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Northern Star (1837-1852), 14th December 1844, Edition 2 of 4, Page 6

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    • $kcto*tit& (©fienteg, %tiq\\e$t$, &c
    • TEE CHAMBERS' PHILOSOPHY REFUTED.
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      U ^ BOUIl PLEADING ITSOWX CAl'SE . THE EMPLOYER JSTD EMPLOTED . A rAMLIAH DliiOGrE . Speakers—Mr . Jama Smith , a factory mill-owner , and JJr . JHchard . Jackson , a cotton-fjnitner . Smith . —I am glad to see yon , Mr . Jackson ; step in to my house , and let ns have a little conversation o » the present unhappy differences on the subject of wages . Perhaps I may show you that the ideas entertained respecting employers " arenot , by any means , just . At all events , let us hear -what each has got to say—yon on the ^ art of the operative class generally , and I on the part of the mlB-owners and others , who are in the habit of giving employment . Jackson . —Thank you , ar ; I am a plain-spoken man , and have no objections to say what I and others think about our condition as workmen : so 1 very ¦ willinglv accept tout invitation .

      Smith- —Xow , Mr . Jackson , sit down : and if you please , begin by telling me esactlv what the workmen ¦ want . Jackson . — "Why , sir , the great matter is this—our condition is much less comfortable than we think , in justice , it should be . " We are poor , and not getting any richer . Few among us can get more than 22 s . a week for our labour . The average wage is about 14 s . or 15 s . ; and we do think it a hard case that a man , Trith a wife and family , should have to live on any sum of that kind , when we see the masters so well ¦ off , and they , as one may say , living by our hard and continued labour . TVTiat we want is , " " a iair day ' s "wage for a fair day ' s work . " Smith . —The statement apparently is—that the employers give lower wages generally thk ' n they ought to give . Is not that the substance of your charge ?

      Jackson . —Tes ; we think you should sive at least 25 per cent . more . 3 f a man now gets 20 sI , lie should Set 25 s ., and so on . Smith . —Very well . 2 sow , be so good as tell me on what ground you rest this demand . Jackson . —Because yon are making lanre profits , and can aSbrd to pay more than yon do . The profits should be more equally divided . Smith . — iNovr , I believe , ire understand each other , 1 like your candour ; and I think I shall answer you . You claim more wages on the score of your contributing to the production of profits . Let us take my own establishment as an example , and let us suppose you are a workman in it . I wish to know low much you put into the concern . Jackson . —Ife ! why , I give you jny labour fi-om Monday morning till Saturdav imrht "

      hmith . —This labour , then , is your contribution of means . You receive 20 s . for the " week ' s labour ; and therefore it is just the same thing as if vou were to give me 2 fts . every week , so that I might lay it out in lifrrngsomebody to do your work . Jackson . —I think much the same thine . Smith . —It is then allowed that you contribute to the extent of 20 s . weekly to my concern . May 1 now ask if you think every one should be paid according to the extent of his in-put and risk 1 Jackson . —That certainlv would be fair . *

      Smith . —I-shall then ptplnTn to you -what 1 nave put in , and how I have been enabled " to do so . The cost of the buildings , the ground , the machinery , and other things required to begin the manufactory , was £ 80 , 000 ; and the money necessary for buying raw mater ial , and giving credit till sales could be * effected , and also for paying wages , came to £ 10 , « XW more - Ton understand I did not start till I had ££ > 0 , { n > 0 ready to be laid out and risked on the undertaking . If I had begun with less , the concern would have been unsuccessful . It could not have gone on . To raise this large sum of . £ 90 , 000 was a very serious matter . My iather was a working-man , like Tourself . II is "wages were never above ISs . a week . On this sum he

      Drought up Jus family , for my mother was verv economical . I got a little sehoolins ; was taught to read , wr ite , and cipher . At fourteen years ol age I was sent into a cotton-factory , where for several years I had no higher wage than 5 s . a week . 1 afterwards , by dint of some degree of skill and perseverance * rose to be a spinner , and received 25 s . a week ; but off thL 2 had "to pay a boy-assistant-5 s . ; and therefore my real wage was only 20 s . a week . 1 was at thL employment four years and a half , during which time I saved £ 30 , which I deposited in a bank for security . One day , when . I was at work , a party of foreigners visited the factory ; they were in want of a few steadv and skilful hands

      to go to St . Petersburg , to work in a fectorv there . I volunteered for one , and being chosen , I went to that distant city , ¦ which you know is in Russia , and there I received for a tune about double my former wages . In three years the oveiseer died ; . 1 was promoted to his situation , and now received as much as £ 250 yearlv . I still made a point of economising my gains ; and on reckonins : up , found , that when f was twenty-eishi years of aire I had saved i £ 7 w . At the recommendation of a friend I laid out this money on a mercantile speculation—in short , 1 risked its entire loss , I was successful , and made my £ " 00 as much as £ 1 , 000 . Again I risked this sum , " for it seemed a sure trade ; and so on 1 went for several rears ,

      increaanginy capital both by profits and savings . When I married , which was not till thirty-five years f > f mre , I had realised one way and another £ 2 ' » , umj . 1 now returned . to England , was for several years a partner in a concern where I again risked my earnings , and at the end of fifteen years retired with £ yo , W » j . "With this large sum I built my present factory , and entered into the hazardous business in which 1 am now engaged . 1 ask any Tnn-n if I did not earn my money by hard industry , by self-denial , by seriou > risks , by a Ions * course of pains and anxieties i For , having done all this . I consider 1 am entitled yearly — -irst , to an interest on my money equal to what I could have obtained by lending it ; stcond , to a profit

      that will eover any losses which I may incur bv bad debts - third , a per-oentage . to pay = the tear and wear of machinery and deterioration of property ; and , fourth , to a salary for my personal trouble—in other words , my wages ; and all this over and above the ordinary expenses of the concern . Let me assure you that nothing is more cenain than that , takin ? the working classes in the entire mass , they get a fair share of the proceeds of the national indu ^ = trv . We may take a few facts . To beirin "with bqv own mill . I spent , as I have said , £ -50 . 000 on the building and the apparatus . ¦ Xow nearly the whole of this was dispersed in wages to working people . See what a number ofmen must cave been emploved in fashioning

      the raw materials into the house and its machidurr—TrnrVmaVprs limeburners , coal-miners , trajroiiers , "wood-cutters , sailors , carpenters , builders , slaters , plasterers , glass - makers , glaziers , iron - smelters , engineers ; and not only these , but the persons who supplied them with food and clothing . In short , if ~ ve were to go into a minute calculation , we should probably discover , that out of my £ 80 , 000 , as much as £ 75 , 000 went to xhe working-classes , the remaining £ 5 , 000 going to the proprietors of the raw mate xiaTs , and to intermediate dealers . If people would reflect a little on such matters , they would perceive what an enormous share of the cost of almost every article goes to operatives . It is ascertained , by

      careful calculations , that out of £ 100 worth of fine scissors , the workmen have £ 96 as wages ; of £ 100 worth of razors , they have £ 90 ; of £ 100 worth of tableknives and forks , they have £ 65 ; of £ 100 worth of fine woollen cloth , they have £ 60 ; of £ luO worth of linen yarn , they have £ 48 : of £ 100 worth of ordinary earthenware , they have £ 40 ; and so on with most articles of manuiacmre . In xhe making of needles , pins , trinkets , "watches , and other delicate articles in xuetaL the proportion of wages rises to within a trifle of the price of the article . In the working of collieries the expenses are almost entirely resolvable into labour ; there being few cases in * which the

      eoalmmers receive less than £ 90 out of everv £ 100 of the current expendirnre . I trnst it is not necessary to dwell longer on the notion , that workina-men do not gettheir fair share of the proceeds of the labour on which thev are engaged . And , as you might imagine that there is some kind of mystery under the term capital , 1 will explain the meanins of h in every few ^ woros . Capital is anything which is of value " . It may consist of labour / of houses and lands so far as they are productive , of machinery , manufactured goods , ormoney . Everything is capital which possesses an exchangeable value , and can be made directly available either to the support of human existence , or to the facilitating of production . Capital or

      property is a sheer result of labour , if not labour Itself ; and thai it is the accumulated savings of years , say , in some cases , of centuries . He who possesses ' capital in the form of a large sum of money , for instance , can give employment to others . You know quite ¦ well that , before " I planted my factory here , there was little workin the town . 2 * ow ^ see how many workmen and their finniliw are supported . 1 was not , mark you , obliged to come hereand set up a factory . 1 couj&havegone somewhere else . Then look at the sum which I distribute weekly in wages . I give employment to 100 men , 146 women and girls , and seventy boys—altogether , 316 individuals ; and the entire sum paid on an average weekly for wages amounts to £ 290 . I say I pay £ 290 tomywork-people weekly in exchange for their labour ;] snrely you must now see that capital is a good thing ; good for the working-classes

      It is capital which hires and emplovs them ; it is capital which pays their wages ; it is capital which keeps them busy when often the market is glutted "with goods ; it gives them work till better times . And -yet there are workmen so short-sighted as to wage -war on the very thing which supports them . They attack capital as an enemy . It is their best Mend . 2 fow 1 put it to you , Richard Jackson , as & straightforward man , and answer me , if I , by these risks and obligations , and personal attentions , be not justly entitled to take avast deal more out of the business than you , who put in only 20 s . in the shape of weekly labour ? [ So far " we hare given the points of ihe dialogue as set forth in the tract of 4 he Messrs . Chambers , and as -fti * portion of the dialogue may be taken as the terms ; npon "which , ihe parties join issue , the plea

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      and declaration will be somewhat varied from the manner in which they are set out in the original pleadings . ]

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      Jackson . —Now , Mr . Smith , 1 think I understand you , and we can join issue : you undertaking to defend the rights of capital , and 1 to defend the rights of labour ? Smith . —No , no , no . You mistake me ; the whole bearing of my illustrations have gono to show that capital is the best defender of the rights of labour , while you would plaw them in antagonism . Jackson . —If such be your office , you have strangely discharged vour duty to your clients , for upon re-consideration , I think you must come to the conclusion that the iendencv of vour observations would go to

      prove , firstly , that the employed was a mere passive instrument in the hands of the employer ; that the capitalist with a family , or without a family at all , underwent all the risks , suffered all the mental torture , and deserved great sympathy for the risks , the endurance , and the mental agonies that he underwent during the process of money making . Smith . —Well , but Jackson , you seem to forget that I have been endeavouring to refute the absurdities of ihose grievance-mongers who would throw all the odium of the hardships that your class complain of , upon the shoulders of the masters .

      Jackson . — "Well , I understand you to occupy that position , and 1 am going to establish the fact . Smith . —Yes , yes ; going to do a tiling , and doing a thing , are two very different things . 1 tell you , you can ' t establish the fact , nnless you doubt the narrative that you have just heard of my life , and unless you believe that there is somethins mneical about me which has conferred peculiar advantages upon one individual above another . Jackson . —Come , come , one swallow doesn ' t make a summer . 1 am talking of a system , and not of a charmed man ; and you nomore represent that system , than Newton , because he was a great luminary , represented the sun , moon , and stars .

      Smith . —Mr . Jackson , Mr . Jackson , I invited you to this discussion because I looked upon you as a straightforward , blunt , honest man , that would disenss the question of labour and capital familiarly with me ; drawing your conclusions as to my rights to what I possess from the risks , the hardships , and the mental agonies 1 endured : while you would mys tify the whole subject by plunging into the gulph of * ' system . " There , there " , ^ I r . Jackson , in that consists the great error of your class ; instead of receiving instruction and admonition from your best , indeed your only friends , you allow your mind to be contaminated , and your better judgment to be warped , by the interested misrepresentations of hired , restless , and designing demagogues . Jackson . —Upon that subject we will have a word by-and-bye : and now , as you wi « h to make yourself the representative of a system , I will see if ! cannot Illustrate Its viciousne&s from vour own lips and from

      your own position . Smith { wrigslinck—Pooh , pooh , Mr . Jackson , it ' s impossible 1 tell you . It is this flying in the face of the masters with " your political economy , rights of labour , and trades' combinations to defend them , that has more than any other circumstance led to that rankling feeling in the minds of the masters of which your class complains . Jackson . —It I mistake correct me ; but as I didn ' t interrupt you , rive me leave to state my own case . Smith . — " Well , well , « rq on , but be brief , for really these mysterious calculations about demand and supply , and new doctrines about- the rights of labour , and all that stuff , are so complicated that they puzzle me . Jackson . —The puzzle lias been of your own making : to solve it is my intention . Smith . —WelL well , do eo on .

      Jackson . —Well then , I take you from your departure for Russia , up to which period you had saved the 5 um of £ -30 . Your division of time from the period when you had attained your fourteenth year till you had arrived at the ago of twenty-eight , is so very abstruse and enigmatical , being divided into periods of " several years" working for 5 s . a week : the " number of years'' that you were earning -Os . a week : the " three years" that you worked for '" double wages" in Russia before the overseer died and you cot his place , and from that event till your twenty-eighth year , when yon took stock and found yourself to be worth £ 7 fM > : these several periods , I say , are so jumbled together that 1 can establish no scale of your saving up to that time . Smith * . — "What have you to do with that r that ' s my business . 1 had -C 7 O 0 —and 1 saved it by ray earnings , and i suppose I had a right to do so i

      Jackson . —A perfect right , Mr . Smith ; and I am verv glad , for your sake , that the . Russian spinner could afford , in a comparatively unt . ixed country , to give you £ 2 a week , double the wage that you can give me , and out of which I have to pay very heavy taxes . Smith . —Pooh , pooh , nonsense : haven ' t 1 to pay the income-tax ' . — taxes for my house , for my carriage and horses , and servants : taxes for gas , paving , cleansinc , tithes , poor-rate * , church-rates ; taxes for

      my wine , my ten . and my suirar—in short , for every thir / j 1 eat and even- thing 1 drink ( ¦ J ackson . —No . sir ; you make a pmtit upon them . 1 pay tbt-m . i > r ht-q > !•> pay them , anil 1 * 11 show you how , presently . However , to resume : when you were 3- "» years of age you had amassed the sum of C 2 iVwl " , which , you tell u > , you had put together oneway or another ; and a .- it wils a ] J made in Russia . 1 don ' t stop to in-• juirc . but shall < -r > nip to thf consideration as to how you aniniH'j'ted it in fifteen yeai-s l <> £ 90 , 001 ^ during which time vmi trafficked in English labour .

      Muith . — " Traffic ' . " what do you call "traffic . ' " 1 exchanged it i >> r labour . Traffic is a sordid won ! : a term ever in the mouth of those who would desrmdp the binh-ininded employer to the rank of the grovel lins low-minded huckster . Jackson . —Well , Mr . Smith , we won ' t quarrel about terms . You bartered it for English lalwur . Smith . —Say exchanged it , Mr . Jackson ; it ' s a much less offensive term . Jackson . — "Well , you exchanged it , Mr . Smith . ^ mith . —Now , come , we are getting into good humour acain . Go on with ; vour narrative .

      Jackson . — "Well , you embarked your £ 2 f » , O 00 in manufacturing , and * in fifteen years , during which time you supported your family and lived , you realised the simi of £ !> u , < X > 0 ; and now , Mr . Smith , if you plea > e , a word al > out a very important branch of politica ] economy—mstkibittiox . Smith . —What do you mean ? Your " Eyr-U . r > is-TBiKUTio . x , "' 1 suppose . Do you want to distribute my property for me f Jackson . —No , sir ; it is not " equal distribution ;" nor do I want to distribute your property . It is equitable distribution ; and 1 want the laws of my country —which should be " equally" protective of the rights of all—equitably to distribute the property of all . Smith . —Equal , equitable , equally , equitably — what's the difference { You want to rob me ?

      Jackson . —I do not , sir ; but I desire that you should not rob me . I apply the term e-jual to the Laws , and tqvAtahle to tie distribution of property . Equal , to the laws ; protection of your equitable share which you claim under the head , interest for your money , jruarantee as ^ inst bad debts , wear and tear of ma ^ ehinerv , and wages for your labour ; and also to my equitable share of whatever the surplus may be , after gnaranteein ? those several amounts to you . Smith . —Well , but what have you to do with it more than receiving your pound a week ? What do you know of the surplus—wasn ' t it mv ovm ?

      Jackson . —As Sir Robert Peel said in discussing the appropriation clause , let us have the surplus before we talk of its application . And ' now 1 shall proceed to shew you where 1 find that surplus , andivhat I find it to be . You invested £ 2 o , 00 U at the age of thirty-five years , and when you were fifty , you had increased it to £ 90 , 000 . You tell us that the investment of £ 90 , 000 led to the employment of 310 hands . If , then , the employment of . £ 00 , 000 capital led to the employment of 31 tj hands , the employment of the £ 20 , 0 ( hj would lead to the employment of seventy hands ; that is , if there was another partner with you who invested an equal amount of capital , you w ^ uld employ 140 hands ; if three partners , with equal shares , about 23 *> hands ; if four partners , "with equal

      shares , about 2 t-0 hands—leaving the surplus of thirtysix pair of hands unemployed against the £ 10 , 000 , the amount by which your accumulated capital exceeded the £ 80 , 000 employed by you , and three other partners who invested £ 20 , 000 each . Tpon your £ 20 , 000 yon realised £ 70 , 000 in fifteen years—and had then £ 90 , 000 : and you verv fairly demand your profit upon the £ 20 , 000 In the shape of interest , compensation for bad debts , wear and tear , and wages for labour . Now this is fair : indeed I may call it equitable distribution , and I will proceed to my calculation . I allow four per cent , for the interest of capital ; two per cent , for bad debts ; two per cent , for wear and tear : two per cent , for wages : that is , m the lump , ten per cent ., or £ 2 , 000 per annum . As

      you and your family lived out of £ 20 , 000 during the fifteen years , I wilTplnee it against the compound interest that you might have realised ; and as you say you lived savingly , I will allow you two per cent , in lieu of the compound interest , taking your total profits upon your £ 20 , 000 at twelve per cent . -, to which add the support and education of your whole family—and for nfteen years , at twelve per cent , upon your £ 20 , 000 , you would have realised the sum of £ 36 , 000 , which , added to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 would make £ 56 , 000 , leaving a surplus of £ 34 , 000 , or within a fraction of £ 500 each for the seventy hands employed in working your £ 20 , 000 of capital . Now , sir , to the sub-divison of the £ 34 , 000 surplus ; after allowing you twelve per ceut . upon

      your capital , and all the expense of education and the support of your family , I apply the term " equitable distribution f and the term " equal protection , " I apply to those laws which should guarantee to me my £ 500 with equal security as to you your £ 36 * 000 , or twelve per " cent . ! upon your capital of £ 20 , 000 for fifteen vears : whereas the l&w has enabled you to take the -whole of the twentyfour per cent , made upon the £ 20 , 000 by labour , and has thrown many , if not all , the seventy lands engaged in making it , into the cold bastfle , or compelled them to begin anew to make another £ 20 , 000 into another retiring salary of £ 90 , 000 for another master , while they have added fifteen years to their lives . And now , sir , to satisfy you upon all points , allow me to contrast your position at the end

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      of fifteen years , with that of an individual of any other class commencing business with £ 20 , 000 . If I allow yon compound interest at four per cent , it would nave taken many years more than the fifteen , even to have doubled your capital : that is , without charging you anything for living or the education of your family , you would not have made your £ 20 , 000 capital into anything like £ 40 , 000 in the nfteen years . Had you invested your £ 20 , 000 in the purchase of land , allowing you four per cent ., you could not have supported your family and augmented your capital as vou have done in the trade of cotton spinning ; while , although as a landlord , you might have left your social duties undischarged , the law would have compelled von to bear a certain amount of

      taxation which you could not possibly have shoved upon the shoulders of others . Had you commenced the trade of shop-keeper , and retired in fifteen years , after having educated and supported your family , with an addition of £ 36 , 000 to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 , you would have been a phenomenon in that line—in fact , an exception ; while , as a cotton-spinner , your case is the rule , instead of an exception . In short , sir , the laws have been made for the government , management , and arrangement of a social state , over which the present process of steam production has passed , as it were , by a hop , step , and jump ; and what I and my class—who , together with the shopkeepers , have been the great sufferers—require is , the enactment of such a code of laws as shall legally protect and equitably distribute the surplus property of the country , after having awarded to money capital , speculation , r isk , and industry , that fair amonmt of

      protection which labour , if equally protected , would neither deny , murmur at , nor withhold . Poverty , sir , is the rule of my class—it is the exception with yours ; and , however you may try , by hired advocacy and purchased philosophy , to convince me that reliance is better vested in the money capitalists than in labour capitalists , you will fail , until you first succeed in convincing me that the wolf is the best protector of the lamb , the cat of the mouse , or the kite of the lark . For , if you do not devour our bodies as well as the produce of our labour , it is because your mechanical arrangements are not yet coniplete ^ as a substitute for our labour upon the one hand and because the old school of sympathisers recognise in us that value , as consumers , which gives an increased value to their landed property . To the law then , and not to sympathy or charity , we look for protection . Smith . —The law " ' ---what have I to do with the law ? I made the jnoney . The capital was mine , and 1 paid everv man his lawful wages .

      Jackson . —1 grant it , sir ; you have nothing to do with the law , but you did not pay even- man his lawful wages , nor was the capital youre . Smith . —The capital not mine ! whose was it , then ? This is more of your political economy and equal distr ibution . Jackson . —Hold , hold , Mr . Smith ; my assertion has nothing to do with political economy , nor hits it any reference to distribution ; what 1 : un now stating is a fact admitted by yourself . In your endeavour to shew the patronising * qualities of the capitalists , you have made some valuable admissions . You have stated , that out of a £ 100 expended in the manufacture of

      fine scissors , £ UG is the value of the labour , and £ 4 the capital invested ; that in every £ 100 worth of razors thejabour amounts to £ 90 and the capital to £ l < i ; and so on , until you cometothejmanufacture of needles , trinkets , Ac ., ' in the manufacture of which you admit nearly the whole investment to be labour . In soft wares , vou tell me that in the article of fine woollen cloth the proportions are £ 00 for labour and £ 40 tor capital , smd as your trade of cotton spinning appears to .-have been very profitable , I think we may assign to the respective capitals employed in the manufacture about the same relative proportions by wliich you measure their application to the fine woollen cloth .

      Smith . —Respective capitals ! What do you mean ? Have I not told you that all the capital was mine ? Jackson , —You have told me no such thing , sir . You have told me that everything that bore an exchangeable value was capital ; and you particularly instanced labour : and if we can agree upon your calculation ; u » to the respective amounts of money-capital and labour-capital , expended in the manufacture of £ K >() worth of linen yarns , —and that description most nearly represents the fabric produced by your monev and my labour , —vou will scu how nicely and

      how truly the result is produced ; £ 34 , 000 of the £ 70 , 000 accumulated . by you , belongs to the hands that made it , and . £ 3 G / 'OO to th « parties that employed them . Your calculation is , that £ 100 worth of linen vanis consists of £ 43 in labour and £ 52 in capital . >~ ow , sir , you will find that , a-s nearly as we can balance , the £ 30 , 000 that I assign to you represents the fifty-two per cent , of vour capital , and the £ 34 , ( M » 0 represents the fbrty-eient percent , of labour : —that is . &J 4 . 0 H 0 is to £ 30 , 000 almost fractionally what forty-eight Is to fifty-two .

      Smith . —0 , ] ilon ' t understand your figures and vour fractions . Jackson . — Perhaps , sir , vou can only bring your mind to War upou interest tor your capital , compensation for l « id del > L > , allowance for wear ; md tear of your machinery , amount of salary for overlooking , and an indefinite surplus , —in which is included nivlalxjur , —for mental anxiety . Now , Mr . Smith , 1 think 1 have shown you , according to all the laws of nature and of justice , " that while you outrht to be satisfied with adding ¦ £ 3 t ; , 0 i > ii to your capital iu fifteen yeai > , that all the hands that realised that capital were , as well as yourself , entitled to a retiring salary . Smith . —Well , thevmav retire if thev like .

      Jackson . —Now , sir , you talk nonsense , and mock us in our poverty . You call your labour , honourable labour ; and tell u » that it is augmented by distraction of mind , hard industry , self-denial , serious risks , and a long course of' pains and anxieties . 1 admit it all , sir ; but sufferings of bodily torture and the imngs of mental endurance are qualified and soothed by the cheerinu reflection that e ; ieh passing lioui ; of suffering ; liasUsi * that happy period when , if not impelled by the sordid desire to heap more riches to vour already extravagant store , you may quit the busy bustle of life , act ! thus release yourself at will froni all your sufferings ; while those who commenced

      at an equal atre with yourself , and who assisted in augmenting your treasure , are at the age of' fifty , — when you have become independent of the world , deteriorated in strength—and their labour reduced in value , compelled to merge into what is called the " surplus-population , " and are heartlessly told at that age to search for a new habitation and strange associates in a foreign clime ; that the land at home which yields forth its abundance is too small for their sustenance ; and that the machinery and new inventions which have displaced their labour are the pride of the country whose system confers all the proceeds upon the privileged , ami all anguish , care , and sorrow on the unprotected .

      Smith . —Unprotected ' . what do you mean ? ^ ou can protect your family as well as 1 can protect mine . What protection have mine beyond what my own industry gave them ? Jackson . —Mot so fast , Mr . Smith . Recollect we are starting from a point ; and that point is when you embarked £ 2 ' > , (» 00 in manufacturing speculations , and when you employed seventy hands to turn it into a marketable commodity ; and recollect , that while your capital , worth 52 per cent ., was protected by a vote , that my labour , worth 48 per cent ., was wholly unrepresented .

      Smith . —Now there you are in error . I will show you that your class has nothing to complain of on that score . There were five out of the seventy , or one in fourteen , of the hands that worked for me , who were voters for the borough of Devil ' s Dust—while I , representing the whole of the capital , had but one vote . Jackson . —What gave them the vote ? Smith . —A £ 10 house , to be sure . Jackson . —And whose were the £ 10 houses ? Smith . —Why mine , to be sure ; I built them . Jackson . —Then they were capital , Mr . Smith—because they possessed an exchangeable value : and they were of an amount that ought to be represented ! Smith . —Yes , certainly .

      Jackson . — Vfeil , Mr . Smith , by a loose calculation just made in my head , I find that in the nfteen years that you employed seventy men , you made a profit of £ 'J 0 O by the labour of each , or £ 66 per year profit upon each man ' s labour : a profit , the ohe-sixth of which , if in a house , instead of being in labour , would have entitled the labourer to a vote . But as you have in your opening speech included very many topics , I shall -withhold my reply on this important subject for another interview , when 1 undertake to prove the injustice of that system which enables you and your family to appropriate to yourselves what belongs to me and my family . Smith . —1 have nothing to do with your family—I pav you your wages , and lock to my own . Jackson . —I have a family as well as you : they are dear to me as vours are to you . I have laboured from

      youth upwards to support them . I have wrought with you for the last fifteen years , and to-morrow , what must be my anguish , my sorrow , aye , and my vengeance too , when 1 see my pallid wife , and stunted , not half-clad children—emaciated , without the blush of youth in their faces , or the suppleness of youth in their limbs—without the gay and childish look in their sunken eyes—what , Isay , mustbemV reflection and theirs , when , to-morrow , they and I look upon the fresh blood that flows through your children ' s veins — the lively and playful glance that beams in their eyes—the rich dresseB in which your family are decked ; and when they see your splendid equipage , with pampered horses and well-fed menials , ready to convey your family to the princely mansion that you have purchased with their young blooi and amassed "by their

      sweat-Smith . —Hold , hold , Jackson—you do , you do , you do me injustice . You have roused a feeling that never touched my heart before . Is that your wife , and are those your children ? Jackson ( embracing his wife and drawing the children to him ) . —Tes : these are ' mine , and the workhouse now must be their portion ; and to-morrow , as you move along from our village , lolling in your stately equipage , and carried by your prancing horses , you will be cheered on your way by the reflection that your traces , are made of infants sinews , and your carriage wheels are oiled with the blood of the impoverished Jbabes that now » urround you ; and when

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      you enter that splendid mansion that you have purchased by my sweat and theirs—when you are about to offer up your prayers to God in the morning when you arise—when you ask that Omnipotent Being who created you and me , vonr children and mine , to " give you your daily bread , " think of those who are without bread . Smith- —Jackson , there ' s the error . It is a fault of the landed monopolists , and pot of the Almighty , that you have to complain . It is they who rob you . Join with your masters for the repeal of those unjust laws which put an additional price on your bread , that monopo lists and idlers may live in luxury .

      Jackson . —Sir , I have exhibited my case , and the poverty of my family ; and yet , while you deny that laws have anything to do with the poverty of the poor , you would now make mo infer that all our sufferings are a consequence of one bad law : a lawthe only law—of which your order complains , and , strange to say , under its operation you have become wealthy and we have become poor . Smith . —Poor ! I tell you that you have the same opportunities that I had , ' and ' instead of stuffing your head with politics , if you had minded your business as I have done , you would have been as " successful as I have been .

      Jackson . —Then , sir , if I had been as successful as you have been , unless the poor can all become money capitalists , —my success would have been but a substitute for anothers failure—or another cog in that artificial wheel which grinds the faces of the poor . Smith , —Jackson , again I tell you that we arc your greatest friends , and you are your own greatest enemies . Give over politics , and those crude and silly notions about laws that your head appears to be stuffed with ; and henceforth devote your time to forwarding those great improvements which are now everywhere in process of completion for the benefit of the working classes . The establishment of baths , improvement societies , the opening of pleasure grounds , the advantages of emigration , and , the benefits of better

      ventilation , are the all-important considerations that should occupy the attention of the working classes ; while the mystery of law-making should be left to those who have received an education to fit them for the task , and whose independence , in a pecuniary point of view , places them above suspicion on the one hand , and makes them independent of party interests and party strifeon the other . Jackson . —Mr . Smith ; if I had my £ 500 that is now in' your pocket , and which rightfully belongs to me , I should require neither charity , gratuity , nor sympath y . If , then , my family or myself required cold baths , I could procure them out of my own resources ; if they were ignorant or uneducated , I should then stand justly chargeable with a neglect of

      Ca rental duties ; it they were naked , as you now beold them , and if I dissipated the means of giving them comfortable clothing , the finqer of scorn would be pointed at me , as an unfaithful iather , a bad man , and an unworthy member of society . But now , sir , their every want to which you would reconcile them by bits of charity and sympathy , are consequences of oppression and misrule , and not characteristics of iny nature . Baths and pleasure grounds , sir !—ah , ah , ali ^ what mockery ! Immerse that perished , withering child , from whose young veins you have extracted the hot life ' s blood , in a cold bath ! and exhibit that crippled child with twisted limb in your pleasure grounds , as a mockery to your order for the injury they have inflicted upon my child ! Baths , sir—behold their

      rags . The tender mother who bore them , reared them , and loves them , has enough to do to pin their rags together once a day , without imposing a double hardship on her . Emigrate , sir ! Have you not learned that commandment from the God above us , which enjoins us to " honour our father and our mother , that our days may be long in the land which the Lord ouit God ha given us . " Come , my children ! come , my wife—I would willingly have spared you the knowledge of those facts , which known , niust but increase your vengeance . Go , sir , to that lordly retirement that you have purchased by the sweat and blood of those children ; and should " one pang of remorse enter your

      callous breast for the injury that you have done , when at your comfortable meal you take up the morning papers and read , under the head of " Melancholy Catastrophe , " that in desperation , and rather than see his family perish before his eyes for want , or rather than be inmates of three several wards in a cold bastile , Richard . laekson , unable to bear up against the accumulated load of poverty that pressed upon him , in a fit of phrenzy destroyed three of his children , and then put an end to himself' . —then , sir , remember , that YOU were his murderer , because you had in your pocket his £ 500 , the possession of which would have made him : a happy man , an Indulgent parent , and a valued unit of the social family .

      Smith . —Hold , Jackson , hold ; you surely will not do as vou say , or think that 1 have led you to the rash act Will you meet me here again to-morrow , when 1 shall have thought over those many points that 1 confess you have so strongly urged upon my consideration ? . Jackson . —Yes , sir , I have no-objection ; another day's suffering will not break the heart that has been nccu . stoiiicd to so many yt-ars of sorrow . Farewell , sir : we Mieetagain to-nioiTow , when I tru .-st I shall be in a temper to di ^ uss your remaining propositions ; and in the interim , should my minute calculations have nuzzled you , Ix-ar thcJact in memory , that during the fifteen years that you have employed your capital or exchanged it for ' labour , that I have made you

      and your familv , in point of profit , equal to the seventy men and " their families , and have given you £ 2 , 000 additional into the bargain . Remember , sir , that if vour family consists of five , that we and our families consisted of 350 ; and while you complain of" the decline and desolation that effects the shopkeeping classes to reconcile us to our more forlorn condition , do not lose sight of the fact that the poverty of the shopkeepers is also a consequence of your unjust competition , which is only made profitable , by a reduction of wages . ; Your cousin , Mr . Smith , the grocer , asked me but yesterday how it was , that while trade was .-so good his business was on the decline ' . and should lie . ask you the question , . sir , as you boast of so much i-anJour , tell him that liis m-espts would have

      been greater if the seventy men who have worked for you had received their weekly proportion of tlu' £ : J 4 , 000 . which you have invested in the purchase of an estate . As you have invited me to another interview and further discussion , and ' as you have introduced a great variety of topics in your narrative , upon all of which you say you would wish to l > e convinced ; and as you are an ' educated man , and I am no scholar : and as you have laid srreat stress on the value of machinery , perhaps you would condescend to hear whatold Robin , the shoemaker , who has lived ninety years in the village , lias to say upon the subject . Smith . —Robin , the shoemaker' . What has sliormaking to do with machinery i Machinery doesn ' t make shoes . Jackson . —That ' s just what Robin says , sir . But lie says , in his own way , that " since them there flying

      devils , made of wood and steel , set about doing the work of men , that he believes that folk sin' then is born without feet ;" andpooras lam , 1 can't but laugh sometimes when 1 hear old Robin question the shopkeepers somehow after this fashion : — " Ah , weel , Maister Smith , did that ' ae fine cast-iron man eoome on the Saturday ncet , when lie got ^ the wage , for apound ) of sugar or tea , or liout of that sort ''" and then he goes to Sparcrib . the butcher , and says to him , " Weel , Mr . Sparcrib , and what sort of a customer is that there stranger as has come to visit Maister Smith , the cottonspinner ; and how is his digestion ? " And so he takes his rounds , and goes to Twist , the hosier , and there he tells him how he supposes , that as the stranger works without stockings , the poor folk that are obliged to work with him are obliged to do without stockings too . Willyousce Robin , sir ?

      Smith . —Yes , Jackson , if you let me bring Mr . Quill , the lawyer , with me , as two to one is not fair . Jackson . —With pleasure , sir , —as many as you please . It ' s just what we want to get your class to hear what poor folks have to say , for the newspapers , and all the writers ,- will onl y publish one side of the question . Good morning , sir . ' Smith . —Good morning , Jackson . Farewell ; you are a very clever fellow , and I begin to think now that I am about to enter into another inhere , that my class , have evinced a sound judgment , if not a just

      one , in refusing to hear the cause of the people advocated b y themselves . And now you have solved a riddle that puzzled me . I was always astonished why so shrewd a man as Sir Robert Peel should have refused to hear the people explain their own grievances at the bar of the House of Commons . Jackson . —Ah , but shrewd as he is , he was a fool then , for it only increased that inflammable feeling which he'll have to hear louder in the long run . Folks get angry , when they won't be even listened to . Smith " . —Farewell , Jackson ! Farewell . We meet again to-morrow , before 1 start for " Shoddy" Hall . ( To be continued . )

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      Fatal Accident . — A most fatal and deplorable accident occurred near the village of Appleton , Berks , on Saturday evening . The particulars , as far as we could gather , are as follow : —Mr . Percival Walsh , jun ., an eminent solicitor at Oxford , left his offices in St . Giles ' s-atreet , in that city , in the evening , in a horse and gig , for his residence at Appleton , a village in Berksnire , about seven miles distant . He called at the house of a friend on his way home , Mr . Ensworth , whom he left about seven o ' clock in the evening . About an hour afterwards he was

      picked up ! quite dead , with his skull dreadfully fractnred , it is supposed from a kick from the horse , which was found a little further on , lying in a ditch , much bruised and hurt , and the gig broken to pieces . It is supposed that the horse , which is a high-spirited animal , must have taken fright at something on the road . But this is only conjecture , and it is most probable that thereal cause of the accident will never be known . The deceased was a young roan of very extensive practice as a solicitor , highly respected in Oxford and the neighbourhood . He held several appointments , such as clerk to the market commissioners , and several trusteeships of different roads . He has left a young widow and four children .

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      The Late Fire at Wattox . —Committal for Ixcbndiarism . —Hehtfobd , Satcrdav . —Thomas Wade , who was remandbd on Friday , was fully committed for trial at the next assizes , " " ¦ Watermen xsp Steam-boats . — At the Thames Police-court on Monday , Richard Ash , a waterman of Execution Dock-stairs , was fined 40 s . and 'costs for addressing abusive and infamous language to Mr . Thomas William ] Allen , master of the Waterman steam-boat , No 6 , ] who stated that since the recent conviction of Mrj Sims , the former master of the boat , of manslaughter , by running down a boat and

      causing the death ) of two persons , he could not pass the Tunnel-pier without being hooted and abused by the prisoner and his companions , to the great alarm of the passengers . ! The defendant attempted to justify himself by alleging that steam-boats always went by his plying place at such a furious rate as to endanger the lives of the watermen and the persons they were ferrying across the river . Mr . Broderjp read the fellow a lecture upon his ruffianism , which he insolently retojrted upon and declared he was no niftian . He was fled away cursing and using other bad language . 1

      The late Fatal Ofci-RREXCE by No . 0 Waterman Steamer . — Second Verdict of Manslaughter . —On Monday , Mr . Baker , the coroner , resumed , and concluded an inquiry 1 at the Gun , Gun Dock , Wapping , touching the death of William Morgans , aged nineteen years , a seaman , who , together with Edward Everest , lost his life on the 2 . 5 th of October last , in consequence of the skiff in which they and four other persons were crossing the Thames from Rotherhithe to Whipping , being upset by the Waterman steamer No ,= 0 coming in collision with them . The coroner charged the jury that it was a clear case of negligence ; and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter . During the time the inquiry was goin £ on , the following letter , addressed " To the gentlemen of the jury sitting on William Morgans , " was received

      through the post , land read to them by the coroner : — " Sirs—Mr . Brisco , mate of the Waterman Steamer No . 0 , has been dismissed from his situation for giving an honest evidence at the Central Criminal Court . If any of the captains or the crew of any of thos < - boats were to dare to give evidence of the reckless manner they are ] compelled to navigate those boats , they would be instantly discharged . The rate that these boats navigate through the Pool is sixteen miles an hour . They ean , and do , the slowest of them , go from Westminster-bridpe to Woolwich ( eleven niiles and a half ) , in less than three-quarters of an hour , when making no stoppages . It is the owners who ought to be punished . — Justitia . " One of the jury stated that he knew the circumstance alluded to in the letter was a fact .

      Treatment of . Patter Lunatics . —The Anatomy Act . —On Monday forenoon , Mr . Wakley , M . P ., held an inquest at the Cross Keys , Belton-street , " St . Giles ' s , on the body of Mary Saunders , aged thirtyfive , a lunatic pauper . Deceased had * been an inmate of St . Giles ' s workhouse , and in consequence of insanity , was removed , on the 9 th of October , to War .-burton ' s Lunatic 'Asylum , Bethnal-green , and in that institution died on the 22 nd ult ., of exhaustion consequent on extensive sloughing of the back . The lwxly was brought back to the workhouse , and , when seen by a relative , he found that it had been mutilated b y dissect ion or some sort of surgical operation , and wishing to know whether the mutilation had been done before or after death , he informed the

      coroner of the circumstance . A nurse from Warburton ' s Asylum proved the admission of deceased on the Hth of Octolier , and her death on the 2 Ufid ult . He also described the medical and other treatment of deceased , which . appeared satisfactory to the jury .- A Cauper of St . Giles ' s workhouse proved fetching the ody of deceased from Warburton ' s Asylum . The body was not then niutilated . Two days afterwards it was taken to jMiddlescx Hospital by order ef the overseers . Mr . j Bennett , surgeon to the St . Giles ' s Infirmary , said wlien paupers died without relations or friends , their jbodies , by the Anatomy Act , could be removed by oi'der of the overseers to four licensed schools of anatomy . The Coroner : In this case there were relatives . 'Mr . Rennet t : I was aware , of it .

      but the overseers did not question me on the subject . Mr . Rowden , lecturer on anatomy at the Middlesex Hospital , said the Iwdy of deceased was received into that institution j from St . Giles ' s workhouse on the 2 Kth ult . lie saw it , and there were no mutilations or incisions on lit . It was received under order ol the coroner , and ! returned as unfit for the purposes of dissection on thq next day . Wished for another body in exchange , but did not go to the workhouse for that purpose , but to inquire into the cause of death in order to make his iretuni to the inspector of anatomy . Coroner : Where were the amputations of the toes

      and incisions made i Mr . Rowden : In our dissecting room . ThejCoroner : Have you the power to return the body to the workhouse after dissection-are you not bound toburj'it ' . Mr . Rowden : It appears to me I have the power of returning it to the pei-sons who lawfully possessed it ^ before dissection . The Coroner : You have power to send it to another licensed dissectin . L room , but not to return' it to the workhouse . Mr . Kowilen : I sent the body back wifh the overseer's certificate . I jjiade no return to tlie inspector of anatomy , for 1 am not bound to do so before I have been twenty-four hours in possession of a body . ! thought it hard we should have to pay the expenses of interment when the bodv was useless to us . Such

      expense would by € 2 is ., with some small gratuities to those that brought tlie body , which expenses the students pay to us . After some further conversation tlie jury returned a verdict of— l > ied from exhaustion , the result of natural disease . Iui . la . nd . — Moke Shocking Mi khers . — An attempt at murder was made on Tuesday night week at 'lubber , in tlie King ' s County , when a small farmer named Patrick Cmran was tired at and dangerously wounded , j A horrible murder has been committed in the county of Slitru . On Tuesday evening week , as Mr . $ anniel M'Kerin was sitting in Ills parlour reading , ' near the road leading from B ranchfield to Slitro , lie was shot by some base assassin through his window , and so near was the murderer to his victim that the shot carried aivay a portion of his head , and stretched him lifeless an tlie instant : — The Julb-miy IJuitrnal contains the following . — " Mi : rder of A Kathkh iiv a So \ . — Tlie

      inhabitants of MullinahoiK 1 have been just thrown into the greatest consternation by the perpetration of a murder at which humanity shudders . Yesterday ( Tuesday ) inorning , as William Shea , of Kilveinnon ( within five niiles of Callan , on the Fethard 7-oadj , was proceeding to spread a quantity of seed-wheat for-his son-in-law ,, named Kgan , who is sick of a fever , he was hindered from the performance of his charitable office by his son , Michael Shea , who struck him on the head with a ; stone , and afterwards with a spade , and killed him 0 n the spot . His skull is fractured in the most frightful manner . It appears that voung Shea had been at variance with his sister ' s husband , the aforesaid Egan , and hence arose the altercation . The Mullinahone police were speedily in attendance , j but the parricide had fled : he attempted to drown himself , but was prevented by two men who happened to have seen him . An inquest was held on Wednesday , and a verdict returned according to the circumstances .

      Brecon . —Dreadfui * , Murder . —A dreadful murder was perpetrated on the night of the 6 th inst ., on a butter and provision dealer returning from Cardiganshire to tliis to ^ -n . He left Brecon about eight o ' clock on Friday evening . He was in one cart , and his son , a lad about thirteen years of age , was driving another . It appears from the statement of the lad , that , about two miles from this town , they overtook a man , who asked his father what lie Mould take a man to Lanipeter for , and they agreed as to the price . When about half way ] to Tricastle , the man , himself , and his iather got lout and walked a little way .. The man asked if they were near Tricastle , and his father said they were little more than half way ( the distance is more than twelve miles ) . He then paid his father what he had agreed to pay for taking him , and advised the boy to get into the front cart and let him cover himiwith some straw and tarpaulin , which went to The

      he did , and he ^ sleep . horses went on until they came to the turnpike-gate , about a quarter of a mile from jTricas ^ le . The l > oy might have been here some little time asleep , when a man with a waggon came up in the opposite direction and woke up the gatekeeper . This awoke the boy , who immediately inquired for his father , but he was not to be found . The poor boy was much distressed , and the tollgate-keepet took him to an inn in the village . It ¦ was now about ! twelve o ' clock . In a very short time the waggoner returned , riding one of his horses , saying he had found the man about a mile on , lying by the side of thejroad murdered . Assistance was given , and the body was brought in . At that time he was quite warm . His death was occasioned by a pistolshot , which passed through his hat , and entered his head just over j the right ear . The ball lodged in the head l and has since been extracted . Death must have been instantaneous . —Sun .

      Tite late Fatal Railway Accident at Nottingham . —Death of Another of the Sufferers . —Mr . James Bolestridge , landlord of the Three Horse Shoes public-house , Derby-road , who was a passenger in the up train which met with so much damage at the time of the collision , died on Tuesday morning at his own house . It is now near four weeks since the unfortunate accident took place , by which Mr . Bolestridge received the injuries from which he died . During that time he has been a tjreat * suffei-er , and althoughlie was attended by some of the . most eminent medical men in the town , nothing could be done by them to avert this new calamity . His injuries were principally internal . He was very generally respected , and has left a wife and child . Mr . Edward Roberts , the gentleman who has had his leg amputated , and who was in the same carriage with Mr . Bolestridge , is still in a very precarious state . The other sufferers are doing well .

      Frightful jAcciDENT . —On Tuesday a dreadful accident occurred to Mr . Starling , landlord * of the Trinity Arms , Swan-street , Borough , by foolishly jumping out of a gig . He was riding in a one-horse break along j Tiverton-street , Newington-ca , useway , when the horse shied at a pig in the middle of the road , and commenced plunging . Mr . Stirling ; in a state of excitement , jumped out of the break and fell with his right leg under him on the edge of the kerbstone , breaking his thigh-bone in two places .

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      Death from Starvation . —On . Monday afternoon a lengthened investigation was entered into ,. before Mr Higgs , coronerfor the Duchy of Lancaster , and ajuiy of thirteen inhabitant householders , at the Golden Lion ; Lower Edmonton , on viewofthe remains of a man name unknown , aged fifty-two , whose death was occasioned by the want of food and exposure to the inclemency of the weather . R . Pugh , the keeper of a lodginghouse in Church-street , stated that he had known the deceased for the last three months . He was a native of Essex , and was an agricultural ; labourer . g § ^ aa in the employ of Mr . Boards , farmer , of Edmonton , but had been for some months out of work . He had during that period obtained a scanty pittance by vending Congreve matches , balls of cotton , < fcc . About Wednesday or Thursday week last the police interfered with him , and threatened to apprehend him as a vagrant , saying that his offering things for sale was merely an excuse for begging . Deceased was in

      consequence very frightened , and did not go out with his basket again . He stopped at witness ' s house till the following Tuesday , when he absented himself , having till then , from the day the police spoke to him , lived upon stale crusts , -which he got from other lodgers in exchange for congreves , and the dregs of the tea-pot when others had done with it . On Saturday night last , about half-past ten o'clock , witness was returning home , when he saw the deceased sitting on the srround in the street , crouched up in a corner . He asked him why he did not come to his house . Pie replied because he had no money , adding that he wa » very cold and thirsty , and had a pain in his side . Witness assisted him home , when he made him some gruel , putting into it half a pint of ale , which decefwed -swallowed ravenously . Deceased was then put into a bed , and witness saw him no more alive . After a few remarks from the coroner on the distressing c ' irrum * tant : * M of the ease , the jury returned a verdict , " That the deceased died from want of the common rifecKsarie * of life add exposure to the cold . "

      A / . AjiMf ! vf , Kike at Buixton . —Wednesday morning , shortly before one o'clock , a fire broke put in the lioiiaf ; belonging to Mrs . J ' o ^ rney , town-carrier , situate at So . 7 , Crystal-road , North Brixton . The Waterloo brigade engine promptly attended , and was followed by tlie West of England one , and another fi-om Southwark-bridge-road . There being a good supply of water instantly procured , the firemen set to work most vigorously , and before two o ' clock they succeeded in extinguishing the fire , not , however , until verv considerable damage' had been effected .

      Owing to the density of the smoke , the inmates in the upper part of the building had the greatest difficulty in escaping , and for gome time it was believed that Mi's . Ppwney had been burnt to death , as she could not be found . Upon examining the premises after the fire was extinguished , no traces of any person having been burnt could be discovered ; the probability , therefore , is that she was from . homo at the time of the disaster . As to the origin if the fire , or whether or no the sufferer was insured , we could not leam during the excitement that prevailed .

      The Attempt to Poison a Whole Familv . — In our last we gave the particulars of the first examination of John Wall , of Oadby , framework-knitter , on the charge of attempting to kill his mother , father , and brother , by administering arsenic to them , in order , it is supposed , to obtain possession of £ 300 , to wliich himself and his brother and sister were entitled on the death of their mother . Rumours were afloat , in the meantime , that he had been concerned in another attempt of the same atrocious character , by which he sought to rid himself of the expense of maintaining an illegitimate child of his wife ' s , by the same means , and it was ascertained

      prisoner's examination on Wednesday , the legal evidence requisite for a committal in the first case waa not produced ; and the second case , the charge of attempting to poison the child , was then partially gone into . It appeared that , on the 24 th of September , the prisoner ' s wife left home , leaving a child whom she had before her marriage with Wall , in the care of a lx > y . During her temporary absence , the boy saw Wall put some white powder into some milk which had been boiled for the child , and on telling him what he had seen , Wall reached down the salt from the eliimney-piece , and said that was what he had put in the milk . As the evidence was incomplete on both i-ha-rges , and it is anticipated that additional facts will be obtained , the prisoner was remanded to Monday . The prisoner maintains a dogged silence . — Jjsiccster Mrcuru .

      tatal Railway Accident . — A fatal accident occurred on Saturday morning last , on the line of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway , near Ryton station , about seven miles from Newcastle . As the luggagetrain , wliich left Newcastle at -half-past six o ' clock t ' of Carlisle , was proceeding at the usual rate , it ran into a cow which was straying on the line , and the force of the concussion was so great as to throw the engine and tender over a low embankment , the engine falling on its side , and tlie tender lieing- crashed up beside it . The stoker was fortunate enough to jump off just before the collision took place , and e-eaped with only a few slight bruises . The engineer

      did not jump off , and he was crushed to death between the engine and the tender . Had the accident occurred twenty yards further along the line , where the railway runs close to the river Tyne , the whole train would have gone into the water . The trucks Mitred no injury , and but little displacement , and another engine having been brought , they were forwarded to their destination , and the subsequent trains experienced no delay . The engineer ' s name was Thomas Graham ; he was a steady experienced driver , but the morning was ver > ' dark , and the animal was not discovered until the engine was close upon it , too late to prevent the accident .

      1 HE McRDER IX BrECO . VSIIIBE . — FARTHER PaHTicuLARg . —The neighbourhood having been aroused b y the intelligence of the above murder , the constables proceeded to the spot , where they found the body : > hig on its back , at the top of a short hill , with t ! i <> liat drawn over its face , and two small pools of blood , which had issued from a bullet wound two inches behind the right ear , the ball being afterwards discovered , on post mortem examination , to have penetrated the brain , and to have flattened against the skull , where it lodged on the opposite side . His waistcoat had been torn open with such violence as to break several buttons , and all his cash had been extracted from the money pocket ; his watch and several articles in other pockets were untouched .

      I- rom all appearances it was evident that the fiendlike assassin had fired the fatal , shot whUe walking up the ascent of the road , at the side of his unsu 3-peetin-g victim , who must have fallen forward on his right knee and forehead , and have been turned over on his back by the murderer for the purpose of plunder . Messengers were immediately torwarded to Brecon . On the intelligence reaching Mr . D . Rosser , landlord of the Bridgent inn , where the deceased ( whose name was David Lewis ) had been in the habit of putting up , the suspicion flashed aeross liis mind that the deed had been done by a man namod Thomas Thomas , of Llansowel , Carmarthenthenshire , who had called at his house in a drab macintosh , and had enquired for butter carts going

      to the vicinity of bis home , about two hours before Lewis and his boy started . He accordingl y caused a letter to be sent per mail to a respectable innkeeper in the neighbourhood of Llansowel , who immediately forwarded descriptions to the rui ^ l police of the eouuty , several of whom were stationed near . In the meantime inquiries had been made by the Brecon police , which strengthened the suspicion , and Mr . Superintendent Stephens , accompanied by the Lite superintendent , who knew Thomas from having had him . in custody on a previous occasion , started off for Carmarthenshire , while printed descriptions were forwarded to all the adjacent districts and seaports . Having been detained makinsr inouiries on the wav . the Brecon

      police did not reach Llansowel until after one o ' clock on Sunday morning , when thev found Thomas in the custody of the rural police , who had taken him under the following circumstances : —Acting on the information they had received , they had proceeded to his father ' s house , and found that he had reached home at half-past eleven o ' clock ; they also ascertained that he had been seen in the village , and deeming it likely that he would come home at night , the superintendent stationed his men on the lookout , lying in wait himself with one of his men in a lane near his lather ' s house . Soon after eight o ' clock they heard him coming down the lane , and passing one on each side of him , collared him at once . Being a very powerful young man , he succeeded in throw * ing them both down , and after a severe struggle on the ground , they were compelled to draw their cutlasses before he would surrender . During tlie struggle he dropped a brace of pocket-pistolswhich

      fortu-, iiately were not loaded , and in his pocket were found twelve bullets , caps , and some powder . Having been surrendered to the Brecon police , he was brought on Sunday to the station-house in that town , and on Monday was taken to an adjourned inquest , held " ^ fore Thomas Batt , Esq ., at the Camden Arms , Trecastle . From the evidence here adduced , it appeared that he had nine days previously bought the pistols at an ironmonger's shop in Brecon , and that on Friday night he rode in a farmer ' s waggon a short way out of town until overtaken by Lewis and iuS cart ,-when he made the bargain for conveyance W ? Trecastle . The boy who had charge of the waggon , and Lewis ' s little boy , swore most positively to his identity ; and such a chain of circumstantial evidence waa made apparent , that tlie jury without hesitation returned a verdict of Wilful Murder against Thomas Thomas , who was therefore removed to the eountj gaol , to take bis trial at the March assizes .

      Daring Burglary . —On Monday night , the 9 th , or early on Tuesday morning , the residence ot tne Rev . R . B . Gardiner , of Wadhurst , Sussex , was burglariously entered , and a quantity of valuable piaw and sundry other articles stolen therefrom . *»" robbery was effected by a person well a . ^ ^ with the premises . On the principal portion ot « £ plate was engraven a stag ' s head , with a mall » "f tween the antlere , and the initials R . B . G . jtm another portion . A reward of £ 60 has been offered w the conviction of tne offender .

      Untitled Article

      . -6 THE NORTHERN STAR . j December 14 , 1844 ,

      Tee Chambers' Philosophy Refuted.

      TEE CHAMBERS' PHILOSOPHY REFUTED .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Dec. 14, 1844, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct517/page/6/