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Northern Star (1837-1852), 4th February 1843, Edition 5 of 7, Page 4

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    • r —=——THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, TEBRUABY 4-. 1843.
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      R —=——The Northern Star. Saturday, Tebruaby 4-. 1843.

      r — = ——THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , TEBRUABY 4-. 1843 .

      Untitled Article

      THE APPROACHING TRIALS .

      Id the Liverpool Times of the current week , we find the following : — «• We understand that thetria ' s of Teargns O'Connoi and ibe other Chaitista , upon the indictments against tJn . ui , which -were removed % y certiorari from the late Sprci ' al Commission , -will be tried at Lancaster , and net st liverpooL Eenes it has been thought light to asrta a longer period for the assizes at Lancaster than TFocid otherwise have been necassaxy . " "We know noi what authority the Liverpool Times jnay hare for this staiement , as we have received ne ofiicial inrijnatioa on the subject , but we deem it onr cuiy , at all events , to plsce it before onr friends The fact that two w * eks are allotted for the duration

      of the . Lancaster Asszas , which commonly last on ) y two or three days , seems to give It an air of probatSiiT ; and it is ma » t likely upon this circumstance thar tee Editor of the Liverpool Times has founded iis Siiumptioiu At all events , it is high time that ftc = ? who are interested in the matter should bestir feeiEssiicSj ^ i

      Untitled Article

      WAGES OF LABOUR . Is estimating the value of any ' imprOTSBient" in ihe mods of producing wealth , it i 3 a rule with ns to iak , " what increase , or decrease , has it made to ihe 3 i ££ Ko of the working man" I and according to the answer given to that qaery is our estimate of value . "WLea arguing upon the question of " Extension of C « uaierce , " we have pointedly put the qnestion to its advocates : " What haTe heen the effects of f orw-r * Extensions' upon the wages and comforts

      of lbs labouring many ? " and have honestly avowed that A it could be shown that ihey had been of Ixenefh to the worker ; that they had added to Iris stock of comforis ; that these had enabled him to enjoy more of the good things of life i that they lac jJaetd additional beef and bread upon his table , and pnt additional clothing upon his back : we ha > - ofitimes avowed that if this could bs shewn to hare been the effect of former Extensions of Commerce , we shonld be the first to call for , and Btrcrgle for , another and greater " Extension . "

      Oar inquiries , howeTer , haTe led U 3 to a directly opposite conclusion , to that of benefit from former ** Extensions . " We haTe endearoured to ascertain She i-OEQition of the labourer at the beginning of the present century , —a period when the beginning of ihe rapid and much-lauded " Extensions of British Commerce" may be dated ; and we haTtcwj / ras / Aithat condition with the present condition of the labourer ; and that contrast is not favourable to the " Extension" cause .

      lt : s not necessary that we say much respecting the laboirrers ' s present condition . It is admitted on all iands that it is deplorable in the extreme . There is no party who nom disputes the existence of general distress . It is weB known that the cottages are comparatively empty of furnitnre ; that hundreds of thousands are wandering ihe streets for want of employment : that those who are daily and almost

      juginly employed , are not receiving wages which will famish them with a sufficiency of the first necessaries of life ; that starvation is endured by millions of British subjects ; and that the shopkeeping class are rapidly falling into the ranks of the unemployed labourers , the march of fot&biy and nvrsxnox havicg reached them , in its progress , nppr-irds , throngh all classes of present society .

      TLds is the avowed and undisputed c&ndiiion of ihe labouring many at the present hour . I : i 3 also avowed and undisputed , that the condition of that same class , fifty years ago , was , comparatively a much better one . They had , then , com paisdvely , well-fnrnished cottage-Aomes ; a wellloaded table ; and well-clothed backs . Employment -WB 3 not then scant ; and the wages paid to $ he worker would purchase him , comparatively , a fair share of the comforts of life , I > uring the last fifty years we have xdt >* j > to onr means of producing wealth most immensely . The produciDg-power of the Kingdom at the beginning ¦ ¦ o f--ifce present century has been stated by eminent StatJdans to have been : — Manual Labour ... ... 3 , 750 , 000 Mechanical and Scientific Power equal to — 11 , 250 , 000 Total 15 , 000 , 000 Tae population at that period was alao 15 , 000 , 000 ; eonsccjuentlj , ihe aggregate prodnctive-power and ihe population were equal , or as one to one . In 1842 , the prodnoing-po-wer of the Kingdom was finis estimated : — Manual Labour 3 , 000 , 000 Mechanical and Scientific Power equal to - « - 600 , 000 , 000

      Total , 609 , 000 , 000 The "population in 1842 , zs shown by the census , ¦ was 27 , 000 , 000 . The proportion , therefore , which the produeing-power then bore to the population "W& 3 as tventg-ltco to one I "What a vast increase in prodncing-means ! How eomes it to pass , that with this increase in the means to produce wealth , the comforts and well-being of the wealth-producers should have decreased ?

      The Returns connected with onr Foreign Trade show also that during those fifty years , we have increased that trade most prodigiously ! In 1798 , ¦»<; exported , in Official Value , £ 19 , 672 , 503 ; which Ironght ns in , in Real Value , £ 33 , 148 , 682 . The last Returns published , for the year ending January o , 1842 . show that we had exported in Official Value , £ 102 , 180 , 517 , which only bronght ns in , in Meal Value , £ 51 , 634 , 523 . Thus it will he seen that we had increased in qcaktitv nearly SIX . TiMJSS O"VER : as for an increase in price that is quite ac oi her matter I That increase is not , by any mean 3 , a irx times increase '

      Commerce then has "Extended" ! Ofthai there can be no doubt . Our means of producing wealth has 11 Extended" also , and , with these " Extensions , " thy wages and means of comfortable living of the workers have decreased 1 Taese facts are , with us , conclusive eridence that former "Extensions of Commerce * haTe not henefitted the working people ; and they hold out to us little hope that another " Extension , " now sought for by & Repeal of the Corn Laws , wiD do that which all former ** Extensions * ' have failed in doing J

      To this view of the subject , howeTer , we can not fix the attention of the advocates of Corn Law Repeal . These fact 3 and arguments they shrirh with much adroitness . They invariably decline to meet them ; but content themselves with uttering forth an experience-exploded " principle" of Political Economy- — "Extended trade causes extended employment . Extended employment causes extended wages : therefore extended trade is beneficial to the ¦ worker . "

      Latterly , however , another tack has been taken . It is now the cue of the Free Trade writers to endeavour to induce a doubt , as to the correctness of the fact ihat the labourer in olden " time was much better off than his brethren of the present day . In this matter the Morning Chronicle has taken the lead . The week before last , he had an article to Show , as hethonght , that the labourers of England were wretchedly ill-off some 150 years ago ; and the inference -srhieh he evidently wishes lie existing ¦ workers to draw from bis pretended array of facts is , Saai , they have not much to complain of in their present condition , seeing that it is better , or at least , ntvwrse * than the condition of the labourers in the beginning of the last century .

      -Tbe ^ vrri&BT adroitly chosen JtU itm * . The period he has hit upon , is about the ^ rery best he could hare picked out for his purpose . It was jost after ihe " globjotjs xevolciiok f when all the interests of &e state had sustained the shock inevitable from internal cosunctiozsc-f iKgi characa . li was ja « i £ t iae jt . nou , uti > , vriicn ioana and

      Untitled Article

      loan-mongering began to exercise their baneful influence upon the happiness and prosperity of the producers of wealth , under the auspices of the blessed Bishop Buxitet . It was a period , too , when the taxation of the country had been ikcbeased , at once , two-and-a-half-times over !!! A period of time of this character , pregnant indeed with depressing consequences , has the Chronicle fixed upon for the illustration of his dogma , that " the labourers of England , in olden time , were as wretchedly off as the workers in our own day . "

      . Now , even if the Chronicle had proved his point , we shonld not haTe been disposed to admit his intended inference , that because the labourers were badly off then , they have no canse for complaint now , seeing that they arc in no worse condition . We should have asked if it was right , that the labourer should have no share in the numerous advantages to be deprived from an increase in the means of producing wealth ! We should have asked , if this age of "improvement "; this age of gas and steam ; this age of mechanical and scientific appliances to the production of food and clothing ; this age of means of increase illimitable : we should have asked , even had the Chronicle established that which he has attempted to establish , if these " im ~ provements" ought not to have worked benefit to

      the workers ? We should have asked if it was right , that the working classes should be kept in a sland-ilill position , when all the rest of the world was travelling to ifec goal of human perfection at a railroad pace ?! We should have a 3 ked these questions , even had the Chroniele paov £ Dthat the labourer ' scouditionhasnot deteriorated contemporaneously with the introduction and present application of those new and mighty agents of civilization , steam and gas : how much more necessary is it to put them , when the Chronicle has not proved his position ; when it is a fact staring ns full in the face that the condition of the producers of wealth is deteriorated ; that the " improvements" have bten anything but "improvements" to them !

      The Chronicle says : — " The labourers of England were wretchedly ill off during the first half of the last century ; of which fact there is but too abundant evidence . Wages were extremely low—3 s and 43 a week . Stephen Duck , about 1730 , threBhed in a barn in Wiltshire for 3 s a week . The population hardly experienced any increase during all that period . But about the year 1760 great advances in manufactures took place . Numerous canals were cut , and other works executed , and the demand for labour led to an increase of wages and its increased comforts , especially in the manufacturing districts .

      Before that time , ¦ w heaten bread was little used by the labourers . About 1760 the use of it became general . But even then , the condition of the labourers in the agricultural districts would seem to hsve been by no means an enviable one . We have in the various tours of Arthur Young , in the eastern , the northern , and the southern counties , very minute accounts of the wages of labour , and they appear exceedingly low . Arthur Young was afterwards in Ireland , in 1776 , 1 / / 7 , and 1778 , and in the second

      part of his tour he 3 tates minutely the results of bis experience with respect to the condition of the Irish cotters , contrasting it with that of the English labourers ; and it does not certainly 8 > y so much for the comforts enjoyed by the latter , that npon the whole he considers ths Irishman best off . Tms , be it remarked , is the opinion of a man who bad visited eveiy corner of England , and was intimately acquainted with the state of the agricultural population- The following is an extract from Young : —

      ' Tnen the Irishman ' s cow may be ill-fed is admitted ; but ill-led as it is , it is better than the no cow of the Englishman ; the children of the Irish cabin are nourished with milk , which , small as the quantity may be , is far preferable to the beer or vile ie 3 which is the bererge of the English infant , for nowhere but in a town is milk to be bought . * ? " When I see tie people of a country , in spite of political oppression , with well-formed vigorous bodies , and their cottages swarming with childrenwhen I see their men athletic , and their women beautiful , I know not how to believe their subsisting on an unwholesome food . * * * " I will not assert that potatoes are a better food than bread and cheese ; but 1 hare-no doubt of a bellyfull of the one being better than a half a belly full of the other If any one doubt the comparative plenty which attends the board of a poor na ; ive of England and Ireland , let him attend to their meals ; ihe sp&ringness with which our labourer eats his oread and cheese is well known ; mark the Irishman ' s potatoe-bowl placed on the floor , the

      whole family upon their hams around it , devouring a quantity almost incredible , the beggar seating himself to it with a hearty welcome , the pig taking his share as readily as the wife , the cocks , hens , turkeys , geese , the cur , the cat , and perhaps the cow , and all partaking of the same dish . No man can often have been a witness of it without being convinced of tha plenty , and , I will add , the cheerfulness that attends it "

      Let ub examine the facts the Chroniele brings in support of hi 3 general statement that" the labourers of Euglaadjin the beginning of the last oentury were wretchedly ill-off . " " Wages , " says he , " were extremely low ; three shillings and foot shillings per week . Stsphen Dcck , about 1730 , thrashed in a barn in Wiltshire , for three shillings & week . " We shall adopt the mean between his ) wo rates of wages , three , and four , shillings a-week ; and take it that the average wages paid in money was then three

      shillings and sixpence a-week . We shall then endeavour to ascertain what husbandmen are paid at the present day ; and measure the amount of their earnings in the quantity of provisions and other necessaries of life , which the wages of each period would purchase ; taking into account the other several matters which enhanced , or enhances , their relative condition ; and thuB have before us a fair contrast of the two periods , as far as the labourers are concerned .

      What then are the wages paid to husbandmen now f Let the Chronicle answer . Week before last we inserted from its pages a long document descriptive of the doings of the Socialists on the LAsn , written by a gentleman who subscribes himself M One who has Whistled at the Plough . " explained that that document was only one of a series ; the writer being now engaged in a tour throughout the farming districts to " note" the condilion of both Lam > , Farmer , and Labourer . In the extract we made last week , he lets out , incidentally , the following information relative to the wages of agricultural labourers : —

      ** At an inn called the Winterslow Hut , ( between Salisbury and Broughton ) I received information , that the wages of labouring men had been reduced to seren shillings a week by the largest farmer in that district , and that the other farmers were expected to follow immediately with a similar reduction ; and the common expression of those , who were present , some of whom were tradesmen from Salisbury , and one the respectable landlady of the house , was to this effect : * God above only knows how the poor creatures are to be fed ! What matters it to them that flour and bread be cheaper this year than J ast They could buy little of either last year , and they can buy as little this . They must buy potatoes , not bread , and potatoes are but a middling crop this year : they are good , but small . '"

      In the Chronicle of Wednesday , Jan 18 th , the same writer says : — * ' Wages , are miserably low . Near Preston and about Lancaster , able-bodied men axe working to tanners for nine-pence a day ! A shilling and fifteen pence a day are the more common run of wages . The labourers in Lancashire are on a level with those of Dorset . Somerset , and Devon ; but so far as I have yet seen , the farms of Lancashire and Cheshire are not so well managed as in these illcultivated counties of the west . "

      The wa £ ee , then , of husbandmen note , may be taken on the authority of this writer , who has been to see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears , at seven shillings a-week , on an average . Remember that he has found many working for ninepence a-day ! Remember that nine-pence a-day is but four shillings and sixpence a-week Remember , too , that a shilling a-day is a common ran ; and that a shilling a-day is but six shillings a-week I Remember all this ; and then say whether the earn named , seven shillings , is not a high average to infer from the facts the writer has adduced .

      Seven shillings a-week , then , we take to be the average wages paid to husbandmen at the present time ; or double the amowit paid to the same class of labourers in ths beginning of last century , according to the Car -tuae .

      Untitled Article

      Now how stands the relative prices of provision and clothing at the two periods : for on this will mainly depend the contrast we wiBh to make . Fortunately the period fixed on by the Chronicle , telling as it is for him for the reasons we have before enumerated , is about the only one during the course of thelast three centuries , ( barring the last fifty years ) , that he could have hit upon to enable us to satisfactorily solve this last question .

      Tnere are no regular consecutive returns of the priceB of produce , until towards the olose of the seventeenth century . There are Beveral statements as to the price of provisions in earlier times ; but they are many of them collected from old household accounts ; and cannot be depended on , like acoouuts regularly taken and regularly published . In the year 1694 , however , six years prior to the beginning of the period fixed on by the Chronicle for his contrast , the present Official Rates of valuation of Exported British Produce and Manufactures were fixed ; and that fact will enable us to state , with certainty , the prices of provisions aud clothing at both periods .

      It will be necessary to explain that the Official Value of the present day , was the Real Value of that day ; and that the difference between the Official Value and Real Value shows the increase or decrease of prices since the period we are speaking of , 1694 . The rate of valuation then adopted has been since constantly maintained ; because it has had its uses as a common denominator , or indicator of quantity ; and has served , too , to show the fluctuations iu price .

      It follows , therefore , that the Official Value and the Real Value of any particular article of British Produce and Manufactures in the List of Exports will show its price at the beginning of the seventeenth century , and the price of the same description of article now : the fact being that the " Official Value ' was the real price in 1694 ; and the ^ Real Value" the real price at the present day . Let the Chronicle ^ then , take the last published List of Exported British Produce in his hand , and a single glance will tell him , that at the beginning of the last century , when " the labourers of England were wretchedly ill-off , " and when they only received , according to his own showing , 3 s . 6 d . a-week as wages : a single look at that List will

      prove to him , that " Corn , Grain , Meal , and Flour " was then nearly three times " cheaper '' than it ia now ! That is , the labourer ' s three shiJlings-and-six pence would purchase him nearly three times as much " Corn , Grain , Meal , and Flour" as the labourer's three-and-sixpence will now ! He will find also that Butter and Cheese , Beer and Ale , were fully three times as cheap ; ox as much then foT one shilling as for three shillings now ! He will further find that Cews and Oxen were four times as cheap ! or that one pound would then go as far in purchasing a Cow or an Ox , as four pounds will go now . He will find , too , that Sheep ' s Wool and Hats are now nearly double the price they were then ; and that Woollen and Worsted Yarn ia also about doubled

      in price . TheBe facts will the Chroniele learn by an appeal to the last published Returns relating to " Trade and Navigation ; " and they will aid him materially in his endeavour to form an accurate estimate of the relative condition of the labourers of England . But there are other facs which must not be kept out of Bight , in this important inquiry . Money wages were not all that the labourers of England had to live upon , during the earlier periods of

      English History . A far different system obtained at the beginning of the last century from what obtains now . The labouring-man was not then driven out of the farmer's house ! He , in general , and almost always when unmarried , formed one of the farmer's own family ; lived at the farmer ' s own board ; and slept under the farmer ' s own roof ! However the farmer fared , he fared ! and we may readily . believe that if the labouring inmates of the farmer's dwelling fared well , the labourers who lived out of the house would not fare much worse !

      That such was the general custom is a fact that admits not of dispute . It Lias been discontinued within the recollection of persons now living ! It was discontinued when the immense amount ot paper-money in circulation , consequent on Loans aud Bawb . Restriction , had forced up prices to such a degree , as to induce the Farmers , Manufacturers , and Shopkeepers to think we had the world " in a band , " and that we could lead it whithersoever we listed . It was discontinued when the age of Bull-Fro gism set in ; when . every farmer considered himself a Squire ; and every farmer ' s daughter , " a Miss . " Then the labourer was driven from the

      homestead ! Then he no longer lived as the farmer lived . Then he had to depend entirely upon the amount of moneywages he could succeed in wringing out of the close-fisted Bull Frog , who despised him because he was a labourer ! That this custom of in-dwelling the labourers obtained at the period fixed on by the Chronicle ^ is proved by the construction of the old farm-houses themselves , and the furniture with which they were furnished . The contrast between the style in that day , and the style now , will be best understood by the following graphio description , by one who was well qualified to paint the scene he witnessed and describes , and to tell of other times and doings . It is one of Cobbett ' s inimitable and instructive " Ruhax Rides : "—

      " Keigate , Thnrsday Evening , " 20 th October , 1825 . " Having done my business at Harts wood to-day about eleven o ' clock , I "went to a sale at a farm , which the farmer Is quitting . Here I had a view of what has long been going on all over the country . The farm , which belengs to Christ ' s Hospital , has been held by a man of the name of Charington , in whose family the lease has been , I hear , a great number of years . The house is bidden by trees . It stands in the Weald of Surrey , close by the Biver Mole , which is here a mere rivulet , theugh jast below this house the rivulet supplies the very prettiest flour-mill I ever saw in my life .

      " Everything about this farm-house was formerly the scene of plain manners and plentiful living . Oak clothes-chests , oak bed-steads , oak chests of drawers , and oak tables to eat on , loDg , strong , and well supplied with joint stools . Some of the things were many hundreds of years old . But all appeared to be in a state of decay and nearly of disuse . There appeared to have been hardly any family in that house , where formerly there were , in all probability , from ten to fifteen men , boys , and maids : and , which was the worst of all , there was a parlour ! Aye , and a carpel and bell' PuU too 2 One end of the front of this once

      plaid and substantial house had been moulded into a " parlour ; " and there was the mahogany table , aDd the fine chairs , and the fine glass , and all as bare-faced upstart as any stock-jobber in the kingdom can boast of . And there were the decanters , the glasses , the " dinner-set" of crockery ware , and all jast in the true stock-jobber style . And I dare say it has been 'Squire Charington and the Miss Charingtons ; and not plain Master Ghatington , aud his son Hodge , and his daughter Betty Charington , all of whom this accursed svBteni has , in all likelihood , transmuted into a species of mock-gentlefolks , while it has ground the labourers

      down into real slaves . Why do not farmers now / Sed and lodge theii work-people , as they did formerly ? Because they cannot keep them upon so little as they give them in wages . This ia the real cause of the change . There needs no more to prove that tfee lot of the working classes has become worse than it formerly was . This fact alone is quite sufficient to settle Qxis point . All the world knows , that a number of people , boarded in the same house , aud at the same table , can , with as goed food , be boarded much cheaper

      than those persons divided into twos , threes , or fours , can be boarded . This is a well-known truth : therefore , if the farmer now shuts his pantry against his labourers , and pays them wholly iu money , is it not clear , tbot bo doea it Whuw bo Uaaxcby gives tb * m a . living cheaper to him ; that is to say , a toorse living tban formerly ? Mind he has a house for them ; a kitchen for them to sit in , bed rooms for them to sleep in , tables , and stools , and benches , of evejlasting duration . All these he bs-s : all th < is > e cost him nothing ; and yet so niuca does lie gain by pinching them in wages that

      Untitled Article

      he lets all these things remain as of no use , rather than feed labourers in the house . Judge , then , of the change that faas taken place in the condition of these labourers 1 And , be astonished , if yon can , at the pauperism and the crimes that now disgrace this once happy and moral England . " The land produces , on an average , what it always produced ; but , there is a new distribution of the produce . This ' Squire Charington ' s father used , I dare say , to ait at the head of the oak-table along with bis men , say grace to them , and cut up the meat and the padding . He might take a cup ot strong beer to himself ,

      when they had none ; but , that was pretty nearly all the difference in their manner of living . So that all lived well . But , the 'Squire had many wine-decanters and wineglasses , and " a dinner set , " and " breakfastset , "' and " desert-knives j" and these evidently imply carryings on and a consumption that must necessity have greatly robbed the long oak-table if it bad remained fully tenanted . That long table could not share in the work of the decanters and the dinner set . Therefore , it became almost untenauted ; the labourers retreated to hovels , called cottages ; and , instead of board and lodging , they got money ; so little of it as to

      enable the employer to drink-wine ; but , then , that he might not reduce them to quite starvation , they were -enabled to come to him , in the king's name , and demand food as paupers . And , now , mind , that which a man receives in the king ' s name , he knows well be has by force ; and it is not in nature that he should thank anybody for it , and least of all the party from whom it is forced . Then , if this sort of force be insufficient to obtain him enough to eat and to keep him warm , is it surprising , if he think it no great ofence against God ( who created no man to starve ) to use another sort of force more within bia own controul ? Is it , in shsrt , surprising , if he-jesort to theft and robbery ?

      "Thw is not only the natural progress , but itifcas been the progress in England . The blame is not justly imputed to 'Squire Caerington and his like : the blame belongs to the infernal stock-jobbing system . There was no reason to expect that farmers would not endeavour to keep pace , in point of show and luxury , with fundholders , and with all the tribes that war and taxes created . Farmers were not the authors of the mischief ; and now they are compelled to shut the labourers out of their houses , and to pinch them in their wages , in order to be able to pay their own taxes ; and , besides this , the manners and the principles of the working class are so changed , that a sort of self-preservation bids the farmer ( especially in some counties ) to keep them from beneath his roof .

      " I could not quit this farm heuse without reflecting on the thousands of scores of bacon and thousands of bushels of bread that had been eaten from the long oaktable which , I said to myself , is now perhaps , going , at last , to the bottom of a bridge that some stock-jobber will stick up over an artificial river in his cockney garden . "By it shant , " aaid I , almost in a real passion .- and bo I requested a friend to buy it for me ; and if he do so , I will take it to Kensington , or to Fleet-street , and keep it for the good it has done ia the world .

      " when the old farm-bouses are down ( and down they must come in time ) what a miserable thing the country will be . Those that are now erected are mere painted shells , with a Mistress within , who is stuck up in a place she calls a parlour , with , if she have children , the " young ladies and gentlemen , " about her : some showy chairs and a sofa ( a sofa by all means ) : half a dozen prints in gilt frames hanging up ; some swinging book-shelves with novels and tracts upon them : a dinner brought in by a girl that is perhaps better " educated" than she : two or three nick-nacks to eat instead of a piece of bacon and pudding : the house too neat for a dirty-shoed carter to be allowed

      to come into ; and everything proclaiming to every sensible beholder , that there is here a constant anxiety te make a show not warranted by the reality . The children ( which is the worst part of it ) are all teo clever to work : they are all to be gentlefolks . Gfe to plough ! Good Qod I What , " young gentlemen" go to plough ! They becomo clerks , or some skiniiny-dish thing or other . They tf ; e from the dirty work as canning horses do from the bridle . What misery ia all this . ' What a mass of materials for producing that general and dreadfu l convulsion that roust , first or last , come and blew this funding aud jobbing and enslaving and starving system to atoms !"

      Another means of adding to the labourer ' s stock of comforts , over and above his money-wages , must not be lost sight of . At the period fixed on by the Chronicle there were extensive Commons , on whioh the labourer had common rights ! The aid that these were to him cannot be estimated by the labourer of the present day : for the Commons are gone , and , with them , the common rights ! During the last seventy years millions of acres of land have been taken from the labouring people , upon whioh they formerly kept their cow , their pig , their flock of geese , or their poultry . A rare addition these things , to the money wages paid them by their employers !

      It is a fact , that in the period from 1801 to 1831 , no toss than ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED and EIGHTEEN ENCLOSURE ACTS WERE PASSED ! each one taking hundreds , and , in some instances , thousands , of acres from the labouring people , whose common right to the use and enjoyment of them had been sanctioned and guaranteed by numerous aots of the Parliament , as well as by the Common Usuagea and Law of the realm ! !

      There was also another means of comfort the labourer of old had , that must not be excluded from the account . The money wages he received from hig employer were for the work he did for his employer . But they were for his own work alone . The married labourer's means were added to , by the exertions of his wife and his young family , at home ; aided by his own exertions , on long winter nights , and on wet days . They nearly manufactured all the clothes they wore ; they carded ! they spun ! they wove ! This they did within themselves ! aud was it no advantage ! Did not this help bis three or four shillings a

      week ? Was not this rather better for domestic comfort , and for educational purposes , than the immuring up in a factory , for sixteen or eighteen hours daily , of the wives and infant daughters of the manufitcturing-should-be-labourer of our time , Ah ! Mr . Chronicle , when we come to inquire into the real facts of the case , we do not find much to congratulate ourselves upon , in the condition of the husbandman ? iotc , when contrasted with the condition of the husbandman in the beginning of the last century ! We find that his wages now will not purchase him as much food as the wages then would ; while we find him deficient of many aids and helps whioh the labourer of old possessed . '

      But mind ' . we do not say that the labourers of England were absolutely well-to-do at the period you have named . We believe the contrary to have been the faot . We believe that the event called the ' Photestant Reformation" worked much to the disadvantage of the labourers of England ; and we believe that what the Reformation left short of their total and complete degradation , was tffected by the Whig-made glorious Revolution , " with its attendant National Debt , Paper-Money , and Excessive Taxation . The period , therefore , which we should choose for a contrast between the then , and the present , condition of English labourers , would

      not be the one chosen by the Chronicle ; but one anterior to ( he first event just named . We have bestowed the labour and attention which this article manifests , not to prove that the Chronicle ' s position , " that the labourers of England were wretchediy ill-off during the first half of the last centm y , " is untenable ; but to show that if such even were the case , they were much better off ( hen , than the labourersare at present t notwithstanding all the "improvements" of which we boast , and notwithstanding all the additional means of producing wealth with which we have become acquainted , and which ought to have worked out a far different result .

      Our position , that the labourers now are much worse off than the labourers wore then , may be strengthened by the mention of two facts , which oven the Chronicle will not aahisay . * The labourers of England were wrctched ' t / ill-off during the first hajf

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      of the last century . " If so , the poor rates will be found to have been excessive ; for poor rates then existed , and the poor were not then blessed with a New Poor Law , with Ub workhouse-and-degradinglabour-test , to prevent them from applying for l ief . What is the fact ? Why that for the three years 1748-50 the Poor Rates for both England and Wales amounted only to the sum of £ 730 , 135 !! while the Poor Rates have averaged , for the last twenty years , no less than £ 7 , 000 , 000 . annually 1 ! What a frightful increase of pauperism , contemporaneously with the enormous increase of productive power !! j

      The other fact is , that from 1714 to 1726 , the taxation of the ikingdom averaged £ 6 , 386 , 572 ; while the average' for the last fifty years is nearly £ 70 , 000 , 000 . a year ! ! ! The producer of wealth in latter times has much ( taxation ) to pride himself upon ! ! With the notions of Mr . Arthur Young , quoted by the Chronicle , we shall not presume to meddle . We shall say nothing to disturb the equanimity of those who can see plenty , accompanied with I cheerfulness , in a family " squatted on their havis on the floor , devouring POTATOES

      in a quantity almost incredible , " having for dinner companions " the pig , the cocks , the hens , the turkies , the geese , the cur , the cat ' and perhaps jtbe cow ; all partaking of the same dish ; " fwe shall say nothing to disturb the equanimity of those who can Bee PLENTY in this , and who , with Arthur Young , would almost seem to wish to persuade the cheese-and-bread eater to exchange that bread and cheese for the POTATOEBOWL ! There it is ! reader , plainly before you , as pictured : by Arthur Young : say how you like it ! 1

      The conclusion , then , we arrive at , from a full examination of the question is , that the labourer now is much worse off than the labourer was then ; and this , too , despite of the vast increase to our means of producing wealth ; and in despite , too , of the many and enormous " Extensions" of British commerce ! From that conclusion , so arrived at , we infer that another " Extension of Commerce , " on the same principle as we have hitherto acted on , can only have the effect of " making bad , worse . " To expect anything else , after the experience we have had , betrays stupidity and obtusenesa obtuse enough !

      One word more to the Chronicle . In contrasting the past and present condition of the labourer , we surely had a right to expect from a liberal journal , a progressive scale of the " improvement " of all classes , by which that of the industrious classes should be liberally measured . Bit no ! The luxuries of the great are to increase as a natural consequence of those " improvements" tending what is called civilization ; while the condition of the labourer under all circumstances , is to remain the same ; or he is to receive a modicum of his share , not as a legitimate consequence arising from the same causes , but as a pauper with becoming gratitude and thanks !

      In another portion of his article the Chronicle says : — , ¦ " It ia certain that great discontent now prevails and has long prevailed among the labourers . They may not have been belter off formerly , but THEY WERE MdRE RECONCILED TO THEIR CONDITION . Burke , quoting the opinion of Aristotle , remarks , that the agricultural class are the least of any ' inclined to sedition . ' We are afraid that so far aa our agricultural labourers are concerned , the maxim will hardly hold good aa a universal one . "

      In this he commits a grave error . For League purposes he would contrast the condition of a class too " ignorant" ( as he says ) to think for themselves with the condition of the same class when political knowledge has beamed upon them . The desire ought not to be to contrast the labourer of 1843 with the labourer of 1743 ; but to contrast the labourer of 1843 , with him who employs him in the same year ! if , however , we are to narrow our contrast to his own conditional different periods , take him , from 1803 to 1843 ; aud take also the relative condition of all other classes into the full consideration of the question ; and ! then say whether the labourer has held or lost ground ! !

      Throughout , the professing Liberal argues , as all Malthu .-iiaas do , that as much has been doae for the labourer as circumstances would admife § f . If the Chronicle ' s picture is to be orapplete ; and if the sitters are to remain side by siuwon the canvass ; we may perhaps be permitted to ask what has become of the Irish Cow , so feelingly described by Arthur Young , when singing the praises of the POTATOE BOWL ? What has become of the BELLYFUL ( of that trash )? What has become of the turkeys , ! the geese , the hens , the cocks , the cat and the cur ; and above all , what has beeome of the Cow . ' : What has become of all these Church and State have swallowed them , all up and a substitute is now to be furnished out

      6 t an infernally-principled system of poor laws , which the brave Irish-, not yet thoroughly debased by the dependant hand-to-mouth system , have resolved to resist even to the death ! One remarkable saying of the Chronicle's needs a word : " They may not have been belter ^ offformerly ; BUT THEY WERE MORK RECONCILED TO THEIR CONDITION . " So wrere the West Indian Slaves , until they became sensible of their power to alter their condition . Englishmen were never reconciled to a degraded condition , however ignorant they may have heretofore been as to the means to alter it

      As for reconcilement , no journal has taken more pains to reconcile them to that exact condition In which they may be slavishly or violently serviceable to faction , and aid in its unhallowed purposes , than ithe Ch > onicle ! Oat of evil comes good . The desperate attempts of the Bquabblers to grasp power have compelled them to paint the labourer in those colours ia which be now desires to see himself . Power achieved , the limner would gladly Tub the ! colouring from the canvass ! but

      pride and manly dignity keeps it alive in recollection ; and he who was so fairly represented , would fain make himself a fair representation of so fair a picture ! The right position of man is not now merely confined to the Reform canvass , or the Reform print : it is engraven upon the heart , and stereotyped in the mind ! The impression is now fixed : and man boastingly tries to make himself what those who once courted him told him he ought to be !

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      meeting" at any particular place " of thei ^ T ^ Charter Association , " or of « the members t National Charter Association" resident there parties who attend such meetings do not g 0 * b members of the National Charter Assce * they go there and act there as individual Ckt ^ Every such meeting is , and ought to be ^ a meeting of the Chartists of Birmingham Sh ffl Newcastle , or whatever other town it idL h ^ . * . & ~ .... 1 . 2-1 _ _» . L _ _ . _ " 6 . ftflil \ mwjwug oi

      _ nv , » me memoers of the N r Charter Association . Another great mist ^ ^ that of misconceiving the nature of the * council of the National Charter Association , ^ u ^ parties speak and write of ' the general conn > such a place , and " the general council" Of ° place ; as though each locality had a distinct g * council of its own . This is" quite wrong !? National Charter Association has but nno ™ national unarter Association has bat one

      Its councillors live in different places—go ^ London , some at Leeds , some at Manc ^ *" some at Birmingham—but they fora on ] ' general council for the whole body ; anj jv Ole not legally act for the body in separate dei !*!!" ments . The faot , however , of a maa fo general councillor , is no reason why he ski * not to be also a councillor , or any other f H office-bearer in any local body of Chartists . ?' onl

      own neighbourhood ; y care should ba \ not to ascribe to him as a member of the flfor ^ Charter Association the acts which he perform member of a local body of Chartists in thai t , h ^ * as an individual Chartist there residing , "pi ' , ' Shakesperian Association of Leicester Chartist . ' local body , perfectly distinct and separate ftm * y Nationa-1 Charter Association ; its members . / all members of the National Charter Associatm its committee may be all councillors of the N « i i ' Charter Association ; its secretary may be * < mv secretary of the National Charter Associatio and its treasurer may be a sub-treasurer of th

      National Charter Association ; but still its meetim * are not meetings of the National Charter Associjtio they are meetings of the Leicester Chartists genJ rally , or of the Shaksperian Association of Leicester Chartists in particular . We have been thns plain that this matter may be understood and looked tobecause communications continually reach m which are dangerously , because wrongly , worded . Where principle is concerned , we would be the last to advi 3 «

      the people to succumb to power ; but where it ia » in this case , merely a prndential matter , we think too much caution cannot be made use of to prevent the enemy from arming themselves with oar owa weapons . And hence we have thought it requisite to substitute these plain directions for the article we promised respecting the improvement of the Organization , which we reserve for another week ud with the less regret , because it may . probably be somewhat longer than we could at present find space for , in addition to the lengthy and important matters already given .

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      CLASS JUSTICE . THE SCANDALOUS TREATMENT OF MR ARTHUR O'NEIL . This gentleman has with becoming spirit brought the parson magistrates who refused his bail before their betters . He obtained a rule Nisi calling upon parsons Badger and Cartwright to show am why a criminal information should not issue against them for their flagrant and wilful outrage upon the liberty of the subject and the constitution of thi 3

      realm . As might be expected , the law oReeis of the crown weie ready to aid in the oppression of Iha people and to bolster up the tyranny of these clerical despots in a small way . The Solicitor-General appeared to show cause against th role , and let out , in his defence of the Rev . clients ffhosa cause he had undertaken , a most important fact ; the fact that an illegal conspiracy and combination had been entered into by the whole magistracy of Staffordshire , for the purpose of defeating the ends of justice in the case of any Chartist who might come before them charged with any namier of offence .

      " At a meeting , held before O'Neil h& 4 been taken into custody , of the Magistrates of the cwmty , piesided over by the Lord Lieutenant , it had been determined not to accept any person aa bail who attended Chartist meetings , and it was in accordance with tna 6 resolution that they had refused the bail of Page ind Trueman . " Here , then , we have the plain admission of a

      deliberate conspiracy against the law , headed by the Lord Lieutenant , and joined in by the Magistracy of a whole county , and we have the Solicitor General pleading this base conspiracy * s s justification of the acts of the parties to it , instead of prosecuting the whole bevy for the misdemMBOUi . It is clear that the Judges felt themselves in an awkward fix . It is an irksome thing to hononrable men to lick the dirt from the hands of their patrons

      They hardly knew what to say about the nutter The thing was so glaring , that even legal subtlety and judicial sophistry were a little at fault ; it n * quired time to see how , or whether by any means , an excuse could be framed for denying to Mr . O'Nkil the plain justice he demanded ; and so , under pretence of looking at ths affidavits , the judgment was postponed .

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      THE SPEECH . . tf Whew ! Was there ever sueh a fighting b < W our little Queen ? , She has given ua the J-•• King's Speech" that we ever saw made by »«< j with enough of fighting in it to satisfy a &w ^ J the rest being positively an improvement npou J modes of saying nothing . Of all the eXPl vapidities which we have seen , in the shape w 1 speeches , this is the most vapid . When wul ^ ^ to pass that a few grains of sense and hoDesty > j be made to season the unsofferable dullness o j costly exhibitions ? Never , we guess , till the P ¦ of legislation by the whole people *»»/ " ! , Crown to its duo positione d make the fact *" 1 the people find esoa tbeir own plaoe » I

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      MR . O'CONNOR AND THE LEAGUE . The challenge of Mr . O'Connob has taken the League aback dreadfully . They den't half like it . It is fast opening the eyes of their dnpes , many of whom , seeing that they show no signs of " coming to the scratch " , begin to fancy that nnder ttetatter of their " smooth words" there have been no * pasnips " . In many towns the large sheet bills P olished by Mr . Hobson , containing the challenge and

      an appeal to shopkeepers to enforce its acceptance have been plentifully posted ; while the brave 1 ms of Stockport , despite their poverty , prints and posted the challenge on a large sheet , at their own cost ; not knowing , probably , that they might hwe had it cheaper from Mr . Hobson . This is the right way to work . Give the rogues enough of it . Stick i under their noses wherever they dare shew themselves . Make them " show fight" fairly , or quit tnB

      field . The" Challenge , " as we intimated last ffeek , »» two shapes : in a large posting-bill for the com of the streets , and in a small haad-bill ftr gen " ot distribution . These serve two purposes ; the ? no ^ only apprize the shopkeepers ( to whom they u ® dressed ) and the public generally , of thefa ^! , challenge has been given and is yet unaccepted , they contain also some facts and argon . eminently calculated to shake the faith of th l \ . Traders as to the efficacy of the C 0 ™ ' ^ ^ j Nostrum . The hand-bill is , in fact , a most nse ^ Chartist Tract ; and its extensive circulation <» fail to be of essential service . at Tiie large poster may be had from Mr . W *'' 8 s . the hundred : and the small bill for dtftnP at 7 s . the thousand .

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      CLERICAL LIBERALITY ! ^ Elsewhere our readers will find a simp . ^ varnished story by John O'Roubkb , ettlD ^ car of the apostolical character of the Rev . the i ^ Leeds , chaplain in ordinary to her Majesty ^ , & ^ light as to make comment uncalled for . i » . tells its own tale . It ia a tale of facts , ^ ^ and undistorted , and the facts are a yiFia ooni ^ upon the system by which such men are ele « the position of lights and lawgivers .

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      A WORD OF CAUTION . There are few things of more consequence to the people , and to which the local leaders seem to pay less attention , than discriminating carefully between the movements ) of the people in their individual capacity throughout their several localities , aud their acts aa members of the National Charter Association . We have often pointed attention to the faot that the 39 th Geo . III . c . 79 , makes every political society illegal whose members meet for the transaction of business in separate masses , parts , or

      divisons ; and that , therefore , the National Charter Association as such , has no meetings . It exists , and can exist only in the public registration of its members , in the persona and correspondence of its officers , and in its public documentary acts . The advantage of the National Organization is , that it affords a common system , upon whioh the operations of all the local bodies of Chartists in the kingdom may be conducted ; and that thus they may be all directed continuously towards a given poini . Still , however , it should never be forgotten that all their distinct operations in

      their several localities are those of local bodies , and not of the general body ; if this little fact Were borno in mind , in the calling of the Beveral meetings and the wording of the several resolutions which from time to time are adopted by those meetings in various towns , it would be much better . We ought sever to forget that the same fjfetion which first enacted these infamous statutes is now in power , and waits only a convenient opportunity for enforcing them . Wo should , at least , therefore , be careful not to afford them evidence against ourselves ; yet this is done every time that we publish , eiiher by placard or otherwise , anything about " a

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      A THE NORTHERN STAR . .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Feb. 4, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct921/page/4/