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Northern Star (1837-1852), 11th July 1846, Edition 3 of 3, Page 1, NOTTINGHAM ELECTION.

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    • TO THE IMPERIAL CHARTISTS
    • NOTTINGHAM ELECTION.
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      To The Imperial Chartists

      TO THE IMPERIAL CHARTISTS

      Jlr Bkijoted Fmbots,—Much That I Should ...

      jlr Bkijoted Fmbots _, —Much that I should have _jaid in my letter this week you will find in my _gpgech at the nomination of candidates at Nottingju _^ , I find that , as was the case when the "Whigs _jjgfore relied upon the Irish place-hunters for power jc < msh fhe English Chartists , the big beggawnan , _tfjo has been the bane of freedom for the last quarter ofa century , has commenced his new career by fresh abuse ofthe Chartist party , at Conciliation _gafl . This doating , place-hunting driveller , had not the candour or the courage to tellhis dopes that

      De arly 480 , 000 English Chartists had petition ed against the Irish Coercion Bill . Was J not right in designating the fusion _Ministry as " a coalition of English capitalists and Irish place-hunters , and am I not now justified in _proraaiming it as my . determination , and what should be your policy , to oppose the Whig _fiction on every hustings by all available means at oar _disposal , and to prefer a Conservative , Protectionist , Tory , or the devil . himself , to " a fusion Whig ?

      Wlieat has already fallen 10 s . a quarter iu Liverpool , and a great majority of the growing corn is _Irreclaimably lost , and let us ask how the Whigs and ihe place-hunters can contend against such a catas trophe and onr registered enmity . Had it not been for the resolution ofthe men of Nottingham that I should proclaim our principles before Sir John Cam Hobhouse , I should have met Macaulay at Edinburgh . "However , my pledge was to meet him

      at the next general election — the present Skirmish Is but a stolen march of the Whigs , and the unopposed return of their Cabinet bespeaks neither increased confidence nor diminished hostility . 2 give yon the following notice of my speech at Nottingham from the old bnng-hole ( the Mbrniny _Advertiser ) , and from it you will learn that the liberal portion of the press meditates another crusade against what it is pleased to call inflammatory

      language . _"Hr . _"Feasgus _O'Coknos then rose , and was greeted bv Ms adherents with thundering applause . He commenced Ms oration hy attempting to refute tbe various allegations Of Sir John _Hothouse , tbat the "Whigs had done good ; and , after continoinfr In a strain of the ex tremest vituperation for abont two hours , in which be dealt out much language ofa highly inflammatory and seditions nature , he Concluded by delivering a variety of messages to fhe Son . "Baronet , charging him strictly to convey them to the _CatSnet—the purport of whieh was , that the people looted _tjpon them as "base , brutal , ani bloody , " and wonld not tare tbemfor rulers . Sir JoHS promised to do the "bidding ofthe Agitator .

      The Sheriff ( Nathan Hurst , Esq . ) put both candidates lo the vote , when the show of hands was immense _' yin _fevonr of Mr . O'Connor . Without waiting for a poll to t > e _demandedj Mr . O'Connor withdrew from the contest , sod Sir Jolmwasdeclaredto be duly elected . The Sun is more tolerant , the Time * is awed into Silence ; my speech did not suit the Book of the Post , and in fact tbey hope once more to crush us by insolence or by silence , bnt I hurl defiance at the whole press gang ; and with you at my back 1 will drive the

      "Whigs and the Irish beggars into obscurity once more . They hope , forsooth , not only to govern the country without us but against us , and while they are _drac _^ ing every channel of corruption for adherents , they had not the courage to be honest , or even to pretend to be honest , by appointing the one man alone in whom the people had confidence , to a place in the Cabinet . "Not that I imagine that Duncombe would have defiled himself by associating with such a crew , bnt they might have paid the people the compliment of inviting him .

      I have been ashed to attend at the opening ofthe People ' s llall , at Manchester , on Sunday week , the 19 th instant , an invitation which I accept with pleasure , as I trust it may be the means oi inspiring thc faithful with _conidence , and of retrieving the _TOverers . A great press upon our" space this week precludes the possibility of addressing you at greater length just now , and therefore I must conclude by assuring you of my unaltered and unalterable attachment to yonr principles , and my continued devotion to your cause . I am , my friends , Tour faithful friend and servant , _Fsabous O'Coxsob .

      Nottingham Election.

      _NOTTINGHAM ELECTION .

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse , having accepted the _office of " President of the Board of Controii , " the Right Honourable Baronet was snbjected to the disagreeable necessity of appearing before the constituency of the Borough once more , to ask them to confirm his appointment , by returning bim again to Parliament _, lie has long been unpopular here , owing to bis dose alliance with the Whigs , who are thoroughly detested by the people of " Nottingham ; . and from " the moment it was announced that he had become , " part and parcel" of the Russell Administration , every one asked— "Will he not be opposed V "is it possible that he will be allowed to ¦ walk over the course ? " Up to Monday . it appeared that the Whig minister , _woaM not meet with any

      Opposition , as all parties seemed to think tbat it -would not be worth . while to incur the expense of a contest just now , seeing that the General Election is so near at hand , when both Sir John and his ooll _^ igue "Mr . Gisborne , are sure to be sent abont their business . Late on Monday evening however , a stir was observed amongst the active members of the Chartist body , and on the following morning , large posters appeared notifying that Mr . Feargus O'Connor would be nominated in opposition to the Whig placeman . A second bill _shortly afterwards announced a public meeting , to be held in the market place at seven o ' clock in the evening , to be _addressed by Messrs . P . M'Grath , T . Clark , and C . Doyle , of the Executive Committee ofthe National -Cliarter Association . 3 fr . O'Connor was also expected to be present and address the inhabitants .

      THE MEETING . Lons before the hour of commencing business the people were to be seen wending their way to the place of meeting , and shortly after seven o ' clock there were about ten thousand persons present . Mr . James Sweet was unanimously called to the Chair . lie _commenced his address by declaring his deadly hostility to the intended reign of Whiggery , and his determination , as an elector , to offer it all the opposition in his newer ; he had been persecuted by the Whigs for the annoyance which his conduct had caused that faction , but still he was determined to persevere , and if his vote could have any effect upon their existence , they shonld be again consigned to that obscurity which they were so eminently calculated to adorn . Ile had the pleasure to introduce to their notice Mr . Thomas Clark , who on coming forward was loudly cheered : he explained the reasons

      which had induced the Directors of the Chartist movement to appear before the people of Nottingham in opposition to their late candidate . Sir J . C . Hobhouse , and contended they would have failed in tbe performance of a great public duty had they not met the _W'tog Minister * on the threshold , and declared their determination to oppose the _domination of the party who had not left untried any means for the extermination ofthe Chartists . Mr . C . alluded to some of the acts of Sir J . C . Hobhouse , asa justification for the opposition which he and his friends lad resolved to offer him , and retired to make way ior Mr . C . Doyle , who was cordially greeted he proceeded to analyse the creed of the newly formed Cabinet , and adduced historical facts to prove that the Whigs had never been more than mere expediency ¦ managers , always persecuting the real friends of the people .

      Mr . Dotie dwelt at length upon the misconduct of the Russell party when last in office , and concluded an energetic and powerful address by appealing to "the electors of Nottingham to reject Sir J . C . Hobhouse . The chairman next introduced Mr . Phillip M Grath _, who was received with loud applause . He congratulated the working men of Nottingham upon tlie spirit which they had evinced in assembling together in such large numbers with such short notice . He was sure they would on the morrow at the nomination , sustain their high character for independence and intelligence . Like his brothers of the Executive _, lie had the most unbounded confidence in them ; so " much so , that they were certain of success . Mr . O'Connor ' s object in meeting the Whig knight , was _sot so much to find fault with him personally , as to

      strike a blow at the parry of which the inconsistent Baronet formed a part . Sir J . C . Hobhouse had once b : en a " Radical Reformer , " but for reasons , which , from motives of delicacy and chastity he would not mention . Sir John had retrograded , but the neonle ' had progressed . ( Cheers . ) " Finality" would not _' do in tho-e days of improvement when knowledgewas spreading abroad with a celerity that was as astounding , a 3 it was gratifying . ( Cheers . ) Onward must be the movements ofthe new Ministry , or they would be hurled from power by an indignant and justly exasperated people . _( Mr . _^ M'Grath ' s address was here abruptly broken off by the arrival of Mr . O'Connor , who reached Nottingham by the eight o ' clock train , and who was met and e ? corted to the meeting by thousands of the working men . ) After the cheering which

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      greeted his appearance hail subsided , Mr . O'Connor stepped forward and assured the meeting that his only object in being amongst thera was to plead the cause of labour , which had hitherto been left out of the calculation of statesmen , but thanks to the increasing intelligence _ofthea-. e , Labour ' s Sons were now able to advocate their own rights , in snch amanner that tyrants trembled at their growing power . Sir J . C . Hobhouse was not a friend to the rights oflabour , and therefore he would oppose him . ( Cheers . ) He would meet him on the hustings in the morning , —( loud eheers)—and as Nottingham had been the sceneofsome of his former triumpHbe doubted not thathe was once more on the eve of an additional

      triumph . ( Cheers . ) His victories , however , were for the people , not for himself . ( Hear . ) He had no personal ill-feeling towards the gentleman whom he was presentto oppose , but he detested Ms politics and his party , and he would therefore straggle against them to the . last . As it was not his intention to become hoarse , by speaking too much in the open air on the night previous to the engagement , and as they had already heard good speeches from those who had gone before him , he would take leave of them for the _nishtand promise them to renew his acquamtainship with them in the morning in the most friendly manner imaginable . ( Loud and continued cheering ) Mr- O'Connor was then accompanied to his lodging by a number of the working men , and the meeting

      br oke np . Mr . 0 Connor s appearance amongst us once more has created the greatest possible enthusiasm and excitement . Itseems like old times I [ The Whig committee of Sir J . Hobhouse had been busily engaged in reprinting and distributing thousands of Cooper ' s infamous letter from Lloyd ' s Refuge for Renegades , and the fact having been communicated to Mr . O'Connor , and a copy handed to him , he said " The Whigs have been circulating the mad poet's letter . " Shouts of laughter and cheers answered this annonncement . It was well for Cooper that he was not present . This fact of printing his "filthy letter '' for the purposeof damaging Chartism , settlesthe question of Cooper being _noiy a ' Chartist , " since the enemies of Chartism claim him fur their

      own . We wish Cooper joy of his new mends . He may rejoice that his " filthy" letter has been printed and circulated at the cost of Whig gold , but let him not flatter himself that his Whig friends have succeeded in damaging Chartism or Mr . O'Connor ; they have however consigned the moralizing slanderer to a still lower depth in the " Purgatory of Suicides . " — " Alas poor Torick ! " 1

      THE NOMINATION . _WEnsESDit . —The nomination took place this morning , and as we all anticipated , Hobhonse was quite unpopular , Mr . O'Connor ' s reception was every thins that we could desire , and he in return acquited himself so far exceeding everything in the shape of public oratory that ever we heard , that to some other pen must te left the task of pourtraying its effects upon those who had tbe good fortune to hear it . After the usual ceremonies had been completed , Fkaxcs Haht , Esq ., proposed Sir John Cam Hobhouse as a fit and proper person to represent the borough of Nottingham . ( Cheers and groans . ) TnoMiS Hehbert , Esq ., Mayor , seconded the

      nomination . Mr . James Sweet proposed Feargus O'Connor , Esq . ; and Mr . Wiluam Mon seconded the proposition . Sir John * Cam _Hobuoesk , on rising , was greeted with partial cheering and tremendous groans and hisses , which having subsided , he addressed the electors , saying that had not his Honourable opponent requested for him afair hearing , he had no doubt the

      electors would have granted him one . He was not astonished at Mr . Feargus O'Connor conducting himself so handsomely towards him , as they had sat side by side in the House of Commons , and he ( Sir John C . Hobhouse ) had had the honour of being his coadjutor on questions of great importance and reform . —( Hear , hear . ) The Hon . Gentleman proceeded to defend himself from the charge of being a " renegade , " advanced against him by the proposers of Mr . O'Gonnor . He cited his labours in the Liberal

      cause in aiding in carrying thc Reform Bill , the Catholic Emancipation Bill , & c . He continued : — Having said that it is my boast to be one of those who , long before reform was popular—long before reform was the watchword of Ministers-Jong before reform was the favourite word and sentiment with monarch **—I now declare that I and my much-la mented friend Sir Francis Burdett —( groans)—and Mr . O'Connor can tell you it is fact—that we belonged to the persecuted band who moved onward and carried reform . —( A voice , "What are you now ? " ) I am twenty-four years older than I was then . — - ( Laughter , and a voice "Older and worse . " ) But I am telling you what I was at my first setting

      out , and the principles I then espoused I have never for a moment ceased to act upon since . —( Hear , hear . ) I have been accused of being what is called a party man : it is perfectly true , as my honourable friend the seconder of Mr . O'Connor has said . 1 did find fault with the Whigs , and I would now if they were to do as they did then . But I beg leave to say I did not go to the Whigs , but the Whigs came to me . —( Applauseand Hear , hear . ) When I went into Parliament in 1819-20 , the Whigs were not friendly to Parliamentary reform . But when they proposed to bring tbat great measure ( the Reform Bill )

      forward , I became incorporated with that party , and 1 have never seen any reason to desert them . He proceeded to vindicate the past measures of tbe Whigs since 1832 . and eulogised their good intentions for the future . He retired amidst the cheers of his friends and the overpowering groans of his opponents . [ We have merely indicated the purport of the Whig Candidate ' s speech ; for a fuller report we must refer those who wish to see the speech to the Times , Chronicle , Post , Herald , Daily News , and Jf . Advertiser—all these papers report Hobhouse's speech , but give not one word of Mr . O'Connor ' s . ]

      Mr . _O'Coxson upon presenting himself was received with loud cheers and waving of hats , which appeared to astonish his opponent . When the applause had subsided , he spoke as follows . Mr . Sheriff , electors , and non-electors of Nottingham , the only triumph that I seek to achieve from this day ' s proceedings is that of reading such a lesson to the right hon . gentleman who claims your support , as may induce him to abandon bis new course of error and return to the advocacy of those principles which he held dear in former days , and which would yet render him dear to the working classes . ( Cheers . ) My desire is to exhibit to him such a manifestation of popular improvement as shall convince him of the

      hopelessness of longer governing this country by faction . ( Cheers . ) There is no ofiice more valuable than that of censor , and its loss has received but a poor substitute in a corrupt and venal press . ( Cheers . ) When a candidate presents himself for the suffrages of the people , it is due to him , and justice to them , that his opinions and pretensions should be searchingly canvassed , and with that view I shall now proceed to examine tbe qualification which the right honourable gentleman ' s proposer and seconder have endeavoured to establish as his title to your support . First to the gentleman who proposed him . He based the right honourable gentleman ' s pretensions upon the fact that he had been a consistent

      and strenuous advocate of . civil and political liberty . This branch of the subject I shall consider in its proper place . The worshipful mayor , who seconded the nomination , ingenuously , if not prudently , confessed that some differences of opinion upon various subjects existed between him and the right honourable gentleman . He told us , however , that , as another op portunity would shortly becur of canvassing those differences more minutely , that the present time was neither fitting nor appropriate to the purpose . He further told us that the differences were immaterial , as between the present time and the right honourable gentleman ' s next appearance no public business would be transacted , while he told us in the next breath—and I am glad that he is not an Irishman , as he favoured us with

      more than one bull — ( Cheers and laughter)—he told ns that it was necessary to re-elect the right hon . gentleman that he might aid IMMEDIATELY in carrying out those great national measures Which were about to be _propofed by the government . As far as his friend is concerned , he has committed even a greater blunder than this , for if 1 had been inclined to canvas the individual character of Sir John Cam Hobhouse , he has placed it out of my power , by heaping upon him such excessive r _tulogium for those measures , in the accomplishment of which he has informed you the right hon . gentleman was a principal actor , —therefore , I am now justified in treating him in his _corporateoapacity _, as amember of an administration which I mean to charge with enormous crimes , in-

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      consistencies , and follies . ( Cheers . ) The right hon . gentleman cannot expect to reap individual glory and escape censure . I now turn to a consideration of the right hon . gentleman's appeal . In commenting upon the harsh epithet applied to him by tlie friend who proposed me , he observed , thai "HARD WORDS BREAK NO BONES ; " but from tbe tenor of his address I fear he forgot the twin ada _<* e"SOFT WORDS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS . " In replying to the charges made against him liy the friend who seconded me , he has ( old you , and * srnly , tbat to the Reform Bill to which he gave his snpporfc , he owes the power of nomination that he has

      exercised here to-day . I admit it—but is that an answer to the general failure ofthe Reform Bill . The _queation » not , whether these two gentlemen have received a right , or a boon ; but the question is , whether it has been withheld from thousands and tens of thousands to whom the Reform Bill promised it . ( Loud cheers , ) The right hon . gentleman has told you , that he not only extended the suffrage to cities and boroughs , but that healso extended it to counties . Yes , it is true ; he gave ns a rural constituency of an hundred and eight thousand tenants-at-will , slaves to the caprice » f their landlords , and capable of overawing the bit of liberality that previously existed in counties .

      ( Cheers . ) And the right hon . gentleman has boasted , that the Government , confident in its measures , confident in popular support , and confident in its own integrity , has appealed—not to boroughs , . sot . .. to small constituencies ; but to London , to Nottingham , to Edinburgh , Plymouth , and the West Riding o ! Yorkshire . Aye , but to whom do they appeal ? Faction knows where to lean , faction knows what to avoid . They have appealed to rotten constituencies , created by their own Reform Bill for their own purposes . ( Loud cheers . ) The whole tenor of the right hon . gentleman ' s address was confined to the laudation of the Whigs , for

      measures in carrying which they had no share . He appears" to forget that there exists a material difference between men looking for power , and thc same men exercising power . ( Cheers . ) He has travelled far out of the record . He has gone into the old almanack , but I shall confine myself to the period beyond which the memory of man goeth not—the Reform Bill , with a mere passing glance at some of those changes for which the right hon . gentleman takes credit—the merit of which is not due either to him or his party . He has instanced Catholic emancipation , as if the Whigs had carried or even forwarded that measure . It was one of those conditions upon

      which the union between the two countries was effected ; and often as the Whigs were in power , from the period ofthe Union to the passing of * that measure , they gave to it but a mere party , factious support , making it the war-cry of Ireland , and using it simply for the purpose of party ascendancy ; and even then it waa not the Whigs , nor yet the Tories , that carried it ; it was carried by Daniel O'Connell and the Irish people , when it was dangerous longer to resist it . ( Cheers . ) The Test and Corporation Act , of whieh he has also boasted , was passed antecedent to the Reform Bill , and by a _Boroughmongering Parliament ; and the Municipal Act , for which

      he takes credit , was but a poor boon for so great a measure . A boon which transferred power from a bloated to a hungry faction , and imposed more taxes upon you to fatten the lean Whigs , whilst it excluded you from any participation in municipal affairs-( Loud cheers . ) The hon . gentleman has told you that the only change in him is that he is twenty-four years older than when he first advocated the great principles of Reform . In mercy to him , and injustice to you , would he had remained at his then age , and in possession of his then principles . ( Loud cheers and laughter . ) I now turn to a consideration of the fruits of the Reform Bill , which he

      has told you by his labours was made more Radica * and sweeping than the Whigs had originally intended . Let us canvas its results , and the means by which it was carried . The government of that day , unable of itself to force the measure upon the boroughmongering parliament , had recourse to declamation and popular agitation , never before witnessed in this country . A Minister of the Crown corresponded with the Birmingham unionists—the reform demagogues had so recommended their measures to the favour ofthe industrious classes , that the nation appeared to conspire in one general effort to effect the great change . The flame of reform , as was natural

      traversed the country , nnd even reached the remote county of Dorset . ( Tremendous cheering . ) All the angry passions of an excited people were put in requisition , to balance the weakness of a faction . ( Loud cheers . ) So the measure was carried , and now for its results . - The right hon . gentleman has told you that he and I sat upon the same side of the House , and were coadjutors in the supportof Reform * We did sit upon the same side of the House it is true , but we did not vote npon the same side of the question . Who carried the Irish Coercion Bill ? ( Tremendous cheering . ) Who voted for it ? You did , I did not . ( Loud cheers . ) It was a bill more a-

      trocious in character , more unconstitutional , less needed , more base , brutal , and bloody , than that by timely opposition to which you have succeeded to temporary power . ( Cheers . ) Your Reform Bill promised justice to Ireland , but have you governed the country by the ordinary law ? Did you keep your pledge ? Did you redeem your promise ? or did you not pack the House at the dead of night with your military supporters , flushed with wine from the Royal table , and did you not exhibit your new Whig jurors in their military uniforms , the jurors whose finding was to become a substitute for that ofa constitutional jury . Have you forgotten your Courts Martial , your

      domiciliary visits , your suppression of public opinion , and your law to transport Irishmen for being out of _theirbovelsiftersunset . ( Tremendouschceringand waving of hats . ) If you have , Ireland has not , and I never shall . ( Loud cheers . ) Have you forgotten your starvation bill ? by which you hoped so to degrade the labourer as to compel him to sell his labour for any pittance that the proud capitalist may condescend to offer hira . ( Continued cheering . Have you forget that you separated husband from wife , and both from their children ? ( Great cheering . ) Have you forgot that a Whig judge so far strained the ordinary law as to transport the

      Dorchester labourers , whose hopes you had raised , and whose passions you had excited , by straining an act of par . liament enacted for suppressing mutiny in the navy ? Have you forgotten that you attempted to suppress the Birmingham Unionists and Trades' Unions that helped you to power ? Have you forgot yonr protestations in favour of the free expression of public opinion , and have you forgot your inhuman crusade , not only against the conductors , but against the poor vendors , oi the unstamped press ? ( Loud and continued applause- ) Have you forgot the war that you waged against the Chartist body for the mere'expression , nay , in many instances , for merely listening to opinions which you in your youth had propagated ? Have you forgotten your £ 1000 bail before

      trial ? Have you forgotten your cropping of hair off . your own disciples —their consignment to felons' dungeons and felons' fare , to the treadwheel and silent system , for two , three , four , and five years ? ( Uproarious applause , and "Take that , Johnny . " ) Have you forgotten the trial of working men by special juries ? nave you forgotten the spies , the informers , the lickspittles that drained your Exchequer , made you bankrupt in fame , and Whiggery a term of just derision throughout the world ? ( Tremendous cheering . ) Have you forgotten the ' use you made of the royal prerogative , and has it escaped your memory that while Louis Phillippe , tho tyrant of France , was seeking opportunities to extend amnesty to political offenders , you were abusing the royal _prerogatr-v-,

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      you were tarnishing ther brightest _tgeni- in' the royal diadem _^ _searcbing the hu _^ objects of royal clemency , ( Tremendous _^ cheering . ) During your ,, rule : we had a Sroyjil marriage , and roy _^ _'babea , . ; pledges of royal felicity , and none _fiigoished yotf * with : sufficient pretext to liberate one of your own political * , disciples ffol you allowed them to nine in dungeons , and some of them to breathe their last as victims of the ORDINARY LAW . ( Indescribable sensation anil cheering . )! Where was your , justice ? Where was your mercy , when you made one of those _siity , who ,

      after the most savage vengeance had been- taken by the law voted for a continuance of yow triumph and kept ns still in felons' dungeons ? ( cheers . ) Was it according to thc ordinary law you sent me for , eighteen months to a felon ' s dungeow for proclaiming i the principles which you had instructed me in . j ( Ioud cheers * . ) Ah , but I survived your , tyranny ' My party , notwithstanding the treachery of your j Attorney General , your Scotch adventurer , yonr I political pedlar , your tramping pauper , your _Chancellor of the Duehy of Lancaster , is more- vigorous , more powerful aad determined to resist yeur coalition

      _ofHTnglish Capitalists and Irish place-hunters than at a « y former period of our existence , ( loud and co » - tihued cheering and waving of Hats , ) and here from _thisapofc I hurl defiance at your authority , and tell your Cabinet from me , that the world has never _presented _. in any country , a union organised forliberty such as that which now exists in this country , ( loud cheers . ) - We may be less violent than we were , but our partial reaction has been occasioned by the fact that , for five long years the greatest statesman that over the world beheld" has conducted on incipient Chartist agitation , ( loud cheers . ) Sir Robert Peel

      ( renewed eheering ) has left you npon a bed of thorns , whicli vouT finality Lord , NOT YET STRONG ENOUGn TOR THE PLACE , will find it difficult to follow in the steps of that giant performer . And although you have succeeded him by a happy accident , yet I tell you nineteen in every twenty ofthe people of this country would vote to-morrow foir his restoration to power . ( Great cheering . ) You live but upon sufferance , within your Cabinet are the elements of dissolution , you have three Greys , ' all holding the most important offices , with a Ponsonby for your Irish Lord-Lieutenant , and Charles Buller ,

      who is a disciple of Grey ' s , upon your flank . Thc difference between Brougham and Grey is this—that Brougham will agree with nobody ; Grey can't even agree with himself . ( Cheers and laughter . ) Do you suppose that the heated Protectionists , after their temporary spleen shall have subsided , will not rather coalesce with Peel than bear even your extensive pledges for the preservation of office . A coalition may destroy you , a thunder storm would annihilate you . ( Laughter and cheers . ) Aye , I request of the right hon . gentleman to look right and left on his way home , and throughout he will see the greatest

      enemy to Whiggery—he will sec more corn irreclaimably lost than ever was known at this period of the year before . He will see twothirds of the wheat fields , not laid but flattened , all proclaiming the incompetency of an imbecile government to complete the great commercial policy of its predecessor . ( Cheers . ) The right hon . Baronet , after proclaiming what the Whigs did not do , raised our hope , by a promise to define the future policy of his government . You and I , and all of us , were anxious for such an important developement . Butbe began with lauding the commercial policy of

      Sir Robert Peel , the foundation of which , he said , was laid by the present Prime Minister and his party ; forgetting the noble Lord ' s 8 s . fixed duty _, which was his lowest bid for freo trade support , until lured by the tempting bait of a replenished-Exchequer , ( Cheers and laughter . ) when he said , take all , perish every interest , for another suck at the old cow . ( Cheers and laughter . ) The right hon . Baronet and his friends will soon suck her dry once more , and then the haberdashers , thc manufacturers , the clothiers , the bankers , shopkeepers , and speculators , of which our representative assembly is composed ,

      will call out for another clerk , another bookkeeper to sit behind the desk of the great counting house of the nation . ( Cheers and laughter . ) The right hon . Baronet , however , failed to gratify our curiosity further than by assuring us , that the thing would eventually be ' done . What that thing is , however , whether it is his thing , or 'Lord John Russell ' s tiling , that is to be done , we are left in blissful ignorance . ( Tremendous cheers and laughter . ) I have no confidence in the right hon . gentleman ' s thing I tried'it before , and found it wanting ; it wilt not stand the popular scrutiny . ( Uproarious laughter . )

      The late Lord Chancellor Plunkett once observed , that we Irish barristers were frequently about the thing , and about the thing , but not a whit nearer the thing , and so it is with the present administratration . But as the right . hon . gentleman has so vauntingly boasted the capacity and intentions o f his present leader , let us canvas the . meagre programme upon which he once more hopes to secure the public confidence . We havo the test of his efficiency in an indictment j framed against himself , which his friends have foolishly paraded as his fitness for office . After ten years' uninterrupted _' possession

      of power we are told of the social reforms still required . We learn that after the plunder of one party for the gratification of the most powerful , and after the adjustment of the " commercial relations of active speculators , that now something must be done for the social comfort of the poor . And wliat is that something ? He tells us that the " sanatory condition" of the poor is in a deplorable state — that the state of the " criminal law" is yet a problem to be solved , and thatthe system of "education" is lamentably

      imperfect—but not a word about the TEN HOURSBILL—( Tremendous cheering)—not a word about thc repeal of the Poor Law Amendment Act—( Renewed cheering)—not a word about the extension of the franchise . ( Repeated cheers . ) Tell the noble lord , from me , that our policy of sanatory improvement is , every man his own ventilator of his own cottage —( Cheers)—every man his own , _severer , that we require no national system of education , that what we require is , every father of a family shall from the fruits of his own labour be able to educate

      his own family . ( Great applause . ) We require _ao repetition of the national farce , by which £ 30 _^ 04 ) 0 was voted for natioaal education , and £ 70 , 0 flui for the comfort of Prince Albert's horses . ( _Reviewed cheering . ) The right hon . baronet , practised ! as he is in the science ef agitation :, is net yet aware- of the mine that ia about to spring under the _fragila footing on which factaon stands .. He bas slept whiilto we were awake . He does not understand that _Glias _& ow and Plymouth ,. Newcastle and Bristol , Ediubrargh and Bath , Manchester-and London , are now- of one laind .

      That we have created a new public opinion and organised a new publio opinioa , anil that thc _nexl demand upon the leaders of the movement -party will be bravely and successfully to direct that opinion . ( Tremendous cheering . ) While he and life party are clamouring for cheap bread , which nicanalow wages—( Cheers . )—the people havo set their hearts upon the thing that produces bread THE LAND . ( Tremendous Cheering . ) --He and his party may talk for ever about their _'commercial arrangements by whioh the people are led to hope

      fortheir miserable share , bu . ' tl toll them that labour will bo satisfied with no change short of that which will make every man his own producer and his own oonaiuner , regardless wliotlior the surplus is worth 3 s . or A 3 per quarter . ( Great applause . ) Has the right hon . baronet enjoyed tho repose of Rip Van WinWo , and has lie been asleep while the universal movement has been going forward ? Whether we . Ieok

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      to Russia with its despotism , or Prussia with its de , _sp 9 tism , to Poland openly struggling , or the Italian States secretly conspiring , to France in a slate of etfervescencc _, faction in Spain living upon periodical j revolutions , or Portugal after her triumph , toAus-: tria bending beneath the weight of . the wrongs of _; her Italian * States , or the republic of Switzerland struggling for more popular freedom , can he , il ask , for a moment suppose that England , i though less excited , yet upon occasion more excitable , will . hang , back in this universal _marei for freedom , ( Cheers . ) No , I tell him

      thai ! , , in spite of Whig coercion , of the strained ordinary 1 W , of party and judges , packed juries , suborned ! witnesses , spies , . perjurers , and informers , in spite-ofthe dock , the-dungeow , and the scaffold , the _Engftsli mind and Englishmen will knock down and trample _upen your boasted landmark of corruption * and with an irresistible' torren * sweep away every vestigeef _ueerped rightoand stoM-privileges . ( Tremendous oheering and waving of hats . ) The right lion gentleman has named penny postage as a great boon : I admit it as a means- of communicating grown opinions , and-1 ask him iS'he can contemplate the

      rapid progress of their transity without shuddering for the reign of despotism . Can he * think' of our railways , an * _oursteani navigation , aud hope that the science of legislation is alone to stand _stillywbile all others are rapidly hurrying-on _to-thegoal of perfection _, ( cheer *)* Has he reflected that we can . now shake hands-with Amerio _a _^ in possession of » republic , and kiss- France panting for the same form of government , _without coming to the conclusion that England is the great volcano in the midst of ocean _,, and that the free expression of opinion is the only safety valve that can save us fromiexplosion . ( Great j

      cheering , in which Sir J . Hobhouse joined . ) I agree with Junius and with Burke , that agitation is as the hue and cry that prepares you for the thief by announcing his approach , but once atop it and he will come stealthily upon you in the night .. ( Cheers . ) There is no danger o £ a physical revolution in England , BO long as public discussion * is permitted , but once stop it , as in France , and other countries , and you may retire to rest in peace to be roused by the war cry from your slumber .. ( Great cheering . ) We have not been behind in the march of mind , when we find America , in possession , of

      republican institutions for three quarters of a century , compelled to adopt our cry for the Land , as the only means of completing her ireedom . What country with the wealth and the power that England can boast of , is so liable to combustion from apparently insignificant causes , and yet the death of any one of three old gentlemen ,, might throw us into anarchy and confusion . If Mr . O'Connell , Louis Philippe , or the Duke of Wellington , die to-morrow , the wisest man would not vouch for ten days' permanency of our institutions . And thus your system must be bad , when it cannot stand the death

      of one old man , or a single thunder-storm . ( Great cheering . ) The right hon . gentleman felt sore at being reminded of his old opinions . I shall not torture him with further extracts from his juvenile speeches , not liable to the same charge of incorrectness as Hansard , the Mirror , or the press—the dread of hasty and intemperate speakers . This is a book written at his own express desire , lest his opinions of those days should be misconstrued or foygotten . Here are resolutions embodjing his opinions , and testifying his fitness as a representative for the radicalism they contained . From this book I learn

      that he declared himself a Republican in 1819 . ( Loud eheers . ) He also declared himself for the extension of the Franchise , not merely to my two friends , who have proposed and seconded me , but to the mechanic , the artisan , and the labourer . ( Cheers . ) lie has declared himself for the fullest extension ofthe suffrage , for short Parliaments , arid equal elecioral districts , and yet while he was Minister , land others have been treated like felons for propagating those principles which rendered him worth the purchase of his party . ( Cheering . ) Ofall meB living I have a right to charge him as the author of all my

      suffering . When I was allowed but half a glass of wine , the toast that my father used to propose was PROSPERITY TO IRELAND , when I was entitled to two , the second was " A DOWNFALL TO TYRANNY ALL OVER THE WOULD , " and when I got three the last was the health of Lords Grey and Russell , Sir Francis Burdett , and John Cam Hobhouse- We were four of a persecuted family , even of a persecuted _, race . I was the youngest ; it was my task t » read the parliamentary debates and speeches of th ® reformers , and the room not unfrequcntly rung wiiib

      cheers for Hobhouse . My eldest brother s task _was-io read Cobbett ' s Register , and my second brother road the Examiner , and my third read the leading artistes in the daily and weekly newspapers . Thus I _was-one of the pupils of the right hon . gentleman . And _nw-, I ask him , how he can dare to look me in th & iftee , having abandoned those p . * iciples , while the weight ; the penalty , and odium of ustaiuing them devolved upon me . ( The most indescribable scene _cTor-witnessed upon a hustings followed this appeal .. Mr . O'Connor keeping his eyes sternly fixed upon Sir , John Hobhouse , whilethe-vastmultitudecheeredaKidCibecred

      again ; those standing behind the right 'h » a . gentleman stooping forward to get a peep , while he blushed and turned pale- attempting , bat in vain , to look his opponent in the face . ) , AM Sir , _coulamied Miv O'Connor , I am too faithful a disci pie to te converted , or intimidated by your _dishonourable , coalition ,, oa your unnatural fusion . ( Cheers . ) You ooastofWMg consistency , while you are obliged to appeal to . _ttlfi Tory Duke to be- your ( D ' _ommander-Sn-Chicf . 15 g « boa-tofWhig honour ; . wh _« n thc consistency ois Sir Robert Peel alone save * three _juvenile statesmen , Lord _Dalhonsio _, Sidney Herbert , _amd tho _Bluri of

      Liacola . f rom falling into your _patronage-baited t : » p . ( _Chsers . ) . _DftnM , howevcrj . mistake _,-nie , thi 3 fusion is what I- have- long expected , and now hail i with j oy . Y ou have now destroyed all _pofiMoal distinctions as far as _aftnio goes-you bave marshalled the _rieh oppressors of all classes against the poor _oppressed , and . therefore do I hail it . A peat charge against the Chartists was , thai they sometimes allied _thsmselves with the Tories against tha Whigs , but now you have destroyed the right i » repeat that charge . You have had your fusion * we'll hav » our fusion * and perhaps out of the two _JjiK-iona , w _& may _hava a confu sion , too strong for WBiig _RberaSty or

      the ordinary law . ( Loud cheers . ) How _comcs-it that you boast of what the Reform fiiifl has done , whoa we find you relying upon _Catholie Emancipation , the repeal ofthe Test and Corporation Act ,, and other changes effected by a boroughmongering Parliament , and now basing your pretensions to power , not upon what the reformers have done or wiU do , but upon what the Tory Peel has effected . Yon shudder like a guilty man at the recollection of your own acts , and would vainly cover your misdeeds by stripping the honoured garments from your opponents . ( Cheers . ) How , in the face of truth , of practice , and of acts , can you presume to eulogise the Reform Bill , when it is a known fact , that whereas Mr . Pitt and

      his successors never calculated upon a larger working majority than 30 , the same party were enabled in the teeth of your Reform B _. ' ill to secure a majority of One hundred , ( Loud cheers . ) Is that a proof of progress , ov is it not a fact that whereas the Whig constituencies are too liberal for their representatives , the Tory representatives are too liberal for their _constituencies . ( Cheers . ) How have you

      Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Having Accepted T...

      gamed yoW majorities ? At first , by extensive pro raises from the Reform Bill , you secured a majority of over 150 , and in 1834 you _perished under the weight of your own profligacy . You supported yonr | ° _ verni nent by patronage and expensive com ' _mis-« „ ; _y ° _« died a natural death , * you fell to pieces nrnS ! ii _.- 1 _^ " nes 8 ' and then in the ho Pe of von _S _^^^ . _^" _VHd _^ _yWiip _^ r _^ _toitod _, _IvlJi _voteof _^ fidence in LordAithorpand

      u . , J eo llTS C _? i ling hiniself lilieral / _witHttieex 2 e _™ f T f ' 8 igned the de 8 radi _» g document . hunter ! v „?! " 1 Pedlars ' the Prostitute place _vir So 2 I _, con < 5 dence in ¦** »» . - * _toi-- but the hlr nP „ nl ' adc 0 erced _^ eir eountry , ' aiid deprived her people of even the semblance ofa constitution . You were expelled from office ,, and in 1835 _iyou came in upon no better cry than " the Irish Church and keep the Tories out . " You lingered oh till 1837

      wasting of Whi $ co _» s „ mpt } o , i , , whea the death of the monarch furnished you and _^ ow , beggarly supporters with the cry of the LOVELY young Queen and Reform , and from that period-till 1841 , you went on bribing , dissipating , corrupting , and betraying , till at last yon perished to rise no more , except upon the ruin of a man who accomplished what you dared not propose . You exhausted the Exchequer , you disgraced the country , you dishonored the name of whig , and made Reform a bye-word of contempt . Gb

      [ Lom <* rs . ) When we raise the midnight torch once more , which we assuredly will , if you will noG redressi our grievances , and admit U 3 to a full , thi ™ d / P artic -Pation in the representation ot t he . conntry-will you again treat us to your ordinary law ? When we again rise as one man , will you prosecute US again I « circulating the opinions , which yoa say you have not abandoned ? If you should attempt it , air , give me leave to tell you that 1 fta , _f " _" _* a new element io Chartism . Aforetime , TO fought the battle with thehandJoom weaversan (*

      -operatives alene , bnt now I have-added a large section ot the agricultural labourers to the main body _iof the movement . And when , the price of _ooru tumbfes , as it assuredly will , not _tcthe plentiful , but the starvation point—when _bwad- is cheap but ¦ labour unemployed , then , Sir " , how will you resist 'the tonrent ? . Then-you _wililsarn- thai Sir Robert Peel kept the Irish Coercion Bill as a back door to-walk out of when he hadintroduccd and ; carried ' his great _commersial measures-.. But even upon _, this-subject 1 may boast a little .. Our neutrality had no slight effect upon the car-wing of those

      _measures _,, for perhaps you are not aware that we who had successfully , combated and beaten the League from-its infanoy , _assemb-led'in Manchester in ® 4 cember last ,, and there came to the resolution that the _threatenedistarvation-of the Irish _psople , added to the dreaded scarcity in England , rendered it _impolitic longer to _oppose-tho : measure .- ( Gheers . ) Nay , more , Sir to show you thatwe werefully alive to the merits _ofthe-question , during the period ofthe hottest of our resistance , we applied the very terms to the Corn Tax < that Sip Robert Peel was compelled to adopt , This was the form-of oar resolution , that although

      the Corn Iiaws-are UNJUST IN- _PKINCIPLE _; the > working . classes would not . ' receive any ¦ benefit from their repeal until , by tke enactment of the People ' s-Charter , they shall be able _to-direot the change to national instead of class purposes , ( Cheers , ) I am now , Sir , drawing to . aelose . Ihave sought for . no other triumph thanthat which , my . conscience , tellsme-1 am ontitled to . But ,. before "we part I < must assign the proper reasento the only > _actof clemency of which _. your party boasts-Lmean ,- sparing . the . life of Frost and his companions . ( Cheers .- ) . Sir , that act was wrung from yonr fears , not from

      your-clemency . Ih vain did Sir Frederick-: Pollock plead , in vaini did-Lord Brougham plead .. fom a mitigation of punishment ! . Five times they implored , but were anoften repulsed ; : until an express came from a military officer , high in command , threatening to publish a letter received from . a Whig iVlinlster during the _. Reform agitation , wherein he was directed , not to interfere if popular _fury should break out in favour ofa Reform Bill , This threat , Sir , . had the . desiredeffect , and te . your infamy ,. and nottoyonr mercy , we areindebted for the lives-of our . companions .. ( Loud and long , continued sheering . ) , You boast of having

      moulded your cabinet to the popufar will ; hut I ask . you , how it wasthat _.-our man , Duncombe , was _overlooked ? r—the only , one amongsfcyou in whom-. the People have confidence . ( Tremendous cheering . ) _= I ask you , if you . are a liberal , nnd . the friend oflabour , how eomes it to psss that you voted , against his -motion _, for rcducing t _; he labour of the- lace workers , although . demanded by a majority of the masters and their , hands ; : andi ! with the _kaowledge of ; the fact that your leader had become the champion of shopbo _*« ,. at _Exeteivllall , who required relief from the monotony and tedium of doing nothing behind the counter * . ( Cheers . ) How comes it , jf you are . a liberal ,. thatyou . v _« re one of those sixty , who voted , for

      keeping younddsciples in duageons , after thc offended law was more Shan avengedt ( Cheers . ) ., How . happens _fy that _ifithe-law is pure , and . not used for party purposes ,. that , _wiien prosecuted by thc Whigs we selected Tory barristers to defend as , and when prosecuted by the Tories * we- relied upon the . advocacy of . Whigs ? How happans it , thati with the exception of Baron- _RoJfe and Baron . . Alderson , that , on the . numerous- Chartist _Ilrials simple , justice wasnever exisnded to Chartist . prisoners .. ( Cheers . } —and how eomes it tc . _jiass now that you have formed an administration with only _twa members , who are not in . th * Cabinet , ia whom thsvpeople have hope , or _contideno *—I mean , Mr . C . Buller and . Mr . Jervis

      —and . s » en those , Ii fear , you will corrupt .. ( Cheers and daughter . ) New , . Sir , _niasrk me ,. and mark , me well ,. Darraign _yoaperrors a & _ihoseof the hea _, d , ; y . ou areamanof _powerful eloquence , and capacious mipd With , one exception , _durijag _^ the whole period 1 . was iii . _taa House of Commons , 1 , never knew a . speech thatsecureda "vote , or , _changed an opinion , . except . ono ; made by yen ,. Upon , that occasion you . secured _scsten , my own . amongst , the number . Abandon your , &* wi ways , _theeafore , and come from out that _dark-Iness which has so long obscured your vision into the jdaylight _andisunshin _* . . ( Great applause . ) , Resume your positioa , not as a _Republican , but-as . a _Chari ' tist , and yoa ; will b & the second _mau . in the . empire . : _Duncombci-wiU _eyeu hold the first place in popular

      affection ., ( 'rrcm & _iidous _. cheering . ) . The sock upon which ths system will , spiit will fee tlie ignorance oi our _ropKesentatives . l ublic opinion , has marched beyond your _coamiercial polios ,, railway , speculation , sanatory , Improvement , _educaSioi-al reform ,. and the problefli _. of criminal laws .. When you retuvn , tell your leader- to grant those P 4 tUDi ? . _iS'i' AND TIMELY _QQNGWS-lOaS mentioned in , his fishing letter , and then we shall want no . Ciimiual laws as we shall have so criminals . But tell hips , there is ( danger exen in tiie frown of four , million , unemployed ipaupers , who ,, we are told , depend upon p _^ oehial relief , though , willing to work . Tell kin * , that tke royal chaplain , tha lion , and Rev . _Baptist Noel , has charged , him with a heinous crime and grav . a offience when he stated that there were Svo hundred

      thousand perishing souls lingering wi |\ iin the precincts of the royal palaco , living without Q , od and without hope . ( Loud cheers . ) Tell him more * and tell'it to your colleagues—TELL THEM THAT I AM IN THK HELD AGAIN—( tremendous and long-continued cheering ) at the head of a phalanx whose numbers will bear thinning by thousands , but who will no lo _$ & er submit to that disparity which exists , of _starvation for the industrious , while the idle live in pampered luxury . ( Loud cheers . ) Toll him that . I will ike

      equal to any emergency that his crooked policy may impose upon me that I hurl defianco at his coalition and his fusion ; and that , if _necessary for the achievement ofthe People ' s Charter , I will die in the attempt to gain it . ( Tremendous cheering and waving of hats . ) Tell him that we are neither dead nor dying . Tell him Ihat _. _' you havo witnessed a new public opinion that is irresistible ; that , in spite of persecution , our flag still -waves in the breeiic ; that our prinoiplos lire - .-ANNUAL pARUAMiMs . UNIVERSAL-SUFFRAGE ; VOTE BY bALLOT ; EQUAL REPRESENTATION ; NO PRO . _; ( Continued io thi AV ' _« A _^^

      Ar00110

      And National- Teides'jqumat,:

      AND NATIONAL- TEIdeS ' JQUMAT ,:

      Vol. X. No. 45l London, Saturday, Julp I...

      VOL . X . NO . 45 L LONDON , SATURDAY , _JULP il . 1846 ~ r ~~ _~~" ™ c . Fi _VEpE ivc .-r _^ — ¦ : ¦ ; * ¦¦ : ' _:.-: y _,-j-.- _% give _ShilHiiga nnd Sixpence per Quarter

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), July 11, 1846, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_11071846/page/1/