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THE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY, MAY 8, 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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TO WILLIA 3 I LOTETT . Dear Sls , —As you addressed a circolsrto me inviting me to join you in the formation , of an association to promote the advancement and the political emancipation of the people , I owe it to you . as an act of courtesy due to your character aad former ser rices in the cause of the people , to state the reasons why I decline co-operating with you now . I may observe , in the first place , tixat with many of the sentiments embodied in the Address to the Political and Social Reformers I cordially agree . We bare committed many errors , it must be confessed ; and would be greatly benefitted by the prevalence of a kindlier Epirit amongst ourselves ; the absence of much of the pomp and pageantry to which you hare alludedthough of which you , as well as myself , h&ve been both the abettors and tbe recipient *; » ad I desire , also , to witness a more inteltectusl ehaiaeter in our
movement ; more mental and less physical power applied to eruEb those who , by fair speech and smooth words , seek to seduce the people from the onward path of principle . But admitting the necessity of correcting errors and supplying defects , you hare failed to establish the necessity of a new National Association . Unless you are so uncharitable as to suppose that the members of the present Executive , or of . the National Charter Association , would wilfully reject improyed meass far obtaining their freedom and happines , yon had no reason for superseding the present by . the formation of another Association : still less were you justified in doins ; this whtn you had never attempted to prove its insufficiency , and at the very timt , when you said you had no spirit of hostility against it . Your first step , therefore , appears unwarranted ^ and inconsistent with the very spirit and principles of Chartism .
Again , —The means which you took to" introduce your views amongst us , and to elicit-support , were contrary to that open , manly style which the love of truth and of free discussion would dictate . Your document professed important national objects ; and it was privately and confidentially addressed to a number of selected individuals . This secrecy was illegal on your part , and inTolved all who countenanced it In an iiiegal act of a Tery serious nature . Had it been a development of a plot to overturn \ j force the existing Government , the peculiarity of the case would have "justified it ; but when it was a plan submitted to the judgments of those to whom it was addressed , and depended for the success of its avowed objects upon the soundness of that Judgment , you ought to hare availed yourself of the advantage which discussion would give you of having Bound views formed by eliciting free expression of opinion .
By a blind faith in your judgment , and reverence for your character , many thoughtlessly complied with your urgent request , and replied by return of post . They have since reflected , and have had the mortification of discovering , by not " taking a night to think ont , " they have temporarily perilled their characters , and the cause they thought to serve . This circumstance proves that however calm , dear , discreet , and henest a leader may be , it is always well to think before we act under hia guidance . As yon deprecate the evils of leadership , you will , I bope , feel more honoured by the sentiments of an
independent thinker , when differing from your own , than you will by the blind submission of his will to yours . But supposing that we were ready to overlook and forgive the insults which you have virtually given to the members of the old Association , and the incon-ESlency between the democratic objects of your Association , and the aristocratic manner of establiihing it , and also discharge from our minds the suspicions which the whole circumstances naturally awaken—supposing that we merely consider the comparative utility of your organisation asd plains , we ought , I think , to withhold our support from yours for several reasons .
That the erection of halls of science , libraries , lectures , &c , for the people , is a great and desirable business , 1 must admit , but previous to this , or simultaneously with it , there should be a thorough change in the physical condition of the people , far less toil , more food with the lighter work ; a substantial increase of substantial things wonld be » ecessary to secure you audiences to £ 11 them , to listen to your lectures , and to enjoy the intellectual feast . Without this previous physical improvement , your halls would be an unfeeling m&zierj of a starring people . If the higher classes choose to erect halls of science , out of the wealth obtained by starving the people , let - them do so . It would be quite consistent with their other philanthropic schemes which yoa have often eloquently exposed ; but do you really expect to realise from those
Who earn twopence a day , a quarter of a million of money , to be invested ia the erection of halls or the formation of libraries 1 Supposing that you could raise this sum , is there no other more usgfnl purpose to which it coald be applied ? What would you say to Investing it in the purchase of land , tha cultivation of the soil , rescuing the agricultural labourer from his serfdom and misery , aad our manufacturing pop ^ ilation , by establishing manufactures , from the grinding rapacity of mill owners and capitalists ? Thi 3 -would be an active , ever-increasing and useful application of the people ' s capital ; or suppose , as suggested by the editor of the Slar , we employ the artillery of the press against the citadels of ignorance . Will is not be more effective in enlightening the people upon those snbjects upon which knowledge is at prrsint most required , than lectures upon general science ? We want knowledge , it is true ; . but all knowledge is not of equal value at all time * . "Political knowledge , and with u political power , is the one thine
needful now . Toor scheme would , therefore , waste a large portion of our resources . There is an order or method in the law of progression with which your scheme does not barmonizs , bat with which it is at Tari&nce . Practical philosophy rejects it—oppressed humanity pioaounees it a mockery ! Your Chartist brethren , sad old and honoured companions , are puzzled with it , or suspect sinister influence and sinister objects . Your countrymen , who lovtd you , sorrow that you should have taken up a position so strange and suspicious . Tarnish net the lustre of jour fair nasie by perseverance in a course which is opposed to their feelings . Their gratitude and honour cannot co-exist wiih the esteem » nd approbation of their deadliest enemy , and vilest deceiver . Trusting that you may have the wisdom to discover aad the magnanimity to confer your errors , I am , your former Friend and Brother Chwt st , J . Williams .
P . S . —Lest you should consider ihose sentiments as called forth by tha condemnation you have received from others , T may state , that on receiving your circular I communicated to Mr . Iteegas , who was present at the time , my opinions upon it , and he can prove that they were BubsUctialiy those . contained in » M * letter .
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THE DISCIPLINE OF BEVERLEY . " Ill-fa . led man , for whom such various forms Of misery wait , and mark their future prey l " Bishop Porteus . TO THE EDITOR OP THE SORTHKEtS STAfc . Sis , —In the history of the Inquisition we frequently read of the unhappy victim being released awhile from the horrors of the rack , in order that expiring nature might gather strength , to tniure the torture of bis huniaa fiends a little longer . A . Eimilai practice seems to be adopted in the ease of Mr . Peddie ; although it his b > an repeatedly proved , by hia iadifpasitian , that his eonr ; r . utioa cannot beaT the torture of the treadmill , yet the moment be rallies a little again in regard to health , he is as invariably again subjected to the brutal discipline and treatment ; so much so , that at last the surgeon has found it imperious to interfere in his behalf . After sympathising with his wife en the treubie and distress that his last communication hid for some days occasioned har , owing to the gleomy bnt true picture lie bad dra ^ rn to her of his situation , he writes
:-r-" These last nine weeks my health has retraced sadly , and my appetite has be * n very ba 1 . For these ten C . ajs back I have been enable to eat as ranch food as I usuiiiy did in one day . I am troubled with a constant and very oppressive pain at the breast , very ¦ evere headache , ana so weak , that I feel it a labour to write to you . That this is the tfJeet of the barbarous torture of the treadmill is now evident , and its continuance at last acknowledged to be d&ngeroo ? . If my last letter gri-ved yea , the one I intended to have written this day would not only harve grieved you , but when publish . !*! c ? uld not have failed to have produced much tx-ritcsent upon the public Blind ,, as I iuUuded to have dragged every circumstance before tie public eye that could have shown all the real suffering I have experienced , as I feel no inclination to be sacrificed without a struggle . But , thank G ^ d , the immediau motive is now removed .
" To day the state of my tiealth was particularly exMaiael , and tne conclusion is , that the surgeon has found himself called npon to interfere , and ordered me not to be subjected to the mill again ; a longer continuance being obviously dangerous to life , so that I have now the prospect , the cause of Dlness being removed , of a restoration to health , unless indeed the seeds of consumption are not too deeply planted in my system to be rooted out by any alteration in my subsequent treatment , all the appearance of which I at present , it must be confessett , carry along with me ; but which I trust will in a few weeks disappear , as I have every confidence in the skill and humanity of the surgeon . "Your exertions have , in some measure , ' been crowned with success , in directing a considerable por tion of public attention and public sympathy to mj case ; 1 have a strong hope that God will crown with his blearing those efforts , and turn even the hearts of my truly bitter enemies .
" I fiy for comfort to the living fountain of all trne consolation—the word of God , and have found much from two passages , the same that comforted , tie heart of the persecuted John Bunyan when in prison like myself for his k > VB of truth ; but not like me condemned to the extremity of' physical suffering—not like me , danied th « use of the tongue ; &h he preached iu prison to all that came to hear him , and they were manynot like me , denied the liberty of writing down present thought * for after ? sefaLMBS ; tarhe wrote his immortal ' Pilgrim ' s Progress' there—not . like me , subjected to a most cruel and truly annoying surveillance ( so that I eren canaot comply with the most urgent calls of nature , or kneel in ay dungeon in prayer to Almighty God , bat under the immediate inspection of a feliow-createrej . - forhe conrtaaUy preached from the window of
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his prison to the people in the street . The passages that comforted his mind , and impart the same feeling to mine , are : — " I will take care of thy remnants ; leave thy fatherless children to me , I will preserve them alive . Let thy widow also trust in me . " " To Mr . Martin , Mr . Vincent , the Bar . Mr . Hill , Mr . Malcolm , and the gentlemen of the public press , who have generously exerted themselves in my welfare , return , in my name , my warmest thanks . Tell them that my hope rests in a great measure upon them , and that I believe thai , if the Whigs are left t * themselves , I shall , if God spare me , remain here every hour of my barbarous sentence . It pleases me also much , to learn that I am not forgotten by 107 friends in the country as well as the metropolis .
" I have aeat you a l » ng rhapsody in Thyme . To your getting it , I do not anticipate any objections , as I have obeyed the injunctions of the magistrates in confining myself to the expression of my own ftelings . The measure is eccentric and irregular , and perhaps does not merit * the name of poetry . It has , however , answered one good end to me already by affording occupation for my , thoughts ; so you will not wound my vanity in condemning it " Such , Sir , are the heart-ending statements given of his inhuman treatment , by an innocent victim of Whig tyranny . I need not add any remark * of my twn . The bare recital will be sufficient Yours , ic , Jane Peddik .
The Northern Star Saturday, May 8, 1841.
THE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY , MAY 8 , 1841 .
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THE BILLING AND COOING . Thank Heaven , since we last appeared , we hare witnessed the self-humiliation , of the basest , the most brutal and bloody faction that ever appeared upon the stage of life . Ib there not a striking similarity between Bcxtox's drunken " Beadle , " who reqnested a friend to lend him 53 . to fine himself for being drunk , and her Majesty ' s servants who requested us to lend them two millions four hundred thousand pounds to fine themselves for being rogues , and the people for not getting drunk ! However , Jim Crow has been dressed for the part which he is destined to play for the benefit of Melbourne , Rcsskll , O'Con ^ ell , ud Co ., both in England and Ireland .
What was considered the minimum of justice to Ireland has been reduced by just 60 per cent ., by the process of increasing the rateable franchise from £ 6 to £ 8 , " to conciliate the enemies of Ireland" as MoaPOTH said , —an old , but fatal experiment ; while the real enfranchisement Sof Howick , —not his £ 5 rating above rent , hut his £ 20 rating upon occupancy , —was nobody's child , because it would extend the franchise immeasurably , and do away with all perplexity of registration . That question , however , has been set at rest ; it has answered its end , and we we spared from further consideration of the base and ungentlemanlike trick .
But how do matters now stand 1 Jim Crow has been dressed up for both England and Ireland . Upon the Irish side , is Moepeth ' s extinction-ofleases plan , which will be called Universal Suffrage j and upon the English side , is Cheap Bread and Sugar . In Ireland , whatever the Ministers may suppose , the principle will damn them ; while , in England , the time , the mode , and the reason of its development , will make them sink even lower , if possible , than they before stood in the estimation of every honest decent and virtuous man .
How do they stand upon this question f The fop Minister , the palao e buffoon , set his face against it , and Russell gave no hope ; bat when the Chancellor of the Exchequer wants two millions four hundred thousand pounds , and finds the national mean 3 incapable of bearing further pressure , he says , " I'll put on a bit of liberality , and go a popularity hunting ; but I must start with a principle : * ' and he accordingly discovers , and says— No axation could be so injurious as a permanent disorder in the national finances ; and ihe sum they had now to provide for was so large , as to make it absolutely necessary to act with some degree of boldness . "
Such ia the Whig whip , after nine years retrenchment ! and the English ef it is , " nothing so damnable as that we , the ministers , should be without pay . " Well , the Chancellor goes to work , and says , " from reduction of timbtr duties I will insure an increase of £ 759 , 000 , but I will be content with £ 600 , 000 ; upon sugar , a great article of consumption with the hand-loom weavers , I will create , by reduction of duties , £ S # 0 , 000 of an augmentation . " But take it at £ 700 , 000 , and the remaining £ 400 , 000 , ( for he only required £ 1 . 7 * 0 , 000 for the permanent thing , but £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present emergency ) he would anticipate from his noble friend ' s Corn Law scheme .
But this is not the best of it . The £ 1 , 700 . 000 is to he permanent , the additional £ 700 , 000 only temporary ; that is , give it once , and then get it out of the devil ' s exchequer who can , or reduce our wants below that amount any other year who dare . The surplus of £ 700 , 000 for the present emergency , ilr . Baeis g say 3 he will have no difficulty with , a 3 he can give an order upon labour for that amount in Exchequer Bills , payable by the people .
Just so the matter stands . The oligarchy in the midst of more paverty , distress , and dissatisfaction than ever was known to exist in this or any other country , and after nine years of retrenching reforms , says , " our expeuces have increased beyond your means of supplying the needful , even with bayonets to help us in the collection , to the enormous amount of £ 2 , 400 , i 00 for the present year ; and if you let us get a House of Commons upon the popular principle of increasing wealth by increasing consumption , instead of having recourse to direct taxanon , then see what we will do for you . "
Let us see if in thi 3 new scheme as regards the nibble&t the Corn Laws , whether or no , as in all other cases where Wfciggery ia concerned , principle has not been sacrificed to expedieacy , and whether the alliance at Nottingham was half as " unholy" as an alliance would be between the total Repealers and those who distinctly admit the justice of taxing food so as actually to make a tax of £ 1 , 600 , 000 upon corn , part aud parcel of the permanent burden of the country .
Let this be borne in mind , that Mr . Baring and hi 3 party are now performing a " bold stroke" for a place ; that he Bays , " No taxation could be so injurious as a permasent disorder in the natiomal finances > " By this he means , that all should be made ea ^ -y ; that both ends should be made to meet ; and that a scheme , not to be sessionally altered , should be at once proposed , having permanency for its object . How then is the permanency to tffdet
the principle of untaxed food ! and mark the only grounds upon which the holy brotherhood of parsons have been induced to join ia the cheap food chorus , " O ! it is unchristian "— " muzzle not the ox , " aad so forth : while the revenue derived from the Corn Laws last year was £ 1 , 200 , 000 , and which Mr . BABi . NG designs to increase , PiiRHAXEXiLY , to £ 1 , 600 , 000 , a 3 a thing to be calculated upon in aid of aristocratic demaad a d payment of her Majesty ' s servants !
But then there is one part of the subject which must be kept uppermost in the publio mind . It is this : —there are two questions ; the one ia the riising of fifty millions sterling annually , and the other is the means of doing so . Let it bo observed , that about the first , that is the raising , all are agreed ; that ' s settled ; for , be they Whigs or be they Tories , while there is a shot in the bcker they will have it out .
But , then , we come to the means , which are merely problematical . Should the electioneering , dissolving specious means of doing ihe thing , by the fascination of a sugared loaf and cheap timber , iastead of direct taxation , fail , what comes next ! Why , only an issue of £ 2 , 400 , 000 worth of Treasury paper , and a fresh pull on the Savings ' . Banks , that is £ 2 , 400 , 000 of direct taxes . Andhere ' B the juggle ! Like the Irish Registration-Bill , the Ministers neither hoped , expected , or intended its success : but if lost , it will be & good , luL 3 ting 3 claptrap of " Qgh ! j *? u see
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we offered to do anything to conciliate the old enemy but , no , it was impossible !" Then with regard to taxes ; see the danger in following a vicious guide . The Whigs M out-run the constable ; " they increase our expenditure by fire millions sterling annually , and then resolve still to hold on by the purse-string , "" they propose a measure against which their Prime Minister set his face , not with any , the slightest , hope of carrying it , or of realising the promised results if carried , bnt withthesingleintentionof compelling their successors in office to do that by direct taxation , which the charming Whigs would have done with a sugared hot loaf . Bat the country will remember that however payment is called for , the retrenching Whigs created the necessity by their unprincipled expenditure of the publio money . When a dissolution shall come it matters little to as what the real or ostensible casui belli shall fee ; we are only to think of the past , and to use it as a warning for the future . With this view we unhesitatingly declare , that the nine first years of Reform wholly under Whig dominion , has bean a period of national distress , private suffering , and class intolerance , for which the whole annals of English history furnish n / thing like a parallel . That they have been compelled to draw their precedents for liberality from abroad , and afar off ; for instance , from India and China , for
which the people paid ; while every English freeman ' s house has been made a den of slavery . Expenditure increased , places multiplied , cruelties practised , without even pretext of law or observance of decency ; poor working men held in bail of £ 1 , 000 , and incarcerated for merely attending public meetings , ( to which they were invited by . a Minister of tho Crown , ) for periods four times as long as those to which the very worst description of imprisoned folons have been subjected ; the right of petition destroyed ; the right of meeting to petition invaded by
brute force ; riot transformed into high treason ; ugly looks into riot , and foul thoughts , engendered by fouler acts , construed into conspiracy ; our Judges , for the first time in English history , flying , for Whig convenience and love of persecuting the people , from the old and long-established acceptation of the hobgoblin , " conspiracy , " the most damnable fiction of our criminal law : in short , search hell ' s records , and when you shall have struck out crime for crime , still will the Whig catalogue be the blackest in the country's annals . Nothing ever has been likei t—nothing again ever can be like it—and nothing like it should have been .
O , the delights of being an appendage to such a step-dame ! Canada , in her "honey noon , " is to have an increase of ten per cent , laid upon her exported timber ! Edward Ellice has no wood lands in Canada ' . Under all the circumstances , then , what becomes the duty of the country when the questions propounded in the House shall be discussed upon the hustings t We have had the anomaly of nine whole years without an opposition in the British Senate House . We have had a set of licentious slaves , disregarding popular opinion and support , and enabled
to do so m consequence of the unprincipled wholesale support , through good and bad , sunshine and cloud , of one political knave . And this is what they call abolition of rotten boroughs ! having substituted rotten men for them . This muBt bo stopped . We must have an opposition for her Majesty . She is not safe . ; We repeat it , she positively is not safe without it . A parliamentary opposition is a royal safety valve ; while an unopposed lioentious Ministry ( and all unopposed Ministers are licentious ) is the greatest enemy of royalty , without being a friend to
democracy . We must , then , take care that the Whig members in the next House are too small for a party , and too large for a faction . Aa many as two hundred would produce anticipations of a return to office , and consequent caution in the establishment of evil precedents which they may be called npon to fulfil when in power . One hundred and eighty would be a kind of crisis . One hundred and fifty would make them rabid , and one hundred and twenty ( just the right number ) would make them ite .
Let us , then , have the biting minority of six score , if we can ! and 6 uch fun was never seen in Tooleystreet among the tailors ! It would be Bedlam let loose ! Then , instead of " 1 am free to confess that her Majesty ' 8 Government had no alternative but in the strong arm of the law to suppress popular insubordination , " we shall have " Give us OUR Charter . " " Univebsal Suffrage and no Suerendeb ; '' " The Constitution guarantees and the Reform Bill promised it . " " Let in the Thames to cleanse the House . " " Hubrah ! fobChomwell , " " O , for Wat Tyler , or Jack Cade ! " " Give US OUR Prisoners . " " No Vote , no Tax . " "Let the People back us fob the only thing worth having , THE TOTE . " " We never were Whigs ;
WE WERE ONLY BACKERS , WHILE YOU WERE RUNNING FOR THE TBIAL STAKES . " " We WERE KNOWN TO be Chartists . " " We must have the Charter . " " Ireland as she ought to be , ob Ireland in a Blaze . " Now such , we assure our readers , would be very bland and courteous language for a biting minority of 120 ; while the very same 120 making part and parcel of 250 , would bnt look for a renewal of office and approve of all that had been done , as the best means of insuring electoral support .
People of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales her Majesty ' s servants , your servants , will shortly appear before you with an appeal to their past services , as reasoxs why you should vote a " permanent tax , " to pay their salaries—for that is the real" casus belli '' Do ihey deserve it 1 We say not . Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales ought you not to be proud in thus being justified in your opposition to the" Plague , " who have compromised their principle of untaxed food , by actually supporting a proposition which has for its object the infliction of £ 1 , 600 , 000 annually upon that very artiole of food \
Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales what now is your complaint ? Is it not that you are poor because you have no controul over your labour 1 once , then , get a Corn-Law-Repeal-House , and what ^ we ask you in the simplest language , have you to expect , but that you will be wholly at the mercy of men who , with some opposition , have ruined your country , wasted your property , disjoiated society , made sterile your fields , made bleak your homes , callous your hearts , and cold your hearths ; who have dragged the wife from your bosom , the child from your knee , the site from your corner , and tho mother from your embrace !
Once repeal the Corn Laws without having a voice in the making of those laws which are righteously to adjust the great change , and how will you regulate demand and supply \ How , with the facility of a House of Masters , giving themselves facilities in procuring fictitious money , can you stop the creation of four times the quantity of machinery now in existence , ( and now too much , ) or regulate its
productions , or have over it the slightest controul ? Can you stop gambling in your labour ? Will America , the Brazils , Russia , Germany , or Prussia wear more coats , breeches , shirts , and stockings than they want , that you may have , in return , a sufficiency of food ! If you make too much , who will give you food in return for a mere drug Mast you not make slaves of yourselves to undersell them , or starve in idleness !
Get your Charter , and then " go to bed by steam , and dress yourselves by steam , " in the language of BuTTERWOBTH ; but get a House of Masters without the Suffrage , and then go without bed , or clothes to drees with ! Now , then , has our struggle commenced I "Fustian jaokets , " watch every man and every move , ours among the rest ; and , npon the first note of desertion , kick faimoverboard : defeat every meet ' ing for everythina short -of ibe Charter , feutnot 4 > y
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brute force , as the Whigs did at Birmingham . But if you are struck , strike !—if you are insulted , retaliate ; bnt beware that you are not entrapped . Agreat , a mighty effort will now be made . If we are but trne to ourselves , the battle is ours ! but if we renew the Whig tenure of office , nothing short of revolution can cleanse the " Augean stable . " Whoever is for peace and the Charter , let him hold fast by us , and "nosurrender . " Whoever ia for a House of tyrants to lord it over slaves , let him cry Hurrah for the Whigs !" OUR BATTLE NOW IS , ANTI-WHIG , ANTIPOOR LAW , ANTI-CORN-LAW . REPEALWITHOUT-THE-CHARTER , ANTI-RURALPOLICE , and anti-oppression in all its hideous forms ! Onward , and we conquer ! backward , and we fall !
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THE HAZARD ! THE LAST THROW OF THE DICE 1 The time has at length arrived when neutrality iscriminality ^ when indecision ' u cowardice , and when delay may be death . Unfortunately for our enemies , they have exhausted their whole strength and expended their ammunition ( before the battle ) in forced marches , where there was no point to defend ; they have discharged their heaviest guns in mere sham fight ; and , now that the charge has been sounded , they have no reserve , no plan of attack , no safe retreat ; indeed , no forces ready for the engagement .
The press , the generals in this fight , have had eight day's opportunity to put forth their whol « strength , and what do we find i So far from a single new point being urged in favour of a total Repeal of the Corn Laws , we hear an invitation to parties who not long since declared anything but complete repeal to be a farce , to join those who have considered the gradual settlement of the question the safest and most judioions plan . Here , then , is indeed an "
unholy alliance" between parties who look for a fixed duty as an end ; with those wbo hail it merely as a means to an end ; the effect of which end would be to prostrate England and every thing English , in chains before those foreign caterers who would condescend to feed us from their store . It is bad enough to be fed by three Devil Kings ; but how much worse to be at the mercy of the Autocrat of all the Russias , the German Diet , and the rival Republic of America ?
But we say that the press has brought up no reserve to reinforce those troops which , for twelve months , we have required only to meet to insure a triumph over them ; no matter , whether in skirmish or pitched battle . We must therefore ask , what are the new pretensions of our subdued enemies 1 We look in vain to their leader , the Morning Chronicle , and there we find the old hash not even warmed , but
merely tossed up and served with its cold sauoe , unseasoned by a single spice to give it a flavour . In fact , the only change which we can observe upon the eve of battle , is the very reverse of what we should expect from an able General . Instead of seeing the troops in close column to receive the first charge , we find the rank and file thrown into open column thus : —
" Had repeal of the corn monopoly been proposed immediately after the passing of the Reform Bill , when there was an overwhelming liberal majority in the House of Commons , it must have been carried . " Thank you , Chronicle , it would have been carried ! and hence was it not proposed until disappointment from Reform had rendered its support a good electioneering clap-trap , and its defeat
certain ! Yes , it would have been carried ; but is there another paper in Englnnd ' that would thus , in one short sentence , heap odium upon the men whom it professes to serve , by reminding us that the House , when strong , devoted its giant strength to coercion and starvation , and now , when weak , parades its own dishonour for the paltry purpose of holding office upon a question which the Chronicle tells us it has lost the fitting time to carry !
Again , then , we say that they have no reserve j and we have not yet fired a single shot from our exhaustless store . We begin the campaign then , by thus taking the head of our troops , and telling the whole enemy to come on ! We tell all parties that the day , nay , the hour , has arrived , when each and every man in the state ( be his political opinions or rank in society
what they may ) must make up his mind to take his stand upon the soil ob upon the mill-shaft . Ours shall be the battle of the soil against steam ; not of the landlords of thesoil , whose supineness weakness and folly we most heartily despise , and who dead to the voice of justice or humanity , must now awaken themselves to the cry of " necessity , " and " our estates are in danger . "
Is not the present unenviable position of the landlords just what it ought to be , and just what it was sure to be ? While strong and powerful , they lent their trength to every enemy of the people , in whatsoever shape he presented himself ! At length their turn has come 1 At the dictation of the Tarn worth Baronet , they
mortgaged themselves , when they vainly hoped only to mortgage the people to the fund-lords ; but the steam-lords having appropriated all beyond the meanest subsistence as their share of labour , are now about to throw the lords of the soil upon their own resources , as the tender-hearted lords threw the people upon their own " poor resources , " having first allowed the masters to rob them of every
resource . The laud-lords gave the parsons seven years' renewable tenure , well secured . The land-lords gave the steam-lords a rural police to coerce the poor to work for little , or die without a murmur and now has the day of retribution cornel The minister who not twelve months since registered a vow to stand by his order , flings them overboard , aud merely delays their ruin , by a time just sufficient in the English of LordJ . RussELL'sanuouncemect , tomarshal
all the hostility of the country against thorn ! Yes , his Lordship ' s declaration is notable ; " he postponed the consideration of the question to allow the country time to meet and speak . " Let the friends of the Noble Lord take warning by his Lordship ' s invitation to the pocpie to meet , and speak out ! and let the brawlers take heed lest Whig persecution of poor worfciug men for obeying his Lordship's invitation , may be turned into a good precedent by the Tories for committing the damp Repealers to the well aired cells of the Chartists !
Again , we say that we have neither sympathy nor compassion for the landlords ; and if it Were not prudent in a consideration of the question , to distinguish between the soil and the lord of the soil , we should say give them all that punishment which they have so justly merit ! but inasmuch as the lords of the soil cannot be punished , without at the same time punishing the innocent people , we make a distinction between the land , and the landlord .
Now , to argue the relative value of steam or soil production to the whole people , whether they be of the aristocracy , the middle classes , or the lower orders . In the outset , we say that we are for the most perfect ^ jiiaol ^ nery which th » . mindof man can invent , provided it is . made man ' s "holiday , instead of man ' s curse . " In the wise and Btariling words of Mr . Butiekworth , lately delivered . at Bradford : — ' ,.: ¦ ...: ¦ .-.-"WE CARE MOT IP MR . COBDEN 6 AN OO TOBBB BY STEAM , AND DRESS HIMSELF' BY STEAM , PfeoViDED THAT STEAM DOES , NOT TAKE THE BED \ fR 0 M THtf WORKING MAN AND L * AVE'HIM WiTHOUI , QtOTHES * b' pifxotf . " ' ¦' ' ¦'"' ' " ' ' ; '
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We have no hesitation in saying that if the above sentence had been spoken by either Sir Robert Peel or Lord John Russell it would have been printed in letters of gold , and would have been a golden peg upon Wbiob the Lord or the Baronet might , with safety , hare hung an immense weight of folly . It waa a noble sentiment . It , in fact , embraces the whole question . We will consider whether a repeal of tbe Corn
Laws would convert machinery into man's holiday , and would spare Butter worth his bed And clothes ; and ask over which , of the two means of pwductionthe natural means of the land , or tbe artifioial means of machinery , any government , even one elected by the whole people , would have most controul ; and whether a House returned upon a pledge to repeal the Corn Laws would be just the House to give the people a greater interest in the produce of machinery or the benefit of the repeal .
In the first place then ; we say , in contradistinguishing between the power of the people in acquiring controul over the land and over machinery that over machinery , not more than one in five thousand of Bociety can have any controul ; in machinery not more than one in five thousand can have any interest ; and under machinery not one even of the five thousand can , by possibility , have any security ; while , in land , every individual in the State may have an interest , amounting to house ,
food , and raiment , according to the expenditure of his labour , which is his capital ; and which is a . thing divisible into the minutest partB , according to the most humble means and wants of each ; over land the people may have controul ; under land the people may have security ; and all these advantages may be made to flow from a proper Bystem without in the least degree diminishing the fonts of landlords ; on the contrary it would increase them by bringing them into the retail market . I
But , says the scientific political economist : " what does the operative know about land ! what does he care about land ! " We answer , quite enough , without intending to devote himself to its culture , to teach him that he can have more controul over the land between Bury and Manchester , than over the lands of Russia , Prussia , Poland , Germany , or America ; quite enough to know that all that is now required for his complete and entire subjugation is to destroy
his home market for consumption , and take from him all power of control over bis market for production . He now sees 60 per cent , of his order unemployed , while he does not hear of a single man being found naked in the streets of St . Petersburgh , Vienna , Berlin , Warsaw , or New York , for want of his produce . He sees 44 per cent . « f bis order at halCwork on half-pay , with store-houses full of his produce ; while his belly is hungered , and he is told : —
" Aye , aye , true enough ; but you know if we could get corn , ( all that our customers have to give us in return for labour , ) you would all have plenty . " And he says— ¦ " Yea , verily , I know it ; but will they give ns their corn for dearer manufactures than they can buy at home V " O no , no ; but then we shall be able to compete with them , and even to undersell them at home f " " How , pray j how ?" " Why—why—why—why , you know , by—by— : by _ by , you know—O , cheap food , of course . "
" Well , but must you not sell cheap to buy cheap ; and is not our labour the thing you sell , and our food the thing you want to buy , and sell ns second hand V ' Why—why—why , you see the labour would not be cheaper—but the food would . " K Well , if the labour was not cheaper how could you compete or undersell , especially , when our labour has to pass through the Royal toll-bar , the Funded toll-bar , the Armj toll-bar , the Navy tolMrar , the supernumerary King and Q , ueen toll-bar ,
the Court toll-bar , the Civil List toll-bar , the Police toll-bar , the Church toll-bar , the Judges' toll-bar , the Half-pay toll-bar , the Place and Pension toll-bar , and all the other tollbars , to the amount of fifty millions annually ; together with the side gates for foot passengers , such as the Corporation bar , and tbe Water-pipe bar ; the Gas-light bar , and the Paving and Watchingus bar ; the Catch-thief bar , and the Gaol-committee bar ; the House of Correction bar , and the kill-the-Chartists bar ; and then , at the end , there's the four-thousand-millions-personal-debt bar I "
" O , don't you see , we have nothing to do with that ; the customs and duties will be taken off , and the excise , and land-tax and malt-tax will pay all those things . " " What ! then , afterall , you are obliged to fall back even upon our vices for support , and still to tax our land , eh i Get thee gone , thou barefaced rascal ! thou hast had plenty of opportunities to serve thyself , and us , too ; but thou hast ruined thyself in trying to ruin us , —bo get thee about thy business ! I am not going to be tailoring on the shop-board , or
be stunned in the rattle-box , for the Russian , the German , or the Prussian , while he is getting more wages by my dependence and vrotkitvR Ms own bit of land for himself in peace and happiness , the produce of which will always be worth something , and which he may sell , or let it alone ; while if YOU don't sell mt produce at your own price , I may starve and be damned tilt you get a demand for my supply I ! But harkee , Boniface , when did thou ever do me a kind turn in all thy life ? Tell me that , and I'll vote for thee . "
" Well , come , never mind ; let bye-gones be bygones ; but just let us join to beat the odious landlords , arid then thou shall see . " " Nay , I'll join for now ' t but my Charter !" " Well , hut just help us to get the Corn Laws repealed , and thou shall have that after . " " Nay , never again ! Thou cheated me in 1832 , but thou'll ; not do it again . " Such a conversation , we think , best illustra tea the objects , motives , and views of those with whom the people are now asked to join .
We have frequently told our readers that the landlords gratuitously sacrifice ten millions annually in rents , in order that they may hold the exclusive representative power which follows the possession of land , and by which they are enabled to share in all sorts of pelf and patronage , at least one hundred millions sterling annually . Now , once alter the system which thus makes it worth their while to sacrifice so small an amount of " rent" to so large an amount of " render , " and you bring all the land of the country , ( at least as much as our present scanty population would require , ) into the advanced retail market . But once get a House of Commons sufficiently strong to repeal the Corn Laws , and then farewell Charter ! farewell
Household Suffrage with a Lodoeb clause ! fsaewell Household Suffrage of any sort ! farewell repeal of rate-paying clauses ! farewell to the removal of any single obstacle at present in the way of the franchise ! and welcome tyrants to what you have long Iookedfor—a . House of Masters ! J Yes , give us such a consummation , and at once Englaad becomes a slaveland beyond redemption ! her people dependent upon the domestic tyrant for employment , and upon the foreigner for support ! Then farewell green fields of your fathers 1 farewell to the liberty of your sires ! farewell to the beauty of your daughters ! farewell to the independence of your sons I farewell to all that is dear to man , and lovely in the sight of God ! home , peace , religion , and contentment ; all , all , J&urewell !!
Who now was right ! We told the people that the fellows who asked us to join could get Household Suffrage without us ; lot the people see that they have been offered their own measure against our consent . ; - ^ ' ' ^ ' ]\ _ , ; ... ,. " ¦ . \ ' /\ " : . ]' ¦ ' ' ^ These are tne > unea , to try men ' s sonla . ^ No Repeal before the Charter ! Down with the tyrants who , in their" strength , gave us coercion , starvation , tranBporta . iion , inqarcera , ticm , afeural Police , and . the Arms !; Bill ; and who now , in their weakness , would sell us ! to the slave-drivers for a farter's Salary T Downwitn the nasty ; unprincipled'dirty dogs V
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THREE GLORIOUS DAYS ! Br a reference to our columns it will be Men that the People ' s Parliament has assembled ; and npon the exertions of the poop ]* themselves must wholly depend its efficiency . Th& man who requires more than merely time for si gning his name is not worthy the name of friend or Patriot ; and ten seconds being sufficient for the process , who can refuse ! Let Saturday , Sunday and Monday , then , be three glorious days ; and ever glorious they will be in the annals of the country
if the signatures of the working classes procured within that time shall ensure the return of Frost Williams , and Janes to their native land , and the incarcerated victims to the bosoms of their families . Up , then , every man , woman , and child , who can scratch his name or make bis myrk ; let them at once be appended . What three minutes will fail to effect , three times three years may equally fail t 0 effect . Is the country aware that THE LI FE OF J . B . O'Brien is despaired op in bis Wbiq DUNGEON !
Feelings which will not be harrowed by such at announcement , we shallnot endeavour to enlist ! W « are happy to say that tbe greatest unanimity pr $ . Tails in tbe Convention , and that with the greatest prudence they have decided upon accepting th « voluntary assistance of all who tender it . Hurrah ! then , for the three glorious dayaii Let not a moment be lost ; and , when the aheeti are signed , let them be made up in the same fora as a newspaper , with both ends open , and addressed as follows : —
T . S . Duncombe , Esq ., M . P ., Petition 6 , Albany Court Yard , to Parliament . London . And when despatched , let notice by letter be instantly given under cover to : — Mr . J . Cleave , Forth © 1 , Shoe Lane , Fleet Street , Convention . London . Hurrah ! again hurrah !! for the three glorious days !!!
MR . HENRY HETHERINGTON AND THE NORTHERN STAR . We had prepared an article in reply to Mr . Hetherington ' s somewhat "odd" letter , but u Mr . O'Connor has replied at great length , and u our space is wanted for intelligence of the " moTement , " we shall permit Mr . Hetherington to walk quietly off with as many laurels as he can carry away from | the field ; merely referring attention to his letter in connection with that of Mr . O'Coiwoa and with tbe knowledge tbat all our readers hare of our whole political career .
One word in reference to the letter of Mr . Cleats . We never charged him or any of the signers with having direct intercourse with Mr . O'Coskbll . We have never impeached bis honesty ; bat we do impeach his judgment when we see Mb lend himself to the furtherance of a scheme which is clearly calculated to serve all the purposes
of O'Connell and the Whigs , and by the same process to damn the people ' s came . So far from the Star or Mr . O'Connor awing , any dislike to Mr . Cleave , we know that Mr . O'Connor has ever expressed for him a very great personal regard , and we really think be has no right to complain of personal attack , or even slight from us .
We shall conclude by furnishing Mr . Cleavi with a more appropriate motto than be has selected"Would this hand were off before the deed was done . " The remaining portion of O'Connor ' s letter to Mr . Hetherinqton , being a development of plots ,
plans , and conspiracies , we chose rather to withhold till our next , than to place it at the end of that portion which we now give ; when that comes , we faney that the country will be able to estimate the talk about " the sword and the scabbard , "—they will see who first drew the sword , and who , for four years , has continually parried tbe thrust without return * ing it .
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THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . By the Pope , it was a smasher ! to have so roused tbe bile of our virtuous cotemporaries . The Dispatch , certainly a most able journal , we consider the very worst authority upon the subject , to there is too much personal feeling mixed up with the matter between the leading daily and tbe leading weekly prints . If the Devil had opposed Walter , " Pubucola " would have exclaimed , " O ! what a nice Devil let ns have him by all means . " Since our friend , the ex-alderman , so unceremoniously hung up his
aldermanic toggery in Farringdon-witbout , or Ctipplegate , or whatever ward bad tbe misfortune to receive the cast-off garment , the feud has been deadly between the rival papers and belligerent Editors . The Examiner also raves , and calls the alliance an " unholy alliance . " While we admit the Examiner to be a great authority in Courts of Justice , the Cabinet , and " Boudoir , " we must reject bis opinion upon all matters of principle ; because our friend has certainly favoured us with the most fascinating representation of Jim Crow in high life .
The Dispatch speaks as though the Chartists of Nottingham thought the House of Commons consisted not of 657 Members and Mr . Walter , bat as if the House consisted " of Mr . Walter and 657 others , thus making Mr . W . the " head and front . " This reminds ua of an anecdote well told in the history of the IriBh wars , and as it is quite in point we give it . There was , a large body of militia men and volunteers encamped upon the Curragh of Kildare , and amongst other officers , was one Lieutenant Po , who , being an original , was always counted as a squadron in himself . Thus if any one asked " how many at such a party , " or "how many going to such a party , " the answer was , " twenty-five , " or "twenty , and Po . "
Upon one occasion , Lord Cathcart appointed a day to inspect the force ; and upon being met by the adjutant , his Lordship inquired , " Wellf Mr . Adjutant , what ' s your strength ! " " 16 , 000 and Po my Lord , " was tbe reply . ' \ Po , Po , Po , " repeated hia Lordship , " why , damn it , have you all gone to pot ! " "No , my Lord , but a very distinguished officer of that name baa given rise to the joke . " Now we beg leave to assure the Dispatch , that although we do not suppose tbat thereturn 0 ! Mr Walteb will send the other 657 to pot , yet will i * make many of them sing out . It is a triqk to be followed up at Leeds , York , Halifax , Bradford , Wakefield , Huddersfield , Manchester , Bolton , Stockport , Liverpool , Stroud , and Leicester ; and » fetr other places will shortly find it ont .
What , we sbouldlike $ 6 know , would Mx . Bainm take for the reversion of Aw teat * We havestronj suspicions tbat the Hon . Gentleman would NOW even alter the bastardy . clauses in the new Bill—so fatal to poor men under the 43 rd of Ebaabeth , but to poor women in the 3 rd of Victoria . On the result , the World writes as , follows' : — 7 " . The result of the Nottingham election and the raturn of . Mr . Walter— owing in a > great , degree to v& suppor t which he received from the wprkiog claa » ibaa canted a vronil&ifpl . change . io-the tone , of tM Morning Chronicle , which ; begins to . , find out that the day is gone when the people will make sacrifices tot the ^ higs , for no better reason than that they vaij keep out the Tories . The lesson baa been a useful Ofte , and will convince some of those in the upper ranks , woo
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4 THE NOR THE * N S TAR , ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ - - ¦ ¦ ¦• = ¦ ,- ¦ -- - - • • - " ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ - - - - ^ - •¦ ¦^ - - - ¦ ¦ - . ¦ : ¦ - ,
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), May 8, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct548/page/4/
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