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PREPARATION OF THE POOR BIAK'5 COKPANION,
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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1842.
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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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THE COUNCIL . OF THE NATIONAL COMPLETE SUFFRAGE "UNION TO POLITICAL REFORMERS OF AXL SHADES OF OPINIONS . We address you , fellow countrymen , deeply impressed vita the moral obligations of men aad eitizsns , whose duties have been imposed on us by aa authority greater thtn princes or rulers , commanding as to " do tuiio all root as tee tcouJd ««* them to 4 » «« fo us , " consequently Teqpiring ua t > lead that aid , which . oErselves would desire , to extricate from their conditioa the millions of cur brethren who , by the oppression or neglect of rulers , are plunged in thfi lowest depths of misery , groping in ignoranea , and daily stating in crime .
Though we belieTe that that great Christian obligation calls upon aR me * to assist in freeing their brethren from the power of the oppressor , yet , at this crisis , we address ourselves especially to you , the Reformers of the United Kingdom ; because it is far yon—the active and intelligent spirits of progessioa—you , who desire to see justice established where jostice is enthroned—it is for you in your energy , unioa , and self-sacrificing resolution to determine , wheS »« r our country shall rise hi freedom , knowledge , and happiness , or sink as & land of beggared serfs , beneath the paralysing power of a corrupt and selfish oligarchy . In thus addressing yoa , we desire not to arouse yonr pissions , we would oaly awaken the nobler feelings of justice , humanity , and Christian duty , considering oar cause too aacred te be promoted by violence , or benefited by wrong .
To yoa we need not depict the wide-spresd misery of our country ; most of you are familiar with it in all its sickening forms , and vast numbers of yen are already its victiais . But we ask you , with all the sober earnestness of men and Christians , whether you will unite with ua in one general bond of brotherhood ? and by persevering , peaceTai , energetic means , resolve , at any personal sacrifice , to stay the progress of our national dtbasement—to check the ravages of starving poverty —t j reiaove the drag chains of monopoly , the overbnrdeajcg- pressare of taxation , the progress of crime , the race-itsttoyicgcuise cfwaT , and , under the blessing of heaven , free our country from the accumulating evils of corrupt and selfish legislation ?
Fellow eounlrymen , we are not desirous of interfering ¦ with your present local arrangements , but we call upon ycu to niett us in the spirit of truth and justice , to determine , with singleness of purpose xchai is btst to be done to rf ,-d the political and social deliverance of our country , ami taring once d « t = rmised to concentrate our all our eevrgies to the accomplishment of such a glerious consummation . This we thick can b « d « ne , without the amalgamation cf societies between whem differences of opinlt'us and modes of action exist ; this can be done Ieg& . Iy , constitutionally , and effectively ; all that is necessary for its accomplishment is union , energy , antJ self £ 3 crifice , en all points of agieement , and forbearanc ? , teleration , and cbrutian charity , where differences of ocinion to exist .
Bnt in ihs election of representatives to meet xn such a Confcr ^ ee , all party spirit must be excluded , all efforts for forcing individual views through t Je power of numbers mus ; be avoided ; a victory obtained by such intolerant , overbeariEg policy , would be to defeat our object—tbat of having a fairly constituted National Co . xference , a body in whom all shades of Iliforaers among the middle and working classes may place confidence , and under whose peactful and legal gaiuascs we may unitedly contend , till we hav 6 secured the blessing and fruits of hez- ' om .
We are also desirous that the tiuulnj Conference shall be the means of effecting a better understanding and closer union between the middle aud working classes , than has hitherto existed ; feeling convinced , that so long as the enemies of the peopla can keep them divided , so long will they bets , be victimised by a corrupt aad liberty-hating aristocracy . We caJl , therefore , upon the middle classes to seDd their representatives ta confer -smb . ihest of ths working classes , to see how far they am remove the cause of auimesity , apprehension , aad disunion ; how far arrangements
maybe ej ie to stenre our mutual objects speedily and ptcceah ' . y , wid thus free ourselves from the grasping insolence < f faction , guard against the storm of anarchy , bs secure against military despotism , and unitedly raising np the intelligence and virtues of the democracy on the- hnsls of free institutions , hasten the consu-mniation cf that nappy period , when " our swords shall be brstea i . to p ! orghshare 3 , and enr spears into pruning hooks , " ami when every rnan shall sit dowa in p ^ ace an-J security to enjoy the fruits of honest industry .
Hating been appointed to make arrangements for the caiiinj of 2 Ccnf ^ rence to consider the details esseatis . 1 for the carry ng out of the principles oa which the Kational Complete S -iFrage Union is founded ; . ind as iu parair . orii . t ^ Tjiict is to effect a union between the middle and xcorkhij c ' asses . to stcure ihz just and equal representation of the icho ' . epeople , we think it our duty to submit such propositions for the consideration of the Conference ss may be best proaiotive of that end . We ther = f « re submit the fallowing propositions for ths l consideration cf the Conference , which we call cpon ; you , the Rrfctmtia of the United Kingdom , to , elcc .: — i
1 . To dtteriaine on the esssential details of an act 1 c : PariiiO-snt , iicCtasary for securing the jast lepresen- i fciticn of Uia wLole adult male population of the United j KAiigvioin of Great Britain and Ire ' aad ; snob act to '• ttabrrt « e the principles aad details of Complete Suffrage , ; eq ; ai ekc : orsi ^ Ulrica , voti by ballot , eo property . " qj ^ .: £ dti ' ja , p'jsaent of members , and annual parlaments , as adopted by the first Complete Suffrage Cosfcrt-zee . j 2 . T < dtterraiae what members cf parliament shall 1 be appointed to icLrciuc * thesaiii act into the House of I C-jniuiouE ; and in vru . manner other members of the i Hcust * Lail he ciiied upoa to suppart it . !
3 . To endeavour to sic . rtaia how far the friends off unrestricted ani ubsc-lriUs freedom of trade will unite j wiih ua to cbti ' m such an act of parliament , provided j we rMolrc to use o ; ir ne ¦¦ Iy ic ^ uired irancb iso in favour j cf inch fr « dcm of trade , and to vote only for Euch as j win pledge tLtni 5 il 7 t : S in its favour . ! 4 . To dfcv ^ e the br ^ t means for main ta ining compe- 1 tent parliaaicctary candidates pledged to car priaci-1 pits ; the most effectual mf-aus by which Essistance may ' be rendered to thf m in til tiectaral contests ; and also \ the beit means for registering the electors and non- ; electors thrc-uihoui tcse kingdom who may be disposed to promote cur oi j-cts . ! 5 To ccjfiuer ths propriety of calling upon tke mu- . nicipal eltcti rs to adep : iniintdistB measures for secur- ; L 15 the eltc' . icn cf such men only to represent them in ' their l-jcal goTtrnmenls , as ore iso-srn to be favourable to the principles of eompltte suffrag-j .
6 . To cill upoc ccr frjloTr-cjuntryinfn seriously to i consider ths grsat fstrut to -chiLh , is various ways , they williDi ' . y co-o ^ rz . ' Ui with their oppressors ; and ascertain how 1 st they may be dispose-i to prove . their \ dcTttion U the cause of libsrty , ; y rffu « sg to ba used , for the purposes of Tr ^ T , crueV-y , arid irjustice , snd particulariv l . y ths dLeuse ef int . 'X ' . iating articlsts , ' 7 . To esprt = s thtir opinion cs to the propriety" of the ptop : e s ' W '" g their countenance zz& support to all thnte who rr / . y v ^ S-v irorn fespc-ii ^ g \ hv . t cause . S . To iturra :: p . the test Uc , ^ l ani c ^ astitutionai meaES f jr ea&r £ ctica . l 3 y and psace ^ bly promoling the aboYe otj ^ ts ; fjr checking ; . ll kia ; is of viulecce and ccaiinotiv . n Ly -which the entmy tricaij-h £ ; for ths dis-Simicatioa of sannj poiiticil kcoxU .: ^ -.-, and for spreading ths pricciples cf sobriety , r-ac ? , end toleration ttrouihout the country , run 1 bj every just and virtuoca mear . s prepariE ^ the peop ' e fir the propsrexerc : se of their Doiiiicil end social richts .
9 . To devise lr . tar . s for raisirg a Batlonal fa ^ d for the rrrrpose of prcniotiac the above objects , as well as to protect all pas-ji-s ^» ho , in their peaceful pr J ? scution of tLe ^ i , fchaU bt-caaie v : ctiai 3 cf tnjaii laws or deepotic ordir . ^ Dces . In ordtr to conTir . ca the miilale cl- ^ sts that the wcrkir . ? popalstion hiT& Ef ulterior cij ? ct iaimicil to tee seEsral Krifars cf ^ ciety , we advke that they m < eet in the foriLeonr-rg Conference on terms of perfect £ q-2 ii ; tv to difc-jss these important propositiens ; feeling c " - < r . viEcd th-it our pT " : Ecip : »_ s nted ro i > ther pid thai their o ^ n igtriasic tscellsnca ; having iruth for thei : fa ^ sis , End the happiness cf the human family for thtir end , and zfijrdlnz the best tu . irsntpe for the
fcic-irity of private property , -which we re 5 ard aa sacred and iuTiulabte , equally in the poor insui ' s labour and the rich inia"s possesjioE . We th . rcfure adviie that 1 'ubiic rneetjegs r > e csLed by advertistrnL-at or placard < f not less ttsn fynr ctiys in every toTrn thrcushout the kint ; doni , invitirg thj rnhabi ' -ants to elect repre' s ? ciat : ves to bc >; d a National Cotfcrc-nce at Birmingham , on Tujs ^ ay , the 27 th of December , 1842 , for the p ^ Tpose of deciiiing on kn Act i > f Parliainfci . t f > r securing the jiit representation cf the whole p ; op ! e ; cud for CttrriMiniug on Euch peaciful . le ^ sl , end constitutional me ^ s as may caust it to become the law of these reriltiia .
That two representatives be sent from the smaller towris and bo . uu ^ hs . having less than 5 000 inhabitants , and f-.-ur from the larger ones , excepting that Lon £ en , Elintarjh , Birmingham , Mancheater , Glasgow , and Liverpool may send six representatives , but no more . That one half of the representatives shall be appointed by the electors , and half by the Eon-electors The meetings for such purpose to b « held separate , unless that both classes can agree in baring all the representatives chosen at one meeting , which we earnestly recommend ; bat where they do not so agree , ths two classes are sot to interfere with each other ' s meet ings , otherwise the election shall be declared Toid .
That , should the authorities interfere or trespass on this constitutional tight of public meeting , so aa to prevent anj meeting from being held , the leading men of the two dosses shall then cause nomination lists to be made out , recommending their respective candidates , such lists to be publicly notified , and . left in public situations to receive the signatures of the inhabotanti , those having the greater cumber of signatures to be declared duly elected . That the -places sending representative make arrangements for defraying thfcir expanses . That , as our Irish brethren are prohibited , by exclusive and oppressive law « Tfrom sending representatives i' inch a conference , wj especially invite , and will jtctiive u visitor * , ell who approve of the otgeci ot cor mnftHng , and who share the confidence of the peo pV of that country . ^ , -.. uidttie police or the authorities of any tows , in then & > sttt ( 0 btiild public opinion , wilfully interrupt
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r » unjustly interfere with the right 0 ! publto meeting * , called for legal objects , we advise that the people in those places cause proper evidence t « be taken of such interruption , bo that the question nay be tried in oar higher courts ef law ; so that Englishmen may learn whether those rights of which they are proud to boast , the rights of publicly assembling , zmd reasonably declaring their opinions , are sacred' and inviolable , or whether they depend on the fiat of some local magistrate—on a portion of those who bate liberty—or a servant of Goverament armed with staff and sabre . Believing that the above objects are perfectly just and legal , being in conformity with our ancient constitutional usages , being the only rational and proper means tot ascertaining the public opinion of the country upon any great question affecting the general welfare , we especially iiivite your co-operation and support .
We remain your friends and fellow citizans , the mem bew ot the Complete Suffrage council . Signed on their behalf , Joseph Sturge . BirminghajD 9 th Month , ( September ) 12 th , 1842 .
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TO THE CHARTISTS OF SCOTLAND . Fellow Cotjntetmen , —Oar oountry is now in that state that calls for the active exertions of everyone that has its welfare at heart . Borne dov ? n by the bondage and injustice of class legislation , and its manifold wrongs , the convulsions that at present agitate it teU that the momentous crisis of its fate is at hand ; in which its native strength and energy will subdue and expel the disease that afflicts it , — or it will sink -under it and be destroyed . If erer oar principles were needed , no excuses bnt those drawn from imbecility or dishonesty can be offered ; therefore , we address yon with the conviction that you are men who will not idly survey the destruction of yonr country ' s happiness without an effort to avert it .
Millions of our countrymen are starring , and while writhing under the fangs of hanger , feel also the mental torture of an enslaved , insulted , and degraded condition . They have asked for bread , and received bayonet stab 3 , mneket shots , sabre wounds , and the bludgeon fractures of the most cowardly and vile , yet blood-thirsty ruffians . Sir James Graham has nsnrped the power of the legislature , and made the vagabond mercenaries of tha land judges of the law—while the political partisans of the bench are labouring to subvert the constitution by declaring the Queen ' s proclamation to be law ; and thus laying prostrate the rights of the people at the feet of an unprincipled Home Secretary and corrupt magistracy . We are
convinced that only by the establishment of our principles can we be relieved from this misgovernment . Our principles are widely spread through the land ; associations from them are numerous , but we have no common centre in which onr powers can meet and be united ; each locality is left to its own individual exertions and knowledge ; thus the means of union are wanting , and the efficiency of our agitation impa i red , the proof of which may be seen ia the late occurrences in Scotland , where , when the whole country was agitated with the question , " What shall we do" there was no authorised or known source through which the opinions of the various localities could be gathered , which led to much misunderstanding and injury to our cause , and to individuals .
When the year commenced , yonr delegates met in Glasgow , and laid down the plan of an effioient organization and communication . They elected a National Secretary , on whose office depended the proper working of the system . It can be no misfortune to say that the office is vacant now , for it nevsr was filled . Whether from want of confidence of the people in the person appointed , or a want of desire in him to fill it , the country knows best ; but that it never was filled all will admit . If necessary when he was appointed , the National Secretary is more necessary now .
In compliance with letters we have received fro n various places , and the desire that we know exists in others , we have taken it upon us to call a meeting of delegates , to be elected at public meetings , and to meet in Wnitechapel , Edinburgh , on Monday , the 3 rd of October , at two o ' clock , to take into consideration the best means to give efficiency to our agitation , and establish our principles . Among these considerations will be the organization , tha election of a National Secretary , with or without A council , his or their powers and duties , the best means to improve our present organization , and to extend it ; what we should do aa to the infringement of the rights of public meetings , passive resistance , and the wiy and means to carry on our agitation . We trust that all parts of the country will respond to this ca ! J , and send representatives of honest intentions , sound jadgment , and stern determination , Thos . Blackie , Secretary . ' Edinburgh , Sept . 8 th , 1842 .
Preparation Of The Poor Biak'5 Cokpanion,
PREPARATION OF THE POOR BIAK' 5 COKPANION ,
FOR 1843 . IN tho Press , and will be Published in the latU ; end of October next , the POOR MAN'S COM PAN 1 ON , acd POLITICAL ALMANACK , fo : 1843 , by Joshua Hobson . Particulars of contents in future announcements .
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THE PROJECTED NATIONAL CONFERENCE . Elsewhere we give the address of Mr . SioHGE , and the Council of the national complete scf-FRAC& cmonj to political Reformers of all shades of opinion , m reference to this important subject . The Confereuco is now fixed for Tuesday , Dec . 27 th . This arrangement is much more likely to be an effectual one , than the former harried project of holding the Conference on the 7 ch instant . Nothing can be more important than that at this time the intelligence and
the energy of the whole people should be brought together into one focn 3 ; concentrated and directed towards one object—the establishment and maintainance of universal justice . To effect this it is necessary that the people should understand and kaow each other ; that their leaders should understand and know each other ; that as one mind and one spirit actuates all the honest friends of freedom , as to the end sought , eo one purpose and opinion may pervade them also , as to the means by which to comp ass it . Hence we hailed with delight and satisfaction the annouDcement of this National Conference in the first instance
Precipitate and ill-judged as we thought it , in the matter of the time selected for its session , we still pressed on the people tho necessity of rendering it as effective a 3 might be , at that short notice , for its avowed purpose . We saw , however , very serious objections ( independent of tho despotic terrorism which might interfere with tho election of delegates ) to the holding of the Conference withont giving to the country due time for the consideration and
discussion of tho many and . important matters to be brought before it , It must of necessity , had it met at the former period , have been regarded rather as a Conference of individuals in whose talent and honesty the people had some confidence , than as a Conference of delegates duly instructed ; and acquainted with tho wishes of the people . This must of necessity , however wise its determinations , have detracted much from their due share of weight and influence .
We regard a 3 an object of the first and highest consequence the securing of unity among the people's friends ; the breaking down of those barriers of distinction bo artfully erected by the enemy for the separating of the people into groups and companies ranged under different leaders , and acting without concert or agreement . The robber factions know well the importance of keeping up disagreements upon what Mr . Stubge and his friends very properly denominate " shades of opinion "; and hence their villanous , and , Dut too successful , efforts to
draw wide the line between the people generally , whom they style O'Connobites , and such amongst them as , while agreeing with their fellows upon all main points of principle and policy , may have dissented from them upon minor and more unimportant points , such as leaderships , and personal attachment or dislike . It has always suited the purpose of the enemy to magnify these " shades of opinion " into serious and important matters ; to laud those who stickle for them , as patriotic , wise , intelligent
and peaceful politicians ; that they may the more successfully array them against the main body of the army of liberty , upon whom they of course charge violence , physical force , and all sorts of frightfulness , without the least regard to truth and honesty either ia their laudations or their denunciations . Knowing this , we felt no surprise at the foliowisg spicy matter , which we give from the Morning Chronicle : —
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"The doctrine of Universal Suffrage has taken such a deep and general hold of the minds of the people , that rr is ths pomct op the govebkmbnt TO LABOUR RATHER AT SEPARATING THE ENORMOUS MASS OF ITS ADHKRKHT 8 INTO THEIR DIFFERENT shades of greater or less incompatibility with the present order of things , than at confounding them all in the same sweeping censure and reprehension IT IS THB INTEREST OP THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF TO MAKE A WIDE DISTINCTION . * * * *
" Wk have seen with great pleasure the tendency op events to widen the difference between the two sections op chartists—to diminish the numbers of the violent O'CONNOR section , and augment the force of those who hold with STURGE and LOVETT . " Of course it is the game of the Chronicle and its patrons to keop np division in the Chartist ranks ; while it should be tha obief object of the people to put down divisions , to draw themselves into one firm indissoluble phalanx , and for that purpose to distinguish carefully between , such publio characters as advocate measures likely to produce and insure a union of thought and action among the friends of right , and such as , while they talk muoh of union , yet minister to the upholding of division .
We think the first and chief business of a National Conference to be the devising of means , whereby the whole body of Chartists may be banded together for one object ; seeking it by simultaneous and perfectly harmonious efforts . It was on this account , and on this only , that we disagreed with the decisions of the first Sturge Conference . We thought them to evince a desire rather to divide than to unite the people ; hence we suspected the sincerity of their professions . We could not understand why , having declared themselves Chartists , by the adoption of the Charter , they should seek to lead away the
people from strict unity of action , by establishing a distinct National society for Chartist purposes , instead of aiding that already in existence ; the more especially as they assigned no reason why they considered the existing Chartist organization deficient or impolitic ; and as they always disclaimed any intention of interfering with it , or any wish that it should be given up ia favour of their own . This appeared to us to be inconsistent with their avowed desire for union , and we still think it so . Our opinion has undergone no change . Had the Complete Suffrage men objected to the National Organization as ineffectual , or even as illegal , and had
they , therefore , desired to supersede it by an organization which they supposed to be better suited for the accomplishment of the intended purpose and the effectual uniting of the people , we should have regarded that as a much greater evidence of sincerity , in their avowed desire for union among the people , than the course they did adopt . They did not attempt to supersede the National Organization . On the contrary , they have always said that they had no wish to do so ; that they desired to see the Chartists go on with their own organization ; while they established another scarcely differing from it at all , but yet serving to prevent the cordial cooperation of its adherents with the great Chartist body .
This very expression of a wish not to supersede , or interfere with , the existing Chartist organization , though paraded by the Complete Suffrage men and their apologists as liberal and conciliatory , haa always been , and still is , to us , a very dark-looking presumptive evidence of an intention , on the part ot those who urge it , only to divide the people into distinct sections , that faction might deal with them more easily . It has been urged , however , in justification , that this course was necessary , because some persons among the middle classes had expressed themselves favourable to the principles of the Charter ,
Dut had not enough of patriotism to overcome per sonal considerations ; that there might be some who would join a Complete Suffrage Union , and work with Joseph Sturge , whom no consideration could induce to join a Charter Association , and work with Feabgus O'Connor , and other known leaders of the people . This argument seems plausible at first Bight , but is deceptive , and furnishes an admirable answer to itself . The object of the National Charter Association and Fearqus O'Connor is well known ; it is to carry the Charter ; the avowed object of Joseph Sturge and the Complete
Suffrage Union is precisely the same thing . If then * Josbph Stuboe and the Complete Suffrage Unioniintend to carry the Charter , and if they be sincere in the expression of their opinion , that it cannot be carried without union , and of their consequent desire to promote union , they must intend , however dissevered in name , to work in unison with Feargus O'Connor and the National Charter Association ; the more especially as they openly avow that they do not wish to see these set aside , but want to see them go on And if Joseph Sturge and the Complete Suffrage Union be seeking precisely the same thing as
Fearous O'Connor and the National Charter Association , and working in unison with them for its attainment , these fastidious sticklers must be arrant fools not to see that in working with Joseph Sturoe and the Complete Suffrage Union , they are working with Feargus O'Connor and the National Charter Association . It comes then to one of two things , either the Complete Suffrage Union is intended to counteract the efforts of the Chartists , and so to prevent the attainment of the Charter , under the guise of seeking it ; or the advantages of perfect unity of action by the people are sacrificed
for the mere pleasing of a few fools who suppose a difference between sheep ' s flesh and mutton , and who thus prove themselves incapable of bringing to the movement any such stock of sense or honesty as may be useful to it . On either of these suppositions the existence of the two bodies is an evil , Nothing is of so much moment and consequence as oneness . Every other consideration ought to be unhesitatingly thrown overboard by the people until they have that first of all requisites to a succeEsful public struggle , an agreement of opinion and operation , among their recognised leaders , and tho consequent concentration of their own powers .
We believe that a really National Conference , chosen" freely and fairly" by the whole people , would do much towards the effecting of this object ; and we therefore rejoiced at the proposal of Mr . Sturge to summon such a conference . We are always willing and desirous to ascribe whatever we dissent from rather to imperfect judgment than to evil purpose ; and we regarded this step of Mr . Sturge and the Council of the Complete Suffrage Union as the first evidence we had yet seen of their sincerity in desiring to unite in one virtuous phalanx the people and their friends .
The time , originally fixed on was , as we have before said , ill-ohosen for the honest carrying out of the avowed purpose ; it was calculated to engender a suspicion that the real purpose was to take advantage of the confusion which the League scoundrels had succeeded ia creating—of the temporary consternation among the people—and to " widen the breach between the two sections of Chartists , " as the Morning Chronicle has it . We did not overlook this , but we never impute motives wrongfully ; and as we had no proof that this was the motive , we of course did not impute it . We implored
the people only to take care that the Conference should be really National , and that its members should be men whom they could trust . That ground of suspicion is removed . There is now enough of time before the meeting of the Conference for the fermentation to subside , for the coolness of the people to return , and for all proper and necessary steps for the election of delegates to be taken . We assumed , and took for granted in the first instance , that the avowed object of the
conveners of this Conference was their real object ; that they purposed , by a bringiog together of the " people'sfriends , " " freely" chosen so as "follyand fairly" to represent the people , to decide upon and adhere to a " specifio course of conduct ; " that their purpose was to inquire into the causes of division , with a view to their removal * and to form the whole people into one compact body . We were delighted at the prospect , and prepared to help forward so desirable a project with our whole might . We feel a little disappointed , therefore , at
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perceiving , or thinking we perceive , in the very outset of the address now issued , some evidence that onr pleasing anti-cessations were unreal . We may misunderstand the following paragraph , though we are desirous not to do so : — " Fellow countrymen , use are not desirous of interfering with your present local arrangements , bat we call upon you to meet in the spirit of truth and justice , to determine , with singleness of purpose what is best to be done to effect the political and social deliverance of our oountry , and having once determined to concentrate all our energies to the accomplishment of such a glorious cod summation . This we think can be done , without the amalgamation of societies between whom differences of opinions and modes of action exist . "
This seems to us to indicate , on the part of Mr . Sturge and the Complete Suffrage Council , a purpose to withstand any effort to obtain unity of operation by an amalgamation of the two societies . We thii . k we have shown sufficiently , already , that two National societies , having the same object , cannot co-exist without materially weakening and injuring each other . We think , therefore , that whenever a National Conference of the people's friends may be holden , one of their most grave and serious matters of consideration will be , the best
means of amalgamating the whole people into one body , which , animated by one soul , guided by one head , should prosecute one object , and tbat object the downfall of faction and the establishment of right . It will be for those who think that separate societies may exist , and pursue tho same object unitedly , to show how this can bo done ; and if it be made apparent that the people ' s cause can be better served without such an " amalgamation , " none will more earnestly , more heartily , and more cheerfully-subserve purposes , and adopt recommendations so sustained , than we .
The Council of the Complete Suffrage Union have very properly suggested several propositions , which they think ought to be discussed by such a National Conference as should "freely , fully , and fairly " represent the whole people at this crisis of affairs . If we understand rightly the address , it is intended that the discussion of the nine propositions therein contained shall constitute the whole business of the Conference ; and in truth they seem to us to be sufficiently
comprehensive in character for all the legitimate purposes even of suoh a Conference . We request attention to these nine propositions . It is most important that the people should well understand them . There is room for much discussion , and for a variety of opinions , on each of them , except , perhaps , the seventh and ninth , on which we fancy there is not much room for discussion . The seventh runathus : —
" To express their opinion as to the propriety of the people giving their countenance and support to all those who may suffer from espousing their cause . " We presume that on this question there can be but one opinion among those who deserve the name of " friends of the people ; " and amongst these we desire certainly to rank Mr . Sturge and the council of the Complete Suffrage Union ; but we can
not permit that desire to induce us to conceal from the people our knowlege of the fact , that at a meeting of that Council , we believe the very same meeting at which these propositions and this address w « re agreed to , a copy of an address from the Committee for the defence of George White , presented by deputation to the Chairman , requesting the cooperation and assistance of the Council in raising funds for his defence , was returned with the single word " NO 1 " written on a bit of paper !
This fact is testified to us by one on whose veracity we can rely . We leave it to give to the people its own evidence of the anxiety of the Complete Suffrage Council to " countenance and support those who may suffer from espousing the people's cause . " We can entertain no doubt that the people and their friends , through the whole country , will gladly help the Council of the Complete Suffrage Union , in the words of their ninth proposition , "to devise means for raising a National Fund for the purpose of promoting all the objects connected with the attainment of the Charter , as well as to protect all
persons who , in their peaceful prosecution of them , shall become victims of unjust laws or despotic ordinances ; " but we scarcely think that this fund would be best raised , or those persons best protected , by the mode which the council thought fit to adopt in reference to Geohge White . u NO , " will pay " no"fees to counsel ; will provide " no" sustenance for starving wires and children ; will , give " no" encouragement to others to fill up the gaps made in our ranks by tyranny ; will give " no" impetus to the desponding energies ot patriotism whilst suffering in the people ' s cause ;
will furnish "no" motive , such as usually acts on human nature , to increased ardour or perseverance : will give " no" check to the rude licence of authority ; offer " no" bar to the inroads of faction ; give " no" furtherance to the cause of right . In fact , this " no" is just the most useless thing that can be , as a means for the ' effectuating of any good purpose ; though it is one that we can well recommend the people to make use of when their consent or co-operation to or with evil , however well disguised , may be required . This act of the Complete Suffrage Council , in writing
" NO" upon the application of the Chartists for poor White , may form a useful precedent . We like short replies , and to the point . We hope that the people will take lessons in . this school of brief eloquence . We recommend them , when they are next asked to " countenance and support " those who are countenanced and supported by the Morning Chronicle , to write " NO" across the paper ^ We advise them , when they are asked to " widen the breach between the two sections of Chartists , '* to reply " NO . " We advise them , if they are asked whether there areorcaube " two sections of
Chartists , " to reply "NO . " " He that gathetetb . not with us scattereth abroad . " Seriously , we regret much this act of the Complete Suffrage Council . It tells little for the sincerity of their much-vaunted liberal and charitable views and of their avowed desire to unite the people in one holy bond of brotherhood against tyranny in all its forms . We have said that the propositions o be brought before the Conference are important ;
hat they require and deserve the best attention of the people . We again recommend them to attention : especially the third : — " To endeavour to ascertain how far the friends of unrestricted and absolute freedom of trade will unite with us to obtain such an Act of Parliament , provided we resolve to use our newly-acquired franchise in favour t \ f such freedom of trade , and to vote only for such as will pledge themselves in its favour . "
The great point to which we have always sought to keep the attention of the people , in connexion with the Sturge men has been this : however anxious they may really bo for the obtainment of the Charter , there is too muoh reason to suppose that it is not from any love ot the Charter , but because they regard it as a means whereby their Free-trade theories can be wrought out . We detest all subterfuge and trick . We desire to see the people bind themselves to no course but that which they are prepared to follow ; and we desire to see them universally regard their pledge as binding . Henoe we would caution them most seriously against sending delegates to any Conference with instructions to pledge the people to use the franchise
when they get it , only for "Extension" and M League" purposes , and to vote only for suoh candidates as pledge themselves in favour of those purposes . The object of this proposition ia , most clearly , supposing it could be carried by the Conference , to deliver the whole movement and give the whole strength of the agitation to the Free Traders 1 the very thing against which we warned the people as the purpose of the Stubge men on their first coming ont . If anything could have increased our suspicion of the Sturoe men , and confirmed our opinion of the insincerity of their whole movement , it i the wording of this proposition . And if any farther confirmation had been wanting ; if we had wished for evidence ,
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which God knowB we did not , that this Conference was projected withont any reference to , or care for , the people ' s interests , but simply for the purpose of making them tools in the hands of faction , we have that evidence abundantly supplied in the conditions laid down in this address for the election of the representatives . Those conditions aie : — " That one-half of the representatives shall be appointed by the electors , and half by the non-electors . The meetings for such purpose to be held separate , unless that both classes can agree in having all the representatives chosen at one meeting , which we earnestly recommend ; but where they do not so agree , the two classes are not to interfere with each other ' s meetings , otherwise the election shall be declared void . "
A more glaring exhibition of the real object and purpose of the getters-up of this Conference , a more certain proof that it is an " extension" and " League" job , that it is a deliberately concocted plot , to sell the people into the hands of the freetrading crew of flesh-mongers , could not have been exhibited , than is here given . A more bare-faced evidence of hypocrisy it has seldom been our lot to see , than the proposition for this " National" (!) Conference furnishes . Mr . Sturge and his Council
talk glibly , as if reading from a book , about a "fairly constituted National Conference ; " the italics and small capitals are their own . They say that" in the election of representatives to meet in such a Conference , all party [ spirit must be excluded , all efforts for forcing individual views through the power of numbers must be avoided . " They state the object of the Conference to bo"to secure the just and equal representation of the whole people" and yet they insist that one-half of the representatives to this " National" Conference shall be appointed by the eleotors , and the other half by the non-electors , and that , in any case of this rule being deviated from the election shall be declared void !! And this is Mr . Sturge ' s
way of securing a just and equal representation of the whole people !!! If the people need any further argument to convince them that Mr . Sturge and the whole party with whom he acts , seek only to use the people as tools for the serving of their own ends , they are much duller than we take them to be . Nothing can be more important than that the people should know their friends ; that they should know who seek to promote their interests , and who seek merely to use them for the promotion of their own interests . We have all along suspected that these very democratic middle classes were not the men to trust ,
and we are now satisfied of . it . We trust the people are so too , and that the Sturge men will have the glory of their Conference to themselves . The people want no " national" Conference , in which "individual" and 11 party" views shall be " forced through the power of numbers . " They know that the present House of Commons is appointed by the Eleotors ; they know how that house has treated all matters and things appertaining to the Charter ; they know how it received the National Petitions ; they know how it treated the Dorchester Labourers ; they know how it now treats Frost and his co-victims ; they know how it supported the Whig Government in its crusade
against Chartism in 1839 ; they know how it now supports the Tory Government in a like crusade ; they know how it has invariably , by every means and at all hazards , perpetuated class distinctions and class domination ; they know all this ; and " they know that that House is appointed by the Eleotors ; and they know consequently that it needs no conjuror to find out that a " National" Conference , with onehalf of its delegates appointed by the electors , and with friend Sturge and his Council to make up the majority , would adopt no " specific course of conduct " that they did not think likely still to perpetuate class distinction and domination . No , no , friend Stuboe ; we guess the people will write " NO" upon that document .
Besides , what a piece of vile hypocrisy to cant about "full , fair , and free representation ; " to call this a " National" Conference ; and to talk of its " securing a just and equal representation of the whole people , " while the half of its delegates are appointed by a fraction of less than half a million out of twenty-seven millions ! !! " Full , fair , and free , " oh , friend Sturge ! We guess , " NO . " The people have been at that shop too often .
The Conference was chiefly valuable as it might afford an opportunity of testing the sincerity , and determining the character of those who affect to be leaders in the Sturge movement . It was ohiefly valuable , as it promised a settlement of differences , and a bringing together of the people ; who had been separated by the " new new-moving" project . This was the chief useful object which the Conference , had it been held , and had it been national , could have accomplished . Sturge and the Council have accomplished it already ! They have shown us plainly
their object and their drift . We know them now . The simple and unsuspecting who have been entrapped by them into their . ** new move" snuggery will speedily escape . The people will , if we mistake not greatly , do that effectually now which in our first article upon the last Conference at Birmingham , we told them was what they should do : they will leave them alone in their littleness ! They will point at them the finger of scorn , and say , "Ah ! Messrs . Full , Fair , and Fbee , you had baited your snare with chaff ; but its no go ! The Chartists are old birds , and not to be thus caught !"
We think , then , the question of the Sturge Conference is now settled . The people will not be so " green" as to take the least notice of any thing said or done by such a " National Delegation , " even if the super-farce ; tho bye-play , of hypocrisy and idiocy , should be enacted . We trust , however , that it will not ; or , at all events , that if the Sturge men are determined to have a " talk" of their own and call it a " National Conference , " they will reoall the present proposition , and issue one in which there shall be less risk and more
common sense . If in every othor respect the calling of this Conference bad been perfectly unexceptionable we should kave implored the people on no account to permit a single delegate to be appointed to it without a revision of the terms in which it is called . Mr . Stubge and his Council " advise that public meetings be called by advertisement , or placard of not less than four days , in every town throughout the kingdom , inviting the inhabitants to elect representatives to hold a National Conference at Birmingham , on Tuesday , the 27 th of December , 1842 , FOR
THE PURPOSE OF DECIDING ON AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT . " This is either rank folly or rank treachery . We presume not to say which ; though we hope and belinve it to ba the former . The Conference cannot decide upon an Act of Par ' liament . It may decide upon the preparing of a Bill , and upon the asking of some M . P . to introduce that Bill into Parliament . This is all it can [ do ; amd this is all it can legally meet to do . If the Conference meet to DECIDE ON AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT it commits Treason !>! It usurps the functions . andsets aside the AuritORiTYof Parliament
making itself into a legislative body . We should think Mr . Sturge and bis Council need not to be instructed , how very necessary it is , just now especially , in all popular movements , to be cautious ; to commit , neither by deed or word , an infraction of th » law ; and to give no pretext to the tools of despotism to interrupt our operations . It surely is not necessary to remind those who write " NO " upon the applications made to them to support those who are suffering from alleged violations of law , that they should at all events be careful not to lead the people into violations of the law .
We say nothing of the fact , that it might have been a foul plot to get together all the people's friends—ail those in whom they have trust and confidence—all those upon whose talent , energy , and perseverance the movement hangs , and consign the whole batch at one swoop to Government . We say nothing of the fact , that this might have been the intention of the concoctors of this " national" affair ; we do not believe it waa so ; we have no doubt 'that the matter which we have just pointed out , and which will entail the legal crime of treason upon every man who may attend that Conference , is a mere blunder , a mistake ; and we can only say , God help the simpletons who trust to these blunderers as leaders ! The Complete Suffrage Council , in the whole matter of this Con-
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ference have shown themselves to be as utterly void of all business capacity aa of all political honesty . It is always a most painful thing to ua to see any man or men in a position which of necessity writes knave or fool upon the forehead ; and we are doubly sorry when it happens , as in the present instance , that we are reluctantly compelled to replace the or by and . So it is , however ; we are sorry for it , but cannot help it . The people now know the Stubge men ; they have written their own character in words which can never be washed out . They have proved their whole movement to be now , and to have been from its beginning , a dishonest movement , and they have proved themselves to be utterly incapable of sustaining with any degree of decent tact , the prominent position they have assumed in that movement .
We now repeat the opinion we expressed respecting them at their debut . Oa the 16 th of April , ia this year , the week after the close of their Confer * ence at Birmingham , and when the Complete-Suffrage Union was but resolved to be established , we , wrote thus : — . " We shall probably be looked to for some opinion upon what course the people should pursue ae to t hefuture movements of this new self-constituted " National" Complete Suffrage Association . Here then is bur opinion at once . The people should have nothing to do with them . They should leave them alone in their littleness , and laugh at them . The people must not oppose them .
for , they profess to be seeking the advancement of our principles ; let them , therefore , go on their own way ; andif they are determined to go alone —if they are determined to make a foot-road for themselves alongside the people ' s turnpike , is God ' s Dame , let them walk on in it until their ancles ache and they begin to feel their loneliness . But support them against the factions in all their assertions of the great principles of liberty . If they should be weak enough to take the open field in defence of our principles relying ou their own strength , rush to the rescue , lest the enemy should overcome them ; let them not , by any means , bo beaten by the open and avowed advocates of class legislation . Oa every publio occasion when the Complete Suffrages muster for the assertion of our common priucipleo , there let the Chartists muster
with them to a man ; let there be no suoh division is our ranks as the enemy ean take advantage of ; let them be well protected , and b y our assistance made triumphant , in every public assertion of pur principles which they may attempt . But never leave them without letting them know to whom they are indebted ; never leave a meeting without a resolution pledging the people to their old leaders , so long as these remain faithful ; to their tried friends , who have braved the battle and the breeze ; to their own national organization , which they know to be legal and efficient , and to the evidence of sincerity to the cause by enrolment in the National Charter Association . This is the advice we give the people ; we give it in all sincerity and ? earnestness ; and we teU them , that if it be not heeded , they are likely to have bitter and abundant reason for repentance . "
We have not one word to add to , or alter in , this advice now . All that the people have to do with them is to do nothing with them—to let them alone .
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THE LAST OF THE "STARVED - VIPER . * Mr . O'Connor's letter will be found in our sixth page . We have just one word to add to it . Mr . O'Connor might have stated an important fact which he has omitted , for what reason we know not : we shall supply it as it affords a key to the whole conduct of the " viper" for some months back . While in Lancaster Castle he told Martis that he saw no other way of getting through the world but by opposing O'Connor and the Star . Martin made this statement immediately after his liberation : and all succeeding events his liberation ; and all succeeding events
hate served to verify it . The people have now the key to the whole mystery . — It has been dragged from us very reluotantly , we had much rather have shrouded than exposed him ; but since nothing less would serve him , there it is The people now know "Jemmy O'Bbien ;" and we have great pleasure in shaking hands with so disagreeble a subject . Ha may now be-foul his own cess-pool at his leisure . He may rave as he pleases ; lie as he likes ; we have nothing more to say than farewell" Jemmy O'Brien" ! His name shall never again , if we ^ can help it , be mentioned , even incidentally , in our columns .
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THE IMPORTANCE OF DEFENDING OUR VICTIM-PRISONERS BY COUNSEL . We were about to write an article on the subject , when the following , in the Evening Star of Wednesday arrested our attention . According as it doe 3 exactly with our ideas on the matter , we transfer it entire : — "We beg to call the attention of our readers to the communication of our Leicester correspondent , by which it will be found that the Chartists of that town , with more prudence than some shortsighted and pugnacious politicians , have resolved upon employing counsel for Cooper ' s defence . We rejoice that their notice of the matter has called our attention to the subject , inasmuch as we attach all importance to those trials which took
place at York , and others which are to follow . Perhaps there was no one circumstance connected with the Chartist movement , that gave a greater impetus to the cause , than the manner in which counsel for the political prisoners of 1839-40 exposed the oppressions to which the working classes were subjected , and also the manner in which the many brilliant and effective speeches of counsel were made to tell upon individuals , whose opinions , feelings , and sympathies were proof against popular eloquence and the unsophisticated language of reason and of truth telling its own unvarnished tale . Added to this , nothing more tended to evince the sympathy which existed in the minds of those '
who had a penny to spare , for those who were made victims of oppression . We know that the employment of the first men at the bar for the defence of any prisoner who would have counsel , struck terror into the Government , and taught our rulers that the time was come when tyranny should not stalk unopposed , or unexposed , through the land . Had Frost , Williams , and Jones been left to their own resources , instead of now anticipating their return to their homes at some future period , the country would be mourning over their tombs . This , we think , was worth the expance . Had
it not been for the firmly-expressed resolution to defend the Bradford and Sheffield men by the best talent at the bar , the Attorney-General would not have abandoned his charge of high treason , and have tried them only for riot , sedition , and conspiracy ; and although poor Holberry has come to an untimely end , yet would it have been anticipated by his fate upon the scaffold had not counsel for tha defence threatened tyranny with farther exposure . Flaws in an indictment , and admissibility or mad * missibility of evidenoe ; are questions for men versed in legal knowledge , and not for unlettered persons f
and many are the men who have escaped the laws vengeance by the discovery of a single flaw , or the rejection of inadmissible evidence ! Could a poo * operative have elicited the damning facts , wrung from the monster ruffian Harrison , as counsel did We may beiold that aw exposure served his victims but little . True ; but it opened the eyes of manyf who were before strongly prejudiced . Again , has it not been made subject of boast , that while publio opinion was smothered , every Chartist trial was a Chartist meeting , with a Judge in the chair ; It is always well for the caviller and the dissatisfied to attempt distinctions between the cases of some who were acquitted , and who had not counsel
to defend them , and thus attempt to leave all prisoners , however charged , to the single mercy « a jary , and to challenge legal men with being interested in damning onr cause . We beg to . assort our readers that the love of praise , the graUficatioj of ambition , the hope thereby to gain notoriety an * promotion , very mnob outweigh every inducement that the greatest legal . profligate coal * have to gratify his political bias at the expe ^® of his legal character ; and never was th * fact more forcibly evinced , than in the W p stand made by Sir Frederick Pollock -and '& * Kelly at Monmouth , and subsequently bjf ^ T for the Bradford and Sheffield men aM *** .
The Northern Star. Saturday, September 17, 1842.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 17 , 1842 .
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4 THB NORTHERN STAR . ;¦ : ... . . ' ¦ ¦ . "• ; ¦ . " . . . . . ' ¦"¦ . .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 17, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1179/page/4/
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