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Northern Star (1837-1852), 24th January 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 4, fc_^^———JustFublisted, lima Cloth, Price«-**•*£• M ' « fPHE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF PRO-

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    • fc_^^———JustFublisted, lima Cloth, Price«-**•*£• M ' « fPHE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF PRO-
    • THE NORTHERN STAB SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 185!}. " " J ¦ -¦
    • 5To erorrcgyoimgHift.
    • $r&0**' l&Mfgence.
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      Untitled Ad

      pKrtt .

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      £ A * D AND C ° ™?| | ° ™« 3 WORKING CESSES ! SOBER AND INTELLIGENT MEN , V ^ l d . -iwuu of briaeineop their families 5 a the pure and « r *? ££ 3 £ « be couatrf , aSd awaj from the contaninationi iSte ^ l may S *»« >*« their wishes gratified by appljing t oSK « if »« tofomttedT& ASSOCIATIONS , the chief oWect of which shall be to prepare their children at least \ ifthe Parents Oem $ dtc $ arevtifitfornieh amperiDr node of life )

      Untitled Ad

      C ENTRAL CO-OPERATIVE AGENCY , Instituted under Tnwt , to counteract the syBtem of Adulteration and Fraud now prevailing in Trade , and to promote the principle of Co-operatire Associations . Trustees—Edward Vansittart Keale , Esq ., ( founder of the Institution ); and Thomas Hughes , Esq ., ( one of the contributors ) . Commercial Firm—Lechevalier , Woodin , Jonei , and Co . Central Establishment-TG , Charlotte-street , Fitzroy-Equare , London , Branch EstablithmenU-35 , Great Marjlebone-Etreet , Portlandplace , London ; and 13 , Swan-street , Manchester . The Agency intends hereafter to undertake the execution of all Orders for any land of articles or pr duce , their operations for the present are restricted to Groceries , Italian Articles , French Wines and Brandies . A Catalogue has just been published , containing a detailed list of all ariie'es with the retail prices affixed , with remarks on adulteration . Price 6 i , or sent free by post for ten stamps . Also a wholesale price list for Co-operatire Store * gratis , or bj post for one stamp .

      Untitled Ad

      THE 'FRIEXD OF THE PEOPLE / Os Satdrbat , February 7 th , 1852 , will bs Published Xo . 1 of a new Weekly Political and Literary Journal , to be entitled The ' FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE . ' EDITED ur . 4 i .

      Fc_^^———Justfublisted, Lima Cloth, Price«-**•*£• M ' « Fphe Rights And Duties Of Pro-

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      Polecats , when hard pressed , discharge a stream of extremely filthr Sterirf flaid /^ beir pnrsueK ' ^ nch of which is Hi SJ p i ** . ^ d whencauSht they are exceedingly worthless anuna ^ s . Polet ats hare their resemblances amonsthe qenwhomo f ^ tftTs iS ^ ™ ** " * Itied « SZ necessity , is brought into contact with them . We are unfortuw » Jfn ^ J ^; it ! on - « Asamst both *® a ° d indination we ribimM w ?«*«•*» when * attacks which , upon principle , we shouldhareleftucansivered , and this week we hare receiveda great number of letters from correspondents on theS rf TOe b ^ n ^ reaH l mnst a ap - S to Mr . M'Gowan , Mr meeler and other correspondents for the noninsertlon of their S ^ SS& ^ i *!* ? «» ^ tchedly distorted £ dErw 2 E

      gpssssag ^ tS * ve hate nothing to take awav The ' Star' ^ . t ~ omit Sfwasaas S « . ' sisjs « ^ wtt f » srs 3 w £ = »^ = swasaMaacaJSSu : liguant charges made acainst us . wanton and

      ma-& Brown , Wakefield . _ We will endeavour to fiad room for ™ , communication nextweek . a ro <"" wryour ssiw ^^ daSSS ? sswe « awSla £ Sf s . ? a asis ^ sa ^^ -JSiBsss ' a ^^ TSsas ^ " " - * " *' A . Sora , Gere House . Xcxtweek . weeK < The Xxnosa Laxd Compa-vt . —In reriv to innni ^ c i . ssttfca ? ssfSSg = 4 > KS BSf tsttsrjg' 5 n £ s » asssB iAleto ^ tetheporitioii of ae ^ tter ' "" next , to be

      The Northern Stab Saturday, January 24 185!}. " " J ¦ -¦

      THE NORTHERN STAB SATURDAY , JANUARY 24 185 !} . " " J ¦ - ¦

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      OPERATIVES ANDJFHEIR EMPLOYERS . TflE MERCIES OP THE MANUFACTURERS . Unconditional sabmission ! 2 s o terms v « am ^ r-dumb , abject , submiwion V m-m Keadthat , Operative Engineers . That is tbpnlrt matam of your late EmDlovera Th « i fa * to doubt it , for they have bSned htl °° T ™ S ^ fore they eulogkea such a production . The ' Chronicle , ' however , which has advocated the cause of flie masters has characterised itashar fi h . h » nJ £ l d

      T 7 T * ^ S ™ ^ «» the « Sun' expready «« ^ Ste ^ ^ itea PP ^ ani , and 5 e £ S ! J ? . ° P inionin favour of themen . l-W ^ SS * «» *¦««¦ ^ entiment of the TfaS had * 5 ^ Ej emboded ^ the assertion E ' erybodvJ ^^ batheHkedwithhiiowi ,. ' ^ aSS ? 2 llect * °° ^ what a Aon * ^ « rftti . S 5 SS » ?? . £ ** uringpolitiorators upon tU- Jtl , hm How' ^«> choien their pre * afi it t !? S " ^^ a ^ ed it How What a theme it l « th ° Principles of despotism , wdignant execration v wl bitfer « tire and HOW said the Yery -a \ np fAtoe 8 emannfecturerehaTe as we doof U » -SV& B" * * a m 6 mor 7 « eive Mj brtnaTlSJlW * ° " . eje . must de ' , were it am wuniitakeabla cha-

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      ^^^^^^^^ W ^ MMW ^ BBMHPtPftJBtfflWWMMi ^^ MWMOBIBiHMBBi ^ B ^ M ^^^^^^^^^^ racters . "We claim the right of every British subject c To do what he likes with his own . ' We have heard the very same Sidney Smith , who , as Secretary , accredits that sentence , himself denounce it and its author ; and now he adopts it , knowing , as he must , the wrong it necessarily involves . What is the Employers own ? Let them answer the question . Our capital—our business—our profits —oar establishments . These are our own . We are the masters of them , and we mean to remain so . So absolute is our mastership that we will suffer no one to impose any terms upon us . We will submit to no restriction ! . We will do as we like . With every respect for noble referees—with no misgiving that their decision would be right and just—wo will have none of their arbitration . W « will settle our

      own disputes our own way . Our wills shall be absolute . From us there is no appeal . We want to be let alone . We claim to regulate our own business without reference to any body . We have said it , and it shall be done . That this is not any exaggeration of ours , men with hard hands , satisfy yourselves . Buy this pen ' orth of tender mercy and Christian charity , and read . You will find all that there , and more . Sentences will stand out before you , which , if carried into effect , would leave you no better than negroes . We have heard a great deal about feudal tyranny and the power of the lord over his vassal—we have been favoured

      with a great deal of rejoicing , that those dark and barbarous times have passed away ; but if the Employers can do what they say they will do—if there is no law to stop them—if justice and sympathy are alike powerless , we had better agree to go back to Feudality at once—Feudality which , after all , had some chivalry , some generosity , some nobility about it—which had a soul batter than a money bag , some higher aspiration than buying cheap and selling dear . If we ( the people ) are to have matters , in the sense of mastership which this pamphlet enunciates , wo had better have the old aristocracy , than a moneyocracy of traffickers and hucksters .

      Again , what is the master ' s own . Something more they seem to think , than even they dare explicitly to say . If their pamphlet means anything , it means that the men are their own , and their wages too . They do not call them men , by the way , but 'hands , '— ' our hands . ' Not beings capable of thought or sentiment , but manipulating machines . That must be their covert meaning ; for while they stand up for the right of everybody To de what he likes with his own , ' they deny the right of the men to do what they like with themselves , their labour , or their wages . They will buy work on what conditions they please—no one else shall have a finger in

      their contracts . That implies that the men Bhall not sell their labour on what terms they please , shall not in fact , frame a condition . They will not have anybody dictate terms to them . The people whom they employ shall not enter into combinations . Paying them foEstheir work they buy the whole man . In the workshop and out of the workshop , he is then-sail theirs . Men who exist on the wages received at their hands shall not combine against their interests . They will not Buffer any combination , and they say that while they are themselves combined . More than this , they will not permit any man whom they employ , to support , by the wages he earns , any society whatever . Surely that is doing what they like with their own , and what is not their own too , with a

      vengeance . We believe that such demands—such claims—as these were never before put forward in the face of the world by Englishmen . Wo can imagine the Empehoe of all the Russias directing his head serf to affix the sign manual to an ukase of the same character , but never till now did we realise the possibility of men , bred up among free institutions—recognising rights—claiming liberty—talking of libertywriting for liberty—acknowledging such monstrous sentiments as those contahwd in tbe Master ' s Edict . We wonder what Lord Cranworth—whose letter

      appears in another column , and who mistaken as he is , is at least temperate and mild—will think of this production . His Lordship expressly says that the law wisely permits all to combine . The Masters are above the law—they contravene the law—they set the law at defiance . They say in effect , ' the law permits it , does it ? So do not we . ' Law or no law , they have made up their minds it shall not be . Setting at nought the liberal action of the Legislature , which many years ago repealed the 6 tatuto prohibiting combination , the cabal of Masters , in their secret conclave , re-enact them , and their Pbime Minister issues his proclamation to that effect forthwith .

      We never read pages which made us more heartsick than those -which contain these outpourings of the most utter despotism . We never turned away from a record of unblushing , undisguised wrong , with more thorough disgust and indignation . Every man who has a spark of right feeling will scout the monstrous propositions that because the workers sell their toil for money , those who stand between them and the public , who receive all the results of their efforts , and pay them part back in wages , should be their unconditional masters . That they should be barred from all right to unite—denied all opportunity of common action—prevented from contributing out of their honestl

      y and hardly earned stipends what they can afford to support their unemployed fellows , is not to be borne . To such a serfdom no one who has any regard for his own independence and dignity can possibly submit . All who accept those terms abdicate their ri ght of free action , and convert themselves into soulless machines . We cannot believe that the public will countenance such tyranny , or refuse their aid to those who resist it ; and in order effectually to serve the cause of the men , and arouse public opinion in their favour , we can wish nothing better than that this disgraceful essay—disgraceful alike to those who prompted , and he who wrote itmay be circulated as widely as possible .

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      FOREIGN INVASION AND NATIONAL DEFENCE . The Proclamation of the French Republic in 1848 was followed by the most enthusiastic interchange of friendl y visits and frater nal sentiments by the people of France and England . The National Guards flocked to our shores by thousands , and were evervwhere received with the warmest demonstrations " of welcome . John Bull , so far from being frightened , was delighted to see foreign military uniforms crowding our streets , — -was quite overjoyed at the sight , and threw open to his strange visitors everything he could think of in the way of amusement , instruction , and festivity . Nor were our French neighbours

      behind us in cordiality ; while their demonstrations surpassed ours in elegance , good taste , splendour , and organisation . « They do manage these things better in France . ' How many thousands in this country now look back with pleasure to the succession of admirably arranged , hospitable , and varied fetes , in which they were invited to participate by the Republican Government and the Municipality of Paris in 18 i 8 , and the interchange of those sentiments of amity and mutual esteem , which were worthy of the two most enlightened , progressive , and powerful nations in Europe ! As long as the people of France retained any real power in the mana gement of their

      affairs , this state of things continued . The reactionary factions in the Assembly , and the traitorous conspirator against the Constitution he had sworn to maintain intact , only gradually succeeded in Btifling the Republican sentiment in France , and with it the amicable relations which had grown up between the two peoples . It is little more than two yeara since we were present at the sittings of the Peace Congress mtheSalloSt . Cecile , Paris .- Deputies were there from all the then partiall y free States of Europe , and even from the « f ar west' of America ; but none mustered mBuch strength and numbers as the English to none was so much attention paid , or the hand of friendship so frankl y and warmly extended . Th «

      an nonuesvied with the citizens in doing honour to their visitors , and providing for their comfort and enjoyment . D ay after day were the doctrines of peace and brotherhood between nationt inculcated m French , German , Italian , and English , by men who really believed that we had outlived the barbarous and savage passions , which have heretofore deyastated nations wasted treasure , misapplied intellect , and spilt Wood like water . The Sawn of the Millenmm had come . Nations , instead of settling differences by blows and bloodshed , were in fotureto submit them to impartial arbitration , and act xationally , not like animals impelled by mere brute S ltmctl - ^ " * briliant future opened up to Europe , mmiift ow * Wfi fltwd facVto face

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      with auother European struggle . - . ,. Shall , we have war ? Are we prepared for it?—are the two questions which engross the largest * share of public attention ? Even the Peace Journals , though they deprecate any undue panic , and oppose an augmentation of our army , admit the urgent necessity for setting * pur house in order , ' preparing for the defence of , our coasts , by recalling our ships of warfrom the Tagus , the Mediterranean , or the Pacific , to the English Channel , and making the soldiers we have , efficient , both by training , and by supplying them with arms equal to those now used by the soldiers they may

      have to encounter . ' ' "'» ,. * . t ? A Boulogne Invasion is a-souvenir - of the ± impire , which Louis Napoleon , who parodies and caricatureshis uncle in all other respects * is not likely to forget . Even were he disposed to-do so , the exigencies of his position are such as may drive him to make the attempt . He has made himself Dictator in France by the aid of the army , and is therefore the slave of the army . He can only rule so . long as he panders to it , and keeps it satisfied . The disarmament of the National Guard , the expatriation of every man who has taken a prominent part in public affairs , and the rigour , without parallel , with which

      every mode of expressing public opinion is suppressed , are only so many proofs that , despite the huge fraud of the seven million and a half votes , the usurper knows he dare not for one moment trust the people of France . Continued and increasing exactions to meet the demands of an imperious and pampered soldiery , will , at length , drive the nation int o the resistance of desperation , if work and subsistence cannot be found for them elsewhere . In what quarter is that to be sought ? Not in the dominions subject to the . brother despots of the Dictator . The few spots on the Continent where a limited amount of Constitutional freedom yet exists ,

      would speedily be subdued and occupied by the combined troops of Absolutism , and what remains but to banish Liberty and Popular Government from its last restingplace in Europe—the British Isles 1 Already the indications of such a policy are apparent . Insolent and unwarrantable interference has taken place on the part of Foreign powers with respect to the . shelter and hospitality we give to tbe political exiles who seek refuge amongst us from proscription and murderous hostility . The smaller Continental powers , where a home might have been

      obtained , are warned not to provoke the displeasure of the brigands who now ride rough shod over the liberties of Frauce . Ere long there will not be a spot in Europe whereon the hunted ' proscrit' can lay his head in safety , except England . Is it likely that we shall be peaceably allowed to remain that exception , especially when the vast accumulated wealth of thirtyseven years of peace and unexampled industrial progress , offers such rich and tempting opportunities for plunder to | he ,. Prsetoriatt bands of an unprincipled and perjured upstart J

      Such is the danger . How is it to be met ? In the first place by a bold declaration that Great Britain , in any contest whatever , will throw all its influence on the side of tlie"Peoples . It is precisely because our Government has . been a consenting party to the measures by which Absolutism has re-established its sway over the Continent , that we are now menaced with danger . Our safety lies in cultivating amicable relations with the Peoples , and not with the Rulers who oppress and plunder them . Despotisms can never be either safe neighbours or profitable allies to us , and the cheapest way in which we can defend ourselves against them is to give them plenty of work at home . A genuine alliance with the Peoples , for

      upholding the principles of Freedom , would not only result in preventing all chance of an invasion of our shores , but would be certain to emancipate the enslaved nations , and to unite them to us by the twofold tie 3 of gratitude and interest . Even on the low ground of commercial interest and profit this decided policy recommends itself . A Continental system of hostile tariffs , by which British productions would be entirely shut out from the whole of the Continent , is spoken of in the foreign journals as one of the means ty which England may be crippled and damaged ; and we have too mauy instances in which this has been already done , to permit any doubt as to the existence of the feeling on the part of many of the Continental Governments . It is for the

      manufacturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire to say how such a prohibitive system would operate on their large establishments now that the state of affairs has so largely altered since Napoleon endeavoured to carry out his ' Continental System . ' British goods then forced their way through all customs' obstructions mainly because they were the only goods of their kind in the world . Nous avons change tout cela . Manufacturing enterprise , skill , industry , and organisation have been developed in various countries to such an extent that they are independent of us . The Great Exhibition settled that fact conclusively . Let the manufacturers and middle classes look to it . A

      Foreign Minister who will honestly and boldly ally himself with tho peoples instead of the despots , is indispensable to the continuance of manufacturing activity and commercial prosperity . If they care nothing for Freedom , let them at least remember that the same ascendancy which destroys it , will damage , perhaps aunhilate , their own capital and profits . The question of National Defences in such a critical position of affairs will doubtless occupy the attention of Parliament immediately after it assembles . We quite concur with those who think that there is not the slightest necessity for any increased expenditure . What is wanted is a judicious distribution of the forces already in existence , and the appointment of persons to superintend our arsenals , stores , and Bhips who really understand their business , and can Defence 2

      use , not waste , the public money . After all , our great arm of defence , should war really occur , and an invasion be threatened , must be our navy and steamerB . We have plenty of ships , and all that is needed is to place them where they may chance to bo wanted , instead of making them pleasure yachts for ministerial favourites and diUettante aristocrats . In the next place we want no addition to our standing army . Had France been less abundantl y supplied with that article , she would not have lain bruised , bleeding and mana cled at the feet of the Usurper to-day . Let our Government repeal all the laws by which successive administrations have made popular instruction in military training a crime ; let them give to the people every facility for imparting a knowledge of combined movements and the effective

      use of arms ; and let them also at the same time , accompany these facilities with such a just and comprehensive Reform in Parliament as will give the nation the power of managing its own affairs , and we venture to promise them that England will be cheaper and better defended than any country ever was in history , No number of hirelings , however equipped and drilled , could equal an army of sturdy men , impelled to action by the most powerful of human motives , and defending not merely their hearths and homes , but a constitution which made them really freemen That would be the impregnable and the most econimical defence of this land of ours against the world in arms . In answer , therefore , to any panic alarms or extravagant proposals for incr eased armaments , let our watchwords be—Political Enfranchisemeni and a National Defence Corps »

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      THE SESSION . Even in ordinary and untroubled times the opening of the Session is looked forward to with curiosity and interest . Though tta Dramatis persona and the theatre be the same—the «« pieces ' all" stock" one » , there is a general desire to see them again , and to listen , Jf not [ applaud . The extraordinary excitinjr and unsettled ! state of public affairs at the present moment , has this year naturally heightened the

      interest with which the meeting ' of Parliament is looked to . Though the combination of parties is not materially altered , though tbe old faces will appear in the old places , and the old voices fall on the ear , yet the "firstni ght ' will have an unfailing attracturn , in the promise of Ministerial revelations as to the reasons which led to Lord Palmerston ' s summary dismissal from office , and the probable or possible effects of that measure , not only upon the ex-Foreign becretary himself , but upon the future cbmnmritiL ttwufa andthe

      rtt ^^ r ^ p * p °% nn T ?! P 0 rt * 0 n 8 Of the PreM are resolutely crying » L * v , Pa e « a Liberal of the first water and the proximate Premier of a new , powerful , and progrfHw Ministry , B m te B 0 L fc ^

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      not tiie ' slightest foundation for such anticipations . No one will deny that the late Minister is a cleveran exceedingly clever—man , that he was , in fact , the salt that gave savour to that very tasteless- . body , the Whig Cabinet ; but mere cleverness i « not enough . We want action ; and should like to know what part of Palmekston ' s past career is calculated to give encouragement to the belief that he would prove a really ' " liberal and . practically progressive Minister . We . can only recollect liberal professions , belied in every case by facts , in the department under his special control ; and we fear that to translate him into a position of wider influence would be'attended with the same unsatisfactory results . 'Fine words butter no parsnips . ' Lord Palmerston ' s speeches were very 'fine ; ' his acts were quite another thing .

      Still , putting aside these attempts to peer into the Administrative future , aB the mere guesses ' of friendly partizans , or straws thrown up to see which way the wind blows , there w ill be an immediate interest felt in havingsome questionsansweredand some difficulties solved , arising out of the present ministerial imbroglio . Those caused by the dismissal of Palsiekston are not the only pressing queries , though they may have precedence . In the second week of the Session ik is understood that the promised Ministerial Reform Bill will be brought forward ; and we shall then probably get a peep behind the scenes , and a glimpse , if nothing more , of the internal dissensions in the Cabinet , amidst which the Whig bantling struggled into

      existence . And the fateof that bantling—what is it to be ? Will the 80 members who really hold the balance of power in tho House be gulled into its support by the cry , ' Don't disturb the question , because the Government is weak ; take what you can get , and at some < = ! ture time you will be able to get more ? ' If we May judge from the meetings held this week in Manchester , Leeds , Nottingham , and several other places , that device of the enemy will fail . The Parliamentary advocates of Representative Reform are

      awakening to the fact that Ministerial weakness is their opportunity , and that they have a better chance of extorting liberal concessions from a Cabinet which is struggling for bare existence than a ' strong Government , 'flushed with the insolence of office . At these meetings there was some sensible and uncompromising speaking , to which no doubt Lord John's contemptuous refusal to receive a deputation materially helped . There were also some truths , uttered in a manly and friendly spirit as to tho necessity for a union of reformers of all grades , if we

      are to have anything like a real enfranchisement of the people . At Leeds the principle of Manhood Suffrage was moved , as an amendment to the expediency of domiciliary Suffrage , and decided by the chairman to be lost . At Nottingham it iSstated the leaders of the ultra movement supported the propositions of Sir J . WALMSLEY ' s association with ^ as much zeal as they they had previously opposed similar ones : the notable fact being , in botb / caSes , that the middle and working classes were "x qrlciug together ; and though the latter were outvoted in Leeds , Ifiey kept their temper , satisfied with having done what they considered their duty , by fairly giving the meeting the choice of saying which of the two propositions it approved of . It is not for Chartists to complain of

      the decision of a majority . The practical lesson to be derived from a defeat , is that we must set to work , by peaceful and argumentative means , to convert the . minority into a majority . We should gladly see similar evidences of earnestness , activity , and zeal on the part of the Chartists , as those we refer to on the part of the advocates of smallar measures of Parliamentary Reform . If they are apathetic , disunited and enfeebled , they must not complain of the consequences of that division and weakness . The Ministerial Bill will be presented , and there must be somebody to take a practical and proper course with reference to it . If the Chartists are not ready , others better prepared must take the place which might have been theirs .

      Some of the Ministerial organs intimate that , though the Government is weak , its measures will be strong—strong , perhaps , for Whigs ; but that is not saying much . Such tactics would , however , be by no means , new in their history . That was the expedient by which they tried in 1841 to obtain a renewed lease of power . But the ' strong' measures of weak men ! You might as well talk of the giguntio stature of a dwarf . They have neither the comprehension nor the power necessary to devise and carry such measures , even were Parliament and the country with them , which they are not .

      It is supposed , however , that after bringing out one or two of their strong measures , ' they will appeal to the country . If so , there cannot be the slightest doubt that they will experience as decided a defeat as they did in 1841 ; and though the Peel , who is to marshal and direct the unorganised popular opinion in favour of bonafide reforms , has not yet made his appearance in such a shape as to be generally recognised and acknowledged , all experience proves that with the Hour comes the Man . Certain it is , that events are thickening around us , whieh demand clear heads and resolute wills on the part of those called to the helm of affairs .

      Our foreign relations and our means of defence are matters not likely to be satisfactoril y adjusted by the men under whoso administration , corruption and peculation in the public service have reached a height scarcely paralleled in our history . Parliamentary Reform demand , for its accomplishment men who have breathed a freer and more bracing atmosphere than that of aristocratic cliques and coteries . Colonial policy must be wrested from the hands of the Minister who has alienated from us every colony , and plunged at least one into an extravagant and seemingly endless contest , from which we can reap neithei honour nor profit , no matter how it terminates .

      There is plenty of work for the next Session , but where are the men to do it ? Or , if we have them , how are they to get at the work in good earnest ? Perhaps in a week or two move we shall see our way a little more clearly to the answer to both these questions .

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      THE 'MANCHESTER EXAMINER AND TIMES , ' VERSUS CO-OPERATION . It has seldom fallen to our lot to wade through nearly two columns of a leading article so destitute of honesty , so much opposed to logic , and at such utter variance with all that can be looked upon as impartial , as that in a late number of the * Manchester Examiner and Times . ' One thing , however , is now demonstrated , viz ., that the working men of Manchester have their local presss completely against them , There is not one paper in that town which advocates the rights of labour . The grand movement towards

      Cooperationjis the thing which must be written down , or Capital , with all its boasted claims and neglected duties , will cease to hold the position it now does . We are glad that the question of Associative Labour has become the object of such violent attack , because the eyes of enemies are generally so much employed in the search for arguments to sustain their hostility , that the men against whom they wage war have constantly held up to view a most useful mirror , in which all the evils which are likel y to beset their ovement

      m are constantl y represented , so that they may be avoided or surmounted . We should bedoing the greatest injury to the cause we wish to serve , were we to say there are no evils to apprehend in the working out of the Associative principles . Those evils , however , do not attach to the principles themselves , but will be found lurking in the want of intelligence which , to ^ lamentable extent , ex-Mts amongst the operative classes . Wisdom , it l , ^' , »««!¦ good till it is bought . The wisdom

      r » 7 ™ * to repudiate strikes and to wLTh ° ° - initi *« <* the Masters-aa was the case some time ago in Sir E . Armitage's mill , S ! S 6 CaBe amongst the Iron Trades-has cost some millions sterling , but having acquired the wisdom thua purchased , they are less likely to pay so deary for anything th » y may need hereafter . The Mutm'nowstrike , the Men are too wise to » dopt such a foolish course ; and by the time the operatives have spent as many hundreds of pounds in associative attempts as they have spent millions in strikes , the great problem of this day will have received the most aatiBtactory solution ; the working classes will have

      ascended in the scale of society , and brains and smews wUl be considered as having some right to stand « de by Bide with capital . When , public journals , which have any claim to the appellation ' respectable , ' try to run down individuals , in order to damage some much-feared organisation , it augurs well for the cause which is thus asiailed . Mr . WttiuM Nswtqn U , by tho Examiner and

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      Times , ' held up as " a very suspicious persoT ^* one of whose , proceedings the Operatives shoui /? 11 the most distrustful . Nothing in connexion with * * dispute , which has come under our notice is »! »' of real encouragement as this . The logic of ?' ' Examiner and Times' is wretchedl y at faiJ ] t " is assumed that because former projects have f ' v none can succeed ; if this is reasoning , then We prove anything by that process . There arT- " Lancashire and Yorkshire numbers of Co-oper !* - " ' ' establishments doing well ; therefore , on the J ciples of our Manchester contemporary , no co-on tiveattempt can possibly fail . Besides , many ?" uruiB mi

      vara asoiuary lnumauais have failed T concentration of interest will infallibl y succeed Lr more widely diffused participation in manak m and profits induce certain failure ,-how is ft f many individuals are made bankrupts , while 1 ' Stock Companies become rich ? We cau tell \\ ' Examiner' why we . have seen so many abortive al ciative attempts;—it is because we have had n t journals as Manchester now has , whose vocati onithbeen to sow discord and spread suspicion among h men , whose masters sustain the advertisements i those papers , the scribes of which work to patter Another most unfair

      thing in connexion with th ' article in question is , that it never once refers to tb * noblemen and gentlemen who are willing to becotia trustees for the property vested in co-operative es blishments . Now it should be known that men c ' f wealth , of standing , of learning , and of Chri stian character , are willing to . stand by the meil who wish to work for themselves , and to protect others who may advance money to help the movement . The 'Examiner' laughs at the idea of £ 10 , 000 being thought enough to establish workshops ; we can tell the scornful scribe , that this sum is only apled « of earnestness on tho part of the men ; and that should the movement go on , as we believe it will , that £ 10 , 000 , 000 will not be wanting to consummato tlio wishes of the humane , and to liberate the poor from the death struggles threatened by Capital ana Labour . .

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      / NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNITED TRADES . T . 8 . Dwncombe , Esq ., M . P . j President . " fiat jusiiiia . " "If it were possible for the working classes , by combmir among themselves , to . raise , or keep up the general rale V wages , it peed hardly be said that this would be a thing not to i punished , but to be welcomed and rejoiced at . " —Stcabt . \ ilLt

      The relations between capital and labour are in avert unsatisfactory condition . The law assumes on tlie one haai ! that workmen have a right , by peaceful combination , to dictate to their employers the terms upon which they coj sider it would be to their united interest to dispose of thejr labour ; but they are forbidden , by the same law , to fe .-their fellow , workmen to combine or act with them , or the ? masters to accede to their terms , by means which are v > forth most explicitly , viz ., [' « By violence to the person ci

      property , or by threats or intimidation , or by molesting , Cr in any way obstructing another , force , or endeavour io force &c . " ] And , by the fourth section , workmen are not to le subjected to punishment [ "for . meeting together , orenteing into any agreement , written or verbal , among then . selves , for the purpose of fixing the rate of wages or price : which the parties entering into such agreement , or any tf them may require or demand for his or their work , or ' the hours or time for which he or they may work in any mm facture , trade , or business , &c . " ] : "

      Now , it certainly does appear to have been the intention of the Legislature to sanction tbe combination of workmen for the above purposes , within certain distinctly eaum . rated conditions . What is the common-3 ense meaning of the words k which those conditions are expressed— "by violence folks person or properties &c , or by threats or intimidation , oi by molesting or in any way obstructing another , &c . " D ) they not all imply violence , threats , intimidation , tucfei . tion

      , or obstruction , in a physical sen . e ? Any otherc ' tfinition would be absurd , and if intended , should have been differently , aud unambi guous expressed . And yet in tse VUlverhainpton Case , and in the more recent case of the Amalgamated Engineers , where anything ' like physical violence or obstruction to master or workmen is not ' even pretended , the acts , proceedings , and intentions of Borkimi men are tortured and twisted by all the ingenuity of literati an * judicial craft , into overt and criminal invasions of iti lights of capital .

      In the cases of Jones and Potts , of Newton , the Perrys , of Wolverhampton , or of Hibbert and Platt , of Oldhara , wist were the manifest objects and intentions of the combined workmen , but to compel these several parties , in their several cases , to arrangements which they deemed essential to their interests as skilled workmen -. and whether right « wrong in their views , so long as their proceedings wer ; conducted wuhin the conditions of the statute , fairly construed , we contend they are not , in either instance , obnoxious to tbe legal persecutions and literary vilifications t ) which a class judicature and a hireling Press have subjected them . J

      That , by the weeesa of the men , the employers would lia subjected to pecuniary inconveniences , is but the naturalinevitable , and retributional consequence of their own lacks It may be not inaptly compared to the inconvenient operationofsorae of the conventional laws or arrangement ^ society , upon the free actions of some of its members , who are , by them , somewhat molested and obstructed in their untiring efforts to grow quickly and inordinately rich , by irregular and very questionable means . If raoaey . geUiug is a vocation honourable without ; reference , to the honesty ( or suppose we say the equity ) , ci the means employed in its acquisition , in Heaven ' s nanif .-let it be

      at once publicly and unevasively avowed , d guarded in possession of all necessary exclusive privilege , M the most stringent legislative and legal enactments . W the political theory of the late Duke of Newcastle be cofflmercially established in the plenitude of law , " thateveif man has a right to do as be likes with his own , " witte * reference , immediate or remote , to the interest or welUfl of his fellows ; for such is , in unadorned truth , the position claimed by the present race of capitalists . But , surely , Hi seven millions of unenfranchised serfs of England may K allowed , or allowed or not , they will question the justices ' policy of this philosophy .

      Ihere are ( or should be ) always two willing parties to ' bargain , and no such intolerable assumption can be pr * tically acknowled ged as a canon of the commercial cofc without consultation witb , and the assent of , the work 8 men of Great Britain . Unquestionably it is just that men should be profitabl remunerated for the use of their capital ; the conversed hold ? good : that men should be profitably remuneratedt 1 the use of their labour , and their skill , acquired in p 1 ' instances by a sacrifice of the very best years ot their lift in directing that labour . But who shall decide , in either case , the jwwft * meruit of such remuneration . Our political economists » ' •' in this particular , miserably at fault . They talk f W enough of the profits of capital , without measuriiiK or «

      fining its equitable amount ; but when or where do lW speak , or even allude to the profits of labour ? such a t «' exists not in their commercial vocabulary . The legiti ^ profits of capital is now generally admitted to be ( vide , ' ' : Cor ,, Law speeches of Richard Cobden , John Brig ht , a ' - other luminaries of the Manchester school ) the dhf < which , m any case , remains between "buying in the cheaf * market and selling in the dearest , " albeit , two patent w benes may be committed , as , in the ( often quoted case )* the Corn Laws , in every transaction . The aid of ' : Legislature was successfully evoked to put an endW ! tl one profligacy , but to interfere in the other , and g < is pronounced to be out of the category of legislative W tions . ft ' °

      The great Adam Smith , to whom is ascribed the 1 ^' , of being the first man who reduced political economy ; . science (?) rather clumsily slobbers over this very i « P ' ! j question of the value of labour , as an essential ingredie » ;{ production , and entirely omits laying down any certain ^ , for its adjustment or proportionment ; but , if we «*« rightly ( for we have not the volume in our prison to ' ,, to ) , he disposes of the inconvenient question by the $ naive and unscientific dictum " that the labourer is e" " to as much as he can get . " , > , Certainly at , and prior to , the time when tbe ^ , father of political economy wrote , when labour n » !' , ' Bidered and treated as the personal chattle or Blare of < £ , who had the means of employing it , such a cavalier ™ i of defending its rights would ipass unquestioned V » rait vuwut

      ™ msereitea ; Dut , now , when so wr ^ - ji portion of the toilers have become reading , thinU « # t !) : reasoning men , it would be preposterous to suppose % they will be longer contented to permit auch a noo- ' tine auomaly to pass current . * $ We know that labour is an important —tho w ° 'V portant element of production ; and we should a 8 80 < y rate the play of Hamlet with its chief character e * gi : ; as a so-called science , which was ; divested of all co » sl two of its chief and moBii important element . . , t Certes , notwithstanding all that the Capital ^ f think . and do ,, backed with the paid | advocacy « J " Times " and « Dispatch , " the future relationa l labour and capital are rapidly approaching a » , > I Even the well-intentioned , though laboured wvy spiriting of that jmtly eflteemed Judge , lord W

      5to Erorrcgyoimghift.

      5 To erorrcgyoimgHift .

      $R&0**' L&Mfgence.

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      A .. . ... . . . . ¦;¦ - T-TfyZ- ^ -BTHfeft ^ STlRVf- ' :- ' * - " :- ; . ; . ^ : ¦ .: - ¦ .: - .. - - ' ¦^ . : -January 24 . i * ,.

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Jan. 24, 1852, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1662/page/4/