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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1842.
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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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MAN Y 2 RSUS MACHINE . Ob ! tumiilas » nj » nj tte « Bgh ; b » j > lw »« g » -. Condtsmeda-war ^ tli w ^ tow *^ - ~ - , ^ Such to the deslmi ^ . given by as «^^ t . ° * ft -wretched ind&idiii ; * & © : WjIe ^ . Uke ^ rtottnsan Crusoe , uppnad <^ MiwCand ; i , jriieiBb ? i ^^ S : bived , with Ms iosr 4 ? arrows , . ** & » ? $ " * *** - * ? bizgun , toprolong / a alseaible , ; erftfen pfu ; And , ; « di , fco , Is , strange ta ^ ii » ' de ? ca |» liop . ;^« * modern pMUiiQiropist ' iaf applied to thousand * of operatives , Who , in ft countrv ; i ^; baa « U of Jttrreligion , eWli « - fcidn , and sdence , h * ye been foapelled to endue ftll thehorrors of hunger . and inaJand rich with all the choicest gifts of < reK ^ n ^ but from irblchthe vorkiDg man hs * been debnied by & forced oompetittai with Hie Mammon-made ~ mri chine ; that with it »• eternal thump , thump , thump , has been reducing , under the piston of the steam-engine , the poor to powder , and l ite the giant of whom we have read in oar -saner ? tales , fcas been crying out ^ -
Fee , fen , ram— ; I smell the blood of a working man ; Be he alive , or be half d < % d , I'll grind his bones to make ray bread . That soeh would be the effects of the unlimited use of machinery , was predicted in my bearing by a Lancashire cotton-manufacturer , in 1810 ; and who , when he was told that the Luddites were imiMhrng the newly-invented frames at Nottingham , stated that they ¦ wer e knocking the right nail on the head . , " For , " said he , if fabrics are redoeed in price , depend npon it the Wages of the workmen will be dimished eventually like Vise ; and unless all the expenses of the operatives are lessened equally , the efiect of the machinery will be to make the poor poorer , and the rich richer ; and as the latter will thus gain what the others lose , the invention of man will nnlllfy the injunctions of God ; by Wbem the rich , if tfeey are believers in his words , have been taught to keep their hands from picking—at least the pockets of the poor .
So , too , in 1 S 16 , when the power-loom first began to show its teeth , the same keen-eyed seer stated that the machine would be as mighty , but far less merciful , than the Destroying Angel ; for that scourge of the Almighty did its work of destruction at once ; whereas the machine would eocQy cut off the hands merely of its Tictims , and leave the body to perish by inches . And richly have they deserved their fate , say the flendlike political economists ; for after the invention of the power-loom , what right had the hand-loom weavers to live , when they had ceased to have a place at Nature ' s table ? " Or . if they were foals enough , " says the Westminster Renew , in its lart number , " to compete With the steam engine , what man of sense would listen % o their complaints ? As -well might the jackass bray out its abuse of the blood-horse for carrying off the cap at Doneaster . "
But though scarcely a single ear was turned , ten years ago , to the heart-rending complaints of the handloom weavers , ground to the dust by the machine—for , In the insolence of presumed power , the millowneM told the working men to bow down to the steam idol or starve—yet now every ear has been stunned by the vailing * of the millocrats themselves ; and even the J 3 # ase of Commons , that formally professed its inability to legislate for the protection of the poor , has stepped forward to relieve the rich ; and , melted by the tales sad tears of the millowners , has been gulled by the Impudent falsehood that trade has been ruined through the , restrictiens imposed by the Corn , Laws , and not the unlimited use of machinery ; for our rulers wanted the Wit to see that when machinery reaches a certain pitch , It cannot fail to make the supply greater than the de > mind , ¦""* thus to destroy the very source of profit ,
which arises from keeping the supply less than the demand , which must always be the case where machinery b employed only partially . Of these facts , however , the prophet , whose words I have lived to see verified to the letter , was bo conscious , as to predict thai the fcfmA would come , and quicker , too , than the millownen would like , when every market in the globe Would be glutted with English goods ; and that , as this glut would force sales on the part of the more needy adventurers , every article made by machinery-weald , in tain , bs diminished in value ; and , as no mannfaotnred article , after it has been once sold for a less sum , has ever realised its former price , no market , that had been once glutted , would ever recover itself , except for a Umit-ori period , when the stocks in hand should be reduced to the lowest point in consequence of the previous forced sales .
" But , " said the man , from whose lips I learnt more truths than the whole race of political economist ! could teach me , were they to scribble till doomsday , " it will fake about thirty years to convince the suppertera of the unlimited use of machinery , that the very power which the Solomons , as they call themselves , fancy will shower upon the land all the blessings of cotton shirts and shifts , of Bilk stockings and gloves , and of linen and lacs , at the cheapest rate , will give birth to evils frightful to contemplate , and which it win require no little patience to endure , and still greater resolution to correct In the meantime , however , " added the seer , *' princely fortunes will be made and princely lost : nor will the truth , burst upon the world , that when the Creator made man , he meant him to be the master and set the slave of ins machine , until they who have set up the Mammon machine . as the Isralites did the golden calf , «> " ^ find that their idol , with its arms of iron but breath of steam , is utterly incompetent whan called tm to save its deluded worshlppeia . ' *
Of the moral evils to which the unlimited use of machinery may have given birth , the political economist will , of coarse , take no account ; for he will assert that there is no necessary connection between machinery and immorality . But if it be shown that the introduction of machinery has produced a state of society where the worst passions of our nature are called most readHy into play , and , with the greatest opportunity for indulgence , are controlled by the fewest and weakest of checks , in a moral point of view machinery may be fairly considered a curse of ho common , kind . I allude particularly to the story I heard when travelling through the manufacturing districts , in 1836 , from a person of whose veracity I had no reason to donbt . Zb a factory , about twelve miles from Manchester , there were two partners , one of whom rarely visited the Works , except for the purpose of seeing what young and handsome females had lately entered it , when , like the Sultan at Constantinople , he selected the one most fco his taste to be the partner of his bed , until satiety
required the stimulant of a fresher face . To what extent this practice is carried on in other factories , Where there are sleeping partners , I know not For the horour of one's species and country , it is to be hoped that the case is a solitary one . But whether the jn « t ^ nyfl « of such cold-blooded villany in the owners of factories be many or few , they formed no part of the prophet's predictions relating to the moral mischiefs of machinery . Still less did the seer anticipate the destruction of all the bonds of filial duty which machinery was destined to produce , as exhibited in a case at Macclesfield ; where I heard that when a father , who had been thrown oat of employ by the introduction of machinery , was going to correct Ms son for some misconduct , the little rogue , about thirteen years old , said to his parent , who depended on bia children alone for support— " If you dare lift your little finger against your feeder , I'll stop your grub , old boy , next Sunday ; and , instead of your sending me to bed without a suppsr , I will make you pass the whole day without a meal "
Of the other moral mischiefs to "which machinery Would give birth , the prophet had , however , a correct anticipation ; for he stated , that as machinery could never be worked successfully , except by bringing together large masses of men and women , population or prostitution would increase according as high wages enabled parties to many or low' ones prevented them ; and , as continued improvements in machinery wonld throw persons out of employ , without being able to set aside the command of God to increase and multiply , it was quite evident that prostitution would increase as machinery did .
He did not , however , even dream of the general displacement of male by female Jab » ur , to which that real nobleman , Lord Ashley , has alluded in his recent answer to tbe address of the Short Time Committee ; where his Lordship Bays , that the moral pestilence , which machinery has introduced , is not eonfined to the factories connected with cotton , silk , and woollen fabrics , but is spreading through our mines and collieries , and destroying at once the peace and the virtue of every hearth and home ; and bo complete is the separation of bosband and wife , and of patents and
children , thai all the endearments of the family group win be shortly unknown . " Thousands , " adds bis Lordship , ' of yeung females are absorbed into the Whirlpool of avarice aad plunged into factories and mines , where every hour is gives to toil ; and while not a few become mothers before they have well ceased to be children , the HcenttonsBees of others , whose evil passions have been called oat by their dose and constant -contest with the other sex , has exhibited the perafadoBS results of -violating the order of Providence by al « lfHr 1 it ' g * f" »^— from their peculiar calling . "
Squatty bond was the prophet to another violation of the taw of Baton to which machinery has been found to lead ; for it has not only prevented the parent from ¦ apforUag bis child , but compelled the child to support tbe parent ; a law that the supporters of machinery , who were all the lapporten of the New Poor Law , haTe enacted , sot so much In ignorance of , M inooatempt for , the law of 6 * d , that the ben ii to scratch for tbe chickens , not the chicken * for the hen . Had , however , tbe idea come Into tbe Bind of tbe prophet , ba woold bam said that ra a Tory House of Ooaaaflsa wotld throw tbe shield of legal protection Qtwcbfldna ; novhavapamlttod babies jut out of their author * anas to be carried fat those , of their
tuber ' s from their bads , bsngry and half asleep , to be immolated by a Moloch soaehine ; nor would he have babsved that tbe Whip , whose politics be had always snpported , wonld have damned themselves to everlasting infamy , hy drawing , with the aid of the mighty majority of one , a temporary veil over the barbarities wetted wiife impunity to factories , which were laid bare by tbe hF »« "W Sadler , when he stood forward as tbeopponentor tin ehfld-ornsaing machine . Still less would tt » prophet bawbdieTed that the ley touch of STarlee would so fteesa tits blood of tbe once wannbesrted Btastsr-wtannfartaren , as to lead them , without . a pang , to *«—lit i ^ fc ui w -s ^ by wholesale , to enable them to add pennta to their pounds by tbe plunder of tbe unprotected child , for whose production tbtma-
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chine iiaelf has hel 4 out such a premium , by throwing the parents . out o / ., employ , thai when Z . was at Bradf ord , in 1836 , " a . partner in -one of the largest factories told sie that if 600 children were dropped , like cherubs , from the ~ « ioad » i ; they codd be all absorbed by idiftBrent concerns , but that fifty , of their ¦ parents weuld " with difficulty find food by the sweat of their brow . ' " AlttHmeh the time has been when some of our crack political economists presumed to ridicule the God-made man as an kuperfect . machine , compared with the man-made , » plnnlng-jenhy and power-loom worked by the almighty steam-engine , yet ooe or two of those , who in their youth fancied themselves to be Solomons , have lived to discover they were only fools . At least ; I infer as much from finding in the British and Foreign Quarterly las 1838 , the sentiment * following , and penned by one whose handwriting is as visible as that which appeared on the wall : —• , ,
* Thfr application of tbe discoveries of the laws of matter amongst a people , whose god is gold , has been injurious to the community ; for it has fostered one of tbe lowest propensities of our nature—tbe Inordinate love of gain . Its attendants have bees a Rircsd and nndue production of manufactured commodities , " and a reckless speculation , veiled under the flimsy name of enterprise , which has been the . precursor of--Sf sudden depreciation of goods , followed by anxiety , engendered by disappointment , and ending frequently in ruin ; to say nothing of temporary cessations of a demand for labour , producing-in the operatives discontent and mistrust , together with abject poverty and its fearful and latal consequences—demoralisation . ''
On such testimony , coming from such a quarter , the opponents of the unlimited use of machinery might almost rest their era , as regards the moral evils of a system which has fostered inanimate power at the expense of animate . While , as regards tbe political evils to be traced to the same source of misery and crime , it may be safely asserted that if machinery , iu its earliest stag's , had not broaght together manes of human beings to meet a temporary demand for labour , and then turned them adrift , or offered them starvation wages , when their labour was diminished in value by subsequent improvements in machinery , there would have been no smashing of the frames by the Luddites , nor of thrashing machines by farming men : no burning of ricks by Swing ; nor , lastly , should we have witnessed tbe appalling spectacle of a simultaneous turn-out of nearly every
trade through the whole length and breadth of the manufacturing districts . For , although tbe rebellion of the belly has been put down by the strong arm of the law , or has fallen to pieces frsm tbe inherent weakness of such outbreaks , where the parties are bound together by a rope of sand , it may justly be called appalling ; as it has shown , what was never seen before , that tbe operatives of almost all kinds , have discovered that they have been all attacked in turn by the same power ; and though they have been unable , even when united , to offer a successful resistance , they have still the conviction at once , and consolation that the time is not far off when their very masters , who
have grown rich by despoiling the poor , will suffer all the evils of incessant and ruinous competition , which the unlimited use of machinery cannot fail to produce . Nor is it with little delight they hive heard the lamentations of Mr . Cobden ; who , at a recent meeting of the Anti-Corn Law League , at Manchester , wept over the ruin which has come upon Stockport ; where £ 7 , 000 a-week is now spent less than used to be three years ago ; and who asserted that the prospects for tbe ensuing winter were more gloomy than ever ; while the manufacturing districts in general have been suffering for the last six years , by a decline of trade , more widely extended , and continued for a longer period than the oldest person ever remembered .
Nor with less joyous feelings have the machineground operatives heard from Mr . Bazley , that , though the turn-out bes ceased , the shops of the retailera are still scanty of custoners , while the warehouses of the manufacturers are groaning under the weight of unsaleable goods ; that houses are occupied by tenants who can pay no rent , and docks filled with vessels that can obtain no freight ; and to complete the climax of commercial distress , wkile the farmers in Devon , said Mr . Bright , mean to reduce the wages of their labourers to eigbtpence a day , the Stockbrokers in Change-alley , and the bankers of Lombard-Btreet , in London , are going to curtail the hours of business ; because , says the Morning Chronicle , the clerks have now nothing to do after four o ' clock , but to pick their teeth , mend their pens , and to calculate how much tbe firm are loosing daily by the gas-lights .
That such- would be the ultimate effects of the onlimited use of machinery was shown by the prophet to whom I have before alluded ,- and though the reasons on which he based his predictions were published by myself some nine years ago , yet I shall reprint them in my next letter , and accompany them with such confirmations as subsequent events have furnished , For the present I will merely state , that , if in tbe cause of " Man versus Machine '' the witnesses had not been suborned , the jury packed , and tbe judges prejudiced against tbe plaintiff , the law of the land would have confirmed Instead of annulling the precept of Christ , — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ; " nor would the philanthropist have had reason to smile at the stupidity of the millocrats , who he Baw were cutting their own throats , when they fancied they were cutting the throats of their rivals in trade . Still less would the operatives , had they received a fair day ' s wage for a fair day ' s work ,
hare been found to answer the cry for free trade , to benefit the mill-masters , by the cry for the Charter , to benefit the mill-slaves ; nor would those who have stupidly substituted the cheap power of the machine for the dear power of man have discovered , to their cost , that they are now playing a losing game , whether they work their steam-engines or stop them ; nor , lastly , wonld the joint-stock banks of Manchester , where manufacturers fancied that their Chamber of Commerce could manage all the trade of the empire , so mismanage their own concerns as to exhibit to their hapless creditors the spectacle , at once piteous and laughable , of the bear in a boat , as detailed in the fables of Gay , who , doubtless , had an eye to tbe South Sea bubble of his day , the counterpart of those which have brought ruin and ridicule upon an age -which calls itself ' The March of Intellect Era . " HUNGBY HANDLESS .
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THE MODEL PRISON AT PENTONVILLE . We give elsewhere a letter from a Correspondent of the Morning Chronicle , in reference fco this modern Hell . To that letter we direct attention-We have not yet seen the ' embody ment of Davilism in the shape of an Act of Parliament to which it refers , but intend to buy and read it , for the purpose of exhibiting to oar readers the animus and the philosophy (!) of the mild spirit of liberalism in the nineteenth century .
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THE EXECUTIVE . The incarceration of the President and Secretary , and the compulsory absence from their duties of two other members of the Executive Committee are cirenmstanoes well calculated to beget a spirit of uneasiness in the minds of all true lovers of our national organization ; lest , in the temporary paralysis of the Executive , the general affairs of the association should suffer derangement . This can scarcely have happened , in so short a period as has yet elapsed , if the general Bcheme of organisation have been adhered to and enforced by the
Executive—while they yet had the power—with that carefulness which should recommend them to the people as trust-worthy and deserving servants in a like capacity hereafter . Their conduct has not , bo far as we know , been publicly impeached , on that or any other head ; and we do not see therefore that any Chartist , or body of Chartists , can have the right to assume and take for granted that the Chartist public is prepared to oast over board its present Executive , merely because the storm of persecution has overtaken them in its unjust career .
Trne ; it is important that the functions of the Executive should suffer no interruption in their course of exercise . The men of London saw this instantly , and , therefore , wisely and properly ftppointed an unpaid Provisional Executive , to advise with and aid the one member of the present board , who is yet unscathed , until the real Executive should again be able to resume their duties or the time should come for the nomination and election of a new Executive , accordant with our plan of general organization . In this the London men did well and wisely . They deserve the thanks of the oountry for their promptness , and we are glad to see , by the re * solntions sent us , that they have them . Bat some people are not thus easily contented . There are , it
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seems , parties calling themselves Chartists whom nothing less will satisfy than that the Executive shall be deserted—abandoned by the people—thrown overboard in the hour , of their difficulty , —and a new Executive appointed . And this , too , though there has been no impeachment of their conduct , and no pretence , pupliei l .. urgent of , their being guilty of any crime , save that of having fallen into the fangs of power ! A correspondent draws our attention to the following paragraph , which he says he has seen in the Eoenmg Star : — ' - " Harljbioh , Norfolk . —Mr . Nathaniel Morling , of Brighton , was nominated for the ensaing Executive at a general meeting of the Council of the above place . "
We have not personally noticed this paragraph in the Evening Star , but we have perfect faith in our correspondent ' s veracity ; and we must Bay that , if it be there , it betokens on the part of those who sent it a recklessness of common decency , whioh we sincerely hope is not participated by any other parties claiming to be Chartists , and an ignorance of the constitution of the National Charter Association , of whioh we trust " The Council of the above place "—( if there be any snch body , and if they authorised the sending of this paragraph , )
—enjoy an waenviable monopoly among the officers of our National Association . Perfectly approving the appointment of a Provisional Executive to supply the forced lack of functionary operation in the Executive , we yet think the whole conntry will agree with us that if the present members of the Executive Committee are to be turned out before their time , there ought to be some reason assigned for their expulsion ; and that the expulsion itself ought to be effected in an orderly and regular way .
The Executive are not the servants of the Counci l of Harle 3 ton—a body of whom we suppose nobody ever heard before—bat of the National Charter Association . They were appointed by its members as a whole ; subject to the regulations of the plan of organization . That plan specifies that : — " 14 . The General Council of the Association shall choose five members of their own body to Bit as an Executive Committee , in manner as herein follows : Every Sub-Secretary shall be at liberty to nominate one candidate , on the 1 st day of February in each year , and five persons from among these so nominated shall be elected by all the Members on the 1 st day of March following .
" MODE OF ELECTING THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE " 15 . —The nomination of candidates of the Executive Committee , by the several Sab-Secretaries , shall be in accordance with the following form : — To the General Secretary of the National Charier Associa tion of Great Britain . February 1 , 18—'Sra , —I hereby nominate A . B . ( blacksmith , ) of ( 14 , High-street , Bath , ) a member of the General Council of the National Charter Association of Great Britain , as a fit and proper person to be elected a member of the Executive Committee , on the 1 st day of March next . Signed , C . D ., '( Carpenter , No . 6 , Tib-street ,
' Manchester , ) 'Member of the General Council , and sub-Secretary of ' the National Charter Association of ' Great Britain . " A list of all the candidates so nominated , shall be transmitted , per post , by the General Secretary , to every sub-Secretary , on or before the 10 th day of February ; the election shall be taken on the 1 st day of March following ; and tbe number of votes shall be immediately forwarded to the General Secretary , who shall lay the same before the outgoing Executive Committee for examination , and by their order publish , within one week of receiving them , the Whole of such returns ; together with the declaration of the outgoing Executive Committee , of the persans duly elected . "
The constitution of the sooiety gives no power to the Council at Harleston or anywhere else , nor to any officer or member of the association to nominate persons for the ensuing Executive until the proper time . If any extraordinary circumstances may be thought to render the election of a new Executive necessary ^ t is thedutyof the parties who so think , not to presume to nominate candidates , but to communicate with the members of the Association generally and take the opinion of the majority , first , upon the question of whether candidates shall be nominated .
There are two ways in which this may be done . The first way is to communicate 'through the Seoretary , with the Provisional and Acting Exeoutive ; to lay before them the reasons upon which the opinion that a new permanent Exeoutive should be elected is entertained ; and to require them to take the proper steps for ascertaining the sense of the people upon the subject . The other way is to address the people through the press , mooting the question , and leaving it fairly open to discussion among the members in their several localities .
Either of these courses would be likely to bring the question fairly before the people ; to give fair play to democratic prinoiple ; and to do something like justice to the Buffering members of the present Executive ; and if good reasons could be shewn vhy a new Executive should be now appointed , no doubt the conntry would acquiesce in it , and probably none would more oheerfully acquiesce in it than the members of the Exeoutive themselves . But for any Councillor , or for any two or three Councillors , living together in a little village , to presume ,
without regard to the plan of organization—without regard to the spirit of demooracy , which requires that the people should be consulted , and that their voice should determine upon all publio measuresand without regard to the inferences whioh must be drawn from such a step in reference to the present Executive—at such a time as this to proceed to the nomination of particular individuals to fill the places of those who have not yet vacated office , and who are only precladed from its duties by the hand of unjust power , is monstrous .
Our Correspondent—a Councillor of the Association and a good Chartist—calls warmly on the Chartist publie not to elect Mr . Morling whom he knows well and whom he describes as a most improper person . We have also received , in reference thereto , the following resolution from the Councillors at Brighton : — " Brighton , October 16 tb , 1842 . "At a meeting ot the members of the General
Council of the National Charter Association residing in Brighton , it was unanimously resolved , that Mr . Nathaniel Morling , of this town , having been nominated by the Council of Harleston , in Norfolk , as a member of the proposed Executive Council , we are of opinion that Mr . Morling is net a fit and proper person to be elected to such an important office , and hereby call upon our brother Chartists not to sanction the election of that fientleman .
" James Flaxman , Chairman . « William Floweb , Treasurer . " Withont inquiring why the Councillors of Brighton , in particular , deem Mr . Morling unfit for the office of Executive Committeeman , and without entering into , or even stating , the reasons alleged against his election by our other correspondent , we say at once that if Mr . Mobling was a consenting party to this most unfair , most irregular , and most indecently presumptuous nomination , that act alone proves him to be utterly unfit for the important and responsible office to whioh he aspires .
Having said thus much about this extraordinary Nomination , may we now be permitted to inquire from whom it comes ! Who are M the Council of Harleston ! " How many are there of them ! How many inhabitants are there in Harleston ' and of these how many are members of tha National Charter Association ! We nevei yet heard of there being more than one person at Harleston claiming to be a Chartist . Whether that person is , or ever was , » member of the Association we don't
knowbut we have seen in a defunot print some rigmarole letters signed by a person who dates from Harleston , and who calls himself a- Chartist ; but we never heard of his having any associates there . We were so much amused , therefore , with the idea of " A general meeting of the Council" at Harleston , that we bad some difficulty in believing the whole thing to be any other than a hoax . Be this as it may , it may be as well for the peop ' e to be on their guard , lest any such hoaxing should be attempted in earnest .
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i . —> " •—~~~ CLERICAL SYMPATHY FOR THE POOR . To whatever point on the wide field of observation the eye may be directed , it encounters the appalling evidence of an invincible and deadly animosity entertained by the whole complex of the wealthy against poverty . This spirit is usually manifested with the greatest virulence by those who have most of the oil of pharisaic "liberalism" on their lips , and by none more fully than the canting hypocrites who in the guise of dissentiDg parsons " creep into widows' houses , and for a pretence make long prayers . " We intend not , of course , to
apply this cenBure to the whole body of dissenting ministers . There are among them good and pious men ; men who , as far as their knowledge and opportunities afford the means , do honour to their holy calling by " reproving sin with boldness" whether clothed in ragB or in broad cloth ; and by maintaining , iu all honesty and sincerity , the oauso of the afflicted and the right of the poor . But the bulk of them are dependant on the " Green Pews" and their broad cloth occupants for their subsistence—and are also full of the spirit of self-importance and desire of distinction
—and hence pander to that lust of " respectability " whioh is so ably and so eloquently reproved by tbe Apostle James . We know no distinction of sect in this matter ; for our painful observation has assured us that all sects are alike deeply tinctured with this cursed leaven . The professors of Divine Truth , under its new and more pure dispensation , and the old consummated church under all its multitudinous forms and sections , alike manifest a betrayal of the interests and doctrines of true religion , in their neglect of , or contempt for , the rights and liberties of the poor . The greater part of these gentry , however , do , like their famous predecessor in the days of the Lord ' s
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flesh , " carry the bag . ' ^ They have generally an abundance of sympathy for the poor upou their lipsi however much their "talk" may be belied by their practical upholding of the hands of the oppressor . ( And we believe many of them to be theoretically sincere , and that their support of faction ' s dominance is the result rather of ignorance than design . ) Now and then , however , we find one who is bold enough to throw off the mask , and proclaim open war against the principles of his religion ; amongst whom we now find it to be our duty to accord a prominent position to a Reverend Mr . M'Dowall , . Secession Minister of Alloa . Our attention has been drawn to the report , in a local journal , of a meeting in the Parochial School Room of that place , at which this worthy figured as the mover of a
resolution"That the Sheriff be respectfully requested to adopt meauB for rendering the police force more effective in preventing stranger poor from begging in the parish . " This resolution , we are told , was seconded and carried unanimously . Here is indeed & pretty spectacle to contemplate t A minister of God ' s Word , of that Word which in almost every line and precept directs charity and alms-giving to the poor , and hospitable entertainment to the stranger —; foremost in the fell van of an undisoriminatiug attack upon the " stranger poor !'> A minister of that religion whose | very essence is Benevolence and Charity , insolently presuming to
lay an embargo on the hospitable and charitable feelings of a whole parish I determining that the Apostolic injunction " to do good and to communicate , " shall not be practised in his parish ; at all events ,, not towards any of the " stranger poor . '' This motion , thus " unanimously adopted , " is a sentence of banishment upon all " stranger poor , " in as far as may regard the parish of Alloa . The time has been when to a Christian people , and a Christian ministry , to be " poor" or to be a " stranger , " wasao . counted a sufficient passport to the arms of Christian love ; when either of these conditions would of itself have ensured charitable aid and hospitable kindness .
and when their joint infliction would have been held to be a strengthening of a brother ' s claim to "the communion of the saints . " But those were times of ignorance and darkness ! The " glorious Reformation" has shed its light and heat upon the Christian world , and "Christian pastors" now behold the poor and the stranger in an altogether different light . To be poor , in the estimation of the "lights of the world , " such as the Rev . Mr . M'Dowall , is Bufficinntly heinous and sinful ; but when to that crime ia added the abomination of being a stranger also , pions horror can be restrained no longer , and the secular arm of power is most " respectfully" and religiously instructed—not to prevent distress and poverty from existing , and from forcing men , women , and children to depend
on casual bounty for that subsistence whioh , at the board of nature , God has provided in abundance for every child of . his oreation , but" to adopt means for rendering the police force more effi oient , that the " stranger poor" may be prevented from begging ; that those whom the tyrannous edicts and autiohristian spirit and operation of class-made laws and usages have first made poor , and then driven from their homes , may be compelled to starve and die—to yield up their lives an uncomplaining sacrifice on the shrine of the fell demon of property and class distinction ; of which shrine this Reverend Mr . M'Dowall impiously constitutes himself a priest , and seems , by the report referred to , to offer up his victims with much s&tisfaotion ; for he is reported to have said in support of his
motion"That our policemen had all theappearance of very comfortable-looking gentlemen , walking about at their ease , and thought they might be rendered more effective in the way pointed out in his motion . " Had this " follower of Jesus" and preaoher of his word lived in the days of thejLord ' s flesh , we ask what must , in the spirit of this motion , have been his oonduct ? He would have spurned from him . with contempt the " Stranger poor , " the Saviour and his apostles , travelling from place to place , and depending for their food and lodging on the hospitality of
those to whom they came . Bad , however , as were the Jewish priests , pharisees , and scribes , we have no record of their having sought to dry up by force the streams of benevolence in others , whioh they themselves refused to cherish . We hear nothing o their instructing the police to apprehend and punish "Stranger poor . " This was a refinement upon want of natural humanity reserved for the improved age . and more pure and high-toned morality of Reformed 1 Protestant , Dissenting , Evangelical , Christianity ; for the Secession Church in Scotland , and for the Rev . Mr . M'Dowall .
We do not know the fact ; but we have no doubt that this same Rev . Mr . M'Dowall would be a prominent actor in the farce of an appeal to Heaven ' s clemenoy on behalf of the poor , through the medium of national fasting and prayer . Let us not be misunderstood . We do not use these terms in reference to the solemn aots and duties of fasting and prayer . God forbid that we should do so . But when these are resorted to for the avowed purpose of moving Heaven for the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor , while the means of alleviation
within our own power are at the same time wilfully and strenuously withholden , and while we cherish the spirit whioh alone could dictate this motion for quickening the police in reference to the " stranger poor , " we do think ourselves justified iu pronouncing it , under such circumstances , a blasphemous farce ; and we believe that no man who thinks rationally , and who reads carefully the 1 st chapter of Isaiah , the 58 th of Isaiah , and the whole Epistle of the Apostle James , cau think the assertion too strong . We have no doubt , we say , that this Mr . M'Dowall was an actor in the " national-fast" farce . Did he
ever happen to read words like these 1 : — "Is not this the fast that I have chosen ; to loose the bonds of wickedness , to undo the heavy burdens , and to let the oppressed go free , and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry , and that thou bring the poor that are oast out into thy house ? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him , and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh !" Did this Reverend hounder of the police upon the " stranger poor , " ever happen in the course of his theological studies to stumble upon this passage
!" When ye spread forth your hands I will bide mine eyes from you : yea , when ye make many prayers I will not hear : your hands are full of blood . Wash you ; make you clean : put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to do well ; seek judgment ; relieve the oppressed ; judge the fatherless ; plead for the widow . " Perhaps it may be urged , in excuse for this antichristian procedure , that the influx ef " strange " poor is so great as to interfere with the ability of the parishioners to support properly their own poor . If this be so , the spirit of Christianity should teach its ministers to apply themselves not to the driving of them from the gates and doors of themselves and their neighbours , to " die in holes and corners ; " but to tha discoverv and removal of tha cursed root of
mischief whence all this poverty arises . This would be an occupation worthy of their high calling , and which would justly entitle them to be styled , " ambassadors of peace" and "friends of the poor . " He must be a scribe badly instructed indeed in the learning of Holy Scripture—totally unfit to be entrusted with the expounding and application of its truths—who does not know that the very existence of poverty on a large scale , extending over great masses of sooiety , and involving in
privation and physical want a large portion of the inhabitants of any country , is a faot directly in the teeth of all the principles and all the provisions of Revelation—a state of things nowhere contemplated , or recognised in Holy Writ , and which could not be at all , if the doctrines and precepts of Christianity were practically enforced . In all Christian charity , then , we hope that the next time we hear of this Reverend Gentleman we shall find him exerting his talent and his influence , not in requesting the police
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t - t _ ^—^^— II ^ ^ 7 . to be more severe in their operations against the " stranger poor , " but in searching ont , and bringing to the light , for their speedyland permanent removal the causes by whose operation i ? * stranger poor ' abound . '
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THE RESULTS OF THE "SPECIAL" CRUSADE AGAINST CHARTISM . Upon this subject we present our readers with the following from the Evening Star : —• "The trials of the ' patient , ' the ' starving , ' the ' enduring , ' and the exemplary working people are now over , and the Bufferers and their friends wU j have learned , from judicial clemency , the value of Ministerial praise and Parliamentary sympathy . Who but must have admired the harmony of Toryism , in contrasting the admission of great distresft y her Majesty's Prime Minieter , with the denial of its existence by her Majesty ' s Chief Baron ? Who
but must have felt the sincerity of the Dissenting body , who for conscience' sake , demand for themselves exemptions from the support of doctrines in which they cannot believe , while , as Jurors , they have pronounced ready verdicts of Guilty against their fellow-men , for the mere expression of opinion—aye , of honest opinion ? Who but must have gloried in our happy Constitution iu Church and State , when they saw the shepherds swearing away the lives of their flocks , and hired policemen made the ready instruments to effect their purpose 1 Who ibut must respect the anoient office of justice of the peace , when he finds a
Judge of no mild bearing reducing the amount of bail required by the magistrates to less than one sixth ! Who bat must honour and obey his pastor and master , when he finds the employer the most deadly foe of his emp loyee ? Who but must hold the Bar in reverence , when he finds the rolls open to swindlers and robbers , who have obtained money from pauper prisoners under false pretences , and who , to gloss the deed , only require to become an enrolled member of the liberal profession 1 Who but must bow down and worship the pidus advocates of "free trade , " who give bullets and bludgeons to those from whom they ask for bread ! Who but
must render willing and cheerful submission to those laws , whioh a Judge of the laud tell 3 him are fixed as Persian edicts , and based upon the "final will " of a Russell ? Lord Abingeb laid great stress , ia his charge , upon Russell ' s assuranoe to his followers , that the Reform Bill wa 3 to be considered as a final measure . Who but must look up with adtniraion to our guardian press , as the honest arbiter between innocence and despotism , between right and might , between the poor oppressed , and his rioh oppressor ! If the Speoial Commissions ; shall have produced no other effect , they will have placed the respective privileged classes in their proper characters before
the unrepresented slaves . The people will have been confirmed in their just belief , that however , as seotions , classes may contend , all will unite when labour is to be coerced or intimidated . They have now had a happy illustration of this fact . They find liberal magistrates uniting and aiding a Tory Government in political prosecutions . They Cud Churchmen and Dissenters equally thirsting for the blood of the acousad . They find "Free-traders ' * and Monopolists ( as they are called ) uniting in their determination to oppress the poor . They find overseers screened by a Coroner ' s jury for murder committed upon their order . They find the pulpit
desecrated by a partisan demagogue preaching blood and devastationto'Judges and Jurors about to sit in judgment upon outlaws . They find the last door to mercy closed against them ; and in their tribulation ia it wonderful that they should turn from such a Babel , and seek to build a sanctuary and a refuge for themselves ! No , it is not ; and however unjust power may rejoice in its triumph , yet is thai building going on , course by course , until eventually the proud monument of despotism must fall beneath its influence . What ! stop Chartism by Special Coumissions , by mocking its principles , and holding [ its advocates up to scorn 1 " Go to" —stop the rushing
tide of ocean ; turn the sun from his course ; arrest the deorees of the All-wise ; change nature ' s current ; tell the mind to stand still—invention to cease —genius to strive no more in its natural fieldopinion to go in swaddling clothes , and the tongue of man to hold its peace . Do these things , aad hope to succeed , when bayonets can wound sound opinions , bullets shoot just sentiments , or sabres out down approved principles . These principles are as the shadow , man is the substance of whose coming the shadow giveth warning . He is coming in his might , in his majesty , in his unconquerable power . In the robes of genius and moral grandeur , asserting his
prerogative with a manly front , undaunted by the fate of victims pent within the prison walls , as omens of his fate , should he still persevere . And yet , despite of all , he will persevere , iknowing that at birth he-was honoured with a commission , the duties of which are , while living , to comfort and aasist the weak and the poor , and when dying , to leave the world , if possible , better than he found it . Let those who would presumptuously attach a stigma to the principles of Chartism , and who yet hope to affright its advocates by tunt , read the proud avowal
of those principles in the unanswerable speeoh of Mr . Thomas Cooper . We trust that Mr . Coopeb will reprint his speeoh whole ; and we have no doubt that it weuld be a mantel ornament for every poor man ' s cottage . Who felt lest , and who greatest , while those thrilling truths were issuing from the grated dook , a place for felons , not intended for philosophers t Who was then the culprit—the man in the dock , or the wretoh in the witness box 1 Where then was the yeoman ' s sword to cut down Chartism f Where the bludgeon to break the head of Cooper ' s discourse ?
. " Faction will find its triumph in the price it will have to pay for its whistle ; while Chartism will see its victory in that dread in which the unjust hold its just principles , aad the lengths to which those in possession of power are prepared to go against law , justice , and decency , to insure their destruction . With such an unconstitutional foe , then , as injustice , and such an unconquerable friend as right , what have the noble army of Chartists to dread ? " The friends we ' ve tried , Are by our side , The foe we hate before us . "
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THE APPROACHING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS . The annual dog-fight is now approaching , daring which we anticipate much lying , but little truth ; much roguery , but little honesty ; much hypocrisy , but little sincerity . TWb has over been the case in this Borough since the passing of the Municipal Corporation Act ; and we see not the shadow of a reason to induce us to expect it will be otherwise on the present occasion . In fact , it would be the quint-essence of absurdity to expect
anythiBg but a repetition of the old game , so long as the Property Qualification forms the chief ingredient in the corporate pudding . How ever , the thing must be worked , at present ] with all its imperfections , in the best possible manner , care being takeu by the honest portion of the Burgesses to avoid the snares into which they have heretofore fallen , many of which are , no doubt , already set in every ward ; the many coy-birds now on the wing giving proof thereof .
It is not our province to bepraise any of the present or ex-Councillors ; that we leave to the veracious scribes of faction who are known adepts in whitewashing characters and deeds of the darkest hue , and blackening those wholly spotless , save from the blots received from the pens of time-serving and hireling scribblers who live by the defamation fit all who refuse to run in party harness . The Tories may prate about Whig deception , and
the Whigs may fulminate against Tory extravagance , but we unhesitatingly tell both factions that they have both attained the very acme of hypocrisy and have vied with each other in a wanton and wasteful expenditure ot the money of the rate payers . No regard whatever has been paid to the exigences of those from whose pockets the money is drawn . Their only forte aeema to be that of aping the p lunderers who do business on a more extensive scale in Westminster . '
These are not times to pander to the appetites of place-hunting cormorants ; neither can the Burgesses , without being guilty of a
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LORD ABINGER'S POPULARITY , AND THE POLICY OF THE PEOPLE . Few men have obtained a more unenviable notoriety than that which Lord Abinger has achieved for himself during his crusade against Chartism in the Speoial Assizes at Chester and Liverpool . The whole press of the whole country cries shame ! Even the Tory press , almost without exception , joins in the common language of reproof , and grieves to see the jud gment-seat thus foully desecrated . Several of oar contemporaries boldly put the question whether it is fit that the ermine should be longer suffered to encompass the bloated
form of ignorant and dishonest partisanship which is exhibited in the person of his Lordship . Even the Tory Morning Herald affirms that any of the Chartist prisoners would have a fair right to protest against being tried by him , and to demand that his trial should take place before a less prejudiced Judge . Certain it is , that , within the compass of our memory , never was the British Benoh so degraded and . disgraced as during these proceedings by this doting old man . To attempt anything like sober refutation of the rigmarole whioh with our own ears we heard him deliver not merely to the
Grand Jury but the petit Juries of Liverpool , would be an insult to the understandings of our readers , little short of that perpetrated in the grave enunciation of his stupid and malignant trash by the ermined functionary himself . We will give our readers a sample , and leave them from that to judge of the whole saok . In the case of Warwick , a small shopkeeper at Oldham , whose offence consisted in having exhibited on a board at the door of his shop the placard alleged to have been issued by the Exeoutive . Commenting to the Jury " in round set terms" upon
the mischievous crime perpetrated in the publication of this placard , the Judge was pleassd oracularly to lay down that Universal Suffrage must issue in the complete disorganization and overthrow of society and all existing institutions , and he took , as an illustration of his assumed position , military discipline ; demanding how it could reasonably be expected that an army could be kept in proper order if the common soldiers were to have equal power with their officers . Here was a Judge and a lawyer—au English Judge and lawyer ! actually holding up the perfect despotism of military
discipline as the most perfect model of civil government , and denouncing every effort to procure for the great mass of the people one jot more of freedom than is enjoyed by the great mass of the soldiery as an atrocious crime whioh deserved heavy punishment ! Why do we again call attention to this sickening exhibition ! Is it because Judge Abingeb is a subjeot worthy of so much notice 1 By no means . But we think thiB with every passing circumstance worth noting by the people as evidenoe which grows in every instance stronger of the remorseless character and unchangeable nature of class domination . Let them not imagine for an instant that the spots of the beast , however they may
change their form , oan be obliterated . While ever the usurped power of creating and administering the law is suffered to remain in the hands of those by whom it has been usurped , judgment will be a mookery , justice an airy shadow of a name , and religion a vile covering for oppressive cruelty . Let , then , all these things infase fresh determination into the people's minds . Let them , as they successively behold them , look upon them as so many sacred shrines on whioh to swear eternal hatred to class tyranny , and unceasing warfare with it . Let every man be a Hamilcar—let him rear his children ia just hatred to unrighteousness in all its forms , and make them vow unceasing opposition to its rule .
But while these lamentable exhibitions of partizanship on the judgment seat are regarded by the people as evidence of the utter futility of any hope to obtain justice white the system of class dominance exists ; while they are regarded as so many sacred altars on which to dedicate our Hannibals to holy war against unrighteousness ; while they supply so many additional incentives to cling firmly and adhere olosely to our agitation and demand for the whole Charter , unmixed and unmitigated , let them be also that which they are not intended for , the beacon light of warning—the remembrance of the
power against which we have to contend , and the sort of hands by whioh that power is wielded ; and let the people hence learn the lesson we have so long laboured to inoulcate , that their resistance to oppression to be successful must be prudently and cautiously , as well as boldly and manfully , conduoted . God forbid thai we should ever recommend a trimming polioy ; a coquetting with the rampant enemy , even though disposed to wear the appearance of a smile . We know his heart too well ! But while we have ever set our faces against that smirking cowardice whioh to conciliate the
enemy would sacrifice a tittle of the cause , we have been ever equally opposed to that greater cowardice whioh in its blustering zeal would peril every thing for fear of being thought cowardly . We have had too much of this amongst us , or my Lord Abinger might have bad less opportunity to show the teeth of faction than has been afforded him . Let the time past serve for a lesson . While the people redouble their vigilance and determinanation , let them redouble alao their caution . Let every new step be well weighed before taken . Examine in all its bearings , in all its aspects , and in all its probable consequences , every great question ; and proceed not hastily to act before you
have well looked at the end to which it may conduct you . Let the organization of our National Sooiety be strictly looked to . In itself it is perfectly legal ; but it is in the power of a few fools , by inattention to its details , to invalidate all that has been done to throw round us the safe mantle of protection . Remember that we have again , and again , and again , pressed this point upon the attention of the country ; let it not be neglected . Present not unnecessarily any weapon to the adversary ' s hand . Do all peacefully , all quietly , all within the precincts of the law , but all with determined energy and persevering vigilance ; and God , who abhors injustioe , " will maintain the cause of the afflicted and uphold the right of ' the poor . "
The Northern Star. Saturday, October 22, 1842.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , OCTOBER 22 , 1842 .
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Thirty-Five Persons Killed akd Woctnded at BOLCKROW AND YiUGHAS ' s IRON FOUNDRY , MlDdlesbro ' . —Oh Tuesday morning , about nine o ' clock , a most alarming and awful occurrence took place here . The large boiler belonging to the above parties , owing , it is stated , to more pressure being put upon it than it was calculated to bear , burst , and hurried five human beings to a premature grave . Thirty more are maimed and wounded ; the most of them are very severely hurt . One part of the building was blown into the river Tees , a distance of between one and two hundred yards , and the end of the boiler was completely blown out . Medical aid went , via special train from Stockton , as soon as this awful affair was known ; and every possible assistance was rendered to the unfortunate sufferers .
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— 4 , THE NORTHERN STAR .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 22, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct910/page/4/
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