The Parade of 18^8. 
523 
cause could not fail of success. Thoy thought that the people 
were on their side and hence the English government would 
either be peacefully reconstructed according to their demands or 
else that, after a short and ineffectual resistance, it would pass 
entirely into their hands. They even discussed in convention 
what they should do when they came into control. They deter¬ 
mined, among other things, that they would “ divide the land 
into small farms and give every man an opportunity to get his 
living by the sweat of his brow. ” The Chartists alleged that 
they had secured the signatures of 5,706,000 persons to their 
petition. The proceedings of the convention verged upon open 
conspiracy. The sentiment was, that if peaceful means would 
not prevail the time had come for drastic measures. The plan 
of action formulated by the convention was, that if Parliament 
ignored the petition that was to be sent to it, the Queen should 
be commanded (to use their phrase) to prorogue Parliament and 
call to her aid such ministers as would make the “People’s 
Charter ” a cabinet measure. Whether this command was obeyed 
by Her Royal Highness or not, on G-ood Friday, April twenty- 
first, elections should be held throughout England to choose 
delegates to a National Assembly. This should convene in 
London, Monday, April twenty-fourth and remain sitting until 
the “People’s Charter” should be made the law of the land. In 
other words, if necessary, this assembly should constitute a 
revolutionary government and constitutional convention. 
On the sixth of April the government issued a proclamation 
forbidding the Chartist procession which was announced for 
the tenth following and also forbidding any meeting to be held 
by the Chartists. For the authority of the latter part of their 
proclamation they went back to an obsolete but unrepealed 
statute of Charles II., passed in 1661, immediately after the Res¬ 
toration, and which was for the temporary purpose of crushing 
the numerous conspiracies of that time. The government was 
criticised, even by conservatives, for resurrecting this anti¬ 
quated bit of legislation; no serious attempt was made to 
enforce it. On the seventh, the public offices of London were 
supplied with arms in anticipation of a chartist outbreak. 
34 
