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Northern Star (1837-1852), 2nd October 1852, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, A NATIONAL PARTY. To the Editor of the S...

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      Public Meetings, &C Patriotic Banquet At...

      . , pcned its concert with the patriotic strains of the ¦ n haiicoune . The President proposed to place on the committee a citizen Vfcurus , the patriotic city from whence came , in Sepw 1830 , the first company of volunteers . This citizen ^ hl xep rcseIlt on tne comnnttee u * s tovm aTK -l the other Pliant communes that imitated it . The proposal was re-: -ed with acclamation . Citizen Louis Kanz , cabinet-maker , filler sung the national anthem , the assembly joining in the irus theorators whose names were inscribed for the toasts S patriotic songs , successively spoke . fie President spoke as follows : Citizens , — "We are about drink to the four grand days of September . In a few

      oids we will explain wherefore our first toast should bo to de BeHan revolution of 1830 . And first of all , salutation to you who arc called martyrs , notwithstanding you are shrouded the country ' s laurels , ^ and to all of you combatants of September who are seated amongst us ! Salutation , also , to you tfho sleep beneath the Column of July , and to the cemetary li erePolandlies j Salutation to all the soldiers of liberty , what , ver he the banner of the country which armed you : ye dead « ho have done your duty ; exiles aiding in the last combat ;

      BcHans , French , Italians , Sicilians , Hungarians , Germans wait S paniards ; sons of the same country—free Europe ; coldiers of the same banner—the banner of humanity ! And to ' voiualso , salutation , wives of our Belgian brothers , who , 22 years since , sent or accompanied our volunteers to the combat ! Salutation , French exiles ! Italians , Germans , Hungarians , widows , daughters , wives flogged by-the executioners , hail ! three times hail ! And to you , also , Belgian women ,

      ttlio have branded the woman-nogger ! ( Cheers . ) The revolutions are sisters ; you know it ; and whoever has fought for liberty before or since the clays we celebrate , has fought for us . Soldier of our cause , may he be our brother , whether in the tom b where the heroes repose , or in exile , where the brave men are waiting ! This is why we salute in the same roast the glorious revolution of this little country , wit-hits soldiers , the representatives of the foreign revolutions . We do so ; it is needful to proclaim it solemnly , with the entinisiasm of national pride ; for , whatever be our strength , whatever be our destiny , now that liberty has succumbed with

      those whom we have accompanied or followed in the struggle ; it is the Belgian Revolution which , hoisting tho banner of solidarity , is become a rampart for the liberty of Europe . Behold wherefore , also , we who have celebrated it not in the anniversaries gone by , celebrate it now , when , in its turn , it is menaced , because its " power has become greater ! We celebrated it when betraved by incompetent sons , it alienated the

      national sovereignty to give up to the stranger a bleeding portion of the territory . We celebrate it now , when calling under the banner of the solidarity of the peoples all the sons of liberty . We , who have wept over it in the days of weakness that delivered it to despotism , come this time to cry to it , "Glorv to thee ! " For the banner torn by the diplomatists ,

      the vailiant hand of the sons of our fathers at this moment proudly waves over the heads of the enemies of the future . Then the stain which defiled it made us blush . In the excess of the national shame , we had come to seek oblivion of past victories . To-day , it is the stain itself which wc would formuti

      get , for the future will efface it . For the banner which , - lated as it was , coidd no longer give a place to all , behold it hoisted now , immense enough to float over every head , and to display our colours even at the frontier ! It is useless to recall the character of that patriotic fete . The thoughts that our words feebly express palpitated ardently and enthusiastically hi everv soul . We have been brought together here by a

      common thought , to whatever shade of politics each may appertain . Now become the standard of liberty , the Belgian hg is great enough to be a complete political banner . Now become powerful enough to everywhere reanimate expiring liberty , the Belgian Involution is sufficiently menaced by the enemy of thepeoples forwe should fraternally clasp each other bv the hand . That which is the safety of the country is the safety of liberty . Circumstances sinister for friendly peoples have given to our country this glorious destiny . When a banditpresents a knife to the throat of French liberty , it is to Belgian liberty that falls the heritage of the struggle in the to Bel her im

      foremost rank . Yielding France transfers gium - mortal banner . Belgium has received it , and our little country has proved that her hand is strongenongh to acceptthc glorious burden C ' Old , owl I Bravo ! " ) Already she has gamed a battle . Think of Belgian liberty branding the assassin ot French freedom , avenging . France , bearing the sentence ot Em-ope , and that sentence rendered by your writers and ratified bv the justice of the country , saving to the enemy ot tne peoples , « Thou hast done nothing so long as a loot oi Belgian soil remains free . The pen of the lowest citizen ot the country is more powerful than thy imperial sword .

      ( Loud cheers . ) Remember , the cry of resistance escaping from indignant bosoms at each signal of war coming from this Napoleon of the tariff . Yes , citizens , our glory lias become greater with our task and our courage . The secular glory of the Belgian name has greatly increased , for this has come to pass : beaten in a great country , liberty has taken refuge on our soil , and there she finds an impregnable

      rara-Part . France vanquished , a last citadel remains to liberty , and that citadel is Belgium . Citizens , will we not guard it i ( Yes !) Will we not be worthy of the past bequeathed to us ov our fathers , and of the future , to which we bequeath the circumstances ? Will it not be , that so long as the Belgian name shall be pronounced , liberty shall live in this land , and that so long as a Belgian is left , there will be a free man

      « i Europe , and human liberty shall not have perished V i . Tinmders of applause . ) This toast to the Bevolution of 1830 we should , citizens , regard as an oath to defend it as long as da-op of Belgian blood circulates in our veins . The eve ot New combats has arrived . It is for that that wc call this banquet a patriotic one ; because every thought expressed her e will be a thought of resistance to the enemy . Will wc he worthy to fete the victory of the dead , if we would live on

      the tomb of the stifled revolution ? Here a toast to the past becomes a toast to the future . To drink to the revolution is to drink to its safety , though our blood gush forth like that of ° « r brothers of 18 B 0 . To fete the memory of the heroes of the national battle is to swear before our country that their heritage has not fallen into the hands of degenerate bastards .

      Public Meetings, &C Patriotic Banquet At...

      Ton celebrate die days when our people in 1830 rose as one managams the banner of the Holy Alliance . What is that to m , it not that the Belgium of 1852 will defend the conquest of 11 years ago ? Citizen-soldiers , before whom M . Chazal , a ^^ sab rWcheera andlaughterJ ^ larenotappca ^ nowto n \ o 1 ? , ? , . s tlmt not t 0 cIrink t 0 the immortality of Belgian liberty i _ boldiers of 1830 , seated amongst us , is it not to take you to witness of the patriotism with which we will continue witii yoU pur work ? Belgians who repose in the Place des Martyrs , is it not to swear before God that we will not forswear your ashes where the tree of Belian liberty took root ?

      g Free men oi France , Italy , Sicily , Hungary , Germany . Poland , anaotopam , be as you may , dead or in exile , is it not to proclaim before you that that Belgium , which , for centuries , marched at the head of Europe to the conquest of freedom , has produced sons who now on the 24 th of September , 1852 , declare themselves infamous in history if they do not die at the post which God and the enemies of the people have assigned to them , rather than abandon that last citadello left to European liberty—tho Belgian Revolution ? to the 23 d , 24 th , 25 th , and 26 th of September 1830 !"

      , Citizen Henri Samuel then rose , and thus addressed the assemblage : " To the martyrs of 1830 ! to the memory of all the citizens who died righting for liberty . Twenty-two years since the Belgian people was , as now , met in arms ; only the arms were charged ; the cannon of tho foreigner thundered in the midst of our cities , and vomited death amidst the improvised combatants who died to the cry of vive la liberty I Belgium was free . ( Cheers . ) The blood of the martvrs has borne its

      fruits ; let it never be forgotten by us who enjoy the liberty Conquered at the price of that blood so precious , and so generously shed for the fatherland ; let us never forget that in dying for us , these martyrs have bequeathed to us the duty of defending the conquest of 1830 , and their example to follow if our national independence was menaced ; let us never forget that our liberty and our independence issued from barricades , and , if others think no more of that glorious origin , may the gratitude of the people , at least , remember not only those who repose under the monuments of Sainte-Walburgo , and of the Place des Martyrs , but all the citizens

      who have died for liberty . ( Applause . ) I or liberty is not the lot of one man , of a caste , or of a privileged people , it is the destiny of humanity , and whoever has struggled and died for the freedom of his country , has merited well of entire humanity . ( Renewed applause . ) This is wherefore the sun of liberty may , like the sun of day , for an instant veil its light , but it is only to reappear immediately in all its splendour , and to shine with a new and greater brightness . Eemember that one day , an evil day for liberty , on the very place where we celebrate at this moment the triumph of the people , the

      . Duke of Alba , the executioner of Phillip II , the holy sword of the epoch , caused to fall the heads of Horn and Egmont , in order , said he , to stifle the revolt in the blood of its ehiefs , and to establish the reign of order . The ambassador of France witnessed that decapitation , and when he had seen die the conqueror of Gravilincs and Saint-Quentin , lie wrote to his master : ' " I have seen fall the head of the Belgian who has twice put France at the point of destruction . " The reaction triumphed ; it believed the peoples for ever reduced beneath the yoke of the sabre and the holy-water sprinkler . But the blood of the martyrs raised a popular tempest , which drove

      out the Spaniards , and two centuries after trance crushed with a hand so powerful the throne of her King , that the whole of Europe was shaken . The reaction since then has vainly endeavoured to tear from tho people their conquests ; but we will conserve ours , we will defend them if need be ; besides , these trying times are but temporary , and soon the sun of liberty will invite all the peoples of the earth to form a holy and indissoluable alliance . While waiting for the time when liberated humanity shall honour all the martyrs fallen during her long martyrology , lot us anticipate that solemn hour in drinking to the memory of the martyrs of all the people who have died while fighting for liberty !"

      This appeal having been enthusiastically responded to , Citizen Samuel resumed his seat amidst great applause . Citizen Desire Brismee , a working printer , then addressed the company : " Citizens , I have to propose a toast to our valourous elders , whose pure blood , in September , 1830 , reddened our streets and our public places , in order that they might expel tyranny , conquer a nationality , and save liberty . Honour , and glory to those patriots ! I propose a second toast to the Belgians of 1852 , who will preserve in tact those liberties so dearly acquired , and who , I am convinced , will fly in a body to the frontier , if a tyrant dares to put a foot upon our soil to deprive

      us of that which is dearest to us on earth , —liberty ! The timid ever speak of number : what signifies number when we have right ? Do we not know that , like a feeble machine driven % y means of oil , the soldier-slave is moved by gold , wine and pillage ? And have we not the example recently o-iven us by the vailiant and noble Hungary , which , also wishing to conquer its nationality , made head against two empires , and was overcome only by the act of a traitor ? Should our country one day find itself in one of those solemn combats , and a & corgey glide into our ranks , the Brabancon will know how to punish at once traitors and oppressors ! I drink to the immortality of our fathers , and I wish it may one day be said of us , like fathers , like sons ! ( Loud and continued

      ap-In artilleryman proposed the Civic Guard , " that revolutionary institution of 1830 ; " and the President gave " the wounded and the combattants of September present at the banquet , as well as the citizens who had come to represent the p rovinces insurgent in 1830 . " A working tailor sung the Marseillaise , and the company separated , each bearing with him the souvenir of a reunion , where had been expressed all the enthusiasm which fills the hearts of the Belgians in presence of the dangers of their country and of liberty .

      Octqb Ekmsm. ^ Tbe Gtar Of Pheedom. ' M

      OCTQb ekMSM . ^ TBE gTAR OF PHEEDOM . ' m

      A National Party. To The Editor Of The S...

      A NATIONAL PARTY . To the Editor of the Star , of Freedom . Sis —I have read the letter of Mr . Newton on the formation of a ' " National Party . " It is to me the most hopeful sign that the English Democracy has made for a very long time . Mr . jtfewton is a representative man , and what he says must be

      A National Party. To The Editor Of The S...

      what many others are thinking . I can assure you it is so among those with whom I am acquainted . As great an error as any perhaps that the Chartists ever committed was , that wmlst attempting to redress a national wrong—to acquire for tnei nation a national representation—they seemed not to care to form a national party . The result of Chartist agitation , instead of being tho formation of a National Party out of the six millions of unenfranchised men , has been the antagonising of tne principle by making it a sectional war cry , and the antaot classes

      gonising , by mixing the wrongs and injuries resulting from our system of industrial and social anarcnv with thase resulting from political serfdom . The first class of injuries are tne inevitable results of our present industrial and social system —a system which is the growth of centuries , and for which no one class is answerable . All are injured by it , save perhaps a tew huge capitalists . Without entering any further on this part of the subject , which would not be to the point now , permit me to say , that , agreeing perfectly with what Mr . Newton proposes , it appears to me that such proposition will he entirely futile unless the political action that is to enforce the said

      proposition be based upon a wider , more generous and statesmanlike policy than has hitherto been the case with Chartist action . I am not supposing that a sound policy -would not be inaugurated , but only doing my little towards inaugurating a sound policy . Not attempting , in any way , to assert what must be , but as one of the humble workers in a great cause , putting forward my thought for consideration and discussion . In doing this I think I am doing what all ought do .

      Some seem hurt at reference to past failures and mistakes . Is it not necessary to keep a steady and unprejudiced gaze on the past , if we would gain experience from it to guide us in the future ? It would be strange indeed if mistakes had not been made . Every great party and good cause has made mistakes , committed errors and blunders enough . Failure ! why , what is in failure to dishearten ? Every good cause that has won success has marched over failure to victory . We look to the past to learn wisdom for the future . And strange indeed it would be if the Chartist party is to be the only party that can learn no lesson from experience , and require no change under changed circumstances .

      The following suggestions I offer for your consideration , Sir , and for the consideration of your readers . It appears to me , that all reform , whether industrial , commercial , or political , is achieved gradually , piece by piece ; in a word , that all permanent progress is a compromise , until Ave gradually arrive at the ultimate principle . I am , of course , speaking of peaceful reform , not revolution . I am quite ready for a physical force revolution ( as a few personal friends and myself were in ' 48 ) when it can be shown that the three millions and a half of

      unenfranchised working men are also ready . Until then , I am a moral force politician . Enunciate a principle , unencumbered by anything else that may direct discussion from the principle , as proposed by Mr . Newton . This would force men to take sides . We should know our opponents ; and to know them without mistake is to already half defeat them . Enunciate a principle—Manhood Suffrage ; take every opportunit y of enforcing that principle , accept every partial admission , work through and by every party that is going in the same direction .

      This is to be done without coalescing with any party . Keep the national party intact , and bring its forces to bear upon any passing questions ; let it lead an active life ; and , as it makes itself felt , so will it make itself respected . It seems to me that no considerable party can exist for long unless it makes itself important , and keeps up its importance by continuous successes , even though only minor successes . What , for instance , might not an organised people ' s party do at the elections ? What a national feeling it might evoke against a foreign minister who permits Englishmen to be sabred and insulted abroad without

      remonstrance ! Such activity would , I think , all help to develope the resources and increase the power of a political party , and aid ultimate success . I will not now write anything further ; but should these hints attract sufficient interest as to need any further statement , I shall be happy to develope my views more fully and methodically in another letter , under the title of " Principle , Policy , and Expediency , considered in relation to Political Reform . "—Yours truly , C . F . NiciiOLn . 10 , Great Winchester-street , Sept . 28 , 1852 .

      A National Party. To The Editor Op The "...

      A NATIONAL PARTY . To the Editor op the "Star of Freedom . ' Sir , —It is pleasing to see the dead leaves shaking and the stagnant water put in motion . A National Party , as the name implies must be a party of the nation , comprising England , Scotland , and Ireland , and would , I presume , comprise all who may think proper to join its ranks , for the one great object—Universal Manhood Suffrage—whether of the working , middle , or so-called upper classes ; in fine , the great and good of all classesof all who recognise man as a brother . Of course , Universal

      Suffrage—alone or with the other " points" annexed—simply implies the means to an end , that end being beyond all question the social amelioration of the wealth producers . And here Mrs . G-lasse ' s aphorism presses on me most forcibly , " first catch your hare ; " and , therefore , in reply to some well meant allusions Of your correspondents , as to what the association , or party , should do , and how it should do it , I say , first let us form the association , and for this purpose a sufficiency of opinions have been expressed . I would , therefore ,. humbly suggest , that as Mr . Newton first threw out the suggestion , he should take the

      initiative in action , that he should call together some of the friends of the plan , form a preliminary or provisional committee , receive such contributions in aid of the object as friends might feel disposed to give , and for which agents in the several parts of the queendom might be appointed , and a mighty machine set in motion ; of course , such preliminary or provisional committee would then call the public meeting or take such other steps as it might deem necessary . Let the party be formed , personalities eschewed , the one great object kept in continual veiw , and success cannot long be problematical .

      EDMUND STALLWOOD September 27 th , 1852 . 2 , Little Vale-place , Hammersmith-road

      A National Party. To The Editor Of The "...

      A NATIONAL PARTY . TO THE EDITOR OF THE " STAR OF FREEDOM . " Sir , —In reference to Mr . Newton ' s plan for a new Party , I consider that it is of the utmost importance that every one professing Reform Principles should give an opinion . I think the plan laid down by Mr . Newton is the right one , and ought to be put into operation as soon as possible j for although I hear of other plans , there is none so simple , and on that one account it is the best ; morever , it is the right of man . What can be of so much importance as the suffrage ? If you want to erect a column to the memory of a great man as a matter of cou * g ©

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 2, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_02101852/page/11/