painter, Holcroft the dramatist, Horne Tooke, the
humorous _litterateur_, and Thelwall, the ablest lecturer of the
day.[276] That these men had advanced far beyond the standpoint of the
Whiggish "Friends of the People," appears from a letter from one of the
Norwich Radical Clubs to the London Corresponding Society:

The Friends of the People mean only a partial Reform, because
they leave out words expressing the Duke of Richmond's plan and
talk only of a Reform; while the Manchester people seem to
intimate, by addressing Mr. Paine, as though they were intent
upon Republican principles only. Now, to come closer to the main
question, it is only desired to know whether the generality of
the Societies mean to rest satisfied with the Duke of Richmond's
plan only, or whether it is their private design to rip up
monarchy by the roots and place democracy in its stead.[277]

These Societies seem to have put forth no definite programme. Their
defenders claimed that they adhered to the Westminster programme of
1780, championed by Fox and the Duke of Richmond. But Fox strongly
disapproved of their aims, and even refused to present their petition
for annual parliaments and universal suffrage.[278] In truth, the
actions of these bodies belied their words. They largely devoted their
funds and their energies to the circulation in a cheap form of the works
of Paine, 200,000 copies being sold in 1793,[279] and still more in the
following year. The Societies also adopted methods of organization
similar to those of the French Jacobins Club, and advocated the assembly
of a representative Convention. Every sixteen members of the London
Corresponding Society could form a division; and the divisions, by the
process of swarming-off, rapidly extended the organization. They also
sent delegates who conferred on matters of importance, either locally or
at headquarters; and the head delegation finally claimed to represent
very large numbers in London and affiliated centres. In the conduct of
details Spartan self-restraint was everywhere manifest. Members were
urged to be brief in their remarks and business-like in their methods.
Officials must give a solemn promise not to skulk, or make off, owing to
persecution; and members were warned that noisy declamation was not a
proof of zeal but might be a cloak for treachery. Above the chairman's
seat was suspended a card with the words--"Beware of Orators." One
would li