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SEBIOUS ACCIDENT TO MR. O'CONIfOR.
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THE ITOETHERN STAR. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1843.
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GZhsxltet ZtmslUzentt
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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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5 BE TAILOHS ' PliOITECTiON SOJIETY . gnee the great meeting of the above body , hfeid at -the National A&oeUtion Hall , High Holborn ,. on Not . 37 th , vast combers of ttie trade oave become nemben « rthe « ereral aeedoss . In addition to the stimulus « rven to the Houses of Call , the Central Committee lira been almost nightly called upon to attend u denotations upon the several societies » ho have solicited their attendance , to explain the principles , &t On Teetday fortnight , Messrs . Parrott , Parker , and Eames attended attiie Three CrewiiB , Ricbmood Street , Soho . The deputation having at great length entered into tfplanatio&s , the society which consuls of £ 00 memalert , expressed themselves perfectly satisfied , being of opinion that uslealbe trade generally adopt the principles of a General Union , there i * -no hope of matin * 41 roeeeitfal stand against the encroachments ef the jrincipal capitalists . The above named gentlemen alw attended by invitation a respectable soe } ety , meeting at
fiie George , Si . Mary Axe , when a number of questions "were jmt , and the objects explained , all of-which gave satisfaction . A Tote o ! thanks were nnanimonaly jBUaed to the deputation , aod the meeting separated ¦ with the-understanding that the question should receive fall consideration , A delegate meeting of the Houses at Call having been convened for ? hnr » a » y last , "Dec 21 « t , at 1 &e Bine Posts , Rvpert-street , fiaymarket , to which the Cental Committee were especially invited , Messrs , Murray and Esau , from the Three Crowns , Sogers and Sutherland , from the Two Chairmen , Black SKd Irons , from the Fleece , Hopkins and Osborne , trom toe Sing ' s Head , Mceney » nfi Xelly , from the Blue Posit , anda delegate fiom the Hobin Hood , attended from the Houses of Call , iiestri . Parrottr Parker , Barnes , Cotter , Bonaldson , Evans , Simpson , £ lland , and Brindle attended on behalf of the Protection Society ; the delegates represented nineteen societies and ecUons .
After the preliminary business had been disposed of , an iTirniatfd discussion took place , in which several of file delegates took part The utmost good' feeling prevailed . - All evinced an ardent desire to carry out ibe formation of the General United Tailors' Protection Satiety . The meeting having been continued to a late hour , SB adjournment was carried to Monday evening , Jan . * th . 18 * 4 . to be held at the same place , to which all octettes { not represented are respectfully invited to * end delegates . Thus by the perseverance of a few indefatigable individuals , has the trade , both in town and country , been aroused to a sense of its wrongs , and -which , it is te be hoped , wiil ultimately attain those sights that are inherency tbe property of the wealth-Brodncing elas * t&—Correspondent .
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TOmtDXZE . —A spirited public meeting of the journeymen tailors was held here on the forenoon ot Monday ¦ elmight , is the Democntic Council Room , for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of forming an Association to protect themselves from the -cfiects of that competition which is so fist sinking them as a trade in the scale of social comfort . Mr ; James yjrmnxnond baling been called to the chair , the following resolutions were put to the meeting and carried KBKoixnously , via .: —1 . " That we , the journeymen tailors of Dondee now assembled , view with alarm ani segret the inroads now evidently being made upon the wages of oar labour , produced by s system ef competition engendered and fostered by those whose existence mainly depend on the profits derived from the
transmission of goods through their hands from the producer to the coBiumer , they of themselves producing . BOthing at all calculated to benefit society . We , tberetee , are' of opinion that the carrying out of such a ompetiUcn will have the effect ol reducing our employers into a state bordering that of journeymen ; which state is at once calculated to destroy our moral , aodal , and physical star ding in society , making us ¦ thereby not the journeymen of the *• master tailors , " 1 st the journeymen of journeymen ; and that , while viewing the extent to which such a practice is ultimately being carried , conceive it our duty to put a stop to such a moral , social , and physical degrading system hj every legal , peace-ble , asd energetic means in our s ower . " 2 . " That this wetting is of opinion , that in order to carry ont the spirit of the foregokg resolution sod put a stop to the evils therein complained of , conceive thai , the only means in our power is that ' cf forming
CBfselves into . a Clab or AsEoexation , which we believe -wQl have the effect of destroying that isolated position 3 a which we now are , and of opening a channel whereby oar individual grievances may become known to each other , ai alto to the public generally . " A suggestion was then made relative to their joining the " United Journeymen Tailors Trade Protection Society for Great "Britain and Jylnnd , " the eoasJdezatioD of which was left over to the Best meeting . The meeting then eepaxated . —We are happy that such a movement has taken place here , convinced as we are that the grievance which the working classes se loudly complain of will sever be removed until they adopt toe resolution of acting on the advice of Six Robot Peel , vis taking their affairs into their own hands . To other places we weald say , go and do likewise . Localities wishirg to communicate with Dundee will address to the Secretary , Mr . P . Brown , 1-t , Ihzdhope-streeL—Corra-
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GLASGOW—The long talked-of discussion between MefETs Maddonand Brows , as to whether a repeal of the corn Jaws , under existing circumstances , would benefit the -working classes , came off en Tuesday evening last , in the village of Bridgcion , -which in reality is part of Glasgow . Mr . Brown displayed considerable knowledge of the subject ; but aa % o Mr . Madden , his arguments (!) were beneath contempt . Thx CHjLxnsrsof the Gorbals are to hold thrir annual festival on New Year ' s Pav ( Monday ) evenisg , in the Chartist Hall , Clyde Terrace . We hope that the tors-oat on that occasion will be worthy of the good cause . The men at the bead of the Goibal ? democratic b eminary , never hesitated between two opinions ; no appeal connected -with Chartism , either © fa general or individual nature has yet been made to them in vain , and -we trust therefore that on this , as on former occasions , success will crown * their labours .
StrarsEBJtAJTD—since Mr- Dickinson has taken wp his residence here wit association tsa « increased ever ? -week , and we are every way progressing successfully . We bare been . Informed that some * f the leaders of the league have been invited to visit this town , and that W 8 may expect them in the early part of next month , We are glad to bear this , for if they will allow discustfrrp -are are prepared to meet them . Mr . Dickinson bat delivered two lectures at Monkwearmouth , and last Sunday ^ nt one announced , at the end of his lecture , th + \ boRbonld deliver a third lecture in the same place as but Sunday . Accordingly at two o'closfe he approached the ground , when he saw three of the - "force" parading about : one of then came up to him as be was crossing the road , and after saying it wa « fine
&J , asked him if be was ab » ut to lecture there that < lay , tb which question Mr-Dickinsonrepiied "certainly . ' Then said the policeman I am authorised by the Inspector to inform you that you most not lecture there , « r further proceedings will be taken against you . After ffr » r > V { T » g tfee man for his information , Mr . Dickinson came to the waste ground where the people were assembled and proceeded with his lecture .- He stated to the meeting that thBpelice had requested him not lo asctore there , tmfc be * 1 M not feel inclined to remove tin til'a Ttssoa was rendered for his removal . He then € Btered on the subject ef his lecture and addressed the people for about twenty minutes , three policemen standing by , when one of them went away and presently ttturoed with Inspector Bale , who rushed through the to down
crowd and demanded Mr . ^ Dickinson come from the fhorp- Mr- D . demanded hy whoee authority do yon make that denund ? " 1 am the Inspector ofPoiixse , and in the Queen's same ( pulling a piece of painted wood from bis pocket ) I command you to depart from this spot , as jou are only preaching about the body and sot the soul , and therefore you are obstructing the footpath . " Mr . Dickinson said he would oome down , but would the Inspector have any objectiens if be removed a little tether up , if be could find a spot where'he would « ot obstruct the feotpath ? Tes , said the Inspector , I « w determined yon »>» ii not lecture on this side the waste at alL 2 ir . Dickinson nmy * of the crowd to go homejand was putting his topcoat on in the middle ef the highway , when Bale , the Inspector , who had been talking with some things calling themselves gentlemen ,
sod was heard to aay to them " its one ef the Chartist fellows" called out to the three policemen to take Mr . Dickinson to the Stotion-houEe . He went -with them without a murmur . The Inspector left the Station-Jiouee and went to consult the Superintendant , who came to the Station-house , and after a little consultation , aaid to the Inspector ** Too'd better charge him . " The charge tob then laid , which was "for obrtrneting ibe footpath byrerisfing the police . " Everything was ttJten from Mr . Dickinson ' s pockets , and although we laought baa and balled hia cut until Tuesday , they iadsted on retaining the contents of his pockets ; it was wife difficulty vn , eoma get them to allow him to take his watch . Since this bit of a duat our room ^ Jf **^ **® * " 8 " m wlnd tt «* Wows sobodygoodr
© X TBE 1 DA 7 , the 26 lh , the Court House was fliroBged to hear the case of Mr . Dickinson , and htm . d * eda were wailing ontade who yrere cssbleto obtain yflreltsinw . Hz . Ajton , of this town , was employed to defend Mi . Diekinaon . The Inspector or Police swore tb ** lar . DickiMonttUiea . an obstruction o ! the thwoigh tazt i and is the next breaib , that he did not ! The pflicqnen tfa > tn « PlT » m proved that Mr . DiekisMB did » otTesist the police , Seeteg U » poliae had so bungled ibe matter , the majjitate * diainitfed the cast—Car . rapond ** t . : Mr . Bickucsox will deliver & lecture irext Sunday st Monkwearmoath , at the usual how ( two o ' cleek ) and lie hopes all teoe Chartists will rally round their atandird .
Blt 5 TOrt . —The Char&ta of this locality held &txr weekly meethig ob Sncdsj evening last , in the lArgeHoofli , in Stafford-Bireet , Mr . iJaaieraley in Ifce ohairi The nnaniBJons ieelirg of ibe Council ¦ wa s , that a TJgoronB effort ihonld be made to » roBBe iKeir brothers in bondage . At the dose cf tb # buaneM 2 # , were added i © the Hatit ^ tl Tribal ,
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ASH * ON-XJNX > Ea-IiTNE . — On Sunday last , Mr . C . Doyle , of Manchester , delivered a . lecture in the Chartist Association Room , Bentick-Bireet . At the conclusion of the lecture , a vote of thanks was given to Mr . Doyle . —On Tuesday , Dec . 26 , Mr . John West , of Sheffield , lectured in the same place , on the remedy for national poverty . At the conclusion of the lecture , a vote of thanks was given to Mr . West OLD HAW . — On Sunday last , a lecture was delivered in the Chartist Room , Greaves-street , by Mr . Dixon , subject— " The Rights of Labour . " The andienee were very respectable , and great attention was paid to the lecturer throughout his discourse , which occupied one hoar and a half .
HETWOOD .-The Chartists of this locality took tea together , in their room , Hartley-street , on Christmas Day , when upwards of one hnndred sat down to a good repast . After the cloth was removed , appropriate addresses were delivered by Messrs . Mead , Bell , and Taylor . WlOAW . —The following persons have been nominated members of the General Council : —Mr . James StnaUy , Mr . John Peet , Mr . Michael Green , Mr . John Heaton , Mr . Richard Downy , Mr . Thomas Heaton , Treasurer , Mr . Patrick Bradley , Secretary . The canse is progressing rapidly since Mr , O'Connor's visit to this town ; but the accursed Whigs , who are always ready to act as Tory tools , have determined on not allowing os to have the use of the Commercial Hall any more . No matter we shall prosper in spite of them .
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TO THB KDnOB OP THB HOBTHEHM STAB . Sib , —Since forwarding Mr . O'Connor ' s route for next week , in which were included Bury , Rochdale , Todmorden , and Stockport , I regret to . be obliged to inform you that & serious accident , occasioned by the lodgment of a fish bone in Mr . O'Connor's throat , may probably preclnde the possibility of his fulfilling those engagements . It is now nearly twenty-four hours since the accident occurred , and hitherto all attempts either to extract it or force it dawn have failed , at hare also emetics . Mr . O ' Connor ' s professional attendant has given directions that he should abstain as much as possible even from conversation , which might produce serious ii-flammation . I am , Sir , Tour obedient Servant , W . Hewitt , Secretary to Mr . O'Connor . London , Thursday afternoon , 28 th December . 1 S 43 .
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ALEXANDER O'DRISCOLL , ESQ ., J . P . AND HIS PLUNDERED TENANT . LtBT vreek we directed the attention of our readers to the proceedings before the Macroom Justices upon their first attempt at administering the Irish Arms' Bill . The name of Aleukdkr O'Driscoi-l , J . P . flourished as one of the disarming gentiemen , and , in truth , by reference to a ease reported iu this week ' s Star , in which he stands forward as the tele actor , furnishes good and cogent reasons
why this impartial dispenser of English law should look with jealous ; upon the possession of any implement of defence by those who would be justified in nsing them in resistance to open and barefaced robbery . These frequent acts of plunder appear to strike the English reader with becoming horror , and are looked upon as exceptions against the usual practice pursued by Irish landlords towards their defenceless victims . That we , however , have considered such acts as forming the rale rather than the
exception , we refer our readers to our various articles upon Irish affairs , while we would direct more immediate attention to the following passage , taken frem our comment under the head " Ireland and the Irish" which appeared in the Slar of the 21 th of November : — " The practice ef distraining cattle , of impounding , selling them by auction , and buying them in , by the middleman , for very freqmently not a twentieth of their value , while so account of the sale is ever rendered , leads to more extensive disturbance , and subsequent evil results , than almost any other
grievance . It is not at all unusual for a middleman , accompanied by a host of under-tenants , to drive off the whole stock of some unfortunate tenant to a distant pound in the dead hour of night ; while the tenant , to protect himself against the aggression of the middleman , has paid his rent to , and holds the receipt of the head landlord . Thus situated , the poor tenant has no alternative but to replevy the stock at a great expense ; while he is compelled to give security for double the value , until the case shall be disposed of in the Sheriff's Court . If , opon the other hand , he cannot procure the required £€ eurity , his cattle are allowed to stand in a cold ponnd until the day ef auction , when the
poundkeeper presents him with an enormous bill for fodder never used . Will asy man say that a tenant so treated , and thrown for protection upon expensive and dilatory law , which he cannot procure , is not justiSct in taking the rammary law into his own hands 1 In many cases , he does do bo : and many is the man who has been hong in olden times , and many is the ho&est man now working in chains , for having STOLEN his own property from the thief who sstole it from him in the dead hour of night . It- this , we would ask , a " practical grievance ? and are the family of the expatriated victim likely to be admirers or voluntary obeyers of those laws by which ruin and desolation has been brought upon them 1 "
The reader will learn from the above sketch thai , at ali events in our opinion , the grievance complained of by Mr . O'Dbiscoll ' s victim is one of a general character , and that the case referred to iB not to be looked upon as * mere isolated instance , either sot tolerated or practised by other men of his class . The fact is , that those tenants who hold under Irish middlemen not only pay three times the amosnt of Tent compounded for in free labour ,
duty foul , and legal txpenees , bnt as we have more than once s'ated * the whole of that capital which should be left to them as the means of stocking and tilling their farms is extracted before getting possession , in the following manner : —We will suppose a farm of twenty acres , being a portion of a large denomination , rented by Captain O'Dbiscoix under Lord Cjlrbeeky at per acre . This amount he subdivides into such allotments as will suit the
existing competition and demand . A tenant , who has been broken down by a co-tyrant of O'Dbisooll ' s in a farm of fifty acres , tries to square his means to the possession of twenty acres of O'Dmscoii ' s ' take , " at a rent of / I 103 . per acre , or 10 s . per acre profit . To begin , he gives a fine of a year ' s rent , £ 30 , intended as compeDFation to O'Dbiscoll , in lieu of a fine which he assorts he has given apon receiving possession himself . Mr . Bias , the agent , the plenipotentiary of the gallant Captain , receives £ 5 for his good word , and Tim Doha van , who has the ear of Mr . Biso , and who may be denominated as w Trusty" and Spy upon the
undert enants , must have his £ 2 , as without his friendship all hope of possession is fruitless . The mistress mnst have £ 5 for glove-moaey ? and then , to insure something like title , a proposal is accepted upon unstamped paper , which concludes with an undertaking that leases shall be executed at the request of cither party ; and £ 5 5 s . is a Email amount to require to be paid for thiB purpose—the tenant being invariably compelled to lodge his money for that purpose , although a lease is sot granted in one ease in twenty . Add to the above sums , the incoming tenant is compelled to take the manure , of which the outgoing tenant has been robbed , at the " Trusty ' s" valuation .
Sccb are the prospects with which an Irishman enters upon his tenancy under a middleman ; with a further certainty , however , of being ousted In three years at furthest , in order that the middleman xisy raise fresh capital by way of fine . Lest , however , a religions prejudice should be attempted to be established upon the cruel , the heartless , and viUancus ease under « onaderatioD , we beg to state that this Mr . O'Dsiscoll is a Roman Catholic , Captain of a
Yeomanry corps , Justice of Peace , an extensive middle-man , as well as B lay impropriator" of tithes in several parishes . In troth wa inay assert ¦ wit hout fear of contradiction , and with tha full concurrence of the Catholic people of Ireland , that any tenant would rather place himself under a Protestant than a Catholic middle-man j and the reason why we do not hear more of the tyrinnyof the latter is , because complaint generally ariwa from what is considered the general aourte of grievance , and retideat Protestant * , being , for the Most part
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the tools of absent landlords , come in for the whole of the odium while there are guilty Catholic confederates who escape scot tree . The reader will be puzzled to know why the act of top-dressing bis corn should furnish Mr . Bird with an excuse for his conduct . A simple statement of facts , however , will enable as to establish Mr . O'Dhiscoll ' s conviction upon the very reasons assigned for the cruelty and injustice of his agent . That the rent due in March was included in the note lodged in the bank , and up on which
Mr . O'Driecoix had received the money may be inferred from the very act of top-dressing the corn . That the tenant was preparing to "flit" in September we admit , and that he knew that whatever manure he left behind him would be seized by O'Pbiscoll is obvious ; he therefore applied it to the corn which he might have cut , thrashed and sold before any other rent than that included in the note would have accrued . This was the cause of his applying his manure to topdressing the corn ); a practice seldom or never resorted to even by the best Irish farmers .
Of course the reader does not expect us to launch into abase of Mr . O'Dbiscoll and his agents , as the foulest words within the vocabulary of Billingsgate would fall far short of the expression of our feelings . Let us now inquire as to the method of disposing of the destrained property . The witness says , " They stole some (!) I only took away 46 loads . I took them to Skibbereen , and put them in a garden near Mr . O'Dbiscoix ' s house . • • I was auctioneer and did bid also ; was not the buyer , but afterwards got the potatoes myself . Sold every six weights for eightpenoe . " What a pioture .
"THEY STOLE SOME . " You brute , they didn't steal them , they honestly produced them by the sweat of their brow and you and O'Dbi&soll stole them from them . Just think of the poor man's winter ' s hoard being deposited in the gallant Captain ' s garden , while the rent for the ground upon which they grew -was lodged in his pocket . Think of an auctioneer himself bidding for the distrained goods , and although he had the becoming modesty not to knock them down to himself , yet he knocked them FOR himself to his representive , who was appointed to bid for him . But what did he do i He sold them at the auction at the rate of eightpence for every six weighs . The
English reader should understand that the weigh is 23 . 0 s ., and that consequently every 13 t pounds was sold for eigbtpenee , or , at the rate of one penny for seventeen pounds . Let us analyse this act of plunder , and Bee what it amounted to even upon this poor article . A load of potatoes is twelve weighs ^ Forty-six loads were stolen from the poor man . Tlsey were sold for Is 4 d a-load , that is eightpenoe for six weighs , making for the forty-six loads £ Z Is 4 d , while at threepence a stone they were worth £ 11 6 s . Now who stole the potatoes ! The rogue that grew them , and paid the rent for the land that produced them , or the honest man that knocked them down at £ 3 Is 4 d , while they were worth ill 6 i .
The Times of Saturday bad a bold and withering article upon the subject , from the deductions with which it is closed , however , we differ wholly . The Times , after commenting upon the ease proceeds thua i" Bat what do these scenes teach nsf That there is something fearful in the relations between the Irish landlord and his tenant—oppression on tbeoue side , wild vindictiveness on the other . But what further lesson do tbey inculcate ! What but this f —that instead of severing Ireland from the only nation that has the power and the will to assist her , —instead of dissolving the tie of sympathy which
has of late years drawn the two countries closer and closer together—instead of perpetuating a domestic tyranny and consolidating a domestic feudalism , rampant , domineering , and encroaching , subject to no control and checked by no principle , —those who love Ireland well and wisely should do all in their power to bring her actual state , her sufferings , and her capabilities , within the ken of English opinion and the scope of English justice—that they phonld admit the full effulgence of English—of Britishopinion into the dark holes of injustice and intolerance , and frighten power from the indulgence of its Caprieious cruelty , by enlisting against it the irresistible force of publio feeling .
We come to very different conclusioB . We say that if able , England has never evinced a willingness to correct those practical grievances , and if willing she has not the power . That the grievances consist in the abandonment of all duty by those who are bound by every law of nature , of reason , of justice , and expediency , to administer the laws and to sot an example to those vrho are compelled to live under them . That the restoration of Ireland's legislature , whereby grievances on the spot may be complained of , where they occur , and when they occur , and that the censure and odium may fell upon those
sanctioning and tolerating them , while excitement is fresh and before the fever shall have passed away ; this is the remedy wanted to ensure justice , give satisfaction , and put an end to agrarian crime . The absentee proprietor under whom an Irish middleman holds , and practices his abominations is morally and legally as guilty as his representative . Let the Irish landlords be induced , if not compelled , to return t » that country where they have duties of the highest natnre to discharge . Let them act as
magistrates : let them dispense justice , and in its dispensation , we shall see an honourable courtship of publio opinion as a means of insuring power of a higher nature than even th at which devolves upon the administrators of law—the power to make the law . What effect will the tyranny of O'Dkiecol * have upon the heterogeneous body at St . Stephens t And what effect , if ventured upon , would it not have upon an Irish House of Commons to take prompt cognizance , and to prevent a recurrence of which would be one of its principal duties .
Upon the whole , then , it is not wonderful that the hands of Mr . O'Conheli . should be strengthened in his endeavour to destroy the Saxon rule . Talk of your Devon Commission , of your flotillas , your war-ship 3 , and your bomb-boats ; your garrisons , your spy-holes , your spike-holes , and your cannon ramparts . T » lk of your horse , foot , and artillery , we tell you that yon have nurtured a deep and rancorous hatred throughout the whole term of your ferocious and iniquitous rule , whicu your patch-work corrections of Church and Landlord abuses can neither obliterate or destroy . You have sown
the seeds of disaffection , dissatisfaction , and discontent , which have produced an abundant harvest of national antipathy , distrust , and hate , which even ' your monster indictments and tyrannical prosecutions of those who have endeavoured to stay rebellion by promoting justice cannot er « fltcate . You have sown the wind , and you must reap the whirlwind . You must cease to marvel that the victim of O'Dbiecoll will rather look to his priest than to his landlord for sympathy ; and to the wlldneas of revenge rather than to the law , with O'DaisfOLi . upon the bench for justice .
England had it in her power to render a union unnecssary . England had it in her power to make a union effective . She has done neither the one nor the other ; her rule has been one incessant and nndeviating coarse of blood , persecution , plunder and injustice ; setting father against Ben , brother against brother , and man against his fellow . And now , ascendancy looks to a Tory lord , with a gallant engineer for his earwig ^ as * means of allaying discontent . We beliere , and we hope , that during Mr . O'Coiwkll ' s lifetime the wildness of vengeance will be held in cheek ; bnt who that reads , that reasons ,
and that thinks , that must not come to the conclusion and sorrow that the peace of » nation—nay perhaps of Europe—depends upon the life of a man who though of a sound constitution is yet stricken in years . It appears that the malignant Attobmbt-Gkxeral , still resolved upon the ruin of Mb adopted country , is determined , if possible , to snap all those ties by which alone peace can be preserved , and thus hurry on the savage cry for justice amid the clash of arms and wild shriek for vengeance . For when the day of retribution comes , wa fear that ibe demand will be for vengeance ; the word Justice having long lost all its charms for the Irish ear .
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ENGLISH LAW versus DURHAM LAW . In our laat i we announced the fact that Mr . Roberts bad obtained a writ of Habeas Corpus from Mr . Justice Pattesom , ordering the attendance in person of the six Coal King Victims who had been consigned to Durham Gaol , by the Durham Justices —there to be kept to hard labour , and upon the fiilont system . la compliance with the legal order the six prisoners , in oustody of the Governor , together with Mr . Rob&bts and Mr . Marshall , the Solicitor for the Coal Kings , arrived in London at
six o ' clock on Saturday morning , and at tea , the hour appointed for hearing the case , the parties appeared before his Lordship—Mr . Bodkin , M . P ., being retained on behalf of the men , and Mr . Clahkson on behalf of the masters ; and , after a patient ctnnderation of the ease , having heard counsel on both sides , the Constitutional Judge ordered the prisoners to be forthwith discharged from the oustody of the gaoler , and they were forthwith set at liberty . So far we might have rested satisfied with the wholesome reproof thus
administered to a set of tyrannical masters and ignorant Ju 9 tice 8 , and we should not have included them further in our general commentary upon the value of English law , but for the folio wingrea 3 on : ~ The Constitutional Judge having no interest in oppressing the working classes , but evincing rather a desire to afford them the cheapest exposition of the law , directed that one of each of the two batches who had been tried and convicted at different times should be brought up under the writ of Habeas Corpus , and that the judgment upon those appearing should also extend
to the others . This course was proposed for the purpose of , saving the prisoners the expence and inoonvenienoe of a journey of nearly 600 miles . The proposition was acquiesed ia by the Constitutional Judge , provided the prosecutors should agree . Now let the reader perfectly understand this portion of the case . Six poor Colliers were convicted by the Durham Justices , three at one period included in the Bame warrant , and three at another period also included in another warrant . The case of one of each batch was the case of all of ( hat batch , aud the decision of the Learned Judge upon the question
submitted to him upon the personal appearance of one would equally apply to the others . The Learned Judge could not compel the prosecutors to agree to this proposition , but he assented to it . When Mr . Roikrts made an application to the prosecutors upon the subject , they instantly refused compliance , and tyrannically insisted upon the appearance of every man of the six—thus imposing a useless expense of between £ 40 and 4 * 0 on their victims , as well as subjecting four of them to a journey of nearly 600 miles . We would ask if such an act requires further comment than the mere promulgation of it .
We have before spoken out upon the course pursued by the Durham Justices with reference to this case , as well as several other cases connected with the complaints of Colliers . Our notions upon this subject have been gathered , not from the facts elicited upon the one isolated case , but from the generally entertained feelings of the whole mining population towards this disoription of tribunal . The refusal to grant summonses against the masters ; the deep-rooted oonviotion upon the minds of men not at all politically tinged , that to go to Castle Eden or
Durham for justice was useless . The courtesy , the patience , aud even interest with which the propositions of the masters , made through their Solicitor , Mr . Marshall , were received ; the eruption of lava emitted upon each attack upon the masters by Mr . Roberts . The uncalled for aud offensive insinuations against the part he had acted , tending to evince rather a sorrow for the loss of labour , than for a violation of tha law . From all these circumstances we gathered t » is nndeniable fact , that the men are not , as indeed they could not be , satisfied
with the admtnistratioa of Durham justice . la all these conjectures we might be mistaken altogetherthere not being sufficient to warrant us iu charging them with any deliberate act of tyranny or corrupt ! on ; but what we did charge them with , and what we do oharge them with , is ignorance—ignorance so great , so dangerous , and so disgraceful , as to render them unfit for the administration of the English laws * Those who have read the case will remember that Mr . Roberts more than once warned them of the injustice and illegality of trying the three prisoners
jointly . They therefore proceeded with their eyes open ia the commission of an act which Mr . Justice Pattison has declared to be illegal . Let us now be minute upon this , the Magistrate ? portion of the oase . They tried three men charged with separate offences , altogether ; made the whole body of evidence which bore upon any one , to bear equally upon all ; bo that if their notions of law are correct , they might with equal propriety have included every pitman of the 500 working atjthe Thornley Colliery . But why not ! Why should the science of justioe stand still amid the gigantic improvements by which the mind is startled and the eye astonished . Why not double
deck" the bench as well as the mules t Why not trial by steam as well as steam production ? Why not a community of justice as well as cooperative stores or community of labour 1 What boots it , though > ona man violated the Thornley bond by keeping a donkey , against which there is an express provision , or another by keeping a dog , against which , notwithstanding the tariff , there is an actual prohibition , or although another had refused to pay 41 2 i . 6 d . fine out of 4 s . 6 d . wages ? Why not bray them , lash them , mash them all up in one mortar and make a compound of new and improved victims ont of the several component parts ! *
Our readers are familiar with the old story of the son who was weary of the dull process of repeating grace daily over a barrel of herrings that was provided for the * ' Lent" store , and , for brevity ' 8 sake , asked his father to say graoe over the whole barrel at once . Now there was sense in that , for although the herrings might have been taken , and saved , and eaten , at divers times and places , and although cousequently the grace should have been said with a" cont ' muando "
yet execution executed being the end of the lav , the herrings could not justly complain of having suffered damage from the general act of blessedness , and so it might have been with some of the victims , especially with one who . had suffered materially ! from incarceration . Now it was against the steam law that the old constitutional mental manufacturer protested . It was principally upon this act of injustice that the Learned Judge saw the propriety of annulliing the judgment of their mightinesses . It is impossible to over-irate thfl ralue of the triumph of the bix Miners .
The Colliers of the County of Durham will now have learned that if there is no justice to be had at Castle Eden or Durham , or from the Durham Justices , there is justice to be had in Westminster . Hall , at the hands of the administrators of the laws of England . How often have we preached this doctrine t How often have wo told oar readers that in the law £ here is a Boabbard for every uBJ « 8 t thrust 1—a provision against every act of tyranny—aye , and retribution for every act of injustice ! The fault lies here . The disparity of wealth allows the rich man to procure the law ' s spirit and the law's delay , while
the poor man . must submit to the law ' s letter , and the law ' s rapidity . This disparity , however , as we have frequently shown may be destroyed , by the poor thousands clubbing their pence against the rich one ' s pounds , and had the several trades' unions spent onetweatieth part of the money in procuring law , that they have in sustaining strikes , they would by this time have found themselves richer , more powerful , and better paid . We trust that it is not too late even yet to begin anew , and to implore the people to use the constitutional law as a corrective of magisterial ignorance .
Ignorance was so grossly andso glaringly manifested in ; the recent case , that We trust the Lord Chancellor ' s mind will be directed to the necessity of appointing persons to the Commission ef the Peace
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with some better qualification than that of political sympathy . Surely , if some qualification be necessary for apothecaries , Burgeons , physicians , attornieB , and parsons , who hafe the care of our health , our bouIh , and our properties , some qualification should be required of those who may have entire eontroul over the lives and the liberties of the working classes . Again , therefore , we would urge upon the Colliers the absolute necessity of contending for the appointment ! of stipendiary magistrates , whose
knowledge of the law will be a requisite qualification , and whose ] administration of justice will be above suspicion . ; Although from our ignorance of the individuals who constituted the Bench in the Durham case , we cannot charge them with any act of wilful corruption , yet we repeat it , that masters being magistrates , and administering the law , if not in their own case , in others , from which a precedent may be drawn , casts a suspicion around that tribunal , whose value j should consist ia being free from even doubt . >
Suppose that those men who are now at large had been allowed to spend the allotted time in prison , how unjust , and yet how many thousands are now lingering out their time in the felon's cell simply because they had not the means of appealing to the justice of I the law against the ignorance of the law breakers . ; So much for the past , of this vitally important oase , and now for the future . We learn
from Mr . Roberts that Mr . Marshall , the Solicitor of the Coal Kings ! , said , upon leaving the Constiutional Jud « e , " WELL , WE'LL HAVE MORE OF THEM UP . j' Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof , and should the masters carry the threat of Mr . Marshall into effect he and they shall find that sufficient unto&the aot shall be our comment thereon . But the men to whom the words of the
Solioitor may be a warning or a dagger will be pleased to learn that Mr . Roberts has taken it as the herald ' s proclamation of war , as the black lag intimating no quarter . And although perfectly willing to rest satisfied with tha triumph that his clients had achieved he became at once bound , nay forced , compelled by this declaration of war , to attack the fortress of the enemy ; and to this end he has under the advice of [ able counsel filed a bill against the masters for violation of all the terms of the contract , and will follow it u » by an application for an injunction to stay all further proceedings against the Colliers until thej issue between them is tried . He has further served the magistrates with notices of action for the illegality of their decision .
We trust that ! the Whig and Tory tools of the masters—the Durham Advcrtis $ r that never has time to write a comment upon passing events—and the Durham Chronicle , that doesn't know how to tf rite upon the past , present , or future , will , if they dabblo at all in this case , tell their few readers that the course about to be pursued by Mr . Roberts haa been forced upon him by Mr . Marshall , tho Solicitor for the Coal Kings , and communicate to the shopkeepers of Durham the fact , that the £ CtO a fortnight taken out of their tills , has been taken , out or rather kept out , not by Mr . Roberts , but by the injustice , the cruelty , and intolerance of the tyrant
masters . Again , we say the law—the law—a blow from Mr . Justice ! Pattesor is stronger , more powerful , and more deadly to oppression than 10 , 000 shots aimed by dissatisfied man at bis fellow creature . Wherever we have been legal ! Chartists , we have either wholly triumphed , or at all events , procured the full value of our money in the laws expedition . We will look with intense anxiety to the coarse that shall be taken by the colliery delegates at Manchester , upon this all-important threat of the masters through their adviser Mr . Marshall . While we would especially direot th « ir attention and that of the whole trade to the following paragraph , now going the round of the papers : —
General . Strike in the Collieries . Wa are sorry to learn that the pitmen of another considerable colliery , in addition to Thornley , have struck work since ! our last ; and it is currently reported that others will shortly follow their example —Durham Chronicle . Against the above piece of incendiarism , for we can oall it by no ! other name , we moat earnestly , urgently , and emphatically caution the Miners . We tell them that none save tricksters , traffickers , tools , rogues , or fools , will endeavour to force them into a strike . They have now tried the operation of the law , and why sully their freak and maiden
triumph by an j aot which would turn both law and sympathy against them . Let them take heed lest they entrammel themselves within the legal construction ; which means the most suitable one of the law of conspiracy . Let them not suppose that because being innocent , the law has protected them , that if they become guilty , the law will favour them , or even look mercifully upon their ignorance . Should the Colliers strike , let the responsibility fall upon the heads ! of those through whose dark counsels the act has been forced upon them , while we interpose our counsel to save them from all the horrors of a strike and its horrible consequences .
From the confidence that the whole body reposes in as , and to which we consider ourselfes justly entitled , we would request of some workman in each colliery to read this article to the whole of their brethren , concluding thus : —next week we shall give such full and cogent reasons against a strike as to make the act little short of suicide , While we further request that no step may be taken until the decision of the Manchester ! Conference shall have been ascertained . A STRIJKE IS THE THING UPON WHICH THE I MASTERS RELY AS THE ONLY MEANS iOF BREAKING UP THE INFANT UNION , j
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SHALL POLAND PERISH ! " Wbat though your cause be baffled—freemen cast In dungeons—dragged to death , or forced to fee , Hope is not with « red in affliction ' s blast . ' — The patriot ' s blood ' s the seed of freedom ' s tree . " Wbis ia 1830 the people- of Poiaki > rose against their foreign oppressors , and attested by an uninterrupted series of victories gained in bloody contests their devotion to their country , and their heroism in its defence ; when astonished Europe saw the immense hordes of the tyrant Czar
scattered like chaff before the hurricane by a comparative handful of brave men ; when for the space of ten months the gore-dyed demon of the North had not one solitary victory to boast of , but everywhere saw hia legions . ; mowed down by the scythearmed youth of Poland ; then did the newspaper press of this country , forgetting its prostitution to the services of despotism at home , hail with shouts of joy the triumphs of the heroic Slavons , and dwell with delight on the hoped-for success of the glorious struggle . !
When again that struggle had ended ia raia ; when betrayed by treackery , lost by the inherent vices of the Polish aristocratical syBtem , and refused tho aid which the Polish people had a right to expect from the Governments of England and France ; when these and other causes had combined to give the victory once more to the oppressor , and doom the oppressed to death , chains , and exile , and the blackness of despair a ^ ain floated over unhappy Poland , where late the sun of hope had shone
refulgent ; when Warsaw ' s streets rang with the groans of the slaughtered and the shrieks of the wronged , and the savage knout tore the living lesh from the backs of Poland ' s daughters , and the ; were , subjected to hellish horrors to which oar pen refuses to give a name ; j when , in short , brutalities and enormities , black as Stygian night , were committed by the triumphant Autocrat on his vanquished and prostrate victim , again did the press teem with denancwationsof the tyrant , and excite a righteous indigjation at his cruellies .
And when the heroes of Poland ' s broken phalanxes sought refuge from their vindictive and merciless persecutor in the bosoms of the nations of the West , the press nobly did its duty in welcoming the exiles to our shores , and consoling the fallen by pledging the- sympathies of tho existing generation to the causa of Poland ' s resuscitation , and ^ stored nationality .
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And the like feeling toward the heroic exiles coa . tinned to be exhibited by the press for some few years subsequently . Bat of late , men appear to have forgotten that there is , or , at any rate , teas a Poland' We know that there are Poles ; for we have an annual city ball for their benefit : and this year has witnessed grave discussions iu the Times aa to the propriety of devoting these balls to the aid of our own poor , rather than to the relief of expatriated 11 foreigners . " It no doubt is quite right to look to the case of our own poor first ; and we are certainly
not of that oiassof mock philanthropists to rouse whose sympathies it is necessary to bring before them some case of suffering from the uttermost ends of the earth , while they are blind to the misery existing around them . We are not philanthropists of that school . Still we do not believe in the doctrine that we should not sympathise with others , beoause ourselves need sympathy . 'Tia not charity , but justioe that the people of this country require . Give them that , and at the eame time w ' uhold not sympathy from the destitute and friendless stranger .
But we demand , on behalf of Poland , something higher , nobler , than mere charity balls . We demand the continued sympathies of the press in support of the cause for which Poland ' s children are suffering . We haveu-seen with sorrow the anniversary of the Polish struggle pass by and not a pen employed in defence
of" The noblest cause that tongue or sword , Of mortal ever lost or gained . " Other matters pressing upon us at the moment , prevented our taking up this subject as we had intended to have done in the Star of the 2 nd instant ; bat we could not allow the present year to pass by without renewing our protest against the fearful wrong—tha deadliest of all blows struck at the cause of civilization and human progress , the blotting out of an entire nation , because that nation stood between progression and absolutism , the van-guard of the former , the terror of the latter .
We have never ceased to raise our voice on behalf of unhappy Poland , and in impeachment of her imperial murderer . And at what fitter lime could we raise our voice in so holy a cause as the present , when men are celebrating the birth of him whoso golden rule was , "Do auto thy brother asthou wouldst thy brothfr should do unto thee" ! We abhor oppression , and have pledged ourselves to do battle to the death with wrong and tyranny in our own country ; and shall we forget the sufferings of the exile , and the wrong done is that exile ' s heritage , by blood-reeking barbarous despotism VNever !
It were useless to dwell upon the acts of tyranny and cruelty which have been perpetrated in Poland during tho last twelve months ; such as the horrible ukase by which all the Catholics in the provinces of Tolhynia , Padolia , and Ukraine , are ordered to embrace the Ruspo-Greek religion in the course of two years , on pain of exile and the confiscation of their property ! or the more recent edict of the purple-clad monster , by which the Jews are banished from all parts of his dominions which border on Austria and Prussia . The reasons assigned for this decree , which expels nearly three hundred thousand individuals from house and home , without SO much
as assigning them a refuge elsewhere , are , forsooth , that the Jews have seduced Russian soldiers to desert , and have been guilty of smuggling and general injustice ! This last charge , comes well from a government whose officials throughout the empire , from the highest to the lowest , are addicted to bribery , peculation , corruption , and pecuniary frauds of all kinds , to a degree scarcely credible among the more civilised nations of Europe . All these hideous acts of tyranny are the necessary consequences of the one monster crime permitted by Europe—the partition of the territory and the dissolution of the nationality of Poland .
We have witnessed with sorrow the falling-off of the annual demonstrations on the glorious though illfated 25 ih November ; a falling-off strikingly visible this year in particular . There must be causes for this . If we mistake not , the greater number of the emigrants in this country consist of the aristocratic sf ction of the exiles . The aristocrats caused the failure of the Revolution ; and the lack of energy they exhibited aa the leaders of the struggle , they are not likely to supply under present circumstances . Again , the English democrats are not very likely to co-operate with men who are patronised by the aristocratic oppressors of the English
people ; with men who , though they were anti-Russian , were anti-democratic ; who , though they hated Russian tyranny , hated still worse social freedom , and refused to sink their class privileges in the common rights of all . With such men tha English democracy , whose motto is , "For the people and by the people , " are not likely to sympathise . Hence the melancbely fact that at the recent meeting in the Sussex Rooms , the audience was composed entirely of Poles , when there ought to have been thousands of the English people present to have expressed their respect for the Polish cause and their detestatation of Russian barbarism .
We turn to a portion of Poland ' s exiled children to demand of them the adoption of a wiser policy than that which has produced the abore results . We turn to the democratic Poles , and call upon them not to forget the work of their mission . Nearly twelve years since , they formed themselves into a society for the purpose of organizing an enlightened European opinion in favour of the restoration of Poland . Seven years since , that Society addressed its manifesto to the democracy of Europea document breathing the pare spirit of holiest patriotism—setting forth its cause , its objects , and
means of accomplishment At that time a section of the Society existed in England , considerable for its numbers , and respectable for the intellect aa patriotism of its members . Some of them have einoe been borne to the refuge of the injured , " where the wicked cease from troubling , and the weary are at rest . " Others have been scattered abroad by tho necessity of struggling for an honourable subsistence . Still there have been subsequently holden at Portsmouth and other places , gatherings of the brave and true . But now all appears a blank , the cause being entirely abandoned to the protege * * of Lord Dudlet Stcabt . We remind the democrats of their pledges
and their great , and as yet unaccomplished , mission to remember that they are" the representatives of Bixty millions of Slavonians , denationalijcd aod held in bondage by the crowned brigands of Europe ; to remember that their coua try is the frontier of civilised Europe , and the ancient protector of the West against Northern and Eastern barbarism : to remember that their countrymen , to the number of twenty millions , the greater part of whom are in a state of actual slavery to their degenerated Polish and cruel Russian lords , look to them as their deliverers from their worse than Egyytain bondage And let not the democrats despair of a future aod triumphal * , victory .
For" If we do bat watch the hour . There never yet was human power That could evade , if anforgiven , The patient teatch aud vigil long Of them who treasure up a wr « ng . The very scattering of the Poles amongst tbf nations of the earth maybe destined to hasten the universal emancipation of the European family , amongst whom they at present exist , a monument of human endurance and undying patriotism , stimulating less heroic nations to the like sacrifice * ia defence of liberty . Moreover * who will assert thai
the sixty millions of Slavons may not yet shake ofl the chains of the " Holy Alliance , " and under to * banner of federal republicanism unite once more ! What I when France , Germany , and Switzerland «* heaving with the sHent yet steady workings of » Revolution destined to destroy the reign : of pririlWV and sweep away -the crimes of caste ; vr ^ ea Greece once more rivals her ancient glbriosj and erea priest'blighted Italy and Spain ma ** efforts , though vain , yet promising brighter thing " i'i defence of freedom ; when even in this " nation of shopkeepers "—this gold-corrupted , conmeree- « Hrsed England , am unequalled Revolution is advancing ;
Sebious Accident To Mr. O'Conifor.
SEBIOUS ACCIDENT TO MR . O'CONIfOR .
The Itoethern Star. Saturday, December 30, 1843.
THE ITOETHERN STAR . SATURDAY , DECEMBER 30 , 1843 .
Gzhsxltet Ztmsluzentt
GZhsxltet ZtmslUzentt
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A TBLE NORTHERN STAB . ! _
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Dec. 30, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct683/page/4/
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