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TO THE LANDLORDS OP IRELAND.
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C^atrttjst3£nMKs«ire
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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 The Landlords Op Ireland.
TO THE LANDLORDS OP IRELAND .
" If England , witb ^ ei proper power at nome , Cannot defead her own door from the dog , Let us be worried ; and our nation low 7 he name of hardihood sad policy . " SHAKSPBjLBB—BESSY T . Ht Lords am > Gemlemen , —Bemored from the busy haunts of man ; aw » y from the bustle of the void ; free from malice , hatred , or ni -will tovaxdi lay living thing ; sad prompted by a sincere lore to jerve all , without doing injustice to any , X assume the t » Ei of addressing a series of letters to 70 % , Vbieh I tope to perfect withpat the iotrodostioa d pslitkal controversy , la truth , my Lords and Gentle men , it is sow foil time that the madness of the man ; by which the destmctlTe gain of the few has been
upheld , should be laid aside , for the benefit of alL My Lords and Gentlemen , removed , as yea are , from the scene of action in which I bare taken a conspi cuous put , and for which I am thus compelled to address yon from a felon ' s prison , mayhap your minds may require a little preparation , before you divest yourselves , as I hare done , of all prejudice and unkindly feeling . Witk that Tiaw , I shall not go
oreraDy of the" whys" and the " wherefores' * I amhere ; tat , being Tery extensively acquainted "With JOU , and ¦ very well knoirn to many of yoat order , I have only to appeal to the whole of life for reasons why I Bhould not be here , as far as you can judge . Let me , then , remicd you , that during the whole A life I haTe never > een party in suit or action ; that I haTe never been charged with , suspected , or guilty of one single mean , low , dishonourable , or TingtmtiCTpRTiirfrn act .
My Lords and Gentlemen , I took a prominent and a more Tiolent part , in 1821 , against what I considered injtiitice in Ireland , than I hare taken against what I consider irjustice in England for the ten last yean from that period . In 1821 I was not prosecuted , tlthcmgh I was most unjustly persecuted . I then ¦ wrote a paaaphhit in which I aactflted every act of Tiolence done by the people to the injustice of landlords , parsons , magistrates , grand jurors , and police . In
that pamphlet I implored of the landlords and other parties to reform the Sfeveal abuses of their respective orders , before the people should be impressed with the hopelessness of justice coining from the aristocracy . I was then denounced , driven from society , and branded as a Tebel ; but , my Lords and Gentlemen , the legislature has since passed a separate act , for the purpose of correcting the very abuses of "which I complained as gristing among those SiTeral orders .
I complained of sub-letting as a great grieTance , as regards landlord and tenant ; and of many other grievances also . The legislature passed a sub-letting act merely nibbling at the abuses of the system , but stopped short of interference just where it should hare ¦ commenced . I complained of tbe individual , Tmniffo * " * ' ansi jnaicial acts of magistrates ; and the legislators justified zsj complaint by the enactment of the Petty Sessions Bill ) by which magistrates are compelled t 9 meet togsiier , and in open court .
I complained of the unequal pressure of the tithe grrtcm , and tfee exemption of grass land from any share of the burdea , and I also complained of the whole jTstem ,- and that I was justified in complaining , ij manifest by the bill of Mr . Croulburn , passed three years subsequently , which had for its object the correction of the principal abuse of which I complained ; and I am further justified by the many attempts of administration recently made to deal with the whole jyitem . I complained of Grand Jury jobbing , in which was justified by the new Grand Jury BUI , whici has Certainly caused a more just expenditure , although Dot a sufficient retrenchment in that department
1 complained of the old Police , their mode of appointment , their qualification , their dependency upon the local magistrate , and many other abuses ; and that I was justified in that complaint also , the Irish Constabulaiory Bill fully proves . : So -w , my Lords and Gentlemen , I merely state these facts to prove that I was cot a rebel , but a forewaxner , in 1521 ; and not by any means with the intention of admitting that any one of the remedies was sufficient for the abuses which they professed to cure , while each and all furnish evidence of the existence cf abuse .
Sly Lords and Gentlemen , I farther state these facts for the purpose of apprising you that the justice of my present deBsandB , and the injustice of my present per-SeCtLtion , rosy be e ^ -aaily and perhaps more speedily actno-wledged by some subsequent acts of administrauon . ily Lord 3 sud Gentlemen , having said bo mueh wl ± s view to free your minds from any prejudice which a conviction for what is called libel might haTe created , allow me to tell yon that , however the meshes
of the lsw may haTe caught me , my real crime consists in an endeavour to preserve your estates from the grasp of the English manufacturers . That is " the head and front of my offending ; " but do not mistake me—I claim no credit or than )?? , inasmuch as my motives were of a far higher nature than a desire to uphold csjsst powers in your hands for the preservation of a tut foolish and a Tery destructive monopoly . 31 y Eosve tras to give to ycu the opportunity of Reform , bef are others compelled you to transfer .
Hy Lords and Gentlemen , such is precisely jotu pressat position . Tou haTe now the option whether you will forego monopoly ani commence Rsform , or presare monopoly and see your estates transferred to ether hands . In the plenitude of your power , you may say , ard S&S 3 T of yon will say—How can laws aff ^ c : oar property . ' How can land be transferred ? Lst us inquire how law has already affected landed property , and see ¦ wherein landlords objected not to legislative interference , - when that interference tended to their benefit . Csa yon chew me one Act of Parliament whieh . does Dot interfere wiOi landed property . ' while I will point your attention to mauy which hare duae so to a Tery considerable extent .
1 shall commence with that law whieh your acceptance and support of renders your position so Tery oneaviable at the present moment I mean the law Acting the introduction of foreign grain t » the British market . That law extended to you the same toi for the rise and protection of your property that Sa Boberi Peel ' s memorable bill , passed in 1319 , extended to the fundholder , for the rise and protection of ii * property . To that law you did not object . Th e * 9 naUsstion of the currency of the countries affected y ° » property held by tenants at will ; that gave to
saay an oportunity , ef whieh they availed themselves , of adding S \ to that description of property ; while the aoe parties reduced the wages of their labourers from ^ to rd ., thus adding & $ to one description of pro-^ rir , and 12 | to another description of property 1 ob » 2 ] say that middle men only had recourse to this Jaetice . ary asrsrer is , —Tbtj were your represfentacTa . You -mm also say that the instances were few-^ 7 Eimrer to that is , that I have been consulted in ^ y hundred cases cf rent ; a nd in my own immediate ^^ bbonra ood I know of some Tery extensive em-Pk ? es yrho reduced wages as I have stated .
' I * t vie illustrate this by a case , in which a middle-**» mile a proS : of over 33 per cent , by the change . >* & * & I h » Te kmwn not a few such . Suppose a mid-° * aas , who had underlet his ground to tenants at ¦* J 2 , or by accepted proposal , and to hold a large m ^ Sty of land upon his own hands . Xow I haTe *^*» such men firstly to raise the rent te the new r ** krd , that was B ± per cent ; then to rednce labour we new standard , that was 12 i ; then to pay the
^ a o pon truck system , by potatoes or flour ; ^ t&e s 2 ter » toon neTer touching the penny retail j T ** 64 ot 4 he labonrer , that was a fuither cheat upon of I S 3 per cent ; thus , suppose A to hate sold ***»« for gd . a weight before the alteration , sod to ^» i a day wages , after the alteration he redoced ^*» t « rd , &nd still demanded and got 8 d . for a ^ & ! w potatoes , and as be dealt in the wholesale ~™*^» ha 7 d . wai made to represent * d-, both in the ^* of rent and interest and eTerything el » e . l |_ — - - _« mwb mm ** Vl « 4 j WUU 0 Va ^ V * « t to Mt
j , ^ T ^ which I « direct your attention ^ wb Tithe Composition Act By that act you forced ^ ttcmnbent * into large reductions upon their j ^^^ corresponding , as you aTerred , with the J ^**< i security , while it gaTe them no increased j ^ Bttt act was the recent Tithe Act , by which jQ ^ ^ Tea y ° « esiates of tweaty-five per cent of the *«* Mi "ST 3 the Jxkh Poor Law Act
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Now all these acts had a direct influence upon rents ; and I will sew show you how Acts of Parliament , of a purely political character , interfere with landed property . The Catholic Emancipation Bill caused hundreds of thousands of small holding * to be thrown into large farms , . or added to those already in existence . The Reform BUI induced hundreds to withhold leases from a dreftd of creating a political power over which they could sot haTe an absolute eentroul .
Lord Morpcth ' B Begistr&tion Bill , so fortunately defeated , -would bare increased that practice to an extent frightful to be contemplated ; and , judging from the past , must either haTe depopulated a great portion of Ireland , or must have paralyzed the hand of industry , and have limited the expenditure of capital , by depriving the occupying tenants of all tenure beyond your wHI in their farms , and , consequently , of all inducement and heart to improTe their holdings .
My Lords and Gentlemen , haTing so far shewn you wherein you hare been consenting parties to legislative interference with your estates , let me sow point out whatever has been , and whatever must be , the result of a perseverance in error , and a dogged obstinacy in resisting Reform . Had the owners of borough property conceded a Tery little of right to growing opinion , the Reform Bill would not , as yet , haTe passed . Had the Protestant Church and Churchmen conceded minor points to their Catholic brethren , so "virtually a sweeping measure of Emancipation as that of 1 S 29 wouli not yet haTe . been looked for , or , at all events , it would not haTe been carried .
Had the Clergy of Ireland paid due attention to the warning Toice of Lord Mountc&ahel , conTeyed to them in his celebrated , but neglected , letters to Provost Elrington upon his translation to a bishoprics , you would not as yet haTe heard of Church property being handed over to the landlords of Ireland . Had the West Indian slave owners listened Bsme little to the Toice of reason , justice , and humanity , the slave might yet have sighed for his manumission . Had the old corporations deferred , in time , to the call for Reform , their prescriptive right to reTel in local abuse , would not have been transferred to otiei ¦ hands .
Kow , my Lords » nd Gentlemen , I use these instances of popular demand , increasing with oligarchical resistance , for the purpose of opening your eyes to the startling fact , that hitherto the word Reform has meant Tfii . > 'STER ; and , further with the hope of convincing you that yon have bow the option whether you will Refoim your own aVuses , or allow those abuses to remain as a mark for the most powerful f because the most wealthy and centralized ) party in the State , against which to direet the full current of popular indignation , Ministerial experiment and commercial speculation assault , with the Tiew of transferring your estates to their own pockets .
My Lords and Gentlemen , surely you haTe long since ascertained the fact that the Reform Bill was a transfer of legislative power from the landed to tbs manufacturing interest j and the manner in "which that power has increased and been used for the last nine years may' lead you to some conclusion as to the probable result Mark the odds against which you haTe to contend ; your forces in Ireland are in the hands of a man who " would use them for your benefit , if by so doing he could bvnefit himself ; bnt that not being practicable , he kas chosen the shocking altematire of inducing the Catholic people to commit suicide , not { as it is supposed by those who foolishly attach a religious motive to his tactics ) for the purpose of insuring a Catholic ascendancy : no such thing ; about ih mi
he cares not a farthing ; but your abuses give him a handle over Catholic prejudices , and thereby enable him to throw all the political weight of agricultural ¦ Ireland into the English manufacturers ' scale , which is the important one just now for insuring of "political pataoaagfc . " WLile yon are tiros depriTed of all popular support , yonr party in England is thinly dispersed over the face of a scantily populated country ; the population muck thinned for the purpose of creating a labour reserve in unhealthy manufacturing towns . ' TMs portion of the population is , firstly , ignorant as the beasts they drive ; and , secondly , not capable of being brought together far effect , such as public demonstrations ; while your enemies are assembled in an hour by ring of bell , or placards on the walL
Perhaps , secure in your mountain retreat or well-barred castle , you nny say that you don't want demonstrations . I know you do not , but can you either stap them or prevent their , effect ? No , you cannot ; and , believe me , that the day is gone when any Government can hold power against popular demonstration . My Lords and Gentlemen , 1 now come to close quarters with yon ; and you "wlio know that I have been mixed up for twenty years in all the Tiolent political struggles ef my own county , and who can bear witness that during those contests , which have betn angry , sharp , and frequent , I have never given personal offence or lost a friend , will n # w bear with me , while I ecold
you well with the hope of rousing you to a sense of your duty , of opening your eyes to your negligencies and follies , and of directing yonr attention to the only possible mians by Which JOU Can mnch longer remain possessors of your estates . Again , I beg and beseech of you not to reject the advice , because it comes from one who has gained great triumphs otct you ; not to look too carelessly at the picture which , for a time , you may see but at a great distance ; not to suppose that your most quiet ¦ valley , embedded in your most inaccessible mountains , is unapproachable to , 01 proof against an act ofj the legislature .
My Lords and Gentlemen , do not " lay the flattering unction to your soula " that the temporary ascendancy of your political party can stay the wanton's assault irpon yeur property . Do not allow momentary strength to harden you in error ; but , on the contrary , seize it , embrace it , use it , as the most fitting and appropriate time for deliberation , and self-correetion , and Reform . Set about it at once ; for , believe me , that short , Tery short , ' will be the political triumph of your friends .
My Lords and Gentlemen , yon are called monopolists , robbers , plunderers , murderers , and starrera of the poor . If there is any defence for yon , you -wall find it in recriminationi Tou will find it in the fact , that those who thus brand you have themselves committed wholesale murder , plunder , and spoliation upon the poor , and would now rob you to further enrich themselves But , my Lords and Gentlemen , while I thus arm you with a defence against those more deeply steeped in crime , do nor suppose that I hold you guiltless . No , I do not ; but then your crimes are as white as mow compared with the scarlet
gins of your accusers ; but yet jou committed many and flagrant offences ,, and are still chargeable with the name of monopolists , but not in the sense in which the steam lords apply it to landlords . No ! while their object is not by any means to improTe the condition , or advance the comfort , of the poor , your crime consists , —not in upholding monopoly produced by Act of Parliament ; it does not consist of making a
monopoly of grain ; bat it does consist in making a monopoly of land -which produces grain , in order that yoa may make a monopoly of legislation , irhich -produces place and wealth , patronage and distinction . Now herein is your folly ; and my greatest surprise has ever bees , that landlords , not of a political tinge , or not looking for political gain , will allow their estates to be endangered by joining is the mad and reckless career of political patrons .
My Lords and Gentlemen , your monopoly consists in the law of primogeniture , which , morally , socially and physically does you much damage . Iu your mode of leasing your . estates in large allotments unssited to the capital ot the country and destructiTe ef the industry of the country ; in your conditions annexed to occupation ; in yonr restrictions as to application ; in your exactions as to political support ; in your encour&gement of tbe substitution of horse power for manual labour ; but above all , in your obHinate perseverance
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in that antediluTian system of making serf of your tenants , by short leases or no leases , and the practice of exacting one settled inTariable rent for ft period , no matter how long or bow short , without reference to the price of the produce of the commodity you let , instead of regulating rent by a graduating scale of prices of produce;—this is little short of madness .
My Lords and Gentlemen , however ambition may hare led your judgment captive for a 864300 , JOOT shrewdness most bare told you that when you were ready to join in the spoliation of Church property for your own appropriation , you were firstly furnishing a precedent for legislate interference with a title certainly inferior to the title of the Church ; and you might also haTe guessed that your turn would come when the next pull was required .
You most hare known , because you speak mpch of prescriptive right and inheritance , that the title of a Church , whether that Church was Catholic or Prot « stant , was a higher title , by law , to the latK $ J % U > ~ t he title of the landlord . ' . You who speak of national faith , mnghtee ' aware that prior to your becoming possessed o ^ flTlandiThe Church hai a lien upon it V > the amount of one-tenth of its produce .
You must have been aware that livings were purchased , and bargains made , and contrasts entered upon , on the faith of this prior claim or mortgage . The Church , in its turn , must have known that when it became a party to the appropriation of the trust-property of the poor , that its turn would one day came ; and the landlords must haTe been aware that when they became a party to the appropriation of church property to their own uses , that their day would come ; aid those who would now appropriate your estates to their owij uses , under the specious pretext of feeding
the poor , may rest assured that their day will also come . My Lords and Gentlemen , I mention these things to warn you of your danger , to alarm you of the thief ' s approach , to rouse you to action , in order that profitting by the ponrtrayal of your own folly , and the folly of others , you may take the msans of doing gratuitously for yourselves , that which , if left undone by you , will be done by rougher hands ; for done , belieTe me , it will be , and that right speedily . My Lords and Gentlemen , pray , pray , pray , keep that one feature full in Tiew , —THAT DONE IT MUST BE ; and therefore the question is , Who shall do it ?
You are n » w Tery peculiarly circumstanced . A bold exercise of your newly-acquired political strength may do something for you . A prompt use of your social powers may saTe you . Let me point out to you how , and in what manner . If you come forward in your political strength , and reduce expenditure , debt , wages of public servants , and all the cost of Government , to that standard to which a repeal of the Corn Laws would assuredly reduce your estates , you will but nominally suffer : your rentals win be rednced , but your burdens will be correspondingly lessened ; your incomes will be Tirtually smaller , but actually more Taluable , because more secure ; your position in Bociety will not be in the least altered .
The most wealthy will still be the most wealthy , the several classes measured by the same graduating scale , will see no perceptible cb ange in their social or monetary arrangements . This change you can accomplish fey a Tigoraus and timely exercise of your political functions . However , should you still cling to high rents and expensive government , and a false preeminence from which a sudden shock may hurl you , you must , in such case , make timely use of your power as landlords ; you must bring your estates into the retail market , to suit the h&bits , customs , capabilities , and wants of your own people ; while you will open for the English manufacturers s trade , a home trade , a sure trade , larger and mote remunerative than all their quackery would produce .
Thus , my Lords and Gentlemen , you have it in your power to act as a break-water to the rushing rapids , while you are erecting your new building ; and if you proceed with judgment , you may strike your centres at any given moment , without fear of damage from the flood ; but , oppose the current , and your all will be hurried down the stream . My Lords and Gentlemen , attend to the alternatives between which you haTe to select . You must either throw your estates into gavel , and become tenants , in common with all the landlords of all the corn and
cattle-producing countries of the earth , or you must bring yonr estates into the retail market , and give , from their cultivation , an impetus to home manufactures , and native industry . Have you not had full and ample proof that the system of " hand-to-mouth" legislation , so long attempted , but in vain , la intended to correspond with the system which has been bnt too successfully practised of making the working classes live from hand to mouth , in order that they may be more at the mercy of those
employers who eke millions cut of their dependency , your obstinacy , and their own devilment ? Does not each day ' s noTelty furnish you with proof that all laws are now made with th » one single object , however wide they may be of the mark ; and that that object is to reduce the working people , made " surplus population " by machinery , to the necessity of -working at wages regulated by the mere existence point , or of emigrating to some foreign land , or ol dying of hanger , or of revolting against the unnatural state of things 7
My Lords ajad Gentlemen , you have been too much in the habit ef listening to the wild vagaries of hired experimentalists , who write according to order in the daily and weekly journals , and who know as much about the national disorder , and the proper remedies , as barristers or attoroiea cars about the purity ot their clients . Pray bear in mind that the press is a hand-tomouth repast , furnished exclusiTely by the monied orders ; and although your interests may be said to be represented by a few , yet are they all in the possession of the hand-to-mouth gentry ; for which , see advertisements , and point oat one from a landed proprietor , and let those papers dare to adTocate your cause , and then point me out one at all .
Another " ipnis fahtus , " which blinks you and sets yonr heads -wanderirg , is your sectional attachment to , and following of , some local and general parliamentary leader . JTow , believe me , that those gentlemen will adTocate their own interests by making merchandise of you , Firstly , they do not understand the question ; and , secondly , they ate politically divided upon it . My Lords and Gentlemen , I smiled most sorrowfully at your childiaa notion , recently made manifest in an endeaTour to commence Reform by raising subscriptions for agricultural shows , to divide among yoursslves and a few of your petted tenants . As well may you hope to heal a mortal wound by the application of a bit of court plaister . You must amputate .
My Lords and Gentlemen , I have for the present devoted as much space to you as I can prudently afford . In my next I shall take a small estate of one thousand acres , and show the little benefit conferred upon society by your injudicious management and destructire monopoly of it ; and the great benefit which a prudent and profitable disposition may confer upon yourselves and society at large . I shall proTe , beyond a possibility of refutation , that you are the monopolists , but not in the way sought to be proved by others . I shall prove that a wise and profitable allocation of a Tery small portion of the land of Great Britain and Ireland , would mak « the whole Notional Debt a mere thing of nothing ; capable of being redeemed in less than five years by the working classes .
My Lords and Gentlemen , in my treatise I will not allow a political economist , a ( moonshine thtorist , ) a single peg to hang a scientific objection upon , because I will argue the thing according to the Tery roughest and most diaeoorgagiug calculations , and not by the new arithmetic of scientific production ; but from such data as the least cultivated will understand ; and , I Will undertak * to prove that the landlords , either as the ascendant political party , or as a united body , may now preaaee- to save their estates , their country , their
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properties , and the people from want , from raptae , sod from revolution . I am aware that many objections will be raised , but no refutation will be attempted ; and , as to objections without refutation , they but bespeak prejudice and affection for custom which but ill accords with the present times , and will not be listened to . My Lords and Gentlemen , let me , in concluding this , my first letter , warn yon that , at one *; , either the Corn Laws must be Repealed , or you mast render their immediate Repeal unnecessary , or put yourselves in a condition to meet the new order of things created by Repeal , or defend your estates by force of arms .
Again , I tell yon that the political democratic ourfeat will go on ; but upon the opposers to that current most test the damage which the flood shall do in its progress . I implore you to erect your break-waters , by the removal of abuse ; and then when justice triumphs you will be participators in the change . The people , the starving people , the brave people , the magnanimous people of England hare braved hunger , want , and privation , with Roman fortitude and unprecedented heroism . They have rejected the bait intended to entrap them into absolute slavery . They have resisted all invitations to commit rapine , plunder , spoliation , and devastation .
But , smf Lords and Gentlemen , well organised as we are , ( for I have left you , and become part and parcel of the people , ) yet , all hope failing of such immediate social change as we look for , pending our advocacy of universal right , we shall be left no alternative , by your refusal , but to experimentalise upon your properties . My Lords and Gentlemen , we can rob you all in less than six weeks , though you had the Court , the Lords , and the Commons with you ; and , having d « ne so ,
then you would be thrown into revolution with the fundholder , the paraon , the mortgagee , the simple contract creditor , your mothers , your brothers , your sisters , and your dependants , who , believe me , will be as lotb to give up their grasp upon their monopoly aa you bave beea to surrender yours . Judge , then , in which situation you can best arbitrate , whether before or after TRANSFER . We are called Destructives ; while we have borne oppression rather than change the warfare to our oppressors camp .
My Lerds and Gentlemen , I will write you six letters . Do not reject them or treat them jeeringly ; for should you , after notice , persist in error , the war will be carried into your camp . I have the honour to be , My Lords and Gentlemen , Your obedient servant , Feabgus O'Connor . York Castle , Condemned Cell , June 29 th , 18 U .
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TO THE FUSTIAN JACKETS . My dear Comrades , —The first campaign of single-handed Chartism is over , and , thank God for it ! it has terminated gloriously and to the immortal honour of the people . I rejoice to think that , however some of the least bad men have received a sectional local support here and there , yet has not one single demonstration taken place in aid of faction—not one ! Now , my dear friends , hear me . To gain a victory is comparatively easy , while to turn triumph to advantage requires all the thought , prudence , and discretion of the wisest head . 1 asked you to take care and make tho Whig force in the next Parliament too small for a party , and too large for a faction . You shall now hear my reasons , and judge of their sonndness .
If the parties were balanced , as recommended by " Publicola , " they would have played battle-dore and shuttle-cock with the people . A party sufficiently large to be presumptive heirs to office , would still stand upon constitutional prerogative , and would be afraid 01 " liberal measures , " lest they should establish precedents to be followed when in power . A party in opposition lurge enough to take office with the existing Parliament , will have nothing to fear from popular indignation , as they would not be compelled to dissolve in order to insure a majority . If the Whigs were in a minority , of not more than ten , and if the Tories found themselves too weak to retain office , a sufficient number of " waiters upon Providence' * would join the Whigs rather than
encounter another general election : but , with a majority of fifty or sixty against them , the Whigs would be compelled to come again before the people , and , before their next appeal , they will have discovered who the people are . I have told jou many a time and oft , that there are only two ways of effecting any great change ; the one by physical revolution , the other by an act of the legislature . The good people have now come to a knowlege of the fact that all physical revolutions terminate unsuccessfully to thecauso of liberty ; and even if it were not so , they but look upon such means of acquiring justice as a last and dreadful resource . In such case it becomes the bounden duty of every man who decries revolution , and yet
proclaims death in any shape to be preferable to the continuance of the system against which he contends ; it becomes his duty to state freely and fairly wherein the realization of his hopes are feasible without revolution , and how they can be effected by an act of the legislature . Such shall be my present task . J . J The paupers provided for by the Sate are divided into two political parties , each depending for distinction , &ud even for existence , upon their respective hold of office ; while all the industrious classes form one compact and united body . I say united , and I say all ; because tradesmen , shopkeepers , and all the intermediate parties between those who have raw property and tho 3 e who convert that raw material into value by labour , must , of necessity , very soon discover that the people are the belly of the State , and that all other classes are but the members ;
and that the belly being starved , the members must ptrish . While there was enough of plunder for all , the tradesmen and shopkeepers preferred competency with political distinction , to superfluity purchased at the expence of the loss of that distinction ; but now that the idleTs of the aristocraoy have become too numerous to admit of any division of the plunder , and even the respective parties of the highest order have become , either of them , too large to be com ' fortably quartered upon what the people , made paupers by machinery , can afford to give , they will both very soon discover that the increase of machinery , to any amount , no matter how great , and the wealth produced thereby , no matter howsoever enormous , will be of not the slightest benefit to them ; but , on the contrary , " as much would have more , " the owners of machinery will consider all too little for themselves .
In this state of things , I think we stand in no danger of a coalition being formed by the parties ; and , indeed , even that would give us a Republican opposition in the House , constituted of all the disappointed of both parties . Now , the Whigs are far the poorer of the two parties ; and when they are for a season excluded from the mess , and when Mr . O'Connell finds Sergeant Jackson , and Mr . Litton , and a few more Tories , placed upon tho bench , and when he finds all the offices to which he had the appointment , and from which , believe me , he had very pretty pickings , banded over to tho enemy , he will foam like a mad dog at the mouth ; and in their weak and helpless condition , their appeal will
be from houses to men . Don't you mind " Publicola " , who has written more rubbish since the dissolution than all the Whig scribes put together , and that is saying a great deal ; I say don ' t y ou tnind him , when he tells yon that the Whigs will join in oppression for spite , because the people opposed them . Not a bit of it . They , believe , me , will join whoever or whatever , if it was the devil himself , has the power of whipping the Tory pack from the mess and giving it to them . Well ; then will come our turn , and then will be the time for an understanding , and this brings me to the legislative mode of carrying out oar principles . The Whigs , before they again come to office , must
dissolve , and they must not only' dissolve , but we will take precious good care that if they do dissolve upon a clap-trap , the appeal will be answered as the last has been . But , if they dissolve upon the only measure which we will accept as terms of unio n , we will further take care , that their ma j or ity shall consist of Chartists , and not of mere anti-Tories . Now , one thing they have ascertained , that is ,, that the Reform Bill has failed toba a Whig guarantee of office , and another thing they may have learned , ie , that without the people they can do nothing . _ Now , suppose they should either dissolve "gain , which is by no-meaos improbable , because tne Whig ntenainment will not be allowed to termraato without a . fMfi&i , or , suppose , that anything , should
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cause a dissolution . Well ; in a uch ease , the electors of the present year would be z egistered , and they would calculate th » s :--If , sine ** 1837 being four years , the Tories have changed ovir majority of 100 to a minority of 4 ft , by the Before x machinery , and if the last year has been one of ina 'eased activity in registration , what would be the p * ibable result of another General Election ! Answer —as 4 is to 140 , I is to 35 y and the resalt would be a- Tory majority of 75 . Another question is , what possible m . \ ? ans have we now of obviating such a result ! Am'wer—by an appeal to the people . Upon what terms ? - By guaranteeing to them the return of thirty ol their own selected representatives , upon the condition that the
nation will rise constitutionally , as on& map , to ensure , not only an anti-Tory House , but to give to the whole people one-twentieth of the representation , with a view to laying popular feeJings , opiniome , wants , and demands before the Legislature , thereby transferring power for ever from the hands of the Tories to the hands of the Reformers , for the purpose of working out that principle of the Reform Bill , which , they say , they have hitherto been prevented from doing by Tory opposition . Now , this is the safety-valve—the only safety-valve , and if not very speedily applied to the steam of boiling public opinion , the engine will explode . This representation , would place tbe people , not
as the Reformers were placed some forty years ago , but in that position in whAck their increased power , based upon their increased union and knowledge , entitles them to . The Reformers never had any back , that is , any real back , such as- the Chartists would have outside . The Reformers never meant what they said , and most unfortunately , the Reform Bill was passed in a storm , and without previous preliminary tutoring of the public mind , to prepare it for the full benefit of a well digested measure . This is the advantage which we would now have over all other parties , tee are prepared with a new system , to replace the old , without an interregnum of chaos and speculative rule .
Wo have not thrown out the dirty water till we have s , ot clean . If I was not fearful of being charged with , despotism , I could mention thirty men whose presence would do honour to the House of Commons , and not one of whom could be purchased , and each and all of whom should sign the pledge to resign when called upon , and receive the salary for service , a . s laid down in the Charter ; and more , I would not be one of them , as I am resolved to remain as sentry over the fustian army of observation . But , while I thua select my own port , I would give the garrison twenty times as much strength as if I was one among them . Now . I will lav down a few facts for you . Neither
the House of Commons' Reformers or the House of Commons'leaders of any one great question ever yet intended to extend to the people the whole or what they promised . They have gone far enough to hound the popular cry on , in anticipation of _ all the promised results , and when their own object has been achieved , then have they turned upon the " »^ - norantpeople " and taunted them with madness , in having , so violently and erroneously misconstrued those opinions , which , while enforcing , they took particular trouble to prove were in exact accordance with popular notions . In fact , the people never , till now , were in a fit state to judge whether they were or were not duped by their leaders .
The very same courso has been pursued by the liberal press . I will give you two melancholy instances ; one furnished by the Weekly Dispatch , the other by the Leeds Mercury . For many year ? , Publicola , a writer in the Dispatch , had been taunting the people with passive endurance of wrong , aud actually brought the publie mind up to a high pitch of contempt for royalty , andall the institutions of the country . Well , in 1838 , when the men of Birmingham responded to the national call , and placed Universal Suffrage upon their banners , " Publicola" turned round and denounced them . Since then , " Publicola" has boasted of his own forwardness , and jeered at the iitile good that could be expected from the practical workings of the Charter . He has also been
loud in his denunciation of royalty , and all ancient institutions , and has attempted to palm sonie absurd thirty-nino articles of political faith upon the Chartists . But since the dissolution of Parliament , this anti-monarchist , and hater of all institutions , has told us that he is " more than a Chartist , " and , therefore , opposed to Universal Suffrage , and the Payment of Members ; and he has recently actually denounced the wife of the Superintendant of the Woolwich Dock-yard , for not being as well dressed as the Queen , upon thfl visit of her Majesty to see her ship , the Trafalgar , launched ; nay , he ia loud in his complaints , that this lady did not lay aside her soul ' s mourning , and dress inward grief in outward joyous gaiety , in honour of Royalty ; he also complains that the police and attendants did not tako off their hats often enough ; and bow low enough to Royalty ; he also complains that the furniture of her reception room was not sufficiently
expensive , and that the servants had the matchless insolence to more about in her presence , regardless of Royalty ; and further , that they swept , and dusted the tables , and chairs , and he rejoices thatthe servant in waiting upon her Majesty was made to smart under the withering scowl of offended Royalty . The Mercury was the cause of fourteen poor men being hun £ upon one and the same day at York Castle ; the Mercury has invited assaults upon landed property , and has gone far to create revolution in favour of Whiggery and " Reform . " Now , then , mind . Those humbug prints would hound you on at their prey , and , pointing to the advantage which yon were to acquire , they would slip you from the leash when their own enemies were to be hunted down ; but the moment you had done that , then would they " coop the eagles from their carrion , " and whip public opinion with a scorpion , and merciless lash from the very scent themselves
had set it on . Now , with thirty Chartist Members , pledged to resign when called upon , always mind that ; neither leaders nor newspapers could whip national opinion from the game . 1 &Well but how is it to be done \ Why as easily as to fall off a horse . Let the Whigs dissolve upon the principles promised in the Reform Bill , that " taxation and representation shall be do-ejetenstve , and , humble as I am , I pledge my life , upon the issue , which shall be even with the present electoral body backed by the people , to change the Tory majority , from whatever it may be to a mere factious minority ; but then we will secure the return of our men first or it is no .
go . , „ , The past elections have proved that where Chartism was represented on tho hustings , the people were ready to rally upon the moral strength of their cause , and its representation in the House would be the only means of insuring its legislative success , which if denied , will assuredly be accomplished by other and less desirable means . Brothers , upon no conditions whatever can we unite with either party , upon the understanding that we abate a pin ' s point of our claims . We refused it to the enemv when strong , and shall we now
weaken Ourselves by becoming partners in a tottering firm 1 Never become tenant to a falling house , or join in business with a decliuing partner . We must not now fight the battles over again , Wherever any one body of our local friends have , from justifiable causes , acted an apparently different part from another body , we must not assume that either were right or wrong in order to justify the other . Tho probability is , that in all and erery ca 3 e , the Chartists were right , and , indeed , I am sure they were . Therefore , no fighting of the battle over again , it will but do the enemies work , and create disunion
and division . . I shall conclude with a quotation from the man who understood man , and his nature , better than any who has lived before or since his time—Shakspeare . ^ -In speaking of unity , the great master
says : — "Under wise conduct and mature design It is well possible that many things , Having full reference to one consent , May act accordingly ; though else contrariors : As many arrows loosed several ways Fly to one mark ; As many several ways meet in one town ; As many fresh seas run ia one-self sea ; As many liaes c lone in the dial ' s centre ; So many a thousand actions once a foot End in one purpose , and be all well born Without defeat " So writes the great poet on unity . Also hear , what he says of union , and mark its application to oar present position : — " Where what combined hath been most great , these let not Inferior causes sever . "
Now , hear what one of " nature ' s journeymen" has been telling the people for twenty years : — " Our strength is in our union , our power is in our voice , tJid our success in our perseverance . " Brothers , stand fast and fear not . Onward , and we conquer : backward , and we fall . Universal Suffrage , and No Surrender . " As well may the lamb with tbe tiger unite , The mouse with the cat or the lark with the kite . " I am , Your fcrua aud constant friend , Fearous O'Connor .
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jfa j ^^ j ; / fautx , ^ J fMM 1 * / jt ^^ zJ- y ff ?~ . 4 LL& 7 JfiU . Jw- P . S . —That I did not judge badly of the strength the resolution , and the henesty of the non-electors , by relying solely upon their watchfulness of the use made of their strength by leaders , may be gathered from the just and wholesome examples made of traftors Dever and Edwards .
Remember the mess , and that we are the huntsmen who can say , " halloo , cess , cess , cess , good dogs ; " and remember that we don ' t want any of the » nes *; we only want to prevent either pack-from eating too much , to the injury of theib constitution . F . O'C .
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WOTTOAM . —Mr . Samuel Le « Hadfleld has been appointed to the council , in the room of Mr . Win Mills , stone-mason . HOtMNGWORTH . —Mr . John Leach , of Hyde delivered an able and intewsting lecture , in the Uiartiat Room , on Sunday last ^ S *??^ * : ~— A letter fto »» Drogheda states that" the principles of Chartism ie spreading amonjrthe working claaa ia this town with an astonishing rapidity . "
aAMSiWRv . —That talented adweate of tbe c , rJ ! " *' people * Mr Ruffy Ridley , lectured In Salisbury , oh Monday evening , July 5 th , on the First Principles ef Government—Fre « Trade—awi the Peo > - ple ' s Charter—to about five hundred . Mr . R . Ridley ™ « U received , and gave the greatest satisfaction toall present . After the lecture , several noMe fellow * joined the society ; we have now a good prospect of gonoga-headi MANCHESTER . —REIEASE of CHABITB * PRISONESSi—Mr . Barker , of Manchester , and Mr . Bell , of Bokon , who were consigned to Kirkdale for eighteen nianthsi for the Ii 2 th- of August affair , were liberated on Monday morning , withsut any previous notise , and entered Manchester on Tuesday , as full of CharMst Ore and zeal , and indaed raoreso ; tha » they were wbanfirst incarcerated . .
HURRJU * FOB VWE WeWEW OP MANCHE 3 T 2 HHThey have been subscribing liberally themselves ,, and collecting from their friends , ia order to tai « ft a load teenable them to do their share in paying due honour * to Feargus OfCbanor , Esqt , at the doming demonstration . Tkey have purchased a piece ? » f canvas , which measure * eight feet by seven , and engaged a first-rate portrait painter to paint a full-length likeness of that gentleman , dressed in fostian , with the People ' s Charter in his hand . At a short distance from him appears a large assemblage of people , the males dressed in fustian ; an * to bis right there is an imitation ot a castle ,- and at th » coiner of the picture there is a large figure representing-Henry Hunt , the departed , coming through the clouds-, and speaking to O'Connor . The painting is nearly finished , and presents a moat interesting and splendid appearance , bo far as the- writer el this—who has been * brought up a painter—ean judge . The mottos are notion yet , but will be given iu the delineation of the procession .
LONDON . —After a bustling and fatigneing election ! week of days and nigbte , the Cuattists of the city , still deslroua not to relax in duty to their fellow-men ,, met on Tuesday night last , at the Political and Selenitic ? Institute , 55 , Old Bailey , and are very desirous that their fellow-members of the National Chatter Associa tion should meet at the above place , to attend to their duty to the Association , next Tuesday . The shareholders of the above place are to have a special general meeting on Sunday morning next , at ten o ' clock , when a code of laws for their future guidance will be submitted for their consideration , also a plan of a political loan tract society . Mr . Saukey is expected to lecture ih the evening , at seven o ' clock , of the sama day , in the above place .
CAWIBERWEI . Ii . —The Chartists of Camberweli and Walworth , at their weekly meeting , held last Monday night , at the Rose and Crown Inn , Walworth , resolved , — " That as the permanent Executive would commence business on Monday , the 12 th day of July , and having perfect confidence in those elected to serve on that Executive , we are now prepared to forward to Manchester £ 1 , to enable those brave and good men to carry Out the great principles of liberty and justice againsttyranny and injustice . " We aro progressing ; we have a local Committee for the better management of our finances , and we have found its good effects already-We are determined to go on perseveringly and constitutionally agitating for the Charter ; the whole Charter , aud nothing less than the Charter will satisfy us .
TODMORDEN .-The weekly meeting of the Chartist Society took place on Monday evening last , when many persons came forward to have their names enrolled . BIRMINGHAM . —Public Meeting . —A public meeting was held at the Railway Station , Duddeston-row , on Monday evening last , Mr . Walter Thome in the chair . Mr . George White addressed the meeting on the absolute necessity of union and organization amongst the people , and pointed oat the means by which Government managed to blindfold , and oppress the millions . He exposed the trickery of the Whigs at the nomination , and hoped that all men who felt the truth of Chartism , would prove their sincerity by joining the National Charter Association . Mr . Roberts , of Bath , was then introduced and spoke of the apathy whieh had been
displayed by the people as the chief cause why so many of their friends bad been imprisoned and others banished . The working classes , were allpowerful if they thought proper to unite and make a proper use of their strength , but as long as they contented , themselves with mere display , and remained in a disorganised state so long wonld they have to suffer the miseries of misgovern ment . After a few other excellent remarks he retired , remarking that the effect of his imprisonment was such as to prevent him from speaking at much length at open air meetings . After another address from Mr . White , the meeting was adjourned to Monday evening next at seven o ' clock , Mr . White giving notice that as they were shut up from the Town Hall and the other large buildings , it was his determination to address the people at that place , every Moaday
evening . , Monday Evening ' s Meeting . —The usual weekly meeting took place on Monday evening , at the room in Freeman-street , Mr . Thompson , of Hurststreet , in the chair . The meeting was addressed by-Mr . White , in his usual style . At the conclusion-of his address he informed the meeting , that as he had so many meetings to attend he would beg leavo to withdraw from the secretaryship of the Association , in order to make room for Mr . Wilkinson , who was a very talented and industrious young man , and one that he knew would do more justice to the office than he could . The sense of the meeting was then taken , when it was unanimously agreed that Mr . Wilkinson was a proper person for the office . Notice was then given that a lecture would be delivered oa the following Wednesday , in favour of Mr . Brown , now an inmate of Warwick gaol , after which the meeting separated .
Fhost &c . Restobation Committee . —The Committee have received the 3 j . 6 J . collected at Nottingham . It was duly forwarded by the party alluded to in their letter . Freeman Street Meeting . —A meeting was held at the Chartist-room , Freeman-street , on Sunday evening last , Mr . Corbet , of Richard-street , in the chair . Mr . G . White addressed them on the blessings and benefits that would arise from the establishment of the People ' s Charter . He exposed the folly of the partie 3 calling themselves Chartists , continually begging support from the middie
classes , and instanced the late elections as a proof that they would rather send a Tory to the House of Commons than an honest Chartist . He expressed a belief that if the Charter was granted , the moment the people began to make lawa for the protection Of their labour from tho plunder of the middle and upper classes , that they would then unite and endeavour to repeal it . He , therefore , impressed it on the minds of his hearers that nothing could deliver them from the present murderous state of society , but a powerful union of determined working men . He was loudly cheered at the conclusion .
IMCIDDLESBRO ' . —At a public meeting held on Wednesday , in last week , in the Market-place , Mr . John Sutherland in the chair , it was resolved unanimously , " That this meeting views with dismay the alarmin gly depressed state of this country , a state of things which is fast hurrying the employer and the employed into a state of bankruptcy , ruin , and starvation ; and as the present constituency have not returned Representatives either capable or willing to protect or reform our commercial institutions , therefore this meeting expects no beneficicial change
until the principles of r t ? al and salutary reform embodied in the people ' s Charter be adopted . Second , « That this meeting indignantly reprobates 1 theidiBgTacefal conduct of the gentlemen , so called , ot the Anti-Corn Law League , o £ Manchester and Stockport , in engaging a band of ignorant Tiolent men to put down free discussion on the Cora Law questionthis meeting deeming sueh conduct , . a ^ mahcious attempt to provoke an outbreak , by whieh all the odium intent be thrown on the ChartisU , to the injury of the cause of Chartism generally . "
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The Eabl of Cabdigai * Agaik . —The Earl of Cardigan was ballotted for as a member of the Senior United Service Club on Tuesday , the 6 th of Juljr . There were -28 white and 166 black balls : in all , 1 94 ballotted . The Noble Earl was therefore rejected , and the consequence of the rejection is , that he cannot be again proposed as a member for ten years . It so happens that the other f ° ) H ||! yW * i * t ' < . - v > did&test and , among them , the major otiWMeMta ? ^ *''' Hussars , were all admitted . O I A . j > . ^ Much sickness prevails among ihe ^ tra ^^ rtgii ^^^ f < > Havanna . A gentleman who has npU j ^ wa ^^^ V oity for tweuty years has never knowMe ^ Wj ^ I ^ fSftJ * fatal or so generally prevalent as it hHE 6 © 0 # ^ fiji ;^ rt | . % ^ last few weeks among the shippingimguft . %% && ' iMl * isi HadVABAiaair
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TOL . IT . NO . 191 . SATURDAY , JULY 10 / 1841 . ^ £ X ^\ £ *^ ' ° ' ^ Bt^—— -I M —^——¦——— ' ¦ ¦ ¦ i ¦¦ ¦!¦ . —¦ ¦ —^— ... - r 1 II . || . 1 ¦! I ^—i ^ M ^^ M ^ MM ¦ - !¦ I '' . _ .. _' . II - I Ml ¦!—Ml " | ' -.-.- ' ( ——» — Mill ¦ —¦———^—»
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AND LEEDS GENERAL ADTERTISEB .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), July 10, 1841, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct714/page/1/
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