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Leader (1850-1860), 28th August 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 14, THE THREE POACHERS OF WORKINGTON. Odious...

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      Transportation Of The Condemned Woolcomb...

      _Sursui t of some immediate advantage _to-self . 'hey have suffered themselves to be misled bypersonal intrigues , to adopt petty manoeuvres , to profess base and paltry principles . A multitudinous people cannot diplomatize , cannot vie with the wealthy classes in subscribings for moneyed agitation , cannot wage war . by covert manoeuvres . Openness , boldness , trust in the force of numbers and of manly motives , are the only true reliances of any _jicojue . If the working classes had been true in their allegiance to a generous faith—if they had been prepared each to risk loss and even destruction in standing up for tho rights of allif they had been truly resolved to stand or fall

      together , we should not see all Paisley a pauper warren , the men of Sheffield petitioning for more statutes to prevent them from working themselves to death , nor woolcombers of Bradford consenting to transportation under the revilings of those whose class they have enriched . But it is not yet too late to mend ; if thc working-classes , whether of Yorkshire or Dorsetshire , of Renfrewshire or Worcestershire , will adopt the true policy which will always make working men strong—if they will trust in generous manly principles , be united in action , and bold , they may yet dictate their own terms .

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      The Three Poachers Of Workington. Odious...

      THE THREE POACHERS OF WORKINGTON . Odious in themselves , the Game Laws are rendered doubly so by any harsh administration ; and one would suppose that magistrates would be especially cautious in applying those laws to very young people . On these grounds we can hardly believe a story which has been sent to us by a correspondent ; not because it comes to us without the tokens of an honest narrative , but because the fact stated seems to be nearly impossible .

      One evening , but while it was still daylight , during the late warm weather , Joseph _JNichol , Richard Sanderson , and Richard Hetherington , were seen in a mill-race near Carlisle , dabbling in the water , ' turning the stones , and endeavouring to catch fish ; boyishly trespassing . On the following day they were summoned before the Workington magistrates , and charged with

      breaking the Game Laws . Ihey told no lie , but admitted thc facts alleged , and pleaded " guilty . " Our correspondent says , " they were too honest to tell a be , as they would have been to steal a farthing . " Those formidable statutes , the Game Laws , were not explained to the lads , with a reprimand , and a remand home ; but the culprits were sentenced to one month ' s imprisonment in the county gaol .

      Now what are the ages of these dreadful offenders P Hetherington is thirteen years old , Sanderson , twelve , and ISfichol eleven ! " These same magistrate * , " says our correspondent , " are parents—talk of the value of Sunday Schools and Bagged Schools , and have abundance of opportunities of witnessing the progress of juvenile offenders when they have once entered the great seminary of vice . " By what r /' a / rl then did they consign those young boys to ruin p Jfc would not have been so if the lads had been

      young gentlemen .- they would _tlien have been " pulled through . " The Game Laws are odious ¦ , not so much because they are logically inconsistent _, with the principles of law , but . because , from tho nature of things , they must always operate us class laws , oppressing the poor . Plebeians , writes our correspondent , with a just , expression of the general feeling , " must , be Laugh I , that , fishes that sport wildly in God ' s water—the fleet hare that skims the moors and the wild bird that owns no

      domain in ( he air—are for aristocratic palates only . When they secure these to themselves , and the land , even to the enclosure of the commons , is it , not a , mercy to flic human famil y that , they can devise no statute to holt le up the air for their exclusive use P" Such is the general feeling against , ( he laws ; but when fathers see them enforced against , their young sons— -when ( hoy see thc men protected by ( he Game ( jaws revenging a , breach of their privilege by consigning mere children to the school of a life ' s ruin , arc not , the feelings raised dangerous , even to society , as il . is ruled by such magistrates ! We shall no doubt , hear more of this ease .

      International Anl> Colonial I'Ostaou. Ca...

      _INTERNATIONAL ANl > COLONIAL _I'OSTAOU . Can anybody explain upon what principle it is that the l _' osl-oHice authorities carry newspapers to all pnrts of our colonial empire for nothing more than the penny stamp , and yet chargo u

      International Anl> Colonial I'Ostaou. Ca...

      shilling for carrying the smallest letter a similar distance ? No one would wish to see the circulation of newspapers restricted in any way , but if six ounces of printed paper can be carried to NeW Zealand or Australia for a penny , what valid reason can there be for _charging twelve times that sum for carrying a sheet which does not weigh more than half an ounce P Chancellors of the Exchequer always itisist that luxuries ought to be highly taxed , and unquestionably , a letter from a distant friend is one of the m 09 t exquisite ; but then Chancellors of the Exchequer

      ought to remember that it is frequently the poor man ' s luxury , and that , as he cannot pay so heavy a tax as the Post-office charges upon it , he must forego the enjoyment . Measured by weight , the _chai'ge for sending a newspaper to Port Phillip , as compared with the postage of a letter to the same place , is as 1 to 144 I And this is done by a Government which _pi'ofesses to entertain the most anxious desire to place the colonies on terms of equality with the mother country ! In a speech delivered by Mr . Sidney Herbert , a few weeks ago , to a party of poor needlewomen

      about to embark for Australia , he insisted strongly upon their not forgetting to write home to those friends who had assisted them to exchange shirtmaking in London at threepence a piece , with squalor and starvation , ending in the workhouse or the hospital , or worse , for health , comfort , and independence in that colony . This is advice which has been frequently given , but to very little purpose . Of the many thousands who have been sent to Australia during the last two or three years , comparatively few ever think of writing home ; and Mr . Sidney Herbert and his friends

      cannot but " know the reason why . " If they wish emigrants to maintain a frequent correspondence with friends at home * they ought instantly to join the Association to promote a cheap and uniform system of colonial and international postage . That society was formed in the summer of last year by some of the most active members of tbe various committees of the Exhibition , but it is only within the last month or two that it has began to move . It already includes among its members Ear ! Granville , Lord Ashburton , Mr . William Brown , M . P ., Mr . Charles Villiers , M . P ., Mr . _Milner Gibson , M . P ., Sir

      Roderick Murchison , Sir William Reid , Sir John Bnrgoyne , Dr . Lyon Playfair , Mr . Dilke , Mr . Cole , and a number of influential foreigners . The Association has only to act with vigour and perseverance in order to accomplish the very important measure which it has taken in hand . Among the various circulars it has published , there is one which contains the basis of a proposed arrangement , by which the postal revenue shall be fairly divided between the contracting parties ; eaeh country being allowed to use its own coins , weights , and measures , in the collection of that revenue .

      " To satisfy these conditions , says the circular , " the following plan is proposed . Let a postal union be formed between as many countries as possible , on the following simple grounds : — " I . — Much country shall fix a rate of foreign postage at its own discretion , provided that rate bo uniform to every country in thc proposed postal union , and every part of that country ; and that rate shall be prepaid in all cases . " 11 . — Lach country shall engage to receive , transmit , or deliver to its address , free of any charge whatever , any letter passing to it free from the post-offices of the other subscribing countries . " In other words , each country shall levy a revenue on hitters outwards , none on letters inwards .

      " I bus , each country would collect its own revenue in its own coin , subject to its own _regulations ; uniformity and simplicity would he , secured as far as thoy arc practically useful to the inhabitants of a country , and cheapness would como of itself . Indeed , no Government would enter into such au arrangement that did not recognise the advantage of cheap postage , and no country would very long chargo its citizens much more for the carriage of a letter than n stranger wonld have to pay for the reply lo that letter , when thc service rendered is precisely the same . "

      So far as Kngland is concerned , the whole question of cheap international postage resolves itself into the single service Of the transportation ol letters by sea ; and the cost of thill , is so very trilling , as bardly I . o form an item worthy of consideration . A barrel of Hour , which weighs LMilbs ., is brought , froln New York to Liverpool for less than halfa-crown . Let a package of letters be carried at tho same rate , and tho oecan

      International Anl> Colonial I'Ostaou. Ca...

      postage _change would be only about _dUh of „ penny . But let us be liberal ; atid allow a p nn _^ for the transportation of a lettei . from AiS to England . Sflrely that would defray _^ _* T _penses of collection , and leave a _handsome wnflf to Government . As regards our own colonies _tlws adoption of cheap postage might be effecS at once , and Sit Join Pafiiigtol ought to b asked , what hinders it from being done ?

      The Co-Operative Movement " That .System...

      THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT " That . system of laws is alone calculated to maintain i liberty which leaves the subject entire master of Lif ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Slit , —In the early part of the fourteenth century the revival of the arts , the development of commerce and manufactures' and the faint indications of improvement in the system of government had awakened a desire in the minds of the people to elevate their condition , and to emanci pate themselves from a state of villenage which had become more intolerable than slavery . The general rising of the incorporated trades in Flanders and in Paris , _heafded b y Artevelde and

      Marcel , ana tne insurrection ot the _French peasantry , or _Jdcgues , were but the natural consequences of this growing spirit of discontent . _Iteports of these events were speedil y circulated throughout England , where personal slavery , according to Froissart , was more general than in any other country in Europe , and prepared the people for action . Doctrines of the most revolutionary character were actively propagated by itinerant preachers , who travelled about the country inculcating on their auditors the tenets

      of the primitive Christians , the common origin and social equality o f mankind , the community of goods , and the abolition of all artificial distinctions , and proclaiming that the degradation and sufferings of the Commons arose from the corruption and tyranny of their rulers . DoctrineB so popular and so conformable to the ideas o f natural equality engraven in the breast of every man , were greedily accepted by the multitude ; and the imposition of an additional poll-tax produced a sudden and violent outbreak . The

      insurgents , headed by leaders under the assumed names of Wat Tyler , Tom Miller , Hob Carter , and Jack Straw , demanded not only a general amnesty , but the abolition of slavery , freedom of commerce in mark et towns without toll or impost , and a fixed rent on lands instead of the services due b y villenage . These demands were at onco complied with , and charters of enfranchisement and pardon were granted , but revoked soon afterwards , by Parliament . The insurrection of Wat

      T y ler and his followers , unsuccessful as it was with regard to its immediate objects , nevertheless gave a death-blow to villenage , and impressed upon the rest of the community an abiding conviction and a salutary dread of the popular strength . When the Commons again rose , in the rebellion headed by Jack Cade , _som 6 seventy years later , tho difference in the nature of their demands is vory remarkable , and throws a _strong liirht upon tho progress achieved in tho interval

      by tho labouring classes . In 1380 , their principal demand was the abolition of villenago or slavery ; they made no claim to any _positivo political rights or privileges . In 1450 , the question of villenage had been already settled , and tno Commons demaudod not only the redress ol various public grievances , but ono of their comp _lains amounted to a distinct assertion of p opular _rujuts —namely , thoir remonstrance against _^ ie ' . _^ , f interference of the nobility in elections qf kniyM « of the shire _; and they required that tho choice c * their representatives in Parliament should belo in the hands of tho people . , _t n About this time the Lollards , especially uw

      Pratrcs vitce communis , who were _distmg" 10 for their mysticism and practical usefulness , " - creased rapidly in the Netherlands and in wo - many ; one of their chief objects boinglhoadvanj' ' ment of tho religious education of the i _^ V }?' and their activity , and tho rcrtpect in which u brethren wero held , excited tho hostility ol _» Mendicant orders . It was not , however , im the sixteenth century that the reviving flt »« y ancient , literature furnished means for ih 0 , o investigation of tbe state of the Church ; ana . _w labours of the Italian and German humanists ,, « Ilouehlin ond Erasmus , prepared tho way i <» ' ft great _Reformation , _laithor himself , alt _hough

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28081852/page/14/