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Leader (1850-1860), 15th February 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 158

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      Untitled Article

      Mr . Cobden , I am not aware that the League ever arrested their movement to interfere with the belligerents . Mr . Bezer has agitated for many years without reward , and suffered imprisonment without repining , and is entitled to the consideration of his views , especially as he has held them at so much cost . I ¦ will , therefore , tell him why I " gravely contend that personal political disputes are no business of the public ' s . " Cannot Mr . Harney take care of his own character ? Is not his veracity as' great as Mr . Feargus O'Connor ' s ? If , therefore , Mr . O'Connor should make a charge against him ( which it now appears he has not ) , all Mr . Harney has to do is to disprove it , and if he does , will not the

      public believe him ? and if they do what occasion is there for any more to do about the matter ? De Morgan relates in his dispute with Sir " William Hamilton , that an old Scotch professor , averse to duelling , was once asked what he would do if any one called him a liar . " Why , " said the brave old fellow , " I'd tell him to pruv it—and if he did I ought to be ashamed of myself—and if he did ' nt he ought to be ashamed of himself . " All personal disputes ought to come to this , and might come to this if the public were wise and set their faces against participation in those quarrels which begin in jealousy and end in hate ; which swallow up time , temper , and character , and delay public progress . Ion .

      Untitled Article

      GENERAL BEM . —LOUIS BLANC'S ORATION . On Thursday evening last a public meeting , composed of persons of all nations , assembled at the John-street Institution , to commemorate the patriotism and services of this distinguished hero . Carl . Schaper presided . A brilliant speech was delivered by Louis Blanc . Messrs . Harney , Simony , Szavaz , Kiewieez , and Drs . Tausenan and Frank paid earnest tributes to the memory of the departed general . We subjoin a translation of Louis Blanc ' s speech : —

      " It is not for a Frenchman , speaking before an assembly of Hungarians , to retrace the prodigies of this war , which was the wonder and admiration of Europe , and which has rendered the name of Bern imperishable . But what a Frenchman may recal here is , that the Hungarian war had not for its only object to protect the inviolability of such or such a territory , to avenge the legitimate pride of such or such a nationality , but also to defend the principles of justice , and the ideas by which the conscience of the Peoples is agitated at the present time .

      " Who doeR not remember the acts of the Hungarian Diet after the Revolution of February ? A national and responsible Ministry ; civil and political equality , without distinction of language or sect ; the equal taxation of all , nobles or not ; the land restored to its cultivators . Behold by what glorious reforms did Hungary announce the spirit in which her children drew the sword ! In this sense , we may assert that the Hungarian cause was a cause truly European ; and that , in the hands of the heroic soldiers of Bern , the flag of independence was also that of liberty !

      " The kings were not blind to this . The manifesto published by the Emperor Nicholas when he sent his armies to Austria contained these words , ' Russia will fulfil her holy mission . ' Now , of what mission did he speak ? Peter the Great had said in -his political testament , * I found Russia a stream , I leave her a river , and my successor will make her a vast sea . ' The Emperor Nicholas would fain have added to the insolent words of the Czar Peter , ' and this vast sea shall submerge the liberties of the world . ' Ah ! it will be to the eternal honour of the Hungarians to have figured in the front rank in this supreme struggle of the two Europes of which Napoleon spoke—Cossack and Republican . It will be to the eternal honour of the Hungarians that the Emperor of Russia , has not thought it possible to inarch straight to the Republic in order to destroy it , except by passing over their dead bodies .

      " , at the name time , I proclaim it with profound grief in thinking of my country , shame , eternal shame to the French Government , for having permitted , without a single word of protestation , this sacrilegious aggression . Hungary abandoned , Italy oppressed : behold two stains of blood which this Louis Buonaparte has upon his forehead ; blood stains , like those in Alacbeth , which all the waves of ocean could not efface . " A great man of this country , Lord Chatham , once said ; ' with a man who docs not nee that it is for the interest of England to arrest the encroachments of Russian power , discussion in impossible' And to me it seems that we say : ' witli a . man who docs not . see that it is for the intercut of all Peoples , and even of the Russian people itself , to arrest the encroachments of Kufisiun power , discussion is impossible '

      " Yes , Hungary , in this war , more , memorable than that of the Thirty Years , has been the advanced guard of civilization , compelled to engage with burburimn in a final struggle . It is tlwit which gives to the efforts of so many noble warriors an historical importance , and us it were a sacred character . And with retjpeet to Bern , whether ho was or wus not a Democrat , his glory him been that of being u chief of militant Democracy . " Most assuredly , citizens , I am not one of thoao who Jove war for war ' s sake . That thieving on a large scale , which men civil conquest , ( ills me with horror , and conquerors with contempt . If I might choose for my country the motto of its foreign policy it should be : — 1 ' ropatjandinm ever , but never (' onqueat ! I would add that , oven when it itself in not an atrocious lolly , war in at beat one of those ever to be lamented acts of wisdom

      which prove the general folly of men . I would add that kings only are interested in the permanence of armies , because they have need of armed proletarians to keep in subjection the proletarians without arms . " But is the time arrived for the Peoples to sing in chorus a hymn to peace ? Let such be the belief of those naifa philosophers who have lately been hurrying here and there and assembling in their congresses of peac-, whilst Russian cannon decimated Hungarian soldiers , and Frenchmen bec Vandals , were compelling Italian independence to render up its last sigh .

      " For us , citizens , we believe that so long as despots have their satellites it is well that Liberty should have her soldiers . We believe that far from laying down the sword the Peoples ought , to use an expression of one of our revolutionary heroes of the convention , to cast far away the scabbard . " Without doubt some day , if our dearest hopes do not deceive us , from all parts of the globe this sublime cry shall mount to Heaven : " Vive la Paix ! " But in the meantime , citizens , as long as there shall be oppressors : " Vive la Guerre !"

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      The Executive Committee of the N ational Charter Association met on Wednesday evening last . Messrs . Arnott , Grassby , Harney , Holyoake , Jones , Milne , and O'Connor were present . Messrs . Hunt and Reynolds were absent , through indisposition . Correspondence was received from four new localities . Messrs . Hunniball and Piercy , the auditors , gave in their report , which they had found perfectly correct . It was unanimously agreed , " That Mr . O'Connor having pledged his word that the report in Re ynolda ' s Newspaper relative to what he said of Mr . Harney at the recent Conference at Manchester ' is utterly incorrect ; and denied Mr . Harney ' s ever having to his knowledge ' recommended private assassination , ' as also that he had stated that he discharged Mr . Harney , the truth being that Mr . Harney voluntarily relinquished the Editorship of the Northern

      Star , this committee feels that Mr . Harney is fully exonerated from the imputations cast upon him in the speech ascribed to Mr . O'Connor ; and finally resolves that the matter now wholly rests between Mr . O'Connor and the reporter of Reynolds ' s Newspaper . " A deputation , Messrs . Jones and Holyoake , we ' re appointed to wait on the Governmental authorities , to inquire into the destination and treatment of William Cuffey . Several of the local councils having requested the Executive to determine how the delegates to the Convention shall be paid ; it was resolved that it will best accord with the principle of equality , and be most just to distant localities , that the delegates be paid their expenses from a general fund ; and that the several local councils be urged to canvass the districts for subscriptions , and Chartists generally are hereby requested to subscribe and collect for the Convention Fund .

      Democratic and Social Conference . — On the 2 nd instant this Conference held its monthly meeting in the John-street Institution . The Committee of Observation came to the decision of meeting monthly ( on the first Sunday in the month ) , its proper business being to effect the associated advocacy of Social and Democratic Reform , preferring to aid its being done by existing societies ; but if no other body will do it , doing it itself . Thomas Paink . — On the Oth instant , at John-street Institution , the birthday of this politician and theological

      writer was celebrated by a very numerous meeting . James Watson , the publisher , occupied the chair . "The Development of Reason in Politics and Religion , " spoken to by Mr Holyoake and Mr . Campbell . Mr . Ernest Jones , Mr . Kidd , and others spoke to the memory of Paine and kindred sentiments . A letter was read from Mr . Linton , saying that he was commemorating Paine ' s exertions in his advocacy in his English Republic . Mr . Holyoake stated , that ho had received a letter from a Minister of a German Church , expressing the desire of his German brethren for communication with the

      English friends of Paine . Chahtist Monument . —We are informed b y Mr . Cox that the monument in memory of Hanchard , Williams , and Sharp has been erected in Victoria-park . TllK SOURON OV THE PaVAI , AOOllKHSION . — Bound by the treaty of Vienna , England—while Hungary was crushed under the hoofs of the Cossacks , and Rome mangled by the African soldiers of France—stood on neutral ground ; protesting feebly and faintly , in the Queen ' s speech , culling the Hungarian war of independence a " civil war , " while in the Austrian despatches it was termed " a rebellion . " Rome was put down . The Pope returned . The cardinals lorded it over the people . The inquisition was re-established . Men , like Achilli

      ami Henri CernuHchi , were imprisoned . Guviiy . zi and Ventura were proscribed . Timid constitutionalists , who hud , like Punlaleoni and Mamiami , acted with the Pope iu the autumn of ' 4 H , were banished . And , in ^ all its power and all its terror , the (' atholir religion wax reorganized , its priesthood irritated by defeat , and impatient for revenge . Nearly all over Europe the Catholic power wns « ciu |) . Russia , semi-Catholic , leagued with Austria Ravariii , Naples , and the minor absolutists of ( jit-irnany . What should be done , what could be done ? ilntfUind ' a ( urn . came and the shurn'hinls , forwarded to Pulinernt . on

      by the Austrian Minister in ' 18 , have found t . tieir fulfilment in I 8 f >() -1 . The Catholic coalition way complete when , favoured by the Puseyite movement and the conversions from Oxford , Pio Nouo , acting under tin ; ' orders of the Catholic coalition , sent his celebrated bull to England . Nicholas of Westminster followed it , and became the outpont of Nicholas of tit . Petersburg ! The coming of Dr . Wiseman is a retaliation for the Italian progress of Lord Minto in 1817 , and for the mine of Pulruerston , who supplied Nioily with warlike tttoren in 1818 . — I- ' rom t . ho lierkuhire Independent , u spirited liberal newspajter recently established .

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      MR . WALTER COOPER'S TOUR IN THE PROVINCES . Sir , —Having been requested by several of our friends to send you a report of my tour , I commence by stating that on New Year ' s-day I was present at a grand festival of the Bury Labour Redemption Society held in the Town-hall , the finest building in the town . Upwards of 800 of our cooperative brethren sat down to tea . Professor Maurice , of London , ably filled the chair , supported by Messrs . Vansittart Neale , Hughes , Mansfield , Campbell , and Lee , promoters from London . Lloyd Jones and myself , also addressed the meeting . There was some excellent music , and on the whole the meeting was one of the finest of the kind I ever saw . It has given a mighty impetus to the cause of cooperation . They have

      now a cooperative store , and are taking on an average £ 50 per week . On Monday , the 20 th , I lectured at Bury again , and found to my surprise and delight hundreds of men ( I am not exaggerating ) who came , not merely to hear the lecture , but to pay their weekly pence . They are realizing a capital very rapidly , and intend setting some cooperative shoemakers to work . Verily , with God ' s help , we'll beat Mammon yet ! The next important meeting was held at the Mechanics ' Institution , Manchester , the Reverend T . Lee , Independent minister of Pendleton , filled the chair . This and soul with the and

      gentleman is heart working men , is gloriously doing battle for them in the Pendleton movement , of which more anon . The meeting was addressed by Professor Maurice , Lloyd Jones , Campbell , our friend Hughes gave some excellent legal advice , and . T . P . Roberts moved a vote of thanks to the London promoters , which was carried by acclamation . Altogether these gentlemen have great reason to be satisfied with their reception in Manchester , and , seeing how they are attacked in the Edinburgh and Eclectic Reviews , let us hope that the confidence of the working men will give them increased strength and courage to do battle in the

      future . The next important meeting was held in the Bradford Mechanic ' s Institution . Your able correspondent , Mr . E . Forster , filled the chair . I had often heard that Uhis gentleman was the best employer in England , and most assuredly the kindly and most enthusiastic manner in which , he was welcomed to the chair by the working men of his own town is to my mind sufficient proof of the fact . The meeting was addressed by Mr . Lloyd Jones and myself . At the conclusion the Reverend Dr . Godwin of the Baptist College , in moving a vote of thanks to the chairman , told the meeting that he fully agreed with all he had heard , said some kind things of Mr . Jones and myself , and prophesied that the next time we visited Bradford the Mechanics' Institution would not be large enough to'hold the meeting .

      I next returned to Manchester , and on the following Sunday lectured twice in the Garratt-road Institution . In the evening the room was perfectly crammed ., and the best feeling prevailed . The next scene of my labours was the Newcastle-on-Tyne district- On Sunday the 12 th I lectured twice in the large Lecture-hall , Newcastle , the audiences were good , and the subjects were , " The Present Position of the Working Classes , " and " The Literature of Socialism . " When I was here four months ago the tailors , acting under my advice , formed a cooperative association . They have succeeded to a remarkable extent . They have had as many as fourteen men at work . They have paid themselves the best wages in the town , and have realized

      considerable profit . Their present premises are so srrall that they are taking larger in the best street of the town . The gratitude of those men was quite cheering . They got up a tea-party on my behalf , at which many kind things were said . A deputation of the shoemakers waited upon me anxious to form an association . They have held their first meeting . On Tuesday and Friday following I lectured at Sunderland ; Councillor Williams , an old social reformer , filled the chair . At the conclusion of thelectures , the Reverend Mr . Sinee . Unitarian Minister of the town , kindly expressed himself delighted with all he had heard , and moved a vote of thanks to the lecturer . Tliis gentlemen is exceedingly beloved by the working

      men of Sunderland ; he has founded a People ' s College for the working men , and is almost every night engaged in teaching them . At the conclusion of the meeting I had to attend to a deputation of stonemasons who are about , to form im association ; they have found their own capital , and wished for my advice on their fawa . They seem brave and earnest men . As soon as they had gone a body of tailors waited on me for the same purpose . Between my iirst and second lecture they had met , and twenty-seven of them had paid their money . By thin time they number , I should think , between sixty and seventy . I gave them the best advice I c : > uld , and it was near twelve o ' clock when I got home to the Temperance Hotel .

      I next visited North Shields in company with the most active corporator in Newcastle , Mr . Mason Watson , who , by-the-bye , is a Huptist local preacher , but an excellent , hard-working , earnest man . We were invited by the working men specially to attend a large meeting in the Temperance-hall , capable of holding 800 or J )() 0 persons , which wan crammed with attentive auditors . Mr . Johnson , of the town , filled the chair . The Reverends Messrs . Fruzer and Duncan had promised to attend . At the conclusion of my speedi , th « Reverend Mr . Duncan , son of the celebrated founder of Hiivingn' banks , Maid he would be the recreant son of a worthy Hire if bin sympathies were not in favour of the working olasH . He would pledge himself to no party politics , but all thnt would tend to the welfare of that clans he would labour earnestly to ellee . i . 1 have winco visited Burnley , Padihum , Heyvvood , < vo . &o . ; at the lunt named place they have only been in operation tea months . They have

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      158 «!)« yLt&IXV . [ Satorday ,

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 15, 1851, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1870/page/18/