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Northern Star (1837-1852), 8th May 1841, Edition 2 of 5, Page 4, Untitled Article

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    • THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1841.
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      Untitled Article

      TO WILLIAM 10 VETT . DEAR StS ., —As you addressed a circular to me in-¦ viting me to join you in the formation of an association to promote the advancement and the political emancipation of the people , I owe it to you , as an act of courtesy due to your character and former Berrices in tfcs cause of the people , to state the reasons why I decline co-operating with you now . I may observe , in the first plaee . that with many of the sentiments embodied in the Address to the Political sad Social Beformera I cordially agree . We have committed many errors , it must be confessed ; and would be greatly benefltted by the prevalence of a kindlier spirit amongst ourselves ; the absence of much of the pomp and pageantry to which you have alludedthough of -trhich you , as well , as myself , hare been both the abettors and the recipients ; and I desire , also , to witness a more intellectual character in our

      movement ; more mental and less physical power applied to crush those who , by fair speech and smooth words , seek to seduce the people from the onward path of principle . But admitting the necessity of correcting errors and supplying defects , you . hare failed to establish the necessity of a new National Association . Unless you are so uncharitable as to suppose that the members of the present Executive , or of the National Charter Association , would wilfully reject improved means far obtaining their freedom and happines , yon had no reason for superseding ^ he present by the formation of another Association : still less were yon justified in doing this when you had never attempted to prove its insufficiency , and at the very timt , when you said 70 a had no spirit of hostility against it . Your first step , therefore , appears unwarranted , and inconsistent with the very spirit and principles of Chartism .

      Again , —The means which you took to introduce your views amongst us , and to elicit support , were contrary to that open , manly style which the lore of truth and of free discussion would dictate . Your document professed important national objects ; and it was privately and confidentially addressed to a number of selected individuals . This secrecy was illegal on your put , and involved all who countenanced it in an illegal act of a rery serious nature . Had it been a development of a plot to overturn ly force the existing Government , the peculiarity « f the case would have justified it ; but when it was apian submitted to the judgments of those to whom it was addressed , and depended for the success of its avowed objects upon the soundness of that Judgment , you ought to have aTaDed yourself of the advantage which discussion would give you of having onnd viesr ? formed by eliciting free expression of opinion .

      By a blind faith in your judgment , and reverence for your character , many thoughtlessly complied with your urgent request , and replied by return of post They have since reflected , and have , had the mortification of discovering , by not " taking a night to think cat , " they have temporarily perilled their characters , and the cause they thought to serve . This circumstance proves that however calm , clear , discreet , and henest a leader may be , it is always well to think before We act under his guidance . As you deprecate the evils of leadership , you will , I hope , feel more honoured by the sentiments of an

      independent thinker , when differing from your own , than you will by tke blind submission of his will to yours . But supposing that we were" ready to overlook and forgive the insults which you have virtually given to the members of the old Association , and the inconsistency between the democratic objects of your Association , and the aristocratic manner of establishing it , sod also discharge from oar minds the suspicions which the whole circumstances naturally awaken—supposing that we merely consider the comparative utility of your organisation aad plans , we ought , I think , to withhold cor support from yours for several reasons .

      That the erection of halls of science , libraries . lectures , &t , for the people , is a great and desirable business , I must admit , but previous to this , or tinmltooeously with it , there should be a thorough chaage in the physical condition of the people , far less toiJ , more food with the lighter work ; a substantial increase of substantial things -would be necessary to secure you audiences to fill them , to listen to your lectures , and to enjoy the intellectual feast Without this previous physical improvement , your halls would be an unfeeling mockery of a starring people . If the higher classes choose to erect halls of science , out of the wealth obtained by starring the people , let them do so . It would be quire consistent with their other philanthropic schemes which you hare often eloquently

      exposed ; but do you really expect to realise from those who earn twopence a day , a quarter of a million of money , to be invested in the erection of halls or the formation of libraries ? Supposing that you could raise this sum , is there no other more us * ful purpose to which it coaM be applied ? What would you say to investing it in the purchase of land , tha cultivation of the soil , rescuing the agricultural labourer from his serfdom and misery , and our manufacturing population , fcy establishing manufactures , from the grinding rapacity of mill ewners and capitalists ? This would be an active , ever-increasiag and useful application of the peop" : e ' B capital ; or suppose , as suggested by the editor of the Star , -we employ the artillery of the press against the ; citadels of i ? ni > -

      tance . Will it not be more effective in enlightening the people upon those subjects upon which knowledge is at present most required , than lectures upon general science ? We -Brant knowledge , it is true ; but all knowledge is Lot of equal value at all tiraee . Political knowledge , and-wilhi : political power , is the one t hing needful now . Tour scheme would , therefore , waste a large portion of our resources . There is an order or method in the law of progression with which your scheme does not harmonize , but with which it is at variance . Practical philosophy rejects it—oppressed humanity pronounces it a mockery : Your Chartist

      brethren , and old and honoured companions , are ponied with it , or suspect sinister- . iEfluence and Bini * ter objects . Your countrymen , "who loved you , sorrow that you should hare taken up a position so strange and suspicious . Tarnish net the lustre of your fair name by perseverance in a course which is opposed to their feelings . Their gratitude and concur cannot eo-exist with the esteem and approbation of their deadliest enemy , and vilest .-deceiver . Trusting that you may have the wisdom to discover aud tha magnanimity to confess your errors , I am , yeur former Friend and Brother Ch'rtist .

      J . Williams . P . S . —Lest you should consider those s- 'ntiments as * sHed forth by the condemnation you have received from others , I may state , that on receiving your circular I communicated to Mr . Deegan , who was present at the time , my opinions upon " it , and be can prove that they were subsrantially those . contained in this letter .

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      THE DISCIPLINE OF BEVERLEY . " Ill-fated man , for whom * neh various forms Of misery wait , and mark their future prey !" Bishop Poetecs . to the editor op the x 0 kthes 2 * siar . SlB ., —la the history of the Inquisition we frequently read of the unhappy victim beiDg released awhiie from the horrors of the rack , in order that expiring nature might gather strength to ensure the torture of his hnman fiends a little longer . A similar practice seems to be adopted in the cos * of Mr . Peddie ; although it has been repeatedly proved , by his indisposition , tha ; his constitution cannot bear the torture of the treadmill , yet the moment he rallies a little again in rprard to health , he is as invariably aga : n subjected to the brutal discipline and treatment ; bo njnch so , that at last the surgeon has found it imperious to interfere ia his behaif . After sympathising with his wife on the trtnb . ' e and distress that his last eonmmnicaiion had for some days © osasiosed her , ovring to the glsoiny bat rrn « pietmt be had drawn to her of his skuition , he vrrites : —

      " These last nine weeks my health has retra ^ nded « adly , and my appetite has been very bad . For these ten days back I have been unable to eat as much food as I usually did in one day . I am troubled with a -constant and very oppressive pain &t the breast , very severe headache , and so weak , that I feel it a labour to write to you . That this 13 the effect of the barbarons torture of the treadmill is now evident , and its continnance at last acknowledged to be dangerous . If my last letter grieved you , the one I intended to have written this day would not only have grieved you , but When published cauld not have failed to hive produced much excitement upon the public mind , as I intended to have dragged every circumstance before the public eye that could have shown all the real suffering 1 have experienced , as I feel no inciination to be sacrificed ¦ without a struggle . But , thank God , the immediate motive is now removed .

      " To day tha state of my health was particularly « xvnined , and the conclusion is , that the surgeon has found himself called upon to interfere , and ordered me sot to be subjected to the mill a ^ rain ; a longer continuance being obviously dangerous to life , so that 1 have Sow the prospect , the cause of illness being removed , of a restoration to health , unless indeed the seeds of consumption are not too deeply planted in my system to 'be rooted out by any alteration in my subsequent treatment , ail the appearance of which I at present , it must be confessed , carry along with me ; but which I trust win in a few weeks disappear , as I have every confidence in the skill and humanity of the surgeon . " Tour exertions have , in some measure , been Mtowned with success , in directing a considerable por Man of public attention and public sympathy to my aase ; I have a strong hope that God will crown with his H ruffing thos « efforts , and turn even the hearts of my tnly bitter enemies .

      " I fly fo * comfort to the living fountain of all true consolation—the word of God , and have found much from two passages , the same that comforted the heart tt the perMeated John Banyan when in prison tike myself for bis love of truth ; but not like me condemned to ths extremity of physical suffering—not like me , denied the use of the tongue ; for he preached in -prison to all that came to hear him , and they were many—Bot like me , denied the liberty of writing down present thoughts for after twfnin& « for he wrote his immortal 'Pilgrim ' s Progress' there—not like me , subjected to % most cruel and truly annoying surveinaace ( so that I even cannot'eomply with the most urgent calls of nature , tt £ knetl to mj . dungeon in prayer to Almighty God , ni under the Immediate inspection of a fellow-crea-* »« 5 jtor heeoBtt 8 Btly preached from the window of

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      his prison to the people is the street . The passages that comforted bis Blind , and impart the same feeling to mine , are : — " I will take care of thy remnants ; leaveU 37 fatherless children to me , 1 will preserve them alive . Let thy widow also trust in ma , " " To Mr . Martin , Mr . Vincent , the Ret . Mr . Hill , Mr . Malcolm , and the gentlemen of the public press , who have generously exerted themselves la my welfare , return , in my name , my wannest thanks . Tell them that my hope rests in a great measure upon them , and that I believe that , if the Whigs are left t » themselves , I shall , if God spare me ^ remain here every hour of my barbarous sentence . It please * me also much , to learn that I am not forgotten by my friends in the country as well as the metropolis .

      " I have seat yon a long rhapsody in rhyme . To your getting it , I do not anticipate any objections , as I have obeyed the injunctions of the magistrates in confining myself to the expression of my own feelings . The measure is eccentric and irregular , and perhaps does not merit the name of poetry . It has , however , answered one good end to me already by affording occupation for my thoughts ; so you will not wound my vanity in condemning it " Such , Sir , are the heart-ending statements given of his inhuman treatment , by an innocent victim of Whig tyranny . I need not add any remarks of my two . The bare recital will be sufficient Yours , Ac , Jane Peddie .

      The Northern Star. Saturday, May 8, 1841.

      THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , MAY 8 , 1841 .

      Untitled Article

      THE BILLING AND COOING . Thank Heaven , since we last appeared , we have witnessed the self-humiliation of the basest , the most brutal and bloody faction that ever appeared upon the stage of life . Is there not a striking similarity between Buxton's drunken " Beadle , " who requested a friend to lend him 5 s . to fine himself for being drunk , and her Majesty ' s servants who requested us to lend them two millions four hundred thousand pounds to fine themselves for being rogues , and the people for not getting drunk ! However , Jim Crow has been dressed for the part which he is destined to play for the benefit of Melbourne , Russell , O'Coiwkll , and Co ., both in England and Ireland .

      What was considered the minimum of justice to Ireland has been reduced by just 60 per cent ., by the process of increasing the rateable franchise from £ 0 to £ 8 , " to conciliate the enemies of Ireland" as Mohpeth said , —an old , but fatal experiment ; while the real enfranchisement ^ of Howick , —not bis £ 5 rating above rent , bat his £ 20 rating npon occupancy , —was nobody ' s child , because it would extend the franchise immeasurably , and do away with all perplexity of registration . That question , however , has been set at rest ; it has answered its end , and we are spared from farther consideration of the base and nngentlemanlike trick .

      Bat how do matters now Btandl Jim Crow has been dressed up for both England and Ireland . Upon the Irish side , ia Morpjbth ' s extinction-ofleases plan , which will be called Universal Suffrage ; and npon the English side , is Cheap Bread and Sugar . In Ireland , whatever the Ministers may suppose the principle will damn them ; while , in England , the time , the mode , and the reason of its development , will make them sink even lower , if possible , than they before stood in the estimation of every honett decent aad virtuous man .

      How do they stand npon this question ! The fop Minister , the palac e buffoon , set his face against it , and Russell gave no hope ; bat when the Chancellor of the Exchequer wants two millions four hundred thousand pounds , and finds the national means incapable of bearing farther pressure , he Lays , " I'll pat on a bit of liberality , and go a popularity hunting ; bat I mast start with a principle : '' and he accordingly discovers , and says— " No axation could be so injurious aa a permanent disorder in the national finances ; and the sum they had now to prtvide for was so large , as to make it absolutely nccessaiy to act with some degree of boldness . "

      Such is the Whig whip , after nine years retrenchment ! and the English ef it is , " nothing so damnable as that we , the ministers , should be without pay . " Well , the Chancellor goes to work , and says , " from reduction of timber duties I will insure an increase of £ 758 , 000 , but I will be content with £ 600 , 000 ; upon sugar , a great article of consumption with the hand-loom weavers , I will create , by reduction of dutie 3 , £ 060 , 000 of an augmentation . " Bat take it at £ 700 , 000 , and the remaining £ 400 , 000 , ( for he only required £ -1 . 760 , 000 for the permanent thing , but £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present emergency ) he would anticipate from his noble friend ' s Corn Law scheme .

      But this is not the best of it . The £ 1 , 700 . 000 is to be permanent , the additional £ 700 , 000 only temporary ; that is , give it once , and then get it out oftb . 9 devil ' s exchequer who can , or reduce our wants below that amount any other year who dare The surplus of £ 700 , 000 for the present emergency , Mr . Baring says he will have no difficulty with , as he can give an order upon labour for that amount in Exchequer Bills , payable by the people .

      Just so the matter stands . The oligarchy in the midst of more poverty , distress , and dissatisfaction than ever was known to exist in this or any other country , and after nine years of retrenching reforms , says , ** our expences have increased beyond your means of supplying the needful , even with bayonets to help us in the collection , to the enormous amount of £ 2 , 400 , 000 for the present year ; and if you let us get a House of Commons upon the popular principle of increasing wealth by increasing con - sumption , instead of having recourse to direct taxation , then see what we will do for you . "

      Let us see if in this new scheme as regards the nibbleat the Corn Laws , whether or no , as in all other eases whero Whiggery is concerned , principle has not been sacrificed to expedieacy , and whether the alliance at Nottingham was half as " unholy'' as an alliance would be between the total Repealers and those who distinctly admit the justice of taxing food bo as actually to make a tax of £ 1 , 600 , 000 upon corn , part and parcel of the permanent burden of the country .

      Let this be borne in mind , that Mr . Baring and hi 3 party are now performing a " bold stroke" for a place ; that he says , " No taxation could be so injurious as a permanent disorder in the national finances ! " By this he means , that all should be made easy ; that both ends should be made to meet ; and tbat a scheme , not to be sessionally altered , should be at ouce proposed , having permanency for its object . How then is the permanency to effect

      the principle of untaxed food ? and mark the only grounds upon which the holy brotherhood of parsons have been induced to join in the cheap food chorus , " O ! it is unchristian" — * murale not the ox , " and bo forth : while the revenue derived from the Corn Laws last year was £ 1 , 200 , 000 , and which Mr . Basing designs to increase , PKBHANEJirxY , to £ 1 , 600 , 000 , as a thing to be calculated upon in aid of aristocratic demand a d payment of her Majesty ' s servants !

      But then there is one part of the subject which must be kept uppermost in the public mind . It is this : —there are two questions ; the one is the raising of fifty millions sterling annually , and the other is the means of doing so . Let it ba observed , that about the first , that is the raising , all are agreed ; that's settled ; for , be they Whiga or be they Tories , while there ia a shot in the lecker they will have it out .

      But , then , we come to the means , which are merely problematical . Should the electioneering , dissolving , specious means of doing the thing , by the fascination of a sugared loaf and cheap timber , instead of direct taxation , fail , what comes next ! Why , only an issue of £ 2 , 400 , 000 worth of Treasury paper , and » frefh pull on the Savings' Banks , that is £ 2 , 400 , 000 of direct taxes . And here ' s the juggle ! Like the Irish Registration Bill , the Ministers neither hoped , expected ,-cur intended its success : bat if lost , it will be s good hustings clap-trap of Ogh ! you tee

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      we offered to do anything to conciliate the old enemy but , no , ti was impossible 1 " Then with regard to taxes ; see the danger in following a vicious guide . The "Whigs " out-run the constable ; " they increase our expenditure by five millions sterling annually , and then resolve still to hold on by the *• purse-BtriDgr ** they propose a measure against which their Prime Minister set his

      face , not with any , the slightest , hope of carrying it , or of realising the promised results if carried , bat with the single intention of compelling their successors in office to do that by direct taxation , which the charming Whigs would have done with a sugared hot loaf . But the country will remember that however payment is called for , the retrenching Whigs oreated the necessity by their unprincipled expenditure of the public money .

      When a dissolution shall come' it matters little to us what the real or ostensible cams belli shall be ; we are only to think of the past , and to use it as a warning for the future . With this view we unhesitatingly declare , that the nine first years of Reform wholly under Whig dominion , has be « n a period of national distress , private suffering , and class intolerance , for which the whole annals of English history furnish nothing like a parallel . That they have been compelled to draw their precedents for liberality from abroad , and afar off ; for instance , from India and China , for

      which the people paid ; while every English freeman's bouse has been made a den of slavery . Expenditure increased , places multiplied , cruelties practised , without even pretext of law or observance of decency ; poor working men held in bail of £ 1 , 000 , and incarcerated for merely attending public meetings , ( to which they were invited by a Minister of the Crown , ) for periods four times as long as those to which the very worst description of imprisoned felons have been subjected ; the right of petition destroyed ; the right of meeting to petition invaded by

      brute force ; riot transformed into high treason ; ugly looks into riot , and foul thoughts , engendered by fouler acts , construed into conspiracy ; our Judges , for the first time in English history , flying , for Whig convenience and love of persecuting the people , from the old and long-established acceptation of the hobgoblin , " conspiracy , " the most damnable fiction of our criminal law : in short , search hell ' s records , and when you shall have struck out crimo for crime , still will the Whig catalogue be the blackest in the country ' s annals . Nothing ever bas been likei t—nothing again ever can be like ii—and nothing like it should'have been .

      O , the delights of being an appendage to such a step-dame 2 Canada , in her "honey moon , " is to have an inorease of ten per cent . laid upon her exported timber ! Edward Ellice has no wood lands in Canada ! Under all the circumstances , then , what becomes the duty of the country when the questions propounded in the House shall be discussed upon the hustings ! We have had the anomaly of nine whole years without an opposition in the British Senate House . We have had a set of licentious slaves , disregarding popular opinion and support , and enabled

      to do so in consequence of the unprincipled wholesals support , through good and bad , sunshine and cloud , of one political knave . And this is what they call abolition of rotten boroughs ] having substituted rotten men for them . This must be stopped . We must hare an opposition for her Majesty . She is not safe . We repeat it , she positively is not safe without it . A parliamentary opposition is a royal Ealety valve ; -while an unopposed licentious Ministry ( and all unopposed Ministers are licentious ) is the greatest enemy of royalty , without being a friend to

      democracy . We must , then , take care that the Whig members in the next House are too small for a party , and too large for a faction . As many as two hundred would produce anticipations of a return to office , and consequent caution in the establishment of evil precedents which they may be called upon to fulfil when in power . One hundred and eighty would be a kind of crisis . One hundred and fifty would make them rabid , and one hundred and twenty ( just the right number ) would make them ite .

      Let us , then , have the biting minority of six score , if we can 1 and such fun was never seen in Tooleyetreet among the tailors ! It would be Bedlam let loose 1 Then , instead of "I am free to confess that her Majesty ' s Government had no alternative but in the strong arm of the law to suppress popular insubordination , " we shall have "Give us OUR Charter . " " Universal Suffrage and no SuanENdeb ; '' " The Constitution guarantees and the Reform Bill promised it . " " Let in the Thames to cleanse the House . " " Hurrah ! for Cromwell , " " O , for Wat Tyler , oh Jack Cade ! " " Give US OUR Prisoners . " " No Vote , no Tax . " "Let the People back us for the only thing worth having , THE YOTE . " " We never were Whigs ;

      WS WERE ONLY BACKERS , WHILE YOU WERE RUNNING FOB THE ThlAL STAKES . " " We WEBE KNOWN TO be Chartists . " " We must have the Charter . " " Ireland as she ought to be , or Ireland in a Blaze . " Now such , we assure our readers , would be very bland and courteous language for a biting minority of 120 ; while the very same 120 making part and parcel of 250 , would but look for a reaewal of office and approve of all that had been done , as the best means of insuring electoral support .

      People of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales her Majesty ' s servants , your servant' ) , will shortly appear before you with an appealto theirpast services , as reasoas why you should vote a " permanent tax , " to pay their salaries—for that is the real" casus belli . '' Do they deserve it ? Wo say not . Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales ! ought you not to be proud in thus being justified in your opposition to the" Plague , " who have compromised their principle of untaxed food , by actually supporting a proposition which has for its object the infliction of £ 1 , 600 , 000 annually upon that very article of food f

      Men of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales what now is your complaint ? Is it not that you are poor because yon have no controul over your labour ? once , then , get a Corn-Law-Repeal-House , and what , we ask you in the simplest language , have you to expect , but that you will be wholly at the mercy of men who , with some opposition , have ruiued your country , wasted your property , disjointed society , made sterile your fields , made bleak your homes , callous your hearts , and cold your hearths ; who have dragged the wife from your bosom , the child from your knee , the sire from your corner , and the mother from your embrace ?

      Once repeal the Corn Laws without having a voice in the making of those laws which are righteously to adjust the great change , and how will , you regulate demand and supply ! How , with the facility of a House of Masters , giving themselves facilities ia procuring fictitious money , can yon stop the creation of four times the quantity of machinery now in existence , ( and now too much , ) or regulate its

      productions , or have over it the slightest controul Can you stop gambling in your labour ! Will America , the Brazils , Russia , Germany , or Prussia wear more coats , breeches , shirts , and stockings than they want , that you may have , in return , a Bufficienoy of food 1 If you make too much , who will £ ive you food in return for a mere drug Must you not make slaves of yourselves to undersell them , or starve in idleness 1

      Get your Charter , and then " go to bed by steam , and dress yourselves by steam , " in the language of Butterworth ; but get a HouBe of Masters without the Suffrage , and then go without bed , or clothes to dress with ! Now , then , has oar struggle commenced I " Fustian jackets , " watch every man and every move , oars among the rest ; and , upon the first note of desertion , kick him overboard : defeat every meet ' ing for everything short of the C / iarter , bui not by

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      brote force , as the Whigs did at Birmingham . Bat if you are struck , stbikb !—if you are insulted , retaliate ; but beware that you are not entrapped . A great , a mighty effort will now be made . If we are but true to ourselves , the battle is ours ! but if we renew the Whig tenure of office , nothing short of revolution can cleanse the " Augean stable . " Whoever is for peace and the Charter , let him bold fast by vb , ; and " nosurrender . " Whoever is for a House of tyrants to lord it over slaves , let him cry " Hurrah for the Whigs !"

      OT 3 RBATTLENOW IS , ANTI-WHIG , ANTIPOOR LAW , ANTI-CORN-LAW . REPEALWITHOUT-THE-CHARTER , ANTt-RURALPOLICE , and anti-oppression in all its hideous forms ! Onwabd , and we conquer J backward , and we fall !

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      THE HAZARD I THE LAST THROW OF THE DICE I The time has at length arrived when neutrality is criminality , lwhen indecision is cowardice , and when delay may be death . Unfortunately for our enemies , they have exhausted their whole strength and expended their ammunition ( before the battle ) in forced marches , where there was no point to defend ; they have discharged their heaviest guns in mere Bham fight ; and , now that the charge has been sounded , they have no reserve , no plan of attack , no safe retreat ; indeed , no forces ready for the engagement .

      The press , the generals in this fight , have had eight day ' s opportunity to put forth their whole strength , and what do we find ? So far from a single new point being urged in favour of a total Repeal of the Corn Laws , we bear an invitation to parties who not long since declared anything but complete repeal to be a farce , to join those who have considered the gradual settlement of the question the safest and most judicious plan . Here , then , is indeed an "

      unholy alliance" between parties who look for a fixed duty as an end ; with those who hail it merely as a means to an end ; the effect of which end would be to prostrate England and every thing English , in chains before those foreign caterers who would condescend to feed us from their store . It is bad enough to be fed by three Devil Kings ; but how much worse to be at the mercy of the Autocrat of all the Russias , the German Diet , and the rival Republic of America I

      But we say that the press has brought up no reserve to reinforce those troops which , for twelve months , we have required only to meet to insure a triumph over them ; no matter , whether in skirmish or pitched battle . We must therefore aBk , what are the new pretensions of our subdued enemies \ We look in vain to their leader , the Morning Chronicle , and there we find the old hash not even warmed , but

      merely tossed up and served with its cold sauce , unseasoned by a single spioe to give it a flavour . In fact , the only change which we can observe npon the eve of battle , is the very reverse of what we should expect from an able General . Instead of seeing the troops in closo column to receive the first charge , we find the rank and file thrown into open column thus : —

      " Had repeal of the corn monopoly been proposed immediately after the passing of the Reform Bill , when there was an overwhelming liberal majority in the House of Commons , it must have been carried . " Thank you , Chronicle , it would have been carried 1 and hence was it not proposed until disappointment from Reform had rendered its support a good electioneering clap-trap , and its defeat cer-:

      tain 1 Yes , it would have been carried ; but is there another paper in Englnnd that would thus , in one short sentence , heap odium upon the men whom it professes to serve by reminding us that the House , when strong , devoted its giant strength to coercion and starvation , and now , when weak , parades its own dishonour for the paltry purpose of holding office upon a question which the Chronicle tells us it has lost the fitting time to carry !

      Again , then , we say that they have no reserve ; and we have not yet fired a single shot from our exhaustless store . We begin the campaign then , by thu 3 taking the head of our troops , and telling the whole enemy to come on I We tell all parties that the day , nay , the hour , has arrived , when each and every man in the state ( bo his political opinions or rank in society

      what they may ) must make up his mind to take his stand upon the soil or upon the mill-shaft . Ours shall be the battle of the soil against steam ; not of the landlords of thesoil , whose supineness weakness and folly we most heartily despise , and who dead to the voice of justice or humanity , must now awaken themselves to the cry of " necessity , " and 11 our estates are in danger . "

      Is not the present unenviable position of the landlords just what it ought to be , and just what it was sure to be ! While strong and powerful , they lent their trength to every enemy of the people , in whatsoever shape he presented himself ! At length / heir turn has come ! At the dictation of the Tamworth Baronet , they

      mortgaged themselves , when they vainly hoped only to mortgage the people to the fund-lords ; but the steam-lord 3 having appropriated all beyond the meanest subsistence , as their share of labour , are now about to throw the lords of the soil upon their oun resources , as the tender-hearted lords threw the people upon their own " poor resources , " having first allowed the masters to rob them of every

      resource . The laud-lords gave the parsons seven years' renewable tenure , well secured . The land-lords gave the steam-lords a rural police to coerce the poor to work for little , or die without a murmur and now has the day of retribution come ! The minister who not twelve months since registered a vow to stand by his order , flings them overboard , and merely delay s their ruin by a time just sufficient in the English of LordJ . RussELL'sannouncement . tomarshal

      all the hostility of the country against them ! Yes , his Lordship ' s declaration is notable ; " he postponed the consideration of the question to allow the country time to meet and speak . " Let the friends of the Noblo Lord take warning by his Lordship ' s invitation to the people to meet , and speak out ! and let the brawlers take heed lest Whig persecution of poor working men for obeying his Lordship ' s invitation , may bo turned into a good precedent by the Tories for committing the damp Repealers to the well aired cells of the Chartists !

      Again , wo say that we have neither sympathy nor compassion for the landlords ; and if it were not prudent in a consideration of the question , to distinguish between the soil and the lord of the soil , we should gay give them all that punishment which they have so justly merit ! but inasmuch as the lords of the soil cannot be punished , without at the same time punishing the innocent people , we make a distinction between the land and the landlord .

      Now , to argne the relative value of steam or soil production to the whole people , whether they be of the aristocracy , the middle classes , or the lower orders . In the outset , we say that we are for the moat perfect machinery which th * jcindof man can invent , provided it is made man ' s "holiday instead of man ' s corse . " In the wise and startling words of Mr . Butterworth , lately delivered at Bradford : —

      "We cabs wot , if Mb . Cobden caw op to bed BY STEAM , AND DBESS HIMSELF BT STEAM , PROVIDED THAT STBAM DOES WOT TAHJS THS BKO FBOM THK WORKINa MAN AND LEAVE HIH WITHOUT CLOTHES TO PUT ON . " . - ¦ .. ¦ ¦ -.-, .

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      Wo have no hesitation in saying that if the above sentence had been spoken by either Sir Robert Peel or Lord John Russell it would have been printed in letters of gold , and would have been a golden peg upon which the Lord or the Baronet might , with safety , have hung an immense weight of folly .. It was a noble sentiment . It , in fact , embraces the whole question . ..,- . "¦ ¦ ¦ " ¦ . ¦ . .. ,. ¦¦ . We will consider whether a tepeal of the Corn

      Laws would convert machinery into man ' s holiday , and would spare Butterworth bis bed and clothes ; and ask over whioh of the two means of productionthe natural means of the land , or the artificial means of machinery , any government , even oneelected by tha whole people , would have most controul ; and whether a House returned upon a pledge to repeal the Corn Laws would be just the House to give the people a greater interest in the produce of machinery or the benefit of the repeal .

      Ih the first place then ; we say , in contradistinguishing between the power of the people in acquiring controul over the land and over machinery , that over machinery , not more than one in five thousand of Bociety can have any controul ; in machinery not more than one in five thousand can have any interest ; and under machinerynot one even of the five thousand can , by possibility , have any security ; while , in land , every individual in the State may have an interest , amounting to house ,

      food , and raiment , according to the expenditure of his labour , which is his capital ; and which is a thing divisible into the minutest parts , according to the most humble means and wants of each j over land the people may have controul ; under land the people may have security ; and all these advantages may be made to flow from a proper - system without in the least degree diminishing the lents of landlords ; on the contrary it would increase them by bringing them into the retail market .

      But , says the scientific political economist : " what does the operative know about land I what does he care about land ! " We answer , quite enough , without intending to devote himself to Hs culture , to teach him that he can have more controul over the land between Bury and Manchester , than over the lands of Russia , Prussia , Poland , Germany , or America ; quite enough to know that all that is now required for his complete and entire subjugation is to destroy his home market for consumption , and take from him all power of control over his market for production . He now sees 60 per cent , of his order unemployed , while he does not hear of a single man being found naked in the atreet 3 of St . Petersburg ' o , Vienna , Berlin , Warsaw , or New York , for want of his produce . He sees 41 per cent , ef his order at half work on half-pay , with store-houses full of his produce : while his belly is hungered , and he is told : —

      "Aye , aye , true enough ; but you know if we could get corn , ( all that our customers have to give us in return for labour , ) you would all have plenty . " And he says" Yea , verily , I know it ; but will the /; . give us their corn for dearer manufactures than they can buy at home 1 " " O no , no ; but then we shall be able to compete with them , and even to undersell them at home !" " How , pray ; how ?" " Why—why— -why—why , you know , by—byby—by , you know—O , cheap food , of course . "

      " Well , but must you not sell cheap to buy cheap ; and is not our labour the thing yon sell , and our food the thing yon want to bay , and sell us second hand !" 11 Why—why—why , you see the labour would not be cheaper—but the food would . " " Well , if the labour was not cheaper how could you compete or undersell , especially , when our labour has to pass through the Royal toll-bar , the Funded toll-bar , the Army toll-bar , the Navy toll-bar , the supernumerary King and Queen toll-bar

      the Court toll-bar , the Civil List toll-bar , the Police toll-bar , the Church toll-bar , the Judges' toll-bir , the Half-pay toll-bar , the Place and Pension toll-bar , and all the other tollbars , to the amount of fifty millions annually ; together with the side gates for foot passengers , such as the Corporation bar , and the Water-pipe bar ; the Gas-light bar , and the Paving and Watchingus bar ; the Catch-thief bar , and the Gaol-committee bar ; the House of Correction bar , and the kill-the-Chartists bar ; and then , at the end , there ' s the four-thonsand-millionB-personal-debt bar 1 "

      " O , don t you see , we have nothing to do with that ; the customs and duties will be taken off , and the excise , and land-tax and malt-tax will . ' pay all those things . " " What ! then , after all , you are obliged to fall back even upon our vices for support , and still to tax our land , eh I Get thee gone , thou barefaced rascal J thou hast had plenty of opportunities to serve thyself , and ub , too ; but thou hast ruined thyself in trying to ruin us , —so get thee about thy business ! I am not going to be tailoring on the shop-board , or

      be stunned in the rattle-box , for the Russian , the German , or the Prussian , while he is getting more wages by my dependence and working his own bit of land for himself in peace and happiness , the produce of whioh will always be worth something and which he may sell , or let it alone ; while if YOU don t selliiY produce at your own price , I may starve and be damned till you get a demand for my supply !! But harkee , Boniface , when did thou ever do me a kind turn in all thy life ? Tell me that , and I'll rote for thee . "

      " Well , come , never mind ; let bye-gones be bygones ; but just let us join to beat the odious landlords , and then thou shall Bee . " " Nay , I'll join for now ' t but my Charter !" tl Well , but just help us to get the Corn Laws repealed , and thou shall have that after . " " Nay , never agaiu ! Thou cheated me in 1832 , but thou'lt not do it again . " Such a conversation , we think , best illustrates the objects , motives , and views of those with whom the people are now asked to join .

      We have frequently told our readers that the landlords gratuitously sacrifice ten millions annually in rents , in order that they may hold the exclusive representative power which follows the possession of land , and by which they are enabled to share in all sorts of pelf and patronage , at least one hundred millions sterling annually . * , Now , once alter the system which thus makes it worth their while to sacrifice so small an amount of " rent" to so large an amount of " render , " and you bring all the land of the country , ( at least as much as our present scanty population would require , ) into the advanced retail market .. But once get a House of Commons sufficiently strong to repeal the Corn Laws , and then farewell Charter ! farewell

      Household Suffrage with a Lodger clause I farewell Household Suffrage of any sort I farewell repeal of rate-paying clauses ! farewell to the removal of any single obstacle at present in the way of the franchise ! and welcome tyrants to what you have long looked for—a House of Masters !! Yes , give us such a consummation , and at once England becomes a slaveland beyond redemption ! her people dependent upon the domestic tyrant for employment , and upon the foreigner for support ! Then farewell green fields of your fathers 1 farewell to the liberty of your sires 1 farewell to the beauty of your daughters ! farewell to the independence of your sons j farewell to all that is dear to man , and lovely in the sight of God ! home , peace , religion , and contentment ; all , all , farewell ! I

      Who now was right V We told the people that the fellows who asked us to join could get Household Suffrage without ns ; let the people see that they have been offered their own measure against our consent . v . " These are the times to try men's souls . " No Repaal before the Charter ) Down with the tyrants who , in their strength , gave us coercion , starvation , transportation , incarceration , a Rural Police , and the ArmB Bill ; and who now , in their weakness , would sell us to the slave-drivers for a quarter ' 8 salary ! Down with tb ^ e nasty , unprincipled , dirty dogs 1

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      MR . HENRY HETHERINGTON AND THE NORTHERN STAR . We had prepared an article in reply to Mr . Hethebington ' s somewhat u odd" letter , but u Mr . O'Connor has replied at great length , and as our space is wanted for intelligence of tho " moY » - ment , " we shall permit Mr . Hetherington to walk quietly off with as many laurels as he can carry away from | the field ; merely referring attention to his letter in connection with that of Mr . O'Coiwoa and with the knowledge that all our readers haveof our whole political career .

      One word in reference to the letter of Mr . Cmn . We never charged him or auy of the eignen with having direct intercourse with Mr . O'Cossaw We have never impeached his honesty ; bat we do impeach his judgment when we see him lend himself to the furtherance of a scheme which is clearly calculated to serve all the purposes of O'Connell and the Whigs , and by th « same process to damn the people's came . So far from the Star or Mr . O'Cohhob having any dislike to Mr . Cleave , we know that Mr . O'Connor has ever expressed for him a very great personal regard , and we really think he has no right to complain of personal attack , or even slight from us .

      We shall conclude by furnishing Mr . Clkiti with a more appropriate motto than he kit selected" Would this band were off before the deed wu done . " ¦ The remaining portion of O'Connor ' s letter to Mr . Hetherington , being a development of plots , plans , and conspiracies , we chose rather to withhold till our next , than to place it at the end of that portion whioh we now give ; when that comes , wefaney that the country will be able to estimate the talk about " the sword and the scabbard , "—they will see wh » first drew the sword , and who , for four years , ha continually parried the thrust without retain * ing it .

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      THE NOTTINGHAM ELECTION . By the Pope , it was a smasher ! to have so roused the bile of our virtuous cotemporaries . The Dispaleht certainly a most able journal , we consider the very worst authority upon the subject , as there is too much personal feeling mixed up with the matter between the leading daily and the leading weeklj prints . If the Devil had opposed Walter , Pobucou " would have exclaimed , " O ! what a nice Devil let us have him by all means . " Since our friend , the ex-alderman , so unceremoniously hung up hia

      aldermanic toggery in Farring don-without , or Cripplegate , or whatever ward had the misfortaw to receive the cast-off garment , the feud has been deadly between the rival papers and belligerent Editors . The Examiner also raves , and calls the alliance an " unholy alliance . " While we admit the Examiner to be a great authority in Courts of Justice , the Cabinet , and " Boudoir , " we must reject his opinion upon all matters of principle ; because our friend has certainly favoured us with themo » fascinating representation of Jim Crow in higH life .

      The Dispatch speaks as though the Chartists « Nottingham thought the House of Commons consisted not of 657 Members and Mr . Walter , bot » if the House consisted of Mr . Walter and 6 * j others , thus mJiirgMr . W . the " head and front . This reminds us of an anecdote well told in the hffltory of the Irish wars , and as it is quite in P <«» we give it . There was a large body of militia men and volunteers encamped upon the Curragh of Kildare , and amongst other officers , was one LieuteM " Po , who , being an original , was always counted « J a squadron in himself . Thus if any one »<*« ° "how many at sucha party , " or "howmany / toing ^ such a party , " the answer was , " twenty fiTe , « " twenty , and Po . " . ..

      Upon one occasion , Lord Cathcabt appointed " day to inspect the force ; and upon being met 7 the adjutant , his Lordship inquired , " Well , Adjutant , what ' s your strength V " 16 , 000 and W my Lord , " was the reply . "Po , Po , Po , " repeats his Lordship , " why , damn it , have you ^^ . ^ pot ! " "No , my Lord , but a very distingue officer of that name has given rise to the joke . Now we beg leave to assure the Dispatch l although we do not suppose that the return or _| Walter will send the other 657 to pot , yet ^ make many of them sing out . It is * trick vy . followed up at Leeds , York , Halifax , Bra ^ Wakefield , Haddersfield , Manchester , Bolton , w *\ port , Liverpool , Stroud , and Leicester ; ana » other places will shortly find it out . _ ffi What , we should like to know , would Mr . J » V take for the reversion of his seat * We haveBW ** suspicions that the Hon . Gentleman would _ JJ ^ even alter the bastardy clauses inthe new ^ "T . fatal to poor men under the 43 rd of Elizabeth , »» to poor women in the 3 rd of Victoria . On the result , the World writes as Mows :- , " The result of the Nottingham election and tb » £ turn of Mr . Waiter—owing in a great WF * . Z ^ \ suppor t which he received from the wortm * ™^ has caused a wonderful change in the tone « Morning Chronicle , which begins to find out taw ^ day Ugojie / wben me people wmtnake ^ saonnw ' the Whigs * for no better reason than tbat tS £ oB * keep out the Tories . The lewon hai been » u * w ^ and will convince Bome of tho » e in the upper tw ,

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      THREE GLORIOUS DAYS ! Bt a reference to our columns H will bn . that the People's Parliament haa ^ bled ; and npon ihe exertions of the pe ^ themselves must wholly depend its efficiency . Th man who requires more than merely time for sigajj ,-his name is not worthy the name of friend w Patriot ; and ten second * being sufficient for th « process , who can refuse ! Let Saturday , Sunday and Monday , then , be three glorious days ; and eTe glorious they will be in the annals of the count 4 WAWW — Wiltau /

      * . Q ... - **~ j r » - -y «*• vuv ( x [ JJQ CQUUtrV if the signatures of the working classes p roc ured within that time shall ensure the return of Frost Williams , and Jams to their native land , and ^ incarcerated victims to the bosoms of their family Up , then , every man , woman , and child , who can scratch his name or make his mark ; let them at once be appended . What three minutes will fa ; i ^ effect , three times three years may equally fail to effect . Is the country aware that THE LIFE OF J . B . O'BaiEN IS DESPAIRED OB IN HIS Wfljn DBNGEON !

      Feelings which will not be harrowed by such a « announcement , we shallnot endeavour to enlist ! W are happy to say that the greatest unanimity pr 9 < vails in the Convention , and that with the greatest prudence they have decided upon accepting ^ voluntary assistance of all who tender it . Hurrah ! then , for the three glorious dayai ! Let not a moment be lost ; and , when the sheeti are signed , let them be made up in the same form as a newspaper , with both ends open , and addressed as follows : — T . S . Duncombb , Esq ., M . P .

      Petition 6 , Albany Court Yard , to Parliament . London . And when despatched , let notice by letter be instantly given under cover to : — Mr . J . Cleave , For the 1 , Shoe Lane , Fleet Street , Convention . London . Hurrah ! again hurrah !! for the three glorious days ! 21

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      4 THE ftOKTHEEW STAR . ___

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), May 8, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct378/page/4/