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Northern Star (1837-1852), 19th September 1846, Edition 2 of 3, Page 1, TO THE IMPERIAL CHARTISTS

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      To The Imperial Chartists

      TO THE IMPERIAL CHARTISTS

      My Dear Friends,—As Your Safety, My Safe...

      My dear Friends , —As your safety , my safety , and , vhat is of much more importance , the safety of the Democratic party and principles all over the world , must mainly , if not entirely , depend upon our wisdom , OUT prudence , and courage , daring the ap preaching winter and elections , I hold it to he my duty , as one of your leaders , to lay the simple past before yon , as a simple guide for a boisterous and complicated future . I am now sitting in a room of one of labour's new houses , and writing my thoughts myself , unobstructed by the city's hustle , aad unimpeded by the measured rule of dictation . I write much better when I write " myself than when I dictate my thoughts to another .

      The letter I am about to write will be long , and oust be preserved , if not for your guidance at least for my Justification , when the interested shall scan my conduct , and measure my judgment by the folly or intemperance of others 5 as I have been invariably made the peg upon which faction and desertion hate hung their every complaint . Faction , charging me with its own tyranny , rendered necessary by my guilt ; and desertion , charging me with the failure consequent upon its own treachery . This address should have been a little boot , entitled— " Reminiscences of the Past , as a Guide to the Future . " Now , follow me , and mark me as I lead yon through the political maze of faction , for the last thirteen years and a half .

      On the 4 th of February , 1838 , 1 took my seat in the House of Commons , for my native county , the largest in Ireland , and I was returned by the largest majority that any member ever , had in a contest , although I never asked ^ single man to vote for me , to propose ae , or to second me . While I was in the House of Commons I proposed several measures for the improvement of the condition of the Irish peop le- , and I resisted all assaults upon the remaining liberties of the English . I shall not now stop to recapitulate them , but merely observe , that the measures I proposed for Ireland were laughed at , at the time , but many of them hare been since adopted . I proposed a system of Poor Laws , based upon

      ag ricultural improvements , and labour premium ^ but NO WORKHOUSES . I proposed that landlords should be compelled to make leases for ever , at a rent varying ACCORDING TO THE PRICE OF CORN—a plan that must now be adopted . I proposed that in all cases where lands were now held upon leases at war or overhigh prices , that the real value should be estimated by a jury , in like manner as government , corporations , or chartered companies , can now compel individuals to sell property Tor national , public , or , indeed , individual benefit . I proposed that all Irish Clergymen holding the commission of the peace should be suspended . This was received with a laugh , but was ADOPTED

      AND PASSED IN THE FOLLOWING TEAR . I drew up a bill for the consolidation of the various stamp acts , in which I incorporated several improvements in our local courts , suc & is giving to them an equitable jurisdiction in all transactions between landlord and tenant , and constituting a kind of district registration court , whereby tenants may be spared the expence and vexation of Chancery and other ruinous equity suits . I proposed to take away the power of distress altogether . And I also pro . posed the very best of those measures now offered hv the "Whigs , and lauded by Mr . O'Connell , as to

      the mode of establishing the landlord ' s claims for rent , and the tenant ' s set off—but of themselves insignificant , they are but a small part of a great whole . Now , many of my propositions , then laughed at , have been since adopted , and before twelve months all must he conceded , although I WAS THE ORIGINATOR . In 1835 , 1 was ousted , upon the plea that I had not a sufficient qualification ; while about £ 420 , the very worst property I bad , was allowed as part . The required amount is £ 600 a year for the life of the member , and in landed pro . perty . I had only £ 420 for life—I had , and STILL

      HAVE , my splendid domain , and splendid mansion , for 9999 years , of which I made about £ 900 a year . I had about £ 700 a year for three lives , renewable for ever , in which I purchased a life interest for £ 3 , 000 and the reversion of Fort Robert after my death . I was making about £ 2 , 000 a year , and more , of my profession , and I owed a mortgage of £ 1 , 000 . Now , such was my exact position when I was unseated by a Committee of the Honse of Cora , mons , a majority being Irish repealers—Major

      Macnamara , the member for Clare , and other repealers , voting against me on every question the most ridiculous . Maurice and John O'Connell undertook to strike the committee for me , and left me a tribunal of rank Tories and Irish repealers . Mr . Maher and Mr . Parker , M . P . for Sheffield , alone advocating my cause , while Mr . O'Connell watched the door of the house during the ballot , and prevented Mr . Bodkin and other Irish liberals from attending , observing , that THEY COULD DO WITHOUT ME .

      During the whole time that I sat in Parliament I voted for all liberal measures and spoke too liberally even for the English people : my votes and speeches and motions are upon record , and will one day rise in judgment against my enemies . However , I was ousted , which cost me about £ 1 , 350 , my constituents paying a small portion of it , and Mr . O'Connell had the insolence to say that I had sold the county to my cousin , who was my successor , and to whom I had never opened ray lips till the committee had ousted me , and whom I never saw since . From 1831 to 1833 I marshalled the whole county and

      boroughs , and registered the county at my own expense , travelling at my own expense , and defending every man charged with political offences at my own expense . In the autumn of 1835 the two Houses were likely to be brought into collision upon the Municipal Reform Bill , the thing which , of all others the Whigs dreaded and the thing which , of all others , I thought indispensable to the full and liberal developement and future working of the Reform Bill . The Commons had passed a sweeping measure of Municipal Reform , and the Lords made various pruning and damaging amendments .

      I commenced an agitation in the hope of emboldening the Commons to persevere , and had a tremendous meeting of over 10 , 000 at Brentford as a commencement , where we adopted an address to Lord John Russell , encouraging him to persevere with the measures of the Commons , and we also passed strong , resolutions condemnatory of the Lords' proceedings I attached paramount importance to a complete opening of all the local channels to power . On the following day I saw Dominick Ronayne , M . P ., for Clonmel , who had given notice of a series of excellent resolutions condemnatory of the Lords ,

      proceedings and urging the Commons to persevere . When I saw Ronayne and told him of our first blow at Brentford , he replied with a sigh , "Ah , my dear fellow , it ' s all up , O'Connell has forced me to abandon my resolutions , and they mean to accept the Lords' amendments . " I went to dine at the Westminster Club , and the first person I saw at dinner was Mr . O'Connell , he invited me to join him , he said " Well , my dear wild Feaigus , and how arc you . " I replied , " O'Connell , you have sold us again , hut you shall never sell us more . I will now

      fall back upon the power outside the house , and I will marshal the non-elective influence against the electoral power . " He used a good deal of blarney , but i was resolved , and 1 instantly set about my work , and upon the 18 th September , 1835 , I established the Great Radical Association in Marylebonc , which Is tl = e parent of our present gigantic movement . In the autumn of the year , Mr . O'Connell made a tourof-Scotland and Ireland , his chief topic being abuse of the BLOATED BUFFOONS—THE OLD WOMEN IN PANTALOONS—THE LORDS . The ohject of this agitation was to show the necessity 0

      My Dear Friends,—As Your Safety, My Safe...

      a Reform in the Lords , to carry out the Reform in the Commons . He traversed the whole country , the whole press reported him ; he returned to London , and might have proclaimed any description of Reform or- even CONSTITUTION he desired . The middle and working classes were with him to a man , and the leadine . Whins were perfectly acquainted with his object , which was , under a more exciting topic than mere Whiggery could furnish , to strengthen the hands of that party by weakening those of the enemy . After his tour he returned to

      Ireland and wrote a series of letters to Lord Dancannon , then Secretary for the Home Department , and now the Earl of Besborough , Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , and the wh ' ole burden of which was anoffer of Irish supportto . the Whigs upon the condition of Whig patronage being conferred , through him , upon the leaders . When he returned to England in the following year , he hoped to hold a succession of Whig meetings in London , but I was determined to face him in the outset . He attended a crowded meeting in Theobald ' s-road , with a number of young

      Whig friends , and had been invited to take the chair , and came with that intention , however , the people had smelt a rat , and , just as he was going to take the chair , Augustus Beaumont proposed , and Henry Hetherington seconded , me as chairman and I was elected by an immense majority , so large , that O'Connell ' s friends were paralyzed but did not dispute the election . I opened the proceedings by reading him a lecture which he has not forgotten and never will . When he got up to speak he was very coldly received , and , as is his custom , he attempted to feel

      bis audience . He said there were 150 Radicals in the house—( no not one was the response . ) Oh , yes , said he , there is one at any rate , for I am one ( no you are not ) . WeU then , what am I ? ( A Whig ) . He then began to laud the Poor Law Act ; this was the signal for general revolt , all hissed . Dan tried the old dodge . " I wish some one would cram a hot potatoe in that fellow ' s mouth" ( roars of" that won't do here , Dan" ) , and after a long and ineffectual attempt at blarney a lane was opened and the Liberator and his friends passed majestically through the dense body amidst general laughter , but were not treated like the Chartist delegates in Dublin . This

      was O'Connell s last appearance at a legitimate public meeting in England . The session of 1836 was one of compromise within and discomfiture without . He returned to Dublin , having made his terms with the Saxon Home Secretary , and , with the loss of English popular support rankling in his heart , he denounced me to his creatures as " unworthy the confidence of the Irish people /' and said that " when the battle of liberty was to be fought , that I should be found in the enemies ranks . " This denunciation produced my pamphlet of 1836 , and , since its appearance , his name stinks in the nostrils of everv honest man .

      So much of my narrative , though indirectly connected ! with your cause , bears immediately upon my own history . Now I proceed with the consideration of those incidents with which recapitulation will familiarize you , and very slight reflection will enable you to make one connected narrative of the transactions of the past eleven years , the most eventful period of your country ' s history .

      From the moment that I set about the Herculean labour of merging all sectional movements into one great national struggle for independence , and as 1 proceeded on my mission through the populous manufacturing districts , the great difficulty which presented itself in whatever direction I turned , was the deadly resolve of those that WERE TOO IDLE TO

      WORK AND TOO POOR TO LIVE WITHOUT LABOUR , to arrest all progress , which did not secure them the means of comfortable idleness , together with some little notoriety and distinction . This tribe of locusts beset me on all hands , and ever had a ready-made Drusus to set in authority over me in the hope of perpetuating their rule of profitable dleness .

      The orking Mans Association was called into existence and the leaders cast around or some influential and wealthy directors , with whom popular support was to be bartered for the necessary supplies , and Hume , Leader , Warburton , Roebuck , Grote , Frank Place , and a host of Malthusians , became the pocket-piece and directing power of this incubus . I met their first experiment of monuments for the Scottish martyrs upon the threshold , and defeated them . This , if successful ,

      was to have been followed by meetings for the ballot , and all was done in an under-hand way to support the Whigs . This resistance paralyzed the faction for a season ; but still determined to live and idle , they proposed details for our Radical principles , and once more voted confidence in , or at least another trial to , Daniel O'Connell and those who cunningly attached their signatures to the People ' s Charter . This was the reason for changing our name from Radicals to Chartists . It was the

      Morning Chronicle christened us CHARTISTS . Then came the Canadian question , upon which they again tried to sell us to the Whigs ; and then the Glasgow Cotton Spinners question , which they proposed absorbing to themselves , when I had done all the work . The professed object of this party was to form the working classes into one body , and to exclude all

      save their own members or nominees from taking any part in public meetings . In short , to do without John Bell , Bronterre O'Brien , and Feargus O'Connor , the three leading Radicals of the day . However , in spite of all , I took the movement out of their hands , and as proof of my every charge against them , we have these two striking indisputable facts on record—not one of the leaders have done a

      day s work since they become pohticans , and every one of them have deserted our ranks since they discovered that they could not sell us to the Malthusian Whigs , for they are one and all supporters of the DAMNABLE ACT , or at least they never joined in opposition to it . Those gentlemen once tried the dreadful alternative of preventing my speaking upon the question of the Glasgow cotton spinners at the Mechanic ' s Institution , but the audience would hear me , and I spoke till . half-past twelve , and sent them all home with their speeches bottled for another

      occasion . I have now brought you to 1837 , when this section was utterly routed , and Attwood and the Brummagcns sought to occupy their ground . Attwood proposed a sacred holiday , and Mr . Salt and the other emissaries of the merchants and bankers infested the manufacturing districts to push their NEW MOVE . I met Salt at Manchester , anil upon the part of the people I consented to the

      project , upon condition that Attwood and the hankers should cease discounting hills , that the merchants and shopkeepers should refuse their consignments and profits during the holiday , and further that a sufficient sum should he placed at my disposal to support the indi gent poor pending the bankers' and merchants ' struggle . I was not in love with the Brummagens , because they had presented a most beastly complimentary address to William IV . just , then , in which they had landed Whiggery . How-

      My Dear Friends,—As Your Safety, My Safe...

      ever , my rider to the sacred holiday smothered the project for the present , and the Brummagens were outrageous . In 1838 the election for delegates to the ensuing Convention came on , and Attwood , Douglas , Muntz , Collins , and , I believe , Salt , made a tour of . Scot land to secure support . Douglas travelling with prospectuses of the Birmingham Jvurnal , and Muntz taking orders "for RIFLES , at £ 1 a piece , and all recommending the establishment of RIFLE CLUBS as the ONLY MEANS OF CARRYING THE CHARTER , while they had simultaneously concocted the celeberated Calton Hill moral force

      resolutions , in conjunction with Brewster , Fraser , and Abraham Dunkin . The tour was made in a most gorgeous manner , travelling with four horses , living like fighting cocks , draining cellars , and all at the expence of [ the funds of the political union ; while , throughout the march , abuse of Feargus O'Connor was the staple commodity . Meantime the Cobbettites were active in the manufacturing districts in canvassing for ^ tbsu support and return of their friends to the Convention . The Londoners inundated every district with their missives for a like purpose , while I never wrote one line , or canvassed a particle of support through the Star or others wise , leaving all to the discretion of the people .

      The result of this unconstitutional inter ference was , that the three sections actually mustered a majority _ of the Convention . The Brummagens having secured 8 , the Cobbettites 9 , and the Londoners 8 , being a majority of the whole Convention ; a circumstance you may be assured that cost me no small anxiety , and required no small amount of prudence and anxious watching to meet . I dreaded the Whiggery of the Brummagens , the individualism of the Cobbettites , and the money grubbing of the Londoners , and in turn each developed its ruling passion .

      James Paul Cobbett made the first assault , in his cunning resolutions , which were , however , defeated with no further loss than the retirement ' of the disappointed INDIVIDUAL from the Convention . The Londoners made a more successful assault / upon the funds which they appropriated to an expensive mission . This I endeavoured to resist , but was compelled to submit to the pecuniary loss , rather than leave the people ' s cause to the mercy of growling , dissatisfied patriots .

      The effect of this was , firstly , to drain our exchequer ; and , secondly , as they travelled in couples , it had the effect of sectionalising the country once more—the very thing that ! had struggled to undo —as each couple made their prescribed district the future scene of their own popularity , and no two agitated alike . The effect of this tour was to divide the Convention into couplets , each pair relying upon their peculiar locality for countenance and support .

      Lastly , the Brummagems came out for their ruling passion—PATRONAGE , and they sought the most cowardly and unjust course of secession from the Convention . Their real motive was hope of municipal patronage , while their declared reason was some ridiculous physical force speeches made by Mr . Sankey and others at the Crown and Anchor . However , as a proof that the object of one and all was division , we have the fact , that three sections have sought refuge in one species or other of patronage . The Brummagems in solid coin . The Londoners in a kind of show box speculation , hiring jugglers for the illustration of metaphysics .

      And the Cobbettites have sunk into a kind of telescopic reveree , from which they can see only , and therefore only contemplate , their own im . portance . Prior to the first general rupture , all tried to force the Convention into a discussion upon the merits of the physical force question , which , however , I successfully resisted to the last , and so far saved the body from the general charge , while the effect was to saddle upon me every torch and dagger expression of all .

      Then came the consideration that was paramount to all others , as far as our own very existence as a party was concerned : —the discussion of ulterior measures , the object of which was to force me into approval of Lovett ' s foolish and illegal proposition . There was not one soul in the Convention with whom I conferred upon any of those subjects , and 1 saw no safety except in removing the sittings from London to Birmingham , in which , after a long , angry and protracted debate , I succeeded ; and , finally , was enabled to reject a scheme which was concocted for the mere purpose of catching the enthusiastic mind of those exciting times , and of placing the Londoners in the ascendant .

      Then came the question of the sacred holiday , and the anxiety and responsibility consequent upon a mad freak , the failure and disaster of which I was well aware would fall upon me and at the same time the exhaustion of the Exchequer , which set all about preparing themselves to meet their constituents with exaggerated accounts of their own courage , and the fact that , but for Feargus O'Connor , they would have had the Charter .

      When we returned from Birmingham , I saw no alternative but to divide the remnant of the plunder amongst the cormorants , and dissolve the Convention , retaining a managing council to wind up the affairs and pick up the few remaining crnmbs , and by which I was enabled to lessen the horrors of the Attwood holiday , and saved thousands from starvation , transportation , and death—and thus ended the session of the Convention of 1839 ; which cost me many a sleepless night , and the country many a

      thousand pound ; but which , nevertheless , has more than repaid the cause , from the fact that it was the first notice to the working classes , that if their work is to be done , it must be done by themselves . Next came the sectional struggle for local approval and supportofwhatthedelegateshadindividuallyproposed , and all of which would have succeeded , but for Feargus O'Connor ; but , thank God , it did not . This ripping up of old sores was a heavy blow , and always recoiled on the assailants . Mad Dr . Flecther

      commenced it . Then came the Herculean difficult y of satisf ying the people with what had been done . I made my first tour with this view in Scotland , and the first enemy that presented itself , was the establishment of secret associations—the members of which were to correspond in invisible ink , to hold secret mid-night meetings , and enter upon a full system of proscription . At Glasgow , I met Mr . MASON , NOW of BIRMINGHAM , as the herald and propounder of this Woody conspiracy , and the result was , that , though in very ill health , I was compelled to make a lengthy tour to caution the Scotch people against this blow at their cause—nay , at their lives .

      Thus broken up , and the country disappointed , we became an easy prey to the government , which dreaded our power , while we had even the semblance of union . The treacherous and weak and silly speech of Attwood on presenting the National Petition—when he attempted to sacrifice the popular movement to

      My Dear Friends,—As Your Safety, My Safe...

      his one pound note crotchet , disheartened the working classes , and made us appear ridiculous in the eyes of all Europe , from the notion that , after all , the one pound note mania was the paramount principle W Chartism . So much have leaders in their power , that this silly man ' s silly speech had all but destroyed us . Reference to the proceedings of the Brummagems , during the winter of 1838 , would have been more in ordeKin a previous part of my narrative but will

      not lose its effect-by being thus displaced . The Muntz ' s , Douglas ' s , and Salt ' s strained every nerve to preserve . Birmingham as a mere section of the movement , to be under their own controul ; and , in order to get rid of me they were driven to the alternative of denouncing me as an Irishman , and for having tolerated the mad rubbish of Parson Stephens—when , to their utter astonishment , I challenged them to a public meeting in their own town , and broke up the whole clique , without a soul , but their own friends , to back me .

      '"However , ' when we were divided , government picked us one by one , and dealt as they pleased with the scattered array of Chartists , dealing the heaviest blow at Frost , who had made himself obnoxious to Lord John Russell personally , and to the Whig cabinet generally . Frost was the victim of five persons , three of whom are still in this country , and was forced into his position against his own better judgment ; while , upon the whole , the transport , the gaol , the workhouse , and frightened public opinion ,

      and consequent apathy , bespoke the triumph of Whiggery over Chartism . In perusing my several letters upon physical force , then a fruitful topic , I defy any man to find the slightest intimation of recommendation to resort to it , or one mysterious sentence , whereas it has been the incessant theme of O'Connell , the Sturgites , the Whigs , the old women , and has especially received the marked condemnation of those who most strongly recommended it—while I , who have stood my ground , am saddled with the vituperation of its several denouncers .

      I suffered , in common with many poor fellows , who were , like myself , victims to the treachery of knaves-In 1841 , the idle gentlemen were again put to their shifts TO LIVE AND BE GREAT , and they formed a new alliance with Hume , Place , Roebuck and others , to recruit the ranks of Whiggery once more under a more liberal princip le—the principle of household suffrage , which one of the distingushed"GREAT IDLERS "—HONEST JOHN COLLINSassured us was universal suffrage . A very ridiculous little book , compiled by Lovett and Collins whilst in Warwick gaol , under the patronage of Brougham ,

      Roebuck and Place , was the foundation of their PLAN , and it was ushered into existence by copious prospectuses , inviting untrammelled labour to support its GREAT IDLE labourers . The first gathering of the vermin took place in Marshall ' s flax . mill . ' and , if successful , was to have been followed by similar demonstrations in all the populous towns in England . I met this move [ in the outset , and chalked but the Fox and Goose plate on my prison table . Resistance to this move cost me in every way nearly £ 100 , not one single fraction came from any pocket but my own , and , shame to several

      districts , I purchased the tickets as fast as they were printed ; they were dispersed to leaders to dispose of in their several districts ; but I never was . repaid . Yes , I beg pardon , I was by the signal triumph of the glorious Chartists , who waded up to their middles in snow in a bleak January day to fight for their principles . This was the best battle we ever fought . Moir and the brave men from the north beat Arthur O'Neil , HONEST JOHN COLLINS , and the idlers from the south , and we annihilated

      the enemy . A horse died under Dan ' s carriage , which detained him TWENTY-FOUR HOURS , and he was spared the humiliation of participating in the defeat of his brother Whigs . After the battle , honest John Collins melted into bacon fat at the expence of Mr . Sturge , and has since become one of the middle class shopkeepers . O'Neil took refuge in the pulpit , while Lovett embraced the wider range of manager of the National Hall , where all but Feargus O'Connor may exhibit , but not one has worked a single day since .

      I spent my 16 months in a felon ' s cell , and came forth from it with the arduous task before me of rescuing the party , not only from the olden foe , but

      from the OLD FRIEND , THE GENTLEMEN WHO WERE TOO PROUD TO WORK AND TOO POOR TO LIVE WITHOUT LABOUR , and every one of whom fancied that imprisonment had given him a prescriptive right to introduce his own peculiar notions as the rule of our future guidance , and with a patent to live henceforth in idleness upon the move ment , and each in turn renouncing his former errors and leaving upon my shoulders the odium of bearing them .

      From the time of the general gaol delivery 0 1842 , we lingered on , and again the people reposed confidence in another Convention—a better representation than the previous one ; but still defective . I had learned the tactics of the League in the event of their favourite measure being refused , and I had mapped out to my mind the disas t ers that must inevitably follow their disappointment ; and I used these words in the Convention : " Believe me ,

      my friends , when you return to your localities , your principal difficulty will be in separating the excesses forced upon the peop le from the acts of the Chartist body ; for , rely upon it , that every particle of violence created by the League , and their attempts to gain their end by starving the people , will be saddled on the old hack , Chartism . You must keep the people apart from their movement and their machinations . "

      When the Convention was dissolved , and after our glorious chief had presented our petition in the right way , I made a tour of Lancashire and Yorkshire , and the midland counties , for no other purpose than to caution the people , and put them on their guard against the projected outbreak of the League ; and my words everywhere were : " They will try to make you figftt ; but do you fold your arms this time while the two dogs are fighting for the hone ; and if you remain quiet andlaugh at the squabble , you may step in , and run away with your share when they have done . " Now , this brings me to the awful year of Chartismthe year 1842 ; the year that the heartless millowners turned out their hands , in the hope of accomplishing bvblood , devastation , desperation ,

      starvation , and anarchy , what they had failed to secure from the fears of Parliament . This outbreak for the Repeal of the Corn Laws was concocted by a few desperate speculators , who hoped to meet their engagements by the SPONGING system . They foolishly supposed that Free Trade would either make them rich , as if by magic , or that a revolution for its accomplishment would save them from bankruptcy and the odium t of investigation . However , by the good sense of the people , and the wise policy adopted by the Convention assembled at Manchester , the ori ginators of the REVOLUTION were driven to the alternative , not of Free Trade , or a revolution for Free Trade , but the Charter , or a revolution for the Charter ; and Chartist wisdom having' thus changed the battle of Free Trade into

      My Dear Friends,—As Your Safety, My Safe...

      a war for the Charter , the millowners were but too happy to open their shops once more , which they never would have done till they had carried " Free Trade , " if they had been able to confine the war of hunger to that one point . The employing classes in this country have the power at any given moment to create a revolution by stopping labour . However , when they were baffled in the open field , the party , hoping to take

      advantage of our discomfiture , cunningly attempted to rally the people once more for a moral force Free Trade demonstration ; and , to effect their purpose , they called a Conference of Free Traders , to assemble at Birmingham , in December , 1842 , under the . more specious pretext of COMPLETING THE SUFFRAGE , which they consummated by abandoning their posts , when they could not CAJOLE THE MAJORITY , and declared that sense , not numbers , constituted a majority .

      This was another proud proof that Chartism was invincible and invulnerable . The Lancaster trials were hanging over us . Dismay was supposed to have paralysed every limb of Chartism . It was December , in the ,.. depth of winter . The beast Abinger had given a fearful construction of the law of conspiracy . The Defence Fund had exhausted the poor and zealous . The wealth , the influence , the power of station , and profession of p rinci ple , were all opposed to us . Our own ranks were disorganised by the League Revolution of 1842 . The

      Executive was suspected , and erroneously supposed that I had sanctioned their denunciation ; and they and their friends hated me more than they hated the common enemy , whom they would have joined against 1 me . -We had nightly meetings , professedly to adjust , but really to increase , our own differences . But hear it , all you who vainl y hope to strangle Chartism , our FOUR HUNDRED labourers , the representatives of PAWNED SHEETS and UNBLANKETTED BEDS , flew tottiecry of "The Charter is in danger !"

      After our support of Sturge , at Nottingham , and my suffering for him as I did there , his conduct was cold-blooded and unmistakeable . Like the Brummagems in 1838 , prior to the election of the Convention , Sturge and his friends perambulated Scotland prior to the Birmingham Conference , and openly declared that one of their chief objects was to GET RID OF FEARGUS . GOD HELP THEIR FOOLISH HEADS ! Here again the GREAT JOHN played us false . Sturge charged Lovett with

      having betrayed and deserted the complete suffrag ists ; and he and Tom Parry , failing to convert the reduced Conference to FREE TRADE principles , would have terminated the sitting by recrimination , and ripping up the past , but for the good sense of the delegates . Roberts may lie said to be the leader of the Chartist party at the Conferenee , and most nobly he discharged the duties of his office . I was resolved to do as little as needs be , although the disappointed COMPLETES bellowed through the

      country THAT FEARGUS HAD PREVENTED A REAL UNION OF THE CHARTISTS . This conference above all other trials assured roe of the deep root that Chartism had taken . The' main object of the promoters of the Birmingham confereuce was , a resolution to be in a state of preparedness . when the Lancaster jury had consigned us all for three years , at least , to the dungeon .

      Then came the Lancaster trials , and our squabbles about being ACQUITTED after an EIGHT-DAYS STRUGGLE , with the whole strength of the legal staff of Toryism , led on by the Attorney-General , and before a Special Jury , BUT A JUST JUDGE , —GOD BLESS HLVf I Had we been convicted , and imprisoned , then , Chartism would have had many severe struggles for resuscitation , but I would

      have RALLIED IT ONCE MORE , EVEN THEN , FOR I HAVE SWORN THAT IT SHALL NEVER DIE , but shall kill all the weeds that would destroy it . After this signal triumph , Chartism was allowed to luxuriate in the apathy caused by desertion of leaders , good employment , partly consequent on railway operations , and the thinning of the stocks by the turn-out of 1842 , the opening of the China market , and-abundance of spare money , until the winter of 1844 , when another extinguisher was proposed , under the childish specious guise of stopping the

      supplies . Sharman Crawford was the wise projector , not of the plan , but of the time , and the Sturgites were the ready instruments . Sturge took the flame , and poor Mason burned with the desire of doing SOME PRACTICAL GOOD FOR HIS ORDER , which always means a cessation from labour for the leader . This was likely to gain great favour , and few , very few , have yet understood the meaning of this dodge , which was , to depose Duncombe , as the popular leader , and to substitute Sharman Crawford—a change for which THE PEOPLE WERE NOT PREPARED . All novel questions are

      to be heralded by conferences and demonstrationsso the' stop the supply' gentlemen had an extensive and a very expensive conference sitting in London for a week previous to the grand demonstration , which came off on the eve of the meeting [ of Parliament , at the Crown and Anchor , and where the Completes , under Sharman Crawford , anticipated a COMPLETE and glorious victory . They had it all their own way ; no preparation was made to test them upon any principle until about 48 hours before the action , and once more the noble army of Chartists , under their , *" old , their honoured , their brave I

      and unflinching' chief ( Duncombe ) , were led into hasty action , and gained another signal victory over the combined forces of Whiggery , Free Trade , and humbug , led ' on by Crawford , Dr . Bowring , and C . Hindley . This victory , taught the enemy . the folly of encountering a conquering army , and never shall I forget the appearance of chop-fallen faction , when resting its whole hope upon Mr . Wincent ( Vincent ) , it saw their renegade puppet met with a storm of groans and hisses , and " , traitor , off . " Mr . Wincent will settle it , —call on Mr . Wincent , —Mr . Wincent , Mr . Wincent , but alas , the charing was gone , the spell was broken . The stern front of Duncombe ,

      Ins manly bearing and cheering countenance when the building rang with cheers for the Charter , will ne v er be forgotten by those who had the pleasure of witnessing it . This was our last struggle , our next will be to resist the acceptance of Complete Suffrage Candidates as CHARTIST CANDIDATES at the next General Election . We must guard against this , and wherever we are strong enough to command sufficient influence to warrant a contest , that influence must be given to THE PUKE , THE UNSULLIED CUUITIST CANDIDATES , leaving preference for a Complete , to Whig or Tory , to the chapter of local accidents .

      I am now coming to the material part of my letter . The Reform Bill was but the machinery by which Whig ascendancy was to be secured , but its working was a thing wholly lost sight of by the people . They , and not unnaturally , supposed that , according to Whig promise , the measure was to work favourably for them , and that the reformer ' s motto—taxation without representation is tyranny , and should be resisted—would be the rule ' of Whig

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      AND NATIONAL tMES' JOURNAL .

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      vol . ix . mTmr london , Saturday . sBKrcpa 19 , im . „ Ja ^^ :

      Etion. The People, However, Were Soon Un...

      etion . The people , however , were soon undeceived they discovered that reform meant nothing more than the mere transfer of power from / Tory to Whig ; : ; v-: r ' .-- < - ..- ' ., - ., -., >;; v-,. > ¦; . . * ..-..- > ...,,. / ,. i .-ir

      The sins of Whiggery became so palpable , i manifold and glaring that a section of that body made a sham revolt from the Whi g camp - Hume , Warburton , Grote , Roebuck , Ward , Leader , and others , '' denounced their measures , but rnevertheless-made » keep the Tories out' ; their ruJ « of "Whig s « p | brt . The Whig Government was aiw 0 sur ^ of ,. a 6 nfii » ent amount of Tory support to carry its unpopular . measures , and the more coercive the more voluntary' the

      Etion. The People, However, Were Soon Un...

      aid ; while , upon the other hand , the rump that wouldhave courted popularity by mere frothy denunciation , were ever ready to fly to the rescue when Whiggery was in danger . Now , my friends , attend well to the conclusion to which I mean to Jead : ryou from the past . Free Trade has been accompliM ^ hut that is only the machinery by whick Free Trade policy is to be practically carried out .

      You were deceived in the practical results ' that yovu anticipated from reform , take care that you do not fall into the deeper Free Trade pit . Allow me to repeat my three primary objections to the measure .. Firstly , it points to a Free Trade cabinet , sustained , by a Free Trade majority , whose view , whose only view , is , nay , whose triumph consists in , the subjugation and controul , of labour to its own gain and . profit .

      Secondly ,- —I have told you that it will requirethree years , at the very least , to adjust the several ' interests that will be ~ affeeted by the measure ; iashort , that we shall Have three years of nervous hippiahness before anything like health can be restored ; and that all the burthen of chance , casualty , doubt , and uncertainty , will fall heaviest en those who are -least able to bear the load . You * -ill have periods of uncertainty caused by high prices , and periods of uncertainty caused by low prices . The

      farmers are now too busy about other avocations that cannot be postponed , to glut the markets with the present year ' s produce ; while , in America , all other business has been laid aside to prepare for the exportation of a superabundant harvest to rhis country . Nations will not be guided , as journalists suppose , either by wholesome speculation or domestic requirement . The rich market is open , and all will prepare for the first cut at the new traffic—fox tbe first scramble in the new god-send .

      Thirdly , —I have told you that as long as you had to sell your labour before you could buy bread , that no price affixed by legislation to the wholesale article would be discoverable by the consumer , when it was placed as a retail commodity on his board . Such have been my principal reasons for resisting the ascendancy of Free Trade principle , while , I think , it will appear that our policy of December last , in discontinuing that resistance , was an act of inspiration : for , had we succeeded in arresting the Repeal of the Corn Laws , the plague , pestilence , and famine , which has now overtaken Ireland , would

      have been joyously saddled upon our back , andwould have made such a *• gulj > u ) , «(«<>(» . .. « ' ! that no human power could ever BRIDGE OVERWhat a fruitful theme Chartist resistance to a measure that would have fed the Irish and showered blessings upon the whole people , would have ^ beem for the jugglers of Conciliation Hall ; and what a different impression the wonderful and conclusive letters of O'Higgins would have then made upon tbe minds of the Irish residents in England . However , thank God , we escaped that gulph ; and let us now not fall into a deeper still . I tell you , that free trade without free representation , is as sure to lead to a revolution as day is sure to follow niglit . I

      have , therefore , written the past as a guide to the future . I have shewn you , that upon all former occasions you have erred with your eyes open ; . and I am ready to confess , that it was impossible for you to have avoided the error ; and my only wonder is , that solittle damage resulted from so much provocation . It is easy to write cool philosophy in the- , closet ; but it is hard to reconcile the unwilling idler - to starvation . I have told you before , and I how repeat it , that the great evil of the present system isthat it compels you to live from hand to mouth and that it has hitherto left you ready , but unwilling , instruments in the hands o action , to fight its own battles .

      The next struggle is , then , what I am now preparing you for ; and I will guide you in that also by the past . I have reminded you that we stopped tbe free trade revolution of 1842 , by turning the stream of speculation into the Chartist current . They wil only use you when they can do so for their own purposes ; but they never create a popular excitement which they cannot turn to their own account . If , then , they shall attempt , which they assuredly will , to persuade you that their political ascendancy is necessary to the working of free trade principles ; and if , to achieve that object , they should hazard another revolution , through starvation and their control of the labour market , let the shout of THE LAND ! THE LAND !! THE LAND !!' -and the

      CHARTER ! THE CHARTER !! THE CHAR . TER !!! resound throughout this sea-bound dungeon ! The Land , at a fair price—at a high price , with a lease for ever—that you may work job work , and at a corn rent , that your render—that is , of the year's produce—may be a fair proportion of the season ' s yield . Heed not the moauings of the landlords , whose estates are encumbered by their own laws : their necessities are of the year , and should be supplied from the year's render of the producing thing . If they have entangled themselves with

      family settlements before birth , or even before marriage ; if they have hampered themselves with mortgage debts to pay gambling speculations ; if they are unnaturally bound by the harsh laws of their unnatural parents , who were LAWMAKERS ; they must bear their sorrows without murmuring , or , at least , they must not saddle them as sins upon the innocent , who have been the greatest sufferers . Let them fight their battles with the Jews and money-mongers and their own relatives , and their own government , but you must no longer bear the blows .

      I advocate the Charter as man ' s inherent right and I also advocate it as the means of taking the political mask off the agricultural face of the Land , Land has hitherto been " kept as a mere article of political power ; but God's younger children have become so numerous , that he requires a more equitable exercise of the trust , which the first bom have unjustly executed . You have nothing to do with the landlords suffering from thelaws of primogeniture , of settlement , and entail ; you have no concern in . thc debt which they incurred to pay soldiers and sailors for protecting their estates from the foreign invader , BUT TO PAY it . You derive no intere st from their

      mortgages , their gambling debts , or their strained splendour . All , one and all , were taxes upon you ; and , therefore , do not now assist them even in cheating the Jews . Let them for once fi ght their own battles but take cave to have at least TWELVE UMPIRES in the ring , to see that you do not bear the blows . The next struggle will be in St . Stephen ' s cock-pit ; they will no longer trust to popular excitement , which will not fight the battle of LOW WAGES or 1 UGH RENTS , so be prepared for . LABOUR'S " MAIN . Have 12 cocks for a shake ; and wonderful will be the revelations , the tricks aiid disappointment , of faction , when the belligerents find that they must henceforth fight their own battles , and bear each other * blows .

      Beware , then , how you are cajoled into support of a party strong enough to carry out " Free Trade" ' principles for LABOUR'S BENEFIT , and beware also that you do not choose for your OWN TWELVE , men who will make a feint for liberal measures , but ( Continued on the Ei g hth Page J

      1 1 I

      1 1 I

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 19, 1846, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_19091846/page/1/