University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 6-1-1959 Feargus O'Connor: Chartist demagogue James M. MacTiernan University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation MacTiernan, James M., "Feargus O'Connor: Chartist demagogue" (1959). Student Work. 389. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/389 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. mmmn o'wmmt m&mtm wmomm A 3 ftesis Presented to *Bim Faculty of the Department of History Dnlrersity of Omaha la Partial m fillrneat of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History hy James MacTleman Jtme 1959 UMI Number: EP73027 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP73027 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 I wish to express my appreciation for the valuable as- si stance rendered by those co-operating with this study. 1 ast particularly indebted to Dr. A, Stanley Trickett, whose constant guidance and constructive criticism carried the entire work to its completion, I m grateful to my wife, Patricia, for her help in reading and typing this manuscript. TABLE Of G Q mwm GHAPflR PAG® I . INTHOiXJCTIOI ............................................ 1 Industrialism ........................................ 1 Factory legislation ...................... 3 Trade Unionism ........................................................................ ** The Poor law Amendment B i l l .......................... 5 The Problem ................................... 8 I I , IRISH BACKGROUND................................................................................................... 10 Celtic Heritage .......... ... 11 Arthur 0*Connor . ............................... 18 Roger 0*Connor ........................................ 20 Education of Ee&rgue ................... 25 Youthful Adventures .............. .................. 28 Master of 10rt .R obert ...................... 31 I I I . POLITICS AHD RADICALISM..................................................................................33 Irish Discontent ............... ....................... 33 ?^hiteboy Activities .......................♦ .............................. 3** Anti-Tithe A gitation .......................... 39 Election to Parliament, 1832 ...................... • &0 Loss of Seat in Parliament ................................... ^ London Radical A ctivities ............. o . h6 Development of The Northern S ta r ................................... 51 CHAFTI® PAG,f# jlV» CHARTIST dictator 59 Chartist Convention, February h, 1839 ......................................... 59 physical and Moral Force Chartiat ............................................. 81 Newport Uprising, November 3* 1839. ........................................* 87 Imprisonment at York Castle * 73 Fetid With William L o v e tt .................................................................... 78 Complete Suffrage Movement ....................... 81 Second Chartist Petition, 18h2 82 Plug Plot, August, 18^2 ........................................................................ 85 Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League ......................................... 86 Trial of March, 1 8 ^ 3 ............................................................................. 90 V. DUCLXBl AND FAILURE ............................................................................. 92 Beginning of Land Scheme .......................... 93 Qwenite Colony of ^ueenswood ...................... 96 Break with .3. Obrien and T, Cooper ...................... 102 Member of Parliament, I8h? . • .................................................. 103 Rnd of Land Scheme ...................... 108 Third Chartist Petition, April 1C, 18^9 . ................................... I l l Insanity and Death .........................................................................117 VI. CONCLUSION............................................................................................................ 119 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 123 AFPNNDIX A. The P e o p le • s C h a rte r .......................................................1.3^ APP3ITDIX B. C h a r tis t G o s p e l ..................................................................................135 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ^ Industrialism in England had nearly reached a stage of maturity by the year 1839? a railroad boom and an extension of 1stsees- f a tre p o lic y would soon give it mark® of middle age and prosperity. These would com© in the late forties and fifties, during the period of the decline of the C h artist Movements but before prosperity brought England a "Victorian Compromise41 ©md fuller stomachs fo r her labourers, there could b© heard d u rin g I 838-& 0 the loud rumbling of revolution. The mob© again stalked about England as they had following the Napoleonic Wars. While the "con­ dition of England* was the leading question ©f the day, the platitudes o f the -’-big Government made the situ a tio n even more e x p lo siv e. Thomas Car­ lyle, the elegant spokesman of the age, expressed the inadequacy of both the political economists and the members of Parliament. He remarked, "such platitudes of the world in which all horses could be well fed and innumerable working men could die starved; were it not better to end it, to have done with it."* Although the dominate groups of this period, the bourgeoisie and the landowners, did not stop battling for long over poli­ tical and economic spoils, they did for the first time feel the acute pressure of another group, the hungry working men. They were not new to "Thomas Carlyle, Past and present (London and Torontot j. K. Dent and Son®, L td ., 1928). p . 22. 2 the upper classes? a growling populace had "been known since the eighteenth c e n tu ry when the e n c lo su re s "began to to s s farm la b o u re rs , c o tta g e rs , and some yeomen into the pot of the unemployed and unwanted. However, in 1839* when Chartism with Its political facade "became the pressure vehicle for the economic and social grievances of the working sen, both the bourgeoisie and the landed aristocracy soon realised he must be acknowledged or face possible eruption, Although factory legislation, trade unionism, or modi­ fication of the Poor Laws cannot be directly attributed to the Chartist Movement, it is certain, however, that Chartism helped to f e r t i l i z e the soil from which they were to spring. By I8h8 the working men, not only in "England but also in other parts of Uurope, had established himself as a force which had to be recognised by all classes. What were the economic and social distresses which gave Chartism a national character and historical significance? What were the condi­ tions which drove the labourers into mob® and made them support out of their meager earnings a fantastically radical political program of uni­ versal suffrage and secret ballots in an age when the aristocracy ruled the nation with an iron hand? In short, what made the populace mad? First of all, they suffered from disillusionment. After supporting the rising middle class in order to assure passage of the Reform Bill of I 8 3 2 , the worker® were inspired by the ¥higa who promised a program of reform* but instead of a lessening of the working hours and betterment of conditions, they faced th© defeat of Lord A«hl«y#s "Ten Hour Rill.*1 In­ stead of greater employment they were net by th© forces of the 11 bashaws 3 of Somerset House” ©nd the lew Poor Lav; and without g*a expression through trade unionism the workers were voiceless after the collapse of th® unions under th# p re ss u re o f th© c a p i t a l i s t s and th® Whig governm ent. Before complacency replaced a genuine desire for reform, th© Whigs, (led by Ashley, later famous as Lord Shaftesbury) passed m effective fac­ tory hill in 1833. fhe Act of 1833 appointed four inspectors to ensure that not only it, hut all subsequent acts be obeyed, fhe bill dealt only with textiles, not including silk; it limited th® hours of children under 2 thirteen to eight hours, and under eighteen to twelve hour*, This was, of course, th® first real step toward stopping the evils of the factory system but was f®r from what the workers and th# reformer* had in mind. Their object was a Mgeneral ten hour act** concerned with the women and children, Th® Act of 1833 was a great disappointment, especially in light o f th e Whig's cry for liberty and equality. Richard Gustier thus expressed th e disillusiont ”A fter a good deal of b*ck-staira in tr ig u in g th® M ill- owners ruad the .government concocted a b ill, and we are informed that it was 3 supported by the Millowaers because they knew