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SER1OTJS ACCIDENT TO MB- O'CONNOR.
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THE I^OETHEEN STAK. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1843.
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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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THB TA 1 LOBS * PBOTECTION SOJiETY . fince tbe great meeting of the above body , held at tb 9 National Association BaB , High HoHjoro , on Not . Sffli , T * st numbersof the trade haTe become members cf the several sections . In addition to the stimulus given to the Houses of Call , the Central Committee tare been almost nightly called npon to attend aa deputations upon the several societies t » ho haTe solicited their attendance , to explain the principles , * c On Tuesday fortnight , Messrs . Parrott , Parker , and Eamea attended at theThree Crewns . Bichniend * Street , Soho . 3 te deputation having at great length entered into explanations , the society which consists of 500 kernben , expressed themselves perfectly satisfied , being of opinion " that unless the trade generally adopt the prinsxfles of a General Union , ibere is no hope of making a successful stand against the encroachments ef the jrineipal capitalists . The above named gentlemen also
attended by invitatien a respectable soeety , meeting at the Gfcorge , Si . Mary Axe ,-when a number of questions -were pat , and the objects explained , all of which gave satisfaction . A Tote of thsnis -were unanimously passed to The deputation , and the meeting separated trith thennderst&nding that the question should receive toll consideration , A delegate meeting of the Houses rf Call haviois been convened for Thursday last , Dec 31 st , at the Bine Posts , Bapert-strest , Haymarket , to ¦ which the Central Committee were especially in > ited , Hessrs , Tklurray and Esau , from the Three Crowns , Sogers asd Sutherland , from the Two Chairmen , Black SSd Irons , from the Fleece , Hopkins and Osborne , from file King ' s Head , Moaney and Kelly , from the Blue ¥ ost 8 , and a delegate from the Robin Hood , attended from the Houses of CalL Hesars . Psrrott , Piiker , 2 Simes , Cotter , Donaldson , Evans , Simpson , Eiland , sad Brinsile attended on behalf of the Protection
Society ; the delegates represented nineteen societies and sections . After the preliminary business had been disposed of , an animated < IiBcuraion took place , in which several of the delegates took . part The utmost goad feeling prevailed . All evinced an ardent desire to carry out the formation of the General United Tailors' Protec tion Secitty . She meeting having been continued to a late hour , an adjournment was carried to Monday evening , Jan . 3 th , 2841 , to be held at the same place , to which all odetieB jnot represented . are respectfnlly invited to send delegates . Thus by the perseverance of a few indefatigable individuals , "has the trade , both in town and country , been aroused to a sense of 1 U wrongs , and which , it is U be hoped , will ultimately attain those lights that are inherently the property of the wealthproducing da&sts . —Correspondent .
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^ ytJVCp'SB . —A spirited public meeting of the journeymen tailors was held here on the forenoon of Monday « e * nnight » in the Democratic Council Boom , for the purpose of txirinv into consideration the propriety of forming an Association to protect themselves from the effects of that competition which is so fast sinking them ss a trade in the scale of soda ! comfort Mr . James Dmmmond having been called to the chair , the folbwing resolutions were put to the meeting and carried SB&mmoasIy , tzs . ;—i ** That we , th& . journeymen tailors of Dundee sow assembled , view with alarm and segret the inroads sow evidently being made-upon the wages of our labour , produced by & system « f competition engendered and fostered by those whose existence mainly depend on the profits derived from the trans
mission of goods through their hands from the pro-£ acer to the consumer , they of themselves producing nothing at all calculated to benefit society . We , therefore , are of opinion that the carrying out of such a competition will have the Effect of reducing our em-3 > loyerB into a state bordering that of journeymen ; which state is at ones calculated to destroy on / moral , social , and physical standing in society , making us thereby not the journeymen of the " master tailors , " st the journeymen of jour neymen ; And that , while viewing the extent to which such a practice is nltiaately being carried , conceive it our duty to put a stop to such a moral , social , and physical degrading system
ty every legal , peace * hie , aid energetic mesnajn our jwwer . " 2 . Tbst this meeting is of opinion , thai in order to carry out the spirit of the foregoing resolution sad put a stop to the eyils therein complained of , coneeive that the only means in our power is that cf forming onrsdTe * into a Club or Association , which we believe wDl have the effect of destroying that isolated position in which we now are , and of opening a channel whereby our individual grievances may become known to each « 4 her , at also to the public generally . ' A snptestion was then mads relative to their joining the " United Journeymen Tailors Trade Protection Society for Great Britain and Ireland . ' the consideration of which was
left over to the next meeting . The meeting then , sepa-2 a . ted .-T 7 e are happy that * neb a moremeot has taken p&ee here , convinced as we are that the grievance which the working classes so loudly complain of will sever be removed until they adopt toe resolution of acting on the advice of Sir Robert Peel , viz taking "their affaire into their own hands . To other places we weuld say , go and do likewise . Localities wiabiog to communicate with Dundee will Address to th& Secretary , Mr . P . Brown , li , Dndhope-streeL—Corret-• safest
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Cljartfet BBmcUt ' s ^ ttf * *
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CrtAseoW—The long talked-of discussion be-, tween Mesas M addon and Brown , as to whether a xepeal of the corn law ? , under existing circumstances , would benefit the working classes , came off < m Tuesday evening last , in the village of Bridgetoa , which in reality is part of Glasgow . Mr . Brown displayed considerable knowledge of the subject j but as to Mi . Madden , iis arguments (!) were beneath contempt . Ths Chxrhsts of the Gorbals are to bold their annual festival on New Year ' s Day ( Monday ) evening , in the Chartist Hall , Clyde Terrace . We hope that thetnrn-ont on that occasion will be worthy of the good cause . The men at the head of the Goibals democratic s eminary , never hesitated between two opinions ; no appeal connected with Chartism , either -of a general or individual nature has jet been = m& 4 e to them in Tain , and we trust therefore teat on this , as on former occasions , success will crown their labours .
SUWUKK . L&MP—Since Mr . Dickinson has taken vo his residence here our association has increased" every week , and wears everyway progressing successfully "We hare been informed that some « f the leaders of the Xeague have been invited to visit this town , and that we may expect them in the early part of next month , We are glad to hear this , for if they will allow discussion we are prepared to meet them . Mr . Dickinson baa delivered two lectures at Monkwe&rmouth , and last Sunday but one announced , at the ead of " his lecture , that he should deliver a third lecture in " the same place as last Sunday . Accordingly at two o ' clock he approached the ground , when he saw three of the ** force ™ parading about : one of them came up to him ^ s lie was crossing the road , and after saying it w ' aa a fine
tlay , asked him if he was awut to lecture there that day , towbich question Mr . 3 ) 5 ckiuBon replied ^' certainly . " Then said the policeman I am authorised by the Inspector to inform you that you must not lecture there , « further proceedings will be iaken against you . After thanking the nun for his information , Mr . 2 > ickiasoB caste to the waste ground tvhrie tbe people were assembled and proceeded with his lecture . He stated to tke meeting that the pelice had requested him not to lecture there , but he did not feel inclined to remove ¦ anfil a reason was rendered for bis removal . He then entered on the subject ef hit lecture and addressed the people for about twenty minutes , three policemen standing by ,, when one of them went away and presently
letnmed with Inspector Bale , who rushed through the crowd and demanded Mr . Dickinson to come down from the chair . Mr . D . demanded by whose authority do 70 s make that demand ? "I am the Inspector of Police , and in the Qocen ' a name ( pulling apiece of painted wood from Ida pocket ) I command you to depart from this spot , as you are only preaching about the body and sot the soul , and therefore you are ' obstructing tfcm footpath . " Mr . Dickinson said "he would come down , but would the Inspector have any objections if he removed a little . farther np , if he could find a spot where he would sot obstruct the footpath ? Yes , said the Inspector , I » Tti determined yon shall not lecture en this side the waste at alL Mr . Dickinson came cut of "the crowd to
go home , and was patting his topcoat on in the middle cf the highway , when Bale , the Inspector , who had been 'talking with some things calling themselves gentlemen , said was heard to say to them "its one ef the Chartist fellows" called out to the three policemen to take Mr . Dickinson to the Station-house . He went with than without a murmur . The Inspector left the Station-Jwuse and went to consult the Superintendant , who came to the Station-house , and after a little consultation , said to the Inspector ** You'd better charge him . " The charge was then laid , whith was " for obstructing the footpath by resisting the police . " Everything was taken from ilr . Dickinson ' s pockets , and although we Brought ban and bailed him cnt until Tuesday they insisted on xebaniDg the contents of bis pockets ; it Was with difficulty we could get them to allow him to take lia watch . Siace this bit of a dust our 100 m iasieeen crowded . " It ' s an in wind that blows xwbodjsoodi "
Ow Tit : esi > at , the 26 th , the Court House was thronged to bear the case of Mr . Dickinson , and hundreds were waiting outside who -were unable to obtain admission . Mr . Ayton , « f this town , was employed to defend Mr . Dickinson . The Inspector of Police swore that Mt Dickiason caused an obstruction or the thoromghfare ; and in the next breath , that he did not ! The policemen theaiselTes proved that Mr . Dickinsen did sot resist the police . Seeing the police had so bungled the matter , the magistrate * di&miEaed the caae , —CtretpondcaL Mr . DlCXiBSOB will deliver a lecture next Sunday at Monkwearmouth , at the usual hour ( two o ' cleek ) and its hopes all tree Chartists will rally round their standard .
BXZJSTOW . —The Chartists of this locality held their weekly meeting on Sands / evening last , in the IiWgeB . oom , in Stafford-street , Jlr . Hamereleyin the € nair . The unaniicons feeling of the . Ccnncil "was , that » vigorous effort should be maoP to arouse their toothers in bondage . At the e ) o .- £ of the fcnHneaa 2 s . were added to the Katioual Tribal .
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JLszstoh-ttnbbr-XiYKS . — On Sunday last , Jlr . C Doyle , of Manchester , delivered a lecture in the Chartist Association Boom , Ben tick-street . At the conclusion of the lecture , a vote of thanks was given to Mr . Dojle . —On Tnesday , Dec . 26 , Mr . John "Westj ^ of Sheffield , lectured in the same place , xm the remedy for national poverty . At the conclusion of the lecture , a vote of thanks was given to Mr . West . OLD HAM . —On Sunday last , a lecture was delivered in the Chartist Room , Greaves-street , by Mr . Dixon , subject— " The Rights of Labour . " The andience were very respectable , and great attention was paid to the lecturer throughout hia discourse , which occupied one hour and a half .
HETWOOD . — The Charfists ^ oF this locality took tea together , in their room , Hartley-street , oa Christmas Day , yrhen upwards * f one hundred sat down to a good repasi . After the doth was removed , appropriate addresses were delivered by Messrs . Mead , Bell , and Taylor . WlSAN . —The following persons bare been nominated members of the General Council : —Mr . James Smali'y , Mr . John Peer , Mr . Michael Green , Mr . John Heaton , Mr . Richard Downy , Mr . Thomas Heaton , Treasnrer , Mr . Patrick Bradley , Secretary . The cause is progressing rapidly since Mr . O'Connors visit to this town ; but the accursed Whigs , who are always ready to act as Tory tools , have determined on not allowing us to have the use of the Commercial Hall any more . No matter we shall prosper in spite of them .
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TTTR EDITOR OP THE NO&THBBN STAB . Sir , —Since forwarding Mr . O'Connor ' a route for next week , in which were included Bury , Rochdale , Todmorden , and Stockport , I regret to be obliged to inform you that a serious accident , occasioned by the lodgment of a £ sh bone in Mr . O'Connor's throat , may probably preclude the possibility of his fulfilling those engagements . It is now nearly twenty-fonr houra since the accident occurred , and hitherto all attempts either to extract it or force it down have failed , as have also emetics . Mr . O ' Connor ' s professional attendant has given directions that be should abstain as much as possible even from conversation , which might produce serious iLfUmmation . I am , Sir , Your obedient Servant , W- HBTflTI , Secretary to Mr . O'Connor . London , Thursday afternoon , 28 th December , 1845 .
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ALEXANDER O'DRISCOLL , ESQ ., J . P . AND HIS PLUNDERED TENAh'T . Last week we directed the attention of our readers to the proceedings before the Macroom Justices upon their first attempt at administering the Irish Arms' Bill , The name of Alexajtdsb O'Driscoll , J . P . flourished as one of the disarming gentlemen , and , in truth , by reference to a case reported in this week's Star , in which he stands forward as the sole actor , furnishes good and cogent reasons
why this impartial dispenser of English law Bhould look with jealousy npon the possession of any implement of defence by those who would be justified in using them in resistance to open and barefaced robbery . These frequent acts of plunder appear to strike the English reader with becoming horror , and are looked npon as exceptions against the usual practice pursued by Irish landlords towards their defenceless victims . That we , however , have considered such acts as forming the rule rather than the
exception , we refer our readers to our various articles upon Irish affairs , while we would direct more immediate attention to the following passage , taken frem our comment under the head " Ireland and the Irish" which appeared in the Star of the 25 th of November : — " The practice ef distraining cattle , of impounding , selling them by auction , and buying them in , by the middleman , for very frequently not a twentieth of their value , while no account of the sale is ever rendered , leads to more extensive disturbance , and gubseqnent evil results , than almost any other
grievance . It is not at all nnusnal for a middleman , accompaniecrby a host of under-tenants , to drive off the whole stock of some unfortunate tenant to a distant pound in the dead hour of night ; while the tenant , to protect himself against the aggression of the middleman , has paid his rent to , and holds the receipt of the head landlord . TbuB situated , the poor tenant has no alternative but to replevy the stock at a great expense ; while he is compelled to give security for doable the value , until the case shall be disposed of in the Sheriff ' s Court . If , upon the other hand , he cannot procure the required security , his cattle are allowed to stand in a cold pound until the day of auction , when the
poundkeeper presents him with an enormous bill for fodder never used . Will any man say that a tenant so treated , and thrown for protection upon expensive and dilatory law , which he cannot procure , is not justified in taking the snmmary law into his own bands ! In many cases , he does do so : and man ; is the man who has been hun /; in olden times , and many is the honest man now working in chains , for having STOLEN his own property from the Ihief who stole it from him in the dead hour of nigbt . le this , we would ask , a "" practical grievance ? " and are the family of the expatriated victim likely to be admirers or Toluntarj obeyers of those laws by which ruin and desolation has been brought upon them !"
The reader will learn from the above sketch that , at all events in onr opinion , the grievance complained of by Mr . O'Driscoll ' s victim is one of a general character , and that the case referred to is not to be looked npon as a mere isolated instance , either not tolerated or practised by other men of his class . The fact is , that those tenants who hold under Irish middlemen not only pay three times the amount of rent compounded for in free labour , duty foul , and legal expenees , but as we have more than once stated , the whole of that capital which should be left to them as the means of stocking and
tilling their farms is extracted before getting possession , in the following manner : —We will suppose a farm of twenty acres , being a portion of a large denomination , rented by Captain O'Dbiscoll under Lord Cjlbbebbt at per acre . This amount he subdivides into Euch allotments as will suit the existing competition and demand . A tenant , who has been broken down by a co-tyrant of O'Dbiscoll ' s in a farm of fifty acres , tries to sqnaxe his means to the possession of twenty acres of O'Driscoll's ' take , " at a rent of £ 1 10 s . per acre , or 10 s . per acre profit . To begin , he gives a fine of a year's rent , £ 30 ,
intended as compensation to O'Dbiscoll , in lien of a fine which he asserts he has given upon receiving possession himself . Mr . Bied , the agent , the plenipotentiary of the gallant Capiaih , receives £ 5 for his good word , and Tim Donavam , who has the ear of Mr . Bibb , and who may be denominated as " Trusty" and Spy upon the undert enants , must have Ms £ 2 , as without his friendship all hope of possession is fruitless . The mistress must have £ 5 for glove-money ; " and then , to
insure something like title , a proposal is accepted upon unstamped paper , which concludes with an undertaking that leases shall be executed at the request of either party ; and £ 5 5 s . is a Email amount to require to be paid for this purpose^—the tenant being invariably compelled to lodge his money for that purpose , althoBgh a lease iB not granted in one case in twenty . Add to the above sums , the incoming tenant is compelled to lake the manure , of which the outgoing tenant has been robbed , at the " Trusty's" valuation .
Such are the prospects with which an Irishman enters npon his tenancy under a middleman ; with a further certainty , however , of being ousted in three years at furthest , in order that the middleman may raise fresh capital by way of fine . Lest , however , a religions prejudice ihould be attempted to be established upon the cruel , the heartless , and villancns ease under tonsideration , we beg to state that this Mr . O'Diiscoix is a Roman Catholic , Captain of a
Yeomanry corps , Justice of Peace , an extensive middle-man , aa well as "lay impropriator" of tithes in several parishes . In truth we may assert without . fear of contradiction , and with the full concurrence of the Catholic people of Ireland , that any tenant would rather place himself nader a Protestant than a Catholic middle-man ; and the reason why we do not hear more of the tyranny of the latter is , because eomplaint generally arises from what u considered the general sour » e of srtevanoe , and imdent Protestor , being for tke most part
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the tools of absent landlords , come in for the whole of the odium while there are guilty Catholic confederates who escape scot free . The reader will be puzzled to know why the act of top-dressing his corn Bhould furnish Mr . Bird with an eiouse for his conduct . A simple statement of faots , however , will enable us to establish Mr . O'Driscoll ' s conviction upon the very reasons assigned for the cruelty and injustice of his agouti That the rent due in March was included in the note lodged in the bank , and upon which
Mr . O'Driscoll had received the money may be inferred from the very act of top-dressing the corn . That the tenant- was preparing to " flit" in September we admit , and that he knew that whatever manure he left behind him would be seized by O'Driscoll is obvious ; he therefore applied it to the corn which he might have cut , thrashed and sold before any other rent than that included in the note would have acorued . This was the cause of his applying his manure to topdressing the corn !; a practice seldom or never resorted to even by the best Irish farmers .
Of course the reader does not expect us to launch into abuse of Mr . O'Driscoll and his agents , as the foulest words within the vocabulary of Billingsgate would fall far short of the expression of our feelings . Let us now inquire as to the method of disposing of the destrained property . The witness says , " They stole some (!) I only took away 46 loads . 1 took them to Skibbereen , and put them in a garden near Mr . O'Dkiscoll's house . • * I was auctioneer and did bid also ; was not the buyer , but afterwards got the potatoes myself . Sold every six weights for eightpence . " What a picture .
"THEY STOLE SOME . " You brute , they didn ' t steal them , they honestly produced them by the sweat of their brow and you and O'Dbiscoll stole them from them . Just think of the poor man ' s winter's hoard being deposited in the gallant Captaia's garden , while the rent for the ground upon which they grew was lodged in his pocket . Think of an auctioneer himself bidding for the distrained goods , and although he had the becoming modesty not to knook them down to himself , yet he knocked them fob himself to his representive , who was appointed to bid for him . But what did be do 1 He sold them at the auction at the rate of eightpenoe for every six weighs . Tke
English reader should understand that the weigh is 23 ! bs ., and that consequently every 138 pounds was sold for eightpenoe , or , at the rate of one penny for seventeen pounds . Let us analyse' this act of plunder , and see what it amounted to even upon this poor article . A load of potatoes is twelve weighs ^ Forty-six loads were Btolen from the poor man They were sold for Is 4 d a-load , that is eightpence for six weighs , making for the forty-six loads £ 3 Is 4 d , while at threepence a stone they were worth £ 11 63 . Now who stole the potatoes ! The rogue that grew them , and paid the rent for the land that produced them , or the honest man that knocked them down at £ 3 Is 4 d , while they were worth £ 11 63 .
The Times of Saturday had a bold and withering article upon the subject , from the deductions with which it is closed , however , we differ wholly . The Times , after commenting upon the case proceeds thus : — " But what do these scenes teach us ! That there is something fearful in the relations between the Irish landlord and his tenant—oppression on the one side , wild vindictiveness on | he other . But what further lesson do they inculcate ! What but this —that instead of severing Ireland from the only nation that has tbe power and the will to assist her , —instead of dissolving the tie of sympathy which
has of late years drawn the two countries closer and closer together—instead of perpetuating a domestic tyranny and consolidating a domestio feudalism , rampant , domineering , and encroaching , subjeot to no control and checked by no principle , —those who love Ireland well and wisely should do all in their power to bring her actual state , her sufferings , and her capabilities , within the ken of English opinion and the scope of English justice—that they should admit the full effulgence of English—of Britishopinion into the dark holes of injustice and intolerance , and frighten power from the indulgence of its capricious cruelty , by enlisting against it the irresistible force of public feeling .
We come to very different conclusion . We say that if able , England has never evinced a willingness to correct those practical grievances , and if willing Bhe has not the power . That the grievances consist in the abandonment of all duty by those who are bound by every law of nature , of reason , of justice , and expediency , to administer the Jaws and to sot an example to those who are compelled to live under them . That the restoration of Ireland ' s legislature , whereby grievances on the spot may be complained of , where they occur , and when they occur , and that the censure and odium may fall upon those
sanctioning and tolerating them , while excitement is fresh and before the fever shall have passed away ; this is the remedy wanted to ensure justioe , giresatisfaction , and put an end to agrarian crime . The absentee proprietor under whom an Irish middleman holds , and practices his abominations is morally and legally as guilty as his representative . Let the Irish landlords be induced , if not compelled , to return to that country where they have duties of the highest nature to discharge . Let them act as
magistrates : let them dispense justice , and in its dispensation , we shall see an honourable courtship of publio opinion as a means of insuring power of a higher nature than even th at which devolves upon the administrators of law—the power to make the law . What effect will the tyranny of O'Driscoll have upon the heterogeneous body ' at St . Stephens 1 And what effect , if ventured upon , would it not have upon an Irish House of Commons to take prompt cognizance , and to prevent a recurrence of which would be one of its principal duties .
Upon the whole , then , it is not wonderful that the hands of Mr . O'Connei . l should be strengthened in his endeavour to destroy the Saxon rule . Talk of your Devon Commission , of your flotillas , your war-ships , and your bomb-boats ; your garrisons , your spy-holes , your spike-holes , and your cannon ramparts . Talk of your horse , foot , and artillery , we tell you that you have nurtured a deep and rancorous hatred throughout the whole term of your ferocious and iniquitous rule , whion your patch-work corrections of Church and Landlord abuses can neither obliterate or destroy . You have sown
the seeds of disaffection , dissatisfaction , and discontent , which have produced an abundant harvest of national antipathy , distrust , and hate , which even your monster indictments and tyrannical prosecutions of those who have endeavoured to stay rebellion by promoting justice cannot eradicate . You have sown the wind , and you must reap the whirlwind . You must cease to marvel that the victim of O'Dbiscoll will rather look to his priest than to his landlord for sympathy ; and to the wildnes 3 of revenge rather than to the law , with O'Driscoll upon the bench for justice . '
England had it in her power to render a union unnecssary , England had it in her power to make a union effective . She has done neither the one nor the other ; her rule has been one incessant and undeviating coarse of blood , persecution , plunder and injustice ; setting father against sen , brother against brother , and man against his fellow . And now , ascendancy looks to a Tory lord , with a gallant engineer for his earwig , as « means of allaying discontent . We believe , and we hope , that during Mr . O'CoJfJfELL ' s lifetime the wildness of vengeance will be held in check ; but who that reads , that reasons
and that thinks , tnat must not come to the conclusion and Borrow that the peace of a nation—nay perhaps of Europe—depends npon the life of a man who though of a sound constitution is yet stricken in years . It appears that the malignant Attorney-Gekerax , still resolved upon the ruin of his adopted country , is determined , if possible , to snap all those ties by which alone peace can be preserved , and thus hurry on the savage cry for justice amid the clash of arms and wild shriek for vengeance . For when the day of retribution comes , we fear that the demand will be for vengeance ; the word Justice having long lost all its charms for the Irish ear .
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ENGLISH LAW versus DURHAM LAW . In our last , we announced tho fact that Mr . Roberts had obtained a writ of Habeas Corpus from Mr . Justice Patteson , ordering the attendance in person of the six Coal King Victims who had been consigned to Durham Gaol , by the Durham Justices —there to be kept to hard labour , and upon the silent system . In compliance with the legal order the six prisoners , in custody of the Governor , together with Mr . Roberts dud Mr . Marshall , the Solicitor for the Coal Kings , arrived in London at
six o ' clock on Saturday morning , and at ten , the hour appointed for hearing the case , the parties appeared before his Lordship—Mr . Bodkin , M . P ., being retained on behalf of the men , and Mr . Clarkson on behalf of the masters ; and , after a patient consideration of the case , having heard counsel on both sides , the Constitutional Judge ordered the prisoners to be forthwith discharged from the custody of tbe gaoler , and they were forthwith set at liborfcy . So far we might hare rested satisfied with the whelesomo reproof thus
administered to a set of tyrannical masters and ignorant Justices , and we should not have included them further in our general commentary upon the value of English law , but for the following reason : —The Constitutional Judge haying no interest in oppressing the working classes , but evincing rather a desire to afford them the cheapest exposition of the law , directed that one of each of the two batches who had been tried and convicted at different times should be brought up under the writ of Habeas Corpus , and that the judgment upon those appearing should also extend
to the others . This course was proposed for the purpose of saving the prisoners the expence and iuconvenienoe of a journey of nearly 600 miles . The proposition was acquiesed in by the Constitutional Judge , provided the prosecutors should agree . Now let the reader perfectly understand this portion of the case . Six poor Colliers were convicted by the Durham Justices , three at one period inoluded in the same warrant , and three at another period also included ii > another warrant . The case of one of each batch was tho case of all of that batch , and the decision of the Learned Judge upon the question
submitted to him upon the personal appearance of ona would equally apply to the others . The Learned Judge could not compel the prosecutors to agree to this proposition , but he assented to it . When Mr . Robkrts made an application to the prosecutors upon the subjeot , they instantly refused compliance , and tyrannically insisted upon the appearance of every man of the six—thus imposing a useless expense of between £ 40 and £ 50 oa their victims , as well as subjecting four of them to a journey of nearly 600 miles . We would ask if such an act requires further comment than the mere promulgation of it .
' We have before spoken out upon the course pursued by the Durham Justices with reference to this case , as well as several other cases connected with tbe complaints of Colliers . Our notions upon this subject have been gathered , not from the faota elicited upon tbe oue isolated case , but from the generally entertained feelings of the whole mining population towards this d | 6 cription of tribunal . The refusal to grant summonses against the masters ; the deep-rooted conviction upon the minds of men not at all politically tinged , that to go to Castle Eden or
Durham for justice was useless . The courtesy , the patience , and even interest with which the propositions of tho masters , made through their Solicitor , Mr . Marshall , were received ; the eruption of lava emitted upon each attack upon the masters by Mr . Roberts . The uncalled for and offensive insinuations against the part he had acted , tending to evince rather a sorrow for the loss of labour , than for a violation of th « law . From all these circumstances we gathered tkis undeniable faot , that the men are not , as indeed they could not be , satisfied
with the administration of Durham justice . In all these conjectures we might be mistaken altogetherthere not being sufficient to warrant us in charging the m withany deliberate act of tyranny or corruption ; but what we did charge them with , and what we do charge them with , is ignorance—ignorance so great , so dangerous , and so disgraceful , as to render them unfit for the administration of the English laws ' Those who have read the case will remember that Mr . Roberts more than once warned them of the injustice and illegality of trying the three prisoners
jointly . They therefore proceeded with their eyes open in the commission of aa act which Mr . Justice iPattison has declared to be illegal . Let us now be minute upon this , the Magistrates portion of tbe case . They tried three men oharged with separate offonoea , altogether ; made th e whole body of evidence which bore npon any one , to bear equally upon all ; so that if their notions of law are correct , they might with equal propriety have inoluded every pitman of the 500 working at ^ the Thornley Colliery . But why not Why should tho soience of justioe stand still amid the gigantio improvements by which the mind is startled sad the eye astonished . Why not double
deck" the bench as well aa the mules ! Why not trial by steam as well as steam production ? Why not a community of justioe as well as cooperative stores or community of labour ! What boots it , though [ one man violated the Thornley bond by keeping a donkey , against which there is an express provision , or another by keeping a dog , against which , notwithstanding the tariff , there is an actual prohibition , or although another had refused to pay £ 1 2 s , 6 cl . fine out of 43 . 6 d . wages ? Why not bray them , lash them , mash them all up in one mortar and make a compound of new and improved victims out of the several component parts !
Our readers are familiar with the old story of the son who was weary of the dull process of repeating grace daily over a barrel of herrings that was provided for the " Lent" store , and , for brevity ' s Bake , asked his father to say grace over the whole barrel at once . Now there was sense in that , for although the herrings might have been taken , and saved , and eaten , at divers times and places , and although consequently the grace should have been said with & *? continuando " yet execution executed being the end of the law , the
herrings oould not justly complain of having suffered damage from the general act of blessedness , and so it might have been with some of the victims , especially with one wholhad suffered materially ] from incarceration . Now it was against the steam law that the old constitutional mental manufacturer protested . It was principally upon this act of injustice that the Learned Judge saw the propriety of annulling the judgment of their mightinesses . It is impossible to over-rate the value of the triumph of the six Miners . The Colliers of the County of Durham will now have
learned that if there is no justioe to be had at Castle Eden or Durham , or from the Durham Justices , there is justice to be had in Westminster . Hall , at the hands of the administrators of the laws of England . How often have we preaoned this dootrine I How often have we told our readers that in the law there is a scabbard for every unjust thrust!—a provision against every act of tyranny—aye , and retribution for every act of injustice 1 The fault lies here . The disparity of wealth allows the rioh man to ; procure the law '» spitit and the law ' s delay , while
the poor man must submit to the law's letter , and the law ' s rapidity . This disparity , however , as we have frequently shown may be destroyed , by the poor thousands dubbing their pence against the rioh one ' s pounds , and had the several trades' unions spent onetweatieth part of the money in procuring law , that they have in sustaining strikes , they would by this time have found themselves richer , more powerful , and better paid . We trust that it is not too late even yet to begin anew , and to implore the people to use the ceustitutioual law as a ¦ corrective of magisterial ignorance .
ignorance was so grossly and so glaringly manifested in the recent case , that we trust the Lord Chancellor's mind will be directed to the necessity of appointing persons to the Commission , of the Peaoe
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with some better qualification than that of political sympathy . Surely ] if come qualification be necessary for apothecaries , surgeons , physicians , attornies , and parsons , who have the care of our health , our souls , and our properties , some qualification should ba required ; of those who may hare entire controul over the lives and the liberties of the working classes . Again , therefore , we would urge upon the Colliers the absolute neoessity of contending for the appointment of stipendiary magistrates , whose
knowledge of the law will be a requisite qualification , and whose administration of justice will be above suspicion . Although from our ignorance of the individuals who constituted the Bench in the Durham case , we cannot charge them with any aot of wilful corruption , yet we repeat it , that masters being magistrates , and administering the law , if not in their own case , in others , from which a precedent may be drawn , casts a suspicion around that tribunal , whoso value should consist in being free from even doubt . r
Suppose that those men who are now at large had been allowed to spend the allotted time in prison , how unjust , and yet how many thousands are now lingering out their time in the felon ' s cell simply because they bad not the means of appealing to the justice of the law against the ignorance of the law breakers . So much for the past , of this vitally important case , and now for the future . We leara from Mr . Roberts that Mr . Marshall , the Solicitor of the Coai Kings , ( said , upon leaving the Constiutional Jud « e , " WELL , WE'LL HAVE MORE
OF THEM UP . " ! Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof , and should the masters carry the threat of Mr . Marshall ! into effect he and they shall find that sufficient unto £ the act shall be our comment thereon . But ( ho i men to whom the words of the Solicitor may be a warning or a dagger will be pleased to learn that Mr . Roberts has taken it as the herald's proclamation of war , as the black fl * g intimating no quarter . And although perfectly willing to rest satisfied with biro triumph that his clients
had achieved he became at once bound , nay forced , compelled by this [ declaration of war , to attack the fortress of the enemy ; and to this end he has under the advice of table' counsel filed a bill against the masters for violation of all the terms of the contract , and will follow it up by an application for an injunction to stay all further proceedings against tke Colliers until the issue between them is tried .- He has further served ! the magistrates with notices of action for the illegality of their decision .
We trust that jthe Whig and Tory tools of the masters—the Durham Advertiser , that never has time to write a comment upon passing events—and tbe Durham Chronicle , that doesn't know how to write upon the past , present , or future , will , if they dabble at all in this case , tell their few readers that the course about to be pursued by Mr . Roberts has been forced upon him by Mr . Marshall , tho Solicitor for the Coal Kings , and communicate to the shopkeepers of Durham the faot , that the £ SSO a fortnight taken out of their tills , has been taken , out or rather kept out , jnot by Mr . Roberts , but by the injustice , the cruelty , and intolerance of the tyrant
masters . Again , we say the law—the law—a blow from Mr . Justice ; : Patteson is stronger , more powerful , and more deadly to oppression than 10 , 000 shots aimed by dissatisfied man at hisfellowcreature . Wherever we have been legal ! Chartists , we have either wholly triumphed , or at all events , procured the full value of pur money in the laws expedition . We will look with intense anxiety to the course that shall be taken by the colliery delegates at Manchester , upon this all-important threat of the masters through their , adviser Mr . Marshall . While we would especially direct their attention and that of the whole trade to the following paragraph , now going the round of the papers : —
General Strike t » the Collieries . We are sorry jto learn that the pitmen of another considerable colliery , in addition to Thornley , have Btruok work since our last ; and it is currently reported that others will shortly follow their example —Durham Chronicle . Against the above piece of incendiarism , for we can call it by no other same , we most earnestly , urgently , and emphatically caution the Miners . We tell them that none save tricksters , traffickers , tools , rogues , or fools , will endeavour to force them into a strike . They have now tried the operation of the law , and : why sully their fresh and maiden
triumph by an aot which would turn both law and sympathy against them . Let them take heed lest they entrammel themselves within the legal construction ; which means the most suitable one of the law of conspiracy . Let them not suppose that because being innocent , the law has protected them , that if they become guilty , the law will favour them , or even look mercifully upon their ignorance . Should the Colliers strike , let the responsibility fall upon tbe heads of those through whose dark counsels the act has been forced upon them , while we interpose our counsel to save them from all the horrors of a strike and its horrible consequences .
From the confidence that the whole body reposes in us , and to which we consider ourselves justly entitled , we would request of some workman in each colliery to read UMb article to the whole of their brethren , concluding thus : —next week we shall give such full and cogent reasons against a strike as- to make the aot little short of suicide , while we further request that no step may be taken until the decision of the Manchester Conference shall have been ascertained . A STRIKE IS THE THING UPON WHICH THE MASTERS RELY AS THE ONLY MEANS OF BREAKING UP THE INFANT UNION .
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SHALL POLAND PERISH t " What though your cause be baffled—freemen cast In dungeons—dragged to death , or forced to flee , Hope is not withered in affliction ' s blast !—The patriot ' s blood ' s the seed of freedom ' s tree . " When in 1830 the people of Poland rose against their foreign oppressors , and attested by an uninterrupted series of victories gained in bloody contests their devotion to their country , and their heroism in its defence ; when astonished Europe saw the immense hordeB of the tyrant Czar
scattered like chaff before the hurricane by a comparative handful of brave men ; when for the space of ten months the gore-dyed demon of the North had not one solitaryjviotory to boast of , but everywhere saw his legions mowed down by the scythearmed youth of Poland ; then did the newspaper press of this country , forgetting its prostitution to the servioes of despotism at home , hail with shoutB of joy the triumphs of the heroic Slavons , and dwell with delight on the hoped-for succesg of the glorious struggle .
When again that struggle hadendod in ruin ; when betrayed by treachery , lost by the inherent vices of the Polish { aristocratical system , and refused tho aid which tho Polibh people had a right to expect from tho Governments of England and France ; when these and other causes had combined to give the victory once more to the oppressor , and doom the oppressed to death , chains , and exile , and the blackness of despair a&ain floated over unhappy Poland , where late the sun of hope had shone
refulgent ; when Warsaw ' s streets rang with the groans of the slaughtered and the shrieks of the wronged , and the savage knout tore the living flesh from the baeks of Poland's daughters , and they were subjected to hellish horrors to which our pen . refuses to give a name ; when , in short , brutalities and enormities , black as Stygian night , were committed by the triumphant Autocrat on bis vanquished and prostrate victim , again did the press teem with denuncoitions of the tyrant , and excite a righteous indignation at his cruelties .
And when the heroes of Poland ' s broken phalanxes sought I refuge from their vindictive and merciless persecutor in the bosoms of the nations of the West , the pres 3 nobly did its duty in welcoming the exiles to our shores , and consoling the fallen by pledging the sympathies of the existing generation to the cause of Poland ' s resusoitatioa and ^ stored nationality .
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And the like feeling toward the haroio exiles coa * tiuued to be exhibited by the [ rasa for Borne few years subsequently . But of late , men appear to have forgotten thai there is , or , at any rate , was a Poland . We know that there are Poles ; for we have an annual city ball for their benefit : and this year has witnessed grave discussions in the Times as to the propriety of devoting these balls to the aid cf our own poor , rather than to the relief of expatriated " foreigners . " It no doubt is quite right to look to the case of our own poor first ; and we are certainly
not of that class of mock philanthropists to rouse whose sympathies it is necessary to bring before them some case of suffering from the uttermost ends of the earth , while they are blind to the misery existing around them . We are not philanthropists of that school . Still we do not believe in tho doctrine that we should not sympathise with others , because ourselves need sympathy . 'Tis not charity , but justice that the people of this country require . Give them that , and at the same time withold not sympathy from the destitute and friendless stranger .
But we demand , on behalf of Poland , something higher , nobler , than mere charity balls . We demand the continued sympathies of the press in support of the cause for which Poland ' s children are suffering . We have seen with sorrow the anniversary of the Polish struggle pass by and not a pen employed in defence
of" TLe noblest cause that tongue ox swoid , Of mortal ever lost or gained . " Other matters pressing upon us at the moment , prevented our taking up this subject as we had intended to have done in the Star of the 2 nd instant ; but we could not allow the present year to pass by without renewing our protest against the fearful wrong—the deadliest of all blows [ struck at the cause of civilization and human progress , the blotting out of an entire nation , because that nation stood between progression and absolutism , the van-guard of the former , the terror of the latter .
We have never ceased to raise our voice on behalf of unhappy Poland , and in impeachment of her imperial murderer . And at what fitter time could we raise our voice in so holy a cause as the present , when men are celebrating the birth of him whose golden rule was , "Do unto thy brother asthoa wouldst thy brother should do unto thee" ! We abhor oppression , and have pledged ourselves to do battle to the death with wrong and tyranny in our own country ; and shall we forget the sufferings of the exile , and the wrong done in that exile's heritage , by blood-reeking barbarous despotism?—Never f
It were useless to dwell upon the acts of tyranny and cruelty which have been perpetrated in Poland during tho last twelve months ; such as the horrible ukaae by which all the Catholics in the provinces of Tolhynia , Padolia , and Ukraine , are ordered to embrace the Russo-Greek religion in the course of two years , on pain of exile and the confiscation of their property ! or the more recent edict of the parple-clad monster , by which the Jews are banished from all parts of his dominions which border on Austriaand Prussia . The reasons assigned for this decree , which expels nearly three hundred thousand individuals from house and home , without so much
as assigning them a refuge elsewhere , are , forsooth , that the Jews have seduced Russian soldiers to desert , and have been guilty of smuggling and general injustice ! This last charge comes well from a government whose officials throughout the empire , from the highest to the lowest , are addicted to bribery , peculation , corruption , and pecuniary frauds of all kinds , to a degree scarcely credible among the more civilised nations of Europe . All these hideouB acts of tyranny are the necessary eonsequences of the one monster crime permitted by Europe—tho partition of the territory and the dissolution of the nationality of Poland .
We have witnessed with sorrow the falling-off of the annual demonstrations on the glorious though illfated 29 th November ; a falling-off strikingly visible this year in particular . There must be causes for this . If we mistake not , the greater number of the emigrants in this country consist of the aristocratic section of the exiles . Tbe aristocrats caused the failure of the Revolution ; and the lack of energy they exhibited as the leaders of the straggle , they are not likely to supply under present circumstances Again , the English democrats are not very likely to co-operate with men who are patronized by the aristocratic oppressors of the English
people ; with men who , though they were anti-Russian , were anti-democratic ; who , though they hated Russian tyranny , hated still worse social freedom , and refused to sink their class privileges in the common rights of all . With such men the English democracy , whose motto is , " For the people and by the people , " are not likely to sympathise . Hence the melancb » ly fact that at the recent meeting in the Sussex Rooms , the audience was composed entirely of Poles , when there ought to have been thousands of the English people present to have expressed their respect for the Polish cause and their detestatation of Russian barbarism .
We turn to a portion of Poland ' s exiled children to demand of them the adoption of a wiser policy than that which has produced the above results . We turn to the democratic Poles , and call upon them not to forget the work of their mission . Nearly twelve years since , they formed themselves into a society for the purpose of organizing an enlightened European opinion in favour of the restoration of Poland . Seven year ' s since , that Society addressed its manifesto to the democracy of Europea document breathing the pare spirit of holiest patriotism—setting forth its cause , its objects , and
means of accomplishment . At that time a section of the Society existed in England , considerable fox its numbers , and respectable for the intellect and patriotism of its members . Some of them have sinoe been borne to the refuge of the injured , " where the wicked cease from troubling , and the weary aie at rest . " Others have been scattered abroad by the necessity of struggling for an honourable subsistence . Still there have been subsequently holden at Portsmouth and other places , gatherings of the brave and true . But now all appears a blank , the cause being entirely abandoned to the protege's of Lord Dudlet Stuart . We remind the democrats of their pledges
and their great , and aa yet unaccomplished , mission to remember that they are the representatives of sixty millions of Slavonians , denationalized and held in bondage by the crowned brigands of Europe ; to remember that their country is the frontier of civilised Europe , and the ancient protector of the West against Northern and Eastern barbarism : to remember that their countrymen , to the number of twenty millions , the greater part of whom are in a state of actual slavery to their degenerated Polish and cruel Russian lords , look to them as their deliverers from their worse than Egyytain bondage And let not the democrats despair of a future and triumpbani . victory .
For" If we do but watch the hour , There newer vet was human power That could evade , if aaforgiven , The patient seareb and vigil long Of them who treasure up a wrong . " The very scattering of the Poles amongst the nations of the earth may be destined to hasten the universal emancipation of the European family , amongst whom they at present exist , a monument of human endurance and undying patriotism , stuno-Jating lees heroic nations to the like sacrifices in defence of liberty . Moreover , who will assert ihat
the Bixty Bullions of Slarons may not yet shake off the chains of the " Holy Allianoe , " and under the banner of federal refublioanifim unite once morel What ! when France , Germany , and Switzerland ara heaving with the silent yet steady workings of * Revolution destined to destroy the reign of privilege , and sweep away the crimes of caste ; wh « B Greece once more rivals her ancient glonesi and even priest-blighted Italy and Spain make efforts , though vain , yet promising brighter thing in defence of freedom ; when even in this " nation w shopkeepers "—this gold-corrupted , commerce- cursed England , an unequalled Revolution ia advancing
Ser1otjs Accident To Mb- O'Connor.
SER 1 OTJS ACCIDENT TO MB- O'CONNOR .
The I^Oetheen Stak. Saturday, December 30, 1843.
THE I ^ OETHEEN STAK . SATURDAY , DECEMBER 30 , 1843 .
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4 . THE NORTHERN STAR . [ *
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Dec. 30, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct961/page/4/
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