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    fact of that fearful competition in which the whole of society is enveloped , not only cutting down profits and di m inishing wages , but leading to trade frauds , and producing feelings of distrust , dislike , and animosity sufficiently strong to prevent anything in the shape of united action . To meet this state of things , it was determined first to attempt to associate workmen ^ for the purpose of carrying on business on their own account ; next , to promote co-operative stores , where the members combining small amounts of capital might supply

    themselves with the necessaries of life , avoiding adulteration and deception , and releasing themselves from the burden of profits , which form so large an item in their outlay . We have here , then , two separate nr . odes of action assimilating to those which prevail in the commercial world , the business of production on the one hand , andi that of supply upon the other . The first association of workers was that of the tailors , the manager being one of those who had been a constant attendant at the conferences .

    Afterwards , others were formed among the builders , printers , shoemakers , smiths , engineers , and ether classes of workers In some instances the promoters made mistakes , which t ^ ey freely confess in their report ; but their errors were on the right side , showing too great a facility tp afford help ,. and too hig h an opinion or poor human nature . The associates were selected without much , if any reference to their capacities or character ; indeed , without ' much regard to anything but their necessities , which led to trouble . It is no , disparagement to working men tp say , that they are not all fit for association . The same might be said of society at large , and would be true

    of any set of men taken at random from any class . The cpnditioB ^ s by which all have been surrounded , have not been such as to engender confidence , to promote good will , and a spirit of self denial , or to inculcate a habit of subordinating apparent individual interests , to the good of the many . when a body of gentlemen started with the notion that a man , because he was a worker , and in distress , was ripe for cq-operar tion , and had all the qualities calculated tp render the experi-r ment successful , they were only too likel y to find themselves deceived ; but their experience has at . least guaredd them against committing similar errors in future .

    Although several working associations have been formed under these auspices , we must regard the Council of Prq . r motera rather as a starting point , than the embodiment of a great movement . Their necessary want of business hatnits is indicated by tfyeirposition , and the funds supplied by them have been very small . As the report modestly observes , the capital of the association only reaches to about fifteen hundred pounds the annual income to about 2 QO 2 , Small means these to change the face of the world , and liift the working classes out ef degrar

    dation . Indeed insufficient to effect what has actually been accomplished , many of the associations owing their present position to the generous assistance afforded out of the private purse of Mr . Neale , one of the most active members of the Council . Still , more has been done than could havelieeii expected . That 1 , 500 ? . a mere drop in the ocean of wealth has worked wonders . It has proved that working men , when once they are enabled , to make a beginning , can raise themselves from wages slaves into comparatively independent beings . It has

    demonstrated that those who do the work of the world , without gaining any share in its magnificence , seldom even a small portion of its comfort , may make a . standing in society , and create for themselves great real power . The overthrow : . of an old system , and the establishment of it new . one , is of necessity 9 work of very gradual progress ; scarcely to be effected in 9 , generation . The first step is to show that it is practicable , and that the council of promoters have succeeded in doing . The rest the workers must mainlv do for themselves .

    The Co-operative Store was an undertaking for iphich the Council were far less fitted than for the organisation of working associations . It has an aspect of being commercial rather than philanthropic , and dealing with things less likely to create an interest than dealing with men . It was at first we believe , contemplated to establish merely a small business as a sort of model , and to promote similar institutions in many places , but by degrees the design grew , and assumed a form which did not enter into the original design . Scattered over

    the country , often in remote places , are many local stores , for CoToperation for supply is the easiest form of Association , and likely to be the first adopted . It became desirable to endeavour to give them a centre . This purppse , it was thought , the central store might serve by making it a wholesale rather than a merely retail establishment . For , this , however , several things were requisite . There were wanted a knowledge of the details of business , an acquaintance with the best markets , a constant and unremitting attention , and a comparativel y large capital . These were operations which the council were certainl y unfitted for , probably unwilling to enter upon , and what

    would have been the result we do not know , had it not been that the gentleman to whom we have already alluded came forward , and by the investment of a sum many times larger than that employed by the promoters , made the store what was needed . The Central Co-operative Store then ceased to belong to the Council of Pronioters , but they have still con-: tinued to take an active interest in its welfare . Its agents going through the couutry have done much toward organising the numerous smaller stores in connection with it , and it is now a flourishing concern , effecting , a large amount of material good , and shewing that honesty may be made commercially profitable . This subject we will farther consider next week . '

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    PEEE TRADE AlsD PAUPERISM . A " most imposing demonstration "—according to the Free Trade journals , has this week been made at Manchester . Above three thousand members of the parly , acknowled ging for its chiefs the " Liberal triumvirate Coblen , BiUGHT , ° and Gibson , have assembled in the town of Cotton to raise a sonv of triumph at the final downfall of Protection , and the victory of their pet system of unlimited competition .

    m In all sincerity , we begrudge them not the gratification derived by them from their light repasc , and the congratulations and boastings of their orators ; but the sad thought thrusts itself upon our minds , that whiie the chiefs of the Free Trade party are glorying in the success of their agitation , and bpastmg tjiat the nation fa regenerated and saved through / the w * 8 W oUte commercial systjsin which ttay ^ naW ' perfect ^

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    thousands of poor creatures are living in . ppyerty and mora degradation in that very city in which the boasts are uttered ; and that ,. in spite of all the Free Trade chiefs may say , the nation is not regenerated , is not saved . On the very next day succeeding that on which the Free Trade banquet was held , another gathering took place , also in

    Manchester , and the very object of this second meeting forms , in itself , a striking commentary on the boastful language uttered by the speakers at the first . The . National Popr Law Association would not exist—would have no need to exist , had Free Trade done all its advocates have promised it would docreated universal prosperity amongst the people , and ended their misery and starvation .

    Free Trade has not done so . Even Mr , Cobden is compelled tp admit that , notwithstanding the blessings of the new commercial system , agricultural labourers , " are not so well off as they should be" that the agricultural wages of " heads of families , honest and industrious men , don't average 8 s . a week , and of many working men in Dorsetshire and . Devonshire not 7 s . per week . " As yet , then , Free Trade has done but little

    towards " ¦ . saving" the agricultural labourers ; . and the establishment of the National Poor . Law Association , tp relieve the heavy-burthened tax-payers of the towns , of the expence of maintaining the able-bodied paupers , who are without food or employment , amidst the " general prosperity , " sufficiently shows how little has really been done by the . ^ cheapuers oi the food of the people . "

    As chairman of the conference , on "W ednesday , Lord Gode-RiCH occupied a nobler and worthier position than that of small satellite to the Free Trade leaders at the banquet on the previous evening . We wish the ^ National Fqor Law Association success . If it accomplish its objects—render pauper-labour self-supporting , and abolish the system of degrading and useless " tests" it will dp much to establish real prosperity in the country .

    Had CoBDEn and his partisans the welfare of the people at heart , tliey would , instead of assembling to utter useless boasting over their dead foe Protection , have joined Lord Qodeiuch in the prosecution of this important question of social reform . But for them the welfare of the people is nothing , their only desire is tp obtain such political reforms as shall enable them , with safety , tp supplant the old aristocracy , and achieve for themselves a still firmer hold upon the governmental ppwer of the country . :

    The absence of Hume , Walmsley and the more radical portion of the great " liberal" or " Free Trade" party , from' the banquet on Tuesday , is significant . " Snubbed ' and distrusted by the Cpbden and ^ BRiGHT section , when will these men learn wisdpm , and be bpld enough and holiest enough to throw themselves upon the great mass of the people ?

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    THE ENGLISH FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW . t It will be seen by the Thames Police reports- of the last few days , that in conseqence of a recent Act of Parliament , the Government , by an Order in Council , take upon themselves the office of apprehending , and delivering up , such seamen as may have deserted from the ships of any other country -which , by previous arrangement , may have agreed to perform the same offices for them . The countries as yet known to have availed themselves of this law , are Russia , Prussia , Austria , and the Hanseatic towns . At nisi sight this act may seem

    to be nothing more than a kindly interchange of friendly offices one to another , —in fact , only a further extension of the compact entered into with some of the European Powers and America , for the apprehension . and giving up of criminals and fraudulent debtors ; but , examined more closely , it assumes another and quite a repulsive aspect , one utterly at variance with English feeling , and the sympathy pftjie masses of the people . Time was , when it was the boast of England , and Englishmen gloried in that boast—that the instant the foot of the slave touched the hallowed soil of Britain , that act alone made him a

    free man . No power on earth could reimpose his chains as long as lie was contented to remain under the' protection of his adopted country . Fleets and armies would have availed nothing when an entire people would have arisen in arms in the sacred cause of human freedom , and in the assertion of the rights of holy hospitality to the defenceless stranger who had sought an asylum amongst them . This was well known , and none , dared to . question that proud pre-eminence which Britain made so emphatically her own .. But ( " How are the mighty fallen , " ) now the Government have constituted themselves detectives for the apprehension of the serfs the bondthrals of the

    Kussian autocrat , who may be tempted by the mildness qf our institutions , to exchange them for the irqn tyranny of their own . It may be attempted to be argued that tins law only applies to sailors who have entered into an agreement with their employers to perform a certain service for a specified considera tion , and that it is nothing more than just to compel the parties to abide honestly by their compact . Let it be remembered , however , that the Kussian is not a free agent . Person and property , he is at the disposal of his master , and is therefore prima facie disqualified from entering into any agreement which can justly be considered binding on him . We will , however , just suppose a case which , may possibly arise , and which will show this matter in a

    more startling li ght . America , let us say , has entered into this contract , —a shipowner of some of the Southern States may have on board a cook or steward , or in some unloqkea for emergency , a few ordinary seamen belonging to some slave owner , who , depending pn this law for the safe return of his human property , lias hired them out for the voyage . How must the bounding hopes of the wretched victims be pasted and destroyed , when British magistrates in obedience , to the unjust law , will be compelled to deliver them up to the chains and lashes of their task masters , and how must the high souled people of this boasted land of freedom , feel lmmbled and degraded in the presence of such a fact . Just now , throughout the length and breadth of the land , may be heard the rising murmurs of a mighty temnest .

    which mthe moment of its strength and power bids fair to sweep the hated name of slavery from the face of the earth . Uncle Tom ' s Cabin awakens the strongest and most sacred sympathies of our nature and makes us feel fit to dare and do everything in a cause so just and holy . How , then , will the nationb ear this unjust and unholy law ? Which cannot be characterized in any other terms than as the English Fugitive Slave Law . The utilit y mongers may say , it is only a precautionary measure of self defence to . secure the services of our

    own seamen , but the pretext is too shallow to require , any comment . Men , when well off , and liberally treated , know it . Servants , do not voluntarily exchange the service of one master for another , ' except for the purpose of getting rid . of ill usuage on the one * hand , and materially bettering their condition on the other . Let our brave tar ' s } e only paid and treated as well they are paid and treated by America , and then , even the utility mongers themselves , will adinit that we can dispense with a law which tarnishes our high renown , humbles and ' degrades the name of Englishman , and places onr country on a level with the slave-catching states of America , ft ,. NEWELL

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    THE NEW EMPIRE

    Last Tuesday ' s Times contained another crushing letter from " An Englishman . " We give the following extracts— -it is im , possible to fincl room for the entire letter : ~ - " Sir , —The curtain is rising on a second ' Empire . ' The decorations are prepared ,, ' the machinery constructed , the ' mise . en scene ' arranged , and parts allotted , but no man , not even the hero of the piece , can forecast its termination . " The history of tyrants is not seldom that of earl y promise cruelly belied , of plausible professions scandalously violated , of a nation ' s confidence volunteered in smiles , and recalled in tears and blood .

    " Napoleon Bonaparte , to ' save society , ' bayonetted , in the name of 'Liberty and equality , ' the national representation made himself First Consul to guarantee ' stability , ' announced that the revolution was * conduced , ' and protested tq the world that peace was the first necessity of nations , " and their highest glory . The Empire and its hecatombs are the commentary upon * peace ;'—Fontainebleau , Elba St . Helena , tlie Restoration , the . days of July , those of February and * December , are the bitter gloss upon ' stability . ' The imitations of the nephew are , of course , literal . He also has ' saved society , ' guarantees ' stability , ' struck , the ' cotip d ' etat' in the name of the ' Republic , ' elected himself President for 10 years , ' to close the era of revolutions , ' within 10 months commands the cry of ' Vive lEmpereur ! " and professes the mission of ; peace . '

    " The Imperial policy must not he sought in clap-trap answers to adoring prefects or blaspheming mayors , but in the instincts of a nature , the antecedents of a life , the passions o'f the man , and the laws of his position . '" I represent , ' he said to the . Chamber of Peers , ' a principle , a cause , and a ( Jefeat , The principle is the sovereignty of the people , the cause is the Empire , the defeat is Waterloo . That principle you have recognized , that cause you have ' served , and that defeat you would avenge . No difference exists between yon and me . '

    " The ' sovereignty of the people , '' of the Bonapartist pattern reigns ; the Empire is an accomplished fact ; Waterloo is yet to be avengep ! : that vengeance was promised in the proclamation to the troops on the 2 nd of December , it is fiercely debated in the messroom and canteen ; hot-headed colonels remind the soldier that Marshals of France started from the hut ; doggrel rhymes on perfidious Albion circulate in the faubourgs and the barracks ; the TJltramontanes curse the heresy of England , subscribe their sous to persecuted Ireland , and preach a holy war * , and the ' Constitutionnel , ' licensed by the Government , deprecates the calamities , insinuates the need , and demonstrates the facility of an invasion .

    K Jihe Empire is peace ! What are its credentials , where its guarantees ? Are they to be sought in the coup d ' etat , ' in a Praetorian camp , in Algerian regiments , in a Roman garrison , in half a million soldiers ? Do we see them in the liew fortifications of Toulon , in the busy dockyards , in the construction of the Napoleon , the . Tean Bart and the Austerlitz , in the prophecy of the Minister pf Marine that vessels such as those will ' decide the destiny of nations ; ' in the declaration of Louis Napoleon that ' the Mediterranean should be a French lake ?¦ Or , is it in Belgium we shall find them ? In the war

    of tariffs , threatened by Cassagnac , repudiated by Louis Napoleon , and carried out by huih-in the Bonapartist propagandism within , the concentration of troops without ; in the placards of ' Vive l'Empereur ? ' posted on the walls of Brussels , in the ultimatum of the Elysee against the freedom of its press ; in the treason of its Jesuits ; in their surreptitious petitions for annexation to France ' , in the dislocation of its Ministry—in the distraction of its counsels ? We are told of strategy and . of intrenched lines . But no strategy is proof against suborned disloyalty , and scarp and ravelin , parapet and fosse , are pqwerless to exclude domestic treachery ! The works of Vauban have been mined by Loyola .

    ' * The Empire , " says Louis Napoleon , ' i ^ peace . ' But what is born of violence must live by force . However Bonapartism may < rasconade , the Republic is not dead , or Henry V ., nor the Count of Paris . Principles and claims , though prostrate , breathe . They wait only circumstance and opportunity to renew the combat and unfurl their flag . Can Imperialism conciliate rights that it denies , or satisfy factions that it tramples on ? Can it crush liberty and disarm too ? '

    The dupes , the organs , and accomplices of Bonapartism are , or attect to be , m transports . Peace is assured , and Europe may disband , for Louis Napoleon has declared it . Germany , they write must regret her levies ; England must repent of her militia . After the conspiracy of Strasburgh , Louis Philippe trusted the plighted Honour of a Bonaparte , and was repaid by the expedition of Boulogne and by , the spoilation of his children .- France confided in a Princely word , and she is nQw enslaved . Thr Legislative Assembly credited Ins oaths , and it met with a . malefactor ' s fate . Word , honour , oath , are only counters in the game , shifted with the chances of the cards .

    llie professions jump with the occasion . To the army they are all eagles and joTy , Common' misfortunes , and revenge ; to the merchants of Bordeaux the conquests are merely of marshes and moiaiyfcy , Xhristianity and comfort ; to the Chamber of Peers he SSSS 1 ? ,- , micl 3 e had ' preferred abdication to acceptance of lestncted frontiers ^ and that 'he had never for one instant breathed m torgetfulness . ot that great lesson . ' ¦ TI ^^^ Tm ^ - ^ 11 ^ 11101 ^ 1368 ai'e drunk with exultation , ftfS T ^ \ , neck of Fra ^ e-the garotte prepared of ^ 1 * M ^ Roman Apostolic Church drtams once more ot uniyeisal empire . Before or behind its ecstatic obscurantism six vh

    i ^^ T ^ - ^^ ^ ve ^' ybeIieved this to ^ burn aS k « r The to ^ Aleuts that Luther was not StSu * * " ^ 6 In ^ lsition ; Dpnoza Cortez denounces reason anaSS ^' rtme Ti . ^ ^ Wsll 0 P ^^ * classics , voSS ? 7 ? i f ' prescribe fo ? the education of fiTi ^^ n ^ ' breviai T and paternoster ; IT < £ , ^ _ . ^ Gothland are on the road to canonization , Wlth Winkin

    rinfc ; h 11 T ^ 'f ^ S Mad <»™ > mating ttt o ^^ T ^ ^ 1118 ^^^ ^! gendarme who Sps J 5 ? - ^ 1 ' the sub -P ^ ct who endorse ? it ; episcopal thS J , 10111 ^ ^ P ¥ tolB , and Papal rescripts , all testify alike Sol t fe V 7 ? ^ f ? lllen on *^ Jesuits , that Louis Napoleon is tie ' cjiosen of the Lord , ' and that ' society is saved . ' had w ™ f / ^^ l } blas Phemous servility . Louis Napoleon ad &S ? ft * f ' Provide ^ e / The sacrilegious * title m 2 X 1 K Jr- Prefect ° Peri S ueux tfsptoyea in ! transpa-SS IT ° kS 11 ^ Stei > Nvith the Option beneath 1 ^ - JJietifit Napoleon et se reposa . '

    is : * iKjf ^ p i ^^^ ™^^^ Louis Na P ° leon Heaven ™ ^ and prelates salute ' the messenger of nuP ^^ r ? ^ " ^? i " ° died ' cre ^ d travesfcied , Genesis burles-SiUW ^ l T Wltllout a blush while France is made t 0 S W f ^ her fp ? its daily bread ' » d stutt ^ ^ s belief in his E " # ^ copacy cannot reproach its conscience with so much MffJ ^ - ^ P " - ^ ^ Qle ! m ^ ^ he piety and policy to raise the salaries of these hol y men . Oh ! mitred hypocrisy , does thy Jg jy ™ defy alike the chastisement of Heaven and [ the scorn

    Jesuitism plays the desperate game of double or-quits with Teason . Alter . the revolution of Eebuary , Catholic priests blessed the trees of liberty . After tlie coup d' etat they chanted a 'Te Deum' on its

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    ? o 3 THI STAIt Of IKOTQM 1 r CN « vs « q »» -

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 6, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1703/page/10/