~Chartism.~--Following the great Reform movement of 1832, in which
Birmingham led the van, came years of bad harvests, bad trade, and
bitter distress. The great Chartist movement, though not supported by
the leaders of the local Liberal party, was taken up with a warmth
almost unequalled in any other town in the Kingdom, meetings being held
daily and nightly for months in succession, Feargus O'Connor, Henry
Vincent, and many other "orators of the fiery tongue," taking part. On
the 13th of August, 1838, a monstre demonstration took place on Holloway
Head, at which it was reckoned there were over 100,000 persons present,
and a petition in favour of "The Charter" was adopted that received the
signatures of 95,000 people in a few days. The Chartist "National
Convention" met here May 13, 1839, and noisy assemblages almost daily
affrighted the respectable townsmen out of their propriety. It was
advised that the people should abstain from all exciseable articles, and
"run for gold" upon the savings banks--very good advice when given by
Attwood in 1832, but shockingly wicked in 1839 when given to people who
could have had but little in the savings or any other banks. This, and
the meetings which ensued, so alarmed the magistrates for the safety of
property that, in addition to swearing in hundreds of special
constables, they sent to London for a body of police. These arrived on
July 4, and unfortunately at the time a stormy meeting was being held in
the Bull Ring, which they were at once set to disperse, a work soon
accomplished by the free use they made of their staves. The indignant
Brums, however, soon rallied and drove the police into the Station,
several being wounded on either side. The latent fury thus engendered
burst out in full force on the 15th when the notorious Chartist Riots
commenced, but the scenes then enacted, disgraceful as they were, may
well be left in oblivion, especially as the best of "the points" of the
Charter are now part of the laws of the land. Besides many others who