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Northern Star (1837-1852), 8th May 1841, Edition 1 of 5, Page 4, THE BILLING AND COOING.

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    • THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1841.
    • THE BILLING AND COOING.
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      Untitled Article

      TO WILLIkM LOYETT . Deab . Sib , —As you addressed & circular to ma inviting me to join you in the fornation ot an association to promote the advancement and the political emancipation of t&e people , I owe it to you , as an act of courtesy due to your character and former services In the cause of the people , to state the reasons why I decline co-operating with you now . I may observe , in the first place , that with many of the sentimenti embodied in the Address to the Political and Social Reformers I cordially agree . "We bare committed many errors , it mnst be confessed ; and would be greatly benefited by the prevalence of a kindlier spirit amongst ourselTes ; the absence of much of the pomp ani pageantry to which you have alludedthough of -which you , as well as myself , hare been both the abettor * and the recipients ; and I desire , also , to witness a more intellectual , character in our

      movement ; more mental and less physical power applied to crash those who , by fair speech and smooth words , seek to seduce the people from the onward path of principle . Bat admitting the necessity of correcting errors and supplying defects , you hare failed to establish the necessity of a new National Association Unless you are so Uncharitable as to suppose that the members of the present Executive , or of the National Charter Association , would wilfully reject improved means fjr obtaining their freedom and happinea , you bad no reason for superseding the present by the formation of another Association : still less were yen justified in doing this -when you had never attempted to prove it * insufficiency , and at the vary time , when you said you had no spirit of hostility against it . Your first step , therefore , appears unwarranted , and inconsistent with the rcry spirit and principles of Chartism .

      Again , —The means which you took to introduce your views amongst us , and to elicit support , were contrary to that open , manly style which the love of truth sad of free discussion would dictate . Your document professed important national objects ; and it was privately and confidentially addressed to a number of selected indrridualA This secrecy was illegal on your part , acd involved all who countenanced it in an illegal act of a rery' serious nature . Had it bees a development . of a plot to overturn Vy force the existing Government , the peculiarity ef the case would have justified it ; but whan it was apian submitted to the judgments of those to whom it was addressed , ' and depended for the success of its avowed objects npon the soundness of that judgment , you ought to have * availed yourself of the advantage which discussion would give yon of having oand views formed by eliciting free expression of opinion .

      By a blind faith in your judgment , and reverence for your character , many thoughtlessly complied with your urgent request , and replied by ' return of post They have since reflected , and have had the mortification of discovering , by cot " taking a night to think cot , " they have temporarily perilled their characters , and the cause they thought to = serve . This circumsta&ca proves that bowevtr calm , clear , discreet , and benest a leader may be , it is always well to think before ve act under his guidance . As yon deprecate the evils of leadership , you will , I hope , feel more honoured by the sentiments of an

      independent thinker , when differing from your own , than yoa will by tie blind submission of his will to yours . Bat opposing that we were ready to overlook and forgiTe the insults which you have virtually given to the members of the old Association , and the inconsistency between the democratic objects of your Association , and the aristocratic manner of establishing it , sad also discharge from our minds the suspicions which the whole circomstancas naturally awdken—supposing that we merely consider taa comparative utility of youi organisation aad plans , we ought , I think , to withhold out support from yours for several reasons .

      That the erection of halls of science , libraries , lectures , ie ., for the people , is a greit and desirable business , I must admit , but previous to this , or simultaneously with it , there should be a thorough change In the physical coBdition of the people , far less toil , more food with the lighter work ; a substantial increase of substantial things ¦ would be accessary to Becnrc you audiences to fill them , to listen to your lectures , and to enjoy the intellectual feast- - Without this previous physical improvement , your halls would be an unfeeling meciery of a starring people . If the higher classes choose to erect hills of science , out of the wealth obtained by starring the people , -let them do so . It would be quite consistent with their other philanthropic schemes ¦ which you have often eloquently exposed ; but do yoa rea'ly expect to realis : from those

      ttho earn twopence a day , a quarter of a million of iDOJwy , to be invested in the erection ot halls or the formation of libraries . ' Supposing that you could raise this sum , is there no other more ussful purpose to which it coald be applied ? What would you say to investing it in the purchase of land , tin cultivation of the soil , rescuing the agricultural labourer from his serfdom and misery , and onr manufacturing pcp ^ ilation , fey establishing manufactures , from the grinding rapacity of niill owners and capitalists ? This would be an aciiye , ever-increasiQg and useful application of the peopie ' s capital ; or snppose , as suggested by the editor of the Star , we employ the artillery of the press against the- ci ; a . < iels of ijnoraace . Wul i ; not be more effective in enlightening the peop ! s upon those subjects upon which knowledge is at pres = nt moat required , than lectures npon general science ? We want- kuowl = » ige , it is true ; but all knowledge b i o : ' . >{ eqnil valae at all time * . Political kao wled ^ --, anl . rr-ii i ¦ -politicalpower , is the one thing

      needful now . Your scheme would , therefore , waste a large portion of oar resources . There is an order or method in the la's- of progression ^ rith which your cheme does not hannon . ' zs , bat with which it is at variance . Practical philosophy rejtcts it—oppressed humanity proaoonces it a mockery ; Your Chartist brethren , aad old and honoured companions , are puzzled with it , or suspect sinister influence and sinUter objscta . Yocr country uses , who loved you , sorrow that yon shonld have token up a poiitioa so strange and suspicious . Tarnish net the lustre of your fair naaie by perseverance in a course which is opposed to their feelings . Their gratitude and honour cannot o-exist with tie esteem sad approbation of their deadliest enemy , asd vilest deceiver . Trusting that you may have the wisdom to _ -discoT ? r aad the magnanimity to confess your errors , 1 am , your former Friend and Brother Chartist , 3 . Williams .

      P-S . —L * st you should consider those s : ntiments as ealled forth by the condemnation yon have received from ethers , I may state , that on retxivi-ng your circular I communicated to > lr . Deegan , who -was present at tbs time , my opinions upon it , and he can prove that they were substantially those contained in this

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      THE DISCIPLINE OF BEVERLEY . " Ill-fated man , for whom such various forms Of misery wait , and mark their future prey !" Bishop Pokteus . to the editoh op the sokthebn stab . Sia , —In the hivtory of the Inquisition we frequently read of the unhappy Victim being released awhile from the horrors of the rack , in order that expiring nature might gather strength to ensure the torture of hihuman fiends a little longer . A similar practice seems to ba adopted in the case of Mr . Peddie ; although it fr « been rap jatedly proved , by his indisposition , that his constitution cannot bear the torture of the treauiaili , yet the moment he rallies a little agala in regard to health , he is as invariably ara ' . n subjected to tJfe brutal discipline and treatment ; so much so , that at last the snrgeon ha 3 found it ircperioua to interfere in . his behalf . After Eynjp ' . thising ¦ wit h bis wife en the trt-ubie and distress that his last communicat : on had for Euine days occasioned her , owing to the glsomy but true picture he had drawn to her of his situation , he writes : —

      "These last nine weeks my health has rfctrajaded ndly , and my appetite has been very bad . For these ten days back I have been unar-le to eat as much food as I usually oio in one day . 1 am troabkd with a constant and very oppressive pain at the breast , very evere headache , and so weak , that 1 feel it a labour to write to you . That this is the effect of ; he barbarous tortnr « of the treadmill is now evident , and its contiira&sics at last acknowledged to be dangerous . If my last kvtet grieved yon , tie one I int ended to have written this day would not only hare grieved you , but ¦ when published canld not have failed to have produced much excitement upan the public jaind , as I intended to have dragged every circumstance before the public eye that ooald have shown all the real snffering 1 have experienced , as I feel no inclination to be sacrificed ¦ without a struggle . But , thank God , the immediate motive is aotr removed .

      " To day tha state of my health was particularly axvnineti , and the conclusion is , that the surgeon has found himself called upou to interfere , and ordered me not to be subjected to the mill again ; a longsT continuance being obviously dangerous" to life , so tLat I hare now the prospect , the cause of illness being remuved , ot & reetaraticn to health , unless indeed the seeds of consumption are not too deeply planted in my system toba rooted out by any alteration in ' my sabstquent treatment , all tho appearance of which I at present , it must be canfesse . i , carry along with me ; but which I trust will in a few -weeks disappear , as I have every confidence in the skill and humanity of the Burgeon . " Your exertions have , in some measure , been crowned with success , in directing a considerable por iion of public attention and public sympathy to my ease ; I have a strong hope that God will crown with his blessing those efforts , and turn even the hearts of my truly bitter enemies .

      " I fly for comfort to the living fountain of all true onsolation—the wewd of God , and haTe found mnch bum two passages , the same that comforted the heart of the persecuted John Banyan when in prison like myself for his love of truth ; but not like me condemned to tha extremity of physical suffering—not like me , denied the ¦ oae of the tongue ; for he preached in prison to all that eime to hear him , and they were maiiyw * like jwvdenigd the liberty of writing down present fhoogbibi Torafter usefulness ; for he . wrote his immortal i F Pilgrfm * r Progress' there—not like me , subjected to s most « roel and - truly annoying surveillance ( so that I erai canaot comply wQ& the most urgent calls of nature , or kneel in nay dungeon in prayer to Almighty God , I bai under the immediate inspection of a fello-w-crea- j Nre ); for he constantly preached from the vriaslow © I I

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      his prison to the people in the street . The passages thp . t comforted his mind , and impart the same feeling to mine , are : — " I will take care of thy remnants ; leave thy father * less children to me , I will preserve them alive . Let thy widow also trust in me . " ' To Mr . Martin , Mr . Vincent , the K « t . Mr . Hill , Mr . Malcolm , and the gentlemen of the public pren , who have generously exerted themaelTe * in my wel fare , return , in my name , my warmest thanks . Tell them that my hope rests in a great measure upon them , and that I believe that , if the Whigs are left t » themselves , I shall , if God spare me , remain here every hour of my barbarous sentence . It pleasw me also much , to learn that I am not forgotten by my friends in the country as well as the metropolis .

      " I have seat you a l » ng rhapsody in rhyme . To your getting it , I do not anticipate any objections , as I have obeyed the injunctions of the magistrates in confining myself to the expression of my own ftelings . The measure is eccentric and irregular , and perhaps does not merit the name of poetry . It has , however , answered one good end to me already by affording occupation for my thoughts ; so yen will not wound my vanity in condemning it " Such , Sir , are the heart-ending statements given of his inhuman treatment , by an innocent victim of Whig tyranny . I need not add any remarks of my wn . The bare recit&l will be sufficient Yours , £ c , Ja . nb Peddie .

      The Northern Star. Saturday, May 8, 1841.

      THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , MAY 8 , 1841 .

      Untitled Article

      Thank Heaven , since we last appeared , we have vritnessed the self-humiliation of the basest , the most brutal and bloody faction that ever appeared upon the stage of lif » . Is there sot a striking similarity between Bvxtos ' s drunken Beadle , " who requested a friend to lend him 5 s . to fine himself fat being drank , and her Majesty ' s servants who requested as to lend them two millions four hundred thousand pounds to fine themselves for being rogues , and the people for not getting drank ! However , Jim Crow has been dressed for the part which he is destined to play for the benefit of Melbourne , Russell , O'Conttell , and Co ., both in England and Ireland .

      vv hat was considered the minimum of justice to Ireland has been reduced by just 60 per cent ., by the process of increasing the rateable franchise from £ o to £ 8 , " to conciliate the enemies 6 f Ireland" Moepeih eaid , —an old , but fatal experiment ; while the real enfranchisement Sof Howick , —not his £ 5 rating above rent , but his £ 20 rating npon occupancy , —was nobody ' s child , because it would extend the franchise immeasurably , and do away with all perplexity of registration . That question , however , has been set at rest ; it has answered its end , and we are spared from further consideration of the base and nngentlemanlike trick .

      But bow do matters now stand ? Jim Crow has been dressed up for both England and Ireland . Upon the Irish side , is Mokpetb ' s extinction-ofleases plan , which will be called Universal Suf . frage ; and npon the English side , is Cheap Bread and Sugar . In Ireland , whatever the Ministers may suppose , the principle will damn them- } while , in England , the lime , the mode , and the reason of its development , will make them sink even lower , if possible , than they before stood in the estimation of every honest decent aid virtuous man .

      How do they stand upon this question ! The fop Minister , the palac e buffoon , set his face against it , and Kcssell gave do hope ; but when the Chancellor of the Exchequer wants two millions four hundred thousand pounds , and finds the national means incapable of bearing farther pressure , he says , " I'll put on a bit of liberality , and go a popularity hunting ; but I must start with a principle : ' and he accordingly discovers , and says— Ino axation could be so injurious as a permanent disorder in the national finances ; and tho sum they had sow to provide for was so large , as to make it absolutely necessary to act teith tome degree of boldness . "

      Such is the Whig whip , after nine years retrenchment ! and the English ef it in , " nothing so damnable as that we , the ministers , should be withoat pay . " Well , the Chancellor goes to work , and says , " from reduction of timber duties I will insure aa increase of £ 759 , 000 , but I will be content with £ 600 , 000 ; upon sugar , a great article of consumption with the band-loom weavers , I will create , by reduction of duties , £ SIO , 000 of an augmentation . " Bat take it at £ 700 , 000 , and the remaining £ 400 , 000 , ( for he only required £ 1 , 7 * 0 , 000 for the permanent ihiDg , but £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present emergency ) he would anticipate from his noble friend ' s Corn Law scheme .

      But this is not the best of it . The £ 1 , 700 . 000 is to be permanent , the additional £ 700 , 000 only temporary ; that is , give it once , and then get it out of the devil ' s exchequer who can , or reduce onr wants below that amount any other year who dare . The surplus of £ 700 , 000 for the present emergency , Mr . Basing says he will have no difficulty with , as he can give an ordar npon labour for that amount in Exchequer Bills , payable by the people .

      Jast so the matter stands . The oligarchy iu the midst of more poverty , distress , and dissatisfaction than ever was known to exist in this or any other country , and after nine years of retrenching reforms , says , " our expences have increased beyond year mean 3 of supplying the needful , even with bayonets to help us in the collection , to the enormous amount of £ 2 , 400 , 000 for tho present year ; and if you let us get a House of Commons upon the popular principle of increasing wealth by increasing consumption , instead of having recourse to direct taxa :: oD , then see what we will do for you . "

      Let us see if in this new scheme as regards the nibbleat the Corn Laws , whether or no a 3 in all other ca ? es where Whiggery ia concerned , principle has r . ot been sacrificed to expediency , and whether the alliance at Nottingham was half as " unholy" aa an alliance would be between the total Repeabrs and those who distinctly admit the justice of taxing food so as actually to make a tax of £ 1 , 600 , 000 upon corn , part arid parcel of the permanent burden of the country .

      Let this be borne in mind , that Mr . Baring and hi 3 party are now performing a " bold stroke" for a place ; that he says , " No taxation could be so injurious as a peujllnexi disorder in the natiomal finances ! " By this he means , that all should be made easy ; that both ends should be made to meet ; and that a schems , not to bo Bessioually altered , should be at once proposed , haviDg permanency for its object . How then is tho permanency to effect

      the principle of untaxed food ? and mark the only grounds upon which the holy brotherhood of parsons hare been induced to join in the cheap food chorus , " O ! it is unchristian "— " muzzle not the ox , " and so forth : while the revenue derived from the Corn Laws last year was £ 1 , 200 , 000 , and which Mr . Baking designs to increase , PiastASENrxY , to £ 1 , 600 , 000 , as a thing to be calculated upon in aid of aristocratic demand a d payment of her Maje&ty ' B servants !

      Bat then there is one part of the subject which must be kept uppermost in the public mind . It is this ' . —there are two questions ; the one is the raising of fifty millions sterling annually , and the other is the means of doing so . Let it ba observed , that about the first , that is the raising , all are agreed ; that ' s settled ; for , be they Whigs or be they Tories , while there is a shot in the lecker they will have is out .

      But , then , we come to the mean £ , which are merely problematical . Shonld the electioneering , dissolving specious means of doing the thing , by the fascination of a sugared loaf and cheap timber , instead of direct taxation , fail , what comes next ? Why , only an issue of £ 2 , 400 , 000 worth of Treasury paper , and-a fresh pnll on the Savings' Banks , that is £ 2 , 400 ) 000 of direct taxes . And here ' s the juggle ! Like the Irish Registration , Bill , the Ministers neither hoped , expected , or intended its success :-but if lost , it willbs-a EOOiHrostiBgB clap-trap of Ogh ' . ' you set

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      toe offered to do anything to conciliate the old enemy but , no , it was impossible . ' " Then with regard to taxes ; see the danger in following a vicious guide . The Whigs " out-run the constable ; " they increase out expenditure by five millions sterling annually , and then resolve still to hold on by the " purse-string ; " they propose ft measure against which their Prime Minister set his

      face , not with any , the slightest , hope ot carrying it , or of realising the promised results if carried , bat with the single in tent ion of compelling their successors in office to do that by direct taxation , which the charming Whigs would have done with a sugared hot loaf . But the country will remember that however payment is called for , the retrenching Whigs created the necessity by their unprincipled expenditure of the publio money .

      When a dissolution shall come it matters little to us what the real or ostensible cams belli shall fee ; we are only to think of the past , and to use it as a warning for the future . With this view we unhesitatingly declare , that the nine first years of Reform wholly under Whig dominion , has been a period of national distress , private suffering , and class intolerance , for which the whole annals of English history furnish nothing like a parallel . That they have been compellad to draw their precedents for liberality from abroad , and

      afar off ; for instance , from India and China , for which the people paid ; while every English freeman ' s house has been made a den of slavery . Expenditure increased , places multiplied , cruelties practised , without even pretext of law or observance of decency- ; poor working men held in bail of £ 1 , 000 , and incarcerated for merely attending publio meetings , ( to which they were invited ^ y a Minister of the Crown , ) for periods four times as long as those to which the ' veryworst description of imprisoned felons . have

      been subjected ; the right of petition destroyed ; the right of meeting to petition invad ' ed by brute force ; riot transformed into high treason ; ugly looks into riot , and foul thoughts , engendered by fouler acts , construed into conspiracy ; our Judges , ' for the first time in English history , flying , for Whig convenience and lore of persecuting tho people , from the old and long-established acceptation of the hobgoblin , " conspiracy , " the most damnable fiction of our criminal law : in short , search hell's records , and when you shall have struck out crimi for crime , etill will the Whig catalogue be the blackest in the country's annals . Nothing ever has been like i t—nothing again ever can be like it—and nothing like it should have been .

      O , the delights of being an appendage to such a step-dame 2 . Canada , in her "honey noon , " is to have an increase of ten per cent , laid upon her exported timber ! Edward Ellice has no wood lands in Canada ! Under all the circumstances , then , what becomes the duty of the country when the questions propounded in the House shall be discussed upon the hustings 1 We have had the anomaly of nine whole years without an opposition in the British Senate House . Wo have had a set of licentious slaves , disregarding popular opinion and support , and enabled

      to do so in consequence of the unprincipled wholesale support , through good and bad , sunshine and cloud , of ouo political knave . And this is what they call abolition of rotten boroughs ! having substituted rotten men for them . This must be stopped . We must have an opposition for her Majesty . She is not safe . , We repeat it , she positively is not safe without it . A parliamentary opposition is a royal safety valve ; while an unopposed licentious Ministry ( and all unopposed Ministers are licentious ) is the greatest enemy of royalty , -without being a friend to

      democracy . We mnst , then , take care that the Whig members in the next House are too small for a party , and too large for a faction . As many as two hundred would produce anticipations of a return to office , and consequent caution in the establishment of evil precedents which they may be called upon to fulfil when in power . One hundred and eighty would be a kind of crisis . One hy&dred and fitiy would make them rabid , and one hmndred and twenty ( just the right number ) would make them ite .

      Let us , then , have the oilinp minority of six score , if we can ! and such fun was never seen in Tooleyetreet among the tailors . ' It would be Bedlam let loose ! Then , instead of " I am free to confess that her Majesty ' s Government had no alternative but in tho strong arm of the law to suppress popular insubordination , " we shall have "Give us OUR Charter . " " Universal Suffrage and no Surrender ; ' * " The Constitution guarantees and the Reform Bill promised it . " " Lei in the Thames

      TO CLEANSE THE HotSE . " " HURRAH ! FOrCrOMWELL , " "O , for Wat Tyler , or Jack Cade ! " " Give US OURFbisjjibrs . " "No Vote , no Tax . " "Letthe People back us for the only thi : < g worth having , THE TOTE . " " We never were Whics ; WE WERE ONLY BACKERS , WHILE YOU WERE RUNNING FOR THE TfilAL STAKES . " " We WERE KNOWN TO be Chartists . " " We must have the Charter . " " Ireland as she ought to be , ob Ireland in a Blaze . "

      Now such , we a 3 suro our readers , would be very bland and courteous language for a biting minority of 120 ; while the very same 120 making part and parcel of 250 , would bat look for a renewal of office and approve of all that had been done , as tho best means of insuring electoral support . People of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales her Majesty ' s servants , your servants , will shortly appearbeforeyouwithan appeal to their past services , as reasoi . 9 why yon should vote a " permanent tax , " to pay their salaries—for that is tho real " casus belli : ' Da they deserve it ! We say not .

      Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales ought you not to be proud in thus being justified in your opposition to the"Plague" who have compromised their principle of untaxed food , by actually supporting a proposition which has for its object the infliction of £ 1 , 600 , 000 annually upon that very article of food t Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales I what now is your complaint ? Is it not that you are poor because you have no controul over your labour ?

      once , then , get a Corn-Law-Repeal-House , and what , we ask you in the simplest language , havo you to expect , but that you will be wholly at tho mercy of men who , with some opposition , have ruined your country , wasted your property , disjointed society , made sterile your fields , made bleak your homes , callous your hearts , and cold your hearths ; who have dragged the wife from your bosom , the child from your knee , the sire from your corner , and the mother from your embrace !

      Once repeal the Corn Laws without having a voice in the making of those laws which are righteously to adjust the great change , and how will you regulate demand and supply } How , with the facility of a House of Masters , giving themselves facilities in procuring fictitious money , can you stop the creation of four times the quantity of machinery now in existence , ( and now too much , ) or regulate its

      productions , or have over it the slightest controtil ? Can you stop gambling in your labour ! Will America , the Brazils , Russia , Germany , or Prussia wear more coats , breeches , chirtg , and stockings than they want , that you may have , In return , a sufficiency of food t If you make too much , who will give you food in return for a mere drug Must yon not make slaves of yourselves to undersell them , oi starve in idleness I

      Get your Charter , and then " go to bod by steam , and dress yourselTes by steam , " in the language of BiTTERWOBTH j but get a House of Maaters ' without tfcf ^ iffrage , and then go without bod , or clothes to dwt'with ! Now , then , has our strugglecommenoed ! "Fustian jackets , " watch every man and every move , ours among the rest ; and , upon the first note of desertion , kick him overboard : defeat every meeting for everylhmj ) shM of ( hi Charter , b » it not'by

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      brute force , as the Whigs did at Birmingham . But if you are struck , strike !—if you are insulted , retaliate ; but beware that yoa are not entrapped . A great , a mighty effort will now he made . If we are but true to ourselves , the battle is ours ! but if we renew the Whig tenure of office , nothing short of revolution can cleanse the " Augean stable . " Whoever is for peace and the Charter , let him hold fast by us , and " no surrender . " Whoever is for a House of tyrants to lord it over slaves , let him cry " Hurrah for the Whigs !'

      OU £ BATTLE NOW IS , ANTI-WHIG , ANTIPOOR LAW , ANTI-CORN-LAW-REPEALWITHOUT-THE-CHARTER , ANTI-RURALPOLICE , and anti-oppression in all its hideous forms ! Onward , and we conquer ! backward , and we fall I

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      THE HAZARD ! THE LAST THROW OF THE DICE 1 The time has at length arrived when neutrality is criminality , \ when indecision is cowardice , and when delay may be death . Unfortunately for oar enemies , they have exhausted their whole strength and expended their ammunition ( before the battle ) in forced marches , where there was no point to defend ; they hare discharged their heaviest guns in mere sham fight ; and , now that the charge has been sounded , they haye no reserve , no plan of attack , no safe retreat ; indeed , no forces ready for the engagement .

      The press , the generals in this fight , have had eight day ' s opportunity to put forth their whole strength , and what do we find ! So far from a single new point being urged in favour of a total Repeal of tfll Corn Laws , we hear an invitation to parses who not long since declared anything but complete repeal to be a farce , to join those who have considered the gradual settlement of the question the safest and most judicious plan . Here , then , is indeed an "

      unholy alliance" between parties who look for a fixed duty as an end ; with those who hail it merely as a means to an end ; the effect of which end would be to prostrate England and every thing English , in chains before those foreign caterers who would condescend to feed us from their store . It is bad enough to bo fed by three Devil Kings ; but how much worse to be at the moroy of the Autocrat of all the Russias , the German Diet , and the rival Republio of America 1

      But we say that the press has brought up no reserve to reinforce those troops which , for twelve months , we have required oniy to meet to insure a triumph over them ; no matter , whether in skirmish or pitched battle . We must therefore ask , what are the new pretensions of our subdued enemies ! We look in vain to their leader , the Morning Chronicle , and there we find the old hash not even warmed , but

      merely tossed up and served with its cold sauce , unseasoned by a single spice to give it a flavour . In fact , the only change which we can observe upon tho eve of battle , is the very roverse of what we should expect from an able General . Instead of seeing the troops in close column to receive the first charge , we find the rank and file thrown into open column thus : —

      ' , ' Had repeal of the corn monopoly been proposed immediately after the passing of the Reform Bill , when there was an overwhelming liberal majority in the House of Commons , it must have been carried . " Thank you , Chronicle , it would hav « been carried ! and hence was it not proposed until disappointment from Reform had rendered its support a good electioneering clap-trap , and its defeat

      certain f Yes , it would have been carried ; but is there another paper in Englnnd that would thus , in one short sentence , heap odium npon tho men whom it professes to serve , by reminding us that the House , when strong , devoted its giant strength to coercion and starvation , and now , when weak , parades its own dishonour for the paltry purpose of holding office upon a question which the Chronicle tells us it has lost the fitting time to carry !

      Again , then , we say that they have no reserve ; and we have not yet fired a single shot from our exhaust less store . We begin tho campaign then , by thus taking the head of our troops , and telliug the whole enemy to como on ! Wo tell all parties that the day , nay , the hour , has arrived , when each and every man , in the state ( be his political opinions or rank in society

      what they may ) must make up his mind to take his stand upon the soil or upon the mill-shaft . Ours shall be the battle of the soil against steam ; not of thelandlords ot the soil , whose supineness weakness and folly we most heartily despise , and who dead to the voice of justice or humanity , must now awaken themselves to the cry of " necessity , " " our estates are in danger . "

      Is not the present unenviable position of the landlords just what it ought to be , and just what it was sure to be ? Whilo strong and powerful , they lent their trenglh to every enemy of the people , in whatsoever shape he presented himself I AS length their turn has come ! At the dictation of thoTamworth Baronet , they mortgaged themselves , when they vainly hoped only

      to mortgage tho people to the fund-lords ; but the steam-lords having appropriated all beyond the meatiest subsistence as their share of labour , are now about to throw the lords of the soil upon their oan resources , as the tender-hearted lords threw the people upon their own " poor resources , " having first allowed the masters to rob them of every resource .

      The laud-lords gave the parsons seven years' renewable tenure , well secured . Tho land-lords gave the Eteam-lords a rural police to coerce the poor to work for little , or die without a murmur : and now has the day of retribution come J The minister who not twelve" months since registered a vow to stand by his order , flings them overboard , and merely delays their ruin by a time just sufficient in the English of Lord J . RussfiLL ' sanuouncemeiit . tomarshal all the hostility of the country against them ! Yes , his

      Lordship a declaration is notable ; " he postpoued tho consideration of the question to allow the country time to meet and speak . " Lot the friends of the Noble Lord tako wamiug by his Lordship's invitation to the people to meet , and speak out ! and let the brawlers tako heed lest Whig persecution of poor working men for obey ing his Lordship's invitation , ! may ^ t ' tte < * i ° * i °° d precedent by the Tories for committing the damp Repealers to the well aired cells of the Chartists !

      Again , wo say that wo have neither sympathy nor compassion for the landlords ; and if it were not prudent in a consideration of the question , to distinguish between the soil and the lord of the soil , we should tay give thorn all that punishment which they have bo justly merit ] but inasmuch as the lords of the soil cannot be punished , without at the same time punishing the innocent people , we mako a distinction between the land and the landlord .

      Now , to argue the relative value of steam or soil production to the whole people , whether they be of the aristocracy * the middle classes , or the lower ordere . In the outset , we say that we .. ;' are for the most perfect maohinery which thai mind of man can j » v « ut , provided it is made man ' s " holiday instead of mairir enrse . " Iff the wise and startling words of ^ Mr . 'BuTTEpwoaxii , lately' delivered , at ii V . - . \ i ' V ¦ ¦ ¦ . '• • ' ' '( : ' ' ¦•¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ - ' . Bradfora : — . : ' -.:. ¦ . --, -, -.-, : ti ¦ ¦ ¦;¦ . . : ; .

      '''' - We care wit if' Mr . ' Cobdes . cA ^ go , to ? ; bbo BY sfEASi AtfD DRESS HlMSEtF-BY ' , $ « , « £ P&OVII >^ D THAT &TEXi * DOES f tiOT TAKB THE ' BED FROM SCH ' b wbKKtNa tiift ai ( d-mave him witboox ^ ctoijaEs TO POI OS . " " ¦ ¦ ¦ •>^ ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' '• '

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      Wo have no hesitation in saying that if the above sentence had been spoken by either Sir Robert Peel or Lord John Rdesell it would have been printed in letters of gold , and would have been a golden peg upon which , the Lord or the Baronet might , with safety , have hung an immense weight of folly . It was a noble sentiment . * It , in fact , embraces the whole question . ' We will consider whether a repeal of the Corn

      Laws would convert maohinery into man ' s' holiday , and would spare Butteuwosth bis bed and clothes ; and ask over which of the two means of productionthe natural means of the land , or the artificial means of machinery , anygovernment . evenoneelected by the whole people , would have most controul ; and whether a House returned upon a pledge to repeal the Corn Laws would be just the House to give th « people a greater interest in the produce of machinery or the benefit of the repeal .

      In the first place then ; we say , in contradistinguishing between the power of the people in acquiring controul over the land and over machinery that over machinery , not more than one in five thousand of society can have any controul ; in maohinery not more than one in five thousand can have any interest ; and under maohinery not one . even of the five thousand can , by possibility , havo any security ; while , in land , every individual ia the State may have an interest , amounting to house ,

      food , and raiment , according to the expenditure of his labour , which is his capital ; and which is a thing divisible into the minutest parts , according to the most humble means and wants of each ; over land the people may have controul ; under land the people may have security ; and all these advantages may be made to flow from a proper system without in the least degree diminishing the rents of landlords ; on the contrary it would increase them by bringing them into the retail market .

      But , says the scientific political economist : " what does the operative know about land 1 what does he care about land ! " We answer , quite enough , without intending to devote himself to its culture , to teach him that he can have more controul over the land between Bury and Manchester , than over the lands of Russia , Prussia , Poland , Germany , or America ; quite enough to know that all that is now required for his complete and entire subjugation is to destroy

      his home market for consumption , and take from him all power of control over his market for production . He now sees 60 per cent , of his order unemployed , while he does not hear of a single man being found naked in the streets of St . Petersburgh , Vienna , Berlin , Warsaw , or New York , for Want of his produce . He sees 4 t per cent , of his order at half work on half-pay , with store-houses full of his produce ; while his belly ia hungered , and he is told : —

      " Aye , aye , true enough j but you know if we could get corn , ( all that our customers have to give us in return for labour , ) you would all have plenty . ' And he says—• ' Yea , verily , I know it ; but will they give ns their corn for dearer manufactures than they can buy at home I " " O no , no ; but then we shall be able to compete with them , and even to undersell them at home t " " How , pray ; how V " Why—why—why—why , you know , by—byby—by , you know—O , cheap food , of course . "

      " Well , but must you not sell cheap to buy cheap ; and is not our labour the thing you sell , and our food the thing you want to buy , and sell us second hand !" " Why—why—why , you sea the labour would not be cheaper—but the food would . " 11 Well , if the labour was not cheaper how could you compete or undersell , especially , when , our labour has to pass through the Royal toll-bar , the Funded toll-bar , the Army toll-bar , the Navy toll-bar , the supernumerary King and Queen toll-bar

      tho Court toll-bar , the Civil List toll-bar , the Police toll-bar , the Church toll-bar , the Judges' toll-bar , the Half-pay toll-bar , the Place and Bension toll-bar , and all the other tollbare , to the amount of fifty millions annually ; together with the side gates for foot passengers , suoh as the Corporation bar , and >< 4 be Water-pipe bar ; the Gas-light bar , and the Paying andJWatchingus bar ; the Catch-thief bar , and the Gaol-committee bar ; the House of Correction bar , and the kill-the-Chartists bar ; and then , at the end , there's the four-thousand-millions-personal-debt bar ?"

      " O , don't you see , we have nothing to do with that ; the customs and duties will be taken off , and the excise , and land-tax and malt-tax will pay all those things . " " What ! then , afterall , you are obliged to fall back even upon our vices for support , and still to tax our land , eh 1 Get thee gone , thou barefaced rascal I thou hast had plenty of opportunities to servo thyself , and us , too ; but thou hast ruined thyself in trying to ruin us , —so get thee about thy business ! I am not going to bo tailoring on the shop-board , or

      be stunned in the rattle-box , for the Russian , the German , or the Prussian , while he is getting more wages by my dependence and working his own bit of land for himself in peace and happiness , the produce of which will always be worth something , and which he may sell , or let it alone ; while if YOU don ' t sell MY produce at your own price , I may starve and be damned till you get a demand for my supply !! But harkee , Boniface , when did thou ever do me a kind turn in all thy life ? Tell me that , and I'll vote for thee . "

      • ' Well , come , never mind ; jet bye-gones be bygones ; but just let us join to beat the odious landlords , and then thou shall see . " " Nay , I'll join for now ' t but my Charter !" " Well , but just help us to get the Corn Laws repealed , and thou shall havo that after . " " Nay , never again ! Thou cheated me in 1832 , but thou'lt not do it again . " . Such a conversation , we think , best illustrates the objects , motives , and 7 iew 3 of those with whom tho people are now asked to join .

      We have frequently told our readers that the landlords gratuitously sacrifice ten millions annually in rents , in order that they may hold the exclusive representative power which follows the possession of ] and , and by which they are enabled to share in all sorts of pelf and patronage , at least one hundred millions sterling annually . Now , once alter the system which thus makes it worth their while to sacrifice so small an amount of " rent" to so large an amount of " render , " and you bring all the land of the country , ( at least as much as our present scanty population would require , ) into the advanced retail market . But once get a House of Commons sufficiently strong to repeal the Corn Laws , and then farewell Charter ! farewell

      Household Suffrage with a Lodgek clause ! farewell Household Suffrage of any sort ! farewell repeal of rate-paying clauses i farewell to the removal of any single obstacle at present in tho way of the franchise ! and welcome tyrants to what you have long looked for—a House of Masters JI Yes , give us such . a consummation , and at once England becomes a slaveland beyond redemption ! her people dependent upon the domestic tyrant for employment , and upon the foreigner for support I Then farewell green fields of your fathers I farewell to the liberty of your sires farewell to the beauty , of your daughters ! farewell to the independence of your sons ! farewell to all that is dear to man , and lovely in the eight of God I home , peace , religion , and contentment ; all ,,, all , farewell !! : ' :

      Who now was right ! We told the people that the fellows who asked us to join could get Household Suffrage without w ; let the people see that they have been offered fhoir own measure agaipst 6 iirconsent . ^ . ' . ' .. '' . '¦ .. " . ¦ ¦'"' .., " .- ' , 'SThese ajrethetimesi to try men ' s souls . ? . No Repeal before tho Charter ! Down with the tyrjftirts who iiiheir BtrengiB ^ gave ns coercion , starvation , transportation , iipcarcfjration , a RuralPolice , and the Arms' Bill ; and who noriv , in , their weakness , Would sell us to - the daye-dHTerfc for ' a quarto'sBi&uy 1 Down with the' nastyj unprincipled , dirty ' does {

      Untitled Article

      MR . HENRY HETHERINGTON AND THB NORTHERN STAR . We had prepared an article in reply to Mr . Hetherington ' s somewhat M odd" letter , bat as Mr . O ' Connor has replied at great length , aad u our space is wanted for intelligence of the ? saw ment , " we shall permit Mx . Hetherington to walk quietly off with u many laurels as he can carry j away froni | the field ; merely referring attention to his letter in connection with that of Mr . O'Contoa and with the knowledge that all onr readers have of our whole political career .

      One word in reference to tke letter of Mr . Clkat * We never charged him or any of the signers with having direct intercourse with Mr . XXQdmnsa We have sever impeached , his honesty ; bat we do impeach his judgment when we seekia lend himself to the furtherance of a scheme irtiiett is clearly calculated to serve all the purpoMB of O'CoNNKLt » a 4 the Whigs , and by th « same process to damn the people ' s cause So far from the Star or Mr . O'Connor having any dislike to Mr . Cleats , we know that Mr . O'Connor has ever expressed for him a very grett personal regard , and we really think he has » right to complain of personal attack , or even alight from us . J "

      We shall conclude by furnishing Mr . Cleati with a more appropriate motto than he hu selected — " Would this hand were off before the deed mi done . " The remaining portion of O'Connor ' s letter to Mr . Hetherington , being a development of plots , plans , and conspiracies , we chose rather to withhold till our next , than to place it at the end of that portion which we now give ; when that comes , we faney thai the country will be able to estimate the talk abort " the sword and the scabbard , "—they will see who first drew the sword , and who , for four years , hM continually parried the thrust without return ing it .

      Untitled Article

      THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . By the Pope , it was a smasher ! to have so roused the bile of our virtuous cotemporaries . The Dispatch , certainly a most able journal , we consider the very worst authority upon the subject ; , as there is too much personal feeling mixed up with the matter between the leading daily and the leadin g weekly prints . If the Devil had opposed Walter , " Puuucou " would have exclaimed , "O ! what a nice Devil J let us have him by all means . " Since our friend , the ex-alderman , so unceremoniously bung up his

      aldermanic toggery in Farringdon-without , or Cripplegate , or whatever ward had the misfortune to receive the cast-off garment , the feud has been deadly between the rival papers and belligerent Editors . The Examiner also raves , and calls tha alliance an " unholy alliance . " While we admit the Examiner to bo a great authority iu Courts of Justice , tb « Cabinet , and "Boudoir , " we must reject bis opinion upon all matters of principle ; because our friend has certainly favoured us with' the most fascinating representation of Jim Crow in high life .

      The Dispatch speaks as though tho Chartists o * Nottingham thought the House of Commons con * sisted not of 657 Members and Mr . Waltbb , but »« if the House consisted of Mr . Walter and 6 * 57 others , thus making Mr . W . tha " head and front . This reminds us of an anecdote well told in the history of the Irish wars , and as it is quite in pou » we give it . There was a large body of militiamen an * volunteers encamped upon the Curragh of Kildar ^ and amongst other officers , was one Lieutenant Po , who , being an original , was always counted a » a squadron in himself . Thus if any one asked " how many at such a party , " or "how many goiiig t » suoh a party , " the answer was , "twenty-five , " or " twentyand Po . "

      , Upon one . occasion , Lord Cathcart appointed » day to inspect the force ; and upon being met by the adjutant , his Lordship inquired , " Well , Mr . Adjutant , what ' s your strength ! " " 16 , 000 and fj my Lord , " was the reply . " Po , Po , Po , " repe »*» his Lordship , " why , damn it , have you all gpn | » pot . '" "No , my Lord , but a very difngaislaa ofiicer of that name haa given rise to the joke . Now we beg leave to assure the Dispatch , " ** although we do not suppose that the return « f j ™' Wawee will send the other 657 to pot , yet will »» make many of them sing out . It ia a trick to M followed up at Leeds , York , Halifax , Bradford , Wakefield , Haddersfield , Manchester , Bolton , Si ** - port , Liverpool , Stroud , and Leicester ; and * w *

      other places will shortly find it out . What , we should like to know , would Mr . BAiso take for the reversion of hit seat * Weliaye Btropg suspicions that the Hon . Gentleman would hO * even alter the bastardy clause * in the new j . ~* fatal to poor men under the 43 rd of Elizabeth , " to poor women in the 3 rd of Victbria . On the result ^ the World writes as follower » ' Thi rfiml . it pi the Nottingham election * n& ¦ . *» * tarn of M £ * W . alt « r— owipg in , a . great ^^ Jz support which ihe receiyed ^ rpin the . wiOiig clas fZ ) has caused a . wbnderful change / i * .. tbo _ W »« J ^ Mnrninn Chrtinted . ^ -hieh , bezins to . flnOvOB' I 7 l

      day . is gone wfcen- . the " people willmake anj ^ the ' Wniga , "for no bettor reason than ,, # W ^ ^ T keep out tne Tories . Tlie lesson paapeW . an *! * " ^ and will convince some of those in the upper ranw » *

      The Billing And Cooing.

      THE BILLING AND COOING .

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      THREE GLORIOUS DAYS ! Bt a reference to our columns it will ha £ *** " ° own that the People ' s Parliament has assem bled ; and upon the exertions of the people themselves must wholly depend its efficiency . Tho man who requires more than merely time for signiu his name is not worthy the name of friend or Patriot ; and ten seconds being sufficient for the process , who can refus * \ Let Saturday j Sundav and Monday , then , be three glorious days ; and ever

      glorious they will be in the annals of the country it the signatures of the working classes procured within that time shall ensure the return of Frost Williams , and J » nes to their native land , and the incarcerated victims to the bosoms of their families . Up , then , every mas , woman , and child , wfco cw scratch his name or make his mark ; let ; them at once be appended . What three minutes will faii ^ affect , three times three jears may equally tail to effect . Is the country aware that THE LIFE 0 ? J . B . O'BbIRN IS DESPAlEEl ) OF IN BIS WhIQ

      dungeon ! Feelings which will not be harrowed by such as announcement , we shall not endeavour to enlist ! W » are happy to say that the greatest unanimity pre vails in the Convention , and that with the great * prudence they have decided upon accepting tht voluntary assistance of all who tender it . Hurrah I then , for the three glorious days' ] Let not a moment be lost ; and , when the sheeti are signed , let them be made up in the same fora as a newspaper , with both ends open , and ad < dressed as follows : —

      T . S . DracOMBE , Esq ., MJ ? ,, Petition 6 , Albany Court Yard , to Parliament . London . And when despatched , let notice by letter be instantly given under cover to : — Mr . J . Cleave , For the 1 , Shoe Lane , Fleet Street , Convention . London ; Hurrah ! again hurrah I ! for the three glorious days !! 1

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      4 THE NORTHE RN STAR . ¦ - - ¦ - - -. : ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦¦ - ^ - - ¦ ¦ ¦¦;¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ - - - ¦ ¦ - ;_^ , --

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), May 8, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1108/page/4/