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    mma^ i^ msi. ^ Tij fe ^^ ^^dM. h

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    THE PUBLIC SERVICES ' OF MP, E. A. SLANE...

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    geratratie psktals,

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    PUBLIC MEETINGS, &c. HOW SHALL WE FORM A...

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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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    Legal Investment For The People. Mr. Sla...

    • mienied out under the protection of its provisions . The venues : es of the labourers in the world of commerce have however eien en upon . a different scale . They have hegun with small mdsids , hastily-got together , often under the necessity for iinjediediate action , and they have neither been able to spare the ftaeuefor tedious formalities nor to hear the expenses paid by eieireir more wealthy masters . J

    I In In seeking to form an Investment or Banking Society , those rrwwhoni we write would occupy a very different position , i w < would no longer be ten or twenty men hazarding perhaps bhuhundred pounds in the endeavour to form a little store or i se set up a small factory , to carry out a merely local object ; lilt It hundreds or thousands , commanding in addition to their vvnvn contributions , the funds of trade and benefit societies of

    rhidiich they are members . The capital which they would represent would exceed the funds of nine-tenths of the preaaitnt Joint Stock Companies ; they would be able to procure iiic ic best legal advice and assistance , and the fces and expenses spread over so large a surface would not individually ee . h heavier than those incurred in Building , or Freehold Land ( ococicries , or Co-operative Associations . What a few cannot co o at all , a great number will be able to effect with

    coinparaweve ease . 1 The thing then is possible . Is it safe ? It would he worse I : kalian cruel for any man or any set of men to induce those who : v ( ve by labour to enter into an undertaking in which they -. ipiglit , probably , not only lose the sums they have accumulated : s s a provision against sickness and w ant . of employment , but . ' . Islso involve themselves in personal liabilities and difficulties . ) We should shrink from such a course with repugnance , and cjcgard those who advised it , with disgust and contempt . But

    vive feel assured that the undertaking is a safe one—nay , ignore , that it would be profitable both directly and indirectly—Inirectly hy producing a higher rate of interest than the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt can gj . ve , or khan private speculators will offer—and , indirectly , by placing capital in a healthy and just relation to labour , and

    elevatiring the industrial and social condition of the masses . The ssafety of the undertaking depends upon its good management , aand that is to be ensured hy a careful selection of the men \ who are placed at its head . Persons proper for that position tthe workers can find both in and out of their own body , and itheir integrity may be secured not only by their liability to tthe criminal law , hut by adequate security . With a fair { amount of caution and circumspection no danger can arise ifroin that source .

    The experience of the last few years has taught us many things with which we were before unacquainted . It has demonstrated the power of numbers to raise capital and to make it profitable . Building Societies have shown that it is possible for a man in a few years , by the payment of very hith more than the rent , to purchase his own house . Freehold Land Societies have made it clear that those just above the poorest may , out of their scanty savings , purchase for

    themselves plots of lands . Large sums to begin with have not been called for for these purposes , for people possessed of money have not hesitated to lend it upon the security of the periodical contributions to be paid in future . Surely if men can buy houses and plots of land by small monthly payments , they can secure business premises and maclrmery and materials to carry on trade aiid manufactures by the same means , and if capitalists can safely lend money for such objects , so can the managers of a Peoples' Investment

    Society . Butthen it may be objected that in the case of Building and Freehold Land Societies the money lent is invested wholly in real property , which always prevents the possibility of loss ; while in the case of Co-operative Societies , part at _ least of the capital would he expended in materials and risked in trade . Some of the Societies who become debtors may fail , and then part of the funds will be lost . That is no doubt possible , hut it is only what happens now in the ordinary course of business . Finns and single traders fail and become unable to meet their liabilities , and bankers and other creditors sutler . Those are events looked for , expected , calculated

    on as among the common contingencies of trade . A certain per centao-e ' of loss is found to attend upon all transactions , but losses being deducted , profits still remain . This would no doubt be the case in carrying out a Co-operative system without preventing great and general benefits from being -the result .

    As to the possibility of the shareholders in the investment Society being involved in debts or liabilities , that is totally out of the question . The Society from its very nature would always occupy the position of creditor , never that of debtor . The worst that could possibly happen would he that all its debtors would prove insolvent , and that is a possibility so remote that it is utterly beyond the bounds of probability . have the

    Admitting that a Co-operative Bank would same chance and he equally safe as one conducted asla matter ot pnvatespeculation , one assertion we have made , that the Co-operative Institution could afford to pay larger interest , may seem to require proof ; a little consideration , however , will make it clear that that is the fact . In trade , conducted as it is now , a great many profits for different people have to be made out of the money emploved before it reached the workers . 1 here is the interest to the investor , say of three per cent ., tne per

    centage taken hy the hanker for superintending and managebig the investment , and the profits of the manufacturer , who receives accomodation in the shape of advances . But Cooperation would require only one profit—that which would be looked for by those furnishing the money . We think that those who consider calmly the whole bearings of the matter , who look at the unlikelihood of loss , die probability of large profits , and the certainty of great social good , will , with us , earnestly desire the esabhshment of a Joint Stock People ' s Investment Society . The many ,

    however , can hardly he expected to take the initiative , it must he done for them , rather than by them , and therefore we hope to see men of standing and influence , in whose integrity perfect confidence maybe placed , coming forward to begin the movement , and after taking the preliminary steps towards the formation of a company , call upon the workers , who are so deeply interested , to aid in the consummation of an eflort which promises to emancipate labour .

    Mma^ I^ Msi. ^ Tij Fe ^^ ^^Dm. H

    mma ^ i ^ msi . ^ Tij fe ^^ ^^ dM . h

    The Public Services ' Of Mp, E. A. Slane...

    THE PUBLIC SERVICES ' OF MP , E . A . SLANEY . To the Editor of the " Star of Freedom . " Sir , — -The House of Commons is essentially a deliberative , and not an executive assembly ; and it is therefore of primary importance that its members should have ready access to the best information and evidence on those public questions whereon they may be called upon to decide . . It cannot have escaped the attention of the political observer , that during the last twenty or thirtj' years—and more especially since the passing of the . Reform Bill—it has become the customaiy practice of certain

    members , whether official or otherwise , to attach themselves to particular subjects or departments of national policy , and to obtain so thorough a grasp and mastery of . their details and principles , that their exposition of them in the House , leaves nothing to be desired . Such members are looked upon as authorities , and their opinions cpioted with confidence . Thus Mr . Adderley and Sir William Molesworth may be said to be authorities on the colonies ; Messrs . Gladstone and Horsinan , on Church Reform or Church abuses ; Lord Melgund , on Education in Scotland , and Mr . W . J . Fox , in England ; Mr . Fox

    Maule ( now Lord Panniure , ) , on the Administration of India ; while Mr . Milner Gibson is leading advocate of County Rate Expenditure , and Mr . Kershaw represents the Dissenters' objections to the Regium Domini . When such is the case , members of the House may expect to receive from the statist , a complete view of the princfples and facts of . the case before them : their deliberations are materially assisted , and the debate is confined to criticism upon the motion in its relation to the immediate policy of the country . But when questions arise upon which no sufficient body of information has hitherto been collected , the usual recourse is had to a . select committee of the

    House ; or a commission , is appointed by Ministers , to enquire and collect evidence in such manner as may he deemed most efficient . The blue-books , which are the result of these committees and royal commissions are among the most valuable of state documents ; but the student who endeavours to form his opinions from them , must possess some of the mental requisites of a lawyer , in analysing their contents and balancing their conflicting " evidence . It is chiefly among blue-books and parliamentary reports that we must look for and balance the services of Mr . Slaney . Those members of the House of Commons who devote their

    labour to these committees , and whose labours there are valued , pass an almost unnoted existence , not the less to he appreciated , however , though their voice he seldom heard in the jnore popular debates of the House . Practical knowledge of the subject in hand , indefatigable attention , patient investigation , powers of analysis , are qualities not to be undervalued because less showy or popular than those of the orator . Mr . Slaney ' s course of study at Lincoln ' s Inn , and his subsequent practice during nine years as a barrister on the Oxford circuit , eminently fitted him for the duties he so frequently performed as chairman of select committees of the House of

    Commons . He entered parliament on the Liberal interest , as member for Shrewsbury , in 1826 , a year of great distress among all classes , and while the country was slowly recovering from the commercial panic of the previous year . His attention from the first was devoted to social reforms . In June , 1827 , he delivered an able statistical and argumentative speech on the evils resulting in agricultural counties from the administrations of the Poor Law ; it produced , however , no immediate result beyond an increased attention to the subject among the members and in the following session he obtained a select committee to en

    quire and report . This committee after a lengthened examination of the evidence , fully supported Mr . Slaney ' s statement of the existence of serious evils and abuses , especially in the southern agricultural districts . The period of the Poor Law Act of 1795 , which continued in operation until 1834 , is known as the most disastrous in the history of the English Poor Laws . Its operation depressed wages , increased intemperance , encouraged imprudent marriages , and destroyed the moral energy and

    independence of the labourer , at the expense of the rate-payers . In view of these social disadvantages , of this deterioration of the moral character of the labourer , the extraordinary expenditure in Poor ' s-ratcsj which rose in 23 years from three millions to £ 7 , 870 , 000 ; was merely a secondary consideration ; but it was one that forced itself on the attention of the country , and caused the new Poor Law of 1834 , which , however defective , is greatly superior to its predecessor .

    In 1 S 30 , Mr . Slaney obtained a select committee on Manufacturer ' s Employments . He had observed that the riots and disorders among the operatives in the manufacturing districts , and much of their misery , destitution and suffering , arose , mainly from the irregularity of their employment . The report of the ' comhiittee showed that in the chief manufactures , cotton , woollens , and hardware , the average wages of several years were amply sufficient to afford all requisite comforts to the workmen employed , but the irregularity of this employment , and the constant alternate recurrence of slack and busy periods ,

    prevented the operative from fully participating in the average advantages . The report as might be anticipated , could offer nothing but suggestions towards a better regulation in the payment of wages ; and this effort among many others , has been produced to show the inability of Mr . Slaney ' s endeavours for the advancement of the working classes . That many of his measures have been ineffectual , cannot be denied ; that they have fallen short and appeared feeble in conception compared with the great evils requiring redress , may be readily granted 5

    but we may reflect with admiration on the perseverance which characterised every effort , unsupported save by a very few coadjutors among the members ot * the House , and looked upon with-indifference by the great majority . The development of the co-operative principle , coupled with increased means of education , has shown in these later years what powers are within the reach of the working classes ' themselves , to secure by prudence , forethought , and association , what legislatures cannot confer , and only remotely assist—that more uniform happiness and comfort which is at once the hope and reward of their successful labour . __

    A committee on Public Walks was obtained in 1833 , by Mr . Slaney , and the establishment of the additional public parks of Primrose-hill , Victoria , and Battersea , in London , and of various public grounds throughout the kingdom , may be attributed in a great measure to the suggestions contained in its report and evidence . In the session of 1837 , Mr . Slanev obtained a committee on

    Education , and in 1840 , on the Health of Towns . Both these led to important and immediate results ; the first prepared ^ the way for the establishment of the committee of Council on Edu cation ; and to the latter is undoubtedly due the credit of the Health of Towns Act . At some future period , we may perhaps embrace the opportunity of examining at length , the position of both these important subjects ; on the present occasion we can merely allude to Mr . Slaney ' s connection with them . His re *

    The Public Services ' Of Mp, E. A. Slane...

    port on the Health of Towns in 1841 , was followed in 1842 by that of Mr . Edwin Chadwick ; and in 1843 , Sir Robert Peel appointed a royal commission " to enquire into the causes of disease , and the best means of securing the public health in great towns . " This , commission consisted of 13 members , and included the Duke of Buceleuch , the Earl of Lincoln ( now Duke

    of Newcastle ) , Mr . Slaney , Sir H . T . de la Beehc , Drs . Reidand Lyon Playfair , Professor Owen , and Mr . Robert Stephenson Mr . Slaney ( who from 1841 to 1847 was out of Parliament ) served for throe years as an unpaid commissioner , and personally examined and reported on the state of fifteen towns , chiefly situated in the Midland counties , and including Birmingham and Wolverhampton .

    In 1848-49 , he twice renewed his motion for " a standing committee or unpaid commission , to consider measures ( apart from political subjects ) from time to time , likely to improve the condition of the working classes . " Failing on both occasions , he directed his attention to the legal obstacles preventing safe investments and associative partnerships ; and ' obtained committees in 1850 and 1851 to consider these subjects . Their result , in the shape of a bill legalizing industrial associations , is too well known to our readers to require further comment .

    Mr . Slaney retires from Parliament at the age of sixty , after labouring unceasingly and disinterestedly for thirty-four years , in and out of the House , to secure for the labouring classes ameliorations in their social condition of the most enduring and permanent character . The records of his indefatigable perseverence , his unflinching energy and zeal , his extensive practical knowledge , must be sought for , as we previously remarked , in the blue-books and reports of the House of Commons ; the outward results may be observed in measures affecting and operating on the people , inciting to self-reliance , to independence , and to their moral and mental advancement .

    In addition to the various reports mentioned above , and others which space prevents our alluding to , Mr . Slaney is the author of a few works , among which are " An Essay on the Employment of the Poor ; " an " Essay on the beneficial direction of Rural Expenditure , " and an " " Outline of Smaller British Birds . " * A STUDENT . * For the outline facts , contained in this sketch , wc tive indebted to an article in tlio Illustrated JS ew s of some months ago .

    Geratratie Psktals,

    geratratie psktals ,

    Public Meetings, &C. How Shall We Form A...

    PUBLIC MEETINGS , & c . HOW SHALL WE FORM A NAttONAL PARTY ? To the Editor o f the Star of Freedom . Sir , —In your journal of last Sunday I perceive a letter from Mr . W . Newton , late candidate for the Tower Hamlets , recommending a National Party having for the basis of its agitation manhood suffrage , without the necessary details embodied in the People ' s Cliarter . With the letter , and the desirability of

    the object I most certainly agree ; in the sincerity of the writer I also have the fullest confidence . But , sir , we have something more to consider—the means necessary— the tools to work with ; how are wo to achieve that object ? Does Mr . Newton mean the present scattered chartist party should be brought together again , and thus constitute the manhood suffrage society ? If this is meant , allow me ( and that in the most friendly spirit ) to say I think it will most signally fail .

    Let me give the reason for such an opinion . After fourteen years' agitation for the charter , all sincere men must admit , after carefully surveying the past and viewing the present , we have no earthly chance , with our present materials , of obtaining our object . Many lay the blame of our failure to the treachery of leaders , others to the rashness and folly of some few of our members . Now , sir , I believe both these reasons to be without point . An association of the people ,

    possessing numbers anu intelligence , combined with a sound and active policy , can never be influenced by one , two , or three of its members , however plausible or eloquent they may happen to be . The same will apply to the objection of rashness , or folly . Men are generally acted upon by the company they may mix with ; and the dignified attitude of a large body of intelligent men would always be an efficient check to the over zeal or undue warmth of some few of its members . The two

    necessary elements to success m political agitation , namely , numbers and intelligence , we have never obtained . Let me be understood on this point . I mean not in sufficient numbers . Well , then , I contend , the party powerless for its own purpose would ho equally so for the attainment of the reform proposed . Now , could Mr . Newton point out some means by which some new blood could be infused , there would be room for hope . Could lie by his influence form the nuclus of a party with new men ? When I say new men , I mean those who have not taken a prominent position in the chartist or middle class

    movements . I say this because it would be the means of preventing any jealous feeling that might arise were the old leaders of the one or the other to be the promoters . The advent of such a party would , I feel confident , be hailed with delight by thousands of the working , and a considerable number of the wellmeaning middle classes . By that means the chartist would not be accused of deserting his principles ; he could still advocate the six points , and be perfectly consistent in advancing the great principle of manhood suffrage . Should such a party bo raised , sir , the past must be forgotten . No sneering at the

    warm-hearted ( though , perhaps , not discreet ) workman , who in times past suffering from poverty , and smarting under bitter persecution , had notions of physical force . Let there be no talk about the aristocracy of labour , or the crucifying middle class as they have been some times designated . No , sir , it must be truly a national party , not only in numbers but in mind ; its ranks open to the good from all classes ; its attitude as dignified as the cause is just No petty squabbles—no vituperation . Its council formed of men known for their earnestness and

    rectitude—its policy conciliatory , not antagonistic ; saying with open countenance and manly pride to the bitterest foe : if yon will not subscribe to my principles , you must respect my conduct . Let , sir , such a party be once formed and put in motion , and I believe there are many of us may live to see the day when the greatness of our country may be spoken of—not for its ancient aristocracy , its extended commerce , or its wealthy church , but for the political freedom and social happiness enjoyed by the whole of its people .

    Wishing health to yourself , and prosperity to the paper , I remain truly yours , TOM PINCH

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 18, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_18091852/page/11/