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4 THE NORTHERN STAR, Januaby30 .. 18-17 ...
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LIBERAL BOOKS os POLITICS. THEOLOGY, AND SOCIAL PROGRESS,
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O'CONNORVILLE PLATE.
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Plain specimen Plates of O'Connorville a...
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OBSERVE. All correspondence, reports' of...
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THE NORTHERN STAK SATURDAY, JANUARY SO, 1817.
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THE IRISH BANDITTI. If it required famin...
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THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY. A benighted trav...
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PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW. The gestation of t...
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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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4 The Northern Star, Januaby30 .. 18-17 ...
4 THE NORTHERN STAR , Januaby 30 .. 18-17 - - — .,, ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ i ¦ - . I ...... _ UL _ - i * - " " * "" "'¦" MiMimlMni i ¦ - — ., — --iri w '' ^ ' ^ ' ^'¦¦¦ SSSEbM ^ miSSSSS ^ ~
Liberal Books Os Politics. Theology, And Social Progress,
LIBERAL BOOKS os POLITICS . THEOLOGY , AND SOCIAL PROGRESS ,
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Published , and Sold , Wholesale and Retail , BY JAMES WATSON . 3 , Queen ' s Head Passage , Paternoster Row , London . THE REASOKER ( Editedby G . J . Holjoake ) . A weekly Publication , price three-halfpence , devoted to the investigation of Religious Dogmas . To be had also in Monthly Parts . ZZ ^ Z Mathematics no Mystery . Completed in Nine Numbers , at Threepence each . Practical Crammer , by 6 . J . Holy , ts . fid . Handbook to ditto , by ditto , lOd . Or in Five Numbers at Twopence each . Just Published , in Two Volumes , neat cloth boards and lettered , price Six Shillings and Sixpence , the Fourth Edition of
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W PRICE THREEPENCE . T HllE = iD A I L Y NEWS , " — ' —~~ ciiondonlMoniingiNewspaper . In Time for the Morning Kail * .
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Now ready , Price One Shilling , ins SBCOSD EDITION 0 ¥ MY LIFE . OR OUR SOCIAL STATE , Part I
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TO THE INDUSTRIOUS MILLIONS . On Saturday Next , January 30 th , will be Published , No . 1 , Price One Penny , to be continued weekly , of
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- * ' * * ~ " ' TO TAILORS . LONDON vid PARIS FASHIONS FOR THE WINTER , 1816-47 . y READ and Co ., 12 , Hart-street , Bioomsbury square , London ; And G . Berger , Holywell-strcet , Strand ; May be had of all booksellers , wheresoever residing . NOW BEADV , By approbation of her Majesty Queen Victoria , and his Royal Highness Prince Albert , a sphndid print richly coloured and exquisitely executed View of Hyd Park Ga . 'dens , as seen from Hyde Park , London . With this beautiful Print will be sent Dress , ' Frock , and Riding Coat Patterns , the n west style Chesterfield , and ( he New Fashionable Double-breasted Waistcoat , with Skirts . The method of reducing and increasing them < or all sues , explained in the most simple manner , with I jur extra Plates , and can be easil y performed by any ptrson . Manner of making up , and a full description of tiie Uniform * , as now to he worn in the Royal Navy , and other information . —Price 10 s ., or prst-free lis .
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Now Ready , a New Edition of Mil . O'CONNOR'S WORK ON SMALL FARMS To be had at the Nsrthern Star Office , 16 , Great Wind mill Street ; and of Abel Hey wood , Manchester .
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IMPORTANT TO PHOTOGRAPHISTS . AN application was made on the 22 nd Sipt . 'mber , to the Vice-Chancellor of England , hi- Jlr . Beard who , acting under a mostextraordiny dclusu . i , considers himseif the sole patentee of the Photographic pweess ! i to restrain MR . ESERTON , of 1 , Teniple-stnot , and Hrt , Fleet-street , rom taking Photographic Povtt . i . ls , which he does bv a j » r «» ce » 3 entirely different fron and very superior to Mr . Beard ' s , and at one-half the cl .-rge . His Honour refused the application in tolo . No license required to practice this process , which is aught by Mr . Egerton iu a f ? w lessons at a moderate charge . All the Appuratus . Chemicals , Ac , to be had as usual this D - » ot , 1 , Temple-street . Whitefriars .
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LITHOGRAPHIC ENGRAVINGS OF TIIE DUNCOMBE TESTIMONIAL . \ f AY still be had at the Office of Messrs . M'Gowas lVJL and Co ., IB , Great Windmill Street , Haymarket , London ; through any respectable bookseller in town or rouutry ; or at any of the agents of the Northern Star . The engraving is on a large scale , is executed in tho most finished style , is finely printed on tinted paper , and f ives a minute description of the Testimonial , and has Inscription , Ac & c , engraved upon it . PRICE FOCRPENCE .
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JUST PUBLISHED . Price One Penny , THE DOMESTIC MONITOR , Or Literary , !? c : enti 6 c , Legal , and Medical Adviser . Eilited by Hermes . " 1 . LouisPhillippe ' s Vagaries . Speech of the Kin » . — 2 , Don Rwlrigo , or the Forbidden Wedding , Chapter VI . —3 . The Nosegay : Poetry , Anecdotes , Maxims , and Misca'laneous . —4 . The People ' s Corner : Military Flogging—5 . Correspondence : Literary , Scientific , Legal , aud Medical . —G . Medical Adviser : Consumptions continued . —7 . Literary , Scientific , and Dramatic Reviews . —8 . Domtstlc Herbal , —9 . The Lawyer : Wills . —10 Advertisements . Publishedby E . Mackenzie , 111 , Fleet Street , and to e had of all Booksellers and Newavenders .
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BEWARE . That book , iu part explanatory of the promises of the leader , of what are termed Chartists , is just published , price threohafipeuce . Sold by Mr . Thomas Wood , Uarnsley ; Mr . Joseph Blacker , Borrough , Yorkshire ; Mr . Jenkinson , Birmingham ; Mr , Herrop , Nottingham ; Mr . G . C . Squire , Liverpool ; aud Mr . C . Squire , 15 , Church Street , 8 oho , London .
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WILL BE PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 1 , No . 2 , ( price 6 d . ) of TIIE LABOURER , A Monthly Magazine of Politics , Literature , Poetry , & c
O'Connorville Plate.
O'CONNORVILLE PLATE .
Plain Specimen Plates Of O'Connorville A...
Plain specimen Plates of O'Connorville are now in the hands of the Agents ; and coloured specimens will be forwarded at the end of this week . Some alarm having been felt at the probable expense of framing so large a print , it is intended to have a quantity mounted in a superior manner upon rollers . The print will be stretched upon a stout canvass ; it will be neatly bordered with silk ; it will be varnished in the best manner , and fitted to an ornamented roller ; so that , when rolled up , it will occupy but a small space .
It will be found that this mode will obviate any necessity for framing ; the print , being highly varnished , will be free from damage by dusl or exposure , and the varnish will at any time allow of its being cleaned . THE PRICE FOR Plain Mounted Prints will be 3 s . Od . each . Coloured Ditto " " 4 s . 6 d . do .
Observe. All Correspondence, Reports' Of...
OBSERVE . All correspondence , reports' of public meetings , Chartist and Trades' Intelligence , and general questions , must he addressed to Mr . J . G . Harney , " Northern Star Office , " 16 , Great Windmill Street , London , All legal questions , and matters of local news , not noticed in provincial papers , and requiring comment , to'be addressed to Mr . Jones as ahove . All questions , connected with the management of land , and touching the operations of building , cultivation , & c , to be addressed to Mr . O'Connor . Lowbands , Red Marie , Ledbury , Worcestershire . AH communications of Agents , and all matters of account , to be addressed t « Mr . W . Rider , " Northern Star OftVe , " 1 ( 1 , Great Windmill Street , London . Al Applications for magazines to be made through Mr . M'tiowan , Printer , as above .
The Northern Stak Saturday, January So, 1817.
THE NORTHERN STAK SATURDAY , JANUARY SO , 1817 .
The Irish Banditti. If It Required Famin...
THE IRISH BANDITTI . If it required famine to arouse the Irish Landlords even to the painful recollection that the pos session of property implies a consequent performance of duty , however trivial , and the non-observance of which weakens the possessor's title ; we trust the same dread monitor will remind the sufferers that life implies a RIGHT , the non-possession of which weakens their title to existence , and the want of which alone presents the frightful disparity between rich and poor , and the astounding anomaly of distress being confined wholly to the producing class . Surely , if our incessant remonstrances and oft-repeated warnings , as to the inevitable result which sooner or later was certain to
follow their unpardonable and degrading indifference , have failed to convince the unrepresented , and , therefore disregarded , of the value of SELFREPRESENTATION , the awful calamity which has passed by the door of the rich man and desolated the hovel of the poor , will lead to reflection and action . Surely , when the affrighted Lord forgets his high-blooded cause of quarrel with his old and deadly foe ; when merchant and banker , loom-lord and land-lord , law-lord and money-lord , by common consent proclaim a truce to ancient feuds , a religious
peace and political armistice , for no other earthly purpose than to strengthen their hands for the FAMINE FIGHT ; surely the forcnamed sufferers will not fail to be forearmed with similar and necessary weapons-UNION AND FORGIVENESS . Despotism has ever governed the positively wretched through the pliant subserviency of the comparatively satisfied . It is an insult to mind , understanding , and strength , to suppose that a majority of the sane and thoughtful are satisfied with the present system , while its very existence is , nevertheless
prima facie evidence of their approval . The millions have wasted their energy in the enforcement ef sectional schemes , vainly hoping to fence themselves in from the assaults olfaction , while their enemies hav « taken advantage of their severance from their order to trample upon the rights of all . How vain for the West-end well paid trades , who paint and paper the rooms where their employers indul ge in idle case aud luxury , to suppose that in the long run the Eastend standard , established by their indifference and treachery , will not be applied as their rule of wages .
How silly of the well employed carpenter and bricklayer not to remember that every untenanted house is a competitor against him ; and that the huge UNEARTHLY BASTILE is the monster depredator of his wages . And yet , while the millions have seen and are dissatisfied with the pigmy measures of the pigmy Minister , the BANDED UNITED FEW hold them at arm ' s length , while ; they positively mock nature , by experimenting upon man ' s credulity and forbearance . Can the fatal and disgusting union of Daniel
The Irish Banditti. If It Required Famin...
O'Connell and the Saxon Irish Landlords be productive of other than beneficial results to HIM , and injury to Ireland . Surely , the oft-deceived , but still confiding , cannot for a moment suppose that the serpent is won to civility and the temporary cessation of vulgar hostilities , by Other than interested motives . The landlords cannot be fools enough to suppose him mindful of their interests , further than in as far as his pretended advocacy may subserve his own purposes , while even the Irish people are not so doltish as to imagine that the same hired advocate can plead theirs and their oppressor ' s cause .
Has the reader seen the PENNY clap-trap by which the Chancellor of ' the Exchequer hopes to feed a famishing nation , and has he seen the sympathy expressed for the brewers and distillers by Mr . Callaghan , M . P . for the city of Cork , and from which he may glean the fact , that the amiable unanimity of the Irish landlords will just be carried to the extent of SELF PRESERVATION , and that will be its limit . Unless , therefore , the people can bring themselves to the fascinating conclusion , that the horrors of famine can be mitigated by magic , they have nothing to hope for from the BANDITTI .
As we before stated , the Irish landlords expect , and hope , and intend , to turn the DISPENSATION to a GODSEND , and instead of the minister using the GREAT DIFFICULTY as the great opportunity for whipping them to the performance of their duty , they will use it as a scourge to warn him of their political power . Already Stanley has baited the trap for the vermin ; he has raised the standard of Irish landlordism , and sung his dirge over their wounded feelings and insulted pride . He has plainly said— " If Russell dares to infringe your rights , but by the loss of a particle of patronage ,
even to tbe appointment of a single policeman or hangman ; if he dares to hold your estates respon sible for what the English Exchequer should supply , and what he might have averted , come ye to our side of the house j we are your natural friends and allies j behold , we are in the same boat , you are our starboard oar , if we lose you we must sink ; we are the old Protectionists , the State ' s hinge upon which our titles , lands , and patronage all hang ; snap it , unscrew it , or even loosen it , and the door is open to that torrent of prowling democracy , which but waits its opportunity to overwhelm our order and trample upon our privileges . "
Such , the reader may rest assured , is the plain English of Stanley's overture to the Irish landlords . Here , then , we find famine the question , and Ireland the difficulty , while Whigs and Tories are making the DISPENSATION the medium of canvass for the support of its very creators . Were we wrong , then , when we proclaimed tbe fact that Irish abuses ,
and not the famine , would constitute the minister's greatest difficulty , and did we miscalculate when we proclaimed Russell ' s incapacity to arbitrate between the calamity and its creators . Were we wrong when we stated that a nation ' s sufferings would be the rallying cry of faction , and that all thought of the suffering , starving , dying poor would be lost in the struggle for political ascendancy .
We are sick of tbe subject , our only wonder is , that the very stones do not rise to avenge the insult offered to an offended God . But hold—the Queen has written a letter to her well-beloved Right Rev . Father in God , but she has not told his Grace of Canterbury to tell his preachers to live sparingly and stint themselves , that they may be the better able to lessen the sufferings of the poor , and render themselves more acceptable to their Maker , Next week , we shall write a sermon , to be preached on the mountain top , under the canopy of the broad blue sky , which God will not be offended iu bearing .
The March Of Democracy. A Benighted Trav...
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY . A benighted traveller , awakened one mornino : in a strange Inn by a noise from without , rose with t he intention of opening ; a window to see whether it was daylight . It so happenned , the window being closely boarded , he opened the glass door of a cabinet instead , where , all being dark , he comfortably retired to bed . Roused once more by an external clamour , he repeated the experiment with the same result , and never discovered his error
until too late in the day to set about his business . Lord John Russell is like that benighted traveller . Roused by the voice of the people from his political lethargy , he rises to note the progress of the times , and looks but into his own dark cabinet . There he will not find the daylight of the awakened nations , — and , when he discovers his error , the hows of his political reign will be too far advanced to retrace his steps , Passing , for the present , over the merits of his different propositions , guarded as they are by reservations of ulterior measures , we will advert to the goal which he sets to his policy .
He has , indeed , drawn a lamentable picture of the miseries of Ireland , but the great consolation that he offers his starving people , is the delightful prospect of becoming , at some indefinite period , as prosperous and as comfortable as the English and Scotch are now ! Think of this , Irishmen ! and be grateful . Think of this , factory slaves . Think of this , starving labourers of Great Britain , your Ministerjhas pronounced you patterns of prosperity , —and , to support his assertion , he has gone back to
the seventeenth century . Forcibly , does the quotation from Sir ; Thomas More exemplify how the great landlords obtained their lands : in his own words , " by covin or fraud , or violent oppression , wrongs and injuries" inflicted on their poorer neighbours , the result being starvation , and its further consequence , theft . Thus we have it Minister of the crown admitting that the order to which he belongs have no better title to their lands than " violence or fraud . " lie then , totally overlooking the numbers who are now murdered in the Bastile
and the Factory , names an amount of many thousands who , at the period alluded to , were hung for theft in one year . Is this an instance of improvement in the social condition of the present day ? Surely not . Then it was the thieves who were hung for this theft ; the case is reversed now , for it is the thieves who murder the men they have robbed . If these are the conclusions at which the Premier arrives , if these are the prospects he holds before Ireland , and if he thus returns to his old finally for England , we ask him to look at the advancing march of democracy , and judge whether it will take
his standard of progression . He will find the people arc beginning to look / or aid less to Cabinets , and more to themselves . In his own words , there is much in self-reliance and co-operation ; that selfreliance the people are beginning to feel , —that cooperation is already rearing its mighty head beside tiie hydra of monopoly . Through means , the reverse of those by which the aristocracy obtained the lands of the people , the people are obtaining the lands held by the aristocracy , and erecting a class of small proprietors , which Lord John pronounces so beneficial , when he says : —
" I do not think that the small divisions of the country will be injurious , and 1 come to this conclusion , from finding that one of the counties in which the greatest subdivision has taken place , the county of Armagh , is the most nourishing and best cultivated in Ireland . " Greater changes will , however , result out of this movement of modern democracy than Lord John ltussell" dreams of in his philosophy , " A gradual ,
The March Of Democracy. A Benighted Trav...
but entire alteration in our social system must be the necessary consequence ; for , in the flrti P ^ ce , the influence of the great landed proprietor ^ flUist decrease iu the same proportion , in which a sclfrelying , and co-operative agricultural population becomes independent of the aristocrat , by having a resource in tbe ownership of tbe soil , —while the small tradesmen will be less subservient to the borough-kings , in having a surer market in tbe labouring community than in the capricious moneypatronage of tbe great . Thus constituencies will be purified , and the way paved for democracy to enter the legislature of the day ,
The educational reform that Lord John Russell will doubtlessly propound , according to his political creed , will be more advanced by a Ten Hours ' Bill than by the mere establishment of schools , which , under the present system , the working man's child has not much leisure to attend—even though an educational grant should equal that for Her Majesty ' s stables . Again , modern democracy is doing
more for sanatory improvement , in endeavouring to secure better food and shelter for the working classe 8 than can lie done by mere drainage and sewerage , or by pulling down the poor man's hovel to build a house for the rich speculator in its stead . Purifying tbe streets o f alleys and towns , though good in itself , is beginning at the wrong end ; it is as though a physician should give a starving man a purgative , when he wants a pound of beef .
Thus , in every branch of political economy , we find democracy marching in advance . It cries shame to the statesmen of the nineteenth century , who have confessedly left an Ireland of the seventeenth , and who very wisely caution the people not to expect too much at their hands ! We never did expect much ; we are now still less inclined to do so than before . Aristocracy must cease to be aristocracy , before it can honestly join in tbe cause of popular progress . It must cease to drive its pampered horses through crowds of starving men ; it
must cease to entrench itself behind the prerogatives of power , and hold a haughty parley with the people across lines of bayonets and piles of parchment ; it must cease to encase itself with diamond breast-plates and head-gear , before it can live in harmony with the great truths of the present day ; in fine , it must divest itself of its own nature , turn citizen of the world , and rise in the social scale
from nobility into humanity . If the people are to wait until tbis change , ' they may wait long . It is a difficult thing for the pampered child of luxury to divest itself of its privilege—to cast away its golden toy . We say to the people , iu the words of Lord John Russell , when telling them how little government can ( will ?) do f or them , we say to the people , not of Ireland only , but of all countries : " Help yourselves , then heaven will help yon . "
Parliamentary Review. The Gestation Of T...
PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW . The gestation of the recess being completed , the birth of the Whig bantling took place on Monday night . Expectation was wound up to a high pitch , and the crowded and attentive audiences by whom Lord John Russell was listened to in the one House , and the Marquis of Lansdowne in the other , attested the interest with which their revelations were looked for . The applause and satisfaction with which they were received in either House , and from all parties in both , will not , we are certain , be echoed
by , nor responded to outside , by the people . Our anticipations as to the incapacity of the Whigs , either to devise or to carry into operation a policy equal to the emergencies of the crisis in Ireland , are completely fulfilled . The Whigs are , at a moment demanding the highest abstract and administrative qualities , true to the essential pettiness of intellect , judgment , and moral feeling , which has always characterised them as a party . Charlatanism , partizanship , and cowardice , are their chief features ; aud each are strongly stamped on the last
production of their combined wisdom . What was needed , what the country expected and had a right to demand , were measures calculated to give immediate relief to the starving peasantry , to arrest the pestilence which is now de . cimating their families , and causing them " to die off like rotten sheep , " followed up by plans which would have laid a sound foundation for a permanent , effectual , and progressive improvement in the condition of the people of Ireland , through and by their own efforts , for their own betiefit . That is
the only policy that can benefit Ireland . Instead of this , the Whig Premier has given us a scheme for improving the condition of the landlords j they are to be the medium through which relief is to be administered . They are to be the parties immediately and remotely benefitted . They are to have remitted , forthwith , one-half of the sum they owe the government , for works under the Labour Rate Act , amounting , we conjecture , to not less than a MILLION STERLING ! Pleasant news , no doubt ,
to the Irish landlords , but sad enough to the working classes of this country , who are told , that , in consequence of this liberality , their soup , their tea , their sugar , their beer—their daylight , are to continue subject to the present rate of taxation . The Irish landlord is the spoiled and petted child of English legislation . His very errors are windfalls , The neglect of his duties is visited , not by punishment , but rewards . The whippings for neglecting his lessons are all reserved for the poor " fags" of the state schools .
A brief enumeration of the nature of the Whig measures will suffice to show their monstrously unjust character . At the present moment there are 500 , 000 destitute persons , representing , at least , a population of 2 , 000 , 000 , employed on the public works , le . according to Lord Stanley , " in levelling imaginary hills , filling up visionary vallies , and cutting up the face of the island in such a way , as to render it almost impassable . " This exceedingly wise and economical mode of applying the labour and capital of the country , having been , be it retnenr
bered , devised and set m motion by the Irish landlords , in baronial sessions assembled . This sage system is , however , to be as speedily , but as cautiously as possible , replajed by a plan for giving relief in food through the medium of local committees , without exacting work in return . The object being to allow the peasantry now attracted to the public works , by the payment of money wages , the option of working for the farmers or on their own holdings , and thus during the spring months to get the seed into the ground , and to prevent a famine as far as possible next year .
The cost of this wholesale relief is to be defrayed by local rates , subscriptions , and Government donation ? . Need we say , looking" at the manner in which Irish wealth treats Irish poverty , that the Government will have to bear the heavy end of the burden . Or that , considering the appalling amount of destitution that lias to be relieved , that its cost will be enormous ? Lord John does not even venture to estimate its amount . That is gift number one to the landlords . Why should the people of
England and Scotland be saddled with a tax for the support of the poor belonging to the Irish landlord ? If temporary assistance was needed , by all means let them have it , but to free them thus at once from the responsibility belonging to the possession of property , and the consequences of their previous misapplication of it , is the most gross and iniquitous job that has been attempted for a long time past . The next temporary measure is a loan of £ 50 , 00 C to the landlords , to enable them to buy seeds foi
Parliamentary Review. The Gestation Of T...
j their tenants . Enviable landlords ' How th ^ fully and tenderly doe . Lord John anticipa ?^ your wishes , provide for your smallest wants- ?? " smallproprietors" are not to partici pate inth-££ 0 , 000 loan . That we presume would not b ' * accorolance with "the doctrines of political ^ noray . " They may perish , if they can do no bette ° ' the prizes are reserved for the large propriet ' ' only . Lucky large proprietors ! we say again . Th * worst of it is tb ^ t there appears to be no chance * satisfying them . With none of the reasons , fh «
1 .-... . 11 1 L . t .. ~ f > f— . ADO QVWI IIWAn .. ^ m I have all the boldness and urgency of " oiiv Twist ; " they are not satisfied with only £ 50 ^ , but , through Lord G . Bexttinck , absolutel y " a ^ ' more ! " " Pooh ; " says that celebrated persona ^ with a wondrous kind feeling towards his fen 0 ' l andlords , " What ' s fifty thousand ? It won't so five baronies ; give us more , more ; give , » i ve ,, Truly , the "horse-leech" mentioned in Seriniuj , was a fool to tbe landlord leeches that suck the blood of the people of Great Britain and Ireland :
Tne third on the list of boons to the landlords h the remission of one-half of their debts on account of foolish , wasteful , and mischievous public works or rather jobs , on which they have employed their retainers , dependents , and lacquies , to the exclusion of the very destitute people who were meant to be relieved by public works or public money . That , u we have said , will be at least a million sterling , " presented AS A GIFT to the landlords , " Perhaps ] before the session is closed , we shall have a propo !
sition for remitting the other half . The Alchemists were for centuries engaged in looking after the " philosopher ' s stone , " by which they could extract gold from baser substances , or transmute inferior metals into the richer ore . We fear modern Al . cheray will be equally unsuccessful in its attempt to extract gold in repayment from that fathomless profound , that bottomless abyss—an Irish landlord ' * pocket . There is not a bog in the country they own , that has half so capacions a power of adsorption .
Number four of these boons commences what aw called the measures for permanent improvement , These '> permanent measures" are based oh the same principle as the temporary ones . They commence with a new series of loans to the Irish landlords , for the improvement of their own estates . They are to have , so far as we can see , an unlimited amount oi public money on loan at three-and-a-half per cent ., and are to repay it by easy instalments in twenty two
years ; or , if they don ' t like that , they may have it at six per cent ,, without any stipulation as to time . Ia return for this munificent and liberal treatment , a ! [ that Lord John stipulates is that they shall really spend the money on their estates , not at races , nor gaming tables , at Naples , at Rome , or Paris 1 But what guarantees are proposed by which they are to be tied up to the observance of that condition we are not told .
Number five appears at first sight a little in krone of tbe people . It is intended to facilitate the reclamation of waste lands , and gives powers to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests , to compel proprietors to sell all wastes after a certain period , under the annual value of 2 s . 6 d . an acre . Lord John ex . patiated very sensibly on the advantages of a small proprietary , adopting the views of the Northern Star on that subject , and entirely dissenting from the economists , who assert that poverty , misery , and crime , are tbe invariable concomitants of a minute
sub-division of the soil . Upon the lands thus taken possession of by the Government after making due com . pensation to the proprietors , it is meant to establish a class of small farmers , say from 20 to 50 acres , farmers holding either in fee simple or by lease in perpetuity , with power to fine down the rent , and ultimately make the farm freehold , according to the terms agreed upon by the contracting parties . This measure a excellent in principle , and its being adopted so far , together with the importance and stress laid upon it by the Premier , only serves to exhibit in clearer colours the almost inconceivable cowardice and
subjugation of the Whig clique to the " Irish Banditti , " which distinguishes other parts of the proposition . Had Lord John spoken depreciatingly of the plan as Lord Lansdowne did in the Lords ; had he professed his inability to see where these re-claimable wastes were to be found , or what benefits could be derived from their cultivation , and avowed that they were merely adopted as a quietus totroublesrme persons , who had got a crotchet into their head , then the others parts of this particular plan might have been , if not justifiable , excusable , on the ground of
ignorance ; but no such plea can be urged for the Premier . He sins with his eyes open , and while professing to give the wastelands of Ireland , after being drained and made habitable by preliminary operations under Government superintendence , by Government machinery , and with public money , to the people , he stultifies himself , and nullifies the plan , by confining the sphere within which such reclamation is to take place . He deliberately assigns to the landlords all the dest waste lands ; and , as another . boon , offers them the temptation of another loan from the
state , to reclaim and make rent paying tbe wastes they have so long neglected . Talk of Jove descending upon Danae in a . shower of gold ! Or the personage in the fairy tale , who never opened her mouth without dropping pearls and precious stones ! Lord John in his extraordinary fit of liberality , beats all the mythological and fairy tales we ever heard ol Tbe only other measure left for notice , is the proposed alteration in the Poor Law . In future , guardians may give relief in food to the able-bodied destitute . Upon this point , however , we have uot room left for comment this week .
The summary of the Whig panacea for Ireland i * . that that country , after having been plundered for centuries by one of tbe most rapacious , heartier ignorant , and selfish oligarchies , of which we have any record of history ; after the land , tho revenues , the destiny of that people have been for that period swayed by that oligarchy without check or
hindrance , ( because they have been , and now are omnipotent in the Imperial Parliament , as well as on the other side of the channel ); after having , with the possession of all these powers , reduced the Irish people to a condition so low , so wretched , aud so disgraceful , that the . whole civilized world cries shame upon it ; after all this experience of | their neglect or incapacity , or monstrous selfishness , itis
now coolly proposed in the midst of the social disorganization , famine and pestilence , resulting fro 01 their misconduct , not to rescue the people and the soil from their baleful dominion , but absolute ly W hand over both still more completely to them , ami at the same time to drench them with British gold '• The mortgages , bonds , and debts , with which then estates are now encumbered in consequence of f ° *
mer extravagance , are to be wiped off for them , » ; they and their descendants set free to pursue the santf « wasteful , imprudent , unjust , and cruel career , vsh ' icl 1 : marks every step of tbe landed oligarchy of Iwla o Surely some one will be found in Parliauiaitt bo » It enough to protest against this monster measure favour of the landlords , and against the peop le 0 0 that country as well as t his , They are not bound by b
a good Poor Law in return . Among other matters of importance which " * occurred since our last , are tho short discussions the re-constitution of the Poor Law Commissi ' and the first reading of the Ten Hours' BH 1 , ° » ^ introduction by Mr , Fielden .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Jan. 30, 1847, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_30011847/page/4/
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