On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (4)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    DEMOCRATIC K0VB«B^

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    ENGLISH DEGRADATION . We have more than once adverted to the numerous cases of brutality towards women , which are daily recorded in the police reports . As regards crimes of this disgracsful nature , there seems to be ho improvement in the moral condition of the people . Day after day comes the long and sickening catalogue of crimes ; crimes as brutal and monstrous as those of the preceding day . One fellow makes a murderous attack upon several defenceless

    women , who endeavour to save a child from his beastly designs . One of those women had her face frightfully slashed and disfigured by the ruffian , before he could be secured . Another wretch , with the outward appearance of a man , but with . none of his nobler attributes , leaps from an omnibus , of which he is conductor , for the purpose of making an unprovoked attack upon an unfortunate woman in the street . He fells her to the earth , and then kicks her , and tramples her under his feet .

    This civilization of ours is a fearful thing , when under its cover such horrible scenes are enacted . In the most barbaric days of our history , we find no such atrocities . In past ages , it is true , much hatred and ] bloodshed , many lives taken for very trivial causes ; but the men of these times were free from the stain of cowardice—the basest of all cowardice , which enables a man to use violence towards a woman .

    Modern civilization is , we fear , but a whited sepulchre , having enclosed in its bosom the deepest degradation , and the blackest vice . What matters this electric telegraph and the railways , if the one is for ever aiding the pursuers of flying criminals , and the other fails in carrying from the dark alleys and filthy courts , where they are cursing and struggling in ignorance and intoxication , the " dangerous classes" of our cities for whom science has done nothing but by lessening their earnings , to drive them into still deeper misery and degradation .

    We would rather that the people were happy than rjch . Britain is in the present time very rich ; but the riches goes only to corrupt , to render effeminate and vicious the so called fortunate few who possess them . But look below , and you see a different picture . Eater that gin-palace , which is in a blaze of light , and see the British greatness there . A leaden-eyed , dirt-begrimed man , is vacantly staring in the haggard and dogged face of a

    miserable creature , whose long years of wretchedness have robbed her of all the softness of her sex . His hoarse whisper changes into a growl , as his demand for more money is met with an angry refusal or a sneer . Curses and threats succeed , and the wife who would once have gently pleaded with him , and begged him to remember the children starving at home , answers him in a tone of scorn and defiance . He raises his muscular arm , and strikes her

    down ; but when he has done so , no sign of remorse or shame is discernabie upon his brutified countenance . Meanwhile , a number more of those satires upon women and men are standing by unmoved ; the only difference visible in them being some increase in the vivacity of their conversation . All the while the sleek tradesman behind the bar is as unconcerned as if he were utterl y unconscious of all the vulgarity and cursing that is going on before him .

    Similar scenes are going forward in the interior of the wretched houses around . The idling policeman is occasionall y attracted to one or other of them , by a female shriek , or a cry of murder . The degraded brute , made savage with drink , has made a murderous assault upon his female partner , and in the majority of instances , without the shadow of a cause . The offender is taken before a magistrate , is sent to prison for a week or two , at the expiration of which time he returns to resume the shameful drama of his wretched existence .

    What other is the police magistrates and the "justice" they admmisture than a solemn mockery . Tae penalties they Met are not nearly severe enough , as punishment for the odious crimes committed , and it will be acknowledged by every one , they exercise no preventative power whatever . J ! '"!? T * r ! * lw * ofc' « i be - *•*¦> . * very dfeent

    . course must be adopted . The evil must be attacked at its , oo t A moral reformation must be wrought in the minds of this deluded class , they roust be awakened to a sense of their dignity as man so that wey may feel ashamed to commit such a cowardly and unmanly action as to rai-e their hand against a woman

    How isth , s change . 6 be accomplished ? Their conversion into nraerable slav . ng tools has made them what ' tliey now are . and so long as they remain tools , with no knowledge of lusher dunes or nghts , reformation will , be impossible . G , ve them ' an education and en ow them with the right , of eH »* Hip , and when I ev " n fl '> " , h . f "' th 6 y " indeed men ' * « ° » le * 2 K HO , % - ^ . ta * , i ^ highly , o cominue I , , h e present path of gutlty despoliation . It is by this means onlv £ « e can hope to put an end , „ those horrible assaults llpon w « m ? a spec . es of cnme which is a disgrace to the British JL '

    Untitled Article

    jThb Continental Tour op niimivi * vtr ^ C ^ W S fBBH ^ to inaugurate a miraculous statue of the Sn S ? I Cai » t >™ , larks in it , mouth upon ^^^ oti ^^^ T ^ a procession of another miraculous picture " ihl v J . headed radilionis , that it would ^^^^^' ^ Ml ^ rSffi&ss £ S& $£ 3 i Samson's head by Dauhh , andhe wsaoU ., i . if ¦ cut " wWch the operioit * MS fife $ •**»> # * th f the hmetkc ant inorl Sous fa Sf " ^ W ?** *

    Untitled Article

    MR . O'CONNOR AND THE 0 CONNOR FUND . In a recent number of the Star of Freedom , we mentioned that we had communicated with Dr . Tuke to ascertain , if pos . sible from that gentleman Mr . O'Connor ' s position as regarded health and other circumstances . Only this week we have rec eived the following answer , which , as it must interest numbers of our readers , we take leave to publish : — •' Manor House , ChUwick , October 101852 .

    , "Sir , —I regret very much that your letter should have remained so long unanswered , I was anxious to do anything I could to assist Miss O ' Connor , " but I have been obliged to wait till I could discover what ray power to help hermight be before I could reply to your note . Any funds that Mr * O'Connor may have I can only keep for his . own use ; this appears to me your committee can do just as well . It would be impossible for me to give any part of the subscriptions raised for him to hia sister ; I think , however , under , the circumstances of the case the committee might carry out the views of the subscribers by giving some assistance to Miss O'Connor .

    • Mr ; O'Connor has much improved in health since hU residence here , he is in good spirits , and 1 have continued to make his confinement as little disagreeable to him as possible : it would be premature to give any positive opinion as to the final result of his malady ,. . I have had the great advantage of Dr . Conolly ' s constant advice and assistance in the case , and no means have been or will be left untried , that may conduce to his recovery . " I have Sir , the honour to be , " Your ' s very faithfully , "Harrington Tuke . " "To 6 . Julian Havney , E < o . "

    It will be seen from the above that Mr . O'Connor s general bodily health has improved under Dr . Tuke ' s skilful treatment , aided by the valuable advice and assistance of . Dr . Conolly . This is so far cheering . It will be seen , however , that Dr . Tuke speaks with less confidence of Mr . O'Connor ' s restoration to mental health—a matter which even those who wen Mr . O'Connor s political enemies-not to speakl of his friends—can hardly fail to deplore .

    ^ Regarding Miss O'Connor , there can be no question that Dr . Tukb is acting perfectly right in refusing to devote any monies entrusted to him for Mr . O'Connor to any other purpose whatever . There can be no more question that for the ' committees to act as Dr . Tuke suggests , would be strictly in accordance with justice to Mr . O'Connor , and also with the intentions of the subscribers to the O'Connor Fund . On this last point , the subscribers may set aside all dispute by instructing the committees as to their ( the subscriber ' s ) wishes , ' It should be remembered that Miss O'Connor is the nearest relative to her brother , tliat up to the time of his

    removal from Parliament she resided with him , and upon him was placed her whole dependence Deprived of that stay , her position is now a most unhappy one—to be imagined , perhaps , but not to be described . We put it to the friends of Mr . O'Connor whether , under such circumstances , it is not a duty to allot to his sister at least some portion of the * funds raised for that gentleman ? . Speaking for the Ashton friends , Mr . Aitken has already intimated his wish that the sura sent from that town shall be handed to Miss O'Connor . We advise all the subscribers to consider this question , and impart their decision to the two committees without further delav .

    Untitled Article

    SATAN REBUKING SIN . The Times of London favours the people of the United Slates with some friendly advice as to the manner in -which » hpy ouoht to behave themselves towards Cuba .: It is the opinion of this leading journal of . England that the prosperity of this country , which it admits to be solid , sudden and dazzling , has been achieved bv peaceful industry and bold but well-weighed enterprise . Accordingly , our true policy \ s to continue in the same career , and not loose '

    ourselves arid virtue in wild and dishonest schemes of foreign aoopandisement . Besides ,, contmues . our venerable adviser , if ; tempted by the greed of dominion and of extended territory , Amerca should thus transgress the eternal principles of justice , relentless retribution will pursue her . crime , she will be condemned by the public opinion of the world ; and even if for the present she escapes the punishment that awaits her , she will be left alon « to wear the brand ol

    piracy in the eyes of other and holier nations , and especially of England , a power exemplary in moderation and tenderness for the riahis of others . Of tins peculiar honesty which lends so radiant a lu ° ster to the history . of John Bull , his great newspaper cites a special in Stance-m the case of Madeira . That Island John has never stolen therefore he is a glorious example for . the imitation of the United States .

    If there is any cause for disgust when a lecherous old rascal boats of the punty of his morals , or a notorious usurer or thief ; assuming the smirk or piety and philanthropy , descants on the bea . tv of the golden rule , a lecture on national justice and reject for others ' raSIife ^ Wl ^ *^* % M W well provoke pawing of What

    * sense nausea .. hesitation has the British Government ever manifested when the interests of British shoo keepers were balanced against the rights of weaker nations ? When has England refrained from an advantageous seizure of new territory ihatcouH be safely accomplished ? Wherein British history J * monuments of that national deference to the eternal prinrioles of justice which The Times , with pharisaic srav . ty , prSt our edificnnon ? Are they to be found in Ireland ,. or in India , or in China ? Was it m the opium war that these heavenly laurel of moderation and right and honesty were twined for the British arms ? Or is „ , n ihe recent grab of the Island of Ruauui , or in the Moll E ^

    i Butas , accoT , lmg to the Catholic dogma , the nth of relWon are efficacious though the priest who performs them be a Ju " o r- h . s . truth , though dropped from ly in * l , ps , and vviSdom ° is Ms ta though uttered by a charlatan And so , ^ baieve , w « ih ' oTS ?} W , we hold iw . doctrine io be . sound and its advice crOod 1 true that the only solid and enduring outness of an « £ n mu < i b soil , i , in , be ' nig , ™ air of ^ 11 ^ ^^ ' « £ the nation that commits ii . Bui iabou ^ nH « T ¦ ¦ f ? Q | B for and diffusion of wealth and If tZliSto TT' - ^ 'T * thinking hea 4 and the creative hU * * K will not Tf * f ^ illustrate our country ^ but are pregimn with hV ? , y , u ' ^ , tWworia .-few fork tribu $ ^ * ' * future Ubenies **

    Untitled Article

    PUBLIC MEETINGS . ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST REPUfin , The commemoration of the great date of gem 1792 , was this year celebrated without official pomn r 22 . ance , but with religious faith by those of the refuS ° ' ^ ' don , who form the Society La Revolution . b ° m V These citizens looked upon it as a duty to salute > acclamations that epoch , already distant but imnioT i llC | f the Revolution affirmed itself , — in the plentitude or , u ! le « before all the peoples , in constituting its sovereiirntv ^ ° *

    -They believed that that glorification should not bo mark of respect , a salutation to the heroic legend , a trT ^ ll homage , but rather a political protestation in the " a ' Right , always implacable and always livino- althn «» t llaiftB f » f sent its apostles be subjected to fetters , to exile , or V i They believed , that at the moment when , in their eusl « ° - sad country , the dictatorship of crime effaces even tl > ' ^ name of the Republic , and prepares its last orgie thp ^ 8 Rcr ^ —it was welbthat that Republic should be saluted , con i ** anew by some of the exiles , and that the puulic ' prof ^ the Right , should be raised against the impious hVn ' ° of the savage clamours of Force . ^ ns » l M

    It was in that double tc ought of filial piety towards which was so great , and of implacable protestation a ^ i * ? present , which is being made so little , so low , that the La Revolution met in a family sitting on the 22 nd

    torches of the world , and whose light is always the terror f crime ; then it was the woeful epic of the country , re count 1 in its miseries , its sublime fraternity , and its hopes ahv deceived , by Remi , who expressed them in a manner as ' touef ing and simple as the subject , or as the labour of the fields ' " afterwards there came the bloody tragedy of Paris , and tl ' cruel episodes of the Pontoons , denounced by Cahaig ' ne one of the victims of the 2 ud of December , as he has been in ' all the struggles of liberty against despotism .

    Several other toasts were drunk . One by citizen ltaisio " to the workmen of Paris , " another more energetic , by citizen Pardigon , to the Revolution in the departments , " and a third , by citizen Magnet , " to the direct and permanent sovereigntyof the people . " Citizens Delescluse and Ribeyrolles , likewise spoke some verses were read by . George Gafftiey , of Harve , and revolutionary songs followed . At length the sitting was closed \\ the president , who , as orator , had opened it , with the follow ' ing speech : —

    Cituens . —It is 60 years since our fathers , in an assembly whose memory is imperishable , proclaimed the Republic and characterised their work by rnakinj it a new era . It was new indeed , and without relation with the past , that Rejiubiic whose fundamental principles were Liberty and Equality , as the aim of society ¦—¦ the common happiness , as means of government , the immanent direct «/«/ intranimUsible sovereignty of the people . Whatever may be said by superficial minds , who look on . nothing but forms , she proceeded neither from Athens , Rome , nor America , that Republic , which , coming from the very source of philosonhy , pushed its conclusions to the utmost logical consequences , anil which , nevertheless , departed not from reality . Equally removed from 1 lie old senitwte

    and from chimeras , she was at once of the ajie and of humanity , living , practicable every where ; for she replied to her detractors by the mouth of Kobepiewe , and of Marat himself : " No , no move agrarian law tlrnn community . The one ; will conduct to the ruin of France , and the other will lead to despotism . Neither the one nov the other is capable of application witli a great nation . That which society owes to every citizen , is the guarantee of labour . " Ami afterwards , she still said to those , who , exaggerating the Revolution in order to

    procure its overthrow , demanded that all the steeples should he raxed , tecam they were against the laits of equality . Insensate men ! equality is not in matter , but in riRht . —( Prolonged Applause ) . —Eh Wen , citizens , because the tribune where these great truths were proclaimed , is destroyed , became the press , which has spread them , like a clarion , to die four quarters of the world , is no more , must we despair ? Must we despair , because that great word Republic has a first time disappeared unite the smoke of glory , and because to-morrow it may be again eclipsed by violence , or before the prestige of a name ? Because we , poor exiles , are reduced to

    celebrate in a corner of a strange land , this immortal anniversary , that our follies ' notified to the world by the thundering voice of cannon , —must we despair ? Ah ! I understand in antiquity , how great citizens pierced themselves with their spears , that they might noi survive liberty ; I understand Deroosttaw putting to his mouth an empoisoned dagger , in order to die free ; I understand Cicero baring to the stetl of the aiaassins of Antony a neck docile and resigned , for Athens and Rome were but iuminons points in the universe , beyond whinh all was darkness and barbarism . Those proud souls , those manly hearts , laigH therefore despair . But now , when the idea hus penetrated like ether ,

    everywhere , when an extinct crater may re-open a hundred times , to despair ! Citizens it will not be only a crime , it will be blindness , it will he folly !—( ThumlM * ol A « pp lause . )~ -An instance will suffice to prove it . We see what Europe ff » 1792 , and we see what it is now . In 1792 , it arose as one man at the voice oi its priests and kings , to roll upon Prance and extinguish the torch of the flotation ; whilst now , it from the . balcony of the Hotel de Yille of Paris w ; isis * the cry of deliverance , it would be responded to from Home , from M « BI * Berlin , Pesth , Varsovia , and even Madrid , that old cradle of the inquisition , from the the whole of Europe , by these two magic words : —Universal Kei" * " February has mv > uant <> st ;* •« .. _ i .. » ¦ , .. \ r nn i-nnwit : ' February has presented it to but sincewhat i You know it : ^

    us , , progress <« ravine , not a rock , not ji mysterious wood that has not been visited by ^ ' cratic word , and where solemn oaths have not been sworn . - ( That h ^ io , tW » s true . )—Instead of remaining within the provisions of our father * , we fc ' . advanced beyond them , for Saint Just , the most adventurous mind of ttaiftl cious epoch said : "Many generations will pus * away , before the proi * . ' nounemg their prejudices and tbejr pride , will consent to live under ihe ' »*» justice anU equality , and to adopt the same democratic form of goverunw ^ And nee , nevertheless , citizens , scarce half a century has elapsed , u « d « ' « " ^ f is accomplished . Let us then glorify oui- adversity , fop if « 'o nre tm ^ , quuhedinthe fact , we are the victors in the idea . —( Unanimous cry of ye > ,. Without

    doubt it may arrive that , if the luminous ndge of the Mw " •^ ' for an instant , under tliebrutal imprint of the fact , us it sometimes h » l > F ni ) ti a ilark cloud spreads over the earth and intercept the light of the \ wm ** ' . brothers , do we doubt the light , for that . Do we not know tliut above \ W lionzon there exists millions of millions of skies which « ot the 1 ^ . . b with sple ndour their-eternal coiliw , thus it is with democracy ; i ^ mu ,. , „ unperceiyed , is incessantly agitated , it is felt , it is experienced , so to > •¦ he moral world , in the same manner as the physical world frels « nd w |« - he influence of electricity , before the thunder bursts in the bosom ot « ' «• , ( Prolonced ApplauseO-Citizens , the priests and the despots , all tl . ost' to ¦ ^ of ihe ideas , sleep iess tranquilly than we in our defeat ; for they **» w t if they have * for them , —with some pririleges , armies of merceuanwr - , ior us the inipreaeriptuble right , —the living laith , the martyr « ( ilu . entire . } r * it , we nw victors of the jden , ( hat should he . >)' as ° " -

    Democratic K0vb«B^

    DEMOCRATIC K 0 VB « B ^

    Untitled Article

    las ! HE STAR OF FREEDOM , [ Octobe

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 9, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1699/page/10/