Since 1832 the non-party organisations have been, on the whole, more permanent, and more widely extended than before; and, with some marked exceptions like that of the Chartists, they have tended to rely less upon a display of physical force, and more upon appeals to the electorate—a change following naturally enough upon the enlargement of the franchise. Chartism developed out of a large number of separate local organisations of workingmen, who realised that they had gained no political power from the Reform Act, and demanded a reform of Parliament in a really democratic spirit. The movement took its name from the People's Charter, with its six points, published in 1838 by the London Working Men's Association. To this the various local bodies adhered, sending the next year delegates to a great People's Parliament in London. But the violence of the language used by the Chartists opened a door for prosecution; the leaders became frightened, and for the moment the agitation lost its force. In 1840 it was reorganised, and was supported by several hundred affiliated bodies. From first to last, however, it was weakened by dissensions among the leaders, relating both to the methods of operation and to subordinate issues. The movement culminated in 1848, in the mass meeting on Kennington Common, which was to form in procession, and present a mammoth petition to Parliament. The plan had caused grave anxiety; troops were brought up, thousands of special constables were sworn in; but at the last minute Feargus O'Connor, the leader of the Chartists, lost his nerve, and gave up the procession. The great demonstration was a fiasco, and soon after the whole movement collapsed.
The Anti-Corn-Law League.
One of the many reasons for the failure of Chartism was the existence at the same time of the most successful non-partisan organisation that England has ever known, the Anti-Corn-Law League. This, like the Anti-Slavery Association of an earlier day, was formed to advocate a single specific reform, and to its steadfast fidelity to that principle its success was largely due. It excluded rigidly all questions of party politics, and in fact its most prominent leader, Cobden, always retained a profound distrust of both parties. The reform embodied, however, in the eyes of its votaries, both an economic and a moral principle, so that they were able to appeal at the same time to the pocket and the conscience of the nation—a combination that goaded Carlyle into his reference to Cobden as an inspired bagman preaching a calico millennium. As the League appealed to more than one motive, so it used freely more than one means of making the appeal. After a number of local associations had been formed, a meeting of delegates from these, held in 1839, founded the League, which proceeded to organise branches all over the country, sent forth speakers and lecturers, worked the press, collected information, issued pamphlets by the ton, petitioned Parliament, and strove to elect candidates who would support its views. All this was done upon a huge scale with indefatigable energy. The movement derived its force from the middle-class manufacturers, but they strained every nerve to indoctrinate the working classes in the cities, and later the rural population, until at last public opinion was so far won that the crisis caused by the failure of the Irish potato crop brought about the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The League had done its work and dissolved.
Other Non-Partisan Associations.
There have been, and still are, a large number of other associations of a non-partisan character, which bestir themselves about some political question. Often they exist in pairs to advocate opposing views, like the Marriage Law Reform Association, and the Marriage Law Defence Union, the Imperial Vaccination League, and the National Anti-Vaccination League. These associations are of many different kinds. Some of them are organised for other objects, concerning themselves with legislation only incidentally, and taking no part at elections, like the Association of Chambers of Commerce, and the Association of Municipal Corporations. Some exist primarily for other purposes, but are very active in politics, like certain of the trade unions;[464:1] others are formed solely for the diffusion of political doctrines, but generally abstain from direct electoral work, like the Fabian Society, with its socialist ideals; and, finally, there are organisations which, although not primarily partisan, in fact exert themselves vigorously to help the candidates of one of the great parties. To the last class belongs the Liberation Society, formerly very active in urging the disestablishment of the Church, and throwing its influence in favour of the Liberals; and also its opponent, the Committee for Church Defence, equally strong on the side of the Conservatives. More active than either of them at the present day is the Free Church Federation, which has been brought into the political arena by its repugnance to the Education Act of 1902. In the same category must be placed the National Trade Defence Association, an organisation formed by the liquor dealers to resist temperance legislation, and perhaps Mr. Chamberlain's recent Tariff Reform League, both of which support the Tories. It so happens that the societies that oppose the last two bodies are not so consistently devoted to the Liberals. Then there are societies of another type formed for a transitory purpose in foreign affairs: such as the Eastern Question Association of 1876, which opposed Disraeli's Turkish policy, and the present Balkan Committee working for freedom in Macedonia.
All associations that attempt to influence elections are in the habit of catechising the candidates and publishing their answers, sometimes producing a decided effect upon the vote. Now it may be suggested that societies which take an active part in elections, and always throw their influence on the same side, ought not to be classed as non-partisan, but rather as adjuncts to the great parties; and yet they differ from the true ancillary organisations because their primary object as societies (whatever the personal aim of individual members may be) is not to place the party in power, but to carry through a particular policy with which that party happens to be more nearly in sympathy than its rival.
FOOTNOTES:
[462:1] Graham Wallas, in his "Life of Francis Place," gives a graphic description of the movements in London.
[462:2] For these movements see Clarkson's "History of the Slave Trade," "The Life of Wilberforce," by his sons, and "The Memoirs of Sir T. Fowell Buxton."