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THE 3TOKTHM STAE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11,1838.
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TiEEDS AND WEST-RIDING NEWS.
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TO READERS & CORRESPONDENTS.
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EVERT LANCASHIRE PURCHASER of the ' NORTHERN STAR • of this Day will be presented with a
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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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S P L EN DID P 0 E T R AIT ( FROM A STEEL PLATE , ) OF SIR W . MOLES WORTH BART ., K . P . FOR I . EEDS . Every YORKSHIRE Purchaser will receive a like present on Saturday , tbe 18 th August , and our SCOTCH and other NORTHERI FRIENDS on Saturday , the 25 th August .
The 3tokthm Stae. Saturday, August 11,1838.
THE 3 TOKTHM STAE . SATURDAY , AUGUST 11 , 1838 .
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TEIAL AND CONVICTION OF THE WHIGS . TflE Sixth of Augffit will "be i day ever memo-Table in Europe , and its effects -will "be long felt by aB die nations of the earth . The Sun has much , -veysraeh , limited the importance of the Meetimg of lie Sixtk , hyjlescnbingit as a National -Convention . There were there , Poles , and Russians , and Ger-Xoans , aid Negroes , and Frenchman ; "Americans ,
SpaniaxdSj " 3113118118118 ; all and each "hailing the sentiments ~ a& heralds of Universal Liberty . The Hafions of Europe inow , and know full well , that the sinews of Englishmen , of Irishmen , and of Scotchmen hWbeen mannfactared iato universal fetters *> r Liberty . England would have crushed the genins of America . England "has established the despotfem of France . England has made the brave Pole * beggar at the English cottage . England is sow kyingthe foundation of tyranny in Canada .
* Bct the WickneaB of ashe * wiQmwk wiere it ttood , "WtHfi 1 lie wild mother screams o ' er her famishing "brood ;" and to those distant calamities which English-policy las caused , is the English mind directed .. Tie eye arstretehed , as it were , to countries- far away , lest one down-cast look at domestic suffering should fire the native breast to madness . The "fames awn " ( thirst for gold ) of the British speculator , has established ahuman flesh market in every country throughout the would . Tour years since we paid twenty 3 nIUion 3 at the Indian stall , for black cattle , we
longht tie nock ; and this year we paid . one million to fiie Irish butchers . £ 20 , 000 , 000 for the blact fi 6 ck , and £ l , , 000 forthe-H-nitesiepherds . To the three domestic bntehers and their slaughter-house men we have paid more than £ 100 , 000 , while the jadfving policy , of starving Irishmen into submission , has cost the nation , since the passing of the Hefonn Bill , more than five millions annually . There is a side gate of the national eight hundred
j nfflion toll-bar in every port in Europe , and the object of Monday ' s meeting was to take the toll off English labour , place what" must remain on English idleness , on the barren surfaee of the soil , and not upon the hands that produce , or the stomachs that consume , "thereby giving value to the soil . " We have described the effects of English policy , and ihe objects of Monday's Meet ing , and now a word as to the nature and terms of the Union . So far
irom taunting our newly adopted brethren with timidity or procrastination , we now feel convinced of the soundness of their policy , and the wisdom of their delay . Had the men of Birmingham pressed too precipitately upon the present Government , they "Would nave been chargeable and charged with impetuosity , intemperance , and want of judgment The necessary changes under a new system—the moulding of a Cabinet out of the \ est materialsthe test to which , in' a state of probation , the IRiCHMONDS , Stakleys , Broughams , and
Ghahams had necessarily tobe'subjeeted—the assimilating of opinions , and dovetailing of measures , tt ere matters tobeadjusted , before a Reforming Ministry could be said really to exist . These preliminaries lave been now gone throneh , and upon Monday last , an Administration , said to be composed of fiie recognized leaders of "Whig opinion , was jut upon trial . The people . of Birmingham lad been mainly instrumental in procuring ioa # -them that trial , and , therefore , as just and upright judges , they were bound to give ihem a fair trial . They wisely -3 &t » a » pon tae « ousiacratlon , that a longer period is required for
the adjustment of a nation s affairs , after years of abuse and neglect , than is required for the remodelling or improvement of a family , or for the adjustment of the affairs of a small community . The full time has been allowed , and the jury , the -whole jury , returned an unanimous verdict of GUILTY against the "Whigs . The question was ynt by 3 Jr . Q'CoJvSfos , and no donbt , -with the intention of investing the TJnion with an-executive authority to carry into effect the verdict of that jnry Trbich they empannelled . Upon the men of Birminglam now devolves the responsibility of carrying that verdict into fall force . The Union and their
leaders have assumed an awful responsibility . Heretofore they acted locally ; they now act universally . The authority which they required has been cheerftlly , unanimously , and promptly conferred upon them , but mark , not without that responsibility irhieh Mr . Muxtz well described as constituting He difference between a responsible Government and an irresponsible despotism . The men of Birmingham hare hitherto stood upon
the household top , and nave watched our little Universal Suffrage bark tossed upon ihe troubled Traters of agitation . The tainted gale of faction driving it to the shoals , from which it has been saved ly the steady Northern breeze .. The struggle for ¦ dree years has been such as few will now acknowledge , but the effects of which we feel at this moment in every limb ; but " away with pouting and sad-3 iess : " had we forfeited life itself , the price -vronld lave "been far short of fhe value of MondaVa
meeting . The work which , in the hands of a portion of He people , iB difficult , when divided amongst the "whole people , becomes easy of accomplishment . " While the Birmingham Union were contending for * Household Suffrage , " and the brave , the virtuons , ths Tmfiincning men of the North were fighting for * ' Universal Suffrage , " we were as hostile and injurious to each other , as though one of the parties had been . other " Whig or Tory . That we would perish rather than Tetregrade , . was a fact of which it was necessary to convince our
"fcrethren . "We have convinced them , and the Tesult of our perseverance and resolution , has been manifested in the Union of the 6 th of August . "What are the terms of that Union ? That we have conferred executive power upon the Birmingham " Union . That we of the north shall support them "With all our heart , with all our mind , and with all our strength . Pardoning every indiscretion , giving them the "honour and He glory of every triumph , "while we are sure of being participators in their every victory . The Union destroys base ambition ,
annihilates jealousy ^ defies malice , courts- censorship , and removes suspicion . The Union is now the Government of the country , " de Jure et de facto . " "We lave joined the "Union , " but we have not joined for the purpose of insidiousl y watching , and malicionsly seizing upon an indiscretion as the signal of taunt or revolt "We Bhall not , perhaps , be quite so charitable as the Union hag been to the "Whi gs ; int yet we shall make allowance for every frailty to which flesh is heir . Constitnted as the Council is , we . fear no charge of greater enormity than that of IncllKsetion . "We are now as one man , Attwoob
and Ejslden are colleagues . "Watson , Mtjntz , . Aasok , Douglas , Hadley , Edmunds , and Saxx , yith their forty-three associates , are invested irith executive power . It is well- and judiciously Tested . Nothing but jealousy , ambition , or treason , can weaken as ; and cursed be the fiend , who shall mot ratter brood silently over his individual suspicions , than by publishing them . disunite us . Oar strength is in our union—our power in our voice , and cur success in our perseverance . According to natural ! ¦ oppressions . —to the artificial construction of sooietT- —to the rale upon wileh Governments eadst , and to the terms of tie great moral compact , for the
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— ¦ ^ — i ^ — furtherance of ¦ which man surrendered a portion of his natural rights ^ in . order that he may the more fully and the ttiore freely enjoy those which society sanctioned for mutual benefits ; as squaring with all soch considerations , we give the following as our opinion : ¦—Henceforth , inasmuch as the people prefer an hereditary monarchy , with a republican , or universal power of contronl , to any other species of Government , we deem any administration , holding power short of universal nomaxtion , usurpers—traitors against both people and Sovereign , and rebels against the acknowledged
powers of the state . The meeting of Monday was , in "feet , the establishment of -a . new Constitution , a&d though bayonets and corruption may , for a season , hold it in allegiance , yet let the people be assured that the will of an united people will , e'er long , become the law of the land . O- ! it was a glorionB sight . It was -a heavenly spectacle , to see a virtuous court asserting right , and denouncing wrong . God ! what an Union is a nation of freemen , struggling against oppression 1 A band of slaves proclaiming their own freedom , that th _ ey may give freedom to others ! "We have lost all Tecollection of
much which we had intended to say . The merry peal ; the shout of liberty ; the firm resolve of freemen ; the cheer of patriotism ; the manifestation of national love of justice ; the expression of wrong done , and the bold determination to "do or die , " still binds us captive to the scene withont other thought than recollection of the past . In the fulfilment of the national object will be found justice for Ireland—Justice for England—evenhanded unsparing Justice for all .
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THE DOOMED ONES . The " Whigs have surely been laid under a spell . They seem determined to rush upon destructii » n . Another paroxysm of the self-destroying mania has overtaken them at Dewsbury , where the valiant myrmidons of the Devil ' s law have dared to brave the vengeance of their insulted and outraged neighbours . "We cannot but regret that any violence should have occurred , and yet , when the provocation is considered , with our knowledge of
human nature , our only surprise is , that matters were not much worse . "We would , however , most earnestly caution the people to beware of violence ; let not Samson pull down the house over their heads as well as his own . If the "Whi gs love destruction , let them have it , and welcome ; but , in God's name , let the people be careful not to be involved in it . Cool resolution , and united exertion will do all they wish . "Violence will only retard , and perhaps ultimately defeat , the accomplishment of their own object .
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STATE OF CANADA . The following description of the present state and prospect of Canada is from a Ministerial paper , published in Toronto , received at our office during the present week . Emigration from this Province to the United States still continues , notwithstanding the immense numbers who have already left ; but it has changed its character , — and now , instead of being composed of men of strong political feelings , embraces the more cautious and industrious classes—old countrymen as well as natives . Military clangour keeps one portion of the people from brooding over the
general depression , while a morbid melancholy seemed to have seized others , whe are pathetic as to the consequences of passing events , and look upon emigration as a panacea for all their ills . It is but what occurs in every country , that the tradesmen and labourers should seek for employment in the country that can afford to give it ; but , that men Who "ha-re been "bora in the province , and who have " spent their dearest action in the tented field " in defence of their attachment to the British Crown , and others who have left our fatherland to settle in Canada in preference to the U . 8 ., because they preferred the security and magnanimity of British justice , to the fickle and clamorous institutions of a republic—that sucb men could be induced by any
possible circumstances to abandon their homes , is greatly to be deplored , and demands an investigation as to the cause . To such an extent has emigration , however , been carried on , that in some parts of the London District , we have credibly b * en informed , there are not males enough left to gather in a tithe of the crops . Some farmers have sacrificed their homesteads for a trifle , whilst others have actually abandoned them , " flying from the province as from a land of famine and pestilence , " ( we thank you , Sir Francis , for the term . ) But this is not all . The spirit of change is extending like an epidemic , and several parties from different parts of the province are now trarersing the western states , looking for locations to provide for an extensive emigration .
The above will furnish to our readers a much more accurate picture of the state of affairs in Canada than they can expect to glean from the " Whig and Tory oracles of mendacity in this country .
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THE AMERICAN STBUGGLE . "We have received The National Laborer of Philadelphia up to July 14 th , from which we find the rag-money struggle still progresses , though with an air of desperation on the part of the moneycrats , that shews in beautiful relief the advantage of the Americans overus , in having , by their fine Constitut ion , a controlling power in the State , to which , wlen brought into exercise , all factious attempts at domination must succumb . "We invite particular attention to the following excellent Editorial article from the Laborer , which , as our readers will see , fully maintains the ipirit of the extracts which we gave from the same paper a fortnight ago : —
"The Questions atkstje , are , "Whether the presidents , directors , and stockholders ofincorporated companies , together with their lawyers , debtors , and dependants , comprising . a few thousand persons , shall tax , govern , and control as many millions of labourers and producers , and exclusively appropriate the products and fruits of labour to their use ; or , "Whether our Government shall remain and continue a democracy , whereby the millions will have a voice in its control ?
These are the great questions now at issue before the American people . If the paper money party prevail , they will exempt themselves and property from taxation , and lay the whole weight and burden on labour and production ; but if the people prevail , and the taxes are collected in the currency intended to be secured to us by our revolutionary fathers ; then these bodies of incorporated wealth must bear their share in support of Government .
It is this they so much dread , and are determined to avoid at all hazards if they possibly can . Hence the great hatred of these monopolists to a constitut ion . Hence their constant false clamor made against our Government and its administration , for its efforts to keep the Government and banks separate . And hence we see in the United States Gazette , of the 30 th June , 1838 , ( one of the official organs of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania , and great head of tie paper ntfmey party , in our country , ) the most insolent threat against the President of the United States , forcibly to thrust him from the office to which the people elected him , 8 houldhedare to exercise the power placed in his
hands iy the constitution , by resisting any bul which those rag barons may hereafter be able to carry through-congress . "We now call the attention of theproducing classes of this great nation , to the daring and insulting nature of this threat . This attempt to intimidate the chief magistrate of our country , and deter him from a conscientious discharge of duty ! A duty , the discharge of which may be required of him to protect the great body of the people against the craft and subtlety of the dealers in paper money , who now hope to prevail on congress , by any and every means , to grant them a charter for the furtherance of their schemes . For this purpose , and to extort a eomplianee , the President , it seems , is threatened .
Gentlemen monopolists , what do yon mean ? We pray yon deal plainly and honestly with the people , not acquainted with the mysteries of your great
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MUMIMMWi ^ i—^—CM paper scheme . Do you believe that you can overturn this Government by force and violence ,, and establish one in its stead , where the great mass of the people would have no voice , and by which you could issue irredeemable paper at pleasure , and compel the producing and labouring classes to receive such paper for their products ? Or do you merely expect to frighten the President and deter him from the upright performance of duty ? You will find yourselves mistaken in either attempt . "We advise you against both . Fighting is a ' " game at which two can play , " and you might come off only second best . No , gentlemen , take
our advice , and give up the idea of fighting , the people will understand what you ; are at , and you can do better for your dear paper system ,: by almost any other method . You can make more of the people by your old trade of lending to members of Congress and of State legislatures , buying up newspapers and-their * cattie" editors , making public opinion to quietly succumb under such 'fair business transactions , and procuring charters ^ then gamble in the stocks , raise the price by puffing and sham sales , and then sell ; reduce the price by panic and false rumours , and then buy the same stocks back . These , and all of the various otter methods known to you , and unknown to the people , ( by which you can cheat and swindle them out of the fruits of their
labour , ) will suit you better than fighting ; and although you number only as many thousands as the labourers and producers do millions , you will be roftre than a match for them , became you have practised until you understand your game ; but when it comes to fighting ^ the labouring and producing classes understand that as well as you do , so you had better not try fighting . As to frightening the President from the performance of his duty , we entertain no fears on that head ; but if you were ever to succeed , you will enjoy but a short triumph . Any charter you obtained by either fraud or vio ^ lenc , would be of but little value to you among a free and an outraged people when roused to resistance and retaliation .
But of what do those chartered monopolists complain ? "What has led to this daring and insolent threatening ? "Why , nothing more than this , that the people who ought to and shall govern this country want to collect and pay out the constitutional currency , gold and silver , whilst the bank party wish to compel the government to collect and pay out their worthless irredeemable paper promises , the bankers , pretending that there is not specie enough in the country to support- the government . In all of this they well know they are stating falsehoods . There are nine hundred banks in the United States , and if the amount of specie to be collected
and paid out was as much as these . monopolists pretend , and equally divided between them , it would amount to twenty thousand dollars to each bank , and it is very plain that a bank which could not pay twenty thousand dollars in the year , never ought to be chartered under any pretext , nor can the paper of such a bank be of any value to the country . But no one in his senses—no one of these bankers themselves—believes that it would require any thing like half this amount to support the government . On the contrary , they know that it
would be paid out by the government nearly as fast as received , to soldiers , sailors ^ revolutionary pensioners , and labourers on public works , who in turn would pay it away for provisions and clothing , &c . &c , by which means it would obtain a rapid circulation among the people , and drive out of existence their worthless and fraudulent shin plasters and rags , and would again return to the banks , making two or three circulations of the same coin in the year , and gladdening the countenance of labour wherever it appeared .
To prevent this wholesome state of things , the United States Bank organ has now , in behalf of the chartered monopolists , and in the face of this great Nation , threatened the people with violence and re - volution . " Will they dare the experiment of physical coercion ? If so , we hope they will srion commence operations , for by this . means a speedy termination of their chartered robberies will be effected . We call upon the public to note this insolencr , and to prepare to repel and punish it . The very first forcible attempt on the part of this would-be paper sovereignty to carry its puny threats into execution , forever reals its fate , by rousing Irom their lethargy — "We—The People . " The people of America stand on a vantage ground in the combat with the universal enemy , towards
the attainment of which all our energies must be unceasingly directed . " We mean Universal Suffrage , the only fair ground on which the battle of freedom can be fought . Let the knowledge then that even with this advantage , the Americans find the "beast " a hard foe to grapple with , stimulate every working man of Britain to merge all minor considerations in the great effort now making ; and never , we hope , to cease or slacken till the parent country shairbe able proudly to uplift her head beside the daughter without consciousness of inferiority . ^
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TO THE EDITORS OF THE NORTHERN STAR . London , August 8 th , 1838 . My Dear Sirs , —Being aware that the great Birmingham meeting and Mr . Qastler's letter will necessarily occupy no small share of your next paper , I should not claim your usual indulgence this week , but that I deem it necessary to fix your readers' attention on what occurred last night in the House of Commons on the bringing up of the Report of the Poor Law Committee . I wish also to say a word or two on the Grand Midland
Demonstration of Holloway-head , and of another very opposite kind of demonstration , which is at this moment , taking place in Maidstone , before Lord Denman . I allude , of course , to the trial of the unfortunate victims of Dr . Poore ' s bloody-minded instruction to the military— " to take Courtenay dead or alive !" First , with respect to the Poor Law Committee . If ever a public man deserved public gratitude , Mr . FlELDEN deserves the plenitude of it for his manl y and noble conduct last ni ght . Do , gentlemen , if
you possibly can , make room for his masterly exposure of that rascally Committee ' s rascally '' Report . " Fearing you may not have space for it 1 shall briefly Rtate some of its leading features . Let your readers mark , learn , and inwardly digest them , and then say whether a Report , got up under such infamous circumstances ought to have any more weight with the Country then the " Not Guilty" plea of an Old Bailey thief has with the Judge and Jury of that Court . On Mr . P . Scrope bringing up the Report ,
" Mr . FIELDEN said , he couia not let this report elb Drbbght np withont ravins a few words sis to the manner in which the committee nad conducted the investigation , and npon that document which waa the result of it . His proposi uon was , that the committee should examine those whom nobody could doubt were the best witnesses—the labouring people and the ratepayers . He proposed , at the first meeting of the committee , that they should procure certain retnrnf from thoseUmong in which the rates had been reduced fifti per cent Thi » was oWected to , on the ground that th < returns would be too elaborate and too difficult to procure He then proposed that they should take those Uniona ii which the reductions had been sixty per cent ., and the firs
tnree on the list of . this description being Ampthill , Bedford and Woburn , the committee ordered the returns from those ' Unions . Be ( Mr . Fielden ) sent two men down into Bedfordshire , to make inquiries as to the condition of the people whom the returns showed to be deprived of parochial refief under the new law ; and he was in hopes that the committee would have gone into a full examination of the ratepayers and labourers ofthose Union * , as well as into the examination of Commissioners , ; Guardians , and Officers of the new law But he had been grievously ^ disappointed . The House would nnd by looking at the evidence , that the committee had been engaged no less than thirty-six days and a half in examining Commissioners and Guardians . Indeed , the Gommissionere alone had taken
twenty days out of the fift y-two days that the whole examination had taken up . Four days had been allotted to the medical inquiry , leaving ten and a , half days lor the examination of witnesses against the law ; and this notwithstanding nearly half a million of _ persons had " petitioned against it , stating their reasons . The Commiaaonerg . and toe Guardians too , were persona actually upon their teal . They were persons who had been complainedof-« r ~ . f ° . y utte ? ^* <> ng ™ any appointed for the purpose of ascertaining whether those compfiutfa were just . Would the House be satisfied , would the country be satisfied , that this committee had conducted an impart ^ lexaminatioB ( when Sr ial ?» * ° ¦ * " examiMtion of"PWMwho were ^ n
When a man deals , like Mr . Fielden , in sober facts , and not rhetorical flourishes or trumpery declamation , it is superflous to comment on his statements . They speak too plainly for themselves . No person who reads this extract can fail to see that the Committee ' s examination was a most foul and one-sided affair . Instead of allotting thirty-six and a half days out of fift y-two to the examination of Commissioners and Guardians these parties ought not to have been examined at all
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They were , as Mr . Fielden justly observes on ( heir trial , so that their proper place , if brought into Court at all , was the dock and not the witnessbox . Their evidence is therefore no more ^ admissible inforo cpnscientioe , than would be that of Dr . PpoifE and the Officers in respect of the Bosenden Wood Massacre of which they were the perpetrators I say-irt foro conscientioe , for though law and conscience ought always to go hand in hand , it is unfortunately but too notorious that they have long since been divorced in this ( as Old Glory calls if , j " favoured land . " The proper parties to be examined
before the Poor Law Committee were the ratepayers © n the one ; hand , and the immured paupers on the other . The rate-payers have ari ght to see that their funds are not improperly lavished upon either Commissioners or paupers . The paupers have a rightto good substantial food , good clothing , good beds , good air , and all the decent comforts compatible with their situation . ThV Commissioners and Guardians are appointed by the public to see justice done between these parties . Instead of causing justice to be done , they have provoked the complaints of both parties by their injustice . To ascertain
whether these complaints were just was the object of the Committee . The Committee was therefore a sort of tribunal or court sitting in judgmenton the Commissioners and Guardians . If the latter had exercised their functions in such a way as to give satisfaction to both rate-payers and paupers , they could not fail to have witnesses in their favour from both . If they had beneiitted either at the expense of the other , they were still sure to have the evidence of one side . If they had caused a just reduction or saving in the rates they were sure to have the rate-payers with them . If they had promoted the comforts of the
poor , ( although to the detriment of the rate-payers , ) they were sure to have the poor with them . In any ease . but one they could hot have failed to have witnesses enough in their favour . That one is the supposition that ; they had dealt improperly by both rate-payers and paupers . In such a case they . could have no witnesses in their behalf but themselves and their minion-tools—the participators of their tyranny and malversations . Now it is precisely in this plight—in this odious
and disreputable plight—that the Commissioners and Guardians must have found themselves . Since in order to find a justification for their conduct , their patrons ( the Committee ) were obliged to make them witnesses in their own cause , and thus , as it were , to found their verdict upon the evidence of the inculpated parties themselves ! What a trial and what a court ! In no other country than this could such a mockery of justice take place . A report or verdict , got up under such circumstances , can be no other kthan a foul and impudent imposition on the public .
But look to Mr . Fielden ' s other statements . I said in my letter last week , that the design of the New Poor Law Act vras not so much to reduce rates , as to reduce wages . I said that if fully carried into effect , it would reduce the latter , at least , sixpence a day , or three shillings a week ( on the average ) all over the kingdom , as it has already done in parts of Kent and Essex . Three shillings a week is £ 7 16 s . a year , and supposing only 4 , 000 , 000 persons to suffer such reduction , the total
reduction would be upwards of £ 33 , 000 , 000 sterling per annum , besides the reduction in rates . Now what says Mr . Fielden . His facts do actually exceed my calculations , and this notwithstanding that the Act has not yet been half-executed . He has shown upon the authority of his opponents themselves—on that of a farmer named Overman , for instance , ( vice-chairman of the Ampthill board , ) whose evidence was intended to prove a rise in wages caused by the Act , that the very reverse has
taken place in the Ampthill Union . He has shown that instead of wages having risen in that Union , ( as Mr . Overman pretended before the Committee , ) they have actually fallen from 25 to 37 £ per cent ., measured in wheat or food . Overman pretended that wages had risen , because in 1834 he had given only £ 775 13 s . 4 d . in wages , whereas he had , in 1337 and 1838 , given £ ^ 69 Us . But Overman wished the fact to be overlooked , that in the former
ease he had employed only thirteen boys and twenty men , whereas , in the latter years , he had employed twenty-six men and eleven boys . This made a difference of just eleven-pence a week , ( against the New Poor Law Act , ) measured in money . And then there was the price of tvheat which Overman had also overlooked . This brought the difference to what I have stated , namely to between 25 and 37 i per cent of reduction on the wages of 1834 . But hear Mr . Fiblden himself . His statement shows
the infamous manner in which Committees get up reports to gull the public . " As Mr , Overman and his table were cited in the report as the proof of an advance in wages , he ( Mr . Fielden ) proposed an amendment to that part of the report , which he would read to the House . It was aa toUowa : — « That so far from the real interests of all classes having been consulted by the Administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act , as expressed in page twenty-five of this report , the interests of the poor have suffered by the withdrawal of relief and the reduction of wages , as appears by the evidence U 5 . 305 . 15 . 318 .
15 , 361 , Ceeley ; and 16 , 472 , and 16 , 474 , Rawson ; and 14 345 14 , 349 ; 14 , 335 , 14 , 354 , 14 , 370 , 14 , 479 , and 14 , 480 , Overman ); The statement of weekly wages paid for farm labour during four years by Mr . T . W . Overman , accompanied by the list of labourers in his employment , from Jul y , 1834 , to July , 1835 , and from Jlilr , 1837 , to July , 1838 , In the foriner of which years he had twenty men and thirteen boys , and in the latter twenty-six men and eleven boys , shows the following result . In this calculation 5 a . per week only are allowed for the boys in both years , although Mr . Overman , inhia evidence , ( 14 , 378 ) -says boys ' wages had been advanced . .
1634 and 1835 , . £ „ s . d . Thirteen boys , each 52 weeks , or C 76 weeks for one boy , at 5 a . / .... 169 O O Twenty men , each 52 weeks , or 1 , 040 weeks for one man , at lls . 8 d ...,.,..,.,., 606 13 4 jeilb 13 4 Amount paid , as per Mr . Overman ' s statement jf 775 6 1 1837 and 1838 . £ . 8 . d Eleven boys , each 52 weeks , or 572 weeks for one ¦ boy , at-5 b ..- 143 0 0 Twentyrsix men , each 52 weeks , or 1 , 352 weeks for one man , at 10 s . 9 d . 726 14 0 j JF 869 14 0 Amount paid as per Mr . Overman's statement jtf 870 8 0 A reduction of labourers' wages in money , of from lls . fid . per week , in 1834-5 , to 10 a . 9 d . per week in 1837-8 , or eight per cent ., is thus shown by . Mr . Overman ' s statement ; and llg . 8 di would buy the labourer 129 J pinta of wheat , at the average price of wheat per quarter ; ( 46 g . 2 d . ) durinct tne year 1834 ; ' whereas , 10 a . 9 d . would purchase him only 99 pints of wheatatthe average pricei ( 55 s . 9 d <) during the year 1837 , being a decline in his command over wheat of 25 per cent ., and , taking wheat at the averageprice ofthe week ending 5 th ol lastnis command wneat then
July , over , as compared with 1834 , is reduced 3 "i per cent ., and this has been going on under the operation of the New ; Poor Law , notwithstanding Mr . Overman stated in his evidence that there is an increased demand for labour ( 14 , 336 and 14 , 337 ) , no scarcity of work ( 14 , 132 and 14 , 467 ) , that wages have been advanced and the men do moTe work , ( 14 , 183 , 14 , 185 , and 14 , 209 ) and that farming has not-been so prosperous for many years as in 1837 ( 14 , 507 ) . ' He had moved this resolution , when complaining in the committee of the whole report , and he asked whether he had not a right to complain of such a delusive statement being sent forth to the country as that which he had just pointed ; out . "
Mr . Fielden ' s speech abounds in well-authenticated facts , all tending to confirm the conclusions warranted by the foregoing extracts . For instance , Mr . R . swsoi * , a manufacturer , at Leicester , proved " That wages had been reduced one ? third since the New Law came into operation , and he apprehended a continued reduction . " Again Mr . Ceeley , a surgeon from Aylesbury ( " whose evidence" says Mr . F ., "is well worthy of being read , " ) proved that a similar result had followed from the act in his neighbourhood . Mr . F . himself offered to prove that" good , honest , and industrious labourers , with their families , were now living npon threepence a-day per head , "—partly , if not mainly in consequence of the act . Even Assistant Commissioners
themselves had given evidence to the effect that in Somerset , Gloucester ; and Worcester , the wages of agricultural labourers did not average more than Is . 5 d , per head for themselves and families since
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the Act came into force . But it is needless to multiply examples . Let one more shert extract speak for all . "He" ( Mr .. Fielden )—had received letters from all parts of the country , from so far west as Barnstaple , and so far east as Norwich , from Carlisle , and from many places in the interior of the country , addressed to him by magistrates , clergymen , guardians of boards , and by tradesmen , all complaining of the operation of this law , and all stating it to have the effects which he nad anticipated with dread , and which he had often stated to
the house . " Now , Gentlemen , was I right , er was I wrong when I said that if this act were fully * ' carried out , " it would confiscate the property of labourers to the amount of at least thirty million ' s annually—in other words then it would rob the work people of more than £ 30 , 000 , 000 sterling every year , to be transferred into the poctete of landlords and profit mongers , that is to say , into the pockets of the represented , at the expense of the unrepresented . And have our legislators any right to enforce such a law ? Have they a right to legislate our money into their own pockets , and to call us " seditious , " " violent , " "disturbers
of law and order , " and so forth , for resisting them ? "Would our rulers suffer themselves to be robbed with impunity ? No !—they would resist it to the death . Well , let us go and do likewise . Let us do , to the best of our ability , what our rulers themselves would do , if placed by us in similar circumstances . Let us resist the law by every possible means consistent with the safety of the people , which is the supreme law . £ 30 , 000 , 000 a-year is no trifle . It is just three times the entire rental of Ireland ! If we resist the law ; with success , we shall have saved in ten years what would more than purchase the fee-simple interest of all the landed
property in Ireland . If we do not , we shall have lost as much by the expiration of that time . Surely this is worth struggling for . But no more , till we hear what Oastler has to say on the matter . The London Radicals are very anxious to see your account of the Great Birmingham Meeting . The London papers , I need not tell you , have either altogether Burked , or shamefully travestied and vilified it * The Adverlizer had a report of it , on
the followinir rl . 1 V ( TnaaAoir \ V > ., ( - ¦¦ + ! , „ j . . _ _ the following day , ( Tuesday , ) but the report , was a very indifferent one , —a circumstance , perhaps , owing to the unavoidable haste in which it was got up . The Chronicle ; s ( of the same day ) was- shortened , but better than the Advertizer's . It did no't , like the latter , make most of the speakers , talk broken metaphors and rank nonsense . Most of the evening papers abridged their accounts from the
Chronicle s ; but , with the exception of the Sun , they all threw dirt and odium on the " demonstration . " The Globe in particular distinguished itself in this way . Such a farrago of contradictory , and , in some parts , unintelligible stuff as the " ball of dirt * " let dy on the occasion , it would be vain to look for out of its own columns . It was also rich in bad grammar , but that is no novelty in the Globe . The Ti 7 nes's
account ( which did not appear till this morning ) is thus introduced— "This account reached us yesterday morning , but we did not think it worth the while to stop the press for such a mass of oictrageous Radicalis ? n . " After such an introduction , your readers may guess the sort of report furnished by what was once the great trumpeter of " Brummagem" politics in the palmy days of "Whiggery and Newhall hill . We are all anxious for your report .
With respect to what is going on at Maidstone , I have only room to say that Lord Denman - delivered an infamous charge to the Grand Jury yesterda ) v According to that charge , the friends of Cuubtenay are mtirderers , —and the New Poor Law Act is " a law which tends so signally to the alleviation of the distresses , a 7 id extends relief so largely to the poorer and more unfortunate classes of society , that— " Sec . &c . &c . What may we ex . pect after that ? Most probably the accused will be found guilty of murder , with a recommendation of mercy from the jury ; and the Whigs , to show their merciful bearings , will commute the sentence to transportation for life . Yours , &C . BRONTERRE . Cubbett ' s old name for the Glnh * .
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Barnsley . — . Mr . Hill will have great pleasure in meeting his friends at Barnsley , on the 2 \ st inst . Mr . Wiley has had all the Portraits due . Mr . Dean must apply to him for them . Working-Men ' s Association Sutton in Ashfield . — Their letter shall be handed to Mr . O'Connor on liis return to Leeds . Morian . — We are sorry we omitted to notice this communication last week . We have had an article prepared on the subject to which it refers some timej but could not find room for its insertion . Mr . Darken ' s Portraits of Andrew Marvel were forwarded to Mr . Uetherington .
Wm . Marshall . —This letter was overlooked last week . Its subject is now stale . \ George Simpson , Blackburn . — We are astonished at Mr . Simpson ' s behaviour- We received a letter from him , requesting his account to be sent , which was attended to : we have also sent another letter to him , both of which letters have been returned to our office refused . Mr . Simpson will oblige us by "emitting the amount due to the ¦
office immediately . ' .- ; . ' A few Democrats . — We thank them for their good opifiion . Our columns are so constantly filled with sentiments precisely similar to those in their address that they must excuse our inserting it . As for the fellow and the church 'tis a very ' ordinary case—one which will constantly recur iintil the people get sense enough to throw ail such fellows overboard and work for themselves *
General Meeting . — We have received a letter from the Working Men ' s Association at Middleton , stating their cordial approbation of the project agreed to on the 14 th at Unsworth , for a general meeting of the surrounding townships . To the Oastler Committee . —Frpmyou , or from some friend in Huddersfield , I have received a circular , being a copy of an address published in the Northern Star , respecting a proposed National Subscription fdr that friend of the people ^~ that father of the oppressed , Richard Oastter . I have only to say . that so far as the services of a working man can be of use , the friends of the- " oldfashioned Tory" may , in this great act of national justice , rely upon the heatty exertions of their democratic friend , GEORGE JULIAN HARNEY .
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LEEDS . Pocket Picking . —On Monday , EJiz . Monro , was brought up at the Court House , charged with haring , on Saturday night , picked the pocket of William Wray of 4 s . 6 d ., at a lodging-house in the Boot and Shoe Yard , in Kirkgate , Leeds . 5 he was apprehended shortly afterwards with a similar amount and description of coin in her possession . She was committed for trial to the Wakefield House of Correction .
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Hand . loo ^ Weavers' Commission . ^ -The Commissioners of enquiry relative to the condition of the hand-loom weavers opened their Court on Tuesday morning last , but in consequence of there being no parties present to give evidence , the Court was adjourned to six o ' clock on the same evening The Commissioners , proceeded with their enquiriea on Wednesday , and again at six o ' clock on Thursv day evening . Nothing , however , of much impor . tance has been further elicited , while all the evidence tends to depict the miserably distressed , condition oi the poor Hand . Loom Weavers .
Meetinc of Beebsellers . —On ThuisdaJ evening last , a meeting of the Beersellers , residin * in Leeds , was held at the Public : Hall , for the ]» u » pose of petitioning parliament against the Nek Be 3 Bill of Lord Brougham . Business commented 3 about eight o ' clock . There wa * '" a very goodlatten ? dance ; the number of beersellers present wJuld be from eighty to one hundred . Mr . Roystai wag unanimously called to the chair . He Introduieid the business by stating the objects of the meeting , and poke of the partiality of Government in protecting the Licensed Victuallers and oppressing the beersellers . Mr . Rogers , the secretary of the society , in moving the first resolution , read a communiCsu tion
which he had received from London , statingthat a deputation of beersellers had waited upoQ Lord Melbourne and the . Chancellor of the ^ Exchequer y to ascertain their opinion of the probable success of Lord Brougham's Bill , and that that opinion was decidedly favourable to the interests of thfr ' beersellers . It also intimated . that a number of delegates of the licensed victuallers had been in . London for a considerable time , and were using , their utmost influence with several members of parliament to prejudice their minds against the beersellers . After he had finished the reading of the letter , Mr . Rogers adverted to the necessity of the beersellers being sufficiently awake to their own
interests , reminding them that the opponents with whom they had to contend were those whose interests were at stake . He expressed his surprise at the conduct of Lord Brougham in introducing this bill , and was still more astonished that the Duke of Wellington should have promised his support to that measure , a promise by which he had virtually bastardized the child of hig own creation . ( Hear , hear . ) Though , during the present session , nothing of importance might be done in this question , it was almost certain that . early in the ensuing session a deadly blow would be struck at the interests of the beersellers . Knowing this , itwoulddepend entirely upon the exertions of the beersellers themselves .
whether they stood or fell . If the question were regarded in another point of view , be might state , during the year 1837 , 45 , 000 licenses were taken out . The beersellers who took out these licences , with the brewers which they would create , would amount to about 50 , 000 persons who had embarked more or less property in the trade . Some had invested their hundreds , some their fifties , and some twenties , of pounds ; and taking the average amount . of money invested by each at £ 40 , there would thus be a destruction of property to the amount of £ 2 , 000 , 000 . all of which had been invested on the faith of an Act of the Legislature . But this was not all ; many persons depended for their maintenance entirely from
tke profits of the trade ; and supposing this Bill to pass , it would , taking the children of the 45 , Q 0 O persons into the account , deprive about 200 , 000 persons of the means of obtaining a livelihood j and might probably reduce then * to a state of beggary and starvation , ( Hear , hear . ) These reasonsj he thought , were amply sufficieat to induce aot only himself but all beersellers to support the resolution which he had risen to move . Several others of the trade addressed the meeting , ( which we should have before observed was entirely composed of beersellers , ) rebutting the charge so unjustly urged against thein that all the crime committed in the land originates in the beerhouses , and earnestly recommending all interested
in the business to be united for the proteciion of their own interests . After the addresses were finished , the Secretary intimated that there had been a Beersellers' Society formed for the mutual protection of each other against comrhon informers , &c ., and that by paying Is , entrance , and Id . per ; week , they might always have funds for the engagement of an attorney wheni any of ' them were charged with an infraction of the law . It was announced that the weekly meetings of the Society were held eveiy Thursday evening , at the Victoria Tavern , North Town End , and all the beersellers were earnestly invited to become members of the Society . Business being ended , a vote of thanks was given to the Chairman , and the meeting separated .
Foot Race . — Wax v . Ink , —On Moaday last ,, a foot race of 150 yards , for £ 25 a-side took place near Haigh Park Race Coursej on the Pontefract Road , between John Hodgson , shoemaker , of Sheffield , and Benjamin Clarkson , copper-plate-printer , of Leeds . The former took the lead in fine style ,, and frequently beckoned " his opponent to comer forward . He beat his companion with ease from ten to fifteen yards . Several wagers of 5 to 1 yiere : bet upon the Sheffield man . The race was first intended to be run 6 n the Huddersfield road ; but owing to some delay occasioned by soine of the parties , the competitors were prevented from trying their swiftness , by six policemen who came up , while the preparations were being made , and ordered them : off the ground . We have not heard what reason was assigned for this interference .
Coach Accident . —Adjourned Inquest at Lofthouse GjLte . —O ' n . Saturday last , the inquest touchingthe death of Mrs . Morallee , the lady who lost her life by the overturning of the Leeds and London Courier epachjvras resumed , when the following additional evidence was placed before the jury . Mr . Barx , solicitor , of Leeds , attended on behalf of the proprietors of the ; Courier , and called witnesses to prove that it was not a common practice to lock coaches , ' for the purpose of descending Lofthouse Hill , and that Rpwell , tke coachman of the Courier ^ had done all he possibly could to avoid
the catastrophe which unfortunately occurred ; the piily chance of safety being to pass the : Express at all risks . Our readers will easily perceive where the evidence commences . Mr . Browny of the arm of Harrison and Brown , solicitors , Wakefield , appeared to watch the proceedings on behalf of Mr . Morallee , the husband of the deceased lady . The evidence coHcluded about six o ' clock in the evening . Mr . Lee then remarked that it appeared quite clearthat the deceased came to her end by the overturning of the Courier coach , but they would have to take into consideration whether that accident had
occurred in consequence of an opposition between the two coaches . If they believed that the Courier had been overturned in consequence of the Expres * designedly pulling up to retard its progress , it would be their duty to find a verdict of wilful murder against the coachman of the Express , but if the Courier had been overturned by racing or careless driving , then they would have to find a verdict of manslaughter against Michael Rpwell , the
coachman of the Courier . Mr . Lee concluded by observing that the proprietors could only be punished by deodand or forfeiture , and commenting on the dangerous practice of racing , and the duty of pi ( v prietore to find careful drivers , &c . The Jury consulted for about three quarters of an hour , andtheH returned a verdict of manslaughter against Michael Rpwell , the Courier coachman , with a deodand of £ 50 upon the coach , and £ 50 upon the horses and harntess ^ :
Sebmons . —Oa Sunday last , two Sermons were preached in the Primitive Methodist preaching rooiftj Bottoms , near Todmorden , in the Knowlwood circuit , by the Rev . 3 . Featherstbne , of Wakefield , and collections made amounting to £ 11 Its . Od ., ii behalf of the Sunday School connected therewith . B oy Drowned .- —A boy , between four and five years of age , son of Mr . James Scholfield , Joinerr &c , of Todmorden , fell into the river Calder , at Todmorden , on Monday last , and was carried away by tnV current , and has not been heard of since The youth bad on at the time , frock and trowserty made * of grey cotton and worsted mixture . He wa » of light complexion , and had red hair . A reward of One Guinea is offered to any one finding the body .
Northern UNioN .-r-The members of the above Union held their weekly meeting on ^ Monday evening , at Mr . Standing ' s , Temperance Coffeehouse , and after the admission of Wveral members and several resolutions being passed , and a general plan of future operations being agreed to , the members proceeded to discuss the question which had been adjourned from their former meeting night , viz : — " Will Universal Suffrage alone procure for the working classes a better system of Government . " The discussion was kept up with much spirit until the hour of departure ^ when it was unanimously agreed , " that no system of Government can confer any liasting or permanent benefit on the people without also giving them a" good moral and political as well as relig ious education . " It is intended to cause lectures and dissertations on the
science of Government to be . read from time to time This society is in a flourishing condition ,- and is composed of that portion of working men who prefer the cultivation of their minds and the attainment of knowledge to the pot-house and jerry lords .
Tieeds And West-Riding News.
TiEEDS AND WEST-RIDING NEWS .
To Readers & Correspondents.
TO READERS & CORRESPONDENTS .
Evert Lancashire Purchaser Of The ' Northern Star • Of This Day Will Be Presented With A
EVERT LANCASHIRE PURCHASER of the ' NORTHERN STAR of this Day will be presented with a
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 11, 1838, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1018/page/4/
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