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THE L&NCaSTEB TBIAiS.
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THE NORTHERN STAK. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 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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"pA . RT . IES desirous to perfect their sets of this X valnabie Work , will do well to apply imme diately , as there is bnt a limited quantity of some of the numbers now on hand . Every Chartist ought to bo in possession of this B * corJ of the great Chaktjst Thiumph over the Tory Government . It was the best and most successful legal £# htthe Movement party overbad . The example then afforded may be followed , with advantage , by the Defendants in Ireland . A few Copies of that excellent Wort , THE STATE OF IRELAND , » T ABTHUK O ' CONHOH , remain on hand , and may be had in two lumbers , at Fourpenoe each . No Man can understand the position of Ireland , or the bearing of Irish Questions , who is not conversant with this perfect picture of Ireland's Condition ; tbe causes of her degradation , and the Remedies for her manifold -evils . London . Cleave ; Manchester , Heywood ; Leeds , Hobson , Northern Star Office : and all Booksellers .
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CO-OPERATION-UNION IS STRENGTH . \ TO JCHTBSETMES TAILOBS ASD OTHERS . yxixoTr-WoBKitEK , —Having for some- time past ! taken an acttvepart in tbe Metropolitan Tailors' Pro- tectton Society , I -venture to offer an-opinion as to what liwnceiTe to be the best mode of protecting ourselves j 5 ^ ?^* " ^ petiHon . large public meetings have ' beenhridlMn ha . to gme , of the trade ; all bavei *^ eed in flenonncmg «» aggression ol the money ! SfflwJ ? *? ¦» ¦*« . m to the means of securing S ~^ . V Wwnt - Mawlaw been thi &S- ^ « to enrolled benefit societies ; ^ f ^ f ^ fL * 6 «** to rappQrt those who '
. ^* ^ ffSS-H tede ^ tbeBt exception , bo& in town ^ 00 ^ ! fenalaw well as males : I say female * becau ? r « 2 , i fonn a lar *« ingredient in the JabW 2 ^^ bare unfortunately , through the present state ofthinra . 1 become oxr greatest competitors ; for , -where is the use ! of ocr attempting to briaf oar wages &p to the original standard , "While there are thousands of females who in oompelled to make waistcoats from fourpence each .
and tzosaesm from 6 d . per ., pale Indeed , jostioe fle-SUDdl that they dull be protested as well as © nr-HIT 8 I . To cany into effect this object , a national delegate meeting of the trade should be called , to ait at Birmingham , as the centre of England , as early as possible , to agree upon a plan of union , such as the Miners' Association , for in ^ niyt , who hare set a splendid example to their brethren . We also should tote up onr portion in the ranks of labour , in oppesi tion to all tyranny . We , too , should lure oar legal adviser : oarBoherU , We can have the Koriherx Star
as cur national organ- and , if the Miners can do these things , -who are as much oppressed as we are , sorely we ean do the ike . Therefore , I shall take it as a favenr if any individuals in the kins 4 om wm communicate
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their opinions on the subject to me ; and I wilt lay them before the Central Committee of the aboro body , for the purpose of consideration . SBoondly , the plan as advertised in last week's Star , is another effectual mode of assisting ourselves . I mean the Operating Tailors' Association , and Joint Stock : Clothes' Company , established for the purpose of giving employment to Its members , by uniting tbeiz small mt&ns , to en * able them to open establishments in various parts of London for the supply of clothes , to -the working classes and others . The design of this Association is to create a home market for our own labour ; to bring into active co-operation all trades , such as shoemakers , hatters , bakers , builders , sempstresses , &c ; to effect an exchange < rf produce through the present circulating !
medium . Let all of the above trades and others assist the tailors , by becoming shareholders in the above concern ; and the tailors in return will assist the shoe makers , &c ; each and all having an interest in each Joint Stock Trading Company , By these means we shall become customers te each other . There will be an identity of interests ; it will be the means ef keeping a portion of that capital within out grasp that is now used by the moneyocracy to perpetuate that baneful an < i a-srful system of competition which is fast rioting the working classes of this country , The anti-Cora Law "League say their opposition to the Corn Laws , arises from a desire to break the right arm of the landed aristocracy : our object should be to break the right arm of the moneyocraep . the greatest tyrant 0 / all . Here 1 b a wide field for alL Our female friends should unite together upon the same principle , and establish a company of their own , making the
price of the shares come within their means ; the males also taking up shares for the purpose of assisting them . Where is there a man amongBt us who would not be gUd to purchase his ihirt , or any other article that they may have to dispose of , instead of their being compelled , as at present , to make shirts for capitalists at three halfpence and five farthings each ? Why not the glovers of Leicester , who are now on strike , commence for themselves , and send their produce to the companies of London ; also the stocking makers , fee . In fact , let us adopt the general principle of trading for , and with each other . I rtgoicethat the tailors have set the first example . They hold their meetings every Tuesdaj e-rea \ af , at the Hope Coffee Souse , Farringdon-atreet , City . Do you follow it , both political and social Reformers . By wise arrangements this can be carried into effect . It will be the means of crippling the resources of the tyrants , as well as securing to onrselves the reward of wa Industry .
Ihe third and last proposition , but not least , is that we should never lose sight of the necessity of obtaining political power ; tor without it we should never be able to proect our labour—without it we shall continue to be what we are—slaves of the worst description ; without it our liberties will never be respected . In short we require political power as a means . The National Charter Association have already agreed to go upon the land as soon as practicable . Where should those who go upon the land seek for a market for their produce but among those who have a direct interest in keeping them there ? The trading companies will to-4 aire their produce ; they from the trading companies in return .
in submitting these propositions for your consideration , 1 am actuated but by one motive—that of assisting and protecting ourselves , by placing us in a better position to demand political freedom ; for , rest assured , if the day of our redemption takes place , it must be by our own means . The working classes mnst workout their own salvatien , by , as R . Peel has said , " taking their own aff . iirs into their own hands . " I am , fellow-workmen , yonrs respectfully , J . W . Pabkeb , Suffolk Coffee House , Old Bailey .
The L&Ncasteb Tbiais.
THE L&NCaSTEB TBIAiS .
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IRELAND AND THE IRISH . The latest intelligence of which we can avail ourselves from Ireland leaves the dispute between Mr . T . B . C . Shith and the Irish nation in statu quo ; and baring little to add on the subject of the squabble to what we have already said , we now travel oat of the mazes of the law and leave the political labrynth for the purpose of considering the people . In troth , it is high time that some thought be given to the nation , even though the legal tools and ' political irons be allowed to cool the while . We have eyer argued the justice , the propriety , the necessity , the expediency , and the in dispensability of repealing the act of Union . ¦
Apart from our well-known opinions upon the grand principle of democracy however , we are bound to enter the field of general discussion with those who , apart from politics , see the wants of Ireland , and are prepared to administer what they call practical remedies . We regret that this class though numerous , is unrepresented in feeling : because the whole value of the squabble to the two powerful parties in the state consists in the political uses to
which they can respectively turn them . Hence we find the Whig portion of the press palliating , if not commending in 1843 , acts , to suppress which they passed a Coercion Bill in 1833 . Indeed , unless we can make a strong legal distinction between a rich man and a poor man , we are at a loss to know with what colour or pretext the Whigs , in 1843 , can censure Ministerial stringency in the Law Courts , while in 1833 they substituted Courts' Martial in their stead .
We did not reserve oar strictures for the purpose oflrampling upon the conquered . We used them in their palmy dayB as warnings of what would come . We had reminded them , time after time , that their acts whQe in office would Tender their opposition to Tory domination valueless , unavailing , factions , and pointless . Is is even so . Jfot an act , however cruel or anti » democratic that may be proposed by the Tory Government , to which Whig ' opposition may not be thus met and silenced : " the measure is a modification of your own . " Wo now Jeave the field
of faction , and turn to a consideration of those meaai by which , even after a Repeal of the Union , the condition of the Irish people can be alone improved . Ireland has not more reason to complain of the anti-national than she has of tho anti-social evils consequent upon the Legislative Union . The great and crying evil arising out of the act of Union is , that the weak nation was neglected , and kept weak ; while the strong nation was strengthened and made stronger at its expence . Being bound by a legislative bond , the representative body ,
—consisting for the most part of Englishmen woolly ignorant of the history of Ireland , tlie character of heT people , her resources , and the means of developing them ; and taking their notions of the country from the privileged Irish members of the Protestant party , who were alone eligible to sit in Parliament , and who were interested in magnify ing * ihe vices of the Irish character as a justification for their own tyranny ; the legislature bo constituted , and without reference to a difference of position , has legislated for Ireland as if that country was part and parce ) of England . Thus they have committed the error of governing two people , —diametrically opposite in
their pursuits , their characters , their manners and their customs—by the same laws . England being for the most part a manufacturing country , and a large P « tion of ber people having been Wily transformed from an agricultural to a manufacturing we , is now demanding a great organic change in consequence of the inapplicability of ancient ataiates and customs to its present position . Ireland is doing nothing more , Ireland has been legated for , precisely as though Bhe had gone on " part passu" in the march of improvement with England whereas the laws by which manufacturing England should be governed have been enacted wholesale for the government of the two countries . But we tnm from bjegoaes : and now seeing the R- peal of the
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Union to be inevitable , - ** come to a consideration of those means , apart from any accompanying political measure , by which alone the change can be made benefioial to the people . We pass over the most irritating questions , believing that they are but emanatiouB from the great bqutoo of political inequality ; and we come at once to the question of questions , the means by which alone the foundation oi future happiness can be laid . We shall not here deal with the question of the Protestant Church or of the inequality of the law . Those we leave as questions to be hereafter
disposed of by a people rendered politically strong by social improvement . Lord Dbnfehhune , late Speaker of the House of Commons , when auditor to the Irish Estates of the Duke of Devonshire , asked a Mr . Swanton , one of the Duke's under agents , if he could devise any means for the tranquilization of Ireland , and as a mode of suppressing the frequent outbreaks in that country . " Yes , ' replied Mr . SwurcoH , a eery easy one . Whenever an outbreak takes place , hang the nearest landlord .
trie nearest parson , the nearest magistrate , the nearest solicitor , and the nearest police serjeant vpon the nearest tree ; and I pledge myself that you will not hear of another outbreak in that district . '" This opinion was , bo doubt , founded upon the belief that those five parties were the instigators to outbreak : and therefore it shall be our present business to deal with the mode of destroying , firstly , their interest in creating , and , secondly , their capability to create , those periodical disturbances .
Ireland being a whohy agricultural country , and no laws being in existence for the developement of her agricultural resources , we shall firstly , grapple with the Landlord and Tenant ; question . The poverty , the rebellions , the heart-breakings , the murders , the dissensions , and the expenses arising out of the present system of managing land in Irelaud , must be dealt with by tbe Government with a firm and resolute hand . It is folly to talk of the inability of a Government to interfere with the Landlord ' s title to the raw material , while year after year it deals so capriciously and injuriously
with the title of him whose capital is expended upon the land , and the labour of him by whom it is made valuable . Government must interfere ; and that right Bpeedtty ; whether trader a Legislative Union or a domestic Legislature . The interest of the tenant , and the interest of the labourer cannot be served without equally serving the interest of the landlord , and therefore it becomes the duty of tho Government and Legislature to look into the cause ? which tend to create dissatisfaction iu the miuds of those two parties . The uncertainty of tenure , and the legal expence of establishing title , even
under lease , or accepted proposal , as wetf as want of capital , aie the three great evils that must be boldly met , and instantly destroyed , as regards the tenant . To effect the first object—namely , certainty of tenure , A * Government have a power to give immunitieslfjjt tenants-at-will , or with short leases , which would render the practice disadvantageous to the landlord . and thereby compel him to grant euch lease as would ensure the full expenditure of the tenant's labour and capital . With regard to tbe second evil that of establishing title , even under a lease , against
a landlord who has all tbe law upon his side , and all the means of harrassing at his disposal , there is but one remedy ; that of giving an equitable jurisdiction , in all such cases , to the Assistant Barrister at Quarter Sessions ; and who shall be bound to decide upon the equity , and not upon the law , of the case ; the evidence for his governance to bo furpished by the clerk of a County Court , where all leases should be registered at the landlord ' s expense , and who should be bound to attend with notice of the case ? to come on at every Quarter Sessions : the Barrister ' s judgment , if in favour of the title , to
be conclusive 1 and if against the title , the tenant shall h&ve a Tight to appeal to a Jury , to be then summoned , for the purpose of adjudicating upon an issue submitted by the Barrister . In cases of portions of rent being paid upon account , a mere acknowledgment upon unstamped paper should be admitted as proof ; and in all cases , the right of distress shoald bo taken a-nray , &ud the landlord , like all other creditors , should be thrown upon his action for the recovery of his rent ; and , fair dealing being the object , he should have as prompt and inexpensive a mode of redress as is accorded to tho tenant .
The practice of distraining cattle , of impounding , selling them by auction , and buying them in , by the middleman , for very frequently not a twentieth of their valued while no account of the sale is ever rendered , leads to more extensive disturbance , and subsequent evil results , than almost any other grievance . It is not at all unusual for a middleman , accompanied by 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 . Thus situated , the poor tenant has no alternative but to replevy the stock at a great expense ; while he is oompelled to give security for double tho value , until the case shall be disposed of in the Sheriff ' s Court . If , upon tho 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 bim 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 summary law into his own hands ! In many cases , he does do so : and many is the man who has been hung in olden times , and many is the honest man now working in chains , for having STOLEN his own property from the thief who stole it from him in the dead hour of night . Is this , we would ask , a * " practical grievance" ? and are the family of the expatriated victim likely to bo admirers or voluntary obeyers of those laws by which ruiu and desolation has bfion brought upon them I
As it wonld be impossible to discuss these ahimportant subjects in one or two articles , we shall continue to animadvert upon those great sopial changes which are indispensable to the very salvation of the Irish ppople . Meantime we would direct ihe attention of Mr . O'Connell to that course which is now being pursued by theEuglish Chartists ; namely ^ the familiariaing the public mind with those salutary changes to be produced by tie achievement of their political principles . The Chartists dealt in declamation until they had created a public opinion against those wrongs endured by the working people . That
opinion being created , they are now engaged in directing attention to the advantages calculated to Bow from a change to their projected system . Mr . O"Connei 4 . has the advantage of more enthusiastic and confiding disciples ; he has a whole nation at his back ; and in order to strengthen him in his demand for political equality , as the source of justice , we would counsel him also to turn from declamation to practice , and to developo to the Irish people , not so much the injustice they have suffered as the prosperity , the oomi ' ort , and the abundance they are capable of achieving . To thiB end let him call to hia
couacils men not learned in the law ; but informed of the capabilities of the country and the people ; and let i > im draw np such a digest ( which he can do ) as will convince not only Irishmen but Englishmen , that there is yet the ^ means of enriching the poor without trenching on a angle privilege of the rich . We will be bound to say that with one fortnight's labour , and assisted by such men , Mr . O'Coxubll would exhibit a balance Bheet in favour of the new against the old system , which would tnra Irish agitation into a universal demand , before which the strongest government should quail and bend .
The political question is sufficient to excite the democratic mind of England ; but the financial features must be developed , in order to ensure the co-operation of the middle and monied classes . Let Mr . O'Coxkell then try his hand for one short month in the Cabinet ; and without requiring any
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declamation for that period , the weekly reports of his social compilation , delivered in the Conciliation Hall , will , without committing himself , or even mentioning Repeal , feed the flime , and nurture the desire for such a rule as will produce such a boon ; while the very publication of a compendium of his labours would bring him in more money than the national tribute . Seeing his power to effect good , it shall be our study to strengthen rather than to weaken him ; ' while , by way of caution , we wonld now remind him , that O'Connell ' s self can only destroy O'Connell . We shall continue tbe subject until all shall learn who do not wish to remain ignorant .
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THE ROBBING TRUCK SYSTEM . On many occasions we have brought to the notice of the pubiio the fact that several statute laws , passed ostensibly and avowedly for the protection of tho working population , have been openly set at nought ; their provisions disregarded by the employers of labour , without , as it would appear , either fear or care as to the consequences ; and indeed , judging from the impunity whioh has been accorded te the tramplera-upon the positive requirements of law , it would seem that there was not much reason why they should either fear or care ; for the " consequences" hitherto have almost invariably been , not only exemption from punishment , but a pocketting of the " plunder" that could by these means be wrung from the lap of ill-requited industry .
The law against Truck affords a remarkable instance of the disregard to which we have alluded . The requirements of that law are positive , plain , palpable , ; the pens Hies many , and easily enforced and yet it is notorious that this said law ia sat at nought , trodden under foot , every day we live . In several extensive districts o £ the country the practice of Tbuck is almost universal . There is no secret , no disguise , about the matter . It is notorious ; known to all ; and tho parties practising it not only dare to look their fellow-men in the face , but also regularly appear at church or chapel ; snivelling there as loud and as long as the rest of the canting tribe ; and sit and hear , composedly and undismayed , the denunciations of God himsel f fulminated against the men that " defraud the labourer of his hire . "
In the performance of our duty , as advocates for the . toiling and the toil-worn , we have often had to expose and drag to the blaze of day the infamous practices Of infamous thieving men , in tho matter of Truck . We have had to give remarkable instances of peculiar oppression and frauds and have more than once showed the means that exist to put the practice down . On the present occasion we have to put the > eader in possession of a case , where the law has been made to reach the guilty parties . That case is vastly important . It teaches the ; working people how to go to work , to get "justice . " Thk law is there : and wherever there is a oase of truck , the workman who is made to suffer , ought to take advantage of it .
It is also manifestly the interest of the general shopkeepers to unite , as at Rochdale , to aid and rROTECT the working man in his appeal to ihe Bench . The Truck system must be injurious to them . It supersedes their business altogether . If the men were not tied to the master's tommy-shop , and forced to take from him shop-goods at tWentyfive per cent , above the market value , the men would have their wages , Bmall though they may be , to spend among the legitimate shopkeepers . As it is , they are not able to go near them . Thus deprived of custom , they are cheated out of their profits ; robbed of the legitimate means of living . How slavish then must they be ; how devoid of pubiio spirit ; how cowed ; how broken down to the very earth , are they , when they quietly permit
themselves to be thus treated . Why do not they " epirU on" the men to lay informations ! Why do not ; they look out for cases , and get all the particulars in legal train i Why do not they unite amongst themselves , and form a fund to defray expences in case of defeat ; and to render support in particular instances of master's vengeance , evinced in the " turning-off" of the justice-seeking workman ! If the shopkeepers had an atom of pubiio spirit ; nay did they know and care for their own duty to themselves , they could soon rid us of the Truck system > root and brauoh . The following case , which shows both shopkeepers and workmen their duty , was transmitted to us by a correspondent . He accompanied it by a fewjremarks , from which we give the following : —
"Blethering Dickey Cobden , and Bright John with their whole clan of mock-humanity mongers , may shed rivers of crocodilian tears over the miseries of the " bread tax'd" white slave viotims ; they may plnok a quill from the sooty wing ' of the archfiend himself , and dip it into the bile of his satanio liver to write their abuses , and maledictions of the landlords ; they may denounce them with the malignity of fiends , and call to their assistance the whole of the press-gang ; they ' may expend five times ' a hundred thousand founm' in lying
corncvaik tracts , and travelling pedlars expenoes' to preach up the ' virtues' of the cotton-lords , and the excellencies of the factory system ; but who can believe them sincere in their wish to ameliorate the condition of the toiling millions , when such startling facts as the following meet the eye of the British public ! And this is , alas ! but one solitary case ; one isolated proof of tho hypocrisy , cant , and blarney , of the grasping , icy-hearted ( avarice ; of the barefaced , wholesale robbery of that horde of thieves —The Lords of the long toiMNEYS . "
RotiiDALE . —On Monday the Court was crowded to excess . The Magistrates upon the Bench were Clement Koyds , Wm . Chadwick ,: Geo . Ash worth , and James Taylor , E-quires . Samuel KerBbaw and Mark Heywooii , power loom fustian Weavers , summoned Messrs . John Baron , Richard Tattersali , and Jamea Tattersall , fustian manufacturers , of Baiuford , near Hey wood , for having paid their wages in goods of various kinds instead of paying them in money . Mr . Richard Hunt , solicitor , appeared on tbe behalf of ttio complainants , and Mr . Wbitehead , solicitor , on behalf of tbe defendants . It appeared that defendants have a cotton mill at Bramford , beBidea which they are partners in an
extensive colliery in their immediate neighbourhood . Messrs . Xattersall also keep an extensive shop near tbe works . This case caused considerable excitement ; more so , perhaps on account of an association eetabliahed at Rochdale for the purpose of putting down the Truck System , which ia wull known to be carried on to a great extent amongst some of the manufacturers and Coal Kings , in the vicinity . Mr . Hunt read tbe Act of Parliament against the Track System . He stated that Ktfiahaw had two distinct cases against the defendants ; one for the 4 th , and the- other for the 18 th of August On the former date be had been paid a fortnight ' s wiwea in goods instead of money , and had been
charged thirty-five per cent , higher than any other shops in the same neighbourhood . Kershaw having been sworn , stated that he commenced working in the cottqgjBJH belonging to the defendants about Caristmas ^ HB- lie wove fnstian on the power loetns , and was ^ psuf at the rate of 28 . lid . per tin . His wagea would average about 9 s . a week . His wife worked in the card room , and she had very poor health , and could not earn much . The names of Richard and James Tattersall were over the door of tbe shop ; they sold everything that was used by a family ; he seldom got any money for wages ; he had occasionally borrowed &Bhiiiinc& or two from , the book-keeper ; they had a reckoning every other Friday ; but he always waB
in debt on a pay day * On the 4 th of August , his fortnight's wages were sixteen shillings ; the whole of which were stopped for goods . He did not finger one single farthing . He had a wife and three small children ; he was Charged 4 s . for 20 ib » . of flour , while Jack Bell , another shopkeeper in the neighbourhood , Bold it for 3 a . 6 d ., the same quality and foantity ! Candles were 6 £ d pet lb . ; soap the same ; meat Is . 0 d . for 121 bs ; old batter lid . per lb . j brown sugar 9 <\ , Mr . Hunt said be could purchase the same quality for 6 d . Mr . Whitehead cross-examined Kerabaw at con-Biderable length , but elicited nothing favourable to
hia clients . The complainant said he was never present when other persons were paid , and he always took a book with him to the shop which was furnished to him by defendants , and Mr Tattersall or his daughter always wiete in the book , ' he seldom drew 0 * paid money , however , on the 27 th of July , he received a fortnight ' s wages , amounting to 17 s 4 d ; and on the 4 th of August , his wages amounted to I 69 , and it was stopped by Mr . Richard Tattersall for goods . He ( Mr . Richard Tattersall ) always took care to have him by himself when he settled with him . The boo ' -f-keepei- signed for Messrs . Baron and Tattersali , for goods to aim , tae payment for which had been stopped
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out of hi » wage * Mr . Biobard Tattershall wianed Mr . Baron te be examined ; but the Magistrates replied , that be being one of the party , although not connected with the shop , bo could not be admitted as a witness . Mr . Whitehead called a nnmber of the Workpeople who are now engaged at the defendant ' s mill , and they all aeclared that their wages were paid in money , Some of them bad seen complainant draw money ; but none of them would speak at to the 4 th of August Mr . Btiyda said it was a gross case of the Truck System , and the Bench had deoided on Convicting Defendants in the penalty of £ 19 and coats . Mr . Hunt said his clients would not press tbe other charges
on condition thatithe expences were paid and the shop Riven np . Mr . Bichard Tattersall replied , that his father formerly Icept the shop , and bad been In the habit of turning over £ 5 , 000 per annum , by wholesale and retail . His father was new dead , and they could not draw the concern to a close in a harry , but they were intending to do bo . Mr . Whitehead consulted with the defendants a few minutes , and then agreed to the conditions . Mr . Royds said , as the complainants appeared to be sickly persons , it was ultimately agreed that they should have one-nalf of the penalty ; and the Association established for putting down the Truck extern . t . h «» oihes h ?! f-
After giving the case , our correspondents exclaims : " There ! Mr . Editor : what think you of tbe religion of this Methodistical Sabbatarian Saint Dicnr Tattersall ! He is a beautiful specimen of the genus of land sharks , who , under the specious mask of cant , and the garb of Methodistical sanotity , ( with an appetite ten ] times more voracious than the Pharisees of the olden times ) , devour the houses of the poor ! ! a sample of the snivelling crew ,
who are constantly crying for ' cheap bread , ' while THEY ROB THEIR POOR WHITE SERFS OF 3 * PER CENT . OF THE SCANTV WAGES OP THEIR TOIL ! Such monsters ought to be branded in the forehead with the words 'Factory Cheap Diead Thief : and had I the office of branding committed to my trust , I would take care ] the characters should be as deeply seared as hot iron could make them : ' for the land stinks , so numerous is the fry . '"
Of all the sickening hypocrisy that can even be conceived , that of in Anti-Monopoly-bawling , "freetrading , " " chejap-bread" demanding Employer pursuing the thieving practise of Trdck , is surely the most hateful ! Is it possible to imagine of deeper diaimulation , or more wicked insincerity , than for a man to affect great interest on behalf of the working people ; and evince an uncommon anxiety to procure for them " cheap bread , " at the very time that he is forcing them to take his bread some thirty per cent , above the market price 1 How sickening to bear a man bawl for " FRBK-Trade , ' when he will not ; leave even his workmen FREE to trade witli the legitimate shopkeepers of his vicinity ! How sincere must be the loud professions of Anti-Monopoly from ; tbe mouth of such a wretch !
And yet , we grieve to say there are many such .. We must proclaim it ; aa our firm conviction ; a conviction forced from the actual cases that have come under our own observation ; that the majority of Truckstkrs iu Yorkshire and Lancashire will be found to be arrant Freetraders ; mouthing advocates of ' \ Che « p Bread , Hkjh Wa « es , and plenty-to-do . " Take the following as a specimen : — In the parish of Saddleworth the practice of Truck is in extensive vogue . Many masters pursue it : but by far the greater part of them are '' Free Traders . " One case is deserving of special notice .
There is a " master" in that parish , known as "Lord Lotherdale . " He is crammed up to the throat with " sympathy for the poor ; " would "go almost through jfire and water" to procure for the toiling millions the inestimable blessing of a " cheap loaf : " and yetj this contender for u Free Trade , " who ties his owe ! workmen to his own counter ; this denouncer of " monopoly , " has had men in his employ who havej not touched a single . shilling ( in money ) from him , for wagea , during a whole twelve month ! O , the blessings of freedom ! O , the sweets of " anti-inonopoly" I
Not long ago , a workmen in the employ of this same u Lobd Lotheedale" applied to hia landlord and begged of bim to take a piece of cloth in payment for rent ; for he could not * procure money to pay jwith . He showed the piece that he had been obiiged to take from * ' Lord Lotherdale" ; and stated that it had been valued to htm at 14 d . a-yard ; and he desired the landlord to take it from him at that price . The landlord
happened to be a maker of cloth , and knew something of its worth . He told the applicant that he would furnish him with a far better piece at 10 a . a-yard ; and the man had to carry the piece into the neighbourhood of Oldham , and part with it at 8 i . a-yard , to get money to enable him to live and " pay bjis way . " There ' s " Free Trade . '" This workman was " free" to sacrifice nearly oae half of his earnings before he could command the necessaries of life !
That there many " Lord Lotherdales" in the manufacturing districts , is proved by the following article , which wie extract from the Sun ; a ** free" trading" journal , Wegivegire it entire ; for . it will be found deserving of attentive consideration . It is valuable , not only for the facts it contains , but also for the general ( reasoning on the general question . It is altogether most admirable ; especially when we reflect that it is from a League Organ . Here it is : — i
•• Under the heading of ' Track System Extraordinary , * in a late nurubar of the Halifa * Guardian , we find a most instructive exemplification of the evils and oppression connected with a system -which we thought bud long since been exploded . The voice of Parllameat Das been always so strong against it—the appeals of the present Lord Hatherton ( when Mr . Lyttleton ) , and other members of the House of Commons , elicited ao prompt and decided a response from tbe Legislature , discountenancing and discontinuing the system altogether , that , notwithstanding rumours which have from time to time reached us of its still lingering in particular manufacturing localities , where
the wealth of the great masters or employers was all powerful , and cue remonstrances of the operatives futile as to their effect , unless , indeed , in tbe result ol entailing their dismissal—we could not induce ourselves to give credit to such allegations . But at Oldham , a summons taken ojit by one of the coal-miners of Mr , William Whitehead , a large colliery proprietor in that neighbourhood , against this gentleman , has ascertained the fact of the existence of the ' Truck System' beyond all doubt or question , throughout a large range of manufacturing district . Tbe nine shillings claimed by the miner had bean deducted by the employer from the wages of the complainant , on account of rent for ' a house which complainant had never occupied , nor ever seen , nor been offered tbe key of . ' It bad been taken
from this complainant , Brierley , at the rate of one shilling per week , although he had to pay rent for another house , under another landlord , at which it was more convenient for him to live . ' Now , the houses which Mr . Whitehead was thus indirectly forcing the complainant and ( others , his fellow miners , to occupy , were upwards of a mile and a half from the colliery where they worked . ' The Hali / aa Guardian assures us that * there arje hundreds of cases at Oldham , Ashtonunder-Lyne , Rochdale , and other vicinities , where the operatives are forced to pay rent for houses , tofeiher they occupy th * m or not . ' The magistrates severely remonstrated with the colliery-owner , Wtiitehead , in the case immediately before us , * on his unreasonable conduct , and ordered the wages claimed to be paid to Brferley immediately . '
" The conduct of master-manufacturers , coltyery and mine ownerB , and other capitalists , who resort to Ibis nefarious system of defrauding their labourers ,, and enriching themselves by the same operation , is one the social mischief of which is fully commensurate with its moral dishonesty . Surely it is galling enough for the industrious operative * whose destiny is east , as it were , in the class of incessant manual labour , to contemplate their happier fata who succeed to , or bave acquired , the means of employing it on a great scale . It is galling enoagh for the weary artisan to contemplate the comparison which each passing hour ' s experience forces upon him , between the luxury of their condition , who have only the task of < looking on , ' in order to watch the well-arranged processes by which their capital is made to re-produce and multiply itself , with their own doom .
This ( consequent though it be on the eternal and inevitable inequalities of the social condition ; is , shortly , to toil from mom till night , under many sordid aggravations of want , distress , and despondency , in the scrap ing together their lesser pittance of the same taliamanio commodity , money , which , being necessary for the txigenciea of their bare subsistence , disappears—by a disastrous inversion ef th » principles that govern the larger masses of capital—with a rapidity that affords no opportunities foe increase or expansion . But he feels this disparity with tenfold bitterness and force when he sees that those very exigencies , those very hardships bis despondency ^ his distress , his want , are converted into engines , in the hand of his employer , foj decreasing even that modicum of wages , already bo fractional as to have subjected him to these painful and humiliating influence * . ; " Lat us consider what the operation of the Truck system is , on the case of the mill , colliery , or mine
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ownw , respecv ^ ely , and on that of the operatives whom tee fonnt * employs . The former finds , that of tbe capital invested in his works , such or such a proportion is . devoted entirely to wages . Hia first care U to rednce the rate < of these as low as he can , so as to diminish the sggrega . * e per ceutage which they repra sent , or tbeco » t ( toJfcV ) of production . He finds that the diforence between . tnk cost , all incidents included ( with interest on the p . lant , buildings , and machinery of the concern ^ * c ) , ani l tbe returna he realises , exhibits an average proflt-r-b eing a certain percentage on the capital so invested . It . oceuw to him , that by pay . ing a giren proportion of'tk ' w wages of his wcrkmea
( which form so large an item in the cost of production ) in stores and supplies , instead of money , he may make a twofold profit ; that is , that be may purchase the stores and supplies wholesale , 8 » i < l at first band , with a considerable profit from the disc ounta the dealers will allow him for his ready money or his short bills ; and that he will sell them to his workmen at some advance even on the * etail prices which they would bave to pay to their tradesmen . But by this mode of proceed ing he puts it oat of the power of the operative to goto the best market for any commodity hs mar want He puts It out of the man ' s power to dispense { as ho may desire to do , with the view of boarding np a tittle
pittance for some contemplated purchase or deposit , say at the year ' s end ) with any such commodity altogether . For if fee bave consumed it one week , w the trnck book at the store will show in every man ' s case to the manager or overseer , be dates not to discontinue it in another . There would be an Inference created against bim , immediately , that he bad supplied himself with it in some other quarter . And here we may leave what would be tbe result of such a simple , every day exercise of bis own free will in a private matter of this kind , to the labourer or artizin connected with a concern thus managed . ' There is , ' Bays the writer in the Halifax Guardian , ' a colliery in the neighbourhood of Heywood , near Bury , where
the manager keeps a shop , and all the hands who work at the colliery are forced to purchase provisions at the shop kept by ihe manager , or they must have no work . Some of the operatives reside two mites from tbe shop , and yet nearly the whole of tbe wages arepaid in go » ds % at about fifteen or twenty per cent , higher than at any shops in the same neighbourhood . The above system iB carried onto an alarming extent , both among colliery masters and manufacturers . ' Yet , in the face of facts like these , there bave been found advocates of this atrocious and grinding device even within tbe walls of Parliament , who would have persuaded the public , if they could , that no manufacturers , ox mine owners , ever encouraged the truck system , except out of & desire to accommodate their workmen with
the best supplies at the cheapest prices . Amiable solicitude of amiable men ! Thus act the despots of the East , from tbe most enlightended of them , tbe Pacha of Egypt , who first sets bis own prices on all tbe growing crops of corn , or millet , or cotton in bis dominions—then declares by ji / maun that he ia < the only dealer in such commodities , and will pay all men for them , and at such prices ; and , lastly , sets an army on foot to ' superintend' the bringing into bis Highneaa ' s granaries and warehouses of the stores of all reluctant or refractory contributors—down to tbe petty Sultauna and Kijas of Pidor , or the Soloo Archipelago , or Sumatra—who being bent on trading with European
captains , issue their mandates , wita their own auto * erotic prices annexed , requiring their people to dispose tojthem , tbe Sultauns and Rajas in question , without the least delay , of their bales of pepper , their betel nut , chank , gold dust , edible birds' nests , or any other commodity , the trade of trafficking in which they are willing and prepared to take entirely , off the bands ef their independent subjects ! Thank ; God ! the day for such transparent humbugging ( we know of no other term in all the languages that would express our idea ; is past in England . Truck-system capitalists may talk of being actuated , in this sort of scheme for making the workman disgorge a portion of his wretched wages before he has left the pay table , by kindliness and charity
on their part and a desire to consult his private interests , alone—to tbeit steam boilers or their furnaces . Such professions are not more substantial than the vapour of tbe one or tbe smoke of tbe other . But tbe same provincial journal from which we bave been quoting , supplies us with one other illustration of theresuits which tbe comprehensive truck * system' includes , that we shall leave to speak for itself , as an instructive suggestion of the moral and domestic benefits it muat infuse into the social circles of the most hard-working , and the worst paid , classes of our labouring poer : — ' A colliery master , near Rochdale , has now a number of female * working at the bottom of the coal-pit . The polios have been made acquainted with it . '
" Ansl we , for our parts , shall not lose sight of this remarkable and unqualified statement . It will doubtless call for future comment . " To this it ia scarcely necessary to add another word . The " points" respecting Tbuck are strongly put by the Sun . We trust his readers will duly weigh and profit by them ! If so , some of the "humbugging 11 he so forcibly describes , and so earnestly denounces , will be put an end to . Last week we intimated , in a Note to Correspondents , that this thieving practice of Tbuck had manifested itself in a most unusual and unlooked-for
place ; on the Railway belonging to the North Mid land Eailway Company . Scch is the fact . It has been introduced there ; though not by the Directors of the Company . Still it rs there ; and if the Directors , after this public " direction" of their attention to the fact , do not interfere to put it down , they will , they must , be regarded as sanctioning , aiding , and abetting it . The facts of the case are these : —The repairing of the North Midland Line , from Leeds to Masbro ' , is contracted for by one Joseph Pickerikg , who
resides at Oakenshaw , near Wabefield . His contract is for seven years ; two and a half years of which are now expired . He employs at the present time about 200 men , as plate layers and labourers . As a matter of course , they are on all parts of the line > from Leeds to Masbro ' , the extent of hid " take . " These men , wbea in employ , earn 23 . 6 d . a day . That is the rate at which they are paid ; but as they are not allowed to ork in rainy or frosty weather their earnings will not reach more than 10 s . » week on tbe average .
Well , this Pickebing , not content with the profits accruing from his contract , has determined to procure that the wages the men earn under bim Bhall be spent at his tommy shop , that he may get the profit which of right belongs to the numerous shopkeepers at all tbe places where the men live . He baa accordingly issued a list of articles he deals in , having opened a store at Oakenshaw ; which list he has had distributed amongst "his men" on all parts of the line , as far as his " fcake" extends . One of these lists is in our possession ; and it sets forth the prices per stone , per pound , and per ounce , of teas , of coffees , of sugars , of soap , of tobacco , of fruit , and of spices ; as weil as of ' sundries ; " the latter comprehensive head including all sorts of things , from flour and bacon down to black lead and epsom salts
When the lists had been distributed , the " olerk of the works" went round to the men , to seek for orders . " Cunning Isaac ! No breach of the law there ! Pickering thinks he is driving a coachand-six through it in fine style ; or rather a " heavy luggage train . " " Seek for orders" indeed ! The poor ^ ten-shilling-a-week men knew the meaning of that dodge . No " prog , " no work ; no work , no living : so "orders" were given . Now for the result : —
Sit , —We see by your -valuable journal that you have got scent of the tkuck shop on the North Midland Railway . Knowing that you are an enemy to tyranny , wo send you the particulars of the barefaced robbery practised on us . w £ c On the 9 th of this montb we were requested to o » d « ™ iffi £ " 9 lerk of * wor *» 'hat we wanted from the "agipop . Against our will we ordered a Uttie ; knowing if we did not we aboald bave no more work . Tne goods were ordered' on the 9 th inst and received on the lltb . When the goods came , we found to our surprise and dismay o larger quantity than we had givm orders ftr . As much came as was due for our wagea .
Sir , you should have seen as poor men trudging along the line to ioar homes with bags on our backs , numbered , and with Pickering ' s name in full on them . We baye to work hard ; but it is doubly hard to bave no choice where we shall Bpend out money . We have sampled the goods we received , with what w « have bought at other marketa ; and according to tbe opinion of other dealers , we are paying froin twenty * fire to thirty pee cent , above the market price . When we bought our own goods previous to this Truck Shop , It was an advantage to as from one to two shilling " pet week . Please , 81 * . give this publicity , and you Will pblifpf TUOSB who AKB SUFFERING FROM THE BAUD
OF OPPBESSION . Come that is pretty good J One or two shilling 8 a-week , bobbed out of ten ! and that from Bien employed on theNorth Midland Baiiway . Wd belief ? the representation to be perfectly correct . The " & of prices sets floar forth at 2 a . Si , per stone : ^ best isselling in Leeds at 2 s . 2 d . Bacon is aei for * at 7 d . per lb .: ia Leeds it can be had at 4 £ d .: p » at Si ; and " Bhoalder-pieces " at 6 VL So that we" * reaelily believe that the things ara from 25 to 30 P cent , above the market price . But how are the Directobs of the Railwa y & ' & terfere ? What have they to do with this m *^
The Northern Stak. Saturday, November 25, 1843.
THE NORTHERN STAK . SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 25 , 1843 .
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THE " REBECCA" MOVEMENT 3 IKETISG OF TB . T 3 STEES 07 THB CiRHA&THES 2 LUK Js . vsr .-A meeting of the above Trustees wm held on Friday last in the Talbet Inn , Mr . Morris in f the chair . The subject <) f the removal of the gates at i Ibsndo-rery sad J > entrebac 33 , to bo Teplaced l > v nuotijer ¦ in a eentssl situation , was bronght again before tbe ineeting ^ -when ilr . Stephen Jenea stated that ha had an ; objection to a toll-house being erected on hia property , ; M , if the gates were discontinued , parties of loose cb » - ' acter might become tenant * of the house , and damage j might be done to his woods in the neighbourhood- j Ee therefore- declined the proposal which had be * n ' made to him . The Clerk stated that he had no doubt :
that Mr . Goderich would have no objection to the toll-1 house being erected on his land , and . it was ordered sccordrrufJy ; the land to be paid for on valuation . 111 . Bulien , toll-contractor , presented Mb iill for the loss ho had sustained in this trust , ia consequence of the v Sebecca" outrages ; he had a < ided tha whole amormt of the receipts together , and compared them with those of tbe previous year . He found that tbe deficiency in the present year amounted io £ &H 12 s 4 d , md he tLaimeu that tins snm , therefore , be allowed Mm . Tm C \ unrmi > y \ was ol opinion that Ihiitraa not & fair method of making the calculation , ar . d that the more common course would be for Mr . B . to * have
stated the length cf time that the gates were down , and no tells tat an ; then to have ascertained the amount taken during the same periods in the former year , and te have claimed this sum as compensation for hia Jess . So few trnstees being present , the matter ¦ waa left over to the next meeting . Sundry small bills vere presented and ordered to be paid . The meeting Was adjunrned to Friday , the 20 th of D&cember . 1 SCE 5 D 1 ABT FrSE . —On Tuesday morning last , about half-past four o ' clock , the out-houses of a farm called Ll-srynSynncngra , in the pariah of Llanegtrad , about two miles from Brechia , "were set on fire , when the whele were entirely destroyed ; luckily , the . dwell-Jug-hsuse escaped the con figuration , in consequence of % be -wind blowing ficm the north . It appears the farmheiise vit unoccupied , but a new . tenant wu expected
to take possession on tbe following day . It is supposed that Btcca and he » daughters tbonzbfc proper to have recourse to this mode of revenge upon tbe in-coming tenant , because be became the successor of another -who had given bis landlord notice of quitting ; and accordingly did leave the place on tha ~ 29 ib of September last Tho ont-houaeB were set fire to in four different places ; and some person in the neighbourhood passing at that time , saw & man with a light in hifl band on the premises , but passed on naturally thinking be was the new tenant There can be doubt that this difgraeefnl outage is the "work of that midnight marauder ,. Becca and her of&pring , as "will be Been by the following threatening . letter , sent to the in-coming tenant , which ia evidently the production of that lady or one of her tlanchters : —
She . —Inasmuch ms we have tak * n in hand to take Tiew of those burdens which so heavily oppress us , as a country and neighbourhood , we have thought fit to adopt some measures in order to remove the cause of roth oppressions . We dsss among the number cf liaidahipB -w . ih -which ¦»« lisTe to contend , the enor-TH 0 H 8 rents we have te pay , zn oppression trhich actually lednees as to rain ; and trhen any farmer applies to hia landlord that he declines holding bis tenement at [ the customary rent , vith a "view of obtaining a rsdnc- ; Bon in his rent , in order to save himself from rain , i another shameless devil comes forward and proposes to , give more for the said tenement than the apparent out- ' going tenant . We have been informed that yon are ' of the self which is
guilty -same transgression , virtually < prohibited in the Bible , and reason also loudly proclaims against such conduct . In consequence of your coveting : » fszm , called Haimffynonyneda , in the pariah of j Uanegwad , now occupied by Bacbel Jsues , we deem it j advisable to inform yon that we do not allow you or . any other individual to be so daringly , audacious and impudent , as to make any proposal or offer to the landlord of the-said tenant , and thereby precipitately cast oat the said person ( viz .. the present tenant ) . Be so £ xnd as to giro Racbel thoroagb fairplay ; and ire , ' desire also \ o pni yon xn possession of this , that we do ' not believe thai you -will escape the chastisement of Becca- ; I am one " who uphold fairplay .
TKK Cosstabcxabt Fokce of Carmarthenshire , { exclusive of the borough town of Carmsrtbes , which j does sot pay towards tbe county police rate ; consists of , . one etnef constable , six superintendents , &nd fifty ' Serjeants and constables : the annual expense charged in the county rate for iheir support is about £ 4 800 . Of this amount , no less a sum than £ 1 , 374 is swallowed np in the salaries of the chief constable and snper-: intendEiits , and in the following proportions : —chief . csnstable , £ 450 ; superintendents , £ 154 esch , exclusive cf clothing , travelling allowances , Ac Thus we have a superintendent to every « oW constables . \
The Commission of Is sort is prosecuting its ' labours . What may be the result of the irqalries made is Bcarceiy yet even matter of speculation ; but one good - ¦ rill be at aa events effected—tbe removal of a " plunder ] station , " erected -without even the semblance of / ait . Ihe head Commissioner , Mr . Falkland Lewis , has addressed the following letter TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE KIDWELLT TRG 5 TGkstlsxsv , —I have been informed by Mr . Sucey , Clerk to the KidTreUy Tmst , that the renter of the Gate si Porfii-Bhyd , ¦ which ia in the Three Commons Trust , baa put a chain serobs a read not in that Trast , but is the Kidwelly Txnst , at the point where the two roads intersect each other .
Mr . Staeey informs me , that , ss Tmstees of the Kid"weDy Trust , yon have made no order , and given no authority , to establish a Gate , or B ^ r , at that place ; and ifcat the renter of tbe tolls is in no way justified in obstructing passengers , or in demanding tolls thereat The Commissionfirs entertain no donbt that tbe Trustees of Hie iid'sreUy Trust , -wID-, "witbout tJrtay , ascertain -whether Mr . Stacey ha » , or las not been COTreetly informed . And if the facts turn , on investigatkm , to te ss staled , that they will take steps to pre" ? eat the existence of an illegal obstruction to" ihe free pasage of a public highway , which onght not any time to be endured , far less so in the present excited state of
the public mind in their districts . \ Hz . Stacey informs the Commissioners that the toll ; taker gives a ticket of the Three Commotta Trait to . those who pay at the Chain -which he sets np in the Ed-welly Trnst ; and this ticket , -when presented at j the Kilwelly Sate , is properly held to be of np . ara ^ f \ The Commissioners are fully persuaded that the Trostees will gladly exert themsElvee to examine into an alleged -wrong , -which is stated to be exercised under colour xrf their authority . I have the honour to be , Gentlemen , Tonr faithful servant , THeMAS FSA 5 KLASD LKWJS . Carmarthen , Hov . 10 , 1843 .
COMMTrrAl OP TTTK 5 TT-SIS KEBECCAITES —The foBowing ia the result of the apprehension of .. the Bebeceaites for pulling down tba rates and destroying the toH-bouses at P&rkamerfa and Fishguard on the 11 th of September last They were examined "before Mr . H . OOwen , Vice-Lieutenant of the county , and a full bench of magistrates , at Fiabguard . William Owen ( the Lady Bsbeccs } , James GWynne , and Thomas Gwynne , were committed k > the n&xt as&ss , bat vrere held to bail , ihemsalves in £ 100 each , and two sureties in £ 50 each , David John , William Thomas , Thomas Griffiths , Emlyn Griffiths , Owen Jenkins , James "Morgan , Wm . Griffiths , Wm . S&rzey , Thomas Williams , Edward Barries , John Phillips , William John , Thos . Nicholas ,
William Roberts , Daniel Davies , William Jen- ; tins , James Owen , James Phillips , David Phil- ; lips , George Morse , Thomas Elwards , Thomas ! Morse , and David Griffiths , "were f u ? Iy committed , and ; lieia to ban , themB&tres in £ 5 t > gacb , and two sureties j in a £ 25 &u& . Tbe excitement in tbe town . was Tery j greet , parHcolariy ss regarded tbe informants , Thomas Williams and his wife , whoTrer& obliged to be guarded ; ¦ day and night from the barrscts to the Commercial : Inn , -where the maciatrstes sat . The prisoners "were confined in the Market-house , surrousded by 3 treble ! guard of marines . The Commercial Inn was also strongly guarded during the time the magistrates were -dtting . •'
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4 - THE NORTHERN STAR . ) - ; . __^ _ __ - -
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 25, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct980/page/4/
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