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THE iXOfiTHERN STAft SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1841.
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Co Met&tvg ant* Com0jpw&at#
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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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CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE OF
lilXCHELL , TBE GIPSY BOY . ( Continued from our last . J At length I got tired cf tins mode of life ; particularly as I got nothing by It , except what I managed to thieve and secrete on my own accentt , and nhich I used to conceal in Eecre ; parts of my tr erasers . Those gipsies csed to make the sale of pots and gl&ss & pntext for picking pockets , and it was not an uncommon thing for one of the women to be engaged in telling a jonng lady , or gentleman ,
their iorrun ? , while myself , or some of the men , who were dressed up , stood by waiting to have onrs told , while we were picking the pockets of the young people . We were oJice encamped alongside another gang of £ ? p ? ies , and the qneen of the gaflg asked me if I woald like to have my fortune told , and I said ye ?; and ths moment she looked at my hand , she said , " Eh , lad . thee will surely be hanged . " In less than eighteen months , and before , or just about that time from the date , I was arrested for the murder of Mr . Blackburn .
The gipsy pointed out the lines in my hand , which I never observed before . Upon one hand , clo ^ e to the butt of my fingers , there i 3 a deep wide line running from one side of the palm to the ' other , aid upon the other there is no snch mark at all . I mean t » s » v tha : there is not in the world such desperate people as a gang of gipsies . I am sure they think nothing of killing any man , or stealing any gentleman's child . Servant girls should be cantioaed a ? ain .-t them , as from them we used to learn all the ways of the hoases "in the
neighbourhood . - At the time I left the gipsies , I had £ 25 with me , which I cheated them oat of . I left them , finally , after Being about two years with them , and I have heard no mo .-e of them since . I wsls then at the Other side , the south tide of Manchester , and , with my £ 25 , I returned to Sheffield , havin-j spent about £ 5 of it on my way home . When I left them , i : is no winder , after such training , that I entered with greit alacrity into an&ther line of thieving , upon my own account , and that I was rejoiced to possess the fruits of my own industry . On my return to my unhappy and disconsolate parents , I beard that they had given me up for lost
and thst they had advertised their prodigal son in the public papers . I shall never forget the delight of my poor mother on the recovery of her long lost child . 1 was very sensibly touched at the state of feeiing she , as well as my father and sisters , displayed upon the occasion ; but the effect was soon lost , the die was case , and I must go . I znean to Bay that persons of my age , who are not caught till they become habituated to thieving , never can be reclaimed ; and I have often knowu thieve 3 , young and old , to have committed robberies of which they laid plans the nigbt after their jrelease from Wake field . They are very true to each other , and never let one another want for defence and such like .
Thieving , I could not help thinking , was much easier than working , and , from the security with which I saw the gipsies , my late companions , carry on their extensive and unlawful business , and the command they always had of money , greatly helped to fix me in the determination to follow a similar course . Besides those many inducements , I was , by this time , quite expert in dexterity of finger , and ii all the various tricks of a thief , and thought it really a pity that so much ability should be thrown away ; Above all , working I hated with a mortal haired , and was quite ambitious to let my friends and acquaintance see that I could liveindependently withom it , and live icell too , and like a gentleman . I mean to say that the same silly notion has been the ruin of thousands of youBg men . I was but a child , but vanity and a silly notion took hold of me .
u Gipsy Jack , " as I was called , was much admired for his personal attractions and many accomplishments . I waa thought handsome ; and it struck me that so handsome a fellow as I wa ? ought not to work at all . Influenced by these and other such like notions , equally destructive of my future peace ami welfare , 1 anxiously sought up all the notoriously vicious acquaintances I-possibly could , and willingly allied myself in all their most desperate under akin ^? . In & word , I became one of a gang of the most desperate ana determined robbers that ever iufes . ed any neighbourhood or any country .
I know they are all on the high way to the degradation I am bow tvffLTiug , and to that gallows which I have , by the mercy of our most gricioua Sorerelsp , so narrowly escaped ; and if this account of my own and their practices be made public , and , through that means , become the rootiug up and destruction of the Barnsley gang , I shall , by such course , render all the atonement I ain low able to make , for my numerous and heavy offences and sins , and perhaps it may be received as an acceptable ¦ work of gratitude for the mercy which b . a . % been so graciously and unexpectedly extended to me ; and to effect so desirable an end , I have made up my mind to conceal nothing that I can recollect , how * ever it may tell against myself , and however scurvily my late unfortuuate and misguided comrades miy think I am using them .
I am low about to disclose a life , though short , not being more than sixteen or seventeen when I was Bent to York Cistie , which I mean to say has never been equalled for the number and atrocity of crimes committed . I have committed , and been concerned in , more than oxe thousand robberies , and , at length , I was sentenced to death lor murder , as if that crime conld not be concealed , although I was never , to my knowledge , even suspected before . Some of these robberies , particularly those which I assisted the gipnes in committing , and some that I afi % rwards committed wiih the Barnsley gang , whom I shall name , were accompanied with the greatest violence . I don ' t know , for a positive fact , that death followed in any cv » e , although we have freqnently left our vic « im 3 dreadfully stabbed , beaten , and abused , and as we thought , dead on the road , of a winter's night , and never heard of them again .
After remaining with my father about a year , assisting him in his business as a bricklayer , I Jeft him , and occasionally assisted him and otbtr persons in the same lice of business , principal y for the purpose of blinding people as to what I wa 3 reaily engaged about I , at nr = t , began to rob entirely on my own account , and committed many extensive robberifs upon the market people at Barnstey . I carried od , by myself , about a year , and I seldom allowed % m&Tket day to pass without making many successful experiments on the pockets of the market people . The sums I obtained in this way varied from one to five , ten , and thirty pounds ; not more at a time , I mean , bat ibe experiments were frequent . I do not knew ths names of the persons , or I would tell at once , but I can tell the public what I always found , to be the mo * t convtnieul time foT robbin g them : at the public house when they were
getting drunk , or u-hen they left the jpubiie house drank to go home . One ol" the last robberies via ; of this sort . Robinson , Cherry , and me , ( not the Casrry that was tried for Mr . Blackburn ' s murder , but hi 3 brother . ) watched a countryman into a public-honse , to get change , to pay for a new hat he bought , . and we followed him , aad when be left to go home , as dark , he fell wh ^ ru be got outside the house ; and , when 1 saw hiza , I pretended to be drunk , too , a « d stag-Ser : -d against him , and helped h > m up , and asked im which was hi 3 roa-d Lome ; and . when he toid me , I told him that that wa 3 my road , too ; and that I would go part of the roid home with him ; so I took him und ^ r the arm , and ] ed him . out of tne town oa the Sbeffield road , and we had n-Jt got far , when Cherry and Robinson came up , and knocked us both down , acd robbed the man of , 1 think , thirtyfive pounds in notes and sovereigns .
I tnen left off business , on my own account , and joined with a young man , named Joseph B-ntky , Of Barnsley ; he is a bnck-m » ker by trade , and ftbouS the age of twenty-two years , middle-sized , and dim in figure ; John Hayes , of Barney , a weaver , about twenty-one years of age , and about the same as Benik-y in ' shspe and figure j Thomas BroaUhead of BarnsUy , a weaver , about twenty-one years oi age ; James Bates , also of Barnsley , though he came from SkeLmond . horpe , about nine miles distant ; he W * 3 about eighteen years of age .
Thcaa young mea had long been in the habit of robbing persons in the chapeb and churches oi Barnsley , and as they cmds oat in groups after the Berricea , especially in the door or gateway . Many persons were robbed on these occasions b > us , and I know the practice etill continue ? , and by ' tho same persons , as it is considered the most secure branch Of the trade , though not the most lucrative . I have Hot known more than two or three pounds being jrot at one time from one person in that way . Thi > plan we resorted to every Sunday , and although 1 quitted it last summer , in order to devote my time to * more extensive and larger system of plunder , yei ft is still carried on by the same parties . It is not only at the evening and afternoon service , but after the mornin g service , that congregations at Barn&ley are thus robbed .
lam quite convinced that it will be found that the persona whom I have named are known to be eonwvnt frequenters of places of worship , and always the last in and first out . They frequently obtain valuable watches , snuff-boxes , pieces of money and other things that people carry about with them . These articles they plant in a place up the waggon-road side , Topping ' s field , in a hole in a wall belonging to Charles Topping ' s field . This field ia fast at the entrance of the town ; there is a public well there , and the hole , which is sufficiently large to admit » man , is just inside Borne steps , it is covered np with some Btones , which they have to remove when they plant anything . To " plant , "" is a slan ^ word among thieves , signifying to hide stolen property , so tbit if discovered , it may not be found upon the premises or person of the thief .
I am eorry that I do not happpen to know of any person ' s name , in particular , who has been robbed on these occasions , or to know where any of the articles , with few exceptions , happen to ba at this present moment ; at all erects , I thought it a poor
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business for me if I did not get more than four pounds a week as my Ehare of this species of church plunder . The watehrs and articles of that ; kiDd , we always took to Sheffield , where wo were always sure to find a ready sale for them at the pawnbrokers ' shops . 1 come now to another , and more extensive species of thieving . About this time I became acquainted with Joseph Tattershall , a weaver , about iwentj-one years of age : Richard Slater , aged
about twenty-four years ; Thomas Fenwick , a shuttle-maker , about nineteen years old ; James Wells , a weaver , about twenty-six years old ; Geo . Hartley , alias , Bacco Hartley , a weaver , about twenty-four yearB old , and John Gillett , a weaver , about thirty years old ; and I mean to Bay that there cannot be found living upon the face of the earth a more desperate Bet of men than the persons I have jost named . They were a- select gang to themselves when I joined them , and were also so when I was apprehended , and were then in full force and activity .
The first robbery which I recollect to have been committed by them , after I first joined them , was upon a gentleman who had been putting up at the White Bear Inn , ( the head inn , ) Barnsley . We followed him by design , seeing that he was drunk , and we overtook him at the top of tho Old Milllane , in Barnsley . It was on Saturday night the 3-i of October last . They knocked him down aud robbed him of near £ 40 . We had eeen him got change for some notes at a grocer's shop in the town . He was much hurt and was obliged to be taken to the inn by some persons who saw him on the ground . I did not touch the gentleman myself , thongn I was with the party and helped to rob him . Bacco Hartley knocked him down with a heavy piece of wood . It was quite dark ; he fell at once as if he was shot ; he hit him with alibis force on the head . After w «
had got the money , we ail went to a public house , kept by Michael Teenny ; I do not recollect the name or sign of the house , but we there shared the money equally among us . This house is much frequented by thieves of the very worst and most no . orious description . In fact , it was our head-quarters and the head-quarters of the several gangs of thieves in Barnsley and the neighbourhood . The landlord will admit any kind of company , however bad , and will receive stolen property of any desonptiou . We spent most of our time there . He had many dancings in the house , which were always attended by girls of the town and the Jeiy worst of characters like ourselves .
I would advise parents not to allow their children to go to this , or to many other honsfs which 1 shall mention in the course of my narrative . The very best and most innocent girls will look in for change or a message , and , when pressed , will take a taste from one and a taste from another , and very often will remain there all night , and be ruined , and never caxe for father or mother again ; and they are denied when their parents think them long out , and come te look after them . There was no reward offered for tho apprehension of the persons that robbed the gentleman of whom I have just spoken from the White Bear , aud who , we afterwards heard , imagined had lost his money .
I was allowed an equal share of all plunder with them , because I had allowed them , on an occasion jas : before the robbery 1 have mentioned , to have a share with me in a robbery 1 had committed by myself at Doncaster Races . The robbery was effected by myself upon a gentleman in the street at Doncaster . In a crowd I picked his pocket of a pocketbook , containing £ 3-4 . I did not know him ; nor was I aware he had auy money about him . It was aii chance work . I also robbed a gentleman oa the same day , on the
race-course , of a pocket-book and a memorandum book . The pocket-book had in it £ 57 , in £ 5 noteb and sovereigns . I did not know who he was ; I did the act just at the moment the horses were passing us in the race , which i 3 considered au excelleut opportunity , by thieves , for picking pockets . It was a part of this money that I allowed to each of the gang when I met ' . hem after at ilichael Teenny's public-house , so that they all agreed that I had a moral right to share in the plunder of the gentleman from the White Bear . ( To be continued in our next . )
The Ixofithern Staft Saturday, April 24, 1841.
THE iXOfiTHERN STAft SATURDAY , APRIL 24 , 1841 .
THE NEW MOVE . " Save me from my frienda . " Is another part of the Star will be found a long and interesting letter from Mr . O'Coxxor , in which he calls , and we think justly and fairiy , for an expression of public opinion as to the " new move . " We last week showed that it was deficient in the principal ingredient , Universal Suffrage . " Mr . O ' CojiNoa say 3 it escaped us , that it was also deficient in equalization of representation ; while it appears to have escaped him , that it is also deficient in the mode of election ;—that of self-nomination being substituted for " the Ballot . " " Save us from our friends . "
We last week put a " kick in the gallop" of th » project by showing Daniel ' s delight and co-operation . We have this week to notice the fact of the whole Whig " Establishment" being in extaciea at the project . They say it is just the thing— " the one thing needful ; " just the " Chartism for the times we live in ; " each and every one of our cotemporariea , if they will allow ua tho familiarity , unhesitatingly declaring the object of the u new move" to be "to get rid" of Feabgus O'Connor . Before we begin to lay a few extracts before our readers from the " damning praise'' of the Whig papers , jnst one word .
Our readers will recollect that when commenting upon Dan ' s plan of having " a body sitting in London , directing the country , and saturating the land with tracts , " he said that funds , —ample funds , — would be subscribed ; and , in commenting upon his scheme as propounded in a letter to the defunct Fox and Goose Club , w « took the liberty of saying , " Aye , faith , there would be no lack of funds to support such au Association ; the secret-service fund would bleed freely . " Now , then , hear what the Morning Chronicle says , with reference to the " new move" : —
"TVE SEE NOT WHY A PORTION OP THE PUBLIC GBAXT FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES SHOULD NOT FLOW TOWARDS THE PROPOSED SCHOOLS , AS SOON AS THEY ARE IN ACTUAL OPERATION . " A word only will be required upon the above . Is the object to carry the Charter ? If so , is a Whig Government very likely to give " grants of money ' to effect an object , to frustrate which cost them millions of money and loss of character \ Oae extract might be sufficient , but the S » n , the Greenacre Chroniele , the Spectator , the Examiner , and all , all , even Mother Goose , are in raving delight with the project .
We shall give George H . Ward , M .. P . for Sheffield , a distinct notice upon tho subject ; while , as there is but a step between the ridiculous and sublime , having commenced with the Chronicle , we shall finish with Mother Goose . In a column for the curious , written in that most curious journal , by Mr . Hamer Stansfeld , and hith : rto modestly placed in inner form , [ a kind of preparatory Echool for beginnersj we find the following laudation of our friends' new project . Stansfeld says : —
"But the Chartism pur forth tn this Address is of a Kind with which no honest man can QUARREL , AND THB PI-AN BF . COMMhJ . DKD FOR OBTAINING IT MIGHT COMMAND THE APPROBATION OF SlB R / JBH 3 . T PkEL HIMSELF . " Now we ask if any p ; an , ( though it were fasting and praying , ) which was at all calculated to carry the Chart er wouldbe at all likely to receive the approbation of she Tamworth Barones 1 No , no . They only object to " physical force , " lest it should frighten something oat of the old women ; and if fasting and prayiflg were calculated to frighten more , or even , as much , they would equally object to that .
The Spectator and Examiner wnte in general terms of approval of the new project ; indeed it is quite to their taste ; but they pias as mere wadding in the political world . In fact , it is nothing more or less than a new mode ef canvassing for support for Mechanic ' s Institutes , and the Brougham system of making one portion of the working clas 3 disgusted with all below them ; and thus effect , for another while , by an aristocracy of labourers , by galling contrast , what has been hitherto effected by taxation and the cannon .
However , people who work sixteen boars a day from the age of nine to about thirty-five , when they are thrown into a b > stile a 3 unfit for use , have very little relish for any protracted course of study or " education , " though it were certain in one hundred and twenty years to gain the Charter for them .
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In fact , " ignorance , " " ignorance , " "ignorance , " has been the cry as long as we can remember , and long before we were born ; and would , if knowledge were an electoral test , be a cry with the powerful few , who may well cry "ignorance , " bo long as a people are ignorant enough to let them live upon their very heart ' s blood . But we waste time , as the will of the country , which we this day record upon the foolish attempt , puts the extinguisher for ever upon all hope of a wise people being gulled by ignorant coxcombs .
THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . Of a verity the Whigs are like the fastidious soldier ; hit them high , or hit them low , we cannot please them . In the unreformed times , when oven Bii . lt Pitt looked upon public opinion as a requisite in the ministerial stock , Parliaments were dissolved upon questions , not upon the relative value of persons upon a fanciful arithmetical sum made of a candidate ' s whole creed and life . Thus , for or again&t the Malt Tax , the Emancipation Bill , the Dissenters' Relief Bill , or any other Bill upon which the Minister did not find himself quite secure . Thus were the labours of electors narrowed to the mere expression of opinion upon the one question at issue .
But now , alas ! dissolution being a thing never dreamed of , so long as the old crew can hang together , every single contest becomes a matter of wholesale canvass ; and whoever tells most 1 es and swears hardtst to them , has tie best chance , provided he has a Lord of the Bedchamber at his back with the " needful . " In speaking of the Nottingham election , the Chronicle says that Lor 4 John Rcssfxl has nothing to apprehend from " the eloquence of Mr . Walter " upon the question of the Poor Laws ; and tho Whig press is outrageous at the starved off of Nottingham making the vulgar question of food , raiment , and liberty , any part or parcel of an election contest .
Now , it is quite clear that " quoad" Mr . Walter ' s eloquence , Lord John would have nothing to fear ; but the fact of Mr . Walter being returned , just now , " pendente lite" upon such a question as opposition to the New Poor Law , would speak in dumb eloquence to the Noble Lord t a language of which he would comprehend the full value . It would be far more significant than my Lord Burleigh ' s nod , and especially to a brother Minister of the Noble Lord ' s , Sir John C . Hobhocse , the other Member for Nottingham , and to -whom it would be a very significant notice to quit , —or to have his traps , at all events , ready for a start upon the next rent day .
Now , we look upon tho question of the Poor Laws as next in importance to our Charter , * not that we expect any , the slightest , mitigation from the return of Mr . Walter , or from a whole Tory House . But it being the very worst of the many very bad Whig measures , and this beiBg the time tor renewing the contract , we do , without cant , look upon the present opportunity , taken in all its bearings , as a Divine interposition of Providence , to afford the people of Nottingham ( so riotous and furious for "Reform , " jan opportunity of testifyingsorrow for their igtiorauce aud repentance for their former reliance upon Whig tricksters , by which they were induced to have recourse to the torch for the destruction of property .
We take it , that if the Poor Law was a just reward for what the people of Nottingham did to promote " Reform , " that the return of Mr . Walter , just now , will be a fair reward for tho Poor Law . But let us come to tho point . A merchant of the name of Thavers consults with a grocer of the name of SwirHtN , both of the city of London , as to the most fit and proper person to represent the poor weavers of Nottingham . These fellows say , " 0 T . P . G . Y . H . L . Z . Larpent , the French merchant
and Chairman of a whole parcel of Boards and Banks , is just the man to cook the weavers' dish ; so let us conaign him to the starve-guts at Nottingham , marked ' To be kept dry , and this side up . '" " He is jnst the man , " says the Sun . Well , down comes this worthy to a Mr . Close and others , and they countersign the consignment , and they put the right side up , " Repeal of the Corn Laws and the Ballot . " About St . Mary ' s Cliurch , and the Poor Laws , and all those trifles , he is silent , but will think of them .
Now , then , pitching men over board and coming to a consideration of measures , what , let us ask , are the" PLAGuVjuBtnow endeavouring to accomplish ? Is it not to make a repeal of the Corn Laws the only test upon a dissolution— " the one thing needful , " as the " Young Liar" ha 3 it ? On this question , however , the French cook , Monsieur Froggy , and hiB opponent are upon a perfect equality : as Walter is for a repeal of the
Corn Laws ; but the people think that a repeal pf the New Poor Law is more necessary thau a repeal of the Corn Laws ; and , threfore , without reference to the rival men , they make measures their consideration ; and they say , " what do you want 1 It a Corn Law repealer , you can have him in the person of a Poor Law repealer . " But no , as your wealth depends upon our poverty , you would prefer neither to both .
Now we like to be plain , and let us take a fay sample for a plain argument . Walter and Easthopk then , are proprietors of the leading Journals of their respective parties . Easthopb calls himself liberal and Walter illiberal . Now , the repeal of the Corn Laws is to be the next test of liberality , and Walter , as well as Easthope , i 8 up to the mark there ; and then Walter is bejond Easthope in liberality upon the real question of cheap food , the repeal of the New Poor Law . But why mince tho ma-ter ? The Sun and the Whigs call all opposition to Whigsby the Chartists an " unholy alliance between Chartists and Tories . " We as-k , could an alliance be more unholy than with a bloody faction , who have consigned the beat friends of tho people to pe » a ] seukmontfi , to felons' dungeons , and to death 1
Again , Dan and his myrmidons have told the Chartists that they arenoone , no party , and havenopower ; but as Sweet tells the Tories to their faces , we hold the balance of power ; and how can wo show that power so effectually as by beating the enemy most immediately in our way , because in office ? If the Cha r tista had a man of their own , and if it wa 8 a general election , then their duty would be to stand by their own man ; but here they must use their weight as ihe balance of power , and instead ot being longer made toolo of , they must now make a tool of Walter to beat the Whigs .
The Sun says , " Mr . Somebody was recommended ; bat we don't want a Government hack . " Why , what is every Whig in the House but a hack , bo long as the Tories join the Whigs in all their destructive measures , and the cry of " keep the Tories out" brings all the Radical tail to the aid of the Whigs , upon the slightest chance of defeat , no matter what the question is ! Messrs . Whitehbad and Sweet have pnt the thing upoa its proper footing . They Bay , " let them call this coalition what they please ; we have no dread of the Poor Law for ourselves , but we have witnessed itB blasting effects upon our less fortunate
neighbours , and as we hold our votes in trust for them , for THEIR best friend they shall be given . " We look upon the result of the Nottingham election as of the last importance to the Radical cause . The return of Larpent , the French Cook will add a joint to the oppressor ^ tail ; while the return of Walmb must , as a matter of course , smash the knot and break up the old bundle of rotten twigs . They ought not to hold ofiBce ; they ought cot to proceed with the Poor Law Amendment Bill , and they will know now to value Chartist power , if their man is packed up again and sent back to " Tbavebs and Swithijt , " labelled " This side up . " " Poor Law Amendment Act . "
If the opponent of this Bill is now returned , and while a dissolution is pending , how many votes will it convert upon the remaining portion , and when bringing up the Report ! It is all-important .
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Nothing can be more silly than the Whig chatter of Chartist leaders being hired by tho Tories , and for this reason : —The Whigs but prove popular hatred against themselves , because , though nothing averse to pay Chartist leaders , they cannot get one j for it would be a dangerous experiment to advocate Whig principles upon a public hustings . The hatred to Whigs and Whiggery has become awful and deadly . Unite , indeed 1 PerhapBMrs . Frost , Mrs . Clatton , or Mrs . Peddie , may feel inclined to unite with the Whigs !
Now , one word as to the justice . Suppose , then , a contest for Nottingham to lie between Sir Robert iNGtis , the greatest Tory in England , and Fjeargus O'Connor ; and suppose Easthopb , or Murdo Young , to have the casting vote ; for whom would they vote ? For Inglis , without a moment's hesitation . Then , inasmuch as Whigs hate Chartists more than they hate Tories , why may not Chartists pay them off in kind ? However , we hare on 2 y to say that we highly approve of our friends' determination ; and we should bo cowardly were we to
await the result aud then give our opinion according tothatresult ; so v ? e go in the boat with Whitehead and Sweet and our jolly Chartist crew , and say " down with the Whig . " Give Fboggy a touch of your training to take back to the city . ABk him about the £ 70 , 000 for horses and £ 30 , 000 for knowledge . " Ask him about Frosty and Clayton , and the Charter , and Peel ' s Bill of 1819 ; and ram tho six points down his eais . " Go the whole hog ; " and when you go about it , do it like men , at once , without being afraid of being taken to task by the
enemy . This is a great God-send for our cause . The Chartists should all poll early , to show that they poll for the principle and not for the man ; and mind give it to Froggy well , about poor Longley and the House that Jack built , and all the rest of it . This is the firft real opportunity the men of Nottingham have had since the Reform Bill ; and we eay , go it Chartists . Mind you pack Larpent up , labelled " this side up . " " New Poor Law . " Indeed , if you have any time , you should have a coffin carried through the town , with the Poor Law Amendment Act on it , and marked " This side up . " There is one circumstance which cannot be too
forcibly impressed upon the minds of the Chartists . It is this : —Having embarked in the project , they must now " go in , over , or through ; " neither turning to the right hand nor to the left ; braving everything , and afraid of nothing ; but least of all Of tho paper pellets and senseless anathemas of friends Easthopk and Murdo Young , Travers , Swithin ^ and the sugar baker , an ' /' old cIothes" ( Cu > SE ) of Nottingham , who most insolently presume to be better judges of popular feeling and popular opinion at
Nottingham , and what and who would best represent it ' than Whitehead and Sweet , two men of great natura ] understanding , unblemished character , and well known kind-heartedness , who feel for their neighbours and for their country . Let them beat the French cook , and leave tho scribes to us ! They must take especial care that Mr . Returning Officer plays no trick at the nomination . They must have their own fugleman , dressed in their own colours ; and they must divide , if any unfair play is attempted .
Above all , go with their man , fearless , and nothing daunted ! Go with him , not as Walter , but as an emblem of English hatred to starvation , transportation , incarceration , and everything that is base . This is the most important election that has taken place since the Reform Bill . Blink it for a period as they may , the real question to be decided is , "Bastile , or liberty ; " " starvation , or plenty ; " " house , or no house ; " " England , or transportation ; " " virtuous poverty , no . vico ; or vice preferable to virtue . " These are the questions at issue between the people and their oppressors .
Chartists ! give the " base , brutal , and bloody " rascals a slight touch of that " power" which they keep eternally telling you " you have not got ; " just let them feel it ! Go at them like Britons ! Never mind old Bcggarman , or the " Establishment" Mind your homes ! your families ! and your wives and down with the Whigs ! ! !
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THE CONVENTION . We this week publish a list of the several delegates nominated to the Convention , to meet on the 3 rd of May . If any have escaped our observation , we most urgently press upon our friends the absolute necessity of forwarding the names , under cover , to Mr . A . Hetwood , 60 , Oldham-street , Manchester , for tne Executive , by the first post , in order that the business may be completed . It will be the duty , then , of the Executive to transmit , at once , to each locality which has returned a delegate , the list of the ten chosen at a public meeting by ballot , and also to forward a fist to our office .
It will then be the duty of our London friends to Agree for a convenient , commodious , and respectable place of meeting , so that not an hour ' s delay will take place when the delegates arrive . When the treasurer is appointed , Mr . O'Connor will transmit to him the funds for the payment of the delegates , and places of meeting ; and as Glasgow has nobly resolved upon paying its own delegate , we respectfully submit the propriety of paying the three London delegates £ 1 per week each , which will be the £ 3 spared by Glasgow paying its own . This is for the delegates to decide upon .
This is a work which cannot be omitted , and no time must be lost . Every locality that has elected a delegate must ba prepared with means to send him to London on Saturday next , May 1 st , if chosen . We have already noticed the following as nominated : — -M'Douall , Pitkethly , Cullam , Deegan . Collins ; Woodward , Brighton ; Dover , Norwich ; Skevington , Loughborough ; Smart , Leicester ; Maisden , Bolton ; Williams , Wales ; Arthur , CarlisleJ ; Gillet , Sheffield ; Sweet , Nottingham ; Martin , Birmingham , for Restoration Committee .
Any of those elected , who cannot attend , will have the goodness to advise the Executive , at once , of that fact ; and any whoso names have been this week omitted by us will also advise the Executive . In balloting , of course the Executive will put in the name of each candidate as many timers as he ha 3 been nominated by different localities . Never , perhaps , was there a more propitious movement than the present for our representatives to meet . We shall expect a fair and full expression of opinion upon all questions interesting to our cause ; while their effect , and the effect of the National Petition , must be a sickener for those who hugged themselves into the hope that Chartism was dead . It is now going to rise from the tomb with a giant ' s strength . Let the petitions be signed by every one in the kingdom .
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GEORGE HENRY WARD AND THE NEW
MOVE . This uncommon booby , who will thrust his head into everything , has written a parcel of stuff upon the " new move . " He writes about what he knows nothing . He says that " Fearqus O'Connor i s furious , because Lovktt , Collins , aud Vincent digcountenance the new Convention ; " the fact being that Collins has sought the honour of being one of the members , and , we think , indecently sought it .
But poor George has a parcel of stuff about a man with one leg , and a man with two legs ; bat he has not said a word about the man with two legs and two ' armB not being able to fill one belly . He hints , as usual , about a bit of political economy , and then says he will say nothing more upon that subject , but takes us to task for not saying what the Charter would do . Now , our principal charge against Reformers is for having told the people what Reform would do , and that Reform has not done one of the promised things . We hold it that nothing could be more
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despotic than laying down rules for tha government of an enfranchised body not yet in existence . Whatever Universal Suffrage docs , it vail do with the concurrence of the majority . That ' s all we have a right to expect . But our reason for giving George Henrt Ward a separate notice is this ; he ia chief * ' knowledge" monger ; he eayshe will give the people a vote when they are qualified by " education , " and that being hi 3 test , it becomes our duty to compare his practice with his preaching , in order that we may judge of his sincerity . We take it , then , that reading his Chronicle is a good preparatory "
education , " at least so George Henrt Wakd mast , admit We next take it that a tax upon ' knowledge * is the way to prevent its spread . We next take the last Stamp Returns , and find that the Chronicle is paying well at 4 jd . We then take tho Chronicle at 5 d . aud wo find that , George Henrt Ward , Esq principal" kuowledge " -monger , has taxed his scholars to the small sum of £ 41 13 a . 4 d . per week , or more than £ 2000 per anuu m , or to the amount of one-fifteenth of the whole sum proposed for " educating" the whole people ; or in other wordB , taking a leaf out of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s book , he has laid an increase of ten per cent , on his lights . We think that will do for our friend 1
While he is clamouring for " knowledge , " as a test of electoral fitness , he has fobbed £ 2 , 000 a year by non-electoral ignorance ; no , by electoral ignorance , for we doubt the people reading his jargon . How different with the Chartists . Maguire , the spy asks the Secretary of the Golden Lane Association for a Northern Star , and he offers 4 ^ d . No , says the Secretary , they are sent to us for circulation by our English brother Chartists ; we will only take one penny to defray expences . How different that , from our friend ' s practice !
la fact , the whole press is mad about the new Convention ; and the Examiner takes the metropolitan Chartists to task for not returning more gentlemanly men than N&esoh , Wall , and Boggis , aud also states the proposal for a new Convention to be a failure . Poor , poor Examiner ; one half of the sum for its expences was lodged by return of post , and the Convention meets on the 3 rd of May under your nose , and just in time for the " plague , " who are about assembling at the eame time . Will they meet our men ! We give them the Examiner and Chronicle staff to back them . Our poor old croakers are all dead beaten . " Keep the Tories out" has lost its charm . What next ?
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IRISH PROGRESS : DAN IN A QUANDARY . > All things are going gloriously on in Ireland ; every post brings us new intelligence , aad fcvery new bat'ih of intelligence is more inspiriting than the last . The seed of Chartism , sown upon a soil so fruitful , cannot fail to bring forth plentifully ; and it is doing so to the high discomfiture of the arch-traitor and his dupes and myrmidons . Dan is in fits , and knows not what to do ; the ghost of Chartism haunts his day dreams , arid disturbs his nightly slumbers . He now repents bitterly , or seems to do so , that he attacked them . He is too old a general not to know that by so doing he has necessarily caused many to inquire : and the
villain knows enough of man ' s disposition to receive the truth upon inquiry to know that all investigation , instituted by Irishmen , into tho principles of Chartism , their connexion with repeal , and with the interests of the Iri 6 h people , must lead to comparisons between these unchanged and unchangeable principles , and the ever-flitting tortuousness of his career , consistent only in . being perfectly inconsistent ; which comparison could end only disastrously for him . Hence , at a meeting of his staff eu Tuesday week , the old Fox takes another trick out of his bag , and seeks to " gammon the flats" by affecting now to treat the Chartists with contempt . The Belfast Vindicator thus reports it : —
" Mr . HUBERT M'Guire said that he had made it his duty to go to Golden-lane on Saturday evening last , and had succeeded in procuring some information relative to the Chartists who met there . The first clue lie had procured to their discovery was one of the cards dated " Dublin , 1841 , " and bearing the signatures of two secretaries . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) had afterwards succeeded in making out their principal man or leader —( hear )—who resides in Goldeu-lane , and who gave him ( Mr . M'Guire ) a copy of the Northern Star tor one
penny . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) offered full price for the paper , but it waa refused , the gentleman to whom lie offered it saying that he got it gratis himself . He had promised to attend their meeting next Sunday , but hat &ince heard that they had merged into a trade soe ety —( hear )—and had branches in the Liberty , Jame «' s-street , Mary's Abbey , and elsewhere . It might or might not be prudent his doing so , bat he ( Mr . M'Guire ) had resolved upon attending the meeting on Sunday next , and gaining as much additional information as possible .
" Air . O'Connell—It would be much better for Mr . M'Guire not to meddle with these persons at all . They had deceived and deluded him with most unpardonable , lies . Indeed , so contemptible are these men , that to take any notice of them would be merely to raise them to fictitious importance . These fellows are really too contemptible . I implore of you not to believe one word they say —\ a laugh ) . I know their shift well ; they fancy that we will make them suBjects for discussion here , and hope that they will thus be protruded into notice . For my part , I -will never Bay a word more about them . "
We ask only of every one of Dan ' b dupes to place this affectation of contempt alongside the earnestness of his long , laboured , and lying address to the operatives of Newry , inserted elsewhere , and we know then that they will feel his position as certainly as he himself feels it . Dan has become conscious that his end draws nigh ; tie is dead beaten , and feels it ; nor does he feel it the less keenly , ae we £ uess , from not being able , with all his affected indifference , to prevent other people from seeing it . Thus , an Irish paper , which , it will bo seen , has small lovo for the "liberator , " commenting upon this meeting , says : —
" Feargus , we prophecy , will be able to attend a meeting at the Corn-Exeiiange yet , and beard his persecutor even in that sanctuary of hia ill-gained power . So terrified is the Agitator at the prospect —which , we admit , is anything but an agreeable one—that , notwithstanding his resolution to allow the Chartists to sink into insignificance by never minding them , he could not repress the anxiety ot his miaU at Lusk , where , adverting a ^ ain to these objects of his apprehension , he eagerly impressed upon the people the direful consequences of fraternising with men who dare to tay what they want without equivocation or evasion . "
Yes , the time is coming when Ireland shall open her eyes , and the film of interested humbug shall fall from them . The battle of truth against fraud was never seen to more advantage than in . this con : flict between O'Connkll and O'Connor . Do but contrast the means at the disposal of the parties . One having at his back nearly fifty pliant M . P . 'e , the whole press of the empire , Whig and Tory , the whole of the old machinery for humbugging Ireland , Repeal rent , his liberty , and au undertaking of non-interference from the Viceroy , and the Attorney-General The other has his pen , and is in solitary confinement . See , then , the power of truth over falsehood—the advantage of principle over scheming !
Further on , at the earne meeting , the " five hundred thousand fighting men" miscreant , substituting the words ^ physicalforce" for Chartism , says : — " If the doctrine of physical force were introduced into Ireland , ha would abandon the agitation of Repeal . ( Hear . ) This , Mr . Feargus O'Connor and th « Chartista knew , and they , therefore , preached the doctrine to defeat hia purposes . He could not understand the man unless he was in the pay of the enemy- ( hear , hear ) -and this idea waa greatly abroad in England . " * ¦ Let all eyes be now kept upon Ireland .
We subjoin the following few lines from the Waterford correspondent of the WorM , in order to show the blighting effect which " hope deferred " and humbug has had upon the very best town in Ireland ; he savs : — " This city is as politically inactive as if aredress of the evils under which the country was said to labour had been effected ; and you would at this moment hear aa little uttered about Repeal , the collection of the fund . &o ., aa if Daniel O'Connell , or Thomas Reynolds , had never been amongst us . " '
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So much for the Big Begg&man , who says that O'Consob being in the pay of the enemy , is a rumour gaining ground in England . He ia in the pay of the enemy ; but it is of the enomy to the obstruction of freedom , liberty , and the Charter . He , no doubt is mach in Dan's way , but we are glad to find thai Dan is about to bo removed out of his way . Just let any man of unprejudiced mind review tha manner in which O'Connor has stood np against aud battled , this tyrant , from the hour he entered the House of Commons , in 1833 , to the present moment ; without acting like the tyrant ' s weaker foes , who always gave him a triumph by going over to the enemy in disgust ; but O'Connor has held to his every principle and to his country , and has beaten him fairly and consistently .
We intimated , before the Session commenced , wW the upshot of "Repeal" would be . Dan has n nonnced his intention of giving it up if Cb- rtiaa succeeds . As further evidence that the power of Dan is f ^ failing , and his blarney losing its effect , we give \^ following , from the Dublin Monitor , in referent to another and a later meeting of the "Royii LoyalB " :-M There was a jubilee yesterday at the Con , Exchange , in honour of a God-send from America to the empty coffers of Repeal . Three hundred
pounds were received from the American Repealea and great was the delight thereat . Thus the ^ ciatioa is out of Mr . O'Connell ' s debt , and he staudi in the position of debtor to it for a wiiile . We ua dertake to predict , however , that before ram weeks we shall have vouchers to prove that tla above hundreds have gone the way of all their pr decessors—spent upon a fatuity . "We have not paid the proper attention to the lad auditing of the Repeal accounts which the interest . ing nature of the subject required . We shall briefl ? do so now , and as the document has the great merit of brevity , we subjoin it : —
" We certify that we have examined the accounte d Daniel O'Connell , Esq ., M . P ., as treasurer of thi Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland , up tt this date , and we find that a sum of £ T 2 18 s . id . ha been advanced by Mr . O'Connell beyond the sums lodgti in his bands , and that said sum of £ 72 18 s . id . ia no * due to him as such treasurer . " Dated this 14 th April , 1841 . " Signed by the Auditors , " Stephen morphy , ( A vary eminent Doctor ¦ whose name don't appear among the ltcen ' tiates or members of either the College of Physicians or Surgeons of Ireland . ) " John Reilly , ( Tailor ) . " Martin Cream , ( Paid official of tse Corn Ej , change ) .
11 Thomas Arkins , ( Tailor ) . " Wm . Magennis , " ( Gent ) . " Thus it appeared , that on the authority of tha above distinguished ' auditors , ' the Association was in debt £ 72 18 a . Id . on the 14 th inst . Bat the receipts from America have converted the debt into I credit for the time being . " Would it not be more satisfactory to the poor people , wkose far things , and pence , aud shillings fin j their way into the Repeal funds , if a detailed account of the expenditure was submitted to them , Suppose no other useful purpose was gained , surely it would be an amusing gratification to them to read over the varied items .
" It is quite clear that , aa far as the cash is concerned , Repeal in this counlry is at a discount . Th « Irish Repealers are not able to keep tbeir own treasury from bankruptcy ! If their warm-hearted and sympathising frienda in England , Scotland , ud America , did not aid them , there would not be i farthing to divide among the hungry officialsoi Burghquay . This , certainly , speaks well for the popularity of Repeal in Ireland , notwithstanding the great eloquence and indefatigable energies of its great apostle , and' the sanctified accuracy' of the audited accounts , to use the pious phraseology of Ton Steele .
"Mr . O'Connell tells us that when he has £ 250 , 000 in his treasury ho will repeal the Union ; but by what happy alchemy will he be able to raise that gum ! Why , if all the repeal buttons in Ton Arkins' shop were to b 8 counted as sovereigns , th « treasury would still be empty , owing to tha perpetual drain upon it . " We often wish the honest and industrious men of Ireland , who earn their money by the hard sweat of their brow , could see the sleek and solemnised complacency with which it is squandered among a parcel of idle officials , who ' boo and boo and ay keep booin ' , ' that 'thrift may follow fawning . * Verily , Repeal is no delusion to them—it Site their pockets ; and dolts indeed would they be if they did uot move heaven and earth to keep the ball in motion .
" But there will be an end to all this . The people are beginning to open their eyes . " Yes , yes j there will be an eud to it , and the begining of this end is come ! The glorious seed of Chartism is already shooting forth the bud of investigation , which shall terminate in the blossoming of satisfaction , and the full fruit of honesty .
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THE " NEW MOVE , " ITS PATRON , AND THE COUNTRY . Our paper is filled to-day with the expressed opinions of the country on the " New Move . " We have scarcely anything but recantations of the simple and unsuspecting , who have been hooked , but are breaking from the anglers ( let the letters of these men be read—they are worth reading , ) aad resolntions of condemnation of the whole project . If there be any bodies or individuals , appertaining to the Chartist ranks , who have not yet studied the " New Move" ia all it 3 bearings—itB origin , its purport , and its tendency—we mast beg tiieza to remember that its ostensible and avowed object ia the carrying of the Charter—the extending , and
making sure and universal , of the principles of the Charter ; to remember that this is the object of the new move—tho most ardently professed desire of its concoctors and supporters ; we beg them , then , to read the address of Daniel O'Connell to the operatives of Newry , published in our third page , to note the ardency of Daxiel ' s love for ChartUm , aad then , that there may be " no mistake" as to the real object of this " new move , " we present them once more with the declaration of the arch-traitor , the avowed enemy of Charti 6 m , respecting it . He is privy to the whole soheme , and he thus dilates upon its hatching and intended effect : —
" He understood that there was an Association about being formed , at the head of which were Messrs . Lovelt , Collins , and Cleave—three of as good men as were in the community—having fur Us object HOUSEHOLD SUFFRAGE and SHORTENING THB DURATION of parliament , and PERFECTLY Ux \ CONNECTED WITH FEARGUS and his wild a ? sociates ; aad instead of impeding reform in England , this Association might be made exceeding ly usefu * under proper managkment , and the guidance of tho men whose names he mentioned . " Need we insert further ! Is aay one so blind as to be yet unable to discover the signs of the times .
Co Met&Tvg Ant* Com0jpw&At#
Co Met&tvg ant * Com 0 jpw&at #
Many correspondents must remain unnoticed until next week . ERRATUM . —In our last week ' s notices to eorrespon ' dents , W . O ., Nuneaton ; should have been W . J . O ., Nuneaton . . , Ebbatdh . —In Mr . O'Brien's letter on the Social Power of the Middle Classes , $ c ^ which appear ?* 0 n the first page of last weeks Swr , a mispnnt occurs in the note at the bottom of the first column . For "depreciation" of our currency , < J ? - « " ca appreciation . Mr . O'B . of course , alludes to Peel ' s Bill , which , by making money scarce raised its value relatively to every other
comrncdity , and thereby virtually augmented the A" * tional" Debt , as well as all private debts ana obligations incurred between 1797 ( the year m Bank stopped payment J and 1819 ( the date oj Peel's BUI ) . , ¦ , u Ma . Wm . Mabtin wishes his name inserted ?« f «« Sim as a teetotaller ; but nojanatic or l > ' Brighton . —Oar Brighton friends will tee by tU letter of the Executive , that they have accept * the duty of balloting for the members to const *" . tute the Petition Convention . A hard working Chartist . — We hate not roof " . Obadi ah Broadbrim . —We do not think the pubW
catxon of his letter advisable . ,- . Jn R . Blight . —We cannot publish his letter ; but . vui dear in mind the fact , and may use it anotner
time . , - t Henry Griffiths calls emphatically upo l / tete 0 ™ j ing men of London to aid him in breaking tnro » s the attempt made by Messrs . Sa / ler andLO- " stop the right of road which the puUw ^< " » always had across what is now called the J ut ° P ~ Park , in Notling Vale . From the statement V his teller , which is loo long for insertion , *» think it a case in which the people arehouna w assert their rights ; and we hope they vw < " so .
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4 THE NORTHERN STAR . ¦ ____^___
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 24, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct703/page/4/
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