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THE DISCIPLINE OF BEVERLE^i
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THE NORTHERN STAK SATURDAY. MAY 8, 1841.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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TO WILLIAM LOYETT . Dbar Sft , —As yon addressed a circular to me inviting me to jr-in you in the formation of s . n association to promote the advancement and the political emancipation of the people , I owe it to yon , jw an act of eotrrte « v doe to yonr character and former serrices in the canae of the people , to slate the reasons why I decline -t > a-operating with yon now . I may obserre , in the first place , xhat with many of tbe sentiments embodied in the Address to the Political and Social Reformers I cordially agree . We hare cemaitted many errors , it mnst be confessed ; and would te greatiy benefitted by thB prevalence of a kindlier spirit amongst ourselves ; tie absence of ranch of the pomp an * pageantry to which you hare alludedtfcongh of which you , u well as myself ; hare been both the abettoa and the recipients ; and I desire ,
also , to witness a more intellectual character in our movement ; more mental and less physical power applied to crash those who , by fair speech and smooth words , seek to seduce the people from the onward path at principle . But admitting the necessity of correcting errors and supplying defects , you hare failed to tttabluh the necessity of a sew National Association , Unless you are so uncharitable as to suppose that the members of the present Executive , or of tbe National ¦ Charter Association , would wilfully reject improved means for obtaining their freedom and happines , you had no reason for superseding the . present by the formation of another Association : still less were you justified in doing this when yon had never attempted to prove its Lnsufimency , and at the very tima , when yon said yon had no spirit of hostility agairat it . Your first Step , therefore , appears unwarranted , and inconsistent with the very spirit and principles of Chartism .
Again , —The means which yon took to introduce year views amongst us , and to elicit support , were cintnzy to that open , manly style which tbe love of truth Mad of free discussion would dictate . Tour document professed important national o ^ ects ; and it was privately and confidentially addressed to a number of selected individuals . This secrecy was illegal an your pirt , and involved all who countenanced it in aa illegal act of a very serious nature . Had it been a development of a plot to overturn V y force the existing G-ovenunent , the peculiarity of the case would have justified it ; but when it was apian submitted to the judgments of those to whom it was addressed , and depended for the suecess of its avowed objects upon the soundness of that judgment , you ought to have availed yonrself of the advantage which discussion would give you of having sound views formed by elicitiug free expression of opinion .
By a blind faith in your judgment , and reverence for your character , many thoughtlessly complied with your urgent request , and replied by return of post . They have sicce reflected , and have had the mortification of discovering , by not '' taking a night to think ont , " they have temporarily perilled their characters , snd the cause they thought to Berve . This circumstance proves that however calm , clear , discreet , and haoert a leader may be , it is aiwayB well to think before ve act under his guidance . As yon deprecate the evils of leadership , you will , I hope , feel more honoured bv the sentiments of an
independent thinker , when differing from your own , than you will by tie blind submission of his will to yours . Bat supposing that we were ready to overlook and forgive the insults which you have virtually given to the members of the old Association , and the inconsistency between the democratic objects of your Association , and the aristocratic manner of establi « hing it , snd also discharge from our minds the suspicions which the whole circumstances naturally awaken—supposing that we merely consider the comparative utility of your organisation &Bd pirns , we ought , I think , to withhold our snpport from yours for several reasons .
That the erection of >» Q 1 » of science , libraries , lectures , &c , for the people , is a great and desirable business , I must admit , but previous , to this , or umnltaaeously with it , there should be a thorough change in ttie physical condition of the people , far less toil , more food with the lighter work ; a substantial increase of substantial things would be necessary to Secure you audiences to fill them , to listen to your lectures , and to enjoy tbe intellectual feast Without this previous physical improvement , your halls would be an unfeeling meckery of a starving people . If the higher classes choose to erect halia of science , out of the wealth obtained by starving the people , let them do sa It would be quits consistent with their other philanthropic schemes which you have often eloquently
exposed ; bnt do you really expect to realise from those ¦ who earn twopence a day , a quarter of a million of money , to be invested in the erection of halls or the formation ot libraries ? Supposing that you could raise this Bum , i » there no other more ustful purpose to irhieh it eoald be applied ? What would yon say to investing it in U * e purchase of land , the cultivation of the soil , rescuing the agricultural labourer from Ms serfdom and misery , and our manufacturing population , by establishing manufactures , from the grinding rapacity of mill owners and capitalists ? This would be an active , ever-increasing and useful application of the people ' s capital ; or suppose , ai suggested by the editor of tbe Star , we employ the artillery of the press against the citadels of
ignorance . Will it not be more effective in enlightening the people upon those subjects upon which knowledge U at present most required , than lectures upon general deuce ? We want knowledge , it is true ; bnt all knowledge is not of equal value at all times . Political knowledge , a * d withUpolitical power , is the one thing needful now . Tour scheme wuuld , therefore , waste a large portion of our resources . There is an order or method in the law of progression with which your scheme does not harm on ; zs , but with which it is at Tariance . Practical philosophy rejects it—oppressed humanuy pronounces it a mockery ! . Your Chartist brethren , and old and honoured companions , are
pnmled with it , or suspect sinister irfluence and sinister objects . Your countrymen , who loved you , sorrow that you should have taktn up a position so strange and suspic oa 3 . Tarnish net the lustre of your fair name by wrseverance in a course which is opposed to their feelings . Their gratitude and honour cannot eo-exist wi ' . h the esteem Bnd approbation of their deadliest ecemy , and vilest deceiver . Trusting that you may have the wisdom to discover and the magnanimity to confess your errors , 1 am , your furmer Friend . and Broiher Chartist , J . Williams .
P . 3 . —Last you should consider those smtiments as called forth by the condemnation you have recsived from others , I may state , that on receiving your circular I communicated to Mr . Deegau , who ¦ wasr present at the time , my opinions npon it , and he can prove that they were substantially those contained in this letter .
The Discipline Of Beverle^I
THE DISCIPLINE OF BEVERLE ^ i
•* Ill-fated man , for whom such variou 3 forms Of misery wait , and mark thwr future , prey . ' " Bishop Porteus
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SORTHER > " STAB . SIB . —In the history of the Inquisition w&f requently read of the unhappy victim being released awhile from the horrors of the rack , in order tfiat expiring nature might gather strength to endure the torture of his tr aman fiends a little longer . A similar practice seems to be adapted in the ca&e of Mr Peddle ; although it has been repeatedly proved , by his indirp .: sition , that his eonstuutioa cannot bear the torture of the treadmill , yet the moment he rallies a little again in regard to health , he is as invariably again subjected to tbe brutal discipline and treatment ; so much so , that at last the surgeon has f oun . 4 it imperious to interfere in his behalf . After sympathising with his wife « n the tr « ub » e and distress that his last communication had for some days occasioned her , onricg to tie gldomy , but true pietuit he had drawn to her of his situation , he writes : —
" These last nine weeks my health baa retr » gaded ladlf , and my appetite has been reij had . For these ten days back I have bean unable to eat as much food as I usually did in one day . I am troubled with a constant and very oppressive pain at the breast , very severe heaiache . and so weak , that I feel it a labour to Write to you . Tbit this is the effect of the barbarous torture of the treadmill is now evident , and its contmuauc : at last acknowledged to be dangerous . If my last leuar grieved you , the one I intended to have Written this day -would not only have grieved y < ya , bnt When published could not have failed to have produced much excitement upon , the public mind , as I intended to have drag ^ eJ every circumstance before the public eye that could have shown all ths real suffering I have experienced , as I feel no inclination to be sacrificed without a struggle . But , thank G ^ d , the immediate motive is now removed .
" To day the state of my health was particularlj enminei , and the conclusion is , that the surgeon haj found himself called upon , to interfere , and ordered in < not to be subjected to . the mill again ; a longer eontinu anee being obviously dangerous to life , so that I hav < now the prospect , the cause of illness being removed of a restoration to health , unless indeed the Beeds o Consumption are not too deeply planted in my svsten bo fce rooted out by any alteration in my subsequen treatment , a ' . l the appearance of which I at present , i most be confessed , carry along with me ; but -which ' . bust will m a few weeks disappear , as I have ever ; Confidence is the skill and humanity of the surgeon , Your exertions have , in some measure , beei crowned with , success , in directing a considerable poi ton of public attention and public sympathy to m ; cue ; I have a strong hope that God will crown with hi biasing thaw efforts , and turn even the hearts of m ; inly bitter enemies .
" I fly for comfort to the living fountain of all tru < onaolation—the ward of God , and have found nmct from two passages , the same that comforted the heart of tbe persecuted John Banyan when in prison like myself for his love of truth ; but not like me condemned to tba extremity of physical suffering—not like me , denied tbe use of the tongue ; fur he preached in prison to all that cinie ;¦; hear him , and they were many—Bot like me , dtni ... iLe li ' xsrty of writing down present thoughts for aftrr 'j ^ iulnsts ; forte wrote his immortal ' Pilgrim ' s Prugres- ' there—not liie me , subjected to » mast cmrl and t : u ' . y annoying surveillance -so that I even cannot comp ;/ -. vita tlie wast urgent calls of nature , or fcottl in my . ' . i ! c ; ecn iu prayer ta Almighty ( rod , but under the irajieaiate inspection of a ftliow-cr ^ afcurejjforha consiaxitSy preached from the -wiD ^ w ol
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his prison to the people in the street . Tbe passages that comforted his mind , and impart the same feeling to mine , are : —> " I will take care of thy remnants ; leave thy fatherless children to me , I will preserve them alive . Let thy widow also trust in me . " " " To Mr . Martin , Mr . Vincent , the Bev . Mr . Hill , Mr . Malcolm , and the gentlemen of the public press , who have generously exerted themselves in my welfare , return , in my name , my warmest thanks . Tell them that my hope rests in a great measure upon them , and that I believe that , if the WhJgi are left t » themselves , I shall , if God spare me , remain here every hour of my barbarous sentence . It pleases me also much , to learn that I am not forgotten by my friend * in the country as well as the metropolis .
" I have sent yon a long rhapsody in rhyme . To your getting it , I do not anticipate any objections , as I have obeyed the injunctions of the magistrates in eonfining myself to the expression of my own ftelings . The mt asure is eccentric and irregular , and perhaps does not merit tbe name of poetry . It has , however , answered one good end to me already by affording occupation for my thoughts ; so you will not wound my vanity in condemning it . " Such , Sir , are the heart-ending statements given of his inhumaD treatment , by an innocent victim of Whig tyranny . I need not add any remarks of my twn . The bare recital will be sufficient Yours , < kc ., Jane Peddik .
The Northern Stak Saturday. May 8, 1841.
THE NORTHERN STAK SATURDAY . MAY 8 , 1841 .
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THE BILLING AND COOING . Thank Heaven , since we last appeared , we have witnessed the self-humiliation of the basest , the most brutal and bloody faction that ever appeared npon tho stage of life . Is there not a Btriking similarity between Bcxton ' s drunken " Beadle , " who requested a friend to lend him 5 s . to fine himself for being drunk , and her Majesty's servants who requested us to lend them two millions four hundred thousand pounds to fine themselves for being rogues , and the people for not getting drunk ! However , Jim Crow has been dressed for the part which he is destined to play for the benefit of Melbovrkk , Rxssell , O'Coio'ell , and Co ., both in England and Ireland .
What was considered the minimum of justice to Ireland has been reduced by just 60 per cent ., by the process of increasing the rateable franchise from £ 5 to £ 8 , " to conciliate the enemies of Ireland" as Morpeth sa ; . d , —an old , but fatal experiment ; while the real enfranchisement lot Howick , —not his £ 5 rating aboTe rent , but his £ 20 rating npon occupancy , —was nobody's child , because it would extend the franchise immeasurably , and do away with all perplexity of registration . That question , however , has been set at rest ; it has answered its end , and we are spared from further consideration of the base and uEgentlemanlike trick .
But how do matters now stand 1 Jim Crow has been dressed up for both England and Ireland . Upun the Irish side , is Morpcth ' s extinction-ofleasea plan , which will be called Universal Suffrage ; and upon the English side , is Cheap Bread and Sugar . In Ireland , whatever the Ministers may suppose , the principle wiD damn them ; while , in England , the time , the mode , and the reason of its development , will make them sink even lower , if possible , than they before stood in the estimation of every honest decent and rircuous man .
How do they stand upon this question ! The fop Minister , the paJac e buffoon , set his face against it , and Russell gave no hope ; but when tbe Chancellor of the Exchequer wants two millions four hundred thousand pounds , and finds the national mean 3 incapable of bearing farther pressure , he says , " I'll put on a bit of liberality , and go a popularity hunting ; but I must start with a principle : '' and he accordingly discovers , and says— No taxation could be so injurious as a permanent disorder in the national finances ; and the sum they had now te provide for teas so large , as to make ii absolutely necessary to act with some degree cf boldness . "
Such ib the Whig whip , after nine years retrenchment ! and the English ef it is , " nothing so damnable as that we , the ministers , should be without pay . " Well , the Chancellor goes to work , and save , "fromreduction of timber duties Iwill insure an increase of £ 750 , 000 , but I will be content with £ 600 , 000 ; upon sugar , a great article of consumption with the hand-loom weavers , I w ill create , by reduction of duties , £ 990 , 000 of an augmentation . " But take it at £ 700 , 000 , and the remaining £ 400 , 000 , ( for he only required £ 1 , 700 , 000 for the permanent thing , but £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present emergency ) he would anticipate from his noble friend ' s Corn Law scheme .
Bu ; this is not the best of it . The £ 1 , 700 . 000 is to be permanent , the additional £ 700 , 000 only temporary ; that is , give it once , and then get it out of the de vil ' s exchequer who can , or reduce our wants below that amount any other year who dare . The surplus of £ 700 , 000 for the present emergency , Mr . Baring says he will have no difficulty with , as he can give an order upon labour for that amount in Exchequer Bills , payable by the people .
Just eo the matter stands . The oligarchy in the midst of more poverty , distress , and dissatisfaction than ever was known to exist in this or any other country , and after nine years of retrenching reforms , says , " our expences have increased beyond yonr means of supplying the needful , even with bayonets to help us in the collection , to the enormous amount of £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present year ; and if you let us get a House of Commons upon the popular principle of increasing wealth by increasing consumption , instead of having recourse to direct taxation , then see what we will do for you . "
Let U 3 see if in this new scheme as regards the nibllezi the Corn Laws , whether or no , as in all other cases where Whjggery is concerned , principle has not been sacrificed to expediency , and whether the alliance at Nottingham was half as " unholy'' as an alliance would be between the total Repealers and those who distinctly admit the justice of taxing food so as actually to make a tax of £ 1 , 600 , 000 upon corn , part and parcel of the permanent burden of the country .
Let this be borne in mind , that Mr . Baring and his party are now performing a " bold stroke" for a place ; that he says , " No taxation could be so injurious as a permanent disorder in the natiomal finances ! " By this he means , that all should be made easy ; that both ends should be made to meet ; and that a scheme , not to be sessionally altered , should be at once proposed , having permanency for its object . How then is the permanency to effect
the principle of untaxed food ? and mark the only grounds upon which the holy brotherhood of parsous have been induced to join in the cheap food chorus , " 0 ! it is unchristian " - ^ muzzle not the ox , " and so forth : while the revenue derived from the Corn Laws last year was £ 1 , 200 , 000 , and which Mr . BARisG designs to increase , permanently , to £ 1 , 600 , 000 , as a thing to be calculated upon in aid of aristocratic demand a d payment of her Majesty ' s servants !
Bat then there is one part of the subject ) which must be kept uppermost in the public mind . It is this : —there are two questions ; the one is the riising of fifty millions sterling annually , and the other is the means of doing so . Let it be observed , that about the first , that is the raising , all are agreed ; that ' s settled ; for , be they Whigs or be they Tories , while there is a shot in the Jecker they will have it out . But , then , we come to the means , which are merely
problematical . Shouldthe electioneering , dissolving , specious means of doing tbe thing , by the fascination of a sugared loaf and cheap timber , instead of direct taxation , fail , what comes next t Why , only an issue of £ 2 , 400 , 000 worth of Treasury paper , and a fresh pull on the Savings' Bank ? , that is £ 2 , 400 , 000 of direct taxes . And here ' s the juggle ! Like the Irish Registration Bill , the Ministers neither hoped , expected , or intended its success : but if lost , it will be a good hustings clap-trap of " Ogh ! you see
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we offered to do anything to conciliate ( he old enemy but , no , it was impossible J " Then with regard to taxes ; see the danger in following a vicious guide . Tho Whigs " out-run the constable ; " they increase our expenditure by Sve millions sterling annually , and then resolve still to hold on by the " purse-Btring ; " they propose a measure against which their Prime Minister set his
face , not with any , the slightest , hope of carrying it , or of realising the promised results if carried , but withthesingleintentionof compelling their successors in office to do that by direct taxation , which the charming Whigs would have done with a sugared hot loaf . Bat the country trill remember that however payment is called for , the retrenching Whigs created the necessity by their unprincipled expenditure of the public money .
When a dissolution shall come it matters little to us what the real or ostensible casus belli shall be ; we are only to think of the past , and to use it as a warning for tho future . With this view we unhesitatingly declare , that the nine first years of Reform wholly under Whig dominion , has been a period of national distress , private suffering , and class intolerance , for which the whole annals of English history furnish nothing like a parallel . That they have been compelled to draw their precedents for liberality from abroad , and afar off ; for instance , from India and China , for
which the people paid ; while every English freeman's house has been made a den of slavery . Expenditure increased , places multiplied , cruelties practised , without even pretext of law or observance of decency ; poor working men held in bail of £ 1 , 000 , and incarcerated for merely attending public meetings , ( to which they were invited by a Minister of the Crown , ) for periods four times as long as those to which the rery worst description of imprisoned felons have been subjected ; the right of petition . : destroyed ; the right of meeting to petition invaded by
brute force ; riot transformed into high treason ; ugly looks into riot , and foul thoughts , engendered by fouler acts , construed into conspiracy ; our Judges , for the first time in English history , flying , for Whig convenience and love of persecuting the people , from the old and long-established acceptation of the hobgoblin , " conspiracy , " the most damnable fiction of our criminal law : in short , search hell ' s records , and when you shall have struck out crime for crime , still will the Whig catalogue be the blackest in the country ' s annals . Nothing ever has been like it—nothing again ever can be like it—and nothing like it should have been .
O , tbe delights of being an appendage to such a step-dame ! Canada , in her " honey moon , " is to have an increase of ten per cent , laid upon her exported timber ! Edward Ellice has no wood lands in Canada ! Under all the circumstances , then , what becomes the duty of the country when the questions propounded in the House shall be discussed upon the hustings ? We have had the anomaly of nine whole years without an opposition in the British Senate House . We have had a set of licentious slaves , disregarding popular opinion and support , and enabled
to do so in consequence of the unprincipled wholesals support , through good and bad , sunshine and cloud , of one political knave . And this is what they call abolition of rotten boroughs ! having substituted rotten men for them . This must be stopped . We must have an opposition for her Majesty . She is not safe . We repeat it , she positively is not safe without it . A parliamentary opposition is a royal safety valve ; while an unopposed licentious Ministry ( and all unopposed Ministers are licentious ) is the greatest enemy of royalty , without being a friend to
democracy . We must , then , take care that the Whig members in the next House are too small for a party , and too large for a faction . As many as two hundred would produce anticipations of a return to office , and consequent caution in the establishment of evil precedents which they may be called upon to fulfil when in power . One hundred and eighty would be a kind of crisis . One hundred and fifty would make them rabid , and one hundred and twenty ( just the right number ) would make them bite .
Let us , then , have tho biting minority of six score , if we can ! and such fun was never seen in Tooley-Etreet among the tailors ! It would be Bedlam let loose ! Then , instead of " I am free to confess that her Majesty's Government had no alternative but in the strong arm of the law to suppress popular insubordination , " we shall have " Give us OUR Charter . " " Universal Suffrage and no Surrender ; '' " The Constitution guarantees and the Reform Bill promised it . " " Let jn the Thames TO CLEANSE THE HOUSE . " " HURRAH . FORCrOMWELL , " "O , for Wat Tyler , or Jack Cade ! " " Give US OUR Prisoners . " " No Vote , no Tax . " "Let the People back us for the only thing worth having , THE VOTE . " " We never were Whigs ;
WE WERE ONLY BACKERS , WHILE YOU WERE RUNNING FOR THE TMAL STAKES . " " We WERE KNOWN TO be Chartists . " " We must have the Charter . " " Ireland as she ought to be , or Ireland in a Blaze . " Now such , we assure our readers , would be very bland and courteous language for a biting minority of 120 ; while the very same 120 making part and parcel of 250 , would but look for a ronewal of office and approve of all that had been done , as the best means of insuring electoral support .
People of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales her Majesty ' s servants , your servants , will shortly appear before you with an appeal to their past services , as reasoas why you should vote a " permanent tax , " to pay their salaries—for that is the real " casus belli . '' Do they deserve it ? Weeaynofc . Men of England , I reland , Scotland , and Wales ought you not to be proud in thus being justified in your opposition to the " Plague" who have compromised their principle of untaxed food , by actually supporting a proposition which has for its object the infliction of £ 1 , 600 , 000 annually upon that very article of food ?
Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales wliat now is your complaint ? Is it not that you are poor because you have no controul over your labour ? once , then , get a Corn-Law-Repeal-House , and what , we ask you in the simplest language , have you to expect , but that you will be wholly at the mercy of men who , with some opposition , have ruined your country , wasted your property , disjointed society , made sterile your fields , made . bleak your homes , callous your hearts , and cold your hearths ; who have dragged the wife from your bosom , the child from your knee , the site from your corner , and the mother from your embrace ?
Once repeal the Corn Laws without having a voice in the making of those laws which are righteously to adjust the great change , aud how will you regulate demand and supply \ How , with the facility of a House of Masters , giving themselves facilities in procuring fictitious money , can you stop the crbation of four times the quantity of machinery now in existence , ( and now too much , ) or regulate its
productions , or have over it the blightest controul ? Can you stop gambling in your labour ? Will America , the Brazils , Russia , Germany , or Prussia wear more coats , breeche 3 , shirts , and stockings than they want , that you may have , in return , a sufficiency of food ! If you make too much , who will give you food in return for a mere drugi Must you not joake slaves of yourselves to undersell them , or starve in idleness 2
Get your Charter , and then " go to bed by steam , and dres 3 yourselves by steam , " in the language of Butterworth ; but get a House of Masters without the Suffrage , and then go without bed , or clothes to dres 3 with ' . Now , then , has our struggle commenced ! " Fustian jackets , " watch every man and every move , outs among the rest ; and , upon the first note of desertion , kick him overboard : defeat every meeting for everything short of the Charter , but not by
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brute force , as the Whigs did at Birmingham . . But if you are struck , strike ]—if you < aj& insulted , retaliate ; bat beware that you are not entrapped . A great , a mighty effort will now be made . If we are but true to ourselves , the battle is ours ! but if we renew the Whig tenure of office , nothing short ot revolution cap cleanse the " Augean stable . " Whoever is for peace and the Charter , let him hold fast by us , and " no surrender . " Whoever ia for a House of tyrants to lord it over slaves , let him cry Hurrah for the Whigs !"
OUR BATTLE NOW IS , ANTI-WHIG , ANTIPOOR LAW , ANTI-CORN-LAW-REPEALWITHOUT-THE-CHARTER , ANTI-RURALPOLICE , and anti-oppression in all its hideous forms ! Onwabd , and we conquer 1 backward , and we fall !
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THE HAZARD ! THE LAST THROW OF THE DICE ! The time has at length arrived when neutrality is criminality , lwhen indecision is co wardice . and when delay may be death . Unfortunately for our enemies , tkey have exhausted their whole strength and expended their ammunition ( before the battle ) in forced marches , where there was no point to defend ; they hare discharged their heaviest guns in mere sham fight ; and , now that the charge has been Bounded , they have no reserve , no plan of attack , no safe retreat ; indeed , no forces ready for the engagement .
The press , the generals in this fight , have had eight day ' s opportunity to put forth their whole strength , and what do we find ? So far from a single new point being urged in favour of a total Repeal of the Corn Laws , we hear an invitation to parties who not long since declared anything but complete repeal to be a farce , to join those who have considered the gradual settlement of Jhe question the safest and most judioiou 8 plan . Here , then , is indeed an "
unholy alliance" between parties who look for a fixed duty as an end ; with those wbo hail it merely as a means to an end ; the effect of which end would he to prostrate England and every thing English , in chains before those foreign caterers who would condescend to feed us from their store . It is bad enough to be fed by three Devil Kings ; but how much worse to be at the mercy of the Autocrat of all the Russias , the German Diet , and the rival Republio of America 1
But we say that the press has brought up no reserve to reinforce those troops which , for twelve months , we have required only to meet to insure a triumph over them ; no matter , whether in skirmish or pitched battle . We must therefore ask , what are the new pretensions of our subdued enemies i We look in vain to their leader , the Morning Chronicle , and there we find the old hash not even warmed , but
merely tossed up and served with its cold sauce , unseasoned by a single spice to give it a flavour . In fact , the only change which we can observe upon the eve of battle , is the very reverse of what we should expect from an able General . Instead of seeing the troops in close column to reoeive the first charge , we find the rank and file thrown into open column thus : —
" Had repeal of the corn monopoly been proposed immediately after the passing of the Reform Bill , when there was an overwhelming liberal majority in the House of Commons , it must have been carried . " Thank you , Chronicle , it would have been carried ! and hence was it not proposed until disappointment from Reform had rendered its support a good electioneering clap-trap , and its defeat
certain ! Yes , it would have been carried ; but is there another paper in Englnnd that would thus , in one short sentence , heap odium upon the men whom it professes to serve , by reminding us that the House , when strong , devoted its giant strength to coercion and starvation , and now , when weak , parades its own dishonour for the paltry purpose of holding office upon a question which the Chronicle tells us it has lost the fitting time to carry !
Again , then , we say thtA they have no reserve ; and we have not yet fired a single shot from our exhaustless store . We begin the campaign then , by thus taking the head of our troops , and telling the whole enemy to come on ! We tell all parties that the day , nay , the hour , has arrived , when each and every man in the state ( be his political opinions or rank in society
what they may ) must make up his mind to take his stand upon the soil or upon the mill-shaft . Ours shall be the battle of the soil against steam ; not ofthelandlords of thesoil . whose supineness weakness and folly we most heartily despise , and who dead to the voice of justice or humanity , must now awaken themselves to the cry of " necessity , " and " our estates are in danger . "
Is not the present unenviable position of the landlords just what it ought to be , and just what it was sure to be ? While strong and powerful , they lent their trength to every enemy of the people , in whatsoever shape ho presented himself ! At length their turn has come ! A t the dictation of the Tarn worth Baronet , they
mortgaged themselves , when they vainly hoped only to mortgage the people to the fund-lords ; but the ^ team-lords having appropriated all beyond the meanest subsistence as their share of labour , are now about to throw the lords of the soil upon their own resources , as the tender-hearted lords threw tho poople upon their own " poor resources , " having first allowed the masters to rob them of every
resource . The land-lords gave the parsons seven years' renewable tenure , well secured . The land-lords gave tho steam-lords a rural police to coerce the poor to work for little , or die without a murmur : and now has the day of retribution come ! The minister who not twelve months since registered a vow to stand by bis order , flings them overboard , and merely delays their ruin by a time just sufficient in the English of Lord J . RussELL ' sannouncement . tomarshal
all the hostili ty of the coun try against them ! Yes , his Lordship ' s declaration is notable ; " he postponed the consideration of the question to allow the country time to meet and speak . " Let the friends of the Noble Lord take warning by his Lordship ' s invitation to the people to meet , and speak out ! and let the brawlers take heed lest Whig persecution of poor working men for obeying his Lordship ' s invitation , may be turned into a good precedent by the Tories for committing the damp Repealers to the well aired cells of the Chartists !
Again , we say that we have neither sympathy nor compassion for the landlords ; and if it were not prudent in a consideration of the question , to distinguish between the soil and the lord of the soil , we should say give them all that punishment which they have so . justly merit 1 but inasmuch as the lords of the soil cann » t be punished , without at the same time punishing the innocent people , we make a distinction between the land and the landlord .
Now , to argue the relative value of steam or soil production to the whole people , whether they be of the aristocracy , the middle classes , or the lower orders . In the outset , we say that we are for the most perfeot machinery which the mind of man can invent , provided it is made man ' s "holiday instead of man ' s curse . " In the wise and startling words of Mr . Butterworth , lately delivered at Bradford : —
" We care not if Mr . Cobden can go to bed by steam , and dress himself by steam , provided that steam does not take the bkd prom thk working . man and leave him without clothes TO PUT ON . "
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We have no hesitation in saying that if the above sentence had ' been spoken by either Sir Robert PKELor Lord John Russell it would have been printed in letters of gold , and would have been a golden peg upon which the Lord or the Bajonet might , with safety , have hung an immense weight of folly . It was a noble sentiment . It , in fact , embraces the whole question . We will consider whether a repeal of the Corn
Laws would convert machinery into man ' s holiday , and would spare Butterworth his bed and clothes ; and atk over which of the two means of productionthe natural means of the land , or the artificial means of machineryjanygoTernmeatjeveneneeleoteiby the whole people , would have most controul ;• and whether a House returned upon a pledge to repeal the Corn Laws would be just the House to give the people a greater interest in tbe produce of machinery or the benefit of the repeal .
In the first place then ; we say , in contradistinguishing between the power of the people in acquiring controul over the land and over machinery , that over machinery , not more than one in five thousand of society can have any controul . ; in machinery not more than one in five thousand can have any interest ; and under machinerynot one even of the five thousand can , by possibility , have'any security ; while , in land , every individual in the State may have an interest , amounting to house )
food , and raiment , according to the expenditure of his labour , which is his capital ; and which is a thing divisible into the minutest parts , according to the most humble means and wants of each ; over land the people may'have controul ; under land the people may have security ; and all these advantages may be made to flow from a proper system without in the least degree diminishing the rents of landlords ; on the contrary it would increase them by bringing them into the retail market .
But , says the scientific political economist : " what does the operative know about land } what does he care about land ! " We answer , quite enough , without intending to devote himself to its culture , to teach him that he can have more controul over the land between Bury and Manchester , than over the lands of Russia , Prussia , Poland , Germany , or America ; quite enough to know that all that is now required for his complete and entire subjugation is to destroy
his home market for consumption , and take from him all power of control over his market for production . He now sees 60 per cent , of his order unemployed , while he does not hear of a single man being found naked in the streets of St . Petersburg }? , Vienna , Berlin , Warsaw , or New York , for want of his produce . He sees 4 # per cent , ef his order at half work on half pay , with store-houses full of his produce ; while his belly is hungered , and he is told : —
" Aye , aye , true enough ; but you know if we could get corn , ( all that our customers have to give us in return for labour , ) you would all have plenty . " And he says" Yea , verily , I know it ; but will they give us their corn for dearer manufactures than they can buy at homeT " O no , no ; but then we shall be able to compete with them , and even to undersell them at home I" " How , pray ; howl " " Why—why—why—why , you know , by—byby—by , you know—O , cheap food , of course . "
" Well , but must you not sell cheap to buy cheap ; and is not our labour the thing you sell , and our food the thing you want to buy , and sell us second hand « . " . 41 Why—why—why , you see the labour would not be cheaper—but the food would . " " Well , if the labour was not cheaper how could you compete or undersell , especially , when our labour has to pass through the Royal toll-bar , tho Funded toll-bar , the Army toll-bar , the Navy toll-bar , the supernumerary King and Queen toll-bar ,
the Court toll-bar , the Civil List toll-bar , the Police' toll-bar , the Church toll-bar , the Judges' toll-bir , the Half-pay toll-bar , the PJace and Pension toll-bar , and all the other tollbars , to the amount of fifty millions annually ; together with the side gates for foot passengers , such as the Corporation bar , and tbe Water-pipe bar ; the Gas-light bar , and the Paving and Watchingus bar ; the Catch-thief bar , and the Gaol-committee bar ; the House of Correction bar , a ^ d the kill-the-Chartists bar ; and then , at the end , there ' s the four-thousand-millions-personal-debt bar V
• ' O , don t you see , we have nothing to do with that ; the customs and duties will be taken off , and the excise , and land-tax and malt-tax will pay all those things . " " What ! then , afterall , you are obliged to fall back even upon our vices for support , and still to tax our land , eh ? Get thee gone , thou barefaced rascal thou hast had plenty of opportunities to serve thyself , and us , too ; but thou hast ruined thyself in trying to ruin us , —so get thee about thy business ! I am not going to be tailoring on the shop-board , or
be stunned in the rattle-box , for the Russian ^ the German , or the Prussian , while he is getting- more wages by my dependence and working his own bit of land for himself in peace and happiness , the produce of which will always be worth something , and which he may sell , or let it alone ; while if YOU don 1 sell my produce at your own price , ! may starve and be damned till you get a demand for my supply !! But harkee , Boniface , when did thou ever do me a kind turn in all thy life ? Tell me that , and I'll vote for thee . "
" Well , come , never mind ; let bye-gones be hygones ; but just let us join to beat tho odious landlords , and then thou shall see . " " Nay , I'll join for now ' t but my Charter !" " Well , but just help us to get the Corn Laws repealed , aud thou shall have that after . " " Nay , never a ^ ain ! Thou cheated me in 1832 , but thou'lt not do it again . " Such a conversation , we think , best illustrates the objects , motives , and views of those with whom the people are now asked to join .
We have frequently told our readers that the landlords gratuitously sacrifice ten millions annually in rents , in order that they may hold the exclusive representative power which follows the possession of land , and by which they are enabled to share in all sorts of pelf and patronage , at least one hundred millions sterling annually . Now , once alter the system which thus make ' s it worth their while to sacrifice so small an amount of " rent" to so large an amount of " render , " and you bring all the land of the country , ( at least as much as our present scanty population would require , ) into the advanced retail market . But once get a House of Commons sufficiently strong to repeal the Corn Laws , and then farewell Charter ! farewell
Household Suffrage with a Lodger clause ! farewell Household Suffrage of any sort ! farewell repeal of rate-pay ing clauses ! farewell to the removal of any single obstacle at present in the way of tho franchise ! and welcome tyrant 3 to what you have long looked for—a House of Masters !! Yes , give U 3 such a consummation , and at once England becomes a slaveland beyond redemption 1 her people dependent upon the domestic tyrant for employment , and upon the foreigner for support 1 Then farewell green fields of your fathers 1 farewell to the liberty of your sires ! farewell to the beauty of yonr daughters ! farewell to the independence of your sons ! farewell to all that is dear to man , and lovely in the sight of God home , peace , religion , and contentment ; all , all , farewell !!
Who now was right \ We told the people that the fellows who asked us to join could get Household Suffrage without us ; let the people see that they have been offered their own measure against our consent . " These are the times to try men ' s souls . " No Repeal before the Charter ! Down with the tyrants who , in their strength , gave us coercion , starvation * transportation , incarceration , a Rural Police , and the Arms' Bill ; and who now , in their weakness , would sell us to the slave-drivers for a quarter ' s salary Down with the nasty , unprincipled , dirty dogs I
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THREE GLORIOUS DAYS S Bt a reference to our columns it will be r *» ¦ ¦¦ - ., " *• » een that the People ' s Parliament has assem bled ; and upon the exertions of the people themselves must wholly depend its efficiency . The man who requires more than merely time for signing his name is not worthy the name of friend or Patriot ; and ten seconds being sufficient for the process , who can refuse ! Let Saturday , Sunday and Monday , then , be three glorious days ; and ever
glorious they will be va . the annals of the country if the signatures of the working classes procured within that time shall ensure the return of Frost , Williams , and Jones to their native land , and the incarcerated victims to the bosoms of their families . Up , then , every man , woman , and child , who caa scratch his name or make his murk ; let ' . hem at once be appended . What three minutes will fail ^ effect , three times three years may equally fail to effect . Is the country aware that THE LIFE OP J . B . O'Brien is despaired of in bis Whio
DUNGEON 1 Feelings which will not be harrowed by such & announcement , we shall not endeavour to enlist ! We are happy to sa ; that the greatest unanimity pro . vails in the Convention , and that with the greatest prudence they have decided upon accepting the voluntary assistance of all who tender it . Hurrah ! then , for the three glorious days ! 1 Let not a moment be lost ; and , when the sheets are Btgned , let them be made up ia the same form as a newspaper , with both ends ; open , and addressed as follows : —
T . S . Duncombe , Esq ., M . P ., Petition 6 , Albany Court Yard , to Parliament . London . And when despatched , let notice by letter bt instantly given under cover to : — Mr . J . Cleave , For the lt Shoe Lane , Fleet Street , Convention . London . Hurrah ! again hurrah !! for the three glorioui days !! !
MR . HENRY HETHERINGTON AND THE NORTHERN STAR . We had prepared an article in reply to Mr . HETHEniNGioN's somewhat " odd" letter , but as Mr . O'Connor has replied at great length , and u our space is wanted for intelligence of the "monment , " we shall permit Mr . Hetheringtoa to walk quietly off with as many laurels as he can cany away fromlthe field ; merely referring attention to his letter in connection with that of Mr . 0 'Gossoa and with the knowledge that all our readers have of our whole political career .
One word in reference to the letter of Mr . Cleate . We never charged him or any of the signers with having direct intercourse with Mr . O'Co . nneix We have never impeached his honesty ; bat we do impeach his judgment when we see him lend himself to the furtherance of a scheme which is clearly calculated to serve all the purposes
of O Connell and the Whigs , and by the same process to damn the people ' s cause . So far from the Star or Mr . O'Connor having any dislike to Mr . Cleave , we know that Mr . O'Connor has ever expressed for him a very great personal regard , and we really think he has no right to complain of personal attack , or even slight from us .
We shall conclude by furnishing Mr . Clbavb with a more appropriate motto than he hia selected" Would this hand were off before the deed ms done . " The remaining portion of O'Connor ' s letter to Mr . Hetherington , being a development of plots
plans , and conspiracies , we chose rather to withhold till our next , than to place it at the end of that portion which we now give ; when that comes , we faneytbst the country will be able to estimate the talk about " the sword and the scabbard , "—they will see who first drew the sword , and who , for four years , hti continually parried the thrust without returning it .
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THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . By the Pope , it was a smasher 1 to have so roused the bile of our virtuous cotemporaries . The Dispatch , certainly a most able journal , we consider the very woret authority upon the subject , as there is too much personal feeling mixed up with the matter between the leading daily and the leading weekly prints . If the Devil had opposed Walter , " Publicou " would have exclaimed , " O ! what a niceDefil ! let us have him by all means . " Since our friend , the ex-alderman , so unceremoniously hung up his
aldermanio toggery in Farringdon-witboui , or Cripplegate , or whatever ward had the misfortune to receive the cast-off garment , the feud has been deadly between the rival papers and belligerent Editors . The Examiner also raves , and calls the alliance an " unholy alliance . " While we admit the Examiner to be a great authority in Courts of Justice , th « Cabinet , and " Boudoir , " we must reject his opinion upon all matters of principle ; because our friend has certainly favoured us with the roost fascinating representation of Jim Crow in h # life .
The Dispatch speaks as though the Chartists of Nottingham thought the House of Commons consisted not of 657 Members and Mr . Walter , batw if the House consisted of Mr . Walter and 657 others , thus making Mr . W . the " head and front-This reminds us of an anecdote well told in the history of the Irish wars , and as it is quite in pom ' we give it . There was a large body of militia men and volunteers encamped upon the Curragh of Kildw « i and amongst other ofiicers , was one Lientenant Po , who , being an original , was always counted M a squadron in himself . Thus if any one asked " how many at such a party , " or " how mauy going t « such a party , " the answer was , "twenty-five , " or " twenty , and Po . "
Upon one occasion , Lord Cathcart appointed » day to inspect the force ; and upon being met » r the adjutant , his Lordship inquired , " Well , WAdjutant , what ' s your strength ? " " 16 , 000 and Fo my Lord , " was the reply . « Po , Po , Po , " repeated his Lordship , " why , damn it , have you all gone W pot ! "No , my Lord , but a very distinguidiea officer of that name has given rise to the joke . " . Now we beg leave to assure the Dispatch , ®» although we do not suppose that the return of N * Walter will send the other 657 to P » 5 ^ make many of them sing out . It is a trie * w followed up at Leeds , York , Halifax , BtatfWr Wakefield , ; Huddersfield , Manchester , Bolton , St < K * - port , Liverpool , Stroud , and Leicester ; and » "
other places will shortly find it out . What , we should like to know , would Mr . BAffO take for the reversion of 7 m seat ? We have strong suspicions that the Hon . Gentleman would ft ^* even alter the bastardy clauses in the new Bw fatal to poor men under the 43 rd of Elisabeth , w » to poor women in the 3 rd of Victoria . Ou the result , the World writes as follows : — " The result of tbe Nottingham election and fh « * turn of Mr . Walter—owing in a great degiee w ^ minnorfc which h « recftivad from the working clas * vfcl , 4 ¦» » - » -v-
— ^™ J- ^*~ - ^ — V — - ^™ ^ ™^ P ^ —«• * . — . . ^^ f \ t ¦ ^^^ W ha 3 caused a wonderful change in tue . rutths Morning Chronicle , which begins to find , out «»* Uay ia gone when the people will maie ^" / " r ^ the Whigs , for no bettor reason than that tnor ^ keep out the Tories . The lesson has been & ustiiu and will convince some of those in the upper ranw »
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4 THE NORTBERN STAR . _____ ============ ^^
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), May 8, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct705/page/4/
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