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THE NORTHERN STAE, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1842.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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SCHEMES OF RELIEF-UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE-RICH AND POOR . We are on the ere of great changes . Tie present System is worn out , and must give way . Every rea-Boning man admits this . Ask any one whose station or experience gives him the means of knowing what is going on in society , and he will tell yon that the present order of thing 3 cannot continne . At the same time , while all agree that great changes most take place , there is no limit to conjectures as to what those changes are to be , and still Ie 33 are people agreed on what they ought to be . Every "Statesman " has his own pocket code , and every political quack lias Mb own favourite nostrum . One man is for
"Equitable Adjustment , " another for "An actirh on the Currency , " & toird for abolishing Tithes and Corn law ? , a fourth for such a reduction in the government expenditure and pnblio establishments of the country as would greatly diminish taxation , without impairing " public credit , " a fifth for the rubstitution Of a graduated property tax , in lieu of the present anomalous and expensive svstein of indirsst *! Sti a Eixtl 1 f 0 T S ^ S t 0 manufactures the same artificial protection that agriculture derives from the Corn Bill , T ? , a tariff of protecting duties , a seventh isforthert . oTS 5 of thi 3 , his morto being " afree
trade , based on a free trade in corn " : an einhth is sraae , based on a free trade in corn "; an eighth is for mortgaging the poor ' s rate , and shipping off the " surplus population" to Canada or to Yan Diemen ' s Land ; a ninth for raising a capital by loan " , or the issue of Exchequer Bills , and thereby locating the poor on the waste lands ; a tenth is f or breaking up all monopolies , and throwing © pen the trade to India , by which means we are gravely assured * that the National Debt may be paid off in eight years , out of the surplus profits of trade ; an eleventh laughs all these to scorn , as so many ricketty abortions , and maintains
that all schemes for ameliorating onr condition must end in smoke , so long as the principle of competition governs society , —and that the only remedy for all evil is , the universal substitution , throughout society , of the co-operative for the competitive system A twelfth , a thirteenth , a fourteenth—and so on to the end of the chapter—are for other and va-rions remedies , differing from one another in shade and degree , according to the different views and interests of the parties , bat almost all reducible to some modification of composition of those already enumerated .
In this vortex of opinion , the readera of ihe Guardian will naturally ask what clue we would recommend to guide them out of this labyrinth of mazes , and restore them to the region of sunshine and safety!—Our answer h ,
UX 1 YEBSAL SUFFRAGE 2 That is the only remedy we can understand—the enly one we deem worthy the attention of the working classes . With the solitary exception of cooperation , all the above schemes would ( unless accompanied by Universal Suffrage ) only aggrandize one class of non-producers at the expence of another , while , in the long ruD , they vrould leave the producing man just where they found him : and as to co-operation , we deem its application utterly impracticable under the existing laws , or under any form of government other than a government of ihe people . A complete revolution of manners most precede any successful attempt at general happiness : —Md this revolution must , as necessarijy , be preceded by an equality of rights , based on Universal Suffrage . The rich have no sympathy or
fellowfeeling with the poor . They never had any , and never can have any . The hktory of the world proTes this to be the case—and common sense shows it must be so , without the evidence of history .. A rich man is a man who enjoys himself , while the poor man is toiling for him . From infancy he has been brought up to idleness and to cenain artificial wants , which cannot be gratified TFithont great toil ¦ and privation en the part of sometodv . Now , as he Trill neither bear toil and privation himself , nor y o ¦ without his expensive luxuries , it is plain he must have somebody to toil for him . But how is be to accomplish this , since every one thinks it quite enough to -work for his own wants 3 It is plain he -C&n effect it but in one way , aad that is , by usurping the whole power of law-making , to the exclusion of the poor man .
By virtue of this usurpation he first establishes dominion over the land j and having once obtained this , he finds very little difficulty in extending it to the capital and productive industry of the country . ^ Once in possession of a power over these , it needs no penetration to see that he will never let go his grip on the labours of the poor man , so long a 3 ihe laws are strong enough to enforce his claim . He mil give the latter just so much of the produce of his own earnings as will keep him alive , and able to go on producing j or , which i 3 the same thing , he will continue In existence only such laws and institutions as will h » T 9 this tendency . He will have laws of entail to transmit the land to his own heirs , and Iaw 3 of usury to enable the capitalist to keep adding to his capital out of the labour of those he proscribes . In short , the laws and institutions of the rich man will have no other object in view than to keep himself rich , and the poor man
poor ; or , ia other words , to keep the poor man in such a state of dependence for his daily bread , that to exist at all he must oe content to produce ten or twenty shilling ^ worth of luxuries for the rich man , before hs i 3 permitted to enjoy a shilling ' s worth of 7 iecessaries for himself . This being the case , then , ( and who will gainsay it ?) how absurd to think of forming © o-operative communities under the existing laws ! The object of sach communities being to establish for the workman dominion over the fruits of his labour , and consequently to cut away the ground from under the feet of the upper aad middle classes , is any body fool enough to imagine that these classes would not employ their present exclusive power of law-making to extinguish the new heresy the moment it assumed a practical form I Common sense tells us they would not permit it to exist an hour longer than the enactment of a new law , or the formal execution of the old ones , Bight render necessary .
The case , however , would be quite different under a Parliament radically reformed . Such a Parliament would represent the interests of the workman , as well as of those who devour him ; and as the producers are at least as numerous as tke nonproducers , every institution tending , like co-operative communities , to protect the former from the avarice and ambition of the latter , would be sure to have its due share of legal protection . Besides , what is of more consequence , a new public opinion would instantly spring * out of Universal Suffrage . The workman raised to the same political ¦ level with his master , would not be longer the cringing
and timid slave he is now—and the rich man , findrag his artificial superiority gone , would be compelled to renounce the callous arrogance of aristocracy , and cou ' t the friendly smile and the good will of his new equals by courtesy and frank manners . In fact ,, it would be then his interest to cultivate friendship Tfiih those he now despises , for , having no exclusive property in the Iaw 3 , the best security for his possesaoB * , as well as for hi 3 happiness would be found in an affable demeanour towards his poorer fellowcitizens , and a cheerful readiness to co-operata with them in ail undertakings for the promotion of public utility , or general happiness .
Bui as the system works now , he can have no friendly feeling towards the poor man , nor , of course , the poor man towards him . He knows he lives by plundering the poor man of the produce of his toil , through the agency of the Iaw 3 , which are but instruments of robbery in his hands ; and that the poor man must naturally hate him fsr thiB injustice . There can , therefore , be no community of feeling or good fellowship between them ; and the Bran who would preach it , while at the same time he advocates the system , is a rank hypocrite , or a wolf in sheep ' s clothing . As well might Ulysses entertain kindly feelings towards Polyphemus , who wanted to eat him , as the English pauper to the lordly tyrants who outlaw and devour him . The poor have a right
to hate the rich , so long as the rich exclude them from the rights of citizenship ; and whatever Lord Brougham ' s magazine may pretend to the contrary , they hare also a right to revenge themselves whenever they can get the opportunity . It 13 not , however , because a man is rich that the poor ought to hate him ( for many of the rich are excellent and kind-hearted men ); but because he is an enemy of tht poor man ' s rights . Every rich man is not otrt enemy , and therefore every rich man ought not tc be bated ; but wherever we can distinguish betweei our friends and voluntary oppressors , we are justl led before God and man in making the latter fee our vengeance in every possible way we can reacl blood to flow
them ; and though rivers of were u the Btrnggle , the * mlt could only lie at the doors o those whose aggiessire injustice provoked it . Re member , fellow-countrymen , that to strip a man o his right 3 , is to strip him of his bread—of his clothe —of his ease—of his comforts—of his independent —of his self-esteem—of the power of acquiring know ledge—in 3 b . ori , of all those qualities of mind , hear and person , which captivate "beauty and constifcut the charm of existence . Liberty is not a mere soun —it is the means , and the only means , of happiness The man , therefore , who deprives his fellow-cres tares of liberty , jb -worse than a traitor or amtu < Ierer , and as such should he be dealt with in ti day of retribution .
It may be asked , what danger is there that t middle aid influential classes would sanction a mi tary despotism in England I Men who ask sn questions as these know little of the state of socle Themselves sincere , they fancy that sincerity in 1 wealthier classes is the rule , and deceit the exoeptii Alas ! what a delusion ! These classes subs wholly by lies . The bread they eat is the bread falsehood—ths wine they drink , and the carriaj tiiey roll in , are all the offspring of deceit . Theii 1 is a continued lie , and their language , as tauj them from infancy , is that of conventional hypocri To live without work , and acquire Fortunes ont of I ibour of others , is , in their minds , the gra secret aad business of life . Brought up to artific * ^ Mr . Buokingham .
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wants from their cradle—wants that cannot be gratified without entailing an enormous mass of slavery and misery on those below them , they look npdn every one who would make a change in favour of the oppressed as their natural enemy . Accustomed to the cannibalism of artificial society , and finding , from history , that society has been ^ always the same in principle , they cannot conceive any other state possible . They believe , accordingly , ( those of them who think at all on the subject , ) that men were made like wild animals , to prejr upon one another , the strong on the weak—the cunning on the simple—the learned on the ignorant , &c . ; hut finding , from experience , that the men preyed upon cannot be reconciled to the system by mere brute force , they have invented ten thousand methods of
bolstering ii up , under the forms of law and custom , which it would take a man his whole life to find out . The priest , the soldier , the hangman , the banker , the lawyer , the exciseman—in short , all who live by the crimes and ignorance of society , are , under divers pretences , hired to prop it up , their salaries being the emoluments derivable from their swindling pursuits ( invented for the purpose ) , and their employers being the ruling powers of the aristocracy , or the great state-deTcurers . Even the shopkeepers and master manufacturers , amounting ( with their dependants ) to more than sis millions of the population , are more or less interested in the sy £ tem , tbeir basines 3 being to buy labour cheap from the poor , and sell it dear to the aristocracy ; they are immediately dependent on the latter for support .
Besides , taken as a body , they are the basest of society . Occupying an intermediate position between the . workman and the aristocrat , employing the one and being employed by the other , they insensibly contract the vices of both tyrant and slave : tyrant 3 to those below them , sycophants to those above them ; and , usurers from necessity and habit , they prey on the weakness of the workman , while they extort all they can from the vanity of the aristocrat . Indeed , the middle classes are the destroyers of liberty and happiness in all countries . It is their interest ( under the present form of Bociety ) that the poor should be weak , and the rich extravagant and vain ; and this being the case , the man who expects from them any real opposition to despotism from inclination , must be a fool or a madman . —BbonierrEj in the Poor Man ' s Guardian .
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PEEL AND HIS OPPONENTS . THE INCOME TAX AND GENERAL TAXATION . The Ministerial projects progress towards . completion . The New Corn Bill has been read a third time in the Commons , ard passed . It has been K debated" in the House of Lords , and the second reading of it carried on Monday night last , by a . majority of 102 ; the numbers being Tor the second reading 119 Against it 17
The resolution on which the Income Tax Bill is is founded , passed in the House of Commons ( some Bay by mistake ) without division ; and the bringing up of the " Report" that they had so passed , led to a long debate , which , as was announced in our last number , ended in the reception of the Report by a majority of 106 , and the rejection o f little Lord John ' s " amendment , "—the old exploded contemned spittenupon Whig Budget of
1841 . On Monday the Bill itself was introduced by the Premier , and on the question of the first reading little Loed Johx moved " that it be read that day sis months . ' This unusual course of opposing a Ministerial Bill in its first stage , led to a lengthy and wordy discussion , which ended in a division , when it appeared that there were—For the first reading 285 For little John ' s amendment 188
Majority for Peel 97 The Tariff has also been reconsidered by the Government , and placed on the table of the House in an amended form . The alterations are not many , nor of much moment . Thu 3 stand the " measures of relief" in the House of Commons at the time of our present writing . No doubtiexists in the mind of any parties but that all the measures will pass into law . They may be slightly modified in their progress through Parliament ; but it seems to be clearly understood , en every hand , that they will pass mainly in the form and shape as introduced by PiEL .
The threatened out-of-doora opposition to the Income Tax has been a signal failure ! Failure was never more complete ! Every effort has been used to get up the steam ; but all to no purpose Where meetings have been holden , care has been taken to have them of the most select character . The getters-up of them have , in no oae instance , dared to appeal to the people ; And it is in very few places indeed , that even these select meetings have been called ; and where they have been holden , the proceedings have been so dull and tame , and , withal , so horribly selfish , as to have produced no other feelings , even in their own immediate locality but those of ineffable contempt and deep disgust !
How conld it be otherwise ! Are not those who hare so met and denounced Peel ' s plan of direct taxation been long known as the strenuous supporters of that system which has made the Income Tax of £ 4 , 000 , 000 , and the direct taxation of £ 53 , 000 , 000 a-year , necessary ! Have they not been long known as the violent persecutors of those who wished to do away with that f ' necessity , " an'd to reduce our public burdens to something like a bearable load ! Have they not raised and yelled out the cry of " public robber , " " cheat , "
u spoliator , " thief" against every one who has proposed to reduce our expenditure , on equitable principles , to the means of the nation to pay ? Have they not been constantly vociferating , thai " national faith luust be kept" ! the army must not be disbanded , or even reduced" ! "the pensions and sinecures , and grants , and allowances must not be interfered with" ! "the salaries and dead weight must not be reduced" ?! Have they not stood forth on every occasion , and in every manner that insolence and bnllying could suggest , to resist even to the death the many and continued efforts of the people to . obtain justice in these particulars
And is it wonderful that the people who have thas struggled ; the people who have been thus treated ; the people who have marked and experienced the insolent and audacious conduct of the " middle-class-men " when the " burdens of the state" were alone upon the shoulders of the wealth-producers ; is it wonderful that persons so circumstanced should contemn and despise the selfish outcries of these same " middle-class men" against the imposition of Peel ' s Income Tax , when they know that the necessity for the measure has been created by the course of conduct so unceasingly pursued by the now sensitively selfish opposers of taxation 1 !
Is it not shamelessly unjust and ontragcously indeceat , that the " middle classes" should dare to utter one word of complaint against taxation , in whatever Ehape , or in amount however great I Is it possible to conceive of any thing so-repugnant to the principle of fair-play , as the conduct of the " middle-class men" in opposing the imposition of a tax which will affect themselves , when they have maintained the iniquitous system which has rendered that tax necessary and just ]
Tne opposition however , selfish and shameful a 3 it is , has failed 1 The Income Tax will pass I And then—O then ! for a squeak ! The cry of the poor starved operative for relief from his tremendous share of taxation ; the outry of the producers of wealth against the £ 53 , 000 , 000 , will be moderation itself when compared with the vehement denunciations of the " middle classes" against the £ 4 , 000 , 000 !
There i 3 one thing which the people would do well to mark , in connection with this Income Tax , and the amount sought to be raised by it . Were our Government what it ought to be ; were our " engagements" what they ought to be ; were all parties disposed to look our difficulties fully and fairly in the face , and to apply the only efficient remedy ; were the Debt equitably got rid of , and the necessity for maintaining a standing army to collect taxes to pay the interest , superceded ; were the pension list , and the sinecures , and the grants , and
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the allowances unsparingly pruned , as they ought to be ; were the salaries of the officers of state reduced to a just and equitable amount ; were those who have the power of taxation in their hands disposed to do justice to the people , the £ 4 , 000 , 000 sought to be raised by the Income Tax would be more than sufficient for all the wants of Government ! Thb Amebican Government does not cost the States thbee millions sterling a tear ! Why should ours cost more ? What necessity is there for our paying £ 60 , 000 , 000 a-year for the Government of England , when the Government of the
United States does not cost £ 3 , 000 , 000 ? Are we better governed \ Are we moie powerful , either at home or abroad ! Are we better fed—moreBecuxe in our possessions—more comfortable in our several positions ! The very questions are a mockery !! We are not more powerful ; for these same States when , comparatively weak , wrested their Independence from us . We are not more powerful ; for these same States , and this-less-than-three-millions-ayear Government , have , since they forced us to acknowledge their Independence , proclaimed war against , and beaten us ! ! This same people , who
only pay £ 3 , 000 , 000 a-year in taxation , had a navy in 1812 which blew our thundering and " big" one out of the water ; and they had soldiers which drove ours out of their country into the sea ! O , no ! we are not more powerful than they are 1 Our £ 60 , 000 , 000 a-year taxation does not enable us to fi ght better than they can : for they have beaten us twice ! Our Government is cot more respeoted at home than their ' s is ; nor are our people better satisfied with their condition under our dear Government . Why then should we pay more ? and especially why Bhould we pay bo enormously more \
The fact is always overlooked , that the country governs itself , and pays for its own government , wholly independent of the Government up at London . Each county has a complete government in itself . It has a lord-lieutenant , a sheriff , justices of the peace , and all inferior officers . It has a militia , when the posse of the sheriff is found insufficient . It provides for all these by a tax called the countyrate . The counties pay , and pay well too , for the governing of themselves , just as the several States of America do ; and the one county of Lancaster pays
more for that purpose than any four or five of the American , States . When the tax-eaters tell us , therefore , and when good , easy , foolish people adopt the tale , that Goverment must be supported , the proper answer is , that the Government is supported in the counties , and in the cities and towns . But what these parties mean by " the Government , " are the fund-holders , the dead weight , the pensioners , the sinecure-people , the haunters of the clubhouses , and all the swarms of idlers that devour the substance of the nation . These are what the
taxeaters mean , when they raise the cry of " National Faith , " and " Government must be supported . " It is for these that the sum of £ 60 , 000 , 000 sterling a-ycar is required ; and it is to keep up these that Peel finds it necessary to resort to the Income Tax , as the best and most equitable means of raising the required amount to pay with . The main portion of the business of that which is really "the government of the nation , " being attended to and paid for in the several counties , it follows that there is really very little left for the general government to attend to , or pay for . There is the
monarchy and its expences ; the officers of state ; the judges ; the ambassadors ; the nary ; and the contingent expences appertaining to this general government . These are all that have to be provided for ; all that are needed . To provide for these , and to provide amply , too , the sum sought to be raised by Sir Robert Peel , through his Income Tax , is more than sufficient ! It would be extravagance to leave at the disposal of the Queen , for her own and her personal attendants , more than £ 150 , 000 a-year ; and it would not require more than £ 300 , 000 a-year for the salaries of officers of
state , judges , ambassadors , and other contingent expences , if we only paid for services rendered . The whole of the navy during the last peace , cost little more than a million pounds sterling a-year ; we now pay the enormous sum of £ 7 , 000 , 000 !!! But then we have a " Naval Academy , " ont of which all naval officers come . This " ' Academy" is supported , it is needless for us to say , out of the taxes ; and into it none can enter , unless they have interest sufficient with the " authorities . " One of the consequences of this system is , that a return laid before Parliament a few years ago showed that there were
persons belonging to aristocratical families , who were become post-captains over the heads of thousands upon thousands of seniorsm the service ! and that some of these post-captains were actually in the eommand of ships , having under them Bailing masters and lieutenants , who were serving at sea before these same captains ic ere born !!! And it is with stuff like this that we are to tight Jonathan > Our last disgraceful war with America was commenced by one of these sprigs of nobility , named Dacre , a relative of the Lord of that name . Being a captain of a frigate , the Guerriere ( which word .
in English , means warrior , " "famous fighter ;" or " hero ^' J , and being in the West Indies , Dacre was dispatched to the coast of the United States . Recollecting the story of Van Trom p , he hoisted a broom at his mast-head , thereby notifyinghis intention to sweep Hie seas of the ships of the enemy . Jonathan went out with a frigate , called " The Constitution , " commanded by a Yankee with the rough and patriarchal name of Isaac Kitll . The two ships met , and Jonathan
beat Dacre in ten minutes , and took him into port as a prisoner of war , ihe broom still slicking at the mast head ! I ! The loss sustained by Jonathan in this engagement was , seven killed and seven wounded : while the beating , the smashing the knocking-io-pieces , which old Isaac 111 'LLinfljcled upon US , involved the killing of fifteen the wounding of sixty-two !! and the loss of twentyfour others , supposed to have gone overboard with the masts !!! Old Isaac contrived to kill and
wound , and throw overboard to be drowned , a hundred and one men , OUR MEN ; while he himself had only seven killed and seven wounded 1 ! Good God ! what a smashing ! A Captain who had come from before the mast , might have been unable to beat the Yankee ; but such a Captain would have gone to ths bottom ; or , at least , laid his own body dead upon the deck I Not so , however , the " aristocratic" Captain ; a sample of those turned out of the costly " naval aoademy . " He was smashed in a few moments , and led into port ia the most lady-like manner !
Another o ? the consequences of the present system , is , that we have two Admirals to every ship of the line !! Incredible as this may appear , it is the truth ! The fact is recorded in returns published by order of the Government ; and it is so monstrous , that it seems to call in question , not only the spirit , but also the sanity that permits an abuse so outrageous ! Need we wonder that , £ 7 , 000 , 000 a-year are required to keep up a navy like this ! If we
have two admirals to every ship of the line , how many inferior officers have we to keep , either on half or full pay ? Of the number thus quartered upon us we may judge when the fact is stated , that of the seven millions paid yearly for the support of our navy , not so much as a million-and-a-half goes to the seamen and marines !! Their wages amount but to the sum of £ 1 , 422 , 800 . Judge from this , what is squandered amongst the needy children of aristocratic corruption !
But suppose the maintenance of our Navy should now require the sum of £ 3 , 000 , 000 a year ; i . e . when the disgraceful state of things we have faintly hinted at are set right . Suppose this : and for that sum we csnld have a really efficient and all-powerful navy ; a navy such as a nation situate and circumstanced as we are , should and must have , if we hope to maintain our standing amongst the nations of the earth . Suppose , then , that a really powerful navy would cost us £ 3 , 000 , 060 , still that would make
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the whole expenditure of the general government to be lees than £ 4 , 000 , 000 sterling a year . We defy any man to poiut out the necessHy of any expenditure beyond this ! The whole of the government expences of the United States ; the general government , with its army , navy , ambassadors , custom-house officers , and all put together ; and adding : thereto the government expences of the twenty States of which the Union consists ; all these put together , do not amount to £ 3 , 000 , 000 sterling ; a year . Again we ask , why should we want more ? And if we do not want more , why should we raise more 1
"Ah" ! but whispers some be-wiskered and mow « - tached dandy , who is trussed-up in a suit of regimentals , and who , because he wears a sword , dubs himself a soldier , " you have made no provision for the army 1 England , or at least her government oould not exist without herarmy ! That army now costs the nation £ 8 , 000 , 000 annually : how could you maintain that army when you only propose to raise . £ 4 , 000 , 000 for the whole expences of the general government . You must surely have forgotten the army , and the necessity there exists to provide for it . " O ! no , Mr . Haiey-faCSe , we
have not forgotten the army ; though we have made , in our estimate of government expenditure , no provision for its payment . And why should we ? What is the army wanted for ! We have already been at peace for a quarter of a century ; . and every session of parliament brings with it the royal assurance that the continuance of peace with all those powers of the world that we need care for , becomes more and more certain . What , then , in God ' s name , do we want the army for ? True , we are at war with China , and we are sending a considerable portion of our army to India to
take * ' REVENGE" upon a barbarous people who put some of our people to death , for invading their hearths , their homesteads , their country . True , that " glory " and " victories" are being achieved by " our arms" in the Chinaman's land ; and that " glory" and M viotories" are to be reaped in Affghanistan : but was for it for the purpose of forcing the Chinese to allow us to poison them with opium ; and was it that we might be able to invade the territory of the Affgans , and ( Christian-like !) " REVENGE" their "barbarous" deeds of warfare consequent on that invasion \ wn $ itfor
these things , that we have maintained a standing army of 100 , 000 men for more than a quarter of a century V If not ; then we again ask what is the army wanted for ? We are aware that the common notion is , that the army is wanted to support the government . It is time that we had a clear conception of what the word government means . As we have stated above , our government is id be found in each county , just as the government of the United States is to be found in each stata , with this difference , that their state governments are not near so expensive as our county governments are . Let
us again look at our county governments , however , which are ia their form and manner ( stripping them of their abuses ) just what they were Beveu hundred years ago , and are the very best governments in the world . What is government ? Andwhat is its business ? Its business is simply to keep the peace , to take care of men's persons and property ; and to give to the people all the enjoyments which nature tenders to them , as far as the mutual safety of the whole will permit . To effect these objects , we have in each county a chief magistrate , called a
lordlieutenant , appointed by the Crown ; and he has deputy-lieutenants appointed by himself . We have justices of the peace in abundance , holding their petty sessions in every small district , and bringing their collective wisdom to a sessions of the whole county once in every quarter of a year . We have , in case of emergency , a sheriff to call out his posse , to protect persons and property . The posse being thought insufficient , we have one , two , or three battalions of militia in each county , ready to be called out by officers already appointed .
Thts w the Government of England . This is English Government ; and in God's name , what do we want with morel What do we want with an army to cost us , besides our county government , the enor * mous sum of £ 8 , 000 , 000 a-year ! God has drawn the waters around us ; and by all he has done for us , seems U > havo said to us , " be wiBe , and be virtuous ; and be the greatest , the freest , and the happiest people in the world . " What , then ! are we to cast these blessings from us ? Are we impiously to reject them , and to encumber ourselves with this standing army ; with this burden which presses us to the earth , and which exists in open violation , and defiance of all those principles which were the guide of our free and happy forefathers ?
. Blackstone , the great teacher of our laws , tells every student , that the laws and constitution of England know nothing of a standing army ; that those laws hold barracks , inland fortresses , and every thing tending to make the soldier a character different from the citizen , in abhorrence ; that those laws , in their very principle , forbid any thought of keeping the soldier in a state of separation from the people ; that when men hare arras put into their
hands , and are embodied for the purposes of war or defence against foreign aggression , they ought to be disbanded and become citizens again the moment the war is over ; that the character of . a soldier can never be permanent , consistent with the laws of England ; and that , in whatever country there is a permanent standing army , there never can be , and there never was , anything worthy of the name of public liberty .
Such are the teachings of Judge Blackstone , the great expounder of Epglish law . And it follows , as we said before , that either Blackstone did not know what English law was , or that our £ 8 , 000 , 000 a ^ year standing army exists in open violation and in defiance of the constitution of the land . Blackstone did understand English law . No one , not even the greatest stickler or apologist for a standing army , will dispute this position . That law distinctly lays down that every man between certain ages , is liable to be called upon to take arms to
defend his country from the invader , or to repell aggression upon our national honour abroad . Many statutes appear upon the pages of the statute-book setting this foith , clearly and unequivocally . One of these , being Chap . VI . of the "Statute of Wmche 8 fcer , made at Westminster , " in the thirteenth year of the reign of Edward I ., and in the year 1285 , is so apposite , 80 fully to the point , and so completely sets the question at rest as to the right of the people to have arms , that we quote it at length , as follows : —
And further it ia commanded , " That every man have in his house Harness for to keep the Peace , [ after the antient Asslae : That ia to Say— . ' : ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦¦ ' " : : ¦ ¦' . ' ' . ' ¦¦ , ¦¦ ¦ .. ' ¦ ¦ ¦ .. " ¦ ¦ V Every man bttween fifteen years of age and sixty years BhaU be assessed and sworn to Armor according to the quantity of their Lands and Goods . " That is to wit , from fifteen pounds Lands and Goods fourty marks , an Hauberke , a Breaat-plate of Iron , a Sword , a Knife , and an Horse . " And from ten pounds of Lands and twenty marks Goods , an Hauberke , a Breast-plate of Iron , a Sword , and a Knife . " And from fire poundB Lands , a Doublet , a Breastplate of Iton , a Sword , and a Knife .
" And from fourty shillings Land and . more unto one hundred Bhilllnga ot Land , a Sword , a Bow and Arrows , and a Knife . . : , " And ha that hatk Ies 3 than fourty ehUUngs yearly , shall be sworn to keep Gisarms , Knives , and other less weapons . . '¦ ; . '¦¦ ¦ ' - . ; ' . . v . ; .. / . ¦ . " : ¦ ¦ ¦ " And he that hath less than twenty marks In Goods , shall have Swords , Knives , and other less weapons . " And all other that may shall have Bowaand Ar « rows out of the Forest , and in the Forest Bowa and Boults . , ¦ " ; ¦ ¦ . ' - : ' •¦ . ¦' - ¦ . ¦ ; ¦ ¦ ¦ . ' . ¦'¦ ¦ : ' : ' ¦ ;•• And that view of Armor fee made every year two ¦ times .. . ¦¦ ' ¦ .. - ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ,. - . . . ¦'" ,. ¦¦¦¦ '¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' " ..- ' " . * " And in every Hundred and Franchise two Constables shall be chosen to make the view of Armor .
" And the Constables aforesaid shall present before Justices assigned such Defaults as they do see in the Country about Armor , and of the Suits of Towns , and of Hi | li-ways , and also shall present all such as do lodge Strangers In nptanflislivTowns for whom tbpywiU notanrwerj
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" And the Justices assigned shall present at syery Parliament nnw the king such defaults as they ahall find , aad the King aBBn and remedy therin . " Here , then , wesee that it U comih <» nded that etery UAkshall have in hUhotiseaums and ^ standing in life . Other statutes dixeotly provide that at stated periods there shall bei regular musters of all persons liable to bear arms , when . and where they shall be examined aad taught as te the use of them . It is also provided that " the kings of the realm shall levy a number of their people and
subjects for the service of their majesties and of the realm ia their wars , such as are most able and likeliest to serve in the same ; " and the 18 th of Edward the Third , cap . 7 ., passed in the year 1344 , expressly provides that " men of arms , hoblera and archera , chosen to go in the king ' s service out of England , shall beat the king ' s wages from the day that they depart out of the counties where they were chosen , till their return " This , then , sets the question at rest , as to the practice in former times , with respect to the bearing of arms . It was not then a " profession ' ! It was a duty imposed upon every one . The soldier was a citizen , and the citizen was a soldier . He was
required to learn the use of arms , and to hold himself in readiness to defend his common country ; holding himself in readiness , indeed , to defend his own possessions . When he was called upon to go out of the country to maintain his country's rights or the national possessions , he was then " at the King's wages ; " but these wages ceased the moment he returned , when the war was over . And thus it is wi th the American States at this moment ! They have adopted this most excellent and liberty-preserving " English Institution ; " and while they preserve it , they may bid defiance either to attempted despotisms at home , or tyrannical invasions from abroad !
But what is our practice ? Have we preserved this institution ? No 1 ! Our rulers have acted as if they were determined to leave nothing undone to make the government of England precisely the contrary of that which Blackstone and the ancient laws of the land say it ought to be I Not only have they made a permanent standing army in time of peace ; not only are they in time of peace continually augmenting that army ; not only do they , by means of barracks , fortresses , depots , and other establishments carefully keep the soldiers separated from the people ; not only have they made it death
by the law in any man to attempt to seduce a soldier from his duty ; not only do they keep up the enormous half-pay ; not only have they numerous bands of military officers on full pat , though engaged in no service whatever !; noti only these things have they done , and these things they do ; but they have establishments for the purpose of taking children from their homes at a very tender age , keeping them shut up in an enormous building , standing in the midst of the wildest heath in the kingdom , at a great distance from all the habitation of men—there to be cut off from the rest of the
people ; to have their minds formed in a purely military mould ; to imbibe no feelings in common with the people ; taken so young as to require nurses to attend them :. . an establishment , in short , the very outline of which conveys to the mind of every man who contemplates it a complete conviction with regard to the motives from which this establishment , this " Military Academy , " was made !
O , no t we need make no provisionfor a standing army . A standing army is nQt of the "Institutions of the country . " A standing army is , unconstitutional ! It ia acknowledged to bo so every year of parliament ; for the act by which it is kept in existence is only passed from year to year , solely on account of its unconstitutionally ! 11 No ! no we shall need no standing army , when we have done justice to the people ! That army is ; only now required to collect at the point of the bayonet the
£ 60 , 000 , 000 a-year needed to support and carry on the present iniquitous system . When the debt is got rid of ; when the pensions , and sinecures , and retired allowances , and grants , and dead weight are removed from the back of the broken-down people ; when ihe salaries of the officers of state , the judges , and the ambassadors , are reduced to a reasonable amount ; when the civil list is placed on a proper footing ; when these things ate grappled with , and equitably adjusted , then we shall have no need for a standing army !
The amount , then , sought to be raised by Peel , by his new Income Tax , would be more than sufficient for all the purposes of general government , were the expenditure of that government only that which it ought to be ! Let the working people note this fact Well ! Let them hoard it in their memories ! Let them remember that an expenditure of that amount would give us a truly efficient and really powerful government ; efficient for all the purposes of protection at home , and powerful against all aggressors abroad . Let them treasure up these facts , and let them remember also how easily the required amount could be raised !! 7 A tax of three per cent , upon the Income of the
country would be all that would be required !! Away would go all the old , expensive , and cumbrous machinery of indirect taxation ! Away would go the indirect taxation itself ! The £ 53 , 000 , 000 now raised by its means , Would be left amongst the producers of wealth ; to be enjoyed by them , instead of being , as now , filched from them by an unseen hand ! We should then be in a condition to bid defiance to the foreigner and his foreign trade , * for we then should have amongst us , at home , more than he gives ua for the whole of our foreign trade put together ; and we Bhould have , besides , the whole of the vast heaps of wealth we now let the foreigner have for an old song to distribute and divide amongst ourselves !!!
Working people 1 do you now see where the pinch is ? Do you now see what it is that the Charter is mainly required to effect !
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION AND THE NATIONAL PETITION . The Convention ia fairly at work ! Let the reader carefully peruse the copious reports of their proceedings , which we this day present him with ; and let him firmly resolve to act up to the spirit there indicated , and turn not , either to the right hand or to the left , from the straightforward Chamer . highway . Preparations are being made by the Convention for the presentation of the
GREAT NATIONAL PETITION on the 2 nd of May . The . members of that body are doing their duty to the country , by making all arrangements to give due effect to the National Will . Is the Country doing its fluty to the Convention ! Are all the signatures obtained to the Great National that can be obtaiued 1 Have all the exertions possible been made in every locality to fill the sheets ! Ia it not possible to ADD to the muster boll of Chartism , during the ensuing Week , many and good recruits , who only want asking 1 Let this be tried !!! Let
every shoulder be put to the wheel—every effort made , during the short period that will intervene between and the presentation of the embodiment of the people ' s voice to the * ¦ ' assembled Commons , " to swell the number of those who demand freedom for themselves ! freedom for their children !' . freedom for their country !!! .- ' . ¦ £ ; As fast aa the sheets axe filled up , let them be neatly pasted together , and rolled up into parcels with a cover on , ( but which cover must not inclose the ends of the parcel ; they must be left open , ) and forwarded , through the post , to the following address : —r
T . S . Duncombe , Esq ., M . P ., Albany , ( Petition to Parliament . ) London . Be . 5 ^« i top , that each parcel weighs under sixteen ounces . It is easy to make two or more parcels of the sheets , if they weigh more than the number
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of ounces just specified . If the parcelsj are under sixteen , ounces , they will pasa through tho post-office free : if they weigh mobe they will be charged to Mr . Dxtncombe : and we have no right to tax the pocket of that gentleman , because he kindly consents to be the bearer of the people's petition info what should be the P «» ploVHouBe . The last petition cost Mr . Duncombb nianypoujiiiiBjfiroiainav tentioh to this particular *
Mr . Duncombe is again preparing to do his duly to the people . He has already given notice that ho will present the National P . eution , on the 2 nd of May ; and that he will , on the following day , move that the House of Commons take it into consideration ; and that the Potitionees bb HEARD AT THE BaB IN SUPPORT OP THBIB DEMANDSj by Counsel , or by their Agents . ¦ Now , then ! working people of the United Kingdoms 1 with you the work rests ! It is your pwni and for yourselves . You have a week to work in * Work as though you had never worked before Every hand to the pump ! and every fist to the Petition !!! Thei time is short : improve everx moment of it' Lose not one !
SIGN ! SIGN !! SIGN !!! SIGN !!!! and then for the presentation on the 2 dd of May ! I and the answer of the Commons to the nation ' s demands !! The following is the PROGRAMME OF THE PROCESSION WITH ¦ - THE NATIONAL PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON MAY THE 2 nd , 1842 . Marshals on horseback . Instrumental band . _ # Council of the National Charter Association of the
Metropolis . Female members of the National Charter Association of the Metropolis . Two marshals on horseback . Instrumental band . Delegates representing Wales . Delegates representing Ireland . Scotch pipers . Drum arid fife . Delegates representing Scotland . Bras 3 band . Delegates representing England , From various parts of the
Country , v Marshals on horseback . Sword of justice .
THE NATIONAL PETITION Borne by representatives of Trades . Marshals on horseback . National Convention , Carriages . Band . The Metropolitan Trade's Association . 1 Marshals on horseback . Favours to be tricolour for gentlemen , and . white rosettes with scarlet riband for ladies . Councilmen to carry wands . NOTICE .
- The members of the National Charter Association will assemble in a eentral position as early as eight o ' clock , and march to Lincoln'fi-inn-fields preceded by bands . A grand dinner will take place at the White Conduit House , on tho conclusion of tho proceedings .
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THE WORKING PEOPLE ; -THE TRUCK-; MONGERS ; -AND THE FRAUDULENT MANUFACTURERS . A BEFEENCE to our short report of the proceed ings of the House of Commons on Tuesday last , will . put the reader in possession of the fact thai Mn Bcsfield Febband then moved for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into tha truth of his allegations , as to the extensive practice of the truck-system in all parts of the country
where the labourer is at the mercy of the employer ; and also into the numerous / raurfs that are committed by our manufacturers in the production of their goods , to the manifest and direct injury of the national character and name . We are sorry that we are not able this week to give the speech of the Honourable Member in making his motion It is important that the working people should know the nature of his pleadings on their behalf : and wd shall endeavour , next week , to put those of that class who read the Star in possession of them .
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Frost , Williams , and Jones . —Mn T . P . Green , of No . 1 , Bath-street , Birmingham , requests the relations , friends , neighbours , and acauainlances in Wales , or those of any part of England , Scot land , or elsewhere , to furnish him with as many particulars as possible of their life , character t . political traits , biograpical sketches , the political persecutions they nave undergone in their local situations , with any facts connected with the con ' spirators who obtained their conviction , Gover-: mental or local agents , < S"c , to enable Mr . Green
to do full justice to the exiles . All' communica ' tions , to be prepaid . Any friend that may have been implicated in the Newport affairs may suppress their name , but furnish the facts , that all means may be used to make thepublic acquainted with the grievous wrongs those men have en-.: dured . . ' . - , - '¦' , ¦ ¦ :.. ' ; ; : - - : ' ' : ' .: ' : ' ¦¦ ' : ' ;¦ C * Bowman . —We have not by us just now the tables ' which would ' enable its : satisfactorily'to answer his question . : Depiford and Greenwich Chartists . —Mr . Mor »
gan may send his money here , with the statement of the soujice whence derived , and the purpose to which it must be applied . T . Pbeston . —His communication is an
advertisement . "¦ .-.. ¦ ' ¦¦¦ ' . ; ; -: ' ; . - ¦• . ¦'¦ ; Henry Bubton . —Nothing can be further from ourintention than to give offence either ta individuals or societies . We would gladly afford space for all the well written and well meant addresses of . individuals and societies if it were possible ; but we assure Mr . Burton that if we did so , we must exclude from ther Star everything else , and even then all could not be published . We are sure Mr . Burton would not wish to see the Star entirely ; ' . occupied with addresses such as : that to which he refersin his letter ; while the complaint in this very letter if his , that such addresses have appeared in our paper—one but a very few weeks
ago— % s an evidence of the impossibility of selecting , without giving offence , as each party sending an address of course deems that address to be more important and necessary than the address of any other party . It was this very thing which obliged us long ago to § ive public notice , that in future we should insert no such addresses except from important public bodies , such as the Executive , the Convention ^ great Delegate meetings , or iti special ca&s where we might have reason to believe that necessity existed for deviaHngfrom the rule ¦ This notice has since been repeated several times ; and we were therefore bound to suppose the Birmingham readers of the Star to be acquainted with it . - '¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ' " ' : . :.. ' '" ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦" - ¦ ¦"" :. ' .. . " ¦ ¦ ; : ¦; ' . - .
Timothy Thatcher . —We are not aware gfhavm ^ omitted to publish any list of subscriptions which we may have received from Mr . Heywood . That gentleman has stated that he sent a list some time ¦ a&o of the receipt of which we have no recoUeetioh , though it is quite possible we may have received it , and in the mass of correspondence which comes here , more than three-fourths of tohich goes to the ^ 'devil , " for lighting fires with , every week , it may by chance nave been over' . looked and destroyed : arid this may account far the neglect ofwhich the KingGeorge on Hone * back Chartists complain . B . / T . does riot seem to understand the driveller . His great object is te obtain a notice in the Northern
"Star , which would serve as an advertisement for his" spoiled rag ! ' We feel no disposition to . bbligehim . > : : : . William Greenwood . —Haworih is a township situate in the parish of Bradford , in the West Riding of the county of York . It contains , according to the census for 1841 , « population of 6 , 302 . There are 1 , 348 houses , 112 of which are uninhabited . It also contains one church , or chapel of ease , seven Wesleyani Methodists , Bap ¦ tists , and other dissenting chapels or meetinghouses , in connection with which are eight l $ abbath schools . In addition to the above there is also one free day school . John O'Robrke . —We can neither say "Yes" nor
No' till we have seen the communication . J . A ., of"M . S . —Wehave no roam . Richard Bayes must refer to the advertisement . James ^^ Duffy , of Sheffield , will receive a letter at the post-office , Liverpool , on or before the 28 th instant , containing the address of his son George's wife , who will leave Liverpool on the above date ' : ¦ for America . ¦' . ' ¦¦ ¦•¦ : ¦ ,- \ - ' : ; ; . ¦ . " . ' - - ; : - ' A Walking Gentleman . —We have no room . Ant Pebson in Brighton wishing to have any Char' fist scarfs mar , be supplied by applying to . Mn M ¦ Morling . Mr § , Frost ' s Estate T ? vxj > ,- ~ The balance-sheet nextwek , .- . ¦ : ¦ ' r : ¦ . ¦ - . ' ; : ¦ . - . ¦¦ - - . '¦ . ; / - /; -: : " .
The Northern Stae, Saturday, April 23, 1842.
THE NORTHERN STAE , SATURDAY , APRIL 23 , 1842 .
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4 THE NOR THBBN STAR .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 23, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1158/page/4/
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