distillation of liquor.
Thomas always stood firmly behind the Anti-Corn Leaguers, but he was no political radical, let alone aligned to any of the newly formed trade unions. Although the Anti-Corn Leaguers and the Chartists both revolted against the middle-class ascendancy established by the Reform Bill, there was much rivalry between the two organisations. The Chartists pushed for the fulfilment of the six points of the People’s Charter of 1838 (see p. 56). From the time of their first national convention in London, marked differences separated the northerners (who were fundamentally anti-industrialist) and the men from the Midlands and London. 7
Anti-Corn Leaguers were making such a major contribution to politics that their power was feared by the Tories and Protectionists. The subject of Protectionism versus Free Trade raised tempers, produced slogans and filled newspapers. So prevalent was the agitation that if the Corn Laws had not been defeated, it was rumoured that there could well have been a cataclysmic event as there had been in France. In 1846, Gladstone, then at the Board of Trade, prepared the bill for revoking the Corn Laws.
Just before dawn on 16 May 1846, at 4.15a.m., in one of the most symbolic nights in British parliamentary history in the Palace of Westminster, voting cut across parties, across class, across family. When the tellers counted the votes, the Ayes had it. Almost overnight Britain moved from Protection to Free Trade. Paradoxically, the Irish Famine had been one of the excuses which Sir Robert Peel, the Conservative prime minister, used to bring about the repeal of the Corn Laws, but it did little to help the starving millions there, who needed charitable aid and money. As not enough people in Ireland could afford to buy Irish wheat, meat and dairy produce, its export to England continued – as before.
Trade restrictions remained an unremitting political issue into the next century. 8 Britain, according to many farmers and critics, had sacrificed the interests of agriculture to industry. Nobody was sure how far the legislation would affect trade. Would cheap goods and food flood through the newly unbarred ports? British farmers were assured of a certain amount of protection by the sheer cost of shipping grain combined with the hazards of rats and mice in the hulls of ships. At that stage there was no large surplus of foreign grain awaiting entry.
FIFTEEN
Bankruptcy and Backwards
T he repeal of the Corn Laws that year had not brought the anticipated relief. Many people were still hungry and others, including Thomas, were surrounded by chilling circumstances. Misfortune appeared to be delivering him blow after blow, but this may have been a result of spreading himself too thinly. He was busy, organising trips, campaigning and producing pages on everything, from the evils of drink and smoking to the joys of cheap bread and travel. On top of this, some of the tourists on his first trip to Scotland were suing for compensation for their perilous night on the ship to Scotland. A further trip to Scotland the following year had failed to attract sufficient customers and had lost money. The final blow was the failure of the
National Temperance Magazine
, into which he had put so much effort. Whether its closure was a reflection of difficult times, or because readers had fallen away because of a fall in quality, is not known. In the very last issue of the magazine, in August 1846, he told readers of the ‘painful and sudden reverses’ which made it impossible for him ‘to sustain his position. After ten years of ceaseless toil in the Temperance cause’, he was forced to give in to ‘those influences which have driven several Temperance publishers from the field’. His farewell message, written in the third person, had a desperate ring: ‘Borne down by heavy responsibilities and legal oppressions, he has no alternative but to bid, at least temporarily, farewell to his esteemed friends and
Thomas always stood firmly behind the Anti-Corn Leaguers, but he was no political radical, let alone aligned to any of the newly formed trade unions. Although the Anti-Corn Leaguers and the Chartists both revolted against the middle-class ascendancy established by the Reform Bill, there was much rivalry between the two organisations. The Chartists pushed for the fulfilment of the six points of the People’s Charter of 1838 (see p. 56). From the time of their first national convention in London, marked differences separated the northerners (who were fundamentally anti-industrialist) and the men from the Midlands and London. 7
Anti-Corn Leaguers were making such a major contribution to politics that their power was feared by the Tories and Protectionists. The subject of Protectionism versus Free Trade raised tempers, produced slogans and filled newspapers. So prevalent was the agitation that if the Corn Laws had not been defeated, it was rumoured that there could well have been a cataclysmic event as there had been in France. In 1846, Gladstone, then at the Board of Trade, prepared the bill for revoking the Corn Laws.
Just before dawn on 16 May 1846, at 4.15a.m., in one of the most symbolic nights in British parliamentary history in the Palace of Westminster, voting cut across parties, across class, across family. When the tellers counted the votes, the Ayes had it. Almost overnight Britain moved from Protection to Free Trade. Paradoxically, the Irish Famine had been one of the excuses which Sir Robert Peel, the Conservative prime minister, used to bring about the repeal of the Corn Laws, but it did little to help the starving millions there, who needed charitable aid and money. As not enough people in Ireland could afford to buy Irish wheat, meat and dairy produce, its export to England continued – as before.
Trade restrictions remained an unremitting political issue into the next century. 8 Britain, according to many farmers and critics, had sacrificed the interests of agriculture to industry. Nobody was sure how far the legislation would affect trade. Would cheap goods and food flood through the newly unbarred ports? British farmers were assured of a certain amount of protection by the sheer cost of shipping grain combined with the hazards of rats and mice in the hulls of ships. At that stage there was no large surplus of foreign grain awaiting entry.
FIFTEEN
Bankruptcy and Backwards
T he repeal of the Corn Laws that year had not brought the anticipated relief. Many people were still hungry and others, including Thomas, were surrounded by chilling circumstances. Misfortune appeared to be delivering him blow after blow, but this may have been a result of spreading himself too thinly. He was busy, organising trips, campaigning and producing pages on everything, from the evils of drink and smoking to the joys of cheap bread and travel. On top of this, some of the tourists on his first trip to Scotland were suing for compensation for their perilous night on the ship to Scotland. A further trip to Scotland the following year had failed to attract sufficient customers and had lost money. The final blow was the failure of the
National Temperance Magazine
, into which he had put so much effort. Whether its closure was a reflection of difficult times, or because readers had fallen away because of a fall in quality, is not known. In the very last issue of the magazine, in August 1846, he told readers of the ‘painful and sudden reverses’ which made it impossible for him ‘to sustain his position. After ten years of ceaseless toil in the Temperance cause’, he was forced to give in to ‘those influences which have driven several Temperance publishers from the field’. His farewell message, written in the third person, had a desperate ring: ‘Borne down by heavy responsibilities and legal oppressions, he has no alternative but to bid, at least temporarily, farewell to his esteemed friends and
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