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March 28. 1846. . __ THE NORTHERN STAR. ...
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fovtxwx iSlObtiMittS
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•• And I will war, at least— words, (And...
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DEATH PUNISHMENTS. A powerful movement i...
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Margaret Stoker.—Capital Posisiimekts.—O...
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DOMESTIC TRAGEDY AT CODNOR PARK, DERBYSH...
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Impudent Robbery at Brighton.—On Saturda...
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|^<^|« :Z(ament .
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HOUSE OF LORDS-M omm, March 33. FEVER (I...
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o ^ jjlififjhat nrouud J^ivscl^ Wpo^tlm ...
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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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March 28. 1846. . __ The Northern Star. ...
March 28 . 1846 . _. ___ THE NORTHERN STAR . 7
Fovtxwx Islobtimitts
_fovtxwx _iSlObtiMittS
•• And I Will War, At Least— Words, (And...
•• And I will war , at least— words , ( And—should my chant * so happen—deeds , ) With all who war with Thought" "* «¦! _tttnfc I tear a little _feird , who rings Jhe people bv and by will ba the stronger . _''—BracK
POLAND . ET _JOfEVH MiZXlXl . iFrom The _Peoples Journal . ] ** If there is on earth anjtlnng really great , His the firm cetcnnt'iation of a nation _ailraucuig nnder the eye o : Goi , without being wearied for a moment , to the conquest f tbe rights it derives from Him : which counts neither its wounds , nor its days without rest , nor its nights with-. at sleep , ansl which _sajs within itself—What is all tbat ! Justice and liberty are worthy of many other _^ _ofl _? . * * * " Verily , I s » v unto yon , whtn It shall go down , like . Christ into the tomb , like Christ it shall coma out from it on the third day , conqueror over death , and over the prince of this world , and the ministers of the prince of this world . "— Laaennais' Words of a Believer .
Wc write these line * independently of all political foresight , independently of all calcnlatioa as ta the immediate issue of the struggle which , during the last _fottnVht , has caused every true heart in Europe to beat most _sjixiously . It may be that hy the time what we are writing appears before the eyes of our readers , new _srents shall have succeeded , in spite of present appearances , to _strengthtn and extend a movement which is said io he suppressed : it may be that all will be , for a time , at an end , and that l ' oland shall for a tJcird time descend into her tomb : but whichever it fhall be , nothing can titer the sentiment which places the pen in our hand . ur » is not a political journal . At this moment w « are
sot thinking of Cracow , or of the hands of Gallicia ; we e thinking of Poland , which lives , suffers , and _conibatf , _whether openly or in silence , wherever her children ar * - . ' ? - be found , from the Saltic to the Carpathian moun--dns . We do not look ( much as onr heart throbs with _i- * : ' pe at the present brave effort ? , and bleeds with grief - - . the recant _rietitas ) at transient events , the incidents -2 a struggle whose denouement is not yet come : we look vthe _Heerlostieg ; to the Idea which regulates all thei * _attempts , unfortunate till now , but always heroic ; to the _fought which survives all these disasters , which soars , I , ** _ke the eagle , from the midct of the tempest ; which _jri-ats , like a flag , over the tombs of the martyrs .
And tM » _Kterloiliug , this Idea , this unconquerable Thought , which all the brutal forces of the thre * European despotic powers will never he able to stifle , is the right that Ueeniy 4 wo millions of wen , I'donging to the same race , cradled in the same national songs , nourished _ly the same _historical traditions , possessed hy the instinctive _eentitnent of fating the _saiac mission to accomplish , have to group themselves as God suggests to thein , to organise themselves as they deem best for themselves and others , to express the life within them by acts freely initiated , freely worked to completion . This right has been immorally , perfidiously violated by the dismemberment of 1773 , by that of 1733 , by that ol 179 G . It has beeu said to some , " You shall Wong henceforth to Prussia "—that is to say , to a countrv which itself had not a real nationality to
_substrate for theirs ; to others , " i « u shall belong to Rusaa _*" — -that is to say , to a nation whose civilisation was on : or two centuries _Itehind that of Poland ; to others , _a ; ain , "And yon , you shall belong to Austria" —that ' s to say , the liveliest , the most unquiet , the most stirring rf people , to a power which represents China iu Europe . Tlie "Polish _nation has from that time _protested—protested by arms , because all other ways of progress were dosedagainst her- _protected hy an appeal to aU its members violently separated , because , to the shame of Europe , to tlie shame of countries calling themselves free , there has not been a single got ernmeut to say one word for her . There is th * whole _question , put simply , and , as it appears , in a sphere far above tbat slough of diplomatic dirt , in which at the prestnt day thev work out what thev call their European policy .
It-land has _protested—sbe will protest : and woe to ut if she should not ! For her inertness would say , that it is possible to suppress an idea before it bag borne all its fruits ; it would say that bayonets have power to kill thought , and that it is enough for force aud violence to sail Prometheus to his rock , to disinherit humanity of the conquest of that secret which made his life divine—JHStice , liberty , progress . And see how ber protest has gained force since the _frodlgics , which we hare so soon forgotten , Of 1530 . See how the vase inclosing the national sap , broken at Warsaw by the . Russian scythe , has fertilised the laud all around . Before the insurrection of 1830 , Prussian and Austrian Poland rested , if not cold , inert ; there was sot the least demonstration there . > ow , it is Gallicia
which makes itself the focus of Polish nationality ; a thousand arrests _embracing the best families * hardly HiSees to hinder tlie insurrection of the Duchy of _Pomu . Sceptics , who take the grand historical lessons of Machiavel for a doctriue , and whose heart , the prophet of ihe mind , has been withered hy the coldness of analysis , were , in 1 S 3 D , telling us not to attach too much importance to a , manifestation , the consequence of the general fermentation excited by the three days of July . Wtll . ' Trance has long since abandoned her part of propagandist ; Europe is tranquil at the surface ; the moment is alt _«; eiher unfavourable to every isolated attempt ; and tiiis i _> the moment Poland chooses to perform an act of life ; it ii in the midst ofthe sleep of Barope that she raises herself , were it but for a moment , to repeat her
glorious protest , to declare that she is not , that the shall never be , submissive ; that liberty , without which human responsibility is only an empty name , has been given by God to all his creatures ; that nationality is a sacred sign placed hy God on the forehead of his people , as a means for the organisation of the common labour ; and that ' the dismemberments of 1773 , 1793 , and 17 $ ) , cannot tSkee the collective life oi _toenio-two millions of men , _te-1-jng _' wg to the same race , cradled in the tame national tongs , nourished bp the same historical traditions , possessed byti * iiiitiiiclhe sentiment of having the same mission to aeeofAplish . What has not been done , since 1830 , to endeavour to stifle in Poland this need of proper , spontaneous national life '' It is a history which one would say could not belong to onr time ; a history which if we had , we
men of the nineteenth century , a trite / at heart , at we have an _intelligence in the brain , would be enough to determine a crusade . They have proscribed , imprisoned , ihoi , by hundreds , hy thousands , nobles , soldiers , princes , potts , all who could in any way exercise any influence . They have peopled the mines of Siberia , and supplied the amies of tho Caucasus . They have destroyed colleges , universities , libraries ; falsified education ; substituted , whsrever they could , the language of the oppressor for that of the oppressed . They have brok » n tbe bonds of iamily ; broken—but that is no crime in . England—the sals of _tetters of mothers , of fatheri , or of sisters , who wert sending some poor consolations to tbe exiles of ten or sixteen years ; and they have kept back the succours which they coi-l-ined . They have torn hundreds of
children from their _inothvrs , to form , far fiom their csnntry , military colonies fashioned after Russian manners and tendeucit s . They have put religion in play for a _1-oUtical end , and inflicted on poor nuns such persecutions as move the heart to disgust , rather even than to hatred . Whilst among other nations they counted their martyrs by individuals , tiny counted them b y masses in _"ft-lano . She has been , during the last fifteen years , the martyr-people . _Xs-thiug has succeeded . And * when its masters nursed themselves in the hope of having stifled for a long period , perhaps for ever , the hydra of Polish " Bought , bv a Midden tip odon Polish thought started up to give the awakening to Europe ; to frighten the three pawers together ; and to force Austria , in self-defence , to
heap up the measure of her infamy , in _organising the _jicpxriesof the middle age ; in seducing , by we know not what calumnies , the ignorance of the peasants of Tar now , and in setting a price of ten florins on the heads « f the Polish nobles which they should bring in . " Tho time has been badly chosen , " say gravely the men of day-By-darpolity . _VTho has chosen it J The oppressed or ihs oppressor ! Is it ihe sick man who chooses the inomtnt when his pain shall shake him in his bed ! Is it a Polish hand which has signed the ukase declaring , that at Uie commencement of 18 ( 7 all territorial demarcation , every outward sign of Poland , shall cease to exist ! Count the thousands of exiles who drag on their life of sorrow in France , in England , in Africa , in the United States ; the thousands who people Siberia ; tbe thousands
* 5 ho people the Russian prisons ; the thousands _murieredby the bullet or lbs knout : each of these men re-Kesents u family ; do you think that mothers , sisters , _lather ? , and sons can coldly and leisurely calculate the moment at which they shall have gained a few chances mote over their persecutors f So yon imagine that the young men who have seen these terrible words on foot in _1- _ejij to the petitions of their mother in behalf of their _« _-fcfcr ?* do you imugiue that tbey have nothing better to do than to wait tranquilly for the awakening of Europe , _tt for I know not what change in the view * of diplomacy ! f « wait in silence I Ah , we know too well that the v « ry ¦*> _ta who cry out at every unsuccessful endeavour " Why _wthey not wait ! ' are the first to take advantage of niat silence and that patience to reply to every protest ou " _n- ualf of those who suflcr _«• What would jou have us to fi 6 ? They are reconciled to their lot ' . "
Yes ! actual Europe ( we speak of constituted , official , Sorernmental Europe ) presents a hideous spectacle of _* £ _*> tiun , of indifference , of denial of every great and gtutrous or progressive thought . They can talk about I _gion , bnt any notion of what really constitutes relt-* 30 U _ that is to _sav , the active communion of men fur _"'ie just and the good , is altogether effactd . Local _in'tteete have their w orshipptrs : jirii « iples have not . The eojlicuve life of humanity , the copartnership of all its members , is nowhere represented . And , as if in the long struggle _between evil and good which constitutes the history of the world , evil had at last triumphed , there is a principle of commou life , au association for evil : there i « none for go ad . Tttre exists an alliance ( we do not tike to repeat the word _hclg _) - between th <« powers who represent despotism—that is to say , the denial of human liber ty , in Europe ; there is none among those who pretend to represent the principle of tivUisation and progression . Wherever a people raises itself to bear witness *» its faith in God , in his law , iu its own conscience , the * l ' rince Sauguzko , _jiropxietor of large estates in the district of Tarnow , in Gflllicia . His family , men , women , and children , petitioned the Czar to mitigate the lanishuifc _utof perpetual hard labour in Siberia to which he had been condemned . The Czar wrote on tke margin , " On foot , " and the journey from Warsaw to Siberia was performed on foot .
•• And I Will War, At Least— Words, (And...
first intervene to crush it : the second proclaim the principles of non-interference—tbat is to say , they assist with folded arms the triumph of evil ; they declare themselves politically atheists . Italy arises ouce , twice , thrice ; she asserts her ri ghts and her unanimity of thought , by driving out , without shedding one drop of blood , her imbecile governments ; a foreign army falls upon her before she has time to prepare her means of _deience : not a single voice is raised in tlie councils of "free " nations , to say to the iutruders , " Withdraw ! leave this people free to manifest its life in its own manner 1 " Poland arises , alter having endured a series of atrocities almost enough to make one doubt of human nature- , new atrocities reply to her appeal ; the Austrian _goyernmeut puts the _scjthe in the hands of ignorant peasants : it says to them , " For every patriot head you bring us we will give you ten florins : " not a government raises its voice to say , "Withdraw ! you have lost aU right to rule thedestiuits of millions ' . " Kota
single member of any of the European governments that call themselves free and enlightened , will dare to withdraw his hand from that of the ambassador of a government which has thus placed itself under the ban of humanity . You talk of eharity , virtue , mens' brotherhood in God , and do you not hear the voice of God demanding of you , " Cain ! Cain ! what hast thou done with thy brother _f Kuowyou not the sentence which followed the reply , «• Ani I my _brother ' s keeper ' - " At least let individuals repair , as far as lies in their power , the faults of thtir governments . Let all those who believe In the unity of the human family , all those who believe in a better time to come , all whom the example of their masters has not educated iu the ignorance of what is great in martyrdom for a holy cau-e , protest by their words , by meetings , and by subscriptions , against the indifference reignim ; in official circles . Let them saj what they will of the English government , hut let tho name of Englishman be respected and loved by the oppressed of all nations .
And as to Poland—honour to her if she triumphs ; honour , if yet again she fall ! It will not be for ever . Her oppressors may yet be able to throw into the balance some hundreds of heads , but the can throw into the opposing scale hen-ell— ' * An equal to all woes , And a firm wil , and a deep sense , Which even in torture caa dtscry Its own concentred recompense , Triumphant when it dares defy , And making death a victory . "
Jupiter has long been dethroned : humanity has pursued its course , andthechain which _haugsronnd the limbs of Prometheus is ready to fall off .
Death Punishments. A Powerful Movement I...
DEATH _PUNISHMENTS . A powerful movement is likely to be organised before loni ; for tbe purpose of obtaining tbe abolition of the present barbarous system of death punishments . Lord _Xugent and Charles Dickens have been for some time past agitating the questiou , supported by men of all classes and parties . Tbe Chartists , ever foremost in the good work of promoting mankind ' s progression , are also in the field , and w 3 l give signal aid to tbis movement . A numerous and _bigUly respectable meeting was held a few days ago at the South London Chartist llall . The chair was ably tilled by Mr . John Gathard , who said the questiou they had met to consider was one of the first importance , and , like most other great political , moral , or social changes , the agitation in its favour was commencing with tbat much calumniated body the Chartists . ( He ? r , hear . ) He should call on Mr . Edmund Stallwood to move the first resoluti . n : —
That in the opinion of this meeting the infliction of capital punishment in any ca « e whatever is not only an _infringement of tbe Divine Command , " Thon shalt do no murder , " but has a tendency to demoralise tho public mind aud familiarise the populace with scenes of blood , which , instead of checkiug crime , as intended , sets the savage example of taking that life which no human lawcan give , and trifles with that existence which it was meant to protect . Mr . Stallwood said he was happy this great and important question was brought before the public , bat on the principle of doing justice to all men , and giving credit to every one for the good deeds they performed , he must tell them tbeir chairman was wrong in stating that this agitation had its origin
with the Chartists . _Ifo doubt they all recollected that a person of the name of John Tawell was , a short time ago , tried and executed for murder at Aylesbury . At that period a publie meeting was held in the hall of that town on the subject , from which a comnii ; tee was formed , with Lord Nugent at its head , and from which body many important papers had issued in opposition to the barbarous practice of capital punishments , which had been published from time to time in the columns of that advocate of Universal Suffrage , the Aylesbury News . ( Heir , hear . ) Thus , although the agitation had not directly sprung from the Chartist body , it evidently had its origin in one section of the democratic party . He cordially agreed with , the resolutios , that hanging , or capital
punishment of any sort , Lad " a tendency to demoralise the public mind , and familiarise the populace with scenes of blood . " He well recollected , when he first came to London from a quiet country town , being uiken to wituess a London execution , at which six persons were _humj at once , one of whom had stolen a horse , and , previous to witnessing this melancholy exhibition , he had a very great dread of death ; but , on witnessing the fall of the drop , and the * _'launching into eternity , " as it was termed , of those unfortunate men , he lvruemuered well the exclamation involuntarily falling from his lips— "Is that death ? are tliey dead V and , on bciu * answered in the affirmative " , he thought , then , death was nothing ; and from that day to this , all fear of death punishment had lost its effect on him . ( Hear , hear . ) We were told that capital punishmcuts were instituted for example ' s sake—for the purpose of deterring others from the perpetration of crime ; but had it any such
effect ? No ; for , on the occasion when six of our fellow creatures suffered the last penalty of the law , \ at one and the same time , persons were apprehended I immediately beneath the gallows tree , picking 1 pockets ; and this was by no means a singular case . Look at Ireland' eapital punishments were , alas 1 of frequent occurrence in that unhappy country , and assassinations and brutal murders of much more frequent occurrence . But what need was there of going to Ireland for cases ? Had wc not recently bad plenty of judicial murders iu this " great metropolis , " followed hy many more sanguinary murders ? Thus showing , that instead of the example deterring from crime , it only inured the people to deeds of uLod , rendering them callous , and causing the monster crime of murder to be one of frequent occurrence . ( Loud cheers . ) He cordially agreed with the resolution , and earnestly hoped to witness the abrogation of _capital punishment , and the amelioration of our criminal code in general . ( Loud cheers . )
Mr . M'Gratii rose , much applauded , to second the resolution , . and asked , how was it those professing ministers of meivy , the clergy , were not present in great numbers on such an occasion ? If a meeting had been convened at Exeter Hall lot * the purpose of collecting money to send missionaries abroad among the Heathens , asthey were called , the parsons would be there in shoals . It reflected great credit upon the Chartist body to be found foremost in agitation for such a benign , Christian , and philanthropic purpose * , and if bis memory served hiiu rightly , so long ago as the Whig-create i riots of Bristol , the Radicals took the lead in advocating the abolishment of death punishments . He , however , with Mr . Stallwood , was delighted to find Lord Nugent acting in such a truly philanthropic manner , and trusted the day was not far distant when we should have a grand metropolitan demonstration on the subject , with Lord Nugent in the chair . ( Loud cheers . ) He thought
one of the great evils of capital punishments was that they risked tire lives of innocent persons * , and _Lc-re perhaps he might be permitted to say poor Bryan Seery was a case in point . ( Cheers . ) Capital _puuishinent had hitherto been without a single good result . He had never seen but one metropolitan execution , that ot Curvosier , aud such an effect did it have on him that he would never willingly wituess another . But sometimes when returning homewards of a Sunday evening he saw the scaffold in preparation for the Monday morning ' s execution , aud the motley multitude of human beings scrambling to obtain a seat or a standing-place to witness tho coming scene , and amidst those- groups he had found the Dissenting minis er , with the white handkerchief round his neck , busily distributing his tracts , and bidding the multitude look to the Eternal Judge for mercy , aud at the same time most inconsistently , with true morbid sensibility , justifying the taking _awav of that human life which the law could uot
give . ( Hear , hear . ) As regarded the example , he couid bear witness to the fallacy of this _argument , as he had liis pocket picked of his handkerchief on two occasions while witnessing tbe erection of the fatal scaffold . ( Hear , hear . ) Was it not admitted that Connor had been present at an execution just previously to bis murder ofthe woman in St . Giles's ? ( Hear , hear . ) Did not this clearly show that those judicial murders rendered human nature callous ? ( Hear , hear . ) He knew that some would say that it was written in Scripture— "Blood for blood , " but tbe days of such barbarity had fortunately passed _awiy , and he wouid like to see the minister who would now stand up in his pulpit and say that the man who lOmnitted the slightest breach ofthe Sabbath , should be taken out of the city and stoned to death . ( Hear , hear . ) Yet such was a portion of the *
old Jtwi-h law . The lad Wix had shedthe blood of liis master , and , in ail probability , Jack Ketch would : _wn shed his ( Wise ' s ) blood in return , but he would much like to know who would shed Jack Ketch ' s blood . ( Hear , hear . ) Humanity , mercy , and justice cried aloud that the blood of neither should be shed . ( Great cheering . ) He had witnessed some terrible and awful scenes in the town of Clonmell , in Ireland , shortly after his arrival from Newfoundlaud . In that wwn they appeared to have a machine for committing human slaughter by wholesale , openin ! . -, as it did , in the centre , and haviu « a fall of ten feet . He had seen one unfortunate individual brought out for _execution on this machine , and as it opened , spring forward and catch the bar , and be thus taken away half strangled , to be again brought with the like result , a _^ ain put back at half-past twelve iu the day to hidf-past six at uight , and theu
Death Punishments. A Powerful Movement I...
brought forward once more , the cx _« cutioner'literally thrusting the culprit forward to the gallows . ( Shouts ot" Horrible ! horrible : " ) And yet it was the eustom in Ireland to g ive school children a holiday in ordcr that they might become witnesses of such inhumanisiug and brutal exhibitions , for the sake of what they wrongly termed _/ i great moral example . But thanks to the good and great Father Mathew , children no longer witnessed such demoralisiii " scenes . ( Cheers . ) He might be asked what should he done with murderers ? W hy , he would say , let them be placed in asylums , where they would be taken care of and made to support themselves , and those they had deprived ol their uatufal protectors . ( Loud cheers . ) He appealed to the believers in the doctrines of Jesus . Christ , was it _rightfthat the
minister of religion should stand on the fatal scaffold with quivering lip , while the poor victim was lauuched iuto eternity ? He contended that it was the duty of every believer in the benign principles of Christianity to oppose capital punishments . Mr . M'Grath then lucidly entered into the revolting modes ol' destroying human Jile in various countries , and much interested the audience by his powerful appeal in opposition thereto , and said no one looked on Jack Ketch but with feelinus of abhorrence , which in itself was a forcible argument against death punishments . ( Loud cheers . ) Ca ; itai punishment had been abolished in some cases , bucIi as sheep stealing _, horse stealing , forgery , < fcc ., with beneficial effect , and he thought it might be entirely abrogated with equal if not superior benefit to society at large . — ( Great cheering . ) The resolution was carried unanimouslv .
Mr . _Ciiiusioi'nER Doyle rose to move tlie followinn resolution : — That this meeting , helieviug that the most beneficia l efl ' ecti would ensue by the discussion of this humane subject by the British public , do hereby resolve to appoint a committee of nine persons , and authorise them to take such steps as _^ fhey may deem fi t to agitate the metropolis , and thus press this important question on the attention of the legislature . lie said he could not see the advantage or propriety Of taking human life . Hanging did no good to society—it had not increased morality or virtue ; but , on the contrary , had demoralised _ and brutaliscd mankind . ( Cheers . ) - He contended , that if the murderer was placed on 6 orae waste lands , and bo far
confined as not to be enabled to repeat his crime , he would , by his labour , be euabled to support those his crime had so deeply injured ; and by the attention of the devout and pious , and his future good conduct , purge his crime , and fit himself for a glorious immortality . ( Hear , hear . ) Long imprisonments , as had been well observed , were decidedly injurious—his own experience had fully convinced him of this ; he kad , for political offences , been confined in four different prisons —( hear , hear)—and when in Preston Bridewell , the governor and chaplain had sought his opinion , and his evidence occupied seven folios in the _Inspector of Prisons' report . He found that the mixing the new criminal with the old had a very bad effect , inuring the young to crime ; for example , one
had come in whilst he was there ,, aud was asked by the old gaol-birds , ** Whathave you done ? " Lie replied , "Nothing ; " and on being told that he must have done something , replied , Well , I took an empty sack . " The old gaol-birds then told this new criminal , that he disgraced their profession by _corning there for such a purpose , and immediately initiated him into the art of picking pockets on tiptoe , aud that of breaking locks . He , therefore , thought , nay , he was convinced , tbatsolitary confinement for a brief period was much the best for new criminals and young offenders —( loud cheers)—and that severe punishments only tended to harden the culprit and make liim callous , whilst public executions rendered the populace brutal and savage ; hence , he considered It was our duty to raise our voices loudl y
against it , in order that it might be abolished and _civilisation flourish . ( Loud cheers . ) In fact , he _thought the cause of crime laid at the door of society . Only let the social wants of the people be attended to —give them the suffrage , and let each have a piece of laud , as they have iu Switzerland , aud , depend on it , they will become a moral , intelligent , and happy people . The cause being removed , the effect will cease , and murder will become comparatively unknown . ( Tremendous cheering . ) Mr . T . Clakk , in seconding the resolution , said—The Chartists had long been desirous of levelling bad institutions , and he was glad to find them desirous of progres _> iug iu their career by levelling the gallows . ( Loud cheers . ) He could not believe that Calcraft was tbe best moral instructor for the
multitude , and he thought capital punishments must place her Majesty in a veryawkward situasion ; surely she must , as a mother , as the head of the church , as the sovereign , feel acutely the signing of a death warrant to take away the lives of her subjects . ( Hear , hear . ) He was present at the execution of Ilocker , and a more brutal and savage scene he had never witnessed in the course of his existence . He had recently heard a debate iii the "house , " when that great criminal Macauley had sneered at the holy feeliug springing up in this comitry against capital punishments , calJing _^ t false delicacy—leiuenine * , but notwithstanding the sneers of this great babbler , the misrcprcsciitntive of the city of Edinburgh , he trusted they would persevere in their
exertions until they were crowned with success . A lady who attended a meeting with him the other day , said , " She wished they would hang the system instead ofthe men * , " _aud sure he was , in such a case , lit should have no objection to become the executioner . ( Loud cheers . ) He had full confidence that they would not only appoint a committee , but als-i furnish the means of carrying out the object to a triumphant issue . ( Great cheering . )—An Irishman , in the body of the meeting , said he thought the last speaker had been rather severe on Babington Macauley , as he remembered , when he was in power , he pardoned a man for killing goats . ( Roars of laughter . )—The resolution was carried unanimously , the committee was _appointed , a vote of thanks was given to the chairman , and the meeting then dissolved .
Margaret Stoker.—Capital Posisiimekts.—O...
Margaret Stoker . —Capital Posisiimekts . —On the eve of the trial of Margaret Stoker , charged with the murder of her child , two individuals in humble life , advocates for the abolition of death punishments , set on foot a subscription for her defence ; for she had no relative willing or able to assist her in her need _. Their appeal was principally made to the poorer classes , yet they met with only four refusals . The sum of £ 2 was raised in sums not exceeding CJ . each , and chiefly in pence . The remainder of the money required was provided in shillings , _'i'he subscribers , we have reason to know , were mainly
moved by their horror at the prospect of a young woman being handed over to the hangman . Her crime they abhorred , but they would spare the criminal from death . Their efforts , the reader knows , were vain ; the woman was convicted , and sentenced to die . But tbe promoters of the subscription were not deterred from their humane enterprise by the failure of the first attempt . They immediately got up a memorial to the Queen for mercy , and obtained within twenty-four hours several hundred signatures , including those of thejury ( who pronounced the verdict , but shrunk from the sentence ) .
Domestic Tragedy At Codnor Park, Derbysh...
DOMESTIC TRAGEDY AT CODNOR PARK , DERBYSHIRE . _IvoTnxGiuw , _Fridat . —Abaut five years ago , a man named John Elinor , a sinker-maker , who , during the greater part of his life had resided in Parliamentstreet , in this town , was induced by a brother who is well off in the world to leave his residence and occupation in Nottingham and go and reside near him at Coduor Park , lor the purpose of managing a public house , and rendering his brother other _survit-us , and soon became habitually melancholy . His wile , to whom this change appears to have beeu equally distasteful , died about twelve months since , and left him still more melancholy than he had been previously . A few months since he returned to Nottingham , and was about to take up his abode _atain in the town
when his only daughter died , who had been married to a lace-maker named Smith , and left two children the eldest of whom was a girl named Elizabeth , aged about twelve years . Smith having married again soon after tho death of hui first wife , and his eldest daughter being dissatisfied with her mother-in-law , she went ton side with hergrandfather , who returned with his charge to Coduor Park , with the idea that he could there provide better for her future comfort and welfare . For a time Elinor was more eheeriul iu the society of his little granddaughter , but latterly his health failed . He is said to have been constantly tormented with the idea that he should he left to want in his latter days if his brother should die before him , and that his _' little granddaughter , of whom he was verv fond , when left alone in the world , would
become a prey to the designing , and might spend her days in vice , or suffering from the most abject want . It had been customary for old John Elinor to visit his brother early on the morning of each day , but , having omitted to do so at the usual time , the latter became alarmed , knowing his brother ' s melancholy turn of mind , and that his housekeeper had left him for a few days ; he , therefore , went to his house , aud , _findinc it closed , and being unable to mske any one hear , he had the door forced open , when it was discovered that tlie wretched man had sti angled his granddaughter during the night , and that he had then hauged himself . Both were quite dead . There is no doubt that excessive melancholy in this case terminated in insanity ; and an inquest having been held upon the bodies , a verdict to that effect has been returned .
Impudent Robbery At Brighton.—On Saturda...
Impudent Robbery at Brighton . —On Saturday morning a man of gentlemanly appearance entered the Photographic Institution ou the Marine Parade , and was shown into the waiting-room till the artist was at liberty to attend him . It would appear that the fellow took an opportunity of entering an adjoining room , occupied by a single gentleman lodger , and ransacking the room of all its valuable contents , consisting of bank-notes , jewellery , and trinkets , to the value of £ 150 , deliberately walked off . On the loss being discovered information was given at the police-office ; but no trace has been found of the delinquent .
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House Of Lords-M Omm, March 33. Fever (I...
HOUSE OF _LORDS-M omm , March 33 . FEVER ( IRELAND ) BILL . On the mourn of tlie Earl of St . Gkiwaks , the _hevcr ( Ireland ; Bill was read a second time aud the standing orders being dispensed with , the bill wont through all the remaining stages , and was passed .
STATE OF IRELAND . Earl Grey roso to move an address to her Majesty on this subject , and , in a speech of two hours and a half , travelled over all the old and well-known lists of Irish grievances . Ho said , with reference to the policy of government—Her Majesty ' s government seem to me only to propose to go on with measures of that nature which have been adopted over and over again , and under whicli , it is allowed , the evils which they were intended to meet have not only continued , but have become worse rather than better ; but liaviug doggedly pursued the old beaten truck , how could it be expected that they would come to any but the old termination-. money and coercion scorn to have been the whole secret of tho policy of
governments . We have never been sparing of either—both luvc been _appliod , and we see the result—they have been tried over and over again , and we find the proof that _Slich measures cannot succeed in attaining the objects for which they were iuteuded . Shall I be told that it is impossible to do more—that improvement is impracticable , that the causes ol the improvement of Ireland are imdiscoverable , or of such a nature that they are boyond the reach of remedy ? Such am assertion is a libel on the bounty of Providence , and on human nature . Is there anything in the nature of the countrv , or of the peoplo , to account for it ? Surely there " is nothing in the country—for it is endowed with a soil of great fertility—with a genial climate , with great mineral
wealth , with commodious harbours on its coasts , with great means of internal navigation and extensive water power , and contains every advantage which is necessary for commercial greatness . And for the people—will any one say that it is their fault ? W hen they are taken away from the pernicious influences which surround them in their own country , they arc found to bo capable of everything that is good . ( Hear , hear . ) See them in the colonies , in Amcr > _u ., and in other countries of Europe , and they are distinguished for industry and usefulness , and in our own country , the severest labour is performed by Irish workmen . In the county with whicli 1 am connected , you see them coming over yearly to the harvest , the largest number of thcui being natives
of the wretchedest counties in Ireland , as Donegal . _-tud others , and what is tho character tliey bear ? Why , that they are most grateful for good treatment — ( hear , hear)—tractable , industrious , cheerful , even gay ; sometimes thoughtless , and easily excited ; but on the other hand often showing a providence and carefulness not common to the general character of persons in their rank of life , and living frugally in order to save their earnings to take home with them to pay their rent and assist their families . ( Hear , hear . ) This is tho character the Irish labourer bears in England . With such a people nnd such acouhtry , is it not the fault of their rulers , if brutality and lawlessness be the characteristics of Ireland ? If I comprehend what the policy of the government
is , it is this—that they consider the great evils of Ireland are , first , the absence of security to life and property ; and secondly , the absence of due encouragement of industry , and the rewards ot _lab-jur by adequate wages . They wish by their measures , to promote security to life and property , and they think these two conditions are closely connected . I think with them so far , that it is impossible to conisder the state of Ireland without seeing how closely these two symptoms are connected—so closely , indeed , as to make it difficult to _discover which is the cause and which the effect . Both these evils aggravate each otlur , and no remedy will bo effective unless the legislature shall apply their minds to provide means for the employment of the people , and to remove that
insecurity which prevents the efforts of private enterprise and private capital . I thiuk what the government aro doing to meet the pressing and present wants , by giving employment to the people , is right and sutiicieiit . Iu this respect they could do no more . I believe that measures by wliich grants and loans are supplied for providing , so to speak , « rtificinily against the present distress , is a judicious and adequate course . ( Hear , hear . ) But we must not forget that , if these are the only measures we adopt , they are not such as will result in permanent employment , or oause the spontaneous exercise of private enterprise and capital . No country can be iu a healthy state which depends on employment artificially provided by government . The onlv
permanent foundation for prosperity was to make the security of life and property depend on the ordinary laws and the ordinary powers of the Executive . But , unhappily , in Ireland the whole population are united in one general combination to evade or resist the law . Therein _cousists tlie real difficulty of enforcing the law in Ireland , the great body of the people being disposed to subvert rather than to aid it . Instead of co-operating with the administrators of the law , they endeavoured to screen and assist those who violate it . Their sympathy is not with the murdered , but the murderer ; and to such an extent do they carry it , that there are many well authenticated instances of men , who , through a desire to find employment , have pretended to be murderers in districts where they were not known , and where they made it appear they had
fled to evade the police , in order that the inhabitants might give them that protection , and afford them that oppoitunity of obtaining work , which , as mere strangers , and without the prestige of being regarded as men flying from justice , they would not bo permitted to enjoy . Whatever the remedy might be , it was clear they had not hitherto found it out . Coercion Bills had entirely failed , as the following history would prove . Sir lt . _Pesl , in ' a speech made so long ago as the year 1820—on introducing the measure for the removal of the Catholic disabilitiesgave this history of the measures of severity adopted towards Ireland : — "In 1800 we find the Habeas Corpus Act suspended , and the act for the suppression of rebellion in force . In 1801 they were continued . In 1 S 02 , 1 bclivve , they expired . In 1803 the insurrection for which Emmett suffered broke
out , ; Lord Kilwardcn was murdered by a savage mob , and both Acts of Parliament were renewed . In 1804 they were continued . In 1 S 0 G the ° _"W-st aud suufh of Ireland were in a state of insubordination , which was with diiliculty _suppressed by the severest enforcement of the ordinary law . In 1807 , inconsequence chicHy ofthe disorders that had prevailed in 1 S 0 U , the act called the Insurrection Act was introduced . Itgave power to the Lord LLutenantto place any district by proclamation out of the pale of the ordinary law ; it suspended trial by jury , and made it a transportable offence to be out of doors from sunset to sunrise . In 1 S 07 this act continued in force , and in 1808-0 , and to the close of the session of 1810 . In 1811 the Insurrection Act was renewed ;
it was continued in 1 S 15-1 G and 1617 . In 1 S 22 , it was again revived , and continued during the years 1823-21 and 1825 . In 1825 the Temporary Act intended for the suppression of dangerous associations , and especially the Roman Catholic Association , was passed . It continued during 1826-27 , and expired in 1828 . The year 1829 has arrived , and with it the demand for a new _ act to suppress the Roman Catholic Association . " This painful history might be continued , Only four years after the time when Sir R . Peel spoke in these terms , it was found necessary to introduco measures of the severest kind . The measure then passed expired only four or five years ago ; and _nosr , in 184 ( 5 , the Parliament was called upon to renew it . One fruitful cause of discontent and misery was , the law
and the opinions of the people as to the tenancy and occupany of the laud . 11 _w as undeniable that clearances of * estates had taken place to a great extent , aud in a maimer which itwas impossible to reconcile with real justice and humanity . Whin a population was allowed to grow up upou an estate , what could be more repugnant to good feeling than to drive out that population ? It was a disgrace to a civilised country that such thing' should be possible . Their lordshi ps had it upon the authority of the commission which laiely inquired into the Bubject ofthe relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland , that improvements were not made there at the expense ot the landlord , but of the tenant ; and , under the present law , it did happen that an industrious man , who had
brought a piece of hind iuto cultivation , was sometimeB , at . the pleasure of his landlord , turned out to starve on the wide world . Could such things take place without creating a feeling in the minds of the population ? Then the practice of subletting prevailed extensively . An industrious man , it might happen , with a cottage and asmallaUotinout of laud , ltad paid honestly to his immediate superior , but because that superior failed to pay rent to his superior , thai poor man was liable to have his crop and means seized to satisfy tlie claim of the head landlord . The appointment of Lord Devon ' s commission had rendered some reform in the law relating to the tenure of properly in Ireland more pressing than ever . Not an hour should be lost in bringing the subject before Parliament . They must be prepared _£ « vcn to go to considerable lengths ; tliey must deal with the subject not in the _spirit of a technical lawyer , but in the spirit of a statesman . They must look to those prin
ciplcs of the public good on wliich the law of real property was founded , and not merely to the practice of this country . But an improvement ef the mere letter of the law wouid not be enough ; tho administration of it also must be looked to . ( llear . ) When he quoted the other night the words of a great authority , that iii Ireland there was one law lor the rich and another for the poor , he had been corrected by a noble friend of his who sat opposite , and who , repeating the words , added that it also should be said —" and both equally ill-administered . " ( llear , hear . ) His lordship then proceeded to attack some recent legal appointments in Ireland , and referred to the alleged revival of the practice of excluding men from juries on account of their religion—better have no juiy at all than a partisan one . Ab to the outcry for the Repeal of the Union , it must be met as the discontent of Scotland had beeu in 1713 , when a motion was made in that house for the dissolution ef the then recently effected union . What did Par-
House Of Lords-M Omm, March 33. Fever (I...
liament do ? WEy ' , " ifistead of granting a Repeal ol tho Union , they set themselves to work to govern Scotland differcntlv—to govern Scotland on principles of equal justice , and under the influence o that system in a very few years all wish lor a ltcpcal of the Union had died away , * anil now , perhaps , one _abvscate for such a measure could scarcely be r ound in the countrv . Lot the same course bo pursued towards Ireland . We could not grant them Repeal . Let us try the experiment oi legislating for Ireland us an Irish Parliament fairly representing the wants and wishes of the people might be expected to legislate . The master ovil , and the grievance which in his estimation Jay at the root of all the discontent and alienation of the people of Irelandwas tho Irish
, Church . On this topic his lordship expatiated at great length , discussing seriatim the various propositions which have been made for modifying the evils admitted to flow from the existence of that establishment . All he contendod for was equality of favour to both religions , Protestant ami Ronian ' Catholicthat if the one were endowed they should endow both —( hear , hear )—and further , that there should be equality also in social position and rank —( cheers ) , — an equality whicli should recognise the Roman Catholio hierarchy even more than they were recognised by the Roman Catholic Bequests Bill—an equality whicli should give them their proper place in . society , and assign to _tlieni timt position wliich the pastors of the great body of the Irish people—a clergy who ,
taking them as a body , were as distinguished as any Cor their purity and devotion to their iloel's—were entitled to . ( Hear , hear . ) Ho would carry tbis equality so far as to say that the Catholic prelates should take their seats on the bishops' bench in that house . ( Hear , hear . ) And he knew of " nobody whose presence there would be more useful ; he could wish that at this moment they had the advice and assistance of those who wore so united by the ties of religion with the Catholicpopulation of Ireland to explain to tho house the feelings and wants of their flocks , and to advise their lordships us to the means of relieving them . ( Hear , hear . ) He was aware that the policy he now recommended was opposed by many difficulties , and he was prepared to find that it would be met with but little support and sympathy in that house . He was prepared to sec tho address he was about to move rejected by an overwhelming majority ; at tho same timo he
entertained an unshaken confidence that cremany years passed over that policy would , in all its essential features , be confirmed by Parliament . Since his first entry into public life , he had seen ample grounds for confidence that any course resting on the solid foundation of truth and justice would ultimately triumph . However great the difliculties—however strong the yrijudiccs to be met , justice and rouson must in the end prevail . ( Hear . ) When he first entered Parliament , in 1827 , nothing seemed more discouraging than the questiou of Catholic emancipation . It appeared to be going backward rather than forward —thenew Parliament rejected what the former House of Commons had passed ; but in two years more that measure was the law of the land . Free trade at that time seemed _altogether hopeless . Those who wished to apply it to our commercial legislation were treated as visionaries , whom it was scarcely necessary even to answer . The smallest measure in advance
to carry out those principles ( in corn especially ) into effect eould obtain scarce a dozen votes ; and yet in nineteen , yeava the question had _pYogYetscd year by year , until now it was on the eve of its final triumph . ( A gisture of dissent from the cross benches , and cheers . ) Or il" it was doomed to be slice moro defeated , that defeat would be but of short continuance ; they were at least in immediate _si-iht of the goal . ( Ilttar , hear . ) In the same way he was persuaded , however the policy of doing justice to Ireland iu this matter of the established church might now be received , the time was not far distant when it would be successful . ( Hear , hear . )
The Duke of _Wutuxeios opposed the motion , and defended the Irish Church on the old ground that its maintenance was au essential part of the compact entered into at the time of the union . He also gave an instructive history of past " concessions , " and advised them to make a stand ou the Church , for if they gave up that , what security hud they against farther aggressions ? Earl _Fonr-iscuh supported the motion . The great evil of Ireland he considered to be , not the relation that existed between landlord and tenant , but the tenure and possession of the land . He remembered the time when the measure of Catholic Emancipation was passed ; he had in the other House of Parliament suggested the introduction ot * a clause to save the rights of the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland ; but he was at once met with the statement
that a clause to the effect would be wholly useless , for that , in point of fact , there was no such thing as a forty-shilling freeholder in Ireland , And why was there not ' _i It was uciUtuowfl _thatiuauyofthcmiddlecksses had sufficient means to purchase small lauded properties ; but the fact was , that Irish estates weregeneraliy so encumbered that it was impossible to sell them in parts and parcels , and to that circumstance was to be attributed the paucity of the number of small freeholders in that country , ( Hear , hear . ) Ilibelief was , that if the people of Ireland were put on au equal footing in Church and State with the people of England , agitation wvuhl effectually be put down , for the Irish people , however easily led and excited , were not ungrateful for kindnesses conferred , ( llear . ) Lord Brougham made a furious speech iu defence of the " sacred rights of property , " and denunciatory of the agitators in Ireland .
After speechesfroni Earl _Fitzivilliam , the Marquises of Clanricarde , Wcstnicath , and Londonderry , the Duke of Richmond , and Earl St . Germans , Earl _Guej replied , anil the house divided on the motion , when the numbers were—Contents ... 17 Not content 01 Majority against tlie motion —ii Tho Print-works Bill went through committee . Several bills were advanced a stage , and the house adjourned at half-past twelve . HOUSE OF COMMONS—Mosdat _, March 23 .
AMALGAMATION OF RAILWAYS . Mr . J . W . Fatten moved , pursuant to notice , for the appointment ol a select committee " to consider how far , and under what regulations , the further amalgamation of railways would be consistent witk a due regard to the commercial and general interests ol the country . " The proposition was supported by the government , and after a long conversation , in which numerous members took part , it was agreed to , with the addition that the inquiries of tho committee should extend to canals as well as railways .
WAR IN INDIA , Mr . IIumk having referred to the reports which had appeared in the Paris papers within the last few days concerning some fresh operations by our troops in the Punjaub—Lord _Jucelvn and Sir Robert Peel announced that nu information had been received by government . The subject of the Trieste route to India was under the consideration of Parliament .
HOSTILITIES ON THE RIVER PLATE . Lord Palmehstos liaviug made some inquiries of government respecting the present state of our relations with the government of _Uuenes Ayres , Sir Robert Peel affirmed that wc wero not at war with that power , though a bombardment had been rendered necessary to maintain the integrity of the settlement of 1828 , to which this country hail been a party . Lord John Russell expressed a wish for further information respecting these transactions , and Sir Robert _luglis avowed au inability to discriminate between war and the state of things which Sir Robert _l _' ecl had intimated were in operation in the Plate . Mr . Milner _Gibson expressed an anxiety on behail * of the manufacturers of tho North of England concerning tlie free navigation of the Plate .
CORN IMPORTATION BILL . On the motion that this bill bo read a second time , petitions were pre ented by several members in favour of the measure . Among others , Sir R . Peel presented two—oue from Liverpool , the other from Manchester , comprising the names of all the wealth aud influence of these two towns , in favour of the measure , and deprecating delay as most injurious to trade . Mr . E . Yorke moved that the bill be read a econd time that day six months , which being seconded by Sir J , Y . liuller , led to a long debate , in which the _Protectionistspenkci 6 , Messrs . Parker , _Cholmondelv , G .. V . Harcourt , and Sir It . _Inglis joined . The free trade side oi * the _question was supported by Messrs . _M'Geachy , Fox Maule , Childers , and Captain Berkeley ,
On the motion of Lord Polkinoton the debate was adjourned , and the routine orders having been disposed of , the house rose at a quarter to one o ' clock .
r HOUSE OF LORDS-Tuksdat , MAncn 24 . Tho Royal Assent was » iveu hy commission to the Irish Fever Bill and the Metropolitan Building Act Amendment Bill . Several other bills were forwarded a stage , and the house adjourned at an early hour . 1 IOUSE OF _COMMON'S— Tubsdat , March 21 . SHORT TIME IN FACTORIES . Aftor the presentation of a number of petitions on private bills , chiefly railway bills , Mr . Lawson presented a petition from the factoryworkers of Ashton-uiider-Liuc , praying that the hours of employment in factories , for young persons , might not exceed ten hours for live days in tlie week , and eight hours on the Saturday .
Sir It . II . Inolis presented a petition from the factory-workers of the parish of Bradford , in Yorkshire , praying for the adoption oi * a Ten Hours' Bill , Sir G . _Stuicklaxb prevented a petition from Iludilersfidd , in the West Riding of Yorkshire , and a petition from another place in the manufacturing district , in favour of the same object . Ml ' . T . Duncouuh also presented a petition having the same prayer .
WAR AND THE MILITIA , Dr . _Bownixo presented a petition from Newport , against tho embodiment of the militia , and urging that all international disputes should he settled by arbitration , without haying recourse to war . Also a
House Of Lords-M Omm, March 33. Fever (I...
petition from Yarmouth , against tho calling out of th * : militia . PROTECTION OF LIFE BY MEANS OF RELIEF OF TIIE POOR ( IRELAND ) BILL . Mr . P . _Scnora moved for leave to bring in a bill for the better protection of" life in Ireland , by means of the better relief of the destitute poor therein . Leave granted . FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL . Sir J . _Guauam proposed tlie postponement of the second reading of the amended bill with regard to Friendly Societies , wliich was agreed to . He also said , that he had received information from the member for Oldham that he would postpone the second reading ofthe Factories Bill .
CASE OF A NEWSPAPER PROPRIETOR . Viscount Isgestke moved , pursuant to notice , that the house should take into consideration the petition of Thomas Wood , proprietor of the Wolverhampton Chronicle , in relation to Licblieid Free School . Some time ago , a commission had been instituted by " overnment to inquire into the management of tho charitable schools throughout the country . Mr . Allen , a chaplain of the Bishop of Lichliold , was tbe commissioner who attended at Lichfield , to inquire into the state of tho free school there ; his report was presented to that house , and ordered to be printed with the minutes of the privy council committee of education . Aftor it had been so printed , Mr . Wood had copied it into his paper , for which an action of libel was brought , and a verdict was givoa against him for £ 50 damages , which with the costs amounted to £ -300 . Another action had _bcon brought at the same time against Mr . J . \ V . Parker ,
of Loudon , tlie publisher ot tho minutes ofthe committee of education . The solicitor for the Treasury was instructed to defend him ; he apologised for tlie publication , said the report was incorrect , and escaped with a nominal verdict of-10 s . and costs , which the Treasury paid , Tho hardship of this was , that Mr . Wood , who defended himself , was thus deprived of ihe only defence he could possibly set up . He had Heviousdy endeavoured to settle the action amicably , by offering to apologise , to give up the person who had furnished him with Mr . Allen ' s priced report , and to disavow any malicious intent . This case involved a very important public principle—whether the editors of newspapers , which were the organs of public opinion and the vehicles of public intelligence , were to be fined and punished for quoting goverr > ment reports and official documents—for doing , in short , what they could hardly help doing . It was a case of great individual hardship , and lie hoped that some relief would be afforded .
Lord _Joiix _Russkll thought the house should _proceed with the Corn Bill , aud moved the previous question . The motion was , however , withdrawn upon a premise from Sir Robert Peel , that he would produce Mr . Wood's memorial to the _Treasury and take the debate upon it next Wednesday ,
ADJOURNED DEBATE ON THE CORN IMPORTATION BILL . The debate was resumed by Lord _PouiisoTOii _, who thought that when every protection was withdrawn from agriculture , every restriction upon it ought to be withdrawn too . The proprietors aud cultivators of the soil of England ought to be permitted to cultivate their lands iu any way they thought fit . They should be allowed to grow hops and tobacco , and to malt the barley which they grew , turning it either into food for cattle or iuto wholesome beverage for _lahoureis .
Mr . _Plumtre thought this was not entirely a landlord ' s question ; it would certainly affect landlords in a certain rank of life , but it would be much more injurious to the labourer , lie had been prac tically acquainted with farming for the hist twenty years , and he knew that in Kent , when tlie price of corn was high , the wages ofthe labourer were 18 s . a week ; but , when the price fell , wages came down to lis ., and a less number of labourers were employed . That was the uniform practice in Kent , where wages at the present time were 12 s . per week . The potatoe disease had been assigned as the reason for bringing forward this measure , but he thought it was the tear of that unconstitutional association , the Anti-Cora Law League . It * they gave way to the pressure from without on the preseut occasion , was it not probable , when this league had done its work , that another league , with other objects , would be _called into
existence , and that the Chartists , oncouraged by the success of the Anti-Corn Law League , would come forward and demand . the extension of the suffrage ? Having once launched upon the ocean of expediency , where were they to stop ? His belief was , that this once free aud flourishing country would be exposed to many dangers , and that their wisely and _prudently limired monarchy would lapse in to a wild democracy . ( Hear , hear . ) lie hoped his fears might not be realised , hut after the best consideration which he could give the subject , he thought he was best promoting the welfare and prosperity of the country by giving his decided opposition to the present measure . ( Hear , hear . ) Mr . B . Hawb 8 referred to the petitions from London , Liverpool , Manchester , Glasgow , and nther populous places , in favour of this measure , as a decisive proof that the people considered it well calculated to promote the general prosperity of tho
empire . Sir J . Trollop-e , in opposing the second reading of the bill , made a stout protection speech , in which he reiterated the usual arguments derived from tbe pressure of tithes , poor rates , highway rates , comity rates , and the malt tax , on the agricultural interest . Sir J , IIanmeu supported the bill . Lord Emuxoros regretted , that though we had now the prospect of the total repeal of the Corn Law before _«> , we were still to be cursed for three years longer with a sliding scale . By bringing forward this measure Ministers had conceded in substance the demand of that formidable agitation which had been commenced and conducted by the League ; but
unfortunately they had left enough of protection in existence to justify , if not to compel , the continuance of that agitation which , as a remedy , was only It- B dangerous than the disease whieh it professed to cure . After treating with comparative _died & m the compensation which Sir R . Peel proposed to give to the agricultural interest , he asserted that the scheme of the right hon . baronet couid not deserve the title of " a grand and comprehensive scheme" so long as it left unchanged the law of real property , which really did press heavily on the landed interest . Mr . _Rashlkiou wished to know from her Majesty ' s government whether they intended to accede to all the demands mado from the other side . He saw the right hon , baronet ( the Secretary of State for the Home Department ) smile , but the right hon . baronet
should not smile during the discussion of a great question . ( Laughter . ) Gentlemen opposite _mipht smile , but he ( Mr . Rashleigh ) was not to be put down by the smiles of the hon . member for Stockport and all the crew behind him . ( Laughter , and cries of "Order . " ) The right hon . baronet at the head of the government was now the leader of that party . W hat was it that had caused such a change ? Formerly the motion of tho hon . member for Wolve » hampton was met with silent contempt , and defeated with large majorities . In his opinion that was the constitutional way to beat such motions . ( Laughter-. ) Tho hon . member for Bolton also smiled , but let h ru . take care—this was no smiling question . ( Loud i laughter . ) The sooner tlie hon . member _gayc up >
that peculiar grimace , the belter for himself . ( Loud i laughter . ) Ho saw the significant smiles of some i hon . gentlemen opposite belonging to the Lengu _" . . He knew them well enough . ( Laughter . ) And l . e a knew what that smile meant coming livni them . . ( Much laughter . ) He lived at some distance from a their smoky regions ; but ho could tell them this , i , that _soino of _thos _j very personages whom they held il in comtempt were his greatest friends—they weie e 1 ' riei _. ds he should feel proud to have at his table—he e meant some of the operatives in those districts they y treated with so much contempt , nnd whom they had u constantly and on all occasions tried to put down the men whom thoy were afraid to meet iu open n meetings on this question .
Mr . F . Barikq expressed his intention of giving g his cordial support to the measure introduced by her ar Majesty ' s government , because he saw in it much : h actual good , and the seeds of still greater prospective ve good . He asked the members of the new party , of of which the formation had been developed in thehe _coui-so of these debates , what they intended to dodo with respect to the present Corn Laws , Mr . Milesles was of opinion that , if they defeated the present bill , ill , all was done that the occasion required ; but his hon . ) n . relative , Mr . T . Baring , was of opinion that the _pre-re
sent was just the time for making a compi-omise . se ., Which of these two leaders ofthe new party was _thethei country to believe 1 He asked them to explain , it , ill thev eould , the chance which they had of _succeedingingi iu their _prea-nt opposition to the measures of tho go-government . But , supposingthat they were tosucceed'cd _,, and that they were ablo to place on the Treasurjurji benches gentlemen capable of competing with itsyrepre sent and its previous occupants , and that they werveni fortunate enough to obtain a majority _suflicient Ut t « enable them to carry en the government , wouloulu they be able to meot the other difficulties of theihei .
position . Mr . Shaw addressed the house _atsomelength upoipon the documents which had recently been presented fad t « it by order ofthe government , relative to the _famiiittinn and fever now raging in Ireland . From the _ver-ver : first he had stated that he believed the statementientt relative to the failure- of the potatoe crop in Ir _« _Irte land to have been much exaggerated , and th tin Ministers to have been misled by the iiif ' ormatioitioM which they had received ; and he now repeated _hii hii
former belief , referring to numerous letters iu just-instill cation of his statement . He spoke with all sinccritcritt when he declared it tbe hisb those gentlentl « men who sat ' rabll principle : —they _^ _ong and supported thedisclaimed no upoupo i : them . ( , arde * that they had J so full ot that ? _» PP pcaredtobe . B _™ forward , plain , tui uiav tuoso i
O ^ Jjlififjhat Nrouud J^Ivscl^ Wpo^Tlm ...
o _^ jjlififjhat nrouud J _^ _ivscl _^ _Wpo _^ tlm henourab _opposc / d _MajrMi _^ oughLwron what 4 _hfe y _> _" _^ o _«^^ ht . } , * ajjg the _respoiilibJh _^ thajKm ' g _^ _Protectionist _& s" _^> _AW _^^ _P arde no _thQ"feh _^ b' _<^&< _'VT _^* _W " idea as- ShJh _^^ _afmmm aP They w ' er _& pr _^ _aiwW _^^^ g _^ _and-maW _wnp > » JHf _tpWde the JU lb io uu uis _^| im ; w guui > round _Jiinv _* n _% a _)*|> o _^ tUjs henourab _sy oppf _* ea _MaJrMxwoughWroni _whatl _ _ySoWWM > m e spoi & bj _^ h _^ idea _as-AfrJBarjn _^ _ivnjaMp' _®? *» I hey w ' er & pr _^ _rrwtt _^ _taw _^^ _gij and maW _wpp . VW tp _^ _imie tu . _-, * : ¦ . _-Vi' _^ . V / A «
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), March 28, 1846, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_28031846/page/7/
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