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Northern Star (1837-1852), 14th August 1841, Edition 3 of 4, Page 4, Untitled Article

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    • MOTHER "PLEA EOE THE POOR."
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      Untitled Article

      TO MY UNREPRESENTED BRETHREN IN ENGLATTO AND SCOTLAND . Lancaster Castle , August 10 th , 1841 . My DBiB . FaiESDS , —I am invited to meet a great "many friends ia England and Scotland after my liberation ; that is to ny , after the Slth of September—the day on -which my term o ! eighteen months' imprisonmeet expires . In some places I am invited to public dinner *; in others , to soirees , or tea-parties ; and in several places , it is intended < as I am informed ) to honour me with what are called " Demonstrations ; " that is , processions or public entries , preceded by bands of music , and -with the usual accompaniments of flags , I » titipt « , portraits , mottos , it &c Sow , my friends , it is to this latter point , I -wish to draw your attention—I mean the demonstrations and the public dinners .

      Demonstrations and public dinners are very costly things , especially the former . They are also , in my opinion , ( unless on great occasions ) , very unnecessary and useless things . The late demonstrations in Manchester , Dundee , Glasgow , and many other places cost , cm an average , more than forty guineas each . Some of the Kersal-moor and Peep-green demonstrations cost ooe hundred guineas and upwards . If all the money that his been expended upon demonstrations since the morement began in 18 SS , were cow forthcoming for usefnl and practical purposes , it would make a good xtxnad sum ! The wages that workpeople hare lost through attending demonstrations would mike a still lsxger sum ; and the largest of all would be the sum of what workmen bavo lost through dismissal or loss of

      employment consequent upon tkeir attending demonstra tions . Fifteen poor fellows lost their employment altogether , for attending a demonstration once given to me by my -waim-hearted constituents in Leigh , Cbowbent , &c I was taken by surprise on that eccasion , not haying hid the remotest intelligence of what was to occur , until on my approach to Leigh , I saw half a mile of a procession marching out to meet ine . My friends in Leigh will remember how grieved 1 was , at what they intended for my gratification , and what too many others would be but too proud to ¦ witness . But the sequel proved I iu right . When I hewd , on the following day , that fifteen poor fellows had been turned off by their

      employers , I cursed myself for haying entered the towa , and I made a solemn tow neyei again to have a demonstration gat up for sie , if I could present it , until the time should come when the people , after obtaining » ome signal victory OTer thtir oppressors , might be able to attend demonstrations without entailing upon them-• elvts the harrowing consequence of seeing their wives and children without bread . To that" vow— made though it was in the bitterness of spirit—I have ever tince religiously adhered . I hava never allowed any demonstration to take place for me that I possibly could prevent , and , with G « d ' s blessing , I never will , until either tyranny has ceased to live amongst us , or I have ceased to live myself .

      I do , therefore , most earnestly mtroat of you , n > y friends , not to think of demonstrations so far as 1 am concerned . Di what you like in respect of ilr . O'Connor and others : it ia yoar right ; and if you and they are satisfied , no other party has a right to find fiult . 1 sn not one of those starched personages who oV ject to demonstrations in honour of others , because I decline them for myself , or who would apply degrading nicknames to any form of procedure , or madtts os * ratidi , fey ¦ which the people may choose to five public expressien to their feelings , and to vent their hoaest enthusiasm . It is your right t « choose your own mode of doing honour to these to whom you think honour is due ; and if the persons bo honoured are consenting parties to , end satisfied with , what you do , it is only envy' or

      impudence that -would presume to call into question your act . I may » V "" V demonstrations , in certain cases , to be " foolish and vain displays , " but others may think differently . In all such cases , it is for the people , and those they honour , and for them only , to decide . 1 < Saim no right whatever to make suggestions , pro or eon , as regards demonstrations got up for others , ily objections apply exclusively te those intended for myself : I am , by constitution and temperament , acfit to address large open-air meetings . Other people are not I consider that the expence of demonstrations , and the losses in wages and employment which they invariably cause , are seldom compensated for , by any effects they produce . Others think differently . I am of opinion that up to this moment , we have not obtained a single victory over our enemies , but on the contrary , have suffered many and grievous reverses through the folly and treachery of leaders in oat otto pirty , —and holding this opinion , 1 cannot ,

      and ¦ will not , be a consenting party to processions and " triumphal" entries , with bands playing " See the conquering hero comes , " it—all of which—in the case of a beaten man like me—I should consider to be i bo much Tsm-foolery , or something werse . If 1 coald bring myself to consent to a public . eeation anywhere , it would be in bonnie New- i aaUe , where something like a victory has been ob- j tained in connection with my name . But even there ' shall decline every thing of the kind , until I see ¦ whether the victory can be turned to a useful account . On these and « rmiiar points , other persons , I am aware , bold very different opinions from mine . Thty consider the cause of Chartism to hare had little els * Uian a succession of triumphs frcm the commencement . Kay , they actually regard the result of the Me general election Oi s . triumph , tax tha people . Well , Ifet them try tee cherished conviction . Such persons can havt ¦ none of my objections to triumphal demonstrations .

      I prefer soirees to public dinners , because they are Jess expensive , interfere less with working hours , and above si ! , because wotting men n . &y more conveniently take their wives and asters to soirees than to jablic dinntrs . I do , therefore , my friends , once more urgently request of you to get up no demonstrations or public dinners , but as many soirees as you like for Tour ' s , sincerely , James B O'Bsiek .

      Untitled Article

      LONDON . Maso . Vs Chabter Association . — This body met on Saturday last , at their Room , the Craven ' Head Inn , Dnrry Lane . Mr . Wilson was called to the chair . A resolution , appointing a Committee to act as deputations to the various trades , was carried unanimously . Mr . "VVhitehorn haying made a present of a silk waistcoat , to assist the O'Connor Banner Committee , received a vote of thanks , and the waistcoat was ordered to be raffled . Two addresses to the tra-des were read , and on the motion of Mr . Scott , seconded by Mr . Walker , one of them was adopted for going to the trades in London , and the other for the trades in the country . The deputations to the different trades gave in their reports which were received . Mr . Watkins lecture , on account of the pressure of Society business , was deferred till Saturday nest ; Mr . Wall ' s on the following Saturday .

      Middllsex Cocxtt Delegate Meeting . —This tody met on Sunday afternoon last , at 55 , Old Bailey ; Mr . Mills was called to the chair . The following gentlemen handed ia their credentials and took their seats , viz . : —Messrs . Wheeler and RufPy Ridley , for Kensington ; Messrs . Walton , Worthington and Wilson , from the masom body ; Messrs . Mills , Drake and M'Grath , from the Tower Hamlets ; Messrs . Knight and Smith , from Piusbary ; Messrs . Tupill , Humphries a . ad Goodfellow , from Si . Pa :: cra 3 ; Mr . Pickersgill , from Globe Fields ; Mr . Wi . kias , from Nona-street , Whirecbapel ; and from the City of London , Messrs . Watkins and LiDgswkh . iir . Draie opposed the reception of Mr . Pickerrgill . but the opposition W 2 « overruled .

      Mr . Wheeler was unanimously appointed secretary . Messrs . Walton , Watkins , and Drake , were appointed a finance committee . Messrs . Tnpsiii , Wilson , Goodfeilow , Ridley and Wheeler , were appointed a visiting committee . Messrs . Humphries . M'Grath , Wilkins , MilU and Pickersgill , were appointed a committee of observation . It -nras unaniaously BgTeed " That no person ba allowed to hold two o ffice ? . " The minutes of the late Middlesex County Council were read . Mr . Fassill read a letter from Veargus O'Connor , Esq , in answer t-o a letter directed by the Council to be written by him to Mr .

      O'Connor , in wkich he states that he feels proud of the inntarien which the men of London had given him to attend when liberated , that his condec : was approved of , and that fee should certainly atiend h their invitation and communicate with Mes .-rs , O'Brien and Besbow on the same subject . Mr Knigh ; moved " That the Sunday meetings be dispensed ¦ with , ilr . Drake seconded the motion , tc which an amendment was moved and carried by s large majority , "That they be continued . ' Thi Dslrgates after some little discussion agreed usuni xnously , " That they do assist the masons iu waiunj on the trs . de ? . " Adjourned till cezt Sunday .

      Towee Kaiilets . —ilr . Preston lectured on Sun day evening last , at the Charter C-jSee-ho' ^ se , Brck lane , and Mr . Wall , in consequence of Mr , Spurr ' Bon-amva ! , occasioned by a deaib in his family , at tended a : the Freemason ' s Anns . Shgeuajlkss' Chaeteb Association . —This bod ; held its first meeting on Sunday evening last , a their rooms , Ropemsker-streer , City . The Concert , in behalf of Bronttrre O'Brien , oi Monday last , at the City Rooms , Old Bailey , wa most numerously attended . Mr . Jocelyn presided The concert was opened by the si : ging of life Mar

      seiiiea hymn . During the evening a cumber o : patriotic " sou ^ s were sang by ilr . aad Mrs . Joceiyn Mr . Hornby , Mr . Cohen , and Mr . Tipper , who w « encored in the song of ** Emmett , " the company rifiig and joifiiDj ? in chorus to the l 3 st verse . Mis Bishop gave two recitations ; Mr . Watkins eave tba ** Gladiator ^ ' from Byron ; Mr . and Mrs . Joceiyn , a ¦ cene from John Frost ; and Mre . and Miss Ford , with Mr . Ford , gave John Frost , and many other ladies and gentlemen , among whom was Mrs . Crockford , favoured the company , which broke up at twelve o'clock .

      FrsSBUBY . —Mr . CHlverhouse lectured here on Monday evening last , to a numerous audience , bis ¦ abjec ; being ' The prospects of the people under a Tory Government . " He was much applauded en the conclusion of bis lecture . A letter was read from the Executive , giving , & 3 the ground of the rejection O Mr . Spnrr , bi 3 having thrown np his card- at a pnblie meeting . Further subscriptions were made in eh * lf of the O'Connor Banner .

      Untitled Article

      Kejssisgtox aud Chelsea . —A public meeting was held on Monday last , at the United Coffee House , George-street , Chelsea , Mr . Smallwood in the chair . The following resolution was unanimously agreed to , and ordered to be transmitted bj Mr . Wheeler to the Executive Conneil : — " That we have heard read with great plea ? are , the manly and straightforward address of the National Executive to the Chartists of Great Britain , and have the greatest confidence that their future labours will be productive of great benefit to the cause , though we cannot , at the same time , avoid expressing our regret at their not having acted upon the suggestion thrown out by the Chartists of this neighbourhood , and the metropolis generally , for securing the return of Messrs . O'Brien and Binns to the Commons' House of Parliament ; for we are well aware that if the subject be taken up by the Executive , it will be responded to with alacrity by every true Chartist throughout the empire /'

      Mil Ridlkt , lat « M . C ., delivered a lecture " On the Evils of Class Legislation . " During the course of his lecture , which was most ably conducted , he described the baneful eSWts class legislation bad on all classes of society , the deplorable condition to which it had reduced the agricultural population of Wiltshire and the surrounding counties , through which he had passed lately on his lecturing tour ; and concluded by proving that the only panacea was the Charter . Thanks were voted to the leetnrer , and to Mr . Whitehorn for his present to the Banner Fund , and which will be raffled for on the 26 th of August . The Chairman announced a lecture by Dr . Webb , on Monday next , at this place ; and one also on Sunday evening , by Mr . Stallwood , at the Charter Coffee House , Stretton Ground , Westminster .

      On Spsdav Etesisc last , a meeting of the Beveral divisions of journeymen boot and shoemakers of the City was held at the Bull and Bell Inn , Ropemakers-Etreet , Moor Fields , to establish a Charter Association separate from their Trade Society . A goodly number attended , and the interest and anxiety displayed during the evening augur well for the establishment of a numerous and powerful Association . A deputation from the stonemasons attended to address the meeting on the cause of the Charter , and give any information required . It was resolved to form a branch of the National Charter Association .

      Mother "Plea Eoe The Poor."

      MOTHER " PLEA EOE THE POOR . "

      Untitled Article

      TO THE HONOURABLE AND REVEREND BABTIST NOEL , MINISTER OF ST JOHN'S CHAPEL , BEDFORD ROW . Stb ., —I wiEli I had the honour of being personally acquainted with you . I wiBh very mnch indeed that I had . I wish it , because I could then be the better judge whether I ehould deal with your fallacies as the goodnatured whimsy of a good-natured man , or as the snbtle pleading of an interested advocate . However as I have not the honour of being personally acquainted with you , I must deal with your assertions and conclusions as I find them in your pamphlet , very whimsically entitled

      " A PLEA FOR THB POOR . In a postscript to my last letter to the Iriih landlords , I gave an extract from your pamphlet , as I found it in the Morning Chronicle ; and having read a great many highly complimentary comments upon your work in the two Homing and Evening " anti-monopolisf papers , as they very bomoroualy call themselves , I was anxious to discover -whether or not judicious and fail selections had been made by the commentators from your text We barristers hold , and the law of evidence holds , that if one portion cf a letter be put in evidence ,

      the parties affected by it may insist upon all being read ; snd , again , that the best evidence which can be precured should be procured . Upon those rules of practice and principles of the law of evidence , I ordered your pamphlet . I have read it ; and so far from finding any qualification of the extracted parts in the text , I find that the scrlbts have , as is their custom , withheld those very portions which , if perused by a common-sense hand-loom weaver of eighteen years of age , muit have induced him to Bay , if there is no better advocate to support

      "A PLEA FOR THB FOOB , " " Preserve us from our friends ! " for , verily we shall perish under their tender mercies ! Now , the passage of all others "which struck me as being the most monstrous , appears to have gained for you the highest amount of Editorial praise . 1 quote it again . Here it is — " There is an opinion sometimes expressed by well meaning persons , that we ought to keep np the agricultural population , and prevent the multiplication of great manufacturing towns , with all their disagreeable

      accompaniments of dirt and smoke and noise . Bat this opinion is surely thoughtless . The land is already so thoroughly cultivated that while the number of families in Great Britain employed in agriculture in 1851 was 97 S . , the number employed in the same manner in 1831 was reduced to 8 G 1 . 134 . The land , therefore , cannot employ the additional population ; and to endeavour to prevent multiplication of towns and the extension of manufactures , is to endeavour to secure that the whole additional population of Great Britain and Ireland should be without employment and without fvod . "

      Hon . and Rev . Sir , selecting this single passage , ( so condnsive in itself ) for comment , would , in any case , be perfectly justifiable ; bnt when I find in many other parts of your pamphlet very positive reasoning in aid of the above assertion ; and when I further find you selecting all the serviceable bits from the works , the letters , and even from the rambling speeches of others , in support of this monstrous assertion , I am on those grounds still further justified in dealing with it as your most important position , and one which you appear resolutely determined to maintain . If then I can successfully drive you from your strongest fastness , I shall have but little difficulty in convincing you of the hopelessness of an attempt to sustain your battle upon open ground .

      Rev . Sir , when I read the extract upon which I am now abont to comment , it brought to mj recollection a frightful picture which you had previously drawa of the poor , and in which yon described " 500 , 000 , living without Grod , and without hope ; " and , in truth , I no longer marvel that a fbek so shepherded should have so strayed ; but I xiid wonder how it was th » t , in all the casualties , misfortunes , liabilities , fluctuations , and divine visitations , which so constantly affect the flock ; how , in the midst of all , the shepherd stood scathless —uninjured by national calamity—unthaken by the storm—unhurt by others' sorrows ; and moved only to compassion when poverty become valiant , threatens them with the foul folding of those committed to their care .

      Sir , the shepherds have devoured every green thing ; and now you tell mb that the flock has become too numerous for the pasture . Before I have done , I shall show you that it is the shepherds who have become too numerous , too ignorant , too intolerant , too negligent , too luxurious , too proud , and too unlike the holy man -whose picture Christ drew . You siy that the land is already so thoroughly cultivated , that while the number of families in Great Britain employed in agriculture in 1821 , was , 978 , 658 , the number employed in the same manner in 1831 , was reduced to 961 , 134 , " THE LAND THEREFORE CASNOT EMPIOT THE ADDITIONAL

      POPULATION . " Tne land THEREFORE catwti ? Wherefore , pjuy ? "Wherefore , I ask . ' Have you shown , beyond assertion , that the diminution of persons employed in agricultural pursuits at the respective periods , was owing to the fact of their labour not being required ? Or , if you were aware of the true reasons why not state them ? Were you not cognisant oj the fact , that causes simultaneously operating in England , Ireland , and Scotland within the very assarted period , had a powerful , nay , an irresistible influence in unfairly and artificially producing that state of things which you set down to the inability ef the land from its advanced state of cultivation ; having fairly , and catuially produced ? TVere you not aware that the very ten years which you have chosen for illustration was the jubilee of manufactures

      the triumph of art over nature ? Were you not aware that in England the rural villages were robbed of their innocent and healthful inhabitants , by the bloodhounds of the human race , who stole , aad seduced and kidnapped whole fainDies , and sold them to the tyrant from whom they could never again purchase their emancipation ? Were you not aware that the effect of that system was naturally to raise the wages of the diminished nnmber 3 in the agricultural market ' : And , were yon not aware that the effei ^ t of that was to throw much land out of cultivation . into pasture ? And were you not aware that the result of th 3 t was a law to throw the unemployed " upon their own resources , " when the forced and unnaturally empLoyed poriion of the agricultural eommunity were Sv ^ nt back ^ to their parishei after being experimentaliasd

      Untitled Article

      upon , and -where they found the door of the Savings * Bank closed against them ? Were you not aware that ¦ within these Tery ten years , two Acts of Parliament Bent nearly one million of poor Irish agricul turists from the field to the cottomnill—to the road—or to death F Tea , Rev . Sir , the Subletting Act , intended for the benefit of the small farmer , had the effect of inducing Irish landlords to knock those farms leased into small lots into large forms , for the more easy collection of rent , and , as they thought , for the purpose of redaciDg responsibility , by having only one instead of ten

      tenants to deal with . When a middle man took a thousand acres of ground at £ l per acre , he subdivided it into small farms , of sizes just capable of catching all the little ready money which a thrifty labourer had amassed through many years of industry and privation , and which ( after bargaining for £ 1 l « s . per acre , with the middle man ) "his Honour" took by way of fine ; thus leaving him without capital . Many leases of thirtyone years made by Irish landlords ( who abandoned their country ) to middle men in 1797 and 1798 , during Mr . Pitt's Rebellion , expired within your assumed period ; and the small farms were , accord ing to the Scotch principle , knocked into large farms .

      Mr . Goulburn's Tithe Composition Bill , passed within your ten years , had also a powerful effect as well in increasing the large farm system as in making many a gentleman theretofore engaged in the art of war , become farmers npon the more extensive scale ; turning their " Bwords into ploughshares . " But above all , the dlsfranchisement of the Irish 40 s . freeholders , in 1829 , amounting to more than 200 , 006 heads of families , swelled the numbers of manufacturing population of Great Britain lo the extent which you describe , and from which you would ingeniously , but very disingenuously , lead us to infer , that the remuneration for the operative ' s labour was quite commensurate with the increase of numbers in that department ; the fact being that a kind of state-labour

      lottery was established in which all the prizeB were said to be on the side of artificial labour ; and all that trick , invention , and knavery could invent , was put into requisition to induce the confidina , the innocent , and unsophisticated husbandman to sell bis wife and little family , not for the chance , but for the certainty of a prize , the prize being his own ease purchased by no more than the healthful exercise of his wife and children . Waggon loads , coach loads , ship loads , boat loads , horse loads , cart loads , and foot loads of speculators were thus drawn from , and smuggled from the quiet vale of innocence into the valley of death ; they were consigned to the charnel house , and made canversant in the ways of sin , of vice , of crime , and of all sorts of depravity .

      Rev . Sir , my answer to your assertions shall not stand as mere assertion to asssertion . No , no ; I will meet your every guess with an opposing fact ; and to begin , I Keetyour first assertion : — " The land THERKeoke can sot employ any additional population . " Again . I ask " wherefore it cannot V and the only answer is , because the Honourable and and Reverend Baptist Noel says so , and it is the interest of influential men to nphold him in the msertion . Now , then , Reverend Sir , have you bestowed one moment ' s t nought upon the subject ? and if so , has it never struck you that , allowing your numbers to be quite correct , the truth is easily arrived at . And how

      are we to arrive at the truth ? Why , simply , by giving you an additional 40 , 000 families or bo in 1831 , to make you up a million for the sake of round numbers , and which million divided into the cultivable lands of Great Britain , amounting to above 50 , 000 , 000 acres , leaves just one family to every fifty acres . Now , sir , it must be known to every person who understands the subjeet , that those fifty acres wonld be in an almosl sterile and unproductive condition for want of a sufficiency of labour ; while the same fifty acres , subdi . vided into lota of five aerea each , would improve yearly , and maintain in the outset ten families instead of one , leaving also a burger , a much larger , surplus for general use after consumption .

      Rev . Sir , estimating the population of Great Britain , in round numbers , at 20 , 000 , 000 , and allowing five to a family ( your own average ) , we have 4 , 0 * 0 , 000 heads of families . Now , Sir , what I ask for , as a meanB or making all rich , every one of them . Is simply 18 , 000 , 000 of acres of land , at any rent—I care not what amountbnt in perpetuity , and at a corn average , for 1 , 000 , 000 of those heads of families—we will call them the freelabour husbandmen , if you please . 1 , 000 , 000 of the manufacluring families added to the free-labour hnsbandmen , wonld constitute one-half of the whole

      population . Then for trades , professions , shopkeepers , artists , money-jobbers , manufacturers , soldiers , sailors , and all that tribe who would rather not have land , sayl , 000 , 000 families ; and there wi . lremainl , p 00 , 000 headsof families , consisting of landed proprietors , and largo tenants , and hired labourers , who would still speculate upon profit made out of land , after a fair standard price of labour had been established in the free labour market Now to the latter 1 . 0 U 0 , 00 » heads of families I assign 40 , 000 , 000 o ? acres for large farms , domains , pleasure grounds , deer parks , and so forth ; that is , four-fifths of the whole , and much more than they could compass .

      Now , Rsv . Sir , by that arrangement , I make each man independent of all , and all labourers dependent upon their" own resources . " I require no emigration—no foreign aid to support them—no dreadful foreboding , about a nigbfa mildew , or a nighfs wind—no capiicious reliance upon the farthing-sliding-scale rule—no man with the power to say to another , " Work for WE and for THIS , and at THAT , whether you like your master , your pay , or your job , or let it alone and Btarve ! " I open all the avenues of life for each to walk in , according to his taste .

      Rev . Sir , you say that already the land 5 s so thoroughly cultivated , that it cannot emploj any addi . tional population ; and you jump to a conclusion , mistaking causes for effects , and effects for causes forgetting what you had vouched in your 25 th and 2 Gth pafees . You establish your position boldly i' faith . You say that because a dimunition in the number of husbandmen , has taken place in the ten years , between 1821 , and 1831 , that "therefore the land is thoroughly cuiliTakd and cannot employ any additional population . ' ' Sir , you might with equal propriety have said that because a Lancashire manufacturer thought proper to dismiss his hands who refused to submit to a destructive reduction of wages , or from any other cause , iherefore that mill could not be set to work again . But I will have no light reasoning or wide fencing

      with you . You appear to be a good man , and I will therefore reason closely with you . Upon what data then have you presumed that the land is already " thoroughly cultivated ? " Is it upon the grounds that fewer hands now do more work than formerly , and that it was formerly thoroughly cultivated ? Is it upon the presumption that 15 per cent , added to the population since 1 S 31 , require fewer hands to produce food than the smaller number previously required ? Is it upon the presumption that horse power and steam power have been more extensively applied to agricultural purpose * within the assumed period ? Is it upon the presumption that mote corn-producing ground has been laid down in grass land ? or is it from a comparison of land in ita present condition as contrasted with its condition antecedent to 1832 ?

      Now , Sir , allowing you the latter , as the most feasible means of judging , and allowing that you have from such data drawn your conclusion , then , I aai , when in the memory of man , was lani in its highest or in one half cf its highest producing tilt ? I deny that it ever has been so ; and so far from your assertion being capable of proof from even the narrow limits of the narrowest and best cultivated locality , I broadly assert that there are not in all Great Britain lying together , and in the possession of , or held under any one landlord 500 acres , ( market-garden ground excepted . ) wkich are cultivated to one-half , nay , one-third part of their highest producing power ; and I assert generally , that taking the whole of the available laud into calculation , that it is not

      cnltivated to one-fifth part of its higbest producing power . Rev . Sir , suppose that Earl Fitzwillum should take it into his head to covert some ten thousand acres of his Yorkshire estates into a large sheep-walk ; and suppose that those ten thousand acres had been previously divided into one hundred farms of one hundred acres each , and that each farm maintained the tenant and three agricultural families , or four families , at five to a family , that is twenty persons , or two thousand npon the ten thousand acres ; and suppose that the tending of the sheep required no more than some twenty shepherds and their families , making in all one hundred persons , -would you in this case argue that a clear case of inability to support more than the one hundred persons in labour was made out ? and

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      tb . 1 it followed as a matter of course , that the land wis thoroughl y cultivated , and not capable of employing any of the nineteen hundred ontcasts ? or would you say that it-was most beneficially employed In fattoning mutton for Idlers , while the poor were starring for want of means to produce food from their own resources ? Again . Would you aay that the 400 , 000 acres of Irish land which supported 200 , 000 foity-shillings-freeholders and their families of five t » a family , or 1 , » 00 , 000 persona and which were converted into farms of 100 acres each , worked by twenty to a farm , or only 80 , 000 perBons , instead of l , « 00 , 0 « 0 ; would you say that "t herefore" it fallowed that the 400 , 000 acres which did maintain a million , was by the new move rendered incapable of supporting more than 80 , 00 » , or not one in twelve ?

      Would yon argue that because my Lord A , or my Lord B , or Mr . C wished to knock several small farms , Into others of sufficient size to produce a £ 50 tenant-at-will voter , who would be nndei hi » immediate control , that It " THEREFtttE" followed , as a matter of course , that the land thus stripped of its usual means of producing , lacked some or its former powers , and was , " therefore , " incapable of supporting the population ? for to nothing more does youi assertion tend .

      Would you argue that Sir Arthur Brooks ' s estate had been cultivated to the highest , because failing to get Protestants hardy enough to displace his Irish Catholic tenants , though offered the tempting bait of a redaction of ten per cent in the rent , he had converted it into a Bheep-walk or dairy-farm ? As well might you say that the land had conspired not to grow food for Catholics I Tes , Rev . Sir , just as well ; because you attribute to the inability of the land that which the unjust powers of landlords—unjustly and capriciously used , — will not allow to be done .

      Just refer for an answer to your own pamphlet , pages 25 and 26 ; and there you will find that the very expulsion of agricultural labourers from the land in the prescribed peiiod , had caused a great rise in prices in the year 1831 , and had very nearly caused a famine by making ua to require 1 , 491 , 631 quarters of wheat from the foreigner , which we could have better produced for ourselves . So that what you ascribe to the inability ef the land from its high state of cultivation in one part of your letter , you ascribe to want of speculation , and want of cultivation in another parti

      Hon . and Rev . Sir , having now answered , and I think conclusively , your assertion as to the present state of the land of Great Britain , and its inability to support any greater population , I should be justified in leaving the general question , weakened as it is by the refutation of your strongest presumption . However , as it is my intention to demur generally to your " Plea for the Poor , " I shall not yet desist ; and , in fact , Sir , the great fault with those who write for public instruction consists in leaving off at that very point where

      they feel satisfied themselves , instead of making the whole subject intelligible to the meanest capacity . With that intention , Sir , I shall now select a few of those passages from your work which hinge most closely upon the assertion that the land is thoroughly cultivated , in aid of which assertion they have been routed out from all sources and quarters . Rev . Sir , I shall select a few passages , which the press has thought proper to pass over , and from which I have drawn my conclusion that you are a kindhearted man .

      You say : — " The number of families employed in agriculture was , in 1811 , 895 , 998 , and in the year 1831 it had only increased to SCI , 134 ; while the number of families employed la trade and manufactures , &c , had grown during that period from l , 129 . to 1 , 434 , 873 : and on the whole , if Mr . Ward is conrcct , two millions of persons of agricultural origin , whose parents were employed upon the land , have since 1811 obtained a livelihood by manufactures . Should our manufacturing industry be repressed , the country labourers , already too numerous , must become an intolerable burden to the parishes ; but should our manufactures flourish , many will find employment as domestic servants , porters , warehousemen , artisans , and sailors . The effect of this demand for labourers must be the same as the effect of a similar demand in towns . "

      Rev . Sir , here exists a very cunons discrepancy between yourself and Mr . Ward , the very first authority whom you quote—cautiously I admit , for you say "ip Mr . Ward iscorrcct . " You make it appear that from 1811 to 1831 there wub an emigration of some 05 , 000 agricultural families to the manufacturing towns ; while to the present time Mr . Ward estimates the number at uo less than two millions . This great discrepancy between you and Mr . Ward , who generally prefers a reliance upon prophecy ( and credit for the fulfilment ot prediction which he foretela after it has happened , ) to

      vulgar arithmetic , militates no further against you , it ia true , than as proof of your credulity , and the loose manner in which you have arranged your material * . However , Sir , in the concluding portion of the above passage , you have again asserted that the agricultural labourers are already too numerous ; and you propose to obviate their becoming a burden upon their respective parishes by sending them to where they will become a burden to themselves , and a reserve for the masters ; a sure means to prevent the very object which you profess te desire—the establishment of a regular standard price for la' our by power-loom service .

      You say , " in such case , " that Is in case of the agricultural labourers going to work at manufactories in towns , " they can make their own terms . '' A very curious theory that ! I should have judged that the very reverse was the case ; that the increased number would enable masters to make their own terms . But your assertion , you will say , depends upon manufactures nourishing . To that I answer , firstly , th&t mechanical invention and improvements will flourish to an extent of far greater proportion than would be required tj supply any increased demand secondly , that agriculture , in case of manufactures flourishing , should flourish also ; aad so far from the fiourish of manufacturers driving agricultural families

      to the towns , it should insure for them a more flourishing condition on the land : and thirdly , I am happy to find that we agree upon the necessity of establishing some just standard for the price of labour , while I deny however that it can be done in the artificial market ; so do yon . But , then , if I mistake not , you further on denominate a manufacturing life as the ratural life of a Briton , and agriculture as an artificial state of existence ! while yon very whimsically reverse the case for all other inhabitants of this great globe , by making the land their natural element and manufacturing an artificial state of employment . I shall now proceed to another passage . You say in pages 11 and

      12—" Left alone , they could feed and clothe themselves , educate their children , and provide for the decrepitude of age . Why should the law step in and say , you shall neither labour nor eat ? God baa provided food f 01 them in other lands ; and if no law prevented , they could easily buy it Can it be right that the law should intercept the bounty of God , and sentence them to perpetual want ? " If it be replied that grave interests require this interposition of the law , let me ask what interests ?

      It is not very likely that agriculture would suffer by a reduction of the corn duty , since the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire , of Sutherland and Cleveland , the Marqnis of Westminster , Lord Leicester , Lord Spencer , an d Lord Fitzwilliam , are all favourable to the change . Too much interested in the question on account of their large possessions to adopt an opinion hastily , and too enlightened to be easily deceived , they yet believe that the change is safe ; and their opinion is surely entitled to the very highest respect . "

      Rev . Sir , allow me to say that the words , " has provided food for them in other lands , " savours strongly of Infidelism . From these words I wholly and entirely dissent , and against them I enter my strongest protest , inasmuch as I feel convinced that God in His all-wise dispensation , has not left him whom he created after his own image dependent on far-away and distant countries for the means of existence . ' I believe He has placed within the reach of all , enough for all ; in Bhort terms , I believe that God gave us land , but the devil gave us landlords and legislators . What ! Rev . Sir , God has provided food for them in other landt ! " What then becomes of country ? of patriotism ? of laws ? of kingcraft ? and of priestcraft ? Where is the fathci-Iand ? Where the homestead ?

      Where the rallying point for Britons or Irishmen , or men of any country ? Where the value then of the beautiful and divine injunction contained in the fifth commandment : — " Honour thy father and thy mother , that thy days may be long in the land which THE LORD THY GOD HATH GIVEN THEE . " What , then , Rev . Sir , constitutes a better title to the tithe of English land than to the tithe of Polish land .

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      Russian land , or American land t Aye , aye , the English and Irish priests well know that in the event of THBIB , Iani being put out of cultivation , they wonld soon establish a title to the " teens" of the thrashed corn of America and of the world . Rev . Sir , wonld the shepherds have advocated the non-production of grain from ¦ which they received payment foi their valuable services , if they had not firstly transferred the demand to a general mortgage npon the whole land , yea , upon the rent or value whether rented or not , cultivated or not ? Ah 1 Sir , your order had the tithe of men ; now you have the tithe of beasts !

      Bey . Sir , pray , pray , pray erase the passage from any further editions through which your " Plea for the Poor" may pass . Believe me it is hetreodox , anti . national , unscriptural , anti-scriptural , unwise , and antideluvian . Rev . Sir , as to the noble authorities upon whose wiBdom yon would rely , I think I might balance the noble scales by a very heavy counterpoise of nobility , and thus balanced , call in aid of a foir judgment those whe are much more " interested in the question , " namely , the people for whose benefit the artificial is tendered in lieu of the natural resource . In good truth , Sir , if you had searched the peerage and left out the names of Spencer and Fitzwilliara , you could not have more effectually damned yourself and your " Plea , " by authority .

      Rev . Sir , I now come to a most Important and sweeping calculation . You aay : — Meanwhile , the population of ttw United Kingdom is now increasing at the rate of 400 , 000 per annum ; and since nearly the whole of these must be maintained by commerce and manufactures , the alleged Increase of exports amounting to the value of £ 14 , 000 , 060 in nin « years , which is at the rate of £ 1 , 555 , 000 per annum , may still leave a vast number of persons unemployed , and allow a constant increase of permanent distress . To justify the present Corn Liws , it should be shown either

      that the amount of employment has grown faster than the population , or that if the population has been outgrowing the meanB of employing them , that the want of employment has not in auy degree arisen from the operation of the Corn Laws . But if each workman can on an average manufacture , annually , goods to the value of £ 200 , these additional exports have employed annually not more than 7775 additional workmen . And as the whole additional population was in each year 400 , 000 , it is obvious that population may still have outgrown employment "

      Here we have the fact that the population is now increasing at the rate of 400 , 000 annually , and the assertion that all of those must be maintained by commerce , as the land is not capable of supporting them ; and that also each workman employed produces annually £ 200 worth of manufactured goods . Now , Sir , suppose we assume that one-twentieth of the annual increase of population , all of whom are to be engaged in commerce , or 20 , 000 to be manufacturing operatives , —that is quartering

      nineteen drones upon one busy bee ; and suppose the repeal of the Corn Laws does , in truth , produce what we are assured of , namely , " plenty to do , high wages , and cheap bread ; " well , Sir , in that case we should require a sew annual out-let for £ 4 , 000 , 000 worth of manufactured goods , being at the rate of £ 300 worth produced annually by the 20 , 000 new-comers . This youa&nit ; because you arrive at your £ 1 , 555 , 000 per annum of increased imports for nine years , making a total of £ 14 , 000 , 000 , by multiplying your presumed increase of 7775 auxiliaries by £ 200 , as the amount

      produced by each . Now , Sir , I have you ! and I take yon all in a lump , Mr . Ward , Mr . M'CulIoch , Mr . Porter , and all ; and I take pleiiti to bo , high wages , and cheap bread , " and even as few as 500 , 000 of producing operatives ; and mind , you speak of more , and so do all the school , —but I take 500 , 000 with " plenty to do , " and I multiply the 500 , 000 by £ 200 , the amount in value produced by each workman , and I have the frightful result of one hundred millions of English manufactured goods to be disposed of annually , with au annual addition of £ 4 , 000 , 000 worth , the produce of the operative portion of the annual increase of 400 , 000 of the manufacturing population .

      Now , Sir , I will take the average guess of M'Cullocb , Porter , Hume , Colonel Torrens , and yourself—namely , that "rents will fall ;" aand " they won't fall , " and "they willnotfallmuch ; " and " they will rise , in consequence of the increased demand for meat sod vegetables ; " and ' corn will always be a remunerating crop to the English farmer ; " and" he won't be a worse consumer in the home market , " and if " he is , what matters ? surely , we have a thousand Poles , or ten thousand Russians , and twenty thousand Chinese , instead of every John Bull . '" Such , " Sir , is the balance of opinion of the greatest authorities ! no two agreed—nay , not one agreeing with himself !

      Suppose , then , the price of corn to be as yon state it would be likely to be , in page 30 of your bo « k , 50 s . per quarter , if relieved from all restrictions—( Indeed , while you speak of cheap bread , you coolly tell us that the foreign grower could not let us have it at less than 58 s ., with 8 s . protection , and become our customer ) ; and suppose we required four million quarters of foreign grain in aid of home produce , what would be the result ? Why , that 50 , 000 operatives at full work would produce enough , according to your own calculation , to buy all that great quantity of corn . ' And pray what is the foreigner to give in return for the remaining ninetyfour millions sterling worth ? " O , tea , sugar , timber , raw material , and all those good things !"

      But , Rev . Sir , bear one thing in mind : yon have argued one portion of your subject very candidly . You admit that prices of labour , of produce , raw material and all , will be reduced , while the respective scales of prices will nevertheless enable landlords , farmers ' labourers , operatives and all , to hold their respective positions , being rather served than injured , in consequence of " plenty to do . " Sir , you have not said one word about the old and heavy incuiubrances to be discharged out of the small residue of reduced wages : —what of that pray ? Will net all the Government expences of the poor remain the same ? Will the army , the navy , the civil list , the debt , national and personal , the church , the law

      department , and all the heavy commission departments ; will these not swallow up much more than the residue , alter provision for all the increased comforts was made by the fully-employed labourer out of his reduced wages ? " O , no , " you answer , " our increased imports and exports will do all that" Let us see ; I will just take one item , the shepherd ' s share : looking then at the amount paid in lands and money to the shepherds of the State flock , leaving out those ef the " stray sheep , " what do we find ? Why , the monstrous fact , that while we are all by the ears looking for the means of producing a sufficiency of food for the flock , the shepherds of one flock actually receive about the exact price of the greatest quantity of foreign corn , which would be

      required for feeding the flock , —four million quarters , at 50 s . per quarter !! or ten millions sterling , annually . ' . ' J Will they reduce commensurately with any leduclion which a Repeal may cause in wages ? Hon . and Reverend Sir , I ask you once again , if it is so wonderful that there should be 500 , 000 of the flock " living without God and without hope , " and without bread , while the shepherds herd them without devotion and without fear , and while , having cropped the pasture and shorn the corn fields , they leave the flock to bronse upen the bare one and to glean the few scattered ears from the other . Hon . and Rev . Sir , allow me now to submit for your consideration a passage from pages 25 and 20 of your " Piea . " You

      say" Besides the ruin which this brings upon farmers , it renders an exchange of foreign corn for English goods impossible . 1 , 491 , 631 quarters of wheat and flour were required in 1831 , but only 64 , 653 , in 1834-28 , 483 in 1835 , and 30 , 046 in 1836 . Thus the stimulant given to the cultivation of corn by the high prices cf 1831 , led to the low prices of 1835 , 1836 , and 1837 : by these low prices the foreigner is shut out of the market , and consequently can take no English goods . " Rev . Sir , can words more plainly admit , unless indeed you would make all convenient exception in favour of " natural steam power , " that the " STIMULANT GIVEN" to manufactures fey the new

      combination of chances , backed by fictitious money , say in 1842 , would lead to low prices in 1845 , 1846 , and 1847 ? But here we have a very valuable admission ! no less than the fact that the land , -which was brought to its highest producing power in 1831 , and which required a foreign supply in aid of home prodace of 1 , 491 , 631 in that very year , and which could not produce more because it was then " thoroughly cultivated ; " we have the admission that the same land , when called upon in three succeeding years , appears to have heen adequate to the production of a sufficiency to create a glut and to produce low prices ! Now , Sir , ia this not full proof that in

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      your assertion , " the land therefore cannot empl <» the additional population , " yon nave mistaken cam * for effects ? I have always said that a Repeal of the Corn Ls ^ would give such an impetus for gambling , tmtu a f 6 * failures had taken the first blush of novelty ; that we should appear to live in a second heaven ; but that at tue end of one year woeful would be the dltapgolai ment—and for this reason . Either warehouses wooy be full of surplus produce , while bills were being ^ honoured ; or demand having shewn the utmost sonn ] . which the -whole -world would require , machinery » 0 By be increased to an amount more than cent , per 0 ^ beyond the required means .

      Hon . and ReT . Sir , you hate yet to learn that althooifc living man and his condition ifl necessarily lugged ^ as the humane object of all those who experimentali * upon bis labour and forbearance , that nevertheie th « grand object ia to do without him , if possible ; ^ if ever England shall be able to maintain a force soffl cient to curb the indignation of a brave people « n . dered useless by machinery , and deprived of a provide from their own labour expended on their own li ^ aye , their own—that force will be raised : and then tl » cog in a main wheel of a cotton mill will be consider of more value than a man's limb—nay , than a thouaaM men ' s lives .

      Rev . Sir , you appear to have taken a very stand-stU view of the moving powers about which you write 10 fascinatingly for the press and the economists . Yob take no note of invention . You make no calculation of increased powers . You have lost sight of the fact thai while it required in 1838 , ( in round numbers ) 355 , 001 hands to work 52 , 000 horsa power ; so great was tl » invention against man's industry , comfort , and happi ness in three short years , that in 1839 it only requited 423 , 000 hands to work 102 , 000 horse power ; m

      that if the standard or relative dependency hid been preserved between horse power and manim service—the number of hands required in igw should have been nearly 700 , 000 ; but we find that about 60 , 000 hands in 1839 . applied to machinerr were equivalent to 355 , 000 applied to ita service is 1836 , just three years previous ! Aye , Sir , and repeal the Corn Laws , and then in the language ef poor Butter worth , the masters would " go to bed by steam " while the same power would steal the bed from under the displaced workman .

      The farther I proceed with your innocent admissions , the more I am convinced that you have but ill served the cause even of the manufacturers . You may relj upon it that wisdom left them but one course , and that waa in exciting nothings . " Fir sapit qttipaucaloquitur * was never more aptly applied than to the judieiooj manner in which Mr . O'Conneil set the example for Com Law repeal agitation . Believe me , Sir , he is a perfect " master of arts : " and he knew full well that tt » only argument of which the question would admit vut " 0 , GIVE THE PEOPLE CHEAP BREAD ; ABOVE m LET THE POOR MAN HAVE HIS FOOD UNTAXED *

      " Mammy , I ' me hungry , give me some bread . " "HOULD TOUR TONGUE , MY JEWEL , SURE TUBT taxes it . " Now , Sir , that ' s the way to argue a repeal of the Corn Laws : because no one thinks of asking Ma O' Conneil if the destitute mother had a farthing to bay a shilling loaf with , if she was made the offer . Exciting nothings , Sir , should constitute the chief reliance of anti-Corn Law pantomimic agitation ; for , believe me , that the moment the economists do as you have doneattempt to sustain their cause by argument , that moment will reason step in and demolish all their aiiy dreams of the existence of an artificial heaven in an English rattle box .

      They might , perhaps , have added , and with effort the blood-sauce of the Globe to their " bread-pudding , ' and thus serve up another coarse of " BREAD AND BLOOD " to feed the heated imagination of a Btarring and insulted people ; but , believe me , thai argument will not do ; that is all upon the side of the land , for in that alone can man recognise an inheritance , a homestead , a fire-side , a country , a castle , and a sentry box . Sir , after giving a quotation from M'CulIoch by Sir R , Peel , in which he contends that a repeal of the Cora Laws would not throw land out of cultivation , nor yet sensibly affect rents , you then quote Porter iu corcoboration of the samo assertion . Sir , I admit ,

      after the land had changed hands , that whether wortb 10 s . or 30 s . an acre , i 5 would be cultivated ; but if you rely upon M'CulIoch and Porter , that rents would not fall and that prices would not be sensibly affected , then do I say at once that the whole thing is a hoax ; an ! for this reason : becanse , if prices do not fall to the continental level ; and if labour does not also fall to that level , then does your whole scheme fall to the ground . Just imagine , Sir , what the great boss ot contention ia ; enough of corn and the great thingswhich the hv habitants of corn-producing countrieawould take from us in exchange . Exchange , for what ? Why , forth * produce of something less than one-fifth of a country

      of the same size as Wales . Yes , Sir , one million acres of the land of Poland would produce the whole quantity of corn required In aid of British supply : You must not stir from this point , Sir . If yon go . fco sugar , timber , tea , coffee , spioe and luxuries , to ship ping and so forth ; I go to residue of low wages to pay heavy national and Government expences , and State-Church , and army , and navy , and " idle pauper' 1 fund . ' You nave made corn the summura bonunu I take it ; and : I show you , firstly , that the produce of even 500 , 000 operatives , with the annual appendage of 1 twentieth of 160 , 000 increase of population , would leave a surplusage of ninety-four million pounds worth

      annually , after paying 50 s . a quarter for 4 , 600 , 000 quarters of wheat I show you that the shepherd receive the full amount of what is required to feed the whole flock . I show you that old and heavy bnrdeu must be paid out of the residue of low wages . I show you , that if you have not low wages you can have « increase of foreign consumers—and that if yon hayelot wages you must have low rents , and bad home customers at reduced prices . I show you that foreignen will not give you the inside lining fur more d the outside covering than they require . I show you that you must undersell the foreign « 1 »« in his own market with your slave-produce , otherwi *

      the foreigner will not barter with you . I shotryo " that you will but have created a new medium of speculation for monied men in the article of food , I show you that if you repeal the Corn Laws without putting your house in order , by first reducing expenditure to a proper level , you will have a blaze of stacks , the present proprietors themselves destroying them rather than see the Jews walk into quiet possession . Yo » will have an end to a Church Establishment , rewiTin ? the same amount of tithe out of reduced amount of income . So , Sir , if you ore for a revolution , in whick funds , pensions , placemen , sinecures , private and national debt , army , church , and all , must go as sflnt ' fruits , in God ' s name at it ! forthepeople cannot be w > m

      off !"! but mind , upon your order be all the respoBsi&iMJ " The land mustceme to the people , whether for hig her rent with restriction upon the importation of foreign grain , or for lower rent after those restrictions aw t ^ 60 off : and in that case will the scale and standard of M'Ci& loch and Porter be perfectly correct ; things will in such case change appearances ; three thousand a-yW then will be equal to five thousand a-year now , bec auf « the Budget end will be knocked off ; and after goc ^ and wholesome , and fresh living , the residue of small 6 * wages will be still a residue and a Savings' Ban * the labourer . Sir , how can you establish a fres tr ^ « in labour in an over-taxed country , without mabti& every labourer a mere stone ? I defy you to do it .

      Sir , I shall insert one passage In which you differ , tolo cozlo , with both M'CulIoch and Porter , in the fin * place , and with youraelf in the second . You say : — " The lowered price of corn would tend to di 0 ^} rents , but as the prices of all other things would »" in the same proportion , the diminished rent would M as valuable as the higher rent had been , for theP J " chase of all the comforts and luxuries of life- S 0 * T therefore , the land-owners would be no losers . Bnt » other respects they would be considerable gainers . "

      In the outset you say that the lowered price of Ian ** would tend to diminish rents ; and then you concl ude w assuring us that the very same causes " would eiu ^ " * farmer to pay a higher rod ? " I trust , Sir , that is & * simplicity of your kind heart you have not fallen in' * the error of supposing that although those diffei ® causes had led to the farmers' ability to pay a kipfj rent , yet'that the landlords' love of justice wonld totw a demand for any increase ? A little farther on , in the very same paragrapn , 7 ° * assure ua that the facility which farmers would ba « ° procuring enough of manure for the lesser amonD ' ! j l * nd in cultivation , would enable them to bear " \\ higher rent ; " those are your Tery words , sfr »' ' , J ?! j n fact the conclusion to which you come is . " *

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      A THE NORTHERN S T A R . ^

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 14, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct562/page/4/