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THE NORTHERS STAR. SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1841.
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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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RELEASE OF MR . EDWARD BROWN FROM WARWICK GAOL . On Wednwdiy evening , Ike 21 st lust , the Chartists of Warwick and I * eamii > gton entertained Mr . E- Brown TTftfc & sapper , at Mt Frenetie '* . Notwithstanding the hort notic * given , there -was & glorious meeting ; the tomb tna tastefully decorated , and the utmost harmony prevailed daring the evening . After the elotfa "was restored , Mr . DO 5 XLDSOH , the fhaimm , proposed the first toast , — " The people , the legitimate source of all powa . " He addressed hi * brother Chartirts with feelingi of great pleasure on that occasion , ai the numbers present , and the enthusiasm exhibited , furnished additional proof of the sterling Talue of the great and glorious principles cenUiaed in the People ' s Charter ,
sad of tneir increased attachment to those martyrs -who had rofffered , and -who were enduring to much misery for advocating those principles . Every day ' s experience proved the folly of those aristocratic tyrant * who sought by physical force to rivet those chains of slavery which were forged by antiquated tyrants , when they were in a comparative state of ri «* r »« ui gut the intelligence and political knowledge of the people were now shaking the antiquated citadel of corruption ; tbey would no lOBger suffer themselves to be led by the nose , anil deluded by either Whig or Tory factions . Tne plunder of the people was the common object of both ? the only difference he could discover between them * as , that the Whigs occasionally sacrificed their principles to
expediency , and cheated the people by delusive promises ; while the Tories , like bold highwaymen , dapped a pistol to their breasts , and plundered them with a daring face of the most consummate impudence . ( Lond cheers . ) He would propose , as a toast , —" The people , the legitimate source of all power , bat assure them that until the People's Charter became the law of the land , they must calculate on being plundered by the aristocracy of both Whig and Tory . The battle was now between the Chartists aad Tories , fat the Whigs , as a party , were defunct—peace be to t hpTT remains . Let but the working classes be united , and they -would soon prove to the -world that the people Me the legitimate soaree ot all po-wer . The toast was drank with great enthusiasm .
Mr . PRICE responded to the toast , and : drew a clear and masterly sketch of the principles of the People's Charter , and was loudly cheered . The Chaieuas proposed a toast , " Civil and religions liberty all over the gl * be . " He deplored that while most of the religious world would respond to the sentiment , they were ignorant of its value , and opposed to the sublime principles it contained . Every different sect set no bounds to their own religious views ; and yet , with a one-sided consistency , they sneered and hooted every other sect who happened to differ with them ' , forgetting that true religious liberty consisted in freedom of thought , charity to all , envy to none , but leve to the vhole litmus £ unily . Mr . BRKAVSS responded to this toast in a delightful
The Chairman next proposed the health of Mr . Edward Brown . The presence of Mr . Brown prevented him saying many things that would be necessary to do justice to his character . ~ So man in England , except Mr . Feargus O'Connor—( loud cheers here interrupted the Chairman)—bad worked with more seal in the people's cause than Mr . Brown ; no man had been more unjustly persecuted . The Chartist movement had been earned on far enough to answer the purpose of the "Whigs of Birmingham : the Government threw certain hungry dogs of that town a bone to pick , by granting tbe Charter of Incorporation ; but certain he wasj ttiat Uiile Johnny Finality and his ¦ " cbums" sent down the Charter of Incorporation to Douglas and Co ., with an
understanding that they should assist in putting down the Chartist movement . It was at that crisis that Mr . Brown manfully came out , and told the people of Birmingham that they were sold ; snd , by his extraordinary exertions , aided by a few others , he rallied the working men , and that successfully ; until , at length , the Whigs set future Tory Governments an example to put down freedom of discussion by physical force , and they sent their buD-dogs into the Bull Ring to break the heads of the inoffensive and peaceable working men of the town . The Chairman , at considerable length , dwelt on the perfidious conduct of the Whigs at that time : he also added that they were equally indebted to the bloodthirsty Tories for the Bcenes of brutality which followed those events .
The toast was drunk with three times three hearty cheers . Mr . Beow . t acknowledged the toast in a splendid speech . The proceedings were continued for some time ; several other toasts and sentiments being proposed and responded to ; a spirit of union and good fellowship prevailed ; and at the close a vote of thanks to the «» y «; TTnfrn \ ras carried by acclamation .
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COUNTY SHERIFF'S COURT . * A Sheriff ' s Cmrt vras held at Leeds , on Monday last , before J . H Hill , Esq ., Barrister-at-Xiw . There were only four cases tried , with which the court vas occupied till nearly midnight . The following are the only cases of publie importance : — PINK-SET P- BOOTH . This wi * an action brought to recover £ 6 3 s ., for work and labour done , and 5 s . for travelling
expenses . Mr . Xewios , barrister , of Ripen , appeared for the plaintiff , and Mr . Johs Hope Shaw , of Leeds , for the defendant . Mr . Plnkney , the plaintiff , is a small farmer and eattte doctor , at Sharow , near Ripon ; and the defendant , Mr . Richard Booth , is a gentleman , occupying » large sheep farm , at "Wailaby , near Northallertoii . In June , 1838 , the defendant had a large number ol ¦ beep afflicted with a disease called the scab , which the plaintiff was employed to cure , by washing them with a liquor prepared for the purpose , for which the plaintiff is famous . The evidence showed that the defendant ' s shepherd went over to Sharow on the loth of June , to see the plaintiff , whom he found at the
boose of a Mr . Woodbouse , at Bridge Hewick , on which occasion a conversation took place , which ended in the plaintiff agreeing to send his two sons to wash the defendant ' s sheep . The sons went to Warlaby on the 19 * h of June , and were employed until the 22 nd , watering 246 sheep , whieh it ¦ was agreed Ehou ' . d be paid sixpence each . The defence set up was , that the agreement was no cure no pay , " and the sheep , so far from being cured , had some of them died , and consequently the plaintiff was not entitled to recover . la answer to this it was shown that strict orders had been given that the sheep should be taken proper care of , but neglecting this , they had been left in a field all night , whilst it was raining , by which the preparation was washed o £
The fiction has been previously tried in the game eourt , when a verdict was given for the plaintiff for the amount , sought ; upon which a new trial was moved for in the Queen ' s Beach , on the ground that the Terdict ¦ was not in accordance "with the evidence . The motion "was granted , and an issue was directed to ha \ e the case re-argued . Toe evidence was of great length , and in some points contradictory . The court was -occupied from eieven o ' clock in the morning until nearly seven at night ; and the jury , after a short deliberation , returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £ G 7 s . —damages , Is ., the whole amount Bought
- >~ r . . This - » as an action to recover back a stake of £ 15 , deposited by the plaintiff in the hands of the defendant , upon an illegal race . Mr . Bond , for the plaintiff , stated that the facts were in a narrow compass , and the case would probably resolve itself into a question of law for the court above . The plaintiff was the owner of a black mare , and in Mareh last he deputed a person named John . Eistwood to make a match for her to trot four miles against another mare , belonging to one BeDJamin Eastwood . The match was mscic on the 22 nd March last , for £ 25 a-gide , and was to come off on the 5 th of May . Two pounds a-ride -vr . re paid down to make the match , into the hands of the defendant as stakeholder ,- on the 3 rd
of April £ 13 a-side more were deposited , and the remaining £ 10 a- « id » -was to be made good on the day of the race . On that morning , however , the plaintiff ¦ was informed tha . ^ the defenda nt -was f « tiier-in-l » w to Benjamin Eastwood , and he thtn objected to his eonti-B&ing the t-fice of stakeholder , but offered to go on with the match if any respectable indifferent person ¦ were named in his stead . The parties ultimately could not agree as to another stakeholder , and the plaintiff then declared the match off , and gave defendant notice to pay back his money , which notice he repeated in writing the same evening . Now , in point . of law , if either party to an illegal wager gave notice to the
stakeholder t o pay him fcscfc his stake before be had handed it over to the other party , be -was bound to refund it , whichever won or lost , or forfeited his wager . That this * rss an illegal wager was dear " of all doubt . By the 10 th CbarUs 11 . ho » e races were all declared illegal The 13 th Gte- II . legated horse noes for sams of £ 50 or upwards , if rnn at certain places named in thai statute , and the ISth Geo . II . Biade tf" >™ legal \ ihere-rer they might be tun . But it iad been decided , in a case before Lord Eldon , that ti » two latter Acts only applied to real horse-racing upon the turf , and not to a trotting match upon the Queen ' s highway , and that case bad been co :, firmed by a later one before the Court of Common Pleas
Witnesses were thtn called who proved the facts atated , and upon the agreement being produced , it appeared on the face of it to have been ma Je between John Eastwood and Be&jamin Eastwood , and not between the plaintiff and Ben jamin Eastwood . John Eistwood , howerer " ww distinctly thaibe made Has the agent of the pMZliff , and that all the monty deposited belonged to
tile plaintiff . Mr . Shaw , for the defendant , submitted first that the wager was legal , and attempted to distinguish ibis case from that decided by Lord Eidon ; and , ssconcly , that the evidence of John Eastwood , that he acted as plaintiff ' s agent , was not admissible to eon . trs . uict the agreement . Air . Bill une Sheriff * Assessor ] , refused te stop the ease on either joint , but reserved it-are to Xhe ^ pft * p H » jit to move to enter & con&oit if be sLoaid be so « d vised .
Mr . Shaw then addressed the Jury for the dt fendant , contending that John Eastwood had made the match on bis own account ; tbathe bad cot mentioned the plaintiff ts Benjamin Eastwood ; or that he was at ail events a fftxtMr in Uw wafer with the pfc ^ itiff .
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Tares witnesses were then called , who swore that they had not heard Challand mentioned except as the owner cf the mare ; but they admitted , on crossexamination , that they were not prestnt during the whole amo . Mr . Bond , in reply , contended that there was no ground for Imputing penury to John Eastwood , who had expressly sworn that he nude the match as plaintiff * * agent , and that he no doubt mentioned the plaintiff to Benjamin Eastwood , before the defendant ' s witnesses came . Besides , bis client had made the deposits , and had been throughout treated as the principal in the matter . The Learned Assessor summed up , telling the Jury that if they thought upon the evidence that John Eastwood made the match on behalf of the present plaintiff , and so declared at the time , and that he was not ft partez in the wager , then their verdict must be for the plaintiff ; otherwise , for the defendant
Verdict for the plaintiff for £ 15 , subject to the pointa reserved .
P 1 KKET r . BOOTH . The plaintiff wm the same as in the former case ; . and the defendant , Mr . John Booth , of Killerby , near Catterick , brother of the former defendant . The action was brought to recover £ s 15 s ., for sheep washing , and 5 s . for travelling expences . 3 Ir . Newton was for the plaintiff , and . Mr . Dayison , of Northallerton , for the defendant The Jury gave a verdict for the defendant . The case did not terminate till two o'clock on Wednesday morning .
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THE WHIG BUDGET BARRICADES . Oca " moral force" readers may believe it or not , just &g they please , but ire beg to assure them that with , our own hands , we selected the following precious morsel of " morality" from the Morning Chronicle of Saturday last , the 24 th of July , 1841 , and tenth year of Pzack , Retrenchment , and Reform : — " There are many things in the present posture oi affairs which are anything but symptomatic of a Tory milleninm . "The rain falls , and the price of corn rises ; trade -does not improve ; and , should the harvest fail , Sir Robert will have a winter to encounter as disagreeable as that of 1830 , from which he fled .
" The Whig budget has been defeated by monopolists and ecclesiastical actiTity , and Tory taxes must be the substitute . " The army must be increased , because the Tories have no tenure but the bayonet in Ireland . The navy cannot be diminished , because foreign powers , knowing the hatred of the working classes and of the Iruh nation to the Tories , will noi fail to look around tor opportunities of indemnity from the late triumphs of Lord Palmerston . "France , in 1830 , according to the orasle of Tamworth , by an example of physical force , disturbed the slumbers of the English oligarchy . Is not France disturbing at this moment , the prospective success of a Tory Budget ?
" ' We must have money , ' says M . Humann . — Toulouse answers by a barricade . " ' We must have money , ' says Sir Robert Peel . — Manchester and Birmingham may answer aay budget , bat the Whig one , with a barricade . " ' We must have money through new taxes , ' repeats the oracla—Money you may have , but not new taxes . "So new taxes for the people—no new taxes for the middle classes—no new taxes for any or for all .
" Such will be the universal cry of the British empire ; and many an elector whom folly , or spite , or bribery , or intimidation , has led from his duty at the recent contests , will declare against new taxes—many a merchant , who has hitherto sacrificed his trade to party spirit , will repent his grovelling infatuationmany a manufacturer will have the film of ignorance taken from his eyes , and will wonder , as he wakes , at his transcendent degradation .
" The Budget gave relief , Sir Robert gives new burdens . The Whigs depart with the unpopularity of wisdom . Sir Robert enters office with the popularity of folly . Walk before him , O ye taxgatherers ; for verily he will augment you * daily labours . Walk before him , all ye corrupttonlsts , oligarchs , and -others , who find your accounts in the augmented burdens , and the increased miseries of the people . Welcome to him who grinds the poor for the sake of the rich . Welcome to the demure , pharisaical Sir Robert—to the comely and decent Jesnit—to the plausible champion of the Chandos gang . Welcome , 1 say , to the hero of th « pivot , and to him of the sliding- scale .
" But , men of England , look to your pockets . If you will not have the Whigs , make Peel give you their Budget If you are tired of Melbourne , extract Ms good measures from your enemies . " 0 / coarse the above is from " a Correspondent , " that is , from the Editor to the Editor ; as all of our mottled tribe have s vast privilege , not only of using both end 3 of the " stylus , " as Hokacb says , but there is also vested in us a kind of
prescriptive right of selecting the exact degree of relationship in ¦ which we choose to stand towards our children ,-whether as legitimate parent , putative father , father by adoption , or god-father . The striking likeness , however , of the youngest son of the Chronicle to his eldest brother , Master Massabonj Reform Easthops , born in 1831 , leaves no doubt upon the mind of those who have seen both that they are " par nobi / e fratrum . "
, In very truth , we feel unequal to handle the above ¦ with any degree of moral courage . We fear touching the pitch lest we may be thereby defiled ! but we must e ' en at the Barricade , as no doubt some notice will be expected from us . Well , then , it will be in the recollection of our readers that when "plain Johu , " now Lord Job Johk , announced the death and burial of Chartism , we shed no tear over the empty grave ; we heaved no
sigh oTer the corsel ess tomb . We watched the giant in his slKmber , which the foolish old man mistook for the repose cf death ; we examined the limbs and felt the heart , and finding them warm and animated we said that when the giant again rose refreshed from his slumbers , that he would start from that very point of his journey at which , before resting , he had arrived .
Our readers will recoiled that we then argued that however persecution , intimidation , and " physical fjree" might , for a season , arrest the progress of Chartism ; yet , upon its resuscitation , would it be Bore to start frcm that very point where oppression made its last assault . We announced that not a step of the old ground would be gone over again ; bat on the contrary , what was gained would be kept , and fresh ground would be broke . That we were right in our conjecture is fully proved by
the extraordinary and rapid strides made since the incarceration of our best , our wisest , and ablest leaders ; and that this is a principle in politics , may be inferred from the fact of the "Whig organs having finished the campaign of 1831 with fire &nd sword , and now ( after a sleep not far short of Rip Van Winkle ' s nap ) proposing to open the campaign of 1841 with barricades and circumvallations of bread , thus starting from the very point where the " Reformers" left off in 183-2 .
If any fatality could have occurred more propitious than another , to aid the class " Reformers' * in moulding the Reform Bill to their own party puvposes , it was that state of things which the senseless and then uninstructed people created at the bidding of their task-masters . "Reform" was literally snatched out of the fire , and cut into party dresses before the smoke had subsided . Those who applied the details to the principle knew full well what the effect of those details would
us : not perhaps that one would have been the mean of transferring power to Tory hands ; but ihey knew that the general effect would be to create a more slavish and dependent constituency , if possible , than that which it destroyed . They knew full well that all the people ' s shire was ( notwithstanding the " vigilant" popular controul under which our institutions were to be placed ) still to rest upon the e'eznency , whim , oi caprice of the party which might be in the ascendant . In fact , they knew that the change was but a mere change of masters . The people did not expect so bad a return ss they hare received . In every speech they recognised the
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admission of some great principle , one and all tending to the one great professed end of making taxatioh and representation co-extknsive ; and the great error committed was a blind renunciation of all further popular interference with the details , when the principle bad been gained by fire and sword , and threats of extermination of royalty itself . Such was the great error in 1832 : such , as we have over and over again stated , has been the great error in all physical revelations . The people , generally successful in the physical struggle , rest satisfied , and suppose that victory follows the last Bhot , or the last crash of the fired building : when the soldiers repose , leaving to their officers the disposal of the triumph and the possession of the spoil .
Our Teaders will farther bear in mind that we were alone in noticing the new Whig tactics so loosely cast before us in the rvar print , the Globe , under the significant heading "Bread or Blood . " We stated that the country would b& roused upon that cry , and further insisted that the hungry Whigs cou d not pass through the dog-days , without becoming rabid , if once whipt from the mess . Does not the following sentence from the Chronicle fully prove the truth of onr assertion !— We must have money , says Sir Robert Peel . Manchester and Birmingham may answer any Budget but the Whig one with a Barricade . "
Now , that is from the Chronicle , and we have emphasised the may just as we find it in that journal ; and will any man of plain common sense read it thus emphasised , otherwise than—Manchester and Birmingham 9 ught to erect the Barricade ; Manchester and Birmingham tee ( rust will erect the Barricade , in resistance to any Budget , other than a Whig Budget : that is to say , the people of Manchester and Birmingham should risk their lives
the peace of the country , and the very existence of society , for no other earthly parpose than that of whipping the Whigs back again to the mess ! for that is the plain meaning of the thing : because the Whigs know full well that ; they would have to toss up some other hasty pudding of a Budget for next year , and so on : annually looking out for windfalls and God-sends for the " surplus population" of idle paupers , which " presses too hardly upon the means " of the industrious man ' s existence .
But is it not curious that , in the tenth year of Reform and retrenchment , the Whigs should still claim credit , not—for reducing taxation , but for experimentalising to avoid further direct taxation 1 They require . £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the current year ; and as " a penuy saved is a penny gained , " we could very easily relieve them from all the trouble , anxiety , risk , and loss of office . by nipping just that amount from the
burden of the state , and [ barring the precedent !] the morsel would not be felt ! We could do it for them , and more , without even one act of aristooratic injustice ; but upon their preservation of the mess full , entire , and intact , ( which are the terms of cheir trust ) , depends their support ; and therefore they prefer walking out for a bit , to living upon short commons even for a season , in the hope of reluming to the undiminished mees at some future
cay . About the Barricades . Let us just suppose that O'Connob had appeared in Court , as proprietor » f the Northern Siar , to plead to an indictment framed upon the very article we have copied from the Chronicle : nor indeed is he f afe from this , as he was actually con victed twice for matter copied from other papers , and was also extensively denounced and held up to public reprobation by the said Chronicle and the Whig press generally , upon a third occasion , for the crime of the Northern Star having copied from the Tyne Mercury a sketch of a " cat " , and which the Tyne
Mercury gave a 3 a description of the sort of bed upon which it desired to see the said O'Connor reposiDg . We gave the article from the Mercury , " cat" and all ; and at no distant period we found the whole of the Whig and Tory Press teeming with abuse of O'Connor for having given a sketch of a cat for injuring the horses of dragoons , with a recommendation for its adoption . Nay the infamous and lying slander was actually repeated to the cheeringrepresentatives of the people , by that greatest and meanest of all tools , Plain Joh . i , and urged as a reason among others for his persecution of O'Connor and the Chartists .
But to the Barricade . What is it for , and whatis to be the amount of the promised victory ? A republic ! No . The establishment of the universal rights of the whole people , under a limited and responsible monarchy ! No . The annihilation of the Tory party ? No . The means of affording to the Whigs a power of completing " Reform , " in which they have been hitherto baffled by Tory opposition ! No . The remission of some heavy burdens , and reduction of taxation ! No . Some temporary means of helpiug the Bystem « made paupers through their present distress , until permanent steps shall be taken to
prevent a recurrence of the evil ? No . The Repeal of the new Poor Law Act ? No . The repeal of some bad law ! No , no , no ; no such thing ! The Whig Budget is the acknowledged " casus belli . " la decency , the Chronicle should have spared us the disagreeable and thankless office of taking it to task before the battle commences ; for although we and the unrepresented people cannot be expected to give to Toryism another "fair trial , " yet we do think that , inasmuch as the mere difference of locality ,
whether right or left of the Speaker ' s chair , constitutes the sole » Dd only difference between Whigs and Tories , the Chronicle should , in common decency , have waited for some better pretext , and more practical reason , for erecting the Barricades in Manchester and Birmingham , and thus have spared us the trouble of cautioning the people against the " revolutionary and treasonable" recommendation : aye , " revolutionary and treasonable" ; there is no use blinking it—it amounts to that .
Mr . Easthopk s life and property will be just as secure under a Tory , as under a Whig Government ; and he has not the same justification for his violence , as an unrepresented , neglected , despised , persecuted , aad starving out-lawed people have . Surely , then , if the Whigs cannot wait for a month for a trial without talking about Barricades , the sentences of poor " ignorant" working men , for no other crime than merely meeting , as in the case of Hoey , Ashton , and Crabtreb and hundreds of others , were most egregiously severe , and their crime was very venial compared to that of the Chronicle , who cannot state any better cause of complaint than the mere change from one side to the other of the House of Commons .
We have some recollection of a denunciation of O'Connor and O'Brien by the Chronicle , by Geobge Henbt Ward , by Macaulav at Edinburgh , and more recently by that respectable pauper , Mr . Oswald , at Glasgow , for having recommended the people to resort to " physical force , " and then deserting them . This we never thought it worth while to contradict as the whole people were aware of its falseness , and indeed as the bankrupt M . P . for Glasgow was very significantly and flatly told upon the hustings by a large portion of the said people . However , had O'Connor and O'Brien , even by insinuation , ( which they never did , ) told the people to make a physical resistance to , or physical aggression upon , tyranny , the people would have
been justified in insisting upon those two gentlemen taking the command of the troops : and in the same way , should the Whig Barricades be erected in Manchester and Birmingham , and should it not be convenient to send a deputation from either of these towns to London , for Mr . Easthope , Lord Palslcrsto * , and the Proprietor of the Globe , to take the command ; and should the rage extend to the metropolis , which is very probable , we hereby insist upon the Chronicle and Globe offices being respectfully searched for the Editors—no , for the Proprietors ; [ ihis is another privilege of ours , so long as 0 'ir writings are not objected to by our employers ij and upon Mr . Easthope being compelled to take the chief command of the " Budget Bar-
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ricade" which may happen to be nearest to bis office . We think this a good moral doctrine for our p «* ce-lovinj 5 Chartist friends ; and we beg to assure them , that the very same result as was produced in Nottingham , Newcastle , Bristol , and Dorchester , by ** firing" the Whigs into office in 1831 , would be produced after they were Barricaded into office in 1841 ; that is , the foremost men would be some hong and some more transported , which are the usual rewards of Whig soldiers after the battle .
But can anything more fully prove the injustice of class legislation than the impunity with which a set of trafficking politicians , destructives , and hired and common disturbers of the peace , are allowed thus to excite the quiet people to treason and rebellion ! Why is not Eastuope proseouted ! Why will he not be prosecuted ! Because , as we stated the week before last , a Jury that would hang a Chartist for half the crime , would acquit Easthope and honour him as a champion and a martyr .
We are fond of giving sums to our pupils ; and now suppose the second Whig campaign to have commenced with Barricades , how is it likely to end ? Answer—in the establishment of the Charter , a Republic , or anything else which is found indispensible for Whig restoration to the mess if the Chartist garrison only holds out . However , they will try to accomplish it constitutionally ii they can ; in Bhort , " morally if they may , physically if they must . " For ourselves we ever have been , and ever shall be enemies to excessive punishment , and more especially for political offences ; and the most
that Mr . Easthope and his violent friends can now expect at our hands , if worsted in the campaign of the " Budget Barricades , " will be to insist that the critical standard for the punishment of poor political offenders , established by the Whigs , shall not be violated . If there appears a strong point of law in Mr . Easthope ' s faveur to save him from being half hanged firstly , and then to have his bowels torn out and thrown in his face , and then to be the other half hanged , and then to have his head cut off , and then to be quartered and disposed of according to her Majesty's pleasure ;
and if all the best and ablest of the judges are in favour of that point , and if Mr . Easthofe ' s crime appears to consist in resisting tyranny and advocating justice for all ; in such case we will take care , as far as we have the power , that he shall suffer no greater punishment than transportation for life to a penal colony . If any Whig is discovered walking with a rusty old sword , or other warlike instrument , such as a pike handle without the pike , or having combustibles under his bed furnished by ahired Tory spy ; and if the said Whig is convicted upon the false evidence of a self-acknowledged perjurer , who
admits that he was hired by the police and government authorities , we will , in such case , take care as far as we can , that such Whig suffers no greater punishment than four years upon the tread-mill under the silent system : and if any Whig shall attend a meeting for the purpose of declaring his grievances , WHILE OUT OF EMPLOYMENT , or being badly paid , and if no disturbance of the peace shall take place at such meeting , and if the said Whig or Whigs can get any respectable person , or persons , to give him , or them , a good character for honesty , industry , and obedience to law , we will , as far as we can , take
care that such Whig , or Whigs , suffers no more than two year ' s imprisonment at hard labour under the silent system : and if any Whig journal shall publish illegal speeches or proceedings , we will , iu such case , take care that no heavier punishment shall be inflicted than eighteen months solitary confinement , with heavy recognizances to keep the peace for three years ; and a complete and entire violation of all prison rules , for such others as the then Secretary of State for the Home Department shall , in his wisdom , be graciously pleased to substitute . Such is the very best that we can promise to do for the " Whig Budget Barricade's . "
We feel BOme astonishment that the torch , found to be so pre-eminently successful a Reform weapon at Bristol in 1831 , should now be abandoned for the heavy , the cumberous , and more expensive Barricade . Will the Chronicle have the kindneBS to transmit to our office a wood-cut , wheels and all , of a moveable Barricade , and sho of a Reform " torch , " so that we may lay the same before our readers , with a hope of inducing them to remain at home , while the Whigs are all abroad . "
Perhaps Mr . Steele , the pacificator General of Ireland , would at the same time have the kindness to furnish us with a cast of one of those " one million Irish pikes , " which he assures us can be manufactured in less than a week ! Ah , we said that it would come to this .
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THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL . Impressed with the fame jealous feeling as the Noble Lord whose name adorns our frontispiece , of the equal importance of " watching details as o f maintaining great principles , " we have perused his " Will " more than once , in the hope of discovering in its details some substitute for" great principles , " the disposal of which , in the excitement of so awful an
undertaking , the noble testator has wholly omitted . Whether the omission proceeded from a want of such a description of property , or whether it was already disposed of by previous settlement , or mortgaged , or otherwise pawned , or encumbered beyond redemption , we cannot undertake to say ; but certain are we , that we felt strong disappointment as expectant participators in what we had a right to consider as national trust property , to find that there were no assets .
The press has given to the Noble Lord ' s production a multiplicity of fine names , some calling it ** a great state paper ; " others" an important document ;*' others " the plain , straightforward , and manly address , bearing the signature of the Noble Lord ;" others a . " luminous Manifesto . " All these high-flown terms raised our hopes to a great pitch , for a week , as state documents and all state affairs generally do ; but at the end of that time , wo find that the greatest importance now attached to the great document , is " the time at which it made its appearance . "
We regret exceedingly that the Noble Lord did not , as is the usual custom with testators , commence by assuring us that he was of " sound and disposing mind , " and then return "thanks to Almighty God for the same . " We really regret the absence of this usual form ; because if we were to deoide upon the Btate of the testator ' s mind , by comparing his document with those documents which have recently appeared from the pen of working men , as members of a representative body
uot recognized by law , or as individuals struggling for their just rights , we should undoubtedly deolare that either Lord John , ot the authors of those national documents , were" non compos mentis : " and inasmuch as the latter State Papers not only express and define " great principles , " but likewise propose the most simple details for their arrangement for use , while his Lordship ' s will makes no bequest of the one without which the otker is inoperative ; we therefore pronounce his Lordship " non compos . "
Now , let us just take the most important portion of this document , and see whereia its statesman-like character is to be found . The teBtator , in the three first paragraphs , according to the arrangement of the Examiner , from which we take it , for it has been variously subdivided , says as follows ; ,--" LORD JOHN RUSSELL ' S ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF LONDON .
" Gentlemen , —I request you to accept my sincere and hearty thanks for the honour you have conferred upon me by electing me one of your Representatives in the Commons' House of Parliament . I should have made this acknowledgment at an earlier period , had I not been desirous of explaining to you the course which the general state of the returns will make it my duty to pursue . In order to do this the more clearly I must refer to some past events .
" In the early part of last year , when a resolution , declaring a want of confidence in the Government , was brought forward , I distinctly announced the intention of proposing additional taxes to meet the increased expenditure of the country . In the present year , so soon as the estimates had been completed , and the probable amount of the revenue ceuld be calculated , her Majesty ' s Ministers took into their serious consideration the disparity which still existed between the income of the country and the cost of its establishments . We found that the new taxes were not sufficient to supply the deficiency . We were of opinion that we could no t , with due regard to the honour aud safety of the nation , reduce its naval and military forces .
" But , upon a careful view of our commercial imposts , we came to the conclusion that , by removing prohibitions , and lessening restrictions , it was possible to replenish the Treasury . " Now , what is there valuable in all that beyond the strong analogy , between the procrastinated compliment to his Lordship's constituents and the procrastinated announcement of his Lordship ' s " great commercial reforms , " so frankly , but so foolishly avowed ? His Lordship concludes the second paragraph thus : — " We were of opinion that we could not , with due regard to the honour and aafety of the nation , reduce its naval and military forces . "
Now this is unfair as well aB untrue ; the sentence should have run thus : — " We were aware that we bad produced a state of things which could only be upheld by brute force , and therefore we were compelled to overtax those whom we bad starved , for the pay of more soldiers and sailors , and officers , and policemen . " But in the third paragraph we find , that after all the expence , the anxiety , the risk , and the inconvenience to which the country has been put , his Lordship only calculates upon the mere POSSIBILITY of replenishing the Whig Exchequer by means of the " Great Commercial Reforms . "
Well , the Noble Lord labours through the remainder ot a very dull and heavy paragraph of this " important and luminous State document , " and thus opens the fourth paragraph . He says : — " As soon as the new Parliaments meets , we shall take the first opportunity of asking for a clear and decided judgment upon the policy we have pursued . " What , more last words ! another last judgment , and a further dig into another quartern loaf ! Man alive ! has not judgment been passed three several times ? First , out of the House , by a clear verdict of guilty ; second , in the House , by a clear verdict of insanity and imbecility ; and lastly , upon appeal to the REFORM MADE PEOPLE , a clear verdict of guilty ; and now , not satisfied , the Noble Lord ia resolved upoa poshing the people , his too
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lenient judges , to pronounce judgment . No , ro we hire given his Lordship and his Lordship' party * verj Ion * , and a tery to trial and » v the discreet and excellent language of the Morn * ing Advertiser , which , throughout , has kept the lead of the Whig press , we entirely concur . Our able contemporary , thus weeps a tear of jo » over the improved but melancholy fate of the Wfej ^ u The atmosphere of the opposition benches is , aftet all , the atmosphere in which Whigs can breath *
freely . The opposition is their native element . As an opposition , they have from the time of Fox and Sheridan downwards achieved their greatest victories and gained their brightest lanrels ; anj there can be no question that new triumphs aag fresh trophies await them in the new sphere on which they are about to enter . In the ranks of the opposition , they will , no doubt , redeem flu character they have lost , and restore the confident which the people of England have for some time ceased to repose in them . "
How the whig epicures may relish the free and pure air upon the Opposition side of the H « use , as a substitute for the " fat dabs" of office , we are not prepared to say ; but in every word of the above , which we have one hundred times impressed upon our readers , we fully concur . , and of the Whig Opposition , after so high an eulo . gium , we would say , " Esto perpetua . " We must now come back to the noble testator . After the above passage , from the fourth paragraph , he goes on to complain , iu bitter terms , against ill those details which in the " great principle" of Reform have acted injuriously to Whig interest . Here we shall only ask , who supplied those "
important details" to the " great principle" ? Then does not appear to have been attached by bis Lord , ship , IN TIME , that great importance of " watch . ing details , " which it now appears his party ' s interest required . Well , is not this just what ire have been hammering at fox years 1 Have we not said , a thousand times , that the measure was lost from a neglect of its proper detail moulding to its proper uses , and according to the spirit of the "great principle" ? In fact , we and the peopl » were , and have long been , before the Noble Lord ; and now the stupid press begins to praise matter and- assertian whioh merely proves the ignorance , incapacity , and backwardness of his Lordship ' s ignorant associates .
The Noble Lord then proceeds to tell us all about the elections , and all about what every hand-loom weaver was perfectly cognizant of . He complains of Lord Chandos ' s ^ 50 tenant-at-will clanso ; of the dependency of county voters upon their landlords , and bo forth ; and then the Noble Lord says a some , thing about the " certainty of the cause of civil and religious liberty triumphing at last . " Yes , in faith ! but it would have been at long , long last , had it not been for the spiteful prod which the Noble Lord promises in the sixth paragraph to give , in oppo * sition , to the pokinghack which he rode while in office with so "loose a reiu" and " careless seat" that he was thrown . In the sixth paragraph he says : —
" Out of power we obliged our opponents to abolish those teats by which political office was made exclusive , and a religion * sacrament profaned . Oat of power we forced our adversaries themselves to free the Roman Catholics from those disabilities 'which they bad declared indispensable for the maintenance of the Constitution , and the safety of the Church . " Bravo , Lord John ! Then in opposition , in God ' s name , remain ! as in truth you appear tons to plead eloquently for the privilege and place , and as eloquently to show cause why you should never again hold office , without a committee of sane Chartists to " watch all the important details" of your 11 GREAT PRINCIPLES . "
We now assure our readers that we have gow through this " great state paper ; " this "important national document ; '' this "luminous manifesto , *" this "statesman-like production ; " and we askou readers to contrast it with the luminous manifesto of the late Convention , which we published in May last ; or with the Address of the Executive , which appeared in our last number ; or with , any one of the numerous and spirited addresses which have come from female Chartists' Associations , and say which is most in accordance with the great principles required by the present generation ; and which , if moulded by proper "details , " would be most calculated to arrive at that result which the Noble Lord vainly hopes to persuade the people he aims , namely , " civil and religious liberty . "
The press , as is its custom , has treated this " important and luminous document , " each according to their several interests ; while the only importance which we attach to the piece of incomparable folly , falsehood , blarney , sycophancy , and sophistry is the opportunity it affords us of exposing to our virtuous and intelligent readers the sort of bait with which golden fish are caught . Positively , if such a communication was sent to us for insertion , bearing the initials of J . R ., we should , thus dispose of it in our notice to cones * pondents : —
" J . R . has been received , but we decline publishing it in pity to the unfortunate contributor , who must be sadly afflicted with delirium tremens . W » would , of all things , recommend him to try chakgb op air , where he may restore that tone and confidence , and self-possession , of whioh he appears to stand so much in need . " The Noble Lord has not yet hit upon the proper bait to catch the mess . Black wings , blue bottom , and steel body is not the fly for the dog-days . A
fly found in abundance , in fact swarming about factories and bastilea , called the "Chartist stinger , " is the proper fly for the mess fish . The angler knows where to look for them , and will hear them buzzing like a swarm of bees , at an immense distance upon a summer ' s evening . They are a thin , Iank-lo 6 king fly , like a "daddy long-legs ; " all limbs and no body ; aud the golden fish are very greedy after them and will take them freely , when they won't rise at a " horse-fly" or " blue-bottle . "
The Captain and first Lieutenant of a line-ofbattle ship onoe got into a very warm argument as to the proper fly for the season ; the Captain insisting that the " horse-fly" was then the best bait for mackerel—the Lieutenant denying that then was any such fly : whereupon an Irish sailor , who happened to be at hand , and who was an acknowledged angler , was appealed to as umpire . The Lieutenant asked him * ' Pat , did you ever see a " horse fly" " No , d n my eyes ; " replied Pat— " but I tell your honour what I see , just « quair a thing—I see a cow jump down a precipice . "
We have just told the anecdote to relieve the tedium of the consideration of the " mighty , great , and importantly luminous and statesmanlike" new moonshine ; while we live in hope that a codicil will be added in the noble patient ' s next attack of spleen , to cure all defects , and making suitable disposal of all the great principles held in trust by the noble testator .
The Northers Star. Saturday, July 31, 1841.
THE NORTHERS STAR . SATURDAY , JULY 31 , 1841 .
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" The Chaktists have proved themselves more accurate calcct . ators thax the middle classes . Whether their ko ^ rum would have vended MATTERS IS XOT SOW THE QUESTION ; BUT THE BESCLT HAS SHEWS THAT THEY WERE CORRECT IX THEIR OPINION —THAT IN THE PRESENT STATE OF THE REPRESEKTATIOK , IT WAS Va 1 « TO THI . NK OF A REPEAL OF THE cork monopoly . •?•???* Political power ij * this country , though it resides in a comparatively small class , can only be exercised by the sufferance of the masses . "Morning Chronicle ( organ of the Whig Ministers J , Friday , July 16 th , 184 i .
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DANIEL AND THE MISCREANT CHARTISTS AGAIN . The nasty fellow has been spitting his venom upon Chartism in his tour of reimbursement . We just give the following specimen of this gentleman ' s lore of truth . When addressing the people of Kilkenny , the other day , be said : — " England never was in a greater state of jeopardy tban she is at present : her artisans starving—her manufacturers complaining—her commerce declining—her revenues exhausted—and Chartism bursting over the land . And if Irishmen joined the pbysical-force ChartUts , and assisted them in their maddened career , why , before this time , the aristocracy of England would have been reduced to howling beggars , if not assasinated by the Chartists , and the throne of our young and lovely Uueen would have been overturned . "
Was there ever such unpardonable folly as this ?! But is there not something to deplore even in the folly \ Do not the wise discover in it the foregone conclusion , that in Chartism alone the " Liberator" recognises perfect freedom , and consequent free trade and total destruction of all monopoly in humbug \ Do they not also see in it full proof that , so long as he can help it , no union shall take place between . the people of the two countries ? But we defy him ! Knowledge is more powerful than sophistry , bombast , or blarney , or than all three put together ; and we have now before us not a few cheering commuuicationsfrom different parts of Ireland , assuring us of the rapid progress of the good cause made through our humble instrumentality .
"The aristocracy of England wouldhave been reduced to prowling beggars , IF NOT ASSASINATED BY THE CHARTISTS ; and the throne of our young and lovely Queen would have been overturned . " Good God ! is the man " clean daft" ? Has he gone quite out of his wits in anticipation of Ireland ' s bowl when she comes to ask for her 42 Repealers that voted for her resurrection in 1834 ! Or does he hope to turn the curious from an investigation into their own affairs , by creating a greater curiosity about ours . This is a counter irntan ; . " The ChartiBts assassinate" ! Was
ever a more base and malioious slander ?! But this is not all . The disinterested Liberator , in one of his reoent phillipics , at Cork , stated the terms of his future support to a Whig Government ; and what do our readers suppose those terms are ? "Repeal , of course . " No : guess again . Justice to Ireland ? No : Total Abolition of Tithes ? No . Extention of the Saffrage f No : guess again . Do you give it up 1 Yes . Well hear , Daniel O'Connell will not again support a Whig Administration which " refuses to give Places to Kkpbalkbs . " You don't believe it t don't you ! Well then , have his own
words from the correspondent of the World newspaper , corroborated by the press generally . " Mr . O'Connell said , that , should the Whigs resume power , he would not support them if they refused place to any man because he is a Repealer . " Now , do you believe it 1 ** Aye , 1 do now ; and it bangs Bannagher , and Bannagher bangs cock fighting . " Thus has Chartism been merged into " assassination " , and Repeal into " situation" ! Ah ! Dan , sold the people , body and sleeves , to Lord DuNCANKONand itheWhiga in 1835 , and now he offers them a cheap bargain of Repeal : bat we have better hopes for Ireland . All is not lost
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that ' s in danger 1 The English people will heap coals of fire upon the heads of the Irish , by carrying a Repeal of the Union in spite even of the Liberator himself ; and when we have , by our moral strength , and without a blow being struck , or an " aristocrat assassinated ? or the Queen ' s dignity even impaired , procured , as with God ' s blessing and the aid of our blistered hands we shall do , FOUR MILLION SIGNATURES for a Repeal of the .
Union , ( valueless , perhaps , from a want of the accompaniment of 2 j- to each name , making the small total offour hundred thousand pounds ;) we 6 » y , when we have done this , the odds are Lombardstreet to a China orange , that the answer from Dan ' s 4 anw associates" will be : ** No ; we won ' t have it now ; it must be bad , poison , rank poison , when offered by our deadly enemies , THE PEOPLE of England . "
Just think of the folly of this man telling his gaping audience that the people of England most be hostile to Ireland , because the county constituencies had returned a large majority of Ireland ' s enemies to the present Parliament 1 Is this not a melancholy perversion ? Why not honestly tell the Irish people that , of the batch , the English people would not have returned a single one of those enemies of Ireland if they had a voice in the selection .
This attempt to divert public attention from the fallen state of Ireland , produced by the "Liberator ' s" truckling expediency polioy , shall not do . In self-defence , and in defence of the English and the Irish , people , we Bhall next week perform the unpleasant duty of enquiring how far the Irish people have even endeavoured , in the late struggle , to rescue their own country from the bloody grasp of the " proud invader" and the ruffian factions ; and how far the question of questions has been advanced by the blood , the sacrifices , and the glorious , but misapplied , exertion of the brave Irish people . They are a brave and a noble people , and the greater our sorrow that their Milesian blood should fertilize the land of their forefathers now
held by the right of conquest , which was only achieved by the very disunion so sedulously attempted to be kept alive by Mr . O'Connell . in i i ii i . I" r mi ^ tt ^ m ***^ * * t t x * t t * & 4 t *\ 4 \
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THE PEOPLE'S TACTICS . The elections are now settled ; the New House is returned ; the Whigs have been taught their proper lesson . They have been , in fact , made powerless for evU , and the next best thing for the people ' s attention is , the use to be made of their victory ; for a popular victory over the base Whigs , their uagra : eful Oppressors , we hold the result of the general election to be a steady unshaken adherence to iheir own policy , an absolute refusal to be drawn . cajoled , er
bullied info any agitation for any thing short of the entire Charter , must be joined to a careful improvement of every means by which our offensive operations against the citadel of corruption can be carried on . We have always told our readers that there are only two media through which . they < au look for the restoration and establishment of popular rightphysical revolution , or an Act of Parliament . The former it has been the studied carefulness of our lives to avert by all means ; we have been continually
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4 THE NORTHERN STAR . ¦ , ¦ -. ¦ -. : - ______ ^ ¦ ¦ ¦ ———¦¦ ' ¦ - ¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ — - ' ¦¦ - ¦¦¦—¦ ¦¦¦ . ¦ -I ' ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ — . .. _ . — — ,. — - — . ¦— ,. — — ^^ r—^___ fc
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), July 31, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct390/page/4/
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