury that it was no longer necessary to imprison the proprietors of the Gazette for the immediate payment of penalties. The editor and printers were then released upon their payment of prison costs and their agreement to pay back the penalties by a specified date and to abide by the laws respecting newspapers from then on.

When The Loyal Reformers' Gazette started publication again in late February

1833, there was a clear shift in the tone of the paper. MacKenzie's passionate and expressive writing is still evident, but there is a concerted effort by the paper to be less polarizing and controversial. The Gazette stated that it could not offend the laws any further, even if it thought them unfair. In order to enable the paper to afford to abide by the laws of the Stamp Office, the Gazette starting publishing only once a month, like most other periodicals of the day. While the paper was forced to make some changes, it still claimed to be the true paper of the working-class, stating that even if it did put a stamp on its cover, the Gazette would "show what a newspaper in the city of Glasgow ought to be."

In starting up the new, less-openly confrontational phase of the newspaper's existence,

MacKenzie stated that he wanted to thank the "able" editors of the Liberator, the True

Sun, and the Glasgow Free Press for their support. He also did not want to forget the

"highly respectable Editor of the Glasgow Herald, who, though a staunch Conservatist, 37 has never treated us disrespectfully.'" It is interesting to consider that despite that despite restrictions, the unstamped press was important to developing working class consciousness, especially when supported by reforming elites like Jeffrey and Althorp.

As the evidence in this chapter has shown, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was a newspaper that was very much a product of its time. MacKenzie was able to appeal to a broad audience because he had the means to reach them and because the working class had the means to read his news. As well, the social problems that existed in 1832 created a strain on Glasgow labourers and an avenue for a paper like the Gazette to articulate the struggles of the working class. The time that MacKenzie actually spent in jail shows that his battle for the working class was not simply being waged in the pages of his paper. The views expressed in the Gazette had consequences and, as the next chapter will hopefully illustrate, the consequences arose because the paper did not just have broad ideological viewpoints; instead, the paper had specific political demands and it was not afraid to call out elite members of society on particular issues.

The Loyal Reformers Gazette, Volume III, February 23, 1833, 120. 38

CHAPTER TWO

Specific social issues and political demands of the Gazette

While the last chapter sought to demonstrate the ways in which The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette was a product of its time, the evidence in this chapter shows the ways in which the paper cultivated actual political and social impact. The Gazette gave vigorous attention to specific issues. For instance, the paper closely followed the progression of Scottish Reform and gave its support to candidates who fought for Reform and who were seen to be acting in the interest of the working class. This chapter will then go on to show how the literary style of the Gazette helped to give the paper a decidedly working-class voice. In particular, this was done by using militaristic language along with satire and poetry in an attempt to make visible the differences between the elites and the working class. As will be seen, one of the specific ways that the Gazette used this literary rhetoric to create a distinct working-class voice was to portray of cholera as a political tool rather than an actual threat against the working class.

In 1832, Glasgow was a very literate city with a complex and vibrant population and culture. It was in this setting that Reform-era working-class citizens anxiously sought copious amounts of information from The Loyal Reformers' Gazette and other Reform papers in an effort to understand how the Reform legislation that was being debated would change their relationship with the other social classes. The primary aim of the

Gazette was to update the workers of Scotland about the progress of Reform or otherwise to contextualize the changes in a way that highlighted the differences between how the social classes experienced and understood what was happening. According to its preamble, the Scottish Reform Act 1832 was designed to "take effectual measures for correcting diverse abuses that have long prevailed in the choice of members to serve in 39 the Commons House of Parliament," and "to extend the elective franchise to many of his majesty's subjects who have not heretofore enjoyed the same."81 Throughout its publication run, the Gazette encouraged its readers to become familiar with the actual language of Reform so that members of the working class could develop a collective consciousness about the legislative terms that would determine their rights. The Gazette even went as far as printing the actual Reform document so that its audience would have the opportunity to better understand the exact changes that were being proposed.

Traditionally, while the problems that faced the passing of the English Reform Bill have received historical analysis, Reform in Scotland has not been devoted nearly as much attention. This is unfortunate because the Scottish Reform Bills had their own share of obstacles and Reform did not have an easy time being navigated through the

Parliamentary system. Recently, Gordon Pentland's work on parliamentary reform has been a corrective to this, as he has done much research into the nuances of the Scottish

Reform Act of 1832. Compared with England, Ireland, and Wales, the Scottish Reform

Bill was given such low priority that Lord Althorp, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and

Leader of the House of Commons, used only one line when he submitted a statement to the committee of Reform in December 1830: Give Scotland a Representative

Government.

In Scotland at the time, the situation was one of being forced to wait by the

Parliamentary system to see what happened in England first because what happened with the English Reform Bill would in large part dictate the progression of the Scottish Reform

Bill. The process of getting Reform through Parliament took approximately two years to

Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832. 82 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 101. 40 complete. Following the general election of 1830, the pro-Reform Whigs came to power and Lord Francis Jeffrey was appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland. Within days Jeffrey was working with Lord Henry Cockburn, Solicitor-General, and Thomas Kennedy, MP of the Ayr burghs, as part of the Reform committee for Scotland. Jeffrey and Cockburn, in particular, were chosen because they were eminent Scottish political figures who had earned the respect of members from all strata of society.83 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette closely followed the path of the Scottish Reform Bill in its pages, making sure to keep its audience informed of any impediments to its progression. According to the Gazette the point of Reform was "to allow the people really to choose the Members of Parliament as it was always intended they should do."84 Standing in the way of change though were the members of the House of Lords who were wary of tinkering with a political system that protected the wealth and status of its members. When Francis Jeffrey later carried the

Scottish Reform Bill to the Lords, Lord John Russell urged his peers to pass the legislation in the same manner that the representatives of the people had "so as not to split the country into action."85 It was the Gazette's opinion that the House of Lords was where the "last stand of bigotry in antiquity is to be made."86 The Gazette expressed its utter dismay when the second reading of the Reform Bill was quashed by the House of Lords, stating "our devoted country brought to the very brink of Revolution. Twenty-one out of

87 thirty-three Bishops rejected the Bill. Thank God we have no Bishops in Scotland." Of course, while the Gazette was thankful that Scotland was void of Bishops, in the end, the

English Bishops would still have to pass the Scottish legislation. 83 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 102. 84 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 28,1831,59. 85 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, November 11, 1831, 289. 86 Ibid. 87 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 15, 1831, 380. 41

After much debate which stalled the process at the committee stage, the House of

Commons passed the Reform Bill for England and Wales by a large majority in March,

1832.88 Upon re-entering the House of Lords, the Reform Bill was again met with steep opposition. On the morning of May 12, 1832, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette regretfully announced that Earl Grey's cabinet had been dissolved, resulting in the "strangulation" of the Reform Bill at the hands of the Lords. The reason given for the dissolution of Grey's government was that Grey would never consent to any alteration of the important clauses of the Bill. When Grey announced that he would reject any changes to the Reform Bill, he earned an enormous amount of praise from the Gazette. Due to the fact that Grey was so adamantly devoted to Reform, the paper felt that Reform could not be denied much longer and that the dissolution of Grey's government was merely another roadblock for

Reformers to overcome. With Grey refused, the Reform cause was helped by the fact that

King William IV declared that that he would create any number of Whiggish peers that may be necessary to carry the passage of Reform. The threat made by William was enough to cause the opposition peers to relent, eventually allowing English Reform legislation to pass through the House of Lords.89 Once the Scottish Reform Act 1832 was passed, the Gazette was quite obviously ecstatic that the aim of its entire paper had been achieved; however, the hyperbolic sentiments of some concerning Reform were soon met with the realities of the limits to the actual changes.

While the language of the Reform legislation shows the willingness on behalf of the state to accept the need for change, the actual "abuses" of the past are not articulated and the language regarding how many people will be enfranchised is dense and

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 15, 1831, 380. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 337. 42 complicated, making it difficult for the average person to understand. Even though The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette knew that the Reform of 1832 would not give the working classes the vote, the paper still supported it because it felt that a Reformed Parliament was at least able to alleviate some of the stresses on the working classes by doing away with the monopolies.90 In fact, the Gazette never expressed the idea that suffrage would be universal, but since Reform would lead to further extension, it nonetheless deserved the support of the workers. The Reform Movement spanned all of society from sections of the gentry to the working classes, and one of the ways it maintained working-class support was through papers like the Gazette. Working-class radicals and men like

MacKenzie certainly played an indispensible role in advancing the cause of Reform, but the truth is that the path of Reform through parliament would not have been organized as early as it was were it not for many privileged men who endorsed it. Some endorsed

Reform because they truly believed in the importance of extending the franchise, while others supported it simply because they realized that public sentiment regarding the issue was quickly slipping out of their control. Also, many realized that it could be politically advantageous for them to support Reform and appear as though they had always lobbied for the causes of the people in other social classes. By allowing some reforms, members of the upper-class could at least try and dictate the pace of change.

The chosen way of allowing for a few reforms, while not completely opening up the floodgates of democracy, was to restrict the franchise to those with property worth ten pounds or more. The fear of people who seemingly did not have any stake in society is what forced the inclusion of the ten pound clause, an addition that was supported by The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette. The Gazette felt it was important that people earned their vote

90 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, Sept 1, 1832, 157. 43 through participation in civil society, printing the words of Lord Francis Jeffrey who intoned in Parliament:

Far more desperate, and dangerous individuals - persons [...] who utterly distrust and despise all the institutions of the country; who hate all law and authority, and aim directly, and with little disguise or equivocation, at the destruction of all property, and the abolition of all dignities.91

The limits to the working classes becoming enfranchised in 1832 did serve to somewhat placate Anti-Reformers such as Sir Archibald Campbell, a former Judge of the Supreme

Civil and Criminal Courts of Scotland. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette printed a quote from Campbell who described the Reform Bill as a "rash and ill-digested experiment, dangerous to the Crown, and degrading to the aristocracy, and calculated to overturn the existing constitution of Scotland, which has long been the admiration of the world." Of course Sir Archibald had a lot of interests he wanted to protect, being described by the

Gazette as one of the few very rich men in Scotland, both in land and money.92

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette made sure to constantly articulate the difference between the poor and the rich, in an effort to get the working classes to stand up to the abuses against them. The Gazette realized that social status could never be uniform, but that at least Reform was part of the general progression towards political equality:

The present state of representation in the Legislature, entirely excludes from due consideration the interests of the Working Classes, upon whose interests the safety and prosperity of the nation depend; and that till a proper representation of the people be established, the burdens which now so heavily press upon labour must continue to accelerate poverty and crime, and keep the ramifications of society corrupt and degenerate.93

Instead of arguing that the working classes did not deserve the vote because they were

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 13. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 24, 1831, 340. Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press ", 164. 44 degenerates, many, like the editor of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, were beginning to understand that a cycle to this poverty existed which could only be stopped using parliamentary measures. Many people felt that most of the social problems existed because of poverty and the exploitation of the working class. MacKenzie was very politically aware and he understood that the Reform being discussed in 1832 was at least a step in the right direction. On October 1, 1831, the Gazette published and endorsed a

"Letter to the King from the Members and Council of the Glasgow Political Union" stating that the whole franchise in all of Scotland was in the hands of about 2000 individuals. The petition stated that many of the paper's readers were humble artisans who do not meet the limited qualifications contained in the Bill and would therefore have no share in the elective franchise. However, the Gazette still offered its support to

Reform, in order to "ensure the welfare and tranquility of the whole empire space."94

Reform was about property and intelligence, attributes that the working-class were considered to be lacking. The urban middle classes were considered safe for the privilege of voting for the government of Scotland. The middle classes had property or money to protect, unlike the lower classes who - it was thought - would lead Scotland into social anarchy and economic ruin.95 In other words, the vote was given to those with a stake in society and an education to understand the issues of public life.

While The Loyal Reformers' Gazette provided readers with all of the intricacies of the Scottish Reform Bills, the paper was careful not to overly highlight the fact that average workers would not see immediate benefits from the changes. Instead, the paper used its cover pages and large type fonts to declare its support for the workers and remind

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 1, 1831, 351. Devine, The Scottish Nation, 21 A. 45 its readers that Reform would have benefits for the working classes. The Scottish Reform

Act represented a major symbolic step towards universal suffrage and, perhaps most importantly, the middle class became emancipated as their enfranchisement broke the political grip of the old oligarchy. Reform saw the Scottish electorate rise sixteenfold, from 4,500 to 65,000, and also saw the number of burgh constituencies increased from 15 to 23, with the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow being given one and two additional

MPs, respectively. Additionally, Aberdeen, Dundee, Greenock, Paisley and Perth were each given one MP and many rural burghs were strengthened into districts, redefining the constituencies and boundaries.96 Glasgow benefitted more than the small burgh

07 constituencies which were left virtually intact. Before 1832 there were 45 parliamentary seats in the counties and 15 in the burghs, each with a mere average of 2,600 and 1,500 voters respectively. In all, only 0.2 per cent of the population of Scotland had the vote.

Also important to note is that England and Scotland experienced Reform somewhat differently from each other. The electorate in England increased by 80 percent, while in

Scotland the electorate changed by 1,400 percent. As Graeme Morton and R.J. Morris argue, this is why the passing of the Reform Act in 1832 reshaped the Scottish political landscape more than it did throughout all of Britain, even though it did not do so in any way that aided working people.

Although the changes to the voting system might appear substantial, it is important not to overstate the significance of the Scottish Reform Act for the working classes. The legislation of 1832 became known as the "Great Betrayal" amongst the 96 Devine, The Scottish Nation, 273. 97 McCaffery, "Political Issues and Developments", in Glasgow, 188. 98 Graeme Morton and R.J. Morris, "Civil Society, Governance and Nation: Scotland, 1832- 1914", The Penguin History of Scotland, ed. W. Knox and R.A. Houston (Hammondsworth: Penguin, 2001), 289. 46 workers, since the middle classes were essentially paid-off, subsequently helping to create a working-class consciousness entirely for itself. This is mainly due to the stipulation that voters needed to own or rent property worth at least ten pounds, as well as age limitations that were implemented into Reform legislation. Even for those who did qualify for the new voter requirements, it was not always easy for people to exercise their right. In general, Tories were seen as much more alert to qualify themselves than their opponents.

At every step, the Tories tried to prevent Reformers from qualifying by requiring the need to collect receipts, leases, title deeds, or certificates. They also stipulated that registrants needed to schedule an individual appointment at the public office that cost six pence, and get a receipt from the officer, which cost an additional two pence. Since the qualification for obtaining the vote meant having property worth ten pounds, there was also some confusion concerning people living in certain dwellings, particularly those living in lodging houses.99 In the end, the registration requirements did end up hindering the number of qualified citizens of who signed up to vote. In retrospect, it is clear that the

British State essentially side stepped the issue of full extension of voting rights by enfranchising only men of property and education.100 This keeping of the "halo" on the

"monarchical and aristocratic elements of the constitution" is how Engels interpreted the restriction of the House of Commons to the bourgeoisie, and it is a large factor in why working-class consciousness grew particularly strong during and after the Reform period.101

In recognition of the need to prod many of its readers into taking an interest in

Johnstone's Political Register, 1832, 15. 100 Graeme Morton, Unionist-Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830-1860 (East Lothian: Tuckwell Press: 1999), 6. 101 Friedrich Engels and Victor Kiernan, The Condition of the Working Class in England (London: Penguin Classics, 1987), 228. 47 legislative developments, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette almost always opted for a direct political approach. The paper did not just have abstract political principles; it had specific demands, telling its readers how to vote and who to vote for. Once the Reform Bill was passed, the Gazette still continued to be published, with its main focus on following the

Reformed parliament and on printing biographies about people it considered to be political patriots. After Reform, Glasgow's increased representation made the Gazette note that party feelings had never run higher in Glasgow. In the election of December,

1832, five candidates were up for voting and they all partially claimed commitment to

Reform. Members of "the Clique" were Glasgow Whigs who were also members of leading merchant families, and they supported the wealthy businessman James Oswald.

James Ewing was a Conservative who received support from the Scots' Times since he had a strong local history of reform and in acting in the interests of the merchants. As for the Gazette, it supported Sir D.K. Sandford, a professor of Greek at the University of

1 09

Glasgow, who ended up coming in third to Ewing and Oswald in the election.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette claimed that the press as a whole was malignant towards all of the candidates, who were often defenseless to counteract the claims due to the monopoly of the press. It was the Gazette's goal to "disabuse the mind of the public" and provide information about the candidates which had previously been suppressed.

The main terms used by the Gazette against its political enemies were the terms

Boroughmonger, one who buys or sells the parliamentary seats of boroughs, and

Freeholders, a proprietor who holds a piece of land that they have the right to lease, rent or sell as they please. In an effort to catalogue every gentleman who ever spoke or acted

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, November 17, 1832, 402. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, October 6, 1832, 226. 48 against Reform, there was an extensive list from A to Z titled "Great Boroughmongers", that was included in each edition of the Gazette. For example, one third of the way through the letter "p" one finds the following entry:

Peach, N.W., Truro. - This gentleman is so decided an anti-reformer, as to be considered worthy, by the Earl of Falmouth, to be his nominee. The Bill releases the town from the corruption of its Corporation, held under command by the Noble Earl.104

In another description of a Tory supporter, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette ventured into personal attacks instead of just political ones. The paper described the Tory supporter

John McLeroy, a merchant and power-loom manufacturer residing somewhere in or about

Calton, as always carrying an umbrella under his arm on a Sunday morning and as being a man who "seldom changes his breeches, or washes his face!"105

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was particularly critical of the type of people and politicians that it deemed to be "turncoats." In other words, people who professed to be

Reformers when the Reform Bill was being discussed but who would eventually vote for a Tory or for a Whig candidate that the paper did not consider radical enough. The

Gazette frequently asked the readers to think about whether or not electoral candidates had been long-term reformers, or if they had only recently devoted themselves to Reform.

In an article entitled "Kilmarmock - Turncoats" the Gazette used the example of Hugh

Craig, a merchant in Kilmarnock and the Chairman of the Kilmarnock Political Union.

The paper called Craig a turncoat for calling himself a Reformer - and inducing the public to believe that he is so - only to "sneak off into favour with the opponents of Reform.106

A group that Gazette had a lot of particular disdain for was the group the paper dubbed

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, September 1, 1832, 180. The Loyal Reformers Gazette, Volume II, November 3, 1832, 287 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, September 29, 1832, 209. 49 the "Glasgow Clique." The Clique was a group of Reformers in Glasgow that the Gazette thought was only jumping on the bandwagon for Reform. The Gazette had reason to have direct opposition to the Clique given that the group was closely associated with one of its rival newspapers, The Herald to the Trades' Advocate.m As an example of their fight with the Clique, when the Gazette thought that there might have been overspending and even some missing money at the Grand Reform Jubilee, the Gazette reported that the

Clique did not want it to read the account books. In another example, the paper criticized the way that the Jubilee Reform Dinner in Glasgow had been held because many people who had the chance to speak prominently at the meeting had only taken up the issue of

Reform after it had been passed.108

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette obviously thought that it was speaking for the working classes but it warned its readers that Anti-Reformers also used the rhetoric of the

"People". According to the Gazette, anybody could say they were a "man of the people" or that they "spoke for the people" but that did not necessarily make it so. The Gazette aimed these particular types of accusations against the House of Commons Member

Henry Hunt. Hunt was a well-known and long-term supporter of reforms for workers but he did not think that the Reform Bill was going far enough in creating change, so he rejected it. Hunt's stance earned him a negative reaction from the Gazette:

The other day, in bringing up the Report on the Reform Bill, he rose and spoke strongly against it. 'The People,' he said, 'cared nothing about the Bill, neither did he. As for the Lords, there was an attempt to bully them into the passing of it. If he were a Lord, he would for that single reason vote its rejection'. This man, when he lay in Ilchester jail, was supported by liberal subscriptions from the People in all parts of the country; and he had twenty five pounds sent to him from Glasgow: yet this is the return he has made for it, when he had it in his power to serve

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, November 10, 1832, 305. 108 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, October 6, 1832, 265. 50

them. Ungrateful fellow - we are done with him forever!109

It is interesting to consider why a radical Reformer, such as Henry Hunt, would have withheld his support for the Reform Bill. As a Reformer, his comments suggest that perhaps Hunt did not like the Reform Bill because it was too limited in its egalitarianism, meaning the view of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette might have been more conservative than his. The point is that the Gazette was seeking the passing of Reform, even with the limitations the franchise. Radicals were a distinct political grouping and if an extreme radical like Hunt rejected that Bill because it did not go far enough, he was considered just as dangerous to the paper as all of the others who opposed Reform.

On May 21, 183, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette tried to paint a stark contrast between the Boroughmongers who attacked Reform measures, and the average Scotsman.

According to the paper, anti-Reformers had nothing in common with the "People" and went out of their way to act condescendingly towards members of the working classes.

The paper then ventured into hyperbole by suggesting that the Boroughmongers in fact hated the "people" and that they would be happy to see the working classes kept as menial slaves. According to the Gazette, there were enemies of Reform who were even more politically dangerous than the greedy Boroughmongers who were openly against any sort of change to the parliamentary structure; even worse were the Members of the

House of Commons who were willing to admit the principle of the Reformers' aims, but only did so as a tactic to try and "soothe" voters and trick them into agreeing to send more representatives to the "great towns" like Glasgow. However, the Gazette mostly blamed the oppression of the Scottish working classes on their landlords, who the paper frequently identified as particularly corrupt and greedy. A letter to the editor published by

109 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 10, 1831, 341. 51 the Gazette entitled "Rents in Bridgetown" brought up the plight of the weavers who made little at work, at certainly not enough to afford the price of rent that landlords were demanding:

Mr. Editor, Your publication receives a good deal of countenance in this place. There is one local grievance which presses hard upon an industrious class of the community-1 mean the weavers. The earnings of a weaver can hardly support a single individual, and I cannot comprehend how a weaver, with four or five of a family, can live.''

In response to the letter, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette wrote that it would be highly honourable of the Glasgow landlords to voluntarily make a reduction in rents since many of them could very easily afford to do it. According to the Gazette, sneaky factory owners were also some of the main oppressors of the working classes but were not brought up as often because they were good at hiding their abuses from the authorities. Due to the rampant greed and corruption that the Gazette documented in its pages, the paper expressed the belief that it would be difficult for any politician - Reform-oriented or not - to earn the trust of uneducated, low-wage earners. To support its claim the Gazette printed a piece from the Poor Man's Advocate. The English paper expressed the same sentiment with these words: "It is not easy to convince uneducated men who are smart enough to the injustice of a grinding master that the government does not sanction and uphold all the petty frauds and oppressions that are committed upon them."111 Even the unstamped press, which was vehemently against corrupt politicians, wanted the working classes to understand that sometimes people in their immediate lives, such as their factory bosses, were at fault for many of their day to day miseries. Members of the working class needed to be convinced of this if they were going to give their support to any politicians and

110 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 16,1831,119. Poor Man's Advocate, or, A few words for and to the poor. Parts I & II: in six letters (London: W.Tyler, 1832), v. 52 participate in civil society by agitating within the parameters of respectability.

It has been suggested by Stephen Behrendt that the appeal of radical unstamped publications owed in large part to the sensationalism of the writing, which expressed the political agenda with engaging, rich and varied sense of humour.112 That was certainly the case with The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, which claimed in its premiere issue that "we make no pretention to literature, or fine writing."113 The use of biting satire is a good example of the overall general sarcastic and controversial tone of the newspaper. In fact, the Gazette was one of many radical newspapers that used satire as a form of criticism against those who stood in the way of their radical political agenda. The use of satirical humour and wit to get a point across was not a new strategy for newspapers, but the

Gazette used satire particularly well in order to expose the supposed hypocrisy of its opponents. On the whole, the controversial tone of the Gazette is very aggressive so satire acts to both soften and make more biting the criticism against corruption, while also making it entertaining to the reader. For instance, a poem entitled "Seasonable Hint to the

Electors" and published on August 20, 1831, is one such example of the satirical nature of the Gazette. The poem is written in the voice of the traditional establishment and begins by referring to the people with the vote as "our country's guardians and protectors."

According to the poem, the electors had become self-imposed teachers bent on ensuring that the working class remained humble, productive, and most of all, subservient:

Stephen C. Behrendt, "Introduction," in Stephen C. Behrendt, ed., Romanticism, Radicalism, and the Press (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997), 15. 113 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 7, 1831,4. 53

We are your masters and we know what's good for you. Long hours short wages and high price of food, these of the measures that will do you good.114

The poem goes on to facetiously encourage electors to vote for James Oswald - the same self-proclaimed supposed Reformer who The Loyal Reformers' Gazette claims was more than willing to massacre the radicals of earlier insurrections - although it does not give any further details. Finally the poem ends with a warning from the Boroughmongers to the working classes "nor show those monstrous tasks.. .but leave it to us the making of your laws."115 The satirical poem has made its point by misappropriating the voice of

Oswald and other Tory politicians, making them sound overtly greedy and tyrannical. The

Gazette understood that poetry could be used not only to induce a mood but also to attain the immediate objective of convincing readers to support Reform. However, the paper's literary use of mock poetry was nothing groundbreaking since it had been standard fare in all newspapers from around the 1760s, designed to both entertain and influence the electorate.116

Along with satire, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette often chose to make its argument by using a liberal amount of exaggeration to highlight the differences between the working classes and the aristocratic class. In its piece entitled "Description of a Modern

Aristocrat", the Gazette made clear its utter distaste for the type of aristocrat who was out of touch with their working-class constituents:

Born to fortune and independence, he is early habituated to consider his artificial dignity as a reason, and an easy substitute for any moral or mental qualification. Extravagance is his forte, and is often employed in youth in bursts of profanity and indecency ... In the House of Lords, he defends every act which tends to enhance his own greatness, and that of

The Loyal Reformers Gazette, Volume I, August 20, 1831, 230. 115 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, August 20, 1831, 230. 116 Denys Thompson, The Uses of Poetry (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 113. 54

his order, and contemns those which have for their object the cause of universal freedom . . . Simplicity and morality go hand in hand, and the subtleties and refinement of fashionable life have a tendency to 1 1 7

contaminate both.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette goes onto admit that there are excellent men among the aristocracy but that there are not very many who truly supported the working-class people. In another example of the paper taking issue with the idea that somebody's monetary worth had any connection to their ability to understand the main issues that were being discussed in Parliament, the Gazette claimed that there was a "proud and aristocratic" feeling that existed in many areas of Glasgow, which caused men to "turn up their noses" at the members of the working class, merely because they are poor. The paper confesses that one of the best features about Reform was that it was designed to make no distinction between men who made £10 per year and man who made £20,000 a year.118 Working people were becoming more educated and more involved in politics and civil society, and were now given a public platform like the Gazette to debate with those whom they felt treated their voices condescension.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette often exaggerated the threat of violence to add more severity to its demands for Reform, maintaining that what it termed as the "The

Royal Regiment of British Reformers" had millions of members, commanded by King

William, who were willing to take up arms against the Boroughmongers. If one were to believe the Gazette's claims, there were millions of Reformers who were involved in military training, learning the manual and platoon exercises necessary to take on the

Boroughmongers. There is, of course, no record of this million-man strong Reform militia; however, the exaggeration provides for a vibrant narrative and it was an attempt 117 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 3, 1831, 284. 118 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 3, 1831, 284. 55 by the paper to try and give workers awareness that there were many others in the same social class who had the same political desires as them.

One of the main subjects that garnered much discussion in the pages of The Loyal

Reformers Gazette was the spread of cholera, a severe bacterial infection that mostly affects the intestines. The issue of cholera in the Gazette is interesting to consider because it shows how the paper helped the working-classes to gain knowledge of the issues of the day and to become more aware of their place in society. It also shows the way in which the paper tried to argue that cholera was being used by politicians and newspaper editors in order to distract workers from Reform. To understand why the Gazette devoted so much space to the disease, it will first be beneficial to understand the social context of cholera in Glasgow at the time. As a consequence of a population explosion coupled with often unsuitable living conditions, Scottish urban areas like Edinburgh and Glasgow were plagued by drunkenness and disease in 1832. Diseases like typhus, fever and cholera, which were caused by inadequate nourishment and poor sanitation, were rampant amongst the working masses that were crammed into decaying dwellings. In fact, the

1830s witnessed the first of a number of waves of cholera, with 1832 being a particularly bad year.119 The prevalence of such diseases and the horrific physical symptoms they caused, such as extreme diarrhea and severe vomiting, contributed to the development of a widespread fear within society that a painful death was always close to becoming a reality. However, while daily cholera deaths in Edinburgh sometimes reached numbers as high as forty-nine in one day, the average for the city in 1832 was only twenty or thirty

Donald Campbell and Allan Massie, Edinburgh: A Cultural History (Edinburgh: Interlink Books, 2008), 73. 56 fatal cases, not a significant amount considering the general death rate.120

The distribution of cholera deaths in Glasgow indicated the relative safety of the upper and middle class. The heightened level of hysteria about the cholera epidemic caused The Loyal Reformers' Gazette to argue that the worry surrounding cholera was being hugely overstated in the news in order to give the Tories a little breathing room in

Parliament. As the disparity became clearer, the Gazette began to argue that there were the necessary medical resources out there available to fight off cholera but that they were not being given to the working classes. The paper even went so far as to accuse other newspaper editors and politicians of lying about the severity of cholera cases, in order to take the public's focus off unpopular political decisions. The Gazette protested against what it saw as false and grossly exaggerated statements about cholera being made in the mainstream press. For instance, an editorial entitled "Cholera Morbus - Humbug!" accuses the press of playing a large role in propagating the exaggerations about the disease. The paper argues that the cholera fear was a "cunningly devised scheme" and compares it to the events of 1792 when the French Revolution was used by the state to distract people from reform. The article states that there were 5064 cases and 1496 deaths in England and Scotland combined. In Glasgow, there were only 106 cases and 46 deaths.

The Gazette argues that even though the subject of cholera was taking up so much room in the mainstream press, many more people were dying from working-class diseases like consumption and typhus.121

As a result of its claims regarding the exaggerations of cholera cases, The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette reported that it received many letters from James Arthur, a Member

Johnstone's Political Register, 16. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, November 3, 1832, 288. 57 of the Board of Health and Surgeons, claiming that the articles being published by the paper were reckless and that the disease really was one that needed to be feared. Of course, the Gazette believed that the Board of Health was closely connected with the

Tories, which is why the paper criticized the decisions of the surgeons.122 The insistence by James Arthur that people should report cases of cholera seems sensible enough as a way for the state to try keep accurate figures about deaths. However, the Gazette found issue with the fact that Arthur was paid fifty pounds a month from public taxes because the paper felt that he would have had an interest in keeping cases up in order to prove the importance of his job. The paper thought it possible that Arthur and other surgeons were attributing dozens of ordinary deaths to cholera. In a poem called "How to defy the cholera!" the Gazette again used satire to argue that cholera was being used as a political distraction. The poem jokes that a prescription for cholera was found on the streets of

London and that it was thought to be written by a member of the working class since it was written on a dirty piece of paper. The prescription reads: "Take a full and fair representation of the people, the whole people, and nothing but the people; let the House of Commons, this chosen, immediately reduce the taxes; let the poor obtain cheap bread, wholesome food, and warm clothing, in exchange for their labour, and thus they will defy the Cholera."123 As far as the Gazette was concerned, upper class surgeons were probably just political opponents out to challenge the credibility of the paper and to stoke the fears of the people concerning cholera:

This Cholera Morbus (hang it!) has, we perceive, already afforded a little breathing time to the Tories in Parliament. -We are wicked enough to wish that it would extend its ravages to some of the corners of the Pension List. - But as the Proverb says "It is lang before the Deil dies at

122 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, June 23, 1832, 339. 123 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, November 19, 1831, 453. 58

thedykeside.124

The article goes on to argue that the paper had a duty to the people to protest against the many false and grossly exaggerated statements which have been put forth on the subject of "this alleged Cholera Morbus" because The Loyal Reformers' Gazette claimed they felt as though the whole city of Glasgow seemed to be in a state of delirium about it.125

According to The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the unnecessary worry about cholera was not the sole fault of politicians. In fact, the paper accused its fellow members of the press of misleading their audiences:

What are our real friends, the conductors of the Press in England, saying to it? For England is the place where we must principally look to for the TRUTH - the Press of Scotland, with exceptions, being still, we are sorry to say, weak and childish, timorous, or truckling, and too ready to bend the knee to those who dress themselves.126

To support its opinion The Loyal Reformers' Gazette included newspaper reports on cholera from England. A quotation from the London Weekly Dispatch - a mid-sized enterprise with a circulation of 25,000 - declared that the English newspaper was decidedly of opinion that the government was largely responsible for "the contemptible humbug - the really childish delusion of Cholera Morbus!" The article mocks the government saying that even the very boys in the streets of London were laughing at the

"grave announcements of the official returns."127 In terms of the impact that the Gazette had on the views of the working class concerning cholera, the Glasgow Courier reported on March 17, 1832, that when a mob rioted about the issue of cholera, the also waved

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, February 25, 1832, 197. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, January 28, 1832, 117. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, February 25, 1832, 213. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, February 25, 1832, 213. 59 copies of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette during their protest.128 While there is no doubt that the subject of cholera was not as important to the Gazette as the cause of Reform, the paper's constant focus on the disease does reveal the provision of a working-class voice and the fear that the state was conspiring against working-class interests by keeping their focus away from the issues that truly mattered.

As this chapter has demonstrated, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was deeply involved in the day-to-day politics of its working-class audience. The paper made sure that Parliamentary debates on Reform were available to the working class and, even after the passing of Reform, the Gazette acted as a political voice for the working class by concentrating on the candidates in the upcoming elections and by telling its readers who to vote for. This chapter also shows that the appeal of the Gazette was owed in large part to MacKenzie's strong and vibrant language. His considerable literary abilities made it possible for the paper to effectively debate certain issues and to make visible the divide that existed between the working class and their elite neighbours. However, well confrontation was an important theme in the pages of the Gazette, all of the antagonism was part of the paper's effort to foster nationalism and to promote constitutionalism.

Glasgow Courier, March 17, 1832. 60

CHAPTER THREE

Training workers how to agitate within the constitution

While the previous chapter has shown that a large part of the effort of The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette was to try and show its readers the distinct differences between the workers and the elites in society, this last chapter will demonstrate that the goal of the paper was also to bridge the gap between the working class and the elites. The objective of MacKenzie was not simply to highlight differences and create unresolved antagonisms between the social classes; his goal was to train workers and to influence them to support constitutional means of protest. As this chapter will illustrate, politicians who had supported working class issues for a long time gained nothing but support from the

Gazette. However, in contrast, as the paper's treatment of the King will show, its support for a state representative was not guaranteed. The importance for the Gazette always concerned enhanced prestige for Scotland. The Gazette certainly held up the constitution and the Union as institutions to be supported and maintained, but there is no denying that the paper was entirely Scottish in nature. The focus on particularly Scottish issues is consistent throughout the paper's pages, whether it was through the Gazette's reporting of the Patronage Crisis or through its allusions to popular Scottish cultural figures.

One of the ways that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was able to evade the Stamp

Office for so long was that the paper was always careful to support methods of protest that were constitutionally-based and conducted with a sense of civility. This is why one of the most interesting aspects of the Gazette is the way in which the paper reveals the types of political protest that existed during the early 1830s. It becomes clear in the pages of the paper that violent protests were largely a thing of the past. The rioting that had previously taken place over unanswered worker demands had been replaced - to some extent, not 61 wholly - with peaceful, constitutionally appropriate protests. During the early stages of industrialization the tradition of a "moral economy" was used to justify popular action, like when the poor rioted against unfair merchant prices. Small-scale rioting was generally allowed because it was viewed as one of the only ways for townspeople to express discontent. E.P. Thompson popularized the belief in the existence of a "moral economy" that existed in pre-capitalist societies and which created social stability based on the principles of mutuality such as goodness, fairness, and justice.129 However, the growth of industrialization and urbanization led to the decline of the traditional "moral economy" that had existed in Scotland for centuries between the elite and the workers.

The relationships between the upper class - the owners of the means of production - and the working classes became increasing impersonal and adversarial; this was a shift that was met with a rising discontent from the average wage worker.130 Therefore, as civil society developed in Scotland during the early 1800s, so did the methods of re establishing the "moral economy" based on political mutuality amongst the classes. In other words, instead of being largely about food riots, hence the economy label,

Thompson's idea of a "moral economy" was transferred to the idea of political protests and social participation that encouraged civility as a way of facilitating the desires of the social classes.

It is important to note that despite the general move towards respectable protests by 1832, there were still men of property and intellect who were quite fearful of the working classes whom they did not really understand. As an example, James Abercromby

129 E.P. Thompson, "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the 18th Century," Past & Present, 50 (1971), 76-136. 130 Hamish Fraser, Conflict and Class: Scottish Workers 1700-1838 (Edinburgh, John Donald Publishers, 1988), 65. 62 warned that avoiding a state of violent anarchy, such as the French Revolution, meant making a significant change to the parliamentary representation:

If the Lords are rebellious, the people will not bear it, & they will denounce the Lords as the greatest of all national grievances. In this they will be encouraged by the example of France, where a hereditary Peerage is at a great discount. With such an example before their eyes it will be very difficult to save the Lords, & they may settle their own fate by being violent.131

The quotation offers a good opportunity to venture into that murky subject of just how radical the Scots were in there demands for suffrage. Interestingly, there were some instances of violence recorded by The Loyal Reformers Gazette. For instance, when

Francis Jeffrey was beaten in the Edinburgh election by Charles Dundas - even though the

Gazette claimed that 20,000 people had petitioned the government against Dundas - some violence did erupt in opposition. Charles Dundas, the Baron of Amesbury, was a politician who came from a family of fortune and considerable political influence. A member of parliament since 1775, Dundas had represented Berkshire in parliament from

1794 until 1832. However, by 1832, the once unassailable local position that Dundas had as MP was being challenged, particularly since he was known for his absence in parliament, and his generally non-confrontation political stances.132 After the election, the

Lord Provost, William Allan of Glen, was attacked by a mob and bloodied and bruised for choosing Dundas as a representative. While the Gazette often veered into militaristic rhetoric, the paper used this particular occasion to condemn further violence. Instead of violence, the paper suggested that Reform-oriented individuals stop doing banking and other business with anybody who had voted for Dundas. According to the Gazette, this

131 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 102. 132 Michael Fry, "Dundas, Charles, Baron Amesbury (1751-1832)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/view/article/8246, accessed 11 Dec 2010] 63 was considered a more effective way for its readers to exercise their political and social power.133

In another example of small-scale Reform disturbances, The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette reported that Dundee witnessed Reform riots on the 28th and 29th of March, 1831.

The riots ended with seven individuals tried in Edinburgh before the High Court of

Justiciary. Three rioters pleaded guilty and the other four were convicted after a long trial.

The worst punishment received by the radicals of Dundee was fourteen years for one and seven years of transportation for another. The Gazette felt that the sentences were way too severe, especially since there was no personal violence reported against any person.134

Incidents of small-scale rioting were deemed unfortunate by the paper, since it felt that the rioting provided certain members of the upper class with the opportunity act as a though full-scale Reform revolution was on the brink of happening. For instance, in an article entitled "Lash to Bonnie Scotland!", Sir George Clark, Member for Edinburgh

County, is reported by the Gazette as arguing that "Previous to the introduction of the

Reform measure, Scotland was one of the most peaceful parts of his Majesty's kingdom."

However, Clark goes onto to claim that since the bringing forward of Reform "all the troops in Scotland had not been able to maintain order and peace," and it was his opinion that the violence was "far from over."135

In the months leading up to the Scottish Reform Act 1832, it is not entirely clear how much disorder was taking place amongst the working classes, since the reports of disturbances were often used to support a particular political agenda. For instance, when the Tory candidate Charles Douglas won the election in Glasgow, The Loyal Reformers'

133 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 9, 1831, 258. 134 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, June 25, 1831, 237. 135 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, July 2, 1831, 140. 64

Gazette reported that there were "no symptoms of riot or disorder" and that it never would have even dreamt of anything of the kind happening. However, while the Gazette insisted that there were no signs of disorder, the Douglas party was worried enough that they called on the Sheriff to provide protection. After assessing the situation, the Sheriff read the Riot Act to the estimated three or four hundred people who had gathered at the town hall to show their displeasure with the election results. The Gazette thought that the invoking of the Riot Act was a complete overreaction and it expressed disgust that soldiers had been called in. However, the paper did admit that it had seen people throwing stones at the carriages of some members of the Douglas Party as they tried to exit the city.

The decision to use the Riot Act created a lot of public controversy and, in the end,

Douglas himself condemned the Sheriff s judgment and Admiral Fleming agreed that the intervention of the military was uncalled for.136

In his book The Passing of the Great Reform Bill, J.R.M. Butler suggests that the general promotion of moderation and the distaste for violence during the Reform Era may be due to the higher level of education in general amongst working-class people.137 Fiona

A. Montgomery makes a similar claim:

It was evident in the way the Glasgow working classes eschewed revolutionary slogans: they wanted to be like the middle classes. Hence intimidation did not form part of their view of agitation: reasonableness was forever stressed.138

As will be seen, when the working-class spoke of arming in the fight for Reform, it was to defend the King and his Reform-oriented Ministers. Moderation marked the Reform movement in Scotland and, for the most part, radicals had a certain degree of

136 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 21, 1831, 35. J.M. Butler, The Passing of the Great Reform Bill (London: Longmans, 1914), 223. 138 Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 140. 65 sophistication, maturity and political judgment since they realized that working within the system accomplished more than hostility.139 The level of respectability in Reform rallies was observed by George Rude in his book The Crowd in History. Rude's monograph is outdated but it is the foundational text for rational crowd studies. In the book, Rude evaluates the classifications of crowds in history to examine the causes and effects of each Revolution. Using this frame of reference Rude sought to dismantle the myth that the crowd in the revolution was an evil mass of people bent on the destruction of the social order. Instead, Rude argues that "those who took to the streets were ordinary, sober citizens, not half-crazed animals, not criminals." According to Rude, the French

Revolution proved that people were suddenly becoming important historical actors in their own context.140 Similarly, as The Loyal Reformers' Gazette demonstrates, the people who took to the streets for Reform rallies in Glasgow were ordinary workers who were generally not prone to violence.

One major contributing factor to the respectability of the Scottish working-class during the Reform Movement was the fact that Scottish Reformers were able to form a tight group that worked together towards their shared political goal of Reform. A great example of this is that from December 1830 to June 1832, the residents of Glasgow held seventeen organized meetings in order to petition the King and both Houses for

Reform.141 The ability to work together was imperative in order for workers to collectively achieve any sort of parliamentary change. As the English paper the Poor

Man's Advocate argued, part of the reason that the workers of Glasgow had been capable

139 Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 144-146. Andrew Charlesworth, "George Rude and the Anatomy of the Crowd," Labour History Review 55 (3), 28. 141 Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 131. 66 of combating injustice is because the operatives of Glasgow were able to unite better than any other area of Britain. This perhaps represents a stronger sense of class-consciousness amongst workers in Scotland than in England, with help from the contribution of unstamped newspapers like The Loyal Reformers' Gazette.142 Tait's Edinburgh

Magazine, another paper which closely reflected a sense of class-consciousness among the Scottish workers, saw the Scots as particularly radical in their demands when it intoned that "Scotch operatives as we happen to have known, have always possessed too much spirit and independence to suffer them to submit to the injustice which we know to exist here." According to the same article, Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock were all willing to cooperate with each other for Reform, which made communication extremely fast. Even in the little towns, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine revealed that there were runners in each waiting for the arrival of mail to send news to the others. The article does not shy away from using rhetoric and exaggeration, predicting that within nine or ten hours,

30,000 men in Glasgow could be ready and willing to be called to fight.143 Like the

Gazette, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine used this type of military rhetoric in order to strengthen its argument that Scottish workers were a united group willing to battle for their rights if they were denied.

Mass engagement within the political system is something that was seen as very important in order for the working classes to obtain rights equal to those who were born with property and intelligence. As Graeme Morton and R.J. Morris point out, the balance of violence and moral force was a part of the dynamics of Scottish radical and working- class politics in this period. Reform-era radicals represented the early steps towards

Poor Man's Advocate, 170. Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 20 (Edinburgh: W. Tait, 1832), 78. 67 creating an "assertive, self-respecting and disciplined radical culture . . . they saw organization and the discipline of the mass meeting as more effective than the riot or secret lodge meeting and anonymous threats."144 Of course, the peaceful intentions of most Reformers did not mean that their political rivals were not able to disrupt their plans.

In a move that greatly angered The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the Magistrates of

Edinburgh refused to sanction a Masonic Procession to lay the foundation stone of the

Robert Burns Monument:

The present Magistrates of Edinburgh are surely poor, frail, decrepit bodies! It is difficult for us to say whether they most excite our pity, or our contempt. If what is stated in the above paragraph be true, we say that they are a disgrace to the Metropolis of Scotland; and the sooner the Reform Bill buries them in oblivion the better.145

Regardless of a few setbacks, most Scottish reformers were able to meet and protest whenever they desired, so long as they abided by the laws. A scene reported by The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette reveals the dedication of 30,000 protestors who braved the down pouring of a ceaseless rain to join the protest on the Glasgow Green. In another example, a Lanark County Meeting on May 21, 1831 - called a "great and important meeting" by the Gazette - witnessed an estimated 10,000 people who showed up to mark their support for Reform. According to the report, the Duke of Hamilton took the Chair amidst the loudest cheering from everybody present, announcing to the crowd that "they were met constitutionally to ask what constitutionally belonged to them."146 The resolutions to be submitted to them, he was sure "would receive their unanimous sanction, as they all breathed the spirit of liberty and independence, now so prevalent throughout Scotland."

The Duke of Hamilton went on to praise what he saw as to "the system of demonstration

144 Morton and Morris, "Civil Society, Governance and Nation: Scotland, 1832 1914", 368. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 10, 1831, 329. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 21, 1831, 44. 68 of opinion, which had been given in Scotland."147

In another article published the following week, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette reported that there was some disagreement amongst the trades concerning when the

Reform Procession should take place but the paper urged the Tradesmen to continue practicing patience because then:

They will have the satisfaction of reflecting, that they acted like men - like Scotchmen - who, knowing their rights and determined to have them, could yet calmly wait till the legal, though tedious formalities of Parliament, had been fairly overcome.

Once arrangements were completed for the Reform Procession, The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette made the suggestion that in order to fully ensure there were no disturbances that the trades appoint a number of Wardens or Guardians of the Procession, to keep off the crowds. The paper stated that the last big procession in Glasgow had been plagued by confusion, something it wanted to avoid this time. The Gazette felt that its readership did not need to be insulted by being told to keep peaceful; therefore, the paper stated that a

"word to the wise" was all that was necessary.149 While some other newspapers were advising citizens not to take part in the Reform Procession, the Gazette encouraged its readers not to withdraw, stating "Now is your time or never. Therefore, be firm, peaceable, and orderly- but above all, be United!"150

In Edinburgh, upwards of 15,000 people joined the Reform procession after the passing of the 1832 Reform Act, joined by even larger crowds of people who came as spectators to cheer and wave flags.151 However, the biggest expression of peaceful

147 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 21, 1831, 44. 148 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 28, 1831, 70. 149 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 23. 150 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 23. 151 Morton and Morris, "Civil Society, Governance and Nation: Scotland," 390 69 popular action in Scotland was the Grand Reform Jubilee, held on the Green of Glasgow.

On May 7, 1832, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette the sheer number of Reformers encouraged the paper to state that "If anybody - no matter who he is, shall say now, that the People of Scotland are "indifferent" to the cause of Reform, he is a liar."152 In earlier days, the Gazette argued that the protestors would have been butchered for their actions.

However, due to the sheer mass of Reformers who perceived the King as their "Tower of

Strength", the Gazette felt as though the Anti-Reformers dared not to disrupt the march.

Instead, each opponent of Reform was forced to "draw in his horns like a snail" and admit the validity of the Reformers' arguments.153 During the Grand Reform Jubilee, which saw the main street windows decorated with flowers, boughs and flags, The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette reported that one hundred and twenty thousand men turned up at the Glasgow

Green with Sir Daniel K. Sandford and James Oswald at their head.154 According to the article, a large procession like that would produce more effect in the House of Lords than hundreds of dry petitions:

Thursday was truly a proud day for Glasgow, and has again put to silence and shame the mean, narrow-minded, selfish croakers, about the danger of allowing large bodies of men to congregate together for a peaceful and patriotic purpose ... the more quiet and orderly such a demonstration of moral and physical power assumes, just so much the more decided should be the conviction of even the most perverse opponents of Reform, of the folly" of continuing to without the franchise. Upwards of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand people took part during the day.155

According to The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, the Grand Reform Jubilee lasted well into the night, kept going by enthusiastic crowds anticipating great changes. There was a

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 23. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831,310. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 14, 1831, 392. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 14, 1831, 299. 70

"splendid" display of fireworks at night on the Green and the Gazette was thrilled to report "We believe there would not be less than 80,000 or 90,000 people in the Green at night, and we have not heard of a single accident, or so much as the picking of a pocket."156 The Gazette was not opposed to taking credit for its role in establishing

Reform and acting of the voice of the Scottish people and it seems as though the Grand

Reform Jubilee gave the paper a chance to see first-hand the impact that its writing was having. The paper stated that it had gotten great pleasure from the cheering and enthusiastic reception that the public had given them. It reported that "thousands after thousands, in passing our Loyal Gazette windows, took off their hats, and waved them at us."157 The Grand Reform Jubilee offered the Gazette a chance to physically see the impact that its paper had on the lives of everyday Scottish workers - workers who did not have their interests debated in the mainstream press and were in need of an unstamped paper to express their collective conscious.

While The Loyal Reformers' Gazette used the promotion of respectable protest in order to cultivate a working-class consciousness, it also portrayed Reform-oriented state figureheads as men to be respected and trusted for the same purpose. The paper frequently used state representatives as examples of how a working-class man should go about conducting themselves and participating in civil society. For men of property and intellect, working-class support for a either the Whigs or the Tories was important. This effort of the Gazette to campaign for state representatives was an effort to get workers to start becoming aware of their political position. The paper was helping to lay down the foundations of civil society by teaching the working-classes to behave and by

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 10, 1831, 297. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 10, 1831, 297. 71 discouraging methods of social disturbance. When a working man offered his support for a representative of the state it meant that they were willing to participate in civil society and abide the law. The men who drafted the formal language of Scottish Reform understood that protecting property was foremost on the minds of those who would cast their vote for or against Reform. Therefore, it was left up to Reformist politicians to convince their political peers that public sentiment concerning voting rights was slipping out of their control. Examples of Reform-oriented politicians are illuminated in the

Gazette, including Scottish politicians like Joseph Hume, Sir George Warrender, Lord

Henry Cockburn, and Lord Francis Jeffrey, and English state representatives such as Earl

Grey, and King William IV. These state figureheads were included by the paper to try and make clear to workers the link between the workers and the governing elites - something the other newspapers at the time were not doing.

Social elites were brought into the radical cause by the work of newspapers like

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette in an effort to bring together the working class and the politicians who could bring about Reform. Perhaps the most glaring example of a state official who was supported by the Gazette is Joseph Hume, the Scottish doctor and politician. Born near Montrose, Forfarshire, Joseph Hume grew up - according to the

Gazette's memoir of him - "not of parents high in point of rank or worldly grandeur, but of parents moving in the middle, or, perhaps, humbler ranks of life, yet yielding to none

1 CO in all the land for virtuous reputation." After working as a surgeon for the East India

Company, Hume returned to Britain independently wealthy and, in 1812, he decided to run as a Tory candidate for the Border constituency. Though starting out with the Tory

Party, Hume eventually developed radical viewpoints - he campaigned for universal

158 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 14, 1831, 296. 72

suffrage and religious freedom - and by 1818, he had turned his allegiance over to the

Whigs. Forced to switch to the Middlesex constituency in south-eastern England, Hume became one of the primary advocates for the extension of the franchise. For example, during a parliamentary session in July 1831, Hume presented a petition to abolish the

Stamp Tax and he appealed for the acceleration of Reform progress. It is clear that throughout his political career, Joseph Hume worked hard on his image of being accessible to working-class people and his effort to maintain his credibility amongst both the Radical movement and the Whigs made him an excellent symbol of the Gazette.159

The allegiance that the paper had towards Joseph Hume is evident in the title page of the first volume that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette published. The newspaper used the title page to dedicate the edition to Hume, stating that he had "proven himself to be, without exception, one of the most faithful, intrepid, and independent representatives of the people that ever sat in the Commons House of Parliament." The Gazette encouraged its readers to look up to Hume as a role model for the modern Scottish man, arguing that those who would prefer "industry, integrity, and candour" would do well to pattern themselves after "honest Joseph Hume." In its May 28, 1831, issue the Gazette printed a letter to the editor from Mr. Hume, who wanted to extend his support to the paper for selling copies of the Reform Bill so that the average person was able to see for themselves the legislation was that was being debated. In the letter, Hume encouraged the Gazette to continue selling duplicates of the Bill so that anyone who desired to could see its contents. Hume pointed out that there were Magistrates who were grumbling that the

Gazette should not be able to reproduce copies of the Reform Bill but he assured that

159 Ronald K. Huch and Paul R. Ziegler, Joseph Hume: the People's M.P (Darby: Diane Publishing, 1985), 72-74. 73 paper that, in his opinion, there was no reason why the Magistrates should object to the

Bill being posted and that, at any rate, there was no local Act of Parliament that the

Magistrates could invoke to interfere or prevent it. Hume also praised the Gazette for its efforts in circulating the names of Freeholders who were known to be Anti-Reformers. It was Hume's desire, that that every County in Scotland where an election was to take place would be able to access the list of Anti's because that would be of considerable importance in their decision about who to cast their vote for. In response to his editorial letter, the Gazette offered its appreciation to Mr. Hume for the "repeated acts of kindness he has shown to us, and for the exertions he has made in our behalf"160

As a gesture of its gratitude to Joseph Hume, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette informed its audience that it was making arrangements to present them with a portrait of a distinguished-looking Hume - a gesture frequently employed by the paper, as will be also seen with the portraits it commissioned for Francis Jeffrey and Earl Grey. The Gazette was also happy to announce that it looked as though the students of Glasgow University would pay Hume the "illustrious compliment" of electing him their Lord Rector, making him the first Member in the present House of Commons connected with a University on

"popular principles". Addressing the students of Glasgow, the paper assured them that electing Hume would be the right choice for the school since Hume would look after their rights and privileges just as he always had done for the Gazette and for his constituents.161

As it would turn out, Hume did not secure the number of necessary votes and the students of Glasgow University re-elected Henry Cockburn, the Solicitor-General, as their Lord

Rector, by a majority of 33 votes. The paper admitted surprise that the students had not

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, May 10, 1832, 53. 74 voted for Hume but the paper was nevertheless pleased that at least Cockburn had received the position, as opposed to the Tory candidate who had received the least amount of votes.162

Like Joseph Hume, Sir George Warrender was a consistent reformer and advocate for Scotland in Parliament, something that earned him frequent praise from The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette. Sir George Warrender was the son of an eminent merchant in

Edinburgh and grew up to attend both Oxford and Cambridge. Sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in 1822, Warrender went on to serve as a member for Westerbury in the

Parliament of 1826-30.163 In the election prior to 1832, Warrender had supported Charles

Dundas over John Maxwell, which had lost him much esteem in the eyes of the Gazette.

Sir John Maxwell was a landowner and politician who was known as a radically inclined

Whig. Although he was defeated by Dundas, Maxwell benefited from the General

Election and he ended up representing Lanarkshire as MP from 1832 until his retirement from politics in 1837. Maxwell was known as a long-time reformer and supporter of constitutional change, though he was also known to criticize the confrontational attitudes of extreme radicals. He supported greater regulation of the manufacturing industry and a higher living standard for workers but he was not at all interested in blaming the upper classes for the problems that existed since he himself was a member of the landed class.164 The paper was particularly critical of Maxwell's opponent Dundas since he referred to himself as a moderate Reformer. According to the paper, Dundas had always just been an anti-Reformer who appropriated the term Reformer so as not to seem

162 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 28, 1831, 72. 163 The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 185, 1849, 539. 164 Irene Maver, "Maxwell, Sir John, of Pollok, eighth baronet (1791-1865)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/view/article/75306, accessed 11 Dec 2010] 75 completely out of touch with the workers. The paper viewed the idea of "moderate

Reform" as being empty and delusive. It argued that moderate Reformers were simply unclear as to exactly how much Reform they supported, which would just cause more endless political debating. While Warrender had voted for Dundas in the past, the Gazette was confident that he would give his support to John Maxell in the 1832 election, in which case the paper would happily welcome him back as a Reformer.165 The Gazette was later thrilled to announce that as a Member of Parliament for Honiton, Warrender did not hesitate when given the chance to speak on behalf of his country. On May 7, 1831,

Warrender addressed Scotland's situation in the House of Commons:

Why not transfer one seat to Glasgow? - but this will be rendered impossible if the instruction of the Member for Liverpool to the Committee be adopted by the House. I call, therefore, on my Honourable Friend the Member for Lanarkshire, I call on the Member for Edinburgh, and every representative of Scotland in this House, to resist a proposition which distinctly and entirely destroys all chance of any addition to the Members from that country.166

George Warrender went on to urge his fellow Scottish representatives "Let us redeem the mistake committed, or perhaps I should say, let us improve the conditions forced on our ancestors at the time of the Union, which our country was feeble and powerless."167

While the Gazette offered their support to Warrender, it also expected him to live up the paper's expectations regarding how he behaved as a radical public figure. For example, the Gazette hoped that Warrender would prove his sincerity and patriotism by attending the Lanark elections and casting his vote for the Reformer Mr. John Maxwell. With

Warrender's public presence at the election, the paper anticipated that many others would follow his lead and vote for Maxwell. Despite the support given to Warrender, he was not

165 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, February 20, 1832, 101. 166 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 17. 167 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 18. 76 championed nearly as often as high-profile political figures - and framers of Scottish legislation - like Lord Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn.168

Lord Francis Jeffrey drew frequent praise from The Loyal Reformers Gazette for his help implementing parliamentary Reform. Born in Edinburgh, to a clerk in the Court of Session, Francis Jeffrey attended the Royal High School, the University of Glasgow, and Queen's College, Oxford. Francis Jeffrey had always identified himself as a

Reformer, and was middle-class rather than aristocratic. For example, in 1792, Jeffrey was one of the main founders of The Friends of the People, a political association established to try and unite the forces of various patriotic political associations around

Scotland. Despite the fact that Jeffrey was an ardent Reformer, in his day to day life he had little in common with the toiling masses of people that he was trying to enfranchise.

According to Fiona Montgomery, Jeffrey held himself aloof from his own Whig Party and "Radicals were inclined to think him somewhat cold and even condescending."169

Men like Jeffrey were men of wealth, property and prestige who lived lives of luxury, physically removed from the problems facing the slums.170

In his role as legal advisor to the crown, Francis Jeffrey only received a small patronage and he was obligated to obtain a seat in Parliament, which cost Jeffery £10,000 of his own money. If this was not proof enough of Jeffrey's devotion to politics and the cause of Parliamentary and Burgh Reform, his efforts led him to spend so much time in

London that he effectively had to give up his law practice. Despite the personal and professional sacrifices he endured, Jeffrey never wavered from his Reformist stance

Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 156. Montgomery, "The Unstamped Press", 164. 77 because he found the cause so worthwhile.171 In 1830, Jeffrey was chosen by Earl Grey to steer the Scottish Reform Bills through parliament. Later that year, Jeffrey appointed a

"committee of four", comprised of Russell, Lord Durham, Viscount Duncannon and Sir

James Graham to act as the voice of the "Scottish" people in the Reform matter. In a letter to his friend and colleague Henry Cockburn, Jeffrey wrote "I come into public life in stormy weather, and under no very enviable auspices, except that our cause, and our meaning, are good."172 No matter the parliamentary challenges against passing of Scottish

Reform, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette expressed faith that Jeffrey would remain loyal to the cause of Reform, stating "We hope therefore that no man will suppose for a moment that the Lord Advocate will betray, or desert us." According to the Gazette, it believed that Jeffrey would rather die than degrade himself in front of his countryman.173

In an article entitled "Memoir of the Lord Advocate", The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette reiterated its steadfast belief in Francis Jeffrey's honourable intentions, asking its audience: "did we not know, that the trappings of office had no charms for Francis

Jeffrey, and that he only accepted the office at the call of his country, when he thought he could render additional benefits to her?"174 Previously the editor of the popular journal the Edinburgh Review, Francis Jeffrey was recognized as a great Scot by the Gazette for many reasons, one of which being that he was a powerful speaker in Scotch along with having mastered the art of writing in English. The Gazette reprinted the words of Sir

'71 Michael Fry, "Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept. 2004; online edition, May 2006.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14698, accessed 3 Aug 2010.] 172 Lord Francis Jeffrey and Lord Henry Cockburn, Life of Lord Jeffrey: with a selection from his correspondence (Edinburgh: J.B. Lippincott, 1857), 313. 173 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 30. 174 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, April 28, 1832, 30. 175 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 13. 78

James Gibson Craig, who said of Jeffrey: "No Minister has more entirely deserved the gratitude and admiration of his countrymen - and no man has exerted himself in his

1 lf\ public life as strenuously as he has done." The reason that the Gazette celebrated

Jeffrey so much was because not only did he support Reform but he did so within the structures of civil society and for the sake of the Scottish nation.

Despite the backing he received from The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, there was a troubling lack of support for Francis Jeffrey amongst the general Scottish populace.

While he had the support of the Scotsman in his attempt to challenge the Tories in their stronghold of Edinburgh, Jeffrey was nevertheless defeated by Charles Dundas, who was backed by his powerful Tory family. Even when more than 17,000 citizens petitioned the town council in his favour, Jeffrey was rejected by 17 votes to 14, and was forced to take his seat in the Perth burghs.177 Concerning the lack of support for Francis Jeffrey in

Edinburgh, the Gazette expressed troubling dismay, stating: We could understand why a manufacturing town should lightly esteem such a man; we could understand how a Tory borough should pass him by; but it is wholly beyond our comprehension how the classical metropolis of the North should hesitate for a moment whether it should give fitting honours to the first wit, orator, and gentleman of Scotland.178

Throughout the Reform process Francis Jeffrey was attacked endlessly by his political rivals, but The Loyal Reformers' Gazette always remained resolute in its belief that

Jeffrey was a true supporter of its newspaper's aims. The Gazette called Jeffrey an,

"eloquent and distinguished Advocate of Civil and Religious Liberty," and stated that he

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 13. Fry, "Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 20. 79 had never wavered in his support for the freedom of the press.179 As a demonstration of its support for Francis Jeffrey, the Gazette commissioned a portrait of the Lord Advocate.

Engraved by John Scott of Glasgow, a regal looking Jeffrey holds a copy of the Scottish

Reform Bill across his chest, showing the reason he received such consistent support from the Gazette.

Along with Francis Jeffrey, another wealthy aristocrat who played a major role in orchestrating Reform - earning him much praise in the pages of The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette - was the English Reformer, Earl Grey. Following the death of King George IV on June 26, 1830, Parliament dissolved and Reform became a major political issue in the subsequent general election. The Tories won a majority in that election, however, the support for the Tory Prime Minister Wellington was weak and he was soon forced to resign following a failed vote of confidence. Replacing Wellington was Earl Grey, whose first announcement as Prime Minister was to restate his pledge to follow through on the reformation of Parliament.180 The Gazette made sure to point out that it believed that Earl

Grey was doing everything he could to support the Bill. On May 5, 1832, the paper further expressed their endorsement of Grey by commissioning a portrait in his honour titled, "Lord Earl Grey: Father of Reform." The Gazette wanted to make sure that the public did not blame Grey for the struggles that faced the Reform process stating "The

People will easily perceive where the blame now rests . .. Lord Grey's course has been most judicious." On Saturday, December 17, 1831, the Gazette praised Grey for not accepting changes to the Reform Bill:

Nobly has the venerable Earl Grey, and the rest of his Majesty's able

179 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 29, 1831, 415. 180 Lord Earl Grey, Hansard debates, 3rd series, Volume 1, p. 52, 15 November 1830. 181 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, April 28, 1832, 337. 80

Ministers, redeemed his and their pledge to the Country in regard to the Bill. Lord John Russell brought forward the Bill again, not altered or frittered down but perhaps even improved.

Earl Grey's support for Reform gave the Scottish workers hope and confidence that they were not alone in their struggle. Their hopes were now bound with the constitutionally

appointed executive. In its ode to the Lord, "The Guid Earl Grey, Air - Hurrah for the

Bonnets o' Blue", The Loyal Reformers' Gazette manages to praise its own role as the

Press, while also supporting the Union and Grey:

Success to the Pen an' the Press Wide scope to our sentiments free, That "Union is Strength," we hae' proven at length, Now join'd as a Nation should be.183

Earl Grey is the muse that inspired the poem but the paper's dedication to him, the representative of the British state, is dependent on Grey's support for the "Blue", a clear colourful symbolic reference to Scotland. Along with championing an English politician like Grey, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette also made it clear that it supported the Monarch

- so long as the King supported Reform and Scotland's growth as a nation.

In the summer of 1830, William IV inherited the throne at the age of 67. Along with his help in passing parliamentary Reform, the unassuming monarch was known as a reformer in general for the changes he helped to implement concerning the poor law, child labour and slavery.184 For all of these reasons, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was a firm supporter of William IV. Perhaps the most obvious evidence of the Gazette's loyalty towards the monarch is the cover page of each weekly edition, which featured an image of the King's crown illuminated by the sun. Underneath the crown sits a majestic looking

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, April 28, 1832, 337. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 5, 1832, 376. Allen W. Gore, King William IV (London: Cresset Press, 1960), 150-154. 81 eagle, holding in its beak a banner that reads "The King and the People". As is evident in its very name, the paper supported Scotland's union with England and remained steadfast in its loyalty to the King, as long as the Monarch remained loyal to the nation of Scotland.

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that loyalty to the king did not necessarily always mean loyalty to the Union: it was constitutional loyalty. In its premiere issue on

May 7, 1831, the Gazette expressed its support for the King, stating:

We are Radicals to the back-bone: - We are young recruits who have enlisted into one of the finest Regiments now in Europe. It is called the Royal Regiment of British Reformer, commanded by our Patriotic Monarch, William the Fourth.185

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette goes on to claim that the Radicals number in the millions and that "There never was such a fine - vigorous - body of men in the world." The paper calls the King noble, praising him for his support of the People and his willingness to continue waging war against the Boroughmongers until they restored the rights and privileges that the Gazette argued had been usurped from the working people. A poem by the Gazette entitled "The Rhymes of a Reformer" calls King William IV "the Chief of the Great Reform!" and urges Reformers to:

Stand and surround the King! Through peril at home and abroad! Close to the patriot Monarch cling Who will not be led or awed 1 87

To do or to suffer wrong!

While the battle of the unstamped press and the workers was against corrupt politicians and factory owners, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette made sure to be clear that it perceived the King as an ally due to the fact that he had the ability to circumvent the aristocracy and

185 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 7, 1831, 239. ,86 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, May 28, 1831, 61. 187 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, March 24, 1832, 273. 82 the Lords in favour of the people.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette used the injunctions against it by the Stamp Office as an opportunity to flaunt its loyalty to the King. In the eyes of the paper, the only thing it was guilty of was breaking an unfair and unconstitutional law. Therefore, a large part of the Gazette's strategy was to constantly reiterate its loyalty to King and to the Union so that it would be hard to persecute the paper for sedition. The paper proclaimed that if it was victorious against the Stamp Office:

We intend, please God, to illuminate our Loyal Gazette windows next Thursday evening, to testify the spirit that is within us, and our unbounded loyalty and devotion to His Majesty's Person and Government.188

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette closed its issue of June 4, 1831, with the words of Sir

Francis Burdett, an early advocate for parliamentary Reform. The Gazette wholeheartedly supported the loyalty to the monarchy that Burdett expressed, stating that it owed every allegiance to William, who it respected and admired for his efforts in helping to pass

Reform.189 King William IV was seen as a champion of the people. He was someone who did a great job of fashioning himself as a sympathetic leader out to ensure that his subjects were treated fairly. For this reason, the Gazette praised the King, claiming "In the annals of Great Britain, there was never a King who spoke in more affectionate terms of his subjects than William the Fourth."190

Despite the fact that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette championed William, it is important to keep in mind that the paper's support for the King was not guaranteed - it depended on the Monarch's continued commitment to Reform. This is plainly evident on

188 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, September 10, 1831, 283. 189 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, June 4, 1831, 73. 190 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 29, 1831, 418. 83

May 12, 1832, when the Gazette regretfully announced that the government had been defeated in the House of Lords on the most important clause of the Reform Bill. Making matters worse for Reformers, the King had accepted the resignations of his ministers. The

Gazette had already finished most of the content in its May 12th edition before it received news that the King had accepted the resignations of the MPs. The paper explained that it would have altered the "tone and complexion" of the articles in that particular issue but that it was impossible at that stage of publication. In an effort to make a quick but hugely

symbolic change that would show its utter displeasure with the King's decision, the

Gazette changed the cover of its newspaper. Normally, the cover featured a shining crown

adorned with jewels and a majestic eagle in flight, carrying a banner reading "The King

and the People." However, on the cover of the May 12th publication, a thick, straight and white line cut through the crown, and the word "King" had been covered up so that the banner being flown by the eagle simply read "The People". The removal of any stated

allegiance to the monarch is a subtle attack against William but it is effective imagery proving that the monarch's support from the Gazette hinged solely on his support for

Reform. The treatment of the monarch in the pages of the Gazette reveals that Scottish radicals demanded equality with England within the Union of 1707. The paper wanted to

strengthen Scotland's place within the Union by showing its support for state representatives and the King, so long as the role of the state was seen as helping to empower Scotland.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette reveals that many of the debates leading up to the passing of the Scottish Reform Act 1832 revolved around the constitution and Scotland's place within the United Kingdom. This is not particularly surprising since both sponsors and opponents of Reform claimed to represent the voice of "the nation" in what Gordon 84

Pentland has called a complex confrontation that hinged largely around debates about the constitution.191 Pentland argues that Scotland was in a peculiar constitutional situation in which the country shared a parliament with England but had distinct set of national institutions - church, education, and law among others - and for the most part administered its own affairs.192 The perceived lack of prestige for Scotland within the

United Kingdom, Pentland points out, was the reason that Scottish MPs remained some of the most ardent opponents of Reform, especially considering the fact that they felt that

Scottish MPs would have the least to gain from parliamentary Reform. However, those who did support Reform were not afraid to venture into hyperbole when commenting on its importance. For instance, when Henry Cockburn made an assessment of what Reform might bring, he stated "It is impossible to exaggerate the ecstasy of Scotland, where to be sure it is like liberty given to slaves: we are to be brought out of the house of bondage, out of the land of Egypt."194 Cockburn's Biblical allusion was meant to represent just how important Reform was to Scotland. Gordon Pentland demonstrates that even though there was not simply a binary opposition between "Reformers" and "Anti-Reformers", many activists on both sides of the argument nevertheless tried to paint Reform debates as clear- cut battles between those who spoke for the Scottish nation and those who did not.195 As an example, after Reform received Royal Assent, the Gazette made a point of flaunting its patriotism:

Henceforth, a career of prosperity - improvement - and glory awaits our country; for it is rich in genius, virtue, and industry, and in all those gifts of the soul and the understanding, which, fostered by Liberty, will

191 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 100.

193 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 110. 194 Devine, The Scottish Nation, 273. 195 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 111. 85

assuredly lead to National Greatness.196

One of the main reasons that The Loyal Reformers' Gazette was so passionate in its support for Reform was because MacKenzie believed that renewed and revised parliamentary partnership with England would reap benefits for the Scottish population.

The use of the term "national greatness" in the above quote shows that improvement for

Scotland was one of the defining goals of the paper and the Gazette certainly made strategic use of the rhetoric of loyalty to try and make it seem as though it was "more loyal" than its opponents in the both the press and the state.

At the same time that the Reform debates in Scotland were taking place, the

Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1711 - which gave the nobles of Scotland control over the parish church elections - was a subject of immense discussion in the pages of The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette. In fact, the two issues were often tied together since many argued that the misuse of patronage in the Church of Scotland was a challenge to

Scotland's place in the Union. It was the Gazette's opinion that patronage was to blame for the inequality that it observed in the distribution of Church funds. According to the paper, too much money was being taken up by members of the aristocracy and there was not enough being devoted for the encouragement of piety. In other words, the Gazette was linking the perceived corruptions within the government to the abuses it saw in the leadership of the Established Church. In his book The Courts, the Church and the

Constitution: Aspects of the Disruption of 1843, Alan Rodgers calls the Patronage Crisis the most important constitutional dispute to have confronted the Scottish courts since the

Union. Therefore, it is of little wonder that the Gazette would have been immensely interested in the dispute when the issue of Reform was constantly bringing up the

196 The Loyal Reformers Gazette, Volume I, October 29, 1831, 414. 86

1 Q7

question of the constitution.

The debates linking the issue of patronage with a sense of patriotism are apparent in The Loyal Reformers' Gazette and provide early evidence of the ensuing ten year

conflict that would lead to the Disruption, 1833-1843. In order to understand how the patronage issue came about, it is necessary to go back to the Union itself. In 1707, the role of the Presbyterian Church as the established Church of Scotland was a large part of the discussion in Scotland concerning the Union of England and Scotland. Due to the

dramatically different levels of parliamentary representation in England and Scotland,

Westminster could theoretically impose unacceptable policies on Scotland. This quickly became more of a theoretical possibility when the High Church Tories passed the

Patronage Act of 1712, a hugely unpopular decision in Scotland which created long-term resentment between the Scottish church and the state, since it was argued the Act of

Union should have made the Church of Scotland unalterable.198 Throughout the

eighteenth-century the Church of Scotland was dominated by Ministers who were

appointed by means of patronage. Eventually, these Ministers became known as

Moderates when the more fervent Evangelicals began to challenge the direction of the

Church. By the time of the Reform debates, opponents of church patronage - like The

Loyal Reformers' Gazette - saw the Reform issue as their chance to finally have their

displeasures voiced about the abuses of the Church. The Gazette wanted the elimination

of Church privileges and penalties because the paper was upset that members of its working-class audience were being forced to accept unsatisfactory Ministers from

Alan Rodger, 77*e Courts, the Church and the Constitution: Aspects of the Disruption of 1843, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), 4. Rodger, The Courts, the Church and the Constitution, 5. 87 patrons.199 For example, in a letter to the editor of the Gazette concerning the Glasgow

Clerical Petition, one reader writes "Sir, -1 have read this. How strangely some men read their Bibles! And how absurdly these Glasgow Ministers and Elders talk!" The reader goes onto to argue that the fight against the "anti-Christ" is the responsibility of all of the churches. He then scolds the oligarchy of church interests, remarking "These, Mr. Editor, are truths which the Pastors and Elders of the Glasgow Petition against poor Maynooth

College overlook."200 In another letter to the editor called "The awful delinquency and

Avarice of the Clergy" published by the Gazette on September 29, 1832, the reader criticizes the Reverend Doctor of the Tron Church for being absent from his congregation for almost four months. The reader complains that the church was sometimes open, sometimes shut and that their Reverend was expected back soon but only for the purpose of collecting his salary.201

As The Loyal Reformers' Gazette shows, the Patronage Crisis represented a larger discussion on the Constitution since religion and the aristocracy - with its power of privilege - was at the heart of this debate. It was an important issue because the Scottish

Church claimed to represent the Scottish nation and there was tremendous sensitivity over interference from London over Church matters. Since Reform and the constitution were already being discussed, the Gazette figured that the time was right to look at changing the role of the Church of Scotland:

The present period, when political corruption is tottering to its base, seems to be peculiarly adapted for the removal of Church Patronage, - one of the heaviest calamities with which the ecclesiastical establishment of Scotland has been visited. The law which restored

Rodger, The Courts, the Church and the Constitution, 1. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, January 21, 1832, 117. The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, September 29, 1832, 220. 88

patronage in 1712, violated a fundamental principle of the law and constitution of the Church, as established at the Revolution of 1688, and confirmed at the Union, in 1707.202

The Church of Scotland had gotten away from using the ministerial office as a scriptural and rational mode of checking clerical tyranny, the way it was originally intended.

Instead, the appointment of an elder was considered a matter of personal favour from the minister. As the Gazette argued "Patronages, whether they regard ministers or lay elders, are relics of arbitrary power."203 The Gazette tried to show that the issue of church patronage was closely connected with working-class consciousness since the gulf between the average parishioner and the elders represented a similar relationship between the workers and the governing elite. Therefore, the paper's frequent focus on the subject shows they were trying to link the issue of patronage to the theme of class formation at the time.

Along with patronage issue, the sporadic inclusion of William Wallace throughout the pages of The Loyal Reformers' Gazette provides further evidence that the paper was always careful to link Reform changes with a sense of national pride. The choice of

Wallace to promote its patriotism was an obvious, yet very effective way for the paper to promote its patriotism. As Graeme Morton argues in William Wallace: Man and Myth, if national myth is the core of our culture - telling us where we are from and how we got there - William Wallace is a prime example of a myth which conjures up tremendous feelings of Scottish nationalism.204 Writing to the editor of the Gazette, one reader regretted that despite the Reform debates taking place, Wallace, "the ancient hero of our country," had not been publicly acknowledged by his countrymen with some kind of

202 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, January 28, 1832, 128. 203 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume II, February 11,1832, 171. 204 Graeme Morton, William Wallace: Man and Myth (London: The History Press, 2004), 1. 89 monument to recognize his patriotism. The reader goes on to point out that the discussions about Reform had brought up daily references to the merits of Wallace, and that it was the perfect time to try and secure funds for the purpose of raising a monument in appreciation for his loyalty. The Gazette expressed its wholehearted support for the reader's suggestion, and went on to offer its own gesture to William Wallace in the form of an ode that the paper dedicated to the Scottish folk hero:

Wallace! Thy very name my bosom fires To deeds of noblest virtue. This the charm Of Caledonia; to the coward soul Breathing the hero. O, that from these eternal heights, they shade Might to Britannia but once return And breathe into some breast thy mighty soul; Rousing the flame that shall not cease to burn, 'Till the last groan from Tyranny be wrung, 90S

And Freedom o'er the world her banner wave.

The use of William Wallace as a national symbol was part of an attempt by The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette to romanticize the idea of a rebel willing to violently lay down his life for the cause of a nation. The paper wanted to project the image of it as fighting for

Scottish rights in the same way that Wallace had - except that the paper was using the press as its weapon of choice. The Gazette was not alone in feeling a certain amount of patriotic affinity for Wallace during the Reform debates. For example, during the

Edinburgh Reform celebrations, the Caledonian Youth Society paraded around a model of the Scottish hero.206 It made good sense that the Gazette would use Wallace's image because not only was there was a good amount of military glamour associated with his image; he was the hero of the common man, the perfect symbol for average workers to

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, April 7, 1832, 309. Morton and Morris, "Civil Society, Governance and Nation: Scotland", 390. 90 identify with. William Wallace was depicted as an anti-aristocratic Scot who had found success on his own, without the aid of inherited privilege or noble birth. The appeal of

Wallace crossed class lines since for members of the Scottish middle class it was believed that he had saved the nation when it had been betrayed by the aristocracy. On the other hand, for the working classes, he symbolized the spirit of the common man in his fight for freedom against corruption and oppression.207

Championing a sense of nationalism and promoting Scotland's position in the

United Kingdom had always been important to Scottish intellectuals and the Reform debates offered The Loyal Reformers' Gazette the chance to bring up the discussion once again. Parliamentary Reform opened up a national conversation on Scotland's constitutional heritage. Reform offered Scotland an opportunity to revisit the number of

MPs sent to Westminster and end what was seen as a violation of the Union through unfair representation.208 Three days after the Scottish Reform Bill was introduced, Francis

Jeffrey made his first speech about the subject to Parliament. In his address, Jeffrey made it clear that he felt Scotland was being ignored since he had proposed to speak twice, but had not been able to. It was his opinion that the Scottish Reform Bill was an insignificant subject to most in the House and that he therefore needed to address Reform more generally.209 In their private correspondence, Francis Jeffrey wrote to Henry Cockburn concerning the difficulties that he had been encountering in championing Scotland's cause amongst his fellow peers. As he told Henry Cockburn "with a very few words of explanation, I was strictly enjoined to avoid going into any discussion, and indeed had a

Morton, William Wallace, 112. Morton, Unionist-Nationalism, 131-132. Jeffrey, Correspondence, 313. 91 written order to move for leave without saying a single word."210 Despite his difficulties,

Francis Jeffrey did have indirect access to the King and he was able to keep up a written

correspondence with William IV. A letter written to Henry Cockburn reveals that Jeffrey had the ear of the King through his connection with Lord Holland:

He tells me he also read to his Majesty the letter I wrote him about a new rebellion in Scotland, if the bills were not passed, and with very good effect! The King condescended to observe that there was a Scotticism in the letter, viz., the use of the word misgive for fail or miscarry, which I do not think a Scotticism; but who will dispute with a King? For all this we are not easy" he wrote in jest.21'

Scottish Reform leaders wanted to promote the idea that Reform was not only a struggle between the working classes and more leisured classes. Instead, parliamentary Reform was about increased prestige and importance for Scotland within the British Empire.

Therefore as the paper shows, there was a link between constitutional loyalty and national identity.

The Loyal Reformers' Gazette reported of a banner that had been printed and distributed for the Grand Reform Jubilee Procession in Glasgow that stated "Scotland is now, for the first time, in a situation which realises the aspirations of the best and most

enlightened of her sons, - SHE IS FREE!"212 The Reform processions were such a large public event that even people who were not interested in politics or Reform developments would have been swept up by the commotion and excitement. The City of Edinburgh deemed it prudent to wait until the Scottish legislation was finalized before having their

Reform Jubilee. When the city finally did celebrate, Scottish patriotism was on full display as a upwards of 15,000 Scotsmen took to the streets in a march, along with up to

210 Jeffrey, Correspondence, 320. Jeffrey, Correspondence, 327. 212 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 1, 1831, 348. 80,000 on the links.213 When the Scottish Reform Bill was finally enacted, The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette declared it the "Magna Charta of the People of Scotland" embracing the use of hyperbole and British symbolism.214 As Gordon Pentland, Whig Reformers predominantly represented themselves as a nationalist movement by using the language of "unionist-nationalism" and by pitting their own actions against a narrow faction of those who opposed them.215 The paper was well aware that the issue of the Union was one of utmost importance in any discussions of Reform and the pages of the Gazette demonstrate that, at its core, the paper was unionist-nationalist.

Like other Scottish Reformers, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette did not want a complete reconstruction of Parliament; rather, the paper argued for a strengthening of

Scotland's parliamentary system by supporting the Union and giving Scotland greater

9 1 f\ access to English liberties. Growing awareness of the material benefits of Union was paralleled by a developing consensus among the nation's intellectual leaders that progress and unionism were closely associated. However, this does not mean that Scottish feelings of national identity were not strong and powerful; it simply meant they were not adamantly anti-English. For example, Graeme Morton argues that many Scots felt that they had been "violated" by unfair representation since the Union of 1707, and that 1832 brought discussions on Scotland's constitutional heritage and political representation to the fore: "Parliamentary reform was to make union all that it should be; reform was to give Scotland access to the institutions and representativeness that had been missing in

Morton, Unionist-Nationalism, 193. 214 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette, Volume I, October 8, 1831, 360. 215 Pentland, "The Debate on Scottish Parliamentary Reform", 100. 216 Graeme Morton, "Scotland is Britain: The Union and Unionist-Nationalism, 1807-1907," Journal of Irish Scottish Studies I, 2 (March 2008), 131. 93

1707, or had been undermined since."217 The Loyal Reformers' Gazette - along with other members of the press at the time - helped to pass on its belief to the working-classes that future greatness for the nation lay in the fact that Reform would improve Scotland's place within the Union.

As the evidence presented in this chapter has hopefully revealed, The Loyal

Reformers' Gazette may have been confrontational in nature but it was also clear not to promote any sort of unnecessary violence. Instead, the paper wanted to hold up the constitution and to support and improve Scotland's place within the Union. Yet, as the

Gazette's treatment of the patronage issue shows, the Scottish identity and the nationalistic leanings of the paper were extremely strong driving forces propelling its support of Reform. As a result, the paper offers an excellent example of how even an unstamped newspaper had to work within loyalty to the King, unionist-nationalism and an adherence to the principles of participation in civil society. 94

CONCLUSION

Throughout its publication run, The Loyal Reformers' Gazette acted as one of the leading unstamped periodicals aimed at providing low-wage Glasgow workers with critical information concerning Scottish Reform. The pages of the Gazette reveal that

1832 signaled a time of major separation between the working class and their more well- to-do employers and landlords. While the Gazette faced opposition the entire time from the Stamp Office and certain members of the aristocracy, the paper continued to seek parliamentary Reform with a constant awareness of civility, respectability and constitutionalism. The Gazette's base in the constitution - coupled with a deep sense of patriotism - demonstrates a real political consciousness of a particularly Scottish nature amongst workers. With the help of some influential allies - such as Francis Jeffrey and

Earl Grey - a newspaper like the Gazette likely had a huge impact because it provided a wide array of workers with the same information. This focus gave the Gazette an element of respectability which strengthened the working-class movement as it continued to form in the coming decades, helping to forge class-consciousness in a way the stamped newspapers could not, and in a way other social relationships did not.

Chapter one has set out to demonstrate the context of The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette by providing an overview as to how working-class consciousness was forged and maintained due to the influence of the unstamped press in Glasgow. The Gazette emerged as a product of the society that it was a part of, articulating a number of social pressures that faced the working class, including high unemployment, low wages, overpopulation and disease. There was a clear divide between the elites and the working-class citizens of

Glasgow, which made a unified working-class identity possible. The argument that a working-class identity could be exemplified by a newspaper like the Gazette is supported 95 by a variety of theoretical literature. This extensive historiographical basis supports the idea that a working class can exist as a meaningful entity at a specific time and place. The literature also shows that a newspaper - especially an unstamped newspaper outside the confines of the government - can act as a voice of the average Scottish worker. The

Gazette was not alone in its role as a newspaper devoted to political concerns of a working class nature but it did stand out in that its sole focus was to support Reform and that, unlike many of its competitors, the paper did not have any advertisements.

Throughout his time as editor of the Gazette, Peter MacKenzie fashioned himself as a radical symbol of the free press. As his reporting on the legal problems of the paper has shown, the fact that the Stamp Office went after MacKenzie only offered him more opportunity to criticize the government and to imply that they were doing things against the interests of the working class.

In chapter two, I set out to make clear that The Loyal Reformers Gazette was interested in a variety of specific political demands. The paper was not just interested in some sort of abstract ideological battle; instead, MacKenzie had specific politicians that he championed. The Gazette made a point of publicizing the fact that it was printing the

Reform Bill so that its readers could see for themselves the actual legislation that was being discussed by the political elites at the time. The views of the Gazette on Reform are interesting to consider because the paper existed in both the pre-Reform debates and during the period immediately after Reform was passed. The paper frequently included debates by local Glaswegian politicians and a history of their political involvement in the hopes that readers would vote for politicians that the Gazette deemed suitable for the working class. The paper was particularly concerned with pointing out to its audience that there were politicians who were only supporting Reform because they knew that it would 96 get votes. MacKenzie's use of rhetorical strategies such as satire and poetry, coupled with his extremely vibrant and militaristic language, gave the paper a certain amount of sensationalism that had an appeal for working-class audiences looking for bold and articulate supporters in the press. The way in which the Gazette dealt with the issue of cholera, in particular, offers a good example of how the paper used its rhetorical strengths to discuss issues important to the working class and then connect them with the need for political changes. The paper spent enormous amounts of space on the issue of cholera, portraying the divide between elite society and the working class and urging its readers to see that the issue of cholera was one that was being used to distract them from the real political issue that was important: Reform.

Chapter three attempted to show that the overall effort of The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette was to have its audience members seek political change in a way that was confrontational, yet nonviolent. The Gazette wholeheartedly supported Scotland's place within the Union and, as such, it wanted working class people to try and obtain Reform without resorting to the mob mentality that had existed in previous reform movements.

While there were certainly incidents of violence reported by the paper, for the most part, the paper chose to focus on constitutionally held Reform meetings and gatherings. The paper realized that mass, yet orderly, demonstrations were of great importance for pushing through the issue of Reform. The Gazette's reporting of large-scale protests was part of its larger effort to teach the working class to agitate within the parameters of civil society. This accounts for the Gazette's continued support for specific politicians whom the paper portrayed as important partners for the working class to have in order to achieve legislative change. The paper focused on certain political elites who were thought to be using the structures of government and democracy in order to fight for causes important 97 to the working class. Along with supporting specific state representatives in the House of

Commons and the House of Lords, the Gazette also devoted a large amount of its attention to promoting loyalty towards the Monarchy and the constitution. Reform mattered so much to MacKenzie and his paper because it offered Scotland the opportunity to restructure parliament in a way that would benefit the nation. This overall concern with issues predominantly Scottish in nature is also evident in the Gazette's continued focus on the patronage issue, due to the link between elite corruption in the Church and political corruption in Parliament. Finally, this nationalism is also demonstrated throughout the paper in a number of other ways including its devotion to national figures like William

Wallace and Robert Burns.

In closing, perhaps one of the greatest examples of The Loyal Reformers'

Gazette's ability to appeal to notions of Unionism, nationalism and working-class consciousness is the legacy that the paper developed in the years following its publication. For example William Rankine, a professor at Glasgow University, fancied himself as somewhat of a songwriter and one of his nineteen songs that ended up getting published was dedicated to Peter MacKenzie, known as "Loyal Peter" among his supporters. The first verse of "Loyal Peter" describes the physical appearance of

MacKenzie: he's described as having a round and red face and as being generally stout with a sturdy walk. The second verse of the poem argues that while most writers at the time of the Reform Bill were writing senseless articles, the Gazette was writing about actual things that were important to the working class. The third verse solidifies

MacKenzie's image as a loyal Scottish patriot:

Ilk honest man and bonnie lass Come brew the toddy sweeter, O, And Drink wi' me a bumper glass 98

To the health o' loyal Peter, O.218

As Rankine's commemoration of Peter MacKenzie shows, in the same way that

MacKenzie tried to hold up particular state representatives as examples of how a working-class person should conduct themselves, the editor and his paper both became symbols for loyal and working-class Scotsman.

William Rankine, Period songs and ballads of Clydesdale (Edinburgh: Menzies, 1882), 247. 99

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