Current:

Northern Star (1837-1852), 10th July 1841, Edition 3 of 4, Page unpag, Qhavtiftt 3Ettt*Utg;etw.

Page unpag
Page 1
1 of 8

On this page

  • Departments (3)
    • Qhavtiftt 3Ettt*Utg;etw.
    • LEEDS BOROUGH SESSIONS.
    • TO THE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND.
  • Text (10)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      " If England , with her proper power at home , Cannot defend her own door from the dog , I / et ns be worried ; and our nation lose The name of hardihood and poliey . " Shakspbaeb—Heket T . Mt Lords axd Gextlkxes , —RemoTed from the ifoij b * nnt » «* * : * Ty from the bustle of' the trociii tree bom . malice , hatred , or HI Will tQir&rdi » ay liTtng thing ; and prompted by a sincere lore to aerre all , 'Without doing injnitlee to any , I assume the frA of addressing a aeries of letter * to job , ^ hich 1 hope to perfect ¦ without the introduction of political controTerRX . In truth , my Lords and Gentlesea , it is now fill time that tbt madness of the many by -which tie destractire gain of the few has been upheld , should be laid aside , for the benefit of alL

      My Lords and Gentlemen , remoTed , as yen aw , from tie scene of action in which I hare taken a coaepieuros part , and for which I am thus compelled to adgress you from a felon ' s prison , mayhap your minds may reqaire a little preparation , before you direst yonrselTes , as 1 hare done , of all prejndice and cnkindly feeling . Witk th&t -rie-w , I » h * ll not go OTerSDj Ol tiie "" Wliy « " Mid the " wherefores" I am here ; bat , being tsxj exbeMiveiy acquainted with you , and Tery -well known to many of your order , I hate only to appeal to the whole of life for reasons why I should cot be here , as far as you can judge . Let me , then , rexnird yon , thst during the whole of life 1 hare nerer been party ia " * or action ; that I haTe neTer been f hirged with , suspected , or guilty of one single mean , low , dishonourable , or ungentlemanlike act

      My Lords and Gentlemen , I took a prominent and a more fiolent part , in 1821 , against what I considered injustice in Ireland , than 1 haTe taken against what I consider injustice in England for the ten last years j from that period . 1 b 1821 I was not prosecuted , j althoafh I was most uejustly persecuted . I then ) wrote » pamphlet in which I ascribed erery act of Tio- 1 lextce done by the people to the injustice of landlords , j ptrsaas , magistrate * , g »» d jurors , and polioe . In j that pamphlet I implo » d of the l&adlorOs and other j parties to reform the mrenX abosss of their Tespectire j orders , before the people should be impressed with the j hopelessness of justice coming from the aristocracy . ; I was then denounced , driTen from society , and !

      branded as a rebel ; but , my Lords and Gentlemen , the legislature has since passed a separate act , for the purpose of correcting the Tery abuses ; of -which I complained as existing among those : leTeral orders . I complained of sub-letting as a great grieTance , as regards landlord and tenant ; and of many other \ grievances also . The legislature passed a sub-letting j act merely nibbling at the abases of the system , but ! topped short of interference just where it should hare ? ominenced . ; I complained of the individual , ministerial and ; judicial acts of magistrates ; and the lesisWnre justified my complaint by the enactment of the Petty Session * ' Bill by which magistrates are compelled t » meet

      together , and in open court . I complained of the unequal pressure of the tithe '' system , and tfae exempiion of grass land from any share j of the burden , and I also complained of the whole system ; sad that I was justified in complaining , is manifest by the bill of Mr . Croulburn , passed three j years subsequently , which had for its objtct the correc- j tion of the principal abuse of which I complained ; and I am further justified by the many attempts of administration recently made to deal with the whole system . I complained of Grand Jury jobbing , in which I was justified by the new Grand Jury Bill , ¦ which , has certainly caused & more just expenditure , althongk net a sufficient retrenchment in that department . ¦¦¦

      I complained of the old Police , their mode cf appointment , their qualification , their dependency up « u the local magistrate , asd masy other abuses ; and that I was justified in that complaint also , the Irish Coustabulatory Bill fully prerea . Xow , my Lords and Gentlemen , I merely state these facts to prove that I -was not a rebel , but a f orewsrner , in 1 S 21 ; and not by any means with tke intention of admiiong that any one of the ismedies was sufficient for the abuses which they professed to cure , while each and all furnish evidence of the existence of abuse .

      lly Lords and Gentlemen , I farther state these facts for the purpose of apprising you that the justice of my presest deHiands , and the injustice of my present persecution , may be equally and perhaps more speedily acknowledged by » ome subsequent acts of administraaon-. My Lords and Gentlemen , bsTing said M much with a-ne-w to free your minds from any prejudice which a conviction for what is called libel might hare rested , allow me to tell you that , however the meshes

      • f the law nny haTe caught me , my real crime consists B an endeavour to preserve your estates from the grasp of the English manufacturers That is " tbe head and front of my offending ; " but do not mistake me—I elaim no credit or thanks , inasmuch as my motives were of a far higher nature than a desire to uphold unjust powers in your hands for the preservation of a Tery foolish and a very destructive monopoly . My motive was to give to you the opportunity of Refornu before others compelled you to transfer .

      lly Lonls and Gentlemen , such is precisely your present position . Ton iiSTe now the option "Wnethei yoa -wail forego monopoly and commence Reform , or preserve monopoly and see your estates transferred to ther hands . In the plenitude of your power , you may say , and j aany of you will say—How can laws affect our pro- perty ? Haw can land be transferred ? Let us inquire how law has already affected landed property , and see wherein landlerds objected not to legislative inter- ference , when that interference tended to their benefit . Can you shew me one Act of Parliament which does not interfere with landed property ? while I will point your attention to many which have done so to a yerj onriderable extent .

      I shall commence with that law which your accept , ance and support of renders jour position so very \ xnenviable at the present moment . I mean the law i affecting the introduction of foreign grain te the j British market . That law extended to y » u the same i faith for the rise and protection of your property that Sir Robert Peel's memorable bill , passed in 1 S 19 , ex- ¦ tended to the fundholder , for the rise and protection of < his property . To that law you did not object Thfe ; : i !

      equalisation of the currency of the countries affected your property held by tenants at will ; that gave to ( many an oportenity , » f whish they availed themselves , ! of adding i \ to that description of property ; while the j same parties reduced the wages of their labourers from j * d . to Td ., thus adding 8 j to one description of prc *; perty , and 12 jj to another description of property , Ton will say that middle men only had recourse to this !

      practice . My answer u , —They were your representatives . You will also say that the instances were few . My answer to that is , that I hare been consulted in heoj hundred cases tf rent ; and in my irsra immediate neighbourhood I know of some Tery extensive employers who reduced wages as I have stated . Let me illustrate this by a case , in which a middleman made a profit of over 33 per cent , by the change . Indeed 1 have known not a few such . Snppose a middle-man , who tad underlet his ground to tenants at will , or by accepted proposal , and to hold a large quantity of land upon his own hands . Now I have

      known such men firstly to raise the rent to the new standard , that was 8 $ per cent ; then to reduce labour to the new standard , that was 12 |; then to pay wages upon the track system , by potatoes or floor ; * &d the alteratoon never touching the penny retail surket of the labourer , that was a further cheat upen him of 12 $ per cent ; thus , rappose A to hart sold » otatoes for « i a weight before the alteration , and to have Sd . a day wages , after the alteration he reduoea VagH U ? d ., and stffl 4 emaade 4 and got »< L for a * a « b to potatoes , and as ke dealt in the wholesale ¦ aket , his 7 d . was made to represent * d-, both in the ptymett of rent and interact and everything else .

      The next act to which I shall direct your attention is the Tithe Composition Act By that ' act you foreed tte iueumkento into large reductions upon their ifrSagB , corresponding , as you averred , with the inc ? essed security , while it gave them no increased curity . The next act was the recent Tithe Act , by which T < w relieved your estates of twenty-five per cent , of the tttbe . 1 i « next act was the Irish Poor Law Act

      Untitled Article

      2 < ow all these act * had a direct influence upon rents , and I will now show yon how Act * of Parliament , of a purely political character , interfere with landed property . The Catholic Emancipation Bill caused hundreds of thousands of small holdings to be thrown into large farms , or added to thoae already in existence . The Keform Bill induced hundreds to withhold leases from a dread of creating a political power over which tttey could not have an absolute controuL

      Lord Morpettl ' i Registration Bill , so fortunately defeated , would have increased that practice to an extent frightful to be contemplated ; and , judging from the past , must either have depopulated a great portion of Ireland , or must hare paralysed the hand of industry , and have limited the expenditure of capital , by depriving the occupying tenants of all tenure beyond your will in their farms , and , consequently , of all inducement and heart to improve their holdings . My Lords and Gentlemen , having so far shewn you wherein you have been consenting parties to legislative

      interference with your estates , let me now point out whatever has been , and whatever must be , the result of s perseverance in error , and a dogged obstinacy in resisting Reform . Had the owners of borough property conceded a Tery little of right to growing opinion , the Reform Bill would not , as yet , have passed . Had the Prote » tant Church and Churchmen conceded misof point * to their Catholic brethren , go virtually a sweeping measure of Emancipation as that of 1829 wouW not yet have been looked for , or , at all events , it would not have been carried .

      Had the Clergy of Ireland paid dne attention to the warning voice of Lord Mountcaahel , conveyed to them in his celebrated , but neglected , letters to Provost Klrington upon his translation to a bishoprick , you would not as yet kave heard of Church property being handed over to the landlords of Ireland . Had tbe West Indian slave owners listened seme little to the voice of reason , justice , and humanity , the slave might yet have sighed for his xaanumiation . Had the old corporations deferred , in time , U the call for Reform , their prescripti ** right to revel in local abuse , would not have been transferred to otker bands .

      Now , my Lords » nd Gentlemen , I use these instance * of popular demand , inereating with oligarchical resistance , for the purpose of opening your eyes to the Btartling fact , that hitherto the word Keform has meant tkamfer ; and , further with the hope of convincing you that you have bow the option whether you will I Reform your own abuses , or allow those abuses to re J main as a mark for the most powerful ( because the most wealthy and centralized ) party in the State , against j — — —» » v ^ ¦ *» vw * -a »* Ktwvu | y » l W ^ A . M WIUV U MlVVj BftaiUU V I

      which to direct the full current of popular indigna- 1 tion , Ministerial experiment and commercial speculation ' assault , with the Tiew of transferring your estates to j their own pockets . My Lords and Gentlemen , surely you have long since ascertained the fact that the Reform Bill was a transfer of legislative power from the landed to the manufacturing interest ; and the manner in which that po-wer has increased and keen used for the last nine years may lead you to some conclusion as to tbe probable result Mark the odds against which you have to contend ; your forces in Ireland are in the hands of a

      man who would use them for your benefit , if by so doing he could btsnefit himself ; but that not being practicable , he kas chosen the shocking alternative of inducing the Catholic people to commit suicide , not ( as it is snpposed by those who foolishly attach a religious motive to his tactics ) for the purpose of insuring a Catholic ascendancy : no such thing ; about VnU he cares not a farthing ; but your abuses give him a handle over Catholic prejudices , and thereby enable him to throw all the political weight ot agricultural Ireland into the Kng Huh

      manufacturersscale , which is the important one jost bow for insuring of political patronage . While you are thus deprived of all popular support , your party in England is thinly dispersed over the face of a scantily populated country ; the population mack thinned for tbe purpose of creating a labour reserve in unhealthy manufacturing towns . This portion of the population is , firstly , ignorant as the beasts they drive ; and , secondly , not capable of being brought together for effect , such as public demonstrations ; while you enemies are assembled in an hour by ring of bell , or placards on the wall

      ; '¦ j Perhaps , secure in y our mountain retreat or well-barred castle , you may say that you don't want demonstrations , i I know you do not , but can you either step them or ; prevent their ef&el ? No , you cannot ; and , believe ' me , that the day is gone when any Government can hold power against popular demonstration . I My Lords and Gentlemen , I now come to close qaar-! ters with you ; and yon who know that I have been I mixed up for twenty years in all the violent political struggles « f my own county , and who can bear witness i that during those contests , which have been angry , sharp , and frequent , I have never given personal offence i or lost a friend , will new bear with me , while I scold

      | ' , . ¦ ' ! \ I I you well with the hope of rousing you to a ¦ sense of your duty , of opening youi eyes to : your negligencies and follies , and of directing : your attention to the only possible msanB by which you ! can much longer remain possessors of your estates . j Again , I beg and beseech of you not to reject the I advice , fcecauEe it comes ftom one who has gained j great triumphs over you ; not to look t « o carelessly at I the picture which , for a time , yon may see bnt at a ' great distance ; not to suppose that your most quiet valley , embedded in your most inaccessible mountains , is unapproachable to , or proof against an act of , the legislature .

      My Lords and Gentlemen , do not "lay the flattering unction to your souls " that the temporary ascendancy of your political party can stiy the wanton ' s assault upon yeur property . Do not allow momentary strength to harden you in error ; but , on the contrary , seii « it , embrace it , use it , as the most fitting and appropriate time for deliberation , and self-correction , and Reform . Set about it at once ; for , believe me , that short , very short , will be the political triumph of your friends . My Lords and Gentlemen , you are called monopolists , robbers , plunderers , murderers , and starvers of the poor . If there is any defence for you , you will find it in recrimination . You will find it in the fact , that those

      who thus brand you have themselves committed wholesale murder , plunder , and spoliation upon the poor , and would now rob you to further enrich themselves But , my Lords and GenVemen , while I thus arm you with a defence against those more deeply steeped in crime , do not suppose that I hold you guiltless . No , I do not ; kut then your crimes are as white as snow compared with the scarlet i-ns of your accusers ; but yet you committed many and flagrant offences , and are still chargeable with the name of monopolists , but not in the sense in which the steam lords apply it to landlords . No ! while their object is

      not by any means to improve the condition , or advance the comfort , of the poor , your crime consists , —not in upholding monopoly produced by Act of Parliament ; it does not consist of making a monopoly of grain ; but it does consist in making a monopoly of land which produces grain , in ordex that you may make a monopoly of legislation , which prodneeJ place sad wealth , patronage and distinction . Now herftin is jour folly ; and my greatest surprise has ever be * n , that landlords , not of a political tinge , or not looking for political gain , will allow their estates to be endangered by joining ia the mad and reckless career of political patrons .

      My Lords and Gsntlemem , your monopoly consists In the law of primogeniture , which , morally , socially , and pbysicall ? does you much damage . In yeur mode of leasing your estates in large allotments unsaited to the capital of the country and destructive » f the industry of the country ; in yoor conditions annexed to occupation ; in your restrictions as to application ; in your exactions as to political support ; in your encouragement of the substitution of horse power for manual labour ; but above all , in your obstinate perseverance

      Untitled Article

      In that antediluvian system of making Mrfs of your tenants , by short leases or no leases , and the practice of exacting one settled invariable rent for a period , no matter how long or how short , without reference to the price of the produce of the commodity you let , instead of regulating rent by a g . aduatiag scale of prices of produce;—this is little short of madness . My Lords and Gentlemen , howerer amMtion may have led your judgment captive tor a season , your shrewdness must have told you that when you were ready to join in the spoliation of Church property for your own appropriation , you were firstly furnishing a precedent for legislative interference with a title certainly inferior to the title of the Churcb . , and you might also have guessed that your turn would come when the next pull was required .

      You must have known , because you speak much of prescriptive right and inheritance , that the title of a Church , whether that Church was Catholic or Protestant , was a higher title , by law , to the land than the title of the landlord . You who speak of national faith , must be aware that prior to your becoming possessed of the land , the Church had a lien upon it to the amount ot one-tenth of its produce . You must have besn aware that livings were purc ^ rated , and bargains made , and contracts entered upon , on the faith of this prior claim or mortgage The Church , in it * turn , must have known that when it became a party to the appropriation of the trnst-property of the poor , that its turn would one day c « me ; and tbe landlords msst have been aware that when

      they became a party t » the appropriation of church property to their own uses , that their day would come ; and those who would now appropriate your estates to their own uses , under the specious pretext of feeding the poor , may rest assured that their day will also come . My Lords and Gentlemen , I mention these things to warn you of your danger , to alarm you of tbe thters approach , to rouse you to action , in order that profitting by tbe pourtrayal of your own fjlly , asd the folly of others , you may take the means of doing gratuitously for yourselves , that which , if left undone by yon , will be done tiy rougher hands ; for done , believe me , it will be , and that right speedily . My Lords and Gentlemen , pray , pray , pray , keep that one feature full in view , —THAT DONE IT MUST BE ; and therefore the « uestion is , Who shall do it ?

      You are n » w very peculiarly circumstanced . A bold exercise of your newly-acquired political strength may do something for you . A prompt use of your social powers may save you . Let me point out to you how , and in what manner . 1 / yon come forward in your political strength , and reduce expenditure , debt , wages of public servants , and all the cost of Government , to that standard to which a repeal of the Corn Laws would assuredly reduce your estates , you will but nominally suffer ; your rentals will be reduced , but your burdens will be correspondingly lessened ; your incomes will be virtually smaller , but actually more valuable , because more secure ; your position in society will not be in the least altered .

      The most wealthy will still be the most wealthy , tbe several classes measured by the same graduating scale , will see no perceptible change in their social or monetary arrangements . This change you can accomplish by a vigor bus and timely exercise of your political functions . However , should you still cling to high rents and expensive government , and a false preeminence from which a sudden shock may burl you , you must , in such case , make timely use of your power as landlords ; you must bring your estates into the retail market , to suit tbe habits , customs , capabilities , and wants of your own people ; while you will open far tbe EnglUh manufacturers a trade , a home trade , a sure trade , larger and more remunerative than all their quackery would produce .

      Thus , my Lords and Gentlemen , yon have it in your power to act as a break-water to the rushing rapids , -while you are erecting your new building ; and if you proceed with judgment , you may strike your centres at any given moment , without fear of damage from the flood ; but , oppose tbe current , and your all will be hurried down the stream . My Lords and Gentlemen , attend to the alternatives between which y « u have to select You must either throw your estates into gavel , and become tenants , in common with all the landlords of all the corn and

      cattle-producing countries of the earth , or you must bring your estates into the retail market , and give , from their cultivation , an impetus to home manufactures , and native industry . Have you not had full and ample proof that the system of " hand-to-month" legislation , so long attempted , but in vaio , is intended to correspond with the system which has been but too » nccessfuiiy practised of making the working classes live from hand to mcuth , in order that they may be more at the mercy of those

      employers who eke millions out of their dependency , your obstinacy , and their own devilment ? Does not each day ' s novelty furniab you with proof that all laws are now made with th » one single object , however wide they may be of the mark ; and that that object is to reduce the working people , made " surplus population " by machinery , to the necessity of working at wages regulated by the mere existence point , or of emigrating to some foreign land , or of dying of hunger , or of revolting Against the unnatural state of things 7

      My Lords aad Gentlemen , you have been too much in the habit ef listening to the wild vagaries of hired experimentalists , who write according to order in the daily and weekly journals , and who know as much about the national disorder , and the proper remedies , as barristers or attornies care about the purity of their clients . Pray bear in mind that the press is a hand-tomouth repast , furnished exclusively by tbe monied orders ; and although your interests may be said to be represented by a few , yet are they all in the possession of tbe hand-to-meuth gentry ; for which , see advertisements , and point out one from a landed proprietor , and let those papers dare to advocate your cause , and then point me out one at all .

      Another " iffnU / aiuus , " which blinks you and sets your heads wandering , is your sectional attachment to , and following of , some local and general parliamentary leader . Now , believe me , that those gentlemen will advocate their own interests by making merchandise of you . Firstly , they do not understand the question ; and , secondly , they are politically divided upon it My Lords and Gentlemen , I smiled most sorrowfully at your childish notion , recently made manifest in an endeavour to commence Reform by raising subscriptions for agricultural shows , to divide among yourselves and a few of your petted tenants . As well may you hope to heal a mortal wound by the application of a bit » f court plsister . You must amputate .

      My Lords and Gentlemen , I have for the present devoted as much space to you as I can prudently afford . In my next I shall take a small estate of one thousand acres , and show the little benefit conferred upon society by your injudicious management and destructive monopoly of it ; and the great benefit which a prudent and profitable disposition may confer upon yourselves and society at large . I shall prove , beyond a possibility of refutation , that you are the monopolists , but mot in the way sought to be proved by other * . I shall prove thai a wise and profitable alloeati&s of a very snail portitn of the land of Great BriUia and Ir « laad , woald make th » whole National Dabt a mere thing of xothing ; capable of being redeemed is lass than five yeus by the working classes .

      My Lords and Gmtlemea , ia my treatise I will net allow a political economist , a ( moonshine theorist , ) a single peg to hang a scientist objection upon , because I will argue the thing according to the very roughest and most discourgaging calculations , And not by the new arithmetic of scientific production ; bat from such data as the least cultivated will understand ; and , I will undertake to prove that the landlords , either as the asoendant political party , or as a united tody , may now prepare to save their estates , theirsJtr ' ry , their

      Untitled Article

      properties , and the people from -want , from rapine , and from revoluti » i . I am aware that many objection * will be raised , but so refutation will be attempted ; and , as to objections without refutation , they but bespeak prejudice and affection for custom which but ill accords with the present times , and will not be listened to . My Lord * and Gentlemen , let me , in concluding this , my first letter , warn yon that , <* t once , either the Corn Laws must be Repealed , or you must render their immediate Repeal unnecessary , or put yourselves in a condition to meet the new order of things created by Repeal , or defend your estates by force of arms .

      Again , I tell you that the political democratic current will go on ; but upon the opposera to that current most rest the damage which the flood shall do in its pregreBs . I implore you to erect your break-water * , by the removal of abuse ; and then when justice triumphs you will be participators in the change . The people , the starving people , the brave people , the magnanimous people of England have braved hunger , want , and privation , with Roman fortitude and unprecedented heroism . They have rejected the bait intended to entrap them into absolute slavery . They have resisted all invitations to commit rapine , plunder ; spoliation , and devastation .

      But , my Lord * and Gentlemen , well organised as we are , ( for I have left yon , and become port and parcel of the people , ) yet , all hope failing of such immediate socM change as we look for , pending our advocacy of universal right , we shall be left ao alternative , by your refusal , but to experimentalise upon you * properties . My Lords and Gentlemen , we can rob you all in less than six weekB , though you had the Court , the Lords ,

      and the Commons with you ; and , having d « ne so , then you would be thrown into revolution with the fundholder , the parson , the mortgagee , the simple cantract creditor , your mothers , your brothers , your sisters , and your dependants , who , believe me , will be as loth to give up their grasp upon their monopoly as you have been to surrender your * . Judge , then , in which situation you can best arbitrate , whether before or after TRANSFER . We are called Destructives ; while "We have borne oppression rather than change the warfare to our oppressors' camp . My Lsrds and Gentlemen , I will write you six letters . Do not reject them or treat them jeeringly ; for should you , after notice , persist in error , the war will be carried into your camp . I have the honour to be , My Lords and Gentlemen , Tour obedient servant , Feargus O'Oohnob . York Castle , Condemned Cell , June 29 th , 1841 .

      Untitled Article

      TO THE FUSTIAN JACKETS . Mr dear COMRADES , —The first campaign of single-handed Chartism ia over , and , thank God for it ! it has terminated gloriously and to the immortal honour of the people . 1 rejoice to think that , however some of the least bad men have received a sectional local support here and there , yet has not one single demonstration taken place in aid of faction—not one ! Now , my dear friends , hear me . To gain a victory is comparatively easy , while to turn triumph to advantage requires all the thought , prudence , and discretion of the wisest head . I asked you to take car © and make the Whig force in the next Parliament too email for a party , and too large for a faction . You shall now hear » y reasons , and judge of their soundness .

      If the parties were balanced , as recommended by " Publicola , " they would have p layed battle-dore and ehuttle-cock with the people . A party sufficiently large to be presumptive heirs to office , would still stand upon constitutional prerogative , and would be afraid of " liberal measures , " lest they should establish precedents to be followed when in power . A party in opposition large enough to take office with the existing Parliament , will have nothing to fear from popular indignation , as they would not be compelled to dissolve in order to insure a majority . If the Whigs were in a minority , of not more than ten , and if the Tories found themselves too weak to retain office * a sufficient number of " waiters apon Providence" would join tho Whigs rather than

      encounter another general election ; but , with a majority of fifty or sixty against them , the Whigs would be compelled to come again before the people , and , bafore their next appeal , they will have discovered who the people are . I have told you many a time and oft , that there are only two ways of effecting any great change ; the one by physical revolution , the other by an act of the legislature . Tbe good people have now come to a knowlege of the fact that all physical revolutions terminate unsuccessfully to the cause of liberty ; and even if it were not so , they but look upon such means of acquiring justice as a last and dreadfil resource . In such case it becomes the bounden duty of every man who decries revolution , and yet

      proclaims death m any shape to be preferable to the continuance of the system against which he contends ; it becomes his duty to state freely and fairly wherein the realisation of his hopes are feasible without revolution , and how they can be effected by an act of the legislature . Such shall be my present task . The paupers provided for by the Sate are divided into two political parties , each depending for distinction , and even for existence , upon their respective hold of office ; while all the industrious classes form one compact and united body . I say united , and I say ail ; because tradesmen , shopkeepers , and all the intermediate parties between those who havo raw property and those who convert that raw material into value by labour , must , of necessity , very soon discover that the people are the belly of the State , and that all other classes are but the members ;

      and that the belly being starved , the members must parish . ' While there was enough of plunder for all , the tradesmen and shopkeepers preferred competency with political distinction , to superfluity purchased at the expence of the loss of that distinction ; but now that the idlers of the aristocracy have become too numerous to admit of any division of the plunder , and even the respective parties of the highest order have become , either of them , too large to be comfortably quartered upon what the people , made paupers by machinery , can afford to give , they will both very soon discover that the increase of machinery , to any amount , no matter how great , and the wealth produced thereby , no matter howsoever enormous , will be of not the slightest benefit to them ; but , on the contrary , " as much would have more , " the owners of machinery will consider all too little for themselves .

      In thiB state of things , I think we stand in no danger of a coalition being formed by the parties ; and , indeed , even that would give us a Republican opposition in the House , constituted of all the disappointed of both parties . Now , the Whigs are far the poorer of the two parties ; and when they are for a season excluded from the mesa , and when Mr . O'Connell finds Sergeant Jackson , and Mr . Litton , and a few more Tories , placed upon the bench , and when he finds all the offices to which he had the appointment , and from which , believe me , he had very pretty pickings , handed over to the enemy , he will foam like a mad dog at the mouth : and in their weak and helpless condition , their appeal will

      be from houses to men . Don't you mind " Publicola " , who has written more rubbish since the dissolution than all the Whig scribes put together , and that is saying a great deal ; I say don ' t you mind him , when he tells you that the Whigs will join in oppression for spite , because the people opposed them . Not a bit of it . They , believe me , will join whoev er or whatever , if it was the devil himself , has the power of whipping the Tory pack froM the mess aad giving it to th « m . Well ; then trill come our turn , and them will b « the tine for an understanding , and this bring ! me to the legislative Kode of carrying « ut « ur principles . The Whigs , before thev again oo » e to fflto . asnst

      dissolve , and they must aot o » ly dissolve , but we will take precious good care that if they do iimolr upen a clap-trap , the appeal will be answered as the last has been . But , if they dissolve upon the only measure which we will accept as terras of nuion , we will farther take care , that their majority shall consist of Chartists , and not of mere anti-Tories . Now , one thing they hare ascertained , that is , that the Reform Bill has failed to be a Whig guarantee of office , and another thing they may hare learned , is , that without the people they can do nothing . Now , suppose they should either dissolve again , which is by no means improbable , because the Whig ntertainment will not be allowed to terminate without a farce ; or , suppose , that anything should

      Untitled Article

      cause , a dissolution . Well ; in such case , the electors of the present year would be registered , and they would calculate thus : —If , since 1837 , being four years , the Tories have changed our majority of 100 to a minority of 40 , by the Keform machinery , and if the last year has been one of increased activity in registration , what would be the probable result of another General Election ! Answer—as 4 is to 140 , 1 is to as , and the result would be a Tory majority of 75 . Another question is , what possible means have we now of obviating such a result ! Answer—by an appeal to the people . Upon what terms ? By guaranteeing to them the return of thirty of their own selected representatives , upon the condition that the

      nation will rise constitutionally , as one man , to ensure , not only . ajs anti-Tory Mouse , but to give to the whole people one-twentieth of the representation , with a riew to laying popular feelings , opinions , wants , and demands before the Legislature , thereby transferring p « wer for ever from the hands of the Tories to the hands of the Reformers , for the pvnrpose of working out that principle of the Reform Bill , which , they eay , they hare hitherto been prevented from doing by Tory opposition . Now , this is the safety-valve—the only safety-valve , and if not rery speedily applied to the steam of boiling public opinion , the engine will explode . This representation , wonld place the people , not

      as the Reformers were placed some forty years ago , but in that position in which their increased power , based upon their increased union and knowledge , entitles them to . The Reformers never had any back , that is , any real back , such as the Chartists would hare outside . The Reformers never meant what they said , and most unfortunately , the Keform Bill was passed in a storm , and without previous preliminary tutoring of the public mind , to prepare it for the full benefit of a well digested measure . This is the advantage which we would now have over all other parties , we are prepared with a new system , to replace the eld , without an interregnum of chaos and speculative rule .

      We have not thrown out the dirty water till we hare got clean . If I was not fearful of being char ged with despotism , I could mention thirty men whose prcseace would do honour to the House of Commons , and not one of whom could be purchased , and each and all of whom should sign tho pledge to resign when called upon , and receire the salary for service , as laid dowa in the Charter ; and more , I would not be « ae of them , as I am resolved to remain as sentry over the fustian air my of observation . But , v » h \\ e I thus select my own port , I would givo the garrison twenty times as much strength as if 1 was one among them . Now . I will lay down a few facts for you . Neither

      the House of Commons' Reformers or the House of Commons' leaders of any one jjreat question ever yet intended to extend to the people the whole or what they promised . They hare gone far enough to hound the popular cry on , in anticipation of all the promised results , and when their own object has been achieved , thea hare they turned upon the " ignorant people" and taunted them wiih madness , in having , so violently and erroneously misconstrued those opinions , which , while onfercing , they took particular trouble to prore were in exact accordance with popular notions . In fact , the people nercr , till now , were in a fit state to judge whether they were or were not duped by their leaders .

      The rery same coarse haa been pursued by the liberal prett . I will give you two melancholy in-Btances ; one furnished by the Weekly Dispatch , the other by the Leeds Mercury . For many year ? , Publicola , a writer in the Dispatch , had been taunting the people with passive endurance of wrong , and actually brought the public mind up to a high pitch of contempt for royalty , and all the institutions of the country . Well , in 1838 , when theraen of Birmingham responded to the national call , and placed Universal Suffrage upon their banners , " Publicola" turned round and denounced them . Since then , " Publicola" has boasted of his own forwardness , and jeered at the little good that could be expected from the practical workings of the Charter . He has also been

      loud in kis denunciation of royalty , and all ancient institutions , and has attempted to palm some absurd thirty-nine articles of political faith upon the Chartists . But since the dissolution of Parliament , this anti-monarchist , and hater of all institutions , has told us that he is " more than a Chartist , " and , therefore , opposed to Universal Suffrage , and tbe Payment of Members ; and he has recently actually denounced the wife of the Superintendant of the Woolwich Dock-yard , for not being as well dressed as the Queen , upon thn visit of her Majesty to see her ship , tho Trafalgar , launched ; nay , he is loud in his complaints , that this lady did not lay aside her soul ' s mourning , and dress inward grief in outward joyous gaiety , in honour of Royalty ; he also

      complains that the police and attendants did not take off their hats often enough ; and bow low enough to Royalty ; he also complains that the furniture of her reception room was not sufficiently expensive , and that the servants had the matchless insolence to more about in her presence , regardless of Royalty ; and further , that they swept , and dusted the tables , and chairs , and he rejoices thatthe servant ia waiting upon her Majesty was made to smart under the withering Bcowlof offended Royalty . The Mercury was the cause of fourteen poor men being hung upon one and the same day at York Castle ; the Mercury has invited assaults upon landed property , and has gone far to create revolution in favour of Whiggery and " Reform . "

      Now , then , mind . Those humbug prints would hound you on at their prey , and , pointing to the advantage which you were to acquire , they would slip you from the leash when their own enemies were to be hunted down ; but the moment you had done that , then would thoy coop the eagles from their carrion , " and whip public opinion with a scorpion , and merciless lash from the very scent themselres had set it on . Now , with thirty Chartist Membere , pledged to resign when called upon , always mind that ; neither

      leaders nor newspapers could whip national opinion from the game . Well but how is it to be done \ Why as easily as to fall off a horse . Let the Whigs dissolre upon the principles promised in the Reform Bill , that " taxation and representation shall be co-extensive , " and , humble as I am , I pledge my life upon the issue , which ehall be eren with the present electoral body backed by the people , to change the Tory majority , from whaterer it may be to a mere factious minority ; but then we will secure the return of our men first or it is no go .

      The past elections have proved that where Chartism was represented on the hustings , the people were ready to rally upon the moral strength of th « ir cause , and its representation in the House would be the only means of insuring its legislative success , which if denied , will assuredly be accomplished by other and less desirable means . Brothers , upon no conditions whaterer can we unite with either party , upon the understanding that we abate a pin ' s point of our claims . We refused it to the enemy when strong , and shall we now weaken ourselves by becoming partners in a totter

      ing firm ! Never become tenant to a falling house , or join in business with a declining partner . We must not now fight the battles over again , wherever any one body of oar local friends hare , from justifiable causes , acted an apparently different part from another body , we must not assume that either were right or wrong in order to justify the other . The probability is , that in all and erery case , the Chartists were right , and , indeed , I am sure they were . Therefore , no fighting of the battle over again , it will but do the enemies work , and create disunion and division .

      I shall conclude with a quotation from the man who understood man , and his nature , better than any who has lired before or since his time—Shakspeare . In speaking of unity , the great master says : — " Under wise conduct and mature design It is well possible that many things . Having full reference to one consent , May act accordingly ; though else contrariors ; As many arrows loosed several ways Fly to one mark ; As many several ways meet ia one town ; As many fresh seu run in one-self sea ; As many Uses close in the dial ' s centre ; So many a thousand actions once a foot End in one purpose , aad be all well bosa Without defeat "

      So writes the great poet on unity . Also hear , what he says of union , and mark its application to our present position : — " Wbere what combined kath beem most gr * ak , thae * let not Inferior eamses sever . " Now , hear what one of " aaturVs journeymen" has bee * telling the people for twenty years : — " Our thongih is in ow tmUn , ovr fowmr * fl ixfwr 90 iee , * nd our iueceuiu our jwrsMMnuMK , " Brothers , stand fast and fear not . Onward , and we conquer : backward , and we fall . Universal Suffrage , and No Surrender . " As well may tbe lamb with the tiger unite , The mouse with the cat , or toe lark with the kite . " I am , Your true and constant friend , Feargus O'Connob .

      Untitled Article

      ^^ - ^^ jL&M P . & . —That I did not judge badly ofThe strength the resolution , and the henesty of the non-electors , fey relying solely upon their watchfulness of the use made cf their strength by leaders , rosy be gathered from the just and wholesome examples made of traitors Darer and Edwards .

      Remember the met * , and that we are * tbe huntsmen who can say , " halloo , cess , cess , cess , good dogs ; " and . remember that we don ' t want any ot the mess ; we only want to prevent either pack from eating too much , to the injury of theie constitution . F . O'C .

      Untitled Article

      The Midsummer Quarter Sessions for this borough commenced on Wednesday afternoon last , before ihomas Flower Ellis , Jun ., Esq ., Recorder , The Calendar contained the names of upwards of eighty prisoners . The following are the sentences up to last night : — Transported Fifteen Years . —James Hyde , 30 , and Anthony Ward , stealing a purse and money , tho property of Wm . Hirst . Imprisoned Eighteen Months . —Wm . Riley , 17 , stealing £ 130 , she property of Messrs . Edward Baines &Co . Imprisoned Twelve Months . —Joseph Hires , 47 , stealing a chain , the property of Wm . Woodhead . —James Ramsdes , 18 , stealing pigeons , tho property of Charles Higgins .

      Imprisoned Nine Months . —Robart Middleton , 33 , stealing trowsers , the property of Benjamin Harral . — Wm . Willis , 17 , stealing iron , the property of Edmund Dawson . —Wm . Halliday , 25 , stealing three iron hammers , the property of the overseers of the poor . Imprisoned Six Months . —Joseph Rollinson , 22 , stealing a watch , the property of John Malliusoa . Mary M'Cabe , 25 , stealing two watches , the property of Ann Moody . Robert Stephenson , 11 , stealn < a watch , the property of John Spetch . George Huby , 19 , embezzling money , the property of John Sellers and others , his masters . Benjamin Battersley , 17 , stealing a watch , the property of Emanael Roberts . '

      Imbisoneb Fivb Months . —James Whiteloy , 23 , stealing fowls , the property of Robert Catlow . Jane Horseman , 18 , stealing a linen cap and other articles , the property of John Challenger . Imprisoned Fodr Months . —George Whitaker , 20 , stealing knives , the property of Henry Sreel . John Wilby , 21 , stealing a pair of shoes , the property of Thomas Barker . Samuel Ramsden , 21 , stealing a watch the property of John Robinson . John Oliver , 22 , stealing ham , the property of David Butters . Imprisoned Three Months . —Patrick Connor , 18 , stealing iron , the property of Joshua Norton , John Bryan , stealing a coat the property of George . Broadbeut .

      Imprisoned Two Monihs . —John Hall , 42 , stealing shoes , the property of Benjamin Gaunt . John Winn , 13 ,, stealing two iron wheels , the property of Edmund Dawson . Imprisoned One Month . —Edward Gainings , 12 , Btealing shoes , the property of Joseph Toes . Edward Blackburn , 14 , stealing butter , the property of Job Rose . George Hall , 16 , stealing two iron wheels , the property of Edmund Dawson . Acquitted . —Margaret Kershaw , 34 , stealing blankets , the property of Elizabeth Holroyd . Hannah Farrar , 25 , stealing a frock , the property of Ann Brown . Jotm Ward , 26 , stealiag a pair of tongs , the property of John TiJlotson . Benjamin Heaton , 54 , stealing deals , the property of Tiiorp and Atkinson . Jonu Hution , 25 , stealing reins , the property of Wm . Myers . No Bill . —Edwin Whitaker , 1 « , stealing a silk handkerchief , tho property of Thos . Waddington .

      Qhavtiftt 3ettt*Utg;Etw.

      Qhavtiftt 3 Ettt * Utg ; etw .

      Untitled Article

      BRADFORD . —Release of ANOTHER CHARTIST . —Thomas Duke , of Bradford , has been just liberated —ab > ut two mojiths before the expiration of the term of his imprisonment . He called at this office , on Tnursday , to return his grateful acknowledgements to Mr . O'Connor , and to the friends by whom the subscriptions hare been supported , and to say that he is a more determined Chartist than ever he was . MOTTRAM . —Mr . Samuel Lee Hadfleld has been appointed to the csunciJ , in the room of Air . Wm Mills , stone-mason . HOX . MNGCTORTH . —Mr . John Leach , of Hyde delivered an able and intertsting lecture , in the Chartist Room , on Sunday last .

      DROGrHEDA . A letter from Drogheda states that" the principles of Chartism is 6 prtaaing among the' working class in this town witk an astonishing rapidity . " SALISBURY .- —That talented adrocate of the rights of the people , Mr . Ruffy Ridley , lectured in Salisbury , on Monday erening , July 5 th , on the First Principles ef GoTerament—Free Trade—and the People ' s Charter— to about fire hundred . Mt . R . Ridley was well rtcsired , and gwe the greatest satisfaction to all present . After the lecture , aereral noble fellows joined the society ; we hare now a good prospect of going a-head .

      MANCHESTER . —Release op Cbabtist Prisoneks—Mr . Barker , of Manchester , and Mr . Bell , of Bolton , who were consigned to Kirkdale for eighteen menths , for the 12 th of August affair , were liberated on . Monday merning , without any prerious notice , and entered Manchester on Tuesday , as fall of Chartist ' 'fire and aseal , and indeed more so , than they were when first incarcerated . HURRAH FOB THE WOHEN OF MANCHESTER !—They hare been subscribing liberally themselrea , and collecting from their friends , in order to raise a fund to enable them to do their share in paying due honour to Feargus O'Connor , Esq ., ftt the coming demonstration . They have purchased a piece Of canTES , which measures

      eight feet fey seven , and engaged a flrst-rate portrait painter to paint a full-length likeness of that gentleman , dressed in fustian , with the People ' s Charter in his hand . At a short distance from him appears a large assemblage of people , the males dressed in fustian ; and to his right there ia an imitation of a castle ; and at the corner of the picture there is a large figure representing Henry Hunt , the departed , coming through the clouds , and speaking to O'Connor . The painting ia nearly finished , and presents a most interesting and splendid appearance , so far as the writer of this—who has been broaghc up a painter—can judge . The mottos are not on yet , but will be glren in tbe delineation of the procession .

      LONDON . * -After 5 bustling and fatigueing election week of days and nights , the Chartists of the city , still desirous not to relax in duty to their fellow-men , met on Tuesday night last , at the Political and Scientfic Institute , 55 , Old Bailey , and are rery desirous that their fellow-membem of the National Charter Association should meet at the above place , to attend to their duty to the Association , next Tuesday , the shareholders of the abore place are to hare a special general meeting on Sunday morning next , at ten o ' clock , when a code of laws for their future guidance will be submitted for their consideration , also a plan of a political loan tract society . Mr . Sankey is expected to lecture in the evening , at aerea o ' clock , of the same day , in the abore place . TODMORDEN .--The weekly meeting of the Chartist Society took place on Monday evening last , when many persons came forward to bare their names enrolled .

      BIRHXN 6 HASI . —Public Meeting . —A public meeting waBheld at the Railway Station , Duddeaton-row , on Monday ereuing last , Mr . Walter Tuorne in the chair . Mr . George White addressed the meeting on the absolute necessity of union and organization amongst the people , and pointed out the meauB by which Gorernment managed to blindfold , and oppress the millions . He exposed the trickery of the Whigs at the nomination , and hoped that all men who felt the truth of Chartism , would prore their sincerity by joiniag the National Charter Association . Mr . Roberts , of Batb , was then introduced and spoke of the apathy which had been displayed by the people as the chief cause why so many of their friends had been imprisoned and <> thers banished . The working classeswere

      all-, powerful if they thought proper to unite and make a proper use of their strength , but as long as they contented themselres with mere display , and remained in a disorganised state so long would they hare to suffer the miseries of mugovernment . After a few other excellent remarks he retired , remarking that the effect of his imprisonment was Buch as to prerent him from speaking at much length at open . air meetings . After another address from Mr . White , the meeting was adjourned to Monday evening next at eeren o ' clockj Mr . White giTing notiea that as they were shut up from the Town Hall and the other large buildings , it was his determination to address the people at that place , erery Moaday erening .

      Untitled Article

      Tbx Eam . or CtXBiGAN A « aim . —The Barl ef Cardigan was ballotted for as anuatar of the Senior United Sern ' M CJifc « b Tattfar , tfat ftk of July There were 28 white and 161 black balls : in « u 194 ballotied . The Noble Earl wa * therefore reecud , and the tonseqnenee » f the rejeetiOK ft , that he cannot be again proposed as a member for ten yean . It so happens that the other fondH ^ ewa ^ w didates , and , among them , the major of tbJLBreU ^ tVv HussarB , were all admitted . SKfe ^^ v ^ r ^ -. Much sickness prevails among the jfgySfrr t « ' - ; ' , Savanna . A gentleman who has reanNTuk'tnal - ' ' : - city for twenty years has nerer knowgu ^ yer ^ v ; /¦§ fatal or so generall y present as it bjBU ft&Wg *; ' 4 » t few weeks among the ahippinjr &m 3 fc ' Y >' - ^> ~ ¦

      Leeds Borough Sessions.

      LEEDS BOROUGH SESSIONS .

      To The Landlords Of Ireland.

      TO THE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND .

      Untitled Article

      YOL . IY . NO . 191 . SATURDAY , JULY 10 , 1841 . "" % , Tg ^ g ' . TSgg " ' "

      Untitled Article

      - J * ^ y& - -J * f AND LEEDS GENERAL ADYERTISEB ,

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), July 10, 1841, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct557/page/1/