## Chapter 145: Owen’s Speech
The Hyde Park of this day felt different, charged with an electric energy. The speakers, arriving early, glared resentfully at the makeshift platform constructed from a dozen wooden crates beneath a maple tree. Despite their grumbling, they held back their complaints. Everyone knew the speaker gracing Hyde Park today was none other than Robert Owen, one of the most influential social activists in all of Great Britain. He was the owner of the New Lanark mill, the founder of the New Harmony commune, an advocate for education for the underprivileged, a key figure in the movement for shorter working hours and days, and a staunch supporter of the British workers’ movement and parliamentary reform.
Despite the early hour, the Speakers’ Corner was already teeming with hundreds of people. The majority of the audience consisted of workers from various parts of London, brandishing banners in support of Owen and chanting their demands under the guidance of union leaders. They maintained order spontaneously. The rest of the audience included factory owners and potential parliamentary candidates.
The factory owners were there to glean insights from Owen’s factory management practices. Everyone knew that the annual output of Owen’s New Lanark mill had consistently ranked among the best in its industry for years. Even with an average working day of just 10 hours, his workers produced more than most factories where workers toiled for 15 hours. This phenomenon, seemingly defying the common sense of factory owners, had piqued their interest.
The young men aspiring to become MPs hoped to emulate Owen’s oratory skills. After all, speakers capable of causing traffic jams with their speeches were rare these days.
Outside Hyde Park, Scotland Yard officers were already in place, maintaining a safe distance from the audience to avoid provoking any excessive confrontations. The Metropolitan Police always took such situations seriously. Chief Constable Rowan had issued the latest Home Office directive in a previous routine meeting: as the election approached, they must exercise extreme caution when dealing with social activists like Robert Owen.
Of course, the Home Office wasn’t entirely motivated by public safety. They had ulterior motives as well. A mass incident before the election would be a burden the ailing Wellington Cabinet couldn’t bear.
Therefore, Arthur, an undercover officer, was primarily concerned with maintaining order and ensuring the safety of both Owen and the audience. His priority was to ensure the speech concluded peacefully.
Arthur glanced around, slightly lowering his wide-brimmed hat. He leaned towards Tom, another undercover officer beside him, and whispered, “Have you counted everyone?”
Tom appeared nervous. He knew that exposing his identity in such a situation could result in a severe beating at best. He replied in a low voice, “It’s about what we expected. Most of the audience is organized by the unions. According to our informants in various workers’ associations, there are 147 from the London Textile Workers Association, 112 from the London Dockworkers Association, 133 from the London Building Workers Union, and a few smaller associations, bringing the total to roughly 300. The rest are probably just here to join the excitement. They shouldn’t cause too much trouble.”
Arthur nodded slightly, “Keep an eye on the larger associations. You never know if they have been bought off by the Whigs to stir up trouble. But based on the Whigs’ temperament, they probably wouldn’t send anyone to Owen’s speech. After all, most factory owners are on their side, and Owen’s views are clear. The two are at odds.”
As Arthur finished speaking, a thunderous applause erupted around him. Everyone seemed to be clapping with all their might, their faces flushed, as if they didn’t care if they broke their hands.
“Good morning, my fellow citizens!”
A middle-aged gentleman with graying hair, wearing a black suit and overcoat, stood on the platform. His gaze swept across the crowd as he spoke with warmth, “It’s a pleasure to see you worker friends, and also the factory owner friends who provide countless jobs for society. Remember this: I’m sure you’ve all experienced the benefits of strong, well-designed, and perfectly manufactured machines in your long-term production and operation. If providing good maintenance for inanimate machines can improve production efficiency, what can you not achieve if you devote the same energy to caring for your workers, who are living beings and whose structures are far more wondrous than machines?
Shorten working hours, build spacious dormitories, green the factory environment, establish some workers’ clubs. And remember, don’t employ young children. Instead, provide them with appropriate skills education. If they receive a good education, won’t you have a steady supply of skilled workers in the future?”
Owen’s words were met with another wave of cheers from the audience.
Owen raised his arms and shouted, “I’m not here today to satisfy my boring and useless vanity. I’m here to fulfill a solemn and extremely important task. I don’t care about winning your favor or future fame.
The only motivation driving my actions is the hope of seeing you and all our fellow citizens enjoy the abundant happiness bestowed upon us by nature. This is my lifelong wish, a wish I will hold onto until my dying breath.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is currently suffering from more hardship, poverty, and misery than it has experienced in many centuries!
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has never had such an abundance of resources to alleviate this suffering, degradation, and danger!
From 1781 to 1830, our country’s cotton consumption for the textile industry increased 50-fold.
In 1820, our country’s iron production already accounted for 40% of the world’s total, and our coal production accounted for 75%. But has this rapidly booming economy benefited our vast British public?
Our current leaders have not proposed any reasonable solutions to provide lasting relief to the millions struggling in poverty.
These leaders have failed to utilize their power and practical knowledge to distribute the nation’s abundant resources to free the people from ignorance and evil, the sources of all our current woes.
I often say that a nation that supports a large portion of its working class in idleness or pointless labor can never prosper.
A nation with countless pubs and temptations for open gambling will inevitably become weak and useless, prone to evil, crime, and harm to others.
This inevitably leads to the use of force, severe, cruel, and unfair punishments, which in turn breeds dissatisfaction, resentment, and various forms of rebellion among the people.
For a government to allow and encourage all the causes of vice, evil, and crime, while at the same time preaching about religion, improving the lives of the poor and working class, and raising their morals, is simply mocking people’s common sense.
Such actions and words are the most boring and stupid ways to deceive the public. The public is no longer fooled by such behavior. In the future, this kind of flawed, meaningless nonsense will fool no one.
To expect national progress while allowing such conditions to persist is as foolish and short-sighted as watching the rivers of the world flow towards the ocean day and night while waiting for the ocean to dry up!
It’s time for change. We’ve had enough of the corrupt politics in our constituencies, the bribery of MPs, and their backroom deals!
If they don’t give us the right to ban child labor and provide professional skills education for minors, we will elect our own MPs to fight for it!
If they don’t give us normal rest days and a maximum working day of ten hours, we will elect our own MPs to fight for it!
If they don’t give us unemployment benefits for unemployed workers and a fair wage payment mechanism, we will elect our own MPs to fight for it!”
As Owen reached this point, a voice boomed from somewhere in the crowd, “Down with Wellington! Overthrow the Tories!”
This roar instantly ignited the emotions of the workers present. They raised their banners, filled with righteous indignation, repeating the slogan.
“Down with Wellington! Overthrow the Tories!!!”
It was unclear who started it, but the excited audience surged out of Hyde Park, overwhelming the Scotland Yard officers. The officers, startled, instinctively reached for their batons, ready to intervene. But remembering the Home Office directive, they ultimately suppressed their impulse to act.
Under the urgent command of two Scotland Yard inspectors, the officers formed groups of three or five, following closely on either side of the surging crowd.
Arthur looked up at the direction the crowd was heading, and slapped his forehead in frustration, “Damn it! They’re not actually going to go after the Duke of Wellington, are they?”
(End of Chapter)