The Revolution of 1848 also affected the politics of England profoundly. At that time, an agitation was being carried in England which was called the Chartist movement.

As the Reform Act of 1832 had given the suffrage to the upper rungs of the middle classes only and had excluded the working classes from all political rights, it was but natural that the latter should agitate for the extension of the suffrage to them selves.

At that time, out of the 60, 23,752 adult males living in the country, only 8,39,519 had the voting right. Therefore, the working men started an agitation and put their demands in the People’s Charter.

In the Charter of demands, the Chartists demanded that the voting right should be given to every adult man, voting should be secret, the eligibility for the membership of the House of Commons should not be based on property, the elected members should be given salaries, the House of Commons should be elected for one year.

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The Chartist Movement was led by Lovett, a famous journalist of this time. This movement had been quashed in the previous years by the British government.

Being spurred by the successful revolution of France, the Chartists determined to agitate once more for their demands. A general meeting was summoned by the Chartists in London on April 10, 1848.

In this meeting, it was decided that a petition duly signed by 5 million people would be presented before the government. Obtaining the signatures of five millions was not an easy task, but beyond the expectations of all, the Chartists in a very short time prepared a petition with the signatures of 5.7 million persons.

They planned to march in a procession with the petition and make a strong demonstration before the Parliament.

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In order to forestall the demonstration of the Chartists, the Duke of Wellington was made in charge of the army, who, with the help of more than one lakh soldiers, thwarted the Chartists. Their procession was stopped by the army on Westminster Bridge.

The petition was carried in a cart and it was placed before the Parliament. When the signatures on the petition were checked and verified, most of them were found to be forged. Only less than two million signatures were found to be in order.

There were signatures of the Duke of Wellington and Queen Victoria; they, too, were found to be fake. The fraud of the Chartists was found out and they were badly defamed. The government rejected the petition and the Chartists lost their popularity among the people of England.

Though the Chartist Movement failed, the British government became aware of real needs of the people. In later times, she took keen interest in the demands of the public and certain reforms were also made.

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Thus, the Revolution of 1848 affected the political and social life of England in course of time. C. D. Hazen has rightly remarked:

“Judged superficially and by immediate results the Chartists failed completely. Yet most of the changes they advocated, have since been brought about…It seems that some of the tremendous impetus of England toward democracy, which grew so marked towards the close of the nineteenth century, was derived from this movement of the Chartists.”