The Oath & BetrayalThe Mounting Protest
The Mounting Protest
The Establishment was wrong to believe that unions would lose impetus after repeal of anti-union laws.
The Tolpuddle affair rekindled the flames, and the strongest possible sign of their revival burst onto the scene on April 21, 1834 - one month after the Trial. A mass procession of 35 unions, organised in London's Copenhagen Fields by the Metropolitan Trades Unions, marched to Whitehall to present a massive 200,000 signature petition to Lord Melbourne.
He refused
to accept it.