by J. EWING RITCHIE. “The laws of this country recognise nothing more sacred than the Forty-shilling Freehold Franchise; and a vote for the county obtained by these means is both constitutional and laudable.”— Lord Chief-Justice Tindal . “What he had heard from hon. members told him nothing more than this, that the working population could easily, under the old system, acquire the right of voting; and that every man who owned forty shillings a-year could entitle himself to vote.  Were they to be

The following pages are reprinted from the “ Weekly News and Chronicle ”—the only Paper that aims to be the organ of the Freehold Land Movement.  They are now published in the hope that they may win for that movement a wider support and a heartier sympathy than it has already secured.  It is a child—it will be a giant ere long. 3, Clifford’s Inn.    April 1853. The Freehold Land Movement is the great fact of the age.  We propose to consider it in its origin, its present position as a means of in

Some time back the Times asked scornfully, as Pilate of old did concerning truth, what was a Freehold Land Society.  We reply, viewed in a business light, it is simply a society for the purchase of land.  It involves two commercial principles well understood—that purchasers should buy in the cheapest market, and that societies can do what individuals cannot.  Till the movement originated, the purchaser of a small plot of ground had to pay in lawyer’s expenses connected with the purchase frequent

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 t

We must tell our readers something of the founder of this movement.  James Taylor, junior, of Birmingham, deserves a passing notice at our hands.  He was born in that town in 1814, and is consequently now in the prime of his life, rather young considering the greatness he has already achieved.  His father is a tradesman of the same town, where he has acquired a limited competency by his honest industry, and where he still carries on business for the benefit of the younger branches of his family.

This, of course, is the principal point of view.  By their merits as investments alone must Freehold Land Societies stand or fall.  If they pay, they will flourish; if they do not, they cannot exist, whatever may be the social, and moral, and political arguments advanced in their favour.  Now, let us just see what means of investment are within the reach of the Working man.  There is the savings bank—not always safe, as recent examples have shown, and offering so small a rate of interest as to b

But we may be told, politically the movement has been a failure.  Our answer is, it has been nothing of the kind.  It is true, and we state the fact more in sorrow than in anger, that Messrs. Newdegate and Spooner still represent North Warwickshire; but it is also clear that whilst at the election previous to the last Mr. Spooner had, in the Birmingham district, a majority of 196, at the last election, in consequence of the operation of the Freehold Land Societies of that district, he was actual

Anything offering a man inducement to save must be attended with beneficial results.  As society is constituted, a spendthrift is a nuisance and a curse; the charge hitherto against the working classes of this country has been, that they have been reckless and improvident—that they are beggars one day and spendthrifts the next—that the money gained with such difficulty is squandered away with a wicked wastefulness, such as can be paralleled in no other part of the world.  The English lower order

There are many counties yet to which the movement has not extended.  For the sake of those who may wish to extend it to them, we state that the first step to be taken is to procure a copy of the rules of some society already in operation.  For this purpose, the Birmingham, the National and the Westminster Societies’ rules, which have been prepared with care, and under the management of practical men, should be procured.  They are virtually the same as the rules of an ordinary building society, a

It has been suggested that we give a list of the societies at present in operation.  We do so here, though aware that the list is necessarily very imperfect.  The Freeholder aimed to give a list, but it never could give a correct one.  We see Mr. Brooks in his Building Societies Directory has also made a similar attempt, and in an equally unsuccessful manner.  The societies are so numerous that it is impossible to do more than chronicle the existence of the more active ones.  These are:—1. The A

We have thus gone through our self-appointed task.  We have considered the Freehold Land Movement in its origin and effects.  We have shown them to be good.  We have shown the movement itself to be well worthy the support of every philanthropic man.  It has now grown, and become strong.  It is now doing what Parliament dare not, providing for the political emancipation of the people.  It has put the franchise in the hands of honest men.  It has given a new character to political agitation.  It h