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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1846.
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0 LIBERALJ300KS-ON-POLITICS, THEOLOGY — —--"AND SOCIALTROGRESS,
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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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. - How ready , Pric « OniShUllng : * "" *" THK 8 KCOND IDITIOK •! , MY LIFE , OR OUR SOCIAL STATE , PuuL a Poem , by ERNEST JONES , Barrister at Law . . fuii of wild *«^» tsiS £ ? £ SB S h «^ hie ? defe " ti 3 ite breTiir ? The author ' s inifa&ms swrnto * nsh fresh and sparkling from Hippo-SSineT He will want neither readers nor admirers .-ifoni . " ^ o ' ntains more pregnant thoughts , more bursts of Ivric power , more , in lino , of the truly grand and beautiful , than any poetical work , which has made its appearance for years . We know of few things more dramatically intense than the scenes betweer Philipp , Warren and Clare . —New Quarterly Rtvitw . Published by Mr . N « wby , 72 , Moi timer-street , Cavendibs-square . Orders receired by all booksellers .
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By the same Author THE WOOD SPIRIT ; An Historical Romance , in Two Tols . An unequivocally strange and eventful history—Ossianic inks quality . —Morning Herald , ¦ In every page before us may _ be discovered some fresh , vigorous and poetical conception . The fearful breaking down of the dykes is beautifully brought into the mind ' s eye . —tforninq Post . In reading * " The Wood Spirit , " we would , were it pos sible , gladly seize the author's pen to paint its merits and shadow forth its excellences in his own poetie language . We turn to such a work as "The Wood Spirit" with sensations somewhat similar to those of the weary travellers in the desert , when they approach those Springs from which they draw renovated life and vigour to continue their course . —Bury and Suffolk Herald .
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CHARTIST POEMS , BY ERNEST JONES . Price Three Ptnee . SECOND EDITION , EEVISED AND CORRECTKD . Toe wish baring been expressed in several quarters for the author to publish in a collected form his Poems that have appeared in the Northern Star , he begs to announce that a revised and corrected selection under tbe above title is now on sale . Agents are requested to send their orders to the author or to Mr . Wheeler , at the office of the N . C . A ., 83 , Dean Street , Soho , London , or to M'Gowan & Co ., Printers , 16 , Great Windmill Street , Haymarket , London , where copies may be procured .
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TO TAILORS . LONDON ind PARIS FASHIONS FOR AUTUMN AND WINTER , 1846-47 . By READ and Co ., 12 , Hart-street , Bloomsbury square , London ; And O . Bergr , Holy well-street , Strand ; May be had of all booksellers , wheresoever residing . NOW BEADT , By approbation of her Majestj Queen Victoria , and his Royal Highness Prince Albert , a splendid print r ichly coloured and exquisitely executed View of Tlyd Park Gardens , as seen from Hyde Park , London . With this beautiful Print will be sent Dress , Frock , and Riding Coat Patterns , tlien west style Chesterfield , and the New Fashionable Double-breasted Waistcoat , with Skirts . The method of reducing and increasing them for all sizes , explained in the most simple manner , with I iur extra Plates , and can be easily performed by any person . Manner of making up , and a full description ot the Uniforms , as now to be worn in the Royal Navy , and other information . —Price 10 s ., or post-free 11 s .
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LITHOGRAPHIC ENGRAVINGS OF THE DUNOOMBE TESTIMONIAL . MAT still be had at the Office of Messrs . M'Gowan and Co ., 16 , Great Windmill Street , Haymarket , London ; through any respectable bookseller in town or country ; or at any of the agents of the Northern Star . The engraving is on a large scale , is executed in the most finished style , is finely printed on tinted paper , and gives a minute description of the Testimonial , and has the Inscription , &c , etc ; , engraved upon it . PRICE FOURPENCE .
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On the 1 st of January will be published , No . 1 , ( price Gd . ) of THE LABOURER , A Monthly Magazine of Politics , Literature , Poetry , &c Edited hy FxABons O'Connor , Esq ., and Ebkest Joned , Esq ., ( Barrigters-at-law . ) With contributions by several able coadjutors . " The Labourer " will consist of 48 full pages of matter ; it will be printed in a superior style on fine paper , and brought out , iu all respects , equal to any Magazine of the day . No . 1 , will contain a " Christmas Cabol , " in verse , b > Mr . Ernest Jones . Further particulars will be given in future advertisements .
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MALCOLM M'GREGOR . We have received a long and very interesting account of our tourist ' s progress , which , however . did not reach us until Thursday ' s post , and at that period of the week we are literally overrun with matter and correspondence of all kinds .
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O BALLOT . It must be distinctly understood that all monies to be paid on account of the next Baliot must be paid on Thursday , December 3 , to enable the secretary to make his arrangements .
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CONFESSION OF "THE TIMES . " " Open confession is good for the soul" and indicates a step in the road of repentance . This maxim may hold good in religion , when the clemency of the many is charitably conceded for individual injury , and when mercy may be inexpensively granted , but we doubt much that commercial forgiveness can be calculated upon those easy terms . Our iron-hearted gods must be propitiated by something more than confession and repentance , and Iiencewe fear that the
merciful appeal made by our sinning brother to his bard hearted judges will fail to insure their forgiveness . "SYe have asserted from the beginning to the end of the Free Trade agitation , that the " Times " newspaper contained more incoherent and incomprehensible nonsense upon the subject than could be expected from a school-boy , or tolerated , if ventured upon , by a " Rory O'Moore" or even " Sidney Smith . "
We analysed the several astrological , astronomical , hydr-statical , and metaphysical signs relied upon in the horoscope of the magician , and endeavoured to reduce them to plain and simple figures and understandable words ; and from the best arithmetical calculation that we could make from the ob-3 truse data , figures , and hieroglyphics furnished by our inventive cotemporary , we were left but one salve f or our ignorance , but one conclusion to come to , and that was that the labourer had undertaken a heavy amount of job work , which was to be performed within a specified time too limited for its just completion . We were not , of course , censorious enough to put down anything to the debit side of the League , or the credit side of tbe immaculate
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Journal . We had , it is true , the presumption to object to , and even expose , the repeated fallacies—nay , we went farther , we showed the inevitable disasters to which reliance upon them must lead . From our slight knowledge of monetary transactions upon 'Change , and of railway speculations , we have ventured more than once to take the great city bookeeper to task for his unpardonable ignorance in those matters . We have known of ruined fortunes , broken hearts , domestic affliction , cut throat 9 , and other calamities , all , one and all , occasioned by the wild theory or sad forebodings of the great necroraancer . But who were we ? We rumbled but once a week , while " great Jove" thunders daily . We read of America ' s incapability of sending us 500 , 000 quarters of corn a year for a very long
period to come . We read the data upon which an ascertained increase of trade had been arrived at ; of the wholesome and healthy state to which Free Trft 1 e must inevitably bring us , and of course , foming from the leading Journal , it would have been worse than presumption , it would have been ignorance , to doubl , and treason to suspect . Then , after all these fascinating predictions of social equalization , we were disturbed in our halycon dream by the horrifying figure representing FIVE POUNDS A QUARTER for wheat before next August . Surely such a " BLOODY GHOST , " such an apparition , standing side by side with the Goddess of Plenty , was enough to frighten poor devils like us , who must earn our bread before we can eat it , out of our very wits . .
True , this apparition appeared to us in a renewed stage of the job-work , at a time when Free Traders and feeders , cheap bread men , high wages men , and plenty to do men , were trying to force the further "prudent and timely concession " of open ports from the prime minister . However , . we . must now presume that , whether well or ill performed , the job-work has been completed—that the contractor is h ? s own surveyor , and , having no further interest in the job , will condemn it in the hope of getting another ; and hence , to our utter astonishment and surprise , we find the following confession of the "Times" in this ( Wednesday ) morning ' s impression , I t is a gem , and should be { preserved as a relic . Here it
is—The last advices received from America confirm the impression that was made upon our minds some weeki ago . Combined with the accounts which are almost dailr arriTinp from different parts of Europe , and our own provincial markets , they remove the extreme nlarm which onee prevailed , lest the supply of food during the ensuing year should be insufficient for the waBts of this country . This supply may , indeed , fall below ' . hat of our more abundant seasons , bHt there seems no reason for supposing that its contraction will be sensibly or univer . sally felt . In every market throughout the kingdom prices have been receding , in obedience to the only law which can influence them—the law of supply and
demand . Indeed , at the present moment there is far lets cause for apprehending that we are on the eve of a general dearth , than that the English farmers , finding themselves jostling together thus early in the excitement of an unwonted competition , may crowd their produce prematurely into the market , and thus deprive themselves of the advantage which a more politic reservation would insure to them throughout the year . It is the interest no less of the public than of the producer that the available supply of grain should be diffused as equally as possible through tbe twelvemonth , and that buyers should not bnve to compensate the cheapness of December or January by an ex . travaeant dearness in July or August . We shall of course
be well pleased to find the present prices ruling till the summer ; and there seemslittle reason for supposing that they will hereafter exceed this amount , unless they are now reduced below their proper standard by tbe agitation of real or pretended alarm . Notwitstanding the quantity of wheat and flour imported from the United States , we learn from correspondents of knowledge and judgment , including the "Oenevese Traveller , " that there etill remain « behind a considerable proportion read ; for exportation , That there is little cause to fear the effeotof high prices on tbe other side of the Atlantic , or of a 4 s . duty on this , may be inferred from the fact that , though on tbe arrival of the last steamer flour rose from 50 to 75 cents , per
barrel , yet it soon afterwards fell 30 cents . A depreciation of this kind bas only one solution—abundance . And we are confident that although tbe corn harvests of the United States might be insufficient to repair the calamity of a general European dearth , yet that , with the present amount of our home-grown produce , ^ nitland can derive more than she absolutely wants , or is likely to want this year , from the western states of North America . That this consummation is very far opposed to that which we once anticipated , we readily admit . But if we plead guilty to the charge of having conceived unreasonable fears or uttored false prediction ' s , we may likewise claim
the merit of having in some degree brought about the falsification of our apprehensions . For we believe that it is in part owing to tbe representations which we ourselves put forth , in accordance with fears unfounded , indeed , but at the time very general , that we may attribute the extraordinary efforts recently made to transmit grain from the interior of North America to the coast . And to these representations also ii in some measure owing tbe stimulus recently given to the shipping employed in the European corn trade . Consequences like these more than atone for the precedent error , and , to our minds , outweigh a thousand sneers about inconsistency and vacillation .
Now how does the above open ? Vi hy with an actual confession that America after all is to be our mainstay , while the writer modestly relies upon the present prospect TO REMOVE THE EXTREME
ALARM WHICH ONCE PREVAILED . Surely , 11 if the penitent meant to make a clean breast , he would have said , "to remove the extreme alarm which we so ignorantly created ; however , as we feel more than gratified with the confession , it is no part of our duty , nor is it our inclination , to criticise the amende too minutely . The following passage is rather amusing , } "but if we plead guilty to the charge of having conceived unreasonable fears , or uttered false predictions , we may likewise claim the
merit of having in some degree brought about the falsification of our apprehensions . " This is going the whole hog in justifying the means by the end , while we cannot concede the fact that the means resorted to by the " Times" has prodnced other than the most disastrous hesitation , speculation , and loss ; while the reaction which must necessarily follow in transactions at all regulated by reliance upon the " Times , " will lead to further unsettlement , for which , no doubt , our cotemporary will take full and timely credit .
There is an old saying in Ireland , " you may as well kill a man as frighten his life out ; " and a butcher once recommended us to " kill a sick calf to save his life . " This has been the system by which the Times" bas saved so many broken merchants , so many insolvent traders , and so many starved peasants . We may now , with some hope of reliance upon the fulfilment of our predictions , again assume the office of head master in the school of political economy , and , in order to prove those various predictions , we will now set our pupil of Printing-House Square a sum . Suppose two-lhinls of the food of 9 millions of a population has failed , suppose that the
same root has failed in England , and suffered partial damage in other countries , that the rye has failed , and the peas have failed , and for all of which wheat and Indian corn must be the substitute ; and suppose , without the inducement of free trade to produce a sufficiency of those crops , and with the deficient harvest all over the world , other nations are capable of supplying us , out of less than an average year ' s crop , ? with sufficient to make up the deficiency , what is likely
to be the result when . speculation brings an increased breadth of land into cultivation , and when the surplus produce of untaxed countries is placed in competition with our over-taxed produce ? Answer . —Stagnation in all agricultural operations ; destruction of our home manufactures ; ruin of the farmers ; protection of the landlords by plundering the Church and defrauding the national creditor ; and the application of the Land to individual convenience , which can alone save tbe State from bankruptcy and revolution .
As we predicted , Free Trade is a question which the English Parliament could not deal with independently of other nations ; and , as a proof , we find that the Zollverein , or confederation of German speculators , has already met out friendly invitation by a hostile tariff . Upon the whole , however , with feelings of true Christian charity , we forgive our eotemporary , but we fear only upon terms to
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which the penitent cannot subscribe—namely , that he sbalf write no more rubbish upon subjects . which he does not understand , BUT LEAVE THEM TO US . Let us conclude by reminding our cotemporary of Dryden ' s satire upon Trapp's translation of Virgil : — : Bead the commandments , Trapp , translate no further , For tnere you'll find , " tbou shalt commit no murder ; Bead the Northern Star , Times , give o ' er your bother , For there you'll find we understand each other .
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" THE TIMES AND" "THE ASSOCIATION OF UNITED TRADES FOR THE PROTECTION OF INDUSTRY . " Some disagreement has recently occurred in Scotland between the master printers and their men , in which the National Typographical Association has seen just cause for interference , and the " Times" newspaper has seized ' the opportunity offered by this sectional squabble , for a thrust at all combinations of labouring men , while , from the constrained admission of the " Thunderer" we are enabled not only to justify the existence of such bodies , but to prove their actual utility . This we
shall do presently , meantime we must take a cursory review of the general tendency of the "Times " article . Our contemporary in the outset informs us , that about five months ago it was necessary to present the working classes with a clear and simple definition of their duty , as connected with strikes and combinations . At the very same time we also found it our duty to expose the suspicious source from whence tbe " Times" received its information upon the questions then in dispute , nor had we anticipated further revelations from the great prophet upon this subject , but on the contrary , we had a right to expect repentance and confession of ignorance upon that head , as we have received it for its ignorance precisely at the same period upon the principles of Free Trade and the question of demand and supply . However , the opportunity for a general thrust at the centralization of all the powers of labour for its protection is too inviting to be thrown away .
We regret , extremely , that the demand upon our space precludes the possibility of submitting the whole article for review ; we regret our inability the more from a conviction , that its perusal would strengthen the belief of every working man in the indispensable necessity of becoming a member of tbe United Trades'Association . As a matter of course , there is a great deal of moek sentimentality f » r the poor and dependent , assumed by labour ' s advocate . In the outset the " Thunderer" tells us ,
that " Combination , whether of masters or men , to be justifiable must be strictly defensive ; when they cease to be defensive , then they are no longer justifiable . An active combination is obviously nothing less than a conspiracy , whether it be on the part of mastprs to oppress their men , or on the part of men to coerce their masters . If wages be too high ( which seldom happens ) the individual employer may , of course , lower his own scale ; if they be too low , the individual workmen may , of course , refuse to give his labour . "
Now we would ask the reader , if it would be possible for a magician of tbe highest order to produce a greater jumble of nonsense and contradiction of " here you are , " and " there you are , " and " where are you ?" The writer appears to have altogether lost sight of the fact , that [ the ' powerjof the individual workman is as nothing to the power of the individual master , and that what may be termed the defensive
resistance of the workman , of which the "Times" recog . nizes the right , provokes the active resistance of the master whichgthe "Times" terms conspiracy . If the wages'be too high we are told that the individual master may , of course , reduce them , and that the individual workman may himself , of course , resist the reduction , but the moment the resistance becomes active , that is , when the men as a body consider themselves as defendant and unite , that
their union constitutes a conspiracy . It does not appear to have struck the " Times '' that a master and his men , no matter however numerous the employed ' may be , assume tbe character and position of plaintiff and defendant—that there is but one cause , however numerous the parties to that cause may be , that the master is a combination in himself , a corporation sole within himself like a monarch , and that the whole strength of the defendants is indispensable to place them
upon an equal footing with this monarch ; so that the argument of the «• Times" goes to the destruction , to the complete'' annihilation , of the mere modicum of privilege which , in its clemency , it would extend to its clients . The workmen may , of course , says the " Times , " meet in their own trades and their own locality for defensive purposes , each individual slave has , of course , a right to contend for himself , but the moment they unite actively , then they become " consplrators .
Our cotemporary has told us that its lucrubations of five months ago were produced by the strike in the building trades , but our cotemporajy forgets that the very principle ' of combination now laid down as conspiracy was the very principle resorted to by the masters , though defended jby the " Times , " and which produced " the active resistance of the men now condemned by the "Times . " Our cotemporary is rather in a dilemma in supposing the case of wages being ! below par , and men combining for the sake of enforcing a higher scale , by an universal
refusal of labour;—but then the magician gets out . of itjthus— " In such cases it is . somewhat difficult to decide how far the conduct of either party can be justified . Apparently they are both acting on the offensive , to this extent at least , that they both assume tbe initiative ; but it is only in appearance . " Now , here ' s a loophole , although the great authority has laid it down that all offensive acts are illegal , yet because a case occurs wherein the masters may find themselves hampered "IT IS \ SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TO DECIDE . " The reader will at
once see that the object of the writer is to strengthen the hands of the individual master , and to tye up the hands of his men . Further on we are told that , " Nothing is forbidden that ought to allowed ; but , at the same time , nothing is permitted that has a tendency to disturb tbe peace of society . The only thing to be absolutely avoided is the impertinent interference with affairs of others . " By St . Paul ! but this comes well from the greatest meddler in all Europe , from the ferret that pokes his nose into everything , from the running sores of the Queen of Spain into the charnel-house of the Bastile . Was it an interference with the affairs of others when tbe Free Traders of
1842 combined and conspired to turn their bands out to carry their object ? Is it a conspiracy for the masters of Lancashire now to conspire to make their hands live for seven days and pay seven days ' rent upon four days' labour ? Or will it be conspiracy only when the same hands are driven by starvation and want into ACTIVE RESISTANCE , not against the individual act of an individual master , but against the conspiracy of a combination of masters . Alas , and alack , the masters read the " Times , " advertize in the " Times , " and bribe the " Times / ' and screw the money out of their defenceless hands to pay the " Times ; " and hence the fume of the advocate and the spleen of the partisan .
In speaking of the Association of United Trades for the protection of Industry , the master ' s advocate tells us that : — "This monster combination is a signal example of the danger of centralization . " What ! Dangerous to whom ? Dangerous to what ? Has not the " Times" advocated tbe principie of government centralization , and master centralization ; and why assume the mask of justice and philanthrophy , and yet deny the right of centraliza . tion to those who stand most , nay alone , in need of it . The masters have their centralized government ,
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their centralized conspiracies andxombination , their centralized capital , their centralized justice , their centralized injustice , power , ' persecution , cruelty , torture , and terror ; a combination which requires some more power to resist it than the " Times" and the ordinary law would extend to the weak and defenceless . We hail the National Trades Association because it is the WEDGE that splits up and destroys the local power and local influence of local tyrants ; we hail it , because , under the management of our chief , it raises a common standard round which the sons of
toil may rally , and in their united power resist the aggressive assaults of , and offer active resistance to , tbe conspiracy of wasters . As in the case of the ma ter builders , when the " Times" published its brief and supp lementary evidence for its clients , withholding everything that came fr » m the labourers , so now , as regards tbe case of the master printers of Edinburgh and Glasgow , and the justice of their hands which we triumphantly gather from the brief of plaintiff ' s counsel . There are several communications sent by the masters complaining of the tyranny of the men ' , four have been selected for publication , some coming from a private quarter , and three arc noticed in a memorial sent to the" Times ;" the second of which we reprint bodily , and from i
we call for a unanimous verdict of acquittal against the exaggerated falsehood of the memorialists . and the ignorant defence of their advocate . Here it is body and sleeves" The second case occurred in another printing-office . In making preparations lately for the publication of a quarterly periodical , the re-niaking-up of the articles in their prescribed order was intrusted to the most careful and experienced compositor in the
establishment ; but this also was objected to , as « an unreasonable stretch of magisterial power ; and because the objections were not listened to , a similar circular was issued as in the former case , and journeymen forbidden to apply for admission to the office until the matter should be appealed to the executive - council . That body , however , having refused to sanction the decision of the Edinburgh branch , the ban has been removed , " , ••
Now , then , can the most prejudiced read the two concluding lines of the above paragraph , coming from the memorialists themselves , without being compelled to confess the indispensable necessity of removing the discussion of local differences to that unprejudiced tribunal , governed by laws sanctioned by all , and administering those laws impartially and without fear , favour , or affection ; Here ' s what the wedge has done ; it has split up the local blockheads that would have damaged centralisation by
varied practice , and it has enabled the Executive to prove the equality of its laws . Here then , is the triumph of justice . Here ' s the value of combination . Here is protection for labour : a protection against its own madness and folly ; a protection of which every man who lives by his Industry should instantly avail himself . What is the legitimate , the only conclusion , that we must come to in reasoning upon the expurfe evidence relied upon by the "Times" for the defence of its clients ? Is it not
natural that the several cases were submitted to the Executive , and that the Executive gave judgment upon the entire evidence laid before it , reversing the local decision when justice was opposed to it . Ah ! they cannot unprint the two last lines : — " THAT BODY , HOWEVER , HAVING REFUSED TO SANCTION THE DECISION OF THE EDINBURGH BRANCH , THE BAN HAS BEEN REMOVED . " Glorious triumph of centralisation ! Glorious victory over local folly ! Glorious testimonial , erected by the "Times" to LABOUR'S
WISDOM ! Th ? advocate winds up the case of his clients thus : — In consequence of these tyrannical proceedings on the part of the combined journeymen , the masters held a meeting and agreed unanimously to the following resolutions : — 1 , That no journeymen shall be taken into employment who either leaves or threatens to leave his employer on strike . " 2 . That no journeyman shall be taken into employ , meat without producing a certificate from his last employer . 8 . That in all cases masters will prefer non-Unioniste to Unionists .
We do not see that any objection can in fairness be made to any of these resolutions . They appear to us to be singularly mild and exclusively defensive With regard to the last of them , it is , indeed , too moderate . Instead of simply giving a preference to non-Unionists , we would advise the master printers of Edinburgh to refuse Unionists altogether . Aye , to be sure , ' refuse Unionists altogether ; to be sure , break up the combination of the weak , and preserve the conspiracy , of the strong ; to be sure , advocate tbe cause of the " ADVERTISER" and WEALTHY HEADER , and crush labour as a feast for the speculator . But , thanks to the " times" we live in—not to the " Times" newspaper—the hour has arrived when the combination of labour will be
too powerful for the conspiracy of masters ; when the wedge of industry will split the block of corruption . Thank ye , " Times , " for the two last lines we have quoted from your brief . ¦^ ifc ^—
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_ nauAlii nuTiutr . The Whig Cabinet is-stated to be rent by internal dissensions . Divisions and disagreements exist upon important points of administrative policy of so formidable a character as to threaten its existence as at present constituted . The first public intimation of this fact was given by the " Post" and the Standard , " and though the " Chronicle" puts forth a counter-statement , yet , as the " Post" in its
rejoinder well observes—" supposing it were quite true that the members of the government are much more in the . habit of wrangling with one another than of agreeing upon important points of administrative policy , can any one suppose they would send an account of this to their friend the ' Chronicle ?' Is it not much more likely that the more they disagreed , the more earnest would their statements to the ' Chronicle' be of their perfect unanimity ?"
Besides this the denial of the Ministerial paper is evidently not an authoritative one . It is Understood that there are not only two sections in the Cabinet , which take opposite sides , but that there is a third , or juste mielieu section , to which the Premier belongs , aiming at the reconciliation of the belligerent parties , and the steering of a middle course . This division was to be expected from the moment that the composition of the Ministry was definitely announced . It was impossible that Lords Palmerston
aud Grey could ever cordially co-operate , after the events of last November . The refusal of Earl Grey to take office with Lord Palmerston , was shown by Macaulay ' s letter to his Edinburgh correspondent to be the real cause of Lord John ' s failure to construct a Ministry when Peel resigned last year . The totaly opposite views which these noblemen entertain , not only on Foreign hut home policy , were not likely to be harmonized by that event which added personal bitterness to political disagreement . And it must be confessed , that the hot water which
the pugnacious and fire eating Foreign secretary has already contrived to get us into has fully , justified Lord Grey ' s opposition to his re-appointment to an office in which he did so much mischief when he last held it . In addition to the feud between tbe Foreign and Colonial chiefs , there must be reckoned the inevitable divisions arising from the very principle on which the Cabinet was constructed . It was an omnibus Ministry , almort every shade of political
opinion was represented in it , and " open questions' * were the order of the day . From an Executive thus composed nothing but internal bickering could be expected , and , as a consequence , the business of tbe nation must be neglected . The task of governing a people demands clear heads and united energies . In the Whig Cabinet both are absent . Its M , even from internal causes , cannot be a distaat event , and we are convinced the country at large will heartily rejoice at getting rid of a set af squabbling
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a nd greedy imbecilesKiwhose stay in power onl obstructs the progress / oKhose great and searchi / reforms which the . country requires . ^ In Ireland the position of the chosen ally of th Whins—and he is certainly a most appr opriate —is scarcely less tottering and precarious . The Vt terness and virulence of O'Conneli ' s invective against the " Young Ireland " party , show that it has taken root , and seriously menaces the destr uc tion of that gigantic system of fraud and imposture " by which the Irish people have been so long robbed and deluded ; and a set of lazy quacks and unpri n . cipled adventurers maintained by the pence wrum * from the scanty incomes of an impoverished people i ^^
It is clear that these fellows themselves are aware of this fact , from the rage into which they fall when ever the name of "Young Ireland" is mentioned but , like most people in a passion , they do not mend their case much by it . Indeed , one of their last dis . plays , in which Mr . "Head Pacificator" Steele and "Liberator " O'Connell took a prominent part , was of the most suicidal character that can be imagined . £ 200 was voted out of the Repeal Associatiou Funds towards the ereetion of a monument to " Thomas Davies , " one of the deceased chiefs of the Young Ireland party , and whose early death was regarded at the time it occurred , as a national calamity , When the vote came under re-consideration a few
days since , in the finance committee of the association , , " Pacificator " Steele violently opposed its being paid , on the express ground of the separation between the two sections of Repealers , which had taken place since it was voted ; as if that would , in the eyes of an honest man , have made any difference in the claim ! But O'Connell cheeked his " beloved friend , " and refused payment off another and more extraordinary ground— " There were no funds to do so . " The association is , as nearly as he can guess , some £ 600 or £ 700 in Ms debt , and , therefore , he
coldly advised the commUtee ta « be just befftfethej were generous ! " That was a pozer , at least so the finance committee appeared to think , for , instead of making answer or investigation , they adjourned sine die—that is , without fixing any time for anot her meeting ; and , in the meantime , the " Liberator " having thus put the committee to flight , has also reduced the staff of paid officials , and announced that he is off for Derrynane again . All this is very ominous . Humbug thrives as badly with O'Connell as it does with his patron Russell , at the present time . Let all honest men rejoice that it is so .
A word or two , however , about this same debt of £ 600 or £ 700 . Is it not curious that the " Finance Committee" knew nothing about it until told by O'Connell himself ? As we understand the duties of a Finance Committee in this country , it should be intimately acquainted with its assets and liabilities and know , at all events within a few pounds , not only what amount they had at their Banker ' s , but the number and nature of the claims upon it . Of this routine and common-place knowledge the Finance Committee of the Repeal Association seems
to have been totally deficient . 'And perhaps their ignorance i s to be excused , seeing that O ' Connell himself is Treasurer , Trustee and' Banker , and that from his system of never rendering accounts , the Association knows nothing at all about its income and expenditure . The event , however , will cause sundry questions to be put , perhaps easier put than answered . How much has been subscribed to the " rent" altogether ? Where has it all gone ? Who has got it ? What was the value received ? Miserable old man ! at the close of a career which
might have been a glorious one , to be thus interrogated , while Ireland , the country you promised to save , is sunk in the deepest distress—a distress so great that even you and ' your " sycophants , heartless and greedy though they be , dare not ask for that "tribute" which has yielded you a magnificent and princely income for so many years ! With respect to the state of the country , whicli lias thus been cruelly taxed and deceived , little that is novel can be stated . It must now be evident to the most bigotted or sanguine supporters of the Government measures , that , in their best aspect ,
they are palliatives merely , not remedies . Although for the time being public works and drainage may have , to some extent , stilled the cry of distress , and provisions have turned out to be more plentiful than was anticipated , tbe ordinary condition of the Irish people is one that demands , and must have , an immediate , a bold , ° and a permanent reform . Justice to ; them , justice to Great Britain , requires that the causes of that pauperism which constantly presses down one-third of the population to the very lowest depths of Ihuman distress shall be swept from existence , no matter at what cost , or by the destruction of what existing interests the thing is effected .
A divided and distracted Cabinet , and a detected distrusted political trickster , are not , however , the channels through which , such a reform will flow . Before Ireland can be really improved , we must get rid of the Whigs and O'Connell . The movement for the opening of the ports con » tinues , but seems to be principally confined to London , in which it makes some little stir , mainly from the disposition of Mr . Cocbrane to spend money for the achievement of popularity . It has no heart or reality in it . The people have long outlived such shallow sophisms aud mere mockeries as the speeches at such meetings , or the measure
they are intended to support . If Mr . Cochrane is really in earnest in his desire to improve the condition of the people , and not seeking merely to convert them into " political capital , " which he can afterwards barter for a seat in Parliament , or a ribbon and a title let him abandon all snch nambypamby proceedings as those he is now engaged in , and take part in the measures on which the working classes themselves have set their hearts—the Charter , the Land , and the Ten Hours' Bill . He will find work enough for all his energies , scope enough for all his means , howevever ample , in forwarding these genuine and radical reforms .
The Short Time movement in the West Riding , Seems SO far to have been entirel y successful . The utmost unanimity and enthusiasm prevailed at all the meetings of ' which we have received any reports . At Huddersfield , only the clergy and influential mill-lords were not present . In other towns , the assemblies included all classes of the population . The reception given t o the " old King" has been such as might be expected , and the tone in which he has urged this great and most urgent measure , has been such as to disarm even the " Leeds Mercury" itself . "
Co-ordinately with this movement it is gratifying to see a determined and steady current setting in the directiou of sanatory improvement . The disease , death , erime , and pauperism engendered by crowding the labouring population into ill drained and unventilated dwellings , have at length fairly arrested attention . We never understood before , as we understand now , the mutual connection and inter-dependence of those physical , economical , and moral elements , which collectively constitute the social life of a people , and all of which must be
harmoniously developed in order to the attainment of national wealth . Wages , hours of labour , size and construction of dwellings , education , domestic » ° * rality and economy—the relations of these to * & * other , and of all of them together to national wellbeing have become , with increasing dis tiwtnesv familiarised to the public mind . Every politic 1 question shapes itself ultimately to the improvement of the condition of the labour-class } and no maMer wfcai party map be " oat" or " in , " the steady , | ( Seep current afoninion which uow / flows throug h
The Northern Star. Saturday, November 21, 1846.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 21 , 1846 .
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0 Liberalj300ks-On-Politics, Theology — —--"And Socialtrogress,
0 LIBERALJ 300 KS-ON-POLITICS , THEOLOGY — — -- "AND SOCIALTROGRESS ,
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 21, 1846, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1393/page/4/
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