Chartist
a name given to a political party in England whose views were embodied in document called the a "People's Charter." The chief points were universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, ents, payment of members, equal electoral divisions, and the abolition of property qualification for members. These principles were set out in a bill prepared in 1838. The party became divided in the following year, the extreme members advocating the employment of force for the attainment of their object. These were known as Physical Force Chartists. The rise of the Chartists was in large measure produced by distress, and with rising wages and cheapening food, the movement died away. Some of the most important points of the Charter, and notably household suffrage and vote by ballot, have been accepted by the Legislature and are the law of the land.
CHARTRES (shär'tr), a town and capital of the department of Eure-et-Loire, France, on the Eure, 48 miles S. W. of CHASE Paris. The cathedral is reckoned one of the finest Gothic buildings in France.
The town has one of the most important corn markets in the country, and manufactures hosiery, hats, and leather. This is a very ancient city, being accounted, before the Roman conquest, as the capital of Celtic Gaul. Henry IV. was crowned here in 1594. Pop. about 25,000.