Page:The Chartist Movement.djvu/273

 great became the power of the newspaper that a new species of lèse majesté became possible. Deegan was solemnly tried at Sunderland on the charge of speaking evil against the Northern Star; he was mercifully acquitted. Cases of Anti-Northern-Starism became possible and not infrequent. Thus, as Place relates: "O'Connor obtained supremacy by means of his volubility, his recklessness of truth, his newspaper, his unparalleled impudence, and by means of a body of mischievous people whom he attached to himself by mercenary bonds."

There is, however, another side to the matter. Says Thomas Cooper:

Feargus O'Connor, by his speeches in various parts of the country and by his letters in the Northern Star, chiefly helped to keep up these expectations (i.e. that the Charter would soon be obtained). The immense majority of Chartists in Leicester, as well as in many other towns, regarded him as the only really disinterested and incorruptible leader. I adopted this belief because it was the belief of the people: and I opposed James Bronterre O'Brien and Henry Vincent and all who opposed O'Connor or refused to act with him.

Nothing shows more clearly the strength of O'Connor's influence than that a leader of Cooper's calibre should unhesitatingly follow the crowd of which he was supposed to be leader, in its blind adoration of that famous demagogue. It would be idle to suppose that O'Connor in no wise deserved this fidelity; men do not gain such homage without cause or merit. But O'Connor's character was such that no man of independence, talents, and integrity could long co-operate with him. O'Brien, Cooper, William Hill, Gammage, Harney, Jones, and a crowd of others served him with zeal and quitted him with contumely. Yet there was something gained by the supremacy of O'Connor. The disunion which had been so disastrous in 1839 was avoided, and the National Charter Association stood as a very enthusiastic and very hopeful compact body. The ruthless and unsparing ostracism of the anti-0'Connorite leaders is a tribute to the desire for solidarity in the rank and file as well as to the jealousy and power of O'Connor. But within the association movement was restricted, criticism was gagged, and initiative discouraged. Chartism became the faith of a sect rather than the passionate cry of half a nation.

On his release from prison O'Connor at once jumped into the saddle. He was greeted with tremendous ovations. The