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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY. APRIL 17. 1841.
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THE YOUNG LIAR OF THE NORTH.
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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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HAHBATIVE OF MITCKEIi , TEE BTU ^ DEJLES ; AS RELATED BY HIMSELF . I &m the bob of Georjje and Hannah Mitchell , of Shamble-street , Barnslej , in the West Riding of the oonnty of York . I was * born at BarnBley _ on the 12 th of " November , 1624 , and am , consequently , aovr but jast turned 17 years of a ^ e . 1 aai oDe o : fifteen children , tbongh not all by the s * a « tnotber , u ay father was married twice . I have three brothers and eight sisters now living . Two of my brothers are married , and living at , or near Barnsley , and both are steady and respectable * characters —would to God that I had followed their worthy example , and mj tender and virtuous parentB ' advicel
My brothers are both masons . Two of my Bisters are married , ( he rest are residing with their pannes ; and , although I have been unfortunate , 1 mean to Bay that there is not a better conducted family , of a poor man ' s family , in Yorkshire . My parents remoTed to York when I was foul years old , as my father found it difficult , in his way of business , that of a bricklayer , to get work i » B-urnsley . He cam * to the city to work under hi $ brother , a master bricklayer , who still resides in York , and bears a most upright and honest character . We lived at No- 1 , Hope-so-ret , for about ? hres years -and a half . During the whole of tha : period I attended a Quaker ' s School in the neighbourhood of our residence . I acquired a knowledge Of reading and spelling , but not of writing , at that place of instructioa . At the end of that time my parents returned to Barnsley , and I was then pat oat to a , day school , kept bj a Mr . Knight , but I
remained there only three or four weeks , being tomod away from the school by the master for bad conduct ; and this , as far as I can recollect , is the first act which has led to my unfortunate notoriety . One day , before 1 wa 3 twelve years of age , I was trolling about the neighbourhood of Barnsley , when I ch&soed to meet with a man who a&ked mo Where I was going . I told him I did not know , but thai I wanted something to eat . The man said that if I would go with him to & public-house he would give me plenty both to eat and to drink—I followed the man , when he told me that I shonld ba . r& nothing to do but to eat and drink & 8 much as X liked if 1 would only stay with him . I saw that the man was a gipsy , and at the pub-Eo-bouse I got bo drunk that the gipsy had to take Be away in his arms . I fell fast asleep , and , upon waking , I found Myself in bed , under a cajnp , in a lane . Nest morning I saw three little children with them , about three or ionr years « 2 d .
Tho gipsies toli me that I was to do whatever they ordered m » to do . The party consisted of four men , four women , -tkree children , and myself , so that we Ware twelve in alL - - I was first employed in stealing grass ont of the fields to feed their horses ; that was what I com-Stenced with . They divided , during the day , into three parties , and went about the country ; they iwayB returned at night , and they never caaie back without a quantity of provisions with them , such « a large pieces of beef and mutton . When I had been engaged for about three weeks in stealing grass for the horses , they took me with them to sell pots * nd glass among she farm-houses and at villages . When I was sent by myself upon these occasionsmy
, instructions were to steal as many geese , ducks , sad fowls , and things of all sorts , as I could possibly lay hold of , while i was going about selling pots . My plan was to throw a heavy stick at them , and so disable them , and afterwards place them in the panniers on the ass which was laden with pots . I pl&oed them under the pots . I was expected t » bring home three or four fowls , at least , every night , and if I fell short of that number , I was much grumbled at and found fault with ; bat I generally contrived to keep them in good humour on that score , as I was always particularly ¦ fctteative and successful . My Irving , in fact , altogether depended upon my Buccera in thieving , b ; - eause if 1 brought nothing home to the camp at
« ighf , I should beg , Bteal , or starve , as they made it an invariable rule never to give me a morsel upon nights that I returned empty-handed ; asd thore is the greatest difficulty in avoiding detection , as , when a chap knows that he is to get nothing to eat if lie brwga nothing , if he is imprudent , he will be apt , towards eveoiag , to run risks and chances , rather tbaa go to bed hungry . But I had , even when I was hungry , after a l * ng day ' s tramp , always the fear ef bringing disgrace on my parents and family , if 1 W&s found oat ; and many and maay is the time that that Tery feeling has made me prefer a fcoBgry belly to the chance of iijuring my dear parents . The pot selling was but a " mere cover for thieving without feeinf suspected , but I did occasionally sell sad always obtained good prioes .
Besides fowls , I was ^ expected to bring home anything that came in my " way , such as little pigs , a lamb , or a sheep , if dark , and that 1 had nothing else and we were in a lone p lace and slack of pro * visions . Nothing came amiss to them , however it was procured , and I balieve that the value of anytHis £ was Tery much increased by the danger that weian in stealing it . At night , when it was quite dark , but never before , the whole force of us , that is the men and Byeelf , used to start out upon a regular system of plunder . When we wore near a market town and met a person , whether walking or on horseback , we invariably stopped nim and robbed him of everything he cad , We took care never to be Ies 3 than three together , and we always had pistols , knives , hand-staves , and bayonets at the end of the pistols
—in short , we could not be better armed , and were always ready , while the weight of our arms , in case ot surprise , did net , in the least , impede our retreat . We always made for a lonely place , and would KSmper across the fields , and along lanes and road ? . fa view o /» person on a good horse , till we dogged 1 dm to some lonely place , and then we met him and robbed him . I have never known one to escape . Though I never saw a man shot by any of the party , yet I hava frequently seen men severely hurt cy my companions , and left on the road for deal They nsed to gtab them frith knives and bayonets > od Etnke them with their staves , but they were Tory eariiions of firing , for fear of giving alarm , and were very particular in never committing any depredations Bear the camp , - ^ here the women and children were .
The exactness with which they fonnd the way on dark nights to strange encampments , in a lone coaniry , struck me as being very curious j hut I found out that they used , at first , to hold horses and donkeys grazing on the road side , for a few days after they toos up a new position , and thus became acquainted with all the lanes , cross-roads , and lone { Looses in the neighbourhood . Being so light and nimble , I vr& 3 always employed in picking the pockets of those we robbed , while they were ou the ground , or as best I could manage to get at them . These rtbberiw , upon a large scale , took place generally , about once or ttvics a . week , and the amount of money stolen was considerable . I have known j £ 150 to be got upon one occasion , never more than thai , aid the sum thus obtained varied in mount from £ 100 to £ 50 , £ 40 , £ 6 , and down to £ 1 , just according to what the person happened to have about him ; for we always go ; all , and some of his dothes , if they were worth having .
1 have never , in any instance , known them fail of bringing- horns some cash , stolen in tha manner I have described , from persons coming home from market . I have many times seeu persons so attacked , iurt a&d wounded to that degree , that I thought they were left for dead . I cannot say whether or i » t any of them actually died . Sometimes a regular resistance womld take place and a fight would " follow , then my companions always used their weapons without mercy , and struck without any heed or eare of the conseoueEces .
The ciaswrrof tae gipsies we always called by the Mane of Dick Sellers . " There was another man xmoag them we called " Brummagem Jack . " Tha women cohabited with the men ; they also went out hawking pota , as I did , and returned home some With fowls and other booty , like myself . The three little bojs , wb p I often thought were stolen , though I never knew it for a positive fact , used to be employed in collecting sticks to kindle the fire with . They used to be very cheerful , for the men and women took eare always to gi re them plenty to eat , tweets , and fruits , and everything that wa 3 nice and
They never remained more thaa a week in one place , and when we removed we went abont ten or fifteen miles , or sometimes twenty miles off , and then invariably began at the same kind of plunder that we had just left . The men used often to bring stolen horses home at night , whiaiTthey could b « iisjuise that it was quite impossible for any one to know his own . They used to fire them , clip them , b « re S hole thronjfh their ears , sbortea and pall their tftHs , hog their manes , and disfigure them by other ¦ witiivaneee , so that a man would buy his own horse without ever respecting him to be the same . These fconee they would take out of the fields at dark , ¦ ed text morning , very early , at three or four o ' clock , fber would take them to the aext fair or market , MM dispose of them as early a * possible , I never kMW any * f them to be takes npt or suspected of ¦ failing hones , or anything else , although stealing WM their regular trade . We have often had as nay u seven good hones and noe donkeys at once , sad all stoles .
. Tie men would sometimes blacken their faees , and Asgnisa themselves in other and -various ways , bo tint bo one ooald ever know them again . One max f the party mil regular blackamoor . Bwy always had plenty of money , and « sed to ptoiJ it Tery freely when in town . I have every wmdb to thmk that they frequently robbed geatle-¦ eo ' s houses of plate and other valuable articles , as I hsve often known them to change such like article * for glass , china , pote , and other thingB , u s eorcr for traffic ; bnt where they got them I could sot jraess at , as I wppose they were afraid to take « M * Brien « ed persons to rob house forfear of beine
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detected if the alarm was given , and all were not able to retreat . The women were all evidently loose girls that had been on tire town , and it never once struck me that they could be the mothers of the three children I have before alluded to , because the children appeared to be much better bred up th&u the women , and had signs of respectability iu their usual talk , mode of address , &c , so that I never had a doubt bnt they were the children of respectable parents , stolen , or enticed from their families by the women when strolling about the lanes and paths in lonely parts of the country ; whioh may be very easily done by taking them from servant girls , the one stealing the
child while the servant is having her fortune told in a lone bye-way , by the other , of which , and by which means , they make much money , and get a great deal of information about the neighbourhood . No one will believe how resolutely these gipsy women will stick to a point , and how stealthy and cunning they go about anything they have a mind for . When they are seemingly apart , yet two or three are always in fight of each other , and aa they are less suspected thau other people , from their dress and their forwardness iu coming towards you , instead of turning away when they are seen , it makes them very bold . -They always appear to be doiDg something , and always have something to
I have frequently pitied the poor little children , ana often wondered what their parents must feel for their loss . Indeed , I wanted one of them to go with me , wheu 1 waa about leaving my gang to join another party of gipsies , but as he would not come , I put off going also . It was a very common thing to see them come to the camp at night with a heifer or a COW ; they would burn letters on them for a disguise , and take them to the nearest market next morning for sale , same as the horses , also sleep and calves ; but we did most business in horses and beasts , as they travelled beat .
We went in various direction about the country ; at onetime -wewere within thirty miles of London , and our farthest trip to the north was within about twenty miles to the north of York . We were alse in the neighbourhoods of Manchester and Liverpool , frequently where we did a great deal of business in the way of thieving ; but our best trade was in the neighbourhood of Birmingham , as we found , in that tovrn , a mnch readier quit for our BtOlen » Jtiole 8 . At Birmingham , a thief may Bell or exchange anything with safety .
In this way I spent about two years , in picking pockets , stealing and thieving everything 1 could lay my hands upon , killing fowls , and , in short , committing plunder in any way that opportunity offered . All that I received for this was my actual support among them , and that according to my activity and service . As to clothing , I was fitted out just like all the rest , and upon the same terms , with the cloth that we used to steal from the cloth hawkers in country towns . So it was with our blankets and everything else in the way of clothing or covering .
In summer time tfce men would sleep at a publichousf , or at the most respectable inn in a tomi , for they were well dressed , and would pass for respectable footmen , servants , chaise-boys out of place , or various other businesses , which made the people not suspect them . These houses they invariably robbed of everything they could lay their hands upon , and , if met by the inmates , next day , they never would know them . In the winter we all camped together , and the men and myself went out prowling all night long . ( To be continued in our next )
The Northern Star. Saturday. April 17. 1841.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY . APRIL 17 . 1841 .
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It ia now twenty years or more since the immortal Cobbktt s » appropriately christened our fallacious neighbour " The Great Liar of the North f and , as ill weeds grow apace , we had every right to expect some produce from the parent stock . We knew that the Leeds "Neddv , " and the Manchester " Flanders mare , ' * could not remain so long within reach of each other without producing a jennet of some 6 ort or other . We are now happy to tell the naturalist that onr hopes have been realized in the full development of its ancestral propensities * by a little dirty brat yclep'd The Anti-Corn Law Circular . Indeed , if our friend doesn ' t look sharp , the child will beat its papa .
It is not only a shame , but a Bin to spare the rod and spoil the child ; " and , in truth , we take no Email blame to ourselveB for not having sooner chastised the little reprobate . In its musty tale of last week , " the Young Liar of the North" chatters something about Chartist leaders being hired by the bread-taxers , which , no doubt , the bread-eater had heard his parents , or guardians , or nursemaids talking about . See , then , how foolish to talk before children . The little rascal patches up a lamo story from the evidence of another Patche , who was examined before a
Committee of the House of Commons , upon the Walsall election , with reference to the slovenly manner in which the two late honourable candidates bribed , and committed sundry other aristocratic pranks ; and it appears that one Nightingale , from Manchester , in company with one . Petes Wukins , ( another of Cobbetx ' 3 christening . ) -was hired by the Torie 3 to spent or them ; &Bd then the brat says that NiGHTiNtALK is a Chartist leader , and he conoludes his nonsense thus : — " Nightingale is one of the heroes of its ( the Northern Starj pages , and his exploits at Walsall were the theme of its loudest plaudits . "
You lying little monkey—you dirty little brat ! Can you find the name of Nightingalb four times mentioned in the No-lhern Star in nearly as many years ? Can you find it once aeniioned as a Chartist , or even hinted at by us in connection with the Wals&ll election ? Answer that , Young NKDDr-JiCK-TiYloe ! You know , you young imp , that Nio « tisgale is not a Chartist leader—never was a Chartist leader , and never will be a Chartist leader .
Yon mistook the pages of ihe Star for your papa ' s lying journal , wherein was published Mr . O'CoN ' - kell ' s " plaudits" ot Mr . Nightingale . You must go there , you cripple , to look for Mr . Nightingale ' s character . You know that no Chartist leader has ever been hired by Whig or Tory , without being instantly drummed out of the Chartist camp . "WitHeas the "Russians . " Youknow that tho
Chartist leaders , who have defeated your whole army , have been , one and all , working men , and you natura ll y feel the smart of your humiliation . Ysu little cur ! your masters have tried to hire Chartist leaders , and they couldn ' t get one ! they picked up one Moslkt from the ranks , and what ha 3 become of him ? That ha 3 been their only purchase , and they had a lob in him ! We wish them joy of him and yon !
You say that rou know the exact sum of money that NlGHTlXGALS got for his expences to Wal ? all . What do we care for that ! Can you tell us how much Mr . A clan d got to bear his expenoes from Hull and Brulol ? and what he will charge for a visit to either of those towns , or to Leeds , or the West or East Riding of Yorkshire 1 He is one of your leaders ; and he frill tell you not to throw stones from his wing of he house , at all events . You call Dr . Wads a Chartist—perhaps you call yourself a Chartist of the right sort . Your praise of Lovktt , Vincekt , and Collins ib rather unfortunate , inasmuch as the Coavention , of which they were members , resolved that you should be opposed .
Bat , young cub , answer us just this one qiestion . You are hare-hunter 3 , whose practice it is to try back when they loose the game ; we are fox-hunters , whose enstom it is to cast » -head . Now , in trying back , why miss a single gap through which the game has passed ! Why jump from 1841 to 1815 , and not try 18191 Can you answer that f If the Corn Laws be unholy , and we admit it , what was Pkkl ' s Bil l , which was to the moneymongers an equivalent for the Corn Law Bill of the land-nwugerat Why pass that over ? There is £ 39 in every £ 90 at onoe , which requires no abstruse
calculation , no balancing of foreign and domestic interest , bnt a plain question of pounds , shillings , and pence , which every man can understand , and no man can mystify . Why not try that gap \ Ah ! because it is too plain for humbug . Ought yon to kill one of the Siamese youths and allow tae other to live 1 No , no ; kill the one , whose putrid circasewiU soon kill the other . Kill PEEt ' s Bill , and the other will soon die of stench ; bnt kill the Corn Laws , and Peel ' s becomes a hundred-fold evil . It leaves it in the power of every pensioner , taxeater , soldier , siaeenrist , and state auper , and
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money-monger , to purchase just three times as much of the po » r man ' s labour for his settled income , as he could before . Begin at the pounds , shillings , and pence , and then see what the Chartist Leaders will do for you . Now do this , or for evar hold your gab . There are two esds to the stick , the right and the wrong end ; we have got hold of the right end , and we are 6 o wh&ckiDg aid thumping yon , yon foor wretches , that you don't know whether yon stand on your head or your heel ? , or which way to torn ; and while you are essaying to make the Cora Laws a religious question , yon most religiously commence with a " Lie . " M YonuR Liar of the North , " wo have taken so much from one leaf of your book , and now we shall proceed to take a scrap from another leaf .
In the Juvenile Moistor ' s Nursery TSoaghte upon the duty of the Plague , " ( come , that ' s » good same for the League , ) we find the following ( for them destructive , but to onr party ) most wholesome advice . In talking of singleness of purpose , the krat says— " They must avoid the error of the goodhearted , bustling Martha , who was * careful and troubled about many things . ' They must seek to dibcover that especial task which they are fitted to discharge , assured that , by directing thamsolves to that ' one thing whick is needful , ' they are rightly serving that end for which they were sent into the world . " ThankB , great thanks , precooious youth I for ihj juvenile approval of the identical principle upon which the Chartists have acted througheit .
Now , then , it follows , as a matter of course , that the " one thing which is needful" is the thing whieh should absorb our every attention . This limits our labours to the simple consideration as to which of the two questions shall bo given up by the Chartists ; as the agitation for one would damage the other , and reduce as to tb * aad plight of the " good-hearted , bustling Martha !* Upon this subject we fancy tkere will not , at least among Chartists , be two opinions . So far so ( bod .- v
Now , just a word by way of reply , to the Whole " Establishment" in general , and the Anglo-Saxon and " Yonng Liar of the North" in particular , upon the subject of Chartist interference at anti-Corn-Law meetings . Ia the commencement of the campaign , the Chartists attended those meetings , by whomsoever called ; they discussed the several questions and resolutions proposed , with temperance and good taste ; they merely voted for the affirmative or the negative , aye or no ; but when the Chartists discovered that ten pair of kid-skin gloves , and ten gold rings , upon shop boy ' s fingers and thumbs , under the nose of a short-sighted ,
swiveleyed Mayor , counted for hundreds of blistered hands , too dark to be seen ia the distance , the owners of those English bands began to call out " fair play , " " fair play . " In many oases , and particalaily in one instance , in Glasgow , where those syttematic patriots counted their house , the people found that the Provosts and Mayors were owls by candle-light , thongh sharp as hawks by day . Even this the Chartists bore for a long time , until it was discovered that the treachery of e * officio Chairmen caused alarm and discontent in the minds of some of the conscientious Repealers . To lull so dangerous a suspicioa it then became ntewsary to bully the Chartists , which was successfully tried
at Liverpool , upon a large scale , and aa successfully retorted ia London , Manchester , Leeds , and other places , upon as large a scale . The Chartists were not slow at discovering that this want of vision in Ex-qffieio chairmen , backed by the whole force of the " Establishment , " was calculated to give the " Plague " a triumph at every meeting . Thus was Cbartism to have been swamped in a Repeal of the Corn Laws . For a short period these very circumstances did actually intimidate our friends , and add to the insolence and intolerance of our rampant enemies ; until at length , ( dependants , sparred on by the rude example of their employer , ) Mr . Sydney Smith actually had recourse to knocking oS hats , and other ungentlemanly violence .
The Ex-cfficios refused the people the use of their own buildings , to take a negative or affirmative vote upon their own resolutions ; and in many eases , where an Anti-Corn Law meeting was divided , it was discovered that ten , twenty » thirty , and even as many as fifty t » -o » e- hi » fr 1 > een against motions , eaid to be carried by the Ex-oj / icios . Wereqoire no proof beyond the unani mous testimony of working men to substantiate our charges j but , should any bettfeagat necessary , we saw with onr own eyes , and heard with our own 8 ars , at the recent Leeds Demonstration , the grossest .
most palpable , and ungentlomanlike cheat ever attempted to be practised . We subsequently saw published , as the resolutions of a meeting of more than io , o » o persons , a string of stuff that was whispered , » m ; d » etorm of hisses , in the ears of a man who was voted not to be in the chair . Thus , if proof beyond the honest testimony of honest working men be required , we hav « had oral and ocular demonstration- of the fact ; add to this the declaration of Mr . Walter , as Chairman , that a protest merely read was carried .
What alternative had we undeT such circumstance ! , but to move an impartial Chairman , and declare our principles , not by a negative vote upon a clap-trap resolution , but upon the affirmative oi ' those principles ! How were we to meet" aDgry feeling , " and passionate inveotive , " but in kind ? Aye , and &hould the advice of * ' Anglo Saxon" be acted upon , we will meet blow with blow , moral force with moral force , and physical force with physical force , when unconstitutionally used . This system was also resorted to by hired and unprincipled lecturers . Just let the " Young liar of the North " Look on this picture , And then on this .
Mr . Sydney Smith , that It was announced that fearless champion of the Mr . Sydney Siuith was to poor man ' s rights , has been deliver an address upon incessant in hia advocacy the subject of the Corn ef the cause nearest every Laws , last night u . t Betpoor man ' s heart , there- mondsey , and the working ptad of the odious , unchxia- classes considering tberatian , ungodly , inhuman selves as the parties most Corn Laws . This talented interestf-dinthc ' . iacussion , orator lectured evtry night mustered in great numbers , during the past week , to About eight o ' clock fche crowded and highly de- lecturer arrived , when Mr . lighted audiences of the Barleycorn took the chair , working classes , in differ- and announced Mr . Smith entpartsof the Metropolis , to the meeting . Previous and , in every instance , the to tho commencement of lecturer was heard with business , Mr . Wall , a the greatest attention Chartist , asked the Chairthronghout his . able expo- man if discu&sioa would Bare of the infernal laws be allowed , to which he which rob the poor for the replied , " No ; certainly benefit of the rich ; and , not ; ihe bill * announced a a& tbecioaejii . amh meet- lecture by Mr . Sydney ing , the assembled thou- Stniik tffta ha * engaged the sands retired highly de- room . " lighted with the proceed- Mr . Wall : " Will Mr . ings , after giving three Smith aniwer questions times three cheers for their which may be proposed by indefatigable champion . the meeting ?"
Chairman : " No ; decidedly not . " Mr . Wall : " Are there to be any resolutions ?" hairman : "O , no ; Mr . Smith is . of opinion that resolutions lead to argument , and it ia quite necessary that the working men should appear to be unanimous . " Upon the latter announcement , several Chartists about the chair expressed their disapprobation , when Mr . Smith knocked one man ' s hat off and commenced a violent attack upon the ChartUU generally . Now , yon scape-grace 1 " how are you off for soap !" and Chartist leaders I
In conclusion , don't forget your assertion ; we pim you to it ; produce your proof of the Slar ' i •* loudest plaudits'' of Nightingale , or wear your name eheerfolly as M Young Liar of the North . " In your own words , and directed to with your own hand upon the wall , thus fir " We defy you . " The ** Yonng Liar" thus concludes : — # w"Our friends of the press will , wo hope , give all the publicity in their power to the doings of these men , in order to put their deluded followers on their guard . " So say we , "Young Liar'" Publioity is all we want to crush yon to atoms .
As a matter of course , the Artful Dodger ( Chroniclt ) and the Golden Sun have taken the article , body and sleeves , from the " Young Liar . " Will they publish our answer ! Not they , indeedthe elaves .
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THE CONVENTION AND THE EXECUTIVE . FaoM the letter of the Executive , which we published last week , we fear they hare mistaken our previous caution for their protection , and that tliej mistake responsibility for duty . We object to any responsibility which may Bubject them : to jealousy being imposed upon them ; bat we would still more object to any fastidiousness in the discharge of an imperative duty . There is no responsibility in drawing names from a hat ; but there is a duty
which somebody must discharge , and for the discharge of which the Executive is , we think , est qualified . We trust , therefore , that they will call a public meeting for the most convenient and earliest day , to reduce by ballot to the required cumber , the number of persons chosen to sit on the Convention , in order that we may give timely notice in our next . While we would secure them from responsibility , we would expect a fearless discharge of duty . This is tho most simple that coald be imposed .
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WAIT A WEE . We are new , very near , the beginning of the end . It is an old and not a bad saying , that " when poverty comes in at the door , love flies out at the window . " But , alas ! the Whigs make their friends even love by compulsion , for having forced a little " sneaking regard" through the door , they now make their lovers build up their windows for fear of an escape .
Truly , Whig courtship is an odd thing . A rural ruffian forces "lumps ef love" upon us , and Frank . Baring niches it up like the frail sisters of old ; so there we are , like a horse with a cart tied to his tail , —no escape ; if he kicks he only hurts his hocks , and if ho runs away he drags his load after him . Well , never mind . We have heard much of the grand effect of pressure from without , and now let us have a trial of the effect of pressure from within .
M It is aa ill wind that blows nobody good , sajs the proverb , and , in good faith , our kind rulers very much resemble some Irish liberal landlords , who , we have heard , enable their cottier tenants to pay high rents for low hovels , by placing them as " brokers" or " keepers , " as they are termed , over the more Wealthy . ' The Whigs , for ten years , have tried the system of feeding one section of the community upon
another section . The landlords got a slioe of the parsons and the peasants ; the parsons got a slice of the solid , or ¦' ¦ consolid , " or "consolidated fond /' which literally means" the calf in the cow ' s belly . " the mill-owners got a slice , and a fat one , of their slaves ; the people got a slice of the sabre , and now the pensioners want tea per cent , of a slice of all ; and , iu order to effect this , the joiners and masona will get a slice in shutting out Whig daylicht .
We hear of nothing now bat meeting the tea per cent ., and what may follow , so that presently , in good earnest , John Bull ' s house will not only be his casUe , but his tomb . This is the pressure from within . Now , all this works marvellously well for aa ; every poor beggar who haa been niched off may be numbered among the killed , or cut off , of the enemy ]; while those who have been built out are sure to join our ranks . Our corps is getting very strong ; and why not , with such a recruiting service , with General Baring as our recruiting officer , the Treasury our depot , and the honourable corps of pensioners our staff ? Good lack ! what a country of rogues and paupers !! I
When Mr . O'Connor was defending himself at York , he said that if the reduction on newspaper stamps was not actual repeal of tho law of libel , it was , at all events , a virtual extension of license to all political writers , as they were supposed to write ia plain language fora common sense community ; and he said , that the Stamp Reduction Act was the beginning of Reform . We believe it sincerely ; but the misfortune of the times is , that the Whigs always put the horse ' s head where the horse ' s tail ought to be . They bring their produce into the world wrong end foremost . Now , if the people had got a cheap
press in 1828 , the Reform of 1832 weuld have been a substantial , instead of an ideal reform , and instead of repairing the old road , in common with others , as wo bhould have been engaged in doing , from 1823 to 1832 , we are now compelled to fight , single-handed , against the whole community , for a new right of passage . Instead of dragging a light load oa a plain , and with help , we are' obliged to drag an over-weight , in single harness , up an alraoat perpendicular hill , and in whioh we should utterly fail but for the kind aeaistauca of Baring and Company .
Again , " ou ; of evil comes good . " In 1839 , when tbe Penny Postage was in high favour , Mr . O'Connor , in addressing the people of Newcastle , said , " ¦ You contemplate great things from the Penny Postage ; let me tell you what your share will be . Just the right to make up almost one million annually of a deficit saved to merchants , traders , bankers , and so forth . " Now , while the melancholy tale before us shows that Mr . O'Connor was not far wrong , let us endeavour to eke our share of good , certainly never intended , out of this evil .
Under the old system , then , we devoted about ten columns weekly to what is called looal news , that is , to mere matters whioh happen within the cheap circle of newspaper acquaintance . Men at a distance would not pay two shilling ? , and two and sixpence , for a double letter containing matter of the utmost importance , and we would not release it unpaid in utter ignoranco of its contents . It will be borne in mind , that many notioea proclaimed those rejected addresses , the mere post maik furuishiug our correspondent with out only knowledge of him , and our refusal as our only apology . When the
postage was reduced to fourpence , our circle of acquaintance became considerably enlarged ; and -upon the " penny trumpet * ' being sounded , our office has been literally a little post-office , as we Btated before , sometimoa receiving more than a hundred letters by a single post , which hundred letters would not have been written und . r the old system , and which , if written , and paid for by us , would break us , horse , foot , and dragoons , in twelve months . Sixty pounds a week would fall far short of paying our present
reoaipte , according to the old rate , and now behold our paper . It is England , Scotland , Wales , and a peep at a bit of Ireland , at one view . Bradford , Leeds , Hudderefield , Halifax , and our nearest neighbours , are now but a portion of the great Radical world , while formerly they . constituted nearly our eutire circle . Many will now venture a penny , even upon chance , and hence we not unfrequently receive two or three reports of the same meetiug , written the one is ignorance of the other .
Hence , then , the impossibility of ever again " gu ling the natives ; " hence , the proof that the knowledge was there , if not dammed up with a golden quicksand ; and , above all , hence our conviction that an organic change now , with bucu pioneers , sentinels , and telegraphs , must be a change of measures , and not a mere substitution of one set of puppets for another . The penny postage is a national tell-tale ; a cheap disclo&er of secrets ; an alarmist ; as Junius say s , "a hue and cry , whioh puts the neighbours on their guard , by announcing the thief ' a approach . " The penny postage has given Chartism a shove behind , which has nearly sent it up " Constitution HILL ?' and now , we defy any designing knave to out the tight trace and let it down again .
Go it , Frank ; go it , you cripple ! Ten pet cent , more upon windows , customs , and exoise , by all means ; nay , why not twenty ! it is only a figure . Tax our liven as you hare taxed our lights—nothing like it ; for every squeeze you get from the pressure from without , give your friends a squeeze rom the pressure from within . Mister Basing , the indirect magio of Exchequer harlequiuism is gone . Whoever the wand now strikes , he is nailed for the reckoning . Poor John has no more—you cannot get at him , directly © r indirectly , dead or alive—there is noblood in a turnip .
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Indeed , your only mode of taxing the poor , now , for the benefit of the rich , would be . by » tax on brains . ¦ - . . ¦' . ¦ : ¦ ¦" ' .. ' . ' ¦ ' .. , : ' . Frank , be assured , that nature cut you ., out for a ploughman , but the Devil ran away with tho pattern , and Dame Fortune passing by in a frolioksome mood , made a gentleman of you in fun . Go , go , to the Upper H « use ; go . ...
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REBELLION , SHIP-BURNING , SMUGGLING , AND RIOT , JUSTIFIED * RECOMMENDED BY THE * CHRONICLE . " We giro the following treasonable article from the Chronicle of Tuesday last , and we demand the Attorney General ' s interference : ¦—" A pamphlet lain circulation , entitled 'Daily Bread . " which recommends to the inauatrioM poor a new species of practical protest against ; the bread tax , aa a likely means of exonerating themselves from its severe and unjust pressure . The scheme proposed is tot a penny subscription from so large a number of the working classes , aided by the contributions of those who also
suffer from and are opposed to the food monopoly , as may suffice to freight one * t more vessela with continental corn or American flour , and bring it into some English port Oa its arrival , a . distribution amongst ' the owners to be formally claimed , and if refused , as it of course would be , to proceed to the public destruction of the cargo . Without passing any opinion on thi * plan , we wish to fix attention on the fact that tush a plan is propounded and entertained . " For ought that appears the process / would be perfectly legal . There 3 s no law against the investment of the smallest sums by hungry artizans in the purchase of food from foreigners . The vessel so freighted might
legally anchor in our ports . The petition- of a thousand fomisning families for leave to land and eat the food which they bad purchased from their small and hard earnings might be a most unexceptionable document . The refusal by the Custom house authorities , or by their masters on reference to them , would also be legal , and we presume inevitable . The right of tbe proprietary would be unquestionable to throw their cargo oxerboard , though tbe billows of Goole harbour , or the waters of the Thames should be whitened with the spoil ; or though the execrations of multitudes ,
witnessing tbe waste while they were pinched with want , should be both loud and deep ; and if the hungry and augry thousands broke out into violence , ¦ it would than become legal to read tbe Riot Act , call out tbe military , and suppress the disturbance at whatever cost of human bloodshed . Whatever tbe wisdom , justice , or expediency , of any one step of tbe process ; each is yet free from the charge of unlawfulness . The proposition is legal , and it is entertained ; that is the gist of the matter , and tke fact may perhaps be worth a thought "
A pamphlet has also b « en sent to our office translated from the French , by M . Thibrs , in which the writer speaks of the anchoring , in several British ports , of a number of small steamers freighted with muskets , pieces of ordnance , swords , and accoutrements of all sorts , on their way to America , and let the English people know "that if they take them , they should , as loyal subjects , at once give them up to the nearest authorities . " Ah ! ah ! we were perfectly aware that the moral force Whigs , who set fire to Bristol , Nottingham , and Newcastle , aad threatened the King with decapitation , and paraded pictures of the Queen in breeches , would never wait for the legal , peaceable , constitutional redress of their grievances , but that our forbearance would drive them into open rebellion .
How very , very , very , disinterested of our contemporary , the Artful Dodger , to risk life and limb , treason and rebellion , arson and murder , with their consequences , for a people who request them not to take the slightest trouble on their behalf . Is this act a pioot that , without the people , violence alone mu ? t be the argument of tyrants ! We most seriously and strenuously recommend the article in the Chronitle of Tuesday last to the
consideration of our Glasgow friends en Tuesday next , and we trust that some bold fellow will , in a peaceful aud dignified resolution , propose a vote of censure upon that corrupt Journal , for thus attempting to jeopardise the peace « f the country , in order to enaure the success * f a favourite project . We truBt that our Glasgow correspondent will favour us with an early report of Tuesday ' s proceedings , tad that such a resolution will be among them . Who , we ask . could oppose it t
We thought itwoultcome to this at last . But , no , no , Master Dodger ; we are not going to have a few more hangings ef poor men , to carry any humbug measures for the rich ones . Will Easthopk be one , if we get him a party f Will he lead them on to tae righteous work " of destroying the cargo ! Will he do his own bidding 1 If so , let him send is prospectuses for the Whig plundering recruiting service , that we may distribute them among the traitor middle classes . ¦ ¦ ¦
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THE FACTORY QUESTION . The mass of incontrovertible evidence collected during the agitation in which the lamented Sabler and the now cell-bound Oas « , eb were particularly distinguished , is not erased from the memories of our numerous readers . The horrid system was then unveiled to the eye of the world in all its hideous deformity , and the facts then adduced were so palpable as even to silence the priests of Moloch themselves . Yet , notwithstanding the almost
saperhuman exertions of the gentlemen above referred to and their coadjutors , maugre the enormous . expeiice unavoidably incarred in the struggle to emancipate the immature slaves of Christian Britain , and in spite of the prayers and demands of the people to have this stain obliterated from our national character , our merciful legislators , at the bidding of' the avaricious proprietors of the " rattle-boxes , " cheated the people with a law productive of no real benefit to the enslaved operative , nor yet beneficial to the humane portion of the manufacturers .
The poor factory children were , in the first instance , sold by the Irish trait *? , O'Connell ; and the factory woiktrs generally were subsequently sold by the law makers , to the " bit of a Parliament . " Since the salo , "the humanity-monger ? , ' ' as our neighbour of the Mercury would term , them , have rested on their oars . Trial has been made of the Act . It has beon " weighed in the balance and found wanting , " and , therefore , the enemies of the monster are again preparing for the combat . We wish them God spoed , and shall render them-every assistance in our power , as we fully coincide with their views , namely : —
" That for the last foar years , owing in part , to the amazing increase of the number of factories since 1834 , factory employment has become much more uncertain than it was before tkis increase of factories took place , and that , during these four years , numbers that did work in factories have lost employment altogether ; numbers more haye been put on short . time , and another portion have been working excessive hours , which has been injurious to their health , destructive to their morals , and has left them no time , such as rational beings should have , for either education or recreation . "
" And also that it would conducs to the interest . and add to the satisfaction of factory occupiers , as well as factory workers , if the labour performed in factories was better distributed than it now is ; and that no persons should be allowed to work in factories excessive hours , not longer than ten in any one day . " It is well known that the present Act for regulating factory labour , is , in numerous cases , evaded and violated ; and did it possess any salutary properties , they are rendered inoperative by the cupidity of the employer , and the falsehoods of those parents who have a greater zest for the fow pence , called " wages" (!) than they have for the moral , physical , and spiritual welfare of their children . We contend that ten hours actual labour per day is as much aa human nature can sustain with
impunity ; and , therefore , we pledge our assistance in the efforts now about to bo made . We hear that a petition is now tin the course of signature , in this town , praying for the « naotment of * law restricting aii persons employed in factories to fifty-eight hours per week . There is no doubt of this petition being numerously signed : in fact , we are told that more sheets are required than can at present be supplied , all , or nearly so , being already filled up . . Exertions are being made in various other town ? , to get up similar petitions , by Mr . Mark Caabi&ee , a known and tried friend of the factory child . To those engaged in the good work we Bay—Go on and raospKH .
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THE PETITION CONVEITPION . ' We , haye received intimations from almost aU parta of the country , of the resolutions of the various bodies and publio meetings of the peopb , cordially concurring i # the postponement . of the meeting of this body until the 3 rd ofMtj-Udf of space prevented the possibility of our inaerticj the various resolutions , and this general notice & them is sufficient .
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ORGANIZATION ^ -ELECTION OF TBP EXECUTIVE . ; The general Council of the National Chart * Association of Great Britain being now eleirtwLu ia incumbent on them to take instant neasnr « f bringing into existence the ExecutiTo CotttehtaJ that the Association may be fully and fairly j ! operation . These must , by the new plan of ornnL sation , be chosen from the General Council . ^ T have bad several letters of enquiry aa towheuJ persons were eligible for the Executive Ctanmittag . not being members of the General a > nn < at T 2 fourteenth paragraph of the Plan of OrganisaUftl answers all these . " EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE . . ..-,- ^ -::, v , ; . ,,, „; u : - , ^ ; :
" 14 . That the General Council of the AWoektf shall choose five Members of their own botryto tit an Executive Committee , in manner as herein tow Every Sub-Secretary shall be at liberty to « ointa » t 7 ^! candidate , on the First Day of February -in aSr , !? and five persons from among those so nominated 1 * 5 ' be elected by all the Members on the Fint ^ av ^ March following . " * * From this it will be seen that every Sub-Secretn . is at liberty to nominate one person and noW ow ^ Member of the General Council , as a fit and propj . person to serve on the Executive Committee , n ! exact form of nomination is given in the NortjJrm Star of the 27 th of Febrnary , sud to save mj ^ son the trouble of referring , lest some SukSeew . taries may not fill their papers , we here an ft again : —
•• To the General Secmarf •/ ike Nattmt fxfo-Association of Great Britain . ¦ ^ February \ , ij _ Sir , —I hereby nominate A . B . ( blaekimititl rf ( 14 , High-street , Bath , ) a Member of the 6 a »^ Council of toe National Charter Asai ^ Ko ,, tf g ^ T Britain , aa a fit and proper perstn to be elected a Member of tbe Executive Committee , oa th * utd » of Marah next * " . , ; ¦ "' " T Signed , . . CD ,, ; . " ( Carpenter , No . 6 , tilhrtreet r Manchester . ) " , \ - .: \ i ; Member of the Qoneral Council , and BabrStolEgt of the National Charter Assodi £ Si Great BritaiB . " ^^™"
" A list of all the candidates so nominated , ihaUli transmitted , per post , by the General Seertfary to every Sub-Secretary , oa or before the IGta'Daytf February ; the elections shall be taken on ths 9 b « t& » of March following ; and the number of vote » sballhi immediately forwarded to the General " Secretary vk shall lay the same before the out-going ExewUre ' Con . mittee for examination , an 4 by their order poblfah , within one week of receiving them , the whole s such returns ; together with tbe declaration « £ tfc outgoing Executive Committee , of the penoas < Juh elected . " ¦ - ' - "< ™
These directions are so plain that we imagine they can need no explanation . It is the daty rf every sub-Secretary , uponreceivingfromihe General Secretary the list of all the names put in nontinatitt for the Executive , to take care that every ntembsr of the society , residing in his locality , BaaD Saw u opportunity of voting for such five persons oufcof that number , as he may think to be the most eligible } to count up the numbers that rote for eaoh candidate , and make a return thereof to the General
Secretary , who will pnt all these returnstogetherad publish them . Each place will then hare an oppor tunity of checking the accuracy of the relarn , becau every sub-Secretary will , of course , keep a copy d bis own return , and every member , knowing fir whom he voted , will be able with very little troubli to ascertain whether the sub-Secretary has made i correct return . The voting for members of tbt Executive , will , of course , be conducted ia pr > oisely the same way aa that for members of tin General Council .
We have several letters enquiring whether tk Provisional Executive be eligible for electioa I Certainly : they are pro tempore * to all intents and purposes , the Executive Committee . TheExeeutin Committee is , on tbe very face of the plan , p » rt and parcel of the General Council : every membv -of the present Executive is eligible , therefore , ia be nominated to take his chanct of election on the annual Executive Committee .
We trust that this business will be immediately proceeded with , and that wo shall be able next week to publish the whole list of nominations foe the Execntive . .
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O'CONNOR AND O'CONNELL . We were aware that the letters of O'Coanor to O'Vlalley ; the spread of Chartism in Ireland , and the dread of its just principles by all humbug politicians , must , sooner or later , be met by the Archtraitor ; in proof whereof , we give the following bit from the Belfast Vindicator , and also theproceediBp at a recent meeting of the " Royal Loyals : "—11 Chartism in Newrt . —The Right Bev . ft . Blake , who is ever solicitous for the welfare of mi people , addressed them , on Sundayjast , on the em and daugers of Chartism , and warned them strongly against being seduc « d into countenancing it . iw
people , we are convinced , will see the wisdom « attending to advice which can have no other , object than their good ; and will avoid , as a pestilence , t system which , in England , has brought the working classes to crime and destitution . If the poor nua , would not be deceived and disappointed , fct n « look for relief in the reformation of the lindlort and tenant system—ia the encouragement of natrw manufacture—in temperance—in repeal—in a word , let him look for it where it is to be found , bs * let him not put Mb trust in a system which mi filled the jaila of England with prisoners , ana tJ » poor-houses with paupers . "
So much for the Vindicmlor . Now or Da » : — Mr . 0 'CONWEi . L again said—Mr . Kay has stated tM the next business in order is to bring forward tte ^ P ™ of the committee , on a plan for the security ottb ^ r _ lords , and the safety of the tenantry of Ireland , bnt Before 1 enter into that I wish to allude te anot& er sa ^ ject . ( Mr . Letbbridge here entered tbe meetingJ "" ™ received with load cheers . When the cheering »» subsided , Mr . O'Connell resumed . ) When w « weM » agreeably interrupted by the entrance of tewbnugfr i was stating that there was a subject which I- w ^ » bring before the Association previous to snbnuwws !" you the report of the committee in reference to "ieif ™" lords and tenantry of Ireland . I read , I on * eo ^ j with creat feelinxoB ot cain . a paragraph which "PP *™*
in the Newry Examiner , and which was tM ^ vw some of the Dublin papers , stating that somepeno ™ in Newry bad recently held there a Cnnrtfet " j ^ C that borrowing-tbe designation of Gbartfats w ^ rr been a meeting of the trades of that town to M *? ™ Chartism there . If ever there was a period at woiw it was necessary for the people of Ireland to' J *? ^ fectly clear of any connexion with Cbartism tUs aiw » period . They advocate force and violence . TMf ?^
we advocate are different from theirs . WeadvoeaM w use of moral force alone , and the conoen tratwa ox . w » opinionof the entire nation . ( Hear , hew . ) 1 W " held out by them , as a pretence , that they « t ' " * L violence ( and maay of the Chartisti , I > dniit ' ^ SS involved in the criminality of their leaders )? MJ »» dectrine of their leaders is to have recourse w «» torch and the dagger , and , bjthe adoptioii or « w » means , they have not only involved their * * " ™ ~ zZ vini > Unn nf tt >« Utr . hat thev have incurred we ew »"
of its violation ; they aave incurred imprisonment *" other punishments . ( Loud cries of hear , ^' J ^ rL We cannot overlook for ono moment tfus sttenro sow disunion among the Repealers of Ireiana W g introduction of Chartism amongst them ; a < H * Jg \ I remind them that when an attempt was befo « »» w introduce Chartism into Dungama , the « " */ j 5 garraa rejected it , and they not <» & ^" . ^ tol published the letter of the BugUib . Chartist , »|«* 5 their co-operation . In that letter , the Eng lish C £ » w calls himself a rtera Republican . Now , ***" . „! republicans—we are opposed to republicanism 1 * ° ^ satisfied with a monarchy , and we love ^^^^ monarch that is placed over us , whom m » yG « oo » » preserve ! ( Loud cheers . ) W « get here , someUipes , oar ftwn amusement , Feargus O'Connor ' s paper -. ^ Northern Star , and I shall read an extrac ' *[ i > edii * you . ( Hear . ) It is beaded Glor \ ou * * ° ™ £ * £ > and fall of tbe humbug empire , and rise of c ?» "TL Ireland .- " - " In Dublin , Newry , Vn& ^ ffT ^ i ( wbere , I weuld wish to know , is Loughe ** " | , ' _ '*»« . *« . »< nt i ™ iand . the infant CharB *» _
, ,, SadopVed - and ^ dlvTou rished tofJftZ new-born Irish . ( The infant CharUsm I _ I . «*' , > recollect that paras * ) We give the JJJT ?? . »* from a most respectable person In looghcre * » ¦ * " *
The Young Liar Of The North.
THE YOUNG LIAR OF THE NORTH .
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THE ^ WtIMN STAR . . . ¦ . ... .... .- . . ,, .,. - ^ ..-.: , v ¦ : ::
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 17, 1841, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1105/page/4/
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