Today's Hyde Park is a little different from the past.

The speakers, who had been in the early morning, looked resentfully at the area under a maple tree, a makeshift podium made of a dozen wooden boxes.

But even if they were full of complaints, they still had to hold back their complaints.

As everyone knows, the speaker who is visiting Hyde Park today is one of the most influential social activists in all of Great Britain, the owner of the New Lanark factory, the founder of the New Harmony Commune, an advocate of underage education, an important initiator of the movement to reduce working hours and working days, and a series of leaders of the British labour movement and a staunch supporter of parliamentary reform.

It's still early, but today's Speakers' Corner has already gathered hundreds of people in the audience.

The audience, which was overwhelmingly made up of workers from all over London, held up billboards in support of Owen, shouted their demands under the leadership of the union leaders, and spontaneously maintained order on the scene.

The rest of the audience included both factory owners and potential candidates for parliament.

The purpose of the lecture was to learn from Mr. Owen's experience in factory management, as everyone knew that Mr. Owen's new Lanark plant had been among the best in the industry for many years.

In this factory, where the average working hour is only 10 hours, the average output per worker is higher than that of most factories with an average working hour of 15 hours, and this phenomenon has long attracted the attention of their group.

And those young aspiring to run for parliament intend to emulate Irving's oratorical skills. After all, these days, it's not uncommon for an orator to cause a traffic jam in the surrounding area with a casual speech.

Elsewhere outside Hyde Park, Scotland Yard officers were also in early positions, keeping a safe distance from the audience so as not to provoke them into excessive antagonism.

The Metropolitan Police has always been prepared for this situation, and Director Rowan issued the latest order from the Home Office in an earlier regular meeting that the closer the general election, the more cautious it is to treat social activists like Robert Owen.

Of course, the reason why the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued such an order was not entirely out of public safety considerations, and of course they also had some selfish motives.

If a mass incident erupts before the election, it will be too much for the dying Wellington cabinet to bear.

Therefore, instead of caring about what Robert Owen intends to say, Arthur, who is on duty in plainclothes, is responsible for maintaining order on the scene, so that Mr. Owen and the audience can end the speech safely.

Arthur glanced around, lowered his large-brimmed hat slightly, and asked Tom, who was also in civilian clothes next to him, "Are you all clear?" ”

Tom looked a little nervous, and he also knew that if his identity was revealed on such an occasion, it would be light to take a beating.

He whispered back, "It's about the same as we had estimated, and most of the audience is unionized." According to the information we have sent back from our informants in the various workers' associations, there are 147 members of the London Textile Workers' Association, 112 members of the London Dockers' Association, 133 members of the London Construction Workers' Association, and a few scattered small associations, which add up to about 300 members. Most of the others are just some people who came to join in the fun on the spot, and they shouldn't be able to make any big waves. ”

Arthur nodded slightly: "Keep an eye on a few big associations, after all, no one knows if they have been bribed by the Whigs and come here to make trouble." However, according to the temper of the Whigs, they would most likely not send someone to Mr. Owen's speech. After all, most of the factory owners are on their side, and Mr. Owen's proposition is there, and the two must not be able to negotiate. ”

As soon as Arthur said this, he heard a sudden thunderous applause around him, and everyone blushed with all their strength, as if they didn't care if they had broken their hands.

"Good morning, friends of the public!"

A middle-aged and elderly gentleman with gray hair stood on the podium in a black suit coat.

His eyes swept over the audience and said enthusiastically: "I am very happy to see my friends of workers here, and I am also very happy to see all of you factory owners and friends who have provided countless jobs for the society. Again, if you want to learn from my factory management experience, then remember the following sentence.

I believe that all of you have experienced the benefits of a sturdy, well-designed, and perfectly built machine over a long period of time. If you give inanimate machines good maintenance, you can still increase productivity. So, if you care with the same energy for the living workers, whose structures are far more wonderful than machines, what else will you not do?

Shorten working hours, build spacious dormitories, green factory environments, and establish some workers' amateur clubs. Also, don't hire young children, but give them the right skills education. If they are well educated, don't you worry that you won't be able to hire skilled workers of a sufficient level in the future? ”

As soon as Owen's words were finished, there was another burst of cheers from the audience.

Owen raised his arms and shouted, "I'm not here today to satisfy boring and useless vanity. I have come before you to accomplish a solemn and extremely important task. What I am interested in is not to win the favor of people and the prestige of the future.

The only motive that governs my actions is the desire to see you and all my fellow citizens everywhere actually enjoy the tremendous abundance of happiness that nature has bestowed upon us. This is my lifelong wish until I die.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is now suffering more suffering, poverty and misery than it has actually suffered for many centuries in the past!

Never before in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has there been such an innumerable number of conditions to free an entire people from such misery, depravity and danger!

From 1781 to 1830, the cotton consumption of the textile industry in our country increased by 50 times.

By 1820, we were already producing 40% of the world's pig iron and 75% of coal, but did the rapid economic data benefit our British public?

Our rulers have yet to come up with any reasonable solution to provide relief once and for all to the thousands of people struggling in poverty.

These rulers have not used the power and practical knowledge at their disposal to reconcile the conditions of abundance of the country and to free the people from ignorance and wickedness, which are the source of all existing evils.

I have often said that a country can never be rich if it feeds a large part of the working class living in poverty with nothing to do or doing useless work.

In a country where taverns are plentiful and the temptation to gamble openly is readily available, then they are bound to become incompetent and useless, or to do evil, to commit crimes, and to endanger others.

This will inevitably lead to the use of coercion and harsh, cruel and unfair punishments, and then the people will become resentful, resentful and rebellious against those in power.

It would be a mockery of the lack of common sense for the government to allow and condone all the incentives for vice, bad deeds and criminal behaviour and to talk about religion, about improving the living conditions of the poor and the working class, and about improving their morals.

Such actions and statements are the most boring and stupid way to deceive the public. The public is no longer deceived by these words and deeds, and in the future, this kind of flawed and meaningless nonsense will not fool anyone.

If such conditions are allowed to be preserved, and the country is hoped, it is as foolish and unforesighted as seeing the world's rivers rushing to the ocean day and night, still waiting for the ocean to dry up!

It's time for us to make a change, the corrupt politics of the constituency, the bribery of parliamentarians, and we've had enough of their behind-the-scenes dealings!

If they don't give us professional skills education to ban child labor and underage children, we will elect our own parliamentarians to fight for it!

If they don't give us a normal rest day and a maximum of 10 hours of work, we will elect our own councillors to fight for it!

If they don't give us unemployed workers' benefits and a reasonable wage payment mechanism, we will elect our own parliamentarians to fight for it! ”

Owen shouted here, and out of nowhere, a voice came out: "Down with Wellington!" Overthrow the Tories! ”

This roar instantly ignited the emotions of the workers present, who held up the slogans and repeated Fang Cai's slogans one by one with righteous indignation.

"Down with Wellington, overthrow the Tory !!"

I don't know who led the way, and the enthusiastic listeners poured out of Hyde Park, and the officers of Scotland Yard were also taken aback by them.

They hurriedly pulled out the civilized battle on their waists and subconsciously wanted to make a move, but when they recalled the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they finally suppressed the urge to do it.

Under the urgent command of the two Scotland Yard Inspectors, the officers followed in groups on both sides of the crowd.

Arthur looked up at the direction of the out-of-control crowd leaving, and couldn't help but slap in front of his forehead: "Damn! They weren't really going to trouble the Duke of Wellington, were they? ”

(End of chapter)