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•THjB ff&ftjfrftRB$N MAR. . . ' - August...
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How ready, Pr.ea One Smiling. J THK SECOND KDITIOH OF ' . ' _.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
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We have no news of importance from FRANC...
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A JOURNEY TO THE PEOPLES' FIRST ESTATE, AUGUST 17, 1816.
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mE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY, AUGUST 2d . 1846.
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"THE NATION" AND "THE CHARTER." " We hav...
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PHYSICAL FORCE. We have already exhauste...
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LABOUR'S BATTLE. The battle of FREE TRAD...
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LETTER III. TO THE IRISH RESIDING IN GRE...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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•Thjb Ff&Ftjfrftrb$N Mar. . . ' - August...
• THjB ff & ftjfrftRB $ N MAR . . . ' - August 29 ^ 1846
How Ready, Pr.Ea One Smiling. J Thk Second Kditioh Of ' . ' _.
How ready , Pr . ea One Smiling . J THK SECOND KDITIOH OF ' . ' _ .
Ad00415
MY LIFE , OR OUR SOCIAL STATE , Pabi I . a Poem , hy ERNEST JONES , Barrister at Law , Wc hope the author will be encouraged by the public to fcMitinue his memoirs . —Literary Gazette , An unequivocally strange and eventfolmstory—Ossianic Inits qualit } . —Jfonihifl -Herald ,
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In We , Mynumbersato „ ePenny . and 3 Iontmy Parts at j oxdon rwafpS ^ " ^^? 1585 . Ll ( 48 columns ) te OjM ^ efu , mat ter-Orito immense mass Of * te £ ® °£ * l border , besides some gmal Tales and Komances of ^ rs , Terynsefm Essays ^ npnai roetry a factnr & ^ ^ mesfic Economyjtoenu ^ M , colamns to the ad > TnfSfr » « 8 » deadly tvar ¦ S ** £ S cSrrmSon ind monopoly ; fears noparty ; is ^ S ?* J £ lTS- bat advocates the rights of labour T ^* ? ™ ancta 2 ion of commercial enterprise through-2 ? . £ ^ f dSWce on earth and good nriU towards ° S tthe ^ \ o 14 is this dav published , and contains rilman fano . - - entitled , "Martin , the Found-£££ ll £ 5 r 7 «?* Valet de Chambre . " -Pnblisbed by JL i O . SE Buke-street , Lincoln's-ian , London ; and BOld by aU bwlsseUas . —Part 3 is now ready .
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LITHOGRAPHIC ENGRAVINGS OF THE DUNCOMBE TESTIMONIAL . MAY still be had at the Office of Messrs . M'Gowan aad Co ., IG , Great WindmiU Street . Haymarket , london ; throug h any respectable bookseller in town or wuntry ; oratany of tbeagents offluAartftem Star . The engraving is on a large scale , is executed in the BOStfinisW style , is finely printed < m tinted paper , and rives a minute description of the-Testimonial , and has ^ Inscription , ^^^ SSSS ^
Ad00418
TO TAILORS . Now ready , THE LOKD 05 T and PARIS SPREJft and SUMMER FASHIONS , fer 1 S 46 . By approbation of her Majesty Queen Victoria , and his Royal Highness Prince Albert , a splendidly coloured print , beautifully executed published by BENJAMIN READ and Co ., 12 , Hartttxeet , Bloomsbury-equare , London ; and G . Berg * r , Holywell-street , Strand , London . Sold by the publishers and all booksellers , wheresoever residing . This superb Print will be accompanied with full size Riding Dress nd Frock Coat patterns , a complete pattern of the new
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A GOOD FIT WARRANTED . UBSDELL AND CO ., Tailors , are now making up u complete Suit of Superfine Black , any size , for £ 3 ; Superfine West of England Black , £ 3 10 s . ; and the very best Superfine Saxony , £ 5 , warranted not to spot or change colour . Juvenile Superfine Cloth Suits , 24 s . ; Liveries equally cheap—at the Great Western Emporium , Fos . l and 2 , Oxford-street , London ; the noted house for good black cloths , anupateRtmaue trousers , Gentlemen can choose the colour and Quality of cloth from tbe largest stock in London . The a , i of cutting taught .
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DAGURREOTYPE AND CALOTTPE . THE APPARATUS , LEKS , CHEMICALS , PLATBB CASES , and every other artici-used in making and Bounting the above can be had of LEgerton , No 1 Temple-street , WhUernars , London , -descriptive Cata Jogues gratis . LEREBOUBS' celebrated ACHROMATIC TRIPLET LENSES for the MICROSCOPE , sent to any part of the country at the following prices : —Deep Power , 68 s . ; Low J "' ower , 25 i . Erery article warranted . Practical instrucaons . Three G tineas .
Foreign Affairs
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
We Have No News Of Importance From Franc...
We have no news of importance from FRANCE , The trial of the insane would-te " regicide" Joseph Henry , commenced on Tuesday last before the Chamber of Peers . Letters from Algeria announce the re-appearance of the indomitable Abd-el-Kader . From SPAIN , we hear that several persons were arrested at Barcelona on the night of the 17 th Inst . Several domiciliary visits were made in that city , and a considerable quantity of arms and amunition of all kinds seized . The Miguelites are still troublesome in
PORTUGAL . A fanatical priest , known by the name of El Padre Casitniro , has succeeded in getting together a numerous band of Spanish and Portuguese smugglers , with "whom he is scouring the provinces . He announces himself to be the protector of the five wounds of our Saviour , and proclaims the right of Hon Miguel to the throne . From POLAND ¦ we have intelligence through the German papers of the discovery of another Polish conspiracy . It is asserted that the plan had been formed by tbe malcontents of Gallicia and the Polish emigrants in France . Three French , emissaries have been arrested . Tisaowski is still detained in prison in Saxony . Letters from
TURKEY anno jn « a some serious disturbances in several parts ef the Ottoman empire .
A Journey To The Peoples' First Estate, August 17, 1816.
A JOURNEY TO THE PEOPLES' FIRST ESTATE , AUGUST 17 , 1816 .
4 From a correspondent . ) o . Good reader . We have rested a week since we last gossiped , in our own way , over the events of the 17 th of August . That which was then in the present is now ia the past tense , the people's journey to "The People ' s First Estate" has been chronicled , mrittea down ia the History of England , an event to be reasoned on by the observer of the present age , and the thinker of the future . Then why do vie return to it 5 Your heart is there , it is no stretch of fancy to say . you unconsciously revert to ft . Tiis vast world of ekimneys -and lamp-posts , this great London with its noise audits bustle of « abs and omnibuses , its merchants and flunkies , las not driven it frosi your mind , you cannot , you sever will lorget it . Once mtfe , then , return with « ae to O'Connorville , return to labour ' s holn-ay , see it before yoaa & you would remember your boylood . Well , we are there .
It is 3 o'clock aud the atteraoen is fine , men , and -women of all ages , from the grey tiaired grandfather to the flaxen haired boy move to aE eminence . See jonartiren , he is from Manchester , from the land of cotton factories , there is a look of independence with Km , he has seen the iron monster capital do its worst , he thinks of it but for a mo-ment and exclaims , Is land and labour wealth ? if so , h * re they ^ tall je band-in-hand ; he who labours most shall hsxe » ost , and he who labours least shall have least . jL » capital the legitimate child of land and labour , here the child shall lire and thrive with the parent . " Oh , curious thought , the future is before us in union
and harmony , the opposite of the past , with its mingled antagonism and misery . But there are ethers moving to that same eminence , I now speak of ene whom we must not forget , he is from the Staffordshire Potteries , that mine of ingenuity and beauty . Reader , were you ever in the Potteries , save you gazed on the glitter ofa china show-room , lave you seen the snow white ornaments for the Bantle-pieces of the rich , they are chasteand beauti fcl , they unite ' elegance of taste with precisenesa of « outi m .- The Staffordshire Potteries are one Tasigallery ol : ut , t . " * a » hc working men and workng women are the ar & ois . Tue children of the feat and powerful try ia viMl to imitate the artistic
A Journey To The Peoples' First Estate, ...
srace anu « urau oi tue working potter . 't My '" " comesfrom this classic land , butlie . to *™ . * X ^ main on labour's estate , for Staffordshire * ' « sne ° j no tears , he remembers the past Witk a curw anu thinks of the future with a bless »* J ™* °% ? $ reason for his feelings oh ,, jjv y m ^ wrongg reader , like him , you have ^ o " *"' " vnur _; fe your little ones speak . tat ^^ Htarve . But kno te ° wm te for the Ur future , to-day enough , we wm ^ 3 ^^ KI ^ rfl ^ ^^ «»^ r ^ Pneration . I garer . mnd me and see men from oi iuhh
all the corners of our Isle , l know many , lam told that here we have friends from JJublin , and I recopniee more than one from hardy stern thistly Scotland , and here let me pause to enquire something about this meeting . This is no ordinary public meeting , it is a Convention , not a " worlds convention" heralded forth on the wings of the press , breathed in England , and whispered in America , bear with me if I err in judgment , but , l think , this is even greater than a so-called *• world a convention . " , „ , - « . « . a « Our meeting , for lam even selfish in this case , hence , I say " our meeting , " our convention , aspontancous gatherins of the People ' s representatives met to do homage to a great principle , unclogged by tho formula ofa legislative assembly , and . generous in its objects , as it is free and noble in ltsspmt . The feelines and opinions of labour ' s children , as they are nreatneu
coolly reasoned on in the workshop , ana at the humble hearth , here find a voice . We love a kindred feeling , even in misfortune . To know there is a sympathv of thoughtjn grief , is sweet , in the struggle for right against wrong , truth against falsehood and error , freedom against oppression and persecution , it is doubly sweet ; it is a mind ' s true brotherhood ; a thought ' s true communion . The broken down spirit rises at the sound ot such a companionship , and the long stifled voice of right longs for an outlet . Listen to that eloquent young man , buoyant in the glow of youth , every ear catches the words , 'tis a sneer at the union workhouse ; and why do a thousand bosoms beat with the same feeling ? A thousand voices echo the same response ?
A member of the House of Commons has just discovered that the Commissioners of the New Poor Law have abused their powers . This speaks something . Mr . Hume , the strenuous supporter of that law , finds out that it is mal-administered ; the cool , calculating , economical Scot , has made the discovery—the shrewd man of Montrose had found it out at last ; really it is wonderful ! Not a man or woman among the thousands at this great meeting , but could have answered years ago , that the Poor Law was wrongly directed—that it was not a protection for the aged and infirm—that it was not a nursery for the helpless young . We know it practically , it is the poor man ' s hell , and the legislator ' s disgrace . Sisters and brothers of labour , we respond to its denunciation , because we loathe it in our hearts , and hate the system that condemns honest labourers to starve in a prison . Think of these facts yon , who .
in your generous moments call the people a mob , you may in tbe midst of your wisdom be lords or M . P ' s , you may be doctors or lawyers , and very wise men in your wav , but you do not know the people , you have not yet found out that "The proper study of man * kind is man . ' ' Let us listen for a moment to another speaker , we all know him , his wordsarc " The throne may fall , the altar may perish , but the cottage shall stand , " these words sink deep in the heart of every hearer , every voice almost instinctively cries " hear , hear . " There is a meaning in that reply to the speaker , it means a nation ' s will . " The cottage shall stand . " France , a land of cottages once , twice , made ' a revolution ; the land of France is now the property of 20 . 000 . 000 landholders , who live on it , and cultivate it : England tbe property of some 32 , 000 aristocrats , who starve all who breathe on it save themselves and relatives . But we have
already begun a revolution , a correction , a reconstruction of society . But hark to that chorus of voices , it is loud and long , itisthe voice of the people . — "Three cheersfor the Charter and the Land ! " The vast assemblage separates , some to the tents , some to the cottages , here and there little groups of 12 and 16 are seen in a circle , you hear the words "Tis a noble undertaking . "— "It is sure to go on "— "It shall go on , it is no idle dream "— " It is the People ' s Estate , and it shall prosper . " —Reader , these are true sayings , let tbe people ' s oppressors beware and tremble . It is 7 o ' clock , and I am wending my way to the Watford station , the atmosphere is rather lowered ,
and a fine blue cloud interspersed with light streaks of a greyish colour adorns the sky . All nature rejoices in the joy of an August evening . My compa nions are joyful . The deer parks of the rich , and the cottages for the poor , are the subjects of conver sation—another two hours and we are all closed in a railway carriage . —Once more we are in London , but the memorable 17 th of August will be a subject for the future . Our journey to the People ' s First Estate will be often referred to , often thought of . It was a well spent and memorable day of a working man ' s life . A Leaf fbom the Annals of a Shoemaker ' s - Garrf . t .
Me Northern Star Saturday, August 2d . 1846.
mE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY , AUGUST 2 d . 1846 .
"The Nation" And "The Charter." " We Hav...
" THE NATION" AND "THE CHARTER . " " We have received a printed address from the Chartists of England to the Irish people , with a re quest that we should insert it in the " Nation . " We desire no fraternisation between the Irish people and the Chartists—not on account of the bugbear of " physical force , " but simply because some of their five points are to us an abomination , and the whole spirit and tone of their proceedings , though well enough for . England , are so essentially English that their adoption in Ireland would neither be probable nor at all desirable . Between us and them there is a gidf fixed ; we desire not to bridge it over , but to make it wider and deeper . " From the " Nation" of Aug . 15 , 1846 .
The task of defending the principles of Chartism from the prejudice of the ignorant , from the power of authority , from the misrepresentation of the interested , and the criticism of the vulgar , is periodically imposed upon us , and becomes a labour of love , not more from devotion to their simple truth and purity than from the fact that dread of their growth and power , rather than contempt of their insignificance , is the invariable incentive to the abuse of those who fear their progress , and would strangle them by falsehood or suppress them by silence . We
live in an age in which neither wholesale insolence or pettyfogging quibble can smother truth or mow down principle . We live under the supreme government of mind and jealous public opinion , which demands proof of assertion , or retractation of error . We are now about to analyze the six points of the PEOPLE ' S CHARTER , in order that the Nation newspaper may have an opportunity of establishing its assertion of their abomination , or of confessing its ignorance of their number , their meaning , and their import , and to that end we shall commence with ABOMINATION , No . 1 ,
ANNUAL PARLIAMExNTS . The great difficulty now standing in the way of all governments , whether representative or despotic , whether based upon republican or monarchical principles , is that of keeping pace with public opinion on the one hand ; moulding it to ministerial or despotic- will upon the other ; or , failing in those attempts so to curb and restrain it within such limits as promise security to authority and inviolability to the property of the privileged , which means all who are admitted within the electoral pale , by the whimsicality of such enfranchising schemes as will preserve the distinction between profitable idleness and unprofitable labour . To illustrate this position , we need but turn to Russia , Prussia , aud Austria , with
their boundless possessions and iron rod of despotic rule , yet increasing dissatisfaction ; to France , with her vast territorial possessions , varied climate , increasing commerce aud bubbling discontent ; or to England , with her prodigious colonial possessions , her fertile soil , genial climate , astounding manufactures , boundless commerce illimitable resources , magic industry , commanding position , and growing discontent . In each we find trick succeeding invention , and a GOOD CRY , rather than good works ,
reJiedupon by contending parties as a means of securing their own ascendancy . We see enough , and more than enough , for all , and yet the struggle of the strong to possess themselves of what little pauperism may be supposed capable of sparing still goes on , as though the end and aim of all governments was to aid wealth in securing its dominion to tie the hands of the weak , that the strong may plunder with impunity under the mask of the laws * if political economy , termed HONOURABLE SPECULATION . The incidents , the accidents , the
"The Nation" And "The Charter." " We Hav...
chances and the changes , the improbabilities and almost impossible events , to which governments ^ now owe their elevation or their fall , present a series of " dissolving views" which tbe amused and wondering world , from the great rapidity of transition , hat not yet had leisure more than to marvel at or admire the juggle . The old ship in vain competes with her modern antagonist , and progression stamps her as lumber . The old machine stands mute in sullen silence , while some new invention seems to mock the old contriver . The Old messengers of death are laid aside , to ive place to their more active rivals . The study by
g which torture may be improved for one class , and pleasure increased for the other , has become a science , and not an unprofitable specula tion , Tbe house , the furniture , the equipage , the ornaments , the dress , the manners , the fashion , and etiquette of seven years old , are looked upon as so many antidiluvian curiosities—save in as far as they may be altered to the fashion of the day . No man dresses like his father ; no woman nurses . like her mother . Style , habits , manners , custom , all undergo a convulsive revolution ' of magic change , which makes man almost unconscious of his own or the world ' s
identity . He goes to bed a " Times Tory , and breakfasts upon " Times ' ' Whiggery—he dines a Protectionist , and sups upon Free Trade . And yet , the science of legislation , the charm that is supposed to govern , or at least to adjust all , stands still in the midst of this chaos of succeeding novelties—this whirlpool of conflicting action . Herein , then , consists the difficulty of all who would vainly , hope , or insolently endeavour , to arrest the mind ' s progress in the legislative race ; while its conceptions , in all else , constitute the elements of a new world . The late Prime Minister—the greatest , the wisest ,
the best statesman that his country ever sawtried the experiment of curbing the licentiousness of old-fashioned electoral conceit , by the young genius of the age . The mind , with six years' rust upon it , he would have subjected to the new process of burnishing " old opinions ; " but the crust of time was too impervious for the first application—prejudice would not receive tbe required polish , and he
failed . We speak not now of his Commercial Policy and " Free Trade" nostrums , they are but as a drop of water in the ocean , compared with those results which must inevitably Mow the removal of ; this aristocratic rampart . We speak of " Free Trade " as the entrenchment from which the battle of progression must be fought . And the moral of our tale
is—that Septennial Parliaments are as unsuited to the representative system of this age , as the dress of Queen Elizabeth would be to its fashion—as . the palace of Old Harry would he as the residence of Victoria—as the rude splendour of the voluptuous Wolsey would be to the taste of His Grace , of . Canterbury—or as the Roman sling to our improved arsenals of death .
Industry creates new property , which is governed by old prejudices , until the hostile hand can grasp its too-long-withheld power . And thus , the lagging policy of Government enforces the substitution of sectional cunning and device for PRUDENT CONCESSIONS and timely legislation ; and ever presents man to his fellow as a foe , instead of a helpmate . The order of rule is reversed—the Government ,
instead of being the directing , becomes the directed power ; and justice is lost sight of in the contest for office , and struggle for power . The struggle of contending factions is not for toleration , or even equality , it is for ascendancy—while the neglected bulk of society , ( the great sufferers in the contest , ) are insolently told that their triumph consists in the success of those who stand nearest to them in
degree , or dearest to them in promise . Laying aside the anomalous inequality , the perverted law of economy , the inexplicable conun : drum , by which bricks and mortar instead of living man are invested with intellect , or , which is the same thing , made capable of investing man with electoral qualification , we may at least in this age of freshness and jumping change , be allowed to plead for the equality , if not for the ascendancy , of the new house over the old . Seven years
Parliaments are in this age as great an absurdity as centenary elections would have been in those days of fixedness , marked by the slow progress of improvement and the houseless condition of the country . Where then is the wisdom or even the justice of establishing such antiquated limits , of inflicting such a sentence of delay , of imposing such a galling penance upon the trammelled , illused young houses which spring up as if by magic and proclaim their existence as the TITLE DEED OP THEIR
LIBERTY ? As the question of man ' s enfranchisement shall be our next ABOMINATION for criticism , we have now merely confined our remarks to a consideration of party and ministerial difficulties , showing tiiaj , they mainly , if not wholly , arise from the anomaly of septennial Parliaments , and the vain attempt to govern the houses that have sprung up within six years , by the prescriptive rig ht conferred upon those , which modern architecture , situation , or convenience , have condemned as unfit residences for those whom they had previously qualified , but . whose MINDS have become expanded but are nevertheless
un-enfranchised . In this age of bricks and mortar , when the heath , the forest , the mountain , and the wilderness surrender their loneliness to the bustle of the builder , it is not a violent assumption to presume that a large balance of power has been added to many city , town , and borough constituencies since the last general election , all constituting a portion of ministerial difficulty .
We have shown good and substantial cause why Septennial Parliaments are inadequate to the just representation of society as at present constituled , and we shall now proceed to the proof that they are at variance with the legal maxim , which declares that a superior cannot be carved out of an inferior title . A freehold cannot be cawed out of a leasehold interest . For instance , a lessee of 9000 years cannot make a lease for a single life to be . used for freehold purposes , that is , a person holding property for 9000 years of tbe value of £ 20 , 000 per annum ,
cannot carve one forty shilling freehold out of the whole . A lessor oi seven cannot make a lease for 14 years , and above all , if a distinction can exist , a mere tenant at will , or from year to year , cannot convey a superior title . This is one of those maxims of law which does not partake of the whimsicality of fiction , and therefore becomes an understandable proposition , carrying common sense home to the meanest intellect . How then , we would ask , can the principle of carving a seven years' tenure out of a variety of inferior interests , be justified in the representative system . A working majority of the rural
constituency is composed of tenants at will , who , nevertheless , are invested with the unconstitutional power of conveying a superior title to the lessee for seven years . A majority of £ 10 householders , by whose votes the scale of an election may be , and often is , turned , have no better title , and their tenants ( our representatives ) may hold possession of their seats for periods varying from one to seven years , after the title of their lessors has ceased . Again , in Ireland , a fourteen , twenty-one , aud sixty years lease , with their respective beneficial interests , confer a vote upon the occupier or non-resident owner .
The law of election does not stop to inquire whether there is still an unexpired term of seven years upon the day of election , and in many cases , not at all unusual , the scale is turned by the votes of parties who have not more , or so much , as a year of the original term to run , while from the fact of land
"The Nation" And "The Charter." " We Hav...
giving the vote , tenants so circumstanced become the merest slaves to the will of the landlord iu the hope of a renewal . We know of no plea other than that set up by Lord Stanley , upon which this anomaly can be justified , and the Stanley plea is that the tenants are the willing serfs of their landlords . We have now shown that a majority of the House of Commons may possess representative power for years after the title , out of which it has b een carved , shall have ceased , a practice wholly at variance witfa a wholesome and sensible common sense legal maxim .
Vte need not cite the fact , that annual , or rather sessional , Parliaments were formerly part and parcel of dlur representative system , nor shall we attempt to add weight to the enforcement of a return to the ancient practice by reminding our readers of the fact that the very first act of that Parliament which abrogated Sessional Parliaments and substituted septennial tenure , was to give to the proclamation of
the King equal force as law ; nor is it necessary to remind a watchful and jealous public of the striking difference between a house in its expiring moments and the same assembly in the plenitude of its fresh blown power with the consciousness of seven years irresponsibility , and the knowled ge that turpitude treachery and fraud are the surest road to fortune favour , preferment , and ( itle .
For these reasons then , and in order that the scales of political justice may be held even , even between the ranks of contending faction , we DEMAND ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS as the only means of making the House of Commons a correct representation of the existing constituent body , thereby compelling the government in power to rely upon sound legislation rather than DECEPTION , DELUSION , and A CRY , as its title to rule .
In our next we shall show that Universal Suffrage alone can produce soundness in the Representative system honesty in the government , purity in society , the education of the people , the improvement of morals , the solution of the problem of Criminal Law , an alteration in the sanatory condition of the people , security to the property o all , permanency ti those institutions that ought to stand , the purity of voluntary religion , the conversion of the drunkard , the reclamation of the five hundred thousand perish ing within the precincts of the Royal Palace , existing without God and without hope , the destruction of that anomalous disparity between pampered
idleness and perishing industry , the security o peace through contentment , happiness through plenty , and national prosperity through individual greatness instead of commercial plunder and speculation , society without requiring the soldier ' s musket , or the constable ' s truncheon , to preserve its harmony , a fair and fertile land , the proper field for the propagation of native industry , untaxed by tyrants , and undented by the blood of the innocent shed in the contests of the guilty , the developement and cultivation of our national resources , and the equitable distribution of the national property , which is its industry .
Physical Force. We Have Already Exhauste...
PHYSICAL FORCE . We have already exhausted the Steele-O'Connell vocabulary of hard words , which break no bones , but which require a glossary to soften them down to the nice ear of all save moral philosophers . For the very life of us , we cannot construe a million pikes , streams of blood , the largest amount of physical force ever at the disposal of a conqueror , the arm that is yet young enough to wield a sword in defence of its country's liberty , the humble petition of 500 , 000 fighting men , the motto under the touch hole of the volunteer ordnance of ' 82 , the congratulation of
Scotch men for having won religious liberty on the mountain side with the broad claymore , tbe notice to " Hereditary Bondsmen , " the assurance that England ' s weakness was Ireland ' s opportunity , the comparison between the strength of Irishmen and those of all other countries , the selection of the most bloody scenes of Irish history as the chosen spots for holding peaceful demonstrations of physical force , the forcible reminiscences of the past slaughter of
Irish Catholics , the denunciation of violated treaties , the fierce excitement to revenge ; the promise of Ireland to the Irish—we presume for asking . We cannot , we candidly confess , construe such language into a peaceful struggle for the Repeal of the Union , without the aid of the old adage , that one man may steal a horse , while another dare not look over the wall . Howbeit , to us , who have always inculcated reliance upon moral force , and moral force only , it is no small consolation to have won back so old a sinner
from the wayward path into which he has strayed , and into which he bad well nigh led his unsophisticated followers , whose simple notions of plain words tell them to call a spade a spade , but who are nowtold that blood means tears , muskets steel pens to sign petitions , the roar of cannon an Irish sigh for liberty , and ^ swords plough shares . We must be excused for this repeated repetition of the old bug-bear , as it is , and we trust ever will be , our practice to tear humbug to tatters , and lay apostacy bare to the bone .
We cannot now lay our finger upon the passage in Young Hannibal's speech , upon proposing a celebrated resolution , which those with keen noses declared smelt strong of the rat ; but we will give the substance , if not the identical words , as a clue to the Juveniles who may search the repeal records for the text . He ( Mr . John O'Connell ) did not mean to say that force may not be one day required to achieve Ireland ' s liberty , and when that day came , he would be found in the foremost ranks of his countrymen . ( John O'Connell upon the gigantic scheme of godless education . )
Now what miserable advocates , what poor defenders of their position the Juveniles must be , to have omitted such a counter thrust , when lunged at by Young Hannibal . We need say no more upon the subject of the O'Connells and physical force . We were the first to announce the fact that O'Connell ' s understanding with the Whigs was , that the object of the Liberator ' s mission to Ireland upon the accession of his party was to break up the Repeal Association . Many months since we observed that Repeal members who could be sold , and who were willing to be
sold , were just as fitting tools for Whig purposes as mere Whigs ; inasmuch as the transition from frantic physical force repealer to staunch Whig , is tlie most simple process imaginable , as proved in the case of Morgan and innumerable young O'Connells , Finn , the Fitzsimons , O'Dwyers , the O'Connor Don , and a whole tribe of sopped off Saxon pensioners . There is , however , much in season . There is a time to build up , and a time to null down ; a time to
agitate , and a time to rest . The tune to agitate is from harvest to rent day ; the time to rest is from rent day till harvest comes again . O'Connell will bellow for repeal until the tribute stops his mouth and should the prospect of a general election appear gloomy for a continuance of patronage , we shall find the roaring physical force lion soothed into a sucking dove , by the magic of office , and perhaps title . That is , if a General Election should threaten Whiggery with a long season of ease .
Having so far disposed of one of the wings of the physical force army , we shall briefly direct attention to the moral force doctrines of the main body . Ask an old Whig , it such a thing ig to be found what his principles , or the principles of Whiggery are ? and you will receive the wholesale answerthose established b y the glorious Revolution of 1688 . Ask a Tory , to what England owes her greatness ? and you will he told , to the splendour of her arms and the bravery of her sons . Ask Whig or
Physical Force. We Have Already Exhauste...
Tory , for what the English working classes pay nearly fifty millions a . year ? and you will he told , for the honour of the nation , achieved by her arms , and to support a moral force army , navy , ordnance , police , and a host of moral force butchers . Ask Mr . Laboucherc , tho Whig Secretary for Ireland , wherefore the necessity of an augmented police force in that country ? and his answer is , and was , because the potato crop has failed . Here , then , ig the realizalion of the proverb . We asked for bread and you gave us a stone . Here is the improved method
pointed out by political economy , of arresting famine Ask a churchman , upon what the glorious constitution of Church and State is based ? and he will tell you , upon the BLOOD OF OUR ANCESTORS . Ask a gentleman , how he will aven ge an insult , or redress an injury ? and he will tell you—by the bullet . Ask a soldier , or a sailor , when rushing into battle , what the cause of contention is , and the one will tell you a shilling a-day , and the other for his grog and Old England . If a distinguished foreigner visits our shores , the first treat is a salute from our cannon ,
and the next a review of our troops and inspection of our arsenals . If all other business is neglected by our rulers ,, provision , pay , and the comfort , of our fighting men are never forgotten ; they stand in no danger of famine , while the severity of their service renders minute attention to their fare a serious consideration with government . Their barracks are ventilated , while those who feed them live under-ground ; their children are educated , while those who are taxed for their support are mocked for their ignorance and denied their rights for their want
of education . Ask the young aristocracy of England what portions of their country ' s history they have been taught to read with most reverence and delight , and they will tell you of her sanguinary struggles , marking the name of each age by the amount of blood with which the record is distinguished . The peaceful statesman is forgotten in youthful admiration of our ancient warriors , while our modern butchers are distinguished by colossal statues and pensions . The names of Massaniello , Tell , and
Tyler , though culprits in their day , are more , honoured than those of Castles , Oliver , or Jemmy O'Brien , friends of modern philosophy . Their danger to society has passed away , but their valour remains , if not as an incentive to similar glory , at least as a mask to hide the puling coward ' s face , to paralyze the trembling tongue of slavery that would teach men that there was more honour , religion and morality in suffering like a slave than Jin dying like a freeman in a struggle for those attributes with which God at his birth has endowed him . The
frequent consideration of this question of physical force ia unfairly imposed upon us as one of the charges against the Chartist body , and while we utterly disclaim it as one of our points , we nevertheless argue the question upon its broadest gronnds rather than upon the narrow principle of mere denial of its intended use . While we repudiate the charge , we will not so far disgrace nature and dishonour man , as to enforce the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance , thus confessing the tyrant ' s will to be the tyrant ' s title to live and rule .
We cannot conclude our observations upon this head without directing attention to the demoralizing , debasing , and disgusting letter of the Rev . Mr . Spain , P . P ., characteristically read hy the moral force Steele ( of a million pikes a week notoriety ) at the last gathering of old women at Conciliation Hall . We do not wish to criticise this epistle too severely , it will be found in our present number , and its perusal will insure a sufficient condemnation We shall merely observe that its whole tenor bespeaks a slavish mind , while many ot its passages are at variance with the doctrines that his reverence has been appointed to inculcate and enforce . Here
we find the priest of an oppressed religion in a tyrant trodden country proclaiming his admiration of the very principle by which Ireland and Catholicism have been trampled under the hoof of her proud usurper . We had always learned that the duty of the pious pastor was to comfort and assist the weak-hearted , to raise up those who fall , and , above all , to console the desolate and oppressed , while we find the following inculcation of passive obedience and non-resistance , poor consola . tion to those upon whom rampant tyranny has trampled , and slight hope of redress held out to the oppressed through the moral instrumentality of their moral force advocates . The rev . elevator says ,
" IF A SECTION OF THE PEOPLE SUFFER FROM UNJUST LAWS IT APPEARS TO BE TUE WILL OF GOD THAT THEY SHOULD SUFFER PATIENTLY , RATHER THAN RUN THE RISK OF CAUSING GREATER EVILS TO THE COMMUNITY fAT LARGE , BY ATTEMPTING TO REDRESS THOSE OF WHICH THEY COMPLAIN BY FORCIBLE MEANS . "
Was ever servility equal to this scri pture philosophy , or did ever language present to the hopeless a stronger invitation to resist political inequality by physical force . We ask the rev . gentleman , if fate happened to have cast his lot amongst the sufferers from unjust laws , whether his self-devotion to the remainder jof society would reconcile him to tha t political inferiority which he esteems it a virtue to hear for the general good . Therev . gentleman mus t go a step further in his logic and prove that this tame and passive servility of the oppressed is
conducive to the general happiness of society . But why argue against philosophy which , no doubt , was written to suit an old prostitute's present policy in his barter of Irish nationality and natural feeling for Whig patronage , and old women's applause . Did the rev . gentleman reflect , that in his invitation to suffer tamely he was stamping his countrymen as fitting instruments for oppression and unprepared for that liberty which has been so long promised , so anxiously hoped for , so dearly paid for , but so treacherousl y withheld . Away with such beastly rubbish .
" They who die hy the sword are better than those who perish from hunger , for their bodies pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field . " A word and we have done . We would ask the rev . gentleman how he can indulge in sueh wholesale denunciation of physical force while he designates the revolution of 1688 as a GREAT MEASURE WON BY THE WHIGS . By a parity of reasoning we presume that if the Irish had won Ireland in 1798 his reverence would have characterised the revolution as a GREAT MEASURE WON BY THE IRISH .
Labour's Battle. The Battle Of Free Trad...
LABOUR'S BATTLE . The battle of FREE TRADE has been fought and won , and although the selfishness of party now and then burst through the veil of philosophy with which the conquering speculators had covered their real object , the confessed " casus belli , " the professed motive , was the bettering of labour ' s condition , the unshackling of industry ' s hands from those tight fetters , those galling manacles , in which a monopolizing aristocracy had tied and bound then ! up as necessary segments of the nation ' s greatness as
becoming portions of a great dove-tailed whole . That labour is the only source of wealth is an admitted fact , and therefore the sons of toil must he blind indeed if they have not during the long-pending eonlest discovered the fact , that the struggle betweeu contending parties , between those who would retain power by making them val uable as expensive consumers , and those who would increase wealth bv making them cheap producers , has been solely anil entirely for the lion ' s share of the appropriation of this only source of wealth to their own sole use , behoof , and benefit . The improved science and
Labour's Battle. The Battle Of Free Trad...
sharp practice of political economy had rendered " ft impossible for labour longer to subsist upon thesparings from the double plunder of dear bread and cheap wages , and the active spirit of enterprising commerce triumphed over the sluggish resistance of a shallow confident aristocracy , and , as in all similar cases , the labouring poor were taught to believe that the battle being for them , the victory was theirs . A cheering sign of the times , however , and
one which more than any other circumstance marks , the progress of mind , is the fact , that notwithstanding faction ' s best endeavour , it has failed to commemorate its own triumph by labour ' s servility . A grand national jubilee was anticipated , but the feast of the slaves , in commemoration of their taskmasters ' victory , were few—and labour for the first time began to distinguish between its own , and its oppressors interest .
The repeal of the Corn Laws has presented the speculating capitalists with the long and anxiously sought opportunity of doing justice to labour . No longer does the anomaly of restriction stand in the way of the desired adjustment for which the anxious capitalist so long panted . All moot questions , toodelicate for government interference , and which
could only be . settled by the unerring laws and stern practice of political economy , have now been submitted to that dread tribunal , where protected capital sits in judgment upon defenceless labour ; and the sentence of the court under the last statute of political economy is—Reduction , Retrenchment , and Reform . The new law was made by us , and consequently for us .
Now , this is the lesson that every branch of th labouring classes , whether they earn much or little , must understand—that laws are always made for the benefit of those who make them ; and having well learned and intently studied that lesson in political science , the next step will be the achievement of that power for labour's self , which has conferred so many advantages upon its enemies ,
THE POSSESSION OF THE VOTE . We are aware that favourite dogmas and capriciously assumed crotchets ,., require mountains of words and streams of ink , to keep them with any thing like freshness in the mind ; while we feel equally convinced that the sour fruit borne by the tree of so much promise , will have more weight than all the disappointments to which poor labour has been subject ; since money was introduced as a
medium of barter , in teaching it its duty to itself , which is its nearest and dearest neighbour . Capital has not been so much the enemy of labour , as labour has been the enemy of itself ; capital has never gained a battle single handed over labour—but on the contrary has ever been enabled to enlist the ready co-operation of the satisfied and comparatively comfortable , to check the aspirations and resist the demands of the positively wretched .
Let us examine the progress and result of the Free Trade contest in whatsoever whimsical shape and form speculation may please to present it , andV however veiled , the real bone of contention—LAND —presents itself to labour's eye . The land grows wheat—the cheap supply of which was the boon contended for by those who speculate in labour . The land confers tbe vote , a fact which , however concealed , was the main incentive to Bentinck ' s wrath , D'Israeli ' s gall , and protectionist splutter . If then the land and the vote are indispensable weapons to fight the battle of capital against labour , does not common sense proclaim the fact that the
land and the vote become equally indispensable to fight the battle of labour against capital . It will require an unusually long season of Whig tyranny and intolerance , to unite the scattered fragments of Toryism shattered upon the Free Trade rock . While Stanley and Bentinck are vainly endeavouring to resuscitate the cry of protection and the church , Peel will stand as makeweight between confident Whiggery and struggling Toryism ; until the increasing insolence of the economists shall once more compel a re-union of piebald Toryism , with the best system of protection it can secure under the leadership oi the Right Hon . Free Trade conqueror .
It is this negative strength given to Whiggery by the sulk of Toryism , that we dread much more than its positive power to retain office upon its own substantive strength , and it is against such a calamity that we would now caution the labouring classes . A general election is said to be at hand and under any circumstance cannot be long deferred . There is a great , and still growing demand , for the Land aud the Franchise , springing up iu the country ; and it but requires further cultivation and wise direction to secure industry from the power of united capital , or the jealousy of sulky
faction . Every chance favorable to labour must be improved , its own jealousies must be laid asidethe mechanic , earning 30 s . per week , must prefer the veriest mendicant of his order , to its more libera opponent , as a comrade in the approaching struggle * Above all , let the labouring classes bear the fact in mind , that Free Trade is at present but an instrument for use , and that its application will depend upon the hands in which a general election shall place it . Free Trade would have been one of th first acts of a Chartist Parliament , because under such a constitution , the change would be converted to national instead of class benefit : and now that it
has taken place , let us secure the means for its most just and profitable application to the requirements of our increasing population . It will not do to sound the charge when the enemy is on the march ; it will not do to present the undisciplined , unrepresented force , to the well-marshalled electoral army , We must improve the opportunity , marshal our forces , arm them with powerful weapons , of which neither faction nor the law can dispossess them . The people must now , from this moment , shoulder the protective weapon of
EXCLUSIVE DEALING ; they must canvass every constituency where the balance of power may be safely calculated upon ; and they must deal with those only who will promise , upon the day of battle to vote for protection to that industry upon which their profits and position in society depends . Every constituency should have its election roll , the consumers should arrange themselves into CUSTOM CLASSES , aud , according to the principles of political economy , exchange
their commodities in the most beneficial market , buying in the cheapest and selling in the dearestexchanging the produce of their labour for the vote that is to protect their industry . Let this be done , and done speedily ; or let labour cease its unprofitable struggle , and proclaim itself a WILLING SLAVE . Labour has the ball in its own hands , and if it only depends upon its own order to play the game . it will win the stakes-which are Liberty and the Land , defended by union and the vote .
Letter Iii. To The Irish Residing In Gre...
LETTER III . TO THE IRISH RESIDING IN GRE 4 T BRITAIN . Fellow Countrymen , —You may ask , and nodoubt you have asked before this , what good docs O'lliggins purpose doing by those addresses to his
countrymen , in which he endeavours to show that Mr . O'Connell is not only not the friend , but the enemy , of the working classes ? Now , this is a very fair , and a very reasonable question , and demands an explicit answer . To that answer , I beg your most serious attention . My answer is , that Mr . O'Connell would be utterly powerless without your aid ; and if ny my addresses to you , I can prove that he always made use of your aid for the promotion of his own in .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 29, 1846, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_29081846/page/4/
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