At the right moment, everything being ripe and
well prepared, the Bishop being very drunk and harassed by the
complaints of his subjects, the Chartist revealed to him the
mysteries of the Charter, and persuaded him not only that the
Five Points would cure everything, but that he was the only
man who could carry the Five Points. The Bishop had nothing
to do; he was making a lock merely for amusement; he required
action; he embraced the Charter, without having a definite
idea what it meant, but he embraced it fervently, and he
determined to march into the country at the head of the
population of Wodgate, and establish the faith. Since the
conversion of Constantine, a more important adoption had never
occurred. The whole of the north of England, and a great part
of the midland counties were in a state of disaffection; the
entire country was suffering; hope had deserted the labouring
classes; they had no confidence in any future of the existing
system. Their organisation, independent of the political
system of the Chartists, was complete. Every trade had its
union, and every union its lodge in every town, and its
central committee in every district. All that was required
was the first move, and the Chartist emissary had long fixed
upon Wodgate as the spring of the explosion, when the news of
the strike in Lancashire determined him to precipitate the
event.
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