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Mr . Shaw being informed that the Executive repudiated the idea of holding such meetings in the metropolitan districts , but in the country they were of opinion that outdoor meetings might and ought to be held , Mr . Shaw then retired . It was reported that Ernest Jones had received a letter from Sir George Grey , stating that he ( Sir Lreorge ) declined to receive a deputation relative to ± rost , Williams , Jones , and Ellis , but that he would present the memorial to the Queen , on behalf of the paid persons , if respectfulhj worded . Messrs . Arnott
and Jones were appointed to take the memorials to the Home-office , and also to ? ee Thomas Duncombe , M . P ., with reference to bringing the case of the expatriated patriots before the House of Commons ; and the secretary was instructed to solicit the attendance of the whole of the delegates to the late Chartist Convention , resident in London , at the above office , on Wednesday evening , May 7 , at half-past eieht o ' clock , to act with the Executive , as a committee ' to carry out the decision of the said Convention relative to the exiles . Thornton Hunt then read the following , which was unanimously adopted , as the
NATIONAL PETITION . To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland , in Parliament assembled . The humble Petition of Sheweth , That the people of this country , in great numbers , have called upon your Honourable House to grant them the right of the franchise , on the principle that every taxpayer ought to be an elector . That a measure for that purpose , entitled " The
People ' s Charter , " and embodying the following : details —Universal Suffrage , Vote by Ballot , Annual Parliaments , Equal Electoral Districts , No Property Qualification , and Payment of Members—was composed by members of your Honourable House , jointly with certain persons of the class at present denied the right of representation , and was afterwards submitted to your Honourable House , and has from time to time been urged upon your adoption by the petitions of the people .
That the provisions of that measure have severally been acknowledged as sound and just . That these facts are too well known to your Honourable House to render any lengthened enforcement of them at all necessary . That , therefore , your petitioners beg of your Honourable House forthwith to enact that the provisions of the People ' s Charter be the law of the land . And your petitioners will ever pray , &c . The committee then adjourned to May 7-John Arnott , General Secretary .
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THE PRIESTHOOD . Burton-by-Lincoln , April 29 , 1851 . Sir , —The letter of Terrae Filius demands a word from me on behalf of my Order . I regret as much as any man the way in which the Leader was disposed of by the vicar of Gainsborough ; but I protest against such an act , the result of mistaken zeal and offended prejudice , being made the pretext for an attack upon the ministers of religion , as violent and undiscriminating as the deed complained of . Those who are accustomed calmly to investigate the motives of action can account for the vicar ' s behaviour on the ground of early training , peculiar
susceptibility , and apprehension of danger to the faith which he entertains . They feel no surprise at the act , nor animosity on account of it , but they do feel the injustice of throwing upon a whole class the opprobrium of an action performed by one of their number . Granting that all we ministers of religion , all we " priests , " as Terrse Filius contemptuously styles us , did consider the iree discussion admitted by the Leader hurtful to the religious welfare of the world , should we not have a right to our opinion ? And should we not be entitled to a candid appreciation of our motives on the part of those who claim for themselves and their views the mission of enlightening and regenerating mankind ? I know that , in fact ,
many ot us are not opposed to free discussion ; but that , disliking dogmatism even in favour of our own peculiar views , we see in a full investigation and dispassionate argument the only hope of arriving at the truth . We see , also , that mutual forbearanee in matters of opinion , and harmonious concert in matters of practice are the only means by which we can meet the evils which afflict society . Others may not see this , but we cannot consistently blame them for their conscientious convictions , even if those convictions lead them to censure us as imprudent , or to stigmatize us as heretical . Every man must act according to the lig ht that is within him : it were well if each of us looked more to himself and thought less of judging or condemning his brother .
But , in any case , the sweeping anathema of Terrae Filius is as unjust as it is unphilosophical . Is it lair to quote all the misdeeds of the priesthood without a word of the services it has rendered , and is rendering to humanity ? Is an order which has produced such men as Fenelon , Vincent de Paul , Xavier and L : is Casas , Taylor , More , Herbert and Wilson , Baxter , Wesley , Hull and Hamilton , to be decried as inimical to mankind , and as worthy of no better fate than that of extinction ? By whom was civilization fostered , and learning kept alive through the period called the "dark a"es , " but by the priesthood ? Who
net the example of enfranchisement of serfdom , the direct result of the Christian doctrine of the brotherhood of man , but the priesthood ? Who have stood between the noble and the vassal , the monarch and the people , the oppressor and the victim , and enforced the decrees of Christian equity , hut the priesthood ? And who are contending more manfully and generously in our own day for the rights of the poor , and for the establishment of just relations between man and man on the principles of the same Christian equity than ( jodol phiii Osborne , Maurice , Kingnley , Joseph Brown and Stiitham , membern of tlie priesthood ? Let Terra ; Filius and thoau who feel with
him that our order is tin impediment to human progress , calmly and charitably point out our defects ; ind if their counsel be sound , we may avail ourselves of it for the purpose of our improvement : but if it be attempted to crush us , as the Templars were crunh < sil in the fourteenth century , by adducing all our crimes , real and imaginary , and by ignoring ull our undoubted nervices , this much at least i . s certain thivt wi ! shall not expire- without tin effort iiv our defence ; nor without appeal to that tribunal which is Hurt ) to decide rightly in the long run , the tribunal of public opinion . I am , Sir , yourn faithfully , 1 'lUMIlNl ) 11 . IiA . UK UN . '
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THE MONEY QUESTION . Its Importance shown and its Priority demanded oner those of Emigration , Chartism , Socialism , Financial Reform , Poor-Law Amendment , or Prison Reform . The Battle between Toion and Country , or Free Trade and Revolution , is one of Price . Paper Money can only give Remunerative Price . Liverpool , March 6 , 1851 . Sir , —In my last letter , inserted in your journal of last November , I attempted to show that the wantof-employment question took precedence of all others in this country ; that education was impossible where the people are in want of the necessaries of life , and whose lives are harassed by the privations resulting
from periodical stoppages of employment . I attributed the panics which overwhelm , us every four years to gold money . I stated that the Socialists are devoting themselves to the distribution question , whilst the money reformers maintain that the easier question to carry is to increase the fund of wealth which is to furnish the labouring man with wages , the middleclass man with profit , and the landowner with rent ; that this fund of wealth lies in the strong and skilful arms of Englishmen being always employed . As an instance , I took a cottage . I reduced it to its orig inal raw material—brick clay , roofing slate , limestone , flagstone , and timber ; no one maintains that these are exhausted , or that we are short o \
brickmakers , bricklayers , slaters , plasterers , or joiners . Then why are not the cottages in which the people live , twice the size they now are ? and why are the people in times of panic , which are times of depressed trade , driven even out of these present miserable abodes into cellars and single rooms ? and I concluded by stating my determination to show the Emigrationists , the Chartists , the Socialists , the Financial Economists , and the Poor law and the Prison Reformers , that a proper money ( which I conceive to be a papor money ) , issued by Government , expanding with the increasing population and wealth of the country , is the bridge over which they all must pass before they can attain their . several objects .
I will begin with the Emiguationists . Is not emigration a self-contradictory policy ? Is the emigrant comfortable in his new home ? Has he attained the object of his desires ? He may have a rough plenty ; but are the colonies better off than the mother country , in affording all the requisites tlutt a civilized man deinamlH ? Is there not solitude , want of society , want of books , want of everything but ill-baked bread and pork ? Let any man look at those solitary country cottages in this thickly-peopled country , and picture to himself the life the inmates load , und what must existence be in . buck settlements ? And , moreover , must not we who remain at home be taxed for those who emigrate ? Or , if they find their own funds , would not those funds have been available at home , provided
always trade was flourising ? And 1 am maintaining that it is only the want of an expansive currency which prevents trade from being always brisk and profitable . With regard to the Ohaktiht . s , lot me ask them one ; question . ( Jive the Charter to-morrow , and tell mo what is the first question you would carry ? Have you any definite policy ? How do you propose to not every man in England to work ? for , it he is not ut work , I defy the Charter to give him a dinner . And am I quite sure that you would not elect middle-clasn mon men like Feuigun O'Connor und To hi Duiicombe , who win your hearts by appearing on your platform" always in white buckskin glovc » r Again : the readiness with which you Chartists subscribed to a land lottery , hoping by huuIl means to attain—what ? Why , a small landed uriutocrucy , to be elevated und
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May 3 , 1851 . ] 3 ^ jtejfrpt . 423
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( Djira Cmmril . j > . __
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[ In this department , as Ai . r . opinions , iiowkvkr kxtiikmu , All !' . AI , I . OWI ' . l ) AN KXl'HKSHK * , THIS HDITOR NKOKHSAKILV HOLDS HIM . HIiLl'KHSl'ON . SIHI . H Ft ) II NONK . ]
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There is no learned man but . will confess he hnt . li rrmch proiited by reading controvcraioa , his hcikjoki awakened , mid hisjucltfmeriL . sliiirpoiit'd . If , then , it be proIiUtblfi ior him to rend , why . should it , not ., uLlCiUft , be tolerable ior his udveraury to write . —Milton .
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TO T 1 IH SOCIAL REFORMERS OF BRITAIN . April 2 ; J , lH . ) l . Fiukndh , —I am glad to learn that you intend to make a vigorous effort this summer for the propagation of your princip les . 1 believe that those principles only require to be fairly put forth to win the esteem of ail I honest friends of Immunity who have intellect enough to see an abstract principle , and to deduce its probable eilVots from its nature . Hut there arc many who , for lack of proper education , cannot grasp any abstract idea , nor make such a deduction Now these , in my opinion , can only be impressed by one means , that is , by Knowing them the system m aetua operation . Jf you would make a child acquainted w . tli the form and appearance of a crocodile , you only lose your labour by describing it in words ; but hIiow him the thing itHtslf , <> r a good picture of it , and he gets this idea at onoc . The mass oi men are children in this respect . They can bo convinced by visible facts when reasoning fmln . Our principles nre carried out in practice by only one society in Britain—The Redemption Society—and it * operations for want of proper support uro ho small , that the iniiHHOHilo not two them . The results are not Hufhcien . to excite attention . Are you willing that thin should continue ho ? Are you content that " Harmony ( should be pointed at uh our last attempt at practical
operations ; and that our opponents should from that failure draw their strongest argument that Communism is impracticable ? I cannot believe it . I believe a man is wrong who says , «« All we have to do for our principles is to expound them , and talk in their defence . " It is not enough that I profess and explain honesty , kindness , &c . ; I must act up to my profession . And in all cases , a life of noble deeds will be found the best exposition of noble sentiments . When you can point to a prosperous and peaceful community , then you will arrest the attention of those to whom your words sounded like idle tales , and compel them to exclaim at the glorious sight" How beautuous mankind is ! 0 brave new world ! That has such people in ' t ! " Homo .
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1 * R I 7 . K E S S A Y S . May 1 , 1851 . Sin , — Sineo my lust letter wa « puluiuhvd in the Leader , of April 19 , Heverul KssuyH on the Hubjcct then proposed have been went in , which will Hhorlly be submitted to adjudication , and tin : result communicated to the writers . Enclosed you will receive another £ 5 Bank of
England note , which p lease retain for a prize to be awarded to the writer of the best Essay on this subject *— " Atonement , being a Reparation of Offences . This ' doctrine to be explained as one of the six personal , or individual duties , the practice of which is ^ he ^ essays are to be addressed as before to C . C , 8 , King William-street , Charing-cross ; and to be forwarded there not later than the last day of May . The concluding duty under the head ot religion , viz ., " . Regeneration being a second birth , or innocence regained , " will be the subject for competition afterwards , and essays will be in time until the last day of June .
The six social , or relative duties , the performance of which is morality , will be the subject for elucidation during the last six months of this year . All writers upon theology , and members of every religious sect , are invited to compete for these prizes , and are requested to endeavour to make their essays elucidations of pure religion considered in the abstract , rather than expositions of any particular branch of sectarianism . In reference to the inquiry of your correspondent , Mr . John Weddell , it is , perhaps , necessary to mention that the only condition on which the prizes are awarded is superior relative merit in the essays submitted to arbitration . The names of the umpires ,
aud other particulars , will be announced in the preface to the prize essays . I remain , dear , sir , yours truly , A Constant JLeadek .
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Leader (1850-1860), May 3, 1851, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1881/page/19/
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