CHARTISM

Heaven's duteous sunshine waits upon her going,And with it blends a sunshine brighter still—The loyal love of a great people, knowingThat building up is better than o'erthrowing;That freedom lies in taming of self-will.

Heaven's duteous sunshine waits upon her going,

And with it blends a sunshine brighter still—

The loyal love of a great people, knowing

That building up is better than o'erthrowing;

That freedom lies in taming of self-will.

Punch'sloyalty to the Sovereign, however, did not cause him to forget the workers. He suggests to Prince Albert that a dinner should be given to the workmen who erected the building. As for Paxton, the architect,Punchagreed with theExaminerthat a knighthood was not a sufficient reward for his services, and suggested that he should be given a share of the profits. ButPunchwas from the first concerned with the future of the building; with the possibilities of transforming it into a permanent People's Palace. So when Paxton asked "What is to become of the Crystal Palace?" and answered his own question by saying "Let the Crystal Palace become a winter park under glass," with rare flowers and plants and a colossal aviary,Punchvoted the suggestion of the Crystal Magician "delightful and practicable," for, as he notes, on the testimony of "the princely Devonshire, Mr. Paxton never failed in anything he undertook." Nay,Punchwent so far as to depict, in a cartoon, John Bull contemplating the marvels of the winter garden. The scheme lapsed, and in the spring of 1852Punchwas indignant at the imminent sale of the Crystal Palace, and lavish of gibes at the "nobs and snobs" who despised the masses:—

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PALACE

The People! I weally am sick of the wawd:The People is ugly, unpleasant, absawd;Wha-evaw they go, it is always the case,They are shaw to destwoy all the chawm of the place.They are all vewy well in their own pwopa spheeaw,A long distance off; but I don't like them neeaw;The slams is the place faw a popula show;Don't encouwage the People to spoil Wotten Wow.It is odd that the Duke of Awgyll could pasueSo eccentric a cawse, and Lad Shaftesbuwy too,As to twy and pwesawve the Glass House on its site,Faw no weason on awth but the People's delight.

The People! I weally am sick of the wawd:The People is ugly, unpleasant, absawd;Wha-evaw they go, it is always the case,They are shaw to destwoy all the chawm of the place.

The People! I weally am sick of the wawd:

The People is ugly, unpleasant, absawd;

Wha-evaw they go, it is always the case,

They are shaw to destwoy all the chawm of the place.

They are all vewy well in their own pwopa spheeaw,A long distance off; but I don't like them neeaw;The slams is the place faw a popula show;Don't encouwage the People to spoil Wotten Wow.

They are all vewy well in their own pwopa spheeaw,

A long distance off; but I don't like them neeaw;

The slams is the place faw a popula show;

Don't encouwage the People to spoil Wotten Wow.

It is odd that the Duke of Awgyll could pasueSo eccentric a cawse, and Lad Shaftesbuwy too,As to twy and pwesawve the Glass House on its site,Faw no weason on awth but the People's delight.

It is odd that the Duke of Awgyll could pasue

So eccentric a cawse, and Lad Shaftesbuwy too,

As to twy and pwesawve the Glass House on its site,

Faw no weason on awth but the People's delight.

The Queen, in an excellent parody of "The May Queen," is credited with the desire to keep up the Palace;Punchthrew all his weight on the side of Paxton in his efforts to defeat the obstructives, and when, in June, 1852, the move to Sydenham was finally decided on, he prophesied a great future for that favoured suburb. The "christening" took place in August, and furnishedPunchwith an opportunity for answering the reproach that "the English don't know how to amuse themselves":—

The great cause of Peace had every fitting honour paid to it on Thursday last at Sydenham. In its train followed some of the greatest celebrities of the day, all children of the people, who had come to assist at the christening of their new Palace. The Arts and Sciences, of course, were there, and gave the cause their blessing, until such time when they could give it something, if not more pure, at least more tangible. Literature, too, was there, and promised to devote its best pen to the service of the new principle, and Trade and Commerce had already sent off their ships to collect treasure to pour into the lap of their beautiful, but too long neglected child, as soon as the Palace was in a fit state to receive them. And the Poor advanced, and, opening their hearts, gave the cause their best wishes—and these were deposited with the coins of the realm, and are to form the foundation of the new building. Never was Palace begun upon so strong a foundation before!If only half the promises are fulfilled that were made at its christening, this Palace of the People will be the grandest palace ever constructed. And, in truth, it should be so! The people have built palaces sufficiently for others; it is but proper now they built one for themselves.And when it is built it will be time enough to inquire if Englishmen know how to amuse themselves. They have had hitherto so few opportunities of learning, that it is ungracious to ask at present. In the meantime we wish them every enjoyment in their new playground at Sydenham. It will be the most beautiful playground in the world.

If only half the promises are fulfilled that were made at its christening, this Palace of the People will be the grandest palace ever constructed. And, in truth, it should be so! The people have built palaces sufficiently for others; it is but proper now they built one for themselves.

And when it is built it will be time enough to inquire if Englishmen know how to amuse themselves. They have had hitherto so few opportunities of learning, that it is ungracious to ask at present. In the meantime we wish them every enjoyment in their new playground at Sydenham. It will be the most beautiful playground in the world.

Sabbatarian Solicitude

Punch'sgenerous anticipations, in part illusory, were mingled with wrath against militant Sabbatarians, over-zealousfor the souls of their fellow-creatures. A deputation, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and Winchester, and the Earl of Shaftesbury, lost no time in waiting on Lord Derby, in order to urge upon the Prime Minister "the expediency of adopting measures to prevent the Crystal Palace, or its grounds, being opened to the public on Sundays."Punchis bitterly sarcastic against this condescending solicitude on the part of peers and prelates for the spiritual welfare of the vulgar cockneys, snips, snobs, mechanics, shopmen, and their womenkind; creatures that not only consume tea and shrimps, periwinkles, and ginger-beer, but also smoke pipes and penny Pickwicks! The people must feel flattered that they are thus, sympathized with by the superior classes; only perhaps they would rather the sympathy were shown otherwise than by excluding them from pure air and enjoyment—in great tenderness for their immortal part, but with small consideration for their perishable lungs.

But the attack was not solely based on religious grounds. TheMorning Heraldscented revolution in the proposal, andPunchwas moved to address an ironical warning to the Home Secretary:—

A word in your ear, Mr. Walpole. There is treason, hydra-headed treason hatching. Now, we are not joking. Were we inclined to be droll, we would not cast our jokes before certain Home Secretaries. Hush! This way. In a corner, if you please.Do you ever see theMorning Herald? We thought so. Somehow, you look as if you did. Still, we have brought a copy. Here it is. A leader on the treasonous atrocities contemplated by the traitorous projectors of the Crystal Palace in Penge Park! We will read you—when we can get a good mouthful of breath—a few of the lines: the dreadful lines. You see, the Palace is to be open on Sundays after one o'clock. In that fact theHeraldsees revolution, anarchy, and perhaps—a future republic with John Cromwell Bright in Buckingham Palace! Listen:"'Go to mass on the Sabbath morning' is the Church of Rome's command; 'then go to the park, the ball, or the theatre.' That is the Sabbath of Paris, of Munich, of Vienna, and, we are sorry to say, of Berlin also. And, asone natural result, a single month, in 1848, saw the Sovereigns of Paris, of Vienna, of Munich, and of Berlinfugitives before their rebellious subjects. The people of Englandremained untouched by this sudden madness; they were loyal to their Queen,becausethey feared their God!"You will perceive, Right Honourable Sir, that had the Palace existed in Penge Park in 1848, the British Throne would have gone to bits like a smashed decanter. The Queen has only continued to reignbecausethere has been no People's Palace!We see, Sir, you are moved, but let us go on."The Crystal Palace will be the main engine for introducing the Continental Sabbath among us. The people may go to church, it will be said, andthenthey may go down to Sydenham and enjoy a walk in the Crystal Palace, and what harm canthatdo? Just all the harm in the world. Open and naked profaneness would shock most persons, but this mixture of religion and dissipation will ruin myriads!"

Do you ever see theMorning Herald? We thought so. Somehow, you look as if you did. Still, we have brought a copy. Here it is. A leader on the treasonous atrocities contemplated by the traitorous projectors of the Crystal Palace in Penge Park! We will read you—when we can get a good mouthful of breath—a few of the lines: the dreadful lines. You see, the Palace is to be open on Sundays after one o'clock. In that fact theHeraldsees revolution, anarchy, and perhaps—a future republic with John Cromwell Bright in Buckingham Palace! Listen:

"'Go to mass on the Sabbath morning' is the Church of Rome's command; 'then go to the park, the ball, or the theatre.' That is the Sabbath of Paris, of Munich, of Vienna, and, we are sorry to say, of Berlin also. And, asone natural result, a single month, in 1848, saw the Sovereigns of Paris, of Vienna, of Munich, and of Berlinfugitives before their rebellious subjects. The people of Englandremained untouched by this sudden madness; they were loyal to their Queen,becausethey feared their God!"

You will perceive, Right Honourable Sir, that had the Palace existed in Penge Park in 1848, the British Throne would have gone to bits like a smashed decanter. The Queen has only continued to reignbecausethere has been no People's Palace!

We see, Sir, you are moved, but let us go on.

"The Crystal Palace will be the main engine for introducing the Continental Sabbath among us. The people may go to church, it will be said, andthenthey may go down to Sydenham and enjoy a walk in the Crystal Palace, and what harm canthatdo? Just all the harm in the world. Open and naked profaneness would shock most persons, but this mixture of religion and dissipation will ruin myriads!"

Punch, on the contrary, believed that, in spite of the fulminations of Exeter Hall, the Crystal Palace, with its art treasures, and the setting provided by the wonder-working Paxton, would become the People's Sunday School, and a monster extinguisher of gin palaces. So we find him printing a mock protest from publicans against the desecration of the Sabbath by the proposed opening of the Crystal Palace after morning service.

Punch'sviews on temperance were eminently moderate. It is true that in one of his early numbers he had depicted, in the cartoons of "The Gin Drop" and "The Water Drop," the horrors of drunkenness in the vein of Cruickshank; true also that he expressed admiration for the crusade of Father Mathew. He condemned excess, but he was no enemy of conviviality. Indeed he was up in arms against those who sought to "rob a poor man of his beer." In his view the best antidotes to intemperance were to be found in recreation and education, and in using Sunday to promote those ends. He severely criticised in the autumn of 1845 the provisions of the new Beer Bill, which prevented excursionists from obtaining needful refreshment at an inn, not only at unreasonable, but at reasonable hours, and protested against the closing of these hospitable portals against them on Sunday, "and perhaps very soon on every other day, if gentlemen, who can go to clubs, as well as to church, being blest with affluence, and, therefore,belonging to the better classes, continue to legislate in their present spirit for himself (the excursionist) and the rest of the worse—that is the worse off."

Punch at the Palace

Meanwhile the Crystal Palace had been opened by the Queen on Saturday, June 10, 1854.Punchdescribes the imaginary visit which he paid a few days earlier to inspect the building and, by special command of the Queen, to report as to its probable readiness for her reception on the opening day. After being conducted through the building by Sir Joseph Paxton, he explained that it was not his intention to be present at the inaugural ceremony:—

He was the godfather of the edifice, having originally invented and conferred upon it the title of the Crystal Palace; but he should leave to his friend the Archbishop the entire solemnities of the day, including an announcement which Dr. Sumner had most kindly undertaken to make, namely, that at the special instance of the Queen, arrangements would be at once effected for opening the Palace on Sundays.

Fact is tempered with fancy in this account, as well as in his optimistic report of the meeting of Crystal Palace shareholders; it characterizes, too, the series of humorous handbooks to the Crystal Palace, which appeared in the pages ofPunchin the following months. But we find in the remarks put into the mouth of Mr. Laing, the chairman, a very good summary of his own views:—

On reflection it had been thought better that men, under the crystal roof, should temperately refresh themselves—all mutually sustaining one another even by their own self-respect of the decencies of life, there and then in their own Crystal Palace—than that, turned away hungering and athirst, they should be absorbed in the holes and corners of surrounding public-houses.

The subsequent history of the Crystal Palace hardly fulfilledPunch'ssanguine expectations of its future as a great people's playground and school. Intermittently it fulfilled this function, but as an educational institution it served the needs of the suburban residents rather than those of the great public; its entertainments were in the main supported by the patronage ofthe middle and well-to-do classes. As years went on the Crystal Palace, owing to its distance from London, suffered seriously from the competition of the series of exhibitions at Earl's Court. Yet one who is old enough, as the present writer is, to remember visits in his school days in the early 'seventies—recurrent Handel festivals from the days when Costa was conductor and Patti was in her golden prime; flower and dog and cat shows; the glory of the rhododendron shrubberies; pantomimes and firework displays; and, above all, the admirable Saturday concerts, which drew musical London for some forty years—such a one, and there must be many like him, will always look back on the Crystal Palace with grateful affection, and hold in reverence the names of Paxton and Ferguson, George Grove and August Manns, and many other good men and true who laboured to realizePunch'sideal.

[1]For the actual speech of the Duke see theExaminerfor 1845, p. 786.

Servant speaking to man carrying a large charter.NOT SO VERY UNREASONABLE! EH?John: "My Mistress says she hopes you won't call a meeting of her creditors; but if you will leave your Bill in the usual way, it shall be properly attended to."

NOT SO VERY UNREASONABLE! EH?

John: "My Mistress says she hopes you won't call a meeting of her creditors; but if you will leave your Bill in the usual way, it shall be properly attended to."

The Fight for Cheap Bread

We have seen thatPunchdid not belittle the Chartist movement, but admitted the evils, political, social, and economic, out of which it sprang. So did some of the leaders of the Young England group (seeSybil), butPunchridiculed their remedies. He was out of touch alike with Whigs, Tories, and Churchmen, especially the Tractarians, who denounced the men who tempted the people to rail against their rulers and superiors.

Punch, too, did a good deal in this line. But while he recognized the sincerity and earnestness of Chartism, he distrusted the methods of the extremists, and his distrust was largely justified by the history of the movement. The cleavage between the advocates of moral and physical force showed itself from the very beginning, and the fiasco of 1848 was largely due to the fact that the leading spirits of Chartism had already declared themselves against it, or actually withdrawn from the movement. Of the famous Six Points of the People's Charter of 1838, three have been conceded—No Property Qualifications, Vote by Ballot, and Payment of Members—and we have come very near the realization of Universal Suffrage and Equal Representation. The demand for Annual Parliaments alone remains unsatisfied. Yet Lovett, who drafted the Charter, and was imprisoned in 1839 with other Chartist leaders after the riots in Birmingham, emerged from gaol more than ever an advocate of moral force, joined Sturge in his efforts to reconcile the Chartists and the middle class reformers, and after 1842 took no further part in the Chartist movement. In the years of riots and fires and strikes and starvation that followed the rejection of the second National Petition in 1842, the leaders were, with few exceptions, engulfed in a tide which they were unable to control. Feargus O'Connor was one ofthe exceptions, but his success in inducing the Chartists to repudiate the Corn Law Repeal agitation, and the disastrous failure of his agrarian scheme at Watford, alienated many of the old Chartists. Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn Law rhymer, withdrew from the movement, which he had actively supported, in order to devote all his energies to the repeal of the hated "bread tax," and happily lived long enough to see it abolished.Punch, who had pronounced its dirge in February, 1849, with the legend "obiit. February 1, 1849, aged 34," was heart and soul with the Corn Law rhymer. Repeal of the Corn Laws was the deepest principle in his early life, and he was too angry to do justice to Peel, denouncing him as a "political eel"; an infringer of Dickens's copyright in Pecksniff; attacking his policy of "wait awhile," much as later critics attacked the policy of "wait and see"; and even when Peel's conversion was complete, refusing to acknowledge any virtue in it. WhenPunchwas bracketed with Peel as an opponent of the Corn Laws he indignantly repudiated the association:heat least had never turned his coat. One cannot help feeling that remorse must have mingled with admiration in his posthumous tributes to the statesman "who gave the people bread." But there were no prickings of conscience in the welcome extended by him in 1850 to the proposal (realized in 1854) to erect a statue to Ebenezer Elliott at Sheffield:—

The true-tempered men of Sheffield are about to do a new honour to themselves by honouring the memory of Ebenezer Elliott, the man whose wise pen drew up the indictment against that public robber, Corn Law: and never was indictment better drawn for conviction, though a rare success attended the novel deed, for it was only worded with common words, the words themselves hot and glowing with hate of wrong. Elliott struck from his subject—as the blacksmith strikes from the red iron—sparkles[2]of burning light; and where they fell they consumed. His homely indignation was sublimed by the intensity of his honesty: if his words were homely, they were made resistless by the inexorable purpose that uttered them. But the man had the true heart and soul of the poet, and could love the simple and beautiful as passionately as he denounced the selfish and the mean.The Corn-Law Rhymes did greatest service. They were the earliest utterances of a people contending with a sense of inarticulate suffering. They supplied the words; they gave a voice and meaning to the labouring heart, and the true poet vindicated his fine mission by making his spirit pass into the spirit of the many.Time rolled on and Corn Law was condemned. The indictment drawn by the poet was the draft afterwards improved; but Ebenezer Elliott was the first drawer; and honoured be the men of Sheffield who seek to do monumental homage to their patriotic poet! We have plenty of modern statues to the sword, it is full time we had one to the pen.

The Corn-Law Rhymes did greatest service. They were the earliest utterances of a people contending with a sense of inarticulate suffering. They supplied the words; they gave a voice and meaning to the labouring heart, and the true poet vindicated his fine mission by making his spirit pass into the spirit of the many.

Time rolled on and Corn Law was condemned. The indictment drawn by the poet was the draft afterwards improved; but Ebenezer Elliott was the first drawer; and honoured be the men of Sheffield who seek to do monumental homage to their patriotic poet! We have plenty of modern statues to the sword, it is full time we had one to the pen.

The Professional Agitator

Meanwhile the Chartist movement, weakened by defections and dissensions, and by the dissipation of its energies on a mixed programme, which antagonized all classes, damped by the constant rains which fell at every meeting and drenched the fires of revolution, was marching steadily to disintegration.Punch'sdistrust of the professional agitator is expressed in a bitter portrait published in the spring of 1848:—

THE MODEL AGITATOR

The only thing he flatters is the mob. Nothing is too sweet for them; every word is a lump of sugar. He flatters their faults, feeds their prejudices with the coarsest stimulants, and paints, for their amusement, the blackest things white. He is madly cheered in consequence. In time he grows into an idol. But cheers do not pay, however loud. The most prolonged applause will not buy a mutton chop. The hat is carried round, the pennies rain into it, and the Agitator pours them into his patriotic pocket. It is suddenly discovered that he has made some tremendous sacrifice for the people. The public sympathy is first raised, then a testimonial, then a subscription. He is grateful, and promises the Millennium. The trade begins to answer, and he fairly opens shop as a Licensed Agitator. He hires several journeymen with good lungs, and sends agents—patriotic bagmen—round the country to sell his praises and insults, the former for himself, and the latter for everybody else. Every paper that speaks the truth of him is publicly hooted at; everybody who opposes him is pelted with the hardest words selected from the Slang Dictionary. A good grievance is started, and hunted everywhere. People join in the cry, the Agitator leading off andshouting the loudest. The grievance is run off its legs; but another and another soon follows, till there is a regular pack of them. The country is in a continual ferment, and at last rises. Riots ensue; but the Model Agitator is the last person to suffer from them. He excites the people to arm themselves for the worst; but begs they will use no weapons. His talk is incendiary, his advice nothing but gunpowder, and yet he hopes no explosion will take place. He is an arsenal wishing to pass for a chapel or a baby-linen warehouse. He is all peace, all love, and yet his hearers grow furious as they listen to him, and rush out to burn ricks and shoot landlords. He is always putting his head on the block. Properly speaking he is beheaded once a quarter.A monster meeting is his great joy, to be damped only by the rain [the great open-air meetings of the Chartists were uniformlyunfortunate in their weather] or the police. He glories in a prosecution. He likes to be prosecuted. He asks for it; shrieks out to the Government, "Why don't you prosecute me?" and cries and gets quite mad if they will not do it. The favour at length is granted. He is thrown into prison and gets fat upon it; for from that moment he is a martyr, and paid as one, accordingly.The Model Agitator accumulates a handsome fortune, which he bequeathes to his sons, with the following advice, which is a rich legacy of itself: "If you wish to succeed as an Agitator, you must buy your patriotism in the cheapest market and sell it in the dearest."

A monster meeting is his great joy, to be damped only by the rain [the great open-air meetings of the Chartists were uniformlyunfortunate in their weather] or the police. He glories in a prosecution. He likes to be prosecuted. He asks for it; shrieks out to the Government, "Why don't you prosecute me?" and cries and gets quite mad if they will not do it. The favour at length is granted. He is thrown into prison and gets fat upon it; for from that moment he is a martyr, and paid as one, accordingly.

The Model Agitator accumulates a handsome fortune, which he bequeathes to his sons, with the following advice, which is a rich legacy of itself: "If you wish to succeed as an Agitator, you must buy your patriotism in the cheapest market and sell it in the dearest."

Wall witth cheap bread inscribed.PUNCH'S MONUMENT TO PEEL

PUNCH'S MONUMENT TO PEEL

The monster demonstration of 1848, as a recent writer[3]puts it, "was the funeral of Chartism with the Duke of Wellington as the Master of Ceremonies." Hopes of a general rising had been kindled by the revolution in Paris, but they were not fulfilled. Theannus mirabiliswhich set thrones rocking on the Continent and toppled down that of Louis Philippe passed in the main peacefully in England. Feargus O'Connor's monster procession and petition on April 10 ended in fiasco, largely owing to the precautions taken by the Duke of Wellington as Commander-in-Chief—the swearing in of 170,000 special constables (including Louis Napoleon!) and his wise decision to keep the troops as far as possible out of sight. It is right to record the fact thatPunchwas not moved by these events to desert his "left-centre" position; that he advocated amnesty rather than reprisals. In September, 1849, he published his special "Chartist Petition to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty":—

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY—

WHEREAS Death, the great Gaol-Deliverer, has by Cholera set free from Westminster Prison, Joseph Williams and Alexander Sharpe, foolish men, foolishly preaching the Charter, by means of pike and blunderbuss—Punchhumbly prays that your Majesty will, in this season of political tranquillity, and of grave moral chastisement, give orders for the release of certain misguided men, it is hoped better instructed for the future—and thereupon pardon and set free William Vernon, Ernest Jones, Little Cuffey, and other such offenders, now made harmless by the common sense and common loyalty of the English people.And your Petitioner will ever Print and Pray—PUNCH.

Punchhumbly prays that your Majesty will, in this season of political tranquillity, and of grave moral chastisement, give orders for the release of certain misguided men, it is hoped better instructed for the future—and thereupon pardon and set free William Vernon, Ernest Jones, Little Cuffey, and other such offenders, now made harmless by the common sense and common loyalty of the English people.

And your Petitioner will ever Print and Pray—

PUNCH.

Wife talking to husband.Special's Wife: "Contrary to regulations, indeed! Fiddlesticks! I must insist, Frederick, upon your taking this hot brandy-and-water. I shall be having you laid up next, and not fit for anything."

Special's Wife: "Contrary to regulations, indeed! Fiddlesticks! I must insist, Frederick, upon your taking this hot brandy-and-water. I shall be having you laid up next, and not fit for anything."

"Little Cuffey"

Ernest Jones was the young poet, a recent recruit of Feargus O'Connor, and Cuffey was the fiery little tailor for whomPunchalways had a soft corner in his heart. When Sir George Grey announced that Cuffey had been included in the list of deported prisoners, amnestied on the declaration of peace after the Crimean War,Punchexpressed his satisfaction at the release of the "resolute, fire-eating but withal frank-hearted and honest goose-hero of Chartism." But of much greater importance and significance is the striking poem printed in the issue of June 16, 1849, which may be taken as the best condensed summary ofPunch'spolitical and social creed in a time of transition. The occasion was a speech of Lord John Russell in the House, declining to entertain proposals for an extension of the franchise. Lord John, it may be recalled, was nicknamed "Finality Jack" for saying in a debate on the Address in 1837 that it was impossible for him to takepart in further measures of electoral reform.Punchheld that the collapse of the physical force movement, so far from prompting a lethargic acquiescence in the existing régime, ought to stir men of good will to further efforts in order to remove legitimate grounds of discontent:—

THE TENTH OF APRIL TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL

My name, Lord John, is pleasant on many a noble tongue;I've been bepuffed, bespeechified, bedined, bedrunk, besung;Conservatism, Finality, Laissez-Faire and Statu Quo,Are glad to shake hands with "the Tenth," till very proud I grow.At home, abroad, inside and out, you think you read me true,But when did ever Whig know man's or people's heart all through?Iamall that you style me, when your praise on me you pour;All that, my Lord, but take my word, with that I'm something more.I read your speech, the other night, when Hume, my stout old friend,Asked of the House, as you did once, the suffrage to extend.'Twas the use you then made of my name that hath these lines begot—Hear what the Tenth of April is, and hear what it is not.I am the friend of Order, but Statu Quo I loathe,The Law I heed, but still would weed, and trim and guide its growth;Finality, your present love, unlovely is to me;That "what is, is," proves not, I wis, that what is, ought to be."Content" you think I was, and so, noways for change athirst,Content men are with second best, in preference to worst:Content to hold up half a truth, when all truth shakes to fall;Content with what gives half a loaf, against no bread at all!But yet no ways content, Lord John, to see some things I see,As a laughing House of Commons, and a helpless Ministry,A nation little taught, a Church under-and overpaid,And prone Respectability in Mammon-service laid.Great towns o'erbrimming with their scum, great stews of plague and sin;Toil that should proudly bear itself, in grossness sunk and gin;Crime stored away to ripen in settlement and gaol;The rich for wealth, the poor for want, alike forpined and pale.Then think, my Lord, and you, his friends, who deem those overbold,That bid you move along the paths you entered on of old,Think how delay may order with anarchy combine,And to disaffection's vinegar turn loyalty's strong wine.Mistake me not for what I'm not, know me for what I am,The nursing mother of Reform, not Revolution's dam;Mine is the spirit that erst reared our England's throne on law,That never bore a lie it knew, or blinked a truth it saw.Nations or men, we may not rest—look round on Europe's thronesShattered or shaken—hearken to her convulsive groans—Ere you fool us with Finality, of all bad pleas the worst,Think 'tisthe Tenthof April you invoke, and notthe First.

My name, Lord John, is pleasant on many a noble tongue;

I've been bepuffed, bespeechified, bedined, bedrunk, besung;

Conservatism, Finality, Laissez-Faire and Statu Quo,

Are glad to shake hands with "the Tenth," till very proud I grow.

At home, abroad, inside and out, you think you read me true,But when did ever Whig know man's or people's heart all through?Iamall that you style me, when your praise on me you pour;All that, my Lord, but take my word, with that I'm something more.

At home, abroad, inside and out, you think you read me true,

But when did ever Whig know man's or people's heart all through?

Iamall that you style me, when your praise on me you pour;

All that, my Lord, but take my word, with that I'm something more.

I read your speech, the other night, when Hume, my stout old friend,Asked of the House, as you did once, the suffrage to extend.'Twas the use you then made of my name that hath these lines begot—Hear what the Tenth of April is, and hear what it is not.

I read your speech, the other night, when Hume, my stout old friend,

Asked of the House, as you did once, the suffrage to extend.

'Twas the use you then made of my name that hath these lines begot—

Hear what the Tenth of April is, and hear what it is not.

I am the friend of Order, but Statu Quo I loathe,The Law I heed, but still would weed, and trim and guide its growth;Finality, your present love, unlovely is to me;That "what is, is," proves not, I wis, that what is, ought to be.

I am the friend of Order, but Statu Quo I loathe,

The Law I heed, but still would weed, and trim and guide its growth;

Finality, your present love, unlovely is to me;

That "what is, is," proves not, I wis, that what is, ought to be.

"Content" you think I was, and so, noways for change athirst,Content men are with second best, in preference to worst:Content to hold up half a truth, when all truth shakes to fall;Content with what gives half a loaf, against no bread at all!

"Content" you think I was, and so, noways for change athirst,

Content men are with second best, in preference to worst:

Content to hold up half a truth, when all truth shakes to fall;

Content with what gives half a loaf, against no bread at all!

But yet no ways content, Lord John, to see some things I see,As a laughing House of Commons, and a helpless Ministry,A nation little taught, a Church under-and overpaid,And prone Respectability in Mammon-service laid.

But yet no ways content, Lord John, to see some things I see,

As a laughing House of Commons, and a helpless Ministry,

A nation little taught, a Church under-and overpaid,

And prone Respectability in Mammon-service laid.

Great towns o'erbrimming with their scum, great stews of plague and sin;Toil that should proudly bear itself, in grossness sunk and gin;Crime stored away to ripen in settlement and gaol;The rich for wealth, the poor for want, alike forpined and pale.

Great towns o'erbrimming with their scum, great stews of plague and sin;

Toil that should proudly bear itself, in grossness sunk and gin;

Crime stored away to ripen in settlement and gaol;

The rich for wealth, the poor for want, alike forpined and pale.

Then think, my Lord, and you, his friends, who deem those overbold,That bid you move along the paths you entered on of old,Think how delay may order with anarchy combine,And to disaffection's vinegar turn loyalty's strong wine.

Then think, my Lord, and you, his friends, who deem those overbold,

That bid you move along the paths you entered on of old,

Think how delay may order with anarchy combine,

And to disaffection's vinegar turn loyalty's strong wine.

Mistake me not for what I'm not, know me for what I am,The nursing mother of Reform, not Revolution's dam;Mine is the spirit that erst reared our England's throne on law,That never bore a lie it knew, or blinked a truth it saw.

Mistake me not for what I'm not, know me for what I am,

The nursing mother of Reform, not Revolution's dam;

Mine is the spirit that erst reared our England's throne on law,

That never bore a lie it knew, or blinked a truth it saw.

Nations or men, we may not rest—look round on Europe's thronesShattered or shaken—hearken to her convulsive groans—Ere you fool us with Finality, of all bad pleas the worst,Think 'tisthe Tenthof April you invoke, and notthe First.

Nations or men, we may not rest—look round on Europe's thrones

Shattered or shaken—hearken to her convulsive groans—

Ere you fool us with Finality, of all bad pleas the worst,

Think 'tisthe Tenthof April you invoke, and notthe First.

Reform or Revolution?

This may not be great poetry, but it is and remains sound political philosophy, and an apologia for Chartism as interpreted by the saner and nobler spirits who took part in the movement, endeavoured to control it, and were in some instances engulfed in it. The Rebecca Riots in South Wales in 1842-3 are little more than a name to most of the present generation. Few of those who connect them vaguely with resentment against the Turnpike Laws know that the name arose from the proclamations issued in the name of Rebecca, in allusion to the verse inGenesis(xxiv. 60) in which it is promised to the wife of Isaac that her seed shall possess "the gate of her enemies." Six years later there were still 160 turnpikes in and about London, andPunchdeclared that Rebecca was needed to sweep them away. "We laugh at the French for their passports; they may with equal justice laugh at us for our turnpikes. At all events the passports cost very little, whereas you cannot go three miles out of London without dipping your hand into your pocket two or three times."

Emigration at this time was hailed by many, includingPunch, as a remedy for existing discontent with conditions, and in the cartoon "Here and There," and the verses "Know'st Thou the Land where the Kangaroos Bound?"Punchgives a roseate picture of Australia, "deficient in mouths, overburdened with meat," and urges John Bull to help his paupers to go thither and live in plenty at high wages. A littletime later the Female Emigration Scheme, started by Sidney Herbert and other practical philanthropists, furnishedPunchwith a text for his oft-repeated sermon on the Two Nations. The writer was one of those who witnessed the departure of a party of thirty-eight women from Fenchurch Street station for Gravesend, and thence to Australia, and after describing the group, their homely appearance and dress and manners, continues in a vein of self-reproach:—

What a confession it is that we have almost all been obliged to make! A clear and earnest-minded writer gets a commission from theMorning Chroniclenewspaper, and reports upon the state of our poor in London; he goes amongst labouring people and poor of all kinds—and brings back what? A picture of London life so wonderful, so awful, so piteous and pathetic, so exciting and terrible, that readers of romances own they never read anything like to it; and that the griefs, struggles, strange adventures here depicted exceed anything that any of us could imagine. Yes; and these wonders and terrors have been lying by your door and mine ever since we had a door of our own. We had but to go a hundred yards off and see, for ourselves, but we never did. Don't we pay poor-rates, and are they not heavy enough in the name of patience? Very true; and we have our own private pensioners, and give away some of our superfluity very likely. You are not unkind; not ungenerous. But of such wondrous and complicated misery as this you confess you had no idea. No. How should you? You and I—we are of the upper classes; we have had hitherto no community with the poor. We never speak a word to the servant who waits on us for twenty years; we condescend to employ a tradesman, keeping him at a proper distance—mind, of course, at a proper distance; we laugh at his young men if they dance, jig and amuse themselves like their betters, and call them counter-jumpers, snobs, and what not; of his workmen we know nothing—how pitilessly they are ground down, how they live and die, here close by us at the backs of our houses; until some poet like Hood wakes and sings that dreadfulSong of the Shirt; some prophet like Carlyle rises up and denounces woe; some clear-sighted energetic man like the writer of theChronicletravels into the poor man's country for us, and comes back with his tale of terror and wonder.Awful, awful poor man's country! The bell rings and then eight-and-thirty women bid adieu to it, rescued from it (as a few more thousands will be) by some kind people who are interested in their behalf. It is a solemn moment indeed—for those who (withthe few thousands who will follow them) are leaving this country and escaping from the question between rich and poor; and what for those who remain? But, at least, those who go will remember that in their misery here they found gentle hearts to love and pity them, and generous hands to give them succour, and will plant in the new country their grateful tradition of the old. May Heaven's good mercy speed them.

Awful, awful poor man's country! The bell rings and then eight-and-thirty women bid adieu to it, rescued from it (as a few more thousands will be) by some kind people who are interested in their behalf. It is a solemn moment indeed—for those who (withthe few thousands who will follow them) are leaving this country and escaping from the question between rich and poor; and what for those who remain? But, at least, those who go will remember that in their misery here they found gentle hearts to love and pity them, and generous hands to give them succour, and will plant in the new country their grateful tradition of the old. May Heaven's good mercy speed them.

Emigration was one of the contributory influences which helped to end the hunger of the Hungry 'Forties. The repeal of the Corn Laws was a far more powerful factor in the revival of prosperity, and the efforts of Protection to raise its diminished head met with consistent derision fromPunch, who gloried in the statistics of increasing trade. But he was no Benthamite, and one may search his files in vain for any recognition of the salutary results of the new Poor Law. The famous report of 1834 was drawn up by men who were largely inspired by the doctrines of Bentham and Malthus, and their scientific principles were repugnant toPunch. There is really not much to choose between his criticisms and the hostility of the Chartists to the workhouses or "Bastilles" of the new system. In his zeal for pillorying instances of harsh administration he overlooked the real improvement effected in the Act of 1834 in the rural districts. But the new Poor Law, though it was followed by an immediate local re-absorption on a sounder economic basis of agricultural labour and a migration of the surplus elsewhither, was not the sole cause of this improvement.[4]The demand for labour in the rapidly expanding industries of railway construction and coal mining was an even more potent instrument of relief. Coal, on which both industries equally depended and depend, may be now a tyrant, but it was in a sense the good genius of the 'forties, though the high prices paid in London owing to extortionate tolls causedPunchto denounce him as "Cruel King Coal" from the point of view of the poor consumer.

The Beginning of Better Times

The threat of revolution passed, but the diffusion of prosperity brought with it, as it always does, further demands for increased wages. The year 1853 was so notable for strikesthatPunch, who had already applauded poor needlewomen for adopting this course, and suggested it to poor curates, felt obliged to register his protest:—

Really John Bull may almost be described as a maniac with lucid intervals. A few years ago it was the railway mania—a very dangerous frenzy....The mania now prevailing is one which, if not attended to, may perhaps prove troublesome. This is the striking mania. Everybody is striking. The other day it was the cabmen; now it is the dockyard labourers; the policemen, even, have struck and thrown down their staves. Our mechanics have so far become machines, that, like clocks, as clocks ought to be, they are all striking together. Should this mania spread, we shall have striking become what might be called the order, but that it will be the disorder, of the day. In short, almost everybody will strike except the threshers, the smiths and the pugilists. With all this striking though, we had better take care that we are not floored.

As for the efficacy of the strike-weapon in general,Punch'sview is summed up in the remark which he puts into the mouth of a working man's wife as early as 1853, "Wot good did strikes ever do the pore?"

[2]Elliott himself said: "My feelings have been hammered until they have becomecold—short, and are apt to snap and fly off in sarcasms" (D.N.B. xvii., 267).

[3]C. R. Fay in "Life and Labour in the Nineteenth Century," p. 166.

[4]See C. R. Fay, "Life and Labour in the Nineteenth Century," p. 204.

In the 'thirties and 'forties the triumphs of applied science and invention had already begun to exert an immediate and far-reaching influence on national prosperity and the economics of industrialism. The views on the new order expressed inPunchreflect, with certain variations, the enlightened moderation of the class of which he was the spokesman. The coming of the age of steam and machinery is welcomed, or accepted, with a tempered optimism. He approaches the subject mainly as a critic or a satirist zealous for reform. But on two notable occasions he assumes the rôle of philosopher and prophet. The first was in January, 1842,à proposof a remark made by Sir Robert Peel that increased demand for manufactures would only increase machine-power:—

Machinery, in its progress, has doubtless been the origin of terrible calamity; it has made the strong man so much live lumber. But as we cannot go back, and must go on, it is for statesmen and philosophers to prepare for the crisis as surely coming as the morning light. How, when machinery is multiplied—as it will be—a thousandfold? How, when tens of thousand-thousand hands are made idle by the ingenuity of the human mind? How, when, comparatively speaking, there shall benolabour for man? Will the multitude lie down and, unrepining, die? We think not—we are sure not. Then will rise—and already we hear the murmur—a cry, a shout for an adjustment of interests; a shout that, hard as it is, will strike upon the heart of Mammon, and make the spoiler tremble.We put this question to Sir Robert Peel: if all labour done by man were suddenly performed by machine power, and that power in the possession of some thousand individuals—what would be the cry of the rest of the race? Would not the shout be, "Share, share"?The steam-engine, despite of themselves, must and will carry statesmen back to first principles. As it is, machinery is a fiend to the poor; the time will come when it will be a beneficent angel.

We put this question to Sir Robert Peel: if all labour done by man were suddenly performed by machine power, and that power in the possession of some thousand individuals—what would be the cry of the rest of the race? Would not the shout be, "Share, share"?

The steam-engine, despite of themselves, must and will carry statesmen back to first principles. As it is, machinery is a fiend to the poor; the time will come when it will be a beneficent angel.

RAILWAY MAPRAILWAY MAP OF ENGLAND (A PROPHECY)

RAILWAY MAP OF ENGLAND (A PROPHECY)

The Impudence of Steam

On the second occasion, in May, 1844, the note struck in the last sentence is sounded more hopefully. In a fantasy entitled "The May Day of Steam," the writer notes the passing of the old May Day and foreshadows Labour's appropriation of that festival; and a speech is put into the mouth of a working man prophesying the ultimate unmitigated good of invention, though its first operation created great inequality and caused misery to the hand-worker. But for the most partPunchis concerned with the dangers and discomforts of the new method of locomotion and the wild speculation to which it gave rise. Railway directors were to him anathema. Inhis first volumePunchsturdily declares that "the best thing to do for poor Earth to protect her Would be to hang daily a railway director," and of his many railway cartoons perhaps the most effective is that which represents a director sitting on the front buffers of an engine as the best remedy for collisions. The "Impudence of Steam" is satirized in some prophetic verses, one couplet of which is still often quoted:—

"Ease her, stop her!""Any gentleman for Joppa?""'Mascus, 'Mascus?" "Tickets, please, sir.""Tyre or Sidon?" "Stop her, ease her!""Jerusalem, 'lem, 'lem!" "Shur! Shur!""Do you go on to Egypt, sir?""Captain, is this the land of Pharaoh?""Now look alive there! Who's for Cairo?""Back her!" "Stand clear, I say, old file!""What gent or lady's for the Nile,""Or Pyramids?" "Thebes! Thebes! Sir!" "Steady!""Now, where's that party for Engedi?"

"Ease her, stop her!"

"Any gentleman for Joppa?"

"'Mascus, 'Mascus?" "Tickets, please, sir."

"Tyre or Sidon?" "Stop her, ease her!"

"Jerusalem, 'lem, 'lem!" "Shur! Shur!"

"Do you go on to Egypt, sir?"

"Captain, is this the land of Pharaoh?"

"Now look alive there! Who's for Cairo?"

"Back her!" "Stand clear, I say, old file!"

"What gent or lady's for the Nile,"

"Or Pyramids?" "Thebes! Thebes! Sir!" "Steady!"

"Now, where's that party for Engedi?"

Pilgrims holy, Red Cross Knights,Had ye e'er the least idea,Even in your wildest flights,Of a steam trip to Judea?What next marvel Time will showIt is difficult to say,"'Bus," perchance, to Jericho,"Only sixpence all the way."Cabs in Solyma may fly;'Tis a not unlikely tale:And from Dan the tourist hieUnto Beersheba by "rail."

Pilgrims holy, Red Cross Knights,

Had ye e'er the least idea,

Even in your wildest flights,

Of a steam trip to Judea?

What next marvel Time will show

It is difficult to say,

"'Bus," perchance, to Jericho,

"Only sixpence all the way."

Cabs in Solyma may fly;

'Tis a not unlikely tale:

And from Dan the tourist hie

Unto Beersheba by "rail."

But the miseries and discomforts of railway travelling are dwelt on far more frequently than its prospective delights. The first-class alone was endurable, and that was grossly overcharged: the rest had to put up with overcrowding, discomfort, draughts, hard seats, smoke, dust and dirt. Third-class passengerswere negligible and contemptible folk; neither punctuality nor civility was to be expected.

In 1845 the railway mania becomes acute—a "universal epidemic." George Hudson, the Railway King, looms large in the public eye; andPunchexpresses his dissatisfaction with M.P.s for dabbling in speculation which they have themselves the opportunity of unduly favouring. Burlesques of various railway projects—centrifugal and atmospheric—abound.Punchridicules the idea of a railway in the Isle of Wight as unnecessary and calculated to spoil the "Garden of England." The menace to the rural and pastoral amenities of the countryside moves him to eloquent protest. The sufferings of M.P.s before Railway Committees are set forth in the parody of Tennyson's "Mariana in the Moated Grange"; the golden harvest reaped by expert engineering witnesses is resentfully acknowledged; "Jeames" has not escaped the infection and appears frequently as speculator, "stag," and dupe. The Battle of the Gauges had been joined, andPunchasserts that the largest entry in the "railway returns" was that recording the casualties. The Unicorn in the Royal Arms is explained as the "Stag" of railway speculation, and a design of a railway lunatic asylum is submitted as the most appropriate terminus for many of the new schemes. The protests of fox-hunters, noted byPunch, recall the verses of the Cheshire poet:—

Let the steam potHiss till it's hot,But give me the speed of the Tantivy Trot.

Let the steam pot

Hiss till it's hot,

But give me the speed of the Tantivy Trot.

Locomotive surrounded by a horde of people.THE RAILWAY JUGGERNAUT OF 1845

THE RAILWAY JUGGERNAUT OF 1845

The mania was not confined to men:Punchsatirizes the ladies who were "stagging it" under the heading "A Doe in the City," and suggests a Joint Stock Railway Workhouse as the natural and fitting end of all these operations. This idea is further developed in "Jaques in Capel Court," a parody which begins:—

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