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Northern Star (1837-1852), 27th November 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 249

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    • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1852.
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      Star Of Freedom.—I Think It A Rather Sho...

      _rf _tfatsaw reigns m Berlin , Munich , Vienna , _Presboum Mil ™ _t > Paris . Prisons , tortures and murders covev the continent «?? f * aTld _Le of order , in the name of God ! You , sircol _t ? ln the _Ration , the blasphemies , which the monsters of the Grace _ofr h _**? _" * U _«* _*?? i ba 6 tar f d lme W ! Ulen _* *• foul air _cSS _^ SL _^ _« ith fire , with human tears , with human blood . You mart ! SteeI » _£ _bd * lf * - Eur ° l ' _» thank you . _Po _^ v _tTl _^ _?¦ _" " _; rocs and each name _* ffl be a hymn of liberty an U _^ _J ?* ° J of wiU

      your „ . ' .. _ui . wham the idea nf _« ni ? . n __! _.. . „ _, your nat _« e and that of Him , with _^ homthe idea an European _shilling subscrintL _, ° Zi that list ! I grieve to hear that you _ow _^ S _^ _S ? T glDa _f _te S tlcforWantofam _nition . T , Ue _l _^ C _^ Zt _^ _abu ttal _apai-agraph for a newspaper , _andmore than ddicaer iouM _™ _1 > _^ _e to say in the paper of a man I love . In the absence f ! I r ] tirmlc , it _jvould be a good thing to _emulate at _lej _^ ooo _ZSWZStf _,, 5 an _almdgment of your appeal , a subscription of a few friends _oTSe democratic cause would soon cover the expense " « m » _oi me

      Salut et fratemite Dublin , Xov ; 23 , 1852 . J * _° ' _™ _npeli _> . ( T 1 ) C contributions to the European Fund , forwarded with the above will be f 0 Und _acknowledged m another column . Oar correspondent will oblige by forwarding his full address . ) _«"" oe oy

      Tfatsaw Reigns M Berlin Munich Vienna

      To The Readers Of The "Star Of Freedom."...

      TO THE READERS OF THE "STAR OF FREEDOM . " Dear Friends . —This number terminates the present series—or , rather , the present publication of the Stab , of Freedom . _}[ any friends have expressed their surprise and regret that the Star should fall with only one week ' s notice . " Had there been more timely notice , such efforts ( they urge , ) might have been made as -would probably , have secured the continuance of the paper . " There is reason and force in this remonstrance , but so also is there in the answer thereto : —

      We desired to avoid , before all other misfortunes , the humiliation of any begging appeal to our friends . Hence we struggled on , week by week , unaided from any resources but our own ; and it has come to pass that further sacrifice being for the present impossible we are compelled to renounce the paper ' s existence thus suddenly , to our own loss and that of our friends - Last week I intimated that means would be adopted to keep the readers of the paper together during the time it must cease publication- I regret to say that on more mature consideration , the means

      I contemplated are not available at present . It is unnecessary to particularise , but I may state that the project I had in view was surrounded with so many difficulties that—perforce—I have been compelled to abandon it for the present . Several friends and correspondents have suggested a cheap periodical and promised their active and earnest support . With very sincere thanks to them , I must decline the proposition . A mere penny periodical , incompetent to take up " events" and " occurrencies , " would be a troublesome but , comparatively speaking , useless

      speculation . Fully intending to re-establish this journal , I request one favour : that of the name and residence of each of the present subscribers and readers ; of each and every man who , up to this time , has been a reader of this paper ; of every one who approves the principles and sentiments of the Star of Freedom , and who desires to see such a paper established upon a sure foundation . In localities such as Bradford , Halifax ,

      Manchester , _Newcastle , Glasgow , Dundee , & c , & c ., where there are many subscribers , and still more readers , active friends will greatly oblige hy colluding lists of addresses and forwarding the same . Every letter containing an address , or list of addresses , I pledge myself to acknowledge per post , so that the friends of the paper may be assured that their names are registered and placed on record , that they may be communicated with the moment active operations can be

      recommenced . _Wanting the Star , and not possessed of any substitute , for the time being , my * advocacy of the claims of the Refugees and the Shilling Subscription for European Freedom must necessarily be much crippled ; and , if I consulted only my own convenience , I would intimate that I could no longer receive subscriptions . But convenience must give way to duty . Those friends who may think proper to forward subscriptions for either of the above-named objects are hereby informed that their monies will be acknowledged in Rcynolds ' s News paper . Having communicated with the proprietor of that widelycirculated journal , I am , thanks to his courtesy , enabled to make the

      above announcement . .... _.. For a lono- time past I have been continually receiving invitations to visit different parts of the country , and specially Yorkshire . I take this opportunity of saying that while I very sincerely thank my friends for their promised welcome , lam strongly disinclined to go upon any " lecturing tour , " or " stump-orator expedition , " unless morally assured that some public good is to result therefrom . To so forth from town to town , merely for the sake of talking , eliciting « l oud cheers , " and collecting pence at the door , I must absolutely decline That kind of thing I leave to the professionals . It satisfied that as regards either Home or Continental Politics , I could do any good by addressing meetings , and substitute action for indifference _Imonjr the masses , I might be inclined to visit the country ; failing that I should prefer absolute silence . ¦

      assurance _L 11 U 0 UO _. _5 UJ . U . 1 J . _VAJ _¦* - » - _" _«—• - — j _^ Till " il But not inaction ! Though for some time to come I should neither write " leading articles , " nor " make speeches , my friends may be assured that-1 _lhail not be idle ; but very much the reverse . Despite misfortune , and misrepresentation , I have not lost faith in our principles ; and my belief is still strong in the approach of a more tremendous struggle for their supremacy than any the world has yet seen . In tkedayofactionthe efforts of all honest and earnest men will be needed , and tor that day I and my friends will prepare . I must apolojrize to numerous friends whose kind letters I am compelled to pass unnoticed , as regards giving them publicity in the bTAR . They shall hear from me privately . The proposed effort ot the Dundee friends will be valuable at a future time . The suggestions of my friend Christopher Shackle-ton deserve the serious consideration ot

      all well-wishers to the Star . If anything like an energetic desire to have such an organ of Democracy should be manifested by our friends generally , lot many weeks will elapse before this journal wJl be re-announced , How soon will dependupon the exertions ot the true democrats . ., _i , ; i 1 ..,. . 5 , _i fnr fl we must for the present retire from the struggle . _WtosSt _T n & _DM ; _solirittag the _continue of flat and

      _>« - *™ toiU _^ U Dear Friends , " Batino- no jot of heart or hope , Your devoted brother Democrat , G . Julian _Harxey . _a _^ r " 5 _Sol-ro , Queen _^ uare _, B _. oon * _ry London .

      Saturday, November 27, 1852.

      _SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 27 , 1852 .

      The Parliamentary Battle. Rumour Was Wro...

      THE PARLIAMENTARY BATTLE . Rumour was wrong last week . It was reported that Mr . ¦ Disraeli would let Mr . Yillier ' s motion pass , and make no sign . Mr . Disraeli has not' done so—he has proposed an amendment , differing in its view of the past , but almost identical with the motion , so far as the future is concerned . Rumour however , was only wrong by accident , and the cause lets us into a peep at a very pretty aspect of party politics .

      Every body knows that there are three resolutions before parliament . First , that of Mr . Villiers which ensures the continuance of the Free Trade policy , and characterises its establishment in 1846 as " just , wise , and beneficial . " Secondly , the amendment of Mr . Disraeli—which recognises Free Trade , and assents to its being carried out , but leaves the " wise , iust and beneficial

      " aspect of its beginningto be imposed by those whom it pleases , and decried by those whom it does not . ' Third , the form suggested as a com promise by Lord Palmerston , which adopts the words of Mr . Villiers' motion , all but the particular phrase so obnoxious to ex-protectionist feelings . The history of these . , resolutions is a curious one , and might be entitled " A party in search of a quarrel . '

      The Manchester men , and the Whigs united , had made up their minds to two things . —To have Free Trade finally adopted by the House , and to have the Derbyites out of offi . ee . How to do that was debated in full conclave , and a resolution was drawn up with considerable care , which it was thought would answer both purposes . This was the identical resolution proposed to the House by Lord Palmerston . The Free Traders , had , however , miscalculated the flexibility of the Government . In order to keep office they

      were ready not only to swallow their own words , but to gulp down the acknowledgement that what they have hitherto opposed was wrong . They Mere , only glad to be let off so easily . No sooner did they hear what was to be proposed than the Cabinet got their supporters together and made them agree to make the submission required . No doubt a few of the "Country party" absolutely refused ; but their number was very insignificant . No doubt also that the rest made man j wry faces , but they did consent to take the physic . The _^ _ree-traders were taken aback at this . When people want a row , a pacific attitude at once puzzles and displeases

      them . They not only desired Eree-trade to be _acknowledged , but they wanted to have both the profit and the glory of carrying it out . So they thought they would try whether a still stronger dose of aggravation would not have the effect of exciting opposition . So they cast about for what , in vulgar phrase , is denominated a row . At Inst they hit upon the very thing ; they said , we will not only _askf them to confess that they are wrong now , but that they have always been wrong . We will make them either fight , or fix upon themselves the obloquy of having been for six years battling against justice and wisdom ; and then Mr . Villier ' s present resolution was planned .

      There is a point beyond which the greatest Stoicism , or the most obdurate callousness will not enable a man to submit to indignity . Different people have _difftir 3 nt notions of where that point is . Sortie folks , for example , will pat up with being calumniated or rebuked , or even robbed , but not to having their noses pulled . This resolution of Mr . Villier ' s came fully up to the nose-pulling point . It added insult to injury , and piled ridicule upon oppression . The most bucolic party

      that ever existed could not stand that . No , no ; they were quite ready to promise to be better in future , but sternly refused to admit that they had been in the wrong all along . Not all the SAveets of office could make that palatable —not all the hopes of " compensation" gild the degradation . Theyproved at all events that they have some self-respect . In this dilemma they made up _thwir minds to read their own recantation in their own way , and Mr . Disraeli ' s amendment was concocted .

      So much for the history of the resolutions . Now for the debate . Mr . Villiers opened the fray by a speech , which does not do much credit either to himself or his party . It was neither clever nor in good taste . The speaker was evidently embarrassed by having too much to say on the one hand , and too little excuse or occasion > for saying it upon the other . _JSo doubt , if he had been arguing the Free Trade question , he could have brought up all the old arguments , facts , fictions ,

      statistics , and clap-traps of the league as good as new . He could have contrasted a big loaf and a little loaf , with the best effect , could have denounced the law of taxing the people ' s food with the emphasis of a messenger from on high , and pointed to a coming prosperity in a cotton nightcap , with all the enthusiasm of stimulated patriotism . In fact , like an old horse , which has acquired a habit of going at a certain pace , he once or twice did fall into that view . Much to the horror and

      dismay of the house , he was going to read lengthy extracts to prove nothing—but he felt that it was out of place , and shifted very awkwardly , to the provocation of his friends opposite . He thought they ought to agree to his proposition , but he warned them that if they did so , they would reach the depth of inconsistency . He thougt they oughtli to acknowledge that they had been either fools or rogues for years past ; but he gave them notice that , in either case , nobody would ever trust them again . Mr . Disraeli followed in one of his most subtle and slippery

      speeches . It was quite as good as the promised exhibition of getting into a quart bottle . As for inconsistency , he said , his friends opposite could not taunt him with ; _-. that , they had quite enough of it themselves . Lord John Russell had been inconsistent enough to _jrftfmit agricultural distress , and Mr . GLADSTONE had _supported his ( Mr . Disraeli ' s ) motion for compensation , by way of revision of taxation . Numbers of other

      gentlemen opposite were in the same position . He read a little from Hansard' to prove it , and he was ready to read more . Then as to his having opposed free trade , neither he nor any of the ministry had endeavoured to disturb the new settlement . They thought it was wrong they did not care for themselves , * they did not mind their own rents going down , but they were anxious for the labourer . Once they were convinced that the labourer would not suffer , and they resigned

      The Parliamentary Battle. Rumour Was Wro...

      the struggle . To hear this from Mr . Disraeli , the ally of the Duke of Richmond and Gf . F . Young , and Booker , and Chowler , was certainly very funny ; but it Avill still be most amusing to see that it was so expertly done , that a good many took it for true . Mr . Bright followed and failed to make any impression . He was like a man attacking an optical delusion or following

      a Will-o' the Wisp ; all the points of his adversary were vanishing points , and he could not grasp them . He told how the Protectionists had fought for import duties . Mr . Dis-Raeli smiled with cynical courtesy—he had admitted that already . He recounted how the gaping countrymen at market tables had been talked to , but he could not fix on Mr . Disraeli , or his party , any parliamentary opposition since the passing of the Free Trade measures , and then Mr . Bright sat down without having grasped his wily adversary .

      The last scene was an unexpected one . Lord Palmeeston appeared in an old character , that of " the Judicious Bottleholder , " _^ He thought it was a very good fight indeed , aud that both parties had some reason on " their side . He did not wonder at Mr . Villiers pressing his motion , but he wondered still less at Mr . Disraeli rejecting it . He thought , however , it was a pity to fight any longer about words , and he proposed the very resolution which the Free Traders had first framed and then rejected , and which the ministerialists had . agreed on . The cheers which greeted this proposal from the ministerial benches shewed the consent of the cabinet . The silence of the

      opposition benches , evinced their disapprobation , but we cannot help thinking that Lord Palmerston has made an artful move , and there are signs that Her Majesty ' s opposition , fearful of defeat , on the middle ground thus opened , ' will withdraw from the position they have taken and give the ex-Foreign . Secretary the satisfaction of having once more balked Lord John Russell by saving the Derby Cabinet .

      The Hamlet Of Nations.—Petition For Ital...

      THE HAMLET OF NATIONS . —PETITION FOR ITALY . In that speech so sublime in its _simplicity , so eloquent in its un varnished appeal to the huly sentiment of Duty , lately delivered by Joseph Mazzini , to the " Society of the Friends of Italy , " the great Italian addressing his English hearers , said , " It seems to me that there is a disease in the political life of England , it is not perversity , but apathy—a want of equipoise between thought and action . It is a Hamlet- like state of mind you are suffering from , in which you think well , and yet cannot act well ; in which there is found a sort of impossibility to bring into harmony the

      realisation and the idea . Certainly , if we could go round _England and interrogate Englishmen , your vast people and public would be found sympathising with those principles which you _encourage here . But , if you were to test that by an appeal for action—if you were to ask even so little as a one shilling subscription to aid this cause , you would meet with but little success . That is not reluctance , it is indolence and apathy . Let us , however , ask the possible to be done . Here is a petition I am going to introduce to you . It concerns Rome—Rome being the centre and the 1

      representative of outItalian patriotic cause . This petition will go to the House of Commons , and will there perhaps , with other petitions , sink into oblivion . Bui do not let it . You , each , as you go home , can become yourselves a centre of action for sustaining this appeal to your Parliament by obtaining similar shorter petitions , signed by tens or twenties , or one hundreds ; and I ask you , if you did this , and if the movement spread from hamlet to hamlet ' , and from town to town , would there not be an effect 1 " ( Loud ' cheers . )

      I hough but an outline , sketched by a momentary pencil-dash , that portrait of England with its llAMLKT-like indecision of mind is the work of a master hand . Poland falls exhausted , bleeding ; and pity for the victim , combined with hatred of the oppressor pervades the English people , and finds eloquent expression through the poetry of Campbell , and the speech of many a platform orator . But all the result is "loud cheers ! " ' Hungary is assailed by Cossack and by Croat hordes . The "feeling ' " in favour of the Magyar-land is warm—intense . There is again a very noodof eloquence directed against Russian force and Austrian fraud ; , but no action—the result is simplv " loud cheers . * ' The

      frauds and crimes of the Papal despotism , excite very earnest indignation on the part of the masses ; yet , in spite of that indignation , the Protestant government of England conspires with the Catholic absolutist powers to restore the Pope and his abominable rule , when both had been abolished by the Roman people . Englishmen hear with horror of the sufferings of the Italian people ; and each man shudders as he reads in his paper of Italian patriots butchered like sheep by the Papal and foreign oppressors of that unhappy land . There is pity in abundance but little or nothing more . Ask any man if this horrible state ot things should be allowed to endure ? He will answer "No "

      1 ell him it is his duty to do his best , as one man , to induce the British Government to play a part worth y of the British name , and demanded by the interests of Humanity , he most probably will acquiesce ; but will do nothing . " Loud cheers " will respond to the appeals of Mazzini -, but resolute deeds—where be they ? Must this oscillation between sympathy and apathy , between good wishes and indolence , continue still to _disgrace us as a

      people , and render our nation ' s name a loathing mockery in the ears of the oppressed ? It is not so much that is asked " of us to testify that life there is still in the British nation . A paltry shilling—a signature to a petition . The sacrifice is not much the labour of the lightest possible kind . Yet these means would not be ineffective if taken up nationally . On the contrary , they would supply real and important aid—moral and materialto the Italian Republicans , and through them to the combatants for European Ereedom _jienerallv .

      In another column will be found the "Petition of the Friends of Italy , " together with an _introductory letter from the pen of Joseph Mazzini , We entreat attention to both . The petition presents the Italian question , —specially as regards the Roman btates , and mdirecdy as _regards Ital y at large-in so clear and masterly a manner , that every individual , whether in public or private life , possessed of a copy of this important document muse

      understand the merits of the noble cause sanctified by the blood of so many martyrs . Understanding the question , Duty enjoins action in the way pointed out by the Italian triumvir . Where the length of the petition may be any bar to its being copied and signed , an abridgment embodying its spirit may be substituted Whatever the form or length of the petition , let the prayer be one and the same , for the House of Commons to employ its just and

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 27, 1852, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/nss_27111852/page/9/