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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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paaled demands for an apology from the Saxon government , for the injustice with which he had been treated . This reply , a somewhat extraordinary one , was to the effect tfeat the Saxon government had to express its regret at the delay which had occurred in returning the papers , and also at the in-# onvenience to which Mr . Paget had been put ; that the police kad undertaken the search on their sole responsibility , and had keen in consequence strongly reprimanded by the Minister of the Home Department .
We know not whether Mr . Paget will be dolt enough to aceept such an explanation as this ; but we feel assured that no Englishman with a particle of common sense will consider such a transparent falsehood as this sufficient reparation for the injury done to his country ' s honour . We are bound to believe one of two things , either that Saxony is no longer an independant state ,
and its police are the police of Austria , receiving its orders direct rom the Austrian government , or that the orders for the search of Mr . Paget ' s dwelling must have been given through the medi « urn of the Saxon government . In either case , that government must have been well aware of the circumstances which originated the disgraceful outrage .
But whether Austria gave direct orders for the committal of the outrage , or used the Saxon government as a cat's-paw on the occasion , the design evidently was to offer another wanton insult to the honour of this country . The duty of the British government , under the circumstances , was unmistakeable . It should have demanded complete and immediate satisfaction from Saxony , and enforced its concession from Austria if Saxony showed herself to be but the tool of that power .
, It is needless to say that the Tories have shown no intimation of doing anything of the sort , nor have we any expectations of their so doing . They will act in precisely the same manner as they have always acted , and as their Whig predecessors have acted in the cases of this nature which have of late so frequently occurred . They will shrink from the task of upholding their country ' s honour .
It is shame enough to see , time after time , our country thus insulted and debased ; but it is still greater shame to see the apathy of the great mass of the people in the matter , and the little exertion they make to obtain a government composed of better and braver men than those who now bring contempt and shame upon the nation they rule .
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EMIGRATION OR PAUPERISM . This is an unpleasant alternative , but it is the only one left to a class of our countrymen , the number of which is increasing day by day . We allude to the workmen whose labour is superseded by machinery . Iu a just and rational state of society , the introduction would be a blessing to all , whereas , at present it is one of the greatest curses which afflict the great mass of the people of this country . The introduction of machinery , by enabling the workman t « produce in one hour what he . previously could in three or four , and , also to produce a superior article , sAouM'have been a great benefit to him . It should have enabled him to live in comfort , and to devote a portion of the day , hitherto wholly consumed in labourin the
, cultivation of his mind . That the introduction of machinery has been very far from producing any such good effects , is too well known . Instead of aiding him and enriching him , while it lessened his labours , it has been set in competition with himself , and as he could net produce the same articles so well or so quickly as the machine , he has been precipitated into misery and pauperism , or has been altogether driven from the field .
This evil altogether arises from the monopoly of the increased power of production . Had machinery been from the first , not the property of the capitalists , as it has been , but of the producers , or rather of the nation in its entirety , we should never have seen the operatives reduced to beggary through it ami brought to the sad alternative of expatriation or starvation .
f o this alternative have the Woolcombers of Bradford been brought ; as we learn from the " Report and Observations" of their Committee , a copy of which is now before us , that the machine which has lately been introduced , is able to do the work hitherto done by them , and to do it at least far cheaper , if not letter than it is possible to do by manual labour ! Accordingly their occupation » assuredl y gone , without the lightest hope of retrieval . It is needless to tell these men that they nmst seek some other om « u « ..-t m ,... . u « * u . « y nmst see * some other employment There
. is a surplus ,. f labour m every trade , and even were there not , they might all perish before they could gain a kllowled of ^ new . ca ling . Aow their only hope is to get out to Australia , where there is a want oflabour , and a superabundance of food If tney are unable to do this , H is pretty evident that they must smk into the degradation of pauperism . The capitalists have always acknowled ged that a vast amount of suffering is ever consequent upon the introduction or in
any new vention in machinery . But , they add , it is onlv that generation that suffers thereb y , and that soon dies out or is absorded into other trades . This heartless and selfish mode of reasoning could be used by no one but a Manchester-school wan . What right have yoa to inflict misery and destruction upon even « one generation" of any class of your fellow men ? We do not believe those who tell us that it is a necessary evil ' to procure a greater good . Let machinery be the property of Ufcrar or of the state , and m should have % U " greater
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good" without any evil whatever . On this subject the Bradford Woolcombers Committee , in their report , remark : — It is a grievous drawback to the rapid development of the national resources , of which tiie wonderful improvement of machinery is the main agent , that a lavge amount of personal suffering accrues to that class of operatives whose means of existence are taken away , and to whom the future holds out no better prospect than that of a worthless and despised dependent on the labour of others . If , as has been so frequently asserted , that labour-saving machines are a great public benefit , and the main auxiliary to national wealth and greatness ; Justice and Humanity suggest that those who aro thus superseded have a fair claim to
the assistance of their more fortunate brethren , not as recipients of eleemosynary aid , to vegetate in unprofitable idleness , but to enable them to renew the battle of life under happier auspices . We find that in all matters appertaining to the general government of the country , when « nocessiiy arises for abolishing the office of those who are supposed to hold a life interest therein , they are not ruthlessly cast forth on the world ' s cold charily . On the contrary , their " vested rights" are admitted , and they receive an indemnification for the loss thus
sustained . To the class thus dealt by , this is nothing more than Justice , TllGV had fixed their standard of expenditure according to their status in society . They had amused for the education of their children , and their entry into the busy world on a similar scale , and it would be an act little short of cruelty to crush within them their future hopes . What then shall be said of the operative similarly situated ? Has he no claim 1 Is not his labour , which he has been led to look
upon as the means of honourable existence through lifo , his vested right ? Oh " say some , " find some other employment . Push your way in ( he world as others have done . What chum have the Woolcombers more than any other class of men ? ' Cold , heartless , and uncheerin ? words are these . The true counterpart of those expressed by him whose name has been handed down from the * beginning of time " Am I my Brother ' s Keener V
It is quite clear , however , that no immediate justice is to bo obtained , and as the Woolcombers' labour will be wholly superseded within the next two years , it is clear that unless they are enabled to emigrate , they must turn paupers or starve . They have accordingly turned their atteutioa to the question of emigration , and hope to obtain assistance sufficient to enable them to proceed to Australia .
Sad as it is to see our best men thus driven from our side , we cannot but be rejoiced at the thought of their escaping from the baneful influence of our destructive factory system . Though not for this country , it will be well for our working classes , when the progress of machinery shall have driven them all far from the unhealthy manufacturing towns of Kn < rland , to seek less enervating pursuits in Australia or elsewhere . Will those who now see perfection in onr manufacturing system be convinced of their error , when the real people , the life ' s blood of the nation is expatriated , and little is left but machinery and capitalists ? This monster evil , —the monopoly of machinery , must be remedied before long , or it will be too late .
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THE RULE OF ANARCHY . The lately published " confidential" report of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Lunacy furnishes us with another and most glaring instance of the many and great evils that spring from our present universal anarchy , and absence of that organization which alone is worthy to be called a government . The Report gives the details of the barbarous treatment to which the unhappy inmates of Bethlehem Hospital were subjected . Women of all ages have been compelled to sleep on straw , in a state of complete nudity , with only a small coverlet thrown
over them . Several young girls have been covered with wounds from head to foot , yet the same brutal treatment has been pursued towards them , and the continuance of their physical agonies only contributed to the confirmation of their mental derangement . The Report gives instances of cruelty so wanton and causeless that it is scarcely possible to give credit to them ; but coming from such a source , their truth cannot for an instant be doubted . Ivianv persons suffering from physical as well as mental illness , are
compelled to sleep on straw pallets , without clothing of any kind whatever ; and this the whole year through , in winter as in summer . Others of the patients are described to have been bound in chairs , in such a manner that they were half strangled , so that those in charge of them might be able the more readil y to thrust food down their throats . - Many of them were often left for several hours in this condition , for no other reason than that the doctor had gone away ; and so the poor wretches were compelled to continue in their misery until that functionary should return
It is not to be wondered at , that many of the patients who were but slightly affected before their admission , soon became permanently insane , and beyond the possibility of cure . Som * of them have even sunk and died beneath the tortures to which they were subjected . * All this is truly horrible , and the continuance of these scenes for years , without those outside the walls of Bethlehem Hospital having ever heard h whisper of the enormities that were neretrated with i to
p ,,,, s a disgrace the country , and its government the income of the hospital is upwards of 20 , 0001 . a year a fund amply sufficient to provide its inmates with all those comforts and conveniences , which are likely to contribute to the recovery of the patient Want of means , therefore , can be no excuse for any of the hardships the unhappy victims were made to undergo We see n cause therefore why those who have been instrumental m the cruel treatment of the poor maniacs , should not meet with immediate and severe punishment .
We can conceive almost no crime greater than that which they have combed They have barbarousl y tortured those who were en . ruste . ) to their charge ; and where thev should have en eavoured by kindness and attention , to restore the * to health , they nave y neglect and cruelty , incased both in , b Jl and mental di ^ esj and what they have not brought them to
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an untimely grave , they have for ever prevented th ^ their reason-that God-like gift of nature , with out v 11 « f nothing better than a curse . ^ h life ^ But they will be left unpunished . Mere shame \ vli those in authority to insure the practice oi a more h °° ^ tem in the treatment of the patients in Bethlehem 11 ^ ^ ^ many a hidden evil , many a concealed cruelty w'l ] ^^ practised in other places , and none will know of it C 0 UtlllUe to
We live , assuredly , under the rule of monarchy Tr does not commit certain crimes , according to a cm * ^ he is perfectly . at liberty to pursue a path of crime i ^ " ^ care to molest him . The father of a family ma « ' m ^ \\\\ uiniiv iiidy Stinfltifl earnings , and leave his children to grow up in the ignorance ; but none will interfere , and the children wilT educated . It may be said that it is the duty of the mr " ^
its government , to educate the children of the people u ' ° ° so ! and when the government neglects this duty , { L \ t a ^ commits a crime . But the governments thus sinn ' ° parents , by not fuelling the duty , commit a crime also ^' n producers , too , are overworked , brutalized , and starve d in f . and workshop , and there is no protection for them p \ ^ has grown into a profession , scarcel y any article of f 00 ^ m "§ that has not been adulterated ; and although every onek that monstrous crime is daily committed , in every she *
every shop , and that the lives of the consumers sre shorte thereby , no governmental power attempts to put it down , % let none boast of our civilization , for it is but a sham ; letn speak of our freec dom , fur it is but the rule of anarchv
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PROGRESS . If there is one law that reigns more absolute and supreme in the universe than another , it is that of movement , and of the most rapid movement conceivable . Movement presides over the starry heavens and movement is also the law of snl ) - 1 unary things . Nature and man are alike subject to its swav and yet a fraction of humanity y ' clept conservative s and doc ' trinaires think to balk the march of the world , by pronouncing the veto of finality . * a
One would have thought that the world had by this time outgrown its long clothes , that it had broken loose from its leui iug strings , and resolved to put away childish things . Tho victories of science , and the gold fields proclaim in clear Ianguage the march of mind and matter , and yet sundry voices are still lifted up to say , Thus far shalt thou come and no farther . We are far from denying the expediency of a proper caution in * going a-head , ' but to stein the tide of human progress , appears to us as hopeless a task as to extinguish the sun .
1 bought backed by the press in the true high pressure engine , and , no propeller has yet equalled it in velocity of movement , and while these forces are in operation , we are " persuaded that humanity must remain the first of locomotives . But in the face of these facts , and their necessary conclusions , we find a large class of speculative men , and scientific works preaching tlie ? te p lus ultra of our social economy , and the statu qwui civilisation . The latter term is vajmely ' used , vet it must mean
one of two things . 1 st . A peculiar phase of human development , which < m the principle of human progress and movement , is destined to be superseded , or 2 ndly . a social phase , capable of indefinite and unlimited development , which is an absurdity ; because in the proof of this development , it may become the opposite and contradiction of itself . The word civilization is often employed in the latter inaccurate sense , leading to great contusion of ideas , and of words . The only legitimate application of the term is evidently that of Charles
Fourier , who treats it as a peculiar phase in the development oi ' human and social destiny and progress . Now it is evident that if a movement or progress inhumanity is granted , the finality of civilization is thrown overboard , and a future and higher phase of humanity and social life is in store for man . The primeval characteristics of civilization in all people that have reached the apogee of this phase of development , are easily ascertained and classified . All nations that have reached this point , have attained to a hi ^ h decree of perfection in tho
labour , of thought , that is , in theoretical science , in nautical science , and in the development of industry : that is , to a wealth of material , without organisation . Such may be regarded as the most general summary of the advance they have made to the present time . Now we maintain that by logical consistency , a people that have advanced to this point , is bou nd to anticipate the advance of a higher degree of social development , or of a general dissolution by means of a rap decomposition of its constituent elements . But the law of
movements , or progression , forbids the latter conclusion ; hence we are driven to the conclusion that , this point onco attained , another and a higher platform of social life is < lt hand , ° v It may be objected that Grecian and Roman civilization were overthrown by tho northern barbarians , and hum anity thrown back into barbarism . But this objection overlooks two radical difficulties , first the civilization of Greece and Athens
was immature and even strongl y tinctured with btirbiu-ism , witness the mass of Athenian slaves , aud the gl adiatorial display ' s of the Colisseum . Secondly , this apparent retrogress ! " was in fact a progression , for the Germanic mid chiyalnc « iements were wanting to carry up civilization to its zenith . Since however , civilization has now reached its high wute mark , we must look to a new phase of humanity , opening ^ as a new reach in its onward course , or deny the groat OrgajJ Law of Progress that presides over history . Then comes ^ great questiou what is this future to be Some thinkers or i
, . common ingenuity and acuteness have classified the iutur ° > systematically M the past , and buoyed out the future com * for humanity to steer . Among those pilots , none has a cquit himself more skilfully than Charles Fourier . * k toe'the Pmonfoftke Human 8 miV translated by J- & Mw < eU ' * ° " BiWiTntasltw
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154 THE STAH OP FUEEDOM . [ OcTo BEuift jg . . " . " ¦¦ , i . ¦ " - ¦¦'"»¦ —¦¦— ¦» •** mm ^ mwn . ^ ^ . t ^ . < .- . , — , ¦ . „ , , . .,. .., „ ., , . .... - ¦¦ ,, ... ...- - - — ¦ ... , ¦ _ .,.. — , . , „ ..,.,. ¦ - . „ . — .. — . — ¦ ..-,. ¦ — ¦ ¦ .. ,. , . V \
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 16, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1700/page/10/
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