ote, 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 Me