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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32807-0.txt b/32807-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99cf9c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/32807-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1239 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Freehold Land Societies, by J. Ewing Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Freehold Land Societies + Their History, Present Position, and Claims + + +Author: J. Ewing Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2010 [eBook #32807] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES*** + + +Transcribed from the 1853 William Tweedie pamphlet by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf. Many thanks to Birmingham Central Library, England, for +allowing their copy to be used for this transcription. + + + + + + FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES: + THEIR HISTORY, + PRESENT POSITION, AND CLAIMS. + + + BY + + J. EWING RITCHIE. + + * * * * * + + “The laws of this country recognise nothing more sacred than the + Forty-shilling Freehold Franchise; and a vote for the county obtained + by these means is both constitutional and laudable.”—LORD + CHIEF-JUSTICE TINDAL. + + “What he had heard from hon. members told him nothing more than this, + that the working population could easily, under the old system, + acquire the right of voting; and that every man who owned forty + shillings a-year could entitle himself to vote. Were they to be told + that the people of England were so degraded, so besotted, so dead to + all sense of their true interests, that they could make no efforts to + possess themselves of the franchise?”—MR. DISRAELI. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND. + + * * * * * + + PRICE TWOPENCE. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The following pages are reprinted from the “WEEKLY NEWS AND +CHRONICLE”—the only Paper that aims to be the organ of the Freehold Land +Movement. They are now published in the hope that they may win for that +movement a wider support and a heartier sympathy than it has already +secured. It is a child—it will be a giant ere long. + +3, Clifford’s Inn. + April 1853. + + + + +FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES: +THEIR HISTORY, PRESENT POSITION, AND CLAIMS. + + +The Freehold Land Movement is the great fact of the age. We propose to +consider it in its origin, its present position as a means of investment +for the middle and working-classes, and in its political and social and +moral bearings. We propose to tell what it has done, and what it seeks +to do. Born of a working-man, it especially aims at the elevation of +working-men. It comes to them, and offers them independence, wealth, and +political power. Conceived in a provincial town, its ramifications now +extend through the land. It demands no mean place in the consideration +of the influences now at work for realising a future brighter and better +than the past. The philosopher, the political economist, and the +philanthropist must alike, then, deem it worthy of serious regard. On +the part of a people, the absence of recklessness and waste is a great +good; but the formation of industrial and economical habits is a still +greater good. From such plain, unpoetical traits of national character +are born the arts and the graces, and all that is civilised and refined +in life. A rich people is not less virtuous, and is certainly far +happier, than a poor one. Therefore we say, let the Freehold Movement +have wide support, for it is a schoolmaster, teaching the path leading +the people of this country to wealth, and to the power and independence +which wealth alone can give. Thus much by way of introduction. That our +readers may fully understand the subject, we shall begin at the +beginning, and explain. + + + +I.—THE CONSTITUTION OF A FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY. + + +Some time back the _Times_ asked scornfully, as Pilate of old did +concerning truth, what was a Freehold Land Society. We reply, viewed in +a business light, it is simply a society for the purchase of land. It +involves two commercial principles well understood—that purchasers should +buy in the cheapest market, and that societies can do what individuals +cannot. Till the movement originated, the purchaser of a small plot of +ground had to pay in lawyer’s expenses connected with the purchase +frequently as much as he paid for the plot itself. A society buys a +large piece of ground. They make roads through it; they drain it; they +turn it into valuable building-land; they thus raise its value; and they +divide it amongst their members, not at the price at which each allotment +is worth, but at the price which each allotment has cost. Being also +registered under the Friendly Societies Act, the conveyance costs the +purchaser generally from 25s. to 30s.; and thus a plot worth £50 is often +put into the fortunate allottee’s hands for half that sum. Of course, +different societies have different rules, but they all aim at the same +end, and effect that end in pretty nearly a similar manner. Thus a +member generally, if he subscribes for a share of £30, pays a shilling +a-week, and a trifling sum a-quarter for expenses. With the money thus +raised an estate is purchased. It is then cut up into allotments, and +balloted for. If the subscriber has paid up, he, of course, takes the +land, and there is an end of the matter. If he has not, the society +gives him his allotment, but saddled with a mortgage. In some societies +the members are served by rotation, and “first come” are “first served.” +The more generally-adopted plan, however, is division by ballot. There +has been some doubt as to the legality of the ballot; the Conservative +Society have taken the opinion of eminent counsel upon this matter, and +their opinion is, that the ballot is perfectly legal. The rotation +societies offer no inducements to new members to join them; so division +by ballot has come to be almost the universal rule. In the National, for +instance, there was a ballot daily for all subscribers of three months’ +standing. This has recently been altered. A ballot takes place every +day, to which all are eligible whose subscriptions are paid up. If you +join the National, you may go to the ballot immediately. + +As the National is the largest of the existing Freehold Land +Societies—last year its receipts being £190,070—we will briefly allude to +its prospectus as a still further illustration of what a Freehold Land +Society is. The especial objects of this Society are described as “to +facilitate the acquisition of freehold land, and the erection of houses +thereon; to enable such of its members as are eligible to obtain the +county franchise, and to afford to all of them a secure and profitable +investment for money.” In the National, all the expenses are defrayed +out of a common fund; consequently, there are no extra charges, and the +net profits, after payment of interest on subscriptions in advance and on +completed shares, are annually divided amongst the holders of uncompleted +shares. In this way last year the National divided £3,161. 19s. 3d., and +the directors credited each unadvanced share with profit at the rate of +£10. 16s. 8d. per cent. per annum. We only add, as a still further +explanation of the societies in general, that they are all conducted on +the most perfectly democratic principles. Vote by ballot and universal +suffrage are the rule with them. The members elect their own officers. +In all the societies, also, provision is made for casualties, such as +sickness or death. In case of death, the subscriber’s widow or heirs +take his place. If he be unable, from sickness or poverty, to continue +his subscription, he is not fined, but is allowed to wait for better +times. If he wishes his money back, he can have it returned, with a +slight reduction for the working expenses of the Society. Juniors may be +members. Actually these societies so far practically admit woman’s +rights as to offer to the ladies the same desirable investments they +offer to the sterner sex. In short, the Freehold Land Movement appeals +to all ranks and conditions of the community. It may be said of a +Freehold Land Society what has often been said of the London Tavern, that +it is open to all—who can pay. + + + +II. ORIGIN AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE MOVEMENT. + + +Primarily the movement was political, and was established for the purpose +of giving the people of this country the political power which they at +present lack. Originally the forty-shilling freehold was established to +put down universal suffrage. As a part and parcel of the British +constitution it has been religiously preserved to the present time, and +threatens to be an excellent substitute for what it was originally +intended to destroy. During the Anti-Corn-Law agitation Mr. Cobden had +put the free-traders up to the idea of purchasing forty-shilling +freeholds, but it was reserved to Mr. James Taylor, of Birmingham, to +give to the idea of Mr. Cobden a universality of which the latter never +dreamed; Mr. Taylor had been a purchaser of land more than once, and with +the purchase he got an abstract, a legal document, which when he came to +understand it, showed him that he had paid to the vendor much more than +it cost him. The idea then struck him that as the wholesale price of +land was much greater than the retail, if the working men could be got to +subscribe together a large sum for the purchase of land, they could thus +have, at a wholesale price, a stake in the country and a vote, and when +the general election came and excitement was created, Mr. Taylor felt +that the time for action was arrived. Accordingly, when he went to +tender his vote, he said to a friend who accompanied him, “here’s a lot +of fellows, and all that they can do is to grin and yawn when I go in to +poll; I have a strong notion that I can get them into the booth.” This +friend said, “How?” The answer was, “Meet me to night in the Temperance +Hotel.” That same evening Mr. Taylor and his friend drew up an +advertisement, stating that “it is expedient that a Freehold Land Society +be formed for the purpose of obtaining freehold property at a most +reasonable cost to, and to get country votes for, the working men.” +Simultaneously with the advertisement in the local paper appeared a +leader from the editor, recognising the immense importance of the +movement thus commenced. Thus pledged to go on, Mr. Taylor threw his +heart and soul into the cause. Within a week a committee was formed, and +the support of the principal men in the town secured. December, 1849 is +the legal date of the Freehold Land Movement, although the Birmingham +Society had been in existence nearly two years previous. In that month +the rules of the society were certified, and the glorious idea of Mr. +Taylor had a legal habitation and a name. At the end of the first year +the Birmingham society reported that it had established six independent +societies, in which more than two thousand members had subscribed for +three thousand shares; that in Birmingham alone the subscriptions +amounted to £500 per month, and that it had already given allotments to +nearly two hundred of its members. Before the termination of the second +year a great conference was held in Birmingham in order to organise a +plan of general union and co-operation amongst the various societies. +Delegates from all parts of the country were present. In Birmingham it +appeared £13,000 had been subscribed and four estates purchased, two +thousand five hundred shares being taken up by one thousand eight hundred +subscribers. Wolverhampton, Leicester, Stourbridge, had all co-operated +zealously in the movement. Nor was the metropolis behind. The National +had started with seven hundred and fifty members subscribing for one +thousand five hundred shares, and already had £1,900 paid up. In +Marylebone eight hundred shares had been taken since the previous July. +This conference was attended by Messrs. Cobden, Bright, G. Thompson, +Scholefield, Bass, and Sir Joshua Walmsley. This conference, of course, +attracted the notice of the press. The coldly, critical _Spectator_ +termed it a “middle-class movement.” _Tait_ so far forgot himself as to +characterise it as “political swindling.” The _Times_ said the +working-classes were being deluded by it. For once the _Standard_ agreed +with the _Times_ and said ditto. However the conference did its work, +and started the _Freeholder_, which appeared on the 1st of January, 1850. +A second conference was held at Birmingham in November, 1850. The +report, as usual, was encouraging. Eighty societies, many of them with +branches, were reported as existing. The number of members was thirty +thousand subscribing for forty thousand shares. The amount of paid-up +contributions was £170,000. A third conference was held in London in +November, 1851. The report then stated there were one hundred societies +with forty-five thousand members subscribing for sixty-five thousand +shares. One hundred and fifty estates had been purchased, twelve +thousand allotments made, £400,000 had actually been received, and two +millions of pounds sterling was actually being subscribed for. At the +fourth conference, held in 1852, it appeared still greater progress had +been made. One hundred and thirty societies, with eighty-five thousand +members subscribing for a hundred and twenty thousand shares, were in +existence, three hundred and ten estates had been purchased, nineteen +thousand five hundred allotments had been made, and £790,000 had been +received. Estimating the shares at the average of £30 per share, the +total amount subscribed for was three millions six hundred thousand +pounds. Such, then, is the movement at the present time. It has been +obscured by no cloud. Its progress has been unchecked. No +disappointment has retarded its onward way. Forward to victory has been +its march. All classes and sects have railed round it. For churchmen +there exists a Church of England Society. The Conservatives have formed +a large and flourishing society for the manufacture of Conservative +votes. The movement sneered at, derided, misrepresented, declared +unconstitutional, a swindle like a celebrated land scheme popular with +the Chartists, has now come to be admitted by all as the greatest fact of +the age: to aid it, grave and reverend churchmen, statesmen of all shades +of political options, combine; even coronetted lords now rejoice to lend +it their sanction, and the weight of their illustrious names. Truly the +mustard seed has branched out into a giant oak. A little leaven has +leavened the whole lump. + + + +III.—OF ITS FOUNDER. + + +We must tell our readers something of the founder of this movement. +James Taylor, junior, of Birmingham, deserves a passing notice at our +hands. He was born in that town in 1814, and is consequently now in the +prime of his life, rather young considering the greatness he has already +achieved. His father is a tradesman of the same town, where he has +acquired a limited competency by his honest industry, and where he still +carries on business for the benefit of the younger branches of his +family. Like all other Birmingham boys James was put to work at an early +age, and became an apprentice in one of the fancy trades for which +Birmingham is so well known. There his industrious habits soon acquired +for him the approbation of his master, who gave up Taylor his indentures +in consequence of his retiring from business before the latter was of +age. About this time Taylor, earning good wages, and not having the fear +of Malthus before his eyes, got married, and lived happily till troubles +came and the demon of strong drink cast its fatal spell upon his domestic +hearth. After years of utter misery and degradation Taylor, in a happy +hour for himself and society, signed the Temperance pledge, and became a +new man, and to the pledge, fortunately, he remained faithful, in spite +of ridicule and reproach from the boon companions with whom he had +thoughtlessly squandered so much of happiness, and health, and money, and +time. No temptation ever led him back. Nor was he satisfied with his +own reform alone. He was anxious that others should be rescued from +degradation as he had already been. For this purpose he identified +himself with the Temperance cause, and was Honorary Secretary to the +Birmingham Temperance Society till he became the Apostle of the Freehold +Land Movement. Since then his life and labours have become public. No +man has worked harder than Mr. Taylor. Our readers would be astonished +if they knew the number of miles Mr. Taylor travels, and of public +meetings he attends in the course of the year connected with the +movement; sometimes the exertion has been too great, and his health has +given way for a time. Those who have heard him once will never forget +him. Those who have not heard him, if such there be, have indeed a treat +in store. With but few or no adventitious aids—without even “little +Latin and less Greek”—an unassuming plain working man, in spite of all +this, so fascinating is his unadorned eloquence that no one can listen to +him without admiring his earnestness and moral worth—without feeling that +England has no worthier son than the originator of the Freehold Land +Movement—without feeling that time alone can tell what he has done for +the political, and social, and moral emancipation of her toiling race. +We may also add here that Mr. Taylor has been at times a contributor to +the press as well as a platform orator—that he has been twice +married—that he resides at Temperance Cottage, Birmingham, in the +enjoyment of a domestic felicity which we trust will attend him to a +green old age. It may be said of Taylor what has been said of many +infinitely less useful men, that— + + “He is a man, take him for all in all, + We ne’er shall look upon his like again.” + +This feeling has become common wherever Mr. Taylor has been known. From +far and near have reached him testimonials of respect and esteem. At an +early stage of its existence the Wolverhampton Society acknowledged its +sense of Mr. Taylor’s services by presenting him with a valuable gold +watch; and at the last Annual Conference of the friends of the Movement, +held in December, 1852, it was unanimously resolved that “as it appeared +that various sums of money have been from time to time subscribed with a +view of offering some suitable recognition of the valuable and +disinterested services of Mr. James Taylor, it is desirable that a +committee be appointed to suggest the most suitable testimonial to that +gentleman, and to take such steps as may seem to them most desirable in +furtherance of the object.” In pursuance of this resolution a committee +was formed to receive subscriptions, of which Mr. Scholefield, M.P. for +Birmingham, is Treasurer. This committee consists of most of the +gentlemen connected with the London societies, and it is to be hoped that +they are giving the subject the importance it really deserves. A prophet +should be honoured in his own age and country. In their lifetime the +world’s benefactors should reap their reward. + +Having thus explained the nature of Freehold Land Societies, and detailed +their rise and progress and present position, we propose to consider +their effects. For this purpose we shall examine the Movement as +offering + + + +IV.—AN INVESTMENT FOR THE MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASSES. + + +This, of course, is the principal point of view. By their merits as +investments alone must Freehold Land Societies stand or fall. If they +pay, they will flourish; if they do not, they cannot exist, whatever may +be the social, and moral, and political arguments advanced in their +favour. Now, let us just see what means of investment are within the +reach of the Working man. There is the savings bank—not always safe, as +recent examples have shown, and offering so small a rate of interest as +to be but little inducement to the classes to whom it appeals, to save. +Then there are the benefit societies, which hold out such fine promises, +which thus have won a support to which they have no claim, and have +excited hopes which they can never realise. Of two thousand of these +societies, the accounts of which were submitted to one gentleman in +Liverpool a few years ago, _all_ were insolvent. Much of the money +belonging to them is wasted in drink, in foolish show and mummery; but +the societies are based upon wrong principles, and can never become +right. Two radical defects taint them all—the contributions have been +much too small in proportion to the proposed benefits, and an almost +indiscriminate regard to diversities in age has caused persons differing +as widely as from eighteen to thirty-five, forty, forty-five, and even +fifty years of age, to be admitted upon equal, or nearly equal, terms. +One of the chief of these friendly societies is that known as the +Manchester Unity. In 1848 there was an inquiry into the subject before +the House of Lords, when it was stated by Mr. Neison, the eminent +actuary, “that it would take _three millions of money_ to bring the +Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows out of their present difficulties; and if +they went on at their present rates of contribution, no less than _ten +millions_ would be required to fulfil all their engagements.” So much +for friendly societies, which are, indeed, a delusion and a snare, and +have always failed when the hour of trial has come. What the savings +banks are we have already seen; yet, actually, till the Freehold Land +Movement originated, these were the only investments within the reach of +the working man. A Select Committee of the House of Commons has twice +reported “that the great change in the social position of multitudes, +arising from the growth of large towns and crowded districts, renders it +more necessary that corresponding changes in the law should take place, +both to improve their condition and contentment, and to give additional +facilities to investments of the capital which their industry and +enterprise are constantly creating and augmenting;” and “that they doubt +not ultimate benefit will ensue from any measures which the Legislature +may be enabled to devise for simplifying the operation of the law and +unfettering the energies of trade.” But at present nothing has been done, +and the Laws of Partnership fetter the working man who would usefully +employ what little capital he has. Clearly, then, the Freehold Land +Movement offers him an eligible means of investment. Land cannot run +away. So long as England exists, it will always be worth its price. +Nay, it will become more valuable every year, for by no effort of human +ingenuity can it be increased. + +At Birmingham several of the allotments have realised premiums as high as +£20 or £30. On the East Moulsey estate of the Westminster Society +allotments, costing £23, have been let at a chief rent of £3 and £3. 10s. +per annum. The Ross Society, in one of its annual reports, stated that, +out of thirty allotments made by the Society during the past year, ten +exchanged hands at premiums varying from £3. 10s. to £5., and ten working +men each received £10 premium. At Ledbury several allotments, costing +£25 each had realised premiums of £15 each. On the Stoke Newington +estate, belonging to the National, premiums of £30 and even of £40 have +been realised. At the Gospel Oak estate, belonging to the St. Pancras +Society, allotments which cost £20 each have been let off on building +leases of 50s. per annum each. Greater sums have been made—but we would +rather understate than overstate our case. + +We have inspected returns from one hundred and twenty societies, and in +every case the allotments have realised a handsome premium. Yet, in the +face of all this, articles have recently appeared in _Chambers’s Journal_ +and the _Edinburgh Review_, deprecating these societies as investments. +The Edinburgh Reviewer says:—“Notwithstanding this rapid popularity +however; notwithstanding, also, the high authorities which have +pronounced in their behalf, we cannot look upon these associations with +unmixed favour; and we shall be surprised if any long time elapses +without well-grounded disappointment and discontent arising among their +members. However it may be desirable for a peasant or an artisan to be +possessor of the garden which he cultivates, and of the house he dwells +in—however clear and great the gain to him in this case—it is by no means +equally certain that he can derive any adequate pecuniary advantages from +the possession of a plot of ground which is too far from his daily work +for him either to erect a dwelling on it, or to cultivate it as an +allotment, and which, from its diminutive size, he will find it very +difficult for him to let for any sufficient remuneration. In many cases +a barren site will be his only reward for £50 of savings; and however he +may value this in times of excitement, it will, in three elections out of +four, be of little real interest or moment to him.” Of course we do not +affirm that a badly-conducted society will pay in spite of mismanagement. +We believe it will do nothing of the kind, and that discontent will +arise; but facts show that the reviewer is wrong; that the allotments +cost less than he supposes; that thus they offer a better return for his +money than the allottee can get in any other way. Numerous as these +societies are, multitudinous as are their members, extensive as have been +their dealings—no one yet has found fault with them as a means of +investment. Indeed, every day they have come to be more and more +regarded in this light alone. Where, we ask, can a man make more by his +shilling a-week than by putting it in a Freehold Land Society? This is +the question which every man should ask himself; and if he does this, we +can await with satisfaction the result. It is easy to imagine +difficulties, but we turn to the testimony of facts. That is unanimously +in its favour. The present time is void of all political interest. +There are no great struggles, and no great hopes and aims. England seems +satisfied with coalitions. Yet this precisely is the time when the +Freehold Land Movement finds most favour with the public. The reason is +obvious. The times are good. The public has money to invest, and the +public finds no such desirable investments as those offered by the +Movement; hence it is the societies flourish; hence it is they gain the +hearty support of all who can only spare a little, but who would put a +little by against a rainy day. + + + +V.—MOVEMENT CONSIDERED POLITICALLY. + + +But we may be told, politically the movement has been a failure. Our +answer is, it has been nothing of the kind. It is true, and we state the +fact more in sorrow than in anger, that Messrs. Newdegate and Spooner +still represent North Warwickshire; but it is also clear that whilst at +the election previous to the last Mr. Spooner had, in the Birmingham +district, a majority of 196, at the last election, in consequence of the +operation of the Freehold Land Societies of that district, he was +actually in a minority of 395. But let us look nearer home. At the +recent election for Middlesex, Bernal Osborne was returned, after a +severe struggle, by a majority of 195. Now, when we recollect that the +National alone has purchased 152 acres in Middlesex, and that each acre +is capable, on an average, on subdivision, of making five votes—when we +also remember that the remaining London societies have purchased between +them another hundred acres in the same county—it is impossible not to +feel, even supposing all the allotments have not been taken up, that out +of the 250 acres thus cut up into allotments came the majority which +returned Bernal Osborne as the champion of Liberalism and Free Trade. We +repeat, it is impossible not to feel that if it had not been for the +Freehold Land Societies, to the disgrace and shame of the county, Lord +Maidstone would have misrepresented Middlesex. Then we remember that Mr. +Locke King was but 400 ahead of Mr. Antrobus at the Surrey election last +summer—we must also feel that that gentleman has some reason for +thankfulness to Freehold Land Societies. If we pass to Herts, we shall +feel that it sadly failed in its duty by returning three pledged +Protectionists; but when we recollect that the National has purchased 300 +acres in that county, we cannot but be persuaded that there is “a good +time coming” for our friend Mr. Lattimore and the Herts Reformers. At +the last election, the lowest of the Protectionist candidates—the quondam +Reformer, Sir Bulwer Lytton—had 2,190 votes: the highest of the Liberals +had 2,043. It is thus as clear as anything can be that a very little +effort will make Hertfordshire for ever safe. It is in the power of any +two hundred persons desirous of a good investment to do so at once. +Essex, the home of Sir J. Tyrrel and the delight of W. B., we regret to +write, is not so easily liberalised. North Essex at present is +impregnable. Its squires, as Barry Cornwall ironically writes, + + “With brains made clear + By the irresistible strength of beer,” + +are beyond salvation: there is no hope for this generation of them. But +South Essex is not so hopelessly lost to the people’s cause. It is true +that last summer it did unseat Sir E. N. Buxton, and return Sir W. B. +Smijth by a majority of 600; but the National has purchased 242 acres in +that county, and out of that number can create 1,210 electors. +Evidently, then, there is hope for Essex yet. But we need not continue +this scrutiny. The people have placed within their hands the very +privilege they so much desire. They need not wait for Government to +emancipate them; they can emancipate themselves. For instance, the +National will put any person desirous of the same in possession of a +county qualification for North or South Essex, East or West Kent, +Hertfordshire, West Sussex, North Hants, North Lancashire, or Middlesex. +If, as some of the knowing ones maintain, we shall soon have a general +election, of course the sooner one is put on the register the better. If +not, the purchaser can take no harm: he will have his _quid pro quo_; he +will have placed his money in that best of all banks, the land, and will +have become one of that important class appealed to on certain occasions +as the “Electors of the United Kingdom.” Heaven helps those who help +themselves. Instead of the people waiting for Government to extend the +franchise, they can boldly help themselves. No man deserves the +electoral privilege who cannot purchase it by his own industry and +self-denial. At the present time, when provisions are cheap, when work +is abundant, when wages are high and labour scarce, there is not a man in +our streets who may not win the franchise if he has the will. Half the +men who brawled in low pot-houses, while their wives and children were +starving, over their beer, for the Charter, and nothing but the Charter, +if they had stopped at home, and worked and saved their money, might, by +this time, have realised the manhood suffrage of which they so idly +dreamed; and if, at the next election, the men of progress are beaten, +and the friends of class legislation and injustice prevail, it will be +because the people were not true to themselves—because they had not +enough of self-denial, enough of earnestness and independence, to avail +themselves of the advantages offered by the Freehold Land Movement, and +thus to have a representation that shall be real, and not a sham. By +means of the Freehold Land Movement, every county in England may be won. +To the very natural suggestion that that is a game that two can play at, +the answer is very obvious. In such a contest numbers will tell. A +qualification that may be had for £30 will fall into very different hands +to what it would were its price £1,000. For one aristocratic voter thus +made, the people will have ten. An appeal to the masses can have but one +result. Human nature must be changed before it can be otherwise. Be +this as it may, the political result is undoubtedly good—the emancipation +of all who have the wit, and will, and worth to win the franchise for +themselves. + + + +VI. THE MORAL AND SOCIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE MOVEMENT. + + +Anything offering a man inducement to save must be attended with +beneficial results. As society is constituted, a spendthrift is a +nuisance and a curse; the charge hitherto against the working classes of +this country has been, that they have been reckless and improvident—that +they are beggars one day and spendthrifts the next—that the money gained +with such difficulty is squandered away with a wicked wastefulness, such +as can be paralleled in no other part of the world. The English lower +orders have always been thus improvident. During the late war the +sailors, when on shore, would resort to every absurdity to get rid of +their money. Colonel Landman tells us of one who had just received prize +money to the amount of £500, and, being allowed only one week in which to +get rid of it, had, to do so more effectually, hired a carriage and four +for himself, another for his hat, and another for his cudgel, in which +style he travelled to London. A common sight at Plymouth was that of +sailors sitting on the ground breaking watches to pieces for a glass of +grog, for which they had previously paid £5 each; one hard-hearted +captain having refused leave to a sailor to go on shore, the man, in the +bitterness of his disappointment, filled a pint pot with guineas and +threw them overboard, as he could not immediately derive enjoyment from +their use. It is true a great change has been effected in this respect, +and society has reaped the benefit. A man who saves money is not a drain +upon his friend; is not a dissipated man; costs society less, and does +more for it than another man. The self-imposed taxation of the working +classes has been set down by Mr. Porter at fifty millions a-year. In +reality it is much more: there is loss of time—there is sickness induced +by intemperance—there are the gaols, and police-stations, and police, +which would be much less expensive were the intemperance of the country +less. Thus, if you change a nation of spendthrifts into a nation of +economical men, you bring about a great and glorious result. Such a +nation never can be poor. It will always have capital, and capital is +the fund out of which labour is maintained, out of which the arts that +humanise and bless mankind spring—out of which the soft humanities of +life arise. Thus, then, the Freehold Land Movement is attended with +great moral and social good. Viewed politically, also, it must be +considered to have had the same result. It is something to have made a +man an independent voter—to have made him feel that he has won his +political rights for himself—that he has no need to cringe and beg—to +have taught him that— + + “Man who man would be + Must rule the empire of himself.” + +Such a man will infuse fresh blood into the constituency. He will not +give a vote like a browbeaten tradesman or a dependent tenant-farmer. +His landlord will not be able to drive him to the polling-booth like a +sheep. On the contrary, he will go there erect and free—a man, and not a +slave. In every point of view, indeed, the benefits of the movement are +immense. In the neighbourhood of all our large towns estates are being +built on, where the members of the different societies living on their +own freeholds enjoy the blessings of pure air, and light, and water, of +which otherwise they would have been deprived. In Birmingham the +mortality amongst children has been already lessened 2½ per cent. in +consequence of this very fact. If it be true that we cannot get the +healthy mind without the healthy body, this is something gained; but when +we further remember that the money thus profitably invested would most of +it have been squandered in reckless enjoyment—in body and soul destroying +drink—it is clear nothing more need be said. It was calculated that out +of £25,000 received by the Birmingham Society, £20,000 have been saved +from those sinks of poison, the dram-shop and the beer-house. Mr. James +Taylor tells us, “Our working men are beginning to ponder the +often-quoted saying that every time they swallow a glass of ale they +swallow a portion of land. From calculations which have been made, it +appears that the average price of land is 5½d. per yard, and therefore +every time a man drinks a quart of ale he engulphs at the same time a +yard of solid earth.” Nor is Mr. Taylor alone in his testimony. A +correspondent of the _Freeholder_ at Leominster stated, that instead of +money being spent in drink it was devoted to the society there. In a +late report of the Committee of the Coventry Society we read that “one of +the most pleasing results of the society’s operations is the improved +moral habits of many of its members.” The North and East Riding Society +also reported “The society’s operations produce the best effects on the +habits of its poorer members by encouraging them to save money from the +public house.” Similar testimony was also borne by the Newcastle +Committee, and at Darlington we learn that the society has been the means +of converting many of its members into steady members of society, and +instead of finding them at the ale-bench, wrote a correspondent, a few +months since, “you may now see them at our Mechanics’ Institution, +gaining all the information they can.” Thus, then, the Freehold Movement +is creating everywhere a great moral revolution. It teaches the drunkard +to be sober and the spendthrift to save. It comes to man in his +degradation and strikes away the chain and sets him free. To the cause +of Temperance it has been a most invaluable ally. For the money saved +from the public-house it has been the most suitable investment. No +wonder, then, that most of the leading men connected with the movement +are also connected with the Temperance societies, or that it originated +with them. It was born in a Temperance Hotel. Its founder was the +Secretary of a Temperance society. Did the Temperance societies effect +no other good, for this one fact alone would they deserve lasting honour +in the land. + + + +VII.—HINTS FOR THE FORMATION OF FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES. + + +There are many counties yet to which the movement has not extended. For +the sake of those who may wish to extend it to them, we state that the +first step to be taken is to procure a copy of the rules of some society +already in operation. For this purpose, the Birmingham, the National and +the Westminster Societies’ rules, which have been prepared with care, and +under the management of practical men, should be procured. They are +virtually the same as the rules of an ordinary building society, and are +certified by Mr. Tidd Pratt. The next step is the appointment of +trustees, directors, solicitor and secretary. This is very important. +The greater part of the failures which take place in working men’s +associations arise from the incapacity or dishonesty of the directors or +their officers. Men of character and substance should be chosen for +trustees, and for directors men experienced in business, of persevering +habits, and of unquestionable integrity. The solicitor and secretary +ought to be favourably disposed to the objects of the society. The +offices for business ought in no case to be connected either with a +public-house or a Temperance coffee-house. Eating and drinking are bad +adjuncts to business. As every society must incur expenses, it is not +desirable to form societies in small towns or villages, but to connect +them with a large society. The National, for instance, has agents to +receive subscriptions in every part of the country. Indeed, many of the +local societies have become merged in it. In consequence of its +excellent business arrangements, and of its immense capital it can do +what local societies cannot. Already the Herts and Beds Society, the +Bristol Society and the Cardiff Society, have become incorporated with +it, and the arrangement has been found satisfactory to all parties +concerned, the National having the power to purchase an estate, when a +local society with its limited funds would be utterly unable to do so. +The same can be said of the Conservative and other larger societies. +Local societies have, however, this in their favour. The managers are +well known men. Confidence is felt in them; they appeal to local +sympathies, and they will have local support. + + + +VIII.—A LIST OF EXISTING SOCIETIES. + + +It has been suggested that we give a list of the societies at present in +operation. We do so here, though aware that the list is necessarily very +imperfect. The _Freeholder_ aimed to give a list, but it never could +give a correct one. We see Mr. Brooks in his Building Societies +Directory has also made a similar attempt, and in an equally unsuccessful +manner. The societies are so numerous that it is impossible to do more +than chronicle the existence of the more active ones. These are:—1. The +Arundel, 38, Arundel-street, Strand; Manager, Mr. J. Carpenter. 2. The +Birkbeck, Mechanics’ Institution, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane; +Secretary, Mr. F. Ravenscroft. 3. The British, 3, Ivy-lane; Secretary, +Mr. H. Brooks. 4. The Britannia; Secretary, Mr. D. W. Ruffy, 1a, Great +George-street, New-road. 4. The Church of England, 22, John-street, +Adelphi; Secretary, Mr. Campbell. 5. The Conservative, 33, +Norfolk-street, Strand; Secretary, Mr. Gruneisen. 6. The Chelsea, +Cheyne-row. 7. The Finsbury, Featherstone-buildings; Secretary, Mr. +Scott. 8. The Home Counties, Chatham-place, Blackfriars-bridge; +Secretary, Mr. Knight. 9. The Lambeth, 90 Blackman-street, Borough; +Secretary, Mr. W. Banks. 10. London District, 10, Leadenhall-street; +Secretary, Mr. F. Redfern. 11. The London and Suburban; Secretary, Mr. +Weale. 12. The Metropolitan, 24, East-cheap; Secretary, Mr. D. R. White. +13. The Marylebone, Great Portland-street; Secretary, Mr. J. W. Knight. +14. The Middle Class, Peele’s Coffee House, Fleet-street; Secretary, Mr. +W. Peacock. 15. The National, 14, Moorgate-street; Secretary, Mr. +Whittingham. 16. The North London, British School Room, Denmark-terrace, +Pentonville; Secretary, Mr. Bernard. 17. The St. Pancras; Secretary, Mr. +Spring. 18. The Union. 19. The Westminster, 4, Beaufort-buildings, +Strand; Secretary, Mr. G. Hugget. Most of these societies are in full +operation, and have purchased valuable estates. The probable number of +Freehold Land Societies in the country is 130. In some parts societies +have not flourished, in consequence of their being confounded with +O’Connor’s Land Scheme; in others, more especially in the North, there +has been an utter impossibility in the way of getting freehold property; +in others, the management has been languid, and the societies have +decayed. But the number is, we believe, that which we have stated; or at +any rate is as near the truth as it is possible for us to be. + + + +IX.—CONCLUSION. + + +We have thus gone through our self-appointed task. We have considered +the Freehold Land Movement in its origin and effects. We have shown them +to be good. We have shown the movement itself to be well worthy the +support of every philanthropic man. It has now grown, and become strong. +It is now doing what Parliament dare not, providing for the political +emancipation of the people. It has put the franchise in the hands of +honest men. It has given a new character to political agitation. It has +shown how, without resorting to intimidation, or without the frantic +appeal of the demagogue, the working men of England may enfranchise +themselves. Parliament may refuse to legislate on the matter—one Reform +Bill after another may be prepared, and then thrown by—one party +combination after another may be driven from the Treasury benches, but +the movement is gradually working its way, which is to reform Parliament, +to put down W. B. and his man Frail—to root out the demoralisation of +which St. Albans is a type, and to give to the people a perfect +representation in the peopled house. It is time the present state of +things was altered. For this purpose, the Freehold Land Movement exists. + +We thus make our appeal to the friends of political progress. We aim at +the advocacy of the movement which has for its end what you profess to +desire. That movement we believe destined to be the salvation of our +country, and we ask you to rally round it. It is true Free-trade is not +in danger, but Parliamentary Reform is. A large party headed by Lord +Derby take their stand by the Bill of ’31, and maintain that concession +has reached its limits—that class legislation is still to prevail—that +the people are still to be ignored—that inside the constitution are still +to be the privileged few, and outside of it the unprivileged many. +Against this mockery we ask England’s manhood to protest—not by crowded +assemblies or inflammatory harangues, but in the constitutional manner +pointed out by Freehold Land Societies. We want not voices but votes. +In the House of Commons, the thoughts that breathe and words that burn +avail not, but votes are omnipotent. No member can disregard or despise +his constituents; their will to him must be law. + +But we stop not here. We seek a still wider support. The Freehold Land +Movement has done wonders, it has removed the reproach cast upon the +working man, that he is reckless and improvident. It has shown that he +can save when a proper object is offered. In a speech a year or two +since, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Sotheron, M.P. for Wiltshire, it +was stated that the total number of friendly societies was not less than +33,232, and the aggregate of the members which they included amounted to +3,032,000. The annual revenue of these societies was £4,980,000, and the +accumulated capital from the savings of these poor persons was no less a +sum than £11,360,000. Faulty as most of these societies were, so +desirous of saving was the working man, that he had actually entrusted +them with the enormous sum we have just named. If these things were done +by Friendly Societies, what will not be done when the advantages of +Freehold Land Societies are well and widely understood? At this time +there is much maudlin sympathy expressed on behalf of the working +classes. They need it not. They are stout enough and strong enough to +take care of themselves. The Freehold Land Movement has given them an +investment, and they have become saving men. The money that would +formerly have been spent in the public-house has given many a man a +freehold and a stake in the country, such as even a revising barrister +must admit. The present system of revision of votes by barristers is +bad. Members of Freehold Land Societies have been much wronged in +consequence. One worthy disfranchised several claimants last summer, on +the ground that the forty-shilling franchise, in all cases, should cost +£50. It ought to be in the power of no man to arrive at such a decision. +The question should be left to a jury—not to a barrister, eager of +promotion, and for that purpose desirous to please the powers that be. +But still a man may thus obtain wealth and a vote. And the man thus +taught self-denial and providence will not be contented with remaining +merely a freeholder; he cannot make himself that without becoming +intellectually and morally a better man. He will be a better father of a +family, a better citizen, better in his public and private life. Workmen +of England, Ireland and Wales, we call upon you to rally round the +Freehold Land Societies. They exist for your benefit alone. They will +give you all that you require—desirable investments for your +savings—habits of economy and political influence. You have no need to +cringe and beg. All that you want, you have it in your power to obtain. +Never was there a more favourable time for you to avail yourselves of the +Freehold Land Societies now springing up in your midst. You have now +money you can put by. When the Corn Laws cursed the land, it would have +been mockery to have asked you to do so then. Now the case is altered, +and you must each one of you seek to elevate yourselves. As Mr. Cobden +aptly remarked, half the money annually spent in gin would give the +people the entire county representation, and thus also provide desirable +investments for the money that you are morally bound to lay by against a +rainy day. The man who refuses to make provision for the future cannot +expect to prosper. Not to do so when a man can is a folly and a crime. +Now then is the time to support the Freehold Land Societies. Thus when +sickness or old age or bad times come, you will have something you can +call your own. Habits of economy will thus grow and strengthen, and the +reward will be sure. Of all luxuries, that of independence is the +sweetest, and that these societies put within your reach. Their failure +is impossible. They are the societies for the age: they will parcel out +the English ground amongst English men: their triumph will be the +emancipation of the working man from the misery and wrongs and +degradation of the past. + +We appeal also to men who aim at the moral reformation of our race—who +care little about politics—who believe that in a world of knaves it is +difficult to get a good government at all, and we claim their support. +The mission of the Freehold Land Movement is the same with theirs. The +philanthropist labouring to remove the degradation, which compels to a +life little better than that of the beasts that perish, men made in the +image of their Maker—the advocate of Temperance aiming at the destruction +of a vice which has slain its thousands, and which, like a destroying +pestilence, still walks the land—the Christian seeking to permeate our +age with a living faith—all these we claim as co-workers. The movement, +besides its direct bearings, tends to bring about the results they +desire. Not merely has political emancipation been the result of the +movement—moral emancipation has invariably followed in its train. + +We thus make our appeal for the support of the cause which is yet in its +infancy, and which has a thousand trophies yet in store. Peacefully does +it conduct the people to power, and give practical utterance to the +spirit of the age. The doom of whatever keeps man in subjection to +another has long been sealed. The proud patrician of Imperial Rome—the +feudal baron of the Middle Ages, have passed away. Even Oxford abandons +the faith at one time it armed to defend, and no longer acknowledges the + + “Right divine of kings to govern wrong.” + +Onward to victory is the people’s march. The decree has gone forth, they +must be free. For this consummation we have ever hoped and striven. +From the contentions of party we have ever turned to advocate whatever +gives to the people moral dignity and political power; to others we leave +the cause of the privileged classes—the advocacy of existing wrongs—the +preservation of existing abuses. We plead the cause of the +unenfranchised, but of the unenfranchised who have faith and energy and +self-denial enough to win the franchise for themselves. We conjure them +to bestir themselves, to give their support to the Freehold Land +Movement, to quit themselves like men. We need at the polling booths +independent voters, not men who can be bullied or bribed—to make such is +our aim, for such England needs, aye, and needs more than ever now. + + * * * * * + + THE END. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel-court, Skinner-street. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES*** + + +******* This file should be named 32807-0.txt or 32807-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/8/0/32807 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Ewing Ritchie</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 30%; } + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Freehold Land Societies, by J. Ewing Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Freehold Land Societies + Their History, Present Position, and Claims + + +Author: J. Ewing Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2010 [eBook #32807] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1853 William Tweedie pamphlet by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf. Many thanks to Birmingham +Central Library, England, for allowing their copy to be used for +this transcription.</p> +<h1>FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES:<br /> +<span class="smcap">their history</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">present position</span>, <span +class="smcap">and claims</span>.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">J. EWING RITCHIE.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<blockquote><p>“The laws of this country recognise nothing +more sacred than the Forty-shilling Freehold Franchise; and a +vote for the county obtained by these means is both +constitutional and laudable.”—<span +class="smcap">Lord Chief-Justice Tindal</span>.</p> +<p>“What he had heard from hon. members told him nothing +more than this, that the working population could easily, under +the old system, acquire the right of voting; and that every man +who owned forty shillings a-year could entitle himself to +vote. Were they to be told that the people of England were +so degraded, so besotted, so dead to all sense of their true +interests, that they could make no efforts to possess themselves +of the franchise?”—<span class="smcap">Mr. +Disraeli</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> +WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">price +twopence</span>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 2--><a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +2</span>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> +<p>The following pages are reprinted from the “<span +class="smcap">Weekly News and Chronicle</span>”—the +only Paper that aims to be the organ of the Freehold Land +Movement. They are now published in the hope that they may +win for that movement a wider support and a heartier sympathy +than it has already secured. It is a child—it will be +a giant ere long.</p> +<p>3, Clifford’s Inn.<br /> + April 1853.</p> +<h2><!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +3</span>FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES:<br /> +<span class="smcap">their history</span>, <span +class="smcap">present position</span>, <span class="smcap">and +claims</span>.</h2> +<p>The Freehold Land Movement is the great fact of the age. +We propose to consider it in its origin, its present position as +a means of investment for the middle and working-classes, and in +its political and social and moral bearings. We propose to +tell what it has done, and what it seeks to do. Born of a +working-man, it especially aims at the elevation of +working-men. It comes to them, and offers them +independence, wealth, and political power. Conceived in a +provincial town, its ramifications now extend through the +land. It demands no mean place in the consideration of the +influences now at work for realising a future brighter and better +than the past. The philosopher, the political economist, +and the philanthropist must alike, then, deem it worthy of +serious regard. On the part of a people, the absence of +recklessness and waste is a great good; but the formation of +industrial and economical habits is a still greater good. +From such plain, unpoetical traits of national character are born +the arts and the graces, and all that is civilised and refined in +life. A rich people is not less virtuous, and is certainly +far happier, than a poor one. Therefore we say, let the +Freehold Movement have wide support, for it is a schoolmaster, +teaching the path leading the people of this country to wealth, +and to the power and independence which wealth alone can +give. Thus much by way of introduction. That our +readers may fully understand the subject, we shall begin at the +beginning, and explain.</p> +<h3><!-- page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +4</span>I.—THE CONSTITUTION OF A FREEHOLD LAND +SOCIETY.</h3> +<p>Some time back the <i>Times</i> asked scornfully, as Pilate of +old did concerning truth, what was a Freehold Land Society. +We reply, viewed in a business light, it is simply a society for +the purchase of land. It involves two commercial principles +well understood—that purchasers should buy in the cheapest +market, and that societies can do what individuals cannot. +Till the movement originated, the purchaser of a small plot of +ground had to pay in lawyer’s expenses connected with the +purchase frequently as much as he paid for the plot itself. +A society buys a large piece of ground. They make roads +through it; they drain it; they turn it into valuable +building-land; they thus raise its value; and they divide it +amongst their members, not at the price at which each allotment +is worth, but at the price which each allotment has cost. +Being also registered under the Friendly Societies Act, the +conveyance costs the purchaser generally from 25s. to 30s.; and +thus a plot worth £50 is often put into the fortunate +allottee’s hands for half that sum. Of course, +different societies have different rules, but they all aim at the +same end, and effect that end in pretty nearly a similar +manner. Thus a member generally, if he subscribes for a +share of £30, pays a shilling a-week, and a trifling sum +a-quarter for expenses. With the money thus raised an +estate is purchased. It is then cut up into allotments, and +balloted for. If the subscriber has paid up, he, of course, +takes the land, and there is an end of the matter. If he +has not, the society gives him his allotment, but saddled with a +mortgage. In some societies the members are served by +rotation, and “first come” are “first +served.” The more generally-adopted plan, however, is +division by ballot. There has been some doubt as to the +legality of the ballot; the Conservative Society have taken the +opinion of eminent counsel upon this matter, and their opinion +is, that the ballot is perfectly legal. The rotation +societies offer no inducements to new members to join them; so +division by ballot <!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 5</span>has come to be almost the universal +rule. In the National, for instance, there was a ballot +daily for all subscribers of three months’ standing. +This has recently been altered. A ballot takes place every +day, to which all are eligible whose subscriptions are paid +up. If you join the National, you may go to the ballot +immediately.</p> +<p>As the National is the largest of the existing Freehold Land +Societies—last year its receipts being +£190,070—we will briefly allude to its prospectus as +a still further illustration of what a Freehold Land Society +is. The especial objects of this Society are described as +“to facilitate the acquisition of freehold land, and the +erection of houses thereon; to enable such of its members as are +eligible to obtain the county franchise, and to afford to all of +them a secure and profitable investment for money.” +In the National, all the expenses are defrayed out of a common +fund; consequently, there are no extra charges, and the net +profits, after payment of interest on subscriptions in advance +and on completed shares, are annually divided amongst the holders +of uncompleted shares. In this way last year the National +divided £3,161. 19s. 3d., and the directors credited each +unadvanced share with profit at the rate of £10. 16s. 8d. +per cent. per annum. We only add, as a still further +explanation of the societies in general, that they are all +conducted on the most perfectly democratic principles. Vote +by ballot and universal suffrage are the rule with them. +The members elect their own officers. In all the societies, +also, provision is made for casualties, such as sickness or +death. In case of death, the subscriber’s widow or +heirs take his place. If he be unable, from sickness or +poverty, to continue his subscription, he is not fined, but is +allowed to wait for better times. If he wishes his money +back, he can have it returned, with a slight reduction for the +working expenses of the Society. Juniors may be +members. Actually these societies so far practically admit +woman’s rights as to offer to the ladies the same desirable +investments they offer to the sterner sex. In short, the +Freehold Land Movement appeals to all <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>ranks and +conditions of the community. It may be said of a Freehold +Land Society what has often been said of the London Tavern, that +it is open to all—who can pay.</p> +<h3>II. ORIGIN AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE MOVEMENT.</h3> +<p>Primarily the movement was political, and was established for +the purpose of giving the people of this country the political +power which they at present lack. Originally the +forty-shilling freehold was established to put down universal +suffrage. As a part and parcel of the British constitution +it has been religiously preserved to the present time, and +threatens to be an excellent substitute for what it was +originally intended to destroy. During the Anti-Corn-Law +agitation Mr. Cobden had put the free-traders up to the idea of +purchasing forty-shilling freeholds, but it was reserved to Mr. +James Taylor, of Birmingham, to give to the idea of Mr. Cobden a +universality of which the latter never dreamed; Mr. Taylor had +been a purchaser of land more than once, and with the purchase he +got an abstract, a legal document, which when he came to +understand it, showed him that he had paid to the vendor much +more than it cost him. The idea then struck him that as the +wholesale price of land was much greater than the retail, if the +working men could be got to subscribe together a large sum for +the purchase of land, they could thus have, at a wholesale price, +a stake in the country and a vote, and when the general election +came and excitement was created, Mr. Taylor felt that the time +for action was arrived. Accordingly, when he went to tender +his vote, he said to a friend who accompanied him, +“here’s a lot of fellows, and all that they can do is +to grin and yawn when I go in to poll; I have a strong notion +that I can get them into the booth.” This friend +said, “How?” The answer was, “Meet me to +night in the Temperance Hotel.” That same evening Mr. +Taylor and his friend drew up an advertisement, stating that +“it is expedient that a Freehold Land Society be formed for +the purpose of obtaining freehold property at a most reasonable +cost to, and to <!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 7</span>get country votes for, the working +men.” Simultaneously with the advertisement in the +local paper appeared a leader from the editor, recognising the +immense importance of the movement thus commenced. Thus +pledged to go on, Mr. Taylor threw his heart and soul into the +cause. Within a week a committee was formed, and the +support of the principal men in the town secured. December, +1849 is the legal date of the Freehold Land Movement, although +the Birmingham Society had been in existence nearly two years +previous. In that month the rules of the society were +certified, and the glorious idea of Mr. Taylor had a legal +habitation and a name. At the end of the first year the +Birmingham society reported that it had established six +independent societies, in which more than two thousand members +had subscribed for three thousand shares; that in Birmingham +alone the subscriptions amounted to £500 per month, and +that it had already given allotments to nearly two hundred of its +members. Before the termination of the second year a great +conference was held in Birmingham in order to organise a plan of +general union and co-operation amongst the various +societies. Delegates from all parts of the country were +present. In Birmingham it appeared £13,000 had been +subscribed and four estates purchased, two thousand five hundred +shares being taken up by one thousand eight hundred +subscribers. Wolverhampton, Leicester, Stourbridge, had all +co-operated zealously in the movement. Nor was the +metropolis behind. The National had started with seven +hundred and fifty members subscribing for one thousand five +hundred shares, and already had £1,900 paid up. In +Marylebone eight hundred shares had been taken since the previous +July. This conference was attended by Messrs. Cobden, +Bright, G. Thompson, Scholefield, Bass, and Sir Joshua +Walmsley. This conference, of course, attracted the notice +of the press. The coldly, critical <i>Spectator</i> termed +it a “middle-class movement.” <i>Tait</i> so +far forgot himself as to characterise it as “political +swindling.” The <i>Times</i> said the working-classes +were being deluded by <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span>it. For once the <i>Standard</i> +agreed with the <i>Times</i> and said ditto. However the +conference did its work, and started the <i>Freeholder</i>, which +appeared on the 1st of January, 1850. A second conference +was held at Birmingham in November, 1850. The report, as +usual, was encouraging. Eighty societies, many of them with +branches, were reported as existing. The number of members +was thirty thousand subscribing for forty thousand shares. +The amount of paid-up contributions was £170,000. A +third conference was held in London in November, 1851. The +report then stated there were one hundred societies with +forty-five thousand members subscribing for sixty-five thousand +shares. One hundred and fifty estates had been purchased, +twelve thousand allotments made, £400,000 had actually been +received, and two millions of pounds sterling was actually being +subscribed for. At the fourth conference, held in 1852, it +appeared still greater progress had been made. One hundred +and thirty societies, with eighty-five thousand members +subscribing for a hundred and twenty thousand shares, were in +existence, three hundred and ten estates had been purchased, +nineteen thousand five hundred allotments had been made, and +£790,000 had been received. Estimating the shares at +the average of £30 per share, the total amount subscribed +for was three millions six hundred thousand pounds. Such, +then, is the movement at the present time. It has been +obscured by no cloud. Its progress has been +unchecked. No disappointment has retarded its onward +way. Forward to victory has been its march. All +classes and sects have railed round it. For churchmen there +exists a Church of England Society. The Conservatives have +formed a large and flourishing society for the manufacture of +Conservative votes. The movement sneered at, derided, +misrepresented, declared unconstitutional, a swindle like a +celebrated land scheme popular with the Chartists, has now come +to be admitted by all as the greatest fact of the age: to aid it, +grave and reverend churchmen, statesmen of all shades of +political options, combine; even coronetted lords now <!-- page +9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>rejoice +to lend it their sanction, and the weight of their illustrious +names. Truly the mustard seed has branched out into a giant +oak. A little leaven has leavened the whole lump.</p> +<h3>III.—OF ITS FOUNDER.</h3> +<p>We must tell our readers something of the founder of this +movement. James Taylor, junior, of Birmingham, deserves a +passing notice at our hands. He was born in that town in +1814, and is consequently now in the prime of his life, rather +young considering the greatness he has already achieved. +His father is a tradesman of the same town, where he has acquired +a limited competency by his honest industry, and where he still +carries on business for the benefit of the younger branches of +his family. Like all other Birmingham boys James was put to +work at an early age, and became an apprentice in one of the +fancy trades for which Birmingham is so well known. There +his industrious habits soon acquired for him the approbation of +his master, who gave up Taylor his indentures in consequence of +his retiring from business before the latter was of age. +About this time Taylor, earning good wages, and not having the +fear of Malthus before his eyes, got married, and lived happily +till troubles came and the demon of strong drink cast its fatal +spell upon his domestic hearth. After years of utter misery +and degradation Taylor, in a happy hour for himself and society, +signed the Temperance pledge, and became a new man, and to the +pledge, fortunately, he remained faithful, in spite of ridicule +and reproach from the boon companions with whom he had +thoughtlessly squandered so much of happiness, and health, and +money, and time. No temptation ever led him back. Nor +was he satisfied with his own reform alone. He was anxious +that others should be rescued from degradation as he had already +been. For this purpose he identified himself with the +Temperance cause, and was Honorary Secretary to the Birmingham +Temperance Society till he became the Apostle of the Freehold +Land Movement. Since then his life and labours have become +public. No <!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 10</span>man has worked harder than Mr. +Taylor. Our readers would be astonished if they knew the +number of miles Mr. Taylor travels, and of public meetings he +attends in the course of the year connected with the movement; +sometimes the exertion has been too great, and his health has +given way for a time. Those who have heard him once will +never forget him. Those who have not heard him, if such +there be, have indeed a treat in store. With but few or no +adventitious aids—without even “little Latin and less +Greek”—an unassuming plain working man, in spite of +all this, so fascinating is his unadorned eloquence that no one +can listen to him without admiring his earnestness and moral +worth—without feeling that England has no worthier son than +the originator of the Freehold Land Movement—without +feeling that time alone can tell what he has done for the +political, and social, and moral emancipation of her toiling +race. We may also add here that Mr. Taylor has been at +times a contributor to the press as well as a platform +orator—that he has been twice married—that he resides +at Temperance Cottage, Birmingham, in the enjoyment of a domestic +felicity which we trust will attend him to a green old age. +It may be said of Taylor what has been said of many infinitely +less useful men, that—</p> +<blockquote><p>“He is a man, take him for all in all,<br /> +We ne’er shall look upon his like again.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This feeling has become common wherever Mr. Taylor has been +known. From far and near have reached him testimonials of +respect and esteem. At an early stage of its existence the +Wolverhampton Society acknowledged its sense of Mr. +Taylor’s services by presenting him with a valuable gold +watch; and at the last Annual Conference of the friends of the +Movement, held in December, 1852, it was unanimously resolved +that “as it appeared that various sums of money have been +from time to time subscribed with a view of offering some +suitable recognition of the valuable and disinterested services +of Mr. James Taylor, it is desirable that a committee be +appointed to suggest the most suitable testimonial to <!-- page +11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>that +gentleman, and to take such steps as may seem to them most +desirable in furtherance of the object.” In pursuance +of this resolution a committee was formed to receive +subscriptions, of which Mr. Scholefield, M.P. for Birmingham, is +Treasurer. This committee consists of most of the gentlemen +connected with the London societies, and it is to be hoped that +they are giving the subject the importance it really +deserves. A prophet should be honoured in his own age and +country. In their lifetime the world’s benefactors +should reap their reward.</p> +<p>Having thus explained the nature of Freehold Land Societies, +and detailed their rise and progress and present position, we +propose to consider their effects. For this purpose we +shall examine the Movement as offering</p> +<h3>IV.—AN INVESTMENT FOR THE MIDDLE AND WORKING +CLASSES.</h3> +<p>This, of course, is the principal point of view. By +their merits as investments alone must Freehold Land Societies +stand or fall. If they pay, they will flourish; if they do +not, they cannot exist, whatever may be the social, and moral, +and political arguments advanced in their favour. Now, let +us just see what means of investment are within the reach of the +Working man. There is the savings bank—not always +safe, as recent examples have shown, and offering so small a rate +of interest as to be but little inducement to the classes to whom +it appeals, to save. Then there are the benefit societies, +which hold out such fine promises, which thus have won a support +to which they have no claim, and have excited hopes which they +can never realise. Of two thousand of these societies, the +accounts of which were submitted to one gentleman in Liverpool a +few years ago, <i>all</i> were insolvent. Much of the money +belonging to them is wasted in drink, in foolish show and +mummery; but the societies are based upon wrong principles, and +can never become right. Two radical defects taint them +all—the contributions have been much too small in +proportion to the proposed benefits, and an <!-- page 12--><a +name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>almost +indiscriminate regard to diversities in age has caused persons +differing as widely as from eighteen to thirty-five, forty, +forty-five, and even fifty years of age, to be admitted upon +equal, or nearly equal, terms. One of the chief of these +friendly societies is that known as the Manchester Unity. +In 1848 there was an inquiry into the subject before the House of +Lords, when it was stated by Mr. Neison, the eminent actuary, +“that it would take <i>three millions of money</i> to bring +the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows out of their present +difficulties; and if they went on at their present rates of +contribution, no less than <i>ten millions</i> would be required +to fulfil all their engagements.” So much for +friendly societies, which are, indeed, a delusion and a snare, +and have always failed when the hour of trial has come. +What the savings banks are we have already seen; yet, actually, +till the Freehold Land Movement originated, these were the only +investments within the reach of the working man. A Select +Committee of the House of Commons has twice reported “that +the great change in the social position of multitudes, arising +from the growth of large towns and crowded districts, renders it +more necessary that corresponding changes in the law should take +place, both to improve their condition and contentment, and to +give additional facilities to investments of the capital which +their industry and enterprise are constantly creating and +augmenting;” and “that they doubt not ultimate +benefit will ensue from any measures which the Legislature may be +enabled to devise for simplifying the operation of the law and +unfettering the energies of trade.” But at present nothing +has been done, and the Laws of Partnership fetter the working man +who would usefully employ what little capital he has. +Clearly, then, the Freehold Land Movement offers him an eligible +means of investment. Land cannot run away. So long as +England exists, it will always be worth its price. Nay, it +will become more valuable every year, for by no effort of human +ingenuity can it be increased.</p> +<p>At Birmingham several of the allotments have <!-- page 13--><a +name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>realised +premiums as high as £20 or £30. On the East +Moulsey estate of the Westminster Society allotments, costing +£23, have been let at a chief rent of £3 and +£3. 10s. per annum. The Ross Society, in one of its +annual reports, stated that, out of thirty allotments made by the +Society during the past year, ten exchanged hands at premiums +varying from £3. 10s. to £5., and ten working men +each received £10 premium. At Ledbury several +allotments, costing £25 each had realised premiums of +£15 each. On the Stoke Newington estate, belonging to +the National, premiums of £30 and even of £40 have +been realised. At the Gospel Oak estate, belonging to the +St. Pancras Society, allotments which cost £20 each have +been let off on building leases of 50s. per annum each. +Greater sums have been made—but we would rather understate +than overstate our case.</p> +<p>We have inspected returns from one hundred and twenty +societies, and in every case the allotments have realised a +handsome premium. Yet, in the face of all this, articles +have recently appeared in <i>Chambers’s Journal</i> and the +<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, deprecating these societies as +investments. The Edinburgh Reviewer +says:—“Notwithstanding this rapid popularity however; +notwithstanding, also, the high authorities which have pronounced +in their behalf, we cannot look upon these associations with +unmixed favour; and we shall be surprised if any long time +elapses without well-grounded disappointment and discontent +arising among their members. However it may be desirable +for a peasant or an artisan to be possessor of the garden which +he cultivates, and of the house he dwells in—however clear +and great the gain to him in this case—it is by no means +equally certain that he can derive any adequate pecuniary +advantages from the possession of a plot of ground which is too +far from his daily work for him either to erect a dwelling on it, +or to cultivate it as an allotment, and which, from its +diminutive size, he will find it very difficult for him to let +for any sufficient remuneration. In many cases a barren +site will be his only reward for £50 of savings; and +however he may value this in times of excitement, <!-- page +14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>it +will, in three elections out of four, be of little real interest +or moment to him.” Of course we do not affirm that a +badly-conducted society will pay in spite of mismanagement. +We believe it will do nothing of the kind, and that discontent +will arise; but facts show that the reviewer is wrong; that the +allotments cost less than he supposes; that thus they offer a +better return for his money than the allottee can get in any +other way. Numerous as these societies are, multitudinous +as are their members, extensive as have been their +dealings—no one yet has found fault with them as a means of +investment. Indeed, every day they have come to be more and +more regarded in this light alone. Where, we ask, can a man +make more by his shilling a-week than by putting it in a Freehold +Land Society? This is the question which every man should +ask himself; and if he does this, we can await with satisfaction +the result. It is easy to imagine difficulties, but we turn +to the testimony of facts. That is unanimously in its +favour. The present time is void of all political +interest. There are no great struggles, and no great hopes +and aims. England seems satisfied with coalitions. +Yet this precisely is the time when the Freehold Land Movement +finds most favour with the public. The reason is +obvious. The times are good. The public has money to +invest, and the public finds no such desirable investments as +those offered by the Movement; hence it is the societies +flourish; hence it is they gain the hearty support of all who can +only spare a little, but who would put a little by against a +rainy day.</p> +<h3>V.—MOVEMENT CONSIDERED POLITICALLY.</h3> +<p>But we may be told, politically the movement has been a +failure. Our answer is, it has been nothing of the +kind. It is true, and we state the fact more in sorrow than +in anger, that Messrs. Newdegate and Spooner still represent +North Warwickshire; but it is also clear that whilst at the +election previous to the last Mr. Spooner had, in the Birmingham +district, a majority of 196, at the last election, in consequence +<!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +15</span>of the operation of the Freehold Land Societies of that +district, he was actually in a minority of 395. But let us +look nearer home. At the recent election for Middlesex, +Bernal Osborne was returned, after a severe struggle, by a +majority of 195. Now, when we recollect that the National +alone has purchased 152 acres in Middlesex, and that each acre is +capable, on an average, on subdivision, of making five +votes—when we also remember that the remaining London +societies have purchased between them another hundred acres in +the same county—it is impossible not to feel, even +supposing all the allotments have not been taken up, that out of +the 250 acres thus cut up into allotments came the majority which +returned Bernal Osborne as the champion of Liberalism and Free +Trade. We repeat, it is impossible not to feel that if it +had not been for the Freehold Land Societies, to the disgrace and +shame of the county, Lord Maidstone would have misrepresented +Middlesex. Then we remember that Mr. Locke King was but 400 +ahead of Mr. Antrobus at the Surrey election last summer—we +must also feel that that gentleman has some reason for +thankfulness to Freehold Land Societies. If we pass to +Herts, we shall feel that it sadly failed in its duty by +returning three pledged Protectionists; but when we recollect +that the National has purchased 300 acres in that county, we +cannot but be persuaded that there is “a good time +coming” for our friend Mr. Lattimore and the Herts +Reformers. At the last election, the lowest of the +Protectionist candidates—the quondam Reformer, Sir Bulwer +Lytton—had 2,190 votes: the highest of the Liberals had +2,043. It is thus as clear as anything can be that a very +little effort will make Hertfordshire for ever safe. It is +in the power of any two hundred persons desirous of a good +investment to do so at once. Essex, the home of Sir J. +Tyrrel and the delight of W. B., we regret to write, is not so +easily liberalised. North Essex at present is +impregnable. Its squires, as Barry Cornwall ironically +writes,</p> +<blockquote><p> “With +brains made clear<br /> +By the irresistible strength of beer,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span>are beyond salvation: there is no hope for this +generation of them. But South Essex is not so hopelessly +lost to the people’s cause. It is true that last +summer it did unseat Sir E. N. Buxton, and return Sir W. B. +Smijth by a majority of 600; but the National has purchased 242 +acres in that county, and out of that number can create 1,210 +electors. Evidently, then, there is hope for Essex +yet. But we need not continue this scrutiny. The +people have placed within their hands the very privilege they so +much desire. They need not wait for Government to +emancipate them; they can emancipate themselves. For +instance, the National will put any person desirous of the same +in possession of a county qualification for North or South Essex, +East or West Kent, Hertfordshire, West Sussex, North Hants, North +Lancashire, or Middlesex. If, as some of the knowing ones +maintain, we shall soon have a general election, of course the +sooner one is put on the register the better. If not, the +purchaser can take no harm: he will have his <i>quid pro quo</i>; +he will have placed his money in that best of all banks, the +land, and will have become one of that important class appealed +to on certain occasions as the “Electors of the United +Kingdom.” Heaven helps those who help +themselves. Instead of the people waiting for Government to +extend the franchise, they can boldly help themselves. No +man deserves the electoral privilege who cannot purchase it by +his own industry and self-denial. At the present time, when +provisions are cheap, when work is abundant, when wages are high +and labour scarce, there is not a man in our streets who may not +win the franchise if he has the will. Half the men who +brawled in low pot-houses, while their wives and children were +starving, over their beer, for the Charter, and nothing but the +Charter, if they had stopped at home, and worked and saved their +money, might, by this time, have realised the manhood suffrage of +which they so idly dreamed; and if, at the next election, the men +of progress are beaten, and the friends of class legislation and +injustice prevail, it will be because the people were not true to +themselves—<!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 17</span>because they had not enough of +self-denial, enough of earnestness and independence, to avail +themselves of the advantages offered by the Freehold Land +Movement, and thus to have a representation that shall be real, +and not a sham. By means of the Freehold Land Movement, +every county in England may be won. To the very natural +suggestion that that is a game that two can play at, the answer +is very obvious. In such a contest numbers will tell. +A qualification that may be had for £30 will fall into very +different hands to what it would were its price +£1,000. For one aristocratic voter thus made, the +people will have ten. An appeal to the masses can have but +one result. Human nature must be changed before it can be +otherwise. Be this as it may, the political result is +undoubtedly good—the emancipation of all who have the wit, +and will, and worth to win the franchise for themselves.</p> +<h3>VI. THE MORAL AND SOCIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE +MOVEMENT.</h3> +<p>Anything offering a man inducement to save must be attended +with beneficial results. As society is constituted, a +spendthrift is a nuisance and a curse; the charge hitherto +against the working classes of this country has been, that they +have been reckless and improvident—that they are beggars +one day and spendthrifts the next—that the money gained +with such difficulty is squandered away with a wicked +wastefulness, such as can be paralleled in no other part of the +world. The English lower orders have always been thus +improvident. During the late war the sailors, when on +shore, would resort to every absurdity to get rid of their +money. Colonel Landman tells us of one who had just +received prize money to the amount of £500, and, being +allowed only one week in which to get rid of it, had, to do so +more effectually, hired a carriage and four for himself, another +for his hat, and another for his cudgel, in which style he +travelled to London. A common sight at Plymouth was that of +sailors sitting on the ground breaking watches to pieces for a +glass of grog, for <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 18</span>which they had previously paid +£5 each; one hard-hearted captain having refused leave to a +sailor to go on shore, the man, in the bitterness of his +disappointment, filled a pint pot with guineas and threw them +overboard, as he could not immediately derive enjoyment from +their use. It is true a great change has been effected in +this respect, and society has reaped the benefit. A man who +saves money is not a drain upon his friend; is not a dissipated +man; costs society less, and does more for it than another +man. The self-imposed taxation of the working classes has +been set down by Mr. Porter at fifty millions a-year. In +reality it is much more: there is loss of time—there is +sickness induced by intemperance—there are the gaols, and +police-stations, and police, which would be much less expensive +were the intemperance of the country less. Thus, if you +change a nation of spendthrifts into a nation of economical men, +you bring about a great and glorious result. Such a nation +never can be poor. It will always have capital, and capital +is the fund out of which labour is maintained, out of which the +arts that humanise and bless mankind spring—out of which +the soft humanities of life arise. Thus, then, the Freehold +Land Movement is attended with great moral and social good. +Viewed politically, also, it must be considered to have had the +same result. It is something to have made a man an +independent voter—to have made him feel that he has won his +political rights for himself—that he has no need to cringe +and beg—to have taught him that—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Man who man would be<br /> +Must rule the empire of himself.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such a man will infuse fresh blood into the +constituency. He will not give a vote like a browbeaten +tradesman or a dependent tenant-farmer. His landlord will +not be able to drive him to the polling-booth like a sheep. +On the contrary, he will go there erect and free—a man, and +not a slave. In every point of view, indeed, the benefits +of the movement are immense. In the neighbourhood of all +our large towns estates are being built on, where the members of +the <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span>different societies living on their own freeholds enjoy +the blessings of pure air, and light, and water, of which +otherwise they would have been deprived. In Birmingham the +mortality amongst children has been already lessened 2½ +per cent. in consequence of this very fact. If it be true +that we cannot get the healthy mind without the healthy body, +this is something gained; but when we further remember that the +money thus profitably invested would most of it have been +squandered in reckless enjoyment—in body and soul +destroying drink—it is clear nothing more need be +said. It was calculated that out of £25,000 received +by the Birmingham Society, £20,000 have been saved from +those sinks of poison, the dram-shop and the beer-house. +Mr. James Taylor tells us, “Our working men are beginning +to ponder the often-quoted saying that every time they swallow a +glass of ale they swallow a portion of land. From +calculations which have been made, it appears that the average +price of land is 5½d. per yard, and therefore every time a +man drinks a quart of ale he engulphs at the same time a yard of +solid earth.” Nor is Mr. Taylor alone in his +testimony. A correspondent of the <i>Freeholder</i> at +Leominster stated, that instead of money being spent in drink it +was devoted to the society there. In a late report of the +Committee of the Coventry Society we read that “one of the +most pleasing results of the society’s operations is the +improved moral habits of many of its members.” The +North and East Riding Society also reported “The +society’s operations produce the best effects on the habits +of its poorer members by encouraging them to save money from the +public house.” Similar testimony was also borne by +the Newcastle Committee, and at Darlington we learn that the +society has been the means of converting many of its members into +steady members of society, and instead of finding them at the +ale-bench, wrote a correspondent, a few months since, “you +may now see them at our Mechanics’ Institution, gaining all +the information they can.” Thus, then, the Freehold +Movement is creating everywhere a great moral revolution. +It <!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>teaches the drunkard to be sober and the spendthrift to +save. It comes to man in his degradation and strikes away +the chain and sets him free. To the cause of Temperance it +has been a most invaluable ally. For the money saved from +the public-house it has been the most suitable investment. +No wonder, then, that most of the leading men connected with the +movement are also connected with the Temperance societies, or +that it originated with them. It was born in a Temperance +Hotel. Its founder was the Secretary of a Temperance +society. Did the Temperance societies effect no other good, +for this one fact alone would they deserve lasting honour in the +land.</p> +<h3>VII.—HINTS FOR THE FORMATION OF FREEHOLD LAND +SOCIETIES.</h3> +<p>There are many counties yet to which the movement has not +extended. For the sake of those who may wish to extend it +to them, we state that the first step to be taken is to procure a +copy of the rules of some society already in operation. For +this purpose, the Birmingham, the National and the Westminster +Societies’ rules, which have been prepared with care, and +under the management of practical men, should be procured. +They are virtually the same as the rules of an ordinary building +society, and are certified by Mr. Tidd Pratt. The next step +is the appointment of trustees, directors, solicitor and +secretary. This is very important. The greater part +of the failures which take place in working men’s +associations arise from the incapacity or dishonesty of the +directors or their officers. Men of character and substance +should be chosen for trustees, and for directors men experienced +in business, of persevering habits, and of unquestionable +integrity. The solicitor and secretary ought to be +favourably disposed to the objects of the society. The +offices for business ought in no case to be connected either with +a public-house or a Temperance coffee-house. Eating and +drinking are bad adjuncts to business. As every society +must incur expenses, it is not desirable to form societies in +<!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>small towns or villages, but to connect them with a +large society. The National, for instance, has agents to +receive subscriptions in every part of the country. Indeed, +many of the local societies have become merged in it. In +consequence of its excellent business arrangements, and of its +immense capital it can do what local societies cannot. +Already the Herts and Beds Society, the Bristol Society and the +Cardiff Society, have become incorporated with it, and the +arrangement has been found satisfactory to all parties concerned, +the National having the power to purchase an estate, when a local +society with its limited funds would be utterly unable to do +so. The same can be said of the Conservative and other +larger societies. Local societies have, however, this in +their favour. The managers are well known men. +Confidence is felt in them; they appeal to local sympathies, and +they will have local support.</p> +<h3>VIII.—A LIST OF EXISTING SOCIETIES.</h3> +<p>It has been suggested that we give a list of the societies at +present in operation. We do so here, though aware that the +list is necessarily very imperfect. The <i>Freeholder</i> +aimed to give a list, but it never could give a correct +one. We see Mr. Brooks in his Building Societies Directory +has also made a similar attempt, and in an equally unsuccessful +manner. The societies are so numerous that it is impossible +to do more than chronicle the existence of the more active +ones. These are:—1. The Arundel, 38, Arundel-street, +Strand; Manager, Mr. J. Carpenter. 2. The Birkbeck, +Mechanics’ Institution, Southampton-buildings, +Chancery-lane; Secretary, Mr. F. Ravenscroft. 3. The +British, 3, Ivy-lane; Secretary, Mr. H. Brooks. 4. The +Britannia; Secretary, Mr. D. W. Ruffy, 1a, Great George-street, +New-road. 4. The Church of England, 22, John-street, +Adelphi; Secretary, Mr. Campbell. 5. The Conservative, 33, +Norfolk-street, Strand; Secretary, Mr. Gruneisen. 6. The +Chelsea, Cheyne-row. 7. The Finsbury, +Featherstone-buildings; Secretary, Mr. Scott. 8. The Home +Counties, Chatham-place, Blackfriars-bridge; <!-- page 22--><a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>Secretary, +Mr. Knight. 9. The Lambeth, 90 Blackman-street, Borough; +Secretary, Mr. W. Banks. 10. London District, 10, +Leadenhall-street; Secretary, Mr. F. Redfern. 11. The +London and Suburban; Secretary, Mr. Weale. 12. The +Metropolitan, 24, East-cheap; Secretary, Mr. D. R. White. +13. The Marylebone, Great Portland-street; Secretary, Mr. J. W. +Knight. 14. The Middle Class, Peele’s Coffee House, +Fleet-street; Secretary, Mr. W. Peacock. 15. The National, +14, Moorgate-street; Secretary, Mr. Whittingham. 16. The +North London, British School Room, Denmark-terrace, Pentonville; +Secretary, Mr. Bernard. 17. The St. Pancras; Secretary, Mr. +Spring. 18. The Union. 19. The Westminster, 4, +Beaufort-buildings, Strand; Secretary, Mr. G. Hugget. Most +of these societies are in full operation, and have purchased +valuable estates. The probable number of Freehold Land +Societies in the country is 130. In some parts societies +have not flourished, in consequence of their being confounded +with O’Connor’s Land Scheme; in others, more +especially in the North, there has been an utter impossibility in +the way of getting freehold property; in others, the management +has been languid, and the societies have decayed. But the +number is, we believe, that which we have stated; or at any rate +is as near the truth as it is possible for us to be.</p> +<h3>IX.—CONCLUSION.</h3> +<p>We have thus gone through our self-appointed task. We +have considered the Freehold Land Movement in its origin and +effects. We have shown them to be good. We have shown +the movement itself to be well worthy the support of every +philanthropic man. It has now grown, and become +strong. It is now doing what Parliament dare not, providing +for the political emancipation of the people. It has put +the franchise in the hands of honest men. It has given a +new character to political agitation. It has shown how, +without resorting to intimidation, or without the frantic appeal +of the demagogue, the working men of England may enfranchise +themselves. Parliament <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>may refuse to +legislate on the matter—one Reform Bill after another may +be prepared, and then thrown by—one party combination after +another may be driven from the Treasury benches, but the movement +is gradually working its way, which is to reform Parliament, to +put down W. B. and his man Frail—to root out the +demoralisation of which St. Albans is a type, and to give to the +people a perfect representation in the peopled house. It is +time the present state of things was altered. For this +purpose, the Freehold Land Movement exists.</p> +<p>We thus make our appeal to the friends of political +progress. We aim at the advocacy of the movement which has +for its end what you profess to desire. That movement we +believe destined to be the salvation of our country, and we ask +you to rally round it. It is true Free-trade is not in +danger, but Parliamentary Reform is. A large party headed +by Lord Derby take their stand by the Bill of ’31, and +maintain that concession has reached its limits—that class +legislation is still to prevail—that the people are still +to be ignored—that inside the constitution are still to be +the privileged few, and outside of it the unprivileged +many. Against this mockery we ask England’s manhood +to protest—not by crowded assemblies or inflammatory +harangues, but in the constitutional manner pointed out by +Freehold Land Societies. We want not voices but +votes. In the House of Commons, the thoughts that breathe +and words that burn avail not, but votes are omnipotent. No +member can disregard or despise his constituents; their will to +him must be law.</p> +<p>But we stop not here. We seek a still wider +support. The Freehold Land Movement has done wonders, it +has removed the reproach cast upon the working man, that he is +reckless and improvident. It has shown that he can save +when a proper object is offered. In a speech a year or two +since, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Sotheron, M.P. for +Wiltshire, it was stated that the total number of friendly +societies was not less than 33,232, and the aggregate of the +members which they included amounted to 3,032,000. The +annual revenue <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>of these societies was +£4,980,000, and the accumulated capital from the savings of +these poor persons was no less a sum than +£11,360,000. Faulty as most of these societies were, +so desirous of saving was the working man, that he had actually +entrusted them with the enormous sum we have just named. If +these things were done by Friendly Societies, what will not be +done when the advantages of Freehold Land Societies are well and +widely understood? At this time there is much maudlin +sympathy expressed on behalf of the working classes. They +need it not. They are stout enough and strong enough to +take care of themselves. The Freehold Land Movement has +given them an investment, and they have become saving men. +The money that would formerly have been spent in the public-house +has given many a man a freehold and a stake in the country, such +as even a revising barrister must admit. The present system +of revision of votes by barristers is bad. Members of +Freehold Land Societies have been much wronged in +consequence. One worthy disfranchised several claimants +last summer, on the ground that the forty-shilling franchise, in +all cases, should cost £50. It ought to be in the +power of no man to arrive at such a decision. The question +should be left to a jury—not to a barrister, eager of +promotion, and for that purpose desirous to please the powers +that be. But still a man may thus obtain wealth and a +vote. And the man thus taught self-denial and providence +will not be contented with remaining merely a freeholder; he +cannot make himself that without becoming intellectually and +morally a better man. He will be a better father of a +family, a better citizen, better in his public and private +life. Workmen of England, Ireland and Wales, we call upon +you to rally round the Freehold Land Societies. They exist +for your benefit alone. They will give you all that you +require—desirable investments for your savings—habits +of economy and political influence. You have no need to +cringe and beg. All that you want, you have it in your +power to obtain. Never was there a more favourable time for +you to avail yourselves of <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>the Freehold +Land Societies now springing up in your midst. You have now +money you can put by. When the Corn Laws cursed the land, +it would have been mockery to have asked you to do so then. +Now the case is altered, and you must each one of you seek to +elevate yourselves. As Mr. Cobden aptly remarked, half the +money annually spent in gin would give the people the entire +county representation, and thus also provide desirable +investments for the money that you are morally bound to lay by +against a rainy day. The man who refuses to make provision +for the future cannot expect to prosper. Not to do so when +a man can is a folly and a crime. Now then is the time to +support the Freehold Land Societies. Thus when sickness or +old age or bad times come, you will have something you can call +your own. Habits of economy will thus grow and strengthen, +and the reward will be sure. Of all luxuries, that of +independence is the sweetest, and that these societies put within +your reach. Their failure is impossible. They are the +societies for the age: they will parcel out the English ground +amongst English men: their triumph will be the emancipation of +the working man from the misery and wrongs and degradation of the +past.</p> +<p>We appeal also to men who aim at the moral reformation of our +race—who care little about politics—who believe that +in a world of knaves it is difficult to get a good government at +all, and we claim their support. The mission of the +Freehold Land Movement is the same with theirs. The +philanthropist labouring to remove the degradation, which compels +to a life little better than that of the beasts that perish, men +made in the image of their Maker—the advocate of Temperance +aiming at the destruction of a vice which has slain its +thousands, and which, like a destroying pestilence, still walks +the land—the Christian seeking to permeate our age with a +living faith—all these we claim as co-workers. The +movement, besides its direct bearings, tends to bring about the +results they desire. Not merely has political emancipation +been the result of the movement—moral emancipation has +invariably followed in its train.</p> +<p><!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>We thus make our appeal for the support of the cause +which is yet in its infancy, and which has a thousand trophies +yet in store. Peacefully does it conduct the people to +power, and give practical utterance to the spirit of the +age. The doom of whatever keeps man in subjection to +another has long been sealed. The proud patrician of +Imperial Rome—the feudal baron of the Middle Ages, have +passed away. Even Oxford abandons the faith at one time it +armed to defend, and no longer acknowledges the</p> +<blockquote><p>“Right divine of kings to govern +wrong.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Onward to victory is the people’s march. The +decree has gone forth, they must be free. For this +consummation we have ever hoped and striven. From the +contentions of party we have ever turned to advocate whatever +gives to the people moral dignity and political power; to others +we leave the cause of the privileged classes—the advocacy +of existing wrongs—the preservation of existing +abuses. We plead the cause of the unenfranchised, but of +the unenfranchised who have faith and energy and self-denial +enough to win the franchise for themselves. We conjure them +to bestir themselves, to give their support to the Freehold Land +Movement, to quit themselves like men. We need at the +polling booths independent voters, not men who can be bullied or +bribed—to make such is our aim, for such England needs, +aye, and needs more than ever now.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">the +end</span>.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, +Angel-court, Skinner-street.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 32807-h.htm or 32807-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/8/0/32807 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Freehold Land Societies + Their History, Present Position, and Claims + + +Author: J. Ewing Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2010 [eBook #32807] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES*** + + +Transcribed from the 1853 William Tweedie pamphlet by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf. Many thanks to Birmingham Central Library, England, for +allowing their copy to be used for this transcription. + + + + + + FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES: + THEIR HISTORY, + PRESENT POSITION, AND CLAIMS. + + + BY + + J. EWING RITCHIE. + + * * * * * + + "The laws of this country recognise nothing more sacred than the + Forty-shilling Freehold Franchise; and a vote for the county obtained + by these means is both constitutional and laudable."--LORD + CHIEF-JUSTICE TINDAL. + + "What he had heard from hon. members told him nothing more than this, + that the working population could easily, under the old system, + acquire the right of voting; and that every man who owned forty + shillings a-year could entitle himself to vote. Were they to be told + that the people of England were so degraded, so besotted, so dead to + all sense of their true interests, that they could make no efforts to + possess themselves of the franchise?"--MR. DISRAELI. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND. + + * * * * * + + PRICE TWOPENCE. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The following pages are reprinted from the "WEEKLY NEWS AND +CHRONICLE"--the only Paper that aims to be the organ of the Freehold Land +Movement. They are now published in the hope that they may win for that +movement a wider support and a heartier sympathy than it has already +secured. It is a child--it will be a giant ere long. + +3, Clifford's Inn. + April 1853. + + + + +FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES: +THEIR HISTORY, PRESENT POSITION, AND CLAIMS. + + +The Freehold Land Movement is the great fact of the age. We propose to +consider it in its origin, its present position as a means of investment +for the middle and working-classes, and in its political and social and +moral bearings. We propose to tell what it has done, and what it seeks +to do. Born of a working-man, it especially aims at the elevation of +working-men. It comes to them, and offers them independence, wealth, and +political power. Conceived in a provincial town, its ramifications now +extend through the land. It demands no mean place in the consideration +of the influences now at work for realising a future brighter and better +than the past. The philosopher, the political economist, and the +philanthropist must alike, then, deem it worthy of serious regard. On +the part of a people, the absence of recklessness and waste is a great +good; but the formation of industrial and economical habits is a still +greater good. From such plain, unpoetical traits of national character +are born the arts and the graces, and all that is civilised and refined +in life. A rich people is not less virtuous, and is certainly far +happier, than a poor one. Therefore we say, let the Freehold Movement +have wide support, for it is a schoolmaster, teaching the path leading +the people of this country to wealth, and to the power and independence +which wealth alone can give. Thus much by way of introduction. That our +readers may fully understand the subject, we shall begin at the +beginning, and explain. + + + +I.--THE CONSTITUTION OF A FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY. + + +Some time back the _Times_ asked scornfully, as Pilate of old did +concerning truth, what was a Freehold Land Society. We reply, viewed in +a business light, it is simply a society for the purchase of land. It +involves two commercial principles well understood--that purchasers +should buy in the cheapest market, and that societies can do what +individuals cannot. Till the movement originated, the purchaser of a +small plot of ground had to pay in lawyer's expenses connected with the +purchase frequently as much as he paid for the plot itself. A society +buys a large piece of ground. They make roads through it; they drain it; +they turn it into valuable building-land; they thus raise its value; and +they divide it amongst their members, not at the price at which each +allotment is worth, but at the price which each allotment has cost. +Being also registered under the Friendly Societies Act, the conveyance +costs the purchaser generally from 25s. to 30s.; and thus a plot worth 50 +pounds is often put into the fortunate allottee's hands for half that +sum. Of course, different societies have different rules, but they all +aim at the same end, and effect that end in pretty nearly a similar +manner. Thus a member generally, if he subscribes for a share of 30 +pounds, pays a shilling a-week, and a trifling sum a-quarter for +expenses. With the money thus raised an estate is purchased. It is then +cut up into allotments, and balloted for. If the subscriber has paid up, +he, of course, takes the land, and there is an end of the matter. If he +has not, the society gives him his allotment, but saddled with a +mortgage. In some societies the members are served by rotation, and +"first come" are "first served." The more generally-adopted plan, +however, is division by ballot. There has been some doubt as to the +legality of the ballot; the Conservative Society have taken the opinion +of eminent counsel upon this matter, and their opinion is, that the +ballot is perfectly legal. The rotation societies offer no inducements +to new members to join them; so division by ballot has come to be almost +the universal rule. In the National, for instance, there was a ballot +daily for all subscribers of three months' standing. This has recently +been altered. A ballot takes place every day, to which all are eligible +whose subscriptions are paid up. If you join the National, you may go to +the ballot immediately. + +As the National is the largest of the existing Freehold Land +Societies--last year its receipts being 190,070 pounds--we will briefly +allude to its prospectus as a still further illustration of what a +Freehold Land Society is. The especial objects of this Society are +described as "to facilitate the acquisition of freehold land, and the +erection of houses thereon; to enable such of its members as are eligible +to obtain the county franchise, and to afford to all of them a secure and +profitable investment for money." In the National, all the expenses are +defrayed out of a common fund; consequently, there are no extra charges, +and the net profits, after payment of interest on subscriptions in +advance and on completed shares, are annually divided amongst the holders +of uncompleted shares. In this way last year the National divided 3,161 +pounds 19s. 3d., and the directors credited each unadvanced share with +profit at the rate of 10 pounds 16s. 8d. per cent. per annum. We only +add, as a still further explanation of the societies in general, that +they are all conducted on the most perfectly democratic principles. Vote +by ballot and universal suffrage are the rule with them. The members +elect their own officers. In all the societies, also, provision is made +for casualties, such as sickness or death. In case of death, the +subscriber's widow or heirs take his place. If he be unable, from +sickness or poverty, to continue his subscription, he is not fined, but +is allowed to wait for better times. If he wishes his money back, he can +have it returned, with a slight reduction for the working expenses of the +Society. Juniors may be members. Actually these societies so far +practically admit woman's rights as to offer to the ladies the same +desirable investments they offer to the sterner sex. In short, the +Freehold Land Movement appeals to all ranks and conditions of the +community. It may be said of a Freehold Land Society what has often been +said of the London Tavern, that it is open to all--who can pay. + + + +II. ORIGIN AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE MOVEMENT. + + +Primarily the movement was political, and was established for the purpose +of giving the people of this country the political power which they at +present lack. Originally the forty-shilling freehold was established to +put down universal suffrage. As a part and parcel of the British +constitution it has been religiously preserved to the present time, and +threatens to be an excellent substitute for what it was originally +intended to destroy. During the Anti-Corn-Law agitation Mr. Cobden had +put the free-traders up to the idea of purchasing forty-shilling +freeholds, but it was reserved to Mr. James Taylor, of Birmingham, to +give to the idea of Mr. Cobden a universality of which the latter never +dreamed; Mr. Taylor had been a purchaser of land more than once, and with +the purchase he got an abstract, a legal document, which when he came to +understand it, showed him that he had paid to the vendor much more than +it cost him. The idea then struck him that as the wholesale price of +land was much greater than the retail, if the working men could be got to +subscribe together a large sum for the purchase of land, they could thus +have, at a wholesale price, a stake in the country and a vote, and when +the general election came and excitement was created, Mr. Taylor felt +that the time for action was arrived. Accordingly, when he went to +tender his vote, he said to a friend who accompanied him, "here's a lot +of fellows, and all that they can do is to grin and yawn when I go in to +poll; I have a strong notion that I can get them into the booth." This +friend said, "How?" The answer was, "Meet me to night in the Temperance +Hotel." That same evening Mr. Taylor and his friend drew up an +advertisement, stating that "it is expedient that a Freehold Land Society +be formed for the purpose of obtaining freehold property at a most +reasonable cost to, and to get country votes for, the working men." +Simultaneously with the advertisement in the local paper appeared a +leader from the editor, recognising the immense importance of the +movement thus commenced. Thus pledged to go on, Mr. Taylor threw his +heart and soul into the cause. Within a week a committee was formed, and +the support of the principal men in the town secured. December, 1849 is +the legal date of the Freehold Land Movement, although the Birmingham +Society had been in existence nearly two years previous. In that month +the rules of the society were certified, and the glorious idea of Mr. +Taylor had a legal habitation and a name. At the end of the first year +the Birmingham society reported that it had established six independent +societies, in which more than two thousand members had subscribed for +three thousand shares; that in Birmingham alone the subscriptions +amounted to 500 pounds per month, and that it had already given +allotments to nearly two hundred of its members. Before the termination +of the second year a great conference was held in Birmingham in order to +organise a plan of general union and co-operation amongst the various +societies. Delegates from all parts of the country were present. In +Birmingham it appeared 13,000 pounds had been subscribed and four estates +purchased, two thousand five hundred shares being taken up by one +thousand eight hundred subscribers. Wolverhampton, Leicester, +Stourbridge, had all co-operated zealously in the movement. Nor was the +metropolis behind. The National had started with seven hundred and fifty +members subscribing for one thousand five hundred shares, and already had +1,900 pounds paid up. In Marylebone eight hundred shares had been taken +since the previous July. This conference was attended by Messrs. Cobden, +Bright, G. Thompson, Scholefield, Bass, and Sir Joshua Walmsley. This +conference, of course, attracted the notice of the press. The coldly, +critical _Spectator_ termed it a "middle-class movement." _Tait_ so far +forgot himself as to characterise it as "political swindling." The +_Times_ said the working-classes were being deluded by it. For once the +_Standard_ agreed with the _Times_ and said ditto. However the +conference did its work, and started the _Freeholder_, which appeared on +the 1st of January, 1850. A second conference was held at Birmingham in +November, 1850. The report, as usual, was encouraging. Eighty +societies, many of them with branches, were reported as existing. The +number of members was thirty thousand subscribing for forty thousand +shares. The amount of paid-up contributions was 170,000 pounds. A third +conference was held in London in November, 1851. The report then stated +there were one hundred societies with forty-five thousand members +subscribing for sixty-five thousand shares. One hundred and fifty +estates had been purchased, twelve thousand allotments made, 400,000 +pounds had actually been received, and two millions of pounds sterling +was actually being subscribed for. At the fourth conference, held in +1852, it appeared still greater progress had been made. One hundred and +thirty societies, with eighty-five thousand members subscribing for a +hundred and twenty thousand shares, were in existence, three hundred and +ten estates had been purchased, nineteen thousand five hundred allotments +had been made, and 790,000 pounds had been received. Estimating the +shares at the average of 30 pounds per share, the total amount subscribed +for was three millions six hundred thousand pounds. Such, then, is the +movement at the present time. It has been obscured by no cloud. Its +progress has been unchecked. No disappointment has retarded its onward +way. Forward to victory has been its march. All classes and sects have +railed round it. For churchmen there exists a Church of England Society. +The Conservatives have formed a large and flourishing society for the +manufacture of Conservative votes. The movement sneered at, derided, +misrepresented, declared unconstitutional, a swindle like a celebrated +land scheme popular with the Chartists, has now come to be admitted by +all as the greatest fact of the age: to aid it, grave and reverend +churchmen, statesmen of all shades of political options, combine; even +coronetted lords now rejoice to lend it their sanction, and the weight of +their illustrious names. Truly the mustard seed has branched out into a +giant oak. A little leaven has leavened the whole lump. + + + +III.--OF ITS FOUNDER. + + +We must tell our readers something of the founder of this movement. +James Taylor, junior, of Birmingham, deserves a passing notice at our +hands. He was born in that town in 1814, and is consequently now in the +prime of his life, rather young considering the greatness he has already +achieved. His father is a tradesman of the same town, where he has +acquired a limited competency by his honest industry, and where he still +carries on business for the benefit of the younger branches of his +family. Like all other Birmingham boys James was put to work at an early +age, and became an apprentice in one of the fancy trades for which +Birmingham is so well known. There his industrious habits soon acquired +for him the approbation of his master, who gave up Taylor his indentures +in consequence of his retiring from business before the latter was of +age. About this time Taylor, earning good wages, and not having the fear +of Malthus before his eyes, got married, and lived happily till troubles +came and the demon of strong drink cast its fatal spell upon his domestic +hearth. After years of utter misery and degradation Taylor, in a happy +hour for himself and society, signed the Temperance pledge, and became a +new man, and to the pledge, fortunately, he remained faithful, in spite +of ridicule and reproach from the boon companions with whom he had +thoughtlessly squandered so much of happiness, and health, and money, and +time. No temptation ever led him back. Nor was he satisfied with his +own reform alone. He was anxious that others should be rescued from +degradation as he had already been. For this purpose he identified +himself with the Temperance cause, and was Honorary Secretary to the +Birmingham Temperance Society till he became the Apostle of the Freehold +Land Movement. Since then his life and labours have become public. No +man has worked harder than Mr. Taylor. Our readers would be astonished +if they knew the number of miles Mr. Taylor travels, and of public +meetings he attends in the course of the year connected with the +movement; sometimes the exertion has been too great, and his health has +given way for a time. Those who have heard him once will never forget +him. Those who have not heard him, if such there be, have indeed a treat +in store. With but few or no adventitious aids--without even "little +Latin and less Greek"--an unassuming plain working man, in spite of all +this, so fascinating is his unadorned eloquence that no one can listen to +him without admiring his earnestness and moral worth--without feeling +that England has no worthier son than the originator of the Freehold Land +Movement--without feeling that time alone can tell what he has done for +the political, and social, and moral emancipation of her toiling race. +We may also add here that Mr. Taylor has been at times a contributor to +the press as well as a platform orator--that he has been twice +married--that he resides at Temperance Cottage, Birmingham, in the +enjoyment of a domestic felicity which we trust will attend him to a +green old age. It may be said of Taylor what has been said of many +infinitely less useful men, that-- + + "He is a man, take him for all in all, + We ne'er shall look upon his like again." + +This feeling has become common wherever Mr. Taylor has been known. From +far and near have reached him testimonials of respect and esteem. At an +early stage of its existence the Wolverhampton Society acknowledged its +sense of Mr. Taylor's services by presenting him with a valuable gold +watch; and at the last Annual Conference of the friends of the Movement, +held in December, 1852, it was unanimously resolved that "as it appeared +that various sums of money have been from time to time subscribed with a +view of offering some suitable recognition of the valuable and +disinterested services of Mr. James Taylor, it is desirable that a +committee be appointed to suggest the most suitable testimonial to that +gentleman, and to take such steps as may seem to them most desirable in +furtherance of the object." In pursuance of this resolution a committee +was formed to receive subscriptions, of which Mr. Scholefield, M.P. for +Birmingham, is Treasurer. This committee consists of most of the +gentlemen connected with the London societies, and it is to be hoped that +they are giving the subject the importance it really deserves. A prophet +should be honoured in his own age and country. In their lifetime the +world's benefactors should reap their reward. + +Having thus explained the nature of Freehold Land Societies, and detailed +their rise and progress and present position, we propose to consider +their effects. For this purpose we shall examine the Movement as +offering + + + +IV.--AN INVESTMENT FOR THE MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASSES. + + +This, of course, is the principal point of view. By their merits as +investments alone must Freehold Land Societies stand or fall. If they +pay, they will flourish; if they do not, they cannot exist, whatever may +be the social, and moral, and political arguments advanced in their +favour. Now, let us just see what means of investment are within the +reach of the Working man. There is the savings bank--not always safe, as +recent examples have shown, and offering so small a rate of interest as +to be but little inducement to the classes to whom it appeals, to save. +Then there are the benefit societies, which hold out such fine promises, +which thus have won a support to which they have no claim, and have +excited hopes which they can never realise. Of two thousand of these +societies, the accounts of which were submitted to one gentleman in +Liverpool a few years ago, _all_ were insolvent. Much of the money +belonging to them is wasted in drink, in foolish show and mummery; but +the societies are based upon wrong principles, and can never become +right. Two radical defects taint them all--the contributions have been +much too small in proportion to the proposed benefits, and an almost +indiscriminate regard to diversities in age has caused persons differing +as widely as from eighteen to thirty-five, forty, forty-five, and even +fifty years of age, to be admitted upon equal, or nearly equal, terms. +One of the chief of these friendly societies is that known as the +Manchester Unity. In 1848 there was an inquiry into the subject before +the House of Lords, when it was stated by Mr. Neison, the eminent +actuary, "that it would take _three millions of money_ to bring the +Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows out of their present difficulties; and if +they went on at their present rates of contribution, no less than _ten +millions_ would be required to fulfil all their engagements." So much +for friendly societies, which are, indeed, a delusion and a snare, and +have always failed when the hour of trial has come. What the savings +banks are we have already seen; yet, actually, till the Freehold Land +Movement originated, these were the only investments within the reach of +the working man. A Select Committee of the House of Commons has twice +reported "that the great change in the social position of multitudes, +arising from the growth of large towns and crowded districts, renders it +more necessary that corresponding changes in the law should take place, +both to improve their condition and contentment, and to give additional +facilities to investments of the capital which their industry and +enterprise are constantly creating and augmenting;" and "that they doubt +not ultimate benefit will ensue from any measures which the Legislature +may be enabled to devise for simplifying the operation of the law and +unfettering the energies of trade." But at present nothing has been done, +and the Laws of Partnership fetter the working man who would usefully +employ what little capital he has. Clearly, then, the Freehold Land +Movement offers him an eligible means of investment. Land cannot run +away. So long as England exists, it will always be worth its price. +Nay, it will become more valuable every year, for by no effort of human +ingenuity can it be increased. + +At Birmingham several of the allotments have realised premiums as high as +20 or 30 pounds. On the East Moulsey estate of the Westminster Society +allotments, costing 23 pounds, have been let at a chief rent of 3 pounds +and 3 pounds 10s. per annum. The Ross Society, in one of its annual +reports, stated that, out of thirty allotments made by the Society during +the past year, ten exchanged hands at premiums varying from 3 pounds 10s. +to 5 pounds, and ten working men each received 10 pounds premium. At +Ledbury several allotments, costing 25 pounds each had realised premiums +of 15 pounds each. On the Stoke Newington estate, belonging to the +National, premiums of 30 pounds and even of 40 pounds have been realised. +At the Gospel Oak estate, belonging to the St. Pancras Society, +allotments which cost 20 pounds each have been let off on building leases +of 50s. per annum each. Greater sums have been made--but we would rather +understate than overstate our case. + +We have inspected returns from one hundred and twenty societies, and in +every case the allotments have realised a handsome premium. Yet, in the +face of all this, articles have recently appeared in _Chambers's Journal_ +and the _Edinburgh Review_, deprecating these societies as investments. +The Edinburgh Reviewer says:--"Notwithstanding this rapid popularity +however; notwithstanding, also, the high authorities which have +pronounced in their behalf, we cannot look upon these associations with +unmixed favour; and we shall be surprised if any long time elapses +without well-grounded disappointment and discontent arising among their +members. However it may be desirable for a peasant or an artisan to be +possessor of the garden which he cultivates, and of the house he dwells +in--however clear and great the gain to him in this case--it is by no +means equally certain that he can derive any adequate pecuniary +advantages from the possession of a plot of ground which is too far from +his daily work for him either to erect a dwelling on it, or to cultivate +it as an allotment, and which, from its diminutive size, he will find it +very difficult for him to let for any sufficient remuneration. In many +cases a barren site will be his only reward for 50 pounds of savings; and +however he may value this in times of excitement, it will, in three +elections out of four, be of little real interest or moment to him." Of +course we do not affirm that a badly-conducted society will pay in spite +of mismanagement. We believe it will do nothing of the kind, and that +discontent will arise; but facts show that the reviewer is wrong; that +the allotments cost less than he supposes; that thus they offer a better +return for his money than the allottee can get in any other way. +Numerous as these societies are, multitudinous as are their members, +extensive as have been their dealings--no one yet has found fault with +them as a means of investment. Indeed, every day they have come to be +more and more regarded in this light alone. Where, we ask, can a man +make more by his shilling a-week than by putting it in a Freehold Land +Society? This is the question which every man should ask himself; and if +he does this, we can await with satisfaction the result. It is easy to +imagine difficulties, but we turn to the testimony of facts. That is +unanimously in its favour. The present time is void of all political +interest. There are no great struggles, and no great hopes and aims. +England seems satisfied with coalitions. Yet this precisely is the time +when the Freehold Land Movement finds most favour with the public. The +reason is obvious. The times are good. The public has money to invest, +and the public finds no such desirable investments as those offered by +the Movement; hence it is the societies flourish; hence it is they gain +the hearty support of all who can only spare a little, but who would put +a little by against a rainy day. + + + +V.--MOVEMENT CONSIDERED POLITICALLY. + + +But we may be told, politically the movement has been a failure. Our +answer is, it has been nothing of the kind. It is true, and we state the +fact more in sorrow than in anger, that Messrs. Newdegate and Spooner +still represent North Warwickshire; but it is also clear that whilst at +the election previous to the last Mr. Spooner had, in the Birmingham +district, a majority of 196, at the last election, in consequence of the +operation of the Freehold Land Societies of that district, he was +actually in a minority of 395. But let us look nearer home. At the +recent election for Middlesex, Bernal Osborne was returned, after a +severe struggle, by a majority of 195. Now, when we recollect that the +National alone has purchased 152 acres in Middlesex, and that each acre +is capable, on an average, on subdivision, of making five votes--when we +also remember that the remaining London societies have purchased between +them another hundred acres in the same county--it is impossible not to +feel, even supposing all the allotments have not been taken up, that out +of the 250 acres thus cut up into allotments came the majority which +returned Bernal Osborne as the champion of Liberalism and Free Trade. We +repeat, it is impossible not to feel that if it had not been for the +Freehold Land Societies, to the disgrace and shame of the county, Lord +Maidstone would have misrepresented Middlesex. Then we remember that Mr. +Locke King was but 400 ahead of Mr. Antrobus at the Surrey election last +summer--we must also feel that that gentleman has some reason for +thankfulness to Freehold Land Societies. If we pass to Herts, we shall +feel that it sadly failed in its duty by returning three pledged +Protectionists; but when we recollect that the National has purchased 300 +acres in that county, we cannot but be persuaded that there is "a good +time coming" for our friend Mr. Lattimore and the Herts Reformers. At +the last election, the lowest of the Protectionist candidates--the +quondam Reformer, Sir Bulwer Lytton--had 2,190 votes: the highest of the +Liberals had 2,043. It is thus as clear as anything can be that a very +little effort will make Hertfordshire for ever safe. It is in the power +of any two hundred persons desirous of a good investment to do so at +once. Essex, the home of Sir J. Tyrrel and the delight of W. B., we +regret to write, is not so easily liberalised. North Essex at present is +impregnable. Its squires, as Barry Cornwall ironically writes, + + "With brains made clear + By the irresistible strength of beer," + +are beyond salvation: there is no hope for this generation of them. But +South Essex is not so hopelessly lost to the people's cause. It is true +that last summer it did unseat Sir E. N. Buxton, and return Sir W. B. +Smijth by a majority of 600; but the National has purchased 242 acres in +that county, and out of that number can create 1,210 electors. +Evidently, then, there is hope for Essex yet. But we need not continue +this scrutiny. The people have placed within their hands the very +privilege they so much desire. They need not wait for Government to +emancipate them; they can emancipate themselves. For instance, the +National will put any person desirous of the same in possession of a +county qualification for North or South Essex, East or West Kent, +Hertfordshire, West Sussex, North Hants, North Lancashire, or Middlesex. +If, as some of the knowing ones maintain, we shall soon have a general +election, of course the sooner one is put on the register the better. If +not, the purchaser can take no harm: he will have his _quid pro quo_; he +will have placed his money in that best of all banks, the land, and will +have become one of that important class appealed to on certain occasions +as the "Electors of the United Kingdom." Heaven helps those who help +themselves. Instead of the people waiting for Government to extend the +franchise, they can boldly help themselves. No man deserves the +electoral privilege who cannot purchase it by his own industry and +self-denial. At the present time, when provisions are cheap, when work +is abundant, when wages are high and labour scarce, there is not a man in +our streets who may not win the franchise if he has the will. Half the +men who brawled in low pot-houses, while their wives and children were +starving, over their beer, for the Charter, and nothing but the Charter, +if they had stopped at home, and worked and saved their money, might, by +this time, have realised the manhood suffrage of which they so idly +dreamed; and if, at the next election, the men of progress are beaten, +and the friends of class legislation and injustice prevail, it will be +because the people were not true to themselves--because they had not +enough of self-denial, enough of earnestness and independence, to avail +themselves of the advantages offered by the Freehold Land Movement, and +thus to have a representation that shall be real, and not a sham. By +means of the Freehold Land Movement, every county in England may be won. +To the very natural suggestion that that is a game that two can play at, +the answer is very obvious. In such a contest numbers will tell. A +qualification that may be had for 30 pounds will fall into very different +hands to what it would were its price 1,000 pounds. For one aristocratic +voter thus made, the people will have ten. An appeal to the masses can +have but one result. Human nature must be changed before it can be +otherwise. Be this as it may, the political result is undoubtedly +good--the emancipation of all who have the wit, and will, and worth to +win the franchise for themselves. + + + +VI. THE MORAL AND SOCIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE MOVEMENT. + + +Anything offering a man inducement to save must be attended with +beneficial results. As society is constituted, a spendthrift is a +nuisance and a curse; the charge hitherto against the working classes of +this country has been, that they have been reckless and improvident--that +they are beggars one day and spendthrifts the next--that the money gained +with such difficulty is squandered away with a wicked wastefulness, such +as can be paralleled in no other part of the world. The English lower +orders have always been thus improvident. During the late war the +sailors, when on shore, would resort to every absurdity to get rid of +their money. Colonel Landman tells us of one who had just received prize +money to the amount of 500 pounds, and, being allowed only one week in +which to get rid of it, had, to do so more effectually, hired a carriage +and four for himself, another for his hat, and another for his cudgel, in +which style he travelled to London. A common sight at Plymouth was that +of sailors sitting on the ground breaking watches to pieces for a glass +of grog, for which they had previously paid 5 pounds each; one +hard-hearted captain having refused leave to a sailor to go on shore, the +man, in the bitterness of his disappointment, filled a pint pot with +guineas and threw them overboard, as he could not immediately derive +enjoyment from their use. It is true a great change has been effected in +this respect, and society has reaped the benefit. A man who saves money +is not a drain upon his friend; is not a dissipated man; costs society +less, and does more for it than another man. The self-imposed taxation +of the working classes has been set down by Mr. Porter at fifty millions +a-year. In reality it is much more: there is loss of time--there is +sickness induced by intemperance--there are the gaols, and +police-stations, and police, which would be much less expensive were the +intemperance of the country less. Thus, if you change a nation of +spendthrifts into a nation of economical men, you bring about a great and +glorious result. Such a nation never can be poor. It will always have +capital, and capital is the fund out of which labour is maintained, out +of which the arts that humanise and bless mankind spring--out of which +the soft humanities of life arise. Thus, then, the Freehold Land +Movement is attended with great moral and social good. Viewed +politically, also, it must be considered to have had the same result. It +is something to have made a man an independent voter--to have made him +feel that he has won his political rights for himself--that he has no +need to cringe and beg--to have taught him that-- + + "Man who man would be + Must rule the empire of himself." + +Such a man will infuse fresh blood into the constituency. He will not +give a vote like a browbeaten tradesman or a dependent tenant-farmer. +His landlord will not be able to drive him to the polling-booth like a +sheep. On the contrary, he will go there erect and free--a man, and not +a slave. In every point of view, indeed, the benefits of the movement +are immense. In the neighbourhood of all our large towns estates are +being built on, where the members of the different societies living on +their own freeholds enjoy the blessings of pure air, and light, and +water, of which otherwise they would have been deprived. In Birmingham +the mortality amongst children has been already lessened 2.5 per cent. in +consequence of this very fact. If it be true that we cannot get the +healthy mind without the healthy body, this is something gained; but when +we further remember that the money thus profitably invested would most of +it have been squandered in reckless enjoyment--in body and soul +destroying drink--it is clear nothing more need be said. It was +calculated that out of 25,000 pounds received by the Birmingham Society, +20,000 pounds have been saved from those sinks of poison, the dram-shop +and the beer-house. Mr. James Taylor tells us, "Our working men are +beginning to ponder the often-quoted saying that every time they swallow +a glass of ale they swallow a portion of land. From calculations which +have been made, it appears that the average price of land is 5.5d. per +yard, and therefore every time a man drinks a quart of ale he engulphs at +the same time a yard of solid earth." Nor is Mr. Taylor alone in his +testimony. A correspondent of the _Freeholder_ at Leominster stated, +that instead of money being spent in drink it was devoted to the society +there. In a late report of the Committee of the Coventry Society we read +that "one of the most pleasing results of the society's operations is the +improved moral habits of many of its members." The North and East Riding +Society also reported "The society's operations produce the best effects +on the habits of its poorer members by encouraging them to save money +from the public house." Similar testimony was also borne by the +Newcastle Committee, and at Darlington we learn that the society has been +the means of converting many of its members into steady members of +society, and instead of finding them at the ale-bench, wrote a +correspondent, a few months since, "you may now see them at our +Mechanics' Institution, gaining all the information they can." Thus, +then, the Freehold Movement is creating everywhere a great moral +revolution. It teaches the drunkard to be sober and the spendthrift to +save. It comes to man in his degradation and strikes away the chain and +sets him free. To the cause of Temperance it has been a most invaluable +ally. For the money saved from the public-house it has been the most +suitable investment. No wonder, then, that most of the leading men +connected with the movement are also connected with the Temperance +societies, or that it originated with them. It was born in a Temperance +Hotel. Its founder was the Secretary of a Temperance society. Did the +Temperance societies effect no other good, for this one fact alone would +they deserve lasting honour in the land. + + + +VII.--HINTS FOR THE FORMATION OF FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES. + + +There are many counties yet to which the movement has not extended. For +the sake of those who may wish to extend it to them, we state that the +first step to be taken is to procure a copy of the rules of some society +already in operation. For this purpose, the Birmingham, the National and +the Westminster Societies' rules, which have been prepared with care, and +under the management of practical men, should be procured. They are +virtually the same as the rules of an ordinary building society, and are +certified by Mr. Tidd Pratt. The next step is the appointment of +trustees, directors, solicitor and secretary. This is very important. +The greater part of the failures which take place in working men's +associations arise from the incapacity or dishonesty of the directors or +their officers. Men of character and substance should be chosen for +trustees, and for directors men experienced in business, of persevering +habits, and of unquestionable integrity. The solicitor and secretary +ought to be favourably disposed to the objects of the society. The +offices for business ought in no case to be connected either with a +public-house or a Temperance coffee-house. Eating and drinking are bad +adjuncts to business. As every society must incur expenses, it is not +desirable to form societies in small towns or villages, but to connect +them with a large society. The National, for instance, has agents to +receive subscriptions in every part of the country. Indeed, many of the +local societies have become merged in it. In consequence of its +excellent business arrangements, and of its immense capital it can do +what local societies cannot. Already the Herts and Beds Society, the +Bristol Society and the Cardiff Society, have become incorporated with +it, and the arrangement has been found satisfactory to all parties +concerned, the National having the power to purchase an estate, when a +local society with its limited funds would be utterly unable to do so. +The same can be said of the Conservative and other larger societies. +Local societies have, however, this in their favour. The managers are +well known men. Confidence is felt in them; they appeal to local +sympathies, and they will have local support. + + + +VIII.--A LIST OF EXISTING SOCIETIES. + + +It has been suggested that we give a list of the societies at present in +operation. We do so here, though aware that the list is necessarily very +imperfect. The _Freeholder_ aimed to give a list, but it never could +give a correct one. We see Mr. Brooks in his Building Societies +Directory has also made a similar attempt, and in an equally unsuccessful +manner. The societies are so numerous that it is impossible to do more +than chronicle the existence of the more active ones. These are:--1. The +Arundel, 38, Arundel-street, Strand; Manager, Mr. J. Carpenter. 2. The +Birkbeck, Mechanics' Institution, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane; +Secretary, Mr. F. Ravenscroft. 3. The British, 3, Ivy-lane; Secretary, +Mr. H. Brooks. 4. The Britannia; Secretary, Mr. D. W. Ruffy, 1a, Great +George-street, New-road. 4. The Church of England, 22, John-street, +Adelphi; Secretary, Mr. Campbell. 5. The Conservative, 33, +Norfolk-street, Strand; Secretary, Mr. Gruneisen. 6. The Chelsea, +Cheyne-row. 7. The Finsbury, Featherstone-buildings; Secretary, Mr. +Scott. 8. The Home Counties, Chatham-place, Blackfriars-bridge; +Secretary, Mr. Knight. 9. The Lambeth, 90 Blackman-street, Borough; +Secretary, Mr. W. Banks. 10. London District, 10, Leadenhall-street; +Secretary, Mr. F. Redfern. 11. The London and Suburban; Secretary, Mr. +Weale. 12. The Metropolitan, 24, East-cheap; Secretary, Mr. D. R. White. +13. The Marylebone, Great Portland-street; Secretary, Mr. J. W. Knight. +14. The Middle Class, Peele's Coffee House, Fleet-street; Secretary, Mr. +W. Peacock. 15. The National, 14, Moorgate-street; Secretary, Mr. +Whittingham. 16. The North London, British School Room, Denmark-terrace, +Pentonville; Secretary, Mr. Bernard. 17. The St. Pancras; Secretary, Mr. +Spring. 18. The Union. 19. The Westminster, 4, Beaufort-buildings, +Strand; Secretary, Mr. G. Hugget. Most of these societies are in full +operation, and have purchased valuable estates. The probable number of +Freehold Land Societies in the country is 130. In some parts societies +have not flourished, in consequence of their being confounded with +O'Connor's Land Scheme; in others, more especially in the North, there +has been an utter impossibility in the way of getting freehold property; +in others, the management has been languid, and the societies have +decayed. But the number is, we believe, that which we have stated; or at +any rate is as near the truth as it is possible for us to be. + + + +IX.--CONCLUSION. + + +We have thus gone through our self-appointed task. We have considered +the Freehold Land Movement in its origin and effects. We have shown them +to be good. We have shown the movement itself to be well worthy the +support of every philanthropic man. It has now grown, and become strong. +It is now doing what Parliament dare not, providing for the political +emancipation of the people. It has put the franchise in the hands of +honest men. It has given a new character to political agitation. It has +shown how, without resorting to intimidation, or without the frantic +appeal of the demagogue, the working men of England may enfranchise +themselves. Parliament may refuse to legislate on the matter--one Reform +Bill after another may be prepared, and then thrown by--one party +combination after another may be driven from the Treasury benches, but +the movement is gradually working its way, which is to reform Parliament, +to put down W. B. and his man Frail--to root out the demoralisation of +which St. Albans is a type, and to give to the people a perfect +representation in the peopled house. It is time the present state of +things was altered. For this purpose, the Freehold Land Movement exists. + +We thus make our appeal to the friends of political progress. We aim at +the advocacy of the movement which has for its end what you profess to +desire. That movement we believe destined to be the salvation of our +country, and we ask you to rally round it. It is true Free-trade is not +in danger, but Parliamentary Reform is. A large party headed by Lord +Derby take their stand by the Bill of '31, and maintain that concession +has reached its limits--that class legislation is still to prevail--that +the people are still to be ignored--that inside the constitution are +still to be the privileged few, and outside of it the unprivileged many. +Against this mockery we ask England's manhood to protest--not by crowded +assemblies or inflammatory harangues, but in the constitutional manner +pointed out by Freehold Land Societies. We want not voices but votes. +In the House of Commons, the thoughts that breathe and words that burn +avail not, but votes are omnipotent. No member can disregard or despise +his constituents; their will to him must be law. + +But we stop not here. We seek a still wider support. The Freehold Land +Movement has done wonders, it has removed the reproach cast upon the +working man, that he is reckless and improvident. It has shown that he +can save when a proper object is offered. In a speech a year or two +since, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Sotheron, M.P. for Wiltshire, it +was stated that the total number of friendly societies was not less than +33,232, and the aggregate of the members which they included amounted to +3,032,000. The annual revenue of these societies was 4,980,000 pounds, +and the accumulated capital from the savings of these poor persons was no +less a sum than 11,360,000 pounds. Faulty as most of these societies +were, so desirous of saving was the working man, that he had actually +entrusted them with the enormous sum we have just named. If these things +were done by Friendly Societies, what will not be done when the +advantages of Freehold Land Societies are well and widely understood? At +this time there is much maudlin sympathy expressed on behalf of the +working classes. They need it not. They are stout enough and strong +enough to take care of themselves. The Freehold Land Movement has given +them an investment, and they have become saving men. The money that +would formerly have been spent in the public-house has given many a man a +freehold and a stake in the country, such as even a revising barrister +must admit. The present system of revision of votes by barristers is +bad. Members of Freehold Land Societies have been much wronged in +consequence. One worthy disfranchised several claimants last summer, on +the ground that the forty-shilling franchise, in all cases, should cost +50 pounds. It ought to be in the power of no man to arrive at such a +decision. The question should be left to a jury--not to a barrister, +eager of promotion, and for that purpose desirous to please the powers +that be. But still a man may thus obtain wealth and a vote. And the man +thus taught self-denial and providence will not be contented with +remaining merely a freeholder; he cannot make himself that without +becoming intellectually and morally a better man. He will be a better +father of a family, a better citizen, better in his public and private +life. Workmen of England, Ireland and Wales, we call upon you to rally +round the Freehold Land Societies. They exist for your benefit alone. +They will give you all that you require--desirable investments for your +savings--habits of economy and political influence. You have no need to +cringe and beg. All that you want, you have it in your power to obtain. +Never was there a more favourable time for you to avail yourselves of the +Freehold Land Societies now springing up in your midst. You have now +money you can put by. When the Corn Laws cursed the land, it would have +been mockery to have asked you to do so then. Now the case is altered, +and you must each one of you seek to elevate yourselves. As Mr. Cobden +aptly remarked, half the money annually spent in gin would give the +people the entire county representation, and thus also provide desirable +investments for the money that you are morally bound to lay by against a +rainy day. The man who refuses to make provision for the future cannot +expect to prosper. Not to do so when a man can is a folly and a crime. +Now then is the time to support the Freehold Land Societies. Thus when +sickness or old age or bad times come, you will have something you can +call your own. Habits of economy will thus grow and strengthen, and the +reward will be sure. Of all luxuries, that of independence is the +sweetest, and that these societies put within your reach. Their failure +is impossible. They are the societies for the age: they will parcel out +the English ground amongst English men: their triumph will be the +emancipation of the working man from the misery and wrongs and +degradation of the past. + +We appeal also to men who aim at the moral reformation of our race--who +care little about politics--who believe that in a world of knaves it is +difficult to get a good government at all, and we claim their support. +The mission of the Freehold Land Movement is the same with theirs. The +philanthropist labouring to remove the degradation, which compels to a +life little better than that of the beasts that perish, men made in the +image of their Maker--the advocate of Temperance aiming at the +destruction of a vice which has slain its thousands, and which, like a +destroying pestilence, still walks the land--the Christian seeking to +permeate our age with a living faith--all these we claim as co-workers. +The movement, besides its direct bearings, tends to bring about the +results they desire. Not merely has political emancipation been the +result of the movement--moral emancipation has invariably followed in its +train. + +We thus make our appeal for the support of the cause which is yet in its +infancy, and which has a thousand trophies yet in store. Peacefully does +it conduct the people to power, and give practical utterance to the +spirit of the age. The doom of whatever keeps man in subjection to +another has long been sealed. The proud patrician of Imperial Rome--the +feudal baron of the Middle Ages, have passed away. Even Oxford abandons +the faith at one time it armed to defend, and no longer acknowledges the + + "Right divine of kings to govern wrong." + +Onward to victory is the people's march. The decree has gone forth, they +must be free. For this consummation we have ever hoped and striven. +From the contentions of party we have ever turned to advocate whatever +gives to the people moral dignity and political power; to others we leave +the cause of the privileged classes--the advocacy of existing wrongs--the +preservation of existing abuses. We plead the cause of the +unenfranchised, but of the unenfranchised who have faith and energy and +self-denial enough to win the franchise for themselves. We conjure them +to bestir themselves, to give their support to the Freehold Land +Movement, to quit themselves like men. We need at the polling booths +independent voters, not men who can be bullied or bribed--to make such is +our aim, for such England needs, aye, and needs more than ever now. + + * * * * * + + THE END. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel-court, Skinner-street. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES*** + + +******* This file should be named 32807.txt or 32807.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/8/0/32807 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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