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" Onward tnd ive conquer, I Bickwardwdwefill." I PEOPLE'S CHARTER ASD SO SURRENDER »1
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TO THE OLD GUARDS OF CHARTISM. Mt. Old G...
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THE 2fA.TJ.0K—MR 1IITCHEL AND MR DUFFY. ...
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AID NATIONAL TRAJI^ JiURML. ' ' ~~ ~ ~" ...
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Bbtbsal Ghees.—Mr Jones delivered a most...
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''vnirarfl . BBa.wffcoasuQpj -JSacUwasd ...
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TO .THE IRISH PEOPLE. Mv. Loved and Hono...
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Leeds.—'two lectures were delivered by M...
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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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" Onward Tnd Ive Conquer, I Bickwardwdwefill." I People's Charter Asd So Surrender »1
" Onward _tnd _ive conquer , I _Bickwardwdwefill . " I PEOPLE'S CHARTER ASD SO SURRENDER » 1
To The Old Guards Of Chartism. Mt. Old G...
TO THE OLD GUARDS OF CHARTISM . Mt . Old Guards , My comrades throughout the war of the rich oppressor against the poor oppressed—you whose confidence , whose lore , affection , and derotion have sustained me in my dungeon , and throughout the unequal battle that poverty has waged against tyranny ; with rags , destitution , and want upon one side—the monarch , tke rmrrUter , the army , ths navy , the church , the bench , the bar , the police , the jurors , the masters , the magistrates , the shopkeepers , the jailors , the masters of bastiles , the dungeon , the transport , the scaffold , the hangman , and th « press upon the other side—read the
following correspondence , and then say _, if you can , that I have counselled falsely , or propounded my doctrines in vain . Oh , my comrades , how Tre have hoped against hope , and struggled against those fearful odds ; but how our perseverance is now rewarded , when we find that we have been g _iving lessons of practical liberty to tbe world —when we find Young America , Old Ireland , and Middle-aged France , compelled to adopt our GREAT FACT , that to practical , and not theoretical , changes the progressing mind of aan is to be directed . The GREAT FACT , that social perfection is sure to lead to representative equality , and that the hope of that social perfection will give wings to political agitation . Always , Old Guardsbear this great fact in mind , that we ,
, the Chartists , are the only party in the world _who have silenced the cannon ' s roar , gagged oppression , and manacled the hands of tyrants ; and why ? because , upon the breaking up of the old system which is nw _Crumbling , and will shortiT moulder into ruin—we alone are prepared with a new system , which will not allow diplomatists or cunning men to seduce _nsinto a warfare in which labour should bear all the blows , nor admit of an interregnum urhieli _u-ould allow the concoctors time to project a more fascinating , but not a less tyrannical , system .
Bear ia mind , Old Guards , that I have told you , a thousand times over , that it is as . impossible for capital to represent labour , as it is for "the lamb and the tiger , the mouse and the cat to unite . " I have shown you that the House ofjCommons consists of lords with their privileir _' _iK hostile to labour , ef baronets , knight ' s . _Ji ' . b . _VriN , "aval officer ' s , generals , eolor _? K _cap'aln-, . ; . - _.: < : ; ::- " _^ =. and military officers , all _qualifying for h . _n _^ - ¦¦ _... ' _-y _« : bservie _.-icv to _iii 3 _miniii _^ r iu uo iver . of !> _; r . k _.-i- ; ..
_aiiinf * _keiui _* r _^ _CiipiUwPts . ri _^ _-ay _o _» _U ! trL' _. ror _* . iaerc . u-u . is , and ghtjpket pers \ . those i > ritj _' : •• £ > - fits are derived from the diminution of ' --n . _ues ; e-f I & _- A " -rs snd _attornies . ever tbe deadliest loe _= of lifef rty ; the _greatest lickspittles of tbe ministry ; ' iien without principle , prostituted to the indiscriminate support of right and _vrong '; of officials in power , and toadies looking for power ; of p lacemen , pensioners , and _tax-eaters respectively ranged under their respective leaders , ready io vote black white , or white black , but never prepared to give a vote that would confer liberty , prerogative , justice , or privilege upon the weak but many , upon whom all live in splendour and luxury . I feel ashamed in telling you those things , because they bespeak the _sawsctvieiicy uf the
many . But read the following correspondence between Mr Dufiy , the proprietor of the NATION , and Mr Mitchell , the former editor of that paper—and then Eay whether I have been wrong in my teaching , and you have been dull in learning .
The 2fa.Tj.0k—Mr 1iitchel And Mr Duffy. ...
THE 2 fA . TJ . 0 K—MR 1 IITCHEL AND MR DUFFY . For the last five weeks one of my closest friends , and zaosfc valued contributors , John Mitchel , has ceased to be connected with The Natioh . In Dublin the circumstance of coarse became known ; and as the cause was generally unknown , it has given bir th to a multitude of rumours and surmises ; some of then sufBeiently _extravagant , and all without exception _ias far as I know them ) _erreneens . It is not true for example that there has been any personal quarrel , er _tiie smallest possible shade of angry feeling , between us . It is not true that a . difference has arisen on rte right of Ireland to win herfreedom by arme . It is not true that the settled pelicy of The Nation has undergone any change . It _ie not true , as some enemies represent , that an angry feud has sprung up in the Confederation _which threatens its very existence . These things are not true , ner anything res- icbling them .
The difference between us is entirely a moral one . A difference which may very well , and perhaps healthily , exist in one national league ; but which could not exist and be developed in one journal without damaging its _sSeieney . As neither of us have anything to fear from the truth , I have obtained Mr Mitchel ' s consent to make the exact nature and circumstances of this difference public In honest dealing the simple truth is an infallible * pell for ' laying' all the gloomy spectres that spring np in the darkness of uncertainty and suspicion .
And indeed the feeling that any difference existed with so near a friend has been so painful and embarrassing tome in conducting The Natiok , that I rejoice on personal grounds to have an opportunity of putting an end to aU mystery in the matter , that henceforth 1 may not fear in maintaining my own opinions to be interpretedas ungenerously attacking his . These opinions I must maintain ; they are part of myself ; I could no more weakly yielA them through regard for John Mitchel , than I could have meanly yielded tUemthrougU _apprehension of Daniel O'Connell .
Here then is a brief history of this transaction , as far as it concerns the public cause : — In the autumn of last year , the Council of the Confederation directed that a _systematic plan of operation should be drawn up , showing * the means by which we expected to attain an Irish Parliament . I heartily approved of this measure , partly because I knew that many me & were held away from the movement by disbelief in the possibility of saccess , but mainly because all modern history preaches tae lesson ( and our own history in the most marked and significant way ) , that withouta matured plan of uction , the greatest designsfall into ruin ; and , in fict , in the short career of the Confederation , we found the want of such a plan a serious stumbling block , on more than one _^ _rvia _^ occasion . Tbe report ¦ was unanimously ordered , and Mr Mitchel and I were named of the committee appointed by the Council to prepare it .
Acting always _together in a spirit of the most cordial and uartserved confidence it did not need a set occasion like this to unveil our respective opinions to eaeh other . We had known them long and thoroughly . But unfioubttdly wheR the necessity came of applying them , not merely to pissing events , which we could touch and aeasure , but to that chain of possible contingencies and dim _spcculatioas which compose the Future , we detected a radical difference . And this difference , as a practical impediment , was aggravated by the fact that Mr Mitchel _csnctdTed the time was come , or fast coraing , for abandoning the policy at which we had both been _labouring , the policy of reconciling classes , and fusing the discordant elements of the Irish nation into one common power .
It is a delicate _tatk to specify opinions , which oneiuttndi to combat ; but I believe I will not err in stating generally that Sir Mitchel , after the experiment of the ' Irish Council' despairs utterly of the landlord _clats ; that he regards the middle classes as fearfully corrupt or cowardly , and sees no basis to rest upon safely but the peasantry and small fanner * . And that regarding the present Poor Law as an instrument designed to ruin that class ; the present commercial system as a drain of our wealth to England ; and all English law as the natural enemy of the Irish people , he sees in the universal refusal of the posr rate , in ( be withdrawal cf the _paople _' s money from the savings' banks , and in the repndiation and defiance of certain laws , tbe natural protection and security of the people .
To these-news I endeavoured to oppose my own convictions . Ut—That tlielanded gentry , though in general without public spirit and shockingly selfish , had sent from among them such men as Smith O'Brien , Lord Wallscourt , Mr Monsell , Mr Roes , Mr Sharman Crawford , and others , who gave promise of many more . That tkough , as a class , they would probably never be won to nationality , yet enough of them would be won to represent that interest in a national struggle- That we knew of _iroporimtaccessivns which we could positively reckon upon ; and that it would be a national crime to deliberately throw away tbis clement of strength . 2 nd—That the middle class , though undoubtedly corrupt and meanspirited , had still good men enough to redeem it from
abandonment- That it was the upper and middle classes who won ' 82 , and were as competent to win a new ' 82 if ifcey could be inspired again with the spirit of tbat era . Srd—Eut mainly , that though the _agricultural classes must be the * _ubstantial strength of " every national organisation in Ireland , no mere class movement was adequate to the work we had undertaken . And especially that that wo . k _ctuld not be effected hy su ; h means as he contemplated . That , instead of exciting the _national spirit , iie would probably produce social confusion ; that , if he disregarded this consequence , the road leading from that confusion to national _independence ou . ht to be clear and certain—whereas it remained a positive fog of _ohscuritv .
And I instanced the Chartist movement in England as a case in point , illustrating the hopeless errors of such a course . When the English Radicals first demanded the Charter , they impeded the law—held torch light meetings—ran upon the banks—interrupted all _assenfilies Mt held for Cliarlitt purposes—proclaimed a cohing revolution , which never came—and , finally , with f-ubstantiai wrongs to be redressed , and led dy men , among whom were some of the purest public virtue , sell into division aad weakness , _trkich lasted for years ; a re-ult wliich tneir own leaders now attribnte to mistaken tactics , and f " om which they have _learaed the moral of an altered and _moTeddibiratice policv . i
And I maintain that the _natural tendency of such opera Ug &« as he relied upon was iu a direction which lie 'did not fully _{¦ iresee , and which I believed a dozen Confede . rates , if they furcsaw it , would not adopt ; for though _IUe majority of tfcem would not _rtfase , if need were , to
The 2fa.Tj.0k—Mr 1iitchel And Mr Duffy. ...
pass overthe battle-field to liberty , they would certainv refuse the smallest risk of passing thraugh the shambles of social anarchy . I further maintained that there was a way to onr parpose high , pure , and chivalrous—a policy wanting neither the boldness nor the resources that ought to belong to a national struggle—onethat would lift up our cause above alt chance of falling into a mere jacquerie , and place it where it wonld win the sympathy of the nations;—above all , a policy which would be _successful . I need not specify the details of that plan here , as it has since been enlarged and fortified by many _Taluable additions In the 'Committee of Organisation , ' and _wilUosn come under consideration in the Council and the Confederation . I believe it will not be found at variance with any opinion I have ever maintained in this journal , but the natural result and completion of the boldest of these ppinious .
To bring these differences to a practical solution Mr _Ifitchel and I ( by my desire ) took council on this _questtoa of national policy with eight or ten of our molt intimate political associates—the men who had been our companions in the Secession , or _« ttrfellow . labourersinTBB Natiok and the 'Library of Ireland . ' The question was debated carefully and anxiously , aud at the close Mr Mitchel ' s views were adopted bv only one of the party-Mr T . D . ReiUy . Under these circumstances Hr Mitchel—who often before , when _croised in his particular views , exhibited & generous readiness to adopt those which prevailed againit hini—seemed willing to acquiesce in the pelicy of his friends . At least I fully believed so , and confidently looked forward to that vigorous and systematic enforcement of our policy which , 1 had long desired . But tbe Coercion Bill « ame and altered hit resolution .
_H « declared that patients with a GoTerameut which had a & _andowtftlie people _todrfpai " r , aHda * wflrrW ( Ian ( 3 ooKEC £ D them in their iceaknai , was intolerable . I , and the others of his friends , urged upon him that the settled asd matured policy of a country to win its freedom ought not to be affected by such aggressions as tbis ; that we _xaoct not let anger er indignation make us forget that the one question for us was—How Ireland could ba permanently freed , and that the Coercion Bill did not touch that question . It waB a new and scandalous outrage , but the problem to be solved remained exactly what it was , aud must be treated by exactly the same means , of which , patient courage , ia working out our purpose ,
wai oae . At the meeting of tha Confederation ob the 1 st of December , Mr Mitchel delivered a very able and remarkable speech , which left me in no donht that he had made up his _miad unalterably on his original views . As we walked home together to the aountrj from that meeting , I _remon-6 trated-withiim earnestly on the subject . I urged in the strongest way that he ought to bring hie scheme of policy _deliberately before the Council , or before the entire Confederation , and obtain their assent for it before he t « ok any steps to promulgate it through the public meetings of the body . I assured him that maturer _reflection had only deepened my dislike to it , and that I would rather perish than help it bv act or word . In the matter of the Poor
Rates I declined being a party to stopping the collection of them , tiU some other sure and specific method was « Hnwn of feeding the people through the coming winter ; w 7 . tti' _-vgit : ¦ - »»« probably true , as he maintained , that t : ;; ? _-.- - r ;¦ .: _¦•» « _- ,- _m : J * -. _; n . WHOLLY insufficient provision f ur that purpii' » , l _»*> ' _w _^ t \ : l _; ht it was better than no _r-rorisi : ¦'¦ : . I _fu'ly _i-orics'Icdr-bat i _^ _anj r _.-f _^ _pate modeof ' _- ¦ _r _^ ' _-ii _^ the h . ¦ - _-ils _^ - - _¦'« . id b : _.-i't in Hi place , reskii . _- . _git woii . d _?* _j \ . Kt : * i _3 / : < . . > A . t i i-. _Ir . _isert to ie _^ ive » , he people to -. _Var . _tv-i , lor k most v _« _.-frtain _rtsalt ; or for any remit _postiS'l-.- in the c . - . s * . II " . of eoum , did not deliber & telv _con-Tjcolare leaving _tiici . i to cliancc fcifher . But I _ssiuraed _fustt' -. would b 6 lhenfcc _« 55 . ry mult of a _gtimrul refusal of the r . _* te ; . We debated the que * tion long and _anxioutiv . ba : with no approximation to _SgrSeir . _SIit .-
in a ¦ _.- ' . _uple of days after Mr Mitchel informed me , in a spirit of characteristic frankness and generosity , that _, since a moral _li'fiercuce so wide had _sprang up between us , he felt bound to _relieve me and fcimM : from the chance of painful disagreement , by retiring f rom Thi Nation . To move so tried a friendfrom thU resolution i omitted no suitable entreaty or no honest concession , but his purpose was fixed . Mr Reilly , who shared his opinions , retired along with him . Thi « is the history of the past . As to the future , I agree with Mr Mitchel in believing that the national cause will
be served by this separation . If Ur Mitchel's opinions be sound , it ia well thai tha ; will be fully developed in a new sphere of actios ; whereas , in this journal , they never could have been developed , whUe my judgment and conscience so unequivocaUy rejected them . On the other hand , The Nation , free from any unsteadying bias , will be able to carry out its principles and opinions with that unimpeded harmony of design essential to progress and success . We will both have fair play ; and , what is more important , the truth will bave fair play too .
One relation we have aot altered , that which first brought os together . However - marked our present difference is , however wide it may grow with time and events , by one belief I will hold fast ( for I have proved it well ) , tbat a man of purer and more unselfish patriotism never existed than John Mitchel . He is incapable of the smallest exaggeration of his opinions for any political effect , or the smallest concealment of them from fear ; and such as they are he will Uphold them at every sacrifice . Bis errors , fatal as I believe tbem , are those of an heroic heart . Chablks Gavan Dufix . Merton , January 7 th , 1817 .
P . S . —I submitted the above statement to Mr Mitchel for his approval , offering to alter any portion of it he considered incorrect , and to append any observations he might make in his own name . 1 would never have attempted to draw it up at all if his assent had not heen previously given . He , however , rejected this statement as an account of our difference , or of his opinions ; and offered , if I desired it , to draw up himself an exposition of his own opinions , and of his motives in withdrawing frem The Nation . I did desire it ; and he has sent me the subjoined letter . Its tone has deeply surprised me , but I print it without any comment . As far as I have attempted to describe Mr Mitchel ' s opinions , I invite all readers to prefer his own description of them , which ar _« necessarily more accurate ; but in the report of the opposing reasons which I urged upon him , and of the matters offset , I have nothing to qualify or alter .
MR DUFFY AND MR MITCHEL . The subjoined is the letter from Mr Mitchel referred to in Mr Duffy ' s statement : 8 , Ontario Terrace , Rathmines , 7 th Jan ., 1848 , Dear Duffy , —If the public has any curiosity ( of which I have seen bo symptom ) to know why I renounced connexion with The Nation—or if you desire on your _owit account that a statement of my reasons and motives should appear , —I will make that statement shortly , and you can do as you please with it _.
Our differences of opinion , as you well Know , are not a matter of yesterday . For some months past , I have found myself precluded from speaking to the public through The _Natiox , with that full freedom and boldness which I had formerly used , by objections and remonstrances from you , to the effect , that what I wrote was ' seditious' or ' impolitic' This kind of restriction , slight and casual at first , became gradually more constant and annoying ; and that , while the times demanded , fa my opinion , more and more unmitigated plain speaking , as to the actual relation of Ireland towards the English government , and the real designs of that government against the properties and lives of Irishmen .
The failure of the ' Irish Council , ' the hurried calling together of the English parliament , the bill for disarming the Irish people , and the horrid delight with which that bill was hailed by the landlords of this country—these things rapidly brought our differences to an issue . The effect wrought upon me by all the events I saw passing , was a thorough conviction that Irish landlords had finally taken their side against their own people , and for the foreign enemy—that all the symptoms of landlord ' nationality' which had deluded us into the ' Irish Council , ' and had kept us so long vainly wooing the aristocracy into the ranks of their countrymen , were a deliberate fraud—were , in fact , a demonstration intended to act upon the English;—and thai the disarming-bill was the first fruit of a new and more strict alliance between traitors at home and foes abroad .
I desired to say all this to the people plainly . I desired to point out to them that this infamous Bill , falsely entitled for the prevention of Crime , ' was merely an engine to crush Tenant-right , and all other popular right , and to enable the landlords to eject , distrain and exterminate in peace and security . I desired to preach to them , that every farmer in Ireland has a bight to his land in perpetuity ( let ' _la-w' say as it will ) -. —that no landlord who denies that right ought to receive any rent . — that Tenant-right , however , though the universal right of all Irish farmers never had been , and never would be recognised or secured by English law : — tbat there was , and will be , no other way of establishing and securing that right except , as in Ulster , !> y successful intimidation , that is to say , by the determined public opinion of armed » _ien _.- —that
therefore , the power calling itself a ' government , ' which called on the people of Ireland to deliver up their arms , under any pretext , must be the mortal enemy of that people , their rights , their liberties , and tlieir lives . I desired to warn my countrymen _accardiwdy _, that if they should carry their guns to the police stations when ordered hy Lord Clarendon , they would be putting weapons into the hands of their deadly foes , and committing virtual suicide . I desired to preach to them that the country is actually in a slate of war—a war of 'property against poverty—a war of' law against life ; and that their safety lay , not in trusting to any laws or legislation of the enemies' parliament , but solely in their determination to stand upon their own individual ri g hts , defend those to the last , and sell their lives and lands as dear as they could . I desired also to show them that ihe new Poor
The 2fa.Tj.0k—Mr 1iitchel And Mr Duffy. ...
Law , enacted under pretence of relieving the destitute , was reall y intended , and is calculated to increase and deepen the pauperism of the country ; to break down the farmers as well as the landlord * by degrees , and uproot them gradually from tn _&' soil _, « 0 as to make the lands of Ireland piss ; ( unencumbered by excessive population ) into _tfte hands ef English capitalists , end under the more absolute sway of English government . In short , I wished to make them _recogaise in the Poor Law what it really
is—an elaborate machinery for making final conquest of Ireland by' law . ' I therefore urged , from the first , that this law ought to be resisted and defeated ; that guardians ought not to act under it , but in defiance of it ; that ratepayers ought to offer steady and deliberate passive resistance to it ; and that every district ought to organise some voluntary mode ot relieving its own poor;—and for this purpose , as well a * to stop the fataltraffic with England , that the people should determine to suffer no grain or cattle to leave-ihe country .
With reference to the future direction which should be given to the energies of the country , and of the Irish Confedeiation , I desired in the first piece , once for all , to turn men ' s minds away from the English parliament , and from parliamentary and constitutional agitation of . all kinds . I haw made up my mind that inasmuch as the mass of the people sore so franchises , and are not like to get any , and inasmuch as the constituencies , being very small , very poor , and growing smaller , and poorer continually , are so easily gained over by corruption and bribery , and inasmuch as any combination of the ' gentry' with the people is now and henceforth _impossiblef—thit for all those reasons , any organisation for parliamentary or constitutional action , would be merely throwing away time _and-strength , aud ensuring our own perpetual defeat . Therefore I desired that The Nation and the Confederation
_should rather employ themselves in promulgating sound instruction upon military affairs—upon the natural lines of defence which made the island so rong , and the method of making those available upon the construction and defence of field-works , and especially upon the use of proper arms—not with a view to any immediate insurrection , but in order that the stupid , ' legal and constitutional , ' shouting , voting , and ' agitating , ' that have made our country an abomination to the whole earth , should be changed iato a deliberate study of the theory and practice of guerilla warfare ; and that the true and only method of regenerating Ireland might in course of time recommend itself to a nation co long abused and deluded by * legal ' humbug .
These are my doctrines-, _snd these where "hat I wished to enforce in The _I'Iatiov . I knew liiat it _<* _ould be ' illegal' to do so : I knew that it would subject you , as profiu ' _ster-O . f that paper , to _prosecutions for' sedition , ' & c . I knew , besides ,.. that your own views did not at all agree with mine -, and I could not Assuredly _expect you to wcv . v legal rieks for the _? ake of _promviigatittg another man ' s opinions . Therefore , when I found , which I did daring the progress of the coercion . bill , that nn one journal could _posMbly represent two sets of op . nions bo very incompatible as yours and mine ; and when you in * formed ne that the columns of The Nation should
no longer be open even to sucn a modified and subdued exposition of my doctrines as they V . 2 . d heretofore been , I at once removed all difficulty by ending the connexion which had subsisted between us more than two years . I have not entered into any details of the difficulties and disagreements that preceded this final step : but I cannot avoid mentioning the circumstance that during the very last week of my connexiou with The Nation , you felt it necessary to suppress a portion of a speech delivered by me in
the Irish Confederation , which you _considered seditious and impolitic . I do not impugn your motives for this : but if there bad been no other reason urging me to the course 1 have taken , this alone would have been enough to make me resolve on never writing another line in The Nation . I ara bound to add , that I did not discover the fact of this suppression until the next morning after I had finally closed my connexion with The Nation ; so that it did not actually influence me , though it fully justifies me in what I have done .
In this letter , you _will observe that I have not attempted to describe or characterise your opinions . I leave that to yourself . You have The Nation at your command , and have had five opportunities of expounding your own policy since I had one . It _ib enoagh to say that the present policy of The Nation _, does not suit me . If you publish this letter , I hope there will be no possibility of any future misrepresentations and vague rumours about the causes of our differences , such as you say are now current . I remain , faithfully yours , John _Mitchel .
Mr Duffy ' s three propositions , contained in the eleventh paragraph of his letter , and the whole of the twelfth paragraph , I shall reserve for comment till next week , ( merely asking you , for the present , does that letter , or does it not , convince you of the justice of my frequent assurances , that the Nation newspaper was wholly ignorant of our movement , views , and motives ; while its conductor had garbled our speeches , trying- to turn them into ridicule , withheld our resolutions , our manifold triumphs , our adherence to principle amid the most systematic persecution of the Law and the Press , until , at length , it is compelled to admit the strength of our position ? Is not this something ? Ah , my friends , ere long , Mr Duffy and
others who have opposed us—and no paper has more strenuously endeavoured to damage us than the " _Nation '—will very shortly discover that our adherence to principle and our propagation of knowledge , has taken the mask off of hypocrisy , and exposed the ignorance of false teachers . If the address of the "Edinburgh Weekly Express" gladdened your hearts last Saturday , the letter of Mitchell will make them jump with joy next Saturday ; and if his patriotism and devotion to truth should banish him from the land of his birth , as it has me , he will find a welcome home in the land of the brave and
warm-hearted Saxon , as we have bridged the gulph which the "Nation" would have made deeper between the patriotic of all nations . I remain , Old Guards , Your faithful and attached friend , Feargus O'Connor .
Ar00110
Aid National Traji^ Jiurml. ' ' ~~ ~ ~" ...
AID NATIONAL _TRAJI _^ _JiURML . ' ' _~~ ~ ~ " = _g _= _^ _sss 1 _ j— — * _ j —L " . _ u ''¦ _q _* "L ; _rrH ?;; _- ™ . _!^ _™^ _^ L ' _iJrzj " _« _w _~ m . VOL-XL No 534 . LONDON , SATURDAY , _JANimi _^ r il _IfiiR _^ _im . _wmNefor . . .. _^ , ¦ _,-- „ _•*¦** ' AL _V "* _? ive . _SMUiii 2 _B-Biad 8 ispeaceper _Qoarter
Bbtbsal Ghees.—Mr Jones Delivered A Most...
_Bbtbsal Ghees . —Mr Jones _delivered a most eloquent lecture on Sunday , January 9 th , at Mr Lemay's , Barley Mow , Old Bethnal Green-road Subject :- 'The plunder of the property of the poor . ' This locality promises to be one of the most promising in the Tower Hamlet ? . Halifax . —At a meetingof the _CJiart ' at Election Committee , it was unanimously resolved : — ' That IOOO copies of Mr . Ernest Jones ' s letter to the electors and non-electors be printed and distributed amongtbe electors . ' 'That 4000 more be printed and distributed among the non-electors . ' ' That a publie meeting be held on the 24 th inst , and that Feargus O'Connor , _Esq ., M . P ., and Ernest Jones , Esq ., be requested toattend .
Forthcoming Meetings . —Merthyr Tydvil , branch No . 1 , will meet on . Monday next , 17 th inst ., ( postponed from 10 ; b , ) at same place as last convened . — Manchester , on Sunday next , at _tws p . m . —Kidderminster , Monday next , half-past seven p . m ., at Falcon Inn . —Bolton ; ! he several lectures of the money clubs to assist the Land and Labour Bank , meet every Monday night in their subscription rooms to receive subscriptions . —Lincoln ; on the 18 th inst ., at the Green Dragon , Broad Gate . —Wakefield ; on Tuesday next , eight p . m ., at Mr Lancaster ' s' Kirkgate . —Smethwick , on Tuesday evening next . Tower Hamlets — The committee of management of the Whittington and Cat branch , are requested to meet on Sunday afternoon , at half-past tire precisely ; _Leees . —Mr John Shaw will deliver a lecture tomorrow evening at half-past six .
Lower "Warlet —Messrs Rushton and Hoosm will address the Chartists of this place on Sunday-January 16 th , at six o ' clock in the evening , i
''Vnirarfl . Bba.Wffcoasuqpj -Jsacuwasd ...
'' _vnirarfl _. BBa . _wffcoasuQpj _-JSacUwasd _mrl'Wftli !" "THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER AND NO 8 _URRENDERI " _« 4 Hew eft I have _eigliea through my _eold prison _bar B As I thought of the _njegic that bound thee _Mfove " , ' When you have cur «< d the Lard Edward _thd 0 ia ' d of his soars , , And reviled tbe ; youB & Emm < $ ttthat sleep * ia hie grave . "
To .The Irish People. Mv. Loved And Hono...
TO THE IRISH PEOPLE . Mv . Loved and Honoured Countrymen—I receive your many flattering notices of my poor exertions in the House ® f Commons with a mixture of pride and sorrow . Pride that I should Save outlived thirteen years of bitter prejudice ; 'and sorrow that your condition should render individual service a matter of applause , or that the degeneracy of _yourjrepresentatives should make mere performance of duty matter of distinction . However , consoling myself _Vith the maxim that " apeople
are seldom wrong and never very long wrong , '' while I h ? ve nothing to atane for , no offence to ask forgiveness for , now that you _haye _nrade proper atonement for _thesyBtematic injustice jto which , for so long a period , I have been _subjected I pardon yoQ _^ fro ' m my soul , for those manifold acts of thoughtlessness . To you , mv countrymen , constituting the Grattan _Confederate Club , I tender my _espe . cial thanks for your appoval of my parliamentary conduct , while , humble as I am , I would uot consider the treachery of a degenerate Roman a sufficient justification for the
abandonment of my _^ country _' _s cause ; and , therefore , I cannot see that Ireland ' s disregard of me could furnish any , the slightest , justification for my disregard of Ireland . - I agree with the moralist who has said " that a good man struggling against adversity is an object of the greatest admiration ; " and , God alone knows the pangs that I have silently endured , and proudly contended against , from the hour that I was denounced as unworthy the confidence of the Irish people , who were told , that , when the struggle between the people aHd their enemies commenced , Feargus O'Connor would be found in the foremost ranks of
the enemy . Not only was this judgment the signal for every description of insult in Ireland , but it was followed by repeated attempts upon my life by my countrymen in England , " When hounded . by trader and traitor they aimed , To ahedtny life ' s blood in their madness and « oe , I _rceinted with teuton alone till I tamed , , Tho spiritless courage infused by the foe . " "Ten _. _^ y countrymen ; although some Irishmen _bemme " " tire _liv-PSd—tS-t _*^ of Saxon free
traders to ; _--bed my blood , and ' ulthpugh in . the unequal contest of nearly five _Shb' . J « _srid to forty-six , I received seven wounds , and « i ) th « front , ami although _thirty-seen cf ' o :. " small lody were nearly murdered ; yet , even after such justification , I neither abandoned the pursuit of Irish liberty , nor did I abuse the dupes who had thus recklessl y lentthemseh' - 'H to the destruction of him hi whom they noSv recognise a friend . Ana now , my countrymen , that a reunion has taken place between us , is it not mortifying , after the sacrifices you have made , the terrors you have braved and the
sufferings you have endured , that in renewing our intercourse I should feel myself compelled to commence my addresses with the A . B . C . © f politics ? Is it not mortif ying to think , that a people whose forefathers , in the seventh , eighth , and ninth centuries , gave literature and instruction to the uncivilised world , should now stand in need of instruction in the literature of the day ? And yet it ? it is , the' fact being , that the English people are now much better informed in all matters of Irish history , Irish grievances , Irish sufferings , and the Irish character , than
the Irish are of the English character or English history . In 1835 I found the English people thoroughly ignorant of the Irish character , and as doggedly opposed and hostile to everything Irish as the Irish have been , and still are , to everything English . Upon this unfortunate misunderstanding _hfis ever been based the strength of the oppressor . ''Divide and conquer'being the tyrant ' s maxim , and its accomplishment rendering the UNDERTAKER most acceptable to the tyrant .
Now , if I was to merge all your detailed folly and to allow it to pass into utter oblivion , I could trace your every woe and England ' s every sorrow to this wholesale treachery , because the strongest combination of tyrants is well aware that . —
" United we stand , divided we fall—" and that their _' power ever depends upon the people ' s disunion . Having , then , merged all other considerations in this one of paramount magnitude , will the wisest of your leaders , will the most enthusiastic of your chiefs , will the most Irish loving and English hating of your orators tell me , in what single instance the English people have joined the Minister in his acts of Irish oppression ? while your Representatives have ever been the surest tools in the Minister ' s hand , when a blow was to be struck at liberty .
But , my countrymen , what is still more strange—as stated unguardedly by Mr Hume , on the debate on the Irish Coercion Bill—is _, that he had never attended a single public meeting in England where the acts of Ministerial injustice to Ireland had not been denounced and severely rebuked . Well , inasmuch as I would blame the master for the wrong _teaching of tbe scholar , and the parent for the wrong training of the child , 1 blame your teachers of the press , and the parents of your agitation , for your ignorance of these facts , which , had they been sincere in their professions of liberty , and devotion to Ireland , they would have loved to tell you .
These , my countrymen , are my reasons for so cheerfully forgetting the past , because I attribute your manifold transgressions to the systematic ignorance in which you have been kept of those matters . And now that the war of right against might , of justice against injustice , of knowledge against bigotry and intolerance , is raging hotly , and when the league of Kings and oppressors are trying to recruit their forces for a combined action against liberty , it is ihe duty of the Jong oppressed toiling millions to unite their forces
against that phalanx which would otherwise be irresistible . You find the "Great Captain " of the age—the Iron Duke—now lamenting over that defenceless state in which trading governments have left tiie country , which he now proclaims to be at the mercy of any handful of adventurers who choose to contend for the prize ; and in order to save those institutions , so valuable to aristocracy , he proposes an augmentation of the standing army , and the raising of 150 , 000 militia men , no doubt to be recruited from the ranks of his
famishing countrymen . It must be clear to you , or at least it must be made clear to you , that this duc _.-il missive- —much longer tliun His Grace is in the habit of wiiting—is intended as the groundwork of some such proposal by the Minister ; and then I trust you will be mindful of one portion of . your oft-taught lesson , which has been always placed in abeyance when the Whigs were weak , or when they were in power , that ' England ' s weakness is Ireland's o pportunity . "
But , my countrymen , when I read the blasp hemous doctrine of passive obedience and nonresistance , even yet sought to be inculcated
To .The Irish People. Mv. Loved And Hono...
in the _minda of the famishing Irish people , and when this doctrine is sought to be enforced without comment or _qualification , I fear lest my couhtrymen should again become tools in the handsof the artful . I look upon hypocrisy as the greatest crime of which a public man can be guilty ; and I consider the Catholic , whether he be priest , prelate , or layman , who inculcates the doctrine of passive obedience * and _non-resietance , unconditionally as a hypocrite ; and I consider the Catholic , whether he be priest , prelate , or layman , a traitor to ilia _yalimnn nnd _+ _A l , ic _iviiinfmf . « , l , n vitou _^* _i
« . o . | ...... v .. * . w _vu ..., .,.. _v avows his unqualified loyalty to a Protestant Monarch , whose coronation oath binds him to support the ascendancy of an adverse Church , whose pampered priests are to be fed and to live sumptuously upon tribute exacted at the point of the bayonet , from those professing the Catholic religion . And I tell you , more , that all the theology , all the philosophy , all the history and the learning that the world ' s archives or the inventive mind of man can produce , would never reconcile me to these heresies , because the mos _^ learned expounder of God ' s word will not eke out of Holy _^ IVrifc one sentence in support of such a blasphemous doctrine .
What ! that loyalty is to be unconditional ? That there is to be no protection in return for allegiance ? Or that the contemplated protection consists , in the idle living luxuriously , while the industrious die of plague , pestilence , and famine , and are told to hug the emancip ated earth passively and obedientl y , and to proclaim their loyalty submissively . I read that man is made after the image of his God , and that the all-wise Creator has told each man that he is to live in the sweat of his own brow , but I cannot find in Holy Writ a single injunction ordaining that one man is TO
LIVE IN THE SWEAT OF ANOTHER MAN'S BROW ; and I defy the most subtle casuists to reconcile the laws of mOnarchs to the ordinances of God . Indeed , I feel a blush on my face , when , in the nineteenth century , I can write so calmly upon the philosophy of loyalty and duty , while within the past year one million of my countrymen have been consigned to the cold grave , ov
rather to death without the grave , " unhousel-Ied , unappointed _, unannealed . " Will any divine point out to me one single one of the ten _commandments which is not daily violated by monarchs , autocrats , and men in power ? Or , will any divine point out to me any single injunction in those ten commandments which the enforcement of unconditional loyalty , passive obedience , and non-resistance , does not hy , id to the violation of ?
_^' " -.. countrymen , from the hour ( hat I _disco-^ rcu _\[ i i ;* k'J ; . that to the pressure from without liberty must _o _.- " - _^ triumph , I betook myself to " tbe organisation ' . »¦ .. "' ¦ y . _vflarw mind of this great _country—t'js _& tj end that ' _iW pi _^ - ¦• _- ! « n / j . ( V ' 'I : _... i ; ii _.- ; _exhibition and direction may _Ihtu tola " " JE < _SLL , FREE , A 2 v'D FA lit KEl'BKSENTATION OF THE WHOLE _VBOVL'B IN THE COMMONS HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT . " Now , pray do not start at this declaration of political faith , especially when I tell you that it was the one , the only one valuable ingredient in the catechism of the Irish Volunteers
in 1782 , and of Charles Fox and the English Radicals in 1780—which , however , was abandoned by Fox when he got into power , and by Charlemont and his gang when they had raised the value of their borough property , and increased the amount of Protestant patronage in Ireland . Well , my countrymen , that ' s the whole , the entire creed of Chartism , which you have been taught to denounce as a blood-stained principle ; and in order to show you that even Governments do not preach passive obedience and non-resistance , when resistance may lead to power—the maxim of Whiggery until the Whigs achieved power , was , " That taxation without representation was tyranny , and
SHOULD BE RESISTED . " We are told that man is made in the image of his maker . We are told that all men are equal in the sight of God . We are told that it is as impossible for the rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven , as that a camel should pass through the eye of a needle . We are told that man is to live in the sweat of his own brow . And I defy you , by any means , or by any sophistry , to believe in those great truths , and to disbelieve the Chartist principle .
In my last address , I showed you the value of Annual Parliaments , because it is the first point of the Charter , and lam now laying the foundation for the enforcement of Universal Suffrage , in obedience to divine injunction , Whig maxim , and the immutable laws of justice . Irishmen , if every man who has been prematurely consigned to the _cald grave through want , while ke was iu the midst of that
abundance created by his own industry and labour , but which was dragged from him and exported to furnish his tyrant landlord with the means of dissipation , while the producer was starving —I ask , if every honest Irishman , thus cut off , had been armed with the elective franchise , would not all such freemen have been equal , in the eyes of the minister , with the wealthiest noble in _theland , if the vote of the peasant counted equally as the vote of the peer .
But are you , my countrymen , become so degenerate , as to shudder in 1848 at the very principle , for the accomplishment of which your gallant sires raised the standard of Rebellion in ] 798 i
" Who _ttBTj to talk of ' 08 « . " Well , we , the bloodthirsty Chartists , do fear to talk of the massacres and the murders of ' 98 , but we do not fear PEACEFULLY to proclaim the peaceful princip le which would silence the cannon ' s roar , and turn the murderer ' s sword into a _ploughshare . We were too weak for revolution when we were disunited ; we will be too strong for revolution when the union of the industrious of the two countries is too powerful for the union of the idlers of the two countries . There ate but two classes who should be disfranchised ; those who have the vote now , and refuse to confer it upon others , and those who have not the vote , and do not _consider it worth contending for . Indeed , it is a curious fact that your leaders are j
now nibbling at the dish that we have been cooking for the last fourteen years , and is now nearly ready to be served up . They are asking for an increase of the Parliamentary franchise , but they don ' t know how to look for itthey are beginning now with our alphabet ; so much so , that I find it my painful duty to tell you what Universal Suffrage means . " It means , then , nothing more nor less than that every sane man of twenty-one years of age and not guilty of crime , shall have a vote for a member of Parliament . And I defy any politician in the world to point out any other equitable standard of franchise , and one for which every freeman should contend with his life , if necessary .
Just mark this one fact—how your several election committees strain every nerve to compel every elector , who is entitled to the capricious vote , to register in defiance of the tyranny that he is sure to receive from his landlord for its exercise . Mark the willing
To .The Irish People. Mv. Loved And Hono...
sacrifice that this poor fellow is ready tomak ® _, and then , bear in mind that the extension oS the franchise to all would be a protection to the present martyr , and that then , instead { of the disobedient being punished for his loyalty to hie country , all would be courted for the besteWalof the power which all would then possess , AND NONE WOULD STARVE . Then , there would be no bribery—there would be no corruption—no broken pledges—no violated treaties—no traitors to denounce at Conciliation Hall , as treason would be an unprofitable trade . If every English working
man , and every Irish working man , of twentyone years of age , had a vote , you would very speedily see such a parliament _sitting in College Green , as never sat in-College Green before . You would see the last fragments of Protestant ascendancy , and the penal code , snapt asunder . You would see titheH banished from the land-the representatives appointed by the people—the magistrates appointed by the people , and such a tenant right bill as would make it impossible for the naughty ; tyrant to disinherit an enfranchised freeman who had honestly performed his part of the contract .
My countrymen , there are three stages in agitation : — Firstly . —The creation of a popular mind , Secondly , — -The organisation of the popular will , and Thirdly . —The direction of that power emanating from the popular will . Now , the people of England are in the last stage of the process , while you have not yet
entered upon the first ; and yet , you pertinaciously and systematically refuse the co-operation of the greater power . You are also looking insomeround-about way for more members for Ireland , while , by that principle in the People ' s Chaster called Equal _Repvaeentation _* Iceland would be * entitled to about two hundred and twenty representatives , but to this point of the Charter I shall devote another letter .
I have now shown you but a very feeble outline of what Universal Suffrage would lead to , and I will call your attention to a few startling facts . They are these : — _n _„ That every single amelioration contended for in the resolutions of the Catholic hierarchy ef Ireland , I have been contending for for the last thirteen years , viz ., the propriety of allowing the Irish people to cultivate the waste lands for themselves , and to make every workhouse a self-sustaining establishment by allotting to it a sufficient amount of land to employ all the labour of the inmates , and dividing the surplus after consumption amongst them , instead of distributing it amongst
heartless officials ahd pampered menials . And , as to the application of the Irish church property to the support of the poor of that country , the English people were two years in advance of the Catholic hierarchy , because , at the commencement of the famine in 1845 , at a large meeting in the Crown and Anchor , they passed a resolution that thirty-three per cent . of that property should be sold for the purpose of supporting and educating the poor o £ Ireland . And then , there is another recommendation from another source , by which the value of rent of land is to be ascertained ; while , I dare say , those who propound the plan are not aware that in 1835 , I gave notice of the following motion in the House of
Commons : — "To move _£ > r leave to bring in a _biU to compel landlords to make _leiteM for _ovtir at a corn rent , snd that in all oases _vrneri' _lnnd ? ara now hold upon lease at too high a rant , tho fair value shall _"(>>; _tifcertaiiwcl _iii nil such cases bv h jury , ; in like-manner as the value of property reouirefl bv the Crown or charh'r < " _3 corporations is » otv a = i _: er-• a „ . _. ¦»¦¦ _*? :. _" . ¦ '' ' _>; - . _*?;«! nil Prot ? atarit _eli-riOra !* n sb :: ll , srC : r ; _nuwiV « _hv . _rirpevii ; , ' !¦ V . _' _;«^ p < _i , . " _* . se lobs _eligible to be _Jiintir . oR ol _' the Peace in liclanil . _"
I also g _& ve _notice of a motion to strike ' u > . name of Lord Ellenborough otY the pension list , and to divide his pension _between the widow Kyan , and the sufferers from tiie Rathcormac slaughter , _; is a verdict of " Y _/ _iifuJ Murder" had b _^ en returned against | tba murderers . My countrymen , I enforce these great facts to convince you that more has been done for Irish liberty by the English people , than has been done by the Irish for themselves i and also to prove to you that you must possess equal political rights before you can hope to accomplish a Repeal of the Union .
Let Irish agitation be conducted upon proper and honest principles , and let an honourable union with England be courted , and I will pledge my existence , that , before tbe close of the year 1850 , you will see a parliament sitting in College-green , elected by the will of the people , and not by the whim of a spurious , insolent , ignorant , upstart , alien , aristocracy . Then you will see your members returning
to you at the close of each session , courting your smiles as the reward of virtue , or receiving your frowns as a punishment 'or vice-Though you have outlawed me , _. iiave invariably told the English people , _iuid tbey bavo cheered it , that , if I could prevent it _, they should not have liberty a day or an hour _tail'ie my country had it . ] came he : o -with a . \ t i ; < - sullied character—I have been abssr . l now
nearly fifteen years , and , during lb at pe : _> od , I have never published a sentence , or uttered a word , adverse to the interest of Ireland ; ; md while I possess more power and morepullic confidence than any man living , or than any man that ever did live , in the achievement of that position , I have never been guilty of an act at which the most fastidious need blush . I have been prosecuted six times , and consigned for nearly eighteen months to solitary confinement in a felon ' s cell , and I devoted much of that period to disabusing the English mind of those prejudices created b y the English press , and especially by the Weekly Dispatch , against the * Irish people .
vv itii my own hand I wrote every one of those articles in tiie Northern Star , upon Ireland and the Repeal of tbe Union , in 1841 ., and which were attributed to the Rev . W . Hill . When Mr O'Connell was consigned to his prison , I held meetings throughout England to strengthen him , and condemn his tyrants . I got up the meeting in Covent Garden Market Place , and paid all tiie expenses out of my own pocket j and when he was entertained in Covent Garden Theatre , so powerful had the Chartist party become , that the promoters of that entertainment considered it the highest honour that our leader , an enrolled Chartist , Thomas Slingsby Duncombe , Esq ., M . P ., should take the chair .
In conclusion , my countrymen , I implore of you to think soundly and act wisely ; to think of the host of power that is opposed to you , and of your weakness , if obliged to contend singly against that power ; of the identity of interest that exists between you and the English working classes , and the impossibility of resisting your combined power . Though fifteen years absent from you , it is my pride to be able to say , that I have never travelled a mile or eaten a meal at the expense of any party whose interests I had endeavoured to serve . I remain , Your faithful friend and countryman , Feargus O'Connou . Minster _Lovel .
Leeds.—'Two Lectures Were Delivered By M...
Leeds . — 'two lectures were delivered by Mr James Lencb _, in the Baz : iar , on Sunday ' evening last . The room in the evening was crowded in every part—it waa a meeting of the old times—every one appeared highly delighted with the lecture . At _ilsconclusiin , Mr Leach stated that he was going to Dublin to attend a _meeting on behalf of . the Irish of Manchester , and he should like to know if the meeting were anxious to have the working classes of both countries united together to obtain thoir respective rights . Ihe chairman put this to the meeting , when every hand was held up amidst great applause , > ii ' , '; <' fic !} 1 ! va he would convev with him the n _^ _di'si of vaq nm _:-ing . A vote o ' f thanks wai lh * . _' » _givcii _h > in ?
lecturer . ..... . „ Mr and Mas 0 . _Kbas at ijM . ll . ATHAVtr . _v- — _,-o have great pleasure in _announcwg tnac tne appearance of Mr and Mrs C . Keao'V _. lbs £ U < ymarket postponed owing to the illness of Mrs _Keau _, will tnko p : ace on Monday next . We are sure the a _^ _aranceof Mrs C . Kean ( Miss Ellen Tree ) , wil ! be hailed with delight by all lovers of true genius— : ir . d Mr Kaan has Jong periled aud received the support of the people , inspite of the cabals of the press aud a monopolising clique .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Jan. 15, 1848, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_15011848/page/1/
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