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<ffiUJ, OF THE OLD GUARDS.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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"UnhililtNnftb . * TO THE CHARUSTS ! ' Mt Fribnds , f o me nothing i » mote disgusting ' than to ^ cont inually compelled to remind you of your port sacred duty . Many of you declared your willingness , —nay , yonr reatiiness—to fight for yaur liberties , while gooae were ready to sell the coat from their back to procure ami . And now that some , of the staunchest Charti sts—the veritable OLD GUARDS—are about to meet the enemy on their own battle-field , committed to the tender mercies of their own Spointed Judge and selected Jurors , yoa ow them to go to battle unarmed .
Hive I no ^ f rom the commencement of Wfaig persecution , been compelled to goad you in to a performance of your duty ? You profos yourselves ready to fight for your liberties , * hUt you allow the most faithful , eonristent , sad able of your leaders to be sacrificed without a struggle . ' "With few exceptions , we have not yet had a Chartist trial during the new campaign . Now , the veritable Chartist * are *» h / i ^ rlw til rva rmt- ^ iv \ rvn + Tsn *« ?¦«» i 1 & «* JI •__ ¦ ^ fuv iucu
puv *«* j -w u |> vu tuai ^ auu you withhold the means of defence . Are such inen as James Leach , Daniel Donovan , William Grocott , James Taylor , John West , George White , Whittaker , Rankin , and others—acknowled ged Chartists —Chartisti whose onlj crime consists in having saved thousands from the treachery of spies and informers-are they , I ask you , to be sacrificed to your indifference ?
You scoff at the poor Irish , but will the poorest ' Irishman be allowed to goto trial without the assistance of the ablest counsel ? What has before given the greatest spring to the Chartist cause ? Has it not been the determined stand-up fight made in die Courthouse , where every trial was a Chartist meeting , with a Judge in the chair , and the ablest counsel selected as the expounders of Chartism ? And if these men are well defended , as they ought to be , it will be another revival of Chartism—whereas , if they are sacrificed by your indifference , they will be CHARTIST
VICTIMS , and not WHIG VICTIMS . It is my intention to be present at those trials , and if I should see innocent men sacrificed to popular indifference , it will not increase my confidence in ? professing Chartists . But , after all , Z believe you only require to be reminded of your duty , to insure its performance—and let not the poverty of some be the excuse of all , while it should be the inducement to the more prosperous to increase their subscriptions . I promise you that William
fteuting . Roberts will do his duty , if you perform yours—but if you cripple his means , you paralyse his energies , and thus unjustly injure hisreputation . There is no professional man In Europe so capable of conducting such a case as he is , my belief of which was sufficiently tested in confiding my liberty to his keeping in 1843 ; and , but for his mastermind , his energy , acuteness , and legal knowledge , ' every man of us tried at Lancaster , would have been sentenced to a long and degrading imprisonment .
" WHAT'S EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS , IS NOBODY'S BUSINESS , " may be a very fascinating motto te the indifferent and apathetic , but let me impress upon you the fact , that the defence of our friends is every Chartist ' s business , and , still further , that no ONE MAN can do every man ' s business , while a belief in that maxim has , I believe , led to general indifference ,
Now , then , the time is short—not more than two short weeks from the time you read this appeal . Get up cheap tea parties—employ good lecturers to attend public meetingsselect such men as John West , who is an ornament to his class , to his order , and to nature . Let them describe the honors of incarceration , and the sufferings of the wives and littlechildrenofthe victims ; and let them—not
with enthusiasm or excitement , but with truth , with force , and eloquence—drive the bitter sting of reprobation into the breasts of those who withhold the means of saving their friends and their families from persecution . Let this not be a Manchester question , nor a Lanca-Ehire question : let it be a National question , and let us measure real , not false Chartism , by the proceeds .
Now , then , Chartists , you have a duty to perform—a sacred , but not an arduous or expensive one . Remember the preacher ' s definition of union . He said to us congregation"If I gave you a shilling amongst you , you would not know how to divide it ; if you gave me a shilling a piece , it would make a man of me . " In the words of the preacher , then / I say , give your friends a shilling a-piece all who can —a penny a-piece all who can—and you who cannot , beg from those who can ; and always bear in mind , that the men who are now to be tried belong to the
VERITABLE OLD GUARDS . Your faithful friend , Feargus O'Connor . P . S . —Let us paralyse the enemy on Saturday nert . with a long muster-roll of Chartist revival . Let us show them a subscription list which they will dread more than the Chartist army that haunted their brains on the 10 th of April . F . O'C .
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the Irish people were the loudest denouncers of what they ignorantly designated physical force Chartism , while their real hostility to the principle arose from the fact , that if Ireland bad a national parliament , with its representation based upon the Charter , those mouthing hypocrites and servile hacks could no longer trade in national disunion , based upon class inequality . Thirdly . —The best proof that I can give of my devotion for National Education , will be found in the fact that I have attached a most splendid school-house to every one of the People ' s Estates ; and that I have contended that every barrack and workhouse shouldlbe ill * Tvnelt vtnnni . * — - A \ . _ 1 3 - _* . 3 _ »
turned into a national school or a national college , I have always contended that the people of a country can accomplish every thing for themselves , better than any system , of government can ; and that was my reason for attaching schoohs to those several estates , in order that the education of children should be left to parents , and that their ignorance—if rising from want of education—should be chargeable as a crime upon those parents . And when I speak of national schools and colleges , I do not refer to the system of endowment by the State , I mean that they should be free and open , and that toe scholars of different classes should elect their ' own heads , their own professors , their own masters , ushers , and
monitors . Fourthly . —I do not exactly comprehend the meaning of the term actual settlers , and therefore 1 shall not attempt to comment upon it . If you mean those who are in actual possession of tracts of land by grant or conquest , the term must embrace all the landlords of all countries , however much or little they may possess , as they are the actual settlers , and equally applies to America as to England .
Fifthly . —The exemption of the homestead from forced sale , is a thing that 1 have frequently contended against , and I have placed several motions upon- the Journals of the House of Commons to deprive the landlord of the power of distraining for rent , and to deprive him ^ of the power of ejectment , unless the tenant shall have a lease for ever at a corn rent ; and when I come to the consideration of rent , I shall show its insignificance , where perpetuity constitutes the tenuret
SixtMy . —My notion is , that no man , depending upon his labour , should hold more land than he could cultivate by that labour-, but then , if we measure agriculture by the population of any country in the world , you will at once discover , either that large farms must continue to exist , or a large portion of the soil must be thrown out of cultivation . I have not the slightest objection to large farms , provided they are diminished according to the wants and requirements of an increasing
population . If the rule laid down by you was carried out , just in proportion as the population of a country increased , would the contraction of farms increaser-and this would be very just , while 1 would attach the rational stipulation ; that no working Iman should hold more than he could cultivate by his own labour . For instance , we will take ten thousand acres as the area of a parish , with a population of one hundred . By your standard , each parishioner should occupy a hundred acres , nearly the whole of which should either remain in an
unproductive state , or cultivated in a slovenly way by slave labour—while I would allow the hundred parishioners to hold just as much as they could cultivate , and farmers to hold the remainder . The wages of their labourers being measured by the value of the free labour of their neighbours—and then , as the population increased , I would diminish the size of those large farms proportionately . By this system , the remainder above what the hundred husbandmen required , would be much better cultivated than if the ten thousand acres were divided between the hundred ; land the wealth of a country is the superior cultivation of the soil .
I think I hear you exclaim " But who is to be the landlord ? * The State or the usurper ? The descendant of a soldier in the conquering army , or the grantee of a foreign King , whose title was established by force , and maintained by fraud ?* That question I shall also answer presently . # I now select the following portion of your letter for comment ;—These are the questions of all others th « most mnpala . table to the gorerning p » wer * all orer the world , and I hope they will be prosecuted with rigour to their full and permanent recognition . Feargiu O'Connor has touched the sore place in his Land Scheme , and only touched it ; but he has done enough te draw from their kennels all the rabid animals who fatten on the labour of others . I
hope he will lose no time in making good the thrust , which 12 nd in a leading article of the Northern Star for the 15 th July last , and which is conveyed to the public in these forcible words : Landlords , monopolists , and profit-mongers would do well to consider whether the recent trials may not have done much to enlarge the objects of popular agitation . The' Charter and n » Sur render * was the motto of the men just sentenced to a long and cruel incarceration ; Another motto , more terribie to the usurpers of i-o'iticI 11 povrer and the monopolisers ofthewfealth produced by 6 ther men ' s labour , maj ere long be the raUjing cry of the outraged millions . ' If Feargus O'Coniior will incorporate the freedom of the public lands with his agitation for the Charter , bis agitation will assume a character that must forcibly recommend it to the enslaved millions . Bis Land Scheme is
rerygood so far as it goes , but its range is to * limitedin consequence of the extreme poverty ot the people , it can never reach the gigantic evils which beeet those whose pr « Esing ueceisides demand a more easily attainable measure of relief . Besides , why should the people pay for that which of right belongs to thsm < The people hare a right to a fair share of the soil , and no man ie better qualified tbas Feargm O'Connor , either l » j talent or moral courage , to put them in the right nay to obtain it ; and I sincereiy hope that be will bend the eaergies of his superior mind in that direction , legard less of the scoffs of those who would fain drive him from the path which must sooner or later lead to the people ' s redemption . Thefelia ortruth-speakingprtsihastieen put down in Ireland , and the day may soon come when it
tha'l be pat down in England also ; the land-stealing press wiU then tune it all iUownwsj , and . ffie luiufo Of be people -criU csntinHe to be abased as heretofore . It baB gWen me great pleasure to find that Feargus O'Connor has taken no part in the late disturbames in Ireland — the gprernment wou'd have teen , too glad to have found him in arms against it ; but bis life and str vices art reserved for better uses . He knew the people oi England and Ireland were unprepared to resist the trv meudous power efthe government , backed as it was by the upper asd middle classes . He therefore rtlie . ? on the potency of moral force , and as a moral for . e man I hope the Chartists will give him their entire confidence ; It they do . he will bring them triimpbantly through their difficulties .
My good Sir , it is true that I have but touched the sore ; but it is equally true that in no other country in Europe—not even in free America—has the sore been touched . Those who have been contending for the people ' s right to the land , have represented a consultation of physicians , while 1 have been the surgeon selected to perform the operation . Here , in less than two years and a half , 1 have erected 300 homesteads , from which the occupants
cannot , and shall not , be forcibly ejectedwhile , in free America , where you have the Charter , I have not heard of one home being erected for the wanderer . True , there has been some Communist speculation iu large tracts of land , but there has been no attempt at individualising man , basing his hope upon self-reliance and self-interest , and out of a cum munity of such individuality establishing a great oneness of sentiment , opinion , and interest , by national representation .
In \ merica no law stands in your way , while in England it is a stumbling block at every cottage path . In America " you have meadows and valleys , hills and dales , not fenced in by landlords' statutes , and yet my poor countrymen , and your poor countrymen , find it as difficult to possess themselves of Land in America as in England or Ireland . You must bear one great fact in mind , and 1 that is ; not only the prejudice and hostility ,
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but the persecution and oppression with which the advocates of the Rights of Labour are invariably met in this country . And you must understand , that if one thing more than another can damage the cause of Labour , it is the imprudence of its advoeates . As to the Land , when I commenced my perambulating tour in England , in 1835 , 1 told the working classes that if the Land was locked up to-day I would not give them a farthing for the suffrage to-morrow . I told them «> because the __ - _ - _ -
Land alone can individualise man . I told them BO because machinery and capital would ever be able to measure wages by the standard of destitution , the competitive reserve of unwilling idlers constituting th « slave mart for capitalists to fall back upon , as a means of reducing wages ; and thus their profits from this source , and not their fair speculation in trade constituting their wealth , and , as if by magic , wedding them to that system of Communism which must ever prove the ruin of the masses .
The present Labour system of England is one huge system of Communism ; the wealthy idle director living upon the ignbrance and dependance of aggregate thousands . The first repulsethat Chartism met in trn ' s country was that odium excited against it in consequence of the false , the treacherous , and deceitful , nicel y calculating and enthusiastically' pro . claiming what the Charter would effect . Its several hypocritical propounded who received their salaries from the nence of the noor .
racked invention to tell them what the Charter would do , as if b y magic , even to the seasoning of their soup . I was asked a thousand times what the Charter would do ? and my answer was , "I'LL NOT TELL YE . It would be presumptuous , it would be dictatorship on my part to tell you , that it would do more than to base the laws of the land upon the will of the majority of the people , and if they are not good laws the whole people will be willing slaves , and I shall not murmur . "
Such was my definition of Chartism j while to such extravagant lengths had its paid advoeates gone that Mr Justice Littledale , at Warwick , upon the trial of Lovett and Collins , told a jury of farmers that the object of Chartism was to appropriate their Land to their own purposes ; and to such a height had prejudice against Chartism been raised , that even Sir Frederick Pollock , in defending Frost , at Monmouth , told the jury that he believed it was the intention of the Chartists to possess themselves of the Land of the country , when Mr Frost interrupted him and said , " Sir Frederick , I beg to assure you that that is a mistake , the Chartists never entertained such an intention . "
_ I am now showing you how strong a prejudice may be raised against a movement in consequence of the folly , the ignorance , or hypo criay of its advocates , or rather of its paid supporters . Another prejudice ha 8 now been created against Chartism , in consequence of a few mushrooms relying upon the confiding people to realise a Liberty Fund of 10 , 000 ? ., and the hope of clutching the lion ' s share of which urged bad men to madness which had method in it , and good men to rashness which
had sincerity in it , Well , then , suppose I was to advocate the right of the people to the possession of the Land , where would the right commence , and where would the' prejudice and persecution end ? The very fact of our going into the market as open bidders proves our integrity , while the fact of the funds being supplied , which have enabled me to outbid the wholesale purchasers at every auction , proves- its retail value .
My good sir , believe me that it promised to be a life's work , and not a short one , to reclaim an artificial race of exotics , reared in the hothouse , and trained to drunkenness and dissipation , and to implant in their minds net only a love , but a preference , for the more natural state . It was a work that I set my heart upon , and one that you will yet see realised . I never encouraged the hope that I could make my scheme national , except by example . I have told the people that my best exertions could only make it SECTIONAL , and that their at tachment to the miniature would compel their
rulers to make it national . And I now unhesitatingly declare , that had it not been for the partial potato rot last year , and the all but general disease this year , the whole of England would . by this time have been united as a great Land community ; and even this disaster has not in the slightest degree discouraged me , ' or weaned me from the project , as , in my conscience , I believe , that no power on earth but the location of the surplus population upon the Land can save England from bankruptcy , and such a revolution as neither regulars , pensioners , specials , policemen , nor detectives can
suppress . It is fortunate for me that I have stereotyped my opinlons . bsth socially and politically , and that I can refer to my maxims . I hare told the people that all I coulddo was to make their teeth water by showing them the ripe plum over the garden wall ; and I now tell you that every single suffering of the working classes of England is consequent upon their own dissipation , their own jealousy of each other , and their own want of union ; b ecause
the amount spent upon dissipation , or the amount subscribed to clubs , Sick and Benefit Societies , and Burial Societies , if expended for one year upon the Land , would render all these private subscriptions unnecessary , by relieving the artificial market of the surplus population . But the satisfied employed are the tools of the cunning employer , and the paid directors anj managers of those clubs and societies constitute a uucleus of disaffection , and forbid the union of the dissatisfied .
The money in the Savings' Banks would locate two hundred thousand people each in a splendid cottage , with four acres of ground , and that number of heads of families would ' represent one million , or a thirteenth of the " population of England . Thus , the artificial market would not only be relieved of that amount of competition , but the very location of that number upon the Land would create a larger colony of domestic consumers , and cheap domestic producers , than any of those
colonies which we maintain at such a frightful expenditure . If those million of persons located upon the Land only consumed an additional pound ' s worth each , per year , of our manufactured articles , there would be customers at our door to the amount of a million a year ; while the trades not engaged in manufacture would be recipients to the amount of two millions , three millions , or four millions a year above what those million of persons are now able to expend with them .
^ The agitation for Catholic Emancipation first opened my mind to the blindfold manner in which a people could be led in quest of moonshine ; and then , Reform—the social benefit anticipated from which was , as a WelsVcarter told me in answer to a question upon an Election Committee , —" Roast beef and plum pudding , to be sure ! " Now , such was the poor man ' s anticipation from Reform , and for that millions contended , and scores were hung , while all were deceived . It may appear egotistical to remind my readers of so many prophesies ; but there is one other in connexion with Reform to which I must call attention . In December , 1831 , there
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was a powerfully aristocratic meeting , held in the Court House at Cork—the High Sheriff , I think , was in the chair—for the purpose of assisting the English Reformers . Thespouters actually drove their audience mad ; and when all the marshalled speakers had concluded , I rose in the gallery , and demanded a hearing , ii ^ y the conclusion of my speech : you will find it reported in the " Southern Reporter of the 6 th of December 1831 . I said : — of 'i < LuoI ° t « f ? fS Sm Bo « * «*¦ & the miuelplei DeaTof theu ^ - n ^ M ?{ . tliat if not followedTby a Be-3853 ^ ^ s ^ ssfts B ^ &WSur . ssSrtt .
Now , the above is printed in the Southern Reporter of 1831 , and the first act of the first Reform Parhament in 1833 , was the Coercion Bill , the suppression of public meetings , and the substitution of Trialb y Court-Martials-for Trial by Jury . Well , my predictions ; with regard to Free Trade , have been most unhappily realised , and seeing that all these agitations were intended to end . and did end , in mere political triumnhB .
1 , ' rwolve ^/ Upon attaching the social principle of thetfcand tolthe poHtical- |> rmciplB of the Charter ; and I now repeat my opinion in 1835 , that if the Land was locked up to-mor . row | I would not give yoji g single straw for the Charter , and for the most simple of all reasous—because it is the only mint in which man can coin his individual labour into the exchangeable medium for all the necessaries and luxuries of life , and the value of which ; no whimsical financier can depreciate to his "
injury . My good Sir , of all the absurd and whimsical nonsense that everiwas uttered , those several projects for altering the currency of the country , and thereby creating abundance , are the most rabid . An alteration in currency , if it is substantial , can only mean an altered symbol mark , or token , to represent fictitious wealth , while the only real wealth that caa be produced , and that can give the standard value to diamonds , precious atones , and gold itself is the PRODUCE OF THE LAND , and the most valuable labour is the labour that is applied to that purpose . Let me instance this simply and familiarl y for you : Pitch five millions worth of wheat , the
produce of this country , into the sea to-morrow , and what becomes of your Exchequer , your boasted Constitution , and your peace ? Upon the other hand , ' sink five millions worth of manufactured goods in the deep , and it > ould be a positive blessing . This shows you the difference between feod and artificial produce—between the necessaries and comparative luxuries of life . Believe me , Sir , that if I were to incorporate the freedom of the public Lands with the agitation for the Chaster , that I should place the Land Scheme in the very same position that the livers upon Chartism placed that principle , when the poor man ' s exchequer , and not . their feelings , constituted the basis of their advocacy .
No , no ; my object is to show the value of Land retail at the wholesale price , leaving to the unbeliever the solution of the question of Land value , and leaving to Providence and the people , and to the fears of the great , the national solution of the question . Rent should be paid to the State , or to the landlord ; and divesting the Land Scheme of all consideration of a house which man must
live in , let me test for you what the value of Land really is . The average price at which I have purchased an estate for the Land Company is £ 38 3 s . Cd . per ' acre—that is £ 152 14 s . for four acres—that is , a $ , a rent of four per cent ., little more than £ 6 per year , not counting the house in which man must live , and upon which his rent is measured at the wholesale price .
Now , if no man or three men can cultivate four acres of ground , the man who buys a pig for a pound in March will sell it for six pounds at Christmas , so that he makes a profit of five pounds upon one pig or within a pound of his year ' s rent , and has its manure and the remainder of the produce of the four acres for his labour ; and , cultivate it a 9 he will , is there a family in Europe that can consume the produce of four acres , three acres , two acres , or one acre , cultivated to its highest state , of capability ? Hence I show you that rent is comparatively nothing , but certainly not of sufficient importance to make it the basis of a general onslaught upon the Land Company , by prejudice—at once denominating us a
GREAT LAND PLUNDER COMPANY . Sir , just mark the prejudices against which we have to contend . Landlords fear lest the location of great numbers should raise the price of agricultural labour upon their tenants ; manufacturers fear lest it may become an open market for free labour , and thus deprive them of the idle competitive reserve , by whose destitution they are enabled to measure wages j brewers and distillers fear lest milk should become a substitute for porter and gin ; publicans fear lest the happy homes may have greater charms than the gin palace or the beer shop .
Papons fear lest the truth , ''that man could live"injthe sweat of his own brow , ' being developed , should lead to a more simple and less mytteriouB system of religion and Christianity . Lawyers fear that in the happy family there will be neither discontent nor litigation . Pawnbrokers think that though a weaver or mechanic may be compelled , through idleness , to pawn their tools , that no husbandman would ever pawn his spade , his hoe , or his wheelbarrow .
The propounders of bubble schemes and societies , invented for the benefit of the projectors , fear lest their trade may depart . The shopkeeper , who would be the greatest gainer , fears lest his acquiescence in the plan should disturb his social connexion with the leading members of his class . ~ The doctor fears lest the open air should become a medicine cheBt , and nature his rival . The poor gentleman , who is too proud to work and too poor to live without labour , fears lest his theoretical enthusiasm should be deprived of its remuneration ; and
lhe Press , the organ and the mouthpiece of those several classes , is compelled to chronicle their hostility in order to secure their support . While the greatest enemies are the working classes themselves , who will not see the in creased impetus it must give to their trade , whilst they allow , or pretend to allow , the influence of the hostile factions and their Press to measure their confidence . Yes , Sir , if those who are able to assist themselves and their brethren chose to put their shoulders to the wheel , the Land Plan would be very speedily made sufficiently extensive to locate the poorest of the poor , whose location ,. although they did not nav a fraction
towards it , would immediately benefit the more fortunate contributors . But the ruling maxim is different from that of their oppressors : St !^ 18 ™ 8 of Whi K s and Tories MAG ' JNJia the virtues and SUPPRESS the vices of their adherents ; while the partisans of labour MAGNIFY the vices and SUPPRESS the virtues of their ' advocates . My dear Sir , I am now the only member of the most persecuted family in EuroDe who has
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been able to maintain his principles , and to remain in his country ; and the experience gained from the false anticipations of triumph entertained by members of my family , as well as the dangers with which a Government—sustamed by secret service money , fraud * hypocrisy and lying—can beset the path of a political opponent , has read me a great lesson . For years I have been the subject of abuse of Irish leaders , to whose trade the realisation of my principles threatened not only danger , but destruction' and notwithstanding my sentiments have found a hearty response in the land of
the stranger , there , also , I have had to contend against the selfishness , the jealousies , and the dogmas of traffickers , who would adopt any paying theory as their stock m trade s ^ and thus , from the time I severed myself from Daniel O'Connell and the Irish party , in 1833 , when I discovered that the question of Repeal was mere " BIRD LIME " to catch the singing birds , as a means of securing patronage , I have suffered ail amount of national , imperial , governmental , legal , party , clasB , Press , and individual persecution which , in my soul , I believe would have killed a thousand stout-hearted men ; while my whole
armour has been the conviction that my policy was right , that my principles were just , and that their realisation alone could insure man ' s happiness ; and I have often thought that I would cut rather a contemptible and ridiculous figure if I hazarded the success of those principies upon the whim or caprice of the cunning , the idle , the artful , or the treacherous . I have often laughed at the exuberant folly of sane men pinning their faith to the high-sounding and enthusiastic rubbish of volunteers , crimped into our service by the desire to live idly upon enthusiasm , or luxuriantl y upon blood-money , However , you find the truth of the old motto mmy position , that " THE PEOPLE ARE
SELDOM WRONG AND NEVER LONG WRONG / ' When they are wrong , I invariably become the target of their abuse . Like others , 1 do not justif y desertion upon the grounds of ingratitude . I reason with them till reason resumes her empire , and I invariably receive their contrition and apology as my reward ; and by them I will stand ; and , without bluster , I shall ' be always ready to go farther with them in the legitimate demand for liberty thaD any other man ; of my class , but I will not be led by the necessities of " poor gentlemen , " or by the rashness of enthusiasts .
My dear Sir , —You may rely upon it , that neither the scoffs of the oppressor nor the wander of the ungrateful can ever drive me from the course which my mind tells me is right ; my mind does tell me , and my conscience approves the dictate , that the Land should not remain uncultivated while a hand remains unemployed or a mouth wants food ; my mind does tell me that the open air and the land , and not the rattle-box and the lifedestroying gas , are the proper elements for man to work on and breathe in ; my mind does tell me that no man has a right to represent another unless that power is voluntarily delegated to him , and , therefore , the world ' s Exchequer shall never seduce me from the advocacy of
THE LAND AND THE CHARTER 1 have the honour to remain , Your faithful friend , Feargus O'Conhor .
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called upon by the voice of nature , to use to the nations now blindly contending for they know not what ; insane contests , which they have no conception how to terminate to the advan . tage of any party or district . It has been said , that the natural and , scientific powers oj " Europe for the creation of wealth—of a good character , and of superior surrounding circum * stances for all its present , and for a greatly in « creaged population , are , or may be speedily made to be , superabundant , and all facts prove the truth of this statement .
It may be then asked of the powers of Elirope , why these means should not now be so applied that all its inhabitants may enjoy this superior state of existence , and become an example to be followed by the population of every part of the globe ? Truth and right in the government of the world , will be found to be , in practice , plain , simple , arid straightforward ; falsehood and wrong require to be mysterious and infinitely involved—whatever form of government they may aisume—in order to cover their injustice and cruelty ,
Were a European Congress decided upon , th « existing governments , by new Arrangements , might be maintained , and themselves enabled to effect the changes which , are now required , through the progress of scientific knowledge to create tt all times a superfluity of wealth , and in consequence of the discovery of the sure means by which to well form the character of all . The Constitution and Code of Laws for Europe , by which this change might , he peaceably effected , and all nations and people permanently benefitted , are preparing for
publication , and will be soon submitted to the public A new government fo r the population of Europe is rendered unavoidable by the progress ; of events , and the acquisition of new facts , disclosing the causes of good and evil , and thu « opening superior ' enl ^ geH \ viet » il ^| e , hu , inaa ,-..---. race . A government may now bi'if ^ meu which , shall secure peaceably , and without&sorder or confusion , a permanent progress in prosperity , and the well-doing and happiness of all the nations and people of Europe . The signs of
the times indicate that the British Government should take the initiative in thisgloriour change—that they should propose the Congress , and cordially offer their best assistance to calm the minds of all parties , and explain to them the measures by which the whole popula--tion may be so essentially benefitted . All art now suffering ; many most severely , and all are in danger of doing so through a state of ignorant anarchy and of excitement , created by misery , the causes of which are misunderstood , or they would have been removed .
The intentions of all these contending parties are good—they all think themselves right , and their opponents wrong . In consequence of the false principle on which they have been educated , they have no charit y for the difference of charaeter created for their opponents—a difference - created without the consent or knowledge of their opponents . Thus all , though errors early forced into their minds , are acting blindly or without real knowledge ; all , therefore , are objects for sympathy , and not for blame . But the means to open their minds to see the truth , andi to overcome their errors are now required , forof themselves they cannot perceive or conquer these errors .
It is in ram to expect that hatred , anger , and violence can ever convince ^ error . Thomeans required to effect this object are patience , perseverance , kindness , and charity , directed by firmness , proceeding from a sound , and correct judgment , aided by extensive practical experience . These , however , are qualifications which can alone emanate from a knowledge of human nature and of society , unalloyed with any of the local or general influences and prejudices which are created by the false fundamental principle on which alone society has hitherto been based , or by confined fanciful notions of practice .
And tins knowledge is only to be attained by the abandonment of that false principle , and all the innumerable evil consequences which —when made the base of national institutionsit produces . To the present period , this false principle and its endless evil consequences , have been made to pervade all minds—and the difficulty now to be overcome is to cut the Gordian knot of this universal false association of ideas , and of the opposition thus created of man to man , lhe only weapon equal to this mighty task , 18 plain direct truth , firml y but benevolently expressed in simple terms , and made so . ebvious that the mind will be compelled to receive it , AC
This weapon the writer , regardless of all opposition , has used without ceasing for many years . Its effects are now experienced , and ' are rapidly progressing throughout the civilised world . Alljwho reflect , or suffer , are dissatisfied with the present system of falsehood , ignorance , injustice , and cruelty . They see or feel the wrong—but they yet do not see the right , or know how it is to be attained in practice . let that which appears to the falsely educated and erroneousl y placed , to be infinitely difficult , involved , and impracticable , will when guided by the principles of truth , become plain to all and easy of execution .
All now required , is to form new ' scientific ' practical arrangements , to well place , employ , educate , and govern all from birth , according to age , ' Combining , in these arrangements , the greatest amount of mechauical and chemical power , to gradually elevate mind , and reduce ilavery and servitude to their minimum . By this change , gradually effected , none would be injured . All would be permanently
oenehtted . The earth , instead of being overrun with falsehood , fraud , disunion , poverty , and crime , making a near approach toward a pandemonium , would gradually become the abode of beings ; trained'in , truth and honesty ; united ; surrounded with all that can contribute to health and true enjoyment , and in a fair way to progress toward an earthly paradisa .
This is the "Good time coming . " Error and prejudice may yet retard its progress ; but no human power can prevent its ultimate , and . not very distant , accomplishment . May your Majesty ' s Government aid effectually in this great and glorious cause ; and may your Majesty and your royal Consort live , not only to see the " Good time coming , " but to have health and strength , with many of the present sub jects of your Empire , long to enjoy it . h Most respectfully , Your Majesty ' s faithful subject , T , .. Robert Owex . Loadon , Nov ., 1848 .
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TO MR THOMAS HUNT OP SPUING LAKE , MUKWONAGO , WISCONSIN , AMERICA .
Sir . , —I read your letter published in last week ' s "Northern Star" with much pleasure . It is a very able production , and if such writers had access to the English Press , you would be an aUe auxiliary to the cause of Democracy , opon the success of which alone wealth , peace , iappiness , and contentment can be insured . There is one fact , however , of which you ttust not lose sight—it is that you write in a free country , where opinions are calml y discussed , and have their due weight according to their legitimateinnaence upon the public mind ; ylile 1 write in a country possessing- but two
ifleas—MIGHT sustained by brute force , and RIGHT advocated with a halter round a man ' s Seek . However , to prove to you the extent to * hkh the advocacy of right may be carried , in defiance of might ^ I will proceed to analyse the following portion of your letter , with a view of proving to you that in this THOUGH 1 ' - SUYIXG land , where IMAGINATION is nigh Treason , Ihave pushed the Land Q uestion w a greater practical extent than it has been earned in free America ; just as I have practi-°% pushed the Labour Question in England , * bile its mere theory has been the basis of a «^ olution in France . * ou
sav—?„ *' . Chartists and Repealm * ffl turn their att : ntion fra t ^ . i nestion of land Monopoly , I am quite sstis-Wnri 7 i « J ?«? ^ annot d 0 otherwise * & *«» adopt the * S j * the Natieiial Reformers of this country , eo ls&n -i i ? rtbin the ad <* ress of tlie committee of the 2 L »^ s A ? 5 " « - In that cate their eyttem triU 1 Tw ? 5 S Bke ttefollowingfonn :-'' 1-. ?**" " " England . <* U < fl ta »« , the Dnion > ^ an Wsk Parliament tWr . a' npon the Principles of the English tasj i ' rifawrtJ !** 3 ** ^ * ^ 'k d ^ epditiealreiorujs to' ^ SD ! pl - daca , tion ' M the t «* tmeans * "curing MS ? t ^ tIrP ° li « Ml ^ d social rights . * 4 « WT of fteP ^ lic lands to actual settlers . *~* nA } hWT ° f thehmn £ sttad *<>« forced sale . ^ s niure » h ° > by "whicl 1 no individual would poi-^ 'dbvan ™ a - ertain amonnt ofland , tobeasctrkpaiiUon C 0 lnean £ 0 a of tte aiea oi a country with its
land * - ~~^ lave adopted the principles of * li < L- ? ession as the Rrat social benefit sL ii resuIt from political freedom . W £ ' 7 Wehave ad ° P * Charter for lS *« 1 I reland , and a Repeal of the atimo - reland 5 and I have declared mwiv lT nion »! ° ^ tbat l would rather no * see the ^ " pealed unless the Charter was the miod ° , P « sentation . And you will bear in 3 Wdt to tie last moment the leaders of
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* ^^^>* ' ^ s' <*«» ' ^^ rf- —¦^^^^¦¦^^^^ y S ^ . ^^ ySi ^^^^ TO HER MAJESTY YICTOR 1 A , QUEilN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE .
Letter IV . Rkbpected Sovereign , I address your Majesty as Queen of the most powerful Empire the world has yet known ; an Empire now wielding new scientific power for producing wealth and happiness among its subjects , exceeding the manual power of nine hundred millions of slaves in full manhood ; slaves most easily governed , living without food or raiment , daily increasing , and capable of being , at the pleasure of the state , increased indefinitely in numbers , beyond any assignable limits .
This is an ' . ovenvlielming power for good or for evil . Through the false principle on which—from the beginning—society over the world has been based / this power has been , so far , directed to produce increasing evils and misery to the human race . It had been blindly applied throughout the British Empire , to produce inferior , instead of japen ' or ^ circumstances , while the superior might have been more easily and economically created ; and man ever has been , is , and ever must be , the creature of the inferior or superior circumstances by which society shall lurround him .
It is , then , the highest interest of the human race , that all , from and before . birth , should be surrounded by the most superior circumstances , only that the means and wisdom of society can create . Your Majesty ' s Government is now « o placed , in . the midst of a world of error and anarchy , tbat , b y wise counsel , it may terminate this confusion , and , in a comparatively short period , accomplish the greatest and most important good , for all nations .
It has now the most' desirable opportunity ever offered to the world , to attain this glorious result ; and , at once , to stay the mangling of man by man ; the destruction of valuable property , and the misdirection of all human faculties and powers . If the British Government , with the power , dignity , and benevolence , which its preEent position should create , were to say to contending nations— " Peace , and you shall be all highly benefitted , Behold the new power which , ! in modern times , the industry of British subjects has discovered or inventee ! It is , when
understood and rightly directed , an hundred-fold beyond the wants of our population for the creation of wealth . It may now be made to become equally superabundant for the creation of wealth for the world . Why , then , have human living slaves of any colour ? or why should white men- —calling themselves rational beings ¦—butcher one another for no « ne good object ? You want wealth—you want a good and superior character for yourselves and your fellowmen— and ' you want to be surrounded by superior and happy circumstances . " These results may now be easily attained . " With the enormous new scientific powers for producing wealth and increasing happiness ; with the late discovery by which any
human character may be created , or well or ill-manufactured , according to the natural qualities , at birth , of the organisation or material ; we can now assist to enable you to acquire the power and means to secure ample wealth , and a good superior character for all , and by the creation of new practical arrangements , by means of which both of these important objects will be permanently attained and made universal . Why , then , like Don Quixote , fighting with the windmill , should you now waste your invaluable powers so irrationally as to contend thus furiously against each other , when , by so doing , you ; only destroy those powers which , rightly directed , might be made to be most useful in preparing happiness for all ? ' ' Such is . the language which your Majesty's Government , by its present enviable position , is
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Fref .-Thadb Danhh CiTiLB .-The . ' vestel E ' . derarnved at Bru&swick-wharf , Blackball , from lonningen , has brought the large number of 198 oxen and cows , oasigned to order , the produce of Danmork . Thero have recent ! / been one or two equally large arrivals of homed eittlo from this pauiBUporfc , and they are of peculiar intetesfe and importance , both on account of the particular country of and
supply , that no arrivals of horned Btock to such an extent have taken place from any other part of Europe or , of oouree , eleewhera , Tho game vesa ? 1 brought , in additisn to a quantity of grain of different descriptions , 100 casks of butter , and some package ot freBh meat . No arrival of a similar character to the laat mentioned has before taken place from this or any other continental state , excepting the port of Hamburgh , and the supply is therefore , on account of its novelty , ateo of some interest
. " The CoGGEsnAiL GAxa .-On Thursday there was a further examination of the parties connected with ths Coggeaball gang , tho charges priacipally arising out of thy statements of Wade , the convicted accom . pliee in tho case . Another of the ganj ^ WiUhm Everett , a dealer in fisb , was apprehendliPSSphfe day , a nd was charged with the ethers ^^ jfi » ffiwn burghrias in the neighbourhood of Cod ^{^^|^ examination took place at tho gaol , S p » m § ip 3 ? i ^ caies geno into wero the burglaries at ^ I | MJSilm Smith ' s , and Mr Wood's , at Grange-Hf 'iSff ^ M ^ the BeveraUprisoneM , Everottr GpJpfc&Mfll Tansley were remanded until flfflBBS ' pSr SS ^ ppw
≪Ffiuj, Of The Old Guards.
< ffiUJ , OF THE OLD GUARDS .
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/ £ iA ^ tr ^ Cl ^^^ c / £ , < 5 AND NATIONAL TRADEf JQUMAL
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VOL- XII . No 578- LONDON , SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 18 , 1848 ; ~~~~ ^^^ v ^^^ 7 r ¦ - - " ¦ ¦ r * Te BM" « g » and Bigpeace per Quartet - - - .. . ^^^* ^* """ ' - — ' ' —~
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 18, 1848, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1497/page/1/
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