1

THE RHETORIC AND IMPACT OF THE

EARLY CHARTIST PRESS 1837-1842

ROWAN BURROWS

University I.D: 1265449301

Submitted in fulfillment for the December 2013

degree of MA in History by Research

at the University of Warwick

2

Dedication

To the memory of Margaret Haigh, a loving Grandmother, and to Jonathan

Harrison-Tew, a dearly missed friend.

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Contents

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 4

Summary .................................................................................................................................. 5

Introduction and Literature Review ......................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1: The Taxes on Knowledge. ..................................................................................... 24

Chapter 2: Oratory Journalism and the Mass Platform in the Chartist Press ........................ 40

Chapter 3: Letters and ‘Original Correspondence’ in the Chartist Press ............................... 61

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 80

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 86

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Acknowledgements

A debt of gratitude must firstly be paid to the University of Warwick, various libraries and

academic institutions whose records and facilities made this work possible. Special note

goes to the People’s Museum of Manchester and the online archive managed by the British

Museum.

I wish to express my thanks to Dr. Sarah Richardson for her support throughout this

research. Her academic insight and support made the process of study enjoyable and

without her this thesis would not have been possible.

I would also like to thank my family and my friends whose advice and assistance

throughout the study proved invaluable, and who also provided a soundboard for ideas and

encouragement when I needed it most.

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Summary

This Masters by research thesis is based on the Early Chartist period, principally the years

1837 to 1842. The main focus is on the rhetorical devices used by Chartist journalists, and

the links these techniques and writers had with the wider Chartist movement. The field of

Chartist journalism has hitherto been one of micro-study, with the main research being

principally concerned with the social aspect of the press and the mechanics of running a

radical newspaper. The opposite side of research has focused on language, to the

detriment of social analysis. This study draws from both approaches to ascertain a more

complete picture of how the rhetoric of the Chartist Press involved the wider movement. In

addition to this, this study analyses the relationship of the early Chartist press with the

preceding appeal for the removal of the newspaper stamp. The study is based on a new

wealth of digitised newspapers made available by the British Library, and the examination

of these newspapers has been the main primary sources for the study. One of the central

points of this research is the existence of a close relationship between paper and reader,

and this relationship was forged by the techniques of oratory journalism. This style of

journalism was predicated on the merging of the powers of the press with those of the

platform. Another central point is the use of letters as a medium by which the papers could

interact with the public. The details of these journalistic rhetorical techniques are explained

in detail within the thesis, with a consistent use of examples taken from Chartist papers

supporting them as evidence. Ultimately this study contextualises the language and

rhetoric of the press within the public sphere of the wider movement.

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Introduction and Literature Review

The aim of this research is to investigate the rhetorical technique of the early Chartist

press, and to use this insight to ascertain what the primary effects of Chartist journalism

were. I intend to show that the world of the Chartist periodical was deeply ingrained within

the wider movement, and that Chartist journalists were keenly aware of the need for a

strong and vibrant press connected with its readers. I also wish to connect the world of the

Chartist press to its direct predecessor, the war against the taxes on knowledge, a

movement responsible for creating a literature culture amongst the British working class.

Ultimately, I intend to bridge the gap between the literary studies prominent since the

‘linguistic turn’ of the 1980s and the social histories predominant in earlier decades. By

doing so, I believe that it is possible to analyse Chartist language and journalistic technique

in conjunction with an appreciation of the wider movement, in order to create an accurate

picture of the culture surrounding Chartist newspapers.

In order fully to investigate Chartism and its press and journalists, one needs to gain an

appreciation of the historiography of both Chartism and the development of the

mainstream and radical press in the nineteenth century. Although the radical and popular

press have not been very heavily studied thus far, Chartism holds a rich vein of

historiography stretching right back to the very early years of its birth. An assessment of

how historians have so far studied the topic is vital for a successful and coherent thesis in

the area of Chartism and radicalism during the mid-nineteenth century.

The first real ‘history’ of Chartism was in fact produced while the movement was still

thriving. Thomas Carlyle wrote Chartism in 1841, after the first ‘People’s Charter’ was

submitted to parliament and during a period of reflection in the movement following the

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bloody Newport Rising of November 1839.1 Carlyle was a Scottish satirist and scholar, who,

while rejecting the contemporary notion that Chartism was dead, was inclined to view the

movement as a hostile threat to order. He viewed it, as many subsequent historians would,

as part of a continuing republican strain within the English working class. He stated that this

strain comes from the conditions the working classes find themselves in:

Chartism means the bitter discontent grown fierce and mad, the wrong condition

therefore or the wrong disposition, of the Working Classes of England. It is a new

name for a thing which has had many names, which will yet have many.2

Here Carlyle is setting the stage for his overall view of the new Chartist phenomenon. That

it is a new name for a long tradition of radical republicanism, and that its causes are based

in the condition and disposition of the working classes. Carlyle’s account, though useful in

its explanations of Chartism, gives no account of the Chartists themselves. It instead

focuses on a mostly philosophical standpoint, seeking only to account for Chartism, rather

than describe or analyse it. Thus the overall title of Chartism is probably misleading;

nevertheless it can probably be seen as the beginning of Chartist bibliography.

The first complete history of Chartism that was produced after the decline of the

movement was R. G. Gammage’s History of the Chartist Movement: 1837-1854. Despite

being produced after its decline, it was written by one of Chartism’s most important

contributors in its latter years. Gammage was ‘a fulltime Chartist lecturer’ and was a

member of an eight-man convention of Chartist leaders in 1852.3 The convention had been

called to organise, strengthen and represent the movement during what were to be its

dying stages. Gammage’s account had significant positive and negative impacts upon his

thorough history of Chartism. His involvement within the mechanics of the movement and

1 Owen Ashton, Robert Fyson, Stephen Roberts, Dorothy Thompson (eds), The Chartist Movement: a

new annotated bibliography (London, 1995), pp. 79-83, 110-112. 2 Thomas Carlyle, Chartism (Boston, 1840), p. 2.

3 Ashton et al. The Chartist Movement, pp. 339-40.

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his intimate knowledge of many prominent figures enabled him to give first-hand accounts

vital to later historians looking at the period. However, he was inflicted with extremely

strong bias against certain individuals. Most important of these was his ‘sustained assault’

on O’Connor.4 His ‘consistently unflattering’ evaluation of O’Connor served to distort

historical perceptions of him for many years, and as such the accounts he gives of key

events must be considered carefully due to his obvious prejudices.5 This includes his

notable derision of the ‘Land Plan’, which also influenced a long line of historians right up

to the 1950s, nearly all damning it as a utopian gesture which distracted Chartism from its

central cause of political reform.6 Despite these negative aspects of the Gammage’s

account, it nevertheless remains an important contemporary document in the study of the

movement with much to offer to scholars, and especially contains valuable insight into the

latter years of the movement.

Gammage’s negative view of the Land Plan continued to have an impact on the histories of

the movement, such as that written by Mark Hovell: The Chartist Movement. Hovell was a

serving soldier in the First World War, and the conflict served to interrupt his studies. He

was to die in the war in 1916 and it was left to T. F. Tout to complete his work on his behalf,

finally publishing the study in 1925.7 Hovell’s study took a broadly similar line to that of

Carlyle, placing Chartism as part of a longer term tradition of radicalism in Britain stretching

back to the Commonwealthmen of the seventeenth century. Indeed he writes extensively

about the debates about the right to vote of the 1640s, and the question of manhood or

property suffrage.8 These events of the seventeenth century, for Hovell, mark the early

genesis of ideas that would later lead to the People’s Charter. However, he was

unsympathetic of the Chartists themselves and notably singles out the violent and more

4 Ashton et al. The Chartist Movement, p. 341.

5 R. G. Gammage and John Saville, The History of the Chartist Movement (New York, 1969), p. 29.

6 Gammage and Saville, History of the Chartist Movement, p. 48.

7 Mark Hovell and T. F. Tout, The Chartist Movement (Manchester, 1925) pp. v-xxxvii.

8 Hovell and Tout, The Chartist Movement, pp. 4-5.

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malevolent factors within the movement. He writes that during the days of the

campaigning for the first petition, the chances of success by peaceful agitation were made

to seem very remote by contemporary reports by those advocating violence.9 This is also

indicative of the weight Hovell places on the ‘moral force versus physical force’ conflict

which would act like a crutch for future research for many years, with numerous historians

intimating that the divide was truly black and white. More recent research has put this view

to rest, and the social and geographic history of the 1960s onwards has painted a picture of

this conflict as being far more nuanced than Hovell himself presented. The unsympathetic

picture of Chartist agitators put forward by Hovell has been summarised by Owen R.

Ashton:

(Hovell believed that) the adoption of Chartism by disorganised and mindless

labourers of the industrial districts took it out of the logic of political development

and into the realm of mob violence.10

The ‘political development’ he is referring to is the long line of English radicalism. Hovell

believed that Chartism started from an organic evolutionary beginning, but was derailed by

the extent of its mass support amongst the uneducated working class. Individuals such as

O’Connor added to this culture of ‘mob violence’ in his eyes, and as such it was destined to

fail.

The 1930s and 1940s saw a decline in writing regarding Chartist history, with relatively few

published works recorded.11 Most of what was written was moving towards general

accounts of radicalism across the nineteenth century, linking Chartism with earlier radical

movements as Hovell had done. In addition to this was a rise in biographies of influential

Chartists. Most significant of these was the collection of biographies published in 1941 by

9 Hovell and Tout, The Chartist Movement, p. 126.

10 Ashton, et al. The Chartist Movement, pp. xii-xxii.

11 Dorothy Thompson and J.F.C. Harrison, Bibliography of the Chartist Movement 1837-1976

(London, 1978).

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G. D. H. Cole, Chartist Portraits. This aimed to tell the story of Chartism through twelve

biographies. Although the research within the collection was strong, Cole offered no new

strand of historical opinion. For example, his view of O’Connor stood broadly in line with

that of Hovell and Gammage, stating that he was ‘a disastrous leader’.12 Therefore,

although the 1930s and 1940s brought about a degree of historical development, the

largely biographical nature of research did little to challenge the hegemony of opinion

created by Hovell in 1918.

Following the end of the Second World War and the rise of social history led to Chartist

history reaching a new popularity in academic research. The crucial genesis of such

research was the collection of essays published in 1959 by Asa Briggs. Chartist Studies was

a collated collection of local studies based on Chartist activities, and sought to re-establish

the local nature of Chartist protest. They also sought to place individuals within their

particular localities and thus generate a more complete overall picture than previous

national based histories had given. This style of history also taught us that while Chartism

was a broadly national movement, it developed at vastly different rates in various parts of

the country, and that the local roots of the national movement are central in explaining the

overall nature of Chartism.13 The decade following this study gave rise to many local studies

of Chartism. Also of influence in this period was E. P. Thompson, whose seminal work the

Making of the English Working Class, gave a thorough explanation of how the working class

gained a ‘class consciousness’ separate to that of their employers between 1780 and

1832.14 This discussion was subsequently used to explain the rise of Chartist agitation

following the Great Reform Act of 1832.

12

G. D. H. Cole Chartist Portraits (London, 1941). 13

John Walton, Chartism: Lancaster Pamphlets (London, 1999) p. 3. 14

E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (London, 1968).

11

The work of E. P. Thompson was to influence historians for the rest of the 1960s and

beyond, especially in the realm of Chartist history. However, it would be E. P. Thompson’s

wife, Dorothy, among others, who would invigorate studies for the next 20 years. Despite

the success and importance of local studies, there was a criticism that the historiography of

the movement had got too ‘local’ by the 1980s.15 Central to Dorothy Thompson’s view of

Chartist history (other than a need to move away from local studies) was the need to

rehabilitate Feargus O’Connor, who she felt had been unfairly discredited by historians

since Gammage. In 1982, James Epstein, under Thompson’s advice and supervision,

published a thorough biography of O’Connor seeking to rehabilitate his reputation. He

states in his introduction that:

O’Connor had fallen uncomfortably between the two traditions of working class

history, that of labour reformism and orthodox Marxism – both of which failed, to

varying degrees, to deal with Chartism on its own terms.16

He later stated that it was necessary to ‘reopen debate’ into one of ‘Britain’s most

important radical leaders’.17 Dorothy Thompson herself reasserted this in her 1984 book

The Chartists, depicting O’Connor as being at the heart of the national campaign. Central to

the thesis in The Chartists was that Chartism was a movement with class at its heart; that

the ordinary people within Chartism were vital and also that women played a key role in

the function of protest.18 The role of women in a predominantly male movement would

later be studied by Barbara Taylor, Joan Scott, Catherine Hall and later Jutta Schwartzkopf.

Additionally, Thompson produced in The Chartists, what is arguably the defining study of

the demographics of Chartism. Eschewing traditional approaches focusing on Chartist

15

Dorothy Thompson and James Epstein, The Chartist Experience: Studies in Working Class Radicalism and Culture 1830 – 1869 (London, 1982), p. 1. 16

James Epstein The Lion of Freedom (London, 1982), pp. 2-3 17

Epstein, Lion of Freedom, p. 6. 18

Stephen Roberts, ‘Memories of Dottie: Dorothy Thompson 1923-2011 (Obituary)’, Labour History Review, 76:2 (2011) p. 166.

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leaders, Thompson instead used population figures and other statistics to build a picture of

where Chartist support came from. The complete account given was vital to later research,

and remains a key source of information for Chartist historians. Information such as

working practices and which trades provided most support are especially useful.

A key factor in research in Chartism, and nineteenth-century radicalism in general has been

analysis of class. While this had been touched upon by earlier historians, E. P. Thompson

emphasised the idea that in fact the working class had been present at their own making,

and that conscious political enlightenment had given birth to a working class culture in the

early nineteenth century. Inspired by Marxist principles, he saw this as being a natural

consequence of the displacing of the working class from the control of their own economic

destiny. This gave rise to institutions such as the London Corresponding Society, and

created a movement inspired by Cobbett, Hunt, Hardy and Tooke among others. Thus

instead of being a product of the industrial revolution, the political working class was both

a reaction to, and a creator of modern industrial Britain. Unsurprisingly this attitude to class

may also be found in Dorothy Thompsons work and she focuses heavily on working class

experience in her writing. She, like Edward, is keen to investigate the daily lives of

individuals who were prominent in local movements within Chartism. Other historians such

as Robert Fyson and James Epstein have also seen class as important, with close analysis of

working-class activity surrounding key events. Historians have been in agreement over the

centrality of class to Chartism, with contemporary sources seeing it as being a development

of class consciousness. Indeed Friedrich Engels, writing in 1848, described it as being

‘essentially a class movement’.19

However, traditional approaches to class have been challenged by Gareth Stedman Jones

and Patrick Joyce, who by taking a literary approach have re-imagined the importance of

19

Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the English Working Class (Leipzig, 1848).

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class to the movement. Stedman Jones defined Chartism as primarily a political movement,

and as such argues that it cannot be explained simply via the anger of various social groups

or the consciousness of class.20 Patrick Joyce subsequently concurred with this view,

asserting via analysis of Chartist language that traditional views of class were incorrect, and

that class was not at the centre of Chartist ideology. Thus the issue of class remains a

contentious issue, with modern historians aiming to find a common ground between the

spheres of language and class.

Stedman Jones’ work is also important for being a central part of the so-called ‘linguistic

turn’ of the 1980s. This was a conscious shift away, by a group of historians, from the social

history of the 1960s and 70s towards a more linguistic approach. This will be more fully

discussed later to consider the effect of this on studies of the Chartist press and more

mainstream journalism. This new linguistic approach focused on the primacy of language,

and the importance of the interpretation of written text in historical analysis. While being a

wide movement covering the entire area of humanities, it was Stedman Jones who applied

it to Chartism. As we have seen, he used it to challenge ideas of class, and also aimed to

bring the politics of Chartism to the forefront of historical analysis. He described how he

felt that social approaches to Chartism had caused assessments to be distorted, and that

the traditional economic explanations give little evidence of why action took a Chartist

form.21 He asserted that it is necessary to analyse the political ideology of the Chartists. He

stated that the rise and fall of Chartism related primarily to the policies of the state.22 As it

was such a radical departure, the linguistic approach remains both a controversial and

influential strand of Chartist historiography.

20

Gareth Stedman Jones, Languages of Class: Studies in English working class history 1832-1982 (Cambridge, 1983), p. 96. 21

Jones, Languages of Class, p. 96. 22

Jones, Languages of Class, pg 178.

14

After looking at writing over the period from the Second World War to the 1990s, we can

see vast development in the variety of work that has been done. The debates created by

the rise in social history proved to be highly important to studies of Chartism, and any

further research owes a huge debt to the pioneering work done by these historians. Miles

Taylor argued in 1996 that the significant conflicting work done by both Thompson and

Stedman Jones had left Chartist historiography in a state of flux, with most work being

done on areas such as Chartism’s decline or simply an extension of 1980s research.23 Owen

R. Ashton agreed with this perspective, stating that ‘work done in the 1990s was

tangential’24. Nonetheless, there has been work undertaken in the last 20 years worthy of

note, and work that has developed the field of Chartist history successfully.

Chartist history was at somewhat of an impasse in the 1990s, with most research focusing

on a linguistic analysis of the Chartists. This research had been influenced by the work of

Stedman Jones during the 1980s.25 In addition to this was research timed to coincide with

the 150th anniversary of 1848, and as such the decline of Chartism received new insight and

analysis. Margot Finn studied the relationship between British Chartists and European

Republicans, and proved that even when it was in decline, Chartism was a strong force. She

also reinforced the link between Chartist radicals and the emergence of New Liberalism in

the 1880s, and that radicalism of a Chartist nature continued to have a voice after the

decline following 1848. Thus this was important research into the place Chartism holds in

British history. Despite Miles Taylor offering a gloomy outlook to the future of Chartist

historiography in 1996, there has been much vital research done on Chartist activity.26 In

1999, Ian Heywood published Chartist Fiction, which used Chartist newspapers to retrace

two narratives first found within the pages of the Chartist press. This shed new light on an

23

Miles Taylor, ‘Rethinking the Chartists’, Historical Journal, Vol. 39 No. 02 (1996), pp. 479-495. 24

Joan Allen and Owen Ashton, ‘Editorial: New Directions in Chartist Studies’, Labour History Review, vol.74 No. 1, (2009), p. 1. 25

Taylor Rethinking the Chartists, p. 480. 26

Taylor, Rethinking the Chartists, pp. 479-495.

15

area often neglected. This current of cultural history was continued with the publishing of

Michael Sanders, The Poetry of Chartism, the first full-length study of more than a thousand

poems published by the Northern Star. Sanders analyses the reasons why poetry became

so important to Chartist opposition, and examines the critical history of Chartist poetry.

Such research into the vital area of Chartist poetry was fuelled by the publication of an

anthology of Chartist poetry by Peter Scheckner, which drew together a vast collection of

poetry from a disparate range of sources.

The area of biographies has continued to be a rich source for historical debate and interest,

and work done on Chartism in the last two decades is no different, with revisionist studies

of both Feargus O’Connor and Ernest Jones. Ashton and Pickering have produced a six part

biographical text.27Friends for the People featured biographies of Peter Mcdouall, Rev.

Henry Solly, Rev. James Scholefield, Richard Bagnall Reed, William Villiers Sankey and Rev.

Benjamin Parsons. It served to shed new light on the various individuals key to the

everyday operations involved in running a national opposition movement.

The work of Malcolm Chase has, in recent years, proven to be vital in breaking new ground

in Chartist studies. Along with innovative work detailing the performances of Chartism at

the polls during the 1840s, Chase has produced a long awaited modern chronological

narrative of Chartism in Chartism: A New History.28 In this, he supported the view of

O’Connor as important leader, but is perhaps more critical of him than either Epstein or

Thompson. He painted a picture of him being a maverick politician once in the Commons,

but an able and vital leader on the protest trail. He also has done important research on

the children of Chartism, especially those living in O’Connorville following the Land Plan. In

a compelling passage, Chase detailed the research done to find the creator of a particular

27

Allen and Ashton, New Directions in Chartist Studies, p. 3. 28

Malcolm Chase, ‘Labours Candidates’: Chartist Challenges at the Parliamentary Polls, 1839-1860’, Labour History Review, Vol 74 No. 1, (2009), pp. 64 – 89.

16

Chartist sampler, including investigating the records of a Chartist school within O’Connor’s

‘O’Connorville’ community.29 Biographical research is also contained within the book in the

form of supplementary chapters called Chartist Lives. These sections feature important

insight into the ‘micro-politics of small communities’, and important individuals within

localities of Chartism.30

Evidence of the continuing interest in Chartism is found in a special edition of Labour

History Review in 2009, designed to ‘profile the most recent work of Chartist historians and

to demonstrate that the field continues to be the locus of dynamic and path breaking

analysis’.31 This issue features, for example, an article on Chartist song by Paul Pickering

and Kate Bowan, an article on the anti-Malthusian everyday politics of Chartist supporters

by Robert Hall and an article about late Chartism in the Potteries by Robert Fyson. Thus we

can gain a picture of where Chartist historiography stands in the twenty-first century, with

cultural history being vastly influential, along with the continued popularity of local

histories. Chartist research has certainly come a long way since the likes of Gammage, as

the variety of histories contained in this journal shows. Nevertheless it also demonstrates

the wide variety of research that is still waiting to be done, and without doubt the field of

Chartist history shows no sign of drying up yet.

As this is a study on both Chartism and the press, it is necessary to examine research that

has been done on the British Press, and understand how studies have developed over time.

The study of newspapers and the press has traditionally been in the realm of literary

criticism and linguistics academics. Historians have largely overlooked the writings of the

press, seeing it more traditionally as a useful source of information rather than an actor

worthy of direct analysis in itself. Focus has primarily been on the mainstream middle-class

29

Malcolm Chase, Chartism: A New History (Manchester, 2007), pp. 261-271. 30

Chase, Chartism, pp. 261-265. 31

Allen and Ashton, New Directions in Chartist Studies, p. 3.

17

newspapers. The analysis has primarily come from an angle based on the deconstruction of

literary principles used within the press by journalists.

Many early studies of the British press focused on the emergence of journalism in the

seventeenth century. This is understandable for several reasons. One, it is natural to

investigate how such an important facet of modern Britain came into being. Secondly, it is

not common for historians to delve too often into the very recent past. Thus when J. B.

Williams published A History of British Journalism in 1908, it likely never occurred to him to

investigate the nineteenth-century British Press.32 Many studies like that of Williams focus

on the period up to the end of Licensing Act, and thus the end of censorship, in 1695.

Key to this study will be the connection between politics (and political language) and the

press. One of the earliest studies to investigate this relationship was Aspinall’s, Politics and

the Press, published in 1949. Aspinall places heavy emphasis on the importance of the

press, and describes the passing of measures and acts designed to influence its operation.

One of the key pieces of legislation in relation to the Chartist press was the reduction in

Stamp Duty in 1836. Aspinall details these changes, and the protest for them, which would

later be commented on by Thompson and Haywood. 33 Haywood in fact stated how ‘the

wars for the unstamped actually trained (the Chartist) practitioners’.34 This idea will be

looked at in detail later, and the ‘Unstamped’s’ impact on the Chartist press will be

analysed. Ultimately, Aspinall’s study describes the key factors which would influence

radical journalists central to the Chartist movement.

In recent years, more in depth study of nineteenth-century journalism has been completed.

A collection of essays entitled Victorian Press was published in 1998. This again took a

literary approach, downplaying the political significance of journalism in the nineteenth

32

J. B. Williams, A History of British Journalism (London, 1908). 33

A. Aspinall, Politics and the Press 1780 – 1850 (London, 1949), pp. 22-23. 34

Ian Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature (Cambridge, 2004), p. 142.

18

century. Nevertheless, it provided valuable insight into larger papers such as the Times.

Although not directly associated with Chartism, the reporting of Chartist activity in the

Times has often been of interest to historians; due largely to it representing more closely

the opinion of the establishment of the challenge of Chartism. Aled Jones, has produced a

full length work far more political in nature, and one which provided more background for

a study in the Chartist press than aforementioned studies.35 Key to Jones’ study, and

subsequently any analysis of the radical political press, is the connection between the

printed word and the changing of an individual’s personal opinion. The potentially

explosive power of journalistic prose is also central, and this once again alludes to a

significant factor contained within this research.

Recent research on the nineteenth century British press has been influenced by a more

cultural approach in history more generally, with emphasis on language, meaning and

identity. Indeed the lack of historical research of newspapers has been somewhat

overturned in recent years by these shifts in historiography. This is partly down to the new

digitisation of newspapers in the modern age, allowing vast research to be undertaken

from areas in the country far from original paper archives. Not only this, but new online

archives are easily accessible and searchable via keyword, allowing for quick thematic

surveys to be undertaken. These archives and their impact will doubtless continue to grow

in the future, but they are already having an impression on research. Crucial to recent

writing on the British press and journalism has been Adrian Bingham, who despite being

focused on twentieth century newspapers, has forged a path of analytical approaches to

journalism and the deconstructing of the impact of the press. James Mussel, Lisa Peters,

David Brown and Matthew Rubery have all completed studies into the press of the

nineteenth century. These recent studies are not entirely focused on literary and linguistic

35

Aled Jones, Powers of the Press: Newspapers, Power and the Public in Nineteenth Century England (Aldershot, 1996).

19

approaches. Research such as that done by Michael Powell and Terry Wyke has focused on

the cultural impact of publishing journals and newspapers for local areas, and how the

effect of a booming press movement help revitalise urban areas in the nineteenth

century.36 This kind of research is backed up by work focusing specifically on the Chartist

movement by Dorothy Thompson, who describes how the publishers and printers of

literature became important local figures to the radical movement.37 Thus modern research

of the press has moved in a variety of ways, including analysis of both the literary and

cultural impact of the growth of newspapers in the nineteenth century. With digital

archives arguably only just emerging, it remains a burgeoning area of historical interest.

Having considered how historians have looked at the general press in the nineteenth

century it is now necessary to analyse the arguments that have been used in research

regarding the Chartist Press. Early Chartist historians, while using the press significantly to

inform their wider assumptions about the movement; chose not to specifically analyse

either the content or direct significance of Chartist journalists or print.

One of the first pieces of research into Chartist journalism was James Epstein’s work on

Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star.38 This was published as a journal article in 1976,

and sought to place the Northern Star at the heart of Chartism, and indicated the

importance of the paper to the movement’s vitality. It established many now assumed

truths about Connor and the Star, such as the heritage in the radicalism of Cobbett and

Hunt, and the importance of O’Connor to the movement (continuing the rehabilitation of

him via his journalism). Some of Epstein’s ideas will be discussed later, with particular ideas

giving useful impetus to further examination in the wider Chartist press. Epstein concluded

36

John Hinks, Catherine Armstrong, Matthew Day (eds), Periodicals and Publishers: the newspaper and journal trade, 1750-1814 (London, 2009). 37

Thompson, The Chartists, pp.120-173. [make sure you continue to use short titles] 38

James Epstein, ‘Feargus O'Connor and the Northern Star’, International Review of Social History, 21 (London 1976) pp. 51 – 97.

20

his argument by extolling the virtues of the Star in the history of the working class, stating

that: ‘many Chartist regarded the establishment of the Star as O’Connor’s greatest

contribution to the cause of popular rights’.39 Also worth noting is the importance of

Epstein’s appendix, providing a summation of the estimated circulation of the Northern

Star during its run, using Stamp sales as an indicator. This research is vital for anyone

evaluating the importance of the Star to Chartism and the working class as a whole.

Another early analysis of the Chartist Press was produced by Dorothy Thompson, and

appears as a section of her book The Chartists.40 Thompson was perhaps influenced by her

husband E.P. Thompson who assessed the role of radical journalists in The Making of

English Working Class, specifically those from the period 1800-1830. 41 Dorothy Thompson

emphasised the importance of the press to Chartism, and drew a link between it and the

unstamped press of the 1830s. These papers, according to Thompson, provided an

important influence on radicals who would later go on to found the most significant

Chartist periodicals. As has been previously mentioned, it was not just the papers

themselves which were an influence. Thompson reiterated the point that the battle to save

the unstamped press provided many Chartists with their first taste of political action.

The significance of Thompson’s research in The Chartists is obvious. Rather than analysing

the literary side of Chartist journalism, Thompson uncovered the nature of the whole press

movement in Britain during the period. Likely influenced by Epstein’s analysis of the Star,

she gave an account of numerous different Chartist journals and their editors and

contributors. Also, she sought to explain, like Epstein, how and why the Northern Star was

so massively popular and influential on the movement. The reasons given are numerous,

but central to Thompson’s appraisal is the importance of O’Connor in directing it and

39

Epstein, ‘Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star’, p. 96. 40

Thompson, The Chartists, pp. 37-56. 41

Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class.

21

ensuring it was profitable.42 She also argued that that its readers believed that the paper

represented Chartism as a whole and not just O’Connor. Thus those purchasing the Star

were doing so to not only learn about ‘Chartist Intelligence’ (a regular feature within the

paper), but also to buy into the Chartist phenomenon. Thompson sums up the importance

of the paper by stating:

the success of the Northern Star would have been impossible without the Chartist

Movement, but is equally impossible to imagine the Chartist Movement without

the Star.43

Both Epstein’s and Thompson’s appraisal of the Chartist press may be brief, but both

occurred when a new age of cultural studies of Chartism was just over the horizon, and as

such they can be seen as an important precursor to such research. Since then there have

been several key studies, into both radical journalism and literature from the Chartist

period and this also needs due attention.

Perhaps the most significant study of the Chartist Press that has been published is a

collection of essays edited by Joan Allen and Owen R. Ashton entitled Papers for the

People: A Study of the Chartist Press. Despite being a collection of essays, it nevertheless

marks the first direct analysis of the Chartist journalism so far published in book form. It is

probable that this work will inspire many different areas of research, as it features a diverse

range of contributors and subject matter. Among these are Aled Jones explaining the place

of Chartist journalism within the overall development of the press in Britain, a detailed

analysis of the Western Vindicator by Owen R. Ashton, along with local press studies

featuring Scotland, Ireland and the Antipodes. As mentioned, many of these areas are

42

Thompson, The Chartists, p. 48. 43

Thompson, The Chartists, p. 49.

22

breaking new ground, and as such can be seen as springboards for future research, and this

research hopes to build on the work contained within this collection.

What this literature review has shown is that the fields of both Chartist history and press

history remain areas where new research is needed. Crucial to this study will be the areas

where these two historiographies share pitfalls. As with many academic disciplines, the

effect of new approaches has been to unfairly denigrate the advances made by previous

studies. In the case of Chartism and press, this comes following the literary turn of the

1980s. Many studies of the combined field of the Chartist Press have subsequently fallen

sharply between two stalls.

Writing about the Chartist Press has largely been either literary, analysing the romantic and

cultural undertones of the enlightening power of the Chartist press. Often this research,

such as in the case of Haywood’s ‘Revolution in Popular Literature’, combines analysis of

press with wider literature such as books or poetry.44 On the other hand, historians have

rightly sought to place the Chartist press within the movement as an integral part of it,

emphasising functional and structural factors. Much research has been done on both

approaches, and the study that follows is in part an attempt to synthesise the two strands.

In doing so, we can gain a more coherent understanding of the rhetoric which pervaded the

Chartist press, and its relationship to the wider movement. As stated earlier, this study

aims to combine close literary analysis with ideas influenced by social historians such as

E.P. Thompson and James Epstein. The result should be the identifying of the most

important rhetorical techniques, the reasoning behind them, and an attempt of an

appraisal of their effect.

The first chapter will detail the direct forerunner to Chartism: the campaign against the

newspaper stamp. These ‘taxes on knowledge’ were deemed by radicals to be a direct

44

Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature, pp.139-162.

23

attempt by the ruling elites to suppress intelligence and prevent the politicisation of the

working class. The unstamped newspaper press that this movement created possessed

many links with the later Chartist press. Individuals were often involved in both,

organisational connections were common and also the movement helped create a working

class audience for journalism that would prove vital for the success of the Chartist press. To

fully understand the Chartist press and its audience it is necessary to analyse the

newspapers of the unstamped.

The second chapter focuses on the use of ‘oratory journalism’ in the Chartist press. This

technique was multi faceted, using both transcriptions of speech as well as imitated speech

on paper in order to better integrate with the reader. This technique was created with the

practice of reading aloud in mind. Papers such as the Northern Star were often read aloud

in a group, and the style of writing in the press reflected that. The result of this awareness

of oratory style was to create a genuine public sphere of newspaper readers and

consumers that felt connected and appreciated by their radical newspapers.

The third chapter will analyse the common practice of printing letters within the pages of

the Chartist press. Letters came in many forms, with those from readers and those from

prominent chartist leaders all making the pages of the press. This served to better integrate

the papers within the movement. Examples come from ordinary working class men and

women expressing their views on a national stage, and they respond with appreciation

when they are printed. The printing of letters shows how Chartism was able to create such

cohesion, giving people a voice when they otherwise wouldn’t have had one.

A conclusion will then seek to provide a summary of what this research has uncovered, and

analyse what overall analysis can be brought from this. The aim is to better understand the

press and its audience, and contextualise the language of the press with regard to the

wider Chartist movement.

24

Chapter 1: The Taxes on Knowledge.

The Chartist press may be seen as having two distinct forms, separate but nevertheless

overlapping in content and styles. On the one side, there are the stamped newspapers such

as the Northern Star and The Charter, and on the other there are the unstamped journals

such as the Western Vindicator and the Chartist Circular, as well as later more literary

minded journals such as The Red Republican and The Labourer. Crucial to the printing,

publication, distribution and content of these unstamped journals was the legacy of the

‘War of the Unstamped’ in the 1830s. This legacy was also crucial to the development of

London based ‘moral force’ Chartism which grew immediately following the end of

newspaper taxation agitation. The ‘War of the Unstamped’ helped foster class-based anger

for a wide number of ‘physical force’ Chartists including Feargus O’Connor. This multi-

faceted influence has been recognised by historians, with Edward Royle stating that ‘the

consequences of the ‘War of the Unstamped’ are difficult to be over-estimated’ and

Dorothy Thompson describing it as ‘the most important and influential’ precursor to the

Chartist Press.45 The ‘War of the Unstamped’ established a basis of journalistic opposition

for all Chartist newspapers. This deserves further exploration as it occurred during an

influential period of journalistic development. It has been relatively understudied when it

comes to historiography; therefore a detailed analysis upon the stamp and its opponents is

needed fully to grasp the nature of the Chartist press.46

The ‘War of the Unstamped’ ran from 1830 to 1836, when, under the waves of middle class

and working class pressure, the government reduced the newspaper tax from 4d. down to

1d. The radical opposition to the so-called ‘taxes on knowledge’ was not a new

45

Edward Royle, Chartism (York, 1980), p. 13; Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists (London, 1984), p. 37. 46

Joel H. Weiner, The War of The Unstamped (New York, 1969); Patricia Hollis, The Pauper Press (London, 1970).

25

phenomenon unique to the 1830s. Ever since the government had first rallied against

radical working class journalism in 1819 the radicals had opposed such interference on

what they considered a right to knowledge. The ‘Six Acts’ of that year served to render the

possibility of a popular working class literature almost impossible, with a prohibitive tax of

4d. per copy sold of any regular publication deemed to be reporting ‘news and

occurrences’. The specific terms of this act would come to be challenged by not only the

newspapers of the ‘unstamped’, but also the unstamped journals of the Chartist period.

Henry Hetherington published what was in effect an irregular weekly publication under a

different name each week, and later George Julian Harney stated in his paper, the Red

Republican how he was forbidden to report on ‘news occurrences and events’ to preserve

his paper’s status as a legally unstamped publication.47

Despite the fact that the Stamp Act would be deliberately flouted, and eventually create a

new form of journalism, the initial impact was to damage the influence and importance of

radicalism. Weiner described the act of 1819 as being ‘instantaneously successful’; as the

increased tax meant that most influential journalists and publishers were forced into

charging upwards of 6d. for their publications (the penalty for publishing an unstamped

publication was £20 per violation).48 This served to decrease readership and subsequently

the influence of radicals such as William Cobbett.

What followed was a period of working class political apathy throughout the 1820s, the like

of which had not been seen in England since before the publication of Paine’s Rights of

Man in 1791-2. The weakened state of radicalism was compounded by reviving economic

conditions and subsequently, as McCalman stated: ‘overt political radicalism declined and

47

G D H Cole and A W Filson, British Working Class Movements: Selected Documents 1789-1875 (London, 1967), p. 306; George Julian Harney, The Red Republican, Vol. 1 No. 5 (July 20, 1850). 48

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, pp. 5- 6.

26

disappeared during the 1820s’.49 The Stamp Act had eradicated radicalism and there was a

paucity of unstamped journals in the 1820s, any existing publications were shut down

quickly and few had any kind of political pretensions. Weiner demonstrated that during this

period newspaper consumption was stationary, a surprising statistic in comparison to the

trends in the United States, where circulations were rapidly rising in a country with a far

smaller population.50 Thus we can see the effect of the newspaper taxes of 1819. Firstly

they served to kill off (in conjunction with other factors) radicalism and working class

political organisation, and secondly severely weakened working-class appetites for radical

newspapers. As long as the 4d. stamp remained, the prospects for a legal newspaper with a

working-class readership were slim. Such a venture needed an individual of considerable

wealth, a radical nature and an ability to take considerable personal risk. Even if such an

individual existed, the price of such a publication would be prohibitive to virtually all of its

working-class target audience. It was these obstacles, in the light of a new radical mood in

the country; that led to radicals deliberately flouting the stamp and using the illegality of

their papers to bolster their own arguments from 1830. The legal status of these

newspapers was specifically the cause of their being, and the brazen attitude of publishers

came to define the ‘War of the Unstamped’ in the 1830s.

The sudden burst of radicalism that emerged in 1830 was, like the opposition of the 1790s,

inspired by the ideals of a revolution in France.51 The July Revolution also occurred during

the same year as the Wellington government was in dissolution and preparing for a General

Election. This served to ignite the embers of the political reform movement and set in

motion not just the reform agitation but also the ‘War of the Unstamped’. William

Carpenter was among the first openly to challenge the censorship of the press by

49

Iain McCalman, Radical Underworld (Cambridge, 1988), p. 181. 50

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, p. 8. 51

Hollis, The Pauper Press, p.64.

27

publishing his Political Letters beginning in October 1830.52 This ‘periodical’ set what was

effectively the form and style for many of the unstamped papers to come. Publications

were typically undated and separate, often featuring different titles each week so to as

avoid being labelled as ‘regular’. However, they were nonetheless patently illegal, and

agitators like Henry Hetherington openly stated on the subheading of his Penny Papers for

the People his intention to provide a ‘comprehensive digest of all political occurrences of

the week’.53 While some tried avidly to avoid illegality, and others brazenly advertised it

like Hetherington, it remained a fact that all vendors, journalists and publishers of the

unstamped were aware of the illegal status of their newspapers. As such, they were all

committed to the principles of a ‘cheap and honest press’. It is now necessary to determine

what these principles were, and the justifications used by radicals to reinforce their

arguments.

The principle justification for a removal of the newspaper tax was on the basis of working-

class enlightenment, with the importance of knowledge being central to the radical

argument. Using Paineite principles, the working classes asserted that each man had an

inalienable right to knowledge. The ability for the working class to consume political

knowledge, it was assumed, would enable them to understand the rights of which they had

been perpetually denied. One vendor from 1831 asserted the following:

They are called ignorant, but what is the cause of their ignorance? Why the tax

which prevents them from getting information.54

Thus we see the factor of political awareness being somewhat of a ‘catch-22’, which the

unstamped press was aiming to break. The political establishment kept the masses

uninformed by virtue of taxing their own papers out of existence. The lack of

52

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, p. 138. 53

Henry Hetherington, Penny Papers for the People, 25 December 1830. 54

Spectator, 13 August 1831.

28

representative newspapers meant the working class did not realise this educational

disenfranchisement was taking place. Thus by informing the working classes of the

oppressive nature of the political system the new press could open the door for a free flow

of knowledge. This two sided, fractional controlling of knowledge was crucial to the

arguments of the ‘War of the Unstamped’.

Separate to the political ideas of enlightenment enunciated by the unstamped papers was

the very real sense that they were trying to grow working-class intelligence more generally

into cultural and social areas. Weiner stated how an unprecedented desire for political

knowledge was predicated on increasing literacy as well as increasing the extent of cultural

experience.55 This is reflected in the wide range of non-political unstamped journals

published in the 1830s. There were publications based on science, literature, religion and

law, and all were representative of the extent of education of the working class via cheap

accessible reading material. In addition to this there was the ‘cheap book crusade’ of 1828-

1832, where the public gained a new desire for literature in various forms. As a response to

this, pressure groups tried to widen the availability of reading material for the working

class.56 The extent to which the newly literate working class were able to embrace books as

well as such a wide variety of journals was used as an example for the need for a legal,

cheap and honest press available to the working class. Education, thus far denied, was to

be cultural as well as political.

If we can see the principle argument used by the unstamped agitators as being one of a

two sided struggle between the need for working class enlightenment and the desire of the

establishment to control this enlightenment then we must explore both views. Thus we

must understand the desire for the aristocracy to ‘keep the people ignorant’. The basis for

the newspaper tax, in the eyes of the elite, was to preserve public order by limiting political

55

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, p. 117. 56

Ian Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature (Cambridge, 2004), p. 106.

29

awareness. The working classes were more dangerous to society if they were intelligent

and well reasoned than if they were ill informed and uncultivated. Thus, so the unstamped

press claimed, the newspaper tax was an attempt by the aristocracy to maintain their own

position while simultaneously keeping the workers in their place. The idea of an oppressive

and selfish ruling class was familiar to any reader of Cobbett or Carlile. Ideas of Old

Corruption were being transposed to a medium for corrupting intelligence, and the

implementation of the newspaper stamp was just another example of the ruling classes

using their power to deny the people of their ‘natural rights’.57 This idea was embodied in

the masthead of the most influential unstamped journal, The Poor Man’s Guardian, which

stated ‘published contrary to “law”, to challenge the power of “might” against “right”’.58

The concept of the ruling classes abusing their position was a thread of radicalism as

important as the desire for suffrage. It was as significant to radicalism in 1819 as it was to

Chartism and as such, the use of it to portray the newspaper tax as a method of control is

consistent with half a century of rhetoric.

It is also worth noting that for campaigners it was not enough for the working class to have

access to cheap publications, they also had to have a whole section of press as their own.

Therefore it was necessary to not only have an accessible press but also one reflecting the

working man’s own particular interests and rights. Up until the 1830s the press had

belonged generally to the landed and wealthy classes, and the only way to break this

bondage was to give the workers their own press. By giving them a free press, they were

providing ‘the portal through which working men could pass into political society’.59

As has been intimated, the importance of a free press was not just limited to the

availability of newspapers and the ability for the workers to have their representative

57

Hollis, The Pauper Press, pp. 210-212. 58

Henry Hetherington, Poor Man’s Guardian, July 30 1831. 59

Radical, 3 September 1831.

30

press. For most reformers, the newspaper stamp acted as a symbol on which all of their

other ideas could hang, and an untaxed press came to represent the ideal of a better and

fairer society. Though some intimated that a free press would act as compensation for the

lack of universal suffrage, the reality was far different. R. E. Lee stated that ‘universal liberty

and happiness’ would result following the removal of the tax.60 George Petrie stated, ‘that

taught by an unshackled honest press, the people quietly would command redress for all

their wrongs!’ 61 An issue of the Poor Man’s Guardian asserted that the ‘fraud and

usurpation of the rich, can only be vanquished with the enlightenment of the mind with the

truth’, intimating a grand scale of change on behalf of the removal of the newspaper tax.62

Therefore significant weight was placed on the ‘taxes on knowledge’. If the enlightenment

of the working class was not a strong enough reason, working-class agitators placed

intangible changes to the whole of society on the need for a free press.

Thus for radicals the effect of the removal of the stamp was the possible achievement of

the most important goal for all of radicalism, universal suffrage. Bronterre O’Brien

intimated as much by saying he believed it would result in the working class gaining

representatives in parliament.63 There was a sense then, within the rhetoric of the

unstamped, that all social and political strife could be averted with the removal of the tax.

We now know that this did not happen, and subsequently radical activity turned to the

Chartist movement. We must now analyse what the legacy of the unstamped was for the

Chartist movement and its press.

As this is a study of the Chartist press, we must now draw together what influence the War

of the Unstamped had upon Chartism and its print culture. Historians have long

acknowledged the link, citing not just the individuals involved but also the way in which the

60

R.E. Lee, A Whisper to the Whigs (London, 1831), pp. 1-2 61

George Petrie, Equality (London, 1841), p. 4. 62

Hetherington, Poor Man’s Guardian, July 7 1832. 63

Bronterre O’Brien, Hetherington’s Twopenny Dispatch, Vol. II No.84. September 5 1835

31

respective movements operated and the political development of the working class. E. P.

Thompson confirmed this last point by stating:

The line from 1832 to Chartism is not a haphazard pendulum alternation of

‘political’ and ‘economic’ agitations but a direct progression, in which simultaneous

and related movements converged to a single point. This point was the vote. There

is a sense that the Chartist movement commenced... at the moment the Reform

Bill achieved Royal Assent.64

Despite being noted by historians, the link between the Unstamped and the Chartist

Movement deserves full discussion. The historiography of Chartism shows a shortfall with

regard to how the 1830s influenced later Chartist agitation, and this is especially the case

with regards to the Press. Without the unstamped, Chartism would not have happened,

and as Thompson stated they share a lineage which places them as part of the same

movement, albeit with different names. Thus the agitations of the 1830s, of which the

newspaper tax is most relevant with regards to the press, can be seen as being critical to

the development of a singular movement with the name ‘Chartism’. The drawing up of the

People’s Charter in 1838 largely served simply to give the nascent movement a new name

and to fortify its aims. The agitation from which it was born is just as crucial to its existence

as are the Newport rising of 1839 and Plug Plot Riots of 1842. With this background, we can

further appreciate the central importance of the ‘Unstamped’ to the Chartist Press.

One factor of the ‘Unstamped’ which served to influence the Chartist movement was the

divisive split which emerged between the working class and middle class. In Weiner’s view

the war against the newspaper tax engendered a sharp degree of class bitterness.65 This

bitterness was fostered on the narrative of the ‘betrayal’ of the working class by the middle

64

Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, p. 909. 65

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, p. 124.

32

class around the Reform agitation surrounding the 1832 Reform Act, which subsequently

served to galvanise working-class opinion into an ‘us and them’ scenario respecting class

relationships. Throughout the 1830s working-class radicalism became increasingly wary of

the middle classes, who were now to form a separate movement for the repeal of

newspaper taxes. This movement used pressure on parliament to try and achieve a free

press, and was predicated on considerably more commercial grounds than the equivalent

working-class agitation. However, the divide came principally because of the middle classes

dislike of the unstamped working class papers such as the Poor Man’s Guardian and Man.

For the working class this was further evidence of a fundamental, unbridgeable divide

between the classes. Thus the galvanising effect of alienation gave the radical campaigners

fuel, and the sentiment of class alienation would live into the Chartist movement and the

Chartist press.

Much of the most extreme class tensions directly prefigured ‘physical force’ Chartism.

Evidence for this influence may be found in much of O’Connor’s editorship of the Northern

Star around the time of the strikes in the summer of 1842. During this period, O’Connor

sought to distance himself and Chartism from the strikes, despite the fact that many

involved waving Chartist banners and calling for the Charter to be passed. The reason for

this was a deep mistrust on O’Connor’s behalf with regard to the middle classes. He

believed that it had been the middle-class Anti-Corn Law League which induced workers to

strike, pressuring government to meet their aims. O’Connor stated in the Northern Star

that it was ‘the league-men which have caused all this hubbub’.66 He accused the members

of the League of seeking to poison the minds of the people, using ‘hellish sentiments’. This

deeply held mistrust of the middle classes was partly influenced by the divisions felt during

the ‘War of the Unstamped', which O’Connor was privy to. Therefore, Chartism was never

able to affect any kind of unity with the middle class. Partly because of the perceived

66

Feargus O’Connor, The Northern Star, August 20 1842, p. 4.

33

superiority of the middle class, and their distaste for universal suffrage which rendered the

classes incompatible, but also because of a distrust on behalf of the working-class Chartist

movement. They felt they had been betrayed too many times to let the middle classes

muddy the waters again and thus excluded them from their radical activity, as well as

criticising them in their Chartist newspapers. This attitude towards class relations can be

seen similarly in the agitation of the Unstamped.

A further important influence of the ‘War of the Unstamped’ which affected Chartism was

that it served to set up a coherent network of vendors, editors and distributors throughout

the country, all primed to promote the radical press. Although radical newspapers had

been distributed previously, it was the 1830s which had instated a coherent system of

literary radical opposition. The key reason for this was the illegality of the papers.

Unstamped journals could not rely on the state assisting the distribution of papers which

stamped weeklies could. In addition to this, established booksellers refused to handle the

toxic newspapers and so radical journalists were forced to establish an underground

network of individuals and organizations willing to assist in the exercise. Street vendors and

proprietors in London were the first to be recruited, before a more national network was

set up. Campaigners such as Hetherington toured the North of the country recruiting

agencies, and this was what laid the foundations for a truly underground movement of

popular journalism; Cleave, Carlile and Morrison used Hetherington’s agents and profited

from his success.67 Thus the press became a cohesive network of writers willing to

reciprocate their efforts for the cause of the wider movement. By the time of the Chartist

movement in 1837, and the launch of the Northern Star, this network was widely

established and rich with experience of a literary radical opposition. Although the Star itself

carried a stamp, it was able to use the agents and vendors of the 1830s to establish itself as

the nation’s most popular newspaper. G.J. Harney had been a vendor in the 1830s, and

67

Hollis, The Pauper Press, pp. 108-111.

34

later served as editor in the Star. Henry Vincent exploited the building blocks laid by

Hetherington and Cleave by using the same coffee house keepers, newsagents and vendors

as they did when he started the Western Vindicator.68 As Thompson has identified, many of

the vendors arrested during the age of the Unstamped later become involved in the

distribution of Chartist papers. Examples come in the form of James Ibbotson, Titus Brooke,

Christopher Tinker and Joseph Lingard, all of whom are listed in reports of 1830s vendors

as well as later serving the same role for the Star, throughout the country.69 Many of these

individuals had been arrested and sometimes imprisoned, but were willing to risk similar

punishments again. This therefore also shows the determination instilled by the ‘War of the

Unstamped’ in fighting for the cause of radicalism.

In addition to this was the culture of petitions, meetings and public speaking which

developed around the cause of the unstamped press which gave future Chartists

experience of radical opposition on the national stage. Individuals involved in both the

Stamp agitation of the 1830s and Chartism included Henry Hetherington, Joshua Hobson,

William Lovett and Feargus O’Connor. Although too young himself, Henry Vincent

surrounded himself with individuals involved in the Stamp campaign when starting his

Western Vindicator, and thus some of the fathers of the People’s Charter had their roots in

the battle for a free press.70 Naturally, this influence does not stop with individuals simply

spanning the two movements. One of the key ancestors of the London Working Men’s

Association (a key organ in the development of early Chartist thought, responsible for the

Charter newspaper) was the Association of Working Men to Procure a Cheap and Honest

Press formed in 1836.71 These groups were essentially one and the same, in all but name.

Following the reduction of the stamp in 1836 it adopted a new moniker, but continued to

68

Owen Ashton, ‘The Western Vindicator and Early Chartism’, in Joan Allen and Owen Ashton (eds), Papers for the People: A Study of the Chartist Press (London, 2005), pp.54-81. 69

Thompson, The Chartists, pp. 38-39. 70

Ashton, ‘The Western Vindicator and Early Chartism’, p.56. 71

Thompson, The Chartists, p. 39.

35

seek the removal of ‘those cruel laws that prevent the free circulation of thought through

the medium of a cheap and honest press’.72 In time this Association came to represent

metropolitan Chartism and was a key to ‘moral force’ Chartism in the capital. Thus we can

see that through individuals with experience of earlier struggles for a free press, influences

could be carried into the nascent Chartist movement. The next factor influencing Chartism

is how these individuals and associated organisations were able to learn from the

journalism of the 1830s in order to increase the effectiveness of their own rhetoric.

One important inspiration which was carried by the aforementioned individuals to their

new radical venture of Chartism, was their appreciation of the press as a weapon to be

used. Newspapers had been an integral part of radical opposition since the beginning of the

nineteenth century, but the ‘War of the Unstamped’ had taught radical leaders how much

the working class had an appetite for a representative printed press. Radicals needed the

press, and the working class needed it just as much in return. The large circulation of

papers such as the Poor Man’s Guardian showed them just how many people could be

influenced by papers, and the potential market for a publication associated with the

nascent Chartist movement. As with the establishment of the mechanics for printing and

distributing papers which developed in the 1830s, a culture of reading and digesting

material emerged amongst the working class in the same period. In the Chartist period,

working men would often join together in order to subscribe to a publication, thus sharing

the financial burden. As Dorothy Thompson pointed out, this practice occurred prominently

in the 1830s, along with the culture of alehouses and coffee-shops maintaining a steady

supply of the contemporary radical print.73 This served to create a cohesive culture of

reading and disseminating radical thought, on a scale not before seen. This was further

72

London Working Men’s Association, Prospectus and Rules (London, 1836). 73

Thompson, The Chartists, p. 42.

36

enhanced by a new, largely literate, working class, to be found especially in cities.74 The

result was therefore a network of readers primed for a popular radical source to represent

Chartism. This was undoubtedly in Feargus O’Connor’s mind when he established the

Northern Star. He was well aware of the need for a paper to utilise the power of the press,

and wanted to combine this with the ‘power of the platform’.75 He was mainly inspired by

William Cobbett in his desire to begin a weekly newspaper, however his experience during

the years of the Unstamped had taught him two valuable lessons. Firstly, that a popular

paper could help unify a movement and serve to organise it nationally. Secondly, that the

working class were now hungry for such a paper, and that their development politically had

led them to this point. The circulation figures for the Star are proof of its success, and this

was due in no small part to the development of working-class attitudes to newspapers in

the 1830s. Bronterre was convinced of the press’s significance when he stated:

With representatives in the press, we shall have representatives in the

corporations and popular societies, and with representations in these, the

transition will not be impossible with regard to the House of Commons.76

It is therefore clear the grand importance which radicals placed on the press following the

1830s. The Chartists considered it as the centrepiece of their rhetoric, and the readers felt

likewise. Chartism maintained a core audience of readers committed to its press, and the

reciprocative need for a healthy press movement for both Chartists leaders and the

working class ensured Chartism a strong literary presence in the form of newspapers.

Further evidence of the influence felt by the ‘War of the Unstamped’ upon Chartism is the

extent to which political ideas generated in the 1830s carried over into Chartist ideology.

74

W. B. Stephens, Education, Literacy and Society 1830-70: The Geography of Diversity in Provincial England (Manchester, 1987), pp. 2-25. 75

James Epstein, Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star, International Review of Social History 21 (1976), pp. 52-97. 76

Bronterre O’Brien, Hetherington’s Twopenny Dispatch, Vol. II No.84. September 5 1835

37

Radicalism had been dominated by the ideas of Paine since the 1790s, and the years of the

Unstamped were no different. Paineite ideology had reinforced the right to vote, along

with a general distrust of an aristocracy said to be in violation of the people’s rights. The

common theme of Old Corruption was also prominent, denouncing the ‘incestuous’

relations at the heart of government concerned only with the preservation of their own

interests. However, it is clear that the ‘War of the Unstamped’ ‘developed working class

political, economic, and social theory’ to an extent which can be seen in Chartism.77 As has

been previously described, the relationship between the middle class and the working class

severely deteriorated in the years of the Unstamped. This was a central point in Weiner’s

book on the Unstamped and the point is still valid. The attitude seen in the Chartist press

towards class reconciliation is distinctly cautionary, with little to no desire for class

cooperation. However, the impact of the ‘War of the Unstamped’ goes deeper. Following

the failure of the movement to remove the newspaper tax, followers of the movement felt

a grave injustice had been dealt. Despite what was a relatively modest aim, the aristocracy

and government had once again let the working class down. Parallels with the 1832 Reform

Act are easily drawn, and the desire emerged for a wider solution to society’s ills. Weiner

stated:

As a culminating reaction to this increasing sense of frustration, working class

reformers began to search for more all-encompassing political panaceas.78

Therefore, the ‘working-class reformers’ realised simultaneously the two problems with

trying to eradicate the newspaper tax. Firstly, the establishment of free newspapers could

never correct the society in which the working class were consistently betrayed. The

removal of the tax was never likely to solve all the problems that the Unstamped papers so

eloquently described. Secondly, the current governmental system was never going give the

77

Hollis, The Pauper Press, p. 299. 78

Weiner, War of the Unstamped, p. 274.

38

working class a press of their own, such was the need for them to maintain a state capable

of exploiting the working class. Therefore, electoral reform became the principal factor on

which working class radicals campaigned, and the wider political agenda they now

supported was epitomised in Chartism and the People’s Charter. Therefore there can be

little doubt of influence the Unstamped press had on Chartism.

A further way in which the Unstamped newspapers influenced Chartist ideology was that it

identified and developed a new conception of class. The writings of O’Brien and

Hetherington in many ways prefigured Marxism, and their emphasis on both economic as

well as political approaches significantly developed working-class theory. Although they did

not see class as being as important as later Socialists, they nevertheless emphasised the

importance of class consciousness to radical politics. They saw class as only coming into

existence when viewed in context and comparison with another class’s relative situation,

along with a shared conception of the world. The working class became conscious in many

ways the day the Reform act was passed. With the middle class achieving the vote, they

were now well and truly separate. As Hollis stated, the gulf between the classes ‘was

marked by the vote’.79 The resulting Unstamped movement was a product of this. The

working classes were unified by a cohesive radical rhetoric of reform, and they began to

view themselves as being a separate entity apart from the now opposing middle classes.

This was the emergence of a class consciousness. The primacy of shared ideas as well as a

shared experience is what lived long into the movement of Chartism.

The idea that Chartism was in fact born in 1832 with the passing of the Reform Act

supports this evidence which shows that the link between the two working-class

movements of the 1830s was a strong one. This link is even stronger when the study

concerned is focused on the Chartist Press. The ideas fostered during the ‘War of the

79

Hollis, The Pauper Press, p. 300.

39

Unstamped’, and the sense in which the working class had found a political consciousness,

helped Chartism become the grand movement it was. In addition to this, the unstamped

papers of the 1830s provided a blueprint of recurrent radical literature for both journalists

as well as the working-class reading public. By combining these two central factors, the

Chartist press could use the campaign against the newspaper tax as a springboard for

developing the highly influential Chartist press movement, a movement which was critical

in making Chartism the national movement it became. It is therefore clear that the ‘War of

the Unstamped’ is a crucial part of the creation of Chartism, and as such its literary,

political, social and economic ideas, as well as the advances it made in the printing,

publishing and distribution of radical papers, should be kept in mind in a comprehensive

study of the Chartist press.

40

Chapter 2: Oratory Journalism and the Mass Platform in the

Chartist Press

This chapter will analyse the rhetoric and oratory in key elements of the Chartist press and

argue that through an oratory style Chartist journalists brought the arena of the Mass

Platform to working class public spheres. While Chartist historians have accepted that

newspapers were read aloud, and that the Mass Platform provided vital experience to

prominent Chartists, there has been little written about how these worlds are connected.

The experiences of the Mass Platform informed Chartist writing, and the distinct style of

Chartist journalism had a lot to do with the attempt to draw on these experiences. This

chapter intends to provide examples as to how this was done. Also much of the research

that has been done on the Chartist press has focused either too heavily on a structural

approach, concerned chiefly with the setting up and running of newspapers with little

attention given to the content of the papers; or too focused on language with a paucity of

analysis with regards to its effect. This chapter aims to address this shortcoming by

analysing the content of Chartist newspapers while giving some account as the wider

implications of such writing.

A central tenet of the Chartist press was the way in which it provided a medium by which

the Mass Platform could reach and influence a wider variety of areas and thus individuals

than it ordinarily would. The role of the press was significant in engaging the public, and as

Epstein suggested for O’Connor, the Northern Star marked the convergence of the powers

of the press, with the dominance of the platform.1 The attitude of combining techniques

and ideas of the platform with those of the press pervades the wide diversity of Chartist

1 James Epstein, ‘Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star’, International Journal of Social History, 21

(1976), p. 51.

41

periodical literature. Through the use of ‘oratory journalism’, the writers and editors of the

Chartist newspapers could echo the rhetorical and sometimes inflammatory language of

the platform. Not only did this writing educate and inform, but it also served to solidify

connections to the provincial fringes of Chartism and give connections to those who

otherwise would not be involved with orators on the circuit. The hallmarks of ‘oratory

journalism’ will be discussed in detail later, as will the effects of this style, but first it is

necessary to explain just what the Mass Platform represented and why the press aimed to

replicate it.

The role of the Mass Platform has long played a significant role in the organisation and

development of radicalism in Britain. The use of speeches and the Mass Platform had been

embraced by radicals in earlier times, most notably perhaps with Henry Hunt and the post-

war crisis of 1815-19. The age of Chartism and its increased organisation gave rise to a new

era of oratory politics. R. G. Gammage was an observer of Chartism, and a prominent

figure in Chartist circles, especially in later years. His history of the Chartist movement

provides a valuable insight into first hand experiences of the Chartists. He noted

contemporaneously that:

The dawn of the Chartist movement was quite an era in working class oratory. It

gave to the humblest the opportunity of raising his voice in public meeting, and

that opportunity was not disregarded, but, on the other hand, was embraced with

avidity.2

Like the use of the press, Chartists realised that the Mass Platform could be highly

influential, and provided what was the frontline in recruiting the people to the Chartist

cause. Meetings could draw huge crowds, and a rabble-rousing speech from the likes of

2 R. G. Gammage, The History of the Chartist Movement (London, 1854), p. 24.

42

Feargus O’Connor or Henry Vincent could turn many would-be radicals into fully fledged

Chartists.

In order to judge just how important the platform was, we can look at just how many of

Chartism’s most famous individuals found their notoriety as orators. O’Connor, McDouall,

Stephens, O’Brien, and Taylor all formed a group characterised by Owen Ashton as being

‘gentleman speakers’, men of social standing who turned into political orators.3 These men

were all classed as being leaders of the Chartist movement, and all can be seen as directing

the political ideas of the movement directly from the platform. The educated, professional

background of these men meant they were responsible for the intellectual weight behind

many of Chartism’s biggest arguments. Bronterre O’Brien, notable in the Chartist press for

his long letters in the Northern Star, would become known as the ‘schoolmaster’ of

Chartism such was the educational character of his speeches. O’Connor’s nickname of the

‘Lion of Freedom’ was due in part to his flamboyant and demagogic stature on the

platform.4

Other Chartist such as Henry Vincent, Robert Lowery and Julian Harney also garnered their

reputation based on their abilities as orators. While coming from working backgrounds,

they nevertheless became notable for their speeches. Vincent in particular was famous for

his greatly developed oratory skill, and his abilities had by March 1839 turned him into a

highly in-demand individual. David Jones pointed out that invitations to speak came from

every mining valley; for thirteen months he had spoken for at least two hours a day and

travelled six thousand miles.5 Therefore we can tell that for those like Vincent, it was his

skill in public speaking that brought him fame and notoriety. The connections of these men

3 Owen Ashton, ‘Orators and Oratory in the Chartist Movement 1840-1848’, in Owen Ashton, Robert

Fyson, Stephen Roberts (eds), The Chartist Legacy (Woodbridge, 1999) pp. 48 - 80. 4 Ashton,’ Orators and Oratory in the Chartist Movement’, p. 54; Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists,

(London, 1984), p. 99. 5 David Jones, The Newport Rising (Oxford, 1985), p. 63.

43

to the press should not be overlooked. Vincent combined his speaking with his writing for

and publishing of The Western Vindicator. Julian Harney would use the expertise gained on

the platform to help him become editor of the Northern Star and produce the Red

Republican, and in doing so become one of the most prominent figures of later Chartism.

This analysis of the experience of key individuals has clearly demonstrated the links

between the Mass Platform and the Chartist press.

The impact of the Mass Platform and these orators was important. The personal style of

orators and the methods which they used to articulate their intense political feelings

helped touch a chord with the ordinary working class man who might attend a meeting. By

looking through reports within Chartist newspapers we can try to understand the

excitement and power of a Chartist meeting. An example is of a meeting in Liverpool, with

Feargus O’Connor in attendance. The description in The Northern Star evokes the

atmosphere, by stating that the venue of the Queens Theatre was ‘crowded in every part,

boxes, gallery, pit and stage, to suffocation.’, and that O’Connor was ‘received with loud

and enthusiastic applause, which lasted for several minutes’.6 This atmosphere is reflected

in other reports of other meetings in other newspapers; the public Chartist meeting was a

vibrant and exciting event, due in no small part to the orators and the skill of their rhetoric.

While the press can be seen as being the political and organisational bedrock of Chartism,

the Mass Platform and Chartist meetings can be equally seen as being the social fabric of

the movement. This was where direct political discourse took place, and where the masses

of the movement could liaise with the intellectual heart of Chartism, and where the

foundations of the national petitions could be discussed.

Therefore we have seen just how important the Mass Platform was to Chartism. It provided

its most famous and influential commentators a voice, and it gave supporters a social base.

6 The Northern Star, 19 May 1838, p. 8.

44

As Ashton has shown, the role of oratory increased the membership in the National Charter

Association (N.C.A.) rapidly, and in a way that could not have been achieved by the printed

word alone.7 It is for these reasons that Chartist journalists used their experience of the

platform to instruct their writing. It is the convergence of the powers of the platform of

those of the press which created the literary strength of Chartist journalism. By using

rhetorical methods found on the platform, and techniques such as punctuation for

emphasis and other stylistic flourishes, journalists could increase the appeal of oratory to

those who were not at the meetings or did not attend the rallies. For all the success of the

oratory platform, they could never reach the same audience of a stamped newspaper such

as the Northern Star. While the Northern Star could expect a circulation of 35,000 plus

each week, and public meetings varied between 10,000 and 200,000, the geographic reach

was where the Star and other papers found their strength.8 While a meeting in Manchester

drew large numbers, it could not supply the provinces with the same efficacy as a press

network. In addition to this was regularity of readers for the papers. Public meetings

typically drew most numbers during periods of high Chartist activity, and as such their

occurrence is patchy. Papers such as the Northern Star could rely on a much more regular

audience through the course of a year, building up a solid relationship with a core

readership. Therefore we can see a reason for the style of ‘oratory journalism’ which

developed. It was an attempt to expand the reach of platform speeches, increase the

effectiveness of rhetoric, and to better engage with the Chartist public. It is now necessary

then, to show just how we can tell it existed, and ultimately attempt to explain the impact

of this technique.

Oratory journalism was based on the fact that many newspaper articles were read aloud.

The reading clubs of the 1830s had highly popularised the idea of reading aloud a

7 Ashton, ‘Orators and Oratory in the Chartist Movement’, p. 54, Thompson, The Chartists, p. 69.

8 James Epstein, ‘Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star’, p.97; Sunday Observer, 16

th April 1848 p.

1.

45

contemporary book or paper, with the unstamped press providing radical reading material.

The practice was encouraged in new industrial towns and cities through these reading

clubs. In the political and social maelstrom of Chartism this practice drew into sharper

focus. Prominent Chartists were aware of the significance of the practice. William Lovett,

who was not an orator nor did he approve of the O’Connor brand of Chartism, nevertheless

wrote about the reading aloud of newspapers. In the political pamphlet titled: ‘CHARTISM:

a new organisation of the people’, Lovett described what may be the ideal format for a

public reading, emphasising the communal experience.9 He also noted in his autobiography

the set-up at his co-operative store in Greville Street:

One of the rooms was set-up as a conversation room, so as to separate the talkers from

the readers. I took in what was at that time was considered a large supply of

newspapers and periodicals... The conversation room was well attended of an evening,

in which debates were held, and classes, critical readings and recitations carried on by

the young men who attended.10

The formative experience of attending Lovett’s evening sessions was noted by some of

those ‘young men’ who attended such readings. Daniel Merrick, the Leicester based

working-class spokesman, noted in his memoir that the Northern Star would often be read

aloud after dinner, and then the matter contained within it would form the discussions for

the evening.11 W.E. Adams noted in his memoir of the moment the Star was delivered, and

the reading aloud of its ‘sacred’ text formed an important part of life as a Chartist and

radical.12 So we can see that from first-hand accounts that the reading aloud of Chartist

papers was considered common practice, in this case the Star formed part of political

discussions and was treated with reverence. This reverence comes in part due to the

9 William Lovett and John Collins, CHARTISM: A new organisation of the people (London, 1840).

10 William Lovett, The Life and Struggles of William Lovett (London, 1876), p. 71.

11 Daniel Merrick, The Warp of Life (Leicester, 1876), pp. 1-8, 12-15.

12 W. E. Adams, Memoirs of a Social Atom (London, 1968)

46

communal spirit of reading it aloud. The reading of the newspaper was not an individual

act, but a social one, based on these accounts.

The scale of this practice has been noted by historians. When estimating the real circulation

of Chartist literature, many have placed a caveat on all figures; such was the effect of the

reading aloud of newspapers. Haywood argued that during its peak, the Northern Star may

have sold as many as 50,000 to 60,000 copies a week, with ‘collective reading habits’

accounting for the possibility that actual consumption may well have been into six figures.13

Curran and Seaton also discuss this issue, stating:

Sharing of high-cost papers, together with the widespread practice of reading

practice of reading papers aloud for the benefit of the semi-illiterate and illiterate,

resulted in a very high number of ‘readers’ for each newspapers sold.14

Epstein echoes this when addressing reading habits of Chartists, noting how radicals

‘combined to have copies read aloud at home’.15 Therefore, we can be confident that the

intended audience of Chartist journals and newspapers was not primarily an individual

(though of course some individual readers would have existed), wishing to keep abreast of

Chartist activity. Instead, the picture that emerges is one of a vibrant communal

atmosphere, predicated on the dissemination of political ideas via the open discussion of

newspapers. The fostering of what Haywood describes as an alternative public sphere was

highly dependent on the practice of reading newspapers aloud and for those whom the

literacy boom of the 1830s did not encourage to learn to read, it was vital.16 While literacy

rates generally improved between 1800 and 1850, there remained areas where illiteracy

remained stagnant or indeed fell. This will be discussed in greater detail later, but it is

13

Ian Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature (Cambridge, 2004), p. 143. 14

James Curran and Jean Seaton, Power Without Responsibility: Press and Broadcasting in Britain, Fifth Edition (London, 1985) p. 14 15

James Epstein, The Lion of Freedom (Beckenham, 1982) p. 68. 16

Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature, p. 143.

47

suffice to say that for some illiteracy was still a problem, and for these people the ability to

hear newspapers being read meant an increased audience for Chartist journalists. Along

with the use of drama and imagery which will be discussed later, the practice of reading

aloud widened the scope of platform oratory politics.

An aspect that must be broached here is the issue of gender with Chartist readership.

While the description above of ‘young men’ attending reading rooms may indicate a

primarily masculine audience, there remains a possibility that women may make up a

proportion of those hearing the words of the Chartist press. The role of women in Chartism

was not insignificant, and so it stands to reason that they would have been interested in

the Chartist press. When looking at literacy levels however, this does not initially seem the

case. W.B. Stephens indicated that when looking at brides and grooms in official marriage

records, it is the grooms which primarily are the more literate.17 This reflects on overall

levels of literacy, regardless of geographic location; women regularly fall behind men with

regard to reading and writing. This much said, it does not mean that women can be

excluded from an imagined audience of the Chartist press. The boom in women’s

newspapers in the later nineteenth century may indicate that women were in fact in the

early stages of a literary awakening during this time.18 Regardless of this, there a few

factors which indicate the Chartist press may have also counted women among its

audience. As will be discussed later, women regularly contributed both in letter and report

form towards newspapers.19 In addition to this, women set up an estimated 150 Female

Chartist Associations between 1838 and 1852.20 One can safely assume that the discussions

these associations would have hosted would have been predicated on the language and

17

W.B. Stephens, Education, Literacy and Society 1830-1870: The Geography of Diversity in Provincial England (Manchester, 1987), pp. 9-12. 18

Barbara Onslow, Preaching to the Ladies: Florence Fenwick Miller and her Readers in the ‘Illustrated London News’ (Basingstoke, 2005), pp. 1-3. 19

Jutta Schwarzkopf, Women in the Chartist Movement (London, 1991), pp. 196-197. 20

Schwarzkopf, Women in the Chartist Movement, p. 199.

48

rhetoric of the Chartist press. In addition, lower levels of literacy meant that amongst

women, the oratory style and the practice of reading aloud would have been even more

significant. It opened up the world of radical journalism to a gender hitherto excluded, if

not by active disassociation then at least excluded via educational shortcomings. Therefore,

when discussing the audience of oratory journalism, we should take into account the

unique effect it had upon the women of Chartism.

The oral discussion of radical literature enabled in a very real way the transference of the

platform to everyday arenas, such as Lovett’s ‘conversation room’, public houses, women’s

associations and working class homes. It is now necessary to analyse directly the ways in

which Chartist journalists facilitated the reading aloud of their newspapers, and the

methods adopted to ensure the rhetoric of the platform could be interpreted on the page.

An analysis of editorials and ideological arguments within the Chartist press helps explain

the way in which they were intended to be read. By the use of literary devices designed to

facilitate the reading aloud of newspapers, journalists could both encourage oral discussion

as well as increase the effectiveness of the rhetoric. This has been discussed by Epstein and

Yelland, in their assessments of the Northern Star. Epstein noted that the rhetorical style of

the editorials found within the Northern Star revealed the intention that they should be

read aloud.21 Yelland expanded on this point and noted the signposts that indicate an

oratory style within Star editorials.22 However, this can be extended, as these signposts can

be seen in a variety of Chartist journals in addition to the Star.

The main signs of a piece being written with the express intention of being read aloud are

repetition of a certain sentence structure, a ‘heightened lexis’ and the use of dashes,

capitalisation or punctuations. In addition to this were more transient indicators, such as

21

Epstein, The Lion of Freedom, p. 68. 22

Cris Yelland, Speech and Writing in the Northern Star, Labour History Review, Vol. 65, No. 1 (London, 2000) p .24

49

implied distance between writer and audience. This was achieved via a conversational style

between ‘I’ and ‘you’, the ‘you’ being a plural audience.23 We will now turn to look at

examples of this oratory style.

An example of writing designed for oral delivery is found in the first issue of London based

paper The Chartist, founded by James Thompson. The first piece in the paper is addressed

‘to the reader’, and seeks to explain the reasoning behind the foundation of this new

venture. In a particular passage, the hallmarks of an oratory style are clear:

People of England! - you mighty majority of the inhabitants of once merry England

– men of swart faces and sinewy limbs – do you not feel that you want a

newspaper? Do you not feel how much you have lost for want of one? Unless you

have your own press, can the People’s Charter ever become a law?24

This extract shows a large variety of oratory devices in a short passage. The use of dashes

actively facilitates the reading aloud of the paper, as it provides the reader with explicit

instructions with regard to pacing. These dashes are of little use to a solitary reader, and

instead are designed for a reader in front of a group. Also of note is the repeated use of

questions, and the repetition of structure within these questions. Repeating ‘do you not

feel’ as well as question marks intimates an insistence of a answer, while keeping a

declamatory tone. Ultimately it apes the rhetorical questions found in a public speech,

again, showing the blurring of the lines between the platform and the page for intentional

effect. Further to this is use of the plural ‘you’ as mentioned above. ‘You mighty majority’

echoes the rallying call of a political orator, and brings to mind a vast audience to which the

writer is addressing. The combination of both literary content and punctuation here is both

better enabling the reading aloud of the piece, as well as making this oratory delivery more

23

Yelland, Speech and Writing in the Northern Star, p.35. 24

Chartist, 2 February 1839, p. 1.

50

effective. This double edged approach is what makes the use of oratory so effective, and

why the practice of reading aloud was so widespread. The reader understands how to read

aloud the piece efficiently and effectively, and the immediate audience at the reading

recieves the rhetoric of the Mass Platform on a small stage.

Further examples of the use of oratory style can be found elsewhere in the Chartist press,

with one of the most prominent instances being as a denoument to an address or editorial.

Much like an orator on a platform, writers would often seek to end their musings with a call

to action, or a rousing summation of the points already made. With the practice of reading

aloud in mind, many would punctuate their pieces with the hallmarks of oratory journalism.

An example of this may be found in an editorial in the Northern Star, dated 20 July 1839.

This editorial was written in the wake of the defeat of the first Chartist petition in

Parliament, and so launches a scathing attack on the ‘House of Capitalists’. After picking

apart the misjudgement in rejecting a petition signed by ‘a million and a quarter of their

betters’, the piece concludes with the following flourish:

To the people, then, we say – Be ready! To the Convention, we say – Be wise! To

both, we say – Be united; and Victory must follow!25

As we can see, once again the writer has used dashes to imitate the run-on sentences of a

political orator. In addition, there is also an over use of commas and semi colons, intimating

breaks in speech. This would have the effect of actively slowing down anyone reading it

aloud, ensuring the proper meaning of each point is properly made and serves to make the

speech more memorable. When used in combination with the repeated use of exclamation

marks this final passage accurately imitates a method of grand oratory, perhaps akin to one

seen at a mass gathering. The tone and the perceived target audience of such a

declamation is clearly one of a large general audience, and as such the effect of a small

25

Northern Star, 20 July 1839, p. 4.

51

group reading it in a pub or meeting room is the transferrence of the platform into a more

intimate area. Again, the style of writing both facilitates the reading aloud of the material,

as well as strengthening the persuasive argument contained within.

Another ‘signpost’ of Oratory journalism is the usage of an apocalyptic, dramatic tone. This

writing echoed the orators of both past and present, bringing to life the essence of the

Chartist struggle. It gave the writer the ability to bestow his words with more emotion, and

intimate the seriousness inherent in the Chartist struggle. This type of message was

common on the platform, with orators trying to issue a ‘call to action’ and use dramatic

metaphor to instil common cause amongst those in attendance. The use of dramatic,

apocalyptic metaphor is seen across many Chartist journals. Most commonly, it was used

by the Northern Liberator and Northern Star in editorials, and the unstamped papers such

as the Chartist Circular. Unstamped papers were forbidden under the Stamp Act from

printing news, and as such this limited the scope of writing which could fill the papers. The

result was that they were in a smaller format, and were dominated by opinion led columns

rather than direct reports. These opinion led columns were based on strong rhetorical

arguments, and therefore it paid to use dramatic language. This served to sustain interest

as well as providing a more convincing tone.

One example of dramatic oratory style can be found in the Northern Liberator published in

November 1839. In the editorial in this issue, the ‘writers of the Northern Liberator’ as they

are credited, began a rousing attack upon the Whig government. After stating that the

‘hypocritical’ and ‘meanly cruel’ Whigs are now exposed to the whole country, it says that

tremendous changes public mood are now underway:

The outpourings of public indignation against this hated faction are now beginning

to be tremendous indeed. The windows of heaven are opened; the storm is falling;

and the mighty waters are out, and rising every hour and mistaken indeed are we if

52

we do not soon see the scattered remnants of this wretched faction, climbing in

dismay and terror unspeakable into any fastness, howsoever cheerless and difficult

of access, which may seem to afford a shelter from the waves of this deluge of

public execration that is now over-sweeping the land.26

The writer here is issuing an apocalyptic metaphor, likening the changing of public opinion

with that of a biblical flood, or natural disaster. The emotional weight of what is being said

is palpable, with the writing coming across as a warning that ‘the time is now’. By stating

‘mistaken are we’ if the Whigs are not soon condemned, the writer is echoing the call from

the platform for action. A common rhetorical device of oratory politics was to increase the

urgency of the crowd, and tempt them into a passionate response. This style of writing is

doing the same. Also the drama in the text is similar to that of the ‘gentleman’ speakers

mentioned earlier. Those such as Feargus O’Connor were aware of the power of

romanticism and melodrama, and the writing in the Northern Liberator echoes that.27

Another example of the use of drama, apocalyptic tone and metaphor can be found in the

opening address of the Glasgow-based paper the Chartist Circular. In this piece there is an

attempt to engage vast swathes of would-be Chartists with the use of dramatic ‘heightened

lexis’, and the use of complex metaphor. All these factors are consistent with that of

oratory politics, as Cris Yelland has pointed out in his work on the Northern Star.28One

section brought the struggles of the people into focus, again as a call to arms, and a way to

intimate that ‘the time is now’, asking the ‘national liberty’ what it should do next:

It must decide whether a proud and useless oligarchy, whose ambition and avarice

are unbounded, are to crush beneath their power a great, an industrious, a

generous and brave people, and to fill the land with poverty, crime and turbulence;

26

Northern Liberator, 9 November 1839, p. 4. 27

Ashton, ‘Orators and Oratory in the Chartist Movement’, p. 54; Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists, p. 99. 28

Yelland, ‘Speech and Writing in the Northern Star’, p 3.

53

or whether people will throw aside the unnatural pressure, be free and establish

the reign of honour, happiness and tranquillity.29

What first is apparent here is the fact this extract is all one sentence, and features a long

list of descriptive adjectives. These are similar to the examples given earlier of oratory

indicators. Crucially here, the use of metaphor is offering the reader a choice: that of

happiness, or that of misery. The answer is obvious, and thus it seeks to convince readers

that the Charter is the solution to their predicament, and that the ‘oligarchy’ exists only to

increase the peoples suffering. The heightened lexis and metaphor serve to increase the

importance of the readers’ choice, and thus give them a sense of self-importance otherwise

unavailable to them.

The use of metaphor is again prominent later in the piece, where it states that ‘it is in these

subterraneous caverns of distress, desperation and terror that the elements of a moral

earthquake are drawing into focus’.30 The use of the term ‘moral earthquake’ is a powerful

metaphor, intimating the calamitous effects of the ‘awakening’ of the people. Again it is

hinting at coming change, and the possible rebirth of the nation. The crucial factor in both

the examples is that the people’s actions are what are most important. The people have

their destiny in their own hands. This dramatic, apocalyptic method is consistent with the

methods of the platform, and in the format of the Chartist press the writing creates a

rhetoric that is pervasive and powerful, especially when read aloud.

Another way in which the rhetoric of the platform could be reflected and imitated in the

Chartist press was in the prominence of ‘addresses’ within papers. These often would be

the lead articles, and are characterised by a specific target audience explicitly stated in the

title of the piece. The best way to understand these is to analyse an example directly. A

29

Chartist Circular, 28 September 1839, p. 1. 30

Chartist Circular, 28 September 1839, p. 1.

54

particularly compelling instance comes from the second issue of the Western Vindicator,

edited and founded by Henry Vincent. As previously mentioned, Vincent was a prominent

orator, and a man whose experience of radicalism up until this point was one of the

platform. Therefore it is significant that the title of the opening column of his paper be

titled ‘To the Men and Women of the West of England and South Wales’. This title frames

the piece as a direct address to the provinces, and emphasises the importance of the target

audience. The piece itself goes on to praise the area for all the work it’s done, and

emphasises the need to keep the struggle alive:

Universal Suffrage can alone realise the true end of representation – by giving to

each individual his proper influence to the body politic.31

Again we see the use of dashes, and these are prominent throughout the article, imitating a

style of oratory. But what is most clear is the way in which the piece is composed. The

emphasis of a global ‘you’ throughout, and the repetitive calls to action all express a debt

to the style of the Mass Platform. The piece reads like a specific address to the area of the

West of England and South Wales, emphasising the presence of the local over the national.

In much the same way as a local meeting would do, the targeted address could use specific

local concerns to strengthen the rhetorical impact. The overall effect of the technique is

once again the facilitation of reading aloud, and the strengthening of oratory rhetoric

smaller public arenas.

Another example of the use of ‘addresses’ within the Chartist Press can be found in the

Northern Star, issue number 117. The lead article in this issue is titled ‘To the delegates

who recently assembled at Manchester and their constituents’. It opens by stating:

MY FRIENDS , - I cannot allow the proceedings at Manchester to be laid before the

public without offering to you, as parties, my most sincere and heartfelt thanks.32

31

Western Vindicator, 2 March 1839, p. 1.

55

It goes on to issue a direct message to the people of Manchester, thanking them for the

support in recent days. Again, of note is the use of the plural ‘you’ and the singular ‘I’,

echoing the address style of an orator on the platform. A similar address can be found in

issue 128, titled ‘To the people of Yorkshire’, where the writer appeals to the people of

Yorkshire to denounce the Whigs, and describes his disagreements with them. Again, the

clear use of plural and singular nominative case, the ‘I’ being singular and the ‘you’ being

plural imitates the address of an orator. The most prominent aspect of such written

‘addresses’ is the clear distinction of audience described by the author. Whereas in a

normal editorial the audience is implied, and often the implication is one of a mass general

audience, here the audience is explicitly targeted. The effect is to engage with the reader or

readers in a much more direct way.

A further example can be seen the Chartist of March 9 1839. The opening passage of the

paper is devoted to an address warning readers of the ‘civil warfare’ occurring at the

National Convention in London, and warns that while physical force cannot be ruled out, it

should nevertheless be a measure of last resort.33 The address again uses a mode of

oratory similar to the above examples. However of emphasis here is the use of a ‘royal’

‘we’, and a plural ‘you’. This presents the opinions stated as those of the paper, and gives it

a collective authority. This is exemplified in the penultimate paragraph:

We say these things not to shield those who tyrannise, but to preserve you and

your cause. Do not see the enlisting going on in your streets? Do you not hear the

mustering of soldiers wherever violent language is used? Do you not feel that every

dagger or pike, openly exhibited, calls a troop of soldiers into existence in the

neighbourhood? The Whig Government is not asleep. It lies with closed eyes like a

32

Northern Star, 8 February 1840, p. 1. 33

Chartist, 9 March 1839, p. 1.

56

tiger crouching in its lair, but come once within its spring and to your cost you will

find how much its fangs delight in blood.34

Here we can see the use of ‘we’ as referring to the collective intellect of the paper as a

whole, drawing together a platform-like speech. Adding to the rhetorical weight of this

printed address is the use of a repeated question format. The sequence of ‘Do you not

see...?’, ‘Do you not hear...?’ and ‘Do you not feel...?’ is an effective rhetorical device. It

implores the audience to become involved in the discourse, and personalises the large

scale political struggle to which the writer is referring. This repetitive use of questions is

akin to those one might hear on a platform, and thus demonstrates how oratory technique

influenced written rhetoric. The address concludes by issuing a rallying cry, demanding:

‘WORKING MEN OF ENGLAND – DO NOTHING RASHLY!’. This ends the address with a fitting

epithet to the overall message, much as a speech would do. Therefore this shows how

written addresses could reflect oratory ones.

All of these examples show how journalists were able to target their writing for an

audience and tailor their writing for the written word, while simultaneously reflecting the

Mass Platform. When these pieces are read aloud to small sections of the target audience

the intention is to create a communal consciousness of an inclusive set of individuals. Much

in the same way a mass meeting engages a specific group of people, the use of targeted

addresses resulted in a further solidification of the concept of the Mass Platform coming to

the pages of the press.

Along with the factors of writing style and the printing of addresses in papers, another way

in which the oratory platform was linked to the press was via the printing verbatim of

speeches. Reports of meetings were filled with direct transcripts of what was actually said,

rather than interpretations or summaries of speeches. This was especially prevalent in the

34

Chartist, 9 March 1839, p. 1.

57

pages of the Northern Star, with Yelland pointing out that issues in 1840 could have half of

the pages taken up with transcriptions of real speech.35 The phenomenon was not exclusive

to the Northern Star however. Virtually all Chartist newspapers relied on the reprinting

either of Parliamentary intelligence (often lifted from mainstream daily papers) or of

speeches made at Chartist meetings to fill their pages. The abundance of real speech is in

part, evidence of its effect. The ability to share directly the events of the platform circuit in

a comprehensive way is part of the reason for the press and Chartism’s success. The

publication of actual speech further strengthened the link between the press and the

platform, and enabled the movement to ‘shrink’ the size of the country in terms of who

had access to public meetings.

One could open virtually any Chartist paper and find the reprinting of speech. The printing

of speeches helped to increase the audience, and enabled those unable to attend to still

receive insights from those speaking. Readers were able to make vicarious connections to

public speeches they did not attend, and perhaps pass on the wisdom they learned. These

connections enabled speeches to have an audience far away from those in attendance at

the meeting, and served to spread the message more effectively. An extreme example of

this ability to stretch the audience across geographical boundaries is found within the

Chartist Circular Issue 9. The Glasgow-based Circular was ambitious in the scope it put on

its reporting, often referring to America for perspective on British problems.36 This issue

contains an ‘Oration’, as it is titled, continuing this theme. The oration is by Edwin Forrest,

an American Shakespearean actor, and is made in celebration of American Independence.37

The oration is lengthy, and is transcribed across several issues, emphasising the

commitment made by the editor to print it. The ability to print a speech delivered in

America, and give it an audience in Scotland (and London, to those shops willing to carry

35

Yelland, Speech and Writing in the Northern Star, (London, 2000) p. 25 36

Chartist Circular, 12 October 1839, p. 1. 37

Chartist Circular, 12 November 1839, p. 4.

58

the Chartist Circular south of the border) underlines the importance the printing of speech

had. In a similar way to the use of oratory technique which imitated the platform, the

printing of speech also helped form an alternative public sphere predicated on the transfer

of the platform to everyday working class environments.

Another example comes from the Northern Star. As noted above, the Star prominently

featured verbatim speech, and its discussion of parliamentary proceedings involving it were

as in depth as anywhere within the Chartist press. But its treatment of speeches at

meetings is what is most notable. The Star would often devote the majority of the paper to

‘Chartist Intelligence’, of which the majority was transcribed speeches. Both Hobson and

O’Connor as editors of the Star were clearly equally convinced at the importance of

printing speech. The description of a speech in issue 70 by McDouall shows this:

The speech should be printed in letters of gold for its value, and in letters of blood

for the shame of the system in denounced; it should be in the hands of every one;

it should be published in every paper; it should be kept constantly in front of the

country until the whole system be overturned.38

The speech itself, criticising the factory system, is printed in the following week’s issue.

Difficulties in obtaining a complete transcription means that it is not published in full.39 The

significance of reprinting a speech and the weight placed on it by the editor is clear. The

ability to have a working class man living in provincial England consume the words of a

middle class orator hundreds of miles away shows the power of the Chartist press and the

importance of the printing of verbatim speech. It demonstrates the the power of oratory

and the rhetoric of the platform is strengthened and linked to the pages of the press. Those

men attending the ‘conversation rooms’ have the ability to hear the exact same speeches

38

Northern Star, 16 March 1839, p. 8. 39

Northern Star, 23 March 1839, p. 3.

59

as delivered by the most famous of Chartist orators. The press here is actively linking the

movement’s platform to its press, and extending the rhetoric of the former in order to

increase the importance and effectiveness of the latter.

In concluding this chapter it is necessary to emphasise the significance of the press in

reaching audiences it otherwise could not. Early Victorian Britain was a small place

geographically, but due to limited transport (especially limited for the working classes for

whom transport was an unaffordable luxury) it was a large place for many in real terms.

While many would have been interested in attending meetings, most could never do so.

For some this was due to them living in rural, remote regions. For others, even if they lived

in industrial centres, long working weeks meant that attending mass meetings was

impractical. For these people the convenience of attending a reading room or coffee house

in their locality meant their own personal engagement with the Mass Platform. The

experiences of Daniel Merrick described above echo this kind of experience, with the

reading aloud of newspapers creating their own personal platform.40

The issue of literacy is also of importance. While it is accepted that literacy levels improved

through the early nineteenth century partly via education and greater awareness of

schooling, levels of literacy underwent a patchy growth when analysed nationally. W.B.

Stephens identified that while literacy rates in the capital increased steadily from 1800

onwards, other areas such as the industrial North underwent regressions in general literacy

in this period.41 Schooling for the working classes was generally for a shorter time than

other social classes, and as such many children grew up undereducated.42 In addition to this

was the pressures that increased working time put upon childrens education, with many

unable regularly to attend school. While general advancements in education meant that

40

Daniel Merrick, The Warp of Life (Leicester, 1876). 41

Stephens, Education, Literacy and Society, pp. 1-25. 42

Stephens, Education, Literacy and Society, p. 4.

60

the working class could now sustain a press of its own, it was down to techniques in oratory

and the practice of reading aloud which meant that a large part of its supporters were not

left out.Therefore the oratory techniques explained here were vital in linking people that

were otherwise excluded from the rhetoric of Chartist speakers.

In conclusion, the picture that emerges when looking at the oratory influences in the

Chartist press is a combination of both the Mass Platform and the powers of the press.43

The creation of an alternative public sphere fostered upon a thriving reading culture was

due in part to the distinct style of Chartist journalism. The ability to use metaphor, specific

literary technique, addresses and the transcriptions of speech all resulted in a vibrant ‘mini

platform’ across the homes and public spaces of those otherwise exempt or excluded from

the rhetoric of the platform. By doing so, the platform reached a wider variety of

individuals and groups than it otherwise could, and helped solidify the movement’s overall

political ideology. The speeches of the platform were instructive, and the same

instructions could be given to a wide variety of people that without the press, would have

been ignored. In addition to this, the tenets of oratory journalism served to strengthen the

effectiveness of the rhetoric of newspapers. The styles of the Mass Platform which could

prove to be effective in creating support were also used in the journalism responsible for

strengthening the movement. Ultimately, the use of subtle as well as overt oratory styles

accounts at least partially for the success of the Chartist press and the movement it

represented.

43

Epstein, The Lion of Freedom, p. 51.

61

Chapter 3: Letters and ‘Original Correspondence’ in the Chartist

Press

Chapter 3 focused on the use of oratory rhetoric as a way of engaging readers and

increasing the reach of the Chartist movement. Another way the papers were able to

interact with the public was through the printing of letters, both from the general public as

well as those written by prominent Chartist thinkers and speakers. These letters were fairly

widespread in the Chartist press, although not all papers chose to publish them.

Unstamped, small, and limited circulation papers such as the Chartist Circular were not at

liberty to give up space, as in this instance the paper ran only to four pages. Therefore,

letters in the Chartist Circular, the Charter and the Chartist were fairly rare and irregular.

However in titles such as the Northern Liberator, the Western Vindicator and in particular

the Northern Star, letters were part of the regular features. The larger paper size, the

diversity of contributors and to some extent a stronger readership accounts for the ability

of these papers to commit heavily to the printing of letters, and these papers are where the

best examples of original correspondence can be found.

A central discussion point is the concept of ‘two-way communication’, an idea first

suggested by James Epstein in his analysis of the Northern Star.1 Epstein noted that

‘Chartist readers were not merely passive receivers of knowledge and news. They were

part of the learning process and news collecting force’.2 This chapter demonstrates how the

two-way channel of communication extended to other publications. The Chartist press did

not operate in a passive instructional way, and instead was intent on giving readers a

1 James Epstein, Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star, International Review of Social History 21

(1976), p.75. 2 Epstein, O’Connor and the Northern Star, p. 75.

62

method of interacting and engaging. The use of letters was a crucial aspect, and was not

limited to the letters from readers. The pages of the press could be used as a way of

corresponding with notable Chartist figures, with many papers featuring long running

interactions. This gave readers an opportunity to experience a diverse range of Chartist

views, and further enhanced the integration of the press with the wider movement.

The best way to understand how letters were presented and the importance given to them

by both reader and editor alike is to focus on specific examples. The Northern Star yields

the most extensive material. Firstly, it had a circulation which far exceeded any other

Chartist journal, and thus provides abundant, high quality examples for many types of

letter.3 The Northern Star also played an organisational role, offering the Chartist

movement a service of combining disparate working class organisations within one

consistent published voice.4 For example, in the issue of December 8 1838, a letter is

printed from ‘Didas Kalo’, which is likely a pseudonym adopted for legal reasons. The letter

describes how, following a lecture by Dr. Taylor on the subject of Universal Suffrage, a

‘working men’s association was then formed’.5 It also states that they shall no longer read

the Edinburgh Scotsman and instead have pledged to read only ‘such papers as the

Northern Star’, and that the subscription to this new group is one penny a month. The

result, according to ‘Kalo’ is an ‘incredible’ increase in knowledge for members and a new-

found passion for radical politics. The letter is written with all the fervour of an

accomplished radical, and is an example of the way in which the Northern Star could inspire

readers to action. The printing of the letter serves several purposes. Firstly, it gives ‘Kalo’ a

voice within a paper that is to be read by up to 50,000 people, acting as just reward for the

foundation of the association. The ideas of the association are no longer isolated, but they

3 G D H Cole and A W Filson, British Working Class Movements: Select Documents 1789-1875

(London, 1967), pp. 358-9. 4 Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists (London, 1984), pp. 47-49.

5 Northern Star, 8 December 1838, p. 6.

63

are able to act in a two-way communication with the paper. The paper is able to engage in

the discussion of aims for the association, while simultaneously advertising it. Also the

publishing of such a letter helps make readers aware of the existence of the society, and

may increase the group’s membership.

Letters such as this are common, and another example can be found in the issue for

December 14 1839. This features a letter from the Forfar Political Union, which in itself

gives an example of how wide ranging the circulation of the Star was. Again the letter

intimates at how the visits of Chartists to the area have influenced the creation of a

political group, a ‘Union’ in this case. The letter goes on to state how copies of the Northern

Star and Chartist Circular have been ordered, and a selection of which will be sent to the

middle-class news-room in the town. This is to correct the unfair denigration of the

Chartists which has been observed, and to attempt to improve the image of Chartism in the

eyes of those reading the Forfar daily news.6 Here the use of letters is enabling the Star to

widen knowledge to include areas which are not part of the normal local remit. The tactic

of combining the local with a broader scope was a consistent tactic of the Star and this

example demonstrate how letters played their part in this strategy.7 The letter crucially

shows how the education of the public, and the organisation that the press inferred, was

not a static process consisting of a singular lecture-like voice. Instead the way in which the

readers could be informed could come from other readers. In this example, the events in

Forfar are being described not by the paper but by a reader, who himself is wishing to

inform.

A similar example may be found in the Northern Liberator, published on May 4 1839. John

Amos Hogg writes in to the Liberator in order to share the newly agreed resolutions of the

6 Northern Star, 14 December 1839, p. 3.

7 Cris Yelland, Speech and Writing in the Northern Star, Labour History Review, Vol. 65, No. 1

(London, 2000) p .22

64

Hawick Working Men’s association, and then proceeds to list the amount of signatures

collected in favour of the National Petition, citing an impressive number of supporters. He

also notes of a flourishing association in Jedburgh.8 This shows that the practice of

informing the papers of association business was not limited to the Star, and that the use

of letters could ensure the greater visibility of such activities. The ability of Working Men’s

associations to have their voice in print at no cost to themselves provided priceless

advertising for fledgling radical societies, especially in the provinces.

What these examples demonstrate is that the culture fostered by the Chartist press was

vibrant, dynamic and one that encouraged participation. David Vincent called it a ‘working

class intelligentsia’, an underground network of literate individuals contributing in their

own way towards the collecting and dissemination of radical ideas and political

organisation.9 This ‘intelligentsia’, in the case of letters to the press, is engaging in debates

and acting as correspondents for the papers themselves. There were, however, other ways

in which literate readers could engage with the movement via letters in the press.

One method that readers could engage with the movement via the reprinting of letters,

specifically with regards to the use of letters to confer information, was the abundance of

readers ‘setting the record straight’ in correspondence. Chartist newspapers, The Northern

Star but also the Northern Liberator and the Chartist, relied heavily on eyewitness reports

and individual accounts in order to depict events within their papers. While this meant that

issues could be filled by many stories, it also meant that factual accuracy could sometimes

be compromised. Also, depictions of individual’s views or opinions could be

misrepresented in the press. As a result of the two-way communication fostered by the

8 Northern Liberator, 4 May 1839, p. 4.

9 David Vincent, Bread Knowledge and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth Century Working Class

Autobiography (Methuen, 1981), p. 51.

65

press, readers felt that it was no longer necessary to be passive in regard to news reports,

and especially so if they believed reports were inaccurate.

An example of one of these letters can be found in the Star of June 1839. A man named P.

H. Muntz writes to complain of a description of him in an earlier issue of the Star:

Sir- However little it was my intention to have written another letter in your paper,

I am compelled in justice to myself to do so, in order to refute your charge against

me of having recommended physical force. I deny ever having advised any person

to form a rifle club. Not only is my own memory tolerably good, but I have a

witness who was with me during the whole of the time. I was in your company, and

he agrees with me that neither the words you attribute to me nor others of a

similar meaning were uttered by me. Neither you nor anyone else can prove I ever

recommended violence; more assertions are of no value; or not is not for me to

say; those who want to know will be best qualified to judge by reading your

speeches.

I remain Sir, your very obedient servant,

P.H. MUNTZ.10

Feargus O’Connor replies by stating that he has four witnesses who heard him say that he

had ‘counselled the purchase of rifles at Perth’.11 This is an example of a dynamic and

active conversation taking place through the pages of the newspaper. The reader is

unhappy at his portrayal, and O’Connor is happy to engage in a discourse with him through

the pages of the paper. As a result the paper can serve as a medium for discussion and not

simply education, and the casual reader following this can appreciate that he possesses the

ability to engage with the content of the paper via a letter. Also of note is the sign-off of

10

Northern Star, 15 June 1839, p. 8. 11

Northern Star, 15 June 1839, p. 8.

66

Muntz, stating he remains faithful to O’Connor despite his annoyance over this matter.

Clearly O’Connor has commanded his respect, and the ability of him to have his letters

published is one that he apprecitates. Ulitmately, exchanges such as this are examples as to

why readers of the Chartist Press cannot be seen as passive recipients of news, but rather

part of a dynamic exchange of ideas.

Sometimes these complaints would be made by non-Chartists, as in an example from the

Northern Star in August 1838. In this case, a Mr William Chambers claims he has been

wrongfully accused of two crimes in both the pages of the Star and the Intelligencer:

The first (crime), that two children who had been working in my mill showed the

writer their backs, which were shamefully marked and beaten with a huge strap;

and the second that the said children were worked ten minutes per day longer than

the law allows.12

The fact that Mr. Chambers has children working for him would indicate that he is a

middle-class gentleman, and his tone would imply he is less than favourable towards the

Chartists. Nevertheless he is given editorial space, and the reply from the editor indicates

that the individual responsible for the initial report should respond directly to Mr.

Chambers. What this letter shows is that the kind of debate fostered by correspondence to

the newspapers was not limited to that of any particular class or political leaning. Instead, a

truly diverse range of views could be shared. This created an academic environment

resulting in the development of a ‘working class intelligentsia’.

Occasionally readers would use letters in order to question the editors and journalists

directly, and these often would be replied to in kind by the paper. This two-way debate

forms a significant picture of the overall pattern of communication between reader and

journalist. Politics was the main source of debate. Henry Vincent and his paper, the

12

Northern Star, 25 August 1838, p 5.

67

Western Vindicator, were particularly prevalent in featuring this discourse. In issue 3 of the

Vindicator there is a letter printed under the name ‘A Bristolian’. This corroborates the

nature of the publication which remained at its core a local paper concerned principally

with concerns related to the immediate geographic area. It is for this reason that the paper

is so useful when studying the Newport Rising of November 1839.13 This however is an

early issue, and the letter shows a concern of the reader that the upcoming National

Petition will be rejected. He asks what will happen if it indeed fails:

It is important that the people know this, because a speedy end must be put to the

present system. One plan suggested the cessation from labour; but I do not think

this practicable, because of the difficulty in getting the people combined to

purchase food for a fortnight’s stand-still.14

Here the ‘Bristolian’ is mooting the idea of a strike, prefiguring the ‘Sacred Month’

controversy that would plague Chartism for much of the summer of 1839.15 He goes on to

state that ‘there is no harm in the public arming themselves’. This indication of a support of

physical force is a point that causes Vincent to take exception in his reply:

as to the people arming, they can of course, do as they please; though am one who

considers ‘an ounce of intellect better than a pound of shot’.16

This rather spiky response shows Vincent’s opinion with regard to physical force. He also

states that the matter of what happens after the Charter is rejected will not be discussed

until it happens, and is therefore non-committal in predicting such events. This exchange

shows how readers could use letters in order to contact Chartist journalists directly and

discuss political matters. The reader is effectively requesting information from the paper,

13

David Jones, The Last Rising (Oxford, 1985), pp. 85-113. 14

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839. 15

Malcolm Chase, Chartism: A New History (Manchester, 2007), pp. 84-87. 16

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839.

68

and the editor is complying as best he can. Thus this is a definitive ‘two-way

communication’ and a prime example of how letters could shape the press, and provide a

medium in which readers could be heard.

The same issue of the Western Vindicator offers an example of how satire could be

incorporated into letter-form. It also introduces the practice of letters being used as

rhetorical devices, and shows how letters did not necessarily have to be written by readers

for them to be in the paper. Satire had long been a part of working class radical journalism,

stretching back to the Black Dwarf and Cobbett’s Political Register, and in this instance the

use of absurdity and humour has a political point. The example itself is a fake

correspondence between, ostensibly, the Queen of England and Henry Vincent:

Citizen Vincent- I have received the first and second numbers of your excellent

Vindicator, and feel highly delighted with their contents.... As for government, I

know very little about it; but when you say people are hungry, I fear you fib, for we

have plenty of cold boiled beef in the palace kitchen.17

This ‘quote’ from Queen Victoria indicates what Vincent perceives to be the monarchy’s

detachment from the plight of the people, and the separation from the everyday lives of

the people over whom she reigns. He is using a technique of imitation which is common to

modern day satire, intending to poke fun at the Queen and suggest that she cares little

about the hungry people Vincent feels he is campaigning for. He suggests that the Queen is

also selfish and limited in perception, concerned only with her own immediate world of the

palace. The paper then publishes a response from Vincent himself:

However strong my predilections in favour of a representative Monarch may be, I

cannot allow my opinions to prejudice me against corresponding with a young and

intelligent lady.

17

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839.

69

Here Vincent is responding first by taking the higher moral ground, paying ‘young lady’

Victoria a compliment and admitting that he is naturally prejudiced against the Monarchy.

This serves to bolster his position as moral and intellectual superior in the argument.

Vincent continues:

You say you know very little of government! Alas for humanity!- most of the

‘privileged’ orders are like you. To be powerful, luxuriously-lazy, tyrannical and all-

devouring, have been the end and aim of all rulers of nations. And you doubt the

poverty of the people from the fact that you ‘have plenty of cold boiled beef in the

palace kitchen!’ Ah, madam, you should think a little; and when you have thought,

you should ask if every other person be like you. I tell your Majesty of people who

have never seen boiled beef - who never eat wheaten bread – but who pine away a

whole life of toil in a state of gradual starvation.

He concludes the letter by stating ‘I remain your fellow citizen’, implying an equality

between the Queen and himself. Overall, Vincent’s response underlines what he feels is an

abhorrent lack of empathy and care from the monarchy. He also attempts to draw parallels

between the life of comfort of the Queen and the life of ‘the people’ affected by starvation

and toil. The effect of the fictional correspondence is to stress an awareness of the evils of

monarchy, whilst simultaneously reminding readers of the injustice at the heart of

contemporary society. It demonstrates the use of letters in a different way than a simple

correspondence with a reader, and shows one of the methods that letters could fill the

pages of the press. In a time where reports were costly, letters and correspondence were

allowed to dominate space in the newspapers.

Many letters that filled the pages of the early Chartist Press were written by prominent

Chartists addressed to the editors of papers. Often these would form part of a running

column, in the Northern Star with Bronterre O’Brien and in the Western Vindicator with

70

John Frost. These will be analysed in detail later. Some letters were one-off reports, were

often personal, and often provided papers with intimate details of Chartist leaders’

thoughts, experiences and views on all manner of subjects. An example of this can be

found in the Northern Star of March 14 1840. The pages of this issue are dominated by

reactions to the sentencing of John Frost for transportation, and an example of the paper’s

reporting of the issue is a reprinted letter from John Frost to his family. It is introduced by

an editor’s note, which states that ‘whoever reads the letter must sincerely and deeply

sympathise with Mr. Frost’ and that it will be perused with a ‘melancholy interest’.18 Clearly

the editor is reprinting this letter in order to ensure readers remain on the side of Frost and

sympathise with his plight. In the letter, Frost describes his experiences aboard the ship

and pleads for his wife not to follow him, due to his fears for her and the family should

‘anything happen’ to him. He concludes the letter by professing his love for their children,

and his heartache at their separation, before writing:

May the Comforter of the afflicted, and the father of the fatherless, be your and

my dear children’s support and guide in all things! God bless you my love, Ever

yours John Frost.

Here Frost is clearly writing with deep distress, and he writes with an emotive and personal

touch throughout, something which no doubt helped convinced the Northern Star to

reprint the letter. It shows why the Star has championed his cause in the preceding weeks,

and that the transportation sentence has deeply affected a close family. This emotional pull

makes such letters more rhetorically strong, and there are examples of similar letters from

Chartist incarcerated in prisons elsewhere in the canon of Chartist journalism. This issue

does not limit itself to one letter on the matter, and further uses emotion to argue support

later on in the paper. On page 5 there is another letter on the subject of Frost which aims

18

Northern Star, 14 March 1840, p. 3.

71

to produce the same sympathy for his predicament. This time, the letter in question was

sent directly to a local Chartist organisation, who requested it be reprinted in the Star. The

letter comes from Frost’s wife, who wishes to give thanks for all the support that has been

offered to her.19 The letter itself is again highly charged:

Oh! Could you see the desolation this cruel and unjust sentence has produced in

our once happy family you would say your sympathy was not thrown away.

She also points out that she’d planned to go with him, but the letter mentioned above

persuaded her not to. She includes a post-script saying:

too much praise cannot be given to that truly patriotic friend to freedom, Feargus

O’Connor, for his untiring exertions in favour of the prisoners. I hope God can

reward him – I never can.

The thanks she offers to the founder of the Northern Star is clear, and so this further

emphasises the rhetorical basis of including such letters within the paper. It makes the

paper appear more trustworthy, and the name of O’Connor is strengthened with regard to

his commitment to the people. In conclusion, the letters within this issue show another

aspect of the diversity of the correspondence. The clear message is one of sympathy for

Frost, and the aim is to increase the hostility towards those who sentenced him. Without

the Star, these letters would not be known to the majority of Chartists, and thus one of

Chartism’s early pioneers would have likely been forgotten following his trial. Therefore,

letters such as this are vital in alerting the public to the sacrifices being made in their name.

Other issues of the Star would follow this course, and letters from the large amount of

incarcerated Chartist leaders would prove to be helpful in maintaining the cohesion of

Chartist support around them during the time they were in prison.

19

Northern Star, 14 March 1840, p. 5.

72

Letters from prominent Chartists would also come in the form of multi-issue series that

either detail a particular individual’s political beliefs, reaction to current affairs or even

letters that read like that of a personal diary. An example of one of these running

correspondences via letters was that featured in the earliest weeks of the Northern Star.

This began with the issue of January 27 1838, with the editor stating that it had secured the

‘valuable services of the glorious Bronterre’.20 He was paid a guinea per column for his

weekly letter, and it featured a variety of content throughout its run.21 James Bronterre

O’Brien had risen to prominence in British Radicalism through his paper of the ‘unstamped’

agitation, the Poor Man’s Guardian. Oastler wrote to Stephens when Bronterre became a

regular correspondent, that he should put the Guardian’s spirit into the Star. O’Connor also

thought highly of his intellect and felt he would be a great addition to the paper’s

contents.22 The crucial point about his correspondence column was that it was written in

letter form. This allowed O’Brien to write from around the country, and in addressing it

directly to the Star he could personalise his message within each letter.

An example of one of these letters comes from the Northern Star, April 21 1838. The

editorial precedes it, and criticises the Leeds Tory party dinner, stating that it should not be

used to judge the strength of Toryism in the area. Bronterre’s letter follows in the same

suit, criticising Toryism and the local Conservative association. He poses a question:

An Operatives’ Conservative Association! To conserve what? What the devil has an

Operative in this country to conserve or preserve, unless it be his second shirt he

wants to conserve from the pawn-brokers, or his carcase from a pauper-bastile?.23

Here O’Brien is asking why workers (Operatives) are joining a Conservative association, and

elsewhere in the article openly questions the veracity of the organisation, and wonders

20

Northern Star, 27 January 1838, p. 4. 21

Northern Star, 10 May 1845, p. 1. 22

Epstein, Feargus O’Connor and the Northern Star, pp. 82-83. 23

Northern Star, 21 April 1838, p 4.

73

what there is to conserve. They have no shirt on their back, and their body (‘carcase’) is

otherwise destined for the workhouse (‘pauper-bastile’). The question at hand is living

standards, much like the above correspondence with ‘Victoria’ from the Vindicator. O’Brien

feels that the Conservative party have failed to conserve anything involving the workers,

and as such warrant no workers association. The fact it is a letter allows him to be more

informal, and allows the use of consistent rhetorical questions throughout, much in the

same way a letter to a friend or acquaintance may do. It is also a direct communication

from a prominent radical figure. This correspondence took place in the early days of the

Star, before its zenith in 1839-1840, and gave the paper a much needed respectability. The

fact it was receiving and printing letters from Bronterre O’Brien was significant for readers.

O’Brien had the ability to respond quickly to current events, and be fluid in his responses.

Ultimately the use of letters in this way was beneficial to both the paper and the

correspondent.

Another example of a recurring correspondence from a prominent Chartist figure may be

found in the Western Vindicator, again at the beginning of its run. This time the

correspondent was John Frost, whose letters were of a somewhat more provincial

character than those of O’Brien’s. These letters, which ran from the second edition of the

paper through to near the end of its run, provided the paper’s first page with a variety of

content. Frost’s experience of the platform meant he could, in Ashton’s opinion, now

‘exploit the links which now prevailed between a traditional oral culture and a modern

print-based society’.24 These links meant that he could address his weekly letters with real

authority, directing them at, among others, ‘working men, ‘tradesmen’ and the ‘wives of

working men’. In addition to this, these letters were targeted at specific geographic areas

such as Monmouthshire, Newport and more generally to the area of ‘South Wales and the

24

Owen R. Ashton, ‘The Western Vindicator and Early Chartism’, in Owen Ashton and Joan Allen (eds), Papers for the People (London, 2005), p. 60.

74

West of England’.25 This meant that he could exploit methods of Oratory Journalism

discussed in the previous chapter, whilst using the personal nature of a letter. The result

was a powerful series of letters, which give a vital window into the political mind of Frost,

while giving the Vindicator an influential contributor.

An example of one of these letters can be found in the third issue of the Vindicator, and

gives an insight into the value placed on women within the movement. Frost was clearly a

believer in not only the political rights of working men, but also of women, and in the letter

details what he feels are the strengths of women to the movement:

I have the highest opinion of women; - I have the highest opinion of their

perseverance, when they are thoroughly convened, that the cause in which they

are engaged is a good one. We see this strikingly exemplified in the many

benevolent institutions of the country, the principal supporters of which are

women.26

The point being made is that women are vital to the benevolent heart of the country, and

he clearly feels this is of importance to the cause of the People’s Charter. He later states

that many women will likely never heard of it, and appeals to them to support the cause of

Chartism. Frost here is being deliberately inclusive of women, and is demonstrating a

remarkably modern attitude towards the rights of women. Throughout the letter Frost

writes directly to an imagined audience, with a singular ‘I’, and a plural ‘you’. This echoes

the writing of oratory pieces analysed earlier, but the use of a letter further exaggerates

the personal nature of the writing. He mentions ‘your husbands’, and states that a

woman’s assistance can ‘teach these men wisdom’, and this further enhances the idea that

he is personally addressing the audience individually.27 While the ‘you’ within the piece is

25

Western Vindicator, 28 September 1839, p. 1. 26

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839, p. 1. 27

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839, p. 1.

75

ostensibly plural, and the title of the piece suggests as much, much of the writing is written

from the point of view of a personal friend than that of a detached address. Therefore, in

this piece we can see how Frost is ‘exploiting the link’ between a modern print culture and

more traditional methods of oratory, and the use of letters is key to this technique. The

letter implies intimacy here, and as such it stresses the inclusivity of his overall rhetoric. It

also aids the balance between a plural audience and that of an individual, something which

would be almost impossible without the letter form.

This letter from Frost introduces the place of women within the letters of the press, and

the role of women in writing should not be underestimated. The letter from Frost’s wife

above shows that women were not averse to joining in the discourse of communication via

letters. The influence of women upon the movement as a whole has been the subject of a

lack of attention generally, with Jutta Schwarzkopf’s study standing apart as a full length

piece on the matter. She identified that in the realm of the Chartist press, contributions

came from women fairly regularly. Some of these letters came from middle-class women,

as in the case of the most famous of female correspondents ‘Sophia’, who wrote regularly

to a variety of Chartist journals.28 Helen McFarlane is also one of these middle class writers,

who bears the notable distinction of translating the Communist Manifesto for Harney’s Red

Republican in 1850.29 However the most notable of the contributions by women, to the

Northern Star in particular, was the number of letters from working class women. Often

these would be sent to the editor asking for legal advice, and the response of the Star was

to set up a legal advice department to assist the working class in legal matters.30 This shows

the level of trust women and men both had in the editor of the Star, and intimates at the

close relationship that was formed between reader and editor. This relationship was

predicated on two-way communication via letters, and the response back from papers was

28

Jutta Schwarzkopf, Women in the Chartist Movement (London, 1991), p. 197. 29

Red Republican, 9 November 1850, p. 1. 30

Schwarzkopf, Women in the Chartist Movement, p. 198.

76

one of respect and appreciation. This can be seen in the address made to the women of

Monmouthshire in the Western Vindicator, March 9 1839.31 In conclusion, what the use of

letters from women shows is that the channels of communication were open, and strong

enough to reach the otherwise remote political and personal sentiments of women. While

they struggled to match the literacy rates of men, women nevertheless felt comfortable

enough and open enough to write letters to the Chartist Press. The result of this was the

connection of the Press to a wider group of people, and a feeling of inclusivity that reached

across the gender divide. Women were part of the culture that Chartist newspapers

created, and were not excluded from the realms of political discussion.

Another use of letters is the reprinting of two-way communications about particular issues,

particularly between leading Chartists. The Northern Star did this most prominently. These

correspondences could sometimes run through several issues, much like the examples of

the columns headed by individuals. Often this correspondence would arise as a result of

specific events. This is the case with the May 25 edition of the Star. On page 5 of the paper

there is a letter from Henry Vincent, addressed from Monmouth Gaol, following his

incarceration there. The letter itself was addressed to the Sun, and complains about a

report in which O’Connor is said to have criticised Vincent’s actions following his arrest.

Naturally Vincent refutes any misgiving, so much so as to receive a reply from O’Connor in

the Star. The whole correspondence is reprinted. O’Connor replies by issuing his full

support for Vincent at the hands of ‘ruffians’, and pledges a donation of £5 to his cause.32

What this correspondence shows is the close relationship of the leaders of Chartism, and

the ability of the press to demonstrate this camaraderie to the general masses in receipt of

it. The Star is able to use the ‘modern print culture’ with a traditional form, improving the

31

Western Vindicator, 9 March 1839, p. 1. 32

Northern Star, 25 May 1839, p. 5.

77

clarity of the message delivered to the reader. The effect is to further integrate the readers

of the press and to hear first-hand the discussions of their perceived leaders.

Sometimes the correspondence between Chartists and political figures could run, in serial,

for several issues. An example of this may again be found in the Star. Beginning with the

issue dated December 8 1838, a series of letters was published between O’Connor and the

M.P. for Dublin, Daniel O’Connell. O’Connell is primarily known as being a campaigner for

Irish rights; however his relationship with Chartism was of concern to O’Connor.33 Having

been a member of his party previously, O’Connor desired the support of O’Connell in

igniting Chartist associations in Ireland, something O’Connell was not willing to do.

Therefore, the letters published in the Star are indicative of a strained relationship going

back a number of years. In the first of these letters, O’Connor describes how he feels

O’Connell has betrayed the Irish people, stating that his emancipation measures have

‘disenfranchised the Irish people’.34 In a later issue, he states that he feels O’Connell has let

power warp his views and led him to not fully serve the Irish people.35 His views are

summarised the following week:

Mr. O’Connell has dared to denounce me as a person unworthy of your support; I

have laid his life before you, at a period when he struggled for Emancipation, and

during the time that he help political power, and to you I appeal, whether or not

Mr. O’Connell has elevated the Irish character?.36

The effect of these letters is to enable an open debate to be demonstrated, and a specific

target be given for O’Connor’s sometimes rambling prose. The fact these are letters rather

than simple editorials give the pieces focus, and allow the audience to visualise a target for

33

Paul A. Pickering, ‘Repeal and Suffrage: Feargus O’Connor’s Irish Mission: 1849-50’, in Owen Ashton, Robert Fyson, Stephen Roberts (eds), The Chartist Legacy (Woodbridge, 1999) p. 120. 34

Northern Star, 8 December 1839, p. 6. 35

Northern Star, 9 February 1839, p. 3. 36

Northern Star, 16 February 1839, p. 7.

78

O’Connor’s anger. O’Connor is here able to exploit the modern print culture of mass

produced press, while still writing in a familiar form. This gives both his writing greater

clarity, and allows his rhetorical style to be better understood by his readers.

In conclusion, the use of letters had a diverse and wide ranging effect. On the surface,

letters and correspondence were a way for editors to fill their pages with an array of

outside content, something vital for eight-page papers such as the Liberator and the Star.

For smaller provincial papers like the Vindicator, readers’ letters could keep their paper

directly connected with the far reaching audience of their paper. For all the papers which

printed them, letters opened up debate to a class and a society hitherto excluded from any

kind of printed debate. The corresponding societies of the 1790s may have been a hinge

‘on which history turns’, to quote E.P. Thompson, but the papers of the ‘unstamped’ and

the especially the Chartist movement are what brought working class debate into mass

print. 37 The use of the letters of ordinary citizens, and the readiness of editors to respond

to them marks a significant shift in the scope of working class debate. The importance of

letters to the press doesn’t end with those of readers. The letters sent by Chartist speakers

and leaders gave them a voice within high circulation papers like the Star they would have

otherwise lacked. The correspondence of Chartist leaders to one another is also something

that without the mass press would have been lost to the majority of ordinary Chartist

citizens. This is another impact of letters within the press; the creation of a more

communal and more open attitude towards debate within the movement. It should not be

underestimated that the use of letters ties in to the oratory journalism style as mentioned

above. Both of these techniques combined to give a unique relationship with each paper’s

readership. Building from the legacy of the ‘unstamped’ agitation, the use of letters and

oratory journalism produced a culture of working class readership that had hitherto not

been seen. A working class intelligentsia fostered a genuine alternative public sphere, and

37

E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (London, 1968), p. 24.

79

this was due to the developments in the Chartist press. The following concluding chapter

will aim to explain this point further.

80

Conclusion

In concluding this study, it is necessary to revisit the theoretical reasons for commencing it.

It was stated that thus far studies of the Chartist Press had fallen into one of two schools.

Either they focused on the chief proprietors of the papers, investigated the organisational

basis for the paper and analysed the provincial impact of the publication; or on the other

hand, they sought to place the Chartist Press in the literary tradition by focusing on the

language and style of the writing. While both these approaches are useful, it was the aim of

the dissertation to try and bridge the gap between the two. By looking at techniques of

oratory and the use of letters this has been done. The analysis of examples has shown that

Chartist journalist’s writing was predicated on a real understanding of their audience and

environment. The editorship of papers, and their emphasis on reader content such as

letters, has also shown that the Chartist press was distinctly aware of rhetorical style based

on the development of the wider movement. In this sense, the language of the papers has

been analysed with the background of ascertaining the true effect with regards to the

movement. This shows a convergence of social-minded studies looking at the importance

of papers to provincial and national communities, and literary studies focusing on language

little concern for social matters. The language of the press has been contextualised within

the public sphere of the wider movement.

Another of the reasons for beginning this study was the need to reiterate the radical

antecedents which engendered the Chartist movement and in particular the direct

precedents for the Chartist Press. Chartism marked ultimately the culmination of a process

of working class development that could claim its roots in eighteenth-century Jacobinism.

The process was typified by the birth of a political intelligence and a convergence of

81

disparate movements into a unified struggle for the vote1. Throughout E. P. Thompson’s

The Making of the English Working Class this process is described, culminating with the

birth of the Chartist movement. Thompson explained this by stating that by the time of

Chartism, it had reached a point whereby the working class was no longer in the making,

but was already made.2 Crucial to this were the developing political interest of everyday

people, and the improving levels of literacy.3 These factors along with the emergence of

working-class radicalism and in combination with the availability of the printing presses

made for the emergence of a print culture of the working class for the first time. This made

a major impact with the unstamped movement of the 1830s, where a unified goal ensured

the print press was operating within an environment of cohesion and therefore strength.

This led on to the Chartist movement, where the people’s press could be tied to a

movement where the development of radical theory was mature and the English working

class was truly ‘made’.

The process of working class political development was a factor which was of great concern

throughout this study. While patchy studies of the Chartist press existed, little had been

mentioned of the profound and vital link shared between it and the preceding ‘Unstamped’

agitation. While general histories of Chartism have pointed out shared ideas and

individuals, the writing on the Chartist press has hitherto neglected this connection. Where

historiography, especially since Thompson and Hobsbawm, has stressed the existence of a

developing working class, the sense that the development of their own print culture shared

the same evolution has not been explained.

Therefore, it was one of the key points of this study and the reason that there is a chapter

devoted to the ‘unstamped’, that the primary influence for the Chartist press is shown. The

1 E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (London, 1968), p. 909.

2 Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, p. 801.

3 I. Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature (Cambridge, 2004), p. 144.

82

Chartist press gained its first legs in the 1830s, both in terms of its own writing style, its

organisational foundation and also in the awakening of an audience which would go on to

be the readership of the Northern Star. The writing of editorials, a specific type of rhetoric

based on an anti-establishment stance and a political awareness not found in earlier

journals laid a foundation for Chartist journalism of later years. Individual writers such as

Bronterre O’Brien were vital to both the unstamped agitation as well as the early Chartist

movement, and therefore the link is clear. In addition to this was the network of vendors

and printers founded in the 1830s which were then exploited by the nascent Chartist

movement. This was especially prescient in the case of the small, individual papers such as

the Western Vindicator which could not rely on the network of the stamped papers, like the

Northern Star could. Without this network it is doubtful that the Chartist movement could

have supported a group of small papers. The delicate financial state of these publications

meant many closed inside 12 months, even without bearing the cost of setting up their

own unique distribution channels. Therefore the organisational legacy of the unstamped

was vital, especially in supporting the diversity present in the Chartist press.

Central to the popularity, influence and effectiveness of the Northern Star and its

contemporaries was the audience founded in the 1830s. What this analysis of the Chartist

press has shown is that the Chartist journalists were critically aware of their audience. Both

the techniques of Oratory Journalism and the use of original correspondence demonstrate

this. This audience was fostered in the 1830s agitation, which itself exploited the newly

literate working classes as mentioned earlier. By the time of the Chartist movement this

audience had matured, and were receptive enough to create a culture of a working class

intelligentsia – a public sphere predicated on the reading, discussion and sharing of

newspapers. This sphere was borne out of the unstamped. Therefore, the ideas presented

involving both letters and oratory can only be understood as a continuation of a situation

developed by the ‘War of the Unstamped’.

83

One of the central points of concern at the beginning of this study was the extent to which

the study of the Chartist had been limited to studying its organisational and regional basis.

While this has proved useful, with studies by Owen Ashton and Joan Hugman on the

Western Vindicator and Northern Liberator respectively, it has been to the detriment of

direct analysis of Chartist rhetoric and language. While Gareth Stedman Jones opened up

debates on language in radicalism, it remains in the sphere of journalism studies a method

of analysis solely used by literary academics. What this study has aimed to show is that a

synthesis of these two approaches is possible. By combining the direct analysis of rhetorical

techniques with the social affect of such practices it is possible to further demonstrate the

overall picture of the Chartist Press more clearly.

This is theoretical background on which the analysis of oratory journalism has been based.

The Chartist Press operated within a background of a national movement, replete with a

fervent platform culture. Therefore, the role of the press was to co-exist with this

movement, and the writers involved were often themselves knowledgeable in platform

politics. The result was a widely used practice of oratory style writing, with the language,

techniques and experiences of the platform pervading Chartism journalism. The effect of

this was not only to educate and persuade, but also to provide vital links to the somewhat

disparate arena of the mass platform. Speakers could only perform in certain areas, and so

it was the role of the press to help spread the message. In conjunction with this, the

language used was designed to facilitate the practice of reading aloud, and so the culture of

a ‘mini-platform’ could develop in working-class areas. Individuals would congregate and

listen to the latest editorials and reports of the most popular papers. In addition, papers

could produce reprints of speeches made the previous week, again strengthening the link

between press and platform. Ultimately the result was the exploitation of a new working-

class intelligentsia, and the creation of what Rohan McWilliams among others have termed

a genuine ‘working-class public sphere’, which sustained a movement culture predicated

84

on the social reading of newspapers.4 In short, the reading aloud of newspapers and

literary techniques associated with it demonstrates the cohesive social impact of the press.

Therefore we can see how the language and techniques of the Chartist press could have

real social impact.

A further point of analysis in this research was the use of letters as both a rhetorical device

as well as a method of reporting. The ‘working-class public sphere’ mentioned above was

strengthened via the printing of readers’ letters, giving the radical working class a chance to

get their voice into print. Often characterised by a thankful tone, grateful for their

opportunity to engage in political discussion, reader’s letters were an expression of new

working-class political and literary intelligence. In conjunction with the use of speech and

oratory to bring the ‘mini-platform’ to working-class lives, the two-way communication of

letters was crucial in the creation of a working class public sphere of political discussion.

The use of letters also provides an example of the keen sense of rhetoric held by Chartist

journalists. Shaped by Cobbett, Hunt, and the unstamped movement, this rhetoric was vital

in convincing people to believe in the Chartist cause. In the context of letters this involved

political argument, and occasionally emotional writing, this could prove to be very effective

(this can be seen best in the case of the letters surrounding Frost’s transportation). Letters

also assisted national papers such as the Star to report from all around the country,

garnering eye-witness reports of important meetings and events. Overall, letters were like

the oratory technique, part of a general awareness on behalf of the Chartist press to

engage their readers, and served to develop working-class knowledge creating their own

public space.

Finally, this study has shown the existence of a working-class public sphere predicated on

the consumption of newspapers. This sphere was created and supported by the Chartist

4 Rohan McWilliams, Popular Politics in Nineteenth-Century England, (London, 1998), p. 66.

85

press, which consciously exploited a new working-class intelligence and awareness. This

working class sophistication had first been awakened by the ‘War of the Unstamped’ in the

1830s, and the Chartism movement used this new audience to develop its readership.5 This

awareness was used to create the new public sphere, changing the way the working classes

looked at political discussion, utilising newspapers to enter the world of political argument

in a way never before seen. Two of the most important ways a relationship was formed

was via oratory journalism techniques and the use of letters to develop a two-way

communication between paper and reader. What is clear is that Chartist journalists were

keenly aware of their audience, and equally aware of the need to adapt their techniques,

language and rhetoric to the accepting readers. What resulted was the expanding of the

old world of the Mass Platform into the reader’s everyday public sphere, and via letters the

political discourse was within reach of everyday Chartists. The combination of letters and

oratory created a dialectical process of political education; a process which involved

everyday Chartists, and a development which would have been impossible without the

press. A character of the Chartist movement which is often stressed is the extent to which

it was a social movement, and the Chartist Press was a crucial element in the cohesion

necessary to sustain it. The advances made by the Chartist Press gave working-class

radicalism a character which was far beyond anything seen before; a new literary and

political confidence based around a diverse and accomplished newspaper press. Crucially,

this newspaper press was truly for the people, and was a press entirely of their own.

5 Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature, p. 144.

86

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Spectator

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