FIRST NATIONAL CHARTIST PETITION (1839)
Organizing the National Petition
The first Chartist Petition, properly known as the "National Petition," was sponsored by the Birmingham Political Union. The Petition received public support for legislative reform at demonstrations and meetings in Scotland and the North of England, culminating in a grand rally at Holloway Head in Birmingham. The National Convention of the Industrious Classes (made up of Chartist delegates from across the country) charged John Collins, the leading Birmingham Chartist, with authority to organize the collection of signatures for the National Petition, and a notice to that effect was duly placed in various newspapers.
At one meeting of the Convention in London, Collins complained of the high cost of postage charged by the Post Office for delivering petition sheets. Consequently a further notice in the newspapers informed the public that petition sheets and parcels sent via the PO would no longer be taken in!
At one meeting of the Convention in London, Collins complained of the high cost of postage charged by the Post Office for delivering petition sheets. Consequently a further notice in the newspapers informed the public that petition sheets and parcels sent via the PO would no longer be taken in!
"To the Inhabitants of the various Towns, Cities, Boroughs and Hamlets of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
"NOTICE -- The General Convention of the industrious classes, having resolved that the National Petition shall not be presented to the House Commons before the beginning of May next, ordered that all petition sheets be forwarded on or before the last day of April, addressed, post paid to John Collins, Dr. Johnson's Tavern, Bolt Court, Fleet Street. "By order of the General Convention, "JOHN COLLINS, HENRY VINCENT, ROBERT HARTWELL. CHARLES JONES. ROBERT LOWERY." Birmingham Journal, Saturday, March 9 1839 |
Delivering the 1839 Petition
In early May, John Collins reported to the Convention that "he had now redeemed his pledge - the Petition was ready." Nearly three miles (2 miles, 1,504 yards) long it contained over one and a quarter million signatures. When all the signature sheets were pasted together, end to end, they were rolled up to form a massive cylinder that measured 4 feet in diameter. It was put on display outside the room where the Convention met.
It was agreed the Convention delegates should deliver the Petition to Member of Parliament, Thomas Attwood, for presentation to the government - and on Tuesday May 6 1839 the delegates escorted the first National Petition in a horse drawn vehicle to meet with Attwood. However, all did not immediately go well. Attwood was not altogether in tune with all the Chartist's demands. He was particularly unhappy with the point on equal size electoral districts, and he virtually refused to take possession of the Petition. In his autobiography, London Chartist William Lovett said Attwood swallowed the Charter for the sake of his own personal agenda on monetary reform, and that Attwood regarded "universal suffrage as a milestone on the stony way to the shining goal of universal paper."
It was agreed the Convention delegates should deliver the Petition to Member of Parliament, Thomas Attwood, for presentation to the government - and on Tuesday May 6 1839 the delegates escorted the first National Petition in a horse drawn vehicle to meet with Attwood. However, all did not immediately go well. Attwood was not altogether in tune with all the Chartist's demands. He was particularly unhappy with the point on equal size electoral districts, and he virtually refused to take possession of the Petition. In his autobiography, London Chartist William Lovett said Attwood swallowed the Charter for the sake of his own personal agenda on monetary reform, and that Attwood regarded "universal suffrage as a milestone on the stony way to the shining goal of universal paper."
Presentation of the Petition to Parliament
The National Petition with over one and a quarter million signatures was to be introduced to the House of Commons on 7th May, 1839 by three Members of Parliament - Thomas Attwood, John Fielden, Joseph Hume - who supported the Petition and were in favour of peaceful reform. However, presentation was delayed until 14th June when Attwood introduced it to the Commons.
Presentation & Prayer of the Petition - 14th June 1839
On rising to present the Chartists' National Petition to the House of Commons on 14th June 1839, Attwood acknowledged the rules of the House forbade speeches when presenting petitions. Nevertheless, he launched into a speech due to the special circumstances of the Petition in support of five principals of reform.
At the end of his address, Attwood came to the most important part of the National Petition - the Prayer of the Petition: "Having said so much, he should now read the prayer of the petition, which was to the following effect:— That it might please their honourable House to take the petition into their most serious consideration, and to use their utmost endeavour to pass a law, granting to every man of lawful age, sound mind, and uncontaminated by crime, the right of voting for Members to serve in Parliament; that they would cause a law also to be passed, giving the right to vote by the ballot; that the duration of Parliaments might in no case be of greater duration than one year; that they would abolish all property qualifications, to entitle parties to sit in their honourable House; and that all Members elected to sit in Parliament, should be paid for their services." The massive Petition with its signatures was rolled out sufficient for a portion to be laid on a clerk's table, to which there was (disgracefully) loud laughter. The record shows the Petition was to be printed. For an official record of the presentation of the 1839 National Petition to Parliament, here is a link to Hansard: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1839/jul/12/the-national-petition |
The right to petition the government in order to bring its attention to public grievances is a basic constitutional right. Nowadays, once a petition has 100,000 signatures, Parliament will almost certainly debate the merits of a petition. Members of Parliament might even agree to do so before it reaches that 100,000 mark. This was not always the case, as with the Chartists' 1839 National Petition containing over a million signatures.
The work and effort of many months turned out for naught. On 12th July in a lengthy debate on Thomas Attwood's motion that "the petitioners be heard" in the House of Commons, the National Chartist Petition was overwhelmingly rejected by 235 to 46. Such was the arrogance and power of the government of the day that it could dismiss out of hand the "voice" of the one and a quarter million people it was supposed to represent. |
Text of the First National Petition
The following is the text of the 1839 National Petition - including the Prayer of the Petition at the end which is probably the most salient part since it set out in a nutshell what the petitioners want the House to do.
"NATIONAL PETITION"
"Unto the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, the Petition of the undersigned, their suffering countrymen,
"HUMBLY SHEWETH,
"That we, your petitioners, dwell in a land whose merchants are noted for enterprise, whose manufacturers are very skilful, and whose workmen are proverbial for their industry. "The land itself is goodly, the soil rich, and the temperature wholesome; it is abundantly furnished of with the materials of commerce and trade; it has numerous and convenient harbours; in facility of internal communication it exceeds all others. |
"For three-and-twenty years we have enjoyed a profound peace.
"Yet, with all these elements of national prosperity, and with every disposition and capacity to take advantage of them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private suffering.
"Yet, with all these elements of national prosperity, and with every disposition and capacity to take advantage of them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private suffering.
"We are bowed down under a load of taxes; which, notwithstanding, fall greatly short of the wants of our rulers; our traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy; our workmen are starving; capital brings no profit, and labour no remuneration; the home of the artificer is desolate, and the warehouse of the pawnbroker is full; the workhouse is crowded, and the manufactory is deserted.
"We have looked on every side, we have searched diligently in order to find out the causes of a distress so sore and so long continued.
"We can discover none in nature, or in Providence.
"Heaven has dealt graciously by the people; but the foolishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none effect.
"We can discover none in nature, or in Providence.
"Heaven has dealt graciously by the people; but the foolishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none effect.
"The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in building up the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its resources squandered for their aggrandisement.
"The good of a party has been advanced to the sacrifice of the good of the nation; the few have governed for the interest of the few, while the interest of the many has been neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon.
"The good of a party has been advanced to the sacrifice of the good of the nation; the few have governed for the interest of the few, while the interest of the many has been neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon.
"It was the fond expectation of the people that a remedy for the greater part, if not for the whole, of their grievances, would be found in the Reform Act of 1832.
"They were taught to regard that Act as a wise means to a worthy end; as the machinery of an improved legislation, when the will of the masses would be at length potential.
"They have been bitterly and basely deceived.
"The fruit which looked so fair to the eye has turned to dust and ashes when gathered.
"The Reform Act has effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to another, and left the people as helpless as before.
"Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship to liberty, which has aggravated the painful feeling of our social degradation, by adding to it the sickening of still deferred hope.
"They were taught to regard that Act as a wise means to a worthy end; as the machinery of an improved legislation, when the will of the masses would be at length potential.
"They have been bitterly and basely deceived.
"The fruit which looked so fair to the eye has turned to dust and ashes when gathered.
"The Reform Act has effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to another, and left the people as helpless as before.
"Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship to liberty, which has aggravated the painful feeling of our social degradation, by adding to it the sickening of still deferred hope.
"We come before your Honourable House to tell you, with all humility, that this state of things must not be permitted to continue; that it cannot long continue without very seriously endangering the stability of the throne and the peace of the kingdom; and that if by God's help and all lawful and constitutional appliances, an end can be put to it, we are fully resolved that it shall speedily come to an end.
"We tell your Honourable House that the capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due reward; that the laws which make food dear, and those which by making money scarce, makes labour cheap, must be abolished; that taxation must be made to fall on property, not on industry; that the good of the many, as it is the only legitimate end, so must it be the sole study of the Government.
"As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite changes; as means by which alone the interests of the people can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that those interests be confided to the keeping of the people.
"When the state calls for defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call.
"As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite changes; as means by which alone the interests of the people can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that those interests be confided to the keeping of the people.
"When the state calls for defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call.
"Required as we are, universally, to support and obey the laws, nature and reason entitle us to demand, that in the making of the laws, the universal voice shall be implicitly listened to.
"We perform the duties of freemen; we must have the privileges of freemen.
"WE DEMAND UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.
"We perform the duties of freemen; we must have the privileges of freemen.
"WE DEMAND UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.
"The suffrage to be exempt from the corruption of the wealthy, and the violence of the powerful, must be kept secret.
"The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power of its uncontrolled exercise.
"WE DEMAND THE BALLOT.
"The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power of its uncontrolled exercise.
"WE DEMAND THE BALLOT.
"The connection between the representatives and the people, to be beneficial must be intimate.
"The legislative and constituent powers, for correction and for instruction, ought to be brought into frequent contact.
"Errors, which are comparatively light when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of compulsory endurance.
"To public safety as well as public confidence, frequent elections are essential.
"WE DEMAND ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS.
"The legislative and constituent powers, for correction and for instruction, ought to be brought into frequent contact.
"Errors, which are comparatively light when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of compulsory endurance.
"To public safety as well as public confidence, frequent elections are essential.
"WE DEMAND ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS.
"With power to choose, and freedom in choosing, the range of our choice must be unrestricted.
"We are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives, men who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties or who have little sympathy with them; merchants who have retired from trade, and no longer feel its harassings; proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its evil and their cure; lawyers, by whom the honours of the senate are sought after only as means of obtaining notice in the courts.
"The labours of a representative, who is sedulous in the discharge of his duty, are numerous and burdensome.
"It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered.
"We demand that in the future elections of members of your Honourable House, the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualification; and that to every representative so chosen, shall be assigned, out of the public taxes, a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon to devote to the public service.
"We are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives, men who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties or who have little sympathy with them; merchants who have retired from trade, and no longer feel its harassings; proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its evil and their cure; lawyers, by whom the honours of the senate are sought after only as means of obtaining notice in the courts.
"The labours of a representative, who is sedulous in the discharge of his duty, are numerous and burdensome.
"It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered.
"We demand that in the future elections of members of your Honourable House, the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualification; and that to every representative so chosen, shall be assigned, out of the public taxes, a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon to devote to the public service.
"Finally, we would most earnestly impress on your Honourable House, that this petition has not been dictated by any idle love of change; that it springs out of no inconsiderate attachment to fanciful theories; but that it is the result of much and long deliberation, and of convictions, which the events of each succeeding year tend more and more to strengthen.
"The management of this might kingdom has hitherto been a subject for contending factions to try their selfish experiments upon.
"We have felt the consequences of our sorrowful experience - short glimmerings of uncertain enjoyment swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering.
"If the self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will at least remove their repinings.
"Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity."
"We have felt the consequences of our sorrowful experience - short glimmerings of uncertain enjoyment swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering.
"If the self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will at least remove their repinings.
"Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity."
PRAYER OF THE PETITION
"That it might please their honourable House to take the petition into their most serious consideration, and to use their utmost endeavour to pass a law, granting to every man of lawful age, sound mind, and uncontaminated by crime, the right of voting for Members to serve in Parliament; that they would cause a law also to be passed, giving the right to vote by the ballot; that the duration of Parliaments might in no case be of greater duration than one year; that they would abolish all property qualifications, to entitle parties to sit in their honourable House; and that all Members elected to sit in Parliament, should be paid for their services."
From "The Life & Struggles of William Lovett in his pursuit of bread, knowledge and freedom"
Who Turned It Down & Who Supported It
In the debate on whether the House of Commons would consider the National Petition there were several leading voices against it, including Lord John Russell and Benjamin Disraeli MP. For a complete list of the votes for and against, please click here.