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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1346.
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A JOUttXET TO THE PEOPLES' FIRST ESTATE. AUGUST 17, ISiS.
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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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It contains more pregnant thoughts , mor « bursts of lyrtep < Hrcr , more , infin * , ofthetruly grand « ad beautiful , than any poetical work , tvhish has made its appearance for years . We know of fen things more dramatically intense than the scenes between Philipp , Warren andClnre . —A « w Quarterly Review . Published by Mr . Newby , 72 , Mortim « r-stre « t , Oaveniisb-square . Full of wild dreams , strange fancies , and graceful images , interspersed \ rith many bright and beautiraj thoughts , its chief defect is its brevity . The author s iu spirations seem to gash frssh and sparkling [ from Hippo crene . He will want neither readers nor admirers . —Jwnr l « jM " .... the public to
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( From a som-spoiitJent . ) ii . Gooil K » a < lcr . «'< s h : ive rested a week since we la-t " 03 iSpo-i , < n n ~ r osa way , « ver the evonts of the 17-lTof Au- ' J 3 t- Tuai which was then in the present isn m /; n ~ iii' ?•* » t *!* -, slis people ' s journey t « * 'Th PeJ ? S '' ' ^ r " ' ^ = latl 5 " ias ljean chronicled , written da * n hi the ilisfory of England , an event to be readme : ! *¦« l )"« ! " ° observer of the present the
a- ^ e ana ths t ! . 5 nksr , f future . Then wlij Un wereturn to it ? Your heart is there , it is no streJch of fcaey to say , y-u unconsciously revert to it This v . ~ v wsrSd of shimnsjs and lamp-posts , t ! ll 3 "re- " 1 ' - I- " - ^ - w ' i td :: 0 ^ and * Castle of Cabs " an * oaHutnircs , its merchants and nunkk-a , liave not dfivea is sroni your mind , yoa cannot , you never will tsr ^ t It . Once more , then , return with me to O'Cuu'iorvi' . ' e , return to labour ' s holiday , see ii before y «« as you would remember your boyiosd . VVcil . we are there . # ., ifine and
It is 3 o'ch-ck axd lbs aitcrnoon « , men , women of aV . a ^ ee , num tiie grey haired grandfather to tliefiiixeu haired tor thwc io an cnihu-ace . Sen yon artiztn , hi is from Mwchester , from the 1-ind of cotton factories , there is a iook of independence with Mm he has secti the iron monster capital do its worst he thinks >> i it hut for a . moment and exclaims , * 'Is land an d labour wealth ? " ii ' so . hers they shall 00 hand in- ] uvud ; he who labours most shall have most and ke wh ; labour * ieast shall have least . Is canital * i » ie ^ ti saaie eliild of land and labour , here the child shall live and ihrlve with the parent . Oh . glorious thought , ths future , before us in union f ^ harmony , the opposite of the past , with its ana misery mis
m ^ led a atsgoaiaa , suero are « £ !!« mnvi'j' to that same einmenee . 1 now speaker nne whom w / must not forget , be is from the Staffordshire Potteries , that mine of lagcumt ; ami S 5 S R « ider , wee you ever in the l ' oiteries , KSiaffffled on Uw s inter ol a china show-rouBi , toT 6 tou wen ih- suaw white ornaments far tkc Suemeeea of U * e rich , they are ctaateaod bifluti-^ thefoSe ek-aaae of taste with prec ^ ness of SeSSn . The Staffarfshire Totteries are one wut gd&v of art , and the work . ng men and working ^ Ln are the arfisis . The children cf the g .- eatand powerful trv in vain to imitate the artistic
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grace ana craft ' of ' the working potter . My friend comes from this classic land , but ne leares it to remain on labour ' s estate , for Staffordshire he sheds no tears , he remembers the past with a curse and thinks of the future with * blessing . You gucBstie reason for his feelings , oh , yes , you kuow it all , reader , like him , you have suffered from tha wrongs of the past . I need not relate them to you , your wife , your little oneg speak bat one tale , your household know but one fact , it ia work and starve . But enough , we will live for the better future , to-day we are born anew , we are wedded to a holy and noble
devotion . it is the loyalty of a noble object , labour ' s regeneration . I gaze r-und me and see men from all the coraera of our Isle . I know many of them , I am told that here we have friends from Dublin , and I recognize more tham one from hardy stem thistly Scotland , aud here let me pause to enquire something about this meeting . This is no ordinary public meeting , His a Convention , not a " world ' convention" heralded forth on the wings of the press , breathed in England , and whispered in America , bear with me if I err in judgment , but , 1 think , this is even greater than a so-called " world ' convention "
Our meeting , for lam even selSsh in this case , hence , I say " our meeting , " our convention , a spontaneous gathering of the People ' s representatives , met to do homage to a great principle ! unclogged by the formula of a legislative assembly , and generous in its objects , as it is free and noble in its spirit . 1 he feelings and opinions of labour ' s children , as they are coolly reasoiaed on in the workshop , and breathed at the humble hearth , here find a voice . We love a kindred feeling , even in misfortune . To know there is a sympathy of thought * in grief , is sweet , in
the struggle for right against wrong , truth against falsehood and error , freedom against oppression and persecution , it is doubly aweet ; it is a mind ' s true brotherhood ; a thought ' s true communion . Tlic broken down spirit rises at the sound of such a companionship , and the long stifled voice of right longs for an outlet . Listen to that eloquent young man , buoyant in the glow of youth , every ear catches the words , ' tis a sneer at the union workhouse ; and why do a thousand bosoms beat with the same feeling ? A thousand voices echo the game response ?
A member of the House of Commons has just discovered that the Commissioners of the New Poor Law have abused their powers . This speaks something . Mr . Hume , the strenuous supporter of that law , finds out that it is mal-administered ; the cool , calcn ' atine , economical Scot , has made the disco-Tery—the shrewd man of Montrose had found it out at Ia 3 t ; really it is wonderful ! Not a man or woman a-aong the thousands at this great meeting , but cou . d have answered years ago , that the Poor Law was wrongly directed—that it was not a protection for the aged and infirm—that it was not a nursery for the helpless young . We know it practically , it is the poor man ' s hell , and the legislator ' s disgrace . Sisters and brothers of labour , we respond to its denunciation , because we loathe it in our hearts , and hate the svstem that condemns honest labourers to starve in a prison . Think of these facts you , who .
in your generous moments call the people a mob , you may in themidst of your wisdom be lords or M . P ' s . Ton may be doctors or lawyers , and very wise men in your way , but you do not know the people , you have " not yet found out that '' The proper study of mankind is man . " Let us listen for a moment to another speaker , ws all know him , his words aro " The throne may fall , the altar miy perish , but the cottage shall stand , " these words sink deep in the heart of every hearer , every voice almost instinctively cries " hear , hear . " There is a meaning in that reply to the speaker , it means a nation ' s will . " The cottage shall stand . " France , a land of cottages once , twice , by a revolution the land of France is now the property of 20 . 000 . 000 landholders , who live on it , and cultivate it . Eng ' and the property of somo 32 , 000 autocrats , who starve all who breathe on it save themselves and relatives . But we have
already begun a revolution , a correction , a reconstruction of society . But hark t > that chorus of voices , it is loud and long , it is the voice of the people— " Three cheers for the Charter and the Land ! " The vast assemblage separates , some to the tents , some to tho cottages , here and there little groups of 12 and 16 are seen in a circle , you hear the words " Tis a noble undertaking . "— " It is sure to go on "— " It shall go on , it is no idle dream "— " It is the People ' s Estate , and it shall prosper . "—Reader , these are true sayings , let the people's oppressors beware and tremble .
It is 7 o ' clock , and I am wending my way to the Wat / ord station , the atmosphere is rather lowered , and a fine blue cloud interspersed with light streaks of a greyish colour adorns the sky . All nature rejoices in the joy of an August evening . My companions are jovfui . The deer parks of the rich , and the cottages for the poor , are the subjects of conversation—another two hours and we are all closed in a railway carnage . —Once more we a re in London , but thb memorable 17 th of August willba a subject for the future . Our journey to the PeoDle ' s First Eat-. te will be often referred to , often thought ot . It was a well spent and memorable day of a working maii ' slife . A Leaf fkoji the Asxais of a Shoemaker ' s Gasket .
The Northern Star. Saturday, August 29, 1346.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , AUGUST 29 , 1346 .
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" THE NATION" AND "THE CHARTER . " " We have received a printed address from the Charihtis of England to the Irish people , with a request that we should insert it in the " Nation . " We desire no fraternisation between the Irhh people and the Chartists—not on account of the bugbear qf " physical force , '' but simply because some of their five points are ' to us an abomination , and the whole spirit and tone of their proceedings , though well enough fur England , are so essentially EiiglUh that their adoption in Ireland would neither be probable nor at all desirable . Between us and them there is a gulf fixed ; we desire not to bridge it over , but to make it wider and deeper . " From the " Nation" of Aug . 15 , 1846 .
The task of defending the principles of Chartism from the prejudice of the ignorant , from the power of authority , from the misrepresentation of the interested , and the criticism of the vulgar , is periodically imposed upon us , and becomes a labour of love , not more from devotion to their simple truth and purity than from the fact that dread of their growth and power , rather than contempt of their to the abuse
insignifica nce , is the invariable incentive of those who fear their progress , and would strangle them by falsehood or suppress them by silence . \ V < r live in an age in which neither wholesale insolence or pettyfogging quibble can smother truth or mow down principle . We live under the supreme government of mind and jealous public opinion , which demands proof of assertion , or retractation of error . We are now about to analyze the six points of the
PEOPLE ' S CHARTER , in order that the Nation newspaper may have an opportunity of establishing its assertion of their abomination , or of confessing Us jo-norance of their number , their meaning , and their import , ahd to that end we shall commcucc with ABOMINATION , No . 1 ,
ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS . The great dificulty now standing in ( he way of ail governments , whether representative or despotic , whether based upon republican or monarchical principles , is tha t of keeping pace with public opinion on the one hand ; moulding it to ministerial or despotic will upon the other ; or , failing in those attempts so to curb and restrain it within such limits a 3 promise security to authority and inviolability to the property of the privileged , which means all who are admitted within the electoral pale , by the whim-« caHtv of such enfranchising schemes as will
preserve the distinction between profitable idleness and unprofitable labour . To illustrate this position , we need but turn to Russia , Prussia , and Austria , with their boundless possessions and iron rod of despotic rule , yet increasing dissatisfaction ; to France , witli her vast territorial possessions , varied climate , increasing commerce and bubbling discontent ; or to Engiaud , with her prod gious colonial possessions , herfertilesoil , genial cJiinate , astounding manufactures , boundless commerce , illimitable resources , inaffic iiidustry , commanding position , and growing discontent . In each we find trick succeeding
invention , and a GOOD C 1 JY , rather than good works , relied upon by contending parties as a means of securintr their own ascendancy . "We see enough , nr . d more than enough , for all , and yet the struggle of the strong to possess themselves of what . littlu pauperism may be supposed capable of sparing stil . ^ oes on , as though the end and aim of all governments was to aid wealth in securing its dominion ; to tie the hands of the weak ' , that the strong may plunder with impunity under the mask of the laws of political economy , termed HONOURABLE SPECULVTION . The incidents , the accidents , the
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chances and the changes , the improbabilities and almost impossible events , to which ' governments ^ now owe their elevation or their fall , present a series of " dissolving views" which ths amused and wondering world , from the great rapidity of transition , has not yet had leisure more than to marvel at or admire the juggle . The old ship in vain competes with her modern antagonist , and progression stamps her as lumber . The old machine stands mute in sullen silence , while snme new invention seems to mock the oM
contriver . The old messengers of death are laid aside , to give place to their more active rivals . The study by which torture may be improved for one class , and pleasure increased for the other , has become a science , and not an unprofitable speculation , The house , the furniture , the equipage , the ornaments , the dress , the manners , the fashion , and etiquette of seven years old , arc looked upon as ao many antidiluvian curiosities—save in as far as they may be altered to the fashion of the day . No man dresses like his father ; no woman nurses like her mother . Style , habits , manners , custom , all undergo a
convulsive revolution . of magic change , which makes man almost unconscious of'hig own or the world ' s identity . He goes to bed a " Times " Tory , and breakfasts upon " Times ' ' Whiggery—he dines a Protectionist , and sups upon Free Trade . And yet , the science of legislation , the charm that is supposed to govern , or at least to adjust all , stands still in the midst of this chaos of succeeding novelties—this whirlp ool of conflicting action . Herein , then , consists the difficulty of all who would vainly hope , or insolently endeavour , to arrest the mind ' s progress in the legislative race ; while its conceptions , in all else , constitute the elements of a new world .
The late Prime Minister—the greatest , the wisest , the best statesman that his country ever , sawtried the experiment of curbing the licentiousness of old-fashioned electoral conceit , by the young genius of the age . The mind , with six years' rust upon it , he would have subjected to the new process of burnishing " old opinions ; " but the crust of time was too impervious for the first application—prejudice would not receive the required polish , aud he
failed . We speak not now of his Commercial Policy and " Free Trade " nostrums , they are but as a drop of water in the ocean , compared with those results which must inevitably follow the removal of this aristocratic rampart . We speak of " Free Trade " as the entrenchment from which the battle of progression must be fought . And the moral of our tale
is—that Septennial Parliaments are as unsuited to the representative system of this age , as the dress of Queen Elizabeth would be to its fashion—as the palace of Old Harry would be as the residence of Victoria—as the rude splendour of the voluptuous Wolsey would b $ to the taste of His Grace Of Canterbury—or as the Roman sling to our improved arsenals of death .
Industry creates new property , which is governed by old prejudices , until the hostile hand can grasp im too-long-withheld power . And thus , the lagging policy of Government enforces the substitution of sectional cunning and device for PRUDENT CONCESSIONS and timely legislation ; and ever presents man to his fellow as a foe , instead of a helpmate . The order of rule is reversed—the Government ,
instead of being the directing , becomes the directed power ; and justice is lost sight of in the contest for office , and struggle for power . The struggle of contending factions is not for toleration , or even equality , it is for ascendancy—while the neglected bulk of society , ( the great sufferers in the contest , ) arc insolently told that their triumph consists in thi success of those who stand nearest to them in degree , or dearest to them in promise .
Laying aside the anomalous inequality , the perverted law of economy , the inexplicable conundrum , by which bricks and mortar instead of living man are invested with intellect , or , which is the same thing , made capable of investing man with electoral qualification , we may at least in this age of freshness and jumping change , be allowed to plead for the equality , if not for the ascendancy , of thft new house over the old . Seven years
Parliaments arc in this age as great an absurdity as centenary elections would have been in those days of fixedness , marked by the slow progress of improTement and the houseless condition of the country . Where then is the wisdom or even the justice of establishing such antiquated limits , of inflicting sucli a sentence of delay , of imposing such a galling penance upon the trammelled , illused young houses which spring up a * if by magic and proclaim their existence as the TITLE DEED OF THEIR LIBERTY ? As the question of man ' s enfranchisement shall be o » r next ABOMINATION for criticism , w eve now merely confined our remarks to a consideration of party and ministerial difficulties , showing that they mainly , if not wholly , arise from the anomalv of septennial Parliaments , and the vain attempt to govern the houses that have sprung up within six years , by the prescriptive rig ht conferred upon those , which modern architecture , situation , or convenience , have condemned as unfit residences for those whom they had previously qualified , but whose MINDS have become expauded but are nevertheless un-enfraiichised .
In this age of bricks and mortar , when the heath , the forest , th » mountain , and the wilderness surrender their loneliness to the bustle of the builder , it is not a violent assumption to presume that a large balance of power has been added to many city , town , and borough constituencies since the last general election , all constituting a portion of ministerial difficulty .
We have shown good and substantial cause why Septennial Parliaments are inadequate to the just representation of society as at present constituted , and we shall now proceed to the proof that they are at variance with the legal maxim , which declares that a supwior cannot be carved out of an inferior title . A freehold cannot be carved out of a leasehold interest . For instance , a lessee of 9000 years cannot make a lease fora single life to be used for
freehold purposes , that is , a person holding property for 9000 years of the valve of £ 20 , 000 per annum , cannot carve one forty shi'ling freehold out of tl . t whole . A lessor of seven cann a lease for 14 years ,-and above all , if a distinction can exist , a mere tenant at will , or from year to year , cannot convey a superior title . This is one of those maxims of law which does not partake of the whimsicality of fijtion , and therefore becomes an understandable
proposition , carrying common sense home to the meanest intellect . How then , we would ask , can the princip le of carving a seven years' tenure out of a variety of inferior interests , be justified in the representative system . A working majority of the rural constituency is composed of tenants at will , who , nevertheless , are invested with the unconstitutional power of conveving a superior title to the lessee for
seven years . A majority of £ 10 householders , by whose votes the scale of an election may be , and often is , turned , have no better title , and their tenants ( our representatives ) may hold possession of their seats for periods varying from one to saven years , after the title of their lessors has ceased . Agnin , in Ireland , a fourteen , twenty-one , aud sixty years lease , with their respective beneficial interests , confer a vote upon the occup ier or non-resident owner .
The law of election does not stop to inquire whether there is still an unexpired term of seven years upon the day of election , and in many cases , not at all unusual , the scale is turned by the votes of narties who have not more , or so much , as a year of the original term to ran , while from the fact of land
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giving the vote , tenants ao circumstanced become the merest slaves to the will of the landlord in-the hope of a renewal , We know of no plea otlur than that set up by Lord Stanley , upon which this anomaly can be justified , and the Stanley plea is that the tenants are the willing serfs of their land , lords . We have » ow shown that a majority of the House of Commons may possess representative power for years after the title , out of which it has b een carved , shall have ceased , a practice wholly it variance with a wholesome and sensible common sense legal maxim .
We need not cite the ( act , that annual , or rather sessional , Parliaments were formerly part and parcel of our representative system , norahall we attempt to add weight to the enforcement of a return to the ancient practice by reminding our readers of the fact that the very first act of that Parliament which abrogated Sessional Parliaments and substituted septennial tenure , was to give to the proclamation of
the King equal force as law ; nor is it necessary to remind a watchful and jealous public of the striking difference between a house in its expiring momenta and the same assembly in the plenitude of its fresh blown power with the consciousness of seven years irresponsibility , and the knowledge that turpitude treachery and fraud are the surest road to fortune favour , preferment , and title .
For these reasont then , and in order that the scales of political justice may he held even , even between the ranks of contending faction , we DEMAND ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS as the only means of making the House of Commons a correct representation of the existing constituent body , thereby compelling the government in power to rely upon sound legislation rather than DECEPTION , DELUSION , and A CRY , as its title to rule .
In our next we shall show that Universal Suffrage alone can produce soundness in the Representative system honesty in the government , purity in society , the education of the people , the improvement of morals , the solution of the problem of Criminal Law , an alteration in the sanatory condition of the people , security to the property tfall , permanency t > those institutions that ought to stand , the purity of voluntary religion , the conversion of the drunkard , the reclamation of the five hundred thousand perish ing within the precincts of the Royal Palace , existing without God and without hope , the destruction of that anomalous disparity between pampered
idleness and perishing industry , the security o peace through contentment , happiness through plenty , and national prosperity through individua l greatness instead of commercial plunder and speculation , society without requiring the soldier ' s musket , or the constable ' s truncheon to preserve its harmony , a fair and fertile land , the proper field for the propagation of native industry , untaxed by tyrants , and undefiled by the blood of the innocent shed in the contests of the guilty , the development and cultivation of our national resources , and the equitable distribution of the national property , which is its industry .
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PHYSICAL FORCE . We have already exhausted the Steele-O'Connell vocabulary of hard words , which break no bones , but which require a glossary to soften them down to the nice ear of all save moral philosophers . For the very life of us , we cannot construe a million pikes , streams of blood , the largest amount of physical force ever at the disposal of a conqueror , the arm that is yet young enough to wield a sword in defence of its country ' s liberty , the humble petition of 500 , 000 fighting men , the motto under the touch hole of the volnnteer ordnance of ' 82 , the congratulation of Scotch men for having won religious liberty on the
mountain side with the broad claymore , the notice to " Hereditary Bondsmen , " the assurance that England ' s weakness was Ireland's opportunity , the comparison between the strength of Irishmen and those of all other countries ' , the selection of the most bloody scenes of Irish history as the chosen spots for holding peaceful demonstrations of physical force , the forcible reminiscences of the past slaughter of Irish Catholics , tlie denunciation of violated treaties , the fierce excitement to revenge ; the promise of Ireland to the Irish—we presume for asking . We cannot , we candidly confess , construe such language into a peaceful struggle for the Repeal of the Union , without the aid of the old adage , that one man mav
steal a horse , while another dare not look over the wall . Howbcit , to us , who have always inculcated reliance upon moral force , aud moral force only , it is no small consolation to have won back so old a sinner from the wayward path into which he has strayed , and into which he had well nigh led his unsophisticated followers , whose simple notions of plain words tell them to call a spade a spnde , but who are now told that blood means tears , muskets steel pens to sign petitions , the roar of carinoa an Irish sigh for liberty , and swords plough shares . We must be excused for this repeated repetition of the old bug-bear , as it is , and we trust ever will be , our practice to tear humbug to tatters , and lay aposiacy bare to the bone .
We cannot now lay our finger upon the passage in Young Hannibal ' s speech , upon proposing a celebrated resolution , which those with keen noses declared smelt strong of the rat ; but we ; will give the substance , if not the identical words , as a clue to the Juveniles who may search the repeal records for the text . He ( Mr . John O'Connell ) did not mean to say that force may not be one day required to achieve Ireland's liberty , and when that day came , he would be found in the foremost ranks of his countrymen . ( John O'Connell upon the gigantic scheme of godless education . )
Novr what miserable advocates , what poor defenders of their position the Juveniles must be , to haveomitted such a counter thrust , when lunged at b y Young Hannibal . We need say no . raore upon the subject of the O'Connells and physical force . We were the first to announce the fact that O'Connell ' s understanding with the Whigs was , that the object of the Liberator ' s mission to Ireland upon the accession of his party was to break up the Repeal Association-Many months since we observed that Repeal members who conld be sold , and who were willing to be sold , were just as fitting tools for Whig purposes as mere Whigs ; inasmuch as the transition from frantic physical force repealer to staunch Whig , is the most simple process imaginable , as proved iu the case of
Morgan and innumerable young O Connells , Finn , the Fitzsimons , O ' Dwyers , the O'Connor Don , and a whole tribe of sopped off Saxon pensioners . There is , however , much in season . There is a time to build up , and a time to pull down ; a time to agitate , and a time to rest . The time to agitate is from harvest to rent day ; the time to rest is from rent day till harvest comes again . O'Connell will bellow for repeal until the tribute stops his mouth ; and should the prospect of a general election appear gloomy for a continuance of patronage , we shall find the roaring physical force lion soothed into a sucking dove , by the magic of office , and perhaps title . That is , if a General Election should threaten Whiggery with a long season of ease .
Having so far disposed of one of the wings of the physical force army , we shall briefly direct attention to the moral force doctrines of the main body . As !; an old Whig , if such a thing is to be found , what his principles , or' the principles of Whiggery are ? and you will receive the wholesale answerthose established by the glorious Revolution of 1688 . Ask a Tory , to what England owes her greatness ? and you will be told , to the splendour of her arms and the braverv of her sons . Ask Whig or
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Tory , for what the English working classes paj nearly fifty millions a year ? and you will be toiA for the honour of the nation , achieved by her arms , and to support a moral force army ! navy , ordnance , police , and a host of moral force butchers . A » k Mr . Labonchere , the Whig Secretary for Ireland , wherefore the necessity of an augmented police force in that country ? and bis answer is , and was , because the potato crop has failed . Here , then , is the
realization of the proverb . We asked for bread and you gave us a stone . Here is the improved method pointed out by political economy , of arresting famine . Ask a churchman , apon what the glorious constitution of Church and State is based ? and he will tell you , upon the BLOOD OF OUR ANCESTORS , Aak a gentleman , how he will avenge an insult , or redress an injury ? and he will tell you—by the bullet . Ask a soldier , or a sailor , when rushing into battle , what the cause of contention is , and the one will tell
you a shilling a-day , and the other for bis grog and Old England . If a distinguished foreigner visits our shores , the first treat is a salute from our cannon , and the next a review of our troops and inspection of our arsenals . If all other business is neglected by our rulers , provision , pay , and the comfort of our fighting men are never forgotten ; they stand in no danger of famine , while the severity of their service renders minute attention to their fare a
serious consideration with government . Their barracks are ventilated , while those who feed them liv « under-ground ; their children are educated , while those who are taxed for their support are mocked for their ignorance and denied their rights for their want of education . Ask the young aristocracy of England what portions of their country's history they have been taught to read with most reverence and delight , and they will tell you of her sanguinary struggles , marking the name of each age by the amount of blood with which the record is distinguished . The peaceful statesman is forgotten in youthful admiration of our ancient warriors , while our modern
butchers are distinguished by colossal statues and pensions . The names ot Maasanlello , Tell , and Tyler , though culprits in their day , are more honoured than those of Castles , Oliver , or Jemmy O'Brien , friends of modern philosophy . Their danger to society has passed away , but their valour remains , if not as an incentive to similar glory , at least as a mask to hide the puling coward's face , to paralyze the trembling tongue of slavery that would teach men that there was more honour , religion and morality in suffering' like a slave than -in dying like a freeman in a struggle for those attributes with which God at his birth has endowed him . The
frequent consideration of this question of physical force is unfairly imposed upon us as one of the charges against the Chartist body , and while we utterly disclaim it as one of our points , we nevertheless argue the question upon Us broadest gronnds rather than upon the narrow principle of mere denial of its intended use . W'hile we repudiate the charge , we will not so far disgrace nature and dishonour man , as to enforce the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance , thus confessing the tyrant's will to be the tyrant's title to live aud rule .
We cannot conclude our observations upon thia head without directing attention to the demoralizing , debasing , and disgusting letter of the Rev . Mr . Spain , P . P ., characteristically read by the moral force Steelc ( of a million pikes a week notoriety ) at the last gathering of old women at Conciliation Hall . We do not wish to criticise this epistle too severely , it will be found in our present number , and its perusal will insure a sufficient condemnation . We shall merely observe that its whole tenor bespeaks a slavish mind , while many of its passages are at variance with the doctrines that his reverence has been appointed to inculcate and enforce . Here
we find the priest of an oppressed religion in a tyrant trodden country proclaiming his admiration of the very principle by which Ireland and Catholicism have been trampled under the hoof of her proud usurper . We had always / earned that Ihe duty of the pious pastor was to comfort and assist the weak-hearted , to raise up those who fall , and , above all , to console the desolate and oppressed , -nliile we find the following inculcation of passive obedience and non-resistance , poor consolation to those upon whom rampant tyranny has trampled , and slight hope of redress held out to the oppressed through the moral instrumentality of their moral force advocates . The rev . elevator says ,
"IF A SECTION OF THE PEOPLE SUFFER FROM UNJUST LAWS IT APPEARS TO BE THE WILL OF GOD THAT THEY SHOULD SUFFER ' PATIENTLY , RATHER THAN RUN TIIE RISK OF CAUSING GREATER EVILS TO TIIE COMMUNITY 'AT LARGE , BY ATTEMPTING TO REDRESS THOSE OF WHICH THEY COMPLAIN BY FORCIBLE MEANS . "
Was ever servility equal to this scripture philosophy , or did ever language present to the hopeless a stronger invitation to resist political inequality by physical force . We ask the rev . gentleman , if fate happened to have cast his lot amongst the sufferers from unjust laws , whether his self-devotion to the remainder ' of society would reconcile him to tha t political inferiority which he esteems it a virtue to bear for the general good . The rev . gentleman mus * go a step further in his logic and prove that this tame and passive servility of the oppressed is
conducive to the general happiness of society . But why argue against philosophy which , no doubt , was written to suit an old prostitute ' s present policy in his barter of Irish nationality and natural feeling for Whig patronage , and old women ' s applause . Did the rev . gentleman reflect , that in his invitation to suffer tamely he was stamping his countrymen as fitting instruments for oppression and unprepared for that liberty which has been so long promised , so anxiously hoped for , so dearly paid for , but so treacherously withheld . Away with such beastly rubbish .
They who die by the sword are better than those who perish from hunger , for their bodies pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field . A word and we have done . We would asL the rev . gentleman how he can indulge in such wholesale denunciation of physical force while he designates the revolution of 1688 as a GREAT MEASURE WON BY THE WHIGS . By a parity of reasoning we presume that if the Irish had won Ireland in 1798 his reverence would have characterised the revolution as a GRExlT MEASURE WON BY THE IRISH .
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ibarp practice of political economy had rendered it mpossible for labour longer to subsist upon the vparings from the double plunder of dear bread and cheap wages , and the active spirit of enterprising commerce triumphed over the sluggish resistance o { a shallow confident aristocracy , and , as in all similar ca » eg , the labouring poor were taught to believe that the battle being for them , the victory was theirs . A cheering sign of the times , however , anil
one which more than any other circumstance marks the progress of mind , is the fact , that notwithstanding faction's best endeavour , it has failed to commemorate its own triumph by labour ' s servility . A grand national jubilee was anticipated , but the feast of the slaves , in commemoration of their talk masters ' victory , were few—and labour tor the iSrst time began to distinguish between its own , and its oppressors nterest .
The repeal of the Corn Laws has presented the speculating capitalists with the long : and anxioral ? sought oppertunity of doing justice to labour . No longer does the anomaly of restriction s-iand in the w » y of the desired adjustment for which the anxious capitalist so long panted . All moot questions , too delicate for government interference , and ! which , could only be settled by the unerring laws and stem practice of political economy , have now been submitted to that dread tribunal , where protected capital sits in judgment upon defenceless labour ; and the sentence of the court under tbe last statute of
political economy it—Reduction , Retrenchment , and Keformi The new law was made by us , and consequently for n 9 . Now , this is the lesson that every branch of th labouring classes , whether they earn much or little , must understand—that laws are always made for the benefit of those who make them ; and having well learned and intently studied that lesson in political science , the » ext step will be the achievement of that power for labour ' s self , which has conferred so many advantages upon its enemies .
THE POSSESSION OF THE VOTE . We are aware that favourite dogmas and capriciously assumed crotchets , require mountains of words and streams of ink , to keep them with any thing like freshness in the mind ; while wa feel equally convinced that the sour fruit borne by the tree of so much promise , will have more weight than all the disappointments to which poor labour has been subject : since money was introduced as a
medium of barter , in teaching it its duty to itseifl which is its nearest and dearest neighbour . Capitahas not been - so much the enemy of labour , as la hour has been the enemy of itself ; capital has never gained & battle single handed over labour—but on the contrary has ever been enabled to enlist the ready co-operation of the satisfied and comparatively comfortable , to check the aspirations and resist the demands of the positively wretched .
Let us examine the progress and result of the Free Trade contest in whatsoever whimsical shape and form speculation may please to present it , and , however veiled , the real bone of contention—LAND —presents itself to labour ' s eye . The land grows wheat—the cheap supply of which was the boon contended for by those who speculate in labour The land confers the vote , a fact which , howeveu concealed , was the main incentive to Bentinck ' s wrath , D'Israeli ' s gall , and protectionist splutter . If then the land and the vote are indispensable weapons to fight the battle of capital against labour , does not common sense proclaim the fact that the
land and the vote become equally indispensable to fight the battle of labour against capital . It will require an unusually long season of Whig tyranny and intolerance , to unite the scattered fragments of Toryism shattered upon the Free Trade rock . While Stanley and Bentinck are vainly endeavouring to resuscitate the cry of protection and the church , Peel will stand as makeweight between confident Whiggery and struggling Toryism ; until the increasing insolence ol the economists shall once more compel a re-union of piebald Toryism , with me uesc system ot protection it can secure under the leadership of the Right Hon . Free Trade
conqueror . j It is this negative strength given to Whiggery by the sulk of Toryism , that we dread much more than its positive power to retain office upon its own substantive strength , and it is against such a calamity that we -would now caution the labouring classes . A a ^ orai election is saidi to be at hand and under any eircumstana cannot be long deferred . There is a great and still growing demand , for the Land * id the Franchise , springing up in the country ; \ nd it but requires further cultivation and wise dire > tion to secure industry from
the power of united cipital , or the jealousy of sulky faction . Every chame favorable to labour must be improved , its own jeiousiei must be laid asidethe mechanic , earning ^ Os . per week , must prefer the veriest mendicant ot his order , to its morellbera opponent , as a comrade in the approaching struggle . Above all , let the labouring classes bear the fact in mind , that Free Trade is at present but an instrument for use , and that its application will depend upon tha hands in which a general election shall place it . Free Trade would have been one of the first acts of a Chartist Parliament , because under such a constitution , the change would be converted to national instead of class benefit ; and now that it
has taken place , let us secure ; ths means for its most just and profitable application to the requirements of our increasing population . It will not do to sound the charge when the enemy is on the march ; it will not do to present the undisciplined , unrepresented force , to the well-marshalled electoral army . We must improve the opportunity , marshal our forces , arm them with powerful weapons , of which neither faction nor the law can dispossess them . The people must now , from this moment , shoulder the protective weapon of
EXCLUSIVE DEALING ; they must canvass every constituency where tlie balance of power may be safely calculated upon ; and they must deal with those only who will promise , upon the day of battle to voti for protection to that industry upon which their profits and position in society depends . Every constituency should have its election roll , the consumers should arrange themselves into CUSTOM CLASSES , and , according to the principles of political economy , exchange
their commodities iu the most beneficial market , buying in the cheapest and selling in the dearestexchanging the produce of their labour for the vote that is to protect their industry . Let this be done , and done speedily ; or let labour cease its unprofitable struggle , and proclaim itself a WILLING SLAVE . Labour has the ball in its own hands , and if it only depends upon its own order to play the game , it will win the stakes-which are Liberty and . the Land , defended by union and the vote . A
A Jouttxet To The Peoples' First Estate. August 17, Isis.
A JOUttXET TO THE PEOPLES' FIRST ESTATE . AUGUST 17 , ISiS .
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LABOUR'S BATTLE . Thk battle of FREE TKADE has been fought and won , and although the selfishness of party now and then burst through the veil of philosophy with which the conquering speculators had covered their real object , the confessed " casus belli , " the professed motive , was the bettering of labour ' s condition , the unshackling of industry ' s hands from those tight fetters , those galling manacles , in which a monopolizing aristocracy had tied and bound them up
as necessary segments of the nation's greatness , as becoming portions of a great dove-tailed whole . That labour is the only source of wealth is an admitted fact , and therefore the sons of toil must be blind indeed if they have not during the long-pending contest discovered the fact , that the struggle between contending parties , between those who ° wouli ) retain power by making them valuable as expensive consumers , and those who would increase wealth lu making them cheap producers , has been solel y aiu ] entirely for the lion ' s share of the appropriation o ' this only source of wealth to their owa * ! e use behoof , and benefit . The improved science and
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letter iii . to the Irish residing- in gre \ t BRITAIN . Fellow Countrymen , —Yora may ask , and no doubt you have asked before this , what good does O'Higgins purpose doing b y those addresses to his countrymen , in which he endeavours to show that
Mr * O'Connell is not onl y not the friend , but the enemy , of the working r j asscs ? Now , this is a very fair , and a very reason aoie question , and demands an explicit answer . T that answer , I beg your most serious attention * "My answer is , that Mr . O'Conuel would be utterly powerless without your aid ; and if uy my addresses to you , I can prove that he always made use of , - your aid for the promotion of his q
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- - - ;' --- ¦••• - "•¦• - —————¦ JTowreaay , Price OneSnUliog . thk atteoap xoinoje or MY LIFE , OR OUR SOCIAL STATE , Pabi I . a r «« H | by ERNEST JONES , Barrister at Law .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 29, 1846, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1381/page/4/
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