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Northern Star (1837-1852), 17th October 1846, Edition 1 of 3, Page 4

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    • ! THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1846.
    • yowrcaitjr, l'rire One Shilling. THE SECOND EV.1T1ON 4F MY LIFE, OR OUll SOCIAL STATE, PaRt I.
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      a l « em , lyEftNEST JOKES , Barrister at Law . VCt nope the author will be encouraged by the public to c ontinue his memoirs . —Literary Gaztttc , An unrqumH-alhr strange and eventful history— Ossianic in its e , ualitj . —Horning Ucrtild , Lady Cacrlcon and her Lord five portraits trua as any that Lawrence erer painted . Beautiful in description , tender , pathetic a » d glowing in the affections of the hewt . the author ' s penis not wifliout a turn for satire—Ifaval and Military Gazette . It bears forcibly and patently on the exiStinR State of society , its vices , its follies , and . its enmes . —Court Journal . Published by Mr . X £ wl $ -, 72 , Jto . timer-street , Caren-< ish-squarc . Orders recerred by all booksellers .

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      •• THE GREAT BOOT OF ALL OCR NATIONAL EVILS . " This'day , second edition , price reduced to 5 s : bound in T ^ ITE ARISTOCRACY OF ENGLAND ; a Historj 3 br the People . By Jons IIampdes . jun . " Their history is one continued series of spoliations committed on the people from the time of the Konnnn Conquest downwards , and well i « that history told in tlie ¦ w ork before us . "—Brighton-Herald . We conscientiously pronounce this to be one of ilie best works everissued from tlie press . Since ' Pane ' s Bights assailcr

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      IUPORTAXT TO PHOTOGRAPHISTS . AX application was made on tlie 22 nd September , to the Vice-Chaucellor of England , by Mr . ISeard ( who , acting under a mostextraordiny delusion , considers tnms&fitie sole patentee of tlie Photographic process !) to restrain JIR . ESEKTO . V . of 1 , Temple-street , and US , Fleet-street , from tiking Photographic Portraits , which le does by a process entirely different from and very Superior to Mr . Beard ' s , and at one-half the charge . His Honour refused the application in tola . ~ So license- required t- > practice this process , which is taught by Mr . Egerton in a few lessons at a moderate charge . Jill the Apparatus , Chemicals . Jkc , to be had as usual at his Depot , ! , Temple-street , Whitefriars .

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      LITHOGRAPHIC EXGEAYIXGS O ? THE DTJNCOMBE TESTIMONIAL . MAY still he had at the Office of Messrs . M'Gowan and Co ., lfi , Great Windmill Street , Ilaymarket , London ; through any respectable booksel ! erin town or country" ; oratany of the agents of tlie Northern Star . The engraving is on a lan ? e scale , is executed in the laost finished sty le , is linelv printed on tinted paper , and fires a minute " description of tlie Testimonial , and has the Inscription , &c . &e , ensnwed up m it . PKICE FOUKPEXCE .

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      1 HFOBTAST TO TODXG AND HEALTI 1 T MES . UNITED PATRIARCHS BENEFIT SOCIETY . Patron : T . S . Dd . vcombb , Esq ., if . P . London Society House : —Round Table Tavern , St Martin ' s Court , Leicester Square . John * Calf , Treasurer . London Office ' . —13 . Tottenham Court , Hew Roafl , Si . Pancras . Daniel William Rdfft , General Secretary . Avi opportunity is offered for a short time to Healthy Men , under Forty-Five years of age , to become members of this institution . It is Enrolled , and empowered by Act df Parliament to have Agents , Medical Attfnd mts , Branches , an ^ Branch Committees , ivith o : her important privileges , and to extend over the Unil < d Kingdom .

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      This Testimony to the Rules was given by T . S . TJcscombe , Esq ., M P ., who honoured the Society by taking the chair at its first anniversary , on Monday , July Cth , 1 S 1 G : — The Chairman * . —The next sentiment I have to submit to you is the toast of the evening— " The United Patriots ' and Patriarchs'Benefit Societies : and prosperity to the branches . " 1 assure you it is a subject in which I feel a deep interest , having introduced a Bill into tlie House to remedy certain defects in the existing laws ; and I fe" 2 l a peculiar interest in jonr so aetj , / or on turning

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      TO TAILORS . LOSDON and PARIS FASHIONS FOR AUTDMN ASD WINTER , 1 S 4 G-47 . By READ and Co ., 12 , Hart-street , Bloomsbury square , London ; And G . Berg . r , Holy well-street , Strand ; May fce had of all booksellers , wheresoever residing .

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      CHARTIST POEMS , BY ERNEST JONES . Price Three Pence . TUo Wish having been expressed in several quarters for thu autkor 10 publish in a coUedted form his Poemg that have appeared in the Xorthcrn Star , he begs to ail . noancc that a revised and corrected selection under the above title 5 s noir ready to be issued ^ A fine edition , printed on thicker paper , and in an elegant binding , will presently be published at fid . Agents are requested to send their orders tothe autl »<* or to Mr . Wheeler , at the office of the K . C . A ., 83 , Dean Street , Soho , London , or to Jl'Gowan & Co ., Printers , 1 G , Great Windmill Street , Hajmarket , London .

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      NOTICE TO AGENTS . All agents who hare had their accounts transmitted , and do not forward the amount forthwith , will 'be handed over , without distinction , to our solicitor . We will not be fooled by the pretext that the poverty of the people obliges agents to gi ? e them credit . We don ' t believe it : it is false , and if they did , they must not speculate upon oar property . The people all pay for their papers , and we must be paid .

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      MALCOLM M'GREGOR . ,

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      vered the MVi ^ 6 ssilj » lity serving two Masters , and hence arose the anomalous necessity of satisfying the double cravings of represented land and machinery by t ! ie plunder of unrepresented labour and parings from the clerical board . The English people were sacrificed to the Maltlnisian policy , which would secure cheap labour for the manufacturer , and diminished poor rates for the landlord and his serfs , and in each the unrepresented poor were sacrificed to the represented rich ; but , as we foretold , the monopolists are now compelled to disgorge , when the policy of their Government has subjected their properties to ( he unscrupulous re-assumption of the famishing sufferers .

      We hare said that the greatest danger to the state , consists in the limitation of the appointment of . ts government to aclass or section , who may have inerests antagonistic to those of the commonwealth . And as the two rival interests which are now placed in deadly antagonism are machinery worked by unbounded capital and credit , and protected by its owners government , and laws ; and unrepresented labour , limited by the laws of compelion , capricious speculation , and uncertain demand , the forthcoming struggle should be solely confined to the realization of such a representation , if not a government , as

      will make labour a dangerous rival , and ultimately a successful competittor for representation and a representative government . We have great confidence in the machinery of trades unions for the regulation of trade affairs , but we have no confidence whatever in those who would urge them as a substitute for governmental protection ; but on the contrary , we have ever , and ever Bliall , look upon such men as the O'CONNELLS OF LABOUR , who would preserve wrong and misrule , that a few may fatten upon the promise of redress . Landlords , merchants , and manufacturers , although protected by their own

      government , nevertheless see the necessity of associations in the arrangement of their several class affairs , and upon the same principle we have contended for the necessity of Trades' Unions , even with a Chartist government , while in the present struggle for the achievement of labour's right we brand the limitation of their exertions to the mere arrangement of trade affairs , as treachery , treason , and fraud , of the blackest die—treachery , treason , and fraud , the more vile and damning , because it entails the perpetuation of labour's wrong for the benefit of labour ' s idle deceivers . And , truth to say , we should

      wish to see the whole machinery of Trades' Unions conducted and managed by men who worked by day , and met , IN TURN , by night , to concoct the means of speedily healing the fresh wounds and blisters from recent toil . The idea of telling slaves whose fetters are forged in the political fire , that they must steer clear of politics , is digusting in the extreme , and only reminds us of the new version of moral force , which says , " stay not the hand that is raised to shed your blood , but console yourself with the Christian revenge of assuring the assassin that he is WRONG , VERY WRONG . " When did

      remonstrance ever stay the tyrant's vengeance , or when will suppliant labour ever wrench the grasp of capital from labour ' s neck , or humble its proud oppressor ; or when will Trades' Unions ever secure for labour that protection which representation and a representative government alone can give . The charm of government should consist in the equality of the laws , and the assurance of obedience from respect rather than coercion ; a blessing which , however , can only spring from so large , so just , and so untrammelled a representation ol the whole people as will make disobedience of laws a national insult , instead of meritorious daring ; that will secure a

      just punishment instead of vindictive revenge for the offender , and that will leave the minority of malcontents so small that their opposition will be contemptible , because the nation's will would be backed by the strong executive of national strength . Much a better system than that by which the caprice of faction is enabled to outlaw a nation , and would lead to a more strong , respectable , respected and moral government than the present tool of faction , which lives upon popular licentiousness aud dissipation , and should bend or fall before a virtuous , moral and reformed mind . We believe that even in Russell there is more of good than of evil , aud therefore , even in justice to him and those of his

      class similarly situated , we call upon the whole people from the Laud ' s End to John O'Groat's , to apply the magic wand of virtue to the human mind , to devclope the good in all , that evil may be subdued , and thus establish such a government as may ye \ even yet , make England the envy of the world and the admiration of surrounding nations . This can only be accomplished by the PEOPLE'S CHARTER , and therefore do we now appeal to the virtuous and strong to seize the hour of faction ' s weakness to secure for labour a RESTING-PLACE , for the monarch a THRONE , for the Government RESPECT , for the laws OBEDIENCE , and for the whole people PROTECTION by the enactment of

      THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER A Charter strong in its entirety , but incomplete if shorn of any one of those points which the Nation has characterished as abominations . And now , having , developed and analysed the several points of the People ' s Charter , and having shown the inevitable necessity of such a government-as can emanate from its enactment alone , we call upon the Nation to convince us of our error in supporting it , or to retract its error in having denounced it .

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      provide against the powfoilily of famine , while we have attached more dignity to the Chartist cause than the allegation that its advocates consist of the desperate , the needy , and the idle . Chartism has been denominated "A hungry howl " , and , truth to say , the apathy of the labouring classes in seasons of prosperity in . part sanctions the charge ; but yet we cannot war with a nation even in error , if error bespeaks the national character . We ascribe error to the law ' s oppression , or , as the result of misplaced confidence in the continuance of delusive and capricious , and only partial prosperity . If rulers

      undertake the responsibility of governing , and surrender : the calm of private life for the pomp of office , they are morally , socially , legally , and equitably bound to administer the whole national property for national purposes . ^ Ve shall not now clog our observations with the general principle of '' equitable destitution , " but we aver that a contingency like the present demands a prompt and instantaneous relaxation of all the ordinary rules of government , and imp eratively calls for a religious and moral , rather than a strictly legal and constitutional administration of the national wealth . The English

      will not tamely submit to be butchered in the streets'for the crim <> . of hunger , and as the universal epidemic is fast approaching to THEIR doors , , we ask in time , whether a seasonable surrender of a portion of the existing wealth , or the loss of all , is preferable . Let it be borne in mind that a kindly disposition to meet the calamity will considerably augment the . scanty store , or , at least , make it go much farther than if it is capriciously divided or recklessly destroyed by a starving people . Famine , when partial , is not unfrequently i ncreased by the improvident consumption ,

      destruction , and waste of those who help themselves in the general scramble , and to avert this calamity , as well as to insure some safe estimate by which the worst may be discovered and the most may be made of the present amount of provisions , we would strongly urge upon the government the propriety of taking stock of every man ' s store of food , and , in defiance of the laws of political economy , to assess the price at which it should be sold and the mode of sale , assigning to each his rightful share , neither committing waste nor sanctioning any improvident use . This , by parochial valuation , could be done in a week ; in another week government could be

      in possession of the amount , and could calculate tli e necessity and , should feeble resistance be offered , the people would cheerfully act as the " posse comiiatus " to aid government in this truly useful commission . It is worse than childish folly to undertake the farce of the slow process of baronial assessment , or of talking just now to a famishing people of nexl sea son ' s prospects ; which in truth , increase in gloc my anticipations . Food . existing food , is the thing wanted , is the thing existing , is the thing visible and convertible into immediate relief , and a scant supply may be much augmented in amouut , if , by some process , the starving can be assured that THIS is NECESSARY ,

      and that ALL ABOVE HIM PARTICIPATE IN THE CALAMITY ; but the producer will not tamely consent to be the only sufferer , while the idler increases his wealth by his necessity and want . A thorough knowledge of the ulterior results , as well as the immediate consequences of the failure of the potatoe crop , is indispensable to a fair adjustment of the question ; and as no portion of the press lias

      handled the subject otherwise than as an immediate and pressing necessity , to be met" by political device or the laws of political economy , we shall lay bare the whole significance , import , and importance of the potatoe failure . There are many wiseacres who confine their estimate of loss to the mere value of the lost commodity , without note or comment upon the collateral contingencies . AVe have laboured incessantly to draw the distinction between

      PRODUCTIVE AND NON-PRODUCTIVE LABOUR . We h'tvc shown that the erection of huge mansions and c llossal railway stations , of palaces and gaols , and p 3 or , houscs , and what are called public works , are UNPRODUCTIVE Labour—while the rudest cultivation of thesoil is PRODUCTIVE labour , because the husbandman can live upon his own produce while he is reproducing ; but not so with the operative , mechanic , artificer , or artizan engaged in unproductive work . We do not mean to say that all unproductive labour is useless labour , far from it ; but we do mean to say , that the most productive , useful , neccssarv ,

      and indispensable , the means of providing sustenance , should not be the least encouraged and protected . The Irish Landlords appear to have learnt this lesson tardily , as we find they are now petitioning to have t !; e pauper labour expended upon the cultivation of the soil , instead of being foolishly lavished upon " unproductive" public works . We shall now furnish an illustration so plain and simple of the consequences of the failure of the potatoe crop , that neither Editor , minister , or political economist can refute or deny . , We have frequently reminded the working classes of the simple fact , that thev must sell their labour before

      they can buy food at any price . This then is the present Irish difliculty . The food upon which the Irish usually live is gone , and its failure renders it . impossible for them to procure a substitute at any price . The usual operations in this particular season of the year , in those districts where distress has become most imminent and appalling , are digging potatoes , and thr ashing a sufficiency of corn to pay the Michaelmas rents , and the partial collecting of manure for the ensuing season's crop . Now all these resources are closdJ , there are no potatoes to dig , and the farmers gloating over the famine , and prospect of

      a rise wont thrash ; but prefer lugging out some of the OLD GUINEAS , of which , as Lord Stanley told their Lordships , there is still an inconceivable quantity in Ireland , while the two successive years failure of the national crop , and manure being solely applied to that crop as a preparation for wheat , has so paralysed the agriculturist , as to render all preparation for its further growth so much labour lost . In passing , we may observe , that not one part in every hundred of the manure made in the south of Ireland , where distress principally prevails , is applied to any crop save potatoes . A potatoe . crop is alwavs the

      preparation for wheat , llicre is no such thing known as your" clover lay , " your fallow , or your turnip crop . Having said so much , we now proceed to our sum of the loss contingent upon the potatoe failure . In the most distressed counties , one seventh of every farm is invariably under potatoes ; that is , a farmer renting seventy acres will have ten \ acres of potatoes ; an acre of potatoes requires thirty men to dig them , and fifteen women or boys to pick them . We are informed that at least two-thirds of the crop has been ploughed up , " or will be allowed to rot in the ground . It would require three hundred men to dig and a

      hundred and fifty women and boys to pick ten acres of potatoas , and allowing two-thirds to be left undug we find that two hundred men , or two-thirds of the required number , and one hundred women and boys , are deprived of this source of ' employment upon every seventy acres of ground ; that is , of course , two hundred men and one hundred women and boys lose one day's employment upon every seventy acres , or about twelve individuals lose a month ' s employment . If , then , we estimate the loss so low as six hundred thousand acres , we find that twenty-scven millions of people have been thrown out of employ , mont for a dav , or ONE MILLION ONE

      HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND FOR A MONTH ; now , in ordinary years , this would no ! be so material a grievance , inasmuch as nineteen iu every twenty Irish labourers grow a sufficient quantity of potatoes TO PUT THEM OVER CHRISTMAS , till the spring work begins . This calamity cannot , therefore , be estimated by any arithmetical rule , the result is PERFECT STARVATION . Add to this the fact that the farmers

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      will not thresh , another of the usual operations 11 this season , and the further calamity that they will not go to any expense in making manure , which means the collecting of old earth and bog stuff to put in the farm yard and up to every door and window of the house , and the still jgreater calamity the stoppage of the usual credit when a partial failure only occurs , and the reader has a simple sum of the calamity , present and future , of the potato f . iilutc . In those districts where the system of renting " con acres" prevails , the calamity will be still worse , as there the tenant of the mere potato

      crop will not even dig two-thirds , or any portion , lest he should be charged rent for the whole . The amount of wages thus lost to the people is as nothing in comparison with the value of money , but becomes incalculable in value as well as considerably increased in loss , when the increased price of provisions and the impossibility of procuring any sum to purchase them , is estimated . When the potatoes fail in Ireland , the people have no market for their labour , and they are unaccustomed to live from hand to mouth . We asserted last year that the full effect of the failure could not then be

      estimated , while we now caution the government against the folly of presuming that national habits and national customs can be changed by any jerking process , and that a whole nation , however susceptible of that pliancy which may be occasionally turned to the most opposing policy , while living upon potatoes and hope , can he as easily reconciled to starvation and despair . The Repeal of the Union can be kept within the bounds of individual cunning am caprice , aud will be kept alive by hope ; but hunger knows no such capricious limits , and will break through stone walls , and the most stringent acts of

      Parliament by- which power can hope to fence its possessions . Let the Government , then , understand in time that it has as yet but seen that miniature , of which next season will present the monster painting of a starving nation , and that its only safe remedy is in productive labour , sweetened , encouraged and increased by the assurance and guarantee that the husbandman shall be the first partaker of the fruits of his own industry , and secured n possession of the land upon which he shall expend it , beyond the power of tyrants or class-made laws to eject him . The land is God ' s gift to man , his existence is his t ' tle-deed , his strength is his capital , his industry d stinguishes him among his fellows . The land

      furnishes everything that man lives upon and lives in , wears and sleeps upon and exchanges , its loss lias made him a slave , its possession alone can make him a FREEMAN , and therefore what we counsel is , an immediate and impartial assessment of the amount of food in the country , with a view to its use and necessary application to a pressing demand , and the restoration of the land to its Creator ' s orig inal purposes , to serve man ' s necessities instead of his tyrant's cupidity and lust . Let speculation wait upon surplus after an abundance for all , and , in the name of justice , let us recognise , our country ' s greatness in individual happiness instead' of mercantile speculation .

      At present distress would appear limited to the south and west of Ireland ; and yet , those who undertake the management of that countrry ' s affairs , and the press which enlightens them , are ignorant of the reasons why the people of those parts should be first affected by the national calamity . Upon several previous occasions we have described the peculiar habits , manners , customs , and mode of life of the several provinces . We have explained that while the people of Connaught and Minister for U 12 most part , if not wholly , live upon potato diet , that those of Ulster and Leinstcr live upon oaten cake ,

      stir-about , bacon , eggs , milk , and butter . Again , Leiuster and Ukter being thinly populated , as com pared with Connaught and Munster , the poor of the two latter provinces flock to the two former in droves , to reap the harvest and dig the potatoes . The Galway , Roscommon , Cork , Kerry , and Limerick -poor especially , migrate to the interior or midland counties , to perform these works . That channel is now closed—and hence we find Skibberecn , Clonakiltry , Yeughal , Galway , and those very remote districts against whose poor this source of living is closed , have become the scenes of the most appalling

      distress . To ratet such a calamity as this , the Government obeys the economic dictates of the Maming Chronicle , by raising the price of food , lest speculators in famine should be baulked of a portion of their plunder ! while its new ally , the . Times , invokes the religious aid of the " SURPLICED RUFFiANS " whose mission , authority , and power , the trembling sycophant uo ' . v recognises and acknowledges ; while it has been wont to ascribe ev ry national want and grievance to that source to which it now submissively prays for protection . We , too , trust , that the shepherd will exercise his influence to

      protect his flock from the ruthless hand of the assassin ; but , we also trust that he will fulfil bis holy calling , which the Times now acknowledges , by teaching the people that their suffering is the dispensation of class-inade laws , and has been increased 131 per cent , by a class-made government , in deference to the laws of political economy , which are the devil ' s edicts , aud not God ' ordinances . We trust tha ' t the Catholic priesthood of Ireland will make the distinction between God's dispensation and

      man's monopoly , and that tney will speak to the people thus— " Behold , my children , the land which the Lord your God has given you , see its produce gathered , harvested , granaried , stacked , and stored , and fenced iu by the laws of man , and withheld from the kindly uses to which the Great Giver hath assigned it . Get the land , my children , and fence it with an equality of power , live upon it , cultivate it , harvest its produce in your own storehouses , and if you have surplus after comfortable subsistence , darter it in the commercial market for those necessary commodities which machinery can supply at a cheaper rate than individuals can produce . "

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      pleased to furnish for our use , and we pray that tiiou wouldst be pleased to ALLOW tliy servants to share this , thy bounty , with thy poor and famishing people . Amen , "

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      " THE NATION ? AND " THE CHARTER . " " We have received a printed address from the Chartists of England to the Irish people , with a request that we should insert it in the " Nation . " We desire no fraternisation between the Irish people and the Chartists—not on account of the bugbear of ' j ) hgsical force '' but simply because some of their five points are to us an abomination , and the tchole spirit and tone of their proceedings , though well enougkfor England , are so essentially English that their adoption in Ireland would neither be probable nor at all desirable . Between us and tliem there is a guy fixed ; we desire not to bridge it over , but to make it wider and deeper . " From the " Nation" of Jug . 15 . 1846 .

      SUMMARY OF ABOMINATIONS . GOVERNMENT . By Government is meant the delegation of power to the chosen few of that party which a majority of the electoral body shall have selected under the representative system as most fit to be entrusted with the management of state affairs , and with the appointment of the necessary machinery for the adjustment of domestic regulations and foreign arrangements ; and , therefore , as all persons of every degree-but more especially the weak and impotent

      —have an interest in those several matters , it becomes the paramount duty of all to struggle for a participation in the selection of the Government . Upon the Government for the time being devolves the responsibility of enacting laws , as with it rests the power of doing so , from its command of that majority of whose will it is the executive . The ministers are the government ; and the executive , whether elective or

      hereditary , or howsoever appointed , is their servant , bound to affirm their acts ; and , although possessing a negative power of refusal , yet seldom , if ever , daring to use it . Indeed , the executive may be justly compared to a hangman , whose only duty is to obey . When the Government of a country possesses such vast and irresistible power , ITS greatest danger , as well as the greatest danger to the state , consists in the limitation of its appointment to a class or section , who may have interests antagonistic to those of the commonwealth , while ITS greatest safetv , and the general welfare of all , consists in its

      responsibility to all , universal approval , or , at least , the sanction of the majority upholding it , against sectional dissatisfaction and factious complaint . Under such a system the laws would be yielding to mercy and stern against oppression , with an executive exacting an implicit obedience to their mild authority . Upon the other hand , when Government is a mere emanation from the capricious will of the powerful few , it becomes an object of distrust , contempt , and resistance to the many , who recognise in their rulers a surrender of mind to the fascinations of patronage—the barter of national justice and universal right to class necessity .

      The many struggles that have disturbed the peace of this country from the period of Harry ' s plunder of the poor down to the MURDER OF THE IRISH WHO ASKED FOR LABOUR TO BUY FOOD IN DUNGARVAN , have been one and all consequences of the responsibility of Government being confined to that class who have the power of making and unmaking it . Hence , for centuries the Whigs , as well as the Tories , were the slavish Government of a landed aristocracy , in whose hands was placed the power of appointment ; and since manufactures became the active competitors of sluggish agriculture , that class has now assumed the ascendant ; and thus it matters not whether the Government is

      Whig or lory , Peel and Russell must equally bend to the new control . The Reform Bill was the last great struggle for the transfer of irresponsible power from the few to the niauy ; but so great was the obstructive influence of the laud party in the upper House , that the Commons were compelled to barter the principle of the measure to insure the acquiescence of the Lords , by the enfranchisement of 108 , 000 of their agricultural slaves , or more than 25 per cent , of the whole rural constituency ; a circumstance which emboldened Peel to fight the battle

      of resuscitation in the Registration Courts , and the result of which was the anomaly of a majority of ninety-three Tories in the eighth year of Reform , a much larger majority than Mr , Pitt could command in the rampant days of corruption and boroughmongering . Russell , Lord Palraerston , and Sir Henry Parnell , . very speedily discovered the effects of the Reform Bill upon the rural constituencies , in their unceremonious ejectment by their old friends , and the necessity of taking refuge in small boroughs . The effect—the inevitable effect—of this reliance of

      Government upon class approval is the source of the master

      grievance—CLASS LEGISLATION ; and it is , therefore , for the entire , not the partial * destruction of this grievance , that the NOW weak and impotent contend—not weak and impotent in numbers , skill , and industry , but weak and impotent in resistance to class-made . law ; too weak and impotent to resist the most unjust or tyrannical exercise of the law , but sufficiently strong and powerful to change the source of law from the narrow channel of class caprice to the boundless ocean of universal progressive thought . The waste of the popular strength in mere pigmy assaults upon the

      breastworks of corruption has been the great , and indeed unpardonable error , of most popular leaders ; ihey have contended locally and sectionally against laws which judges have told them MUST BE OBEYED , HOWEVER HARSH , while the same strength that has been vainly spent m these sectional crusades , if wisely directed against the system from which the grievances emanate , would have been irresistible and long since triumphant , The Reform Government being the bond-slave of the manufacturing interest , and still bound by the Chandos £ 50 tcnant-at-will clause to the landed aristocracy , very speedily disco-

      ! The Northern Star. Saturday, October 17, 1846.

      ! THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , OCTOBER 17 , 1846 .

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      FAMINE .

      When the grim monster FAMINE stalks through the land , the Peer feels COMPASSION FOR HIS TITLE , the landlord for his DOMAIN , the money lord for his TREASURE , and the Minister for his RESPONSIBILITY , but none really feel sympathy for the sufferers . Hunger is the great leveller of distinction , and in its progress stays not at the law's bidding or at authority ' s command . The bullet of the soldier may mow down whole ranks of the enemy , but every gap is speedily filled up by an unconquerable reserve , until a thinned population shall no longer press too hardly upon the remnant of subsistence allowed to the industrious from the store-house of their own produce , and then vengeance is satisfied with its triumph . Hpw often have we told the working classes that , however laws may free the wholesale article from restriction , yet the poor consumer would fail to recognize his share of the change in the retail article , when checquered with alL the profits of speculation and risk . Ten shillings increase in a quarter of wheat cannot be arithmeticall y distributed upon its { . roduce in quartern loaves , aud as all to the baker will secure his profit upon the rise , the retail article becomes nearly double in value , or , at least , in price , when placed on the consumers board . Thus we find that , however the government of a class may sincerely desire the improvement and protection of the people , that , yet , the power of class will absorb to its own kindly use all the proposed relief . When gaunt hunger is fast threatening the Irish people with extermination , and when the enemy is weekly nearing our own door , we cannot bring our minds to bear upon any of the minor grievances which affect society . We may abuse the government , which , by the acceptance of power , incurs all the responsibility and dangers consequent upon the calamity , but abuse of the government will not feed the hungry or arrest the destroyer ' s march , It becomes the duly of every man of common feeling and humanity to aid by suggestions , even the most ridiculous if they are the solemn convictions of reason , in the hope that out of a multiplicity of advice , wholesome action may spring . We have done our share , and we modestly but proudly assert more than any living man , to

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      WEEKLY REVIEW .

      Ireland still occupies the foreground among home topics , but there are scarcely any new features in its condition . The step taken by the Lord-Lieutenant , of advancing public money for the improvement of the soil , seems to have met with unireraal approbation on both sides of the Channel , as a common sense and practical measure in itself ; although we find that many of our contemporaries take the same view as we did last week , as to the impropriety of

      allowing the landlords to reap the entire ultimate benefit , which the expenditure of national capital and labour will inevitably produce . Even the ultra-economical Chronicle has boon driven into something like ordinary reason on the occasion , and advises , that if we are to employ the unemployed people of Ireland in improving the partially cultivated lands of that country with the money of the public , it shall be on such conditions as shall ensure to the labourers so employed , the ultimate possession ami enjoyment of the soil thus reclaimed and rendered fruitful .

      But the difficulty of dealing with a powerful bodj of landowners , who would almost universally unife to resist what they would call an aggression on the privikgesof a position , the duties of which they either do not know , or are unable to fulfil , seems to frighten the Prime Minister now at the lielra of affairs . He looks on silent and inactive , at the very time when of all things promptitude , decision , and comprehensive measures , are imperatively ( lemandi'd ^ The Irish branch of the Executive are actively , if not always wisely , employed in the endeavour to avert or alleviate the calamities of the sister Island .

      The-Home Government give no sign of life save in theoccasional holding of a Cabinet Council , the results of which are nil . This conduct has not escaped animadversion in Ireland . The papers speak out on the subject . Mr . O'Connell d—ns the Whigs with faint praise . His copious and exaggerated euloginms on the bravery and wisdom of Lord Besborough are only so many left-handed hits at Russell . In truth , the crisis demands far other Statesmen than those who now administer the affairs of the country . From the details we have given , as to the state of things in Ireland , it will be seen that the southern , western , and some of the midland counties , are the scenes of serious and increasing sufferiris :,

      and its concomitant outbreaks . The shipment o provisions is obstructed , and their inland transit prevented . Provision shops and stores are plundered Corn is carried . from the haggard and openly thrashed by the road-side . In some districts the tumults have almost assumed ah insurrectionary character . Dungarvan may be said to be in a state of siege . At Cork arrangements have been made for the military defence of the town ; troops are concentrated at Athlone , ready to act as occasion ma , y require , in repressing risings in the adjacent counties ; and both the navnl and the land forces at the disposal of the Irish Uorernment , has been greatly augmented .

      In the very midst of this appalling state of things , the empty puppets who play Punch and Judy at Conciliation Hall , are squabbling amongst themselves as to who shall sit for this and that borough , evincing by their conduct the callousness of their hearts , and the slender degree of real interest they feel in the fate of their unhappy country . If the calamity which has stricken it , be only of service enough to open the eyes of its poouliition to the rascality , venalitv .

      selfishness , and vanity of those who have so long mis . ruled them , it will not have occurred in vain . Such disgusting scenes as that enacted between Messrs . O'Neil and John O'Connell , then Lawler and some worthy descendant Jof the great humbug , are sureiy enough to exhibit these worthies in their true character of traders in their country ' s miseries . Until Ireland sets rid of its quacks , it will never be in a healthv state .

      One gleam of sunshine has broken athwart the formerly unrelieved gloom which hung over the for « tunes of Ireland . It is reported that in several cases , whore the potatoes ha'l been giv >; n up as hopeless , the fine September weather has restored them to health ; find that , though small in size , and an inferior crop as to quantity , they will yet be fit for food . Should this be true to j > ny great extent , it would mitigate the distress , but by no means afford any excuse for relaxing those continuous and comprehensive efforts , which must now be made to rescue that country from

      being ever on the verge of starvation . There is land enough , and labour enough in it , to produce abundance for all . Whatever obstruction starnls in the way of the union of these two primary elements of al wealth , and their consequent offspring plenty and fertility , must give way . If the Church is the obstruction , remove it ; if the landlords are the barrier , ulear them out " What is sauce for the goose is sauce tor the gander . " When the poor are drren by thoa * sands fnini their humble homes and holdings , it is justified on the plea of state necessity and the public cond . We onlv ask that the same measure may . at

      this emergency , be niekd out to those who have urged that argument . The object of all human institutions are , or are assumed to be , the happiness of those who live under thorn ; when , as in the caSe of Ireland , the existing institutions are confessedly an utter and hopeless failure ; it is time that they should no longer be permitted to cumber the ground . The new member for St . Albans has launched a somewhat showy and imposing scheme under the iitleofthe National Anti-Poor Law Union . The objects of this confederacy , at first sight , appears desirable and most philanthropic . It is true , there fa no great novelty in them , nor in the machinery for carrying them out . Friendly Buuefiu , Benefit Building , and Life Assurance Association Societies

      have long existed among us . The new features of Mr . Ciibbell ' s society seem to be simply their agglomeration into one association , and the somewhat queer condition , that nobody shall be a member unless recommended by a parson of Bomc sort , and that all benefits shall be forfeited if the members " cease for three months , ( not being sick or otherwise legitimately prevented ) from attending some place of divine worship . " This last ? V ( . 'mainly a novelty and one of such a character as will , we are bold to say , deprive Mr . Cabbell of any support from the independent and mentally free industrio us classes . They have h ; ul enough of priestly domination in times past , without voluntarily running their heads into a new parson-trap , however cunningly ( liFsruised .

      Mi . Cabbell wo believe to be a very charitable man , but it is clear he knows nothing whatever of the task he has taken in hand—the very constitution of his society implies that the existing Poor Law , with all its abominations in principle and practice , is to be let alone , as fit for , what he calls , the idle ; ind vicious classes ol ' society . But there are some preliminary questions to be asked before we as « s > o his premises . What made these classes idle and vicious ? The vicious nnd most immoral iiiitiunions of society , whioh , as jt were , predestined them to poverty , ignorance , aud the influence of bad

      example . Society having made them thus by its own neglect has no right to take advantage of its own Ifich . es , and condemn thorn to the limbo of poverty , vice , and its attendant retributions for ever . In the next place , why should the industrious and prudent of the labouring class be culled upon to provide by means of a voluntary association , that relief incases oi' sickness , old age , accident , or want of employment , while they are at the same time taxed tor the support of the idle and vicious by law ? Mr . Cabbell ! i : is matlo a mistake at the beginning as many a belter man lias . Ik must "hark back" aiui irj

      again , Meetings to memorialise the Government tb > - the o ; icnii ) 2 0 ! the ports have bei'ii held at Dundee' anil Aianek'stei ' . At the latter placo speeches ^ erc mads in sin-port of this measure , which are quoted by the Chronicle in an approving leader , as being tlic

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      SCHISM IN THE CHURCH . The Archbishop of Canterbury charged with blasphemy , by the Archbishop of Dublin . ¦ ' The Archbishop of Dublin protests against the I ' m m Of prayer prepared by the Archbishop or' Canterbury , and agreed upon , by her Majesty in Council , as well as to that settled by the Lord Lieutenant ot Ireland , humbly imploring the Almighty Gdd to avert from these countries the impending calamity of famine . The objections are of a two-fold

      naturelegnl and spiritual . Dr . Whately denies the constitutional right to issue such a command ; and , as he considers the visitation a direct judgmcut from God , he looks upon any attempt at propitiating the Divine wrath in the nature of a blasphemy . Ilis Grace preached a sermon upon this subject on Sunday in the Episcopal Chapel of St . Stephen , in which he expounded his views , political and religious . Copies of the form of public prayer , n . s it appeared in the Gmnu , woi'G distributed thrrtujjhoufc the church , but were subsequently removed , and the prayer not was read—orders , as it was said , t <> that effect having been issued by the Archbishop . "

      This is a precious go , \\ c presume that ins Grace of Dublin , rather than have no prayer at all to avert famine , adopted the prayer of the Archbishop Chartism , which was no doubt more to his taste , as his Grace is the head of the Malihusian tribe—and , therefore , i » that prayer , \ vhich recommends increased labour with INCREASED PROFITS , he sees tV . e realization of the true principles of political economy . However , when Archbishops fall out , it is hard to expect their flocks to agree , so that , according to the

      old adage , we may expect thai HONEST MEN WILL COME BY THEIR OWN . We should be glad to know if either of their Graces have suffered from the famine ; and if not , how it is that such high aud mighty vicc-gen-nts have been overlooked in the dispensation . However , we have supplied a pi aver , and we shall now supply a grace for their Graces . " 0 Lord , we thank 1 hec for these thy gifts , and all the good things of this life , which thou hast Leen

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      ' ' October 17 , 1846 !" 4 THE NORTHERN STAR .

      Yowrcaitjr, L'Rire One Shilling. The Second Ev.1t1on 4f My Life, Or Oull Social State, Part I.

      yowrcaitjr , l'rire One Shilling . THE SECOND EV . 1 T 1 ON 4 F MY LIFE , OR OUll SOCIAL STATE , PaRt I .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 17, 1846, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1388/page/4/