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stemS o** 0 **^^^ ^^ Of FREEDOM. i65
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WOMAN'S WRONGS. A correspondent writing ...
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Mil. HOLYOAKE'S DEFENCE. To the Editor o...
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DEM 0 0 RATIO MOVEMENTS
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SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDS OF ITALY. 10, SOU...
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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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Progress. If There Is One Law That Reign...
ni rtaft ie sodial Sy . ' L e 1 } een successivel y devised i the last 25 centuries , not one offers such a unity in its cal-} n tions such a comprehensiveness of character , and such a t ^^^^^ l ^^ ' £ ^ WlitiestL N * te his theory , one of the c ompletest systems of speculay ^ fav <* nceived b ? ? human brain- N ° * only does it iXr ihe witb a wonderful clairvoyance , the devel opmen t and fete effects of oiff papwoM and mctracts ; but also m the starry o « d and the / pur kingdoms 0 f nature , there is not a movelent wharBQf it does not indicate the aim , nor a phe-Sien on whose bearing it doe , not disclose . It is « once Sin ** reigns in its pnnciple and in its consequences , ifd nothing but the intellectual and moral depravity of a LLaSed age , could have attached the stigma of athdism to fAgtflm that emphaftifially vindicates the justice and the love
( j B ut thoaga the abstract theory of Fourier seems calculated to . defdefv almost all the severest ^ sentiments of a conscientious analivslvsis , his practical application of it is far from being equally S isatisfactory . Here we find it mutilated in the high sphere of j iisirs social bearing , and the theory being lowered owing to a tintiniid distrust to the petty proportions of an agricultural colcolony , l ° atonce » m the e es of 1 °% minds , the fundamen tal lever of its attractive force , together with its magical
Here in practice , instead of entering the imposing and wondederfal structure , when the soul is entranced at the sight of a < rreat harmonies , and sees all the delights of earth emerging to ft ft , as to a common centre by a thousand mysterious paths , — tlthere remains nothing but a vulgar residence , in which man li jives but to make gold and becomes a money mill once more . TTiiis is but a repetition of the Diggings and a fall from
Parradise . There is a radical vice in a Utopia of this nature . It consists ,, not so much in the evident impossibility of moving the mass of i men by petty instruments , as in its unfortunate effects on the i minds of those who advocate it . Fourier—when he pronounced the preparatory novitiate of education , nnnecesary for the i candidates who wished to enter his phalanstery , and still more , when he made material interests the exclusive riivot of his
p halanx , converted an exaggerated egotism into the ~ mainspring of his disciples . ' This was a fatal error though calculated to gain over proselytes . At the diggings it is natural to find self interest the God and the great master of their votaries . But it was beneath the dignity of true social science and the sublimity of many of his conceptions , thus to degrade it into slavery to a low materialism .
We are persuaded that Fourier had not been guilty of such smallness , had he not been stimulated to it by the ambition he felt of uniting the glory of realizing his Utopia , to the palm of discovery . His freedom of thought became thus anchored to the prejudices of the age , and he was forced to mutilate and dock his system , in order to adapt it to the proportions of a problematical experiment on a small scale . Thus by
continually narrowing the meaning of * the word social , he at last confined it to such a limited compass , that it only tended to prolong indefinitely the sufferings of the labouring classes whose miseries he wished to remove . When once you make a false step in political and social economy , the succession of calamities goes on in an increasing ratio . This lame attempt to square an eccentric system with received notions ended in stranding the theory in a crude and liydraheaded mass of systems which bears the name of socialism . From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one
step , and that step is taken from the stupendous theory to the paltry application of Fourier ' s system . "We are far from thinking that his theory is correct , or that lie lias succeeded in accurately surveying the future lines for humanity to follow . Yet his ideal is rich and suggestive , and since Plato ' s republic , no grander Utopia had started from man ' s brain . We have seen that a future advance of humanity
must be predicated by the consistent reasoner and we welcome all fruitful suggestions to help us on in our gropings after a hetter world to come . For we are convinced that a deep prospective significance is contained in the memorable words of the prophet : when he shadows forth in a dim perspective , that city whereof the walls are salvation and its gates praise , and when he proclaims that " its officers shall be peace and its exactors
righteousness . " Ins piration has announced the destiny , human intelligence must prepare it . The materials are in our hands , and when there is a will there is a way . A Pioneer .
Stems O** 0 **^^^ ^^ Of Freedom. I65
stemS o ** **^^^ ^^ Of FREEDOM . i 65
Woman's Wrongs. A Correspondent Writing ...
WOMAN'S WRONGS . A correspondent writing to the Times oh the Woman ' s Conve ntion recently held in America , observes : — " That although it is impossible to abstain from laughing at the extravagances of the " Strong-minded women , " still the inquiry
forces itself upon our attention—is the relation of woman to society in all respects what it ought to be ? Has she no genuine wongs to complain of , when we have put aside the question whether she should be a magistrate and a police officer , a legislator and a gaoler , a general and a private soldier , a merchant on 'Change and a draywoman , a commissioner injbankruptcy and a sheriff ' s officer ?
Single women and widows , holding the proper qualification , have votes for parish officers ; why not for members of Parliament ? Why should their property be unrepresented ? Why should they have no voice in choosing those who shall make laws for them in common with men ? If they had the right to vote , and shrunk from its exerciser they need not vote . But they do bolder and more courageous things than it would be to present themselves at the polling-booth continually , and society applauds them ht d
for so doing . Clear perception of what is rig , ana conscience unflinchingly supporting the decisions of the understanding , are by no means confined to men , I doubt if women would CI out for the dark secrecy of the ballot-box . If they voiied it *™ uld be in the face of day . Give thefemme sole the right to Vote , and you would at once do justice ' and infuse a purify ing element into those scenes of briberv , corruption , and intimidation which are the staple of our Parliamentary elections . .. , , . « rt perhaps women are virtually represented in Parliament with the other unenfranchised members of society ; still , have
Woman's Wrongs. A Correspondent Writing ...
they nothing to complain of in their legal position ? Are the laws set around them as a sufficient defence ? The unmarried woman and the widow , it is true , hold propertv on precisely the same tenure as men . So far good . No father , brother , or cousin can aespoil them , except with their own consent . I speak of property which is theirs by gift or inheritance ; it is absolutely theirs , but no longer than they remain single . If thev marry , their property becomes absolutely their husband ' s , or that transfer , bv legal \ $ k i . husband is evaded bV the interposition of trustees , wnen the priest has pronounced his blessing , and he and her yet lovers are enjoying the sweets of the honeymoonher property
, passes as effectually out of her control as if she were already dead . She is lost in the person of her husband , or in those of her trustees . The proceeds of her settlement are nominally to be paid over to her for her sole use and benefit ; but , as soon as they corne into her hands , her liege lord may demand that she should deliver up such proceeds to be disposed of at his discretion , or indiscretion , or worse . Her settlement is of use only in case of her husband ' s insolvency , to save them both , with their children , from poverty , or in the rare case of legal separation .
But let us grant , further , that the settlement of a married woman , clumsy expedient as it is to cover the injustice of the law , has its compensating advantages , that by it a woman is to a certain extent defended from the consequences of the unthrift or profligacy of her husband . Let us grant that a woman ' s absorption m the legal person of her husband makes her and her trusteeheld property free from liability to his creditors , if she have drawn
a worse than blank in the lottery of life , or have recklessly thrown herself away upon the unworthy . Still , what shall we say to the unpropertied woman , the virtuous , industrious , striving woman of the middle and lower classes , married by fate or folly to an idle , spendthrift , dissipated husband ? And there are such . He will not earn a living for her and her children . Why should he ? Well , then she will ; and she has not lost all love for the father of her little ones . She remembers the days of their courtship , and the first few sweet months of their married life ; and she will work for him too , if he will let her . Such is often the prodigal love of woman . But , let her labour , let her denv
herself rest , and leisure , and sleep , and everything but what is necessary to keep up her strength for daily duty—let her rejoice and thank God that she has power to gain bread for the mouths that she has brought into existence—when she has toiled , and gathered , and is looking with complacency upon her gains , considering , with joy , what necessaries and comforts they will purchase
for those dearer to her than her life , her husband may come in and sweep off all her hard earnings , leave her and her children penniless , and spend her precious gains upon his idle and selfish vices . She has no legal right to withhold them . She depends altogether upon the energy of her maternal will and the little remains of grace that may yet cling to the debased heart of her lord and master .
I need go no further . Whatever absurdities may be spoken about woman ' s rights , a deep feeling of shame must attend the contemplation of woman ' s wrongs ; and surely such wrongs should be earnestly considered , and at an early period , with a view to their redress , that it may no longer be the opprobrium of our laws , that being made by the stronger sex , they leave the weaker defenceless just when they have the deepest need of protection and the strongest claim upon our sympathy . Bristol . E . G .
Mil. Holyoake's Defence. To The Editor O...
Mil . HOLYOAKE'S DEFENCE . To the Editor of the " Star of Freedom . " Sir , —It is due to your readers and yourself that I make some " comment on Mr . Holyoake ' s letter in-yesterday's Reasoner . 1 accused him of plotting , with Mr . Thornton Hunt and others , to create a movement in favour of a Palmerston Ministry . He says he " was once asked by a political friend of honour , * ' & c ,, his opinion of such a ministiy , and'lie owns that he was farther asked to 5
canvass " any accessible persons' in favour of the same . He confesses also that he did " ask one , and ' only one , person , " but he has u entirely forgotten the answer" he received . He adds that " the flourishings about Cobden , Graham , the spontaneous meetings , and what not , are , so far as I am concerned , pure inventions" and he defies Mr . Linton " ' or any one else to prove more than I ( Holyoake ) tell you , for the sole friend to whom I spoke on this subject is honourable . " .
It is an honourable man whose words I now will quote . It is Mr . Holyoake ' s sole friend" lo whom liefer—if , indeed , he only spoke to one . I suppose Mr . Holyoake has not forgotten who this friend
is . Here are extracts from two letters written by him to me : — " Aug . 5 .--I hear of a project the Leader men ( Thornton Hunt and others ) have started , to get Palmerston Prime Minister , with Cobden , Graham , & c , as his supporters . Who would believe men professing democratic opinions would so far forget themselves asto countenance such a scheme ? Dudley Stuart , Toulmin Smith , Newman , and some such like men , are agitating it . I was applied to to assist . "
" Aug . 12 . —Thornton Hunt did not write direct to me about the Palmerston move . He wrote to Holyoake , and desired him to read the letter to me and solicit my co-operation . Holyoake did so . I need not tell you what sort , of a reply I made . When he saw how indignant I felt at their scheming , he hesitated about giving me much information . This much , however , I learnt : that Hunt and others were endeavouring to create a movement out of doors in favour of a Palmerstonian Ministry . . . . Their mode of operation is to canvass the matter amongst the more liberal M . P . ' s , and to get up public meetings to pronounce in favour of the combination"
. .. . Here , Sir , is my evidence in proof of that which Mr . Holyoake calls " a fiction "—a story which only Mr . Linton could indite , and only Mr . Harney give currency to . The remainder of Mr . Holyoake ' s letter requires no notice from me .-I am , Sir , yours faithfully , W . S . Linton . Brantwood , Oct . 7 , 1852 .
[ The " remainder , " or rather the greater portion of Mr . Holyoake ' s letter , consists of an uneandid , ungenerous , and indefensible attack upon the editor of this journal , and a most lame and impotent apology for his ( Mr . Holyoake ' s ) political and literary partnership with the anonymous libeller of the French Republicans . It would be easy to convict Mr . Holyoake of gross misrepresentation—to use the mildest term—wilful or erroneous ; but we can better occupy our space .- —Editor , Star of Freedom . ]
TWO FACES UNDER ONE HOOD . The reader remembers the famous , or infamous , article in , the Leader of September 11 th , in wliich the French Revolutionists were spoken of as " a gang of demagogues , " - " corrupt and greedy demagogues , "—" scum from the foul kennels of crime , & c ., and
Mil. Holyoake's Defence. To The Editor O...
were charged with having been guilty of " excesses »» " from which liberty now suffers all Europe over . " The Leader of October 2 nd contains an editorial article on "Lord" John Russell ' s speech at Perth , lhe Whig chief had talked about the attempt made on the Continent in 1848 to "introduce wild licence in place * of sober liberty . lhis shocks the editor of the Leader , who enters "his " most solemn protest" against "Lord" John ' s " untrue" and ' unbecoming " remark , and in indignantly asks : « Where was tho attemto establish
pt < wild licence in place of sober liberty' ? " Mark his own answer lo his own question : " Nowhere . No epithet befits that insinuation but the word false ! There was not a single revolutionary movement that had for its aim anything that even bigotry , short of insanity , would call " licence . " The revolutionary Governments were for the most part , contrasted as night is to day , precisely for their humanity , their order , and their sobriety , with the brutal , corrupt , and licentious conduct of the military powers which overcame them ! " '
Having , satisfied his virtuous indignation by branding " Lord " John with falsehood , the editor of the Leader deems himself at liberty to make another Jim Crow wheel-about ; and accordingly , in last Saturday ' s number , he repeats his libel of the Uth of September , —but with a difference . He now affects to patronise the "Red Republicans , " (!) but makes a distinction between them and those whom he denominates a " small section of Terrorists . " Upon the latter he pours a flood of venom , throwing himself into the most
" terrible convulsions , " raving about Robespierre , St . Just , Danton , and Marat , " fanatics , " " Phrygian caps , " " daggers , " & c . He not only pretends to patronise the "Reds , " but also the Red Flag , which he denominates the " national mono-coloured flag , " and asks those who associate sanguinary designs with that colour , "if red ( the colour of our English ensign ) is essentially the banner of anarchy and blood ? " J What barefaced impudence or moon-struck madness these ravings and contradictions suppose 1 In the Leader of the 11 th of Septem - ber , no distinction whatever was made between " Terrorists " and "Reds ; " the distinction attempted to be drawn was between Socialists and "Red Republicans , " the last-named being denounced en masse , and in the foulest terms . In the Leader of October 9 th .
the " Red Republicans " are spoken of as the "true Democracy , " " the great body of the popular party in France , " and their banner is lauded as as " the national mono-coloured flag . " The same writer , on the 11 th of September , denounced those whom he now pretends to patronise as " a miserable minority , " a gang of " greedy , corrupt , destructive demagogues ; " and of the Red Flag he presented the vilest possible picture , observing , " Lamartine , in the noblest moment of his life , covered that flag with shame , and swept back into the foul kennels of crime the scum' [ Louis Blanc , and such men !] that had polluted for a moment the pure air of freedom . "
What is the meaning of these miserable " antics , " these shameless gyrations , performed by Messrs . Hunt and Holyoake ' s " honourable' * friend ? From such a Leader , and from all Janus-faced leaders , ' good Lord deliver us !"
Dem 0 0 Ratio Movements
DEM 0 0 RATIO MOVEMENTS
Society Of The Friends Of Italy. 10, Sou...
SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDS OF ITALY . 10 , SOUTHAMPTON STREET , STRAND , LONDON . From the October ntmiber of the Monthly liecord issued by this Society , we give the following extracts : — PROGRESS OP THE ITALIAN QUESTION . In Italy we have to report a continuance of the reign of terror , increasing in persecuting cruelty as it . approaches the period of conflict , which may bury it for ever in the past . Arrests m masse are no longer confined to the Lombardo-Venetian territory :. they take place now in those parts of the Roman States
occupied by Austrian gavrisons , at Terni , Spoleto , Macerala , Bologna , Forrara , and Faenza , They fail , however , in theiv object—the uprooting of the vast national secret organization which labours to prepare the country for a common insurrectionary movement , when the fitting opportunity shall have arrived . In Lombardy all possible defensive measures are carried out by the Austrian army with the greatest expedition , They rightly looked upon themselves as encamped in a hostile country ; they have a presentiment of a coming outburst , and they seek to entrench their positions by all available defences . They are erecting a new fortress on one of the passes of the Alps ; Mantua and Venice are being
additionally fortified , and the work is being hurried on night and day ; and an encampment of 22 , 000 troops , with artillery , is being formed in the military position between Como and Leeco . The French ave following the example of the Austrians ; they ave entrenching themselves at Home , at the gate of San Pancrazio , and patrolling daily on the road to Civita Vecchia , and the coast . Everything breathes battle ; and one would say that , with the opposing forces of the nation and its oppressors , almost hand to hand , aud with the occasion wliich month to month may furnish for the inevitable conflict , it cannot , in all probability , be long delayed . .
The activity of the National party keeps pace with the relentless persecuting ex ertions of the enemy . The clandestine Press continues its work with a daring an ingenuity , and a success absolutely marvellous , and undoubtedly unexampled in the history of revolutionary movements . In Tuscany , they print and publish a manifesto of the Republican and National party ; in Rome , accounts of the funeral of the mother of Mazzini , and biographies of patriot soldiers—such as that of Viola , the distinguished artillery officer , who served his country so ably in the defence of tbe great city . Assuredly there never has heen a time when the condition of Italy was more calculated to excite the attention and interest of freedom-loving Englishmen , or when their aid and sympathy in any and every shape were more imperatively
needed . Amongst the publications of the National Party in Italy , we would draw special attention to a small volume , just printed , and being circulated in that country . It is entitled "Italian Democracy , " and bears the date of Rome . It is a most important and accurate historical record of the development , organization , principles and objects of the National Party , founded on documents , circulars , manifestoes , & c ., furnished by the authorities of the Nationa Association .
A case deservedly occupying a great deal of attention at present , not only in this country , but in all parts of Europe where there are Protestant Churches , is that of tbe Madiais . These two persons—Francesco Madiai , the husband , and Rosa Madiai , the wife—botli about fifty years of age , and botli Tuscan subjects , were put on trial before the Royal Court of Florence , in June last , for the crime of reading the Bible and entertaining and teaching Protestant opinions . They were condemned severally to imprisonment and hard labour in the galleys—the husband for 50 months , and the wife for 45 months-and , notwithstanding the ! appeal to the Grand Duke of Tuscany , the sentence is now being put into execution . The two Italians , against whom no charge is made but that of using tho freedom of their conscience , and who are represented as mild and good persons are now ip the hands of the gaoler , their heads shaved , clothed i n the prison
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 16, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_16101852/page/11/
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