'During the autumn of this year [1838] a turbulent spirit displayed
itself among the working classes in the manufacturing districts.
Meetings were held in various quarters, and demagogues addressed the
assembled multitudes in the most inflammatory language. The two-fold
cause of this disaffection was the poor-laws and the price of bread;
and as a remedy for these evils the people were taught to ask for
universal suffrage.
A favourite practice with the parties to these transactions was to
assemble by torch-light in the open air--a practice which gave a
mystery to the meetings well calculated to strike the imagination of
the vulgar, and which gave those whose employment did not admit of
their being present in the daytime, an opportunity of attending them.
The speeches delivered at these meetings have been well characterized
as "furious nonsense;" but at the same time they were calculated to
work mischief in the community.
Happily, however, the Whigs were in office, and for their own
interest's sake they restrained these ebullitions. Had there been a
Conservative government, possibly the danger might have been greater.'