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Northern Star (1837-1852), 4th November 1843, Edition 3 of 7, Page 4, Untitled Ad

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    • HOBSON'S ALMANACK.
    • THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1843.
    • <£o BeaUm* mtir <&om#pmtircnt0
  • Adverts (1)
  • Text (14)
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      Untitled Ad

      In the Press , and speedil y will be Published , Price Threepence , THE POOR MAN'S COMPANION , FOR 1844 . p ONTAINING a mass of Statistical and other VJ matter , bearing on the Political and Social questions of the day . Compiled from authentic documents , sr joshea bobsox . tsr The da ; of Publication , with a list of contents , will be dulv set forth next week .

      Untitled Article

      TO THE CHARTISTS OF NOTTINGHAM AND SOUTH DERBYSHIRE . Brojhbb , Dexockats , —The Committee appointed to carry oat the Local Plan of Organization sod resolution * ¦ wbiebwereagreed to atyonr Delegate Meeting , held at Nottingham is June last , -wish to remind yon 1 ^ the tem of their aerviees has nearly expired , and to Uy Kfor » yaa . a statement of yonr afiairs . "W e are happy to state that much good has arisen from the labecrx of oar indefatigable lecturer , Mr : Boyle . Owing to the hiiherto imperfect state of our Organisation , the Lectarers * Fond is deficient to the amount of xearly £ 7- To thltvre earnestly direct your attention , and hope that tbe various localities -will immediately fe anmltto the Treasurer Ene various somi agreed to .

      A Delegate Meeting 'will be held at Ukestone , on-Sunday , the 5 th of HovemBer , -when ire hope that every locality trill send a delegate to consider the best means of liquidating the debt , and transacting other important b&iinass . Toars , respectfully , Samuel Bookhah , Secretary . Nottingham , October Slst , 1843 .

      Untitled Article

      TO THE CHABTI 5 TS OF BTRKISQRAM AKD THE StTRSOtTSDLNG DISTRICT . Brothers , —The Committee for the support of Mr . G-orge White once more appeal to your sympathies , and te year justice , five months ofthe time declared by iniquitous law-administrators to be necessary to expaate , ¦ within stone "walls , UiBheinoiu crime of defending the poor and demanding for them their rights , hare passed , leaving thiieb yet to be endured , and those three , alas ! * mrmg * Y . the most severe of the year . Mr . 'White , spurning the attempts which have generally been made to degrade the leaders and teachers of the people , demanded to be treated as a first-class misdemeanant His demand was acceded to . and he was

      In ' orisoned Jin the Queen ' s Prison . By this act he did its duly to his fellow-working men . When the gates of tb « prison deeed upon him , jastice and honesty claimed that theworking-men shouldjdo fteir duty to him . Have they done so ? Yes , in part—they have done it in Lontijn , where he vent amongst them a stranger . Bat in Birmingham and the district where he was well known , and much admired for his boldness and unquestioned political integrity—the town and neighbourhood -which should have set a generous example to others at a distance , baa done little or nothing . How true It is of ffr 1 " ^""! as x £ other systems , that its servants are sever honoured in their own country .

      The Chartists of London stepped between George White and destitution . Had he depended on those who ought to havesopportedhim and shielded , him from the iron gripe of a sanguinary law soda , pennryjand neglect ^ roold have been the nngeneroas return from , thote with xchom he / feed , for twelve years * service in their cause , and for more than once endangering his life and health . For the Stb months already passed , Birmingham and the district have not contributed five shillings per week . This is not honest—this is not just . Tyrants will never ff » r yon until yon respect ' yourselves j and you are ¦ wasting in proper respect for yourselves when you allow your enemies to treat -with cruelty and contempt those whom yon put forward to defend ; yon liberties sod-demand for job vhose rights which justice declares to be reasonable .

      Brother *—Show that it is only necessary for yon to know your duty to perform it Contribute quickly , tredy , and cheerfully lor the assistance and support of an honest man of yonr own class , for the remainder of ihe tame "which tyranny "win retain him in its grasp . By Order , W . CHH . T 05 , Secretary . S 8 , BromBgrove-Btraet , or Place of Meeting , - 37 , Peck-lane , Birmingham . P . S—The committee ¦ would mention that social teaparties , concerts , eta , have been found of great assistance by thslaondon f ^ una * .

      Untitled Article

      WHO ABE THE IBI 8 H * "Ireland for the Irish , " it has been said . Quite just and proper : bat let it t « understood who are the Irish . Though Mz . O'Connell has consented to . relinquish the use of the word " Saxon , * he has sot denied that he regards that epithet as the logical antithesis to " Irishman . " Let us see if the Celtic race is exclusively entitled to be called 'the Irish . - lreland was not possessed by an exclusively Celtic population at the time of StrongboWs invasion , and « the Irish" who opposed Strongbow ware not exclusively Celts . The predominant population , if not the founders of-Limerick and of the maritime cities of Ireland , were tbe Ostmans—a Teutonic race , the kinsmen of the Saxons and Normans . The most prompt and energetic of Strongbow's " Irish" opponaats at his first

      landing were the Ortmans of Waterford . Tiw Oitmans of Dublin offered a more meompromlsing Msistanee to ] the "g ^ gH * Invaders than the Celtic ° Irish" of that city sad its vicinity . An entry in the Botulos Piadto * j rum of the 4 tb of Edward XL enables us to estimate the j relative proportions of Ostmans and Celts in the native \ population of the deanery of Limerkk : —Becogn itio j facta ( a-c . 1201 ) per sacramentnm 12 Anglornm , et 12 ] Ostmannonnn , et 12 Hibemsnsium de terris , eeeleaiu , ¦ et cmszia i «» nt . ii >*««^ tw -mj \ T . igmT ^ pgpyam ecoleaiuni pectantibas . ** The conquering race , though fewer la \ number , might insist upon an equality of voices ; en the inquest ; feat s » reason could have led to .

      the equality ' of representatives of the two aubjugated races , except that they in reality constituted jwqtrtj equal parts of the population . The Teutonic ingredient in the original "Irish" people was increased t > y Q ) g gngUgh ftmiiiMQ , who became " ipsis Hibemicis Hibarniorea . " The Celtic-speaking population of Ire-% KnA ire no more & pure Celtic race than tie English speaking population can be considered ( seeing the frequent injennazriageB between English and Irish that have taken place in the lapse of centuries ) can be considered a pure Saxon race . In the matter of stock , of blood , aD inhabitants » f Ireland are one race .

      But it will be said that the Celtic-speaking people of Ireland have retained the traditional national character , vhfle the Englidj-speaking race have with its language adopted the conventional morals ani faith of England . So be it Doubtless the people from whom a nation inherits its literature and religion are more truly its - * np * 6 nT * than its physical progenitors . But who are the leaders of the " Irish" of the present day ? In this view of the qnestioB . they are " Saxons" to a man . Their faith is not that of the old Irish Church , bntof the Bosnian Chnreh ; which , if not originally introduced , was first firmly established by the Anglo Norman rulers . ThfSr language , when they discuss religious , philosophical , or political topics , is and then

      • RT ^ jrtv O'Conn ell may now treat his auditors to a scrape of "Irish Gaelic , " as country gentlemen have been known to quote Latin in the House of Commons ; but could O'Connell frame a Befoon BID , or a Consfitutaon , or argue their pros and com in Irish ? -Could the acute and energetic writersin The Ratio * find words and phrases in the " Irish Gaelic " to express their ideas 1 A Parliament assembled in College Green must talk •¦ Saxon , " legislate in a " Saxon" spirit , reason according to " Saxon" habits of thought "Irelandfor the Irish , " if "Ssxon" is . to tie held the fnV *** " **» of "Irish , " prosonnees sentence of proscription and t ^ sh ""^ against all educated Bepealers . — -Spectator .

      Untitled Article

      Barons , with incomes varying from £ 50 , 000 to £ 100 , 000 and £ 300 , 1 ) 00 a-year , yet the paltry sura of £ 260 cannot be raised to give a dinner to the men whose daring courage and valour have secored to them the safe and quiet possession of their titles , honours , and properties , unless through the medium of the begging-box . The Qneen Dowager can contribute to the erection of a church in Malta ; the Queen can lavish £ 1 , 000 upon French soldiers ; Sir Bobert Peel can enrich an overbloated Chnreh with a donation of £ 6 , 000 i a Tory Noble Dake , whose mansion overlooks the very site of the column , can subscribe from £ 2 , 000 to £ 5 , 090 for Church extension ; yet all these r » yal and distinguished personages can witness , without shame , the weather-beaten heroes of the ocean , supplicating for penny subscriptions 1—Weekly Dispatch .

      [ Detesting as we do all wars of aggression j believing with tiie poet , that" War is a game which were their subjects wise , Kings would aot play at j " and holding In unmitigated abhorrence the memory of that infamous conflict of a quarter of a century waged to pnt down democracy in France ; we certainly have n « great admiration of " England ' s greatest naval hero , " whose crimson laurels were mainly won in that ever-tobe execrated contest But if the nation will yet honour the destroyers rather than the benefactors of the human race , at least let it be consistent , and not outrage common decency by such ungrateful conduct to the men whom it has dubbed defenders and heroes . At any rate let not the priests and aristocrats forgot the men who poured out their blood for the timiTi ^^ oTtyia of their usurpations .

      Notwithstanding our contempt for such " heroes" as Nelson , we must still acknowledge that we have a hearty respect for the weather-beaten " hearts of oak , " who have * ' Braved the battle and the breeze , " in defence of what they tbeugbt was the cause of right and country . Our disgust is therefore inexpressible at the conduct of the Government and the aristocracy , in thus treating the gallant veterans . Well might Byron ask" Te men -who shed your blood for kings like water , What have they given your children in return ?"

      Behold the answer—bayonets and bastUes for the " children , " and begging boxes for the " men"themselves ! We thank our contemporary for calling public attention to this matter . —Ed . N . S . I

      Hobson's Almanack.

      HOBSON'S ALMANACK .

      Untitled Article

      MACHINERY . WHAT HAVE BEEN ITS RESULTS ! The " profound Political Economists" of our peculiar age and generation , have contended stoutly , against the common sense of mankind , that the operations of machinery have conferred unmixed good upon society at large ; and that no notion ever entertained was half so foolish and nonsensical as that which attributed anjr eril to the workings of machinery . Work upon work lias been written to support and prove ibis position . We bare had the pen of Miss Habbiet Mabtikkxu plied to that end ; and Lobs Bboughak himself has condescended to enlighten the dark understandings of the people on the JiesvJts of Machinery "

      - When the operatives have complained , that the introduction and use of particular machines has displaced them in the labour market , they have been told that they knew nothing on the subject : that the nature of machinery was not to displace human labour , bat to call more of it into requisition ; that if tie employment of the steam-loom , with only one girl to attend two of them , seemed to displace the rvro xsn who would have been required to work the two hand-looms , yet it wot only a displacement in appearance , xsn sen in beaxitt ; for while machinery seemed to dose up , as it were , one channel of labour , It opened other and more remunerative

      channels ; and that thus the balance was on the Bide of machinery . It was argued , that when we took into account the number of mechanics that the making of machinery had set to work ; the number of iron makers ; of workers in other metals j of workers in wood ; of distributors of the productions of machinery ; of the sailors , to carry those productions to other climes ; and of the ship-builders , &o , &e .: it was contended that when the argument was made to embrace a // these , as by right it ought to do , we should find that the Results of Machinery had been to call into play a great amount of human labour , and not to displace it .

      These arguers have abo had a standing illustration , which they were sure constantly to pitch , whenever a doubt was expressed as to the conelusion they thus so speciously arrived at . Intimate , no matter how modestly , that you feared the actualities of tn 6 case did not bear this con elusion oni , and yon were instantly M elosed-np" with the " stereotyped" illustration . " w Look at the printing business , ' every argner would instantly exclaim , in a triumphant tone ; " see a picture of the workings of machinery there I Look at the old printing press ; then look at the printing machine . Has machinery

      there superseded human labour ! Has not it rather called it into requisition ! Are there not more printers now engaged , than there were before the invention of the printing machine ! Look at the amount of printing now performed , and compare it with the amount formerly performed . _ See the quantity of labour that that increassd amount employs . There are more rags required for paper ; consequently more rag gatherers ; there is more paper nsed , consequently more paper makers ; there are printing machines required , consequently more machine-makers employed ; there is more printing-ink consumed , consequently more inkmakers set to work : and then there are the

      porters , and carters , and booksellers : increased employment being fonnd for all . How then can you say that ihe tendency of machinery is to displace human labour \ Then look again at the results in another point of view . The operation of the printing machine has been to lessen the cost of production of books and papers : oonsfqaently they can be sold cheap ; thas an enlarged demand is caased ; and to supply that demand , more labour must be employed . Therefore , you see that the operation of printing machinery is beneficial to all : beneficial to the printer ; for it creates a demand for his labonr , and enables him to enforce higher wages ; beneficial to society at large , by giving it knowledge at a low

      cost . " Such is tb . e : pefc illustration . Every " profound political economist" has it at the tongne ' s end . It conus off , most trippingly , should you but venture to hint that possibly the "Xesulls of Machinery " have not been quite so beneficial to all , as some so stoatly contend . That illustration is very specionBi more specious

      than real . In the first place , machinery is only yet partially employed in the prodnetion of books and papers . The operation of the printing machine has been to SHpersede the Pbessmen . They were a distinct branch of the printing trade x they now have no existence . There are the Compositors . The Printing Machine has not interfered with their department at all : that is to say , the Printing Machine haa not been made to ** * # < up" the

      types ; bmtonly to print the paper from the types , wb 6 b sJl the labour that the Compositor has to employ , has been employed . This printing case , therefore , is not a true " illustration . " Take the manufacture of Calico . There machinery does all the work , with a very slight attendance of women and children , from the " blowing" and " carding , np to the paste-daubing and "finishing . " The

      a lamming stock" of the carder has been snperseded by the carding engine . The " singlespinning wheel , " and the "jenny" have been superseded by the mule j and the ** mule" in its turn by the double-and-treble-decker , and by the self-actor .

      Untitled Article

      The " hand-loom" has been superseded by the steamloom ; and machinery has revolutionized every department in the production of calioos . Not so yet with books and papers . In only one department of printing has machinery been brought extensively to bear : therefore the > "illustration" brought from the operation of machinery in printing & not oompleie . Besides , the printing business employs only a comparatively small number of our population . It has , tw > , been an ahistocbatic thadb . In the first place , a tolerably good education is needed , to

      enable a man to become a compositor—& member of the geeat branch of the printing trade . Printing is not therefore open to all : for the major portion of the sons of the labouring many are utterly without that education that is indispensable to qualify a man to become a compositor . It is therefore an exclusive trade . It is confined to the som of the better-paid operatives , and the M lower order" of the Bhop-keeping class . These cirenmstances have enabled the " trade" to maintain their position much better than the operatives engaged in any great department of our geeat manufactures .

      It has also been customary for the employers to have premiums with their apprentices , for teaching them their "trade ";; and this , too , has tended to keep doven the number of men employed in printing . A favourable combination of circumstances has enabled the "trade" to maintain an "Union , " particularly in the country ; and they have had a regulation to restrict the number of apprentices , according to the number of men employed . This also has served , and greatly too , to maintain their strong position . Master printers have been in the hands of tho men ; particularly so in the country . If the

      compositors stopped tcori , all was stopped ; and their place has not been veiy easily to be supplied . A stoppage to a large printing concern , particularly one engaged in Periodicals , was destbcction to it ; and , therefore , the Printers' " Union" have had great power It will be at once apparent that these circumstances placed the trade of printers in a far different and more impregnable position than the great body of our operatives , either agricultural or manufacturing . And yet , " the profound political economist , " when reasoning on the general operation of a general question , presses all thesa peculiar and adventitious circumstances into his service : and

      from them draws an " illustration" to ** illustrate " the general whole 1 To do so however is honest * according to " profound" notions of honesty ! Notwithstanding the glib-talk of the " profound ones , and the pet illustration" Machinery is reach ' ing even ihe printing-trade , favourably circumstanced as we have shewn it to be t In London the * surplus of labour" is so great , that the u Union "

      1 b all but powerless ! The masters there can make their own terms . The " apprentice regulation" is broken through . There are offices" now in London , and a many of them too , where there area score of u boys" to one man I Nor are the boys u apprenticed . " The good old system of indenturing is now being discontinued ; and " boys" are taken into the "office , " and retained there for a few years , at a low rate of wages .

      These have no legal claim on the master to " learn them the trade . " Should they , when they are approaching manhood , ask for & higher wage than is paid to boys of twelve or fourteen , they are speedily dismissed , and others , younger , put on" in their stead . Thus is the trade , in London / inundated with " hands . ; " and there is always a large " reserve" in the labour market . This' is having its effect on the country trade . The London labour market , although the great one , is closed against the country " hands . ' There is little chance for a country " hand" to get employment in

      London , or but little Bense in his trying , when there is so large an amount of unemployed labour constantly waiting to be hired . And yet London is the place that , most flock to : it being a sort of passion for all to go to the geeat wen , if they can but accomplish it . This augments the evil : and this again tells upon the men employed in the country . The ** Union" funds are hardly laid on : parties out of work having to "tramp" from town to town ia search of it , and live out ot the " relief " afforded them by the " Union" and the charitablydisposed of the trade .

      Besides , a Machine has been invented to dispense with the compositor ! That machine will , even now , do his work . This had been held to be an impossible feat . The labours of a compositor must be directed by the operation of mi . vd . It was therefore deemed utterly impracticable to arrange any machinery that would even aid him . The "impossibility" is now possible ! A machine—nay there are too—has been invented , by means of which females and boys—( cheap labour !)—can perform the operation of " setting" types faiter than tho most experienced and " fast" compositor 1 Those

      machines are not yet introduced to any great extent ; and the printers are hugging themselves with the notion that the thing " can ' t-bedone . " It will be done . As surely as ever the printing machine has superseded the hand-press in the printing of the greater portion of the work , so surely will a Composing Machine supersede the compositor in the greater portion of the u book " and " news" work ! We say A Composing Machine ; not the Composing Maohine : for it would have been as silly to have expected that the jenny

      of thirty spindles was the perfection of spinning , as it is to think that the present Composing Machines are the best , or most satisfactory adaptation of the pbikciplb that machinery can compose type . We may reasonably expect to see great and wonderful H improvements" in them . Even now they succeed . Even now they are awork ; composing , works at a cheaper rate than by "hand . " And if " the first application of the principle is so successful , what may we not expect from future and more perfect applications 1

      Will the introduction of those machines , with the supposeable " improvements , " have no effect on the printing trade ! Will the "profound" men then resort to the printing trade for as "illustration" of the beneficial operations of machinery" ? Will they then contend , and appeal to the printers for proof , that machinery calls into play more labour than it displaces ? Will they the « say that there are uobe printers than there were before the introduction of printing machinery ?

      Having Bhewn what has been the effect of machinery , upon even the favourably-situated and small exclusive trade of printers , let us next look at the condition of the Typk-Fouhdzrs . There is a body of men , that must have benefitted from machinery , if any body of operatives in the kingdom could by possibility be benefitted by it . They are few in number ; their business is a peculiar one ; if printing be in great request , it must have the effect of causing a demand for type ; and the " typo" must be" cast , " before it is used . Therefore , if any class of operatives in England could be benefitted by machinery , it must be a body of men so circumstanced . Theee has been no machinert invented to

      in-TEEFESE WITH THEIR LABOUR , IN A DIRECT HAN ' NflB : but thsn . we are told that printing machinery has brought more printing labour into request than it displaced : and if it brought ang into request , it must have operated on the type-founders . Printing cannot go on without them . They are , as yet , indispensable . What then has been their share of the " benefit" t Let us have the "illustration . " We know that we are told , that" increased demand for produce , employs more labour , and tends to make the supply of labourers scarce : when labourers are scarce , in ' creased wages can be obtained . " Let us see how this fits .

      Th « Type Founders are now out ! and for what tause ! Because the masters have determined to reduce wages ! There is an "increased demand " for types : and the " benefit" to the operative Type Founder is reduced wages I The masters are trying to enforce a reduction , varying from 25 to 75

      Untitled Article

      percent ! Plenty of bepefirthat ! Rare "Result « f Machinery . " This case of the Type Founders is a veryinstrnotive one . They are peculiarly situated . The business is one very destructive to health . On this point we quote from an address of the turn-outs , calling upon the public to support them against the efforts of their employers to give them a " benefit . " In tha > address they say : —

      " The trade of a type-founder . is unhealthy in the extreme , and very destructive to life . The heat is so intense in the apartments alloted for casting , occasioned by such a multiplicity of furnaces being crowded together , that but few individuals can withstand its baneful influence for any length of time , without experiencing very ! serious injury arising itherefrom . Moreover , the atmosphere which the type-founder has to breathe is &o oppressive , that it would be inconvenient to a person who had been brought up in a tropical country—an atmosphere , heated to such a degree , that the thermometer will range from seventy to ninety degrees in

      winter time . Not only has the type-founder to endure such an oppressive atmosphere , but he has to stand in one position for twelve or fourteen hours per day , with his head very near to a pan of metal , which for casting small typeJf must be red hot . The composition of this metal is regulus of antimony , tin and lead , with a portion of copper , the fumes of which are rank poison . Nor is this all , for the particles of metallic dust which fly off in the process of dressing land other departments of our trade , are constantly being inhaled by those who are employed in the manufacture of type . The above causes bring on many painful diseases , premature old age , and untimely death . "

      Yet notwithstanding the dreadful nature of this description of employment • — " The London and Sheffield master type-founders have formed a coalition league to take from us 3 d . out of every shilling in several kinds of work ; in others Sd . out of the shilling ; and in some oases the moderate sum of fid out of the shilling . " This would be : — "A reduction of from twenty-three to seventy-five per cent , i . e ., a reduction of the wages of the men who averaged under 18 s . a week to Twelve Shillings" ! i !

      Here is a "result" ! Rare " benefit , " is it not , from "printing machinery" ? Extended employment is likely to land them in a very enviable position ! A " heat of from seventy to ninety degrees in winter time" ; " standing in one position for twelve or fourteen hours over a pan of red hot metal" ; exposed to , and forced to inhale , " the fumes of regulus of antimony , tin , lead , and copper , all of which are poison "; the recipients of " painful diseases , " that hurry on premature old age and untimely death "! and all for an average of TWELVE SHILLINGS A WEEK ! 01 what " benefit" I

      It is true : that the men are not yet reduced to this twelve shillings a-week : but they are out , contending against it . Unless they are supported , they must accede to the demands of the masters . They must fall-to , and offer up their health , and even their lives for the twelve shillings . Will the other " tradss" permit them to be so "benefitted" ? Will not the printers interfere ! If they do not , their TORN COMES NEXT ! !

      Oa examination then , the fact ia established , that the operation of Machinery has been most destruo - tiveandmo 8 t oppressive , even in favoured and e » - elusiver trades . And if we find such to be the case there , what may we expect to find in the open and exposed trades f Just that which we do find ! The manual labourer superseded . Females and children called in , to attend to the operations of machinery , because their services can be had at a cheap rate . A dearth of employment ; discomfort ; poverty ; misery ; destitution : turmoil .

      Suoh are the " Results of Machinery" to the labourers * With the employer it is another matter . He does not always come to ruin , ** although some do . There are among them men who have donh WELL ! There are those to whom the " Result * of Machinery" h&ve > been very" beneficial" ! Richard Cobdbn , we are told , was a farmer ' s son , only midlingly ntuated ' - .: ' Richard Cobdrn is now reputed to be wbrth his hundreds of thousands of pounds . John Bright is another who has feathered his nest to a considerable tune- John Marshall , of Leeds , was the son of a linen-draper , and began the world with borrowed money : John Marshall is new said to be poaocaamt iff miltiunf . Now these are

      " Results of Machinery" that p are not fond of ! We have no notion of tw bl * b SHiLLiNas a-week to the workmen , and hundreds of thousands , and even millions , to the employer ! We are for a more equitable distribution of the " results" ! We are not for taking all from the many ; nor for giving all to the few ! We are not for starving the workers to death , that Mr . Cobdbn and Mr . Bright may lay up " treasure on earth" ! We are for giving all their fair share of the " benefits" " resulting" from the use of machinery , and then as much machinery as you like ! " The more the merrier . " How that fair share is to be apportioned and secured , we will tell another

      time . When we set out with this article , we intended to give , and reply to , a most foolish and nonsensical article in the Calf ' s Head Observer , on OUR use of machinert . The general question has , however , drawn us out to such length , that we must defer the stewing we had intended for the Calf ' s Head . But let him not repine . He shall be served-up some day , with brain sauce . He shall be duly boiled .

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      SCOTCH MAGISTERIAL TYRANNY . VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT OF FREE DISCUSSION . Oub readers may remember that in the Star of the 23 rd of September last , appeared a notice under the head of j" Religious Intolleranoo , " of certain pranks played by a set of mouthing " Liberals , " styled " Nonf Intrusionists , " who , meeting to protest against " prosecutions for blasphemy " when the " blasphemer" was onetof their own kidney :

      did at that meeting refuse to allow other parties a hearing , and assaulted and ill-used the said parties ; winding up with introducing the police , and dragging the "offenders" ( I ) , who only insisted upon the right of " tree discussion" which their persecutors were met ostensibly to promote , before the bar of " ju- tice" (!) . The " case" was not then decided on ; but we promised to make known the deoision when * ever given . Now for tho result .

      The following has beenj forwarded to us , as copied from the Scotsman : — j ' The adjourned trial of Mr . Jeffery , the Socialist Lecturer , who stood charged with having disturbed a public meeting in the Waterloo Rooms ( Edinburgh ) in September , came before Sheriff Tait , on Thursday last . The meeting referred to , as will be remembered , was called to sympathise with Dr . Kalley . A number of witnesses having been examined , and the facts of the case brought out , a conversation ensued between the Sheriff and Mr . Jeffery . The latter maintained that the meeting being a public one , he had a right to appear there and move

      an amendment to any ] motion brought forward . He also objected that the Chairman ( the Lord Pr&-vost ) had exceeded his ] power in refusing to hear him without having taken the sense of the meeting upon the matter ; which , he contended was the origin of the whole disturbance . But the Sheriff declared it as his opinion that even granting this to be true , the Chairman of a meeting has an arbitrary power of deciding who shall or shall not be heard , and that whatever arrangement may be come to , is of legal force for the time , no tribunal having the power of reviewing such arrangements . He , therefore , ordered Mr . Jeffery to find bail in £ 20 to keep the peace for twelve months . '' !

      We have been given to understand that "the man Patebson , " who should also have appeared , sent a letter to the Sheriff , excusing his non-attendance ; his reason for not being forthcoming being that he had his defence to prepare against a charge of "blasphemy , " on wbioh he will be tried in the course of the present month . How Mr . Jeffery ' s attendance resulted , we have seen by the Scotsman } That gentleman writes to us that after being confined in a cell for two hours , with several felons , he was liberated by Mr . Robert Peddib , the late inmate of Beverley Gaol , becoming bis security in the sum required .

      A word upon this shameless and senseless deoision of the Edinburgh Sheriff . Shameless , because the parties who should harei been bound over to keep the peace , were those who M dragged Mr . Jeffery f rom the platform ; " j those who " seized Mr . Pater son by the neek and dragged him through the meeting ; those who " tore ihe hair from his head , beat him with sticks , and laid his head open . " These j bloodhounds , calling themselves Christians (!} , were the parties who should have been " bound over to keep the peace , " and not Mr . Jeffery , who peaceably heard every other man , and only insisted upon his right to free speech in a publio , and what ought to have been , a deliberative assembly . !

      Bat the deoision was as senseless as it was shameless . For the first time ! we have it announced that the Chairman of a public meeting , elected to his office by that meeting , dan do as he pleases : t . « ., he can refuse to hear any ( speaker if he pleases—he can dissolve the meeting at the very outset , and burke the whole proceedings which he was elected to aid in carrying out ! Such is the legitimate conclusion to whioh this monstrous deoision may be carried . Further , this modern Minos of " Modern Athens , " whose legal decisions might shame even those of the Cretan Judge of the " infernal regions , ' ' tells us that whatever is the Chairman ' s deoision

      is of "legal force for toe time being . " May we bo saved from Edinburgh law , say we ! But let ua whisper to the Sheriff that the power that madei can unmake the chairman , —Edinburgh law notwithstanding . To our readers we say , take care that when you attend a public meeting , whether of Scotch Non-Intrusionists or English freebooters ; be > ure to see that a man is appointed to the chair who will hear every man , and do jastice to each and to all . Had our Stookport friends so acted , they would not have been insulted and mocked at , as they were by the blood-suckers calling themselves " gentlemen , " who have about as much gentility in them as Edinburgh magistrates have of justice . i

      Our readers will see by Mr . O'Connor ' s letter that the Nona , of Dumfries have been playing the people a dirty trick , with the view of burking the expression of public opinion in Buppott of the glorious principles of Chartism . True they did not attain their ends ; but no thanks to them for that . Let their conduct not be forgotten . Mr . Maitxand Mackgill Chrichton , the Don Quixote of the " Free Church" (?) movement , has for some time past

      been engaged with others in levying "black Sail " upon the English lieges . ' Wherever these partiesTiold their meetings in public—wherever the advocates of truth and justice think it worth their while to attend these mountebank displays , held in support ef priestly domination , ] let them not forget the conduct of these " Free '' Churchmen to Messrs . Jeffert and Patebson ; and insist upon some explanation of eonduot so much the reverse of their professions .

      We have no objeotioa to " Free Churches . " We would have every mad " free" to support his own priest , if he thought jwell to pay for one ; and " free" to be excused from paying for the beeping of another man ' s . But , above all things , we are for "Free Discussion , " j without Which no other species of freedom is attainable . Having which , we may strip error of her cloak and falsehood of her mask ; and finally annihilate the monster trinity of political usurpation , ipriestly fraud , and competitive accumulation : the ; triune evil whioh , for thousands of generations has made this earth a hell , and rendered wretohed and brutish the great family of mankind . i " Delenda est Carthago . ' "

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      MORE OF TfHE COAL KINGS . The females are still in the pits ! No law proceedings are , as yet , instituted ! Nay , bo dabiko are the Coal Kings becoming , ] in consequence of Sir James Graham ' s lenity , thatjnearly the whole of them are setting the Aot at defiance . And why not ! If the Duke of Hamilton is to be permitted to work sixty females in his jcoal pits , why not others do the same ! If he is jto be a law breaker , why not the smaller fry haye their share of the plunder aooruing from cheap labour ! If the Duke ; the Lord Lieutenant ; is Jto be protected in his lawbreakings , who will dare to enforce the law on his " Jbrither" coal owners , should they follow his example 1 They are determined to try it on as the following most abundantly proves : —

      With regard to the Act aneafc the females , it may be said to be a dead letter in Scotland . I am informed that laat week the females have returned to their employment at Loan Head ( belonging to Sir George Clerk ) where they carry coals on their backs . It was in this work where the Interesting child , Margaret Levaston , six years of age , worked . To the Commls-• ioner she » ald she had j " Been down at coal-carrying ix weeks ; makes ten to fourteen rakeus a-day ; carries fulltfllba . of # o « linawdodenbncket . The work i « na gold ; It ta so very aair . i I work with sister Jerae and mother ; dinna ken tfee time we gang ; it is gai dark . "fA most interesting ehlld , and perfectly beautifnL I

      ascertained her age to be six years on the 24 fh of May , 1849—she was registered at Inverness . ] R . H . Franks , Esq ., evidence No . 116-360 . " A brief description of this child ' s place of work will better illustrate her evidence . She has first to descend » nine ladder pit to the first rest , even to which a shaft is rank to draw up the baskets , or tabs of coals filled by the bearers ; ahe then takes her creel and pursues her journey to the wail face , she then lays down her basket , into which the eoal is rolled , and it is frequently more than one man can do to lift the burden on her back . In this girl ' s case ahe has first to trundle about fourteen fathoms ( eighty-four feet ) from wall-face to the first ladder ,

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      which is eighteen feet high ; leaving the first ladder she proceeds along the main road , probably three feet six inches to four feet six inches high , to the second ladder , eighteen feet high so on to the third and fourth ladders till she reaches the pit-bottom , where she casts heir load , varying from 1 cwt to 1 | cwt into the tub , Thi » one journey is designated a rake . The height ascended , and the distance along the roads , added together , exeeed the height of St . Paul's Cathedral ; and it not unfrequently happens that the tuggs break , and the load falls upon these females who are following ^—Report , page 91—02 . ~ k ; :.

      Here , then , ia no fancied picture of slavery : and yet it is said , the females are returned to work in this colliery ; but the cause should come out ; and it is this r '—the coal-masters are greater than the House of Commons and Lords put together . The East Country masters , finding that the Duke of Hamilton ; the Canon Iron Company , and the Shotts Iron Company , whera there are sixty females employed , and the Gartcherrie Iron Company , and the Gartclose coal-owners , and Rose Hall Iron Company , per Messrs . Miller and Aidre ,

      and M . M'Andrew , of Carfin colliery : the masters in the East , seeing that all those In the Worth and in the West , were setting the law at defiance , trillnow do the game . Nothing can stop this but the plan suggested in last week ' s Star . Let the Miners of Scotland only sacrifice the price of one gill of whisky , and prose * cute the employers . The Scotch press is to blame in this . Accidents have taken place of which the following is one , which was refused insertion in the Glasgow Saturday Pesty Glasgow Journal , and Glasgow Chronicle , July 4 th , 1843 : —

      " Killed at Palace Craig Colliery , belonging to W . Baird , Esq . M . P ., and C « . a man ef the name of Vicker , and his drawer , a young female of the name of Mary M'Ewan , a girl of sixteen years of age . The pit is near the Room pace . "

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      TRIUMPH OF THE CHARTISTS IN LEEDS . The Municipal Elections are just over : and in them the Chartists hare bees most triumphant I In the Holbeck Ward they started Mr . Joshua Hobson ; and inj ^ he West Ward Mr . John Jackson , the corn mper . In both wards have they been eminently successful ; but particularly so in the Holbeck Wark . Here was the deadly opposition . Here was concentrated all the fear ; all the dread . Here was every means adopted , — -fair , fodl , and DAMNABLE , to prevent success : and here it waa that the Chartists have been triumphant ! Mr . Hobson was returned at the bead of the Poll ! He had a majority of eighty over his colleague ; and a majority of one hundred and seventy over the defeated Whiff .

      The joy of the Chartists is unbounded . The vie * tory is greater than they had , in their fondest hopes , anticipated . The feeling in favour of Mr . Hobson wa s most enthusiastic . A great portion of his votes were plumpers . Five hundred and seventy-one votes were recorded for him . The working people made ihe contest their own . They brought Mr . Hobson out : they have carried him most gloriously . Without funds ; without aid ; by dint of that own labours and their own enthusiasm , they have set an example to all the rest of the borough of Leeds , and to all other boroughs .

      The vile and scandalous attacks made on Mr . Hobson have contributed in no small degree tohia success . His enemies over-did it . They showed the Electors that they feared the man ; and the Electors acted just contrary to the desires and expectations of Faction .

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      THE TYPE FOUNDERS OF SHEFFIELD TO THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERS . Gentlemen , —We wish to call yonr earnest attention to our present position . We have been for the last ten weeks out of employment in consequence of our employers attempting a reduction on our prices of labour of from 25 to 76 per cent . In your never-to-be-forgotten strike of 1836-7 , we as a body , assisted you by all the means in our power * both by counsel and pecuniary aid ; and we earnestly entreat you will take our case into your serious consideration , and try by all the means in your power to alleviate our present distress . We remain , yours respectfully , The Committe of Operative Ttfe Founders . Committee Room , Three Cranes , Queen-street , Sheffield , Oct . 30 th , 1843 .

      Ashton Shoemakers' Strike . —The " two or three reports" our friends have sent us have not come to band , or they would have been noticed . We give the following from their present communication : — " An advertisement having appeared 4 n the Northern Star of last Week , stating that Mr . Lord , of this town , was in want of a number of good workmen , unconnected with the Shoemakeis'Society , and stating that the dispute between him and the dob-men was in no way connected with wages , we / deem it our doty , In order to prevent the unwary from being misled , ( aa others bave been to their ¦ sorrow , ) to lay before them the cause ef the strike , and leave them to judge whether it is or is not connected with wages ; and whether we are not justified in resisting to the utmost of our power such base attempts upon the rights of labour .

      " Mr . Lord ' s father is owner of some cottage property , which is in such a dilapidated condition , that they are not fit for human beings to live in ; but which Mr . Lord tells bis men they must inhabit or leave" nil employment , and for which they have to pay an extor tionate rent This , along With other acts of petty tyranny , was the cause of the strike ; and this is the reason he prefers married men to coop up in his novels . Several families have been induced by Mr . Lord ' s statements to break up their homes in other towns , ana come here in the hopes of bettering tbeir condition ; but alas ! bave been miserably deceived and compelled to leave again after suffering a great loss . With respect to the statement of wages , Mr . Lord says he will pay , all we have to say is , that Mr . Lord never did pay such wages , and we cannot but think that it is nothing but a decoy . to entrap the unwary into his power , when we know that for the last two years be has strove to the utmost of his power to reduce the wages of his

      workmen . " Signed on behalf of the trade , " William Woodboffe , Scotland-Brook . " Publications received for Review . — " Taifs Magazine ; tl HowiWa History of Priestcraft ; -The New Age ; " and the " Promethian , " Sco . be . &e . Whitehaven , Minebs . —Their address Was too late . Vessels for New Orleans—The Chaos starts oa tbe 8 th of November ; and the Markaway on the 13 th : the Espindola starting to-day . Thte alteration of tbe advertisement in another page came too late to be attended to in its proper place . Veritas heads a letter " To the Citizensof London , " with the following quotation : — " It is in the last twenty years of the funding system that all the great shocks begin to operate . "Paine .

      He says" The times are big with important events . Breakers area-head I The mountain is in labour , aye t and will bring forth more than a mouse . 1843 gives us the Governor of tbe Bank of England , member lot the City of London , pledged to the Repeal of the Corn Laws , laws passed to prop np the funding system . What an anomaly ! Ah ! ' most thinking people' ( i ) of the ' most enlightened city Id the world" (!) when will you cease to aot with your eyes closed against facts . Pattison and the Anti-Cora Law League are gulling you ; you will be made to suffer ; you will be squeezed a little longer , to keep the Bank afloat . Be not bo deceived ,, come out for the rights ef allthe Charter . Then rou will have a more extended and fruitful field to choose your representatives from . "

      Me . Leach of Hyde , is continually receiving letters from Ireland , praying for Taote , Star-light , He appeals to his brother Chartists to send their papers to the " green isle , " and offers to undertake the task of sending them , if parties will forward their Stars to him when done with . Address , J . M . Leach , 87 , ^ Charles-street , Hyde , Cheshire . STABS TO Ireland . —Wha * are the Sheffield ftienda about 1 We know that the circulation of the Star ia rapidly increasing in their town , why not give their Irish brethren the benefit of it ? Let them use the list sent them by the Irish Universal Suffrage Association . The little trouble of to doing will be amply repaid by the great and lasting good that will be effected .

      The Coventry Chariists appeal to their townsmen to come forward and join the new organization : espe cially the avowed Chartists , who will prove thelt sincerity by responding to the appeal . We hope they will do so . " England expects every man to do fata duty . " Mr . Charles D . Stuart writes to us , that be eontemplates visiting XXtrliogton , oh Sunday first ( for tbe delivery of lectures on Chartism ) , and , in th « eourst of the ensuing week , Yarm , Stockton , Middlebor *' , Sunderland , kc .

      Quack Almanacks . —Medicits writes as follows : — " I think you should caution your reader against tbe Penny Almanacks wherein pills and nostrums are recommended by the authors of such publications to bfl taken at particular times of the year . Such Almanacks are a gross imposition on the unwary , being entirely got up by the Quacks , who , to sell oob box of t&eir pills , do not mind giving the Almanack for nothing . I see that there are several aueb Almanacks advertised for 1843 . "

      The Northern Star. Saturday, November 4, 1843.

      THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 4 , 1843 .

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      ¦""—¦* - '' ^ p —" THE QKEENWICH PBNSIONEBS AND THE KELSON MONUMENT . : The most disgraceful , degrading spectacle , that lias ever been inflicted upon Rn giuftTnan / was witnessed last -week , when "the statue of the immortal Nelson waa exhibited te the gaze of the poelic . It is impossible to express in Jangnage the indignation which this unparalleled spectacle excited in tbe breasts of the citizens at London ; and when the United Kingdom is informed of itthere will beno donbt , raised from one extremity to

      , , the other one general shout of execration , Our readers areaware that during the . last two days the statue of Lord Nelson was open to public inspection in Trafalgarequare . Prom all parti of the Metropolis , and the surrounding districts , crowds wended their way to the spot , to gaze upon tbe monumental effigy of tbe greatest naval hero that ever England has produced . What was their dismay , ¦ when , as they approached the entrance to Trafklgar-fqaare , they beheld three Begging-boxes , guarded * y a body of Greenwich pensioners , -who seemed to cxdaixn ^ -

      " Why , good people all , at what do you pry ? ; Ist the stamp of my arm or my leg ? - ! Or the place where 1 lost my good-looking eye ? j Or is It to see me beg ? " j Over these begging-boxes , and above the veteran tars ; ¦ who guarded them , were large placards , bearing the ; subjoined inscription-. — . \ " England expects every man to do his duty . " j "^ Ehe veterans of -Copenhagen , 8 * . TiDoent , the ! Nfle , and Trafalgar , Immbly beg to invite the British ! pablte to view Bailey ' s statueof their immortal heroin * 2 rafa ! g 2 T-&quare , on Friday and Saturday next , aad i trust tfcey "wiH drop a copper in the locker lor the en- ' ¦ attainment which , is ^ to be given to . Poor Jack , on the jjieziou anniversary of the battle of Copenhagen . No j charge made , bit the smallest donation thankfully ;

      woBlrei--Is tt possible to eonsdve a more humiliating Instance ef national ingratitBde ? Can Englishmen , -whose , cha- i neter fbreveB s reckless generosity and pnfoseobss is ' nrtorioBS , -wheNvex the name of Briton "has beea bssrd , j behold tboie veteran ¦ warriors to whom Bsgland is I Jft&ebted for the lofty and independent political attitedsi she holds among surrounding nations —« me ' jttals , and all jeakmj of her naval power—thu * red&ced to Ihe condition of the most abject mendicity ? Tet such is the melancholy fact . There stood at the , jftffl . tf tte aonHment raised to kelson ' s acmory , those '

      tettetan tan who fought under him at tbe battles of . Copenha gen , SW Vincent , the Nile , and Trafalgar ,, dSlii cola , ana begging for a day's meal ! ! 22 » historian ' s record of lord ITelsona funeral , in , which he makes seres royal duxes pall-bearera to thB , - ¦ r imt warrior , sues rarely be a fable or an old : woman ' s tale ; for if bis aortal remains merited such , fconOnrsTljiii brave companions ia arms vc-uld not iBservsSuch : abs « uUatJn g fate . Who af ttr this as ; can as a reliaioM , a charitable , a Inra&ae , a ? enprons , ' Terma ^ rt people ! Altbou £ wehsn 21 Dukes ,. Ikttgnjaes , 131 , Earls , 21 Tiswnnts , and 225 ;

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      CANADA AND MR O'CONNELL . The New York Examiner , —Hit * Mackenzie thus speaks of his former gallant , but unfortunate , " companions in arms , " the Canadian patriots : — " Canada Affairs . —What ia called the Parliament of Canada , was to bave met yesterday at Kingston . The new agent of the English Government is Sir t . C . Metctlfe . 'The official folks employed under him and the Colonial Office , are an odd mixture of old Tories , yonng rebels , and Reformers s « called . Fear , on the one hand , ; and pelf on tbe other , are evidently their chief bonds of union . Some of the leading revolutionists of 1837 are pardoned ; and I hope that a general

      amnesty will be granted , so that the gallant Prescot boys may be enabled once more to look on those they love , now 14 , 000 miles distant . As for myself , I am , by my own free choice , an American citizen , never more to return under the colonial yoke . Others may * ask pardon '—I did no wrong : others may own that oar gallant comrades , Lount , Matthews , < fcc ., were justly condemned . Z know that they were cruelly murdered , put to death in cold blood , by a power which takes for its motto , ' my might makes my right . ' But this Journal is not established to discuss Canadian grievances , and frontier strifes . My highest duty is to join with those who

      sincerely seek the welfare of America , and the perpetual harmony and union of the members of this great confederacy . Let us cultivate peace and quietness ; and if we weuld revolutionise Canada , the true way to do it is to set them an example of a just , generous , and prosperous people , thriving under tbe institutions of their free choice—industrious ,, enlightened—a band of brothers , each one scorning a mean action . As their legislative seBaion progresses , I will very briefly notice aught that , may be interesting . Messrs . Rolph , Montgomery , and Dunoombe , have returned to Canadaand a door is opened for Messrs . O'CalJaghan , Papineau , and Brown , should they also prefer British rule , which they probably will not "

      Quest . Mr . Mackenzie is a violent anti-VANBuf . enite , and at the same time appears to be an admirer of O'Connell . Not the least of his reasons for being opposed to Mr . V . B . is , we apprehend , because the Ex-President did not " sympathise" with the Canadian patriots . Very good . But baa Mackenzie forgotten that of aU the traitors to the principles for which the Canadians contended , O'Conwell is the most infamous ? Did

      he not aid in spiriting-on the Canadians to resist British tyranny ; and then in the day of conflict , and the hour of danger basely desert them , under the plea that they had resorted to " physical force" * Let Mr . Mackenzie be consistent . He may feel convinced that Mr . Van Bcren is not the man the democracy of England suppose him to be . But let him " enguire" into the "history" of O'Conweli ,, and he will find that whilst the u Liberator" sold the Emglish Factory children for a Thousand

      Pounds , be also betrayed the cause of the Canadians fob the filthy patronage of the "Base , Bloody , and Bbutai , Whigsf—the remorseless despots who ravaged Canada with fire and sword . We can assure Mr . Mackenzie that these things are not forgotten in England . We have long since on this side of St . George ' s channel , lifted the veil of Mokanna !

      &Lt;£O Beaum* Mtir &Lt;&Om#Pmtircnt0

      < £ o BeaUm * mtir < &om # pmtircnt 0

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      4 THE , NORTHERN STA R j

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 4, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct675/page/4/