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THE ±\OETHERIS T STAH. SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 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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CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE OF MITCHELL , THE GlfSY BOY . f Continued from our last . ) At length I got tired of this mode of life ; particularly as 1 got nothing by it , except what I managed to thieve and secrete on my otto account , and which I ussd to conceal in secret parts of my
trousers , , Those gipsies nsed to make the sale of pots and glass & pretext for picking pockets , and it was not * d uncommon thic ^ for one of the women to be engaged in telling a young lady , or gentleman , their fortune , while myself , or some of the men , who were dres ? e 4 up , stood by waiting to have ours told , while we were picking the pockets of the young people . We were once encamped alongside another gang of gipsies , and -the queen of the gang asked me if I woald like to have my . fortnpe told , and I Eaid yes ; and the moment she looked at my hand , she Eaid , " Eh , lad , thee will surely be hanged . " In less than eighteen mon'bs , and before , or just about that time from the date , I was arrested for the murder of Mr . Blackburn .
The gipey pointed out ine hues in my hand , which I never observed before . Upon one hand , close to the butt of my fingers , there is a deep wide line running from one side of the palm to the other , » ad npon the other there is no such mark at all . I mean t » say that there is not ia tha world such desperate people as a gang of gip ? ie 3 . I am sure they think nothing of killing any man , or stealing any gentleman ' s child . Servant girls should be cautioned against them , as from them we used to learn all the Yf&yB of the bouses in the
neighbourhood . At the time I left the gipsies , I had £ 25 with me , which I cheated them oat of . I left them , finally , after being about two years with them , and I have heard no more of them since . I was then at the other side , the south side of Manchester , and , with my £ -25 , 1 returned to Sheffield , having spent about £ 5 of it on my way home . When I left them , it is no wunder , after such training , that I entered with gre « alacrity into another line of thieving , upon my own account , aud that I was rejoiced to possess the fruits of my own industry . On my return to my unhappy and disconsolate parents , I heard that they kad given me np for lost ,
* ad thai they bad a-uTerused their prodigal son in the public piptrs . I shall nevtr forget the delight of my poor mother onnhe recovery *! her loDg lost child . 1 was very sensibly touched at the state oi feeling she , as well as my father and sisters , displayed upon the occasion ; bat the effect was soon lost , the die was cast , and I must go . I mean to Bay that persons of my age , who are not caught till they become habituated to thieving , never can be reclaimed ; and I have often known thieves , young and old , to have committed robberies of whieh they laid plans vbe night after their release from Wake field . They are very trne to each other , and never let one another want for defence and Eueh like .
Thieving , I could not help thinking , wa 3 much easier than working , and , from the security with which I saw the gipsies , my late companions , carry on their extensive and unlawful business , and the ¦ command they always had of money , greatly helped to fix me in the determination to follow a similar course . Besides those masy inducements , I was , by this time , quite expert ia dexterity of finger , and in all the various tricks of a thief , and thought it really a piiy that go much , ability should be thrown awav . Above all , working I hated with a mortal hatred , and was quite ambitions to let my friends and acquaintance see that I couid live independently without it , and live treii'too , and like a gentleman . I mean to say that the same silly notion has been the ruin of thousands of young , nKn . I was but a child , but vanhy and a silly notion took hold of me .
u Gipsy Jack , " as I was " called , was much adaired for his personal attractions and many accomplishments . I was thought handsome ; and it struck me that so handsome a fellow as I was ought not to work at all . Influenced by these and other such like notions , equally destructive of my future peace * nd welfare , 1 anxiously sought up all the notoriously vicious acqaaiatances I possibly could , and willingly allied myself in aft their most desperate nncer . aking ? . la a word , I became one of a gang of the most desperate and determined robbere that ever iiues . ed any neighbourhood or anv country .
I know they are all on the high way to the degradation I am now snaring , and to that gallows which I have , by the mercy of our most gracious Sovereign , so narrowly escaped ; and if this account of my own and their practkea be made public , and , throngb that means , become the rooting up and destruction of the Barnsley gang , I shall , by such course , render all the atonement I am now able to Btake , for my numerous . and heavy cffence 3 and sins , and perhaps it may be received as an acceptable work of gratitude for the mercy which has been so graciously and unexpectedly extended to me ; and to effect so desirable an end , I have made up my mind to conceal no ' . hing that 1 cau recollect , however it may tell against myself , and however scurrily my late uafotiuuite and mi&gvdded comrades miy think I am using them .
I am row about to disclose a life , though Bhort , not being more than sixteen or seventeen when I was Bent to York Oist ' te , which I mean to say has never been equalled for the number and atrocity of crimes committed . I have committed , and been concerned in , more than due thousand bobberies , and , at length , I was sentenced to death for murder , as if thai crime could cot ba concealed , although 1 was never , to my knowledge , even suspected before . Some of these robberies , particularly those which I assisted the gi pf iea in committing , and some that I afterwards committed with the Barniley gang , whom I shall name , were accompanied with the greatest ¦ violence . 1 don ' t know , for a positive fact , that death followed in any case , although we have frequently left our victims dreadfully stabbed , beaten , and abased , and a 3 w& thought , dead on the road , of » winter ' s night , and never heard of them again .
After remaining wuh my father abont a year , assisting him in his business as a bricklayer , 1 left him , and occasionally assisted him and other persons in the same line of business , principal y for the purpose of blinding people as to what I was really engaged about . L , at first , began to rob entirely on my own account , and committe'd many extensive robberies upon the market people at Barnstey . I carried on , by myself , about a year , and I seldom allowed a market day to pass without making many successful experiments on the pockets of the market people . The sums I obtained in this way varied from one to five , ten , and thirty pounds ; not more at a time , I mean , but the experiments were frequent . I do not know the names of the persons , or I would tell at once , but I can tell the public what I always found to be the most convenient time for robbing them : at the public house when they were
getting drunk , or vchen they left the pnbhe house drunk to go home . One oi' ths last robberies was of this fcor ? . Robinson , Cherry , aad me , ( not the Cherry that was triod for Mr . Eiackburu ' - murder , but his brother . ) watched a countryman into a public-house , to get change , to pay for a new hat he bought , and we followed iiim , aad when he left to go home , at dark , he fell when be got outside the house ; and , when 1 QW him , I pretended to be drunk , too , and staggered atrain 3 t him , and helped him up , and asked Eim which was his road home ; and when he told me , I told him that that was my roid , too ; and that I would go part of the road home with him ; so I took him niid-r the arm , and led him oat of tne town on the Sheffield road , and we had not got far , when Cherry and Robinson came up , aud knockea ns both down , and robbed the man of , 1 think , thirtyfive pounds in notes and sovereigns .
I then left off business , on my own account , and joined with a young nan , named Joseph B- > nt ] ey , of Bamsley ; he is a bnck-maker by trade , and about the age of twenty-two years , middle-sized , and slim in figure ; John Hayes , of Barnsley , a weaver , about twenty-one years of age , and about the same as Bentky in shape and figure ; Thomas Broauhead , of Barnsley , a weaver , about twenty-one years of age ; James Bates , also of Barnsley , though he came from Skelmondthorpe , about nine miles distant ; he was about eighteen years of age .
Thsss young men had long been in the habit of robbing persons in the chapels and churches of Barnsley , and as they came out in groups after the services , especially in the door or gateway . Many persons were robbed on these occasions by us , and I know the practice still continue ? , and by the game persons , as it is considered the most secure branch of the trade , though not the most lucrative . I have sot known more than two or three poundB bting got at one time from one person in that vrav . Tats plan we resorted to every Sunday , and although 1 quitted it last summer , in order to devote my time to ft more extensive and larger system of plundtr , yet it is still carried on by the same parties . It is not only at the evening and afternoon service , but after the morning- service , that congregations at Barnsley are thus robbed .
I am quite convinced that it will be found that the persona whom I have named are known to be eonnxnt frequenters of places of worsnip , and always the last in and first out . They frequently ebuin valuable watches , snuff-boxes , pieces of ateney and other things that people carry about with them . These articles they flint in a place up the waggon-road side , Topping ' s field , in a hole in a mall belonging to Charles Topping ' s field . This field is just at the entrance of the town ; there is a public well there , and the hole , which is sufficiently large to admit a man , is just inside some steps , it is covered np with some Biones , which they have to remove when thsy plant anything . To * plant , " is a slang word among thieves , signifying to hide stolen property , so that if discovered , it may not be found » pon the premises or person of the thief .
I am sorry that I do not happpen to know of any person ' s name , in particular , who * has been robbed on these occasions , or to know where any of the articles , with few exceptions , happen to bo at this present moment ; at all events , 1 thought it a poor
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business for me if I did not get more than fon ^ pounds a wc « k as my share of this species of church plunder . The watchfs and articles of that kind , we always took to Sheffield , where we were always sure to find a ready Bale for them at the pawnbrokers ' shops . I come now to another , and more extensive species of thieving . About this tim . e I became acquainted with Joseph Tattershal ) , a weaver , about twenty-one years of age ; Richard Slater , aged about twenty-four years ; Tbjomas Fenwick , a
shuttle-maker , about nineteen years old ; James Wells , a weaver , about twenty-six years old ; Geo . Hartley , alias , Bacco Hartley , a weaver , about twenty-four years old , and John Gillett , a weaver , aboat thirty years old ; and I mean to say that there cannot be found living upon the face of the earth & more desperate Bet oV men than the persona I have just named . They were a select gang to themselves when I joined them , and were also so when I was apprehended , and were then in full iorce and activity .
The first robbery which I recollect to have been committed by them , after I first joined them , was upon a gentleman who had been putting np at the White Bear Inn , ( the head inn , ) Barnsley . We followed him by design , seeing that he was drunk , and we overtook him at the top of the Old Milllane , in Barusley . It was on Saturday night the 3 d of October last . They knocked him down and robbed him of sear £ 40 . We had seen him get change for some notes at a grocer ' s shop in the town . He was much hurt and was obliged to be taken to the inn by some persons who saw him on the ground . I did not touch the gentleman myself , though I was with the party and helped to rob him . Bacco Hartley knocked him down with a heavy piece of wood . It
was quite dark ; he fell at once as if he was shot ; he hie him with all his force on the head . After w « had got the money , wo all went to a public house , kept by Michael Teenny ; I do not recollect the name or sign of the house , but we there shared the money equally among us . This house is much frequented by thieves of the very worst and most no . orions description . In fact , it was onr head-quarters and the head-quarters of the several gangs of thieves in Barnsley and the neighbourhood . The landlord will admit any kind of company , however bad , and will receive stolen property of any description . We spent most of our time there . He had many dancings in the house , which were always attended by girls of the town and the very worst of
characters like ourselves . I would advise parents not to allow their children to go to this , or to many other houses which 1 shall mention in the course of my narrative . The very best and most innocent girls will look in for change or a message , and , when pressed , will take a taste from one and a taste from another , and very often will remain there all night , and be ruined , and never care for father or mother again ; and they are denied when their parents think them long out , and come te look after them . There was no reward offered for tho apprehension of the persona that robbed the gentleman of whom I have just spoken from the "White Bear , and who , we afterwards heard , imagined had lost his money .
I was allowed an equal share of all plunder with them , because I had allowed them , on an occasion just before the robbery I have mentioned , to have a share with ma in a robbery I had committed by myself at Doncaster Racea . The robbery was effected by myself upon a gentleman in the street at Doncasier . In a crowd I picked his pocket of a pocketbook , containing £ 34 . I did not know him ; nor was I aware he had any money about him . It was all chance work . I also robbed a gentleman on the same day , on the
race-course , of a pocket-book and a memorandum book . The pocket-book had in it £ 57 , in £ 5 notes and sovereigns . I did not know who he was ; I did the act just at the moment the horses were passing us in the race , which is considered an excellent opportunity , by thieves , for picking pockets . It was a part of this money that I allowed to each of the gang wheu I met them after at Michael Teenny ' s public-house , so that they all agreed that I had a moral right to share in the plunder of the gentleman from the White Bear . ( To be continued in our next . )
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THE NEW MOVE . " Save me from my friends . " In another part of the Star will be found a long and interesting letter from Mr . O'Connor , in which he calls , and we think justly and fairly , for an expression of public opinion as to the ** new move . " We last week showed that it was defioient in the principal ingredient , " Universal Suffrage . " Mr . U'Cossob says it escaped us , that it was also deficient in equalization of representation ; while it appears to have escaped him , that it is also deficient in the mode of election ;—that of self-nomination being substituted for " the Ballot . " " Save us from our friends . "
We last week put a kick in the gallop" of the project by showing Daniel ' s delight and co-operation . We have this week to notice the fact of the whole Whig " Establishment" being in extacies at the project . They say it is jost the thing— " the one thing needful ; " just the " Chartism for the times we live in ; " each and every one of our cotemporaries , if they will allow us tho familiarity , unhesitatingly declaring the object of the " new move "* to be " to get rid" of Feargus O'Connor . Before we begin to lay a few extracts before onr readers from the " damning praise" of the WLig papers , just one word .
Our readers will recollect that when commenting upon Dan ' s plan of having " a body sitting in London , directing the country , and saturating the land with tracts , " he Baid that funds , —ample funds , — would be subscribed ; and , in commenting npon his Fcheme as propounded in a letter to the defunct Fox and Goose Club , we took the liberty of saying , " Aye , faith , there would be no lack of funds to support such an Association ; the secret-service fund would bleed freely . " Now , then , hear what the Morning Chronicle says , with reference to the " new more " : —?
" We see not wht a portion of the PUBLIC GRANT FOS EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES SnOL'LD NOT FLOW TOWARDS THE PROPOSED SCHOOLS , AS SOO . V AS THEY A HE IN ACTIML OPERATION . " A word only will be required upon the above . Ib the object to carry the Charter \ If bo , is & Whi £ Government very likely to give " grants of money " to effect an object , to frustrate which co 3 t them millions of money and loss of character ! One extract might be sufficient , but the Sun , the Greenacre CTironkle , the Spectator , the Examiner , and all , all , even Mother Goose , are in raving delight with the project .
We shall give George H . Ward , M . P . for Sheffield , a distinct notice upon the fcubject ; while , as there is but a step between the ridiculous and sublime , having commenced with the Chronicle , we shall finish with Mother Goose . In a column for the curious , written in that most curious journal , by Mr . Hameb Staksfrld , and hith : rfco modestly placed in inner form , [ a kind of preparatory school for beginnerB , ] we find the following laudation of our friends' new project . Starsfeld says : —
" But the Chartism pur forth ? n this Address is op a Kiin > wits which no honest man can qca . re . el , and the plan recommended fob obtaining it might c . 'mmand thk approbation of slb Robebt Peel himself . " Now we ask if any plan , ( though it were fasting and praying , ) which was at all calculated to carry the Chart er would be at all likely to receive the approbation of the Tamwortn Baronet 1 No , no . They only object to " physical force , " lest it should frighten something oat of the old women ; and if fasting and praying were calculated to frighten more , or even as much , they would equally object to that .
The Spectator and Examiner write in general terms of approval of the new project ; indeed it is quite to their taste ; but they pass as mere wadding in the political world . In fact , it is nothing more or less than a new mode ef canvassing for support for Mechanic ' s Institutes , and the Brougham system of making one portion of the working class disgusted with all below them ; and thus effect , for another while , by an aristocracy of labourers , by galling contrast , what has been hitherto effected by taxation and the cannon .
However , people who work sixteen hours a day from the age of nine to about thirty-five , when they are thrown into a bastile & 3 unfit for nse , have very little reliBh for any protracted course of study or '' edacation , " though it were certain in one hundred and twenty yeaw to gain the Charter / or them .
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THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . Op a verity the Whigs are like the fastidious soldier ; hit them high , or hit them low , we cannot please them . In the unreformed times , when even Billt Pitt looked npon public opinion as a requisite in the ministerial stock , Parliaments were dissolved npon questions , not upon the relative value of persons npon * fanciful arithmetical sum made of a candidate ' s whole creed and life . Thus , for or against the Malt Tax , the Emancipation Bill , the Dissenters' Relief Bill , or any other Bill upon which the Minister did not find himself quite secure . Thus were the labours of electors narrowed to the mere expression of opinion upon the one question at issue .
But now , alas ! dissolution being a thing never dreamed of , bo long as the old crew can hang together , every single contest becomes a matter of wholesale canvaBs ; and whoever tells most 1 e 3 and swears hardest to them , has the best cbance , provided he has a Lord of the Bedchamber at his back with the "needful . " In speaking of the Nottingham election , the Chronicle says that Lord John Russell has nothing to apprehend from " the eloquence of Mr . Walter " upon the question of the Poor Laws ; and the Whig press is outrageous at the starved-off of Nottingham making the vulgar question of food , raiment , and liberty , any part or parcel of au election contest .
Now , it is quite clear that " quoad" Mr . Walteb ' s eloquence , Lord John would have nothing to fear ; but the fact of Mr . Walter being returned , just now , "pendenie lite" upon such a question as opposition to the New Poor Law , would speak in dumb eloquence to the Noble Lord , a language of which he would comprehend the full value . It would be far more significant than my Lord Burleigh ' s nod , and especially to'a brother Minister of the Noble Lord ' s , Sir John C . Hobhodse , the other Member for Nottingham , and to whom it would be a very significant notice to quit , —or to have his traps , at all events , ready for a start Hpon the next rent ( Jay .
Now , we look upon the question of the Poor Laws as next in importance to our Charter ; not that we expect any , the slightest , mitigation from the return of Mr . Walteb , or from a whole Tory Houie . But it being the very worst of the many very bad Whig measures , and this being the time for renewing the contract , we do , without cant , look upon the present opportunity , taken in all its bearings , as a Divine interposition of Providence , to afibrd the people of Nottingham ( so riotous and furious for"Reform , " ) an opportunity of testify ing sorrow for their ignorance and repentance for their former reliance upon Whig tricksters , by which they were induced to have recourse to the torch for the destruction of property .
We take it , that if the Poor Law was a just reward for what the people of Nottingham did to promote " Reform , " that the return of Mr . Walter , just now , will be a fair reward for tho Poor Law . But let us come to the point . A merchant of the name of Tkavlhs consults with a grocer of the name of SwinuN , both of the city of London , as to the most fit and proper person to represent the poor weavers of Nottingham . These fellows Bay , * ' 0 T . P . G . Y . H . L . Z . Larpent , the French merchant ,
and Chairman oi' a whole parcel of Boards and Bonks , is just the man to cook the weavers' dish ; so let us consign him to the starve-guts at Nottingham , marked ' To be kept dry , * and this side up . '" u He is just the man , " says the Sun . Well , down comes this worthy to a Mr . Close and others , and they countersign the consignment , and they put the right side up , " Repeal of the Corn Laws and the Ballot . " About St . Mary ' s Church , and the Poor Laws , and all those trifles , he ia silent , but will think of them .
] Sow , then , pitching men over board and coming to a consideration of measures , what , let us auk , are the " Plaguk" just now endeavouring to accomplish 2 Is it not to make a repeal of the Corn Laws the only test upon a dissolution— " the one thing needful , " as the " Young Liar" has it ? On this question , however , the French cook , Monsieur Froggy , and his opponent are upon a perfect equality : as WaltjiS is for a repeal of the
Corn Laws ; but the people think that a repeal ot the New Poor Law is more necessary than a repeal of the Corn Laws ; and , therefore , without reference to the rival men , they mako measures their consideration ; and they say , " what do you want 1 It a Corn Law repealer , you can have him in the person of a Poor Law repealer . " But no , as your wealth depends upon our poverty , you would prefer neither to both .
Now we like to be plain , and let us take a fair sample for a plain argument . Walter and Easthope then , are proprietors of the leading Journals of their respective parties . Easthopb calls himself liberal and Walter illiberal . Now , the repeal of the Corn Laws is to be the next test of liberality , and Walter , as well as EASTHoPB , is up to the mark there ; and then Walteb is bejond Easthope in liberality upon the real question of cheap food , the repeal of the New Poor Law . But why mince the master » Tho Sun and the Whigs call all opposition to WhigsbytheChartiotsan "uuhuly alliance between Char'ists and Tories . " We as-k , oould an alliance be more unholy than with a bloody faction , who have eonsigued the bt&t friends of tb . « people to pesai settlemen ts , to felons' duugeons , and to death !
Again , Dan and his myrmidons have told the Chartists that Uiej arono one , no party , and have no power ; but as Swket telld the Tories to their faces , we hold the balance of power ; and how can we show that power so effectually as by beating the enemy most immediately in our way , because in office 1 If the Chartists had a man of their own , and if it was a general election , then their duty would bo to stand by their own mail ; but here they must use their weight as the balance of power , and instead ot being longer made tools of , they must now make a tool of Walter to beat the Whigs .
The Sun says , " Mr . Somebody was recommended ; but we don ' t want a Government hack . " Why , what is every Whig in the House but a hack , so long as the Tories join the Whi ^ a in all their destructive measures , and the cry of "keep the Tories out" brings all the Radical tail to the aid ol the Whig 3 , upon the slightest chance of defeat , no matter what the question ia 1 Me 3 srs . Whitehkad and Sweet have pat the thing upoa it 3 proper footing . They Bay , " let them call this coalition what they please ; we have no dread of the Poor Law for ourselves , but we have witnessed its blaeUag ^ &ets upon our less fortunate
neighbours , and as we hold our votes in trust for them , for THEIR best friend they shall be given . " We look npon the result of the Nottingham election as of the last importance to the Radical cause . The return of Larpent , the French Cook , will add a joint to the oppressor ' s tail ; while the return of Wai / t * b must , as a matter of course , Bmash the knot and break np the old bundle o ! rotten twigs . They ought not to hold office ; they ought not to proceed with the Poor Law Amendment Bill , and they wiH know now to value Chartist power , if their man 13 packed up a ^ ain and sent back to " Tbavebs and Swithin , " labelled " This side np . " " Pooa Law Amendment Act . "
If tha opponent of this Bill is now returned , and while a dissolution is pending , how many votes will it convert upon the remaining portion , and when bringing up the Report ! It is all-important .
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Nothing can be more silly than the Whig chatter of Chartist leaders being hired by the Tories , and for this reason : —Tho Whigs but prove popular hatred against themselves , because , though nothing averse to pay Chartist leaders , they cannot get one ; for it would be a dangerous experiment to advocate Whig principles upon a public hustings . The hatred to Whigs and Whiggery has become awful and deadly . Unite , indeed ! Perhaps Mra . Fbost , Mrs . Clatton , or Mrs . Peddie , may feel inclined to unite with the Whigs !
Now , one word as to the justice . Suppose , then , a contest for Nottingham to lie between Sir Robert Ingxis , the greatest Tory in England , and Feargus O'Connor ; and suppose Eastuope , or Murdo Young , to have the casting vote ; for whom would they vote ? For Inglis , without a moment ' s hesitation . Then , inasmuch as Whigs hate Chartists more than they hate Tories , why may not Chartists pay them off in kind ? However , we have only to say that we highly approve of our friends' determination ; and we should be cowardly were we to
await the result aud then give our opinion according to that result ; so we go in the boat with Whitehead and Sweet and our jolly Chartist crew , and say " down with the Whig . " Give Fboggy a touch of your training to take back to the city . Ask him about the £ 70 , 000 for horses and £ 30 , 000 for knowledge . '' Ask him about Frost , and Clayton , and the Charter , and Peel ' s Bill of 1819 ; and ram the six points down his ears . "Go the whole hog ; " and when you go about it , do it like men , at once , without being afraid of being taken to task by the enemy .
This is a great God-send for our cause . The Chartists should all poll early , to show that they poll for the principle and not for the man ; and mind give it to Froggy welly about poor Longlky aud the House that Jack built , and all the rest of it . This is tbo first real opportunity the men of Nottingham have had since the Reform Bill ; and we say , go it Chartists . Mind you pack Larpent up , labelled " this aide up . " " New Poor Law . " Indeed , if you have auy time , you should have a coffin carried through the town , with the Poor Law Amendment Act on it , and marked " This side up . " There is one circumstance which cannot be too
forcibly impressed upon the minds of the Chartists . It is this : —Having embarked in the project , they must now " go in , over , or through ; " neither turning to the right hand nor to the left ; braving everything , and afraid of nothing ; but least of all Of the paper pellets and senseless anathemas of friends Easthopb and Mvrdo Young , Travehs , Swithin and the sugar baker , and "old clothes" ( Close ) of Nottingham , who most insolently presume to be better judges of popular feeling and popular opinion at
Nottingham , and what and who would best represent it ' than Whitehead and Sweet , two men ofgreat natural understanding , unblemished character , and well known kind-heartedness , who feel for their neighbours and for their country . Letthem beat the French cook , and leave the scribes to us ! They must take especial care that Mr , Returning Officer plays no trick at the nomination . They must have their own fugleman , dressed in their own colours ; and they must divide , if auy unfair play is attempted .
Above ail , go with their man , fearless , and nothing daunted ! Go with him , not as Walter , but as an emblem of English hatred to starvation , transportation , incarceration , and every thing that is base . This is the most important election that has taken place since the Reform Bill . Blink it for a period as they may , the real question to be decided is , " Bastile , or liberty ; " " starvation , or plenty ; " "house , or no house ; " " England , or transportation ; " " virtuous poverty , no vice ; or vice preferable to virtue . " These are the questions at issue between the people and their oppressors .
Chartists ! give the " base , brutal , and bloody " rascals a slight touch of that " power '' which they keep eternally telling you you have not got ; " just let them feel it ! Go at them like Britons ! Never mind old Beggar man , or the " Establishment" ! Mind your homes ! your families ! and your wives ! and down with the Whigs !!!
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THE CONVENTION . We this week publish a list of the Beveral delegates nominated to the Convention , to meet on the 3 rd of May . If any have escaped oar observation , we most urgently press upon our friends the absolute necessity of forwarding the names , under cover , to Mr . A . Heywood , 60 , Oldham-streei , Manchester , for the Executive , by the first post , in order that the business may be completed . It will be the duty , then , of the Executive to transmit , at once , to each locality which has returned a delegate , the list of the ten chosen at a public meeting by ballot , aud also to forward a list to our office .
It will then be the duty of our London friends to agree for a convenient , commodious , and respectable place of meeting , so that not an hour ' s delay will take place when the delegates arrive . When the treasurer is appointed , Mr . O ' Connor will transmit to him the funds for the payment of the delegates , and places of meeting ; and as Glasgow has nobly resolved upon paying its own delegate , we respectfully submit the propriety of paying the three London delegates £ 1 per week each , which will be the £ 3 spared by Glasgow paying its own . This is for the delegates to decide upon .
This is a work which cannot be omitted , and no time must be lost . Every locality that has elected a delegate must be prepared with means to send him to London on Saturday next , May 1 st , if chesen . We have already ed tho following as nominated : —M'Douall , ti ,. kethly , Cullam , Deegan . Collins ; Woodward , Brighton ; Dover , Norwich ; Skevington , Loughborough ; Smart , Leicester ; Mavsden , Bolton . ; Williams , Wale 3 ; Arthur , CarlisleJ ; Gillet , Sheffield ; Sweet , Nottingham ; Martin , Birmingham , for Restoration Committee .
Any of those elected , who cannot attend , will h » ve the goodness to advise the Executive , at once , of that fact ; and any whoso names have been this week omitted by us will also advise the Executive . In balloting , of course the Executive will put in the name of each candidate as many times as he has been nominated by different localities . Never , perhaps , was there a more propitious movement than the present for our representatives to meet . We shall expect a fair and full expression of opinion upon all questions interesting to our cause ; while their effect , and the effect of the National Petition , must be a sickener for those who hugged themselves into the hope that Chartism was dead . It is now going to rise from the tomb with a giant ' s strength . Let the petitions be signed by every one in the kingdom .
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GEORGE HENRY WARD AND THE NEW MOVE . 1 This uncommon booby , who will thrust bis head into everything , has written a parcel of stuff upon the new move . " He writes about what he knows nothing . He says that "Feakocs O'Coknor is furious , because Lovett , Collins , and Vincent discountenance the new Convention ; " the fact being that Collins has sought the honour of being one of the members , and , we think , indecently sought it .
But poor George has a parcel of stuff about a man with one leg , and a man with two legs ; but he has not said a word about the man with two legs and two arms not being able to fill one belly . He bints , as usual , about a bit of political economy , and then says he will say nothing more upon that subject , but takes us to task for not saj ing what the Charter would do . Now , our principal charge against Reformers is for having told the people what Reform would do , and that Reform has not done one of the promised things . We hold it that nothing could be more
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despotic than laying down rules for the government of an enfranchised body not yet in existence . Whatever Universal Suffrage docs , it will do with the concurrence of the majority . That's all we havo a right to expect . But our reason for giving George Henry Ward a separate notice is this : he is chief '' knowledge" monger ; he eayshe will give the people a vote when they are qualified by " education , " and that being his test , it becomes our duty to compare his practice with his preaching , in order that we may judge of his sincerity . We take it , " then , that reading his Chronicle is a good preparatory "
education , " at least bo GEOHGEHaranr Ward mast admit . We next take it that a tax upou *• knowledge' * is the way to prevent its spread . We next take the last Stamp Returns , andfind that the Chronicle is paying well at 4 ^ d . We then take the Chronicle at 5 d . aud we find that , Georgs Henry Wabd , Esq . principal kuowledge " -monger , has taxed his scholars to the small sum of £ 41 I 3 i . 4 i . per week , or more than £ ' 2000 per annum , or to the amount of one-fifteenth of the whole sum proposed for " educating" the whole people ; or in other words , taking a leaf out of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s book , he has laid an increase of ten per cent , on his lights . We think that will do for our friend !
While he is clamouring for " knowledge , as a test of electoral fitness , he has fobbed £ 2 , 000 ayear by non-electoral ignorance ; no , by electoral ignorance , for we donbt the people reading his jargon . How different with the Chaxtists . Maguire , the spy asks the Secretary of the Goldon Lane Association for a Northern Star , and he offers 4 ) fd , No , says the Secretary , they are sent to us for circulation by our English brother Chartists ; . we will only take one penny to defray expences .. How different that , from our friend's practice . '
In fact , the . whole prets is mad about the new Convention ; and the Examiner takes the metropolitan Chartists to task tor not returning more gentlemanly men than Neesom , Wall , and Boggis , and also states the proposal for a new Convention to bo a failure . Poor , poor Examiner ; ono half of the sum for its expences was lodged by return of post , and the Convention meets on the 3 rd of May under your nose , and just in time for the " plague , " who are about assembling at the same time . Will they meet our men 1 We give them the Examiner and Chronicle staff to back them . Our poor old croakers are all dead beaten , Keep the TorieB out" has lost its charm . What next ?
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IRISH PROGRESS : DAN IN A QUANDARY . All things are going gloriously on in , Ireland every post brings us new intelligence , ajd every new batch of intelligence is more inspiriting than the last . The seed of Chartism , sown upon a soil so fruitful , cannot fail to bring forth plentifully ; and it is doing so to the high discomfiture of the arch-traitor and his dupes and myrmidons . Dan is in fits , and knows not what to do ; the ghost of Chartism haunts his day dreams , and disturbs his nightly slumbers . He now repents bitterly , oreeems to do so , that he attacked tham . He is too old a general not to know that by so doing he has necessarily caused many to inquire ; and the
villain knows enough of man ' disposition to receive the truth upon inquiry to know that all investigation , instituted by Irishmen , into the principles of Chartism , their connexion with repeal , and with the interests of the Irish people , must lead to comparisons between these unchanged and unchangeable principles , aud the ever-flitting tortuousness of his career , consistent only in being perfectly inconsistent ; which comparison could end only disastrously for him . Hence , at a meeting of his staff ou Tuesday week , the old Fox takes another trick out of his bag , and seeks to " gammon tho flats" by affecting now to treat the Chartists with contempt . The Belfast Vindicat 9 r thus reports it : — ' .-
" Mr . Hubert M'Guire said that he had made it his duty to go to Golden-lane on Saturday evening last , and had succeeded in procuring some information relative to the Chartists who met there . The first clue he had procured to their discovery wat ' one of the cords dated " Dublin , 1841 , " and bearing the signatures of two secretaries . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) had afterwards succeeded iu making out their principal man or leader —( hear )—who resides in Golden-lane , and Who gave him ( . Mr . M'Guire ) a copy of the Northern Star for one
penny . He ( Mr . M'Guire ) offered full price for the paper , but it was refused , the gentleman to whom he offe .-ed it saying that he got it gratis himself . He had promised to attend their meeting next Sunday , bat hal since heard that they had merged into a trade society— ( hear)—and had branches in the Liberty , James ' s-street , Mary ' s Abbey , and elsewhere . It might or might not be prudent his doing so , but he ( Mr . M'Guire ) had resolved upon attending the meeting on Sunday next , and gaining as much additional in . formation as possible .
•• Mr . O'Connell—It would be much better for Mr . M'Guire not to meddle with these persona at all . They had deceived and deluded him with moat unpardonable lies . Indeed , so contemptible ate these men , that to take any notice of them would be merely to raise them to fictitious importance . These fellows are really too contemptible . I implore of you not to btifleve one word they say —( a laugh ) . I know their shift well ; they faney that we will make them subjects for discussion here , and . hope that they will thus be protruded into notice . For my part , I will never say a word more about them . "
We ask only of every one of Dan ' s dupes to place this affectation of contempt alongside the earnestneBs of hia long , laboured , and lying address to the operatives of Nowry , inserted elsewhere , and we know then that they will feel his position as certainly as he himself feels it . Dan has become conscious that his end draws nigh ; he is dead beaten , and feels it ; nor doeshefoel it the less keenly , as we guess , from not being able , with all his affected indifference , to prevent other people from seeing it . Thus , au Irish paper , which , it will be seen , has small lovo for the " liberator , " commenting upon fchis meeting , says : —
" Feargus , we prophecy , will be able to attend a meeting at the Corn-Exchange yet , aud beard liis persecutor oven in that sanctuary of his ill-gained power . So terrified is the Agitator at the prospect —which , we admit , is anything but an agreeable one—that , notwithstanding his resolution to allow the Chartists to sink into insigmfitauos by never minding them , he could not repress the auxiety of his m | ud at Lusk , where , adverting again to these objects of his apprehension , he eagerly impressed upon the people the direful consequences of fraternising with men who dare to fay what they want without equivocation or evasion . " ¦
Yes , the time is coming when Ireland shall open her eyes , and the film of interested humbug shall fall from them . The battle of truth against fraud was never seen to more advantage than in this conflict between O'Connell and O'Connob . Do but contrast the means at the disposal of the parties One having at his back nearly fifty pliant M . P . 'e , the whole press of the empire , Whig and Tory the whole of the old maoh . in . ery for humbugging Ireland , Repeal rent , his liberty , and an undertaking of non-interference from the Viceroy , and the Attorney-General . The other has bis pen , and is in solitary confinement . See , then , the power of truth over falsehood—the advantage of principle over scheming !
Further on , at the same meeting , the *? five hundred thousand fighting men" miscreant , substituting the words " physical force" for Chartism , says : — " If the doctrine of physical force were introduced into Ireland , ho would abandon the agitation of Repeal . ( Hear . ) This , Mr . Feargua O'Connor and the Chartists knew , and they , therefore , preached the dootrine to defeat his purposes . He could not understand the man unless he was in the pay of toe enemy—( hear , hear)—and thia ide » was greatly abroad m England . " > Let all eyes be now kept upon Ireland .
We subjoin the following few lines from tho Waterford correspondent of the World , in order to show the blighting effect which "hope deferred " and humbug has had upon tho very best town in Ireland ; he says : — " This city is as politically inactive as if aredress of the evils under which the country was said to labour bad been effected ; and you would at this moment hear as little uttered about Repeal , the collection of the fund , &c ., as if Daniel O'Conue }) , or Thomas Reynolds , had never been amongst us . "
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So much for tho Big Beggarman , who say 8 thu O'Connor being in the pay of the enemy , is a rumour gaining ground in England . He is in the pay Of th , ettemy ; but it is of the enemy to the obstruction of freedom , liberty , and the Charter . He , no doubt is much in Dan ' s way , but we are glad to find tuJ Dan is about to be removed out of his way . Just let any man of unprejudiced mind review th » manner in which O'Connob has stood up against , and battled , this tyrant , from the hour he entered the HouBe of Commons , in 1833 , to the present moment ; without acting like the tyrant ' s weaker foes , who always gave him a triumph by going or * to the enemy in disgust ; but O'Connob has held tt his every principle and to his country , and iias beaten him fairly and consistently .
We intimated , before the Session commenced , wbi the upshot of "Repeal" would be . Dan hw « . nounced his intention of giving it up if Chartin succeeds . As further evidence that the power of Dan is fat failing , and his blarney loring its effect , we g ire following , from the Dublin Monitor , in r eferent to another and a later meeting of the " Rqj » i Loyate " : — " There was a jubilea yesterday at the Con Exchange , in honour of a God-send from Ametitt to the empty coffers of Repeal . Three huadtd received irom American
pounos were me KepeaW and great was the delight thereat . Thus theaaao ; ciationiB out of Mr . O'Connell ' s debt , and he staadi in the position of debtor to it for awhile . We ua dertake to predict , however , that before tatn weeks we shall have vouchers to prove that tli above hundreds have gone the way of all their p « . decessors—spent upon a fatuity . " We have not paid the proper attention to the hi auditing of the Repeal accounts which the interesting nature of the subject required . We shall brieJ » do so now , and as the document has thegreat meni of brevity , we subjoin it : —
" We certify that we have examined the account * rf Daniel O'Connell , Esq ., M . P ., as treasurer of fa Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland , np t * this date , and we find that a sum of £ 72 18 a . id bi been advanced by Mr . O'Connell beyond the sums lod ge * in his bands , and that said sum of £ 72 18 $ . i ± jj Bodue to him as such treasurer . " Dated this I 4 lh April , 1841 . " Signed by the Auditors , " Stephen Murphy , ( A very eminent Doct « whose name don't appear among the Heal tiates or members of either the College 4 Physicians or Surgeons of Ireland . ) "John Reillt , ( Tailor ) . ; " Maktin Cbean , { Paid official of the * Com El . change ) . " Thomas Arkins , ( Tailor ) .
" WM . Maoennis , " ( Gent ) . " Thus it appeared , that on the authority of tin above distinguished auditors / the Association mi in debt 472 183 . Id . on the 14 th inst . But the i * ceipts from America have converted the debt into * credit for the time being . " Would it not be more satisfactory to the poor people , wkose farthings , and pence , and shilling fid their way into the Repeal funds , if a detailed account of the expenditure was submitted to then , Suppose no other useful purpose was gained , surelr it would be an amusing gratification to them to tui over the varied items . .
" It is quite clear that , as far as the cash is concerned , Repeal in this country is at a discount . Tha Irish Repealers axe uot able to keep their own tres < eury from bankruptcy ! If their warm-hearted aai sympathising friends in England , Scotland , ud America , did not aid them , there would not be 1 farthing to divide among the hungry officials of Bar *! quay . This , certainly , speaks well for the popularity of Repeal in Ireland , notwithstanding the gtyl eloquence and indefatigable energies of its great apostle , and ' the sanctified accuracy' of the audited accounts , to use the pious phraseology of Tea Steele .
u Mr . O'Gonnell tells us that when he has £ 250 , 0 fl in his treasury he will repeal the Union ; but kj what happy alchemy will he be able to raise tint sum ! Why , if ail the repeal buttonsJn T 01 Arkins' shop were to ba counted as sovereijjfi&fIk , treasury would still be empty , owing to theperpetul drain upon it . " We often wish the honest and industrious meal Ireland , who earn their money by tho hard sweat i their brow , could see the sleek and solemnised complacency -with which it is squandered-among 1 parcel of idle officials , who ' boo and boo and » j keep booin ' , ' that 'thrift may follow fawning . ' Verily . Repeal is no delusion to them—it fills their pockets ; and dolts indeed would they be if they did not move heaven and earth to keep the ball is motion .
"But there will be an end to all this . The people are beginning to open their eyes . " . Yes , yes ; there will be an end to it , and the begining of this end is come ! The glorious seed of Chartism is already Bhooting forth the bud of hires * tipation , which shall terminate in the blossoming of satisfaction , aud the full fruit of honesty .
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THE " NEW MOVE , " ITS PATRON , AND . THE COUNTRY . Our paper is filled to-day with the expressed opinions of the country on the "New Move . " We have scarcely any thing but recantations of the simple and unsuspecting , who have been hooked , bat are breaking from the anglers ( let the letters of these men be read—they are worth reading , ) and resolutions of condemnation of the whole project . If there be any bodies or individuals , appertaining to the Chartist ranks , who have not yet studied the "New Move" in all its bearings—its origin , its purport , and its tendency—we must beg them to remember that its ostensible and avowed object ia
the carrying of the Charter—the extending , and making sure and universal , of the principles o ^ the Charter ; to remember that this is the object of the new move—the most ardently professed desire of its concoctoTS andsupporters ; we beg them , then , to read the address of Daniel O'Connkll to th < operatives of Newry , published in our third page , to note the ardency of Daniel ' s love for Chartism , and then , that there may be " no mistake" as to the real object of this " new move , " we present them onc « more with the declaration of the arch-traitor , the avowed enemy of Chartism , respecting it . He i » privy to the whole soheme , and he thus dilates npon its hatching and intended effect : —
" He understood thai there was an Association about being formed ^ at the head of which were Messrs . Lovett , Collins , and Cleave—three oj a good men as were in the community—having for its object HOUSEHOLD SUFFRAGE Slid SHORTENING THS DILATION of parliament , and PERFECTLY UNCONNECTED WITH FEARGUS and his wild assodates ; and instead of impeding reform in England , this Association might be made exceeding ly u seful under proper management , and the guidance of ibfl men whose names he mentioned . " Need we insert further ! Is aBy one so blind as to be yet unable to discover the signs of the times-
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Many correspondents must remain unnoticed unf " next week . Ehbatum . —In our last week's notices to corresjmdents , W . O ., Nuneaton ; should have been Vf . J . O ., Nunealon . . , Eheatdm . —In Mr . O'Brien ' s letter on the Soewi Power of the Middle Classes , % c , which appear ™ on thejirst page of last week * Star , a tnuprmi occurs in the note at the bottom of the first colv >" - . For "depreciation" of our currency , $ . e- > tea f appreciation . Mr . O'B . of course , allude * to
Peel ' s Bill , which , by making money * c ° raised its value relatively to every other &n ™ ° ' dily , and thereby virtually augmented the A «* tionai" Debt , as well as all private debts and obligations incurred between 1797 ( the gear me Bank slopped paymentJ and 1819 ( the date Qj PeeVsBiO ) . '¦ \ . , , „ Mb . Wm . Martin wishes his name inserted •» »»• * as a teetotaller ; but nojanatic or numbug . - ' 1 . «*> * Brighton . —Our Brighton friend * will set ty « J ° letter of the Executive , that they have accept ? the duly ef batioUng for the members to co" * " tute the Petition Convention .
A hard working ChartioT . —We have not room-Obadiah Broadbrim . —We do not think thepw ** cation of his fetter advisable . ¦ . R . Blight . —We cannot publish his letter ; & «'« £ " bear in mind the fact , and may use it anew ** time . it Henry Griffiths calls emphatically upon tne >«»«" ing men of London to aid him in breaking throus 1 * the attempt made by Messrs . Sailer ondUO * " * slop the right qf road which the P » Ww * r ? always had across what is now called the rvaoj » Park , in Notting Vale . From the statement oj his letter , Which is too long for insertwh ** think it a case in which the people are to" ™! ' assert their rights ; and we hope they a ™ to .
The ±\Oetheris T Stah. Saturday, April 24, 1841.
THE ± \ OETHERIS STAH . SATURDAY , APRIL 24 , 1841 .
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In fact , "ignor ? . nee , " "ignorance , " "ignorance , " hag been ths cry as long as we can remember , and long before we \^ ere born ; and would , if knowledge were an electoval test , be a cry with the powerful few , who may well cry "ignoranoe , " so long as a people are ignorant enough to let them live upon their very heart ' s blood . But we waste time , as the will of the country , which we this day record upon the foolish attempt , puts the extinguisher for ever npon all hope of a wise people being gulled by ignorant coxcombs .
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4 _____ THE NORTHEiRN STAR ; ^ ____
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 24, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct852/page/4/
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