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Northern Star (1837-1852), 18th November 1848, Edition 3 of 3, Page 1, TRIAL OF THE OLD GUARDS

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      Trial Of The Old Guards

      TRIAL THE OLD GUARDS

      "Union Is Strength ."

      " Union Is Strength . "

      TO THE CHARTISTS . Mt Friends , fo me nothing is more disgusting tban to foe continually compelled to remind you of your _-ost sacred duty . Many of you declared your _willingness , —nay , your _readinese—to fight for « mr liberties , while some were ready to sell _i _j 6 coat from their back to procure arms . And now that some of the staunchest _Charts—the veritable OLD GUARDS-are about lo meet the enemy on their own battle-field , _committed to the tender mercies of their own appointed Judge and selected Jurors , you allow them to go to battle unarmed .

      Have I not , from the commencement of ¦ _ffbig persecution , been compelled to goad you into a performance of your duty r You profess yourselves ready to fight for your liberties , _Vflile you allow the _' _most faithful , consistent , and able of your leaders to be sacrificed without a struggle . _^ _Yith few exceptions , we have pot yet had a Chartist trial during the new campaign . Now , tbe veritable Chartists are

      shortly to be put npon tbeir trial , and you withhold tbe means of defence . Are such men as James Leach , Daniel Donovan , William _GrocoU , James Taylor , Jobn West , George White , Whittaker , Rankin , and others—acknowledged Chartists - —Chartists whose only crime consists in having saved thousands from the treachery of spies and informers—are they , I ask you , to be sacrificed to vour indifference ?

      Yoa scoff at the poor Irish , but will the poorest Irishman be allowed to go to trial without the assistance of the ablest counsel I _IVhat has before given the greatest spring to the Chartist cause ? Has it not been the determined stand-up fight made in tbe _Courthouse , where every trial was a Chartist meeting , with a Judge in tbe chair , and tbe ablest counsel selected as the expounders of Chartism ? And if these men are well defended , as they ought to be , it will be ( another _rerival of Chartism—whereas , if they are sacrificed b y T indifference , they will be CHARTIST VICTIMS , and not WHIG VICTIMS .

      It is my intention to be present at those . trials , and if I should see innocent men sacrificed to popular indifference , it will not increase my confidence in ? professing Chartists . But , after all , I believe you only require to be reminded of your duty , to insure its performance—and let not the poverty of some be the excuse of all , while it should be the inducement to the more prosperous to increase their subscri ptions . I promise you that William _Preuting Roberts will do his duty , if you

      perform yours—but if yoa cripple his means , you paralyse his energies , and thus unjustl y injure his reputation . There is no professional man in Europe so capable of conducting such a case as he is , my belief of which was -sufficientl y tested in confiding my liberty to bis keeping in 1843 ; and , but for bis master mind , bis energy , _acuteness , and legal knowledge , every man of us tried at Lancaster , would have been sentenced to a long and degrading imprisonment _.

      " WHAT'S EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS , IS NOBODY'S BUSINESS , " may be a very fascinating motto ta the indifferent and apathetic , but let me impress upon you the fact , that the defence of our friends is every Chartist ' s business , and , still farther , that no ONE MAN can do every man ' s business , while a belief in that maxim has , I believe , led to general indifference , Now , then , the time is short—not more than two short weeks from the time you read this appeal . ( Set up cheap tea parties—employ good lecturers to attend public

      meetingsselect such men as John West , who is an ornament to his class , to his order , and to nature . Let them describe the horrors of incarceration , and the sufferings ofthe wives and little children of the victims ; and let them—not with enthusiasm or excitement , bnt with truth , with force , and eloquence—drive the bitter sting of reprobation into the breasts of those who withhold the means of saving their friends and their families from persecution . Let this not be a Manchester question , nor a Lancashire question : let it be a National question , and let us measure real , not false Chartism , by the proceeds .

      Now , then , Chartists , you have a duty to perform—a sacred , but not an arduous or expensive one . Remember the preacher ' s defini . tion of union . He said to his _congregation—* If I gave you a shilling amongst you , you would not know _hovr to divide it ; if you gave me a shilling a piece , it would make a man ef me . " In the words of the preacher , then / I say , give your friends a shilling a-piece all who can —a penny a-piece all who can—and you who cannot , beg from those who can ; and always bear in mind , that the men who are now to be tried belong to the

      VERITABLE OLD GUARDS . Your faithful friend , Feargus O'Connor . P . S . — -Let us paralyse the enemy on Saturday next " with a long muster-roll of Chartist revival . Let us show them a subscription list which they will dread more than the Chartist army that haunted their brains on tbe 10 th of April . F . O'C .

      TO MR THOMAS HUNT OF SPRING LAKE , MUKWONAGO , WISCONSIN , AMERICA .

      Sib , —I read your letter published in last week ' s "Northern Star" with much pleasure . It is a very able production , and if such writers had access to the English Press , you would be an able auxiliary to the cause of Democracy , upon the success of which alone wealth , peace , happiness , and contentment can be insured . There is one fact , however , of which you must not lose sight—it is that you write in a free country , where opinions are calmly discussed , and have their due weig ht _according to their legitimate influence upon the public mind ;

      while I write in a country possessing but two ideas—MIGHT sustained by brute force , and RIGHT advocated with a halter round a man ' s neck . However , to prove to you the extent te which the advocacy of right may be carried , in defiance of might „ I will proceed to analyse tbe following portion of your letter , with a view of proving to you that in this THOUGHTSLAYING land , where IMAGINATION is High Treason , I have pushed the Land Question to a greater practical extent tban it has been carried in free America ; just as I have

      practicall y pushed the Labour Question in England , while its mere theory has been the basis of a revolution in Franoe . You say— - If the Chartist * and Hepealerg wUl tarn tbeir 3 _tt-ntion to the vital question of Laud Monopoly . I am quits satis _, fi _^ _d that they cannot do otherwise than adopt the principles of the _NatieneJ Reformers _» f thia country , so _l'jrcib ' ij tet forth in the address of the committee of the Industrial _Congris-. In that case their _ajitem will assme something like the fallowing form : — 1—The Char er for England . ¦

      - _'—iiepeal of the Union , with an Irish parliament tailed togtthtr upon the principles of the _Engtish _t' '' "rt _» r _; _andaimultaneouslj withUiKepolitiealreforms _-tevwill demand—« . —Xalicnal Education , as the best means of securing to ae _people thtir politieal and social rights . *•—the freedom ofthe public lands to actual settlers . 5 . —An exemption ofthe homestead _fron forced sals . C—Land limitation , by which no indiridual would _posses more than a certain amount of laid , tobeasc . rwintd by a comparison _» f the area oi a country with its Population . First ] y . _-Jfte have adopted tbe princip les of Land possession .-is the great social benefit " •"• inch is to result from political freedom .

      Secondl y . —We have adopted the Charter for _England and Ireland , and a Repeal of the Union for Ireland ; and I have declared many * time and oft , that I would rather not see the Umon repealed unless the Charter was the basis of representation . And you will bear in '" " -a-that to the last moment the leaders o

      "Union Is Strength ."

      the Irish people were tbe loudest denouncers of what they ignorantly designated p hysical force Chartism , while their real hostility to the principle arose from the fact , that if Ireland had a national parliament , with its representation based upon the Charter , those mouthing h ypocrites and servile hacks could no longer trade in national disunion , based upon class inequality . Thirdly . —The best proof that I can give of my devotion for National Education , will be found in the fact that I have attached a most splendid school-house to every one of the . People ' s Estates ; and that I have contended that every barrack and workhouse should be turned into a national school or a national col- i

      lege , I have always contended tbat tbe people of a country can accomplish every thing for themselves , better than any system of government can ; and that was my reason fer attaching schools to those several estates , in order that the education of children should be left to parents , and that their ignorance—if arising from want _# f education—should be _chargeable asa crime upon those p arents . And when I speak of national schools and _colleges , I do not refer to the system of endowment b y the State , I mean that tbey should be free and open , and that the _scholars of different classes shoald elect their own heads , their own professors , their own masters , ushers , and monitors .

      Fourthly . —I do not exactly comprehend the _meaning of the term actual settlers , and therefore I shall not attempt to comment upon it . If you mean those who are in actual possession of tracts of land by grant or conquest , the term must embrace all the landlords of all countries , however much or little they may possess , as they are the actual settlers , and equally applies to America as to England . Fifthly . —Thn exemption of the homestead f rom f orced sale , is a thing that 1 have frequently contended against , and I have placed several motions upon the Journals of the House of Commons to deprive the landlord of the power of distraining for rent , and to dep rive him _^ of the power of ejectment , unless the tenant shall have a lease for ever at a corn

      rent ; and when I come to the consideration of rent , I shall show its insignificance , where perpetuity constitutes the tenure . Sixthly . —My notion is , tbat no man , dapending upon his labour , should hold mure land than he could cultivate by that labour ; but then , if we measure agriculture by the population of any country in the world , you will at once discover , either that large farms must continue to exist , or a large portion of the soil must be thrown out of cultivation . I have

      not the sli g htest objection to large farms , provided tbey are diminished according to the -wants and requirements of an increasing population . If the rule laid down b y you was carried out , just in proportion as the population of a country increased , would the contraction of farms increase—and this would be very just , while I would attach the rational stipulation ; tbat no working . man should hold more tban he could cultivate by his own labour . For instance , we will take ten thousand acres as the area of a parish , with a population of one hundred . By your standard , each parishioner should occupy a hundred acres , nearly the whole of which should either remain in an

      unproductive state , or cultivated in a slovenly way by slave labour—while I would allow the hundred parishioners to hold just as much as they could cultivate , and farmers to hold the remainder . The wages of their labourers being measured by the value of the free labour of their neighbours—and then , as the population increased , 1 would diminish the size of those large farms proportionately . By this system , the remainder above wbat the hundred husbandmen required , would be much better cultivated than if the ten thousand acres were divided between the hundred ; land the wealth of a country is the superior cultivation of tbe soil .

      I think I hear you exclaim " But who is to be the landlord ? The State or the usurper ? The descendant of a soldier in the conquering army , or the grantee of a foreign King , whose title was established by force , and maintained by fraud V That question I shall also answer presentl y . I now " select the following portion of your letter for comment : — These are the questions of all others the most _mnpalatobls to ths _goveraiag p * wers all over the world , and I hope they wilt be prosecuted with vigour to thiir full and permanent recognition . _Feargui O'Connor has touched the sore _ulacs in his Land Schema , and only touched It ;

      but he has done enough to draw from their kennels all the rabid animals who fatten on the labour of _othsrs . 1 hope he will _Isse no time in making good the thrust , which I find in a leading article ofthe Koktbbkx Stab for the 15 th July last , and which is conveyed to the public in thesa forcible words : ' Landlords , monopolists , and profit-mongers would do well to consider whether the recent trials may not have done much to enlarge the objects of popular agitation . The ' Charter and no Surrender * was the motto of the men just sentenced to a long and cruel incarceration ' . _Another motto , more terrible to the usurpers of political power and the _osanspoliser * of the wealth produced by other men ' s labour , may ere lone be the rallying cry of the outraged mlUiois . ' If

      Feargus _O'Coauor will incorporate the freedom of the public lands with his agiutien for the Charter , his agitation will assume a character tbat must forcibly recommend it to tbe enslaved millions . His Land Scheme is very good si far as it goes , but its range is too limitedin ceniequeocp of the extreme poverty ot the people , it can never reach the gigaatic evils which beset those whose pressing _iiecetsities demand a more easily attainable measure of relief . Besides , why should the people P ' _. y for that which of right belongs to them ? The people have a right to a fair share of the soil , and no man is better qualified tbaa Feargus O'Connor , either by talent or moral courage , to put them in the right way to obtain it ; and I sincereiy hope thathe wUl bend the energies of his superior mind in tbat diractioB , regardless of the scoffs of those wbo would fain drive him from the path which must sooner or later lead to the people ' s

      redemption . The felon or truth-speaking _preis has been put down iu Ireland , and the day may toon come Tilroi it shall be put down in England also ; the laud-stealing press wm then have it aU its own way , and tha minds o < the people will _cantioue to be abused as heretofore . It has giren me great pleasure to find tbat Feargus O'Connor has taken no part in the late disturbances ia Ireland — the government wou'd have been too glad to have found him in arms against it ; but his life and services are reserved for better uses . He knew the ptople oi England and Ireland were _unprepsred to resist the tremendous power efthe government , backed as it was by ihe upper and middle classes . He therefore relies on the potency of moral force , and as a moral for _: e man I hope the Chartists will give him _thair entire confidence ; If they do . he wUl bring them trimmpbautly through their difficulties .

      My goed Sir , it is true that I have but touched the sore ; but it is equally . _trua that in no other country in Europe—not even in free America—has the sore been touched . Those who have been contending for the people ' s right to the land , bave represented a consultation of physicians , while 1 have been the surgeon selected to perform the operation . Here , in less than two years and a half , 1 have erected 300 homesteads , from which the occupants

      cannot , and shall not , be forcibl y ejectedwhile , in free America , where you have the Charter , I have not heard of one home being erected for the wanderer ; True , there has been some Communist speculation in large tracts of land , but there has been no attempt at individualising man , basing his hope upon self-reliance and self-interest , and out of a com munity of such individuality establishing a great oneness of sentiment , opinion , and interest , bv national representation .

      In lmerica no law stands in your way , while in England it is a stumbling block at everv cottage path . In America you have meadows and valleys , hills and dales , not fenced in by landlords' statutes , and yet my poor countrymen , and your poor countrymen , find it as difficult to possess themselves of Land in America as in England or Ireland . You must bear one great fact in mind , " and that is ; not only the prejudice and hostility ,

      "Union Is Strength ."

      but the persecution and oppression with which the advocates of the Ri ghts of Labour are invariabl y met in this country . And you must understand , that if one thing more than another can damage the cause of Labour , it is the imprudence ofits advocates . As to the Land , when I commenced my perambulating tour in England , in 1835 , 1 told the working classes that if the Land was locked up to-day I would not give them a farthing for tbe suffrage _to-morrow . I told them so because the

      Land alone can individualise man . I told them so because _machinery and capital would ever be able to measure wages b y the standard of destitution , the competitive reserve of unwilling idlers constituting the slave mart for capitalists to fall back upon , as a means of _reducing wages ; and thus their profits from this source , and not their fair speculation in trade _constituting tbeir wealth , and , as if by magic , wedding tbem to that system of Communism which must ever prove the ruin of the masses .

      The present Labour system of England is one huge system of Communism ; the wealthy idle director living upon the ignorance and dependance of aggregate thousands . The first repulse that Chartism met in this country was that odium excited against it in consequence of the false , tbe treacherous , and deceitful , nicely calculating and enthusiasticall y proclaiming what tbe Charter would effect . Its several hypocritical propounders who received their salaries from the pence of the poor , racked invention to tell them what the Charter

      would do , as if by magic , even to tbe seasoning of tbeir soup . I was asked a thousand times what tbe Charter would do ? and my answer was "I'LL NOT TELL YE . It would be presumptuous , it would be dictatorship on my part to tell you , that it would do more than to base the laws of the land upon the will of the majority of the people , and if they are not good lawB tbe whole people will be willing slaves , and I shall not murmur . "

      Such was my definition of Chartism ; while to such extravagant lengths had its paid advocates gone , that Mr Justice Littledale , at Warwick , upon the trial of Lovett and Collins , told a jury of farmers that the object of Chartism was to appropriate their Land to their own purposes ; and to such a height had prejudice against Chartism been raised , that even Sir Frederick Pollock , in defending Frost , at Monmouth , told the jury that be believed it was the intention ofthe Chartists to possess themselves of the Land ofthe country , when Mr Frost interrupted him and said , " Sir Frederick , I beg to assure you that that is a mistake , the Chartists never entertained such an intention . "

      I am now showing you how strong a prejudice may be raised against a movement in consequence tf the folly , the ignorance , or hypo crisy ofits advocates , or rather ofits paid supporters . Another prejudice has n ow been created against Chartism , in consequence of a few mushrooms relying upon the confiding people to realise a Liberty Fund of 10 , 000 / ., and the hope of clutching the lion ' s share ot which urged bad men to madness which had method in it , and good men to rashness which

      had sincerity in it . Well , then , suppose I was to advocate the right of the people to the possession of the Land , where would the ri g ht commence , and where would the prejudice and persecution end ? The very fact of our going into the market as open bidders proves our integrity , while the fact of the funds being supplied , which have enabled me to outbid the wholesale purchasers at every auction , proves its retail value .

      My good sir , believe me that it promised to be a life ' s work , and not a short one , to reclaim an artificial race of exotics , reared in tbe hothouse , and trained to drunkenness and dissipation , and to implant in their minds net onl y a love , but a preference , for the more natural state . It was a work that I set my heart upon , and one that you will yet see realised . I never encouraged the hope tbat I could make my scheme national , except by example . I have told the people that my beat exertions could only make it SECTIONAL , and tbat tbeir at tachment to the miniature would compel tbeir

      rulers to make it national . And I now unhesitatingl y declare , that had it not been for tbe partial potato rot last year , and the all but general disease this year , the whole of England would _. by this time have been united as a great Land community ; and even this disaster hap not in the slightest degree discouraged me , or weaned me from the project , as , in my conscience , I believe , that no power on earth but the location of the surplus population upon the Land can save England from bankruptcy , and such a revolution as neither regulars , pensioners , specials , policemen , nor detectives can

      suppress . It is fortunate for me tbat I hare stereo _, typed my opinions bath socially and politicall y , and that I can refer to my maxims . I hart told the people that all I could do was to make their teeth water by showing them the ri pe p lum over the garden wall ; and I now tell you that every single suffering of the working classes ef England is consequent upon their own dissipation , their own jealousy of each other , and their own want of union ; because

      the amount spent upon dissipation , or the amount subscribed to clubs , Sick and Benefit Societies , and Burial Societies , if expended for one year upon the Land , would _, render all these private subscriptions unnecessary , by relieving the artificial market of tho . surplus population . But the satisfied emp loyed are the tools of the cunning employer , and the paid directors and managers of those clubs and societies constitute a uucleus of disaffection , and forbid the union of the

      dissatisfied . The money in the Savings' Banks would locate two hundred thousand people each in a splendid cottage , with four acres of ground , and that number of heads of families would _' represent one million , or a thirteenth of tbe population of England . Thus , the artificial market would not onl y be relieved of that amount of competition , but the very location

      of that number upon tbe Land would create a larger colony of domestic consumers , and cheap domestic producers , than any of those colonies which we maintain at such a frightful expenditure . If those million of persons located upon the Land only consumed an additional pound ' s worth eacb , per year , of our manufactured articles , there would be customers at our door to the amount of a million a

      year ; while the trades not engaged in manufacture would be recipients to the amount of two millions , three millions , or four millions a year above what those million of persons are now able to expend with them . Tbe agitation for Catholic Emancipation first opened my mind to the blindfold manner in which a people could be led in quest of moonshine ; and then , Reform—the social benefit anticipated from which wasas a Welsh . carter

      , told me in answer to a question upon an Election Committee , -- " Roast beef and p lum _pudding , to be sure ! " Now , such was the poor man ' s anticipation from Reform , and for that millions contended , and scores were hung , while all were deceived . It may appear egotistical to remind my readers of so many prophesies ; but there is one other in conuexion with Reform to which I must call attention . In December , 1831 , there

      "Union Is Strength ."

      _wag ' _-P _^ w - erfully aristocratic meeting , held in the ; Court House at Cork—the High Sheriff , I think , was in the chair—for tbe purpose of assisting the English Reformers . ' Thespouters a u ?* _** rove ti ™* audience mad ; and when al ! the marshalled speakers had concluded , I ' _* Jj ia the gallery , and demanded a hearing . Al ™ _™ ark the conclusion of my speech : you J ! ' P _* ed in the " Southern Reporter" of the 6 th of December , _1 B 31 . I said

      :--of iLfttl _^ _Kefo'k for England upon the principles _flii _^ _' _-T _^ , 11 tell _- 'ou ' thl , t lf not followed by a _Ro-^ i _««^? _ioVt wmbe the worst measure that ever n »? _£ . ™ e _£ rm _Pwl-ament wm be to pass some Gagging Bill to smother the expression bf pubfi _. opinion in thi ? country , * Now the above is printed in the Southern Reporter o f 1831 , and the first act of tbe firat Reform Parliament in 1833 , was the Coercion Bill , the suppression of public meetings , and the substitution of _TrialbyCourt-Martials—for Trial by Jury . Well , my predictions , with regard to Free

      _Trade-Aave been-meat unhappil y realised , and _seeing'that all these agitations were intended to e * j # and did end , in mere political triumphs , I re _^ ilv _** - -upon _attajmih _^ tbe , _^ wial princip le _oifthe Land tothe political ' principle of the Charter ; and I now repeat my opinion in 1835 , tbat if the Land was locked up to-morrow _^ would not giv e you a single straw for the Charter , and for tbe most simple of all _reas'ins—because it is the only mint in which man can coin hia individual labour into the exchangeable medium for all the necessaries and luxuries of life , and the value of which ; no whimsical financier can depreciate to his

      injury . My good Sir , of alLthe absurd ' and whimsical nonsense that evenwas uttered , those several projects for altering the currency of the country , and thereby creating abundance , are the most rabid . An alteration in currency , if it is substantial , can only mean an altered symbol mark , or token , to represent fictitious wealth , while the onl y real wealth that can be produced , and that can give the standard value to diamonds , precious stones , and gold itself , in the PRODUCE OF THE LAND , and the most valuable labour is the labour that is

      applied to that purpose . Let me instance this simpl y and familiarl y for you : Pitch five millions worth of wheat , the produce of tbis country , into the sea to-morrow , and what becomes of your Exchequer , your boasted Constitution , and your peace ? Upon the other hand , sink five millions worth of manufactured goods in the deep , and it _^ would be a positive blessing . This shows you the differ ence between food and artificial produce—between the necessaries and comparative luxuries of life . Believe me , Sir , that if I were

      to incorporate the freedom of the public Lands with the agitation for the Charter , that I should place the Land Scheme in the very same position that the livers upon Chartism placed that principle _/ when the poor man ' s exchequer , and not tbeir feelings , constituted the basis of their advocacy . No , no ; my objeGt is to show the value of Land retail at . the wholesale price , leaving to the unbeliever the solution of the question of Land value , and leaving to Providence and the _people , and to the fears of the great , the national solution of tbe question .

      Rent should be paid to the State , or to the landlord ; and divesting the Land Scseme of all consideration of a house which man must live in , let me test for you what tlie value of Land really is . Tlie average price at which I have purchased an estate for the Land Company is £ 38 3 s . Cd . per aere—that is £ 152 14 s . for four acres—that is , at a rent of four per cent ., little more than £ 6 per year , not counting the bouse in wbich man must live , and upon which his rent is measured at the wholesale price .

      Now , if no man or three men can cultivate four acres of ground , the man who buys a pig for a pound in March will sell it for six pounds at Christmas , so that he makes a profit of five pounds upon one pig or within a pound of his year s rent , and has its manure and the remainder of the produce of the four acres for his labour ; and , cultivate it as he will , ia there a family in Europe that can consume the produce of four acres , three acres , two acres , or one acre , cultivated to its hi ghest state of capability ? Hence 1 show you that rent is comparativel y nothing , but certainly not of sufficient importance to make it the basis of a general onslaught upon tbe Land Company , by prejudice—at once denominating us a

      GREAT LAND PLUNDER COMPANY . Sir , just mark the prejudices against which we have to contend . Landlords fear lest the location of great numbers should raise the price of agricultural labour upon their tenants ; manufacturers fear lest it may become an open market for free labour , and thus deprive them of the idle competitive reserve , by whose destitution they are enabled to measure wages ; brewers and distillers fear lest milk should become a substitute for porter and gin ; publicans fear lest the happy homes may have greater charms than the gin palace or the beer shop ;

      Parsons fear lest the truth , " "that man could live in the sweat of his own brow / ' being developed , should lead to a more simple and less _mysterious system of relig ion and Christianity . Lawyers fear that in the happy family there will be neither discontent nor litigation . Pawnbrokers think that though a weaver or mechanic may be compelled , through idleness _, to pawn their tools , that no husbandman would ever pawn his spade , his hoe , or his wheelbarrow . The propounders of bubble schemes and societies , invented for the benefit of the projectors , fear lest their trade may depart .

      The shopkeeper , who would be the greatest gainer , fears lest his acquiescence in the plan should disturb his social connexion with the _leading members of his class . The doctor fears lest the open air should become a medicine chest , and nature his rival . The poor gentleman , who is too proud to work and too poor to live without labour , fears lest his theoretical enthusiasm should be deprived ofits remuneration ; and The Press , the organ and the mouthpiece of those several classes , is compelled to chronicle their hostility in order to secure tbeir support .

      Wliile the greatest enemies are tbe working classes themselves , who will not see the in creased impetus it must give to their trade , whilst they allow , or pretend to allow , the influence ofthe hostile factions and their Press to measure their confidence , Yes , Sir , if those who are able to assist themselves and their brethren chose to put their shoulders to the wheel , the Land Plan

      would be very speedil y made sufficiently extensive to locate the poorest of the poor , whose location , although they did not pay a fraction towards it , would immediately benefit the more fortunate contributors . But the ruling maxim is different from that of their oppressors ; the partisans of Whigs and Tories MAGNIFY the virtues and SUPPRESS the vices of their adherents ; while the partisans of labour MAGNIFY the vices and SUPPRESS

      the virtues of their advocates . M y dear Sir , I am now the only member of the most persecuted family in Europe who has

      "Union Is Strength ."

      been able to maintain his princi ples , and to remain in his country ; and the experience gained from the false antici pations of triumph entertained by members of my family , as well as the dangers with which a Government—sustained by secret service money , fraud , h ypocrisyand l ying— can beset the path of a political opponent , has read me a great lesson . For years I have been the subject of abase of Irish leaders , to whose" trade the realisation of my princi ples threatened not only danger , but destruction ; and notwithstanding my sentiments have found a hearty response in the

      land of the stranger , there , also , I have had to contend ' against the selfishness , tbe jealousies , and the dogmas of traffickers , who would adopt any paying theory as their Btock in trade ; and thus , from the time I severed myself from Daniel O'Connell and the Irish party , in 1833 , when I discovered that the question of Repeal was mere " BIRD LIME " to catch the singing birds , as a means of securing patronage , I have suffered an amount of national , imperial , governmental , legal , party , class , Press ; and individual persecution which , in my soul , I believe would have killed a thousand . Stout-hearted men ; while my whole

      armour haa been the conviction that my policy was right , that my principles were just , and that their realisation alone could insure man ' s happiness ; and IJiave often thought that I would cut rather a contemptible and ridiculous fi gure if I hazarded the success of those princip les upon the whim or caprice ofthe cunning , the idle , the artful , or the treacherous . I hare often laughed at the exuberant foll y of sane men pinning their faith to the high-sounding and enthusiastic rubbish of volunteers , crimped into our service by the desire to live idly upon enthusiasm , or luxuriantly upon blood-money . However , you find tbe truth of the old motto in my position , that " THE PEOPLE ARE

      SELDOM WRONG AND NEVER LONG WRONG / ' When they are wrong , I invari ably become the target of their abuse . Like others , 1 do not justif y desertion upon the grounds of ingratitude . I reason with them till reason resumes her empire , and I invariabl y receive their contrition and apology as my reward ; and by them I will stand ; and , without bluster , I shall be always ready to go farther with them in the legitimate demand for liberty than any other man of my class , but I will not be led by the necessities of " poor gentlemen , " or by the rashness of enthusiasts .

      M y dear Sir , —You may rely upon it , tbat neither the scoffs of the oppressor nor the slander of the ungrateful can ever drive me from the course which my mind tells me is right ; my mind does tell me , and my conscience approves the dictate , that the Land should not remain uncultivated while a hand remains unemployed or a mouth wants food ; my mind does tell me that the open air and the land , and not the rattle-box and the lifedestroying gas , are the proper elements for man to work on and breathe in ; my mind does tell me that no man has a ri ght to represent . another unless that power is voluntarily delegated to him , and , therefore , tbe world ' s Exchequer shall never seduce me from the advocacy of

      THE LAND AND THE CHARTER I have the honour to remain , Your faithful friend , Feakgus O'Connor .

      < A " J Or • ¦ -> Called Upon By The Voi...

      _< A " J ¦ / _% _^ _, _ _y CJ _»* -, _^^^ \ ' ¦ - _' f _^^__ _r < M J 1 _V" _$

      ' ¦- ' F^^__R< M J And National Trades' ...

      AND NATIONAL TRADES' JOURNAL . €

      N B ' J L " I Vol. Xii. No 578- London, ...

      VOL . XII . No 578- LONDON , SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 18 , 1848 . „„ « _= _? L _^ r " * »' ; y * »?• shilling * _anrl sixpence per Quarter

      To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen Of The Br...

      TO HER MAJESTY VICTORIA , QUEEN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE . Letter IV . RH 8 pbctsd Sovereign , I address your Majesty as Queen of tbe most powerful Empire the world lias yet known ; an Empire nonr wielding new scientific power for producinj ? wealth and happiness among its subjects , exceeding the manual power of nine hundred millions of slaves in full manhood ; slaves most easily governed , living _irithout food or raiment , daily increasing , and capable of being , at the pleasure of the state , _increased indefinitel y in numbers , beyond any assignable limits . This is an _' overwhelming power for good or for evil .

      Through tbe false princi p le en which— -from tbe beginning—society over tbe world has been based / this power has been , so far , directed to produce increasing evils and misery to the human race . It bad been blindly applied throughout the British Empire , to produce inferior , instead of superior circumstances , while tbe superior might have been more easil y and economicall y _created ; and man ever has been , is , and ever must be , tbe creature of the inferior or superior circumstances by wbich society shall _Burround him *

      It is , then , the highest interest of the human rac _« , tbat all , from and before birth , should be surrounded by the most superior circumstances only , that the means and wisdom of society can create . Your Majesty ' s Government is now so p laced , in tbe midst of a _vtorld of error and anarchy , that , by wise counsel , it may terminate this confusion , and , in a eomparativel y short period , accomplish the greatest and most important good , for all nations . It has now the most desirable opportunity ever offered tothe world , to attain this glorious result ; and , at once , to stay the mangling of man b y man ; the destruction of valuable property , and the misdirection of all human faculties and powers .

      If the British Government , with the power , dignity , and benevolence , which its present position should create , were to say to contending nations- — ' * Peace , and you shall be all hi ghly benefitted . Behold the new power which , " ; in modern times , the industry of British subjects has discovered or invented ! It is , when understood and rightly directed , an hundred-fold beyond tbe wants of our population for the creation of wealth . It may now be made to become equally superabundant for the creation of wealth for the world . Wby , then , have human living slaves of any colour ? or why should

      white men—calling themselves rational beings - —butcher one another for no one good object ? You want wealth—you want a good and superior character for yourselves and y our fellowmen—and y ou want to be surrounded b y superior and happy circumstances . " These results may now be easily attained . " With the enormous new scientific powers for producing wealth and increasing happiness ; with the late discovery by which any human character may be created , or well or ill-manufactured , according to the natural qualities , at birth , ofthe organisation or

      material ; we can now assist to enable you to acquire the power and means to secure ample wealth , and a good superior character for all , and by the creation of new practical arrangements , b y means of which both of these important objects will be permanently attained and made universal . Why , then , like Don Quixote , fighting with the windmill , should you now waste jour invaluable powers so irrationally as to contend thus furiously against each other , when , by so doing , you only destroy those powers which , rightly directed , mi » ht be made to be most useful in preparing happiness for all ? ' ' Such is the language which your Majesty ' s Government , by its present enviable position , is

      To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen Of The Br...

      or _- > called upon by the voice of nature , to _useiJto the > nations now blindly contending for they know not what ; insane contests , which they have no conception how to terminate to the advantage of any party or district . It has been said , that the natural and scientific powers of Europe for the creation of wealth—of a good character , and of superior surrounding circumstances for all its present , and for a greatl y in * creased population , are , or may he speedily made to he , superabundant , and all faots prove the truth of this statement called upon by tbe voice of nature , _touseio th »

      j It may be then asked of the powers of Eui rope , why these means should not now be so applied that all its inhabitants may enjoy this superior state of existence , and become an example to be followed b y the population of every part of the globe ? Truth and ri ght in the government of the _wwld , will be found to be , in practice , plain , simple , and strai ghtforward ; falsehood and wrong require to be mysterious and infinitel y involved—whatever form of government they may assume—in order ta cover their injustice and cruelty .

      Were a European Congress decided upon , the existing governments , b y new arrangements , might be maintained , and themselves enabled to effect the uhanges wbich are now required , through the progress of scientific knowledge to create at all times a superfluity of _wealth , and in consequence of the discovery of the sure means by which to well form the character of all .

      The Constitution and Code of Laws for Europe , by which this change might be peaceably effected , and all nations and people permanentl y benefitted , are _preparing for publU cation , and will be soon submitted to tbe public . A new government for the population of Europe if rendered unavoidable b y the progress of events , and the acquisition of new facts , disclosing-the cause * of good and evil , and thus opening superior enlarged views to the human race . A government may now be formed which shall secure peaceably , and without disorder or _eonfuuion , a permanent progress in prosperity , and the well-doing and happiness of all the

      nations and people of Europe . The signs of the times indicate that the British Government should take the initiative in this glorious change—that they should propose , the Congress , and cordiall y offer their best assistance to calm tbe minds of all parties , and explain to tbem the measures b y which tbe whole population may be so essentiall y benefitted . All are now suffering ; many most severel y , and all are in danger of doing so through a slate of ignorant anarch y and of excitement , created by misery , the causes of which are misunderstood , or tbey would have been removed .

      The intentions of all these contending parties are good—they all think themselves ri ght , and their opponents wrong . In consequence of the false principle on which they have been educated , they have no charity for the difference of character created fortheir opponents—a difference created without the consent or knowled ge of their opponents . Thus all , through errors early forced into their minds , are apting blindl y or without real knowled ge ; all , therefore , are objects for sympathy , and not for blame . But tbe means to open their minds to see the truth , and to overcome their errors ara now required , for of themselves they cannot perceive or conquer these errors .

      It is in vain to expect that hatred , anger , and violence can ever convince error . Th « means required to effect this object are patience , perseverance , kindness , nnd charity , directed hy firmness , proceeding from a sound and correct judgment , aided by extensive prac tical experience . These , however , are qualifications which can alone emanate from a knowled ge o f human nature and of society , unalloyed with any o £ the local or general influences and prejudices which are created b y the false fundamental principle on which alone society has hitherto been based , or by confined fanciful notions of practice .

      And this knowledge is « nl y to be attained by the abandonment of that false princi ple , and all the innumerable evil consequences which —when made the base of national institutionsit produces . To tbe present period , tbis false princi ple and its endless evil consequences , hare been made to pervade all minds—and the difficulty now to be overcome is to cut the Gordian knot of this universal false association of ideas , and ofthe opposition thus created of man to man _. The only weapon equal to this mighty task , is p lain direct truth , firmly but benevolentl y * expressed in simple terms , and made so bvious that the mind will be compelled to receive it ,

      This weapon the writer , regardless o all opposition , has used without ceasing for many years . Its effects are now experienced , and are rapidly progressing throughout the civilised world . All > ho reflect , or suffer , are dissatisfied with the present system of falsehood , ignorance , injustice , and cruelty . Thev see or feel the wrong—but they yet do not " see the right , or know how it is to be attained in practice . Yet that which appears to the falsel y educated and erroneousl y placed , to be infinitely difficult , involved , and impracticable , will , when guided by the princi ples of truth , become plain to all and easy of execution .

      All now required , is to form new scientific practical arrangements , to well place , employ , educate , and govern all from birth , according to age ; combining , in these arrange ments , the greatest amount of mechanical and chemical power , to graduall y elevate mind , and reduce slavery and servitude to tbeir minimum . By this change , gradually effected , none would be injured . All would be permanently

      benefitted . Ihe earth , instead of being overrun with falsehood , fraud , disunion , poverty , and crime , making a near approach toward " a pandemonium , would graduall y become the abode of beings' _trained'in truth and honesty ; united ; surrounded with all that can contribute to health and true enjoyment , and in a fair way to progress toward an earthly paradise .

      This is the "Good time coming . " Error and prejudice may yet retard its progress ; but ne human power can prevent its ultimate , and not very distant , accomplishment . May your Majesty ' s Government aid effectually in this great and glorious cause ; and may your Majestyand your royal Consort live , not only to see the " Good time coming , " but to have health and strength , with many ef the present subjects of your Empire , long to enjoy it . Most respectfull y , Your Majesty ' s faithful subject , Robert Owen . London , Nov ., 1848 .

      Fbkb Tbads —Daxi H Cattlz.—The Veuel, Ei...

      Fbkb Tbads —Daxi h Cattlz . —The veuel , Eider arrived at _Brungnrick-waarf _^ B . _sck _. vail , frcm Tonningen . haa brought iho lar _^ e number of 193 oxen and cows , consigned to order , the produce of Denmark . Tbere nave recently baen one Gr two equally large arrivals of homed cattle from this _Danish port , and tbey are of peculiar interest ard importance , both on account of the _particular country of supply , and that no arrivals of horned _stxk to suoh an extent have taken place from auy other _parno'Europoor , of course , elsewhere . _Thepame yeast ] brought , in _addition to a quantify ot _jjrainof different descriptions , 100 _cat-kacf butter , and some paek & _xta of fresh tun-. * .. 3 So _ariiva \ tf a similar charaoter to the last mentioned _kaa before taken place from this or any otber continental Btate , excepting tbe port of Hamburgh , and tho _fupply ia therefore , ou account of its novelty , also of seme interest .

      ExTENsm ltoBBFRY AT _Maschestkii . —On Tuesday evening , between seven and eight o ' clock , during the temporary absence from home of Mr Eugene Riley , _Oaatlefield , some person or persons broke into the _hauBe by forcing _opsn tin frjnt door with a crowbar , lie or thty tnen brok . 3 open a Urge oaest ia Mr _Riloy ' s bedroom , and t > ok _tbencai ' 350 in _gvld , and £ 1 G 0 in notes , the _rurutcrs of wbich are not known , and 27 * . 61 . iu _silvw . Thj thief or _chieves must have been disturbed , aa they left behind them a quantity of Mr Riley ' s wearing apparel , tied up in a uuridle , apparently for carrying _awav . There ia , ui } et , no clue te tho offenders .

      F \/*B

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  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 18, 1848, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_18111848/page/1/