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Northern Star (1837-1852), 21st November 1840, Edition 1 of 1, Page 4, Untitled Article

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    • THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1840.
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      Untitled Article

      T " ' ' ' raoM ora loitdok cobbubspowdbkt . * Wednesday Evening * November 17 , I " Half-pait Seven , The late Drbadfjtl R * n , i ? iLT . Accident at HAKEOW > -Ti » iB 9 tart « Q the nnfortunate suSerars bf tiw » ppriliag coUiaitnr « C-m « trains « a thft Lomdon awl Jairoriegbttoa liaa ^ at .-Hurow , . bring adjouraed till to-motrow , i *»»* madejanagemenka , whereby . £ fee WjWtt , at whatever tin * of Uia . day « , iii « ht the . pro-« pediag * na ^ y terminate , shall be dispatched by JBLP&bs * , so ss to reach . the . Northern Star office in time for the nacnaid edition . .. ^ ; ;; - ; ; y

      -Os Mosdat erasing , a meeting of the Finsbarj f Hatitaal Charter Association took place at Johnson ' - ^ jrfare Boom , ClerkenweU Gttssn , to- hear an addrc «* from . Me . Cbapaiaa , on the demoralising effects « f t ix-«* lon on the people . The speaker showed , in a > tcf ehsraad sat isfactory manner , the petarhaoM infin jms of excessive taxation on the national character , % y l * epiag the people ignorant , and , at toe sanw ttm , fafirrtag the necessity of labouring every moo Mft « f thrft etisteijoe , to procure the means of vegetal ^ < n . tanning their ae&BM and their sonows inthe p < jfato-of the pabtto-bousea . In the coarse of his addr ess . Mr . Chapman applied the not -aoeessmott figure rf taxsttoa being , with the aristocracy , ttw " A' . pfc * . sad feeOmega" of their poHey . At the « oocln- jfo * « f iris

      address , -which was well received ky the r HHfceaoe , a Me Rowe ( or Rose ) , apparently latooring wder the efiecta of having lifted Us hand te Mb he * d catber t * o freely , eomplainod tbat fee had tern list eniag a Wg time , and had heard aotking ; and -as to the Alpha and Omaga , " and . tfce -o £ taer ^ ortio » B ot Scripture , tb » l the preceding speaker lad quoted , he challenged fcfcn to explain it , « to < qcote Scripture with bis ( Mr . Bowe ) . What , be « sbed , was eneint by jthe Alpha Mid the Oms ^ a ? JL long pease ensued , apparently from the speaker iiwruig lost the thread of his yam , and the aueBeeoe were beginning to murmur " off , « ff , " ** go down , " ia , * &en an » in * lvidual in the body of tfce meeting , said , "" Aa tbe-grotJeman wishes to ksow -what Alpha and < 6 aea mew , it is right to tell trim

      that , in the present case , Alpha means a glass of gin , while th « © mega ^ nay be vtbe gallows ! This repartee -was higkSy velisbed by the audience , and silenced , if it did nat sober , the mateoKtent , who descended from the pfafcfrrrm abvnt as abasked and uncomfortable as a « erhihi — gmncnn jjawtaipa * , -wita » tin pot tied to his aether extremities . ( The-harmony of the meeting being xesUced , Mr . ( Cohen made some admirable remarks on the ssigeet of the evening ' s discussion ; the people do not q « anel . merely bwaoee they are taxed , ( said he } , nor would we « ee » plain at all at being taxed to be wellgovemed ; % wt -whst we complain of is , that we are fixceesrwefy -fcaxed , "to be exceedingly ill-governed ; and *» Kl tbe -Charter -be obtained— "until we n&Te * otne « lfe « ti * e * ead « peedj-ine » ns by -whieti we can more tbe

      Tast isaeame by whicli we are again ourselres moTed , W © ha » e « o otherresoarcethan a prison or a workhouse . In Qie «« uee of ihig elucidatory remarks , Mr . Cohen leferrei to the state of Switzerland , a nation which has nothing * o depend on but the iadnstry of its inhabitants , * od » gorennaest with no more taxation than just etieugh « e keep the madiinery of the state going ; and yet they are beating all the world , including even E&glaad herself , in manufactures ; for taxation , like aristocracy , blights eyerythiag upon which it falU . Sir . C eoacl&ded an animated addrecs by making an « J » qaent apptad on behalf of the Association , and sat iownamid enthusiastic plaudits . A Tote of thanks to Mr . Chapman , for hia a ^ dresi , was carried by acclamation , » nd the meeting separated , highly satisfied with the « reoing * s proeee ^ oes .

      MTSTEBIOVS JLKD MELANCHOLT OCCURRENCB . — This morning , shortly before seven o ' clock , a fine young man , about twenty-four years of age , a son of Mr . Buck , solicitor , of Xo . 2 , Xew Inn , entered the Plough Inn , Garey-strtet , Lincoln * Inn . in a state of -great excitement , and asked to see the landlord , Mr . Tyrrel , "who , however , was not up ; the waiter called him ; and , on meeting Mr . Buck , the latter exclaimed , " For God ' s sake , Mr . Tyrrel , protect me , for I am pursned by s party of rniE&as ^ for God ' s sake , let me go to bed . " Mr . Tyrrel , knowing him , showed him into a bedroom , and the unfortunate man then desired that his father and a surgeon should be sent for . The former was instantly in attendance , and w&s as speedily recognised by his son , who , in a short time , fell into a

      profound sleep , and his father fchinting it not prudent to disturb him , delayed sending for medical aid . About eight ociock he again entered the room ; and , on going to the bed-side , was horror-struck at finding that his son did not breathe , ilr . Deune , surgeon , of Norfolk-street , Strand , was instantly Bent for , and promptly attended ; but he pronounced life to be extinct On inquiry , it turned out that . the deceased , who was on the best terms with his father , lodged in I * mb * s Conduit-street , and left the house in the most ¦ eeret manner at fire o ' clock this morning , and that it ¦ was altogether a delusion with respect to any one following Mm . The case has created an extraordinary sensation in the neighbourhood ; and the cause of death Is at present wrapped in the deepest mystery . Tbe body awaits a Coroner's Inquest .

      ANOTHER ilELASCHOLT ACCIDENT AT HaBROTV . —On Wednesday eTening , a drayman , named Barker , in the employ of Mr . CIntterbuck , brewer , of Watford , was in the act of lifting a barrel from off the dray opposite the Luecns Head Inn , at Harrow , -when , his foot slipping , he fell back , the barrel falling on him . The poor fellow said he was qnite snre his right leg was broken , and which pro-red to be the fact . Mr . Hewlett , surgeon , of Harrow , who was fortunately at the Inn Tisiting the surviving sufferer from the late accident on the Birmingham Railway , immediately attended the drayman , who was receded into the-Inn , -where the limfc was set , and every attention paid

      Novel Excuse fob ak absemJceok . —Atan adjourned inquest , held last night , Lefore Mr . Payne , the cty coroner , one of the jurors was found to be absent , and another of the jury informed the coroner thai the absentee was a cooper in the Customs , and had been sent that afternoon with two pipes of wine to the Russian ambassadors . ( A laugh . ) The coroner said that unless a proper excuse was Bent to him , he should return his recognisance of £ 5 into the Ceurt of Exchequer . DErEEMISED SCICIDE OF A SOLICITOR . —This

      morning , between six and seven o ' clock , _ Mr . James Swan , a highly respectable solicitor , residing at No . 31 , Anmdel-straet , threw hiniBeJf from ths front room window , on the second floor of his residence , into tbe atreet On lifting up the unfortunate gentleman , hia left leg was found to be broken , in addition to other * evere injuries . No time was lost in conveying him to the King ' s College Hospital ; bat he expired in about ten minutes after his admission . No satisfactory eaose can be assigned for the rash act This body also Awaits a coroner ' s inquest

      Untitled Article

      TO THE SDITOa OP THE NOBTHEES STAB , Lancaster Castie , Nov . 3 rd , 1840 . I > ear Sir , —Since I wrote , the short letter you inserted last week , the magistrates have , I understand , allowed my Jong Utter to pass muster , and it is Dow , I presume , in j-our bands . How far this indulgence may extend to my subsequent letters , 1 know not ; but time will telL Meanwhile , I wish my old friends and fellowlabourers in the cause to understand , that , if they do not , in future , see a letter from me every week in the Star while I remain here , the fault will net be mine . It i » right , perhaps , that I should state , in referfi&ee to my allnsaoua to the foreign policy agitation , ihat , whatever I may think of the originators of that agitation , I intend no reflection on Messrs . Cardo , Warden , or the other Chartists who have been engaged to take part in it . Both in the Convention and out of

      It , I have always found Warden and Cardo to act the part of honest men and good Chartists ; bat At tbe « ame time , I have lived long enongh in the political world to know that the best-intentioned men are often ¦ unconsciously made the instruments of much mischief by profound intriguers , whose ulterior designs are always kept studiously in the back-ground till the mask may be safely thrown off My reasons for suspectine that Cardo , Warden , and others say be instruments « f this kind , I shall freely stata and send to the Star when you have published my last letter . Meanwhile , I would say to my friends— " Watch ihe foreign-policy men , and all ether descriptions of agitators ; but do not impute corrupt motives to them without proof , or so long as they keep Universal Suffrage in the fareground of their agitation . " Tours , ic ., James Bboxtebrb CBrie * .

      Untitled Article

      NATIONAL VICTIM FUND COMMITTEE . TO THE CHABTISIS OF GREAT BRITAIN . Bsotheb Chabtists , —In last week ' s Star ( Nov . 14 ) , jou will find & resolution passed by the abovenamed Committee , and the reason why , which we hope will be accepted by the Chartists generally . We have had several communications this week , statin /; that we have not as jet relieved the most distressed families . If soch be the case , it is in consequence of their ( or some one on their behalf ) not fpljiag to us . Up to the receipt of these letters , we relieved every one wko made a claim . We called , and called again , through the Northern Star , for all those who had sot made a elaim , to do to . We consider it the dntj of the Associations throughout the country to look after tkese families , od apply to the Committee on their behalf ; and we pledge earselves that while we have money at our oamand none of them shall waat .

      We cansoi as yet fix a weekly or monthly rom wreacb , as there are fresh applications every week ; ed we cannot say what number there is inalL Any one communicating -with the Committee will , we hope , be particular in sending their addresses . ' ( Signed ) A . vdbbw Melville . Javes Wheeler . Willum Maddocks . Wiijjam Rushtok . JOHK MlLUSGTOK . Samuel Chamberlain , President . Petes Shobju > cks , Secretary . Manchester , Not . 22 , 1840 . [ The balance sheet accompanying this was received too late for insertion ibis week ; it BbftU appear ia w next . —Ed . ]

      The Northern Star. Saturday, November 21, 1840.

      THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 21 , 1840 .

      Untitled Article

      IRISH ABSENTEEISM . In out exposure of IriBh absenteeism , the course which we shall pursue will be to trace the system from its soarce , showing its effects upon the moral , physical , and religious habits of the people , and its immensely prejudicial tendency ia causing the decline of agriculture , by the abstraction of capital and labour from their legitimate application , owing to the abandonment of the client by his natural patron , and the consequent substitution Of Steplandlords , step-magistrates , step-grand jurors , and step-gentlemen , for those who should feel a paramount interest in tie comfort of their tenants , in the administration of the laws , in the peace , prosperity , and social improvement of the people .

      The fashion of the press is to take its own view of a system , and then to denounce or applaud it > according to the interest the political partisans happen to have in upholding or abolishing the nuisance However , we Bhall faithfully Jay the system before oar readers , with sach comments as may be required for its full development , allowing each to form his own opinion upon tbe subject . The " Union" between England and Ireland is the cause of Irish absenteeism . Antecedently to the year 1800 , few Irish landlords , it any , were absentees ; the Union , however , having created a large amount of absenteeism , by sending one hundred Irish members to the English House of Commons , and

      thirty-two Lords , spiritual and temporal , to the Houbo of Peers ; gave rise to a kind of rivalry between the absentees and the stay-at-homes , in manners , habits , expenditure of money , and mode of raising it ; . in the education of children ; in domestic arrangements , and even is dialect . The son of Mr . Stay-at-home educated at an Irish school , and though having distinguished himself in Trinity College , faded into oblivion in the presence of Master Absentee , educated at Eton , Rugby , or Harrow , and gallopped through Oxford or Cambridge . These galling distinctions led to a class of absentee * , who had not even the excuse of taking Ireland to the English market .

      Another , and a very considerable class of absentees are those of moderate fortunes , who formerly constituted the quiet society of the neighbourhood ; but who , finding their ranks broken up and new men supplying the place of old friends , and usurping' an injurious authority , transplanted themselves , one by one , from a country in which they no longer held controul , where their declension of power , however humiliating and galling , was , at all events , not visible to their neighbours .

      Another , and a very large class , consisted of thoBe who were actually routed out by agents , solicitors , and middle men ,, who operated upon their fears to lay hold of their estates . Hence , the Union , foolish rivalry , false pride , and unnecessary alarm were the incitatives to absenteeism j until , at length , it has become " vslgar" to have connection with Ireland , further than the receipt of rents , a visit to the Giant ' s Causeway , or the Lakes of Killarney ; er to stand for some Irish county , or borough , ppon the " Liberal interest . " The emigration from Ireland was very sudden ; many who saw no grounds for fear during the three years of

      1797 , 1 / 98 , and 1 / 99 , which may be justly termed years of alarm and rebellion , were seized with a sudden panic just as the storm subsided . Subsequently to the " Union " , and upon the infraction of the peace of Amiens " , and the desolating war waged to stop the effects of the French revolution , the plan of exchanging the English and Irish militias was put into practice ; and many of the wealthiest men of their respective counties , being officers in those militiae , added a kind of chivalrous character to absenteeism ; while a some-time sojourn in England wholly unntud those who did return for any pursuit which the national or routine business of the

      country presented . An ensign who exchanged the ploughshare for the sword , did not know the use of the plough upon his return . For this swarm of locusts , added to the disbanded pauper Irish officers and poor soldiers created by the peace of 1815 , and constituting " a redundant population , " the political economists , however , were more fruitful and prompt at contrivance and experiment in opening a new channel , than they have proved themselves to be after twenty-five years of Commissions and research in the case of the handloom weavers . The customs , excise , the bar , and

      the church , afforded asylums to those officers who had interest in those respective departments ; but in 1816 , 1817 , and 1821 , the officers unprovided for , and the soldiers , began to move in tbe agricultural districts , and succeeded in many midnight excursions in small and secret bands , with faces blacked and otherwise disguised , in alarming the Protestant middle classes and farmers . For this redundancy Peel and the economists rery speedily opened a new channel , by the establishment of an immense police force , consist * ing , for tbe most part , of those very disbanded soldiers , mod in almost all instances , at the commencement , officered with half-pay officers . The

      system of appointments , however , was soon changed when the ** Liberal Irish Members " requited those of chief constable for youager sons ooosioB and ioflaaotial voters ; and the place of sub-constable for drunken servants , whom it was dangerous to keep , and not convenient to disclutrge ; and for small voters and other friends . This provision would not have been made for the marauders , had their attacks been confined to tbe Catholic portion of the population , and this they well knew . The difference between such redundant population , and the steam redundant population ia simply thisthose who were provided for bad been drilled and trained to tbe use of arms , and tbe Protestant

      Untitled Article

      yeoinaary arms wero at their « ervic «; whilatMBd who are not armed ^ weiinoarcerj ^ ei ; -fwr walking straight , a » d provided for in a madhouse : thus armed , crjminaSty , becomesits owb ^ pa > rop , wjule unarmed Virtu « receives the conBokitiOft' of 4 he'dungeon , the mad-house , or the cold bastile . Nothing bould hare checked such a state of things and awed . the oountey , wch aa expef diture and disgraces tot tbe watchful eye of . a , doaeaiioJegialature ; bat Ireland , without her Parliament , is , to say the least of her , but one-e ^ ed ; and feiglaadi or ratlier the oligarchy , always contrivea to . gei : AHier bfinfi sidei Such liave been a portion of the blessings bf the Unien , which created absenteeism , wid , which " obliged men to become nightly plunderers , to insure Englisbsympathy and Government support .

      In order to ensure profitable bargains , the timid landlords were first frightened out of their wits , and then bundled off as speedily . as possible by the cunning middle men , having first made wholesale wreck of their estates to procure the means of flight , leaving to the sharks tbe profitable occupation of subdividing their estates into convenient lots for the retail market . It would not suit "his Honour" to let his domain in farms of ten , twenty ; fifty , or even an hundred acres ; so what was on hand was let wholesale to some trader who could furnish , as a fine , the means of immediate departure , while reversionary leases of all lands , held by old tenants , were made to this tribe of blood-suckers .

      To the English reader , who will peek for some cause for this suicidal act upon the part of Irish landlords , whereby they sacrificed their old and faithful tenants to an unknown scraper together of a few thousand pounds , we may observe , that the Irish rebellion , which was the concoction of about nine-six Protestant gentlemen of high birth and large fortunes , together with many respectable Dissenters and Dissenting Ministers , wholly unaided by , and unknown to , the Catholic upper and middle classes , was ascribed to a design , on the part of the Catholics , to murder all the Protestants , and possess themselves of their lands . By those

      who have read Mr . Justice Litiledale ' S charge to the Warwickshire Grand Jury , wherein he ascribed precisely a similar intention to the Chartists , as , indeed , did Sir F . Pollock , upon Frost ' s trial ; by such persons no great surprise will be felt at the wrong-doers seeking any cause , but the real one , as a justification for their misdeeds . However , so it was ; they made wholesale leases of baronial halls and demesne lands , and reversionary leases of all lands of which they could not instantly dispossess the occupants ; and this brings us to a consideration of the newly-formed society consequent upon the break up .

      The landlord is now gone , having left a short injunction with Colonel Drive-all , his agent , to give no quarter to the " rascally papists . " The Colonel is domiciliated in the hall ; he is one of the largest middle men upon the estate ; he married an elderly sister of " her Ladyship , " the marriage portion with whom is tbe run of the kitchen , and all county pickings , such as road jobs . His rank was Captain in tho Bucks militia ; but in Ireland promotion by courtesy is very rapid . The Colonel takes his Lordship ' s place in the grand jury room , where he represents himself , and procures all the pickings to be had from road-jobbing , police , and other

      appointments ; at petty sessions he is the chairmaa of the magistrates ; at quarter sessions he is upon the bench . In the one capacity he sits as judge between himself and his " rascally papist" undertenants , and in the other he officiates as wholesale character man for those who require licences for public-houses , it always being understood that the situation is a good one , and the applicant an honest one , provided he ( Drive-all ) has some interest in the matter ; he further gives his private opinion of all persons brought before the barrister' for trial ; and if a lease stands m the way of possession of a desirable spot , off goes the culprit to Botany Bay .

      The other middle men , in their respective districts holding from one to three thousand acres , are magistrates , who , together with two or three of tbe neighbouring parsons , do the petty and quarter sessions business between the Church and the Protestant middle men . and , the Catholic people- Thus tbe parish society consists of middle men ,-the parson and curate , ( if the pamn happens W lirain Ireland , ) the dispensary doctor , a group of half-pay ensigns and lieutenants , —called c&pt&ins and majors by brevet , —the ohief of police , and a half-dozen

      frostbitten old Tabby ' s , tenth cousins to my Lord . Another most important personage , but not admitted into the first society , is the Colonel ' s aid-de-camp ; a driver who holds a distraining power , and whose duty it is to watch the signs of the times , and , in case of supicion attaching to a middle man , or of a seizure about to be made of a tenant ' s stock by virtue of a quarter session ' s decree , or any other authority , to have the first pounce for rent by immediate distress , and thus oust the creditor . In nine cases out of ten there is

      always rent due by Irish tenants to middle men . No matter what amount oftmoney is paid , no receipts are given ; and ** bis Honour ' s" word is the text-book . The middle man ' s staff consists of a person called his trusty , " who , upon the part of Aw master , has also a distraining power , and whose duty it is to bring every word of tittle-tattle to the Shark , and , when none is stirring , to make it . He Watches every beast and every crop upon every farm ; he is , in fact , the Cerberus of the infernal region . It ie his business to attend all fairs and markets—to

      carry prompt intelligence of all stock bought and sold—to watch the improvements upon every spot , if any should be mad enough to make such ; and to be continually upon the look-out for every poor fellow who has saved ten , twenty , thirty , or forty pounds through a life of industry and privation , in order to secure him and his little capital as a bidder for Tim Murphy's " little spot , " at an increased rent , and which would ** just match him , " and for which the earnings of a whole life are given as a fine . We shall hereafter better describe the " trusty ' s" part in a dialogue between " his

      Honour , " " -her Ladyship , " Master Mikx , an attorney , the " trusty , " and a new bidder , for a " spot of ground ; " so we leave him for the present , to return for a moment to a consideration of Col . Drive-aU ' 8 emoluments . Firstly , he has bis picking as a grand juror ; secondly , his share of the procuration fee , conjointly with the Attorney , of all monies raised for his Lordship , on the bocurity of his Irish estates ; thirdly , he , in generali holds from 200 to 300 acres of the prime land attached to the house , in his own hands , the entire of the work of which must be done gratuitously , at

      allriskBand hazards , and all other , even harvest , business being laid aside , by tha miserable undertenants and the neighbours , who are likely to be plaintiffs or defendants at petty sessions , or who may want a license or a character at quarter sessions , or a presentment for a bit of a new road tO make , or an old one to repair , or a good word in court at the assizes ; fourthly , eggs , poultry , bacon , lamb , and hares stock his larder as free-trill offerings , or duty fowl " , as pigs are called , while his cellar is stored with " potteen" galore ; and a "rick of turf" half a mile long , out , saved , drawn home , and thatched , forms one of the winter

      sidewalls of Colonel Drive-all ' s haggard * If he keep hounds , which is generall y the case , they are reared by the poor tenants , who can best spare " a drop of milk from the thUder—for " his Honour ' s" puppies . '* And to Bee Racer or Skelper leading the pack through the tenant ' s very kitchen-garden , is more than remuneration to the poor little children for the many wistful looks cast upon the mess of "his Honour ' s dogs , " while the young ones went to bed hungry . In short , this representative isa complete feudal lord , and to him the middle men are tributary . Upon their behalf , in return for tribute , he writes the most plausible letters to his Lordahip upon the impossibility of collating rents , owing to the " ex-

      Untitled Article

      cited state of the country ; " which letters are read inthe House of Commons as irrefutable evidence against Ireland . The douceurs paid by middle men to . the absentee ' s agent , previous to a general -smash , are incredible ; and this epoch is generally Preceded by some assassination , conflagration , or rising in the neighbourhood , ^ , t the bottom of which are the middle man and hiB well-beloved "trusty . " We now return to the middle man . Let us Bupposohiinto rent one thousand , acres of land . This he has taken at wholesale price , for fifteen shillings per acre , giving a thousand pounds fine to assist the lj ^ bVd in his flight . . In order ^ o suit ; the land to the retail market , he subdivides it in the first

      instance to meet the most profitable offers . Ireland being an agricultural country , and governed by so pernicious asystem of letting farms , added to the faot that all contracts are made upon mere ideal Talue and upon speculation , regulated by the desire , firstly , of getting some spot whereon the serfs own labour might be expended ; and , secondly , from the hope , which never abandons man , that his treatment may , from bis excellent character , form an exception to the general rule : from these ciroumstanoes > competition raises land to a fancy price , and farms never remain untenauted whatever rent is

      demanded . The first flock of tenants , then , or rather of sheep with fleeces on , —as the Shark appro * priately designates them , —are in possession , having returned by way of fine the thoaBand pounds paid by the Shark . to the absentee , and having undertaken to pay 2 is . an acre in the retail market for what has been taken at 15 s . inthe wholesalewreck . The tenant thus stripped of capital , which should have been applied to the stocking of his farm , buys everything he requires of the very worst description at double its value ; he gives twice the quantity of corn at the harvest time for that which ho borrows in spring to

      sow . For all these things he gives promissory notes , and it is part of the duty of the " trusty" to know the amount and dates of these notes , to watch the decree and process , and mark all the stock , potatoes , manure , and sty furttitute for the Shark , previousl y to the sessions to which the " shoin sheep" is processed , in order to oust the creditor , and preserve the distress for rent whether any is due or not . This process generally takes place about the second or the third harvest a farthest ; and then the serf , with his stock marke < as the landlords , becomes a mere care-taker for " his

      Houour , " and is an " idle scoundrel" if he does not work himself to death to improve the land , and a M papist assassin " if he seeks an opportunity to take that satisfaction which the law has refused by some sort of vengeance upon his destroyersj In addition to the fine , three times the legal price is paid for leases , which , however , are never executed ; from two to five guineas , according to the extent of the farm , goes to the Shark ' s wife for glove money ; and Miss Shark ' s pony must have a hansel of about twenty stone of oats : in fact , everything is sacrificed to possession . If the " spot" taken is of sufficient extent to support , or rather to keep alive , five or six

      wretched cows , the price ia procured by two substantial farmers joining the new tenant in a promissory note to a butter merchant , who advances the price , upon condition of getting the butter upon his own terms ; that is , to buy it at any price , of whatever quality , firsts , seconds , thirds , or fourthsi as he thinks proper ; and , purchase how he will , he insures about seventy-two per cent , profit for the use of his money , from March till November . Two other tenants of some other landlord ; or other good security , —if such a thing is to be . found among the Shark ' s own flock , —must further pass their notes as security for a year ' s rent ; and the tyrant has no more remorse in exacting payment of this security from his own tenants , if they are able to pay it

      than he has in screwing it out of the tenants of his neighbour . Indeed , it is a well known fact , tha t many Noble Members of the upper House , place their poor tenants , as keepers over their wealthier ones , to enable them , by keeper ' s fees , to pay for their hovels . Although we have scarcely entered upon our subjeot , we imagine that we have already satisfactorily accounted for the enfranchisement of onl y one in every seventy-seven of the Irish people , occasioned by the want of a " ten pound beneficial interest '' under Mr . Shark ; while we have fairly accounted for the great phenomenon so puzzliug to those who marvol at the influence of the Roman Catholic

      clergyman , who , in spite of contagion , poverty , and distress , shares every hardship in common with his flock . We think we have shewn good and sufficient cause why the Rev . Mr . Sick-bed should have more influence than either Lord Squeeze-tenant , Colonel Drivs-all , his aid-de-camp , Mr . Shark , or his "trusty , " over those sheep which the one strips and then hands over to the other for consolation .

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      THE OLD TOOL-BOX . Can any notion be more preposterous than the idea of a carpenter of forty years ago offering himself with his olden kit to a master of the present day ? How the master would stare while beholding him with guage and mallet preparing a " bite" for the jaws of an old-fashioned " gouge augur , " and how Rif Van Winkle himself would start at looking into the tool-box of a brother journeyman ! What would be the horror of the late Sir . Robert Peel , not so long departed , if placed by some " harlequin wandism " in the midst of the latest

      improvements of a modern rattle box ? What would Billy Pitt think , if removed from his present habitation to the interior of St . Stephen ' s , while our senators were debating upon a subject which had been communicated from New York in-twelve days by steam ! or upon hearing that the Honourable Member who just sat down , spoke of matters which he saw nine hours since at Liverpool or Manchester with his own eyes ? What would Castlereagh say to scores of Papists sitting in the House of Commons ? What would he eay to the Bize of the Times , and the announcement that it was printed at the rate of twenty

      thousand copies , in three hours 1 or what would he say upon hearing the last quarter ' s stamp returns ? What would an old English Gentleman , " all of the olden time , " say , if he walked from the grave into a modern workhouse and thorebeheld in decrepitude Md misery in his old age , the youth whom he , had taken much pains to make happy ? and what would be , his feeling upon learning that the wife , who promised to be the comfort of those days and to cheer the veteran in the winter of life , was snatched from hisarms and widowed in another dungeon ! In short , what must any man of common sense think of the prodigious and gigantic changes which have

      taken place ! Would he not say , here are , indeed , materials in abundance for a new world and a good one , if we had but mechanics , with commensurate genius ; whose minds had kept pace with progressing events , and who were capable of inventing new tools to work the new materials ! In this want , then , lies all our national disorder . We have the atuffto work upon , buttheold tool-box furnishes us not with implements for trying it up * ' and " putting it together . " We require a complete new set of cabinetmakers who , out of a nation ' s best digested opinions can make and put together a piece of state furniture , which will represent the fashion of the day .

      Let us endeavour to point , out the fallacies of the age . American Independence ; the French Revolution ; the Irish Insurrection and Union ; the twelve years European war ; the Emancipation of the Catholics ; the Reform Bill ; tho , twenty-five years of peace ; the establishment of Joint Stock Banks ; and , above all , the reduction of the XStamp duty upon newspapers in 1836 ; added to the inventions and improvements of latter years , Are lying in shapeless logs in the national workshop ; and our clumsy old cabinet-makafs , instead of boldly setting about reducing thv ^ m to the proper size and form , either pitch them / or iibit to one side , or stumble over them , and match the chip readiest to hand , to "botch up" the failing furniture . Provided the immediate occupant

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      ofth »« fti /^ Aflt < iir ' cad akp : ft fcltt&fcwhere fkfMe i s blown off , they care not what damage the roof sustaina by their botching ; the only ; aim ,, and end ' of each batch of tejuaots being % t 6 malie ~ % i last my time . " Although every one of these great changes ; was unsuccessfully opposed , and although millions ^ ponmillioni were spent in ' a fritritl » 8 * cffort Mthe ; out 8 et , ' either . to check their progress , or to ' turnthei resuitatQ the > fauoy qf- ^ uooesfiife ndnvBlBtraiionB , yet all opposition having-proved inoperative , it now becomes the bounden duty of those who profess to

      govern the nation , to take all those gigantic changes into account , and to legislate for England ,. as they nave made A « r , ' instead of obstinately legislating for themselves , as English prejudi&e has made them . Public opinion ^ imperceptibly nursed and matured , in the hope of change , has become too sharp tamely to allow all changes to be appropriated by a single class ; and now , in the . keenness of criticism , the whetted appetite asks , " and , after all this , where is myshare 3 " It will no longer suffice to say to a hungry multitude , who have been transformed into a surplus population , as their share of the

      great revolution , "We tell you that we legislate for the best ; and , believing so , conscientiously , you shall obey our laws . " Before such sophistry can have the desired effect , man must be . first persuaded that hunger , nakedness , and poverty , are preferable to plenty , covering ,-and independence ; and until this change be made in the human . mind , all attempts of our rulers to silence complaint by persecution will prove abortive , and militate in the end against the persecutors . Is any man so ignorant as not to read death to old opinions in the present stern aspect of the neglected millions ! Aforetime one crotchet

      led the nation mad , and a single crotchet-monger was followed with the utmost enthusiasm . In olden times , the incarceration of the London Sheriffs ; the imprisonment of John Thobocood ; or of Baines , his successor ; or the Brighton Court Martial , would have caused a dissolution of Parliament , to test public opinion , if not a revolution : but now mark the change ! and in it read the death-blow to grim tyranny II Not all tbe eloquence of all the crotchetmongers , upon the most touching questions , even the promise of cheap food and the Ballot as a cloak for justice , to administer it secretly ; not the

      enticing allurements of Household Suffrage , and Short Parliaments ; nay , not even the union of all these boasted blessings , backed by the eloquence of the whole staff of crotchet-mongers who have so nobly sacrificed all self-consideration and " minor differences" upon their country ' s altar ; not all these , supported in one way or other by the most powerful press that ever was in the world , aided by gold , lavishly bestowed upon some of the ablest of the suffering class , and backed by an army raised to the war establishment , a tremendous metropolitan and rural police force , subservient judges , perjured

      witnesses , hired spies aud informers , idiotic jurors , with all the horrors of the mad-house , the treadmill , the dungeon , the transport and the scaffold ; even such an union as this cannot command one single meeting ; arrest one single opinion ; cause an abatement of one single fraction of the nation ' s demand j or move Chartism one single hair ' s-breadth from the position in which the last onslaught left it . Where , we would ask , is faction ' s hope , and where the next ambuscade from which tyrants are to assail the nation , or rulers surprise the people whom they are paid to . protect ! Not a working man bestowed one moment ' s thought upon the sheriffs ; not a working man spent an unprofitable moment in the

      endeavour to remove John Thorogood from his dreary cell , which , under the system that placed him there , may the next moment be occupied by another conscientious sinner , as his warm Bheeta have been occupied by Bainbs ; not a working man cared if Cardigan and Reynolds eat each other to the tails , gold lace , black bottles , gingerbread and all ; not a working man cares about the great tyrant of the north landing at Hastings tomorrow ; while every working man is steadily look ing to the accomplishment of that principle whioh would prevent a recurrence of such scenes , and make the northern and all the other tyrants tremble at the roused wrath of insulted England .

      The fact is , that all improvements have been turned to aristocratic advantage ; while the democratic portion of society have far outstripped their superiors in all intellectual improvement , and the " lower orders" have thereby become too many for their pampered rulers : for knowledge being power , the wielders of the sword must , ere long , discover that the tax of coercion will , according to present arrangements , fall , and that very speedily

      exclusively upon the aristocratic ranks ; and then will the middle classes join with their plundered neighbours in the general resistance to licensed robbery . They will then discover that Universal Suffrage presents the only eafe shield against injustice and monopoly , by both of which the middle classes , in the long run , must be the greatest sufferers , as they lose capital , character , and . labour ; the former of which can never be redeemed .

      We beg leave to assure the Queen that lapdog Melbourne , dandy Palmerston , finality Russell , dungeon Normanby , Excu « quer-Bill Baring , brandy-nosed Hobhouse , flash-in-the-pan Morpeth , antiquated Lansdowne , cambric-neck Duncannon , Indian-bab-jolly-boat Minto , with stop-the-press , penny-a-line , esofficio " Plain John , " Beggarman Dan- , potteen Dicky Sheil , the marmozets , and Fox to help them , are not just the

      joiners to make a safe pedestal for a throne out of the growth of the last half century . While all other sciences have been rapidly hurrying on to the goal of perfection , the science of legislation , which should be the rudder , has alone stood still . The tinkering of the present "nob-sticks" reminds us of the poor sailor , who thrust his fist into an eighteen pound shot-hole , and told the carpenter to bring a bigger plug , or they'd be all swamped .

      The fact , then , is , that the democratic mind has run right over the aristocratic mind . The one party , being protected with bayonets in its inroads upon the other , never dreamed of moral power being a match for physical force ; while the other party , schooled in necessity ' s school , has been making rapid strides in intellectual improvement . Added to this powerful advantage , the system is daily thinning the ranks of the tax-payers ; and the consequence must be , that the aristocracy will have to pay too dear for their whistle , when they are compelled to keep up a standing army and large police force , and find nothing left by Government for them to pick upon . To cure all these evils , to work up and put together all these materials , we know of no means , save Universal Suffrage , which will put new and improved tools into the old tool-box .

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      —¦•> " ¦ - " ¦ ¦ ' — ' i ^ ., .... THE RAILWAY ACCIDENTS . To whatever subject of contemplation the mind may be directed , one invariable result follows . Every , the most ordinary , incident of common life , and every extraordinary calamity that befalls society , or the individuals of whom it is made up , alike testify the great truth , that class legislation , andthe overpowering influence of money , in social and political arrangements , are utterly incompatible , not less with the existence of public happiness , than with public safety . While this bane of all soaiety continues in operation , every exertion of the intellect furnished to man by his Creator , for the purpose of ameliorating bis condition and enhancing his enjoyments , is and will be converted , perpetually , into a curse .

      'Tis thus that the invention of machinery for the increase of productive power , instead of causing as it ought , less work , and more and greater comforts to the whole of mankind , has been wrested from its purpose to the gorging of the vices , and inflaming of the lusts of some , while the great mass have only realised therefrom an increase of their toil , a decrease of all the joys of animal existence- , and a multiplied accumulation of mental and moral miseries .

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      The same principle « f Mammonism which baa destroyed the beneficial influence of mechanical invention , as applied -to the : production of «? & cles of wealth © i ; luxury , loses nothing < fl its powerful tendency when bronght to . apj . rate on the xlevolopenients of human skiU ana ingenuity in every other ; ' $$ . "¦] T ^ e ttf 'fcaeve ifc ^ few : inrentionsv more deserving- tf .. ihe . Reaeiii estimation , betttt calculated' t * increase tb comfort and conveniences of ^ '&c ! ityV -tk $ i to enhance the pfeasures 4 >? ¦ ' ' ouj' social-intetcouxsdj than that whicby by ita . application of the powers of steam to locomotiveengines , has all

      but annihilated space . No other node of travelling presents a tithe of the advantages , with a hundredth portion of the . safety , inseparable . ficom the railway system properly ' , conducted ; but it will never bo properly conduoted s ^ iongVas it is in the bands , ex . clusively , of money-nwogering profit-seekers ; whose estimation , the txperience of all ages testifies that liberty or limbs or life , or every other consideration which can be held most dear b y all the world , ( if removed from personal experience , ) weighs not a feather against the all-absorbing lust for gain A profit-seeker ' s god is money , and on its sordid shrine he sacrifices , withont feeling or remorse , with like indifference , the fortunes , lives , souls of all of whom he can make merchandise .

      We have been induced to make these remarksinconsequence of the continual recurrence of those fri ghtful accidents which threatened to beget a wholesome universal fear , and thus to carry out the law of order , in the punishment of the cupidity and carelessness in which they have originated by iheruinof the heartless speculators upon whom they are charge able . ' In our present paper will be found len gthened particulars of the evidence given on the inquisition into the circumstance connected with the melancholy afafrof last W ^ dngsday week at Monk Pry . stone ; and from the evidence wedonot hesitate to

      charge the whole weight of blame—the whole sacrifice of life and limb , and property and happinessupon the combined cupidity , recklessness , aud incompetency of the Company and their Directors . It appears from the whole evidence that no blame whatever can be attached to the driver of the luggage train by which the mischief was done , or to any of the guards , directors , stationkeepers , or other active working servants of the Company employed on the occasion . The night was thick and foggy , and consequently Watkins , the driver of the luggage train , could not see the signal

      light , of the waiting train at the station , until too late to prevent , by all hia efforts , the catastrophe . Tho station-men held up their lights , and did all in their power ; the respective guards , &c , were busy in attending to the passengers , each one attending to his own duty in the best possible manner . Such from the evidence , seem to have been the real facts of the case ; and the matter is slurred over as an " accident" — "lamentable , " but " unavoidable i" Let us Bee whether or no this accident was unavoidable ; or whether , properly speaking , it can be called an accident at all .

      All parties seem to be agreed that , at all events ,. Watkins , the engine-driver of the luggage train , is clear of blame ; that two circumstances occurred to preclude the possibility of his preventing the occurrence ; his inability to discern the light , until too near , and his inability to stop the advance of higtrain within the distance to which he had approached before the damage became manifest . Now ,, why could he not perceive the danger sooner ] and why had he not more effectual controul over the power of his engine after he did perceive the danger 1 Tho answer to these two questions will show us at onc » the cause of the whole calamity .

      First , then , he ceuldnot perc « fve the danger soon enough to avert it , because there was only one signal light exhibited at tbe station , and that one , in a most inconvenient situation , being at the tail of the train , about two feet from the ground ; and because the night was too thick and foggy , to allow of that signallight , even if unobstructed , being seen by him at a reasonable distance : whereas , when three passenger trains were standing , all together , and when the passengers Were moving from one train to another , to pursue their respective routes , and when the guards , porters , and station-men

      were busy going from one train to another , assisting passengers to get out and replace their luggage , nothing was more likely than that some person should be standing just in front of the signal lamp , so as perfectly to obscure its glare , at the very moment when its services were needed . Mt . Cabrt , the managing engineer of the Company ^ tells us that he has seen fogs in which no light could be seen at a greater distance than ten yards ; andh » also tells us that on that particular night , under the given circumstances , he would not think it possible for the engine to have been stopped in less

      than 250 yards ; while Reynolds , the experienced guard , deposes that it would require a distance of four ox five hundred yards . How clear is it , then , that to have prevented the probability of this accident , means ought to have been taken by which the signal lights Bhould have been certainly visible to the engineer , whatever might have been the stata of tbe atmosphere , at such a distance as would have afforded him ample Bcope for overcoming the momentum of his engine . This , with a little trouble , and a comparatively trifling expence , might have been effected , by simply having upon the place elevated lights , at least Bix feet high , to be used as

      signals , at the respective distances of two , three , and six hundred y ardB from the Junction . Had that been done , then , even in the case of Mr . Cabry ' s extreme fog , the first light would have been seen » t the distance of € 00 yards , which would have given ample notice . So that it is clear that the reason why Watkins did not perceive the danger in suificient time , is Bolely and entirely owing to the neglect « f proper means of pointing out the danger to him ;; which neglect is solely and entirely chargeable on the Company , and their Directors ; a neglect the more outrageously gross and scandalous , because it might have been remedied by the outlay of a few pounds .

      Again : why should it require a distance of four or five hundred yards , as stated by , REYNOLDS , in which to overcome the power of the engine ? Why was Watkins unable , to do all he could , to stop the train , af $ er he had seen the red light at about 200 yards distance , without involving himself in this awful business ? Smith , the fireman , tells us all about it . He says that nothing more could have been done unless the breaksman could have got to the break on the waggon . That Watkins whistled to

      him to do so , but that there was no break , save on the first waggon , while the breaksman was employed upon some duty or other upon the last waggon Now , why should there not have been breaks on all the waggons ! And why should not all these breaks be so constructed , that , in case of an emergency like this , the turning of a lever , accessible , it might be to any one in any part of the train , but at all events the breaksman , at some given point which it should be his duty to attend to , and bring

      into operation at one moment , in aid of the engine driver ' s exertions , the united power of as many of them as it might be safe to use I Had this been done in the present instance , there is no probability that this awful accident would have happened . Why was it not done ! Because to have done it would nave requited the outlay of a little money . The Company have contrived , through the care and exertions of tbe working men employed under them , to elide through without these neces

      sary protections against accidents so far ; and they chose rather to risk the destruction of their passengers , than to lessen by a fraction their profits on their shares . No set of men , who were not reckless of all things but tbe increasing of their profits would , after so many warnings as have lately been afforded to them through the medium of previous accidents ; have continued to run carriages , oi any kind , upon any railway , without having thf » abundantly supplied with every possible prevent ive apparatus .

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      WES x RIDING COUNCIL MEETING . . ** v j «» Aanee with the call of the Provisional ?«** " iTe Council of the 7 th November , the West Ridin £ OobboH met on Sunday , November 15 th , In the A * * . station Room , Fish Shambles , Leeds , fat the V * jWae of nominating an individual to eerre is tlie ? ei . suaebt Executive Council , the said Covftcil to meet 011 rthe first of January next - . . r . Members of the Council present ;—Mr . Joseph ^ iataeld , ( orthe Dewsbary District , Bnapriains ; Dawa

      / fray , Dawgreen , Chickenley . Oss « tth « um-Qawthorp Heekmobdvrike , Spinkwell , and Mix&eld . Mr : Joseph ¦ fenes , fcvedft . My . Bavid Blade , fa * ths Bamatey A Sdabiet , comprising Barnsley A , D ^ dsworth , and Cliff Bridge . Mr . Wiiliaa . Valance , for the Barnaley No . 1 © isbriot , comprising BarnBley S % . l , and Wonbro ' Cemnwn . - Mr . Ridtard Otley , ^ ShBOleia . Mr . William 4 . Sedth , foe th * Bradford Wapplng District , comprising Wapping , Idle . Qneeashead , ereat Horton , ifctte Horton , Xanningham , White Abbey , New &eeds , and Bowfing Back Lane .

      .. Xz . Joseph Joaes in the chafe . Moved by Mr . Otley , seoroded by Mr . Hatfleld : — * "That each Councillor shall have the power of proposing one candidate . " ¦ The following persons were then proposed : —Mr . -John Arran , Mr . Richard Mawden , and Mr . Joseph Jones . Moved by Mr . Smith , aad seconded by Mr . Valance : — " That the nominations taken at the We * t Riding Council be sent to the different districts , to be by them voted for , upon the principle of Universal Suffrage and the Ballot ,- and the returns be sent to the West Riding Secretary , -wbo shall return to the

      Provisional Executive Council the name of the person who has the highest number of votes , as the nomination of the West Riding . " Moved by Mr . Blaek , and seconded by Mr . Hafcfield : — " That the returns ef the candidates be sent to the West Riding Secretary by Thursday , Nov . 19 th . " Moved by Mr . Valance , and seconded by Mr . Smith : — " That we agree with the Provisional Execntive Council , In calling upon the people to bold public meetings on the first of January , for the purpose of petitioning or memorialising the Queen for the release of Frost , Williams , and Jones , and all the imprisoned CbartUts ; and we call upon the Chartists of the West Riding to carry out the same . "

      Mored by Mr . Otley , and seconded by Mr . Hatfleld : — " That the next Council meeting be held on Sunday , December 13 , in the National Charter Association Room , over the Co-operative Store , Market Place , Dewsbnry . " Moved by Mr . Smith , and seconded by Mr . Otley : — " That the thanks of this meeting are due , and are hereby giveo , to the Chairman , for hia impartial condaet va the tfoaVr . " Wm . Moseley Stott , Secretary .

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      ¦ - ¦ -- — - * k& ' - ' N b . ; it&k . .. . . .. .... ,.. , ...., .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 21, 1840, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/king-y1kbzq92ze2711/page/4/