1. What is the main characteristic of the Chartists, according to the caricatures ?

2. Why could it be dangerous to give power to such people ? What fundamental right for the british people could be threatened ? 3. What does Sir Robert Peel mean when he says "the institutions of the country are perfectly safe in the hands of the intelligent and enlightened people" ? Why does he consider that all men should not have the right to vote ?

Lord John Russell, the Whig leader, thought that hearing the petition was undesirable and not in the national interest. He expressed his 'abhorrence of the doctrine set forth in the petition'. He believed that if the present working class was enfranchised then violent Chartists would be elected and the threat to property 'was obvious'. He also saw a potential threat to the stability of government if the moderates lost control of parliament.

Speech by Sir Robert Peel in 1832

I am not prepared again to incur all those evils which must inevitably arise from the constant agitation of constitutional principles. I shall, therefore, feel it to be absolutely necessary to oppose the proposition of the hon. Gentleman opposite; and whenever any particular measure may be brought forward, whether of ballot or for the extension of the suffrage, I shall be prepared to discuss it in detail, and assign my reasons for not acquiescing in it. I entertain a perfect confidence, a confidence increased by the declaration of the noble Lord, that reason will prevail, and particularly with the experience of the last election in my recollection—that the institutions of the country are perfectly safe in the hands of the intelligent and enlightened people of this country, in whose hearts they are rooted, not more on account of their venerable antiquity, than their intrinsic merit.

Source: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1837/nov/20/address-in-answer-to-the-speech