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Leader (1850-1860), 5th April 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 326

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      The expenses , where necessary , to be borne by the National Chartist Fund . I . —The Land . This Convention believes that the land is the inalienable inheritance of all mankind ; _ the present monopoly of the soil and its minerals is , therefore , repugnant to the laws of God and nature . The nationalization of the land is the only true basis of national prosperity . , , . . With a view of arriving at that ultimatum , it is resolved that the following measures fee successively urged upon the Legislature : — . 1 . The establishment of a Board of Agriculture . 2 . The restoration of poor , comnion , church , and crown lands to the people .

      Such lands to be divided among the poor m suitable proportions . Those located to be tenants of the state , paying a proportionate rent-charge for their holdings . 3 . Compensation to the out-going tenant for improvement , or improvements to be effected of the landlord . Tenants not to be tied down to any old covenants of rotation of ciops . The repeal of the Game-laws . All rents to be commuted into corn-rents .

      4 . The state to be empowered annually to purchase land , for the purpose of locating thereon the surplus population , as tenants , individually , or by association , paying a rent-charge to the state . The funds for such purpose to arise partly from , the rent-charge payable on the common , church , poor , and crown lands abovementioned , and such other sources as may hereafter be determined . 5 . Government purchasing land as above , not to be permited to sell again , but to hold such lands as national property for ever , letting them to tenants in such quantities , and under such conditions , as may secure freedom to the tenant , and safety to the state . 6 . The state to have priority of purchase , at fair current prices .

      7 . To provide for the final and complete nationalization of land , the state shall assume possession of the soil as rapidly as the existing interests can be extinguished by process of law , bydeath , by surrender , or by any other means accordant with justice and a generous treatment of all classes .

      II . —The Church . Religion should be free ; as spiritual , it ought not to be subject to temporal control . Therefore the Convention recommend—1 . Complete separation between church and state . 2 . All church temporalities to be declared national property for secular purposes , except such individual endowments as have been voluntarily and legally made smce the Reformation . All ecclesiastical buildings anterior to the Reformation , and all s-uch subsequently erected , of which it can be dearly shown that their cost was defrayed from national funds , to be confiscated for the use of the state . : ? . Tithes and church rates to be abolished .

      4 . The state not to interfere with the internal policy of any church . All ecclesiastics to be appointed in any way their respective congregations think fit , and to be paid voluntarily by the congregations who emp loy their services . /> . Ecclesiastical licences for the purposes of education to be unnecessary .

      III . —Education . Ab every man has aright to the means of p h y sical life , so be has to the means of mental activity . It \ n j \ s unjust to withhold aliment from the mind as it if to deny food to the body . Education should , therefore , be national , universal , gratuitous , and , to a certain extent , compulsory . At a meeting of the committee of the Society for Promoting the Principles of Cooperation , held at the WorkingTnilorR , 4 , I ' rincesH-strcet , Manchester , on March 25 th , 1851 , it . vvaw resolved : " 1 st . That in consequence ol the

      meeting held in Hcywood , on March loth , resolving on a conference of delegates in Bury on Good Friday , this committee considers it expedient toouHpend their urrangeincntH for a similar conference intended to bo held in thin town during Master week , and for which object it was mainly called together . ' 2 nd . That they will Ht . ill act to-Kctherasucoiiitnitt . ee for the purpose of calling a conference in Manchester whenever it may be deemed ndviitablc an well as to promote the principles of cooperation by other means at . their command . " —On behalf of the committee , Reverend T . ( i . Lkk , Chairman ; Wil ,-KINSON J $ I / K . NI . AM . lloil . ScC .

      KOIIKKT OWKN ANJ ) TIM ! HXHIIIITION OllHfil . I'llC Central Committee held their usual weekly meeting on Wednesday evening , at 52 , College-place , Camden-towu , when eoimiiiinicatioiiH , accompanied by ( subscriptions , Averc received from Ahhton , Bristol , Derby , Paisley ,, &- < :. The Committee arc preparing a neiies of tracts , written by Mr . Owen , of which tiny intend to circulate (>() , ()() 0 copies in the English language , to be followed by trai > Hliiiions in French mid ( Jermnn for distribution among our Continental brethren . The Committee arc ulso < l « « iriniH of establishing a Ncricn of lectures by Mr . Owen and other gentlemen competent to d « vel <>|> e the . f > rc ; U principles of Kuglish Socialism . They trout , therefore , thut their friends throughout , the country will lose no time in sending in their contributions in aid of thia work .

      A list of the subscriptions received will shortly appear . — Henry A . Ivory , Hon . Sec . Redemption Society . — Moneys received for the week ending March 31 . —Leeds , £ 2 5 s . 4 id . ; Stockport , per Mr . Thomas Bowden , 5 s . ; London , per Mr . Corfield , 16 s . Communal Building : —Stockport , per Mr . Bowden , 7 s . 6 a . The Polish Refugees . —I wish to call your readers serious attention to some few important considerations respecting the 232 Poles who are now at Liverpool . They are all picked men—stanch and well-tried Republicans , who can ill be spared from the coming European war , and whose services meanwhile here , in spreading republican principleswere it only by example , will be of

      im-, mense value to the cause of English freedom . There la one way in which we can insure their support . Not by leaving them to chance subscriptions , which almost always fall short , but by individuals guaranteeing the support of individuals . If the Chartists of Great Britain will divide themselves into relief committees of twenty men each committee undertaking to guarantee the support of one man , the work is done . 20 times 232 is 4640 . I believe there are 4640 Chartists , not one of whom ought to shrink from even the sacrifice of sixpence a week to save his brother from starvation . Sixpence a week is ten shillings a week for each Pole—till he can learn our language and obtain employment . We would

      not keep such noble guests on even the poor fare of the wretched of our own land . Recollect itisnot alife-burden , but a temporary hospitality . We would treat them like guests . Let me also be understood when I say guarantee . I do not ask for sixpence a week paid down ; but for the names of those who will undertake to be ready with sufficient for the support of one man , or so much as may be nepded to make up any deficiency , whenever subscriptions fail or fall short . So that whenever there is any lack of means the central committee may know on whom to fall back for a certain supply till subscriptions come in again . Honour to those whose names shall stand first on the list of the Refugee Guarantee Fund . —W . J .

      Linton , Miteside , March 21 , 18-51 . Manchester Social Reform Conference . —At a Conference of delegates held at Manchester , March 2 nd , from the surrounding districts , an address to the following purport was agreed to : — " To the Social Reformers of the British Empire . —Your watchwords—Social Reform—but a few short years ago were considered words of such terrible import that few men in public life were disposed to use them in their legitimate sense ; and yet such has been the progress of public opinion , that they have now become « part and parcel' of the language of our native land ; they are , nevertheless , used with such a variety of significations , that the duty of the Social Reformer is now to provide that these words should not

      fall into vagueness . With some parties Social Reform means but a slight alteration in the principles of modern society ; with others , but a modification of their repulsive fpaturrs . Originally it was intended to include a comp lete change in the character and condition of mankind ; and by that meaning the Social Reformer should abide . The monopoly of land and capital , in the hands of the few , has been a prolific source of evils ; but whilst declaring against the present state of landed possessions and the monopoly of capital , lie must make it clearly understood that ho does not desire to possess himself of either the one or the other , by force , by spoliation , or by any other means than future accumulation or honourable principles of exchange . The Social Reformer must be

      aware that to open up the gieat question of original right to past accumulations would be likely to cause- more toil and trouble , and to arouse more hostile feelings , than any other mode of effecting the change he desires to accomplish , and thus cause ii to be retarded by the application of all those destructive agencies thai , selfislnn sh , avarice , and injustice , usually employ to prevent , improvements in human affairs . The success of the Social Reformer depends upon the creation and direction of thoughtful and peaceable dispositions , and , therefore , it is necessary that he should eschew all proceedings that , do not harmonize therewith . His is a pr . ace . able movement , and must be carried out by peaceable means . No known portion of human history presenlH < n a rational scale any

      example of the harmonious production and equitable distribution of wealth ; and that , in consequence the future will he a type of the past , if the same systems arc maintained . Erroneous principles in connection with the production and distribution of wealth have rendered it impossible to properly educate and govern mankind , thus dooming many millions of human beings to the evils of ignorance and misgovernment , and then throwing the blame upon human nature , instead of attributing it to the bad . systems that men had , ia their inexperience , produced and maintained , and that any Hystem of general education , not . providing for a more equitable dintribution of the necessaries and coin torts of life , must bear

      many serious obstacles in its path . The course ; of proceeding under present circuuiHtanccH is plain ; we must content . ourselveH with such aids hh the platform and the preMH can give ; both should be used for the attainment of our ends ; both can and ought to be made available in the creation of public opinion , with a view to direct it in it . H proper channel at the proper time ; and , above all things . Social Reformers should know and remember that ., ' an man in the creature of circumstances , ' it will be the wisest plan to propound principles and to propose changes , in the language of propriety and in the spirit of pence .- —John (/' hank , Chiiiiman ; Wii . kinhon Huiisi . am , Secretary . "

      The Giornnln di Jiomn publishes a decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Index at Rome , prohibiting neveral books . Amongst , them we find the Italian tnuiHlation « , ( the Dictionnairi' des Dates , or Chronological Dictionary , )> y D'llnrinuiivjJle , IH 44 ; the liloneiitu of Lot / ic , by tile Reverend Richard Whately ; A I'Utjrim ' uyn to Home , by the Reverend Hobart Seymour ; aiid I , ' EqypU : I'harao-¦ n itjut : , or History of the 1 iiHtitutioiih of the Egyptiana

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      under their National Kings , by Henry . The , latter author has acknowledged his errors , and made due submission to the Congregation . Cooperative Butchers' Meat Shops in France . - — The recent discussion in the French National Assembly on the conditioa of the labouring classes , notwithstan ding the violent attack made by Royalist speakers on the principle of association and the whole Socialist' movemerit , as well as on certain of the Paris labour associations , and the large majority which supports such views in the Assembly , seems to have done much good to the Socialist cause throughout the country . There are now springing up , apparently stimulated by this very discussion , various in the towns

      cooperative associations provincial in the north , in the east , and in the south . In particular , there are a number of cooperative butchers' meat shops ( boucheries sociitaires ) just being set on foot , —an entirely new development of the Socialist principle . And this movement is extensive enough to have made the butchers in many other towns , apparently with a view to check its progress , reduce very considerably the prices of fresh meat . This reduction has amounted to nearly one-third in Boulogne , Arras , Lille , and Cambrai . From a late number of La Republique we learn that a society of this kind has just been established at Nancy , in the department of the Meurthe . It includes the sale of butchers ' meat and of pork . It is established by shareholders , or

      foundation members , who receive no dividends on their shares , but only the right to deal at the shops of the association , and to nominate one other dealer for each share after the first ; no member , however , being allowed to hold more than fifty shares . The cost price of the meat , including the purchase of stock , the killing and preparing for market and other expenses of distribution , is calculated every fortnight , and posted conspicuously in all the association shambles . The selling prices is fixed according to the relative value of the different parts of the carcase . Five centimes per kilogramme are added to the cost price ,

      for a reserve fund to provide against casualties , to supply meat gratuitously to the famishing and the sick , to provide for the workmen employed in their declining days , and , finally , to form a fund destined to aid the application of Socialist principles to other wants of life , and establish solidarity with other associations having similar objects . Purchases are to be for cash only ; except that workmen receiving salaries periodically are permitted to purchase on credit on the guarantee of their masters , such credit not to exceed one month in duration without a special vote to that effect . The foundation members , or first

      shareholders , with such citizens in town or country as shall , upon their own request , be admitted by the administrative council , form the association . It does not seem that the nominees of shareholder ^ , although entitled to purchase of the association , are members of it . The society reserves to itself the right to repurchase shares , thereby extinguishing the rights of the shareholders bought out . The wives and families of deceased members are all entitled to membership . The amount of the orig inal shares is ultimately to be returned , but without interest or profits . The order of this repayment to be decided by lot . At the same time , the society invites the donation of sliares on behalf of the reserved fund ; the names of all donors , except upon their own request to the contrary , to be published as benefactors to the society . The business of the society is conducted by a responsible

      manager , chosen by the administrative council , w . o must be a person understanding the trade . He is required to give security , and , having the appointment of the workpeople employed ( subject to the approval of the council ) , he is responsible for their conduct . The accounts are kept by the manager , under the surveillance of a special committee of six , elected half-yearly . A general meeting of members is to be held quarterly , nil q uestions being decided by the majority of the members present . The shops are to bear the inscription , Boncherie Societaire ( Cooperative Meat Store ) . The immense price still obtained for butchers' meat in London renders this example of association one worthy of imitation , especially now that the inroads of so many thousands of strangers will increase so greatly the consumption of all articles of food . Whatever m <» y be yet the case in France , or may once have been the case in England , butchers' meat certninly

      in not now amongst , the English working man a first necessaries of life . Bitter experience has unfortunately taught him tliat it is possible to live without butchers ^ meat , or even pork—the poor man's last table luxury . Hut , with the price of stock at its present rate , we do not see why the working classes should not obtain some share of good flesh food by means of an assooiaton which should furnitdi it at the mere price ot first cost and necessary expenses of distribution ; and we recommend this example to the consideration of our Socialist friends in Charlotte street . —11 . K .

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      326 Sfte 3 Lt&tftt . [ Saturday ,

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      ExncniKNOKB of a Dbav Pkuson . —I fainted one day from having , in a freak , put a musical unuH-box on my head . The delicious precision of the music , and the revival of the old clearness , after the mufllcd p iece ot confusion that instrumental music had been to me lo ^ Koine years , overcame me in a second of time . 1 «« " flUI . 1 heard that performance quite as well as nny one com through the ear ; and I have since 6 lapped on my » rn every muHic . il snutf box I could lay hands on . You may like to know the following : _ When I had become , j "" ' - deaf enough to have difficulty in catching the pitch <»? piece of munio , in the concert room we attended , wl ' ' liad benches , -with a long wooden rail to lean ng'unst , could always £ et right , by pressing my shoulder bm « ngniiiHt that rail : «;//// , the pitch wan always a t'lj below . Finding this with mumo which 1 was {*"'" ' with , I booh £ ot . to allow for it always , and bo did ve y well for the time . Ah the dcnfncHH increaHcd , 1 fouti cl hntiH houihIh lime their HinoothncHH , and come in P * ^| beating upon the ear , and vibrating throug h the I " - the Htomach , 'while , as yet , higher wounds were n « nwr \ y . —Atkinson and Martineau ' a Letters on Man .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 5, 1851, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1877/page/18/