Page:The Chartist Movement.djvu/253

 liberation. Lovett adds: "I have now resolved to write a memoir of my own life; perhaps you will think this a little bit of vanity." This resolve was not carried out till 1876. Place, however, was very unfavourable towards the book written in prison, and succeeded, consciously or otherwise, in delaying the publication till some time after the release of the two Chartists.

The little work was an expansion of the tract on Education, published by the London Working Men's Association some four years before. It commences with a defence of democratic principles and an attack on the "exclusive" system then in vogue. This part is written with equal vehemence and ability. It gives vent to that throbbing and vibrating sense of injustice which is throughout characteristic of Lovett.

The black catalogue of recorded crimes which all history develops, joined to the glaring and oppressive acts of every day's experience, must convince every reflective mind that irresponsible power, vested in one man or in a class of men, is the fruitful source of every crime. For men so circumstanced, having no curb to the desires which power and dominion occasion, pursue an intoxicating and expensive career, regardless of the toiling beings who, under the forms of law, are robbed to support their insatiable extravagance. The objects of their cruelty may lift up their voices in vain against their oppressors, for their moral faculties having lost the wholesome check of public opinion; they become callous to the supplications of their victims.

Incidentally Lovett gives his views upon the resort to force.

We maintain that the people have the same right to employ similar means to regain their liberties, as have been used to enslave them. &hellip; And, however we may regret, we are not disposed to condemn the confident reliance many of our brethren placed on their physical resources, nor complain of the strong feelings they manifested against us and all who differed in opinion from them. We are now satisfied that many of them experience more acute sufferings, and daily witness more scenes of wretchedness than sudden death can possibly inflict, or battle strife disclose to them.

Lovett now proceeded to outline his scheme for a "new organisation of the people," which is what he conceives Chartism to be. This organisation is contained in the "Proposed Plan, Rules, and Regulations of an Association to be entitled 'The National Association of the United Kingdom for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the