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Northern Star (1837-1852), 6th November 1852, Edition 2 of 2, Page 10, THE NEW EMPIRE. ~~ ~~ Last Tuesday's Tim...

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      902 ' The Stait Of Ffteed6i ; [November

      902 ' THE STAIt OF fftEED 6 I [ November

      Fact Of That Fearful Competition In Whic...

      fact of that fearful competition in which the whole of society is enveloped , not only catting down profits and diminishing wages but leading to trade frauds , and producing feelings ot distrust , dislike , and animosity sufficiently strong to prevent anvthing in the shape of united action . To meet this state of things , it was determined first to attempt to associate workmen , for the purpose of carrying on business on their own account ; next , to promote co-operative stores , where the members combining small amounts of capital might supply themselves -with the necessaries of life , avoiding adulteration and deception , and releasing themselves from the burden of profits , which form so large an item in their outlay .

      "We have here , then , two separate modes of action assimilating to those which prevail in the commercial world , the business of production on the one hand , and that of supply upon the other . The first association of workers was that of the tailors , the manager being one of those who had been a constant attendant at the conferences . . Afterwards , others were formed among the builders , printers , shoemakers , smiths , engineers , and ether classes of workers . In some instances the promoters made mistakes , which they

      freely confess in their report ; but their errors were on the right side , showing too great a facility to afford help , and too high an opinion ot poor liuman nature . The associates were selected without much , if any reference to their capacities or character ; indeed , without " much regard to anything but their necessities , which led to trouble . It is no disparagement to working men to say , that they are not all fit for association . The same might be said of society at large , and would be true of anv set of men taken at random from any class . The

      conditions by which all have been surrounded ; have not been such as to engender confidence , to promote good will , and a spirit of self denial , or to inculcate a habit of subordinating apparent individual interests , to the good of the many . When a body of gentlemen started with the notion that a man , because he was a worker , arid in distress , was ripe for co-operation , and had all the qualities calculated to render the experiment successful , they were only too likely to find themselves deceived ; but their experience has at least giiaredd them against committing similar errors in future .

      Although several working associations have been formed under these auspices , we must regard the Council of Promoters rather as a starting point ; than the embodiment of a great movement . Their necessary want of business habits is indicated by their position , and the funds supplied by them have been very small . As the report modestly observes , the capital of the association only reaches to about fifteen hundred pounds the annual income to about 200 ? . Small means these to change the iace of the world , and lift the working classes out of

      degradation . Indeed insiifiicient to effect w hat has actually been accomplished , many of the associations owing their present position to the generous assistance afforded out of the private purse of Mr . Neale , one of the most active members of the Council . Still , more has been done than could have been expected . That 1 , 500 L a mere drop in the ocean of wealth has worked wonders . It has proved that working men when once they are enabled to make a beginning , can raise themselves from wages slaves into comparatively independent beings . It has

      demonstrated that those who do the work of the world , without gaining any share in its magnificence , seldom even a small portion of its comfort , may make a standing in society , and create for themselves great real power . The overthrow of an old system , and the establishment of a new one , is of necessity a work of very gradual progress ; scarcely to be effected in a generation . The first step is to show that it is practicable , and that the council of promoters have succeeded in doing . The rest the workers must mainlv do for themselves .

      The Co-operative Store was an undertaking for which the Council were far less fitted than for the organisation ot working associations . It has an aspect of being commercial rather than philanthropic , and dealing with things less likely to create an interest than dealing with men . It was at first we believe , contemplated to establish merely a small business as a sort of model , and to promote similar institutions in many places , but by degrees the design grew , and assumed a form which did not enter into the ori < riual design . Scattered over

      the country , often in remote places , are man y local stores , for Co-operation for supply is the easiest form of Association , and likely to be the first adopted . It became desirable to endeavour to give them a centre . This purpose , it was thought , the central store might serve by making it a wholesale rather than a merely retail establishment . For , this , however , several things were requisite . There were wanted a knowledge of the details of business , an acquaintance with the best markets , a constant and unremitting attention , and a comparatively large capital . These were operations which the council were certainly unfitted for , probably unwilling to enter upon , and what

      would have been the result we do not know , had it not been that the gentleman to whom we have already alluded came forward , and by the investment of a sum many times larger than that employed by the promoters , made , the store what was needed . The Central Co-operative Store then ceased to belong to the Council of Promoters , but they have still continued to take an active interest in its welfare . Its agents going through the country have done much toward organising the numerous smaller stores in connection with it , and it is now a flourishing concern , effecting a large amount of material good , and shewing that honesty may be made commercially profitable . This subject we will farther consider next week .

      Ebee Trade And Pauperism. ^ A ''Most Imp...

      EBEE TRADE AND PAUPERISM . ^ A '' most imposing demonstration "—according to the Free Trade journals , has this week been made at Manchester . Above three thousand members of the party , acknowledging for its chiefs the " Liberal triumvirate COBDfiN , Bright , and Gibso > - , have assembled in the town of Cotton to raise a song of triumph at the final downfall of Protection , and the victory of their pet system of unlimited competition .

      _ Iu all sincerity , we begrudge them not the gratification derived by them from their light repast , and the congratulations and boastings of their orators ; but the sad thought thrusts itself upon our minds , that while the chiefs of the Free Trade party are glorying in the success of their agitation , and boasting that the nation is regenerated and saved through ; tlie means of the commercial system which they have perfected ,

      Ebee Trade And Pauperism. ^ A ''Most Imp...

      thousands of poor creatures are living in poverty and moral degradation in that very city in which the boasts are Uttered ; and that , in spite of all the Free Trade chiefs may say , the nation is not regenerated , is not saved . On the very next day succeeding that on which the Free Trade banquet was held , another gathering took place , also in Manchester , and the very object of this second meeting forms , in itself , a striking commentary on the boastful language uttered by the speakers at the first . The National Poor Law A ssociation would not exist—would have no need to exist , had

      Free Trade done all its advocates have promised it would docreated universal prosperity amongst the people , and ended their misery and starvation . Free Tr ^ de has not don e so . Even Mr . Cqbpen is compelled to admit that , notwithstanding the blessings of the riew commercial system , agricultural labourers , " are not so well off as they should be" that the agricultural wages of " heads of > * ® t families , honest and industrious men , don't average 8 s . a week , and of many working men in Dorsetshire and Devonshire not 7 s . per week . " As yet , then , Free Trade has done hut little towards " saving" the agricultural labourers , " and the establishment ofthe National Poor Law Association , to relieve the

      heavy-burthened tax-payers of the towns , of the expence of maintaining the able-bodied paupers , who are without food or employment , amidst the " general prosperity , " sufficiently shows how little has really been done by the " cheapners of the food of the people . " As chairman of the conference , on Wednesday , Lord Gode-IliCH occupied a nobler and worthier position than that of small satellite to the Free Trade leaders at tlie banquet on the previous evening . We wish the National Poor Law A ssociation success . If it accomplish its objects' —render pauper-labour self-supporting , and abolish the system of degrading and useless " tests" it will do much to establish real prosperity in the

      country . Had Cobden and liis partisans the welfare of the people at heart , they would , instead of assembling to titter useless boasting over their dead foe Protection , have joined Lord GoDEMCli in the prosecution of this important question of social reform . ' But for them the welfare of the people is nothing , their only desire is to obtain such political reforms as shall enable them , with safety , to supplant the old aristocracy , and achieve for themselves a still firmer hold upon the governmental power of the country .

      The absence of Hume , Walmsley and the more radical portion ofthe great " liberal" or " Free Trade" party , from the banquet on Tuesday , is significant . " Snubbed'' and distrusted by the Cobden arid Bright section , when will these men learn wisdom , and be bold enough and honest enough to throw themselves upon the great mass of the people' {

      The English Fugitive Slave Law. It Will-...

      THE ENGLISH FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW . It will-be seen by the Thames Police reports of the last few days * that in conseqence of a recent Act of Parliament , the Government , by an Order in Council , take upon themselves the office of apprehending and delivering up , such seamen as may have deserted from the ships of any other country . which , by previous arrangement , may have agreed to perform the same offices for them . The countries as yet known to have availed themselves of this law , are Bussia , Prussia ,

      Austria , and the Hanseatic . towns . At first sight this act may seem to he nothing more than a kindly interchange of friendly offices one to another , —in fact , only a further extension of the compact entered into with some of the European Powers and America , for the apprehension and giving up of criminals and fraudulent debtors ; but , examined more closely , it assumes another and quite a repulsive aspect , one utterly at variance with English feeling , and the sympathy of the masses of the people . Time was , when it was the boast of England , and Englishmen gloried in that boast—that the instant the foot of the slave touched the hallowed soil of Britain , that act alone made him a

      free man . No power on earth could reimpose his chains as long as he was contented to remain under the protection of his adopted country . Fleets and armies would have availed nothing when an entire people would have arisen in arms iii the sacred cause of human freedom , and iu the assertion of tlie rights of holy hospitality to the defenceless stranger who had sought an asylum amongst them . This was well known , and none dared to question that proud pre-eminence which Britain made so emphatically her own . But ( " How are the mighty fallen , ") now the Government have constituted themselves detectives for the apprehension of the serfs the bondthrals of the

      Russian autocrat , who may be tempted by the mildness of our institutions , to exchange them for the iron tyranny of their own . It may be attempted to be argued that this law only applies to sailors who have entered into . an agreement with their employers to perform a certain service for a specified cousidera tion , and that it is nothing more than just to compel the parties to abide honestly by their compact . Let it be remembered , however , that the Bussian is not a free agent . Person and property , he is at the disposal of his master ., and is therefore prima facie disqualified from entering into any agreement which can

      justly he considered "binding on him . "We will , however , just suppose a case which may possibly arise , and which will show this matter in a more startling light . America , let us say , has entered into this contract , —a shipowner of some of the Southern States may have on board a cook or steward , or in some unlocked for emergency , a few ordinary seamen belonging to sonie slave owner , who , depending on this law for the safe return of his human property , has hired them out for the voyage . How must the bounding hopes of the wretched victims be

      blasted and destroyed , when British magistrates in obedience to the unjust law , will be compelled to deliver them up to the chains and lashes of their task masters , and how must the high souled people of this boasted land of freedom , feel humbled and degraded in the presence of such a fact . Just now , throughout the length and breadth of the land , may be heard the rising murmurs of a mighty tempest , which in the moment of its strength and power bids fair to sweep the hated name of slavery from the face of the earth . Uncle Tom ' s

      Cabin awakens the strongest and itidsii sacred sympathies of our nature and makes us feel fit to dare and do everything in a cause so just and holy . How , then , will the nationb ear this unjust and unholy law ? Which cannot he characterized in aiiy other terms than as the English Fugitive Slave Law . The utility mongers may say , it is only a precautionary measure of self defence to secure the services of our own seamen , but the pretext is too shallow to require any comment .

      Men , when well off , and liberally treated , know it . Servants , do not voluntarily exchange the service of one master for another , except for the purpose of getting rid of ill usuage on the one hand , and materially bettering their condition on the other . Let our brave tar ' s be only paid and treated as well they are paid and treated by America , and then , even the utility mongers themselves , will admit that we can dispense with a law which tarnishes our high renown , humbles and degrades the name of Englishman , and places dnr country on a level with the slavercatching states of America . E , NEWELL .

      The New Empire. ~~ ~~ Last Tuesday's Tim...

      THE NEW EMPIRE . ~~ ~~ Last Tuesday's Times contained another crushing letter frorn " An Englishman . " We give the following extracts—it is j , possible to find room for the entire letter : — " Sir , —The curtain is rising on a second * Empire . ' The decorations are prepared , the machinery constructed , the ' mm en scene ' arranged , and parts allotted , hut no man , not even the hero of the piece , can forecast its termination . " The history of tyrants is not seldom that of early promise cruelly belied , of plausible professions scandalously violated , of a nation ' s con . fidence volunteered in smiles , and recalled in tears and blood .

      " Napoleon Bonaparte , to ' save society , bayonetted , in the name of ' Liberty and equality , ' the national representation , made himsel f First Consul to guarantee ' stability , ' announced that the revolution was' concluded , ' and protested to the world that peace was the first necessity of nations , and their highest glory . Tlie Empire and fos hecatombs are the commentary upon ' peace ;'—Fontamebleau , Elba St . Helena , the Restoration , the days of July , those of February and

      December , are the bitter gloss upon * stability . ' The imitations of the nephew are , of course , literal . He also has ' saved society . ' guarantees ' stability , ' struck the ' coup d ' etat' in the name of the ' Eepuhlic , ' elected himself President for 10 years , ' to dose the era of ' revolutions , ' within 10 months commands the cry of 'Vive lEmpcreur ! " and professes the mission of ' peace . ' The must not be ht hi

      " Imperial policy soug clap-trap answers to adoring prefects or blaspheming mayors , but in the instincts of a nature , the antecedents of a life , the passions of the man , * and the laws of his position . "' 1 represent , ' he said to the Chamber of Peers , ' a principle , a cause , and a defeat . The principle is the sovereignty of the people , the cause is the Empire , the defeat is Waterloo . That principle you have recognized , that cause you have served , and that defeat yon would avenge . No difference exists between you and me . '

      " The ' sovereignty of the people , ' of the Bonapartist pattern reigns ; the Empire is an accomplished fact ; Waterloo is yet to be avenged : that vengeance was promised in the proclamation to the troops on the 2 nd of December ; it is fiercely debated in the messroom and canteen ; hot-headed colonels remind the soldier that Marshals of France started from the hut ; doggrel rhymes on perfidious Albion circulate in the faubourgs and the barracks ;• the Ultramontanes curse the heresy of England , subscribe their sous to persecuted Ireland , and preach a holy war ; and the ' Constitutionuel , ' licensed by the Government , deprecates the calamities , insinuates the need , and demonstrates the facility of an invasion .

      " The Empire is peace ! What are its credentials , where its guarantees ? Are they to be sought in the ' coup d ' etat , ' hf a Praetorian camp , in Algerian regiments , in a Roman garrison , in half a million soldiers ? Do we see them in the new fortifications of Toulon , in the busy dockyards , in the construction of the Napoleon , the Jean Bart , and the Austerlitz , in the prophecy of the Minister of Marine that vessels such as those will ' decide the destiny of nations : ' in the declaration of Louis Napoleon that ' the Mediterranean should be a French lake ? ' Or , is it in Belgium we shall find them ? In the war of tariffs , threatened by Cassagnac , repudiated by Louis Napoleon , and carried oiit by him—in the Bonapartist propagandism within , the concentration of troops without ; in the placards of ' Vive l'Empereur ? ' posted on the walls of Brussels , in the ultimatum ofthe

      Elysee against the freedom of its press ; in the treason of its Jesuits ; in their surreptitious petitions for annexation to France ; in the dislocation of its Ministry—in the distraction of its counsels ? We arc told of strategy and of intrenched lines . But no strategy is proof against suborned disloyalty , and scarp and ravelin , parapet and fosse , are powerless to exclude domestic treachery . The works of Vauban have been mined by Loyola .

      " The Empire , " says Louis Napoleon , 'is peace . ' But what is born of violence must live by force . However Bonapartisin may gasconade , the Republic is not dead , or Henry V ., nor the Count of Paris . Principles and claims , though prostrate , breathe . They wait only circumstance and opportunity to renew the combat and unfurl their flag . Can Imperialism conciliate rights that it denies , or satisfy factions that it tramples on ? Can it crush liberty and disarm too ?

      The dupes , the organs , and accomplices of Boiiapartism are , or affect to be , in transports . Peace is assured , and Europe may disband , for Louis Napoleon has declared it . Germany , they write must regret her levies ; England must repent of her militia . After the conspiracy of Strashurgh , Louis Philippe trusted the plighted honour of a Bonaparte , and was repaid by the expedition of Boulogne and by the spoliation of his children . France confided in a Princely word , and she is now enslaved . The Legislative Assembly credited his oaths , and it met with a malefactor ' s fate . Word , honour , oath , are only counters in the game , shifted with the chances of the cards .

      " The professions jump with the occasion . To the army they are all eagles and glory * ' common' misfortunes , and revenge ; to the merchants of Bordeaux the conquests are merely of marshes and morality , Christianity . and comfort ; to the Chamber of Peers lie protested that his uncle had ' preferred abdication to acceptance of restricted frontiers , ' and that 'he had never for one instant breathed m forgetfulness of that great lesson . ' " The Jesuits and the Ultramontanes are drunk with exultation , the sacerdotal heel is on the neck of France—the garotte prepared tor Europe . The Holy Eoman Apostolic Church dreams once more ot universal empire . Before or behind its ecstatic obscurantism six

      centuries vanish , and the 19 th , which we falsely believed this to be , is only really the " lStOi . The Univers laments that Luther was not burnt , and sanctifies the Inquisition ; Donoza Cortez denounces reason as damnable impertinence . ; abbes and bishops aroyrit the classics , anathematize Cicero and Virgil , and- - prescribe for the education of youth and the study of the ' Fathers , ' the breviary and paternoster ; JJrere Leotade and the Cure Gothland are on the road to canonization , and the and teems with miracles . Winking Madonnas , sweating saints , bleeding altarpieces , and inspired cowboys ; the gendarme who deposes to the pious lie , and the sub-prefect who endorses it ; episcopal charg

      es , arcmepiscopal pastorals , and Papal rescripts , all testify alike that the favour of Heaven has fallen on the Jesuits , that Louis Napoleon is the ' chosen of the Lord , ' and that ' society is saved . ' prelect and priest vie in blasphemous servility . Louis Napoleon had long ranked as the official ' Providence . ' The sacrilegious title had become stale . The prefect of Perigueux displayed in a transparency the . likeness of his master , with the inscription beneath it , — Lieu fit Napoleon el se reposa /' I' The Bishop of Chalons informs the faithful that Louis Napoleon is ' the man of God . ' Mayors and prelates salute ' the messenger of

      Ihe Lord s Prayer is parodied , the creed travestied , Genesis burlesqued ; and bishops listen without a blush while France is made to supplicate tins ' Father' for its daily bread , and stutter its belief in his divinity . The episcopacy cannot reproach its conscience with so much blasphemy for nothing . Louis Napoleon had the piety and policy to raise the salaries of these holy men . Oh ! mitred hypocrisy , does thy impious cynicism defy alike the chastisement of Heaven and the scoru of earth ?

      " Jesuitism plays the desperate game of double or quits with reason . After the revolution of Febuary , Catholic priests blessed the trees of liberty . After the coup d' ctat they chanted a * Te Peum' on its

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 6, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_06111852/page/10/