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Northern Star (1837-1852), 10th July 1841, Edition 1 of 4, Page unpag, Untitled Article

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  • Departments (3)
    • Ciwtfct EttteUt'settc*
    • LEEDS BOROUGH SESSIONS.
    • TO THE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND.
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      Untitled Article

      " If England , with her proper power at home , Cannot defead her own door from the dog , Let ns be "worried ; and our nation lose The name of hardihood and policy . " SHA . KSPEA . RB—HEKHT T . Mt Lords . ixd Gextlekek , —RemoTed from the fraxj haunts of man ; xmj from the bustle of' the l

      ^ orK ; free from tthOW , hatred , or ffl Will toward ! my living thing ; and prompted by a sincere lore to tern all , vitboafc doing injustice to any , I assume the frA of addreering a eerie * of letters to 701 , which I hope to perfect "without the introduction of political eontroTersy . In truth , my Lord * and Gentlenex , it is now fill time that tt » madaes * of the zany by which the dectnctiTe gain of the few has been upheld , should be laid aiide , for the benefit of all

      My Lordi and Gentlemen , remoTed , ai yen are , from the scene of action in which I hare taken a coospigaous part , and for which I am thu compelled to adfeesg yon from a felon ' s prison , mayhap your minds may reqairt a little preparation , before you divest yourselves , at I hare done , of all prejadice and enkindly feeling . With , that vie » , I shall not go OTei BDJ 0 ! ftie'' "Whyi" andtise " wherefores" 1 am her ©; bat , being reij exienairelj acquainted with yon , and yery -well known to many of yonr order , I hare only to appeal to the whole of life for reason * why I should rot be here , as far as you can judge . Let me , then , jeuurd you , that during the whole of life I hare neTer been party in suit or action ; that I have neTer been Charged with , suspected , or guilty of one single mean , loir dishonourable , or ungentlemanlike act

      My Lordi and Gentlemen , I took a prominent and a more Tiolent part , in 1821 , against what I considered injustice in Ireland , than 1 hare taken against what I eonsider injustice in England for the ten last yean from that period , la 1821 I was not prosecuted , although I was most tmjustly persecuted . I then irrote a pamphlet in which I ascribed erery act of violence done by the people to the injustice of landlords , parsons , magistrates , grand jurors , and polioe . In

      that pamphlet I implored of the l&adlorJs aad other parties to reform the everal abases of their respective orders , before the people should be impressed with the hopelessness of justice coming from the aristocracy . I was then denounced , driven from society , and branded as a rebel ; but , my Lords and Gentlemen , the legislature has since passed a separate jet , for the purpose of correcting the very abuses of "Rhich I complained as existing among those

      several orders . I complained of sub-letting as a great grievance , as regards landlord and tenant ; and of many other grievances also . The legislature passed a sub-letting act merely nibbling at the abases of the system , but itopped short of interference just where it should have commenced . I complained of the individual , ministerial and judicial acts of magistrates ; and the legislature jostified my complaint by the enactment of the Petty Session ? Bill , by which magistrates are compelled t » meet together , and in open court .

      I complained of the unequal pressure of the tithe system , and tie exemption of grass land from any share of the b&rdea , and I also complained of the whole system ; and that I was justified in complaining , is manifest by the bill of Mr . Goulburn , passed three years subsequently , which had for its object the correction of the principal abuse of which I complained ,-and I am farther justified by the many attempts of administration recently made to deal with the whole system . I complained of Grand Jury jobbing , in which I was justified by the new Grand Jury Sill , whicli has eertainly caused & more just eipenditnre , allhongk net a sufficient retrenchment in that department .

      I complained of the old Police , their mode cf appointment , their qualification , their dependency up « u the local magistrate , and many other abuses ; and that I was justified is that complaint also , the Irish CoBStabulatory Bill fully prevea . Xow , my Lords and Gentlemen , I merely state these facts to prove that I was not a rebel , but a forewsroer , in 1521 ; and not by any means with tke intention of admiiong that any one of the remedies was sufficient for tbe abuses which they professed to cure , while each and all furnish erideaee of the existence of abuse .

      My Lords sad Gentlemen , I farther state these facts for tie purpose of apprising you that the justice of my present deHiands , and the injustice of my present persecution , may be equally and perhaps more speedily acknowledged by acme subsequent ads of xJimini * traacm-, ijj JJortls and Gentlemen , hiring said M much with a -rieir to free your minda from any prejadice which a conviction for what is called libel might hare treated , allow me to tell you that , bo-wever the meshes

      • t the law miy hare caught me , my real mme consists tn an endeavour to preserve your estates from the grasp of the English manufactoreri That is " the head and front of my offending ; " but do not mistake me—I claim no credit or thanks , inasmuch as my motives were of a far higher nature than a desire to uphold unjust powers in your hands for the preservation of a Tery foolish and a very destructive monopoly . My motive was to give to yon the opportunity of Reform * before others compelled you to transfer .

      Jly Lortls and Gentlemen , sneh is precisely tout present -position . Tou lure now the Option wllBthel 70 a -win forego -monopoly and commence Reform , or preserve monopoly and see your estates transferred to th . tr hands . In the plenitude of your power , you may say , and many of you will S 3 y—How can laws affect our property ? How can land be transferred . ' Let ns inquire bow law has already affected landed property , and see wherein landlar&s objected not to legislative interference , when that interference tended to their benefit . Can you shew me one Act of Parliament which does not interfere with landed property ? while I will point your attention to many which have done so to a very oneiderabla extent .

      I shall commence with that law which your accept , ance and support of renders your position so very unenviable at the present moment . I mean the law affecting the introduction of foreign grain te the British market . That la-w extended to y « u the same faith fur the rise and protection of your property that Sir Robert Peel's memorable bill , passed in 1819 , extended to the fundholder , for the rise and protection of his property . To that law you did not object The equalisation of the currency of the countries affect « d your property held by tenants at will ; that gave to

      many an oportunity , » t whieh they availed themselves , of adding & £ to that description of property ; while the « ame parties reduced the wages of their labourers from H . to "d ., thus adding 8 j to one description of property , and 12 ^ to another description of property Tou will say that middle men only had recourse to this practice . My answer ij , —They were your representatives . Ton will also say that the instances were few . My answer to that is , that I have been consulted Id msoy hundred cases tf rent ; and in my owa immediate neigiboarhoiri I know of some very extensive employers who reduced wages as I have stated .

      Let me illustrate this by a case , in which a middleman made a profit of over 33 per cent , by the chance . Indeed I have known not a few such . Suppose a middle-man , who had underlet his ground to tenants at * ni , or by accepted pruposa ! , and to hold a large quantity of land upon his own hands . Now I have known snch men firstly to raise the rent to the new rtaaoard , that was Q per cent ; then to reduce labour to the new standard , that was 121 ; then to pay

      wages upon the truck system , by potatoes or flour ; aad the alteratoon never touching the penny retail aarket of the labourer , that was a further cheat up « n bim of 12 £ per cent ; thus , suppose A to hav « sold > otatoe » for Si s weight before the alteration , sad to have Sd . a . d » y wage * , after the alteration he reduced Vages u ? d ., and aun 4 em « de 4 and got > d . for a * ei £ h In potatoes , and as ke dealt in the wholesale ¦« ket , his 7 d . was raade to represent M-, both in the *« jmert of rent and interest and everything else .

      The next act to which I shall direct your attention fe the Tithe Composition Act By that act you forced tte iueumbenU into large redactions upon their JiT * agB , corresponding , as you averred , with the ^ creased security , while it gave them no increased ecority . The next act vu tiie recent Tithe Act , by which To * relieved yonr estates of twenty-five per cent of the fctbe . £ fc « aext act was the Irish Poor Law Aet

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      Now all these act * had a direct influence upon rents -, and I will now show you how Acta of Parliament , of a purely p « litical character , interfere with landed property . The Catholic Emancipation Bill caused hundreds of thousands of small holdings to be thrown into large farm * , or added to thoBe already in existence . The Reform Bill induced hundreds to withhold leases from a dread of creating a political power over -which they could not have an absolute controul .

      Lord Morpeth . '! Registration Bill , so fortunately defeated , would have increased that practice to an extent frightful to be contemplated ; and , jndging from the past , must either have depopulated a great portion of Ireland , or must have paralyzed the hand of industry , and have limited the expenditure of capital , by depriving the occupying tenants of all tenure beyond your will in their farms , and , consequently , of all inducement and heart to improve their holdings . My Lords and Gentlemen , having so far shewn you wherein yon have been consenting parties to legislative

      interference with your estates , let me now point out whatever has been , and whatever must be , the result of a perseverance in error , and a dogged obstinacy in resisting Reform , Had the owners of borough property conceded a very little of right to growing opinion , the Reform Bill would not , as yet , have passed . Had the Protestant Cburcb aod Churchmen conceded minor points to their Catholic brcttirett , bo virtually a sweeping measure of Emancipation as that of 1829 wouW not yet have been looked for , or , at all events , it would not have been carried .

      Had the Clergy of Ireland paid due attentioa to the warning voice of Lord Mountcaabel , conveyed to them in his celebrated , but neglected , letters to Provost Klrington upon his translation to a bishoprick , you would not as yet have heard of Church property being handed over to the landlords of Ireland . Had the West Indian slave owners listened Borne little to the voice of reason , justice , wad humanity , the slave might yet have sighed for his manumiuion . Had the old corporations deferred , in time , W the call for Reform , their prescripts right to revel in local abuse , would not have been transferred to otker bands .

      2 S " ow , my Lords » nd Gentlemen , I use these instances of popular demand , increasing with oligarchical resistance , for the purpose of opening your eyes to the Btartling fact , that hitherto the word Reform has meant tbamfer ; and , further with the hope of convincing you that you have bow the option whether you will Reform your own abuses , or allow those abuses to re main as a mark for the most powerful ibecause the most wealthy and centralised ) party in the State , against which to direct the full current of popular indignation , Ministerial experiment and commercial speculation assault , with the view of transferring your estates to their own pockets . My Lords and Gentlemen , surely you have long since ascertained the fact that the Reform Bill was a

      [ transfer of legislative power from the landed to the manufacturing interest ; and the manner in which that j po-wer has increased and fcetn used for the last nine I ytars may lead you to some conclusion as to the proi bable result Mark the odds against which you have to : contend ; your forces in Ireland are in the hands of a ' man who would -as © them for your benefit , if by so j doing he could benefit himself ; but that not being , practicable , he kas chosen the stocking alternative of I inducing the Catholic people to commit suicide , not ( as ; it is ' supposed by those who foolishly attach a religious

      ] motive to fais tactics ) for the purpose of insuring a ; Catholic ascendancy : no such thing ; about lh * t j he cares not a farthing ; but your abuses give him a handle over Catholic prejudice * , and thereby enable him to throw all the political weight of agricultural Ireland into the repgHah manufacturersscale , which is the important one just bow for insuring of political patronage . While yon are thus

      deprived of all popular support , your party in England is thinly dispersed over the face of a scantily populated country ; the population msek thinned lor the purpose of creating & labour reserve in unhealthy manufacturing towns . This portion of the population is , firstly , ignorant as the beasts they drive ; and , secondly , not capable of being brought together fer effect , such as public demoastraiioos ; while your enemies are assembled in an hour by ring of bell , or placards on the walL

      Perhaps , secure in your mountain retreat or well-barred castle , you may say that you dont want demonstrations . I know you do not , but can you either step them or prevent their effect ? No , you cannot ; and , believe me , that the day is gone whsn any Government can hold power against popular demonstration . My Lords and Gentlemen , I now come to close quarters With you ; and yon who know that I ha-re been mixed up for twenty years in all the Tiolent political strugglts « f my own county , and who can bear witness that during those contests , which have been angry , sharp , and frequent , I have never given personal offence or lost a friend , will new bear with me , while I scold

      you well with the hope of rousing you to a sense of your duty , of opening your eyes to your negligencies and follies , and of directing your attention to the only possible m ^ ans by which you cao much longer remain possessors of your estates . Again , I beg and beseech of you not to reject the advice , because it comes from one who has gained great triumphs over you ; not to look too carelessly at the picture which , for a tim « , you may see but at a great distance ; not to suppose that your most qaiet valley , embedded in your most inaccessible mountains , is unapproachable to , or proof against an act of , the legislature .

      My Lords and Gentlemen , do not " lay the flattering unction to your souls " that the temporary ascendancy of your political party can stiy the wanton ' s assault upon year property . Do not allow momentary strength to harden you in error ; but , on the contrary , seits it , embrace it , use it , as the most fitting and appropriate time for deliberation , and self-correction , and Reform . Set about it at once ; for , believe me , that abort , very short , will be the political triumph of your friends . My Lords and Gsntlemen , you are called monopolists , robbers , plunderers , murderers , and starvers of the poor . If tiere is any defence for yoa , you will find it in recrimination . You will find it in the fact , that those

      who thus brand you have themselves committed wholesale murder , plunder , and spoliation upon the poor , and wonld now rob yon to further enrich themselves Bat , my Lords and Gentlemen , while I thus arm you with a defence against those more deeply steeped in crime , do not suppose that I hold you guiltless . No , I do not ; kut then your crimes are as white as snow compared with the scarlet b . ns of your accusers ; but yet you committed many and flagrant offences , and are still chargeable with the name of monopolists , but not in the sense in which the steam lords apply it to landlords . No ! while their object is

      not by any means to improve tke condition , or advance the comfort , of the poor , your crime consists , —not in upholding monopoly produced by Act of Parliament ; it does not consist of making a monopoly of grain ; but it does consist in making a monopoly of land which produces grain , in order that you may make a monopoly of legislation , which prodneel place and -wealth , patronage and distinction . Now herein is yoar folly ; « nd my greatest surprise has ever be « n , that landlords , not of a political tinge , or not looking for political gala , will allow their estates to be endangered by joining ia the mad and reckless career of political patrons .

      My Lortis and Gentlemen , your monopoly consists in the law of primogeniture , which , morally , socially , and pbyiicallj does you much damage . In y » ur mode of leasing your estate * in large allotments unsnited to the capital of the country and destructive » f the industry of tie country ; in your conditions annexed to occupation ; in yonr restrictions as to application ; in your exactions as to political support ; in your encouragement of the substitution of horse power for manual labour ; bat above all , in joar objtin&te perseverance

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      in that antediluvian system of making Mrfs of your tenants , by short leases or no leases , and the practice of exacting one settled invariable rent for a period , no matter how long or how short , without reference to the price of the produce of the commodity you let , instead of regulating rent by a g . aduatiag scale of prices of produce j—this is little short of mnj 1 nt > iuL My Lords and Gentlemen , however ambition may nave led your judgment captive for a season , your shrewdness mnst have told you that when you were ready to join in the spoliation of Church property for your own appropriation , you were firstly furnishing a precedent for legislative interference with a title certainly inferior to the title of the Church -, and you might aUo have guessed that your turn would come when the next pull was required .

      You must have known , because you speak much of prescriptive rigbt and inheritance , that the title of o Church , whether that Church was Catholic or Protestant , waa a higher title , by law , to the land than the title of the landlord . You who speak of national faith , must be aware that prior to your becoming possessed of the land , the Church had a lien upon it to the amount of one-tenth of its produce . You must have been aware that livings were pwchared , and bargains made , and contracts entered upon , on the faith of this prior claim or mortgage . The Church , in iU turn , must have known that when it became a party to the appropriation of the trnst-property of the poor , that its turn wonld one day c « me ;

      and the landlords rosst have bern aware that when they became a party to the appropriation of chnrch property to their own uses , that their day would come ; and those who wo » ld now appropriate your estates to their own uses , under the specious pretext of feeding the poor , may rest assured that their day will also come . My Lords and Gentlemen , I mention these things to warn you of your danger , to alarm you of the thltfs approach , to rouse you to action , in order that profitting by the pourtrayal of your own fjlly , aBd the folly of others , you may take the means of doing gratuitously for yourselves , tbat which , if left undone by yon , will be done by rougher hands ; for done , belieye me , it will be , and that right speedily . My Lords and Gentlemen , pray , pray , pray , keep that one feature full in riew , —THAT DONE IT MUST BE ; and

      therefore the question is , Who shall do it ? You are n » w very peculiarly circumstanced . A bold exercise of your newly-acquired political strength may do something for you . A prompt use of your social powers may save you . Let me point out to you how , and in what manner . If you come forward in your political strength , and reduce expenditure , debt , wages of public servants , and all the cost of Government , to that standard to which a repeal of the Corn Laws would assuredly reduce your estates , you will but nominally suffer ; your rentals will l » e reduced , but your burdens will be correspondingly lessened ; your in cornea will be virtually smaller , but actually more valuable , because more secure ; your position in society will not be in the least altered .

      The most wealthy will Btlll be the most wealthy , the several classes measured by the same gra duating scale , will see no perceptible change in their social or monetary arrangements . This change you can accomplish by a vigorous and timely exercise of your political functions . However , should you still cling to high rents and expensive government , and a false preeminence fiom which a sudden shock may hurl you , yon must , in such case , make timely use of your power as landlords ; you must bring your estates into the retail market , to suit the habits , customs , capabilities , and wants of your own people ; while you will open for the English manufacturers a trade , a home irate , a sure trade , larger and more remunerative than all their quackery would produce .

      Thus , my Lords and Gentlemen , yon have it ia yonr power to act as a break-water to the rushing rapids , -while you are erecting yonr new building ; and if you proceed with judgment , you may strike your centres at any given moment , without fear of damage from the flood ; but , oppose tbe current , and your all will be hurried down the stream . My Lords and Gentlemen , attend to the alternatives between which y « u have to select You must either throw your estates into gavel , and become tenants , in common with all the landlords of all the corn and

      cattle-pioduung countries 01 the earth , or you must bring your estates into the retail market , and give , from their cultivation , an impetus to home manufactures , and native industry . Have you not had full and ample proof that the system of "hand-to-mouth" legislation , so long attempted , but in vain , is intended to correspond -with the system which has been but too * uccessraUy practised of making the working classes live from hand to mcuth , in order that they may be more at the mercy of those

      employers who eke millions out of tbeir dependency , your obstinacy , and their own devilment ? Does not each day's novelty furnish yon with proof that all laws are now made with th « one single object , however wide they may be of the mark ; and that that object is to reduce the working people , made " surplus population " by machinery , to tbe necessity of working at wages regulated by the mere existence point , or of emigrating to some foreign land , or of dying of hunger , or of revolting against the unnatural state of things . '

      My Lords aad Gentlemen , you have been too much in tbe habit ef listening to the wild vagaries of hired experimentalists , who write according to order in the daily and weekly journals , and who know as much about the national disorder , and tbe proper remedies , as barristers or attornies care about the parity of their clients . Pray bear in mind tbat the press is a band-tomouth repast , furnished exclusively by tbe monied orders -, and although your interests may be said to be represented by a few , yet are they all in tbe possession of the hand-to-meuth gentry ; for which , see advertisements , and point out one from a landed proprietor , and let those papers dare to advocate your cause , and then point me ont one at all .

      Another " iffnufaluus , " which blinks yon and sets your heads wandering , 1 b your sectional attachment to , and following of , some local and general parliamentary leader . Now , believe me , that those gentlemen will advocate their own interests by making merchandise of you . Firstly , they do not understand the question ; and , secondly , they are politically divided upon it My Lords and Gentlemen , I smiled most sorrowfully at your childish notion , recently made manifest in an endeavour to commence Reform by raising subscriptions for agricultural shows , to divide among yourselves and a few of your petted tenants . As well may you hope to heal a mortal wound by the application of a bit « f court pl&ister . You must amputate .

      My Lords and Gentlemen , I have for the present devoted as much space to yon as I can prudently afford . In my next I shall take a small estate of one thousand acres , and show the little benefit conferred upon society by your injudicious management and destructive monopoly of it ; and the great benefit which a prudent and profitable disposition may confer upon yourselves and society at large . I shall prove , beyond ft possibility of refutation , tbat you are the monopolists , but mot in . the way sought to be proved by otbert , I ahall prove that » wi «» * nd profitable alloeakioa 0 ! a very Mall portion of the land of Great Britain aad Irslamd , weald make th » whole National Dtbt a mera thing of mothing ; capable of being redeemed fa leu than five yean by tbe working classes .

      My Lords and Gwiklemea , in my treatise I will net allow a political economist , a ( moonshine thsoriat , ) a single peg to hang a scientific objectios upon , because I will argue the thing according to the very roughest and most discourgaging calculations , and not by the new arithmetic of scientific production ; bat from such data as tbe least cultivated will understand ; and , J will undertake to prove that the landlords , either as the asoendant political party , or as a united kody , may now prepare to save their estates . taeir « io ' ry , tteir

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      properties , and the people from want , from rapine , and from revolotira . I am aware that many objection * will be railed , but no refutation will be attempted ; and , as to objections without refutation , they but bespeak prejudice and affection for custom which but ill accords with the present times , and will not be listened to . My Lords and Gentlemen , let me , in concluding this , my first letter , warn yoa ta » t , «( once , either tbe Corn Laws must be Repealed , or you must render their immediate Repeal unnecessary , or put yourselves in a condition to meet the new order of things created by Repeal , or defend your estates by force of arms .

      Again , I tell yoa that the political democratic current will go on ; but upon the opposera to that current must rest tbe damage which the flood shall do in its progress . I implore you to erect your break-waters , by the removal of abuse ; and then when justice triumphs you will be participators in the change . The people , the starving people , the brave people , tbe magnanimous people of England have braved hunger , want , and privation , with Roman fortitude and unprecedented heroism . They have rejected the bait intended to entrap them into absolute slavery . They have resisted all invitations to commit rapina , plunder , spoliation , and devastation .

      But , my Lords and Gentlemen , well organised as we are , ( for I have left you , and become put and parcel of the people , ) yet , all hope failing of such immediate socM change as we look for , pending our advocacy of universal right , we shall be left no alternative , by your refusal , but to experimentalise upon your properties . My Lords and Gentlemen , we can rob you all in less than six weeks , though you had the Court , the Lords , and the Commons with you ; and , having d * ne so ,

      then you would be thrown into revolution with the fundholder , the paraon , the mortgagee , the simple contract creditor , your mothers , your brother ! , your sisters , and your dependants , who , believe me , will be as loth to give up their group upon their monopoly u you have been to surrender your * . Judge , then , in which situation you ean best arbitrate , whether before or after TRANSFER . We are called Destructives ; while we have borne oppression rather than change tbe warfare to our oppressors' camp .

      My Lsrds and Gentlemen , I will write you six letters . Do not reject them or treat them jeeringly ; for should you , after notice , persist in error , the war will be carried into your camp . I have tbe honour to be , My Lords and Gentlemen , Tour obedient servant , Feargus O'Oohnob . York Castle , Condemned Cell , June 29 th , 1841 .

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      TO THE FUSTIAN JACKETS . My dear Comrades , —The first campaign of single-handed Chartism is over , and , thank God for it ! it has terminated gloriously and to the immortal honour of the people . 1 rejoice to think that , however some of the least bad men h ave received a sectional local support here and there , yet has not one single demonstration taken place in aid of faction—not one 1 Now , my dear friends , hear me . To gain a victory is comparatively easy , vrhile to turn triumph to advantage requires all the thought , prudence , and discretion of the wisest head . I asked you to take care and make the Whig force ia the Hext Parliament too Fmall for a party , and too large for a faction . You shall now hear *> v reasons , and judge of their soundness .

      If the parties were balanced , as recommended by " Publicola , " they would have p layed battle-dore and shuttle-cock with , the people . A party sufficiently large to be presumptive heirs to office , would still stand upon constitutional prerogative , and would be afraid of " liberal measures , " lest they Bhould establish precedents to be followed when in power . A party in opposition large enough to take office with the existing Parliament , will have nothing to fear from popular indignation , as they would not be compelled to dissolve in order to insure a majority . If the Whigs were in » minority , of not more than ten , and if the Tories found themselves too weak to retain office , a sufficient number of " waiters upon Providence would join tho Whigs rather than encounter another general election ; but , with a majority of fifty or sixty against them , the Whigs would be compelled to come again before the people ,

      and , before their next appeal , they will have discovered who the people are . I have told you many a time and oft , that there are only two ways of effecting any great change ; the one by physical revolution , the other by an act of the legislature . Tbe good people have now come to a knowlege of the fact that all physical revolutions terminate unsuccessfully to the cause of liberty ; and even if it were not so , they but look upon such means of acquiring justice as a last and dreadfil resource . In such case it becomes the bounden duty of every man who decries revolution , and yet proclaims death in any shape to be preferable to the continuance of the system against which he contends ; it becomes his duty to state freely and fairly wherein the realisation of hia hopes are feasible without revolution , and how they can be effected by an act of tbe legislature . Such shall be my present task .

      The paupers provided for by the Sate are divided into two political parties , each depending for distinction , and even for existence , upon their respective hold of office ; while all the industrious classes form one compact and united body . I say united , and say alt ; because tradesmen , shopkeepers , and all the intermediate parties between those who havo raw property and those who convert that raw material into value by labour , must , of necessity , very soon discover that the people are the belly of the State , and that all other classes are but the members ; and that tho belly being starved , the members must perish . ' While there was enough of plunder for all , the tradesmen and shopkeepers preferred competency

      with political distinction , to superfluity purchased at the expence of the loss of that distinction ; but now that the idlers of the aristocracy have become too numerous to admit of any division of the plunder , and even the respective parties of the highest order have become , either of them , too large to be comfortably quartered upon what the people , made paupers by machinery , can afford to give , they will both very soon discover that the increase of machinery , to any amount , no matter how great , and the wealth produced thereby , no matter howsoever enormous , will be of not the slightest benefit to them ; but , on the contrary , " as much would have more , " the owners of machinery will consider all too little for themselves .

      In this state of things , I think we stand in no danger of a coalition being formed by the p » rtie 8 ; and , indeed , even that wonld give us a Republican opposition in the House , constituted of all the disappointed of both parties . Now , the Whigs are far the poorer of the two parties ; and when they are for a season excluded from the mess , and when Mr . O'Connell finds Sergeant Jackson , and Mr . Litton , and a few more Tories , placed upon the bench , and when he finds all the offices to which he had the appointment , and from which , believe me , he had very pretty pickings handed over to the enemy , he will foua like a mad dog at the mouth ; and in their weak and helpless condition , their appeal will be from houses to men . Don't you mind "

      Publicola " , who has written more rubbish since the dissolution than all the Whig scribes put together , and that is saying a great deal ; I say don ' t you mind him , when he . tells you that the VVhigs will join in oppression for spite , because the people opposed them . Not a bit of it . They , belkve me , will join whoev er or whatever , if it vu the devil himself , has the power of whipping the Tory pack fr < M » the mess and giving it to th # m . Well ; then will come our turn , and the * will b « tbe tine for an understanding , and this brings » e to tho leg islative ¦ ode of carrying out « ur principles . The Whigs , before they again oo « e to ffito , arasi dissolve , and they most aot oalr diss « lre , but ire

      will take precious good care that if they do dissolve open a clap-trap , the appeal will be answered as th « last has been . Bnt , if they dissolve upon the only measure which we will accept as terns of auion , we will farther take care , that their majority shall consist of Chartists , and not of mere anti-Tories . Now , one thing they have ascertained , that is , that the Reform Bill has failed to be a Whig guarantee of office , and another thing they may have learned , is , that without the people they can do nothing . Now , suppose they should either dissolve again , which is by no means improbable , because the Whig ntertainment will not be allowed to terminate without a farce ; pr , suppose , that anything should

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      cause a dissolution . Well ; in such case , the electors of the present year would be registered , and they wonld calculate thus : —If , since 1837 , being four years , the Tories havechauged our majority of 100 to a minority of 40 , by the Reform machinery , and if the last year has been one of increased activity in registration , what would be the probable result of another General Election ! Answer—as 4 is to 140 , 1 is to 3 * , and the result would be a Tory majority of 75 . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ , ¦ Another question is , what possible means have we now of obviating such a result ! Answer—by an appeal to the people . Upon what terms ? By guaranteeing to them the return of thirty of their own selected representatives , upon the condition that the

      nation will rise constitutionally , as one man , to ensure , not only as anti-Tory House , but to give to the whole people one-twentieth of the representation , with a view to laying popular feelings , opinions , wants , and demands before the Legislature , thereby transferring p « wer for ever from the hands of the Tories to the hands of the Reformers , for tbe purpose of working out that principle of the Reform Bill , which , they Bay , they have hitherto been prevented from doing by Tory opposition . Now , this is the safety-valve—the only safety-valve , and if not very speedily applied to the steam of boiling public opinion , the engine will explode . This representation , would place the people , not

      as the Reformers were placed some forty years ago , but in that position ia which their increased power , based upon their increased union and knowledge , entitles them to . The Reformers never had any back , that i 9 , any real back , such as the Chartists would have outside . The Reformers never meant what they said , and most unfortunately , the Reform Bill was passed in a storm , and without previous preliminary tutoring of the public mind , to prepare it for the full benefit © f a well digested measure . Thia is the advantage which we would now have over all other parties , we are prepared with a new system , to replace the eld , without an interregnum of chaos and speculative rule .

      We h ave not thrown out the dirty water till we have got clean . If I was not fearful of being charged with despotism , I could mention thirty men whose presence would do honour to the House of Commons , and not one of whom could be purchased , and each and all of whom should sign the pledge to resign when called upon , and receive the salary for service , as laid down in the Charter ; and more , I would not be « ne of them , as I am resolved to remain as sentry over the fustian » tmy of observation . Bat , While I thus select my own port , I would givo the garrison twenty times as much strength as if 1 was one among them . Now . I will lay down a tevr facts for you . Neither

      the House of Commons' Reformers or the House of Commons' leaders of any one ; jreat question ever yet intended to extend to the people the whole or what they promised . They have gone far enough to hound the popular cry on , in anticipation of all the promised results , and when their own object has been achieved , then have they turned upon the " ignorant people" and taunted thorn with madness , in having , so violently and erroneously misconstrued those opinions , which , while onfercing , they took particular trouble to prove were in exact accordance with popular notions . In fact , the people never , till now , were iu a fit state to judge whether they were or were not duped by their leaders .

      The very same coarse has been pursued by the liberal press . I will give you tv » o melancholy in-Btances : one furnished by the Weekly Dispatch , the Other by the Leeds Mercury . For many yearv , r / ublicola , a writer in the Dispatch , had been taunting tho people with passive endurance of wrong , and actually brought the public mind up to a high pitch of contempt for royalty , and all the institutions of the country . Well , in 1838 , when themen of Birmingham responded to the national call , and placed Universal Suffrage upon their banners , ** Publicola" turned round and denounced them . Since then , " Publicola" has boasted of his own forwardness , and jeered at the little good that could be expected from the practical workings of the Charter . He has also been

      loud in his denunciation of royalty , and all ancient institutions , and has attempted to palm some absurd thirty-nine articles of political faith upon the Chartists . But since the dissolution of Parliament , this anti-monarchist , and hater of all institutions , has told us tbat he is " more than a Chartist" and , therefore , opposed to Universal Suffrage , and the Payment of Members ; and he has recently actually denounced the wife of the Superintendant of the Woolwich Dock-yard , for not being as well dressed as the Q , ueen , npon the visit of her Majesty to see her ship , tho Trafalgar , launched ; nay , he is loud in his complaints , that this lady did not lay aside her eoul ' e mourning , and dress inward grief in outward joyous gaiety , in honour of Royalty ; he also

      complains that the police and attendants did not take off their bats often enough ; and bow low enough to Royalty ; he also complains that the furniture of her reception room was not sufficiently expensive , and that the servants had the matchless insolence to move about in her presence , regardless of Royalty ; and further , that they Bwopt , and dusted the tables , and chairs . and he rejoices thatthe servant i » waiting npon her Majesty was made to smart under the withering bcowI of offended Royalty . The Mercury was the cause of fourteen poor men being hung upon one and the same day at York Castle ; the Mercury has invited assaults upon landed property , and has gone far to create revolution in favour of Whicgery and " Reform . " .

      Now , t hen , mind . Those humbug prints would hound you on at their prey , and , pointing to the advantage which you were to acquire , they would slip you from the leash when their own enemies were to be hunted down ; but the moment you had done that , then would they " coop the eagles from their carrion , " and whip public opinion with a scorpion , and m erciless lash from the very scent themselves had set it on . Now , with thirty Chartist Members , pledged to resign when called upon , always mind that ; neither leaders nor newspapers could whip national opinion from the game . Well but how is it to be done \ Why as easily as to fall off a horse . Let the Whigs dissolve upon

      the principles promised in the Reform Bill , that " taxation and representation shall be co-extensive " and , humble as I am , I pledge my life upon the issue , which shall be even with the present cleotoral body backed by the people , to change the Tory majority , from whatever it may be to a mere factious minority ; but then we will secure the return of our men first or it is no go . The past elections have proved that where Chartism was represented on the hustings , the people were ready to rally upon the moral strength of th « ir cause , and its representation in the House would be the only means of insuring its legislative success , which if denied , will assuredly be accomplished by other and less desirable means .

      Brothers , upon no conditions whatever can we unite with either party , upon the understanding that we abate a pin ' s point of our claims . We refused it to the enemy when strong , and shall we now weaken ourselves by becoming partners in a totter ing firm ! Never become tenant to a falling house , or join in business with a declining partner . We must not now fight the battles over again , wherever any one body of our local friends have , from justifiable causes , acted an apparently different part from another body , we must not assume that either were right or wrong in order to justify the other . The probability is , that in all and every case , the Char tista were right , and , indeed , I am sure they were . Therefore , no fighting of the battle over again , it will but do the enemies work , and create disunion and division .

      I shall conclude with a quotation from the man who understood man , and his nature , better than any who has lived before or since his time—Shakspeare . In speaking of unity , the great master Bays : — " Under wise conduct and mature design It is well possible that many tbincs . Having full reference to one consent , May act accordingly ; though else contrariors : As many arrows loosed several ways Fly to one mark ; As many several ways meet ia one town ; As many fresh seas run in one-self sea ; As many liaes close in th » dial ' s centre ; 80 many » thousand actions once a foot End in one purpose , aad be all well boaa Without iefeat "

      So writes the great poet « n unity . Also hear , what he says of union , and mark its application to our present position : — " Where what combined katb beea Most grM * , thas * let not Iaferiox eavses sever . " Now , hear what one of " nature ' s journeymen " has beat telling the people for twenty years : — ¦« ' Our tirmgth is in ovr tmitm , omrfovamr i $ in fur wrtee , * n& o * r sweat i » our perMvirmnm . " Brothers , stand fast and fear not . Onward , and we conquer : backward , and we fall . Universal Suffrage , and No Surrender . " As well may tbe lamb with tbe tiger unite , The mouse with the cat , or the lark with the kite . " I am , Your true and constant friend , Fkargus O'CoNuon .

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      tf—il ^ - ^ v ' SA . Sp / frU L STL 0 P . S . —That I did not judge badly of 4 he strength the resolution , and the henesty of the non-electors , by relying solely upon tbeir watchfulness of tbe use made <> f their strength by leaders , rosy be gathered from the just and wholesome examples made of traitois Dsver and Edwards . Remember the me ?* , and that we are ' tbe huntsmen who can say , " halloo , ccsf , cess , cess , good dogs ; " and . remember that we don ' t want any of the mess ; we only want to prevent either pack from eating too much , to the injury of theie constitution . F . O'C .

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      The Midsummer Quarter Sessions for this borough commenced on Wednesday afternoon last , before ihomas Flower Ellis , Jun ., Esq ., Recorder , The Calendar contained the names of upwards of eighty prisoners . The following are the sentences up to last night : — Transported Fifteen Years . —James Hyde , 30 » and Aiithony Ward , stealing a purse and money , the property of Wm . Hirst . Imprisoned Eighteen Months . —Wm . Riley , 17 , stealing £ 130 , she properly of Messrs . Edward Baines &Co . Imprisoned Twelve Months . —Joseph Hives , 47 , stealing a chain , the property of Wm . Woodhead . —James Ramsdes , 18 , Btealing pigeons , the property of Charles Higgina .

      Imprisoned Nine Months . —Robsrt Middleton , 33 , stealing trowsers , the property of Benjamin HarraL—Wm . Willis , 17 , stealing iron , the property of Edmund Dawson . —Wm . Halliday , 29 , stealing three iron hammers , the property of the overseers of the poor . Imprisoned Six Months—Joseph Rollinson , 22 , stealing a watch , the property of Joha Malliusoa . Mary M ' Cabs , 25 , stealing two watches , the property of Ann Moody . Robert Stephenson , 11 , stealn * a watch , the property of John Spetcb . George Huby , 19 , embezzling money , the property of John Sellers and others , his masters . Bonjamin Batteraley , 17 , stealing a watch , the property of Emanuel Roberts . "

      lMmsoNED Fivs Months . —James Wbiteley , 23 , stealing fowls , the property of Robert Catlow . Jans Horseman , 18 , stealing a linen cap and other articles , the property of Joha Challenger . Imprisoned Fodr Months . —George Whitaker , 20 , stealing knives , the property of Henry Steel . John Wilby , 21 , stealing a pair of shoes , the property of Thomas Barker . Samuel Ramsden , 21 , stealing a watch the property of John Robinson . John Oliver , 22 , stealing ham , the property of David Butters . Imprisoned Three Months . —Patrick Connor , 18 , stealing iron , the property of Joshua Norton , John Bryan , stealing a coat the property of Georga Broadbent .

      Imprisoned Two Months . —John Hall , 42 , stealing shoes , the property of Benjamin Gaunt . John Winn , 13 ,, stealing two iron wheels , the property of Edmund Dawson . Imprisoned One Month . —Edward Gainings , 12 . stealing shoes , the property of Joseph Toes . Edward Blackburn , 14 , stealing butter , the property of Job Rose . George Hall , 16 , stealing t wo iron wheels , the property of Edmund Dawson . Acquitted . —Margaret Kershaw , 34 , stealing blankets , the property of Elizabeth Holroyd . Hannah Farrar , 25 , stealing a frock , the property of Ann Brown . Jotm Ward , 26 , 8 tealiagapair of tongs , the property of John Tilloiaon . Benjamin Heaton , 54 , stealing deals , the property of Tuorp and Atkinson . Jonu Hutton , 25 , stealing reins , the property of Wm . Myers . No Bill . —Edwin Whitaker , IS , stealing a silk handkerchief , tho property of Tnos . Waddington .

      Ciwtfct Ettteut'settc*

      Ciwtfct EttteUt ' settc *

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      BRADFORD . —Release of ANOTHER CHARTIST . —Thomas Duke , of Bradford , has been just liberated —ab .-ut two moMhB before the expiration of the term of his imprisonment . He called at this office , on Tnursday , to return his grateful acknowledgements to alt . O ' Connor , and to the friends by whom the subscriptions hare been supported , and to Bay that he is a more determined Chartist than ever he was . MOXTRAM . —Mr . Samuel Le « Hadfleld has been appointed to the council , in the room of Air . Wm Mills , stone-mason . HOLLINGWORTH . —Mr . John Leach , of Hyde delivered an able and intertsting lecture , in the Chartist Room , on Sunday last .

      DBOGrHEDA . A letter from Drogheda states that" the principles of Chartism is eprtaaing among the" working class in this town witk as astonishing rapidity . " SAM 5 BURY .- —That talented advocate of the rights of the people , Mr . Ruffy Bidley , lectured in Salisbury , on Monday evening , July 5 th , on the First Principles ef Government—Free Trade—and the People ' a Charter— to about Eve hundred . Mt . R . Ridley was well received , and gwe the greatest satisfaction to all present . After the lecture , several noble fellows joined the society ; we have now a good prospect of going a-faead .

      MANCHESTER—Release of Chartist Prisoners—Mr . Barker , of Manchester , and Mr . Bell , of Bolton , who were consigned to Kirkdale for eighteen wenths , for the 12 th of August affair , were liberated on . Monday merning , without any previous notice , and entered Manchester on Tuesday , as full of Chartist fire and real , and indeed more » o , than they were when first incarcerated . Hurrah for the Women of Manchester ! They havo been subscribing liberally themselves , and collecting from tbeir friends , in order to raise a fund to enable them to do their share in paying due honour to Feargus O'Connor , Esq ., at the coming demonstration . They have purchased a piece of canTES , which measures

      eight feet by seven , and engaged a flrst-rate portrait painter to paint a full-length likeness of that gentleman , dressed in fustiaD , with the People ' s Charter in hia band . At a short distance from him appears a large assemblage of people , the males dressed in fustian ; and to his right there is an imitation of a castle ; and at the corner of the picture there is a large figure representing Henry Hunt , the departed , coining through the clouds , and speaking to O'Connor . The painting is near ); finished , and presents a most interesting and splendid appearance , so far as the writer of this—who has been brought up a painter—can judge . The mottos are not on yet , but will be given in the delineation of the procession .

      LONDON . —After a bustling and fatigueing election ¦ week of d » y » and nights , the Chartists or the city , still desirous not to relax in duty to their fellow-men , met on Tuesday night last , at the Political and Scientfie Institute , 55 , Old Bailey , and are very desirous tbat their fellow-members of the National Charter Associa tion should meet at the above place , to attend to their duty to the Association , next Tuesday . The shareholders of the above place are to have a special general meeting on Sunday morning next , at ten o ' clock , when a code of laws for their future guidance will be submitted for their consideration , abro a plan of a political loan tract society . Mr . Sankey is expected to lecture in the evening , at seven o ' clock , of the same day , in the above place . TODWORDBN . —The weekly meeting of the Chartist Society took place on Monday evening last , when many persons came forward to hare their names enrolled .

      BIRMINGHAM . —Public Meeting . —A public meeting was held at the Railway Station , Duddeaton-row , on Monday eveuing last , Mr . Walter Thome in the chair . Mr . George White addressed the meeting on the absolute necessity of nnion and organization amongst the people , and pointed out the meaus by which Government managed to blindfold , and oppress the millions . He exposed the trickery of the Whigs at the nomination , and hoped that all men who felt the truth of Chartism , would prove their sincerity by joiniag the National Charter Association . Mr . Roberts , of Bath , was then introduced and spoke of the apathy which had been displayed by the people as tho chief cause why so many of their friends had been imprisoned and

      - > therB banished . The working classes , were allpowerful if they thought proper to unite and make a proper use of their strength , but as long as they contented themselves with mere display , and remained in a disorganised state so long would they have to suffer the miseries of miagovernment . After a few other excellent remarks he retired , remarking that the effect of his imprisonment was Buch as to prevent him from speaking at much length at open air meetings . After another address from Mr . White , the meeting was adjourned to Monday evening next at seven o ' clock , Mr . White giving notiee that as they were shut up from the Town Hall and the other large buildings , it was his determination to address the people at that place , every Moaday evening .

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      Thx Eam . or Cawhun A « ai > . —Th « Bar ! ef Cardigan was balloted for a * a a « nb « r of ike Senior United Serviw d « k m Tdm 4 » t , tfaa fth of jnj . There were 28 white and 1 M bla « k balli : in all 104 balloted . The Noble Earl waa therefore reecud , and the « onsequen »» * f the rejetUoa a , t hat he cannot be again proposed as a member for ten yean . It to happens that tbe other toudlt&imm didates , and , among them , the major of thflKveW ^ T Hussars , were all admitted . . ZtEv ^^ Mpch sickness prevail * among tbe rfSfefrr ia" ^ Havanna . A gentleman who has re ^ ffijnjTthat - city for twenty years has never know ^ tte-foveFao v fatal or so generally preTaJent M it bjB ^ ett 7 « the » t few weeks among the sbipptogiigfcjpj' ^^> % ( Hvr % * y . - . ; . ' w ^ i ^ vn

      Leeds Borough Sessions.

      LEEDS BOROUGH SESSIONS .

      To The Landlords Of Ireland.

      TO THE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND .

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      YOL . IY . ISO . 191 . SATURDAY , JULY 10 , 1841 . paic % ^ ° ^ gg ^^ r '"

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      AND LEEDS GENERAL ADYERTISER .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), July 10, 1841, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1117/page/1/