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TO THE IRISH PEOPLE.
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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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My Beloved Countrymen , . , As I long since predict * the time has arrived , ife . slander and flushing ***** «> f * str ipped of ite offensive and destructive po ^ j » tarftsftSSs j £ i « w : s * to ' * & » 3 W IW » a ( Je me a p f ;; dftongh fiction from the highest to the lowest has endeavoured either to stifle my voice or misrepresent my actions and motives , yet does the ripentagseason Of discussion and reflection promise to all who bave been overshadowed by the weeds of ignorance , a bounteous reward in an abundant harvest of
repentance . Yes , my countrymen , you will have to repent for _ QUr unjust censure of me and many others whose strnggle for their country ' s liberty has been set aowntohostility to yonrreligion , your principles , 6 nd tout cause , and if vengeance could find a place Bl the patriot ' s breast , mine xronM be complete In the proud reflection , that I have no sin , no crime Oo treason against Ireland to repent of , while , if lUitlce has toadied yonr hearts , yon hare much to ston e for . My countrymen , is there a family upon this earth that has suffered so much and so disinterestedly for Ireland as my family has , and is there
jangle living man who has tamely borne so much foul abuse and oppression as I have borne from the Irish people and their leader without bong betrayed into a single hostile expression o act ? When your betrayers were even hounding you m assassinate me at Manchester did I avenge the assault by any intemperate retort , or did I not rather hug my wounds as so many signs - ha victory which right was one day sure to achieve over might , reason over prejudice , and truth over falsehood ?
In 1841 you would have assassinated me for proclaiming opinions , the truth of which you have now learned , and for the right of expressing which you are now stoutly contending . Even those who are sow foremost in advocating the right of free discussion have invariably suppressed all mention of that kindly feeling , which amid unmerited and continnous abuse of the English people . I have succeeded in engendering between the people of the two countries . From the establishment of the Northern
Strr to the present moment ( now within one week of nine years ) that journal has not only been the unflinching and persevering advocate of a Repeal of t he Union , but llK Ijeen . the only journal that has dared to grapple with every act of government misrule and individual oppression ; it has never failed to communicate English reprobation of Irish injustice , while your own press , as if governed by the oppressor's rule .
DIVIDE AND CONQUER , his systematically withheld every manifestation of English sympathy for Ireland , in the hope of widening the gulpb which I fondly hoped to bridge over , as if its object was but a mere transfer of the exposure of Irish grievances from one set of jugglers to another , proclaiming nationhood to be attainable by a mere loosening of the ties of bondage , and asking for a domestic representation of that degrading superiority which cannot fail to preserve all the hor . tots of galling inferiority .
I , as an Irishman , heed not the sentiments of the deserters , Charlemont and bis middle-class volunteers of 1782 , who sold Ireland when they bad enhanced the value of their corruption in the political mart b y raising the price of parliamentary votes , and , consequently , of their own boroughs . We , of the year 1846 , are not to be governed by the opinions of 1782 ; for I tell yon , that no power on earth , save the Irish people , through their own chosen representatives , have a shadow of right to make laws to govern the Irish people . Tour government ¦ of King , Lords , and Commons , as proclaimed by Coarlemont and the boroughmongers , was an
admission of the nght divine of Kings to rule and reign , and of hereditary fools to reject , adopt , or alter laws made by the representatives of usurper ' s slaves . I have been before yon upon the question of repeal In 1823 I stated it to be the one thing needed for the redress of Irish grievances ; and in 13311 contended for Annual Parliaments , Universal Suffrage , and Vote by Ballot , as the means of mating it complete ; and I heed not now what time-serving scribblers may write , what placehsnters may say , what waiters-upon-Providence may think , or how the fastidious may feel , I tell you that as an Irishman I am for SEPARATION , which can alone mean and realize NATIONHOOD . Belgium , with less than one-half of Ireland ' s population , is an independent nation ; and Belgium is only separated from Holland b / a stream , and from p > oud Fiance by a tollbar . Switzerland , with not a third of Ireland ' s population , is a nation ; and only separated from France by a landmark , and from Italy bv
an arch ; while Ireland rocks as a cradle in the midst of ocean , which her usurpers have , from time to time , been compelled to fence , not for native protection , but to maintain a step-mother ' s sway over her reluctantly-adopted child . I tell yon more , that every sincere Irishman in the world means separation , with the Charter to ensure and perpetuate
NATIONHOOD . Talk not to me of unity of interest , and identity Of justice , between a conquering and a conquered people living under the same government . Canada has its parliament , Botany Bay has its parliament ; but the King , Lords , and Commons of England , by "their representatives for the time being , have the power of controlling or annulling the Acts of their Parliament ; and , I would ask , can Ireland boast of nationhood upon the grounds that her people are represented at home by usurpers , and abroad by ^ reiniers ? I say No , a thousand times—No .
My countrymen , the first step In the road to liberty is , the schooling of the national mind in the Value of the jewel ; the mode of acquiring it , and the means by which it may be preserved . And , Dow , if you are in truth prepared for sober discusfflon , let us begin with a consideration of your progress from infancy to old age ; in feet , for the whole of a long life of learning , as your Liberator boasts of a fifty years' tuition , the promised result of which was to be
NATIONHOOD . Isitthen tfATlONHOOD toshout , throwupyour bats , and applaud , when you are offered as hired murderers ; to shed the blood of your fathers , brokers , friends , and relatives , in a struggle of King , Lords , and Commons , against American republi ttoasm , to maintain and preserve the very ascendancy that you . have been taught to hate , detest , ^ d abhor ?
Is it nationhood to pin you to a declaration of ^ oral force onl y as a means of achieving your ^ "tty , while those means have been annually weakened and frittered away , by the sale of counts , cities , and boroughs , ofthe national reptesenfc&ou of which" you were taught to expect recaption ? s it a nationhood , or even civilization , to coalesce Wl& a base , bloody , and brutal faction , who have ^* a to resist to the death your demand for the % thing that you have been taught worth contendfcg for ?
Is it nationhood for the general of a national 7 to sell his sons jad . nephews and brothers-in-* and staff to the enemy in the very hour of that
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weakness which you have been faught to look upon as your opportunity ? Is it nationhood to promise you your country as a reward of your long and patient suffering , and then to carry the begging plate humbly to the Castle-gate or Stranger's Lodge for alms to purchase your forbearance ? Is it nationhood to shut the young blood from Ireland ' s heart , that her betrayer may plead its coldness in justification of his own treason ? Is it a nationhood to build a temple of liberty with your money and exclude all expression of your sentiments from it ?
Nationhood means a wall of mind , of blood , bone and sinew around national institutions accepted by the whole people , and for their safeguard you have been taught to substitute the dictates of an autocrat . ¦ Is it nationhood to throw the apple of discord into your own camp , when the very contingency you were told to pant for had arrived ? Is it nationhood to fritter down a representation ofthe national mind in the House of Commons from 43 to nothing , when yon were taught to rely upon moral force onlv ?
Is there no fine feeling , no manly sentiment , involved in a great national struggle for liberty , and is it nationhood to drink your greatest oppressors and tyrant ' s health , his glorious , pious , and immortal memory , in the waters of that river upon whose banks your chains were rivetted ? Is it nationhood to extract a large revenue from a starving people upon the pretest of its necessity to acquire power as the means of achieving their rights , and then to sell that power to their enemies ? Is it nationhood to teach the people that their fifty years' tuition was but' to serve the purposes of one family and its dependents ?
Is it nationhood to ask a nation of one religion to acknowledge even the temporal supremacy and sway of a nation professing a totally different faith ? Is it nationhood for a father to sell his sons to tLeir country ' s oppressors for places , pehsiohs , AliJ emoluments ? Is it nationhood to denounce castle subserviency as the basest and most servile slavery , and then to become a portion of the vice-regai kitchen ; panders at the Vice-King ' s table , and toadies at his miniature court and mimic pageaut ? Is it nationhood to beg for what your teacher told you three years ago vou were prepared to take ?
Is it nationhood , or even manhood , to become a national juggler , twisting grievances into profitable excitement , aud dashing from you the means of redress when it was within your reach ? Is it nationhood to lie , to slander , revile and denounce those who follow the precepts they have been taught during the whole of life ? Is it nationhood * to promise a brave people liberty as their reward for tranquillity and obedience , and then to disband the national force when the spoils of victorv was within their reach ?
Is is nationhood to make a people ' s blood boil with recitals of the butchery of their ancestors , to ascribe their degradation to the force and fraud of their enemies and oppressors , to | boast of physical force enough to re-conquer their lost rights and liberties , and then preach passive obedience and nonresistance as the national creed ? Is it nationhood to forge , rivet , and hug the chains of slavery ? Or , Is it nationhood to proclaim weakness , ask for co-operation and then renounce assistance ? Is it cationhood to foster ami-English prejudices with the view of perpetuating a profitable traffic in Irish grievances ?
It is nationhood to appeal to cold old blood , when every vein and artery should be fired with hot aud yeung enthusiasm ? Is it nationhood to brave , bluster , bully and defy in the hour of security , and to be found skulking at the Castle gates when hunger , pestilence , famine and danger threaten ? Is it nationhood to bear oppression one moment beyond the power of the oppressed to shake it off by the same means by which it was imposed ?
If such has been the definition of nationhood that you have learned from your . Repeal Dictionary , all 1 can say is , from such nationhood Good Lord delivei me and my country . Believe me that you \ vil not discover the true meaning of the terra nationhood from a banker , a brewer , a renter of tithes , a middleman , a lawyer , and a place-hunter , and your Liberator is one and all of those . Ir ishmen I in 1831 , when Ireland was ripe for the total abolition of tithes , and when 1 was prosecuted for leading the national ardour , O'Connell smothered the national fire , sold her agitation , and in due time transferred the grievance from the difficulty of
spiritual law to the facility of landlord's law . In 1832 , 1 succeeded in returning seven out of eight members for the county , city , aud boroughs of Cork , pledged to a Repeal of the Union . The hope of success had prompted Ireland to a noble exertion . In 1833 , according to my pledge , I endeavoured to force your general into that position which he had p ledged himself to Ireland to assume . I told him to his face and through the Irish press , that the Repeal army was ready for aciion , and that if he would not lead them on I would . In 1834 1 forced him into the first struggle—it was a glorious struggle—it pinned the skulkers to their colours and enabled the Irish to estimate the value of their
sacrifices . We triumphed , because we inspired courage where courage was needed , arid we inspired fear where fear was weakness . No man expected to succeed in carrying a repeal of the Union by a majority in the House of Commons , but every man who valued the principle thought he had derived benefit from the debate . When a great national object is struggled for by a nation , and when the people are told that their sole reliance must be upon moral force , common sense tells us that the only possible way of augmenting that moral force is by an aunnal discussion upon the merits of the national question . It is the only mode by which you can annually test the sincerity
of your representatives , and the reason why 0 Connell and the raock Repealers did not bring the question on annually is , because they did not wish to be tested annually . We had forty-three then , and gained Dungarvan after our defeat , and if a single pledged repealer had voted against us , he would have been indignantly hurled from his proud position . There was no skulking then , but the twelve succeeding years , during which the national question has never been mentioned , has been one continued succession of skulking , lying , juggling , exciting , damping , tricking , scheming , trafficking policy ; parading grievances to create excitement to get- money , and then selling the excitement for patronage when the last egg was laid . Oh , unhappy Ireland unhappy Irish 3 how my blood boils with indignation when I read of Scotch Highlanders proclaiming , through the Times , that you may be imported to reclaim the waste lauds of Scotland at 7 s . 6 d . a head . Have you yet discovered the error of your policy and the superiority of ours ? Have vqu not
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^^ 9 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ w ^ r ^ r ^ r ^^^ r ^^^ m ^^^ ^^^^^^^^*^*~ - ^ ^ » - ^^ »»—~ — — — ~ - — . - :-¦ . If !¦ -. ' ¦ <¦ ¦ . . .... -. LETTER VIII . TO THE IRISH RESIDING IN GREAT BRITAIN . THE FACTORY BRIBE ! Fellow Countrymen , In order that you should understand this question rightly , it is necessary that I should enter upon i fully . There is a great deal of misapprehension about
the Factory Question as well as the Factory Bribe . S ; me people are , and , indeed , many still are , under the impression that Mr . O'Coanell's vote against the factory children , for which he got the £ 1000 Bribe , was given on the occasion of " Mr . Fielden's Ten Hours' Bill , " but ; Mr . Fielden had not brought in any bill on the subject . Mr . O'Connell ' s vote ajzain tthe factory children was given on Tuesday the 10 th of May . 1836 . on the second reading of Mr .
POULETT THOMPSON'S FACTORY ACT AMENDMENT BILL ; the ohjeet of which \» as to repeal the main part of the Government Act > passed in 1833 . This Act ( the 3 . and 4 . William 4 , cap . 103 ) was passed in August , 1833 , to prevent the horrible torture which children were proved to have suffered in manufactories for a very long time . It was proved that , prior to the passing of this Act , children of ten years of age worked THIRTEEN HOURS A DAY in the factories . The surgeons and physicians of England denounced this system , and declared that the factory Masters who forced children of such tender years to work even ten hoursaday were infanticides . Mr . O'Connell , with
chat eloquence for which he is so pre-eminently distinguished , roused the indignation of the citizens of London against the Factory System . He said , that shedding the blood of the holy innocents was not half so inhuman as the cruelties practised upon little children in the manufacturing districts o * England . King Herod did not , like the manufacturers of England , the proutl cotton lords , shed the blood of children for money " Bear this honest language in mind , my countrymen , and contrast it with what O'Connell said after he got the £ 1000 from those whom he had previously denounced as more cruel , and inhuman than Herod , " men , who , tor money , sbed the blood of infants S "
No one can forget that Mr . O'Connell was in 183 G what ia called a " thick and thin" supporter of the Whig administration , He entered into a compact with that faotion . It was called the " Lichfield IIouso Compact : "the conditions of which were that Mr . O'Connell should give his cordial support to the Wbig Ministry ; the Ministry in return giving to him the whole Irish patronage . No appointment could be made in Ireland except with his concurrence , in return for which he supported the Ministry with all his power and all his influence .
Now tbe Right Honourable Poulett Thompson was M . P . for Manchester and President of the Board of Trade , and consequently one of the Ministry which Mr . O'Connell was bound to support , The Act which Mr . ThompsQn attempted to Repeal , though passed in August , 1833 , had not come fully into operation till the first of March , 1830 . The division on the second reading of Mr . Thompson's Factory Amendment Act took place on Tuesday the 10 th o > March , 1830 . The Factory Act ( 3 and 4 Will . IV . cap . 103 ) enacted that children who had attained their eleventh year were to work no more than
eight hours a-day from the 1 st of March , 1834 ; that children had who attained their twelfth year were to work no more than eight hours a-day from the 1 st of March , 1835 ; and that children who had attained their thirteenth year were to work no more than eight hours a-day from the 1 st of March , 183 G . It was to repeal those clauses , and therefore to erapower the manufacturers to work the children of all ages thirteen hours a-day , that Mr . Thompson brought in his Factory ' s Amendment Bill ; and for this Bill Mr . O'Connell and thirteen members or "joints of hia tail , " as they are called , Toted ou Tuesday the 10 th of May , 1836 .
The only excuse I ever heard him make for having given this vote against the Factory children —children who , he had often and often said , were sacrificed on the altar of tho Factory Moloeh , was that the deputation from Manchester had convinced him , that unless Mr . Thompson ' s Amendment Act were passed , upwards of thirty-five thousand children would be thrown out of employment . Now , my friends , bear in mind , and keep steadily
in view , that at this period a subscription was going on in England , Ireland , and Scotland , for the purpose of indemnifying Mr . O'Connell for the costs incurred by the City of Dublin Election ; that Joseph nurae , Esq . M . P ., was Treasurer for Great Britain ; that the Duke of Bedford subscribed £ 100 , and that there was a general and a particular or special subscription in Manchester ; the general subscription got up for the purpose of screening the special *> imanufacturers subscription .
Just think of this deputation of manufacturers convincing Mr . O'Connell , and Mr . Hume his Treasurer , that if the HOURS OF LABOUR were shortened one-third a-day that the Factory children would be thrown out of employment ; convincing Mr . O'Connell so thoroughly , that , on the very day ofthe interview with those bearers of the £ 1000 , he i n his place in Parliament , designated that as a mongrel species of humanity which , while it professed to shorten the hours of Labour , would throw those , children out of employment altogether ; " this , " said he , "is SPURIOUS HUMANITY !"
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He who , a day or two before this magic deputation visited him , said " That these very men TRAFFICKED in the BLOOD of CHILDREN , that they shed the Bi . OOD of BRITISH INFANTS for MONEY . " ¦¦ ¦ ., You are well aware that Mr . Hume professes to be a very eminent calculator ; and you know that Mr . O'Connell is no fool . Well , Mr . Hume voted with hufciend and patron , Mr . O'Connell , upon this oc casion , and they both voted against the Factory Children , and agreeably to the views of the deputation from Manchester . Is it not passing strange ,
that neither the Member for all Ireland , nor the Great Arithmetician of North Britain , would see , that if the HOURS OF LABOUR be shortened the number of hands to perform the work must . be increased . Surely , these great statesmen must have known , that if ten children worked thirteen hours a day each , it will require sixteen children at eight hours a day each to perform the same work ; and , therefore , the short or eight hour Bill should , of necessity increase the number of hands , instead of decrease them . Tim is precisely what the manufacturers dreaded . And henca the deputation and the £ 1 , 000 bribe to Mr . O'Connell . for his vote .
It is not the fact that this £ , 1000 was tendered to Mr . (/ Oonnell as a bribe for hia vote against the Factory Children . It is not true that Mr . Richard Potter , the Member . for Wigan , was the bearer of it , or that ever he handed it to Mr . O'Connell . But Ifc is tmo , that the £ 1 , 000 was subscribed by the Manufacturers of Manchester ; that a deputation carried the money to Londen , that that deputation persuaded Mr . O'Connell to vote for Mr . Poulett Thompson ' s Factory Amendment Act ; and , consequently , for the repeal of the Act passed in August , 1833 , for which he had previously not only voted , but speke most eloquently . It is also true ,
that the £ 1 , 000 was held fast by the deputation till Wednesday , the 11 th of May , 1830 , being the day nfter Mr . O'Connell voted agreeably to the vriahea of the deputation , when the money was paid over to Mr . Hume , the Treasurer , and not to Mr . O'Connel ) . It is true that Mr . Potter intimated to Mr . Hume , that the £ 1 , 000 would not be paid tilt after the roto on Mr . Thompson ' s Bill . It is also true , that Mr . Potter told me in the presence of Mr . O'Connell , but not in his hearing , in the Speaker ' s Room under the then House of Commons , where the Committee on the Drogheda Railway was sitting , and of which committee Mr . O'CmineJl was chairman—'' That the
MANCHESTER FOLK WERE NOT SUCH BUNGLERS AS TO PAY OVER THE MONEY 'TILL AFTER . THE VOTE . " The money was paid over to Mr . Hume , the Treasurer , and not t <> Mr . O'Connell ; but not at all as a BRIDE , but on the contrary , in the usual way that money is paid into the hands of a Treasurer , with this slight difference only , which is a matter of no consequence among honourable men , such as the Liberator and Alexander Raphael , and tho like , that the money was most honourably paid over for the vote . It should have been £ 1 , 300 instead of £ 1 , 000 , as thirteen tails-men voted with Mr . O'Connell .
I he noise that was made about thia money deprived Mr . O'Connell of the use of it for a considerable time afterwards ; and those who wr . ) te and spoke about it were generally so wide of the facts , so far astray , that they reminded me of the farce of "All in tho wrong . " However , in process of time , and when the storm bad subsided , the money not only turne . l up , but like many other public monies turned into the Liberator ' s capacious pocket : which will be 3 een '\ byth ' e following letter from the Treasurer . Brjanston-square , November 23 , 18-36 My dear Sir , —It is with unfeigned pleasure I send you a copy of thu resolutions agreed to at a public meeting , helJ » t the Crown and Anchor , on the 1 st of June last .
The committee appointed to carry into effect these resolutions have terminated their business , and I now transmit to you the sum of £ 8 , 489 15 s . 3 d ., which is the balance in their hands after defraying all incidental expenses . The reformers of Great Britain have by their liberal contributions towards the objects proposed , shown tbeii entire approbation of the intentions of th * meeting ; and the committee rejoice ia thinking that thepecuniury pressure which the Dublin election caused you to sustain , will by this means be materially alleviated .
The torrent of obloquy with which you have been so long and so furiously assailed by the leaders as w < sll aby menials of the Tory and Orange faction , has onl \ tended to raise you in the general estimation ; and to secure to you th 6 cordial support of the friends of Libert } and of the advocates of Reform in the whole United Kingdom . The malignity of your enemies has but stimulated tho sympathy of your friends . "; your enemies have devoted j ' ou to a martyrdom of calumny and abusej but the people of the three Kingdoms hailed you as tlie champion ' Ireland's violated rights , and the able advocate of civil mid religious liberty throughout the empire .
When the long catalogue of Ireland ' s wrongs and sufferings shall have become matters of history , the great achievements of Ireland ' s regeneration will be inseparably connected with your name . Contemporaries may be eiirious and ungrateful ; posterity will be more just . J cannot conclude without expressing my sincere condolence upon the hoavy domestic affliction with which you have been lately visited ; and permit me to remind you , that , embarked in the cause of a nation , you must not yield to the distressing influence of private grief , but , nobly struggling against those natural feeliugs pursue , your patriotic cause till its objec ; is attained . Believe me your ' s sincerely , Joseph Hume . To Daniel O'Connell , Esq ., Dublin . ;
Now then , there is the money , the bride , clearly and unquestionably traced home step by step , to the pocket of the Liberator , "the august moral force regenerator of his country , " as that beastly drunketi cowardly buffoon Tom Steele calls him . But hear how tho Liberator himself explains the matter ; attend to his own account of his sudden conversion from the advocacy of the cause of the poor helpless Factory child , to that of his cruel , sordid , tyrant master . MR . O'CONNELL'S EXPLANATION OF HIS VOTE ON THE FACTORY QUESTION .
At a meeting of Mr . O'Connell ' s constituents held in Kilkenny , on Monday , tlie 16 January , 1837 , being eight months after the infamous vote against the factory children , and two months after he had re ceived the Bribe through the hands of Mr . IIuiik- , Mr . O'Connell speaketh : — An your representative , my public character is your property ; it is identified with you . I do not meaB , however , to notice all the calumnies uttered against me . I shall only notice those of that comical genius , Feurgus O Connor who got his own cousin , a Tory , into I ' urliament . 1 shall explain to the men of Kilkenny the part taken by me on the Factory Bill . A -number of opera .
tives wished to have the time of labour limited to ten hours a-day , for everybody , old and young , 'children and alults . I refused to have anything to do with that plan , so far as it would interfere with the regulations affecting grown-up people . Yet I was ready to give protection to the children . ( Hear , hear . ) Their only property was their labour . Ilnd they been rich , ' the Chancellor would protect them , even against their parents . ( Loud cheers . ) I wns , therefore , the active partisan of the bill pas sed in 1833 , which thus assisted , and purported to protect , the children , as minors in law . Tlie 7 th sec . of that Act prohibits the employment of children under nine years of age—it prohibits such employment totally . From Mine to twelve years they are
to work eight hours luday ; and from twelve , if their parents choose it , twelve hours for a limited period . That is by the bill bS \ m ' i . In the year 183 G , eliildi'en who were twelve years of ngo were to come under tlie regulation making the hours of work . Tho children of the aye of twelve years wi-re , frem March , 18 S 6 , to be restricted to eight hours a-day . By this bill , which I supported , children under nine years were not to work at all ; and children who were nine , and under twelve , only a certain number of hours . ( Hear , hear . ) The children of the age ef twelve were , on the first of March , 1838—that is , the March of last year—to come under a new regulation , and to De subject to be worked only eight hourB a-dny . Under these circumstances , Mr . Poulett Thompson brought in a bill , leaving it to children of
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twelve years to work for twelve hours at they bad there , tofore done . The question was to be discussed on the second reading . I went to the House determined to oppose the Bill . Tho debate came on . I found this to be asserted , and not : denied by the opponents of the bill , THAT THE COTTON TRADE , INSTEAD OF BEING UNHEALTHY AS IT HAD BEEN DESCRIBED TO BE , WAS THE VERY CONTRARY ; -that if the bill was not passed , a number of not less than . 35 , 000 children would be thrown out of employment ; that a propor . tionate number of men , probably 10 , 000 , weuld also be thrown out of employment .- | Jnder these circumstances , Ieonsidered it would be cruelty to the children
themselves if I did not rote for the bill . Now , I will take care that this statement goes accurately before the public . I make it to you , as I wish to show yau I have discharged my duty as an honest man and as becomes your representative , and yonr thinking so , I care not a two . penny ticket what may be the opinion of others . ( Hear , hear . ) I have thought it necessary to give you this ex . plnn . ttion ; and now I ask my constituents , is there a man amongst you who does not think that I voted rightly . ( " Hear , loud cheers , and cries of " You did . " ) I will carry that cheer back to England , and tell them that every one of you , under tho same circumstances , would hare given the same rote I did . ( Hear , and loud cheers , )
, Was there ever such a clumsy , trumpery , mysterious explanation as this ? It is " confusion worse confounded , " and intended as such . There was not one of his constituents in the rotten borough of Kilkenny that would not have voted as he did for half the money , that is , £ 500 , Who produced the sudden conversion in the mind or the august moral 'orce regenerator ? The deputation from Manchester and the £ 1000 . But he took good care in this mysterious explanation to eschew the real question , which was this : —
I , Daniel O'Connell , your representative , pseudo member for all Ireland , am publicly charged with having received a bribe of £ 1000 from the cotton manufacturers of Manchester for voting against the poer helpless fac « tory children , whom I had , by my former votes and speeches , led to believe that I was their Saviour upon earth , their father and protector from the tyranny and rapacity of their heartless . taskmasters ; and although I had the evidence of . tho most . eminent physieians and surgeons in England , taken before a Committee of the House of Commons , that the cotton factories Here unhealthy ; that children under thirteen years of age could not work even ten hours o-day without Injury both to body and mind ; that instead of the Short Hour Bill , for
which I yoted in 1833 , hnd only come infe operation jwo months before I voted for its repeal , must necessarily have the effect of employing , at least one-third more hands than the long hour bill , for which I voted : that , although I hnd read Mr . John Fielden ' s unanswerable pamphlet , and heard his and Lord Ashley ' s humane and unanswered speeches in favour of the Short H » ur Bill : and pledged my honour to both these gentlemen on Monday the 9 th of May , 1836 , tlie day before tlie debate on the second reading of Mr . Poulett Thompson ' s Long Hour Bill , yei the deputation from Manchester convinced me by a thousand cogent reasons , that it would be for
the benefit of the children themselves Hint they should work for twolve hours a day , though their wages were to be no more than if the ; had worked but ei ^ ht hours ; that it is a base calumny for any one to say that I got £ 1000 for my rote , when everybody knows that it nas my friend , honest Joseph Hume , got the money ; and that ,, therefori > , my vote upon the occasion was influenced by the purest humanity , which , I am sure , you , my mo 3 t excellent , sensible , and patriotic constituents of Kilkenny will certify . ( Hear , htar ; "We all certify that nothing could be more pure , honest , consistent and incorruptible , than your vote upon the occasion . )"
-Would this not have been as good an explanation , and an honester one , than that which he gave to his Kilkenny constituents . Mr . Hume ' s letter , remitting the money , bears date the 25 th of November , not quite two months before I e made thi 3 extraordinary explanation to his constituents . There is a very amusing correspondence , upon the subject of this bribe , between Mr . O'Connell , Mr . George Condy , Mr . J . Bell , and Mr . Oastler , arising out of the publication of the following paragraph in BlackwooiVs Magazine for July , 1836 , page 126 .
The second reading of ilr . P . Thompson ' s Factory Amendment Bill was ably contested on the 10 fhofMfty ( an 1 after the eloquent and unanswerable protests of Lord Ashley , the Right Hon . H . Goulburn , Messrs . Fielden , BfOthertnn , and other fri < nds of tho . factory child , to which we can do no more than refer , was carried by u majority of two , ' the . members being 178 for , and 176 against the bill ; after which the government , in dismay , abandoned . the foul design of further persecuting the infant operative population . The division was signalised by an instance of shameless turpituie , of which one
wretch alone in the British dominions would have been capable . Mr . O'Gonnell has spoken on various occasions , in and out of Parliament , on behalf of the factory chil . dren . Three days before the debate alluded to , he had engerly sought Lord Ashley to assure him of his support , comprehending , of course , the whole weight of the " Tail . " On tlie day of trial , to the imiignnnt scorn and contempt of all men , he and they voted against him and u'jainst the infant suppliants for mercy . The sordid Judas of these daya betrayed them for gold . Three days alter the traitor had fulfilled the conditions of the
compact , had sealed the bond of his iniquity , u purse of £ 700 from the millonners of Manchester was presented to him . It was this mistake about the mere handing over of the money , and the error ol £ 300 in the amount , that led to the correspondence above nlluded to , the publication of which , one day or other , will not be uninteresting , especially as , under the hand and seal ofthe " August Moral Force Regenerator , there are strong symptoms of fighting , in which Mr . P . Costello , of Kilkenny , Mr . George Condy , , of Manchester , the Liberator himself , and a Captain Bell , have cut a conspicuous , if not ludicrous figure .
Having now , fellow countrymen , fulfilled my promise , I trust to the entire satisfaction of every honest and sound thinking man , I shall for the present take my leave of you , with the assurance that I have been influenced in this correspondence by no other motive than an ardent desire to prove , to you the folly of rely ing upon any man instead of principles ot which your conscience approves , and your judgment and understanding sanction . PaTKICK O'lIlGGI . NS . Dublin , 23 th October , ISiC .
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MR . FEA . RGUS O'CONNOR , AND HIS COUN TRYMEN . TO THE EDITOR OP THE NOnTlir . US STAR . Sin , —There nev « r was a more fitting opportunity fur Mr . Feaivus O'Connor . tqaddresshisexpatriated countrymen iu this metropolis , than at the present time , on the sulijocfc ot Repeal , and the position of Ireland generally , lie would find them rally round him iu lurge numbers . There has been great surprise evinced in many quarters that he has not been amon ' . 'st them sinco O'Uonnell deserted them . There remains but one opinion among the resident Irishmen in this metropolis as regards his intended visit
t < Ireland—that of a glorious reception in his native land . It is very much desired by those who wish well to Ireland that a good feeling should be brought about between the working classes of England and the Irish people : and I know of no person better able to undertake the happy consummation of such a task than Mr . O'Connor , lam , Sir , Your ' s most obediently . An Ex-London Repeal Wardex . Bridge-street , Westminster , Nov . 3 rd , 1846 .
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Loss of . 'One Hundred Lives . —Accounts received at Vienua from Austrian Friuli , contain particulars of an unfortunate event that had lately occurred at Goritz . A large number of soldiers and citizens were crossing a bridge of boats lor the purpose of assisting at a military review , when suddenly the bridge , which was inadequate to support the weight with which it was loaded , broke down , and a great many of the persons upon it fell into the rivev . According to the most credible reports , fifty-three Chasseurs and about forty citizens have perished in tlis waters of lsonia .
PRUftOttATION OF PARLIAMENT . A supplement to tho London Gazette of Friday states : — "At the Court at ¦ Windsor , the 30 th day of October , 1846 ; present , the Queen ' s most Excellent Majesty in Council . It is this day ordered by ( her Majesty in Council , —that the Parliament , which stands prorogued to Wednesday the 4 th day of . November next , be further prorogued to Tuesday , the 12 th Uay of January next , "
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{ Prom mr Second Edition o / lait Week ) LATER AND IMPORTANT NEWS PROM THE UNITED STATES'AND'MEXICO . SEVERE BATLLE AND CAPTURE OF
• MONTEREY ; - r i , We tAavo re 9 . eived , by the arrival'of the-steamsnip Hibernia in the the'Mereey on Thnreday morning , qur ^ dfespatcW from the United States to the lOtft instant inclusive . The ^ contents ef- these despatches are most important . The city of Monterey had , on the 24 th of September , capitulated to the American arms , &ftelr a severJ strnggJe of three days . Arapudia was , as is supposed , securely intrenched in the strongly fortified town of Mdnterey , 000 to 11
with from 9 , , 000 men . -General - Taylor stormed the place with about 6 , 000 men . Alter three days' fighting , a part of the time in the streets , and the 'Americans , at the point of the bayonet , carrying every rampart or other defence that they assaulted , General Ampudia sent a flag of truce to General Taylor , proposing to evacuate and surrender the city on certain conditions , which proposition resulted in the appointment of commissioners , who agreed upon the following conditions , substan . tially :- . ; .
General Ampudia , with his whole army , waa allowed seven days to evacuate , the officers with their side-arms , the men with their muskets , and ' a battery of 6 field pieces with 21 vounda of ammunition . All other public property to be left in the garrison , subject to the orders ' of General Taylor . ^ It was further agreed that there should bean armistice of 8 weeks , subject to the approbation op rejection of either Government . As Boon as the official despatches reached Washington , the American Government , without loss of time , despatched orders to General Taylor to annul the armistice , and . forthwith commence active operations against the Mexicans . ¦ : The slaughter during the three days' siege , waa great , particularly among the American officers , their loss , it is understood , being much greater than that of the enetBy . The officials detail of killed and wounded have not yet been received at Washington , but are estimated at 500 . It is due to the Mexicans to admit that they behaved gallantly . '
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LATER NEWS FROM IRELAND .
An outbreak of the populace at Tcmplemore is thus described by the Nunagh paper ' : — " On Monday last , as the steward employed under the Board of Works was about to place ] 5 « en , in accord with his list of instructions , on works at Carrigloughmore , near Templemore , in this county , a body of ab . iut 150 persons assembled , and prevented the others being employed , unless work was given to them all . The steward consequently was ihliged to abandon his post , and left them there . The police from Templemore , under the command of head-constable Pattavson , were on the spot , and no breach of the peace occurred . During the absence ofthe police from the town , a mob of about 100 persons blundered a bread cart of Mr . Joseph
O'Keefe , a baker > Shortly after this , the police returned to their barrack : * wjun anirtlier attempt was made on a bread cart from Clonakenny , when the men , who had just returned from a fatiguing and harrassing duty , rushed out halt ' dressed , and succeeded in bringing in the cart- of bread to their barrack yard . The mob amounted by tliH tihi 6 t 6 nearly 300 persons , and commenced flinging stones at the constabulary , whose forbearance was very praiseworthy , oneof them being struck with a stone , which inflicted a aevevo wound on bis head . The hoad-eonsta * ble then sent word of the riot to the next magistrate , who ordered out six companies of military , but befora their an-ivii ] , the mob , which had increased to upwards of 500 , rushed to tmc shop of a man named Ryan , where they were a < rain met by the five gallant
policemen ( the entire force of that town ) , under head-constable Fattarson , and succeed . ^ in forcing ; them from their position , at the point of the bay 6 " - > net . Stones were also thrown at the police , but no injury indicted , the greatest coolness , intrepidity , and forbearance being shown on this occasion . Tl e mob then went to the house of Ellon Il \ an , whore they broke four panes of g lass . Here again the gallant constables were to be seen , and , having gaimd an entrance into the shop , expelled the intruders and closed the door . ' A youug woman minding this shop received a blow of a stone in the head , but was not much injured . On the appearance of the military , accompanied by Sir ilenry Cardcn Captains Hartford and Webb , magistrates of the county , peace was restored , but not before one _ of the soldiers received a blow of a stone which cut him . This riot aated for about two hours . Six of the ringleaders
have been arrested , and will not be liberated without giving good and sufficient bail . " 'Appalling Distress in th Cocnii of Cork . —The Reporter of Tuesday contains a communication fr » nt the Protestant rector of Caherash . in which the writer says ;— " More deaths , through non-payment of wages and delays havu just occurred , one on a road a few mileB outside Skibbeveen , and two or three more in Sherkin island . " The Cork Reporter states that on Motiday . some . o ^ unemploxed ^ atlSMW ? 3 .-paraded the streets of Cork , and afterwardsp ' rote i ded , b the CfUuty giiiid j ' . l ' ry iooi ' ii , where a jury was slt ^ tins under a precept , to value the grounds on which th ' e District Lunatic Asjlum is to be erected . There they ranged themselves ontshie the ' bar , and a ?]; od for work , saying that thuy were worn out with hunger , aiid eou !
Tub Uungarvon Ri . vh . —With one exception , fifty ofthe prisoners charged with being engaged in the Dun ^ arvon riots have been liberated on a trifling amount of bnil . The one-exception is the " rin gleader , " Patrick Power , who has been most harshly sentenced to twelve months imprisonment with hard labour .. The Cork Examiner , of Wednesday , gives a friirhfc i ' ul picture of the distress of the-country . Tho King ' s Country Chronicle says : '" From evei * y part of the country we receive the most painful intelligence , and even in our own district the sutl ' crings of tho ]) i-or ave very seveve . ,-:-Fooo Riots . — * The King ' s County Chronicle also gives the following : —We "« stop the press to suite that an attack was made on upwards uf fifty loads of flour ,
which left this town in the morning on its way to Shannon harbour , i ' or shipment to Dublin . ^ Owing to tbe state of the country , ap escort of soldiers and pojice was granted the millers for its protection ; but this force was found totally insufficient , as the people collected in great multitudes , and seemed determined to have the flour at all hazards . News having reached tlie Earl of lloss to that effect , he immediately ordered reinforcements , and , as we now write , the military are marching past . We hear that the people have broken clown \ . he bridge at the Rape Mills in order to render the road impassable . It is stated that the women cut open several ' of the ba > : s , and succeeded in crrryiug off a considerable quantity . We have just heard that some cars were topped on the road near Cloneen , and three' loads of meal taken .
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CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT . A Base Shilung Margaret Murphy , an Irish girl , was placed at tlie bar bot ' ors the Recorder , to receive the sentence of the Court upon au indictment charging her with unlawfully uttering a counterfeit shilling , to ithich she pleaded guilty at the last inssion . Tho case had stood over for thu purpose ol inquiry , and Uiu result exhibited great depravity on the part of th » accused . It appeared tiititshe wiis servant » t ; i pulilic house , and that upon tlie occasion in question a person had tuUun some refreshment and tendered a shilling , which the piismier )]¦ i-lared to be counterfeit , and the party was taken into custody ; aud the prisoner , upon the enquiry before the liiiigistrjte , swore most . positively Hiat the accused party gave her a bail shilling , ami he was in jeopaniy o : being
committed to take his trial , when foriouately for the ends of truth tinu justice , some circumstance transpired which aroused suspicion , and the girl was cloiely questioned , and she at length admitted that the charge she had made was without foundation , and that she had herself substituted a bail shilling of her own for the good one given to h « V > y the ' customer at the time in question The Recorder uuiuiacirurted severely on the prisoner ' s depravity , telling !> er that if she had bem convicted of perjury she would li : tvebi : eu liable to transportation , and under the circumstances lie felt it to In his duty to fiasf upon her the full period of punishment uffixec ; by the law to the case of a single uttering . Taking into considera . tion , thvreforv , the imprisonment she hail already under , gone , the sentence was that she \) t kept to hard labour for ten calendar months .
Anne Sinner , aifasRufftjy . 29 , spiaster , was indicted on , Thursday for the wilful murder of lkiuiel Orawley , by stni . bing him with a knife . Mr . Ijodkin , ivith Mr . Clark , conducted the prosecution , aud Mr , Glarkson , through the kind and humane instrumentality ofthe sheriffs , defended the prisoner . The prisoner it will be rememberod kept a little eating house in Flower and Dean Street , and on the night uf tho fatal affray she was intoxicated , audit appeared rlierelind been a good deal of disturbance about her house , and she had been very much annoyed by the ductasid and ot
some other men . She was in the act cutting some meat , when the il ecase . l , who was U-antng oVMJ the counter , made some otfeusive oxpwssioii to" her . ana , as there was very good reason to believe , also la . L . bm hand on her pJL ' l . . " ^ »>«< - ^» & $ & which the prisoner ™** * Z £ J ? . lrlai nji » y . of she had iu her hairi , »« a "'™ . arils . Tn 0 vtiwnee which he died a fcw *^ E ™ i ,, t she m , rely had declared ^« ^ J ^ " * , ^ | l 4 fcre d to her , St ^ r- am-nt that th . knlfb m . 1 . he 'Jury found the p risoner-Guilty of Manslaughter . The sentence was deferred .
To The Irish People.
TO THE IRISH PEOPLE .
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seen the worse than folly of political excitement without a tangible , cheering , and universal , social prospect being appended to it ? My countrymen , all parties are now talking and writing about the value of your land , if your labour was applied to it for their benefit . Take advantage of your position and their weakness ; struggle for it yourselves ; write to the Nation , which is now your organ , and impress upon the young blood of Ireland the necessity , as a first step , of establishing the Repeal Co-operative Land Association . Let 500 four-roomed , stone-built ,
slated , ' comfortable cottages , be built in Tipperary > each in the centre of five acres of land , leased for ever to the occupants , and you will have a Conciliation Hall in every parish ; you will have an eloquent proponnder of your principles in every cottage i you will soon have possession of the representation of every country . I will pledge myself that your receipt * would toon exceed £ 10 , 000 a-week and that not an Irishman residentin England will contribute a farthing towards the support of gin palaces , beerhouses , and the government , until he has secured for himself that home in his own country from which " oppression has driven him . '
This is what the juggler would call " mending the old shoe "—putting " ruffles to the shirt j" this is putting a leg of mutton upon the spit . Irishmen in England—if you want to free your country , and UveHn it in freedom , begin , enrol , send your monies to William Smith O'Brien , through the Nation office , and then you = will see a correct list of your funds , and a balanije ^ sheet of your expenditure . Heavens ! what a sight it would be to see the first hundred Irish freemen going to take possession of the land , from which their ancestors were ejected by physical force / Your faithful friend and countryman , ^ ' ' Feargcs O'Connor .
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-Dkoukk and Fall of tub Polka .-A new . Hur . gariaii danco . called the ( border , isjll the ngoift uerroanv , and likely to supersede the polka .
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TOL . IX . NO . 472 . LONDON , SATURDAY , " . NOVEMBER 7 , 1846 . r { * RICE * iv * pk * cE ~ Vive Shilling * nml Sixpence per ftnnrtir
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--yX ^ < y- ^^^ t ^ AND NATIONAL TRADED JOURNAL .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 7, 1846, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1391/page/1/
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