On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (7)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
to THE MEMBERS OF THE LAM> COMPANY.
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
My dear Friekds , Th is week I publish your triumph and mine , openl y and fairly obtained over our avowed and coHcealed enemies ; and surely , when the world , and every newspaper at the command of even' faction , is attacking me , you at least Hill not consider it a waste of time to read , sot my defence , for I needed none , but your protection , which consists not so much in reliance upon the law as in reliance upon my honour .
"Working men , you who have been so often choused , juggled , deceived , and cheated , and then persecuted for complaining of your grievances , have you heard , or is there upon record , a single instance of the affairs of a Company , established for the benefit of the Poor alone , being conducted , managed , and accounted for , as the affairs of your Company havelbeen conducted , ^ managed , and accounted for ? No * , once more observe this fact—that , had I been a Whig lickspittle , and had I de «
strayed popular confidence , by robbing the People ' s Exchequer , every attack upon me * rould have been met by a volley of Ministerial abuse , and I should have been told by my fi Eight Honourable friends below me , " not to answer the impertinent questions - ; and , if a committee was asked for , to inquire into the affair , the front rank of Whiggery would have bristled up like a porcupine , and repudiated the notion of devolving upon the House the duty of inquiring into the PRIVATE
AFFAIRS OF A GENTLEMAN . But , however , as I mean to take a week's reflection as to the course which I shall now pursue , and which has been left open to me by the resolutions of the committee , either to wind up the affairs of the Company , or to apply , under the sanction of their resolution , to Parliament for some new measure for the purpose of carrying out the expectations and objects of the promoters of the Company , I shall confine my present observations to portions of the -evidence , after I have made a passing commentary upon the bearing and import of the resolutions of the committee ; and , in order to
• do so , 1 must explain the grounds upon which the resolution was passed , which leaves it optional with us to wind up the affairs or prosecute the operations of the Company . Mr Henley , the Member for Oxfordshire , and than whom there is not a more shrewd , more honourable , or more dignified member in the British Parliament , was the proposer of ¦ that resolution , upon the groHnds , as stated in ¦ fcis speech , that he would not consent to 250 persons having the plum , while 69 , 750 had been the means of securing the advantages for them ; and that , therefore , as no measure had ¦ been submitted to the committee which would
embrace the objects of the Company , as at present formed , that he was not prepared to sacrifice the interest of those 69 , 750 , or to say , after hearing the evidence of Mr Finiayson , that the scheme was impracticable ; but , on the contrary , he thought that every opportunity ought to be afforded to the promoters of the Company , to realise , as far as possible , the hopes of those who } ia 3 not jet derived any benefit ; and as it was admitted that neither the
friendly Societies Acfc , or the Bill proposed by Mr O'Connor , would embrace the present objects of the promoters , it was his decided opinion that they should be allowed to apply to Parliament for some measura which would test the practicability of the scheme ; and , by asing the term " wind up , " it , by no means , imposed the necessity of doing so upon the Company , but left it optional ^ witbfthem to do so , or to prosecute their operations under an Act framed to embrace them .
Mr George Thosipson said that he fully agreed in the spirit of the resolution , and that « very opportunity should be afforded to the proM&ifira of the Company to realise the ardent wish and very desirable feelings of the poor who chose to invest their savings in a plot of ground ; and he , too , thought that it would be ] a great hardship—nay , a great act of oppres- j son , especially after the evidence of Mr Fin- I layson , to close the door against the 69 , 750 j members who had not been located ; and , I seeing that it was the unanimous opinion of j that committee , after the most jealous and i i ! ! ! !
searching inquiry into every transaction connected with the management of the Company , that the whole afiair had been conducted with the strictest honour , with great spirit , and with the most perfect good faith , he would not vote for am' resolution which would act as a barrier to the hopes of 69 , 750 of his countrymen , who he tnougnt had a just right to invest their monies as they pleased . Mr Feargus O'Connor said , that the
resolution of the honourable member for Oxfordshire , gratified and perplexed him ; it gratified him , because he understood its spirit and meaning as intended fey the proposer , but the words— " to wind up , " although optional , would be seized by the Press , and the enemies of the scheme , as imperative , ( " No , no . " ) He ( Mr O'Connor ) could perfectly understand the meaning and intention of the honourable gentleman and the committee , but he begged to assure them that the Press would make a handle
of tke term . Sir Benjamin Hall could not at all see the question in that light , or how the Press could so view it , as he presumed that the course would be to consult the shareholders , leaving it optional with them whether they would ¦ wind up the Company , or prosecute their operations under some new powers which Parliament may be inclined to grant .
Lord Ingestie certainly would not vote for the resolution if it had not been for the very satisfactory explanation that bad been given of its import by the previous speakers , as in the present infant state of the Company he , forone , had no notion of saying , [ that , under altered profisions , the plan was impracticable ; but , on the contrary , the evidence of Mr Finiayson went to show that under an altered state of
things it was practicable , and , therefore , as in his opinion the resolution left it open with the promoters , either to wind the affairs of the Company up , or to prosecute the operations , he hoped the resolution would have the unanimous concurrence of the committee . Mr Walpole could well understand the difficult position in which the committee had placed itself , it having passed the third resolution ,
which declared the illegality of the Company in Us present shape , and he thought that he could meetthe objections of Mr O'Connor to the term " wind up , " by adding the following words to the resolution of the honourable member for Oxfordshire ; and as the commltteehad declared the illegality of the Company as at present constituted , and as Mr O'Co ' nnor himself very frankl y admitted the fact , he thought it hut justice " to frame the resolution so that the
parties concerned may be enabled so to construct the Company as to justify parliament in protecting it in its altered position . Capt . Pechell said , that he would never consent to the terms " wind up " being inserted k the resolution , had it not been for the very satisfa ctory explanation given of those terms , by the several speakers who preceded him , but &S in its hrasent shape it left the Matter
optional with the promoters tfnd the members , ke could see no possible objection to it , with tfi addition proposed by the honourable M ember for Midhurst , Mr Walpole . Mr Mtinsell thought he had framed a resolution which would meet the views of the Wsurable member for Oxfordshire , and the wish of the honourable member for Nottingham . Che honourable member then read the
resolution , which , not meeting with the concurrence of the committee , was not put . The ^ Chairman thought that the best course would he to * ind up the affairs of the Company , selling the Estates , and repaying the founts subscribed to those who had not yet been located , and that under suck an arrangeiftfflt he had no doubt that Parliament would S"e indemnity to the promoters , for the several penalties they had incurred .
Untitled Article
Mr O'Connor said , that the very sly and soothing speech of the chairman , reminded him of the very courteous appeal of the judge to the prisoner in the dock , when he asked him if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him ; but he told the committee that , as great stress had been laid upon indemnity for him , in erder to secure his acquiescence in the winding up of the affair , that he did not care one straw for indemnity for himself , as compared with the indemnity for those wfco had confided in him , and he could assure the committee , that he would not onlv hand over all the property ofthe
Company to trustees appointed by them , at a minute ' s notice , but that he would give 1 , 000 / . out of his own pocket , and forgive all that was due to him , to any professional gentleman that would frame such a Bill as would realise the object of the members , and that he would be sufficiently rewarded by still remaining their unpaid servant . But , in answer to the Chairman ' s very gratifying assurance , of being able to sell the Estates not yet converted , he would remind the committee of this fact , that he knew no market to which he could take the joiners' work now completed for eighty-five houses , at Bromsgrove ; he knew no market to
which he could take 600 , 000 bricks , burnt upon that Estate ; he knew no market in which he could sell that Estate , the hedges being every one levelled , the Estate now intersected with roads , and the cottages in course of erection ; so that the kindly and impartial proposition of the chairman would go to the deterioration of that Estate , to the amount of several thousand pounds , while the completion of that Estate , under his management , would realise several thousand pounds profit for the Company , and as he ( Mr O'Connor ) was the person most likely to be sued for penalties , he
begged to stale , that ii the committee had not recommended that indemnity should be extended to him , that he would much rather pay every one of these penalties than be a party consenting to the winding up of the affairs , and which he felt himself bound to tell the committee that he never would consent to . He certainly not only felt puzzled , but felt it impossible to draw up a better resolution than that proposed by the honourable member for Oxfordshire , after the satisfactory explanation given by every member of the committee , of the term " " wind up , and , therefore , he did not see how he could
oppose it . Mr Henley said that his reason for proposing an act of indemnity for any legal penalties that might have been incurred , was that that committee had published to the world that which might invite informers to sue for those penalties , and he , therefore , thought that as the most open confessions had been made by Mr O'Connor himself , and as every facility was afforded to the committee to arrive at those conclusions upon which the evidence would be published , and as there was not a shadow of suspicion to be cast upon the promoters , but , on the contrary , that all had been conducted upon the most perfect good faith , he thought , under those circumstances , that the parties in this case were equally entitled to that protection which had been extended to other companies
! similarly circumstanced : and , again , he begged to assure the committee that from the outset his object had been to protect the interests of i his poorer countrymen , wno had invested their little savings in this speculation , and that the hon . member for Nottingham must see that the resolution proposed by him left it quite optional with the promoters , as to whether they would wind up or keep the Company open until the present members had all paid ! up Iheir subscriptions . ' The fourth and fifth resolutions were then put and carried unanimously , and were reported to the House on Tuesday evening ; the conversation on which will be found in another part of the paper , together with a short comment upon it .
Here follovr the whole of the resolutions as passed by the committee : — I . That the proposed additional provisions to th e Friendly Societies Acts which are incorporated in th bill entitled "A Will to alter and amend ^ n actof the 9 th and 10 th of her present Majesty , * 7 br the amendment of ths laws relating to Friendly Societies , " will not include the National Land C ompany . ? . That tne National Land Company ii not consistent ^ itb . the cetieral principle * upon which the Friendly Societies are founded . 3 . That the National Land Company , as at present constituted , is an illegal scheme , and Trill not fulfil the expectation * held © at by the director ! to the shareholders .
4 . That it appearing to this committee , by the eTidence of several witnesses , that the books of proceedings ofthe NatioMl Land Company , as well as thB accounts ofthe Company , naTe been most imperfectly kept , and that the origin&l balance shee ' s signed by the auditors of the Company have been destroyed , and only thrae of those balance sheets far the quarter ending the 29 th gf September , annth 9 2 ltb of December , 1847 , and the &th of March , 1818 , respectirely , have been produced ; but Mr O'Connor having expressed an opinion that an impression had gone abroad that themoneys subscribed by the National Land Company had been applied to his otii banefit-this committee are clearly of opinion , that although flie account * have cot been kept « ith strict regularity , yet that irregularity ba « been a ? ainst Mr F . O'Connor ' a * intereit insteSdof in his favour ; and that it appears by Mr Grey ' s account , there la £ . ue to Mr P . O'Connor the sum of £$ , 298 5 s 3 J < 3 , and by Mr Finlayson ' s account the sum of
£ 3 , 400 . 5 . That considering the great number of persons interested in the scheme , and the ionafidei with , which it appears to naTe been carried on , it is tne opinion of Uiis committee , that power * might be granted to the parties coscerned , if they shall so desire , to wind up the undertafcirtg , and to reliere them from the penalties to nhlch they tnaj have incautiously subjected themselves . In submitting tne * e resolutions to the uoubb , it is the opinion of your committee that it should be left entirely open to the parties concerned to propose to Parliaxient any new measure for the purpose of carrying out the expectations andobjeets ~ ef ths promoters of the Com . pany .
Now , my friends , I should state that on Friday week the chairman submitted a voluminous report for the consideration of the committea , and as I intend to give the evidence at great length you shall have that report hereafter . It would occupy more than sixteen columns of the Star , but when you read it you will be able to judge of the animus of the official reviving 2 , 000 / . a year of your money . It is a tissue of nonsense from the beguiling to the end , and artfully commences
by attempting to show that the object of the company was of a political nature ; and then he seizes hold of every unconnected sentence printed in the several prospectuses and in the several rules ; he selects garbled extracts from his own witnesses , and the committee having had three days to consider it , on Monday last were prepared to reject it unanimously , when the chairman wa 3 compelled to withdraw it altogether ; and , had it beer , submitted , I was prepared to propose the following Report as an amendment : —
SELECT COMM ITTEE ON THE NATIONAL LAND COMPANY ,
DRAFT REPORT . The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the National Land Company , have examined and considered the matters referred to them , and have agre&d upon the following Report : — That , in the month of April 1845 , Mr Fearffus O'Connor proposed certain rules for the formation of a National Land Company to
delegates , from different parts of the country , assembted in London for that purpose ; the object being to raise a sufficient amount of mone in sums , varying from threepence to one shilling , and upwards , per week , to locate the members of the Company upon allotments of two , three , and four acres with a cottage upon each allotment ; and the sum of £ 7 10 s . per acre to be g iven to the occupants of the respective allotments as aid money to assist
Untitled Article
them in the cultivation ef the land , and the purchase of seeds and implements . The objects of this Association , as stated by the propounder , were—Firstly . —To open a wide channel for the beneficial employment of the gurplus popula . tion of the country . Secondly . —To establish a better standard of wages in the free labour markg ^ than the distress and destitution arising "from the nonemployment of a large competitive idle reserve affords . And , Thirdly . —To open a profitable market for the small weekly savings of the industrious poor .
That , in the month of Dficember , 1845 , a ^ Conference assembled at Manchester , consist ing ef delegates , elected by the several members in their respective districts , and at which Conference it was determined that the National Land Company should be enrolled under the Friendly Societies Act ; find that in compliance with the resolution of the Conference , application was made to Mr Tidd Pratt on the 17 th of January , 1846 , with a view to hav . ing the National Land Company enrolled , but that officer seeing legal difficulties in the way refused acquiescence ; and it further appear ? to your committee , that hope was then entertained of securing : protection for the National
Land Company by embracing it in the provisions of a Bill introduced to Parliament by T . S . Duncombe , Esq ., the honourable member for Finsbury : and it further appears to your committee that , about August , 1846 , when it was understood that the bill of Mr Duncombe , as amended by Parliament , would not embrace the contemplated objects ofthe National Land Company that provisional registration was resorted to , and that heavy ex pense was incurred in preparing the necessary machinery for securing ( complete registration , it appearing to your committee that a sum of over two thousand pounds bad been expended in the prosecution of the preliminary requirements .
That in August , 1847 , a certificate was procured from ths registrar , allowing the Company another year to perfect the necessary arrangements for complete reg Oration ; and that Mr O'Connor , the propouider , seeing the heavy expense to which complete registration would subject the Company , as well as with a view of relieving the members from heavy expenses to which they would still be- liable under complete registration , introduced a Bill into Parliament on the 12 th of May , 1848 , the object of which was to legalise the Company and thereby secure its more speedy operations ,
as well as to secure the members against fraud . It has bees stated to your committee , by the propounder of the Plan , that he never anticipated the creation of so large a fund , or the enrolment of so large a number of members as has resulted from the experiment j and that , from the fact of so many having joined , and so much money having been subscribed , has arisen his chief difficulty . The honourable member for Nottingham has confessed to your committee , that these circumstances have led him to a violation of several Acts of Parliament ; but as it appears to your committee from the report of Mr Grey , accountant , and Mr Finiayson , actuary—that a sum of 3 , 400 ' , was due
to Mr O'Connor by the Company , upon the 15 th of July last , the day to which the ac counts were made up , your committee is of of opinion that none of those illegalities were committed fer the purpose of practising fraud upon the members of the Company , but that , on the contrary , Mr O'Connor ' s views , whether sound or visionary , have been carried out with perfect good faith and integrity . The question that has been referred to the consideration of your committee is so large and comprehensive that it does not feel itself called upon to do more than simply report upon the two branches submitted to it by the chairman—namely , The application of the funds j and
The practicability or impracticability of the scheme . Upon the first question your committee has already recorded its opinion while , as regards the second question—namely , the practicability or impracticability of realising the objects of the scheme—this question , your committee feels is involved in considerable difficulty . Firstly , —The difficulty of realising the hopes of the several members ; and Secondly , —The difficulty—nay , the injustice , of subjecting those who have invested their little savings in the speculation to disappointment , consequent upon the want of legal protection .
As regards the question of practicability , it must mainly depend upon the facility afforded for the realisation of reproduction ; and your committee is of opinion , that that facility will be in proportion to the securit y that shall be afforded to the property of the Company , with a view of making it available in the money market ; and your committee is clearly of opinion , that this object cannot be as effectuallyjachieved while all the property of the Company stands in the name of a single
individual , as it would be if that property was protected by law , and vested in responsible trustees . And with a view ef securing this primary object—of extending security to the property ofthe Company , Mr O'Connor has expressed his willingness , nay his desire , to discharge himself altogether of the trust now reposed in him , if means can be devised by Parliament to secure , for the members of ^ the National Land Company , those hopes , in the expectation of the realisation of which they have invested their saving ? .
Your committee are anxious that the hopes of the 60 , 750 persons , from whose subscriptions , hitherto paid to the 250 who have been located , should not be altogether paralysed ; and it has not beea made appear to your committee , by ihe evidence of any of those members not located , that they are over sanguine , but are still ready to bide their time patiently , in the event of such advantages being given to the Company as will secure its permanency , and their protection .
Your cemmittee must observe , that the evidence of Mr Finiayson , the actuary , upon the question of practicability or impracticability , was mainly based upon the prospects of reproduction j and , in his opinion , that that question wholly depended upon ^ the view that lenders , whether individuals or companies , would entertain as to the security of the property , whether mortgaged or sold ; and he further
stated , that if this security was rendered satisfactory that he could eee no difficulty whatever in realising the principle of reproduction , and would not , in such a case , consider the scheme impracticable . Your committee is of opinion , therefore , that the interests of the G 9 J 50 who have as yet derived no benefit from the scheme , should , as far as practicable , be protected , and with this view your committee would recommend ,
Firstly . —That indemnity be extended to Mr O'Connor and the promoters , to secure tiiem from the legal penalties they have incurred ; and Secondly . —To base the National Land Company upon a sountf legal footing , making such alterations in the rules and constitution of the Society as to Parliament shall seem fit ; and at the same time appointing trustees , in whom the property of the Company should be vested .
Untitled Article
Your committee does not feel itself called upon to refer to the several Acts of Parlia . ment—the Lottery Acts and Banking Acts —the provisions of which Mr O'Coanor has confessed to have violated ; and for which Violation your committee would not have recommended any exemption from the stipulated punishment , had it not been for the perfect good faith with which the funds have been administered ,
Your committee cannot conclude its Report without again drawing the attention of Parliament to the subject which constitutes its chief difficult y—namely , the protection of the interests of tho 3 e who have subscribed their monies , and have as yet derived no benefit from the scheme ; and your committee musi ; make a wide distinction between penalties incurred with the avowed intention of committing fraud , an «* penalties incurred from violation of the law where no fraud has been committed : and further , by calling the attention of Parliament to the fact , that two acts of indemnity were passed to protect the promoters of the ArUUnion against penalties to which they had subjected themselves for repeated
acts of illegality , while the same society is now legalised , in its former illegal constitution , with a view to the encouragement of art . Your committee is of opinion that the Bill introduced into Parliament by the Honourable Member for Nottingham , would not extend such protection to the members of the National Land Company as was contemplated ; and therefore your committee , although appointed for the purpose of considering the provisions of that Bill , leave it altogether out of consideration , and would recommend the adoption of some measure that would secure the property of the Company to its members , and the realisation , as far as practicable , of those objects for which the Company was . established .
Now , in the above Report , you will see that I have disguised nothing , and you will always bear these facts in mind . Firstly , —That when I originated the Company my words were , that I would present you with " a miniature of the full-length portrait of what England might be made . " I never contemplated the growth of the Company to that extent which would require legal protection . It was established upon good faith and was to have been so carried on ; and when it promised to arrive at a monster growth you will find from my report , the several attempts that have been made to ensure legal protee * tion and the manner in which I have been
frustrated by the enemies of the poor * who , had it been established for your destruction , would have searched the musty archives of the world to find a precedent for its recognition , I will now call your attention for a moment to the evidence of Mr Finiayson , the actuary of the Savings' Banks—the actuary appointed by the Government under the Ecclesiastical Commission—the actuary of the principal Insurance Offices in the kingdom > and acknowledged to be the ablest and most finished accountant . The chairman , not content with having submitted my accounts to Mr Grey , who , as I am informed , holds a situation in the Foreign-office , has a son in the
Homeoffice , and a son in the Post-office , and a son in Tidd Pratt ' s office , and who examined my accounts , not as if I was an insolvent , but as if I was a fraudulent insolvent ; yet , after hia minute investigation for more than three weeks , fhe chairman submitted those accounts to the further review of Mr Finiayson , and the result of which was that Mr Finhiyson discovered * hat more than 100 / . more was due to me than was stated by Mr Grey . But for this gentleman ' s evidence—which is most material—I shall refer you to the " Labourer , " with this sincle comment : —Mr Grey was examined as ^ to the period within which all the members could be located , upon t he principle of mortgaging each estate for two-thirds of its value . Mr
Pinlayson was examined upon the question of mortgage , and was directed by the Chairman to leave the committee-room for the purpose of making his calculation as to the time it would take to locate all the members , in case the property was sold instead of mortgaged , and that its value was stamped n'ith legal protection , the Chairman telling Mr Finiayson to take two years as the standard of reproduction , allowing that only 230 cottages could be built and the property sold within that period ; but the Chairman , not liking the previous portion of Mr Finlayson ' s evidence , gave him the trouble of going into this elaborate calculation , but never recalled . him to examine him upon the
point . Now , " you will observe the bearing that this trick would lave if any calculation was based upon it . I showed the committee that , in the first instance , I commenced operations , measuring them by the funds I had in hand ; while the ebairman would have limited my future operations by the standard of my paat operations—that is , if I received 250 , 0001 , in driblets , in two years , that my operations are to be measured by the same scale for every future two years , when I commenced my third year with my whole reproduced capital of 250 , 000 / .
Xow , let meexplain this to you . When cramped for means it took me from May , 1846 , to May , 1847 , to complete thirty-five houses and one school-house at O'Connorville—twelve months ; while , from March , 1847 , to June , 1848 , 1 built 215 houses , and three Bchool-houses—that is , in fifteen months ; but you will see by Mr Finlayson ' s evidence , that the reproductive system mainly depends upon the legal value which shall be stamped upon the Company ' s property as security to money lenders . And now , what I undertake to say is this—and I defy contradiction from all the actuaries in the
worldthat if the Company had been carried on in my own name , and vested in trustees approved of by the members themselves , and without any reference whatever to law that I would locate the 70 , 000 members in less than seven years ; and if that legal protection wa 8 extended to the savings of the poor , that is extended to the roguish speculations of the rich , I would locate them in a still shorter period : and above all , I wish you to bear in mind that , with the means at my command , I would as easily build 20 , 000 as 100 cottages within the same period .
I think , as the chairman gave the House of Commons the benefit of Mr Grey ' s calculation , in reply to a gentleman who sits on the second Whig bench , that it is necessary you should have that gentleman ' s examination upon this point criticall y kid before you . Mr Grey said , that if two-thirds of the property of the Company was mortgaged , that the property would vanish altogether upon the eighteenth mortgage , and both his and Mr Finlaysoa ' s
calculation of the expense of location , was made upon the presumption that only 230 cottages had been built ; and it was also stated by Mr Grey , that as 6 , 0001 . in Exchequer Bills vras in the hands of the broker , nnd not in the hands ofthe manager ofthe Bank , that , therefore , he had taken that 6 , 000 / . as a loan from the Bank to the Land Company . Now , this was my comment upon the dissolving view taken of . houses , rent , and Exchequer Bills , by
the accountant . Firstly , —Twenty of my houses had vanished . Secondly . — Only two-thirds of the value of an estate being mortgaged at four per cent ,
Untitled Article
the rent of that estate , at the amount taken by him ^ ove r and above paying the interest upon the mortgage , would amount to £ 6 , 300 / . per annum ; but I will give it to you in a plain sum . He presumed , in round numbers , that if all the members paid up , there would be a capital of 270 , 000 £ ., " and he presumed that 180 , 000 / ., or two-thirds of the value , might be raised on mortgage , the interest upon which , at four per cent , would be 7 , 200 ? . a year ; while the rent payable upon 270 , 000 ? . at five per cent , would be 13 , 500 / . a year , thus leaving a surplus of 0 , 300 / . a year , over and above the interest upon the mortgage .
Now , let us see how thh would stand at the end of the one hundred and fifty years , at compound interest ^ that is merely the first year's interest—6 300 / . At the end of the one hundred and forty-four years thU sum would amount to 3 , 225 , 600 / . Now , that is only the first year ' s surplus over mortgage , — 'the second year ' s surplus , in one hundred and forty-five years , would amount to an equal sum , —the third year ' s surplus , in the one hundred . and forty-sixth year , would amount to a ^ likb sum ; so that if we multiply the surplus of rent over interest , for one year alone , by seven , we have the sum of twenty-two million five hundred and seventy-nine thousand two hundred pounds at the" end of the one 'hundred and fifty years .
But now I'll take another view , and see if I am not as good at dissolving years from the chronology of the accountant , as he is at dissolving houses' rents and Exchequer Bills . Now , leave out mortgage altogether , and we'll come to 13 , 500 / . a year ; received as rent by the Company , and we find that that alone , within the ' period of one hundred and forty-four ] years , would amount to six million nine hundred and twelve thousand pounds j and if we take the first seven years' rent , sinking one hundred and forty-three years' rent altogether in the one hundred and fifty years , the amount produced from the first seven years' rent would
be forty-eight million three hundred and eighty-four thousand pounds . Now , if we calculate the rents paid for the period of one hundred years at compound interest , the sum would amount to more than would pay off the National Debt . So that , instead of swallowing all up to . locate seventy thousand people in one hundred and fifty years , I could , upon the first seven years' rent paid , give away the whole rents after the 9 even years , locate the seventy thousand in the one hundred and fifty years , and leave a euvplua of over twenty-seven millions after paying aid money—and presuming that each location cost me 300 J . uoon an
averrage , instead of about 240 / . New , what will the accountants and actuaries say to my dissolving view of their figures , which are by no means as substantial as houses , crops , and Exchequer Bills ? The accountant having presumed that the 6 , 000 / . in Exchequer Bills in the hands of the broker , belonged to the Land Company and not to the Bank , I beg to assure you upon the " true faith of a Christian , '' that not one single fraction of the deposit in the Bank has been touched by the Land Company . And now , although you owe me 3 , 400 / ., without
a fraction being charged for my expenses for three years and a quarter , let me tell you that I have in stoek , money , land to sell at Lowbands , Snig ' End , and Minster Lovel , not available for our purpose , without counting the Bank at all , nearly nine thousand pounds : and perhaps the impartial chairman will cock his ears when he has seen the last two or three weeks' slender receipts in the " Star , " when I tell him that of that amount there is nearl y 2 , 5 oOJ . in cash . Now what will he say to that , when he finds the weekly expenditure increasing , the weekly receipts dissolving , and
tha cash advancing ? And if we add this amount to the money in the Bank I have still at my disposal between £ 23 , 000 and £ 25 , 000 . My friends next week I will propose for your consideration a plan by which , according to the resolutions of the committee , I shall get rid of the two chief objections to the plan , namelylottery and the Bank ; and you may be sure that I will spare no expenditure of my own money in having the best legal advice , as to the modes of securing every hope that was held out to you . As Mr Sharman Crawford told me , and told others in my presence , there is
not upon record a similar triumph achieved by a suspected person ; and I will tell you more , that if I had my choice , whether I would surrender my seat in Parliament , and work from six till six at the hardest labour , or give up my Land Plan , I swear before Heaven I would rather live upon workhouse fare , and work every day , than give it up ; and for this , if for no other reason , because in my conscience and in my soul , I believe that if a physical force revolution was obtained by the working classes , ignorance of the labour question would
perpetuate anarchy , bloodshed , and revolution ; and I tell you now , that if the National Assembly sitting in London had succeeded in destroying my popularity , and if the lies and fabrications of the Aberdeen delegate had led enthusiastic and ardent spirits into & revolution , which had been successful , that very National Assembly , unprepared with a proper solution ofthe Labour Question , would have been the very first to have fallen victims to the vengeance of a maddened and disappointed people .
As I have told you a thousand times over , every human being who is born into this world has duties assigned to him , and I believe that the duty assigned to me , is to raise up those that fall ; to comfort and assist the weakhearted ; to abandon -every thought of selfaggrandisement , - and to swear , aa I have often done , that , as long as 1 live , I will never accept of place , pension , or emolument , for any humble service I can render to the poor ; and that I hope I shall have courage enough to resist the taunts , the folly , and the nonsense of enthusiastic cowards , Who would induce me ,
for their own base purposes , to jeopardise the fate of confiding milli « ns , by placing myself in a position , in which I believe not an honest working man in England would wish to see me . I predicted the inevitable result of Free Trade , and my Land Plan was meant as an antidote to the poison ; and I shall now conclude this letter with the following passages in ray second letter to the Irish Landlords , written from my dungeon in York Castle , on the 17 th of July , 1841 , and you will then eee whether or no the condition to whieh 1 prophecied Free Trade would reduce Ireland , has been verified or not . Here are the extracts ' —
" My Lords and Gentlemen , this is the week for trying the system-made rogues and murderers in Yorkshire , nnd as the paper for which I write is expeeted to chronicle their trials , I must now take my leave , with a caution to beware how you allow your brains to be haunted with the new science called ' Political Economy . ' It is , believe me , but a phantasm which haunts the unpractised fool in his dreams of artificial beatitude . It is a
delusion , all ; a proposed corrective for social disarrangement ; a substitute for social economy , which means the most pleasant , the most easy , the most beneficial application of man s labour and ingenuity , to the conversion of raw material—and , above all , of the Land—into produce fop man ' s subsistence , support , c « m fort , and enjoyment . "My Lords and Gentlemen , believe me , that you ' muat take the whole system into calcula-
Untitled Article
tion , before you Cfen avtive at a justcondusion as to the probable result to be produced bf passing events . You must look at all tha circumstances , and from the whole , and not from any flattering or fancied portion of then ) , you must draw your conclusions ., Let me assist you . . "Take class legislation and gunpowder for your dividend , and political economy for your 4 ivisor , and the resul tin your quotient will be
a large surplus of fictitious money ; ajarga surplus of manufactured goods ; a large ' sup . * plus population / rendered useless by machi * nery ; a large surplus of non-consuming , unregulated producing power ; a large army ; a , large navy ; a large church establishment ; 8 large law establishment ; a large police esta « ohshment ; a large regal establishment ; a large poor law establishment ; a large oligarchic *! pauper establishment ; a small , centraliserfj gorged , slave owners' establishment ; social \ ruin ; an empty exchequer ; little trade ; dig . content ; crime ; insecurity of property ; gaol » ' full of political offenders' starvation and revolution . As a superabundance of fictitions money presses hard upon and reduces the valua
of real capital , so does fictitious labour pre 83 hard upon and reduce the value of real labour . And as the bankrupt fails in the midst of ? surplus wealth , so does the operative starve in the midst of abundance—neither having the means of acquiring the drug . Thus you see merchants failing in the midst of affluencer and the people starving in the midst of plenty . " You must return from an artificial to a more natural state of society . You must giva to the labourer the power of regulating tha supply of his own produce , according to de « mand , and , above all , if his elevation in society ^ e , in truth , your object , you must let him sefl the sterling labour stamp upon hishandy work , instead of finding it effaced by the counterfeit enterprise and speculation-stamp of ' our merchants '— ouK traders '— -and ' our slave
owners . '' My maxim to-day is the same as that which I laid down for you in 1831— - 'A fair day ' s wage for a fair day ' s work . ' Give that , and use your political power for the conversion of machinery into man s holiday , instead of being man ' s curse ; and then , in the eloquent and statesman-like words of Mr Butterworth , one of my illegally incarcerated brethren , you may ' go to bed by steam , rise by steam , and dress yourselves by steam , provided steam does not take the bed from the poor man , and leave him withoutclotJ . es to dress with '
" My Lords and Gentlemen , many a halfwitted fool has gained even a posthumous fame by one sentiment not containing a twentieth part of the philosophy of the above . Search all your writers upon ' Free Trade , ' ' Political Economy , ' and ' Commerce , ' and I defy you to equal it from the catalogue of their united folly , or from the heap to pick one such grain from the chaff . " My Lords and Gentlemen , 'political Eco . nomy'has no ' Finality ; " and , believe me , that the political economists will never rest satisfied till they make you tenants in your own houses ,
stewards to your own estates , and beggars from the Pole , the Turk , the Russian , the Prussian , and the American , upon your own land . They wish to place you upon the shopboard , making breeches and coats , which the foreigner may or may not purchase according to convenience ; while they would make you dependents upon the foreigner for that which you must have three times a day or starve , or do that , which I am quite sure yon never could bring yourselves to , as you have transportedthousands upon thousands for the same—STEAL , "Now , do not think the picture over * painted . Do not reject the advice because it comes from a 'DESTRUCTIVE . ' Do not
despise it because it comes through the only f » aper in England which dares to support the abourer against his every enemy—from the monarch on the throne , who gives assent to laws for his ruin , down to the policeman who executes those laws—do not . And ever bear the alternatire in mind—REFORM or TRANSFER . That you may come to a righteous , a just , and a sound conclusion , is the devout prayer of " Your obedient and very humble servant ** Feakgus O'Connor .
Now , my friends , you will be able to judga for yourselves as to the realisation of my anticipations from Free Trade , unaccompanied by prudent and timely concessions ; and now I beg to assure the landed aristocracy of England , that they have not yet seen the commencement of Free Trade , and , as I have frequently told the manufacturers , they have " caught a Tartar ; " they hoped by their influence over Government to stop Free Trade at their own door , but they have yet to learn that the people , dail y acquiring wisdom , will insist upon the plum—RECIPROCITY—being put into the Free Trade pudding .
Next week 1 will write you my ^ views upon the Land Plan , in plain and simple language , aud I will also furnish you with an unerring and irrefutable calculation , proving the utter inaccuracy of those submitted by Messrs Grey and Finiayson , the most accomplished accountant and actuary in the kingdom . 13 ut , my friends , I am not one to be staggered by the . calculations of arithmeticians , for , as Mike Sullivan told the priest , that " Little Mike » as the devil at his prayers , ' I ' m the devil at the figures . But , in the meantime , lest a single individual who has set his heart upon the Land , should suppose me capable of wavering , 1 beg to assure ail that I am determined to continue
my operations ; that am determined to devote every hour of my time , and every farthing of my money—even to beggary—to cany out the Land Scheme . And next week I shall also submit a plan to the trades of England , pointing out in a clear and umnlstakes ' . ble manner the means by which industry—in less than five years—might secure for itself such a Government as would insure to every labourer " A fair day ' s wage for a fair day ' s work ''; a Government which would stand in no danger from the assault of the dissatisfied , the vengeance of the hungry , or the machinations of the artful . I remain , your faithful friend and representative , and unpaid bailiff , Fbargus O'Connor .
Untitled Article
Parsons apparently killed by lightning have been restored by promptly immersing them in cold water , or by dashing water upon tke body-
Untitled Article
('~^ & 4 ^^< yv £ Z » z& , ^^ uzi ^ - —^ / - \ / 9 //> ^ y / AJ ^^ C ^ A ^^^ I ^^ ^^^ / - /^ . / 6 J ^ i 0 ' ^ *^ ^ / 0 ^ 00 ^ ^ /
f r - . ^ i-P * : ii :
Untitled Article
IMF THOMAS DRIVER TO FEA . RGUS O'CONNOR ESQ ., M . P . Tuesday Morning . G o'clock , August 1 st , 1848 . My Dear Sib , —It is little I am going 10 say , but 1 wish you to continue your prudential course In politics—it is hi g hly approved of bv vour friends and admirers ( at least , amongst all that 1 am acquainted with ) . If it be possible , do not , dear s > ir , commit yourself into the hands of those , whose tender mercies vie know full well ; you would be esteemed a priae , in appreciable value of far more worth than the quashing of half a million of proletarians .
Yesterday , thfi postman brought me a newspaperthe Manchkster Timks , of Saturday , July 2 ! hhand , from its contents , 1 shrewdly guess that it is an aristocratical present , made at tliis particular crisis in these Northern Counties ( to co-. ii ' use , misguide , thwart , pervert , and mystify the doings ot all rumoured things ) , which , 1 doubt not , will be ? xtended to hundreds , perhaps thousauda , in tlm liberality of iheir distribution . But the boon is wasted upon me , fer I will not exhibit its pages to its favourite partisans to chuckle over , nor lo any who cannot read , the purport of its in ten i . ior , b y being thus distributed gratuitously .
Your liberty , dear sir , is of inestimable value to all Who are illtureaied in the general wdiare ot ' bfcnest labour and its reward ; this Hie Gagging Bill party know light well . Never mind the non-publicity of your Parliamentary speeches , We know our man ; our confidence will not be dimin ished o-n time account : we know to what quarter 10 aitnuuie this lbt ; but I am not sure that your letters are not opened and inspected , so shall conclude , trusting that you will see a copy of the above newspaper . Farewell .
To The Members Of The Lam≫ Company.
to THE MEMBERS OF THE LAM > COMPANY .
Untitled Article
AND NATIONAL TRADES' JOURNAL . ^ j ^ j —^ I ^ M—^— - ¦¦ .
Untitled Article
^^^^^^^ ! ° i ^ : l ° j l LONDOlg ' SATURDAY , AUGUST 5 , 1848 , , „ . g ^ SX ^ ,
-
-
Citation
-
Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 5, 1848, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1482/page/1/
-