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EPifeFTEMBER 11, 1852. THE STAB OF FREED...
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The Piiesot Position of Chaetisjt.—Canno...
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STAR OF FREEDOM COMMITTEE. . On Tuesday ...
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London — A Society has been recently est...
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iQ2f The Secretaries of Trades' Unions a...
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AN ADDRESS TO THE TRADESfit!' ' :. • - '...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A National Party. To The Editor Of The S...
fforcforce and pertinacity of continued reiteration , and in the > i of ; of the greatest apparent odds , they won their victory . > k ? Uir instruments were unity of purpose , singleness of object , pei ' perseverance : instruments which , when used with adette t < 'te talent , seldom fail . Look at the other illustration for a m olv of the picture . The Charter had a better foundation of nt lit than any other document ; it was more consonant lh sh strict justice , and based upon purer reason than any cer Ter popular manifesto . It had in it nothing that was
abso-33 ly 3 ly new or foreign to the" constitution . It could not be met Tah / ahy considerations of principle , the opposition to it rested m bii bare expediency . It is even now better loved by that rrtiortion of the great masses who understand it than any other > i > tentem . Yet except in its teachings to the people , that rrliarliamentary movement has been singularly unsuccessful . Ho io not simply speak of its hot Being carried , for of that there sshs hitherto beeii but little chance ; but of the want of persisncvicv in the attempts to carry it , and the wav in which it
< s Is been broken up and frittered away in details . There has iienen one motion for the ballot ; . another for the abolition of ( op'operty qualification , a third talk about shortening tho nrairation of Parliaments—debates , not about the Charter , or me ie first principles of representation , but about bits of the lhanarter , and those bits too by far the least important . We tty ty that advisedly , because the great right of Manhood Suf-; agageis the true basis of political liberty * and hi these bit-? r-V-bit movements it is precisely that which has been left out
( f i sig ht . ' Comparing , then , the great advantages of simple with 'Me great disadvantages of and hindrances , to complex movements , I am compelled to give an adhesion to the former inhere they are possible , and it may he worth while to think ' vlvhether , or no , it he practicable to found a parliamentary party npipon one point . I fancy I hear some of the men who have istctood fiim through all phases of hope and despondency , cry niiiit when they read this , "What ! abandon our old
principles . " —I ask you to abandon nothing ; I only wish to see an gfeflective organization for political enfranchisement ; I do not ppresmue to dictate to , or dogmatize for you ; I hold as deep ann interest in the success of our common cause as any other irnian . I seek to advise , and suggest ; not to pronounce or ccommand . I do but give these suggestions as materials upon which to form an opinion ; - you must register your own decision , lllave patience then awhile ; he thoughtful with me and then
iwork out your own course . We have been eminently unsuccessful hitherto , that at least i must be conceded . Here , in 1852 , we stand apparently further from our object than we were years ago . Our advocates in the legislature have done next to nothing , possibly the better phrase w ^ ouid be worse than nothing . Our petitions have miscarried , our processions have failed , our meetings have been scattered to the wind—our champions have tasted prison fare—all these are facts not to be denied . Can we do better
now?—If so , how ? That is the question to be decided and I submit to you , as worthy at least of discussion , whether or not , taking Manhood Suffrage as the first thing to be made law , it would not be wise to concentrate ourselves upon that , and have a simple , easily managed agitation . I know that this proposal will be met with an outcry from some . I have well calculated all that , and am content to 'bide the storm , and let it abate in its own good time . I trust to the ebb of freiizy , and the flood tide of reason and common sense . There are men in the House of Commons who
if backed by a National Party , w ould present our petitions , and make an annual motion for manhood suffrage ; and does any one believe that if that were obtained the rest would not . follow , or that without that the rest would be of any real value ? It has heen said , that if you will but settle principles aright , details will settle themselves . I wish to draw your attention practically to the distinction between principles and details : _ to make clear that which is primary and essential—and that which issecondaiy and dependent . That which is primary is'the right
of self-government , the right ofevejy man in virtue of hisjnanhdod to have a voice in making the laws by which he is governed . Upon that the whole weight of the argument rests . The opponents of that are the real defenders of the citadel of tyranny and class rule . It is that right which constitutes the essence of real political freedom . Tlie benefits to be derived from the rest are secondary to , and collateral with the attainment of that , We must have that first , else our political system will be li ke a set of numerals , incomplete from the absence of the unit from which they all proceed .
Let us see more clearly how all the corollaries arrange themselves imder the head of this one great principle Bxitebsal Suffrage — the right ; the Ballot —the mode in which the right is to be exercised ; Equal Electobal Disteicts—the appointment of equal weight to the right of each ; Annual Parliaments—the frequency with which the right is to be exercised ; No Property Qualifigatiox—the privilege of all to be chosen hy the exercise of the right ; Paid Members—the duty of defraying the expenses of those who perform the business of the nation . This I take to be the true analysis of a
pure system of representation and , if I am correct , the one right is the thing essentially needful—the several auxiliary propositions the things desirable ; the one right is the thing to be mainly straggled for ; that gained the others are sure to follow . " I beg of the people of this country earnestly to consider the to
se things , and , before a conclusion is come to , thoroughly understand your position , and how you might stand . A motion is made to amend the representative system . Upon what does the discussion , if there be a discussion , mainly turn ? to what is attention chiefly directed?—to the right which stands at its head ? No ; that is slurred overglanced at—thrown on one side . The ' other points furnish
opportunities eagerly laid hold of for all manner of diversions , and greatly legislators divert themselves . The ballot is un-English , forsooth ; equal electoral districts aim at a mathematical nicety unattainable in the broad operations of government ; annual parliaments mean annual confusion and ^ experienced legislators ; no property qualification is but a cr y , because only men of property have education and suf Sclent leisure ; paid members are out of the question , because
A National Party. To The Editor Of The S...
it would destroy senatorial dignity and submerge independent feeling , make politics a trade , and politicians the slaves of the mob . This is what the half-fledged lorcllings , the generals , and admirals , the lawyers and traders of the lower house would have to say , besides oceans more of talk about Magna Charta , the Bill of Rights , our ancient constitution , and such like old lumber . In that fashion every political tyro would try to be eloquent in advocacy of " well-considered gradual
conservative reform" and deprecation of revolutionary changes . I know that it is all fudge—that if we had the suffrage we couldshow it to be so , stilt , they would say it , and it would have its effect . But on a simple motion for Manhood Suffrage , they would be placed in a different position . They would be restricted to that one point—to that , in some fashion , they must say " Aye" or " No . " They would have no bushes to skirmish behind—no small fears to throw out as advanced
guards ; they would lose the topics for small wit ; they would have to meet the people face to face and deny the equality of then manhood ; they would have to say plainly , You brawny smith , or skilful engineer , or sturdy labourer , or swart miner , you are not a free man * and shall not be ; L , in virtue of some unseen and unmanifested divinity within me am your master : you , by presence of some undefined defect , are my servant . " They would have to say this outright , instead of as now , passing lightly over the question of the vote , and affirming that it is wrong to vote thus or thus . No ; a vote or no vote—that is what we must- put to
our rmers . * Are we intelligent creatures fitted to think what we want , or brute beasts bound to obey what they order , and be content with what they choose to prescribe for us ? That is the simple issue to raise and to be decided first of all . Not one of modes , or degrees , or privileges , but of right—right founded on our common humanity and patent in our persons . That issue is to be best raised on the point of Manhood Suffrage . Think well of it , and of the necessity of forming at once a national party for that purpose . I am , Sir , your obedient Servant ,
WILLIAM NEWTOK 35 , Arbour Square , London ; Sept . 8 , 1852 .
Epifeftember 11, 1852. The Stab Of Freed...
EPifeFTEMBER 11 , 1852 . THE STAB OF FREEDOM . 75
The Piiesot Position Of Chaetisjt.—Canno...
The Piiesot Position of Chaetisjt . —Cannot some plan ho propounded to amalgamate the ramified branches of Chartism , so as to have them in working order ? Your readers must be aware that theories in endless variety have been propounded , but I think the time has fully come when we ought to have something practical . The walls of Chartism at present are broken down ; her enemies as they pass by deride and laugh at her : whereas , let the friends of Chartism be united , and they would be a terror to these evil doers , who would be silent when they heard the great truths this glorious cause enshrines . It matters little to Chartism which party be in power , whether
Whig , Tory , or ithe Manchester School—each and all of these desire the destruction of Chartism ; but let the masses know their strength and power , and I ask , where is the government that dares to insult them ? But a great work remains to be done ; it is the people alone that can do it . They must work out their own political salvation ; no one else can or will do so for them . Dangers will have to be overcome , difficulties braved , before this new era can dawn . The merchant , the banker , the
manufacturer , the railway shareholder , with a host of others , are all united , and have conspired , one and all , to keep the present system just where it is , and as it is . They are all arduous and sincere in the matter . Why , I ask , cannot the down trodden proletarians be so united for their just and legitimate rights ? Let them come forward , and identify themselves with those who are desirous to destroy the present state of things , and to elevate man morally , socially , and politically , as he ought to be . —D ALSTON .
Bradford .- —The Secular Society . —Although Mr . Broom is an entire stranger to the town , he had a large audience to listen to him in the Odd Fellows Hall , last Sunday evening . His subject was a novel one , and had caused many surmises among free-thinkers as well as christians . It was , " Reasons why the Poor should not study Theology . " He said , they had not time ,
nor means sufficient , hence they ought not to commence wnat cannot be concluded . The works on the historical evidences , are more than the longest liver can read—the internal evidence the poor cannot investigate , because , to enable them to do so , they must be masters of several languages , which they had not the time to acquire . For christians to enjoin the poor to do an impossibility is a gratuitous mockery . On Monday night he gave his first lecture on Thomas Paine .
Star Of Freedom Committee. . On Tuesday ...
STAR OF FREEDOM COMMITTEE . . On Tuesday evening last , the Committee met . Important business was discussed , the . further consideration of which was adjourned till Tuesday evening next , when all members are earnestly requested to attend at No . 4 , Brunswick Row , Queen Square , Bloomsbury . Waltee Cooper , Secretary .
POLITICAL REFUGEE COMMITTEE . FivinAr Evening , September 3 rd . —Some small subscriptions were received . Gr . Julian Harney was instructed to correspond with M . Mazzini relative to an important question in connexion with the Refugee Fund . The committee then adjourned .
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London — A Society Has Been Recently Est...
London — A Society has been recently established as ^ the " West London Co-operative House Painters Association . " Each of its members have agreed to subscribe < £ 10 in certain weekly instalments , for the purpose of raising the requisite capital with which to commence business . We understand that the Metropolitan and Provincial
Joint-Stock Brewery , established at the commencement of the present yftar , is proceeding very satisfactorily , and doing a large and increasing amount of business j any family may obtain from it a small barrel of beer , say four and a half , or nine gallons , delivered at their own homes , in any part of London , at much less than the ordinary prices , and , as is the case in all our co operative establishments , the articles sold are unadulterated , and really what they profess to be .
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Iq2f The Secretaries Of Trades' Unions A...
iQ 2 f The Secretaries of Trades' Unions and other bodies associated to protect and advance the interests of Labour , Will oblige by forwarding the reports of Trades' Meetings , Strikes , and other information affecting the social ooskion of the Working Classes . NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNITED TRADES , 259 , TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD , LONDON .
We have constantly affirmed that the great impediments or stumbling-block s io Industrial Reform ( if ' by that designation we may be permitted to particularise tho phase of general progress to which , from our position , we consider ourselves more particularly , if not exclusively confined ) are to be com batted , not so much in the ignorance and apathy of our working class brethren in tht > mass , as in the excessive egotism and greed for self-aggrandisement which prevails amongst the local
functionaries of Trades Unions . To this cause we attribute tlie general apathy of the working men of this country , to all the appeals which have been made by our political and industrial reformers , for the purpose of awakening in them a due sense of their degraded slavery , which a united effort would most assuredly quietly pwi an end to . The grand object amongst these obstructions to ' general progress appears to be to pin down the sympathies and humanities of those under their influence and control within the narrow boundaries of their own trade
and locality , for the nouie purpose of perpetuating their own influence and emoluments . To expect to organise the labouring classes for any useful effort of industrial , social , or political reform , without first breaking , through the barricade of selfish ignorance , is , wc believe , a vain hope . These opinions are the result of a wide and lengthened experience , confirmed and strengthened by every day ' s proceedings . The following
extracts fipin a colleague who has been for some time in the northern counties are singularly corroborative of our oftenexpressed opinion . Writing from Newcastle-upon-Tyne , he says , " 1 will now offer a few remarks on the general position of men aud things as I find them in this place and neighbourhood . The worst paid trades are the most disorganised , and want immediate assistance , or would do so when their term of
pronation was expired , Tney look to have grievances which have been accumulating for years redressed in a day ; and , secondly , their efforts to emancipate themselves by their own exertions have proved valueless , and so their want of success , as well , perhaps , as their frequent violations of the most partial and unjust laws , and of the one-sided contracts to which they are subjected , have so embittered the employing classes that they , in retaliation of the inconveniences submitted to by them
at various periods , have forced a system of terrorism upon men unheard of before , aud unequalled in any country . Men have , therefore , become dispirited and apathetic , and tamely submissive under the tyranny and threats of their masters and their superintendents . They are without soul or spirit , but not totally without hope that the tide will again turn , and a reaction take place ; but their future policy must be upon a more conciliatory principle . They talk of the thousands they have paid men to advocate their cause who have forsaken them—of
the thousands they have spent in law , and still they are under the same , or a more aggravated system of bondage than before . That as time goes on . they get more and more oppressed , and more and more discouraged ; and will do so , until some new outrage upon their persons or rights arouse them into an active resistance , to again entrust themselves and their wrongs into the hands of rash and iincompetent advisers , to be again de ceived , and again deserted . There are also those who , influenced by their local position , seem to struggle to perpetuate the present state of things—men who discourage them from ever
attempting a move pacific policy ; and until this incubus , this local disgrace is worn away , there is little to hope for , by way of a general reformation amongst the miners and sailors of this part of the country . * * * * But , fortunately , this description does not apply to all ; the house-joiners , the coopers , the great body of the shipwrights , and others , have a different feeling ; they , strengthened by recent events , are becoming impressed with the idea that National Union is the only "" kind which can effectually and permanently extricate them from their present abject dependance upon the whims and freaks of capital , and maintain them in their true position . Some of these trades will , I trust , shortly join cur association . "
Tnat tnis is a true and faithful picture of the present condition of the large majority of the trades of this country , we unhesitatingly affirm , and , however discouraging a prospect it opens to the sanguine and earnest reformer , it by no means justifies the abandonment of the principle of protective union , but rather a " more determined effort to lay siege to the apathy and prejudices of the masses , and to the interested selfisliness of the few in their strongholds , and to trust for success to the workings of that strong common sense which , however slow in its development , has always been a distinctive trait , * we- maysay , indeed , a national feature in the character of the working classes of Great Britain . WILLIAM PE £ L ,, Secretary . .
An Address To The Tradesfit!' ' :. • - '...
AN ADDRESS TO THE TRADESfit ! ' ' :. - ' V ^ f- ' : ¦•' , '' - ' !' . "• '* : „ ' - \ ,- ';" J , ?' " Fellow Workmen , —I have been requeste ( b % | Se committee of the Bolton Trades Defence Association , Ip ^ address you on the desirability of preserving one of the most valiiable trades associations that exists , ' and in complying with the request , I beg to slate that I have no other motive than that of promoting to the best of my ability , the condition of my fellow workmen ?' I hold it to be not only the privilege but the duty of every man , and body of men , to avail themselves of all honest means of procuring fair and adequate remuneration for their labour and skill , and I believe it to be both laudable and lawful that associations should be formed of men willing to assist each other in carrying out principles which are calculated to promote their own comfort and prosperity .
I have lor many years been a member of a trades ' association . 1 have been actively engaged in at least one ' strike , " and was for a time very sanguine of success , but I was doomed to disappointment , and I am now quite satisfied that no trade in existence , standing in an isolated position , can successfully resist the encroachments constantly made upon their interest . But if the various trades of this country were to form themselves into associations for the defence of their common interests , no amount of oppression , come from whatever quarter it may , would be able to oppress them .
I would have no " strikes , " Godforbicl we should ever have . another among the trades of England . The late contest . in the iron trades has taught both employers and workmen a lesson they will be very slow to forget ; the bad effect of strikes are too welj
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 11, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_11091852/page/11/
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