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Northern Star (1837-1852), 4th February 1843, Edition 6 of 7, Page 4, Untitled Article

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    • 5 HE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, FEBBUAKY 4. 1843.
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      5 He Northern Star. Saturday, Febbuaky 4. 1843.

      5 HE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , FEBBUAKY 4 . 1843 .

      Untitled Article

      THE APPROACHING TRIALS . £ the Liverpool Times of the current week , we find . he following : — " We Tiiiderstand that the trials of Tesrgvs O'Connor ana tba other Chartists , npon the indictments against Uia j -whiciiwere removed ¥ j oerfiorari bom the late Spa ; il Commission , -will be tried tt Lancaster , and cot at Iaverpool- Hence it has been thought right to a-aa , ai a longer period for the assizes at Lancaster than woe id otherwise have been necessary . " "V / e know no- , what snthoriiy the Liverpool Times ¦ BO ? f hare for this statement , as we have revived n *« -fficial intimation on the subject , but we deem it our duty , at all events , to pbee it before oar friend ^ Tlw fact that two weeks are allotted for the duration of i . he . Lsneaster Assizes , which commonly last on-V

      iwi or three days , seems to give it an air of probabfli iv ; and it is most likely apon this circumstance laa i the Editor of the Liverpool Times has fonntled Ii 3 assumption . At all events , it is high t ma that Vox se -who are interested in the matter should bestir iit mselves ,

      Untitled Article

      WAGES OF LABOUR . ' 3 s estimating the valne of any " improvement ** id fb e mode of producing wealth , it is a rule witii ns to ask , whaj increase , or decrease , has it made to 2 b s mexss of the working man" i and according to tfc a answer given to that query is our estimate of ¦ a lue . When arguing upon the question of" Extension of Cx amerce , " we htve pointedly put the question to i » advocates : What have been the tff-.-cts of fcrmcr 'Extensions' upon the wages and comforts

      of the labonring many ! " and hare honestly avowed that if it could be shown that they had been of benefit to the worker ; that they had added to his stock of comforts ; that these had enabled him to enjoy more of the good things of life ; that they had . placed additional beef and bread upon his table , and put additional clothing upon his back : we have ofttimes aTOwed that if this could be shewn to have been the effect of former " Ext ' ensit ns of Commerce , " we should be the first to call for , and struggle for , another and greater Extension . "

      Our inquiries , however , have led us to a directly opposite conclusion , to that of benrjii from former ** Extensions . " "We hare endeavoured to ascertain the condition of the labourer at the beginning of the present century , —a period when the beginning of ihe rapid and much-lauaed " Extensions of British Commercefmay be dmed ; andwehaveconfros ' cdthat condition with the present condition of the labourer ; and that contrast is not favourable to the " Extension" cause .

      It is not necessary that we say much respecting the labourers ' s present condition . It is admitted on all bands that it is deplorable in the extreme . There is no party "who now disputes the existence of general distress . It is well known that the cottages are comparatively empty of furniture ; that hundreds of thousands are wandering the streets for want of employment ; that those who are daily and almost nightly employed , are not receiving wages which will famish them with a sufficiency of the first necessaries of life i that starvation is endured by millions of British subjects ; and that the shopkeeping < flv ' are rapidly falling into the ranks of file unemployed labourers , the march of potebtt and scixahos havicg reached them , in its progress , npwards , through all classes of present society .

      This is the arowed and undisputed' cendiuon of the labouring many at the present hour . It is also avowed and undisputed , that the condition of that same das 3 , fifty years ago , was , ' comparatively , a much belter one . They had , then , com paradyely , well-furnished cottage-A / mes ; a wellloaded table ; and well-clothed backs . Employment was sot then scant ; and the wages jjaid to the worker would purchase him , comparatively , a fair share of the comforts of life . During the last fifty yeaiB we have added to our means of producing wealth most immensely . The producing-power of the Kingdom at the beginning of the present century has been stated by eminent Staticians to have been : — Manual Labour ... SJ 5 O , 000 Mechanical and Scientific Power equal to ... 11 . 250 , 000 Total 15 , 1 ) 60 , 0 u 0

      The population at that period wa 3 also 15 , 000 , 000 ; consequently , the aggregate productive-power and the population were egual , ei as one to one . In 1842 , the prodncing-powerof the Kingdom was thus estimated : — M * ™* Labour ... ... . „ ... 5 , 000 , 000 Mechanical and Scientific Power equal to ~ 600 , 000 . 000

      Total , 605 , 000 , 000 The population in 1842 , as shown by the census , -was 17 , 000 , 000 . The proportion , therefore , which ihe produdng-power then bore to the population was as tirenty-two to one I What a vast increase in prodncing-means ! How eomes it to pas 3 , tr-ss with this increase in ihe means to produce we&hh , the comforts and -well-being of the wealth-producers should have decreased ?

      The Returns connected with our Foreign Trade show also that during those iifty jeara , we have increased that trade most prodigiously > ' In 17 S 8 , ¦ we exported , in Official Valve , £ 19 , 672 , 503 ; which brought us in , in Real Value , £ 33 , 148 , 682 . The last Batons published , for the year ending January 5 , 1812 , show that we had exported in Official Value , £ 102 , 1 . 80 , 517 , which only brought ns in , in Real Value , £ SIJSHJ 523 . Thus it wiD be seen that we lad increased in qcasutt nearly SIX TiMES OTER : as for an increase in price that is quite another matter 2 That increase is not , by any means , a sbc times increase I

      Commerce then has "Extended" I Of that there can ba no doubt . Our means of producing wealth has " Extended" also , and , with these " Extensions , " the wages and means of comfortable living of the workers have decreased I These facts are , -with U 3 , conclusive evidence that former "Extensions of Commerce" have not beneJUted the working people ; and they hold oat to U 3 little hope that another ** Extension , " now sought for by & Repeal of the Corn Laws , will do that which all former ** Exfensions" have failed in doing !

      To this view of the subject ; however , wo can not fix the . attention of the advocates of Corn Law Repeal . These faeis and arguments they . shrirJc with mnch 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 endearour to induce a doubt , as to the correctness of the fact that the labourer in olden time was much better off than his brethren of the present day . In this matter the Morning Chronicle has taken th 9 lead . The week before last , he had an article to show , as he thought , that the labourers of England were wretchedly 21-off some 150 years ago ; and the inference whieh he evidently wishes the existing workers to draw from his pretended array of facts is , that they have not much to complain of in their - present condition , seeing that it is belter , or at least , n » v > ortet than the condition of the labourers in the beginning of the last century .

      The writer has adroitly chosen his time . The period ieiaajhit ufon , 13 about the very best he conldiiTB ^ icked out for his purpose . It was just after flre ^ ewaiOTis xsvoumos f when all the ihier ^ fof . tb . e state had sustained the shock inevitable from-internal commoticEs of thai character . i \ -was just si ifce period , too , -Krhen leans and

      Untitled Article

      loan-mongering began to exercise their banefnl influence upon the happiness and prosperity of the producers of wealth , under the auspices of the blessed Bishop Buhket . It was a period , too , when the taxation of the country had been i « cheased , at once , two-and-a-half-times over'I ! 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 . "

      Isow , even if the Chronicle had proved bis point , we should not have been disposed to admit Ids intended inference , that because the labourers were badly off then , they have no cause for complaint now , seeiBg that they ar » 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 meais of prodncing wealth i We should havo 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 ha 3 attempted to establish , if these " improvements" ought net to have worked benefit to the workers ? We should have asked if it was right , that the working classes should be kept in a standstill position , when all the rest oF the world ¦ was travelling to the goal of human perfection at a railroad pace ? > We should have asked these questions , even had the Chronisle proved that the labourer ' s condition has not deteriorated contemporaneously with the introduction and prssant application of those new and mighty agents of civilization , steam and gas : how mnch more necessary is it to put them , when the Chronicle has not proved his position ; when it is a fact staring us fuU in the face that the condition of the

      prodncers of wealth is deteriorated ; that the improvements" have bten anything but " improvements" to jbem i The Chronicle says : — " The labourers of England were wretchedly ill off during the first half of the last centnry ; of which fact there is but too abundant evidence . Wa # es were extremely low—3 s and is a week . Siephen Duck , about 1730 , threshed in a barn in Wiltshire for 3 s a week . The population hardly experienced any increase dur ing ail that period . But about the year 1760 great advances in manufactures took place . Numerous cauals were cut , and

      other works executed , and the demand for labour led to an incrcas 3 of wages and its increased comforts , especially in the manufacturing districts . Before tha ? time , wheaten bread was little used by the labourers . About 1750 the use of it became general . Bat even then , the condition of tJie laoouers in the agricultural districts would seem to have been by no means an enviable one . We have in the various tours of Arthur Young , in the eastern , tbe northern , and the southern counties , very minute accounts of the wages of labour , and they appear exceeuingly low . Arthur Yonng was afterwards

      in Ireland , in , 1776 , 177 / , and 1 // 8 , and m the second part of his tour ne states minutely the results of his experience with respect to the condition of the Irish cotters , contrasting it with that of the English labourers ; and it does not certainly say so much for the comforts enjoyed by the latter , that upon the whole he considers the Irishman beBt off . This , be n remarked , is the opinion of a man who had visited erery corner of England , and was intimately acquainted with the state of the agricultural population . The lollowing is an extract from Youag : —

      * ' Tnen the Irishman ' s cow may be ill-fed is admitted ; bnt ill-fed as it is , it 13 "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 tbe beer or vile tea which is the beverge of the English infant , for nowhere but in a town is milk to be bought . * ? " "When I see the people of a country , in spite of political oppression , with well-formed vigourous bodies , and their cottages swarming with childrenwhen I see their men Athletic , and their women be&utiful , I know not how to believe their subsisting on aji nnwholesoifle food .

      ' I will not assert that potatoes arc a better food than bread and cheese ; but 1 have no doubt of a bel . ytull of tbe one being better than a half a bellyfuii of the other ..... If any one doubt the comparative plenty which attt-nds the board of a poor na-Ave of England and Ireland , let him attend to their meals ; the sparinpneBs wjth which our labourer eats his bread and cheese is well known ; mark the Irishman ' s potatoe-bowl placed on the floor , the

      whole family upon their h&ms around n , devouring a quantity almost incredible , the beggar seating himself to it with a hearty welcome , the pig taking his share as readily aa the wife , the cocks , hens , turkeys , geesej tbe cur , tbe cat , and perhaps the cow , and all partaking of the same dish . Ho man can often have been a witness of it without being oon-Tinced of tbe plantyjand , I will add , the cheerfulness that attends it . "

      Let us examine the facts the Chronicle bringB m support of his general statement that" the labourers of England ^ n the beginning of the last century were wretchedly ill-off . " rf Wages , " sayB he , " were extremely low ; three shillings and four shillings per week . StiPKES Duck ., about 1730 , thrashed in a barn in Wiltshire , for three shillings a week . " We shall adopt the mean between his two rates of wages , three , and four , shillings a-week ; and take it that ihe 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 thus 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 ? Let the Chronicle answer . Week before last we inserted from its pages a long document descriptive of ihe doings of the Socialists on the lasd , written by a gentleman who subscribes himself " One who has Whistled at the Plough . " explained that that document was only one of a Beriea ; the writer being now engaged in a tour throughout the farming districts to note" the condition of both Lasd , 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 ) 1 received information , that the wages of labouring men had been reduced to seven 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 eommon expression of those , who were present , some of whom were tradesmen froni 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 l ast ! They could buy little of either last year , and they can buy as little this . They must bny 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 are working to farmers for nine-pence a day 2 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 1 have yet seen , the farms of Lancashire and Cheshire are not bo well managed as in these illcultivated counties of the west . "

      The wa £ es , then , of husbandmen now , 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 run j and that a shilling a-day is but six shillings a-week ! Remember all this ; and then say whether the sum 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 hnsbandmen at the present time ; or double ihe amount paid to the same class of labourers m the beginning of last century , according to the Chr-jid ie .

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

      There are no regular consecutive returns of the prices of produce , until towards the close of the seventeenth century . There are Beveral statements as to the price of provisions in earlier times j but they are many of them colleoted from old household accounts ; and cannot be depended on , like accounts regularly taken and regularly published . In the year 1694 , however , six years prior to the beginning of ifce 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 Btate , with certainty , the prices of provisions and 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 , 16 S 4 . 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 in price .

      It follows , therefore , that the Official Value and tbe 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 oentury , 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 Produoe 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 is now ! That is , the labourer ' s three shillings-andsixpence would purchase him nearl y three limes as much " Corn , Grain , and Flour" as the labourer ' s three-and-3 ixpence will now I He will find also that Butter and Cheese , Beer and Ale , were fully three times as cheap ; or as much then for one shilling as for three shillings now ¦ ' He will further find tha ; Csws 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 HatB are now nearly double the price they were then ; and that Woollen and Worsted Yarn is also about doubled

      price . These facts will the Chronicle learn by an appeal to the last published ReturnB reiating 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 ot England . But there are other facts which must not be kept out of sight , in this important inquiry . Mmey 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 I 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 !

      Tbat such was the general custom is a fact that admits not of dispute . It lias been discontinued within tbe recollection of persons now living ! It was discontinued when the immense amount of paper-money m circulation , consequent on Loans and Bank RESTBicnoN , 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-Fbogism set in ; when . every farmer considered him-Belf a Squire ; and every farmer ' s daughter , " a Miss . " Then the labourer was driven from the homestead 1 Then he no longer lived as the farmer lived . Then he had to depend entirely upon the amount of moneyvcages 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 tbe labourers obtained st 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 graphic description , by one who was well qualified to paint the scene he witnessed and describes , and to tell of ether times and doings . It is one of Cobbett's inimitable and instructive "Rural Rides : "— " Keigate , Thnrsiay Evening , " 20 lh October , 1825 .

      " Hanng done my business at Haitswood to-day about eleven o ' clock , I went to a sale at a farm , whicb the fanner is qnitting . Here I had a view of what has long been going on all over tbo country . The farm , which beUnga 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 yeara . The house is bidden by trees . It stands in the Weald of Surrey , close by the River Mole , which is here a mere rivulet , theugh ju 3 t below this bouse the rivulet supplies the very prettiest Hour-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 cheats cf 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 bouse , where formerly tbtre were , in all probability , from ten to fifteen men , boys , and maids : and , which was the worst of all , there waa a parlour ! Aye , and a ca , pet and oellpuU too I One end of the front of this once

      plain and substantial house had been moulded into a •' parlour ;'• and there was the mahogany table , and 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 just in tho true stock-jobber style . And I dare say it has been 'Squire ' Charington and the Miss Charing tons ; and not plain Master Charington , and his son Hodge , and . daughter Betty Charington , all of whom this accursed system has , in all likelihood , transmuted inio a species of mock-gentlefolks , while it has ground the labourers

      down into real slaves . Why do not farmers now feed and lodge their work-people , as taey did formerly ? Because they cannot keep them upon so little as they give them in wages . This is the real cause of the change . There needs no more to prove that the lot of tbe working classes has beoome worse than it formerly was . This fact alone is quite sufficient to S 8 ttle this point All the world knows , that a number of people , boarded in the same hou ? e , and 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 shuta his pantry againsL-his labourers , and pays them wholly in meney , is it not clear , tbat he does it because he thereby gives them a living cheaper to him ; that is to say , a worse living than formerly ? Mind he has a house for them ; a kitchen for them to sit in , bed rooms for them to sleep in , tables , aiid stools , and benches , of everlasting duration . AH thtse he has : all these cost him noUdicj ; and yt t so much does ho gala by pinching them in wages that

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      he lets all these things remain aa of no use , rather than feed labourers in the house . Judge , then , of the change that has taken place in tbe condition of these labourers ! And , be astonished , if you can , at the pauperism and the crimes tbat 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 ' a father used , I dare say , to sit at tbe bead of the oak-table along with his men , say grace to them , and cut up the meat and the pudding . He might take a cap of strong beer to himself ,

      when they bad none ; but , tbat was pretty nearly all the difference in their manner of living . So tbat all lived well . But , tbe 'Squire had many wine-decanters m&wineiflasses , and " a dinner set , '' and " breakfastset , "' and " desert-knives ; " and these evidently imply carryings on and a consumption tbat must necessity have greatly robbed the long oak-table if it had remained fully tenanted . That long table could sot sLare in tbe work of the decanters and tbe dinner set Therefore , it became almost untenanted ; the labourers retreatad to hovels , called cottages ; and , instead of board and lodging , they got money ; so little of it as to

      enable the employer to dnnk-wine ; but , then , tbat he might not reduce them to quite starvation , they were enabled to come to him , in the king ' s name , and demand food a ] paupers . And , now , mind , that which a man receives in tbe king's name , he knows well he baa by force ; and it is not in nature tbat 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 offence against God ( who created no man to starve ) to use another sort of force more within bis own controul ? Is it , in shsrt , surprising , if he resort to theft and robbery ?

      "This is not only the natural progress , but it . ftas been the progress in England . The blame is not justly imputed to 'Squire Cabrington and bis like : the blame belongs to tbe 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 taws created . Farmers were not the authors of the mischief ; and now they are compelled to shut the labourers out of their bouses , 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 house 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" said I , almost in a real passion : and so I requested a friend to buy it ( or me ; and if he do so , I will take it to Kensington , 01 te Fleet-street , and keep it for the good it has done in the world .

      " When the old farm-houses ate 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 dozan 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 : tbe bouse too neat for a dirty-shoed carter to be allowed

      to coma 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 tbe worst part of it ) ure all too clever to work : they are all to be gentlefolks . 60 to plough t Good God J What , " young gentlemen" go to plough . ' They become clerks , or some eiimniy-dish thing or other They £ -e from the dirty work as cunning hotaea do from tbe bridle . What misery is all this . ' What a mass of materials for producing tbat general and dreadfu l convulsion that must , first or last , come and blew this funding and 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 which tho labourer had common rights ! The aid that thoso were to him ca . unot be estimated by the labourer of the present day : for the Commons are gone , and , with them , the common rights . ' During the last seventy yeara millions of acres of land have been taken from the labouring people , upon which they formerly kept their cow , their pig , their flock of geese , or vheir poultry . A rare addition these things , to the money wages paid them by their employers i

      blU ^ VJVlD > It is a fact , tbat inihe period from 1801 to 1831 , no less than ONE . THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED and EIGHTEEN ENCLOSURE ACTS WERE PASSED ! each one taking hundreds , and , in some instauoes , thousands , of acres from the labouring people , whose common right to the use and enjoy eieut of them had been sanctioned and guaranteed by numerous acts of the Parliament , as well as by the Common Usuages 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 his 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 , 011 long winter nights , and on wet days . They nearly manufactured ill the clothes they wore ; they carded ! they spun ! they wove ! This they did within themselves ! and was it no advantage ! Did Dot this help his three or four shillings a week ? Was not this rather batter 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 manufacturing-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 now , when contrasted with the condition of the husbandman in the beginning of the last oentury ! 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 which 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 fact . We believe that the event called the " Protestant 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 effected by the Whig-made " glorious Revolution , " with its attendant National Debt , Paper-Money , and Exces sive Taxation . The period , therefore , whioh wo should choose for a contrast between the then , and the present , condition of English labourers , would

      not be the one chosen by tho Chronicle ; but one anterior to the first event just named . We have bestowed the labour and attention which this article manifests , not to prove that the Chronicle" » position , " that the labourers of England were wretchedly ill-off duriug the first half of the last century , " is untenable ; but to show that if such even wore the case , they were much better off then , Ihanlhe labourers are at pre sent ! notwithstanding all the " improvements" of which we boast , and notwithstanding all the additional means of producing wealth with whioh we have become acquainted , and whioh ought to have worked out . a far different result .

      Our position , that the labourers now are much worse off than the labourers were then , may be strengthened by the mention of two facts , which even the Chronicle will not naiuay . li The labourers cf Eu& ; and were wretched ' y Ul-oS during the first kilt

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      of the last centnry . " 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 its workhouse-and-degrading labour-test , to prevent them from applying for relief . What is jthe fact ! Why that for the three years 1742-50 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 iless than £ 7 , 000 , 000 . annually ! ! What a frightful increase of pauperism , contemporaneously with the enormous increase of productive power ! ! ] *

      The other fact is , that from 1714 to 1726 , the taxation of the kingdom averaged £ 3 , 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 . Arthcr 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 cheerfulness , in a family " squatted on their hams on the floor , devouring POTATOES

      in a quantity ] almost incredible , " having for bjnser companions " the pig , the cooks ^ tbe hens , the turkie ? , the geese , the cur , the cat » and perhaps the- cow ; all partaking of the same Bisa ; " we j shall say nothing to disturb the equanimity of thbse who can see PLENTY in this , and who , with A-bthub Young , would almost seem to wish to persuade tbe oheese-and-bread eater to exchange that bread and cheese for the POTATOEBOWL 1 There it is I reader , plainly before you , as pictured by i Abthub Young : say how you like it fl

      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 , bo arrived at , we infer that another " Extension of Commerce , " on the same principle as we hare hitherto acted on , can only have the effect of " making bap , wobse . " To expect anything else , after the experience we have had , betrays stupidity and obtaseaess obtiiBe 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 olasses , by whioh that of the industrious classes should be liberally measured . But 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 is certain ! that great discontent now prevails and has long prevailed among the labourers . They may not hfve been better off formerly , bbt THEY WEBE MOKE RfcCONCILED TO THEIB CONDITION . Burke , quoting tha opinion of Aristotle , remarks , that the agricultural class are the least of any ' inclined to sedition . ' We are afraid that so far as our agricultural labourers are concerned , the maxim will hardly hold good as a universal one . "

      In this he commits a grave error . For League purposes he would contrast the condition of a class too " ignorant" ( a . s 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 hiiri who employs him in the same year If , however , we are to narrow our contrast to hi " own condition at different periods , take him from 1803 to 1843 ; and 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 Malthusiaas do , that as much has been done for the labourer as circumstances would admit of . If the Chronicle's picture is to be complete ; and if the sitters are to remain side by side on 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 oat 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 of 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 better offformerly ; BUT THEY WERE MORE RECONCILED TO THEIR CONDITION . " So were the We 3 t 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 faqtion , and aid in ita unhallowed purposes , than the Chionicle ! Out of evil comes good . The desperate attempts of the squabblers to

      grasp power have compelled them to pairit the labourer in those colours in whioh he now desires to see himself . Power achieved , the limner would gladly rub 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 1 The impression is now fixed : and man boastingly tries to make himself what those who once courted him told him he ought te be !

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      A WORD OF CAUTION . Tuere are few things of more consequence to the people , and to whioh the local leaders seem to pay less attention , than discriminating carefully between the movements j of the people in their individual capacity throughout their several localities , and their aots as members of tbe National Charter Assooiation . We have often pointed attention to the fact tbat the 39 th Geo . III . 0 . 79 , makes every political society illegal whose members meet for the transaction of business in separate masses , parts , or

      divisons ; and that , therefore , the Rational Charter Association as such , has no meetings . It exists , and can exist only in the public registration of its members , in the ! persons and correspondence of its officers , and in jits public documentary acts . The advantage of the National Organization is , that it affvrds a common system , upon which 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 point . 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 borne in mind , in the calling of the several meet " ings and the wording of the' several resolutions whioh from time to time are adopted by those meetings in various towns , it would be much better . We ought never to forget that the same faction which first enacted these infamous statutes ia now in power , and waits only a convenient opportunity for enforcing them . We should , at least , therefore , be careful not to afford them evidence against ourselves ; yet this is done every time that we publish , either cy placard or otherwise , anything about " a

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      meeting" at any particuh r place " of the Nal * Charter Association , " or i'f " the members t ^ National Charter Associatio n" resident there * " parties who attend such mee tings do not so « , ' members of the National Charter Associ ?* they go there and aofc there s » * individual Chart ; ' Every such meeting is , and ought to be ^^* * a meeting of the Chartists of Bifmingham , Sheffij Newcastle , or whatever other town it may be not a meeting of the members of the Ratio * *! Charter Association . Another gveat miatafc . that of misconceiving the nature of the gea *! council of the National Charter Association , jw ^ Si

      nniitiaa a « % ^ tolr n * i / l nvtvits-v r \ ff Alan . —— ¦ * " 3 parties speak and write of « the general council * such a place , and " the general council" of segj , place ; as though each locality had a distinct genent council of its own . This is ~ quite wrong , jj . National Charter Association has bnt one coan f Ita councillors live in different places—some " London , some at Leeds , some at Mancheste some at Birmingham—but they form only « * general council for the whole body ; and they cm not legally aot for the body in separate detadi " ments . The fact , however , of a man being general councillor , is no reason why he shonM

      not to be also a councillor , or any other kind r office-bearer in any local body of Chartists in fc ' own neighbourhood ; only care should be fat not to ascribe to him as a member of the Nation *! Charter Association the acts which he performs as member of a local body of Chartists in tbat pk ^ as an individual Chartist there residing . rj M 11 Shakesperian Association of Leicester dartistau local body , perfectly distinct and separate from ^ . National Charter Association ; its members mq u all members of the National Charter Association * its committee may be all councillors of the A ' ationsl

      Charter Association ; its secretary may be a sub . secretary of the National Charter Association and its treasurer may be a sub-treasurer of fl « National Charter Association ; but still its meeting are not meetings of the National Charter Association ' they are meetings of the Leicester Chartists gene rally , or of the Shaksperian Association of Leicester Chartists in particular . We have been thus plain that this matter may be understood and looked tobecause communications continually reach as which are dangerously , because wrongly , worded . Wiera principle is concerned , we would be the last to advise

      the people to succumb to power ; but where it is jg in this case , merely a prudential matter , we think too much caution cannot be made use of to prevent tbe enemy from arming themselves with oar own weapons . And hence we hare thought it requisite to substitute these plain directions for the article we promised respecting the improvement of the Or . ganization , which we reserve for another week , and with the less regret , because it may probably be somewhat longer than we could at present Sad space for , in addition to the lengthy and imported matters already given .

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      MR . O'CONNOR AND THE LEAGUE . The challenge of Mr . O'Connor has taken tt « League aback dreadfully . They dtn ' t half Bb rt-It is fast opening the eyes of their dupea , many 0 whom , seeing that they show no signs of " comingto the scratch " , begin to fancy that under the butter of their " smooth words" there have been no p «* nips " . In many towns the large sheet bills published by Mr . Hobson , containing the challenge ana

      an appeal to shopkeepers to enforce ita aoceptw ^ have been plentifully posted ; while the brave 'w of Stoekport , despite their poverty , printed w posted the challenge on a large sbeet , at their own cost ; not knowing , probably , that they might hwe had it cheaper from Mr . Hobson . This istb e nga way to work . Gire the rogues enough of it . SfaeU under their noses wherever they dare shew themselves . Make them " show fight" fairly , or quit » M

      field . The " Challenge , " as we intimated last ff «* . ^ two shapes : in a large posting-bill for tiB cm ^ of the streets , and in a small hand-bill for gw distribution . These serve two purposes : tW ^ only apprize the shopkeepers ( to whom ti » ey dressed ) and the public generally , of th 8 fM vrL challenge has been given and is yet unaccepted ' ^ they contain also some facts and f ^ eminently calculated to shake the faith of thet Traders aa to the efficacy of the Corn-Lawi ^ Noatrum . The hand-bill is , in fact , a 00 ^ Chartist Tract ; and its extensive circulation ca ^

      fail to be of essential service . ^ Tae large poster may be had from Mr . ««» 83 . the hundred : and the small biU for ***» at 7 s . the thousand .

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      A patent has been taken ontat gf ^ y English gentleman named W ^ oM ^ y coach , w ^ ich cannot be over T u ™~ | a ia s ^ eni W break which a child can work , an £ J fr 0 ^ , 9 which a train may be ipstantl ?; detg ihg ^ locomotive , and a contrivance , by wu £ ^ of the train may be at ^ r ^^ m itM tained . These are certainly great inveu have really been made . Alford , has k John Nicholson , & % ffijZ £ i >* S £ been apprehended on tbe charge « ilver smitn »« phte directed by Cos , Savorf , and U > , hU wM London , to Mr . John Dyson , farmej ^ aud also with swaha * the half * < " ^ notes sent through the post-oiaoe .

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      CLASS JUSTICE . THE SCANDALOUS TREATMENT OF MS . ARTHUR O'NEIL . This gentleman has with becoming spirit brought the parson magistrates who refused his bail befoie their betters . He obtained a rule Nisi calling npoa parsons Badger and Caetwbight to show cms 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 this realm . As might be expected , the law officers of the

      crown were ready te aid in the oppression of the people and to bolster up the tyranny of these clerical despots in a small way . The Solicitor * General appeared to show cause against the role , and let out , in his defence of the Rev . clients ( Those 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 manner of offence .

      " At a meeting , held before O'Neil had been toksa into custody , of the Magistrates of the county , pissided over by the Lord Lientenaat , it had been deter mined not to accept any person as bail who attended Chartist meetings , and it was in accordance with that resolution tbat they bad refused the bail of Fage and Trueman . " Here , then , we have the plain admission of a deliberate conspiracy against the law , headed 6 y the Lord Lieutenant , and joined in by the Magistracy of a whole county , and we have the Solicitor General pleading this base conspiracy as a

      justification of the acts of the parties to it , instead of prosecuting the whole bevy for the misdemeasoar . It is clear that the Judges felt themselves in an awkward fix . It is an irksome thing to honourable men to lick the dirt from the hands of their patrons . They hardly knew what to say about the matter The thing was so glaring , that even legal subtlety and judicial sophistry were a little at fault ; it required time to see how , or whether by any means , an excuse could be framed for denying to M *« O'Nbil the plain justice he demanded ; and so , under pretence of looking at the affidavit * < & « judgment was postponed .

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      CLERICAL LIBERALITY ! Elsewhere our readera will Bnd a » " * varnished story by John O'Rourke , s f *^ f the apostolical character of the Ber . j" » ka Leeds , chaplain in ordinary ^ fff ^^ t light as to make comment uncalled for . * ^ j tells its own tale , Bi" «* ^ S £ 5 and undistorted , and the facts are a "" V ^ w upon the system by whioh such men are elef »^ the position of lights and lawg ivers . ^ __^ J = sS

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      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-ncseproduct968/page/4/