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THE ffOETHEBH" STAE. SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1841.
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2To : B?atims anti Corr^poutimtg.
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THE NEW MOVE.
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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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CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE OF MITCHELL , THE GIPSY BOY . C Continued from our last . J At length I got tired of this mode of life ; particularly as I got nothing by it , except what I managed to thieve and secrete on my own account , * nd which I used to conceal in secret parts of my trousers . Those gipsies used to mate the pale of pots and glass a pretext for picking pockets , and it was not % a uncommon thing for one of the women to be engaged in telling a young lady , or gentleman ,
their fonnne , while myself , or some of the men , who Wtte dressed up , stood by waiting to have ours told , while we were picking the pockets of the young people . . We were once encamped alongside another gang of gipsies , and the queen of the gang asked me if I would like to have my fortune told , and I said yes ; and the moment she looked at my hand , she Baid , "Eh , lad . thee will rarely be hanged . " In Ies 3 than eighteen months , and before , or just about that tone from the date , I was arrested for the murder of Mr . Blackburn .
The gipsy pointed out tne lines in my hand , which I never observed before . Upon one hand , clo * e to the bart of my fingers , there i 3 a deep wide line running from one side of the palm to the other , and upon tho other there i 3 no such mark at all . I mean to say that there is net in the world such desperate people as a gang of gipsies . I am sure they think nothing of kiiluig any man , or stealing any gentleman's child . Servant girls - should be cautioned against them , as from them we used to learn all the ways of the houses in the neighbourhood .
At the time I left the gipsies , I had £ 25 with me , which I cheated them out of . I left them , finally , after being about two years with them , and I have beard no more of them sinoe , I was then at the other side , the south side of Manchester , ' and , with my £ 25 , 1 returned to Sheffield , having spent about £ 5 of it on my way home . When I left them , it is no wonder , after such training , that I entered with great alacrity into another liue of thieving , upon my ¦ A . nn » a it ^ itiwt , * swi * Vi > t 1 -arms l- *> j > : > iftfid tO POSSCSS thfl fruits of my own industry .
On my return to my unhappy and disconsolate parents , I heard that they had given me up for lost , and thai they bad advertised their prodigal son in the public papers . I shall never forget the delight of my poor mother on the recovery af her long lost child- I was very sensibly touched at the stale of feeling she , as well as my father and sisters , displayed upon the occasion ; but the effect was soon lost , the die was cast , and I must go . I mean to say that persons of my age , who are not caught till they become kabitu&ted to thieving , never can be reclaimed ; and I have ofUn known thieves , yonng and old , to have committed robberies of which they laid plans the night after their release from Wake field- They are very true to each other , and never let one another want for defence and such like .
Thieviiig , I eoald not help thinking , was much easier than working , and , from the security with which 1 saw the gipsies , my late companions , carry On their extensive and unlawful business , and the command they always had of money , greatly helped to fix me in the determination to follow a similar course . Besides those many inducements , I was . by this time , quite expert in dexterity of finger , and in all the various tricks of a thief , and thought it really a pity that so much ability should be thrown away . Above all , working I hated with a mortal hatred , and was quite ambitious to let my friends snd acquaintance see taat I could live independently without h , and live well too , and like a gentleman . I mean to say that the same silly notion has been the ruin of thousands of young men . I was but a child , but vanity and a silly notion took hold of me .
" Gipsy Jack , " as I was called , was much admired for Ms personal attractions and many accomplishments . 1 was thought handsome ; and it struck me that so handsome a fellow as I was ought not to work at all . Influenced by these and other such like notions , equally destructive of my future peace sod welfare , I anxiously sought up all the notoriously vicious acquaintances I possibly could , and willingly allied myself in all their most desperate endemkings . In a word , I became one of a gang of the most deeperate and determined robbers that erer infes ; ed any neighbourhood or any country .
I know they are all on the high way to the degradation I &m now suffering , and to that gallows which I have , by the mercy of our most gracious Sovereign , so narrowly escaped ; and if this account of my own and their practices be made public , and , through that meaos , become the rooting up and destruction of the Barasley gang , I shall , by such course , render all the atonement I am now able to make , for my nnmerous ; and heavy offences and sins , and perhaps it may be received as an acceptable work of gratitude for the mercy , which has been so graciously and unexpectedly extended io me ; and to effec . so desirable an end , I have made up my mind to eonc * al nothing that I can recollect , however H may tell against myself , ami however rcurvlly my late unfortunate and misguided comrades may think I am using them .
I am now about io disclose a life , though short , not being more than sixteen or seventeen when I was sent to York Castle , which I mean to say has never been equalled for the number and atrocity of crimes committed . I have committed , and been concerned in , more than 05 z thocsa > -d bobberies , and , at length , I was sentenced to death for murder , as if th&t crime could not be concealed , although I was never , to my knowledge , « ven suspected before . Some of these robberies , particularly those which I assisted the gipsies in committing , andsome that I afterwards committed with the Barnsley gang , whom I shall name , were accompanied with the greatest violence . I don ' t know , for a positive fact , that death followed in any case , although we have frequency left our victims dreadfully stabbed , - beaten , and abused , and as we thought , dead on the road , of a winter ' s night , and never heard of them again .
After remaining with my father about a year , assisting him in bis business as a bricklayer , I left him , and occasionally assisted him and other persons in the 6 ame line of business , principally for the purpose of blinding people as to what I wa 3 really engaged about . I , at first , began to rob entirely on my own account , and committed many extensive robberies upon the market people at Barnsley . I carried on , by myself , about a year , and I seldom allowed a market day to pa £ 3 without making many successful experiments on the pocket 3 of the market people . The sums I obtained in thia way varied from , one to five , ten , and thirty pounds ; not more &i a time , I mean , but the experiments were frequent . I do not know the names of the persons , or I would tell at once , ba > I can tell the public what I always found to be the most convenient time for Tabbing them ; at the public house when they tccre
getting drurJc , or when they left the p-ub'ie house arunk to go home . One of the last robberies was of thia sort . Robinson , Cherry , and me , ( sot the Cherry that was tried for Mr . Blackburn ' s murder , but his brother . ) watched a countryman into a public-house , to get change , to pay for a new hat he bought , and we followed oim , aad when he left to go home , at dark , he fell when he got outside the house ; and , when I saw him , I pretended to be drunk , too , and staggered against him , and helped him up , and asked Him which was his road home ; and when he told me , I told him that that was my road , too ; and that I would go part of the road home with him ; so I tovk him under the arm , and led him out of toe town on the Sheffield road , and we had not got far , when Cherry and Robinson came up , and knocked ns both down ., and robbed the man of , I think , thirty - five pounds in notes anfl sovereigns .
I then left off business , on my own account , and joined with a young man , named Joseph Bentley , of Barnsley ; he is a brick-maker by trade , and about the age of twenty-two years , middle-sized , and llim in figure ; John Hayes , of B&msley , & weaver , about twenty-one years of age , and about the same as Bentley in shape and figure ; Thonia 3 Broadhead , of Barnsley , a weaver , about twenty-one years of age ; James Bates , also of Barnsley , though he came from Skelmondthorpe , about nine miles distant ; he was about eighteen years of ace .
These young men had long been in the habit of robbing persons in the chapels -and churches of Barnsley , and as they e&me oat in groups after the Bervices , especially in the door or gateway . Many persons were robbed on these occasions by us , and I know the practice still continues , and by the Bame persons , as it is considered the most secure branch of the trade , though not the most lucrative . I have sot known more than two or three pounds being got at one time from one person in that way . Thi 3 plan we resorted to every Soaday , and although 1 quitted it last rammer , in order to devote my time to a more extensive and larger system of plunder , yet it is still carried on by the same parties . It is not only at the evening and afternoon service , but after the morning service , that congregations at Barnsley are thus robbed .
I am quite convinced that it will be found that the persons whom I have named are known to be constant frequenters of places of worship , and always the last in and first out . They frequently obtaia valuable watches , snuff-boxes , pieces of money and other things that people carry about with them . These articles they plant in a place up the waggon-road side , Topping's field , in a hole in a nail belonging to Charles Topping ' s field . This fieW is just at the entrance of the town ; there is a public well there , and the hole , which is sufficiently large to admit a man , is just inside some steps , it is covered op with some stones , which they nave to remove when they plant anything . To " plant , " is a slang word among thieves , signifying to hide stolen property , bo that if discovered , it may not be found upon the premiaeB oi person of the thief .
lam Bony that I do not h&pppen to know of any person ' s name , in particular , who has been robbed © a these occasions , or to know where any of tbe article * , with few exceptions , happen to-be at this preseat swaeaijafc all events . 1 thought it a poor
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business for me if I did not get more than four pounds a week as my share of this species of church plunder . The watches and articles of that kind , we always took io Sheffield , where we were alwayB sure to Snd a ready sale for them at the pawnbrokers ' shops . 1 come now to another , and more extensive species of thieving . About this time I became acquainted with Joseph Tattershall , a wearer , about twenty-one years of » ge ; Richard Slater , aged about twenty-four years ; Thomas Fenwick , a shuttle-maker , about nineteen years old ; James Wells , a weaver , about twenty-six years old ; Geo . Hartley , alias , Bacco Hartley , a weaver , about twenty-fonr years old , and John Gillett , a weaver ,
about thirty years old ; and I mean to *» y that there cannot be found living upon the face of tbe earth a more desperate set of men than the persona I have just named . They were a select gang to themselves when I joined them , and were also so when I was apprehended , and were then in full force and activity . <• The first robbery which I recollect to have been committed by them , after I first joined them , was upon a gentleman wno had been putting up at the White Bear Inn , ( the head inn , ) Barnaley . We followed him by design , seeing that he was drank , and we overtook him at the top of the Old Milllane , in Barnsley . It was on Saturday night the 3 d of October last . They knocked him down and robbed him of near £ 40 . We had 6 een him get change for some notes at a grocer ' s shop in the town . He was much hurt and was obliged to be taken to the inn by some persons who saw him on the ground .
I did not touch the gentleman myself , though I was with the party and helped to rob him . Bacco Hartley knocked him down with a heavy piece of wood . It was quite dark ; he fell at once as if he was shot ; he hit him with ail his force on the head . After w had got the money , we all went to a public house , kept by Michael Tecnny ; I do not recollect the name or sign of the house , but we there shared the money equally among us . This house is much frequented by thieves of the very worst and most notorious description . In fact , it was our head-quarters and the bead-quarters of the several gangs of thieves In Barnsley and the neighbourhood . The landlord will admit any kind of company , however bad , and will receive stolen property of any description . We spent most of our time there . He had many dancings in the house , which were always attended by giris of the town and the very wor 6 t of characters like ourselves .
I would advise parents not to allow their children to go to this , or to many other houses which I shall mention in the course of my narrative . The very best and most innocent girls will look in for change or a message , and , when pressed , will take a taste from one and a taste from another , and very often will remain there all night , and be ruined , and never care for father or mother again ; and they are denied when their parents think them long out , and come te look after them . There w&s no reward offered for the apprehension of the persons that robbed the gentleman of whom I have just spoken from the White Bear , and who , we afterwards heard , imagined had lost his money .
I was allowed an equal share of all plunder with them , because I had allowed them , on an occasion just before the robbery I have mentioned , to have a share with me in a robbery I had committed by myself at Doncaster Races . The robbery was effected by myself upon a gentleman in the street at Doncaster . In a crowd I picked his pocket of a pocketbook , containing i' 34 . 1 did not know him ; nor was I aware he had any money about him . It was all chance work . I also robbed a gentleman on the same day , on the
raee-conrse , of a pocket-book and a memorandum book . The pocket-book had in it £ 57 , in £ 5 notes and sovereigns . I did not know who he was , I did the act just at the moment the horses were passing us in the race , which is considered an excellent opportunity , by thieves , for picking pockets . It was a part of this money that I allowed to each of the gang when I met them after at Miohael Tecnny ' s public-house , so th&t they all agreed that I bad a moral right to share in the plunder of the gentleman from the White Bear . ( To be continued in our next )
The Ffoethebh" Stae. Saturday, April 24, 1841.
THE ffOETHEBH" STAE . SATURDAY , APRIL 24 , 1841 .
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" Save me from my frienda . " Is another part of the Star will be found a long and interesting letter from Mr . O'Connor , in which he calls , and we think justly and fairly , for an expression of public opinion as to the " new move . " We last week showed that it was deficient in the principal ingredient , " Universal Suffrage . " Mr . O'Connor says it escaped us , that it was also deficient in equalization of representation ; while it appears to have escaped him , that it is also deficient in the mode of election ;—that of self-nomination being substituted for " the Ballot . " " Save us from our friends . "
" vVe last week put a kick in the gallop of th » project by showing Damel ' s delight and co-operation . We have this week to notice the fact of the whole Whig " Establishment" being in extacies at the project . They say it is just the thing— " the one thing needful ; " just the " Chartism for tbe times we live in ; " each and every one of our cotemporaries , if they will allow us the familiarity , unhesitatingly declaring the object of the " new move" to be " to get rid" Feabgus O'Connor . Before we begin to lay a few extracts before our readers from the " damning praise ' of the Whig papers , just one word .
Our readers will recollect that when commenting upon Dan ' s plan of having " a body sitting in XrondoD , directing tbe country , and satcbating the land with tracts , " he said that funds , —ample funds , — would be subscribed ; and , in commenting upon his scheme a 3 propounded in a letter to the defunct Fox and Goose Club , we took the liberty of saying , " Aye , faith , there would be no lack of fundB to support such an Association ; the secret-service fund would bleed freely . " . Now , then , hear what the Morning Chronicle says , with reference to the " new
mo'e : — " We see . not why a portion of the PUBLIC GRANT FOB EDUCATIONAL PUBPOSES SHOULD XOT- FLOW TOWARDS THE PROPOSED SCHOOLS , A 3 SOO : < A 3 THEY ABE IS ACTUAL OPERATION . " A word only will be required upon the above . Is the object to carry the Charter ? If so , is a Whig Government very likely to give " grants of money " to effect an object , to frustrate which C 03 t them millions of money and loss of character f One extract might be sufficient , but the Sun , the Greenacre Chronicle , the Spectator , the Examiner , and all , all , even Mother Goose , are in raving delight with the project .
We shall give Geobgb H . Wabd , M . P . for Sheffield , a distinct notice upon the subject ; while , as there is but a Btep between the ridiculous and sublime , having commenced with the Chronicle , we Bhall finish with Mother Goose . In a column for the curious , written in that most curious journal , by Mr . Hames Stansfeld , and hith-rto modestly placed in inner form , [ a kind of preparatory school for beginners , ] we find the following laudation of our friends' new project . Stassfeld says : —
" Birr the Chartism put forth tn this Addrf . ss IS OF A KlND WITH WHICH NO HONEST MAN CAN QrAHKKL , AJTD THE PLAN RECOMMENDED FOR OBTAINING IT MIGHT COHMAND THE APPROBATION OF SlR Robert Peel himself . " Now we ask if any plan , ( though it were fasting and praying , ) which was at all calculated to carry tbe Charter would beat all likely to receive theapprobation of the Tamworth Baronet \ No , no . They only object to " physical force , " lest it should frighten something OHt of the old women ; and if fasting and praying were calculated to frighten more , or even as mnch , they would equally object to that .
The Spectator and Examiner write in general terms of approval of the new project ; indeed it is quite to their taste ; but they pasa as mere wadding in the political world . In fact , it is nothing more or less than a new mode ef canvassing for support for Mechanic ' s Institutes , and the Brougham system of making one portion of the working class disgusted with all below them ; and thn 3 effect , for another while , by an aristocracy of labourers , by galling contrast , what has been hitherto effected by taxation and the cannon .
However , people who work sixteen hours a day from the age of nine to about thirty-five , when they are thrown into a b&stile a 3 unfit for use , have very little relish for any protracted course of study or " education , " though it were certain in one hundrei and twenty years to gain the Charter / or them .
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« . J .-L J-l XI V . ' XV In fact , "ignorance , " "ignorance , " "ignorance , " has been the cry as long as we can remember , and long before we were born ; and would , if knowledge were an electoral test , be a cry with the powerful few , who may well cry "ignorance , " so long as a people are ignorant enough to let them live upon their very heart ' s blood . But we waste time , as the will of the country , which we this day record upon the foolish attempt , puts the extinguisher for ever npon all hope of a wise people being gulled by ignorant coxcombs .
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THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . Of a verity the Whigs are like the fastidious soldier ; hit them high , or bit them low , we cannot please them . In the unreformed times , when even Billy Pitt looked upon public opinion as a requisite in the ministerial stock , Parliaments were dissolved upon questions , sot upon the relative value of persons upon a fanciful arithmetical sum made of a candidate ' s whole creed and life . Thus , for or against the Mali Tax , the Emancipation Bill , the Dissenters' Relief Bill , or any other Bill upon which the Minister did not find himself quite secure . Thus were the labours of electors narrowed to the mere expression of opinion upon the one question at issue .
But now , alas ! dissolution being a thing never dreamed of , so long as tbe old orew can hang together , every single contest becomes a matter of wholesale canvass ; and whoever tells most 1 es and swears hardest to them , has the best chance , ! provided be has a Lord of the Bedchamber at his back with the "needful . " In speaking of the Nottingham election , the Chronicle says that Lord John Russell has nothing to apprehend from " the eloquence of Mr . Walter " upon the question of the Poor Laws ; and tbe Whig press is outrageous at the starved-off of Nottingham making the vulgar question of food , raiment , and liberty , any part or parcel of an election contest .
Now , it is quite clear that" ouood" Mr . Walter ' s eloquence , Lord John would have nothing to fear ; but the fact of Mr . Waltbr being returned , just now , " pendente lite" upon Buch a question as opposition to the New Poor Law , would speak in dumb eloquence to the Noble Lord , a language of wbioh he would comprehend the full value . It would be far more significant than my Lord Bcrleigh ' s nod , and especially to a brother Minister of tbe Noble Lord ' s , Sir John C . Hobhouse , tbe other Member for Nottingham , and to whom it would be a very significant notice to quit , —or to have his traps , at all events , ready for a start upon the next rent day .
Now , we look upon the question of tbe Poor Laws as next in importance to eur Charter ; not that we expect any , the slightest , mitigation from the return of Mr . Walteb , or from a whole Tory Hou « e . But it being the very worst of the many very bad Whig measures , and this being the time for renewing the contract , we do , without cant , look upon the present opportunity , taken in all its bearings , as a Divine interposition of Providence , to afford the people of Nottingham ( so riotous and furious for "Reform , "Jan opportunity of testifyingsorrow for their ignorance and repentance for their former reliance upon Whig tricksters , by which they were induced to have recourse to tbe torch for the destruction of property .
We take it , that if tbe Poor Law was a just reward for what the people of Nottingham did to promote " Reform , " that the return of Mr . Walter , just now , will be a fair reward for tho Poor Law . But let us come to the point . A merchant of the name of Toavebs consults with a grocer of the name of Swithin , both of tbe city of London , as to tbe most fit and proper person to represent tho poor weavers of Nottingham . These fellows 6 ay , " 0 ! T . P . G . Y . H . L . Z . Larpent , the French merchant .
and Chairman of a whole parcel of Boards and Banks , is just the man to cook the weavers' dish ; so let us consign him to the starve-guts at Nottingham , marked ' To be kept dry , and this side up . '" " He is just the man , " says the Sun . Well , down comes this worthy to a Mr . Close and others , and they countersign the consignment , and they put the right side np , " Repeal of the Corn Laws and the Ballot . " About St . Mary ' s Church , and the Poor Laws , and all those trifles , [ he is silent , but will think of them .
Now , then , pitching men over board and coming to a consideration of measures , what , let us ask , are the" PLAGUB"ju 8 tnow endeavouring to accomplish ] Is it not to make a repeal of the Corn Laws the only : test upon a dissolution— " the one thingfneedful , " as the * Young Liar" has it 1 On this question , however , the French cook , Monsieur Froggy , and his opponent are upon a perfect tquality : as Walter is for a repeal of the
Corn Laws ; but the people think that a repeal of the New Poor Law is more necessary than a repeal of the Corn Laws ; and , therefore , without reference to the rival men , they make measures their consideration ; and they say , " what do you want ? If a Corn Law repealer , you can have him in the person of a Poor Law repealer . " Bat no , as your wealth depends upon our poverty , you would prefer neither to both .
Now we like to be plain , and let us take a fair sample for a plain argument . Walter and Easthope then , are proprietors of the leading Journals of their respective parties . Easthope calls himself liberal and Walter illiberal . Now , the repeal of the Corn Laws is to be the next test of liberality , and Walter , &s well as Easthope , is up to tho mark there ; and then Walter is beyond Eastuope in liberality upon the real question of cheap food , the repeal of the New Poer Law . But why mince tha maxter \ The Sun and tho Whigs call all opposition to Whigsby the Chartists an "unholy alliance between Chartists and Tories . " We ask , could an alliance be more unholy than with a bloody faction , who have consigned the best friends of the people to penal settlements , to felons' dungeons , and to death %
Again , Dan and bis myrmidons have told theChartiats that they are no one , no party , and have no power ; but as Sweet tells the Tories to their faces , we hold the balance of power ; and how can we show that power so effectually as by beating the enemy most immediately in our way , because in office 1 If the Chartists had a man of their own , and if it was a general election , then their duty would be to stand by their own man ; but here they must use their weight as the balance of power , and instead of being longer made tools of , they must now make a tool of Walter to beat the Whigs .
The Sun says , " Mr . Somebody was recommended ; but we don ' t want a Government back . " Why , what is every Whig in the House but a hack , eo long as the Tories join the Whige in all their destructive measures , and the cry of " keep the Tories out" brings all the Radical tail to the aid of the Whigs , upon the slightest chance of defeat , no matter what the question is { Messrs . Whitehead and Sweet have pnt the thing upoa its proper footing . They say , " let them call this coalition what they please ; we have no dread of the Poor Law for ourselves , but we have witnessed its blasting effects upon our less f ortunate neighbours , and as we bold our votes in trust for them , for THEIR beat friend they shall be given . "
We look upon the result of the Nottingham election as of tbe last importance to the Radical cause . The return of Labpknt , the Prenoh Cook , will add a joint to 'the oppressor ' s tail ; while the return of Waltsr must , as a matter of course , smash the knot and break up the old bundle of rotten twigs . They ought not to hold ofilce ; they ought not to proceed with the Poor Law Amendment Bill , and they will know now to value Chartist power , if their man is packed up again and sent back to " Tbavebs and Swithin , " labelled " This side up . " " Poor Law Amendment Act . "
If the opponent of th ' s Bill is now returned , and while a dissolution is pending , how many votes will it convert upon the remaining portion , and when bringing np the Report ! It is all-important .
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Nothing can be moresill y than the Whfg chatter of Chartist leaders being hired by tho Tories , and for this reason : —The Whigs but prove popular hatred against themselves , because , though nothing averse to pay Chartist leaders , they cannot get one ; for it would be a dangerous experiment to advocate Whig principles upon a public bastings . The hatrod to Whigs and Whiggery has become awful and deadly . Unite , indeed 1 Perhaps Mrs . Frost , Mrs . Clattow , or Mrs . Pjeddib , may feel inclined to unite with the Whigs !
Now , one word as to the justice . Suppose , then , a contest for Nottingham to lie between Sir Robert Inolis , the greatest Tory in England , and Feabqus O'Connor ; and suppose Easthopb , or Mukdo Young , to have the casting vote ; for whom would they TOto ! For Inqlis , without a moment's hesitation . Then , inasmuch as Whigs bate Chartists bore than they hate Tories , why may not Chartists pay them off in kindi However , we have only to Bay that we highly approve of our friends' determination : and we should be cowardly were we to
await the result and then give our opinion according to that result ; so we go in the boat with Whitehbad and Sweet and our jolly Chartist crew , and say " down with tbe Whig . " Give Froggy a touch of your training to take back to the city . Ask him about the £ 70 , 000 for horses and £ 30 , 000 for knowledge . " Ask him about Frost , and Clayton , and the Charter , and Peel ' s Bill of 18 l 9 ; and ram the six points down his ears . " Go the whole hog ; " and when you go about it , do it like men , at once , without being afraid of being taken to task by the
enemy . This is a great God-send for our cause . The Cbartists should all poll early , to show that they poll for the principle and not for the man ; and mind give i t to Fb oggy well , about poor Lonolby and the House that Jack built , and all the rest of it . This is the first real opportunity the men of Nottingham have had siuoe the Reform Bill ; and we say , go it Chartists . Mind you pack Larpent up , labelled " this side up . " " New Poor Law . " Indeed , if you have any time , you should have a coffin carried through the town , with the Poor Law Amendment Aeton it , and marked " This side up . " There is one circumstance which cannot be too
forcibly impressed upon the minds of tbe Chartists . It is this : —Having embarked in the project , tbey must now " go in , over , or through ; " neither turning to the right hand nor to the left ; braving everything , and afraid of nothing ; but least of all Of tho paper pellets and senseless anathemas of friends Easthope and Mukdo Young , Travers , Swithib , and the sugar baker , and"old clothes" ( Close ) of Nottingham , who most insolently presume to be bettei judges of popular feeling and popular opinion at Not '
tingham , and what and who weald best represent it ' than Whitehead andSwEET , two men of great naturaj understanding , unblemished character , and well known kind-heartedness , who feel for their neighbours and for their country . Let them beat ihe French cook , and leave the scribes to us ! They must take especial care that Mr . Returning Officer plays no trick at the nomination . Tbey must have their own fugleman , dressed in their own colours ; and tbey must divide , if any unfair play is attempted .
Above all , go with their man , fearless , and nothing daunted ! Go with him , not as Walter , but as an emblem of English hatred to starvation , transportation , incarceration , and every thing that is base . . This is the most important election that has taken plaee since the Reform Bill . Blink it for a period as they may , tbe real question to be decided is , "Bastile , or liberty ; " " starvation , or plenty ; " " bouse , or no bouse ; " " England , or transportation ; " " virtuous poverty , no vice ; or vice preferable to virtue . " These are the questions at issue between the people and their oppressors .
Chartists ! give the " base , brutal , and bloody " rascals a slight touch of that " power" which they keep eternally telling you you have not got , " just let them feel it I Go » it them like Britons ! Never mind old Beggarman , or the " Establishment" ! Mind your homes ! your families ! and your wives and down with the Whigs !!!
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THE CONVENTION . We this week publish a list of the several delegates nominated t > the Convention , to meet on the 3 rd of May . If any have escaped our observation , we most urgently press upon our friends the absolute ncoeasity of forwarding the names , under cover , to Mr . A . Heywood , 60 , Oldham-stroet , Manchester , for tho Executive , by the first post , in order that the business may be completed . It will be the duty , then , of the Executive to transmit , at once , to each locality which has returned a delegate , the list of the tea chosen at & public meeting by ballot , and also to forward a list to our office .
It will then be the duty of our London friends to agree fur a convenient , commodious , and respectablo place of meeting , so that not an hour ' s delay will take place , when the delegates arrive . When the treasurer is appointed , Mr . O'Connor will transmit to him the funds for the payment of the delegates , and places of meeting ; and as Glasgow has nobly resolved upon paying its own delegate , we respectfully submit tho propriety of paying the three London delegates . £ 1 per week each , which will be the £ 3 spared by Glasgow paying its own . This is for the delegates to decide upon .
This is a work which cannot be omitted , and no time must be lost . Every locality that has elected a delegate must be prepared with means to send him to London on Saturday next , May 1 st , if chtssen . We have already noticed the following as nominated : —M'Douall , Pitkethly , Cullam , Deegan . Collins ; Woodward , Brighton ; Dover , Norwich ; Skevington , Loughborougb ; Smart , Leicester ; Marsden , Bolton- ; Williams , Wales ; Arthur , Carlisle ;; Gillet , Sheffield ; Sweet , Nottingham ; Martin , Birmingham , for Restoration Committee .
Any of those elected , who cannot attend , will have the goodness to advise tbe Executive , at once , of that fact ; and any whose names have been this week omitted by us will also advise the Executive . In balloting , of course the Executive will put in the name of eaoh candidate as many times as be has been nominated by different localities . Never , perhaps , was there a more propitious movement than the present for our representatives to meet . We shall expect a fair and full expression of opinion upon all questions interesting to our cause ; while their effect , and the effect of the National Petition , must be a sickener for those who hugged themselves into the hope that Chartism was dead . It is now going to rise from the tomb with a giant ' s strength . Let the petitions be signed by every ono in tbe kingdom .
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GEORGE HENRY WARD AND THE NEW MOVE . This uncommon booby , who will thrust his head into everything , has written a parcel of stuff upon tbe " new move . " He writes about what he knows nothing . He says that "Feabgus O'Connor is furious , because Lovett , Collins , and Vincent discountenance the new Convention f the fact being that Collins has sought the honour of being one of the members , and , we think , indecently sought it .
But poor George has a parcel of stuff about a man with one leg , and a man with two legs ; but he has not said a word about the man with two legs and two > rms not being able to fill one belly . He hints , as usual , about a bit of political economy , and then says he will say nothing more upon that subject , but takes us to task for not saying what the Charter would do . Now , our principal charge against Reformers is for having told the people what Reform would do , and that Reform has not done one of the promised things . We hold it that nothing could be more
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despotic than laying down rules for the government of an enfranchised body not yet in existence . Whatever Universal Suffrage does , it will do with the concurrence of the majority . That ' s all we have a right to expeot . But our reason for giving George Henry Ward a separate notice is this : he ia chief "knowledge" monger ; he says he will give the people a vote when they are qualified by " education , " and that being his test , it becomes our duty to compare his practice with his preaching , in order that we may judge of his sincerity . We take it , then , that reading his Chronicle ia& good preparatory "
education , " at least bo George Henry Ward must admit We next take it that a tax upon " knowledge' ' is the way to prevent its spread . We next take the last Stamp Returns , and find that the Chronicle is paying well at 4 Jd . We then take the Chronicle a . t 5 d . and we find that , Georgb Henry Ward , Esq . principal " knowledge " -monger , has taxed his scho * lars to the small sum of £ 41 13 s . 4 d . per week , or more than £ 2000 per annum , or to the amount of one-fifteenth of the whole sum proposed for " educating" the whole people ; or in other words , taking a leaf out of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's book , he has laid an iocreasA often percent , on his lights . We think that will do for our friend !
While he is clamouring for " knowledge , as a test of electoral fitness , he has fobbed £ 2 , 000 a year by non-electoral ignorance ; no , by electoral ignorance , for we doubt the people reading his jargon . How different with the Chartists . Maguire , the spy asks the Secretary of the Golden Lane Association for a Northern Star , and he offers 4 # d . No , says the Secretary , they are sent to us for circulation by our English brother Chartists ; we will only take one penny to defray expences . How different that , from our frieud ' s practice !
la fact , the whole pre ? s is mad about the new Convention ; and the Examiner takes the metropolitan Chartists to task for not returning more gentlemanly men than Neesom , Wall , and Boggis , and also states the proposal for a new Convention to be a failure . Poor , poor Examiner ; one half of the sum for its expenc « s was lodged by return of post , and the Convention meets on the 3 rd of May under your nose , and just in time for the " plague , " who are about assembling at the same time . Will tbey meet our men \ We givo them the Examiner and Chronicle staff to back them . Our poor old croakers are all dead beaten . " Keep the Tories out" has lost its charm . What next ?
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" ' ^ ..... « . — IRISH PROGRESS : DAN IN A QUANDARY . All things are going gloriously on in Ireland ; every post bringB us new intelligence , aad every new batch of intelligence is more inspiriting than the last . The seed of Chartism , sows upon a soil BO fruitful , cannot fail to bring forth plentifully ; and it is doing bo to the high discomfiture < rf the arch-traitor and his dupes and myrmidons . Dan is in fits , and knows not what to do ; the ghost of Chartism haunts his day dreams , and disturbs his nightly slumbers . He now repents bitterly , or eeema to do so , that he attacked them . He ia too old a general not to know that by so doing he has necessarily caused many to inquire ; and the
villain knows enough of man ' s disposition to receive the truth upon inquiry to know that all investigation , instituted by Irishmen , into the principles of Chartism , their connexion with repeal , and with the interests of the Irish people , must lead to comparisons between these unchanged and unchangeable principles , and the ever-flitting tortuousues 3 of bis career , consistent only in being perfectly inconsistent ; which comparison could end only disastrously for him . Hence , at a meeting of his staff oa Tuesday week , the old Fox takes another trick out of his bag , and seeks to " gammon the flats" by affecting now to treat the Chartists with contempt . The Belfast Vindicator thus reports itt-=
" Mr . Hubert X'QVIRE said that he had made ii bis duty to go to Golden-lane on Saturday evening last , ami had succeeded in procuring some information relative to the Chartists who met there . The first clue he bad procured to their - discovery was one of the cards dated " Dublin , 1841 , " and bearing the signatures ot two secretaries . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) had afterwards succeeded in making out their priaeipal man or leader —( hear)—who resides in Oolden-lane , and who gave him ( Mr . M'Guire ) a copy of the Northern Star for one
penny . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) offered full price for tbe paper , but it was refused , the gentleman to whom ha offered it saying that he got it gratis himself . He bad promised to attend their meeting next Sunday , but Iiad since heard that tbey had merged into a trade sooiety —( bear )—and had branches in the Liberty , James ' s-atreet , Mary ' s Abbey , and elsewhere . It might or might not be prudent bia doing so , but he I Mr . M'Guire ) bad resolved upon attending the meeting on Sunday next , and gaining as much additional information as possible .
" Mr . OXJONNELL—It would be much better for Mr . M'Guire not to meddle with these persons at all- They had deceived and deluded him with most unpardonable lies . Indeed , so contemptible are these men , that to take any notice of them would be merely to raise them to fictitious importance . These fellows are really too contemptible . I implore of you not to believe on « word they say—( a laugh ) . I know their shift well ; they fancy that we will make them subjects for discussion here , and hope that they will thus be protruded into notice . For my part , I will never say a word more about them . "
We ask only of every one of Dan ' s dupes to place this affectation of contempt alongside the earnestness of his long , laboured , and lying address to the operatives of Newry , inserted elsewhere , and wo know then that they will feel bis position as certainly as he himself feels it . Dan has become conscious that his end drawa nigh ; he is dead beaten , and feels it ; nor does he feel it the less keenly , as we guess , from not being able , with all his affected indifference , to prevent other people from seeing it . Thus , an Irish paper , which , it will be seen , ha 8 small love for the "liberator , " « ommenting upon this meeting , tays : —
M Fcargus , vre prophecy , will be able to attend a meeting at the Corn-Exchange yet , and beard his persecutor even hi that sanctuary of his ill-gained power . So terrified is the Agitator at the prospect —which , wo admit , is anything but an agreeable one—that , notwithstanding his resolution to allow the ChartiBts to sick into insignificance by never minding them , he could not repress the anxiety of his mind at Lusk , where , adverting again to these objects of his apprehonsion , he eagerly impressed upon the people tho direful consequences of fraternising with men who dare to say what they want without equivocation or evasion . "
Yes , the time is coming when Ireland shall open her eyes , and the film of interested humbug shall fall from them . The battle of truth against fraud was never seen to more advantage than in this conflict between O'Connell and O'Connob . Do but contrast the means at the disposal of the parties . One having at his back nearly fifty pliant M . P . ' s , tho whole press of the empire , Whig and Tory , the whole of tho old machinery for humbugging Ireland , Repeal rent , his liberty , and an undertaking of non-interference from the Viceroy , and the Attorney-General . The other has his pen , and is in solitary confinement . See , then , the power of truth over falsehood—the advantage of principle over scheming !
Further on , at the same meeting , the K five hundred thousand fighting ; men" miscreant , substituting the words " physical force" for Chartism , says ; ¦ — ¦ ¦ ¦ " If the doctrine of physical force were introduced into Ireland , he would abandon the agitation of Repeal . ( Heat . ) This , Mr . Feargus O'Connor and the Chartists knew , and they , therefore , preached the doctrine to defeat his purposes . He could not understand the man unless he was in the pay of the enemy—( hoar , hear)—and this * ' idea was greatly abroad in England . " Let all eyes be now kept upon Ireland .
We subjoin the following few lines from the Waterford correspondent of the World , in order to show the blighting effect which "hope deferred " and humbug has had upon the very best town in Ireland ; he says : — " This city is as politically inactive as if aredress of the evils under which the country was said to labour had been effected ; and yon would at this moment hear as little uttered about- Repeal , the collection of the fund , &c , as if Daniel O'Conncl ) , or Thomas Reynolds , had never been amongst us . "
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So mnch for tho Big Beggarman , * rho says that O'Connor being in the pay of" the enemy , is a rumour gaining ground in England . He is in the pay of the enemy ; but it is of the enemy to the obstruction oi freedom , liberty , and the Charter . He , no doubt , is much in Dan ' s way , but we are glad to find thai Dan is about to be removed out of his way . Just let any man of unprejudiced mind review the manner in which O'Connor- has stood np against and battled , this tyrant , from the hour he entered the House of Commons , in 1833 , to the present moment ; without acting like the tyrant ' s weaker foes , who always gave him a triumph by going over to the enemy in disgust ; but O'Connoe has held to his every principle and to his country , and has beaten him fairly and consistently .
We intimated , before the Session commenced , what the upshot of "Repeal" would be . Dan has announced his Intention of giving it up if Chartism succeeds . As further evidence that the power of Dan is fast failing , and his blarney losing its effect , we give the following , from the Dublin Monitor , in reference to another and a later meeting of the "Royal Loyals" : — " There was a jubilea yesterday at the Corn
Exchange , in honour of a God-Bend from America to the empty coffers of Repeal . Three hundred pounds were received from the American Repealers and great was the delight thereat . Thus the association is oat of Mr . O'Connell ' s debt , and be stands in the position of debtor to it for awhile . We undertake to predict , however , that before many weeks we shall have vouchers to prove that the above hundreds have gone the way of all their predecessors—spent upon a fatuity .
" We have not paid the proper attention to the last auditing of the Repeal accounts which the interesting nature of the subject required . We shall briefly do so now , and as the document has the great merit of brevity , we subjoin it : — " We certify that we have examined the accounts of Daniel O'Connell . Esq ., M . P ., as treasurer of tbfl Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland , up to this date , and-we find that a sum of £ 72 18 s . Id . has been advanced by Mr . O'Connell beyond the sums lod ged in his hands , and that said sum of £ 72 18 s . Id . is now due to him as such treasurer . " Dated this 14 th April , 1841 . " Signed by tbe Auditors ,
" - Stephen Mubpht . ( A raj eminent Doctor , whose name don't appear among the licentiatea or members of either the College of Physicians or Surgeons of Ireland . ) " JOHN Beilly , ( Tailor ) . " Martin Crean , ( Paid official of tke Com Ex . change ) . " Thomas Arkins , ( Tailor ) . " Wm . Mageknis , " ( Gent ) . " Thus it appeared , that on the authority of the above distinguished ' auditors , ' the Association was in debt £ . 11 18 a . Id . on the 14 th inst . But the receipts from America have converted the debt into t credit for the time being .
" Would it not be more satisfactory to the poor people , whose farthings , and pence , and shillings find their way into the Repeal funds , if » detailed account of the expenditure was submitted to then ? . Suppose no other useful purpose was gained , surely it would be an amusing gratification to them to read over the varied items . " It is quite clear that , as far a 3 the eash is concerned , Kepeal in this eonntry is at adiseounfc . The Irish Repealers are not able to keep their own
treasury from bankruptcy ! If their warm-hearted and sympathising friends in England , Scotland , and America , did not aid them , there wonld not be a quay . This , certainly , speaks well for the popularity of Repeal in Ireland , notwithstanding the great eloquence and indefatigable energies of its great apostle , and ' the sanctified accuracy' of the audited accounts , to use the pious phraseology of Tom Steele .
** Mr . O'Connell talk us that when he has £ 250 , 000 in his treasury he will repeal the Union ; but by what happy alchemy will he be able to raise that sum ! Why , if all the repeal buttons in Tom Arkina' shop were to be counted as sovereigns , the treasury would etill be empty , owing to the perpet&al drain upon it . " We often wish the honest and industrious men of Ireland , who earn their money by the hard sweat of their brow , could see the sleek and solemnised complacency with -which it ia squandered among a parcel of idle officials , who ' boo and bee and ay keep boom ' , ' that ' thrift may follow fawning . * Ycnly . Repeal is no delusion to them- —it fills their pockets ; and dolts indeed would they be if they did not move heaven and earth to keep the ball in motion .
" Bat there will be&n end to all this . The people are beginning to open their eyes . " Yes , yes ; there tot // be an end to it , and the begining of this ' end is come ! The glorious seed of Chartism is already shooting forth the bud of investigation , which shall terminate in the blossoming of satisfaction , and the full fruit of honesty .
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THE " NEW MOVE , " ITS PATRON , AND THE COUNTRY . Our . paper is filled to-day with the expressed opinions of the country on the " New Move . " We have scarcely anything but recantations of tho simple and unsuspecting , who have been hooked , but are breaking from the anglers ( let the . Ietters of these men be read—they are worth reading , ) and resolutions of condemnation of the whole project . If there be any bodies or individuals , appertaining to the Chartist ranks , who have not yet studied the "New Move" in all its bearings—its origin , its purport , and its tendency—we muBt beg them to remember that its ostensible and avowed object ia
the carrying of the Charter—the extending , and making sure and universal , of the principles of the Charter ; to remember that this is the object of the new move—the most ardently professed desire of its concoctOTB and supporters ; we beg them , then , to read the address of Daniel O'Connbll to th » operatives of Newry , published in our third page , to note the ardency of Daniel ' s love for Chartism , and then , that there may be " no mistake" as to the real object of this " new move , " we present them once more with the declaration of the arch-traitor , the avowed enemy of Chartism , respecting it . He is privy to the whole scheme , and he thus dilates upon its hatching and intended effect : —
" He understood that there was an Association about being formed , at the head of which we re Messrs . Lovett , Collins , and Cleave—three of as good men as were in the community—having for its object HOUSEHOLD SUFFRAGE and SHORTENING THE PURAWON of parliament , and PERFECTLY UNCONNECTED WITH FEARGUS and his wjld associates ; and instead of impeding reform in England , this Association might be made exceedingly useful under proper MANAGEMENT , and the guidance of the men whose names he mentioned . " Need we insert further i Is any one so blind as to be yet unable to discover the signs of the times .
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Afang correspondents must remain unnoticed until next week . Erbatum . — -In our last weeVs notices to correspondents , W . O ., Nuneaton ; should have teen W . J . O ., Nuneaton . Erbatum . —In Mr . O'Brien ' s letter on the Social Power of the Middle Classes , $ c , which appeared on the first page of last week's Star , a misprint occurs in the note at the bottom of ihe first column For "depreciation" of our currency , fyc ., read appreciation . Mr . OB . of course , alludes to ¦ Peel ' s Bill , which , by making money scarce raised its value relatively to every other comnc * dity , and thereby virtually augmented the "Na-. tionul" Debtas well as all private debts and
, obligations incurred between 1797 ( the year the Bank slopped payment J and \ U 9 ( Hie dale of Peel ' s bill J . Mb . Wm . Martin wishes his name inserted in the Star as a teetotaller ; but nojanatic or hum-• bug . i Brighton . —Our Briqhton friends will see by the letter of the Executive , that they have accepted the duty of balloting for the members to const *' tute the Petition Convention . A hard working Chartist . — We have not room . Obadiah Broadbrim . —We do not think the public ** cation of his letter advisable . R . Blight . — We cannot publish his letter ; kut w «» bear in mind the fact , and may use it anoinef
time . , Hehry Griffiths calls emphatically upon the tcorK ' : ing men of London to aid him in breaking throvgn ihe attempt made by Messrs . Sailer and Co . to stop the right of road which the public have always had across what is now called the Victoria Park , in Notting Vote . From the statement of his letter , which is too long for insertion , vie think it a case in which the people are bound to ¦ assert their rights ; and we hope they will do jW . k ^ . * j&i --
2to : B?Atims Anti Corr^Poutimtg.
2 To B ? atims anti Corr ^ poutimtg .
The New Move.
THE NEW MOVE .
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r THE NORTHERN STAR ,
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 24, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1106/page/4/
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