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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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