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    o» ober9 - ] „ THE STAR OF FREEDOM. m

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    TORY TRUCKLING TO THE DECEMBRIST DESPERA...

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    COTTON, EMIGRATION, AND LABOUR. The cott...

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    Saturday, October 9, 1852. Votes And Vot...

    ^ J ^ Shadw -el .,, the revising barrister for Middlesex , has decided y- . t hI n 0 freeholders is entitled to vote unless the land he holds cost £ 50 . If it was originally purchased for a lesser sum , this ** M wiseacre holds that it cannot now he worth 40 s . a-year . Now , % t dw * si ° » if lt be in consonance with the la ^ will he equivalent to

    c cor . omp letc disfranchisement of the members of the Freehold Land , v » 'iw ietics . for although the yearly value of their holdings is in general nlnwiderably more than the requisite 40 s ., very few , if any of them ,, > t , > t £ & A lar e ro ortion of them have not cost even half that iiiuojnount , yet their annual value is more than 40 s . 4 At a public meeting held at Paddington , a few days since to

    coniiiWr this question , Mr . Huggett , secretary to the Westminster , ¦ VrechoH Land Society , gave some important information relative to . tbe . be increa sed value of land , and the manner in which it hore upon Uete decision of barrister Shavwetj ,. A gentleman whom he : ;; iH ; new fourteen years ago , hought a small freehold hy auction for j £ _ £ 20 , 3 nd within six months of the purchase , it was let for £ U a

    i ^ -ear , and had been so let ever since . Last year the Westminster irYfr eehold Land Society bought nine acres of land at Kilburn , at . ££ 340 , per acre . A few months afterwards they wished to extend nh . be purchase , and add four or five acres of the adjoining land , of l { . . precisely the same value ; but so greatly had the value of the juproperfy increased in that short interval , that the price then demmanded was £ 1 , 000 per acre . Belgrave-square , a few years sisince , was let to a market gardener , and the value of the land wa s

    flfljfii about £ 300 an acre ; while , at the present time , it is not sMwrl of £ 30 . 090 . On the East Mousley estate of the above ii mentioned society , an allotment which ori ginally cost £ 23 10 s . 1 has been let for ever on a chief rent of 70 s . a-year ; and there is j n ot the slightest doubt but were it sold by public auction

    to-mori ww , it would fetch £ 100 . This is sufficient to show the absurdity i of the attempt , to decide the present value of land according to the orig inal cost ; and the members of the Freehold Land Societies generally , will fall very far short of fulfilling their duty if they suffer this absurd decision of Lawyer Shadwell , to render null all they have hitherto done .

    Our views , as regards both the suffrage and the land , are too well known to render it necessary to say that we can , by no means , look with favour upon the princi ple of purchasing either one or the other , both being equally the just inheritance of the whole nation . But in the absence of a more immediate and more

    effectual means of ensuring the success of our cause , we cannot hut regard it , to say the least , as a very great error in those of our friends whom the present system endows with the power of aiding the agitation for manhood suffrage by doing all in his power to increase the number of its advocates in the legislature , to forego this opportunity through negligence or choice .

    If any truth exist in the allegation against the members of Freehold Land Societies , that they have sought only to become part and parcel of the privileged caste , Mr . Shadwem / s attack upon them cannot fail to have a good effect , by convincing them of the unsteady foundation of all species of property qualifications , and will be an additional motive for their using their best endeavours to obtain the recognition of the right of every man to the vote .

    O» Ober9 - ] „ The Star Of Freedom. M

    o » ober 9 - „ THE STAR OF FREEDOM . m

    Tory Truckling To The Decembrist Despera...

    TORY TRUCKLING TO THE DECEMBRIST DESPERADO . We cau weli understand that their innate affection for despotism , and their ill-disguised hatred of Republican institutions would be sufiient to account fur our aristocratic rulers deportment- towards the Decembrist Desperado . Some could tolerate the Republic as long as the itorrois and iJaroehes were permitted to bring its holy name into cont empt . Rut there was always the lurking fear that the accendancy of these miserable traitors would be , sooner or later , superseded by an administration of true Republicans , and the very possibility of such an

    wentaahtj struck dismay to the hearts of our aristocrats . They had hoard of and they believed in the Spectre Rouge which in 1852 was to * 't Europe on fire ; and so when that troubled spirit was laid in the fad Sea of the Decembrist massacres it was , perhaps , only natural » wt the re-assured aristocrats of England should give , free expression ' < > their satisfaction , and as free expression to their repudiation of the Picture ., of the British press on Bonaparte . It was only necessary that to this criminal complicity with the French assassin there should " » added a cowardly feav of , and base truckling to that miscreant , to " ompleie the infarav of our once fearless aud haughty oligarchy .

    » e have strong reason for suspecting that to this " lower deep " or ' ^ gradation the British government has already descended . To bally " « weak and crouch to the strong has been for a long time past the shameful policy pursued by the successive administrations of this < ountry towards foreign powers . In this respect there has been no espial difference in the conduct of Aberdeen , Palmerstone , aud Malms' 7- But for the protection afforded by public opinion to the Refugees residing in this metropolis it is morally certain that for them , wanton would be no safer asvlum than is Berne or Brussels . That

    ° ur Tory rulers have all the disposition to play the part of jailors over , and persecutors of , the exiles , is sufficiently evidenced by their disgracefal doings in the Channel Islands . A number of French refugees , including the illustrious Victor Hugo , have selected Jersey anil Guernsey for their temporary so-J « um whiie waiting the coming of that hour of retribution destined to wi tness the overthrow of their country ' s tyrant . To this choice they have b ( . en impelled by a variety of considerations . The climate of the

    Channel islands assimilates to that of France ; the language of the ^ habi tants is French , the same may be said of the social habits of the people . Above all , these Islands are renowned for cheapness of living—necessnrilv the very first of considerations with men despoiled of thb . r property , * labour , home , and friends , and sorely . straitened for jhe means of subsistence in a foreign land . To our personal knowkdge ftis last-named circumstance has determined many of Bona * pane ' s victims to quit London for Jersey . This , single act has suf-JK-ed to arouse the jealous fears of the tyrant . That those whom he " ^^ cniell ywronged should a jj Dttt breathe the air [ of France has

    Tory Truckling To The Decembrist Despera...

    struck terror to his . guilty soul . He knows that the exiles are the destined avengers of the murdered Republic , and , therefore , he instinctivel y shrinks from their approach . Naturally , his first thought is hour he may best control and persecute those whom he hates and \ Tn neco"ld only gnash his teeth in impotent rage , if unaided by the British government . To the shame , of our country he has found that aid , and Malmesbury and his colleagues are just now performing the worthy part of acting in concert with the agents and spies employed by Bonaparte to watch and harass the bravcTnun . who have sought refuge in this country .

    fo limit the circulation between the Channel Islands and France as much as possible , a French vice-consul was some time ago sent to St . Holier , his special or rather his avowed business being to issue passports to every one leaving Jersey for France , at a charge of live francs every British citizen , and eu ry French ten francs ; ° and this in utter and contemptuous violation of the privilege enjoyed b y the inhabitants to visit France with merely a nomhml pawporfr ^ -a pass from their constable , for which they were charged seven sous . This invasion of the ri ghts of the people of hmy has been sanctioned and abetted by our own (?) government , without whose consent the viceconsul of Mister Bonaparte would not have dared to have set up his spy-and-plunder shop on the soil of tiiat island .

    Nor is this all . Notice has been given hy the British authorities to the foreigners residing in Jersey that they must reveal to ihe magistrates the tallest particulars respecting their country , their antecedents , their connexions , their motives for selecting that island as a place of residence , & c & c . In fact , an atrocious attempt is being made to place the refugees under a system of police surveillance for the benefit of the French tyrant . It is reported that , acting under advice , the exiles have refused to submit to these inquisitorial interrogatories . We applaud their resolution , and urge them to abide by it . if further annoyed , let them throw themselves upon the British people

    and claim the protection of that Public Opinion which if once fairly aroused will do ample justice upon these miserable trucklers to a brigand power . Yes , there can be no longer a question that our rulers fear the usurper , and so seek to conciliate him by honied phrases and acts of degrading compliance , with his wishes . The very worst policy that could be pursued . To attempt to conciliate , the perjured arch-traitor is simply to invite aggression . Sound policy would dictate precisely the opposite course , namely , to treat him with contempt aud defiance , preparing , at the same time , to meet his menaces with the only reasoning he can appreciate—that ot crushing force , the last argument of nations as well as kings ; the onlv fitting mode of dealing with the Decembrist Desperado .

    Cotton, Emigration, And Labour. The Cott...

    COTTON , EMIGRATION , AND LABOUR . The cotton trade is on the increase . New mills are rising in Lancashire and Yorkshire , some of them equalling in size , small towns . We are gratified every now and then with details of their dimensions and architectural beauty , as well as the wealth and enterprise of their owners . New machinery is making to fill them . The power of many thousands of horses is preparing to . pin the fine threads , and weave them into cloths . There seems to he no limit to the business , but the ability of America to supply the raw

    material . There are some doubts as to the sufficiency ot the crop , but when the p lanters of the Southern Stales hear of ihs enterprise oi their Lancashire and Yorkshire friends and customers , there is no doubt they will redouble their exertions . They will , if possible , get sharper overseers and heavier whips , and cast about them for some uentle stimulant , to make their live machines— " the

    niggers / ' keep pace with the-strong engines of England . Some people do-, indeed , fear that speculation is being pished to dangerous extreme ? . Thev hint that the new efforts are not so much ft " ascribable to an increase of prosperity , as tc the fact that old inventions are going out and new ones coming in , and to the othet

    foci , that large masses of capital are idle , because it . owners cannot find profitable employment for it , rather than to a briskness of trade , and an increase in ihe demand for the article which is to he so abundantly produced . Those , however , who know least , pooh pooh these ideas . They do not view the new activity of the manufacturers as a sort of inflation , likely to be succeeded by u sudden

    collapse ; they point out triumphantly , that fortunes have been doubled and trebled , and surely that is a t'ocd thing—something for those who have no fortunes to rejoice and make merry over , and they wind up with eternal encomiums upon the benefits of Free Trade . We have no need to fear—we have discovered the univer-_„ i non f ™ nil _ .. pih \ nfnsiiions—flt least , if not of individuals : sal for all the ills of nations—at leastif not of individuals

    panacea , ; we have taken off the duty upon corn , and that has put our trade and manufactures upon such a fooling of prosperity , that though there may be , to be sure , now and then a temporary depression , to starve a few factory operatives , there will never be that long-continued cessation which ruins manufacturers and merchants . Well , that is very consolatory for ihe favoured children of fortune , if it be all true , and for the rest , they may go starve , or emigrate , us best

    suits them . But suddenly in the midst of all this prosperity and congratulation a lion suddenly starts up in the path to scare the well-to-do from their propriety . The people may emigrate , may they ? They have been tendered the advice a thousand and one times , in all moods , from serious counsel to stern rebuke and malicious bantering . There were too many mouths at the table which nature spread in the . e islands , and it was their duty forthwith not to ask for a

    share of what was going , but to betake themselves to a wider and Jess crowded board , It was a special dispensation of providence that they should be prolific and increase and . multip ly till they violated the law of supply and demand , and starved one another out of house and home . That was one of the means provided for turn-• n * deserts into golden cornfields and gladding ] frig htful solitudes with the presence of man . Why did they not go , forgetting homes , breaking mo . alt . es , and outraging oldfaffections > What business had such folks with hearts ? All they ought to concern themselves

    Cotton, Emigration, And Labour. The Cott...

    about should be scarcity or plenty . If they had plenty to eat what more do they possibly want ? They could get food enough in Australia—they could not here , and if they were such dolts and idiot * as to stay and famish they richly deserved their fate . Persevering efforts generally succeed at last , either by virtue of their own exertion , or being long enough continued to meet with some indirect or accidental aid . That has been the case in this instance . The discovery of Australian gold-fields came to strengthen

    the counsel of the utilitarians , and the people began to act upon it , At first this was well enough . The Irish Exodus was a blessing , rather to those who stayed , than those who went ; and the LVitish Exodus also was an advantage to everybody . The political economists raised a song- of triumph . The labour market was beginning to be Its * pressed iipoji « -di _ eontent would certainl y be put down , and the poor rales—happy thought—would be lessened ; It is the hard fate of humanity , that . joy is never entirely unalloyed ;

    Whenever we manage to catch hold of a blessing , its enjoyment is sure to be marked hy some attendant misery . Good and evil tread so closely upon the heels of each other that when one comes , we mav be pretty sure its companion is not far behind . So it was in this case . By and bye the complaint began , that the shoals of lush reapers did not make their appearance , and fears were entertained that hands would he . wanting to get in the crop . That , however , was a trifling obstacle . It was an agricultural , not a manufacturing grievance ; and agricultural grievances have ]? pretty much gone out of

    fashion . At all events , it might be met for the present , b y turning the soldiers into the wheat-fields ; and for the next year , and . the year after , the fanners must look out for machinery . They must get steam saviours for themselves-. The labourer and his mates mi ght be replaced by boilers and furnaces ; and Kussey and M ConMAcK were ready to do all the reaping in next to no time . We do net want men in England—not we indeed—we had too many of them . Fewer of such human cattle , and more of engines that never strike for wages , or thought about shorter hours , or agitated for rights , was what was to be desired .

    The wisdom of the nineteenth century has settled the point that old sayings are foolish things . There is no axiom which now merits a more general vxecep'alion . than this , — " What is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander . " The farmers wanted machinery , so that they should be able to dispense with men , but now that manufacturers are getting more machinery , a fear is beginning to be expressed that "hands " will be wanting . The present stock , it seems , cannot do worse than , they have been

    doing . The surplus not anticipating the promised plethora of employment , has been setting itself drained . If the parishes have been emptying the workhouses , Ireland no longer . furnish . s it s immigrants . There has really been too much hurry in getting rid of the people , what is lobe done so that the makers of fortunes and builders of factories and erectors of engines shall not be left alone with their machinery ? The . answer is readv cut and dried .

    The " Times" bus sent it forth , aud if thai answer does not open the eyes of Englishmen , really we do not know what will Here it is : —there v . ill never be any want of labour in the old world . We are surrounded by densely-populated countries , the people of which work for even less wages than our own . Only l < t the word no forth that we want labourers , and we should soon have

    an invasion—a peaceful one . The flemish , ihe Saxon , the Gaul , will pour in thousands to our shores . They will be only too happy to come , indeed , and supply the places of those who have gone . The power-looms of Lancashire need not stand still for want oi hands to tend them . We may set as larye a surplus in the labourmarket as ever , to keep the tailors from seeking for laruer

    remuneration . Mav , the new surplus will pull down wages when they ur <* in work , and be cheaper kept when they are out of work , for they will come from countries where the standard of living is lower than it is here . Glorious news this for the money-mongers , but what will-the people think of it ? It does not matter much what they think so that the worshippers of Mammon may adore their deity more

    profitably , but « s it is just possible some may be induced to say ih » t it was hardly worth while to export Englishmen merely for the purpose of importing foreigners to stop the gap in the population , we warn them that a reply is prepared for all such grumblers . There will be " no jealousy except among the idle and demoralized who may wish to keep up a monopoly of labour in order that they may themselves do no work at all . " That is what the Times savs , and

    t Times speaks with the voice of capital , and capital rules England . No one need trouble himself to point out the absurdity of the idea that tins- who are too idle and demoralized to work at all want to keep all the work to themselves . Absurd as it is it is what power affirms ami what the rulers of the world will swear by . The truth is that the « cll understood object of the Anti-Corn Law Leaguers * is about to be carried into eilect . They want to bring labour in this country down to the level it stagnates at upon the continent . Fate

    seems f .. r the present to work on their side . Free trade and emigration open the way for a labour invasion as dire ' ul as a warlike invasion . The manufacturers will not only get cheap wo k , but they will do what i s as much to their mind—introduce a larger number , who , having no feeling of common nationality , will not support the cause of the peop le ; aud who , emerging from a state of greater slavery , will for awhile be . couteut with " material freedom . " This confirms what

    we have ever maintained—that while emigration may benefit those who go , it will injure those who stay , and retard the coming of the day when the liberties of the many s . hall be as . ured , —when they who have so long exploited the people shall be compelled to give place to the people themselves , for , with the growth . of intelligence , will grow the determination not to be-the serfs of man or class of men , be they landlords or cotton lords

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 9, 1852, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_09101852/page/9/