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Northern Star (1837-1852), 11th June 1842, Edition 3 of 5, Page 4

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    • THE JN T ORTHERU STAR. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1842.
    • tBo Mettoevg anXf Con*gwntrettt&
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      Untitled Article

      IRELAND . ( From The World ' s Correspondents . J - Braa . —That Z 2 sJ for public good -which has at all tlr . ies characterissd your truly patriotic paper , and juur independence in exposing and denouncing fraud and imposition , induce me to indulges hope-that you ¦ will condescend to notice the following communication in your ntxt number . I do not exactly know -what the " duty required to be performed by the Inspector of weights and measures for this ooonty is , but I do know this , tbst as far as regards this town , he hu a complete sineeure of it , as his visits here are indeed extremely ¦• few and far between . "; not that there ia no necessity for them , as frauds in ¦ weighing and measuring- are of every day occurrence , and practised with impunity , to nock an « -xtent , as I am sure , ¦ would not be tolerated in

      sny ctber town in Ireland , and as I presume the public are pay-masters of this Inspector er Sinecurist , it may be permitted to c . ill rttention to his neglect in performing the offices required of him for his ¦ well-paid salary . The tradesmen of this town hare for-some time past been under the necessity of employing a person at their oini expense to look after these fraudulent prsct ' ees , and on ooe occasion this person prosecuted to conviction at Petty Sessions a man ¦ wbo had sold twelve pounds of potatoes as a stone ; its man , ho-xever , ¦ was only fined in the cost of the fuamofis , by the Magistrates who dispensed justice ¦ on the occasion . In the coarse tf last week , this person detected three shopkeepers selling milk with illegal and fraudulent measures , and

      hiving bought some of the milk , took it to Mr . Grrcme , a magistrate , before whom he mtasured it with a standard meaiure , when it was found that in one pint alone it wanted nsarly a naggin of the jnst measure ; tpoTi which ilr . Grome with that promptitude which diEiinsraishes him in his magisterial capacity , directed the police to summon the parties to the petty sessions oa Saturday last , when he and Mr . Wetherall we e on the bench . Tne case being called on the latter said he ¦ was of opinion that in order to conTict the parties it tras necessary tiiat their measures which were alleged to be fraudulent should be produced , and tauntingly asked tha prosecutor if he expected any porticn of the penalty , and ssid be got a pint of porter the other day hiajself , and because it carried f rolh was he to tummon the persons selling the porter for fraudulent measare ?

      iir . trrome could not see bow the ( use could be more clearly estabiished by baring the measures preseat , than by the course pursued , and asked Mr . Wetherell Low was that man to produce measures , not being suthorfzid to take them up ? Both , of course , took that view of the case which their jadgment pointed uut- to tbein , but as opinion is apt to be influenced by circumstances , it might have been tho case here , as Mr . Grome was bnjing milk while Mr . Wetherell was Srl ; ir > g it The parties were only fined in the cost * , fcoing one ihiliing- "Under these circumstances the tvii corcplsined of cannot be remedied ; end as to the Inspector , it is all humbug , the time of his coming beiug so well known , which is only on the eve of the Ess ' iajWhenbe is to be paid , and bis arriTal is announced frura house to house . And now , sir , is this state of things to be tolerated ?

      CaSiXEBAB . —Michael M'Tigue was fined for having in his possession an illegal weight at the last Petty Sessions . The inspector stated taat he entered" the house of mother M'Ti ^ ae to Eiake a selzare , but the mistress kicked up a rumpus , and would not allow tbc functionary to interfere-. The magistrates directed that she should be summoned for the obstruction . Tais matter of using falsa weights is o ~ e of the most shabby and vile crimts in the calendar , and EtGuld stamp with perpetual infamy acy man found guilty of it . It is in addition a Tt . bb ^ ry of the poor , who are at present suffering great hardships . —On Saturday last oatmeal suddenly rose to and 6 d

      lCs . per cwt , und potatoes to 5 ^ d per stone These prices will no dcubt incrtase , and the distress mtst cocEcquently be great ; for the scarcity of money , and the depression in business of every kind was never more felt . On Friday week an inquest was held before Mr . Rutleege , coroner , and a jury , at Sbruel , on the body cf Mary Murphy , who had been found drowned . A sister to deceased deposed that having gone out in search of her , Eha saw her sitting on the bank of the riTer , near her father ' s house ; that when the deceased saw her she told her at her peril not to speak , but to look and « ee it any person were coming ; that when she turned her head she heard deceased

      throw herself into the water ; and that she was taken up dead fey her father and sister . It appeared that the deceased had only been one nljht , that before her death , in htr father ' s house during Uie three months Kfore . She had been zi service . The mother' " of deceased deposed fett goiaj on tbe 24 th instant to the house of a Mrs . Reddington , in Headford , Tfith whom her daughter wa 3 at service , she told her that her daughter ha . d gone home with her uncle , and desired her to bring her to the priest , as she did not appear to bo steady in her xiradt ; that she did "bring her to the priest , when she cosiplied with her rtligious duties ; that she then broc ^ ht her home , and that on the ntxt morning s , he wa » f j > uud drowned in the river . D .-. O Sullivan deposed that " from tha saugumoui t =

      iaperarEcrt of the deceased he wa 3 cure the laboured under temporary insanity when she . committed the rash , act , " The" Jury found that the deceased had diewned herself while labouring under a fit of insanity . — . At our specisl sessiona on Friday , it was resolved unanimously Ihit the salary of Mr . G Jlogly , tie tfiicient and . highly , respectable Governor cf the County Qwl , should "be ralstd as high . as that of . the Governor-of ths Ctmsty (? ilw 3 y prison , Tie Ghiirsan and all tfc ' e gect ' emtn present joined in their praise of the manner in which Mr . GHlojly has discharged the duties of his cSee . The prison , is a pattern of order and cleanliness , and uEi ' er the maaagemfcnt of i » present Governor , haa not only teen the means of pnnishing vice , but w » at is far better—reforming caminal * .

      Fesmot . —It wculd appear , judgicg from the pre-« ot nearly famine prices cf provisioas in , this place , Shut tLose dependent on their earnings for support , would have been better off had there been no change of eorn or cattle laws . Potatoes , the common necessary of Tfe to the poor , have risen within the last few days from ±± to Si per stone , and both flour " and oatmeal have progressed to almoit a proportionate extent . 1 am not aware what the scale cf daty en foreign corn is it present , tut every poor man with a family is daily acqu-iisted with the fact , that bread and every other d- ^ -cription of food were not so dear since tite'farnine of Is 22 , in this jart of lie country . Even the milk , ¦ a lAih may be thought to keep something of a fixity in pries , bos risen to nearly double the usual sum . If a reason is asksd for raising the price of th " s last , tha

      f-ur ; i \ eTs attribute it to the vast quantities consumed in the poor houses ; thereby implying that the wretched i 2 « aat ~ : s tid never before the luxury " of sour milk : Bit wkat can causa the rise in bread ? Surely the late legislative measure respecting foreign corn caucot but tead to cheapen this arlic ' o ; and to me there appears very little reason to dcubt but its high price is CBiag to lbs unfeeling monopoly of iuili = rs and tnkvrs . I axi well aware that there are tdimj ¦ cho ia this tray fJot . fiv-iE . the pr » or . man to en extent a 3 criminal i ^ : it ? xsv . ar- us tLai of the highwayasan who robs the ric'a , a ^ -l Is thereby legacy strangled . But in tbs present sia . 1 t- of things nothing would go ed well for us as that of an ho :. kst oi . pobitionist who would £ rli at a fair rr > £ t . aai ii sucli started in Fermoy he -woul ^ , ere lo ^ g , liai it =. TsroStible Et > ec .

      Drx . 0- \ r . TO >* . —A man , James Eiroey , W 2 E Seed tea poii ^ us cy tile ilsgisrraUs presidjrig at the Petty Sest oos Ltre , os Saturday last , for keeping unregistered st r ^' -s , and for jiving a leaded pistol toapsrscn ccA . ee Djv y Vovht , vho -whilst labouring under ths icfii-ncs vi intoxicatixig liquor threatened to sheet cne o : Lis sisters . Gii-TiT . —Splendid weather is filing cur neigh boarii'jcKi ¦ with ** it-water folks in pursuit of health and p ^ e -iiure . Nearly all the bathing lodges have beer tjiru , and tha tenants spend the day in the usual salutary actions followed by a smart walk or a drive 02 tfav shore , or make a pic-nic party to visit some " choice ianlscane in the vicinity , and the evening is devoted to the cultivation of the " best of good fellowship betweea ttis visiting strangers and the aboriginal Gal-• Wt-. g ; r . ~ v < .

      A 5 TB . AXSE Sai-T-VTateu Visiteb . —For the last j two j eirs a hideous aquatic monster , itsemblisg in apptsraacs ahorse , though about three times the s 5 z- ; , !; a . s ' hrtn ranricg our bsy to the hifinite ttrrcr of the fisher- ' ideD , some of whose boats he bad the audacity to attack . Ie consequence cf haviug made tLus free with Pilot 3 ? : < 2 i Xi 2 , I undtrstand that war was praclainxeu j a ^ siast him . and a party consisting of several respee- i tab ' s townsmen with eight men launched a vessel wtlJ ' yz jvldird wi * Ji arms cf all kinds , and set out is pursuit ' of him . About half a mile from the town they fouac

      him quietly laiking on a rock , ecjoying the rays of a jueTi . iJas sun , but a round of bullets dislodged him : from his poulion , and the fellow sunk . Soon , however , j lie made h \ s reapj-earance , and Eet sail for the boat , j w ' ntie he got a hot reception ; sis spears were sunk in j hira , and £ 3 much powder anl shot blown into his 1 carcase as migbi furnish a magazine , but it was all fun ; to hiai- Ail effjrts to secure bun were fruitless , as ha j br « kc spears and ropes with cs mtsch ease as a child 1 woold snap a p : sce cf 3 jxen tarcad ia twain . - His j length is aboat thirty feet .

      L 1 KEE 3 CK . —The Bev . Mr . "Mathew passed throngh here on Mondsy « t rovle to ThomastDwn , afier a mo&i suocessfnl tour among the natives of Clare . He never appeared in better health and spirits . Xabour that i ¦ vrJuld bow down almost any other man appears esly to < give additional vigour to his frame and elasticity to bJs misd . He preached ou Sunday at Milt own Malbay , 1 wnt-rs he contributed the sum . cf £ 2 ^ tewards the i erection of Uie chapel in thtt secluded and by nc means > j-fii . riit district . He distributed large sums in other j y-.:: ? hr 5 . He left Thomsstown f ^ r the coucty " Wicklow ,

      having triaDced to admlakter the pleuga amid thai -s : ld and cbanuing s&cuery of Gic-ndalongh , on Friday , i Hi bzs Tccs :: t } j receive-. ! a pressing invitation from j Eriiiiny , in Francs , to convey the biemegs of the Tei .-. periU- 'ee csnsa into thai oouctry . Hs has a . ' so r ? csiVed a pressicg invitation fn . > m 2 , 100 ladies in Edin- j burgn to begin the miBsion in the capital cf Scotland ; i bir . ' } ' if taonglit ho cannot release himself , even for a I gy , ^ ^ rne . trcm the labonrs impu 3 ed upen him ia Ireiwiu and tbat be mrut decline these tud many other invitations of a liie naioie , frbisb Le bus been Iavonred sntij froa time to time .

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      Sligo . —A quarrel having taken plaoe here on Saturday night last between a few young lads , four of them , about four o ' clock on the Sunday morning , to avoid the police who were in pursuit of them , took ft bout and went up Loch GilL The vesssl sunk , and melancholy to relate , throe of them named Murrican , White , and Conolly , were drowned . The remaining person , whose name is O'Malley , and who , it seems , was the original cause of the disaster , escaped . The provision market ia Sllgo , has greatly advanced . Meal , instead of 12 s . ia 14 s . per 112 lbs ., and potatoes , which were selling at 3 d . a stone , are now 5 d . In the connty Donegal , farmers and country gentlemen are buying oats for their horses , out of the corn

      merchants' stores . There was some desperate rieting here , from the determination of some &f the inhabitants to prevent potatoes being brought out of it , for sale to towns in the county Leitrito . Several sacks of meal and potatoes were ripped , and the food put to loss One man , the ringleader of the mob , who presented a pistol at the police , has been arrested , and is to be tried at the Quarter Sessions . Forestalling ia at present indictable at common law , and any person found guilty of this offence is liable to fine and imprisonment . A forestaller is described to be one who boys , or causes to be bonght any merchandise , victuals , or other thirjgs whatsaever , coming by land or water towards any market or fair , to be sold in the same , ic .

      Thubles . —The store house of Mr . Hickey was broken open on Wednesday night by some ruffians and a quantity of potatoes stolen therefrom . By the by our poor house is not open yet , although the several officers are appointed for the last three months . Whether they are under pay or not , I don't know ; but what matter , seeing that our Poor Law Commissioners ean drive in their carriages to levees and drawing rooms , and our contractors turn bankers and foxhunters , while the poor are half-starving sans employment , with potatoes at sixpence a stone . There 1 b a great rivalship here for the last week between two millers as to who will make the biggest loaf—among them be it—says the piptr . f" Who will sell the cheapest , " would be a better Btudy . ]

      Untitled Article

      THE EDITOR OF THE "NORTHERN STAR TO HIS READERS . Mr Friends , —I step , for once , out of the ordinary course of things—from behind the curtain of Editorial seclusion—to speak familiarly and freely to you , in my own proper person upon subjects of vast import to your own interests , and . those of our common country .

      I seek not to "dictate" nor to "denounce , " but , as one of yourselves , I claim the right of speech on what may affect our common interests ; as one whose peculiar position and circumstances have given him tbebenefit of more experience and better opportunities for observation of the many subterfuges , the deep cunning , and the reckless wickedness of faction than most of you , I may advise upon the course of action which , in my judgment , given circumstances cause to be right and necessary , or wrong and inexpedient ; and I ask not for my opinions and advice thus

      tendered any greater amount of deference or respectful consideration than is due to them on their own merits . I seek not " to earn a reputation , " but to bs usefaL I iiave spent in aotive exertions for our fcommon good , according to the best knowledge I possess , nearly a full half of the whole term of my natural existence . I have been a public man well known to many of you for many years before the rising of the Star ; I have since that time held the

      most serious and important station of any in our whole movement ; you have to some extent evinced your sense and judgment of the manner in which I have there acquitted myself ^ by making the Northern Slarf under my government , what a national organ of democracy should be *—a terror to enemies of right , -whether avowed or concealed , and a rallying point of rmion for yourselves . For so much of your favourable estimation as I hav » thus received I feel

      Rrateful ; regarding it not as & boon of graee and favour , but as the due appreciation of exertions which were seen to have been honest and consistent , however feeble or . impotent they may have been . I ask only from you that my advice and counsel may h&ve dispassionate and calm attention ; that you ¦ will read and weigh it carefully ; remembering that it comes from one whom you know to have served you faithfully and fearlessly , and whom the bitterest tongue of calumny has never yet charged with political delinquency .

      The matter to which I think it necessary to call your serious attention , in the first Instance , is the condition of the oouutry and the position of the Chartist cause . The condition of the country is , at thi 3 present time such as it never was before ; at all events , in my time . The fearful fruits of the fell Upas Tree , Class Legislation , are being gathered in an awfal harvest . Ruin ranges over the entire surface of the land ; famine follows in its foot-steps ; and death , the consequence of destitution , clears out many a cottage

      Under such clrcnmstance it is not surprising that the wasting life Bhould lose its patience , and that hungry bellies should incite angry speeches and threatenings of vengeance . I can readily conceive the mockery of preaching patience and forbearance to a starving man . I can readUy conceive the loathing of contempt , if not of rage , with which the smirking , smooth , -wait-a-whiie doctrines of the man whose " cake is buttered" must fall upon the ear of him who sees his children perishing before him and has no means of helping them . Yet even to these , in their worst state of excitement and distress , I would address the

      language of friendly remonstrance , of kindly entreaty and of brotherly affection . I would bid them to remember that they know the cause whence all iheir sufferings flow—they know the mean 3 whereby alone a remedy may be afforded ; and I would entreat them by the very sense of woe and suffering —by their love of life , ' of honour , of children and of country , and our cause , not to rush into the lion ' s mouth of despotism ; not to throw back for an indefinite period , the chance of that amelioration which the growing greatness of our cause brings every day * and after every prudent effort , nearer to us ; but which one false , fatal , step may do much to render unattainable for many years .

      I entreat , especially , the Chartist body to be careful , that while they preclude the possibility of any desperate acts , to which starvation and oppression may drive men , in some localities , from being fixed , by the injurious casuistry of faction , upon them , they to this end be careful to repress the unwise rago for declamation , which is bnt too apt to amase itself by raising a storm , before which those who have striven to produce it are usually the first , to flinch aad seek a hiding-place . I think it is especially necessary to give this caufcien to you now

      because I learn that , in some portions of the country , ' big talkers are abroad , and that in other parts , ! active marks of discontent are manifested ; not to ' be wondered at certainly , bnt much to be deplorod . ' ' ¦ This is a state of things the factions are delighted j with ; they have striven hard to produce it ; j they wiil try every means for ** nursing" it , until it \ snail have served the purpose of more firmly rivet- i tiug the chains of slavery , which they thus make ' their victims to forge for themselves . The free ! traders , the Corn Law Repeal crew , the merciful middle-class converts to half Chartism at half-past

      the eleventh hour , have been long seeking so to work npon the passions of the suffering people as to canse them to forget their prudence and to risk i collision with the trained bands of power . Their ! incendiary placards , pamphlets , and lecturers have been scattered throngh the country ; wherever suffering was most Eevere , the pedlars" have been busy with their knives ; every effort has been made to j lacerate the fealing 3 and to introduce the foul virus ! of physical resistance through the wounds . Hitherto J they have failed ; you have laughed alike at their : hypocrisy and malice until now ; let them not now ' raise over you the fiendish laugh of exaltation 1 '

      Let us for Heaven's sake have no more Newport ,, Sheffield , and Bradford exhibitions ; no more Shells , Frosts , Clattons , and Pkddies , to be victimizad , j without service to the cause . In Ia 8 t week ' s j Northern StaTt you bad the report sent here by some j person , of a camp meeting at Clithero , held on ] Sunday , at which language bad been holden of ft j

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      character most dangerous to the cause and most discreditable < to the speakers , some of whom at least are men from whom better things might have been expected . See the use that is made of this meeting by the factious press . The following is the brief notice of it given by the Manchester Guardian . "Chabtist Camp Mkbtings . —On Sunday last , there was another very large meeting held on Enfield Moor , near Blackburn , to consider the next steps to be taken , in order to obtain the

      People ' s Charter . Many persons present are said to have had fire-arms . A person named Marsden , from Belton , one named Tattersall , and others , addressed the people in extremely violent language . Marsden declared that they all meant to obtain arms , march « p ( 0 Buckingham Palace , and demand the Charter . If the Queen granted it , well ; but if not , they would know how to use their arms ; and he HOPED EVERT MAN WOULD GET READY BY THEIR next meeting . TATTERS ALL WAS EVEN

      MORE VIOLENT THAN THE ABOVE . Now , friends , I do not quote this as taking the statements of the Guardian for gospel , but to show you the necessity of taking care that those who , at a juncture like the present , are admitted to the position of leaders and guides among you ; made public speakers , and thus enabled , if unchecked , to compromise your whole body by their folly , should be men of prudence and discretion , as well as men who have a sincere attachment to our principles , and who are able to make a speech . As I last week counselled you , bo I now implore you

      cast from you the big talkers , or cause them to become sensible that you are not reokless fools , if thoy be . I do not know that this language was used by Marsden , or that Taxtebsall was ' even more violent than this ; " I know only that the Manchester Guardian say ^ so , and that the honest Chartist who sent the report of the meeting to last week ' s Star , says also that much violent language was used , and that many speeches were made and heard , which would have been much better repressed , and which he therefore very properly suppressed in his report .

      Let not , therefore , Messrs . Marsden and Tattersall , consider themselves "denounced" by these representations ; they best know whether the Guardian has belied them . I hope it has . But in any case I use the allegations of the Guardian , not as adopting them for the purpose of " deneuncing " these individual men , but in illustration and support of the general position that all such foolish and mischievous vagaries should be discountenanced and promptly put an end to by the people . As a further illustration of the mischief of such conduct , Bee the use the Guardian makes of it in its very next words : —

      " On the same day there was also a camp held near Failsworth ; about 1 , 500 persons attended . Leach , and another man from Manchester , with several persons from Oldham , addressed the audience ; but the language was mild compared with t at of the speakers near Blackburn ; some of the speakers contended that they had as good a right to hold political camp meetings on a Sunday as other parties had to hold religious meetings . " Now , I know , and you all know enough of Leach to feel satisfied that wherever he was there would be no such folly ; yet the insinuation of the Guardian is that the language of this meeting , though not quite so violent as the other was still most violent and

      unbearable . It was " mild compared with that of the speakers near Blackburn . " Thus are we all liable to be compromised , and our cause endangered by the freaks of of every mad fool whom the people permit to amuse them with " the tale of an idiot , full of sound and fury / ' instead of seeking to bend their sober , earnest , and unremitting efforts , to the establishment of our principles where they are not known , and the enforcement of them on the rational attention of all .

      From letters and rumours which have reached me , I have thought it necessary thus gravely and seriously to point to your attention the precipice , which , if you approach it , will inevitably destroy you . lam but one man . I have but one voice . But whilst I have power to lift that voice , or the means of at all communicating with my fellow-men , I never will see them sacrificed without warning . I will , so far as my admonitions may be heeded , guard them alike , to the best of my judgment , from the dangers which might arise from an excess of zeal , an excess of apathy , or an

      ill-directed movement on their own part , as well as from the open attacks of faction , or the more disguised and insidious oneB of those among their own ranks , who seek personal distinction at the hazard of the public safety . Again , then , I implore you , do not sacrifice yourselves , and sell the cause , by any mad freak of violence or indiscreet use , of language , such as that intimated to have been used near Blackburn . You will , of course , do as you please ; but let the issue be as it may be , I shall know that I have done my duty in thus faithfully admonishing and emphatically warning yon .

      And now for a word on another subject . With the lessons of experience , and of the most ordinary common sense before you , it would be an insult to attempt a demonstration that our object , the establishment of civil liberty and honest policy , can be effected by violence . Peacefulness and unanimity is that alone by which we can hope to succeed . By unanimity , I do not mean that we should all think perfectly alike oh every subject , or indeed on any snbject , for that is amoral impossibility ; but that we should be disposed heartily and seriously to lend ourunited energies towards thegreatpointofxarrying the Charter : that to this all other ' matters should

      be made subservient , and that for this purpose we should , in the excellent words of the address of the Executive , given in this day ' s Star , " cultivate the best feelings of democratic friendship . Our political Association Bhould be a United Brotherhood , among whom , quarrels , dissensions , strife , or malice , should be unknown . In their conduct , the most strict sobriety should be observed , and it ought to be the most pleasing duty of Chartists to aid each other in distress , to rally round and protect each other from persecution and injury , and an insult or wrong inflicted on one , should be regarded as a deep injustice to atf .

      " To their advocates , those who are foremost in danger , and whose patriotic exertions are the mainstay of the movement ; the people should extend the best feelings of favour and affection , and at all times Chartists should be slow to condemn men whose lives have been devoted to the canse , and who have given in many good and virtuous actions , patriotic and positive proofs of their political integrity . "

      j , ' , . s ' , I never read words with which I more heartily concurred than I do with every one of these . I lay before you the whole tenour of my publio life , more especially Bince I became Editor of the Northern Star ; and I challenge any of you to point out any instance ia which this has not been my practice ; doing me the justice only to view things in whole and not to separate a single expression or transaction from the circumstances to which it immediately related , and with which it was of necessity connected . I seek only , without assuming any undue importance to myself , that the

      like conduct should be manifested towards me . The Executive truly state it to be the duty of the people to " protect all their advocates from persecution , misrepresentation , and wrong . " I fully accede to the truth of this position ; and as it is laid down with the purpose of claiming the protection of the people against me , I shall so far retort it as to presume upon my right to rank amongst those who have m > the best of their judgment and ability , . advocated" the people ' s cause . I seek not protection against persecution , for I am able

      to protect myBeu ; and the only protection against misrepresentation and wrong , that I require is that the people will look at the whole facts of the case stated in complaint , and give upon these facts their honest judgment . That , as a public servant , 1 havo a right to demand at their hands ; and that I do demand . I demand that they should look at the whole circumstances of my position ; that they should consider fairly the treatment I have received , and the spirit J have evinced , and then tell me honest Ij sad like men whether they think I have

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      done my duty , or havo deserved the abuse which has recently been heaped upon me . I ask them , 1 say , to look at the whole facts of the case . The Exeoutivo complain and say that they " allude with considerable pain to the hostility which the Editor of the Northern Star haa shown to one ' . of .--. their members . '* Now this obliges me again , and for the last time , to adduce the whole facts of this matter . That member of the Executive and Mr . O'Brien are the only two men who during a very long public life have

      succeeded in fastening upon me a public quarrel with men of like principles to my own . And how has thia been done ? I have a right now to demand that the people should look at the whole case . The Executive admit that they are "fairly open to fair criticism "—that the ir ^'' public documents , recommendations , and actions are fair game for public approval , discussion , or condemnation ;" while at the same time they complain of the hostility which the Editor of the Northern Star has shewn to

      one of their members . Now when and where did this hostility begin \ and how has it been manifested 1 The Executive ought to have stated this ; they do not state it ; and , therefore , I must . Up to the 12 th of last March , I had seen nothing in the publio documents , rec jmmenatious , or actions of the Executive , either as a publio body , or in their separate and individual capacity , which , in my judgment , was likely to do anything for the damage or retarding of our cause . Whatever '' criticism , '' therefore , had beea exercised by me , had been , up to that period , commendatory . I received , during that week , reports of the Bath conferences , at which one member of

      the Executive had taken a position which I believed , and do still believe , to be an unwise position—a position calculated to do damage to the cause ; and believing this , I said so . I said it , not in such language as that member of the Executive has used towards me ; but in mild and respectful terms , in terms which no man can say were not those of fair criticism . Surely it will not be contended that the conduct of tho parties to the Bath conferences was not a fair subject for the expression of opinion ; and surely it wilt not be contended , that what I said upon it was anything more than the expression of opinion , and that , too , in very modest terms . Here is every word which I did say ;—

      We refer with great pain to the proceedings of the Conference at Bath , between the Sturge Declaration men and some leading Chartists of that city . We respect Vincent for his seal , his talent , and his suffering in the cause , as highly as we respect any man ; we believe him to be thoroughly honest and well-intentioned , but we cannot but regret the position he has taken in this business . Still more do we regret to see joined with him Mr . Philp , a member of the PeoV

      pies Executive . Doubtless these gentlemen give the new converts to Complete Suffrage credit for a large amount of honesty and sincerity . We cannot do so ; and we fear , if the people should be led into any general countenance of the steps taken by these gentlemen , that the error will not be found to be less fatal for having been an amiable one . Once more we toll the people they must keep right on , swerving neither to the right hand nor to the left , or they will be' used , 'left , and laughed at . "

      Here , in this little extract , ia the whole root and foundation of all the raying that we have had ever since about "dictation" J and' * denunciation" . » ¦ The next weekresolutions of the people strongly condemning that member of the Executive , and calling upon him to resign his seat forthwith , were poured in from almost all quarters . I gave one of them as a sample , and kept out all the rest ; merely naming the places from which I had received them . I then , iu returning toa consideration of the snbject , made these remarks

      "We repeat , as we said last week , that we respect these men for the talent and the zeal they have hitherto manifested in the people's cause ; we respect some of them for the Bufferings ^ they have endured in the cause ; but we cannot in this case compliment their judgmeat . We doubt hot that they err from : the excess of their anxiety to seize every opportunity of making converts to the Charter , and from their readiness to estimate the motives of others by their own , and bo to give the middle-class Sturge men full credit for sincerity in their profession of Universal Suffrage principles : they suppose them to be sincere in wishing for Universal Suffrage , and that , therefore , t hey can easily persuade them into the adoption of the other points of the Charter . We

      think them much mistaken ; and we still opine that their error will not be found muoh less fatal for being amiable . We feel anme little difficulty in finding out the plane upon which the amiable principles of pur friends operate . We are at a loss to know how they discover , in this 'Declaration' any distinct and unequivocal recognition of the principle of Universal Suffrage ; and if that reoognition were even palpable , we are astonished that they , some of whom have suffered so much from middle-class treachery to principle heretofore , can have bo simple a dependency on their adherence to principle now . We find in Mi . Philp * s speech , at the Conference , as reported by himself , the following sentiment : —

      "' But suppose the worst—that the middle-classes were not honest ;—that they signed this declaration as a false pretence ;—could they ever again sit in jury boxes and convict us as traitors and conspirators tor contending for that principle which they themselves had declared in black and white to be the right of the people !' " Now , Burely , Mr . Philp must have forgotten , in the goodness of his heart , the experience of all the last five years . Who have been the most forward in the Jury boxes , and on the bench , to convict and sentence Chartists I Have they not been the very parties who have , over and over again , in the Reform Bill agitation , testified to , and contended for , the very same principle—the principle that representation should be co-extensive with taxation . "

      Now , I ask of every reader of the Northern Star , to read these two paragraphs , quoted from the Star of the 12 th and the 19 th of March , and say whether they contain anything more than fair criticismwhether they contain a single word at which any man ought to be offended—whether there is anything in them of " abuse "—anything of " Reclamation "—anything of " dictatorship "—anything of " assailing the characters of others to elevate " myself by their downfall" 1 Yet these were the paragraphs which constituted my " hostility" ! to

      Mr . Philp , and to which that gentleman replied in his next Vindicator by a long tissue of declamation about the " dictatorship of the Editor of the Northern Star , " hy declaring for "independence of thought and of action" ! The whole paragraph was given in last week's Star , and may be referred ; to again . But I beg that , even now , my readers will read all that I said about this gentleman : I have given it every word above , and then read with it the following sentences from Mr . PHiip ' s reply , and say , if it was woi th my while to complain , who should be the man to call out for "fair

      criticism . " " But there are some mixed up with Chartism , to its prejudice' and injury , big in self-esteem ; who , having imperfectly learned the alphabet of politics , presume to speak its language . Such men are but urags upon toe wheel of human progression { their adoration ia of men , not of principles ; their discourses ABUSE AND DECLAMATION , not AKGUMEN f . ' They seek to earn a reputation ; and not having the ability to gain a People ' s esteem for themselves , they assail the characters of others , that they may be elevated by their downfall . * -. ¦;¦* " I labour zealously to advance the cause of Chartism , but I am not to be turned from my path by every mushroom thai starts up in my way . " * • " Let me not be viewed through the darkened medium of other men ' s thick heads and black hearts . "'j

      I have not even added to this the italics and capital letters ; they are all Mr . Philp ' s owii , just as he printed them in the Vindicator . - This , and the article of last week , is all the . ¦ editorial' notice I have ever taken of this genteman . To that article I now refer my readers ; < it is too long to be given over again , bub I beg that , in : justice to me it may be read over again ; % at along with it Mr . Philp ' s letter may be read , arid see whether ttie letter does not justify the article , and whether after all these things are fairly looked at the Executive have any right , admitting their own acts to be fit subjects for "fair critcism , " to find fault with my "hostility towards one of their body . "

      Now for the other matter of " denunciation" and "hostility . " On the second of April , the Biriningr ham Conference began , and on the following Saturday I announced my intention of waiting for the official report of its proceedings upon which to found my commentary . I received that official

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      report the week following , and on it I founded an article , which stands in the Star of the 16 th of that month , I found from the report that Mr . O'Bbibn hid been somewhat prominent in the Conferernce things Were set down forhim which I thought unwise and inconsistent in Mr . O'Brien . I was very careful in every place -. where . -I ; ' quoted any thing from the report about Mr . O'Brien , to give everything about him—every word set down for him .: In no case did I alter a word ^ in , ' ajo case . . did I leave out a Word of any speech . of Mr . O'BRiBN ' a in that report upon which I commented . I did

      not in any one case take simply the words that I objected to , but in every instance gave the whole speech as it appeared in the report . ( And after all the bluster about that report being an incorrect one , I have since seen a pamphlet containing the official report of that Conference , and which report I have reason to know hid been sent to Mr . O'Brien , with a request - that he would make any alterations or corrections he might deem necessary , in his own speeches . It was verbatim with the one npon which my article was founded !) The proceedings of this conference were most important to our cause . I had a strong opinion

      upon them , as I have upon the whole Stuege movement . Having that opinion , I should have been dishonest in the extreme to withhold it from you ^ I should have deserved your execration , if ' I . ha ' d Been youled into what I believed to b « a trap deliberately laid for you , without telling you my thoughts about it . I did so ; and in doing it I found myself compelled to disagree with the opinions and policy of Mr , P'Brien . I expressed that disagreement in the most r guarded and , respectful terms— -terms Which I imagined could not be construed as offensive by any man . Here is what I said on the matter : —

      <( The Conference has been held ; and though Mr . O'Brien is represented aa having expressed himself highly delighted with its proceedings , and aa havins ! said that " when he entered that Conference he expected to meet with men who would admit their principle in wholesale , and fritter it away in detail ; but his suspicions had proved groundless—( cheers ) . He had never been in any Bociety-r-coinposed even exclusively of working men—in which he had found the democratic spirit more thoroughly developed ' - —a careful reading of the whole report compels us ,

      notwithstanding our deference to Mr . OBnen ' s judgment , to adhere still to that Which we had previously formed of this whole movement ; and to regard the very circumstances to which we have no doubt Mr . O'B . referred , as the ground of his satisfaction , as sO much additional evidence that the whole thing is a device of the enemy , and that insincerity is stamped upon its every feature . We repeat that we are awe to discover in the Whole movement , of which this Conference is the most prominent and distinguishing feature , and in the conclusions and resolutions come to by the Conference itself , no purpose save one , —

      which is the exact converse of the one avowed" ; no evidence but that of deeply-concealed hostility and well-covered treachery , to the great Cause of democratic rule , for the success of which so much appearance of anxiety is manifested . We of course intend not that these strictures shall apply personally to each , or any , member of the conference . That there were there those to whom they are most strictly applicable , and who will feel their truth , we verily believe ; and that there were there those who , like O'Brien and others recognised as Chartist leaders , " hoped all thipgs out of fervent charity and were therefore indisposed

      "To pry too nicely ' neath a specious seeming , * ' . we can haye no doubt . " I then proceeded to examine into the acts and sayings of the Conference , as given in the report before me , and concluded my survey of those acts and sayings with the following paragraph :- — " What then is the conclusion forced upon the mind by all these proceedings taken as a whole ? The avowed object of those men is the uniting of the whole energies of the whole people , and particularly

      the uniting of the middle and working classes ; and they prosecute thi& object by a means which can have no other effect than that of breaking up , as far as it may be successful , the union of the workingg classes already established . This may be sufficient to prove to Mr . O'Brien that his suspicions of the Sturgeite ' s were groandless ; w acknowledge , however much we > may regret to dis 8 * nt from his opinion , that upon our mind it . has worked a conclusion exactly the reverse of this . ''

      Here , then , you have the whole sum , substance , and amount of my " denunciation" of Messrs . Philp and O'Brien , about which those two men have been permitted , ever since , to keep the whole country in a ferment ; for which , from t . em and their friends , every epithet of opprobrium the language can afford has been unsparingly applied to me in all sorts of Ways : ^' liar , ' " wilfulliar , "" villain , "" assassin , " V hypocrite , " " slanderer , " trickster , " and a string of such like epithets as long as would fill a column of this paper , might I believe be picked oat of the ravings of these parties and their friends on account of the " denunciation" ( I ) contained in the paragraphs which I have here laid fairly before you .

      And to crown all , the Executive now think it necessary j in their valedictory address , to join the crusade against the " denunciations " and ; - ¦• ' unfair criticisms ' of the Northern Star , and to claim the protection of the people for Mr . Phil ? as one of their body . It does not seem to occur to the Executive that the " denunciation" of Mr . Philp , in the last week ' s Star < was a necessary consequenceof his own conduct- ; they seem to think that Mr . Philp , or Mr . O'Brien , or MLr . Everybody-else should have a right to use every sort of coarse indecen 6 y ' of language in , reference to the Northern Star , and to heap upon its oonductbr every possible amount of indignity and falsehood , while he should do nothing but praise them in return !

      The great card , however , of the Executive ' s complaint of ill-treatment as a body iSj the information contained in last week ' s Star , that I have frequently altered the phraseology of their official documents to prevent their liability to prosecution . The Executive are most virtuously and valorously indignant about this ; and demand the right of correcting their own documents , and answering for their own ignorance and criminal omissions , to the people and not to me ; I should c e rtainly like it much better if they would take the trouble of reading the plan of organization , so that their documents should not need correction . As to their

      being answerable to the people for their incorrectness , they might perhaps get over that a little easier than the Proprietor of the Northern Star might chance to get over answering to the Government for making his paper the official organ of an illegal association . While the interests of the Northern Star ate in my hands , I shall consider them identical with those of the cause , and I shall not suffer them to be jeopardized by the ignorance or carelessness of any man or body of men whatever .

      A few words will , I think , set this sufficiently at rest , and show the people that the big talk of the Executive about my taking liberties with their dooumpnts , is very innocent big talk after alii I never made an alteration which could , have the slightest effect upon the sense of any document from the Executive ; that they know very well . I never bat once had occasion to dissent from the apparent sense or purport of any of their documents ; and I then did what they say is my duty to do . I printed it entire , with my own respectful suggestions concerning it . But it has frequently happened , as it does this week , that I receive from the Executive a long and important document by the last post before going to press ; there is no time to send it back for

      correction , and to point out the alterations necessary to be made . It is necessary for the publio cause that the document should be printed that week , and yet , upon examining it , I have found perhaps a word here and there which , if seized upon by the ATrbRney-General , would bring both the Executive and Vae Northern Star within the operation of the Corresponding Societies' Act ; and in these' cases I have made such necessary verbal alterations aa I knew would keep us safe . I shall always do it , Whatever Executive may be in office . I have done it this very week . In their address which appears in this paper , they style themselves in seyert i placeB of the copy which came here , the Executive " Council" of the National Charter Association . There ia no such body as

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      the Executive " Council" m the National Charter Asssociatipn ; and I am amazed th at Messrs ; Leach and Campbeii , who were members of the delegate meeting , to the expence of which the country was pat for the purpose of having the organization legalized , should have forgotten the ; long discussion npon this very point , on which it was thought most difficult to steer clear of the meshes of the law . The plan of organization , if they bad read it t miist have shown them that the Executive ia not a

      Council . It is a Committee , selec t ed from , and appointed by , the General Council for transacting the executive business of the Association . Now in the case of this address , then , I had no alternatrfe bat to falter" this expression , or to omit its insertion . Which do the Executive , and which do the people consider to be the preferable course 1 Aad . yet this is the whole matter about which the Executive protest so very indignantly against my " presumption" ! and appeal to the people whether they are to be responsible to them or to toe . 'All I can eay on the

      matter ie , that I hope the next Executive will give me less ; trouble in this respect , by reading the plan of organisation , before they sit down to the duties of their office , and thus enabling themselves to produce their documents in accordance with it . At all events , and in any case , I can assure the present , and every future Executive , that to whomsoever they may hold themselves to be responsible , I shall hold myself responsible for the legal accuracy of whatever appears in the Northern S / ar , so long as the estate and person of its proprietor are left without any other protection than my watchfulness . ¦ ;

      And now to bring this long letter to a close . Ifc is my turn to demand , not protection , but an expression of opinion from the people , it seems to have become the fashion to '' to ran-a-muck" against the NorlhemStar . I desire to know whether this be in accordance with the people ' s wish . The Northern iStor has been now under my management for nearly five years . During all that time the people know whether it has ever shrunk from its £ § st ; whether it has ever shrank from principle ; or veered a pin ' s point from the first

      direction of its compass . I demand that . the people shall look over the columns of the Northern Star , and tell me whether they approve of the blaster about the tt dictation" and the ; " denunciation" of the Northern Star , which is . now so fashionable ? I desire them to look at the plain facts of the case ; to examine the specimens of " dictationVand of "denunciation" which I have given them in this letter ; ( and I defy any man living to produce from the Columns of the Northern Star an allusion to any Chartist leader less

      respectful in its terms than those I have adduced ; unless it may have been in reply to some tissue of abuse ); to remember that these fair and kindly criticisms , instead of being received in the spirit so eloquently recommended by the Executive , " with the best feelings of democratic friendship , " have called forth hot , waspish replies ; fall of rancour and misrepresentation ; and sometimes fall of offensive ribaldry ; that these replies have invariably represented me as an overbearing " dictatorf as " a man with a thick head and a black heart ? ' " a mushroom springing ap in the path" of the giants of Chartism , against whom my criticisms have been fulminated t : as " a liar ; " " an assassm r "

      " a villain ; " ** a rufiian ^ a " cowardly hypocrite !" If I refuse insertion to these violent repiiea , to fair criticism and friendly remark , I am then '' denounced" a 3 taking an unfair advantage of my position to destroy men ' s characters . Without giving them an oppportunity for reply . If I insert them , aad point out , and prove , their falsehoods , and misrepresentations , I am then accused of" den-uncia ~ lion" the whole matter which called forth my reply for my own defence is conveniently kept out of sight ; and at the next meeting to which an orator presents himself , you are told how shamefully the Northern Star has been •' denouncing" the good men and true of the movement »"' -. . ¦¦ " ¦ : ¦ . :-, ' ¦ > ,- ' ¦ ' ¦'¦' .. : ¦ .. - . ' " .-. ' .

      Now I have no opportunity of attending public mdetings in various places to make speeches to yoa , and work upon your passions . My time is fully occupied in attending to jour interests here * I am told that an orator in Manchester , on Sunday , threatened , in the ardour of his zeal , that "if ho were denounced , he would travel through the world and to the gates of hell , but he would drag the accuser forth . " I have no such fiery inclination ; and if I had , I have no opportunity of

      indulging it ; and that , the braggers about pubho meetings know very welli I am anxious to do what service I can for the people ; and , in Bpite of all these little breezss , I always shail do so . I think lam in that position in which I can do it more effectually than I could in any other . So long as I continue to hold that position , I shall do my duty to ' the people , honestly , fearlessly , and consistently , as I always have done . I shall neither flatter their prejudices , nor allow them to be led into danger without raising an alarm . But , though like Mr . P hilp , I declare for " independence , " I should yet be glad to know , positively , and by their

      own statement , from the people , whether , in the almost five years that I have served them in my present National capacity , I havedesetved to be made thebutt of universal attack ; and of so much " misrepresentation and wrong" as has latterly fallen to my share . I demand , as an aot of justice and of right , that the whole of the Chartist body wherever the Northern Star : is known , shall register and transmit to me by resolution , their opinion , honestly : and fairly given , of its merits ; and that they shall state distinctly whether they consider it and me worthy of their confidence , and will support me in putting an end , now and for ever , to this system of " denunoiation and abuse . "

      With the same fervour of attachment to the Cause of liberty and truth which has always actuated me , ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ - .. ¦ :- ¦ ¦ . ¦ ' : ¦ ¦ ¦ . '¦ . - ; - " ¦ '¦ ' " . ' ' ' lam ,: . : . :. ¦ ;¦ ' ¦ - ' - . - . "¦ '¦ : Frienda , Yours faithfully , William Hilt .

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      William Clark suggests that ah explication ani justification of Chartist policy at the last general election , was a fit suhject for the pen of Alt * O'Connor , or some other talented writer . We think the subject has been expatiated on quite sufficient for all parties to understand it ; those who are determined to misrepresent it , will do &O whatever may be said . David Wright .- ^ -To his first question we can only answer , that [ scores of tetters for Mr . O'Connor have been received here and forwarded ; whether his may be among them or not we do iwt know * To the second question we say , that the story ** & :-. ' maliciousand wicked lie , originate withwhomit may . But Mr . 0 'C . would certainly not " pro .

      secute" the parties . His letter in comment upon : a paragraph from an Aberdeen Correspondents . our last , could do him no good if printed , /»** merely repeats what the paragraph states him to have said at the meeting in question . We cannot ' ¦ - therefore occupy space with it . i . A Pdpil . Leeds , must read his ninth lesson , in IM . * ' Fifteen Lessons > " % o , v Ec ( a . B 8 Chartists . — We are at a loss to know hm they can have read any article in last weeks Star , so as to construe it into an attack on the Executive .: Certainlv nothino teas further from

      our intention than to attack the Executive , whom as a body we have always spoken highty I anduedonot now need or purpose to withdraw one iota of the many commendations we have thought it our duty to accord them ; because m never do thus speak of any man or body of man without knowing that it is well deserved . We believe none but our Eccles friends will ^ "Pfr « s of having had any purpose to " lower tn $ Executive in the estimation of the people , or •« . " cancel their fitness for office ? and ffM quite sure that if they read the last week saw again , they will see that they have done vs injustice .

      The Jn T Ortheru Star. Saturday, June 11, 1842.

      THE JN ORTHERU STAR . SATURDAY , JUNE 11 , 1842 .

      Tbo Mettoevg Anxf Con*Gwntrettt&

      tBo Mettoevg anXf Con * gwntrettt&

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      ^ 4 ¦ THE NORTHERN S T A R . : .. •;• . ¦¦ ¦ , - .. ' ' [¦¦ ' , ^_ .. " .: . ' " - ¦ ¦ , ; : - ' ,. : ¦ '¦ ¦ ' : . _^

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), June 11, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct602/page/4/