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Northern Star (1837-1852), 14th December 1844, Edition 4 of 4, Page 6, THE CHAMBERS' PHILOSOPHY REFUTED

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      ULBOTJB PLEADING ITSOWX GAVSE . THE EMPLOYER AKD EMPLOYED . A SXUILLIlB DIALOGUE . . Sj-iabert—Mr . James South , a factory nuR-oumer , and Or . Bichard Jackson , a eottoiutpinner . 5 idnh . —Lain glad to see you , Mr . Jackson ; step in tomy house , and let-as have a little conversation oh zh ? present unhappy 4 i 2 erenees on the subject of wa ^ t-t .. - PeMixps _ I may-show t-ou that tie ideas entertained respiting employers are not , hy&nj means , just . At aJTevcnts , let us hear -what each has got to say—yon on the-part of the operative class generally , snd I on ihe part of the miH-owners and others , -who are in xhe habit of giving employment . Jackson .- —Tkank yoa , sir ; I am a plain-spoken man , and hare no objections to sav -what I and others think about our condition as workmen : so 1 Terr -wDIine 3 y newpi tout invitation .

      Smith . —Now , Mr . Jackson , at down : and if you please , begin by telling me exactly what the workmen Wffill . Jarison . —Why , sir , the great matter is this—our conainon is much less comfortable than we think , in justice , it should be , TFe are poor , and not getting iny richer . Few among us can get more than 22 s . a week for our labour . The average wage is about 14 s . or 15 s . ; and we do think it a hard case that a man , with a -wife and family , should nave to live on anv sum of xhat-trnd , when we see the masters so well off , and they , as one may say , living by our hard and continued labour . "What we want is , " " a fair day ' s wage for a fair dav ' s work . "

      Smith . —The statement apparently is—that the employers give lower wages generally -than thev -ought io give . Is not that the substance of your charge ? Jackson . —Tea ; we think you should give at least " 3 # per cent . more . If a man now gets 20 s ., he should get 25 s ., and so on . Smith . —Very welL Now , be so good as tell me on what fround you rest this demand . Jackson . —Because you are making large profits , and can afford to pay more than you do . The profits should be more equallv divided . ¦

      . Smith . — 2 "\ ow , I believe , we understand eaeh other . I like your candour ; and I think I shall answer yon . Ton claim more wages on the score xsf your contributing to the production of profits . Let us take my own establishment as an example , and let us suppose yon area workman is it . I wish to know how much you put into the concern . Jackson . —Me ' why , I give yon m v labour from Monday morning till Saturday night . Smith . —This labour , then " is vour contribution of

      means . You receive 20 s . for the week ' s labour : and therefore it is just the same thing " as if you were to give me 20 s . every week , so that I might lay it out in hiring somebody xo do your work . Jackson , —I think much the same thing . Smith . —It is then allowed that you contribute to the extent of 20 s . weekly to my concern . May 1 now ask if you think every one should be paid aceordins to the extent of his in-put and risk f Jackson . —That eertainlv would be fair .

      Smith . —I shall then explain to yon what 1 have put in , and how 1 have been enabled " to do so . The cost of the buildings , the ground , the . machinery , and other things required to begin the manufactory , was £ 80 ; 0 f > Q ; and the money necessary for buying raw material , and giving credit till sales could be " effected , and also for paying wares , came to ; £ 10 , OoO more . Ton understand 1 did not start Jill I had . 4 {> f > , i \> 0 ready to be laid out and risked on the tmdertaking . If 1 had begun with less , the concern would have been ¦ unsuccessful- It could not have gone on . To raise this larce sum of £ 90 . 000 was a very serious matter . My father was a working-man , like vonxself . His wages were never above ISs . a week . On this sum he

      brought up his family , for my mother was very economical 1 got a little schooling ; was taught to read , write , end cipher . At fourteen years of age I was seui inz' > a cottoD-taetorr , where for several years I had no higher wage thanks , a week . I afterwards , by dint of some degree of skill and perseverance , rose to be a spinner , and received 25 s . a week ; but off this 1 had to pay a hoy-assistant 5 * . ; and therefore luy jeal wage was only 20 s . a week . 1 was at this employment four years and a half during which time " I saved £ 30 , which I deposited in a hank for security . One day , when I was at work , -a party of foreigners visited the factory ; they were in want of a few steadv and skilful hands

      t © go to it . Petersburg , to work in a factory there . I volunteered for one , and being chosen , 1 " went to Um distant city , which you know h in Bussia , and there I received for a time about double my former wages . In three years the overseer died ; I " was promoted io his situation , and now received as much as £ 250 yearly . 1 still made a point of economising my gains ; and on reekt > iiiiig up , found , that when 1 wa > tweniy-eight years of age I hud saved £ yt . Mj . At the recomiiien . lntion of a friend 1 laid out this money on a mereantiJe speculation—in short , I risked its entire loss . I was successful , and made my £ 700 as much as £ 1 , 000 . Asain I risked this sum , for it seemed a

      sure trade ; and so on I went for several yean * , increaaEg my capital both by profits and savings . When I married , " which was not till thirty-five years of age . I had realised one way and another £ 20 * CHVi . 1 now ictnmtsl to England , was for several years a partner in a eoneern where 1 again risked my earnings , and at tho end of fifteen years retired " with £ 90 , 000 . ~ R"iih this large sum I built my present factory , and entered into the hazardous business in whieh I am now engaged- I ask any man if I did not earn my monej l > y hard industry , by self-deniaL by serious r isks , oy a long coarse of pains and anxieties ? For , having done all this , I consider I am entitled vearlv

      —^ rm , to an interest on my money equal to what I cottM save ohtained by lending it ; it ? Mid , to a profit that w 31 cover any losses which 1 may incur by bad debts : third , a per-eentage to pay the tear and " wear of Hi 2 .--hint .-ry aiid deterioration of property ; and , fourth , to a salary for my personal trouble— -in other words , my wazes ; and all this over , and above the ordiiiary expenses of the concern . Let me assure yon that nothing is more -certain than that , taking the working classes in the entire mass , they get a fair share of the proceeds of the national industry . We may take a few facts . -To begin with my own mill . I spent , as I have said , £ 30 ,-000 on the building and the apparatus . Zvoir nearer the whole of this was

      disseised in -wages to working people . See whax a number of men jnnsihave been employed in fashioning ihe TUT ! materiaLs into the house and it * , machinerybnekmakfirs , limebnrners , coal-miners , wagoners , wood-cutters , sailors , carpenters , builders , slaters , plasterers , glass - makers , glaziers , iron-smelters , engineers : and not only "these , hat the persons who ^ applied them with food and clothing . In short , if we were to go into a minute calculation , we should probably discover , that out of my £ 30 , 000 , as much as £ 75 , 000 went to the working-classes , the remaining £ 5 . 000 soing to the proprietors of the raw materials , end to intennediarte dealers . If people would reflect s . little on such matters , they woulu perceive what

      an enormous share of the cost of almost every article goes to operatives . It is ascertained , by careful taleulailons , that out of £ 100 worth of fine scissors , the workmen have £ 06 as wages ; of £ 100 worth of razors , they have £ 90 ; of £ 100 worth of tableknives and forks , thev have £ 65 ; of £ 100 worth of fine woollen cloth , they have £ 60 ; of £ 100 worth of linen yam , they have £ -18 ; of £ 100 worth of ordinary earthenware , they iave £ 40 ; and so on with most articles of manufacture . In ihs Tnnfeinp of needles , "pins , trinkets , watches , ana other delicate articles in metal , the proportion of wages rises to within -a trifle of the price of the article . In the workinc of collieries

      the expenses are almost entirely resolvable into labour ; there being few cases in which the coalminers receive less than £ 90 out of eTery £ 100 of the current expenditure . I trust it is not necessary to dwell longer on the notion , that working-men do not gettheir fair share of the proceeds of the labour on which they are engaged . And , as you might imagine that there is some kind of mystery under the term capital , 1 will explain the meaning of ' it in every fevr -words . Capital is anything which is of value . It may consist of labour , of honses and lands so far as they are productive , of machinery , manufactured ^ pods . or money . Everything is capital which possesses an exchangeable * value , and can be made

      directly available either to the support of human raistj eabe , or to the facilitating of production . Capital or property is a sheer result of labour , if not labour itself ; and that it is the accumulated savings of years , say , in some cases , of centuries . He who possesses eapitailn . the form of a large sama of money , for instance , can give employment to others . You know quite well that , before I planted my fectory here , there was lifcfle workin the town . 2 iow . see how many workmenand their families are supported . I was not , markvou , obliged to come here , and set up a factory . I could nave gone somewhere ejse . Then look at the sum whieh I distribute weekly in wages . I give employ ment to 100 men , 146 women and girls , and seventy

      boys—altogether , 316 individuals ; -and the entire sum paid on -an average weekly for wages amounts to £ 299 . I say Ipay £ 290 to my work-people weekly in exchange for theiriabouT ;] surelv you must now see that eap ^ is a goodthing ; good for the working-classes H is capital which "hires and employs them ; it is capital which' pays ; their wages- ; it is capital which ikeeps-iiieniiba ^ Vheii often the market is glutted wfth goods ^~ it'gives fern work'till batter times . And yet there are workmen so short-sighted as to migg ¦ # » tm the very thing Trhich supports them . It is

      ^* ef attScV capital as an enemy . their best fiafiSd-Sa ^ Jfow ^ I put - it-1 ^ yon , Richard Jackson , ii a-fctafc ^ htfbJTraHl man , and answer me , if I , by these risks- afid oblkatibns , and personal attenfapnB , ie j&jttS&Y eniiaed to take a vast deal more ont of &e bonness than you , who put in only 20 s . in ' i& ' tSi ^ bii weekl y labour t fS © rfia :-weiacve . giren-ihe points of the dialogue aa -J */ ot& Jai 3 » ie&et of the Mesas . Chambers , and « i tiis portion of ihe dialogue may be taken as the terns upon "ypiich tiie parties join issue , the plea

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      and declaration will be somewhat varied from the manner in which they are set out in the original pleadings . ] Jackson . —Now , Mr . Smith ^ I think I understand you , and we can join issue ; you undertaking to defend the rights of capital , and I to defend the rights of labour ? Smith . —No , no , no . You mistake me : the whole bearing of my illustrations have gone to show that capital is the best defender of the rights of labour , while you would place them in antagonism . Jacison . —If such be your office , you have strangely discharged vourduty to your clients , for upon re-consideration , I think you must come to the conclusion that the tondenev of vour observations would no to

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

      Jackson . —Well , I understand you to occupy that position , and 1 am going to establish the fact . Smith . —Tes , yes ; going to do a thing , and doing a thing , are two very dinerent things . 1 tell yon , you can ' t establish the fact , unless you doubt the narrative that you have just heard of my life , and unless yon believe " that there is something magical about me which has conferred peculiar advantages upon one individual above another . Jackson . —Come , come , one swallow doesn't make a summer . I am talking of a system , and not of a charmed man : and you no more represent that system , than Newton , because he was a arreat luminary , represented the sun , moon , and stars .

      Smith . —^ Ir . Jackson , jJr . Jackson , I invited you to this discussion because I looked upon you as a straightforward , blunt , honest man , that would discuss the question of labour and capital familiarly with me : drawing yonr conclusions as to my rights to what I possess from the riska , the hardships , and the mental ajronies I endnred ; while you would mystify the whole subject by plunging into the gulph of '' system . " There , there , Mr . Jackson , in that consists the great error ofyour class ; instead of receiving instruction and admonition from your best , indeed your only friends , you allow your mind to be contaminated , and your better judgment to be warped , by the interested misrepresentations of hired , restless , and designing demagogues . Jackson . —Upon that subject we will liave a word by-and-bye ; and now , as you wish to make yourself the representative of a system , 1 will sec if I cannot illustrate its vieiousness from your own lips and from

      your own position . Smith ( wriggling ) . —Pooh , j > ooh , Mr . Jackson , it ' s impossible I tell you . It is this flying in the face of the masters with your political economy , rights of labour , and trades' combinations to defend them , that has more than any other circumstance led to that rankling feeling in the minds of the masters of which your class complains . Jackson . —If I mistake correct me ; but as I didn ' t interrupt you , give me leave to state my own case . Smith . —Well , well , go on , but be brief , for really these mysterious calculations about demand and supply , and new doctrines about the rights of labour , and all that stuff , arc so complicated that they puzzle me . Jackson . —The puzzle has been of your own makina ; to solve it is my intention . Smith . —T 7 elL well , do go on .

      Jackson . —Well then , 1 take you from your departure for Russia , up to which period you had saved the sum of £ 30 . Your division of time from the period when you had attained your fourteenth year till you had arrived at the age * of twenty-eight , is so very abstruse and enigmatical , beins : divided into periods of " several years" working for 5 s . a week ; the " number of yt-ars" that you were earning 20 s . a week ; the " three years" tliat you worked fvr " double wages" in Russia before the overseer died and you got his place , and from that event till your twenty-eighth year , when you too"k stock and found yourself to be worth £ 700 ; these several periods , 1 s 3 y , are so jumbled together tliat I can establish no scale ofyour saving up to that time . Smith . —What have you to do with that ' . that ' s my business . I had £ 700— " and 1 saved it by iuy earnings , = Tid I * aj > po » e I had a right to do so i

      Jackson . —A perfect right , Mr . Sniiih ; and 1 am verv glad , for your sake , that the llHssian spinner could afford , in a comparatively untaxwl country , to give yon £ 2 a week , double the wage that you can trive me , and out of which I have to pay very heavy taxes . Smith . —Pooh , pooh , nonsen > o ; haven ' t I to pay the income-tax i— taxes for my house , for my carriage and horsc-s , and servants ; taxes for gas , pavinci , c-lcansinc , tithes , poor-rates , church-rates ; taxes for

      my wme , my tea , and my su ^ ar—in » hort , fur every thins I eat and every thins ? I drink ? Jackson . - *— Xo , sir ; you make a pmtii upon them . I pay them , or help to pay them , and 1 'll . shuw you how , presently . However , to resume : when you were 35 vt'ars of age you had amassed the sum of £ 20 , O 0 ' > , which , you tell us , you bad put together oneway or another ; and as it was all made in Russia , 1 don ' t stop to inquire , but shall come to the consideration as to how you augmented it in fifteen years to -ttin . , during which time vou trafficked in EmrlLsh hibour .

      Smith . — "TraiBc ! " what do you call "traffic ? " I exchanged it Tot labour . Tntflk- is a sordid word : a term cv ? r in the mouth of those who would degrade the high-minded employer to the rank of the grnvollin ? low-minded huckster . Jackson . —Well , Mr . Smith , we won ' t quarrel about terms . You bartered it for English labour . Smith . —Say exchanged it , Mr . Jackson ; it ' s a much less offensive term . Jac-kson . —^ Well , you t-xchancrd it , Mr . Smith . Smith . — Now , come , we are -. rettine into < rood humour again . < rn on with ynuy narrative . Jackson . —Well , vou embarked your £ 20 , 'K ) ii in manufacturing , and * in fifteen years , during which time you supported your family and lived , you realised the sum of £ i ) 0 , 00 l ) : and now , Mr . Smith , if you please , a word about a very important branch of political economv—DisiRiurTiox .

      • Smith . —What do you mean ' . Your " equal rusraiBLTiox , " 1 suppose . Do you want to distribute my property for me ? Jackson . —>" o , sir ; it is not " eqval distrihitjo-v ;" nor do I want to distribute your property , it is equitable distribution ; and I want the laws of my country —whichshould be " eqcajoa" protective of the rights of all—equitably to distribute the property of all . Smith . —Equal , equitable , equally , equitably — what's the difference i You want to rob me ? Jackson . —I do not , sir ; but I desire that vou should

      not rob me . I apply the term equal to the laws , and 6-pdtaUe to the distribution of property . Equal , to the laws ; protection of youy equitable share which yoa claim under the head , interest for your money , guarantee against bad debts , wear and tear of machinery , and wages for your inJjour ; and also to xay equitable Bhare of whatever the surplus may be , after guaranteeing those several amounts to you . Smith . —Well , but what have you to do with it more than receiving your pound a week ? What do you know of the surplus—wasn ' t it my own ?

      Jackson . —As Sir Robert Peel said in discussing the appropriation clause , let us have the suii < lus before we talk of its application . And now I shall proceed to shew tou where I find that surplus , and what I find it to he . You invested £ 20 , 000 at the age of thirty-five years , and when you were fifty , you had increased it to £ 90 , 000 . You tell us that the investnifint of J £ 90 , 000 led to the employment of 316 hands . If , then , the employment of £ 90 , 000 capital led to the employment of 316 hands , the employment of the £ 20 , 000 would lead to the employment of seventy hands ; that is , if there was another partner with you who invested an equal amount of capital , you would employ 140 hands ; if three partners , with equal shares , about 210 hands ; if four partners , with equal

      share * , about 280 hands—leaving the surplus of thirtrsix pair of hands unemployed against the £ 10 , 000 , the amount by which your accumulated capital exceeded the £ 80 , Ol » 0 employed by you , and three other partners who invested £ 20 , 000 each . Upon your £ 20 , 000 you realised £ 70 , 000 in fifteen years—and had then * £ 90 , 000 ; and you very fairly demand your profit upon the £ 20 , ' » 00 in the shape o ' f interest , compensation for bad debts , wear and tear , and wages for labour . Now this is fan-: indeed I may call it equitable distribution , and 1 will proceed to my calculation . I allow four per cent , for the interest of capital : two per cent , for bad debts : two per cent . t wear and tear ; two per cent , for wages : that is , the Imnp , ten per cent ., or £ 2 , 000 per annum . As UlU kill /

      TUU OUU JtUUi liUllli } U > tU UUb m ifciUjUUU XUg fifteen years , I will place it against the compound interest that you might have realised ; and as you say von lived savingly , I will allow you two per cent , in lieu of the compound interest , taking your total profits upon your £ 20 , 000 at twelve per cent . ; to which add the ' support and education ot your whole family—and for fifteen vears , at twelve per cent , upon yerar £ 20 , 000 , you would have realised the sum of £ 36 , 000 , which , added to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 would make £ 50 , 000 , leaving a surplus of £ 34 , 000 , or within a fraction of £ 500 each for the seventy hands employed in working yotr £ 20 , 000 of capital . Now , sir , to the sub-divison of the £ 34 , 000 surplus ; after allowing you twelve per eeut . upon

      your capital , and all the expense of education and the support of your family , I apply the term " equitable distribution ; " and the term " equal protection , " I apply to those laws which should guarantee to me my £ 500 with equal security as to you your £ 36 , 000 , or twelve per cent . upon your capital of £ 20 , 000 for fifteen vears : whereas the law has enabled you to take the whole of the twentyfburper cent , made npon the £ 20 , 000 hy labour , and has thrown many , " if not all the seventy hands engaged in making it , into the cold bastile , or compelled them to begin anew to , make another £ 20 , 000 into another retiring salary of £ © 0 , 000 for another master , while they have added fifteen years to their lives . And now , sir , to satisfy you upon all points , allow me to contrast your position at the end

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

      have compelled you to bear a certain amount of taxation which you could not possibly have shoved upon the shoulders of others . Had you commenced the trade of shop-keeper , and retired in fifteen years , after having educated and supported your family , ' with an addition of £ 36 , 000 to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 , you vrould have been a phenomenon in that line—in fact , an exception : while , as a cotton-spinner , your ease is the rule , instead of an exception . In short , sir , the laws have been made for' the government , management , and arrangement of a social state , over which the present process of steam production has passed , as it were , by a hop , stop , and jump ; and what I and mv class—who , together with the

      shopkeepers , have been the great sufferers—require is , the enactment of such a code of laws as shall legally protect and equitably distribute the surplus property of the country , after having awarded to money capital , speculation , risk , and industry , that fair amoumt . of protection which labour , if equallv protected , would neither deny , murmur at , nor withhold . Poverty , sir , is the rule of my class—it is the exception with yom-s ; and , however you may try , by hired advocacy and purchased philosophy , to convince me that reliance is better vested in the money capitalists than in labour capitalists , you will fail , until you first

      succeed in convincing me that the wolf is the best protector of the lamb , the cat of the mouse , or the kite of the lark . For , if you do not devour our bodies aa well as the produce of our labour , it is because your mechanical arrangements are not yet complete , as a substitute for our labour upon the one hand , and because the old school of sympathisers recognise in tis that value , as consumers , which gives an increased value to their landed property . To tho law then , and not to sympathy or chanty , we look for protection . Smith . —' The law ! - ^ what have 1 to do with the law ? 1 made the money . The capital was mine , and I paid everv man his lawful wages .

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

      line scissors , £ 06 is the value of the labour , and £ 4 the-capital invested ; that in every £ 100 worth . of razors the labour amounts to £ 00 and the capital to £ 10- ; and so on , until you come to theimanufacture ot needles , trinkets , ic , in the manufacture of which you admit nearly the whole investment to be labour . In soft wares , you tell me that in the article of fine woollen cloth the proportions arc £ 60 for labour and £ 40 for capital , and as your trade of cotton spinning appears to have been very profitable , I think we may assign to the respective capitals employed in the manufacture about the same relative proportions by wliich you measure their application to the filio woollen cloth .

      Smith . —Respective capitals ' . What do you mean ? Have 1 not told yon that all the capital was niiiie (¦ Jackson . — -You have told me no such thing , sir . You have told me that everythinff that bore an exchangeable value was capital ; anil you particularly instanced labour ; and if we can agree upon your calculation as to the respective amounts of money-capital and labour-capital , espendeilin the manufacture of £ 100 worth of linen yarns , —and tliat description must nearly represents the fabric produced by your moncv and my labour , —vou will see how nicely and

      how truly the result is produced ; £ 34 , 000 ot the £ -70 , 000 accumulated by you , belongs to the hands that made it , and , € 36 , 000 to the parties that employed them . Your calculation is , tliat £ 100 worth of linen yarns consists of £ 4 >< in labour and £ 52 . in capital . Now , sir , you will find that , as nearly as we i * n balance , the £ 30 , 000 that 1 assign to vou represents the fifty-two per ci-nt . ot' vour capital , and tho £ 34 , 000 represents the lorty-eiuht \ wr wnt . of labour ; —that is , . 034 . OOO is to £ 3 t > , 000 almost fractionally what fortv-t'i- 'ht is to fifty-two .

      Smith . —0 , I don ' t understand your figures and vour fraction ^ . Jackson . —Perhaps , sir , you can only bring your mind to bear upon interest tor vour capital , compensation for had debts , allowance for wear and tear of your machinery , amount of salary for overlooking , and an indefinite surplus , —in which is included inv labour , —for mental anxiety . Now , Mr . Smith , I think I have shown you , according to all the la \ n of nature ami of justice , ' that while you ousrht to be satisfied with adding . £ . "> G , 0 O 0 to \ our capital In fifteen years , that all the hands that realised that capital were , a * well as yourself , entitled to a retiring salary .

      Smith . —Well , they may retire if they like . Jackson . — - Vow , sir , you talk nonsense , and mock us in our poverty . You call your labour , honourable labour ; and tell us that it is augmented by distraction of mind , hard industry , self-denial , serious risks , and a long course of pains and anxieties ., I admit it all , sir : but sufferings of bodily torture and the panm of mental endurance are qualified and soothed oy the cheering reflection that each parsing hour ot suffering hastens that happy period when , ii' not impelled by the sordid desire to heap more riches to vour already extravagant store , you may n ^ uit the busy bustle of life , and thus release yoursclt at will from all vour sutferinps ; while those who commenced

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

      Smith . —Unprotected ! what do you mean ? You can protect your family as well as I can protect mine . What protection have niine beyond what my own industry gave them ? Jackson . —Not so fast , Mr . Smith . Recollect we are starting from a point ; and that point is when you embarked £ 20 , 000 in manufacturing speculations , and when you employed seventy hands to turn it into a marketable commodity ; and * recollect , that while your capital , worth 52 per cent ., was protected by a vote , tliat my labour , worth 48 per cent ., was wholly unrepresented . Smith . —Now there you are in error . I will show you tliat your class has nothing to complain of on that score . There were five out of the seventy , or one in fourteen , of the hands that worked for me , who were voters for the borough of Devil ' s l > ust—while I , representing the whole of the capital , had but one

      . Jackson . —What gave them the vote ? Smith . —A £ 10 house , to be sure . Jackson . —And whose were the £ 10 houses ? Smith . —Why mine , to be sure ; 1 built them . Jackson . —Then they were capital , Mr . Smith—because they possessed an exchangeable value : and they were of an amount that ought to be represented ! Smith . —Yes , certainly . Jackson . —Well , Mr . Smith , by a loose calculation just made in my head , I find that in the fifteen years that you eniploved seventy men , you made a profit ot

      £ 990 by tho labour of each , or £ 60 per year profit upon each man ' s labour : a profit , the one-sixth of which , if in a house , instead of being in labour , would have entitled the labourer to a vote . But as you liave in your opening speech included very many topics , 1 shall withhold my reply on this important subject for another interview , when I undertake to prove the injustice of that system which enables you and your family to appropriate to yourselves what belongs to me and my family . . ; Smith . —1 have nothing to do with your family—I pay you your wages , and lock to mv own . ; Jackson . —I have a family as well as you ; they are dear to me as yours arc to you . I have laboured from youth upwards to support them , I have , wrought with you for the last hf teen years , and to-morrow , what must be my anguish , my sorrow , aye , and my vengeance too , when I see my pallid wife , and stunted , not half-clad children—emaciated , without the blush of youth in their faces , or the suppleness of . youth in their limbs—without the gay and childish look in their sunken eyes—what , I say , niust be my reflection and theirs , -when , to-morrow , they and I look upon the fresh blood that flows through your children ' s veins — the lively and playful glance that beams in their eyes—the rich dresses in which your family are decked "; and when they see your splendid equipage , with pampered horses and -well-fed menials , ready to convey your family to the princely mansion that ' you have purchased with their young blood , and amasiedTsy their sweat— ; Smith . —Hold , hold , Jackson—you do , you do , you do me injustice . You have roused a feeling that never touched my heart before . Is that your wife , and are those your children ? Jackson ( embracing his wife and jdrawmg the children to him ) . r—Yes : these arc mine , and the workhouse now must be their portion ; and to-morrow , aa you move along from our village , lolling in youi stately equipage , and carried by your prancing horses , ' you will be cheered on your way bj the reflection that your traces are ^ matta of infants' sinews , and your carriage wheels are oiled with the blood of the impoverished babes that now surround you . ; and when

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      you enter that splendid mansion that you have purchased by my sweat and theirs—when you are about to offer up your prayers to God in the morning When you arisen—when you , ask that Omnipotent Being whd created you and me , your children and mine , to "give you your daily bread , " think of those who are without bread . Smith . — Jackson , there's the error . It is a fault of the landed monopolists , and not of the Almighty , that you havo to complain . It is they who rob ; you . Join with your masters for the repeaj of those unjust laws which put an additional price on your bread , that monopolists and idlers may live in luxurv . ** " ***'

      , Jackson . —Sir , I have exhibited my case , and the poverty of my family ; and yet , while you deny that laws have anything to do with the poverty of the poor , you would now make me infer that all our sufferings are a consequence of one bad law : a lawthe only law—of which your order complains , ahd , strange to say , under its operation you have become wealthy and we have become poor . Smith . —Poor ! I tell you that you have the same opportunities that I had , and instead of stuffing your head with politics , if you had minded your business as I have done , you would have been as successful as 1 have been .

      Jackson . —Then , sir , if 1 had been as successful as you have been , unless the poor can all become moncv capitalists , —my success would have been but a substitute for anothers failure—or another cog in that artificial wheel which grinds the faees of the poor . Smith . —Jackson , again I tell you that we are your greatest friends , and you are your own greatest enemies . Give over politics , and those crude and silly notions about laws that your head appeal's to be stuffed with ; and henceforth devote your time to forwarding those great improvements which are now everywhere in process of completion for the benefit of the working classes . The establishment of baths , improvement societies , the opening of pleasure ' grounds , the advantages of emigration , and the benefits of better

      ventilation , are the all-important considerations that should occupy the attention of the working classes ; while the mystery of law-making should be left to those who have received an education to fit them for the . task , and whoso independence , in a pecuniary point of view , places them above suspicion on theono hand , and makes them independent of party interests and party strifeoh the other . Jackson . —Mr . Smith ; if 1 had my £ 500 that is now in your pocket , and which rightfully belongs to me , I should require neither charity , gratuity , nor sympathy . If , then , my family or myself required cold baths , I could procure them out of my own resources ; if they were ignorant or uneducated , I should then stand justlv chargeable with a neglect of

      parental duties ; if they were naked , as you now behold them , and if I dissipated the means of giving them comfortable clothing , the finger of scorn would be pointed at me , as an unfaithful father , a bad man , ana an unworthy member of society . But now , sir , their every want to which you would reconcile them by bits of charity and sympathy , are consequences of oppression and misrule , and not characteristics of my nature . Baths and pleasureaRor \ ns , sir !—ah , ah , ah , what mockery' . Immerse that perished , withering child , from whose young veins you have extracted the hot life ' s blood , in a cold bath ' . and exhibit that crippled child with twisted limb in your pleasure grounds , as : i mockery to your order for the injury they have inflicted upon my child I Baths , sir—behold their rag « . Tho ten tier mother who bore them , reared them , and loves them , has enough to do to pin their rags

      together onco a day , withoufrimposing a double hardship on her . Emigrate , sir ! Have you not learned that commandment from the God above us , which enjoins us to " honour our father and our mother , that our days may be long in the land which the Lord orii God ha given rs . " Come ,. my children' . conic , my wife—1 would willingly have spared you the knowledge of those facts , which known , must but increase your vengeance , ( lo , sir , to tliat lordly retirement that you have purchased by the sweat and blood of those children ; and should one pnng ofvemone enter your caJlous breast for the injury that you have done , when at your comfortable meal you take up the morning papers and read , -under the head of " Melancholy Catastrophe , " that in desperation , and rather than see his family perish before his eyes for want , or rather than he ' inumfr'R of three several wards in a

      cold bastile , Richard Jackson , unable to bear up against tho accumulated load of poverty that pressed upon him , in a fit of phrenzy destroyed- three of his children , and then put a » end to himself ' . —then , sir , remember , that YOU were his -murderer , because you had in vour pocket his £ 500 , the possession of which would have made him a happy man , an indulgent parent , aiid a valued unit of the social family . . Smith . —Mold , Jackson , hold ; you surely will not do as you say , or think that 1 have led you to the rash Jict . \ vTll you meet me here attain to-morrow , when 1 shall have thought over those many points that 1 confess you have so strongly urged upon my consideration ?

      Jackson , —Yes , sir , 1 have no objection ; another day ' s suffering will not break the heart that lias been accustomed to so many years of sorrow . Farewell , sir ; wo meet again to-morrow , when I ti-ust I shall be in a temper to discuss your remaining propositions ; and in the interim , should my minute calculations have nuzzled you , bear the fact in memory , tliat during the fitteen years that you have employed your capital or exchanged it for labour , that I nave madr you and your family , in point of profit , equal to the seventy men and their families , and have given you £ 2 , 000 additional into the bargain . Remember , sir , tliat if your family consists of five , that we and our families consisted of 350 ; and while you complain of the decline and desolation that effects the shoiikecping classes to reconcile us to our more forlorn condition , do not lose aiglit of the fact tliat the poverty of the shopkeepers is also a consequence of your unjust competition , which is only made profitable by

      a reduction of wages . Your cou . * in . Mr . Smith , the grocer , asked me , but yesterday how it was , that while trade was so good bis business was on the decline ' . and should he ask you the question . » ir , n » you boast of so much candour , tell him that his receipts would have been greater if the seventy men who have worked for you bad received their weekly proportion of the £ 34 , 0 iH ) , which you have invested iii tho purchase of an estate . As you have invited me to another interview and further discussion , and as you have introduced a great variety of topics in your narrative , upon all of which you say you would wish to be convinced ; and as you are ati educated man , and I am no scholar ; and as you Jiave laid great stress on the value of machinery , perhaps you would condescend to hear what old Robin , the shoemaker , who has lived ninety years in the village , has to say upon the subject . Smith . —Robin , the shoemaker ' . Wliat has shoemaking to do with machinery ? Machinery doesn't make shoes .

      Jackson . —That ' s just what Robin says , sir . But he says , in his own way , that " since them there flying devils , made of wood and steel , set about doing the work of men , that he believes that folk sin' then is born without feot ; "' andpoor as I ana , 1 can't but laugh sometimes when I hear old Robin question the shopkeepers somehow after this fashion . — " Ah , weel , Maister Smith , did tliat ' ac fine cast-iron man coorue on the Saturday noet , when : he , got [ the wage , for a pound > f sugar or tea , or hout of that sort : " and then he goes to Sparerib . the uiitcher , and says to him , " Weel . Mr . Sparerib , and what sort of a customer is that there stranger as has come to visit Maister Smith , the cottonspimier ; and how is his digestion ? " And so lie takes his rounds , and goes to Twist , the hosier , and there he tells him how he isuppo ? es , that as the stranger works without stockings , the poor folk that are obliged to work

      ¦ with him are obliged to do without stockings too . Willyou see Robin , sir ? Smith . —Yes , Jackson , if you lot mo bring Mr . Quill , the lawyer , with me , as'two to one is not fair . Jackson . —With , pleasure , sir , —as many as you please . It ' s just what we want to get your class to near what poor folks have to say , for the newspapers , and all the writers , will only publish one side of the question . Good morning , air . Smith . —Good morning , Jackson . Farewell ; you are a very clever fellow , and I begin to think now that I am about to enter into another sphere , that my class , haw-evinced a sound judgment , if not a just one , in refusing to hear the cause of tho people advocated b y themselves . And now you have , solved a riddle tliat puzzled me . I was always astonished why so shrewd a man as Sir Robert Peol should have refused to hear tlie people explain their own grievances , at the bar of the House of Commons .

      Jackson . —Ah , but shrewd as he is , he was a fool then , for it only increased that inflammable feeling which he'll have to hear louder in the long run . Folks get angry , when they won't be even listened to . Smith . —FareWell , Jackson ! Farewell . We meet again to-morrow , before I start for " Shoddy" Hall . ( To be continued , )

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      Fatal Accident . — A most fatal and deplorable accident occurred near the village of Appleton , Berks , on Saturday evening . The particulars , aa far as we could gather , are as follow : —Mr . Percival Walsh , jun ., ah eminent solicitor at Oxford , left his offices in St . Giles ' s-street , in that city , in the evening , in a horse and gi g ^ for his residence at Appleton , a village in BerKshire , about seven miles distant . He called at ihe- house of a friend on his way home * Mr . Ensworth ,, wnom he left about seven o ' clock in the evening , j About an hour afterwards he was nicked upVquite dead , with his skull dreadfully

      fractured , it is supposed from a kick from the horse , which was found a little further on , lying in a ditch , much bruised and hurt , and the gig broken to pieces . It is supposed that the horse , which is a high-spirited animal , must have taken fright at something on the road . But this , is only conjecture , and it is most probable that tlie real cause of the accident will never be known . The deceased was a young man of very extensive practice as a solicitor , highly respected in Oxford and the neighbourhood . He held several appointments , such as clerk to the market commis sioners , and several trusteeships of different roads . He has left a youne widow and lour children .

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      The Late Fire at Watton . —Committal fob Tncewdiaki ^ m . — Hertford , Saturday . —Thomas Wade , who was remanded on Friday , was fully committed for trial at the next assizes . Watermen a ™ Steam-boats . —At the Thames Police-court on Monday , Richard Ash , a waterman of Execution Doek-stairs , was fined 40 s . and costs for addressing abusive and infamous language to Mr . Thomas jWilliam Allen , master of the Waterman steam-boat , No 6 , who stated that since the recent conviction of Mr . Suns , the former master of fhe boat , of manslaughter , by runnine down a boat and

      causing the death of two persons , he could not pass the Tunnel-pier without being hooted and abused by the prisoner and his companions , to the great alarm of the ^ passengers . Tlie defendant attempted to justify himself by alleging that steam-boats always went by his pl y ing place at such a furious rate as to endanger the lives of the ' watermen and the persons they were ferrying across the river . Mr . ' Broderip read the fellow a lecture" upon his ruffianism , which he insolently retorted upon and declared he was no ruffian , jlle was led away cursing and using other bad language .

      The late Fatal Occurrence by No .-6 Waterman Steamer .- —Second Verdict of Manslaughter . —On Monday , { Mr . Baker , the coroner , resumed , and concluded an ; inquiry at the tfun , Gnn Dock , Wapping , touching the death of William Morgans , aged nineteen years , a seaman , who , together with Edward Everest , lost his life on the 25 th of October last , in consequence of the skiff in which they and four other persons were crossing the Thames from Rotherhithe to Wapping , being upset by the Waterman steamer No . 6 coming in collision with them . The coroner charged the jury that it was a clear case of negligence ; and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter ! During the time the inquiry was going on , the following letter , addressed " To the gentlemen of the jury Bitting on William Morgans , " was received

      through the post , and read to them by the coroner : — " Sirs—Mr . Brisco , mate of the Waterman Steamer No . ( 5 , has been dismissed from his situation for giving an honest evidence at the Central Criminal Court . If any of the captains or the crew of any of those boats were to dare to give evidence of the reckless manner they arc compelled to navigate those boats , they would be instantly discharged . The rate that these boats navigate through the Pool is sixteen miles an hour . | They can , and ao , the slowest of them , go from Westminster-bridge to Woolwich ( eleven miles and a half ) , in less than three-quarters of an hour , when making no stoppages . It is the owners who ought to jbe punished . —Jcstitia . " One of the jury stated that he knew the circumstance alluded to in the letterlwas a fact .

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

      coroner of tho circumstance . A nurse from Warbuiton ' s Asylum proved the admission of deceased on the 9 th of Octolier , and her death on the 22 nd ult . He also described the medical and other treatment of deceased , [ which appeared satisfactory to the jury . A pauper ofjSt . Giles ' s workhouse proved fetching the Dody of deceased from Wai-burton ' s Asylum . The body was Inot then mutilated . Two days afterwards it was taken to Middlesex Hospital by order of the overseers , ! Mr . Bennett , surgeon to the St . Giles ' s Infirmary ; , said when paupers died without relations or friends , their bodies , by the Anatomy Act , could Ite removed by order of the overseers to four licensed schools-of j anatomy . The Coroner : In this case there were relatives . Mr . Bennett : I was aware of it .

      but the overseers did not question me'on the subject . Mr . llowden , lecturer on anatomy at the- Middlesex llospital , J 8 aid the body of deceased was received into that institution from St . Giles ' s workhouse on the 28 th ult . { He saw it , and there were no mutilations or incisions on it . It was received under order of the coroner , and returned as unfit for the purposes of dissection on the next day . Wished for Another body in exchange , but did not go to the workhouse for that purpose , but to inquire into the cause of death in order to make his return to the inspector of anatomy . Coroner i Where were the amputations of the toes and incisions made t Mr . Rowden : In our dissect

      ing roomi The Coroner : Have you the power to return the body to the workhouse after dissection-are you not bound to bury it ( Mr . liowden : It appears to me I have the power of returning it to the persons who lawfully possessed it before dissection . The Coroner : You have power to send it to another licensed dissecting room , but not to return it to the workhouse . Mr . Rowden i I sent the body back with the overseer ' s certificate . 1 made no return to the inspector of anatomy , jfor I am not bound to do so before 1 have been twenty-four hours in possession of a body . I thought it hard we should liave to pay the expenses of interment when the bodv was useless to us . Such

      expense would he £ s 4 s ., with some small- gratuities to those that brought the body , which expenses the students pay to us . After some fui'thcr . t'onversation the jury upturned a verdict of—Died from exhaustion , the i-csiilt- of natural disease . Ihklanp . —More Shocking Mvhders , — An attempt at ] murder was made on Tuesday night week at Tubbcr , in the King ' s County , when " a small farmer nam ^ d Patrick Curran was * n ' red at and dangerously wounded . A horrible murder has been committed in- the county of Sligo . On Tuesday evening week , as | Mr . Samuel M'Kerin was sitting in his parlour reading , near the road leading from Branchfield to Sligo , he was shot by some base assassin through his window , and so near was- the murderer to his victim that the shot carried away a portion of his head , and stretched him lifeless on the instant . — The Kilkenny Journal contains the following : —

      "Murder of a Father bv a Sox . —The inhabitants of Mullinahone have been just thrown into the tn-eatest consternation by the perpetration of a murder at which humanity shudders . Yesterday ( Tuesday ) morning , as William Shea , of Kilvemnon ( within five miles of Callan , on the Fethard road ) , was proceeding to spread a quantity of seed-wheat for his son-in-law , named Egan , who is sick of a fever , he was hindered from the performance of . his charitable office by his son , Michael Shea , who struck him on

      the headjwith a stone , and afterwards with a spade , and killed him on the spot . His skull is fractured in the most frightful manner . It appears that young Sliea had oeen at variance with his sister ' s husband , ] the aforesaid Egan , and henee arose the altercation . The Mullinahone police were speedily in attendance , but the parricide had fled : he attempted to drown himself , but was prevented by two men whoi happened to have seen him . An inquest was heldf on Wednesday , and a verdict returned according to the circumstances .

      Brecon . —Dreadful Murder . —A dreadful murder was perpetrated on the night of the 6 th inst ., on a butter and provision dealer retumingfrom Cardiganshire to this town . He left Brecon about eight o ' clock on Friday evening . He was in one cart , and his son , a lad alx > ut thirteen years of age , was driving another . It Appears froni the statement of the lad , that , about two miles from this town , they overtook a man , who askeel his father what he would take a man to Lampeter for , and they agreed as to the price . When about half way to Tricastle , the man , himself , and his father got out and walked a little way . The man asked if they were near Tricastle , and his father said they were little more than half way ( the distance is more than twelve miles ) . He then paid his fathe ^ what he had agreed to pay for taking him , and advised the boy to get into the front cart and let him cover him with some straw and taryauliu , which he didand he went to

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

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

      Frightful Accident . —On Tuesday a dreadful accident ojecurred to Mr . Starling , landlord of iho Trinity AiTOB , Swan-street , Borough , by foolishly jumping out of a gig . He was riding in a one-horse hreaK . along Tiverton-street , Newington-causeway when the horse shied at a plg _ in the middle of the road , and commenced plunging . Mr . Stirling , In a state of excitement , jumped out of the break and fell with his right leg under nim on the edge of the kerbstone , breaking his thigh-bone in two places .

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      Death from Starvation . —On M 6 nday " afterhoog a lengthened investigation was entered into , before Mr Higgs , coroner for the Duchy of Lancaster , an al ^ jury of thirteen inhabitant householders , at the Golden Lion , Lower .-Edmonton * onyiewof theremains ofaman name unknown , aged fifty-two , whose death . was occasioned by the want of food and expossure io the incle « niency of the weather . R . Pugh , thekeeper 6 £ a lod ginehouse in Church-street , stated that he had known the deceased forithe last three months . He was a native of Essex ,, and was an agricultural labourer . He was in the employ of Mr . Boards , farmer , of Edmonton but had been for some months out of work . He had during that period obtained a scanty pittance by vending Congreve matches , balls of cotton , < fcc . About

      \ v ednesday Or llmrsday week last the police interfered with him , and threatened to apprehend him as a vagrant , saying that his offering things for sale was merely an excuse for begging . Deceased was in consequence very frightened , and did not go out with his basket again . He stopped at witness ' s house till the following Tuesday , when he absented himself , having till then , from the day the police spoke to him , livel upon stale crusts , which he got from other lodgers m exchange for congreves , and the dregs of the tea-pot when others had done with it . On Saturday night last , about half-past ten o ' clock , witness was

      returning home , when he saw the deceased sitting on the ground in the street , crouched up in a . corner . Be asked him why he did not come to his house , fie replied because he had no money , adding that he was very cold and thirsty , and had a pain in his side . Witness assisted him home , when he made him some gruel , putting into it half a pint of ale , which deceased swallowed ravenously . Deceased was then put into a bed , and witness saw him no more alive . After a few remarks from the coroner on the distressing circumstances of the case , the jury returned a verdict " " That the deceased died from want of the common necessaiies of life and exposure to the cold . "

      Alarming Fire at Brixton . —Wednesday morning , shortly before one o ' clock , a fire broke out hi tfe fiouse * belonging to Mrs . Powney , town-carrier , situate at No . 7 , Crystal-road , North Brixton . The Waterloo brigade engine promptly attended , and was followed by the West of England one , and another from Southwark-bridge-road . There being a good supply of water instantly procured , the firemen set to work most vigorously , and before two o ' clock they succeeded in extinguishing the fire , not , however , until very considerable damage had been effected .

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

      The Attempt to Poison a VV hole rAsntr . —In our last we gave tlie particulars of the first examination of John Wall , of Oadby , framework-knitter , on the charge of attempting to kijl his mother , father , and brother , by administering arsenic to them , in order , it is supposed , to obtain possession of £ 300 , to which himself and his brother and sister were entitled on the death of their mother . Rumours were afloat , in the meantime , that he had been concerned in ? u > other attempt of the same atrocious character , by which he sought to rid himself of the expense of maintaining an illegitimate child of his wife ' s , b y thesame means , and it was ascertained on inquiry that a few weeks prior to the attempt on the life of his father , mother , and brother , the child had been taken suddenly ill , under suspicious circumstances . On the

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

      Fatal Railway Accident . — A fatal accident occurrcd on Saturday morning last , on the line of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway , near Ryton station , about seven miles from Newcastle . As the luggagetrain , which left Newcastle at half-past six o ' clock for Carlisle , was proceeding at the usual rate , it ran into a cow which was straying on the line , and the force of the concussion was so great as to throw the engine and tender over a low embankment , the enjjine falling on its side , and the tender being- crashed up beside it . The stoker was fortunate enough to jump off just before the collision took place , and escaped with only a few slight bruises . The engineer

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

      The MrRPEB ix Brecoxsuike . — Fcrtoek Partktlars . —The neighbourhood having boon aroused by the intelligence of the above murder , the constables proceeded to the spot , where they found the body lying on its back , at the top of a short hill , wltt the hat drawn over its face , and two small pools of blood , which had issued from a bullet wound two inches behind the right ear , the ball being aftenfardi discovered , on pott mortem , examination , to liave penetrated the brain , and to have flattened against the skull , where it lodged on the opposite side . Ilis waistcoat had been torn open with such violence as to break several buttons , and all his cash kadbeen extracted from the money pocket ; his watch anil

      several articles in other pockets were untouched . From all appearances it wxis evident that the fieadlike assassin had fired the fatal shot while -walking up the ascent of the road , at the side of his unsuspecting victim , who must have fallen forward on his right knee and forehead , and have been turned over on his back by the murderer for the purpose of plunder . Messengers were immediately forwarded to Brecon . On the intelligence reaching Mr . D . Rosser , landlord of the Bridgent inn , where the deceased ( whose name was David Lewis ) had been in the habit of putting up , the suspicion flashed acroa his mind that the deed had been done by a nan namod Thomas Thomas , of Llansowel ,

      Carmarthenthenshire , who had called at his house in a drab macintosh , and had enquired for butter carts going to the vicinity of his home , about two hours before Lewis and his boy started . He accordingl y caused a letter to be sent por mail to a respectable innkeeper in the neighbourhood of Llansowel , who immediatelf forwarded descriptions to the rural police of tie county , several of whom were stationed near . In the meantime inquiries had been made by the Brecon police , which strengthened the suspicion , and All * . Superintendent Stephens , accompanied by the late superintendent , who kne « Thomas from having had him in custo dy cm » previous occasion , started off for CannarthensniK < while printed descriptions were forwarded to aU been

      the adjacent districts and seaports . Having detained making inquiries on the way , the Brecon police did not reach Llansowel until after oae o clocs on Sunday morning , when thev found Thomas . » »» custody of the rural police , who had taken lum under the following circunistauces : —Acting on the in * formation they had received , they had proceeded W his father's house , and found that he had reacnefl home at half-past eleven o'clock ; they also ascertained that he had been seen in the village , * deeming it likel y that he would come home at mgwthe superintendent stationed his men on the ! # > & out , lying in wait himself with one of his men in Lane near hisfathcr ' s house . Soon after eight o-cW * they heard him coming down-the lane , and V ^ r * one on each side of him , collared him at once , tiem a verv nowerful voune man . he succeeded in '& _

      ing them both down , and after a severe strugg le « the ground , they were compelled to draw the * «« £ lasses before he would surrender . During the str " = ? he dropped a brace of pocket-pistols , which ipnj nately were not loaded , and in his pocket were KW twelve bullets , caps , and some powder , "avmg ^ surrendered to the Brecon police , hewas brougM " Sunday to the station-house ha tliat iovm ' ^] ie . Monday was taken to an adjourned inquest , new fore Thomas Batt , Esq ., at the Caniden Airo Trecastle . From the evidence here adduced , ^ u »> peared that he had nine days previously bougj " , ' pistols at an ironmonger ' s shop in Brecon , ana -i on Friday night he rode in a farmer's waggon a » n L way out of town until overtaken by Lewis ana ^ cart , when he made the bargain for comeyimct Trecastle . The boy who had charge of the . ir ^ g and Lewis ' s little boy , swore most P ^ t ^ 'A-ntf identity ; and such a chain of cuxumstantiid eviw was made apparent , that the jury without nc ^ L returned a verdict of Wilful Murder against ; -16 « JJ Thomas , who was therefore removed to the couu gaolto take his trial at the March assizes .

      , Darino Burolabt . — On Monday night , the ^ or early on Tuesday morning , the residence" , Rev . R . B . Gardiner , of Wdhurst , Sussex , ^^ glariouBly entered , and a quantity of vataaftus y ^ and sundry other articles stolen thereiroin- _^ ^ robbery was effected by a person well J ** " $ 4 fc » . with the premises . On the principal . ^^ U ^ plate was engraven a stag ' s head , ^ V ^ m jtfr tween the antlers , and the initials K . b . ^ JrUtf ther portion . A reward of £ 60 has been offe «* the conviction of the offender .

      Untitled Article

      6 . THE NORTHERN STAR . |_ December 14 , 1844 .

      The Chambers' Philosophy Refuted

      THE CHAMBERS' PHILOSOPHY REFUTED

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Dec. 14, 1844, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct837/page/6/