Note 139 — Ernest Jones and Chartism 1838–1854

“The least satisfactory feature of English life in 1846 was the condition of the labouring classes. Politically they were dumb, for they had no parliamentary votes. Socially they were depressed, though their lot had been considerably improved by an increased demand for labour and by the removal of taxes in Peel’s great Budget of 1842. That was the year in which the misery of the English proletariat reached its lowest depth.”—Herbert Paul, History of Modern England.