They now sought to maintain that privilege above the members of the lower classes. Without the support of the middle class the lower class were unable to force any change. The local constables had been introduced by Peel to quell such movements and the Government could afford to ignore the Chartists demands. The House of Commons summarily refused to discuss the first petition despite the million or so signatures.
Contained within the chartist movement were several different factions divided most importantly into violent and non-violent. The latter attempted to change the system through a moral force rather than any revolution. These divisions within the movement significantly reduced its effectiveness. henry Hetheringtom and William Lovett were unwilling to pursue violence as a method of change and this was well known. Therefore the Government could afford to ignore them as long as their support remained solely in the working classes. The Birmingham movement led by Thomas Attwood faced similar difficulties. As a large industrial city Birmingham was perhaps the ideal breeding ground for such a movement as Chartism which sought to increase the rights of the working man. However they also were unwilling to use violent means so were ignored by the Government. The most contentiously violent faction was led by Fergus O"connell who was willing to fight for his beliefs. However a s the failed uprising in Newport showed this was not viable unless it had nationwide support. Thousands of Chartists were unable to dislodge a small group from a hotel in a small coastal town. If they were unable to do this what suggests that they could possibly effect a successful revolution across the nation. These internal divisions and poor organisation to served to undermine Chartist form within. The factions were very much localised and this prevented different areas joining together. This limited Chartism to small pockets of influence which were not sufficient to seriously threaten the Government.