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    of overthrowing those tyrannies under which they suffer is to strugg le for the obtainment of political power—equal political power for all—and that the best and only means by which that power can be gained is to act in unison with their brethren of England and Scotland . But Irish agitation is a trade , and there are no hopes of such a course being pursued by the men who so glory in the thoug ht of England ' s downfall , and who hope for independance , not by means of the patriotic arms of their own land but by the ruffian soldiery of the perjured Bonaparte ' . f mrprfhrowmsf those tyrannies nnrW wWli + l > mr ™ , «\ ..

    Notwithstanding the passing strange freaks of the journal alluded to , we must confess ourselves to have been considerably surprised at the appearance in its columns , unaccompanied by a word of comment , the letter of a correspondent , in which the public andprivate character of Louis Bonaparte is defended with a degree of ardour which the hireling scribes of the Elyscan journals might vainly attempt to equal . « Why " asks this laudator of the Decembrist , " copy the flunkies of the English press , by calling him 'Napoleon le Petit '?

    How can you tell but he may achieve the conquest of an empire which consigned Napoleon le Grand to the barren rock of St . Helena ? His career has only commenced Though of mature age , and heir to the greatest man of modern times , hehasnot had an opportunity of distinguishing himself " The writer has forgotten , or thinks the intelligence of his readers is not sufficiently great to render it necessary for him to show wherein consists the "flunkeyism" of the English press . Who betrays the greatest flunkeyism , the writers who

    nobly express their horror and indignation at the criminal deeds 01 tins monster in human guise , or those who like the correspondent of the Nation , degrades himself so far as to palliate those crimes , and defend the criminal , merely because the wretch panders to the priests of a religion which happens to he that oi the Nations correspondent ? Louis Bonaparte ' s career has only commenced , says his worthy defender , and it would seem that the commencement has been one well calculated to please that gentleman and inspire him with great hopes for the future . We all know

    that his whole public life has been one continued series of crimes , of perjuries , and treasons , that since his elevation to the presidential chair , he had never ceased to plot against the liberties of the people , to undermine that Republic he had sworn to defend , and to do all in his power to crush every aspiration for freedom within and without the frontiers o " f France ; and during ^ and ever since the crowning crime of the coup detai l has not his every word been a hypocritical lie his every action been a crime of the deepest dye , his reien a reign of terror , of robbery , and bloodshed ?

    Had no opportunity of distinguishing himself , forsooth ! He has had ample opportunity , and he has improved it He Ms distinguished himself in infamy ; the annals of crime record no more distinguished criminal than he ! And what he might have done had he been honest and honourable His elevation to the Presidency of the French Republic in 1848 , placed under his control the destiny , not oi France only , hut of the world . He had it in Ms power to have repaired the errors of the Provisional Government , the misfortunes

    consequent upon the fatal "Peace , " and "Respectability , " notions of the criminally incapable Lamartine , to have firmly established the Republican institutions of France , and to have struck off the fetters of the European nations , so enthusiastic in the cause of liberty , and so determined to be free . But Louis Bonaparte refused to tread in this , the only path that could have led him on to real greatness . Instead of aiding the people to obtain their freedom , he was eager to prove himself no enemy to the despotisms of the continent ;

    instead of freeing Italy , Poland , and Hungary from their foreign oppressors , he sent the troops of France to overthrow the Roman Eepublic and restore the priestly tyranny . We need not here capitulate the number and monstrosity of his subsequent crimes . They are recorded in the English journal s , in the writings of the patriots of France , in the pages of Victor Hugo , of Schcelcher , Xavier I ) urrieu , H . Mages , and others . And yet a man has the impudence to publicly assert that since Louis Bonaparte got power in France , he has used it to the right purpose !

    0 , shame for Ireland , when even her " democrats" can thus defend a perjurer and an assassin , and prefer the elevation of a miserable old man at Rome , and a few lying and intriguing Jesuits in France and elsewhere , to the freedom and enlightenment of the people . And still greater shame to the journalist , who should be the teacher of the masses , and who professes to be the exponent of Irish democracy , who can thus publish , without comment or disapprobation , the shameful laudation of Louis Bonaparte of which we have spoken . But it is evident that the " Joshua of the Irish people" also

    prefers the Pope and the Jesuits to liberty and progress ; for , side-b y-side with the song of praise to Bonaparte , is an editorial article in which the papal government ' s refusal to make any explanation with regard to the case of Murray is justified , and is spoken of as a matter for congratulation by the Irish people . Murray was a Democrat and a Republican , but he was the enemy of priestly domination ; it is right and proper , therefore , according to the "democratic" Nation , that he should be tried by a secret tribunal , and be put to death .

    Irish democrats , we are told , are Catholics , and have no S 3 mpathy with continental democrats , who are socialists ; they have no feelings in common with them . Out upon such democracy as this . We reply to these soi-disant democrats , that true democracy has no feelings in common with priestcraft , its votaries or-its organs , or with any men who can constitute themselves the defenders of despotism .

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    THE CHISWELL-STREET TYPE-FOUNDERS . Our readers will all remember the protracted " strike" of the type-founders in the employ of the Messrs . Caslon and Fagg , Chiswell-street , two years ago . The injustice of their treatment , and the mean and selfish feelings which dictated fhe proceedings of the employers , raised a universal feeling of indignation against those gentlemen , and one of the most cordial sympathy towards the wronged workmen . Thanks to that sympathy , and to the aid rendered to them by the typefounders in employment , and by the working classes throughput the country generally , the men were enabled to bold out .

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    wy gained tneir point ; the masters had to succumb and tnc workmen prevented not only a reduction of wees in that Srade ! ' With ° llt d 0 llbt ' ^^ ofaH the m ' n The « strike" lasted for two-and-thirty weeks , yet such was the generous support they received in their righteous struede te as appears by an account of the receipts and disbiSSaments just published , a copy of which has been sent to us , each person received , on an average , 10 s . a week throughout ^ whole period of the "turnout , " at the terminSn winch they had still something in hand .

    Ihis is gratifying , inasmuch as it proves the existence of a real spirit of fraternity amongst the workers , and also that , Jitti support , thC > working men may very successfully defend their labour against the encroachments of capital , notwithstanding ihe many and great disadvantages they labour under m such a strife , }} t ™ % utable that " strikes" very seldom tend to the benefit of the workers . The capitalist may suffer a money loss much greater than any one of them , or perhaps of all of them together ; but if he is only determined enough to make tms sacrifice , he is certain to conquer , as hunger , an enemy he has not to encounter , will fight his battle , and in time will bring the men to terms . Butnotwithstandinall thisin / ( . VAX lrllt

    , g , T — " — --- ^* . « - *^ * .. )* 1 H such cases as that of the Chiswell-street type-founders the men can only choose the lesser of two evils ; they must submit to the grossest injustice , or they must " strike " And although we should vastly prefer tlieir being in a position in winch they should be able to defend their rights with a greater chance of success than a " strike" presents , we cannot but applaud , so long as they have no such opportunity , their taking the only course which a sense of their dimity as men would suffer them to adopt . -rvr ¦* - JL

    We have often enough heard the complaint , as absurd as heartless , of the economists , that " strikes" are unjust , inasmuch as they are intended to exact a higher price than that determined by the labour market . But the real injustice is in determining the value of labour at the starvation point . It is the grossest tyranny for society to do so , and this tyranny should bo resisted by all possible means . The very term " labour-market , '' is an insult to humanity , for it implies that human labour it a thing to be valued only at that for which it can be procured . In the postcript to the statement issued by the type-founders , the sophistry and worthlessness of this favourite argument of the opponents of " strikes" is fully exposed : — .

    Capitalists and political economists are against strikes , and they urge their injustice , inasmuch as they are efforts to compel a higher price for labour than the state of the market will allow . This allegation seldom gives us much , concern , from the fact , that those whose work people are most frequently on strike , contrive to accumulate colossal fortunes in a very few years : We are therefore led to put little faith in the truth of

    the charge ; but even wero it true , does it follow that the labourer must live on in discomfort and privation , in order that the capitalist may retire to his country seat years the sooner ? To what national b .-nefit is a trade carried on to the advantage oi only one per cent , of those engaged in it ? What national loss would it be if we were to leave the country altogether ? Mem hers of parliament , and newspapers riiay quote statistics of

    imports and exports , hut where trades and manufactures are carried on under such circumstances as these , it is certain that , as evidence of a nation ' s prosperity , nothing can be more fallacious . If we are to entertain such objections , we may as well at once revert to primitive feudalism . It is also made an accusation against strikes , that they interfere with the operations of capital , and are therefore injurious to the public—we confess

    the impeachment , but not the usual inference . It is only when capital attempts to encroach on the rights duo to labour , that we resort to a strike , and then , what other resource is left us ? When a reduction of wages is notified , we must either tamely submit , or refuse ; a daily sacrifice of necessities and comforts is the concomitant of acceptance , the benefit of which we are at a loss to discover , and the producers are a very large portion of the public , whilst refusal is to strike , and were this alternative never

    resorted to , there would be no end to the reduction of wages . Apart from the . disagreeable circumstances incident to the best supported strike , they are always undertaken with pain , and nothing but the hope that the temporary sacrifice may prevent a permanent one , would induce working men to resort to them . It is only those whose incomes are limited , that know the loss of two or three shillings every week . Surely it is as much a duty to protect our means . of subsistence from the avaricious capitalist , as it is to protect our native shores from the invasion of a foreign foe . Not until capital and labour have a more tangible and abiding interest in each other , do we see how strikes are to be prevented . Were the remuneration of labour the margin of profit left , after paying the interest on capital and the cost of its management , antagonism would be at an end . As it is , supply and demand regulate wages , which means the lowest price at which we can be got , not the value of our productions to the community . We are therefore compelled to take measures to limit the supply of our labour in order to live with respectability when that labour is employed . It is not because they are unjust in principle that we have discountenanced and still discountenance " strikes . " As the

    type-foimders truly say , resistance to any species of oppression is nothing more or less than a strike : — We may also add , that to our minds all that distinguishes modern from ancient civilization has been won by strikes of one kind or other . Religion has been elevated from the formality of a ritual to the standard of conscience . Politics have progressed from the divine right of one to govern , to the recognition of the inherent rights of one and all ; and in the eye of the law , the labourer is no longer a serf , a mere chattel to a feudal lord . Did not the movements that initiated this improved

    order of things partake of the character of strikes ? What was Luther , the man that pulpit , press , and platform emulate to praise , but the leader of a strike against the mental despotism of Rome ? What is the history of the 17 th century in our own country , but a series of strikes for political find religious freedom ? * And of later times , what was the Anti-Corn Law League but a gigantic strike of the manufacturers against the monopoly of the landowners ?

    But we discountenance strikes because they do not constitute a means by which the desired end may bo obtained . And it is therefore that wo would recommend that the working classes should take means to prevent strikes , by such an organization of labour as would deliver them from the power ofthe capitalist , and by obtaining . possession of that political power -which is the only guarantee of social justice ,

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    PRIESTS , PELF , AND POWER

    A new agitation is breeding in Ireland , or rather , an old agitation is taking a new turn . A more vigorous and determined attack than ever is to be made upon the Irish Church . The Catholic Defence Association is to be abandoned as an instrument unequal to the work to be done , and a new religious Equality Association to be constituted in its place . The meaning of this is , that one sect , however large , is not sufficiently strong to act upon the legislature . A merely Catholic Association is not universal enough ' . The past might have taught the movers that truth before now . The

    emancipation of the Religionists of the Sister Isle was carried by the united power of the great majority of all sects dissenting from the National Establishment , and that is the only safe foundation for religious or ecclesiastical agitation . It has become apparent to Archbishop M'Halo , that something must be done to catch the Protestants , and inaugurate a common activity , hence the association about to spring into life . There is every probability that to some extent , at least , the attempt will be successful . With whatever suspicion or dislike rival professors may look upon each other , they have a common bond in hatred of the establishment . To all it seems

    a great injustice , representing the wrongs and the plunder of centuries . It fleeces the peasant who confesses to the priest , and the mechanic who sits under Mr . Snumebotham , with equal impartiality—It knocks for rates and tithes at the doors of all—whether they read the scriptures in the vernacular , or pour out their petitions in doubtful latin . It would as soon distrain upon those who denounce the doctrine of purgatory , as those who charitably hope their persecutors may make a long stay there . To satisfy its demands it would pounce

    upon the image of a saint , or Watt ' s hymn book , with precisely the same absence of compunction . It looks upon pigs as pigs , whether they be by ownership , puritan or papist It has no more pity for a Weslcyan widoAv , than a Roman relict . Looking upon all as fish that comes to the net . it spoils all . Tithes are a part of its temporal theology , bearing alike upon Protestant property and Catholic chattels . It would be a wonder if such an incubus did not ensure universal detestation , when it is looked upon as a legalized thiefand an

    im-, penitent thief to boot—a thief not crucified , but crucifying . A church with rich pastors , but without congregations —its ancient service drawled to empty pew seats , or not drawled at all—its clerks tithe proctors , and its processions , parties of plunderers—is a spectacle too scandalous to be patiently contemplated . No correctness of creed , or purity of doctrine , can atone for its" spiritual uselessness and its temporal evilness . In the one great hate of it minor animosities are hidden if not abated .

    It is probable , that beside a portion of the Irish Protestants the English Dissenters will also be led into the struggle . Our readers are already aware that Mr . Bright is in Ireland , and that ho has given signs of his willingness to act with the Religious Equality party there . We of course do not regard Mr . Bright as a friend of the people . The Manchester school does not breed helpers for us—but opponents of the bitterest kind . It is a levelling school down to a certain point , but not

    down to our mark . It erects the standard of property , and will maintain it as invetcrately as ever aristocrat fought for Corn Laws , or bigot for Religious Disabilities . Still Mr . Bright is a man of energy , ability , and great influence among his own class—somewhat conceitedandegotistical , and therefore conscious of his own power . Ho is a politico puritanical trader , with the commercial tendency uppermost , but with the sectarian as strong as the legislative impulse . He , with all his party , advocate anarchy without perhaps being thoroughly

    conscious of it—the anarchy of being " let alone " and doing " as they please . " Not anarchy for the people , but for a class . Freedoin to do good , or to let it alone , with the chances in favour of the latter is practically his motto . He has a horror of all establishments , excepting possibly the police . His aversion ranges with pretty equal force over armies , navies churches , by-law and Factory Supporters . There is no doubt that he would devote lavishly , time , talent and money , to separate ecclesiastical and temporal government , and get rid

    of the eyesore of Bishops in the House of Lords . We are very much inclined to think that this is the special path of agitation that lie has marked out for himself . It abounds with opportunities to employ his energies and satisfy his ambition . In it he may become in ecclesiastical matters what Cobden has been in commercial ones . This is the man whom the Irish hierarchy has pitched upon to aid them in their crusade , and if the alliance bo . completed , he will lead as large a body of English nonconformists to the invasion of the " sacred property" ofthe church , as Richard ofthe Lion-heart ' led mailed warriors to the invasion of the Holy Land .

    It is quite plain that the compact , if it . be formed , will be a hollow one—the allies aiming at very different objects . Bright and his party are for Religious Equality and voluntaryism they would do what " the spirit moved them " to do—no what acts of parliament enforced upon them . Their road to public worship is through private means , not over national property . Who are to be their coadjutors V The priests of Rome . The people distrust all priests . They not only distrust the for

    men which they have had too much reason , but they have a strong inclination to distrust the doctrines preached , not practiced . But of all kinds of priests the sort that is most feared by liberals , is that which owes allegiance to Rome , and numbers among its orders that of the Jesuits . The history of all churches present records of fraud , treachery , tyranny , and persecution , but Rome in that respect stands prominent in the present . Our English establishment is tolerably tolerant—it emulates Manchester in its will to

    £ i let alone " . Men may read their bibles or not read them— . bow in churches , or kneel in chapels , or do neither , as they list . It has become in its spirit , thoroughly commercial . Tho money changers are indeed in tho Temple . It require to be let alone , to buy and sell presentations and advowsons—to gather tithes and make rates . In short it is content with any-

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    ^ Octobeb 2 , 1852 . ^ THEJSTAR Of FBEEDOM . m mi . , .. . ~ ~— — ¦

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 2, 1852, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1698/page/9/