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.