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Northern Star (1837-1852), 18th November 1848, Edition 2 of 3, Page 1, "Untab Strength."

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    • ?Ri AIi OF THE OLD GUARDS.
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      ?Ri Aii Of The Old Guards.

      ? Ri AIi OF THE OLD GUARDS .

      "Untab Strength."

      "Untab Strength . "

      TO THE CHARTISTS . Mt Friends , To me nothing is more disgusting than to & e continually compelled to remind you of your jnost sacred duty . Many of you declared your willingness , —nay , your readiness—to fight for your liberties , while some were ready to sell the coat from their back to procure arms . And now that some of the staunchest Chartists— the veritable OLD GUARDS—are about to meet the enemy on their own battle-field , committed to the tender mercies of their own . appoin ted Judge and selected Jurors , you allow them to go to battle unarmed .

      Have I not , from the commencement of Whig persecution , been compelled to goad you into a performance of your duty ? You profess yourselves ready to fight for your liberties , while you allow the most faithful , consistent , 2 nd able of your leaders to be sacrificed without a struggle . With few exceptions , we have not yet bad a Chartist trial during the new campaign . Now , the veritable Chartists are

      shortly to be put upon their trial , and you withhold the means of defence . Are such men as James Leach , Daniel Donovan , William Grocott , James Taylor , John West , George White , Whittaker , Rankin , and others—acknowledged Chartists —Chartists whose only crime consists in having saved thousands from the treachery of spies and in * formers—are they , I ask you , to be sacrificed to your indifference ?

      You scoff at the poor Irish , but will the . poorest Irishman be allowed to go to trial -without the assistance of the ablest counsel ? What has before given the greatest spring to the Chartist cause ? Has it not been the determined stand-up fight made in the Courthouse , where every trial was a Chartist meeting , with a Judge in the chair , and the ablest counsel selected as the expounders of Chartism ? And if these men are well defended , as they ought to be , it will be another revival of Chartism—whereas , if they are sacrificed by your indifference , they will be CHARTIST VICTIMS , and not WHIG VICTIMS .

      It is my intention to be present at those trials , and if I should see innocent men sacrificed to popular indifference , it will not increase my confidence in ? professing Chartists . But , after all , I believe you only require to be reminded of your duty , to insure its performance—and let not the poverty of some be the accuse of all , while it should be the inducement to the more prosperous to increase their . subscriptions . I promise you that William

      Preuting Roberts will do bis duty , if you perform yours—but If you cripple his means , you paralyse his energies , and thus unjustly injure his reputation . There is no professional man in Europe so capable of conducting such a case as he is , my belief of which was sufficiently tested in confiding my liberty to his keeping in 1843 ; and , but for bis master mind , his energy , acuteness , and legal knowledge , every man of us tried at Lancaster , would have been sentenced to a long and degrading imprisonment .

      "WHAT'S EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS , IS NOBODY'S BUSINESS , " may be a very fascinating motto to the indifferent and apathetic , but let me impress upon jou the tact , that the defence of our friends is every Chartist ' s business , and , still further , that no OJJE MAN can do every man ' s business , while a belief in that maxim has , I believe ] led to general indifference , Now , then , the time is short—not more than two short weeks from the time you read this appeal . Get up cheap tea parties—employ good lecturers to attend public meetingsselect such men as John West , who is an ornament to his class , to his order , and to nature . Let them describe the horrors of

      incarceration , and the sufferings of the wives and littlechildrenofthevictims ; and let them—not with enthusiasm or excitement , but with truth , with force , and eloquence—drive the bitter Sting of reprobation into the breasts of those who withhold the means of saving their friends ¦ and their families frox persecution . Let this not be a Manchester question , nor a Lancashire question : let it be a National question , and let us measure real , not false Chartism , by the proceeds .

      Now , then , Chartists , you Lave a duty to perform—a sacred , but not an arduous or expensive one . Remember the preacher s definition of union . He said to his congregation"If I gave you a shilling amongst you , you would not know how to divide it ; if you gave me a shilling a piece , it would make a man of me . " In the words of the preacher , then , " ! say , give your friends a shilling a-piece all who can —a penny a-piece all who can—and you who cannot , beg from those who can ; and always bear in mind , that the men who are now to be tried belong to the

      VERITABLE OLD GUARDS . Your faithful friend , Feabgus O'Coxnor . P . S . —Let us paralyse the enemy on Saturday next " with a long muster-roll of Chartist revival . Let us show them a subscription list which they will dread more than the Chartist ¦ army that haunted their brains on the 10 th of 4 priL F . 0 * C .

      To Mr Thomas Hunt Of Spring Lake, Mukwon...

      TO MR THOMAS HUNT OF SPRING LAKE , MUKWONAGO , WISCONSIN , AMERICA .

      Sin , —I read your letter published in last week ' s " Northern Star" with much pleasure . It is a very able production , and if such writers bad access to the English Press , you would be an able auxiliary to the cause of Democracy , upon the success of which alone wealth , peace , happiness , and contentment can he insured . There is one fact , however , of which you must not lose sight—it is that yon write in a free country , where opinions are calmly discussed , and have their due weight according to their legitimate influence upon the public mind ; wfeile I write In a country possessing but two ideas—MIGHT sustained by brute force , and BIGHT advocated with a halter round a man ' s

      Beck . However , to prove to you the extent to which the advocacy of right may be carried , in defiance of might , ;! will proceed to analyse the following portion of your letter , with a view of proving to you that ia tbia THOUGHT . SLAYING land , nhere IMAGINATION is Hi gh Treason , I ^ mve pushed the Land Question to a greater practical extent than it has been carried in free America ; just as I have practicall y pushed the Labour Question in England ,

      while its mere theory has been the basis of a Evolution ia Eranee . You say—. Ktha Chartjstj and Bepealers tifll turn their attention w the vital question of Land Monopoly , I am quita satisaid tint tie * cannot do otherwise than adopt the Pnnoples oftheifatienal Reformers ef this country , so Jwcjb ijEet forth in the address of tho committee of the « flastrial Confess . In that case their system will asmrae something like the fallowing form : — i ' -Jne Char er for England .

      mi ~ » peal of &* Union , with an Irish , parliament ££ » M together upon the principles of the Englith the * ¦ n 1 i an ^ ^ tdtanwuslj with thesepelitiealreforois f ^ f- ' aUonal . Education , as the best means of securing : fWe th > ir political and social rights . —Tie freedom of the public land * to actual settlers , e t j XeaPnon ° f the homestead froa forced sale . SaL J ? *|» itauon , by which no individual would postain ;?? . re than » c « tain amonnt of land , to be ascir . P ^ aUti * P * on , f fte are * cowrtry with its Firstl y . —We have adopted the principles of *< anrj possession as the great social benefit * Mch is to result from political freedom . „ oecondl y —We have adooted the Charter for and

      jt ^ land Ireland , and a Bepeal of the won for Irei 3 nu . ^ I have declared many tj me and oft , that I would rather not see the ba fl l . repealed unless the Charter was the ^ s of representation . And you will bear in fl ' tnatto the last moment the leaders o

      the Irish people were the loudest denouncers of what they ignorantly designated physical force Chartism , while their real hostility to the principle arose from the fact , that if Ireland had a national parliament , with its representation based upon the Charter , those moathing hypocrites and servile hacks could no longer trade in national disunion , based upon class inequality . Thirdly . —The best proof that I can give of my devotion for National Education , will be found in the fact that I have attached a most splendid school-house to every one of the People ' s Estates ; ana that I have contended that every barrack and workhouse should be turned into a national school or a national

      college , I have always contended that the people of a country can accomplish everything for themselves , better than any system of government can ; and that was my reason for attaching schools to those several estates , in order that the education of children should be left to parents , and that their ignorance—if arising from want of education—should be cb > rgeable as a crime upon those parents . And when I speak of national schools and colleges , I do not refer to the system of endowment by the State , I mean that they should be free and open , and that the scholars of different classes should elect their own heads , their own professors , their own masters , ushers , and

      monitors . Four * % . —I do not exactly comprehend the meaning of the term actual settlers , and therefore 1 shall not attempt to comment upon it . If you mean those who are in actual possession of tracts of land by grant or conquest , the term must embrace all the landlords of all countries , however much or little they may possess , as they are the actual settlers , and equally applies to America as to England .

      Fifthly . —The exemption of the homestead from forced sale , is a thing that 1 have frequently contended against , and I have placed several motions upon the Journals of the House of Commons to deprive the landlord of the power of distraining for rent , and to deprive him ; of the power of ejectment , unless the tenant shall have a lease for ever at a corn rent ; and when I come to the consideration of rent , I shall show its insignificance , where perpetuity constitutes the tenure .

      Sixthly . —My notion is , that no man , depending upon his labour , should hold more land than he could cultivate by that labour ; but then , if we measure agriculture by the population of any country in the world , you will at once discover , either that large farms mast continue to exist , or a large portion of the soil must be thrown out of cultivation . I have not the slightest objection to large farms , provided they are diminished according to the wants and requirements of an increasing population . If the rule laid down by you was carried out , just in proportion as the population of a countrv increased , would the contraction

      of farms increase—and this would be very just , while I would attach the rational stipulation ; that no working man should hold more than he could cultivate by his own labour . For instance , we will take ten thousand acres as the area of a parish , with a population of one hundred . By your standard , each parishioner should occupy a hundred acres , nearly the whole of which should either remain in an unproductive state , or cultivated in a slovenly way by slave labour—while I would allow the hundred parishioners to hold just as much as

      they could cultivate , and farmers to hold the remainder . The wages of their labourers being measured by the value of the free labour of their neighbours—and then , as the population increased , I would diminish the size of those large farms proportionately . By this system , the remainder above what the hundred husbandmen required , would be much better cultivated than if the ten thousand acres were divided between the hundred ; Sand the wealth of a country is the superior cultivation of the soil .

      I think I hear you exclaim "But who is to be the landlord ? The State or the usurper ? The descendant of a soldier in the conquering army , or the grantee of a foreign King , whose title was established by force , and maintained by fraud V That question I shall also answer presently . I now select the following portion of your letter for comment ;—These are the questions of all others the most « npala . table to tho gorerniaff p » wera all orer the world , and I hope they TriU be prosecuted with rigour to their foil and permanent recognition . Feargas f ? Connor has touched the sore place in hi * Land Scheme , and only touched It ;

      bnt he has dona enough to draw from their kennels aU the rabid animals whofatten on the labour of others . I hope hewiU loio ns time in nuking eood the tbrust , which I find in a leading arficls otthe Koethhbs Stab for the 15 th July last , and which is conveyed to the public in these forcible words : ' Landlords , monopolists , and profit-monjjers wonld do well to consider whether the recent trials may not hare done much to enlarge the objects of popular agitation . The « Charter and noSurrender * was the motto of the men justsentenced to a long and creel incarceration-. Ansther motto , mora terrible to the usurpers of political power and the monopolisers of the wealth produced by other men ' s labour , may ere lone be the rallying cry of the outraged miliums . ' If

      Feargus O'Coniior will incorporate the freedom of the public lands with his agiutien for the Charter , bis agitation will assume a character that must forcibly recommend it to the enslaved millions . His Land Scheme is very good ss far as it goes , but its range is too limited—In censequenca of the extreme poverty otthepeople . it can never reach the gigaatic evils which beeetthose whose pressing necessities demand a more easily attainable measure of relief . Besides , why should the people pay for that which of right belongs to them ! The people have a right to a fair share of thesoU . and no man is better qualified than Feargus O'Connor , either by talent or moral courage , to put them in the right way to obtain it ; and I sincerely hope that he will bend the eaergies of bis superior mir . d in that direction , regardless of the scofis of those who would fain drive him from the path which must sooner or later lead to the people's

      redemption . The felon , or truth-speaking press has been put down in Ireland , and the day may soon come when it shall be put down in England also ; tha land-Stealing press will then hare it all its own way , and the minds of ihe people will csntiiiae to be abused as heretofore . It has given me great pleasure to find that Feargus CCoanor has taken no part in the late disturbances la Ireland — the government wou'd have been too glad to have feund him in arms against it : but his life and services are reserved for better uses . He knew the people oi England and Ireland were unprepsred to resist the tremendous power efthe government , bached as it was by the upper and middle classes . He therefore relies on the potency of moral force , and as a moral for . e man I hope thaChartista wul give him thair entire confideacai If they do , be will bring them triumphantly through their difficulties .

      My good Sir , it is true that I have but touched the sore ; but it is equally true that in no other country in Europe—not even in free America—has the sore been touched . Those who have been contending for the people ' s right to the land , have represented a consultation of physicians , while 1 have been the sur « geon selected to perform the operation . Here , in less than two years and a half , I have erected 300 homesteads , from which the occupants

      cannot , and shall not , be forcibly ejectedwhile , in free America , where you have the Charter , I have not heard of one home being erected for the wanderer . True , there has been some Communist speculation in large tracts of land , but there has been no attempt at individualising man , basing his hope upon self-reliance and self-interest , and out of a com munity of such individuality establishing a great oneness of sentiment , opinion , and interest , by national representation .

      In America no law stands in your way , while in England it is a stumbling block at every cottage path . In America you have meadows and valleys , hills and dales , not fenced in by landlords' statutes , and yet my poor countrymen , and your poor countrymen , find it as difficult to possess themselves of Land in America as in England or Ireland . You must bear one great fact in mind , " and that is ; not only the prejudice and hostility ,

      but the persecution and oppression with which the advocates of the Bights of Labour are invariabl y met in this country . And you must understand , that if one thing more than another can damage the cause of Labour , it is the imprudence of its advocates . As to the Land , when I commenced my perambulating tour in England , in 1835 , 1 told the working classes that if the Land was locked up to-day I would not give them a farthing for the suffrage to-morrow . I told them do because the

      Land alone can individualise man . I told them so because machinery aud capital would ever be able to measure wages by the standard of destitution , the competitive reserve of unwilling idlers constituting the slave mart for capitalists to fall back upon , as a means of reducing wages ; and thus their profits from this source , and not their fair speculation in trade constituting their wealth , and , as if by magic , wedding them to that system of Communism which must ever prove the ruin of

      the masses . The present Labour system of England is one huge system of Communism ; the wealthy idle director living upon the ignorance and dependence of aggregate thousands . The first repulse that Chartism met in this country was that odium excited against it in consequence of the false , the treacherous ,, and deceitful , nicely calculating and enthusiastically pro . claiming what the Charter would effect . Its several hypocritical propounders who received their salaries from the pence of the poor , racked invention to tell them what the Charter

      would'do , as if by magic , even to the seasoning of their soup . I was asked a thousand times what the Charter would do ? and my answer was , "I'LL NOT TELL YE . It would be presumptuous , it would be dictatorship on my part to tell you , that it would do more than to base the laws of the land upon the will of the majority of the people , and if they are not good laws the whole people will be willing slaves , and I shall not murmur . " Such was my definition of Chartism ; while to such extravagant lengths'had its paid advocates gone , that Mr Jumice Littledale , at

      Warwick , upon the trial of Lovett and Collins , told a jury of farmerathat the object of Chartism was to appropriate their Land to their own purposes ; and to such a height had prejudice against Chartism been raised , that even Sir Frederick Pollock , in defending Frost , at Monmouth , told the jury that he believed it was the intention of the Chartists to possess themselves of the Land of the country , when Mr Frost interrupted him and said , " Sir Frederick , I beg to assure you that that is a mistake , the Chartists never entertained such an intention . "

      I am notr showing you how strong a prejudice may be raised against a movement in consequence efthe folly , the ignorance , or hypo crisy of its advocates , or rather of its paid supporters . Another prejudice has now been created against Chartism , in consequence of a few mushrooms relying upon the confiding people to realise a Liberty Fund of 10 , 000 / ., and the hope of clutching the lion ' s share of which urged bad men to madness which had method in it , and good men to rashness which had sincerity in it .

      Well , then , suppose I was to advocate the right of the people to the possession of the Land , where would the right commence , and where would the prejudice and persecution end ? The . very fact of our going into the market as open bidders proves our integrity , while the fact of the funds being supplied , which have enabled me to outbid the wholesale purchasers at every auction , proves its retail value .

      My good sir , believe me that it promised to be a life ' s work , and not a short one , to reclaim an artificial race of exotics , reared in the hothouse , and trained to drunkenness and dissipation , and to implant in their minds net onl y a love , but a preference , for the more natural state . It was a work that I set my heart upon , and one that you will yet see realised . I never encouraged the hope that I could make my scheme national , except by example . I have told the people that my best exertions could only make it SECTIONAL , and that their at tachment to the miniature would compel their

      rulers to make it national . And I new unhesitatingly declare , that had it not been for the partial potato rot last year , and the all but general disease this year , the whole of England wouhLby this time have been united as a great Land community j and even this disaster has not in the slightest degree discouraged me , or weaned me from the project , as , in my conscience , I believe , that no power on earth but the location of the surplus population upon the Land can save England from bankruptcy , and such a revolution as neither regulars , pensioners , specials , policemen , nor detectives can

      suppress . It is fortunate for me that I have stereotyped my opinions both socially and politically , and that I can refer to my maxims . I have told the people that all I could do was to make their teeth water by showing them the ri pe plum over the garden wall ; and I now tell you that every single suffering of the working classes -of England is consequent upon their own dissipation , their own jealousy of each other , and their own want of union ; because

      the amount spent upon dissipation , or the amount subscribed to clubs , Sick and Benefit Societies , and Burial Societies , if expended for one year upon the Land , would render all these private subscriptions unnecessary , by relieving the artificial market ef the surplus population . But the satisfied emp loyed are the tools of the cunning employer , and the paid directors and managers of those clubs and societies constitute a nucleus of disaffection , and forbid the union of the dissatisfied .

      The money in the Savings' Banks would locate two hundred thousand people each in a splendid cottage , with four acres of ground , and that number of heads of families wouldjrepresent one million , or a thirteenth of the population of England . Thus , the artificial market would not only be relieved of that amount of competition , but the very location of that number upon the Land , would create a larger colony of domestic consumers , and cheap domestic producers , than any of those colonies which we maintain at such a frig htful expenditure . If those million of persons located upon the Land only consumed an additional pound ' s worth each , per year , of our manufactured articles , tnere would be customers at our door to the amount of a million a

      year ; while the trades not engaged in manufacture would be recipients to the amount of two millions , three millions , or four millions a year above what those million of persons are now able to expend with them . The agitation for Catholic Emancipation first opened my mind to the blindfold manner in which a people could be led in quest of moonshine ; and then , Reform—the social benefit anticipated from which was , as a TVelsh ; carter

      told me in answer to a question upon an Election Committee , —¦ " Roast beef and plum pudding , to be sure ! " Now , such was the poor man s anticipation from Reform , and for that millions contended , and scores were hung , while all were deceived . It may appear egotistical to remind my readers of so many prophesies ; but there is one other in connexion with Reform to which I must call attention . In December , 1831 , there

      was a powerfully aristocratic meeting , held in the Court House at Cork—the High Sheriff , I think , was in the chair—for the purpose of assistingthe English Reformers , Thespouters actually drove their audience mad ; and when all the marshalled speakers had concluded , I rose in the gallery , and demanded a hearing . A § d mark the conclusion of my speech : you y £ U find it reported in the « Southern Reporter' of the 6 th of December , 1831 . I said : —

      ~ r i » . 5- ** ? " ? P eftwm for England upon the princinlM ° .. TOSt s „ W " yoa . that if not followed by a Rep .. -.. * J U J ? ion ** wtUbe tha worst measure that avir t , ? l ! , ed for belaud , because the first act of the English Reform Parliament will be to pais some Sagging BUI to smother the expression of public opinion ia this country . " Now , the above is printed in the Southern Reporter of 1831 , and the first act of the first Reform Parliament in 1833 , was the Coercion Bill , the suppression of public meetings , and the substitution of Trial b y Court-Martials—for Trial by Jury . W » ll . „„ »„ J !„ t !„«„ _!« . 3 i- « ... wiwi

      ., c « , my pieuiuuuiiB , regara 10 rree Trade , have been most unhappily realised , and seeing that all these agitations were intended i , to end , and did end , in mere political triumphs , 't ; resolved upon attaching the social princip le of the Land to the political principle of ahesCharter ; and I now repeat my opinion in 1 U 35 , that if the Land was locked up to-mor-Tovr , | I would not give you a single straw for the Charter , and for the most simple of all reasons—because it is the only mint in which man can coin his individual labour into the exchangeable medium for all the necessaries and luxuries of life , and the value of which ^ no whimsical financier can depreciate to his ' injury .

      My good Sir , of all the absurd . ' and whimsical nonsense that ever : was uttered , those several projects for altering the currency of the country , and thereby creating abundance , are the most rabid . An alteration in currency , if it is substantial , can only mean an altered symbol mark , or token , to represent fictitious wealth , while the only real wealth that can he produced , and that can give the standard value to diamonds , precious stones , and gold itself , 1 b the PRODUCE OF THE LAND , and the most valuable labour is the labour that is applied to that purpose .

      Let me instance this simply and familiarl y for you : Pitch five millions worth of wheat , the produce of this country , into the sea to-morrow , and what becomes of your Exchequer , your boasted Constitution , and your peace ? Upon the other hand , sink five millions worth of manufactured goods in the deep , and it ' would be a positive blessing . . This shows you the difference between food and artificial produce—between the necessaries and comparative luxuries of life . Believe me , Sir , that if I were to incorporate the freedom of the public Lands

      with the agitation for the Charter , that I should place the Land Scheme in the very same position that the livers upon Chartism placed that principle , " when the poor man ' s exchequer , and not their feelings , constituted the basis of their advocacy . No , no ; my object is to show the value of Land retail at the wholesale price , leaving to the unbeliever the solution of the question of Land value , and leaving to Providence and the people , and to the fears of the great , the national solution of the question .

      Rent should be paid to the State , or to the landlord ; and divesting the Land Scheme of all consideration of a house which man must live in , let me test for you what the value of Land really is . The average price at which I have purchased an estate for the Land Company is £ 38 3 s . 6 d . per acre—that is £ 152 14 s . for four acres—that is , at a rent of four per cent ., little more than £ 6 per year , not counting the house in which man must live , and upon which his rent is measured at the wholesale price .

      Now , if no man or three men can cultivate four acres of ground , the man who buys a pig for a pound in March will sell it for six pounds at Christmas , so that he makes a profit of five pounds upon one pig or within a pound of his year ' s rent , and has its manure and the remainder of the produce of the four acres for his labour ; and , cultivate it as he will , is there a family in Europe that can consume the produce of four acres , three acres , two acres , or one acre , cultivated to its highest state of capability ? Hence 1 show you that rent is comparatively nothing , but certainly not of sufficient importance to make it the basis of a general onslaught upon the Land Company , by prejudice—at once denominating us a

      GREAT LAND PLUNDER COMPANY . Sir , just mark the prejudices against which we have to contend . Landlords fear lest the location of great numbers should raise the price of agricultural labour upon their tenants ; manufacturers fear lest it may become an open market for free labour , and thus deprive them of the idle competitive reserve , by whose destitution they are enabled to measure wages ; brewers and distillers fear lest milk should become a substitute for porter and gin ; publicans fear lest the happy homes may have greater charms than the gin palace or the beer shop . f

      Parsons fear lest the truth , , that man could live in the sweat of his evrn brow / ' being developed , should lead to a more simple and less mysterious system of religion and Christianity . Lawyers fear that in the happy family there will be neither discontent nor litigation . Pawnbrokers think that though a weaver or mechanic may be compelled , through idleness , to pawn their tools , that no husbandman would ever pawn his spade , his hoe , or his wheelbarrow .

      The propounders of bubble schemes and societies , invented for the benefit of the projectors , fear lest their trade may depart . The shopkeeper , who would be the greatest gainer , fears lest his acquiescence in the plan should disturb his social connexion with the lending membeia of his class . The doctor fears lest the open air should become a medicine chest , and nature his rival .

      The poor gentleman , who is too proud to work and too poor to live without labour , fears lest his theoretical enthusiasm should be deprived of its remuneration ; and The Press , the organ and the mouth p iece of those several classes , is compelled to chronicle their hostility in order to secure their support . While the greatest enemies are the working classes themselves , who will not see the in creased impetus it must give to their trade , whilst they allow , or pretend to allow , the influence of the hostile factions and their Press to measure their confidence .

      > Yes , Sir , if those who are able to assist themselves am \ their brethren chose to put their shoulder ^ to the wheel , the Land Plan would be very speedily made sufficiently extensive to locate the poorest of the poor , whose location , ' although they did not pay a fraction towards it , would immediately benefit the more fortunate contributors . But the ruling maxim is . deferent from that of their oppressors : the partisans of Whigs and Tories MAGNIFY the virtues and SUPPRESS the vices of their adherents ; while the partisans of labour MAGNIFY the vices and SUPPRESS the virtues of their advocates . My dear Sir , I am now the only member of the most persecuted family in Europe who has

      been able to maintain his principles , and to remain in his country ; . and the experience gained from the false anticipations of triumph entertained by members of my family , as well asthe dangers with which , a Government—sustained by secret setwise money , fraud , hypocrisy and l ying—cani beset the path of a political opponent , has read ! me a great lesson . For years I have been the subjject of abuse of Irish leaders , to whose tead ^ the realisation of my principles threatened not only danger , but destruction ; and notwithstanding my sentiments have found a hearty response in the

      land of the stranger , there , also , I have had to contend against the selfishness , the jealousies , and the dogmas of traffickers , who would adopt any payiag theory as their stock in trade ; and thus , from the time I severed myself from Daniei O'Connell and the Irish party , in 1833 , when I discovered that tho question : of Repeal was mere " BIRD LIME " to catch the singing birds , as a means of securing patronage , I have suffered an amount of national , imperial , governmental , legal , party , class , Press , and individual persecution which , in my soul , I believe would have killed a thousand stout-hearted men ; while my whole

      armour has been the conviction that my policy was right , that my principles were just , and that their realisation alone could insure man ' s happiness ; and I have often though t that I would cut rather a contemptible and ridiculous figure if I hazarded the success of those principles upon the whim or caprice of the cunning , the idle , the artful , or the treacherous . I have often laughed at the exuberant folly of sane men pinning their faith to the high-sounding and enthusiastic rubbish of volunteers , crimped into our service by the desire to live idl y upon enthusiasm , or luxuriantly upon blood-money . However , you find the truth of the old motto in my position , that "THE PEOPLE ARE

      SELDOM WRONG AND NEVER LONG . WRONG / ' When they are wrong , I invariably become the target of their abuse . Like others , I do not justify desertion upon tho grounds of ingratitude . I reason with them till reason resumes her empire , and I invariably receive their contrition and apology as my reward ; and by them I will stand ; and , without bluster , I shall be always ready to go . farther with them in the legitimate demand for liberty than any other man of my class , but I will not be led by the necessities of " poor gentlemen , " or by the rashness of enthusiasts .

      My dear Sir , —You may rely upon it , that neither the scoffs of the oppressor nor- the slander of the ungrateful can ever drive me from the course which my mind tells me is right ; my mind does tell me , and my conscience approves the dictate , that the Land should not remain uncultivated while a hand remains unemployed or a mouth wants food ; my mind does tell me that the open air and the land , and not the rattle-box and the lifedestroying gas , are the proper elements for man to work on and breathe in ; my mind does tell me that no man has a right to represent another unless that power is voluntarily delegated to him , and , therefore , the world ' s Exchequer shall never seduce me from the advocacy of THE LAND AND THE CHARTER , I have the honour to remain , Your faithful friend , Feargus O'Connor .

      I Colled Upon By The Roica Of Nature, To...

      ' f ^ x ^ y-J the \

      ' F ^X^ Y-J And National Teades' Journal...

      AND NATIONAL TEADES' JOURNAL , VOL- XII . No 578 . LONDON , SATPRDAYrNOYEMBEiriS , 1848 . It , sgJBgS" 5 ^ I

      To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen Op The Br...

      TO HER MAJESTY VICTORIA , QUEEN OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE . Letter IV . R ) 5 spectbd Sovereign , I address your Majesty as Queen of the most powerful Empire the world has yet known ; an Empire now wielding new scien . tine power for producing wealth and happiness among its subjects , exceeding the manual power of nine hundred millions of slaves in full manhood ; slaves most easily governed , living without food or raiment , daily increasing , and capable of being , at the pleasure of the state , increased indefinitely in numbers , beyond any assignable limits . This is an ^ overwhelming power for good or for evil .

      Through the false principle on which—from the beginning—society over the world has been based , this power has been , so far , directed to produce increasing evils and misery to the human race . It had been blindly applied throughout the British Empire , to produce « i / mor , instead of superior circumstances , while the superior mig ht have been more easily and economically created ; and man ever has been , is , and ever must be , the creature of the inferior or superior circumstances by which society shall surround him *

      It is , then , the highest interest of the human race , that all , from and before birth , should be surrounded by the most superior circumstances only , that the means and wisdom of society can create . Your Majesty ' s Government is « ow so placed , in the midst of a world of error and anarchy , that , by wise counsel , it may terminate this confusion , and , in a comparatively short period , accomplish the greatest and most important good , for all nations . It has now the most desirable opportunity ever offered to the world , to attain this glorious result ; and , at once , to stay the mangling of man by man ; the destruction of valuable property , and the misdirection of all human faculties and powers .

      If the British Government , with the power , dignity , and benevolence , which its present position should create , were to say to contending nations— " Peace , and you shall be all highly benefitted . Behold the new power which , ! in modern times , the industry of British subjects has discovered or invented ! It is , when understood and rightly directed , an hundred-fold beyond the wants of our population for the creation of wealth . It may now be made to become equally superabundant for the creation of wealth for the world . Why , then , have human living slaves of any colour ? or why should

      white men—calling themselves rational beings —butcher one another for no one good object ? You want wealth—you want a good and superior character for yourselves and your fellowmen—and you want to be surrounded by superior and happy circumstances . " These results may now be easily attained . " With the enormous new scientific powers for producing wealth and increasing happiness ; with the late discovery by which any human character may be created , or well or iU-m annfactuved , according to the natural q ualities , at birth , of the organisation or material ; we can now assist to enable you to acquire

      the power and means to secure ample wealth , and a good superior character for all , and by the creation of new practical arrangements , by means of which both of these important objects will be permanentl y attained and made universal . Why , then , like Don Quixote , fighting with the windmill , should you now waste your invaluable powers so irrationally as to contend thus furiously against each other , when , by so doing , you only destroy those powers which , rightly directed , mi *> ht be made to be most useful in preparing happiness for all ? ' ' Such is the language which your Majesty ' s Government , by its present enviable position , is

      To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen Op The Br...

      I colled upon by the roica of nature , to use to tit [ nations now blindly contending for they know : riot what ; insane contests , which they haw jno conception how to terminate to the advan * jsage of any party or district , it has been raid , that the natural and scientific powers © I jEuropo for the creation of wealth—of a good character , and of superior surrounding circum * stances for all its present , and for a greatly iu « creased population , are , or may be speedily jrnade to be , superabundant , and all facts prove thie-faruth of this statement . | called upon by Toice ofnature , tou 8 etoA

      \ lb may be then asked of the powers of Europe > why these means should not now be so applied that all its inhabitants may enjoy this Superior state of existence , and become an example to be followed b y the population of . jfevorypart of the globe ? ] Truth and right in the government of the world , will be found to be , in practice , plain , simple , and straightforward ; falsehood and wrong require to be mysterious and infinitely involved—whatever form of government they may assume—in order to cover their injustice and cruelty . Were a European Congress decided upon , thfl existing governments , by new arrangements , might be maintained , and themselves enabled to effect the changes which are now required , through the progress of scientific knowledge to

      create at nil times a superfluity of wealth , and inconsequence of the discovery of the sure means , by which to well form the character of

      ant . The Constitution and Code of Law * for Europe ,, by which this change might . be peaceably , effected , and all nations and people permanently benefitted , are preparing for publication , and will be soon submitted to the public A new government for the population of Europe-is rendered unavoidable by the progress ofr ' events , and the acquisition of new facts , disr dosing the causes , of good and evil , and thua opening superior enlarged views to the human race .. A government may now be formed which shall secure peaceably , and without disorder or confusion a permanent progress in prosperity , and ; the well-doing and happiness of all the nations , and people of Europe . The signs of the times indicate that the British

      Government should take the initiative in this glorious change—that they should propose the Congress , and cordially offer their bent assistance to . calm the minds of all parties , and explain to them the measures by which the whole population may be so essentially benefitted . All are now suSering ; many most severely , and all are in danger of doing so through a slate of ignorant anarchy and of excitement , created by misery , the causes of which are misunderstood , or they would have been removed .

      Tn » intentions of all these contending parties auogood—they all think themselves ri ght , and their opponents wrong . In consequence of the false principle on which they have b « en educated , they have no charity for the difference of character created fortheir opponents—a difference created without the consent or knowled ge of their opponents . Thus all , through errors early forced into their minds , are acting blindly or without real knowledge ; all , therefore , are objects for sympathy , and not for blame . But the means to epen their minds to see the truth , and to overcome their errors are now required , for of themselves they cannot perceive or conquer those errors .

      It is in rain to expect that hatred , anger , and violence can ever convince error . The means required to effect this object are patience , perseverance , kindness , and charity , directed by firmness , proceeding from a sound and correct judgment , aided by extensive prac * tical experience . These , however , are qualifications which can alone emanate from a knowledge of human nature and of society , unalloyed with any of the local or general influences and prejudices which are created by the false fundamental principle on which alone society has hitherto been based , or by confined fanciful notions of practice .

      And this knowledge is only to be attained by the abandonment of that false principle , and all the innumerable evil consequences which —whenmadethe base of national institutionsit produces . To the present period , this false principle and its endless evil consequences , hare been made to pervade all minds—and the difficulty now to be overcome is to cut the Gordian knot of this universal false association of ideas , and of the opposition thus created of man to man . The onl y weapon equal to this mighty task , is plain direct truth , firmly but benevolentl y expressed in simple terms , and made so obvious that the mind will be compelled to receive it ,

      This weapon the writer , regardless of all opposition , has used without ceasing for many years . Its effects are now experienced , and are rapidly progressing throughout the civilised world . All ' who reflect , or suffer , are dissatisfied with the present system of falsehood , ignorance , injustice , and cruelty . They see or feel the wrong—but they yet do not see the right , or know how it » to be attained in practice . Yet that which appears to the falsely educated and erroneously placed , to be infinitely difficult , involved , and impracticable , will , when guided by the principles of truth , become plain to all and easy of execution .

      All now required , is to form new scientific practical arrangements , to well plac * > , employ , educate , and govern all from birth , according to age ; combining , in these arrangements , the greatest amount of mechanical and chemical power , to gradually elevate mind , and reduce slavery and servitude to their minimum . By this change , gradually effected , none would be injured . All would be permanently

      benefitted . The earth , instead of being overrun with falsehood , fraud , disunion , poverty , and crime , making a near approach toward a pandemonium , would gradually become the abode of beings ] trained"in truth and honesty ; united ; surrounded with all that can contribute to health and true enjoyment , and in a fair way to progress toward an earthly paradise .

      This is the "Good time coming . " Error and prejudice may yet retard its progress ; but no human power can prevent its ultimate , and not very distant , accomplishment . Ma ^ your Majesty ' s Government aid effectually in this great and glorious cause ; and may your Majesty and your royal Consort live , not onl y to see the "Good time coming , " but to have health and strength , with many ef the present subjects of your Empire , long to enjoy it . Most respectfully ,

      Your Majesty s faithful subject , Robert Owen London , Nov ., 1848 .

      Frek Trade—Dan Ih Cat«.B.—The Vessel, Ei...

      Frek Trade—Dan ih Cat « . b . —The vessel , Eider arrived at Brunswick-wharf , Blackball , from Tonningen , has brought the large number of 198 oxen and cows , consigned to order , the produce of Denmark . Thero have recently baea one or two equally large arrivals of horned cattle from this Danish port , and they are of peculiar ioteresS atd importance , both on account of the particular country of supply , and that no arrivals of horned stock to such an extent havo taken place from » ay other part o Europe or , of course , elsewhere . The same vessel brought , in addition to a quantity oi Rrainof different descriptions , 100 casks tf butter , and some packags of fresh meat . No arrival if a similar character to the last mentioned baa before taken place from this or any other continental state , excepting tho port of Hamburgh , and the rwppiy i 8 therefore , on account of its novelty , also of suae interest .

      Tax Cooobsdau . Gaso . —Oo Thursday there was a further examination of the parties cwicectcd with tha Coggeshall gang , tho charges prip . cipa ly arising out of the statements cf Wade , thecoavicted ^ ccom . plice in tho case . Another of tha j anp , William Everett , a dealer infbb , was apprehend < u Satur . day , and was charged with the ethera witi farther burglaries in the neighbourhood of Coggeshall . The examination took place at the gaol , SpringQHd . The cases gane into were the burglaries at Mi Ball ' s , Mr Smith ' s , and Mr Wood ' s , at Grange hill , upon which the several prisoners , Everott , Crew , Ellis , and Tansley were remanded until a future day *

      I I * K

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  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 18, 1848, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_18111848/page/1/