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n the OU> GTJAKDS OF CHAR-^ism* THE FDS'^ AN Metes, jgg. BLISTERED HANDS, AND UNSHORN * CHINS.
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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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At this most important juncture of affaire Ism about to analyse that policy wMcUhaB j « ced the working classes of this kingdom in Ho sTtion of strength , never before attained by j ? he working classes of any nation upon earth , tod I must also call tout attention to the f oli cy now relied upon by the British Govern , j Sd £ to force the British people from this ex- " alted position . You must look n ^ on thisi letter as ray manifesto of 1847-a period at which Bnglatid finds herself unable to resist the progress of the labouring classes otherwise than by foreign intervention . . Let me now direct your minds to the con aderation of a fe w striking facts , all illustra . live of the traism stated by Arthur O'Connor in Bis work entitled .
' PRESENT STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN . ' He lays it down as an irrefutable fact , that the prog ress of liberty has ever been followed by in creased government corruption and national expenditure , and founds this traism upon the feet , that the liberty , of a united people being irresistible , save and except through the process of corrupting the people ' s ' leaders ; Ujat hence , where force has failed , the Government has invariably had recourse to increased pa tronage , as the increased means of corrupting the advocates of liberty . ¦ ¦ -
"Whether we take the Reform BU ^ . which promised so much universally ; Free TVade , which promised so ' much nationally ; . or Chartism as it was in 1839 , which proraisiBfo muchjoMereall y , nationally , andlaggfegmx find that this assertion of Arthur ^ ~ 0 tJ&niSr * r has been carried out to the letter ; and that , in every instance , the cause advocated , and the rights contended for . retrogaded or led to disappointment , while the leaders of the cause , and the advocates of the rights , were distinguished by government patronage and
favour , guaranteed by government corruption and increased taxation . Having a dread of this debasing policy Dafore my eyes , I have laboured incessantly to destroy that system in onr own ranks which has led to so much corruption in the ranks of oar enemies ; and I unhesitatingly state that my rejection of ail payment for my services , and my consequent power of exposing the treachery of the leaders who were ticketed for sale , is the rock upon which the popular movement of England is built .
If I had been muzzled by "the" threats of place-hunters and paid patriots , with the resolution to be" critical in the examination of my own accounts of profits , if I dared to look too minutely into their accounts , the cause of Chartism now would he where the cause of Ireland and the Irish is—at a miserable discount * The patronage attached to profligacy and prostitution in Ireland has induced a number of fepresentatives to adopt a hated principle ,
ss their qualification for patronege , from the simple hope , that in proportion as the national mind swells to grandeur and nationality , in the same proportion will their turpitude become valuable to the British Minister , and constitute their rate of purchase . But for the indomitable courage of the Old Guards ^ of Chartism in 1839 , the Attwoods and their Brummagems , the Cobbetts and their followers , the London gentlemen and their adherents , and a few isolatedtricksters , wouldhave made merchandise of our cause . The
Brummagems were gorged off with their corporate places ; and we now find these very men , then so united against the corrupt system , now at daggers drawn amongst themselves . We find the immaculate lawyer , Edmunds , spat upon by his townsmen , and the physical force Kelly Douglas threatened with the opposition of his co-rifleman Muntz ; we find poor Dr Fletcher melted down te the galipot ; the Cobbetts reduced to their natural element—insignificance ; and the Londoners compelled to open a show shop to save themselves from the horrors of labour .
Now , can anything he more true tb <\ n that the Convention of 1839 was a furious representation of the madness of the day , so long as the representatives received six guineas a week , and their travelling expenses , when they desired to take a little country air ? and can anything he more true than that nine-tenths of those furious representatives have since sold themselves for government patronage , or as the advocates of Free Trade and class abominations , or have denounced me as the obstacle in their road to preferment ? Well , my friends , had I been tainted as they were tainted , my abuse of their corruption would have been answered by their abuse of my
corruption , and all my writings and all my Epeeches would have gone for nothing . The patriot John Knight ' s , of Oldham , last words to me were , ' Feargus , those Londoners will destroy you for stopping the supplies ;' but , nevertheless , I persevered , from the conviction that the purchase of [ leaders by the people is as dangerous to lilerty as the purchase of leaders by the Government ; and hence I offer the balance-sheet of England ' s expenditure in the support of democratic principles sin « 1839 , as the world ' s anomaly , and as the nation ' s pride . And I ask , was ever equal service performed for an equal amount of pay ? and . the answer must
benever . Our great and primary folly in our madness of 1839 was allowing such a middle class representation of working class wrongs , and the principal object of this letter is to confirm the confidence of the OLD GUARDS in their ability to carry out their own movement , and to work out their own salvation . From Tom
Attwood , of Binningham , to Wagstaffe , of Marylebone , 1 have waged perpetual war against the destructive principle practised in the army of placing raw officers over the heads of disciplined soldiers ; and I am now about to reveal the circumstances , the pressing necessities , which will induce the middle classes of this country once more to offer themselves as leaders of the people .
It is more than three years since I prognosticated the inevitable result of Sir Robert Peel ' s system of centralisation , and it is nearly ten years since I addressed a series of letters to the middle classes and shopkeepers of Yorkshire , warning them of the eventual coming of that policy , and proving to tbem , as clearly as words could prove a proposition , that their interest was to unite with the industrious and the labouring classes ; while the fact of their union with the millocracy and cotton lords
would lead to their beggary , starvation , and ruin , through the poverty of their customers , consequent upon the centralised power , which their stupidity was placing at the command of the owners of mechanical power and the employers of artificial labour . "Well , I now apprise you that the most artful of the ruined of this ruined class , maddened hy their own full y , but confiding in reparation from working dass ignorance , will volunteer with reckless madness to demand the Charter or gain it by force .
Hare we not recently seen numerous attempts of this kind , and am I then premature in sinmnoning the Old Guards to their post ^ id in stationing the sentinels in their sentry boxes ? and through them proclaiming to the * orld that henceforth the recruits of the Wiartist army , no matter to what rank or dass they may belong , must fall into the rear ^ d obey the command of their superior offitets , until service and merit have entitled them 10 promotion .
"to 1840 you saw the attempt of O'Connell , "" w e , and Co ., to take advantage of my in-^ ceration , and to turn our movement to ¦ v to g and patronage purposes ; but in " the oeinb of szwt ana ^ tiie « dead wf winter the
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tiZS ^ !? ' m tho « sand 9 ^ nd tens of nSSfr ™ n . tered in Leeds > and assembled in Marshall ' s flax mill , with a courage and resolution amounting to desperation , hut still guided hy prudence . There were , representatives there from all parts of England ; and i Scotland , while I , in my dungeon , was chalking upon my prison table the drawing from which the Fox and Goose Cluh plate was taken . I was directing that movejmenti and famished the whole sinews of war , , refusing the aid and cooperation of the Tories of
Leeds ; and what was" the result ?/ The | Old Guards came , and saw' / and conquered while the leader of the coalition dreaded to face the storm which he hopedwas to have huiled Chartism from its throne . But 1 should have commenced chronologically , by reminding you of the meeting at the Crown and Anchor in 1837 , to erect monuments to the memory of the Scotch martyrs , and where , . single handed and in mid-day , when the enemy , hoped that the working men could not attend , and in spite of the presence and co-operation of forty-seven Whig members , and after an eight bjfljJ KP 8 twggte ,. ; we " carried , the martyrs' prinaWlf
K ^^^^ nfc ^ i ^ n ^ fc ^ i ^ - inl ^ tHfBrHiMnagemertfce Cofibettites ^ andtheLondoners , succeededbytrickandfraud , by private correspondence and treachery , in securing the' return of a majority of their adherents to the Convention ; and seeing the situation thatl was placed in , as the leader of the countryroarty , I ask you now , after a lapse of eight years , whether more discretion and prudence could have been evinced than was shown by that country party during the seven months of , to me , nervous and anxious suspense ? Good God ! what nights I spent , and what days I
spent , when , towards the emptying of our Exchequer , I saw the plots , the tricks , and the treaehery about to be practised by the disbanded representatives . In twos and threes they tried to create a local power , as a refuge to fall back upon when the national exchequer failed , and the whole stock in trade was denunciation of Feargus O'Connor . But the . history of those times cannot be safely or prudently written yet , while your astonishment must ; be that I overcame the united treachery of those united traitors ; and when you hear all , your surprise will be that I did not fall a sacrifice
to their treachery and the government hastility . There is a circumstance connected with the torchlight meeting at Bury , which you have not yet learned , but which you shall one day learn . Upon the same ni ght there wae to have been a torchlight meeting at Wakefield , but hearing of the conspiracy at Bury , upon the presumption that I would not be pretent , I repaired thither and spared the cause an amount of damage which cannot be calculated upon . Then came Attwood ' s sacred holiday , and the denunciation of me for
resisting it . Then came the establishment of secret societies by Mason and Co ., and the necessity imposed upon me of making a tour through Scotland and the north of England , to resist such an infliction . Then came our trials , while sectional importance was attached by the Convention to every one but my own ; and then came hot persecution , and then the liberation of the patriots , a great majority of whom hoped to make merchandise of their incarceration , and to strengthen their party by abuse of Feargus O'Connor . However , ! survived that first shock .
In 1842 you saw the attempt of th » Free Traders to take the command of our movement , and , at the close of the same year , you saw % : spectacle never before exhibited in Englaia | ; or the world ;—that national rally to the crv of . —
THE CHWtTER 13 IN DANGER , when over 500 delegates mustered in Birmingham in the dreary winter season , and in the midst of poverty , and under the recent intimidation of Abinger's brutal persecution , and the anticipated dread of the Lancaster trials The Old Guards , in ' spite of all , overthrew the COMPLETE HUMBUGS ; and again rescued their principles from the enemy .
Then came Free Trade and Daniel O'Connell ' s adherence to the principle , and his donation on behalf of Ireland , and the whole fury of the Irish people enlisted against the physical force , infidel , destructive Chartists ; and yet again , the Old Guards rallied the forces , resisted this profligate union , and are now daily winning the enthusiastic Irish to their principles and their cause .
Let me now draw your attention to the mode by which , and the machinery with which , the government , upon its part , vainly hopes te arrest the progress of that union between the English and the Irish woiking classes , for which , through life , I have struggled , and which , ere another year , I will see accomplished . As I believe you treasure up my writings , I may call your attention to a letter recently published , in which I explained the policy upon which the English Minister would form * an alliance with the Pope of Rome . I have not that letter before me , but I will
quote its substance , and you may refer to it . 1 told you that the Minister ' s object . was not the liberation of the Italian states of Austria , the love of democratic principles advocated by the Pope , nor yet the desire to see the subjects of the Pope ' s dominions set free ; but I told you that the object was to secure such an alliance as would enlist the Pope in the Minister ' s anti-Irish policy . I told you that the object was to silence the Irish priesthood—to corrupt the Irish priesthood in order to trample upon the Irish people and overcome the Irish difficult } ' . I was perfectly aware
that our liberty-slaying rulers would never aid the progress of freedom abroad with other intent than to crush the bud of liberty at home . Well , how have I been justified in this suggestion by subsequent facts ? Firstly . The Times has informed us that Lord Minto , the relative of Lord " John Rusaell , had been sent to the court of Rome , not ss an ambassador , which our State Church prudery would not tolerate , but as an amkus curie , to ratify the conditions upon which the State Church party may consent to an
exchange of ambassadors ; and we were assured by the Times , that the honour of England was perfectly secure in the keeping of Lord Minto , and that nothing could be more desirable or mutuall y adv « inta ° eous than a friendly understanding between the Vatican and the Court of St James's . Of course the Times couldn't hint at the policy by which Lord Minto was to be bound ; but , as even ministerial intrigue cannot be long kept secret , in the same article the whole cat is let out of the bag , in the following short but unmistakeable paragraph , which I take from the leading article of the Times of that day and which is as follows : — The truth is , that there is hardly a single Court
of Europe with which it is of greater importance that we should be in regular and legitimate communication than Hub . The Pontifical dominions tro . mise to be the birthp ' ace of that enlightened and liberal policy which is to retrieTe the long degradation of the Italian Peninsula , and which it is the interest of all philanthropists to promote . Nor is the influence of their Sovereign confined to his own territories . As the spiritual head of a vast number of British subjects he exercises a certain controlling power within these realms which it might indeed be ihanght very desirable to transfer to more amenable hands , but which it is the height of childishness to ignore . The influence , such as it is , actually exist * , iu ! t hi d'txa sufficient , as experience has often proved , to be weighed for a moment against the si : g-
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jestions of loyalty or patriotism , font with qaiti mongh reality to deserve attention . And yet , fcif the sake of a statute already condemned by the dp elusions of sense and reason , we have been contenfwf to forego all the benefit which might br derifM from amicable relations with , a Sovereign wt foBe voice on certain points would be respectfully listened to by some millions of British subjects . ^' . Now , my friends , read the following sentence again : — ' ;; . ' ' " ' .. "" . ?? ¦ ¦ " ¦ .: ¦¦*> $ ¦ As the spiritual head of a vast number of British subjects he exercises a certain . controlling power within these realms which , it might , indeed ,:- Be ttoueht very DESIRABLE TO TRANSFER TO
MORE AMENABLE HANDS , but which it is the height of childishness to ignore . . ' ' - * Now , how will you translate the words , which it may be desirable to transfer , to more amena * ble hands , into any-other plain English than this ? that English aid being required by Pope Pius IX . to enable him to resist the encroachment of the Austrian Autocrat , it wpu ^ H worth the expense of the English goverhtMflt to confer that aid , upon condition of receiwig the patronage of the Roman Catholic ChurcSw Ireland and'the appointment of its bisticp
as a suDsutute . i aery you , oy : Vm& KMotMfewfe . Aa&tntMipMfflRf -mark Howin unison is the ' disci pline of the Church with the discipline of the army ; ,-. The Serjeant . recommends himself for promotion by subserviency to his superior officer ; the corporal is the slave of the serjeant , and the subordinates , to qualify for promotion to these humble ranks , become spies over one another , until at length it has become an every day occurrence to see a comrade handcuffed , a prisoner in the custody of , perhaps , his bosom
friends , leading him to the dungeon , the lash , or the slaughter . Now , 6 uch precisely would be the debasing discipline of the Church under the control of the Government . The bishops , like the officers ,. would hold fast by things as they are , resisting to the death all encroach * ments upon their privileges and immunities . The higher order of clergy would prepare themselves for promotion by the strictest com . pliance with the orders of their superiors . The inferior clergy would qualify themselves for a step , and the how young and enthusiastic would be so trammelled by the discipline of
patronage and preferment , and all would be so banded together in the preservation of Government inmience ,. depending upon popular debasement , that the Catholic mind of Ireland would be degraded to the very lowest level of slavery , while the Government would rest secure in that antagonism , b y which it hopes to make the mess of one establishment , satisfy the cravings of two . But let the English people and the Irish people rest assured that this power cannot be transferred to ' . ' more amenable hands , ' otherwise than by increased taxation , increased subserviency , increased tyranny and slavery .
But , if you doubt the construction thatl have put upon the foregoing passage in the paragraph , read the following passage , and then say whether or no my opinion is reasonably confirmed . It is as follows • — And yet , for the sake of a statute already condemned by the conclusions of sense and reason , we have been contented to forego all the benefit which might bej derived from amicable relations with a sovereign , whose voice on certain points would be respectfully listened toby some millions of British subjects . ? Now read the concluding words of the last pas sage , 'A SOVEREIGN , WHOSE VOICE ON CERTAIN , POINTS WOULD BE RESPECTFBtiLY ^ LISTENED TO BY SOME
MILLJ 0 NS OF BRITISH SUBJECTS , ' in conjunction . with the previous passage I have quoted , and then ask yourselves if you can entertain the slightest or most reasonable doubt as to the intent and object of an alliance with the Pope ? And , hence , while all Europe is filled with gratitude to the reforming Pope , the corruption of the British system steps in , and compels the reforming Whigs to grant their aid to the reforming Pope , upon the condition and stipulation that he ( the Pope ) shall be enabled to rescue his subjects from Austrian tyranny , provided he will enable Her Britannic
Majesty s Government to protect a corrupt system against the legitimate demands and requirements of an enlightened people . To further these objects , and in orier that no time should be lost , Lord NormanbfcOUR AMBASSADOR at the French Co 1 wt , and our Home Secretary when Frost ^ vas banished and five hundred Chartists were illegally incarcerated , has informed the King of the French through his minister , that our libertyloving Ministers will not permit French intervention in Italy to aid the Austrian despot in his resistance to liberal principles .
Now , my friends , apart from the domestic signs of the times , apart from the fact that the Church , the landlords , the farmers , and the agricultural labourers , will , ere long , be in open revolt against the Ministry , the fundholders , and the Free Traders ; apart from th » blow that the nation has received from Free Trade , unaccompanied by prudent and timely concessions ; apart from that growing intelligence , which prompts man to enquire why he and his family should starve , while idle capitalists , speculators , placemen , and pensioners , live upon the fruits of his industry ; apart from that startling anomaly which compels
Britons to beg their daily bread from foreigners , while their own land is barren from want of cultivation ; apart from the enigma of the Irish people labouring and starving , whilst idlers are living upon their produce ; apart from the disappointment . from Free Trade , which hasled to low wages , dear bread , and nothing to do ; and apart from the fact that the working classes of England , Scotland , and Wales , set their minds by the same dial , and think simultaneously every Saturday upon the same subjects ; and apart from the numerous failures which have taken place , and are expected to take place , the more disastrous in
consequencejof the false confidence placed by the working classes in the depositaries of their funds ; and , lastly , apart from the fact that the present Parliament consists of 221 untried members , whose views , or , at all events , whose votes , will be directed by this category of anomalies j apart , 1 say , from all these domestic considerations , as 1 predicted for you three years ago , the first blow for English liberty will be struck abroad , and the first hostile cannon fired upon the continent , will be the signal for , and the announcement of , the establishment of British liberty , guaranteedby the People ' s Charter .
It is for this reason , Old Guards , that I summon you to your posts , that I ask each sentinel to take his place upon the watch tower , and that I again implore you , as I have implored you for the last ten years , not to allow the necessities of faction to drive you to intemperance ] or revolution , which would be the grave of your liberties ; but to fold your arms while factions fight their battles , and , as I have frequently told you , to wait , and watch , and be prepared to take up the bone when the two
dogs are fighting for it . It gladdens my heart , as it niust gladden your hearts , to see the rally that is being now made , and by a party which the Scotch pedlar assured his masters had been killed in 1839 , a party of whose progress the corrupt , the prostitute , and venal press lias been silent , a party whose bold resistance of oppression , and whose manly bearing of persecution , now sets tyranny at defiance-that , Old Guards , is the party , the only partv to fill the gap . which exhausted | corruption " is now
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makirifi : in the institutions of the country ; and thspresent position- of that party , I ascribe , mainty ^ rnot wholly , to the fact Jf theinpos ' B 1 M ^ ° f the enemy aiid the slandere £ to charge me with one single act of turpitude meanness , ordishonesty . ¦• • ¦ . ;¦; . . ' ^^ tepfeeifbra moment that l was a maacapableof being . bought ; what , I ask you And . what compensation couldbeoffered to the popular cause thus shaken in confidence , or * £ ™ 5 P 8 e would the wealth of the
thatloved , that cherished ' affectioniawhich I » mheld , by those to whoseseryicelaevoteeverv hour of my existence ? And ; ee , again , what advantage I myself derive fromthe knowledge oflthe past ; it has taug ht me men ' s character ? , inen ' s value , and men ' shonesty ; Youremem-Jror . how William'Rider ^ wasi denounced for his proper estimate of the character of the Conven . tion of 1839 ; you remember " , how the young and enthusiastic Harney was denounced for his enthusiasm ; and how , rather than be
suspected among the suspicious , ^ Rider abandoned Ms large weekly salary as delegate , and . belook ^ himself to poverty ; and now that ^ a ^ has the sole , the entire management of * my moneyaffairs—thousands , and tens of thousands , a year pass through his hands , while I am devoting my time to the management of your affairs ; while the principal management of the Northern Star has devolved upon the denounced enthusiast , George Julian Harney . Old Guards , in conclusion , the day of reparation , and the hour of satisfaction , is approaching . I have thought it my duty to
apprise you of its coming , that you may be prepared for the advent , and I neeid scarcely assure you that , haying commenced the battle with the fustian jackets , the blistered hands , and unshorn chins , with them and for them I will fight it to its close ; and , ere long , factions , who now live upon the plunder of their order , will discover the truth of myv assertion , that the stability of all classes , the securit y of all classes , and the prosperity of all classes , can only result fromthe free and unshackled representation of labour , and , therefore , my motto as it ever has been , and ever shall be , is
now— ONWARD AND WE CONQUER ! BACKWARD AND WE FALL ! THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER ! . AND NO SURRENDER ! Ever your faithful friend and representativej Fbargus O'Connor .
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MW& ? fc ^ yfction ? oi , ! but Ui riSS ^ ^< rnistshaveone ' simpleanswer— « ALL WOULD FAlL-potatoes would fail , cabbages , chtrots ,, , turnips , ^ parsnips , , peas , -, beans , omona , all would fail . The fowls * ould get the pip-the cows would get the murrain-the pigs would get the measles—the grass , the clover , the wheat , the ¦ oats ; the barley and rve . they would all fail , if the State Church parson failed to pray to God to preserve the fruits of the earth to T HEIR KINDLY USE , bo as in e * due time they ( the husbandmen ) might enjoy \ them . Alas , we should have no libelling of ^ nature , and no blasphemy of God , if God ' s children Mere allowed to cultivate God ' s earth ^
for their own sole use , behoof and benefit . y Now , you gentlemen of the Press , I am ^ ready nJ for y ouall , one and all ; and my strength consists m in the fact that the lies you tell on Friday v ^ night or Saturday , now pass as idle chaff before \ ^ the wind , beause my children will rest satisfied ^> you will have an answer on the following " ^ Saturday ; but , lest a six days' repetition of your folly and nonsense should gain strength v \ for want of a reply , I have the honour to in- \ \ form you , that within a very short period , I v V will have my morning pop-gun to silence your \ evening blunderbuss . You have now got a > coadjutor in a Mr Daniel Ruffy—yon shall enlist him too , and I'll give you his whole corps . . And what they mean to prove is , the incompetency and dishonesty of the present
directors . However , as their incompetency / or dishonesty would be a reflection upon my ( discretion , and , indeed , upon my integrity , I undertake to prove that the present directors- v are unimpeachable ' and unassailable ; that they are the four most competent men of their classin England , to carry out the project in which . i they are embarked ; and that , as to their in- ' j competency , that they have produced rule out i ^ felfc ^ no ^^
ehe ;« torsrb ^^ am in the boat with them , and I'll sail with them ; and in spite of the poor , pitiful machinations of a despicable , disappointed , ambitious , drunken little clique of Londoners , 1 will pilot them safely through the storm ; and if necessary , I will go security to my last farthing for their integrity and honour . So much for your expected food , gentlemen of the Press . And now my children , a word to you by way of conclusion .
What think you of a set of Londoners going to establish a rival Land Company ? And what think you of a knot of those gentlemen summoning the directors—not me , but my brother directors—to appear before them to answer certain charges , to be preferred by certain pavties , who saw prudence in silence until they found that the Company was to be kept open till the close of the year ? And now , baulked of their prey , they are going to blow the directors out of the water with their thunder ; but I hope , as I have always been an advocate for the greatest possible popular vigilant
control , that the country party , and the respectable men of London , the sober men of London , will not allow their honourable directors to be subjected to the intolerance , the vengeance of a few disappointed drunkards . I am going to leave you fora period short of three weeks , and if any one should ask you where the money is , tell them it is in the London Joint-Stock Bank , in the Gloucester Bank , in Clinch ' s Witney Bank , and the amount , for which the Bank is liable , in Exchequer Bills ; and if they ask you where I am , tell them that I am gone in pursuit of Richard Cebden , who ran away in the people's debt , with an enormous amount of high wages , cheap bread , and plenty to do ; and that I'll bring him back to stand his trial
for sedition and conspiracy against the English people ; and all I have to ask of you is , to rest assured that the enemy who presumes , upon my absence , will receive his reward upon my return , especially the poor Whistler , whose last note I have just heard , and only for one moment picture to yourself the depravity which induces one Blackguard to hire another Blackguard to write such absurd stuff , as that those who sell me estates may reclaim them ; now is ' nt Blackguard much too mild a name for a ruffian that could write such rubbish , for hire , but Mr . Townly of Regent-street , requests me to ask the Whistler if the same rule of reclaiming property , applies to BOOKS and other MOVEABLES .
Read the next number of the ' Labourer , ' and keep it as a book of reference , and rejoice in your souls that our Plan has been attacked by the Press and the ambitious , but that it shall succeed and triumph over both . I remain , Your faithful friend and representative , FeaHgus O'Connor .
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THE LAND . ' Come one , come all , this rock shall &j From its firm base as Boon or I . '
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE LAND . COMPANY . M y Children , I am in my glory . I have been aroused from comparative inertness to activity by the growlings , or I should rather say the lispings , of the base , bloody , and brutal Press . They have nearly all opened their pigmy batteries upon your house , but I have armour upon me , and your house is bomb proof . What I have told you politically , I tell you Sociall y —that every new project propounded for the elevation of the working classes , , is ,, first
treated witii silent contempt , then with ridicule and laughter , then with persecution , then with reflection , and then witli consummation . I have dragged " your political' principles through these trying ordeals , and 1 am now the representative of their growth and strength ; and now that I have propounded , matured , and am carrying out , the only possible plan by-which your class can be redeemed from servile dependence , starvation , and death , the foul-mouthed Press of England , no longer able , no longer permitted , to observe its silence , has ventured . to assault the-Land Plan .
The Globe , the Chronicle , the Economist , the Daily News , John Bright ' silfawctoer Examiner , the Nottingham Mercury , and the Dispatch , have all ventured to comment upon the plan now ; the Economist alone treating it respectfully . As a matter of course , the Globe and Chronicle only aim their side blows , by showing how preferable the large farm system is as compared with the small farmsystem ,. and even th ' e Economist opens with a fallacy , that , under the large farm system , land can be better cultivated , and made
more productive , while at the same time the political economists of the day are contending for what they call the free importation of corn into this country—that is , corn freely taxed with the incumbrance of freight , risk , insurance , wharfage , labour of shipment , labour of discharging , nnd expense of warebousing and taking to market . However , the Lund Plan has , thank God , arrived at the dignity of being attacked ; and mark who its assailants are ! Some of them have never seen a green field , would not know
a cucumber from a handsaw , and are as ignorant of the capabilities of the land as an Irish pigisof geometry . But they are all , one and all , leagued in the depression of wages' question , and in securing for the capitalist and advertiser the largest amount of profit out of the workman s labour . Nevertheless , the Economist justifies my first anticipations , as to the distribution and allotment of land . The Economist informs you , that the writer found the twoacre allotments at O'Connorville better cultivated than the four-acre allotments , and you
will always bear in mind , that I have impressed upon you a preference for the two-acre system over the four-acre system , because the two-acre system realised my notions of justice as well as of political economy ; which are , that no man should have a profit in another man ' s labour , and that no man could cultivate four acres without employing slave labour . Some of the advocates of the principle , however , who are as ignorant of the question as
the newspaper scribes are , insisted upon four acres , while I still contend that no man in Europe can cultivate even one acre to the highest perfection . Some newspapers , —if newspapers they can be called , live by pandering to the very worst passions of man ' s nature ; they are read b y blackguards of every descriptionj and the success of the whole establishment depends upon the support of blacklegs , jockies , pugilists , and drunkards . Now , will the Press unitedly answer me two questions ?
First—Wherefore their spleen against the LandPlanr SecondlJ—If so considerate for the welfare of their clients , the poor , will they point out any other plan as well calculated to protect them against the griping capitalist , and to secure them against the horrors of a Bastile ? They wont , they cannot , ahswer either question ; and their spleen arises from the fact that I have propounded a new science , and a new plan , which now constitutes apportion oi the literature of the age , of which the
instructors of the age are wholl y and entirely ignorant . These visionaries can write flippantly upon all questions upon which every theorist is allowed the use of his own dogmas , but the Land Plan is so plain and simple , so reducible to practise , and so resolvable into unerringcalculations , or rather figures , that for the life of them they can ' t comprehend it . A dunghill would be a tasteless desert to the . hired slave who had been writing atout the splendour of
the dresses worn at her Majesty ' s ball ; about the excitement produced by the saddling of the horsey for the St Leger j about the bunging or closing of Bendigo ' s peeper , or the tapping of Caunt ' s smeller . - I have left them behind in the simple literature that every working man understands ,, which they can't write about without writing nonsense . I have put them out of school , and their only consolation is in abusing the plaintiff ' s attorney . "
; I can answer the first question , though they won ' t—their spleen arises from the fact that every Thursday ' s post brings them an order for fewer of their papers , with a note from the agent , that they must attack the Land plan ; and to the second proposition , I answer , if they knew of any other . plan by . which the working classes would be put in possession ' of the fruits ot their own industry , they would be afraid to propound it . / ¦ . ,, . ., The only condemnation of the plan now ventured , is , that the , poor occupants cannot find a market for their surplus ; but not a word about the poor occupants , when thev wa ™ mm
ratives , not being able to find amarket for their labour , at a price that would enable them to pttr ^ ase . tfte * p !»^ c ^ ofr ^ hw ^ spi&ulaibrs of th # pioducej ^ increased b ' y ? the burthens I have mentioned . In the forthcoming number of the 'Labourer , ' I have shown the value of the Land Plan and the working of the Land Plan , and now , I will take this estate , or any other estate tenanted by two-acre occupants , as illustrative of the value of that plan . The average , rent of two acres of land and a cottage , here , tjannot exceed £ 7 a year , and now , for the pressure of the rent , for the INCONVENIENCE OF SURPLUS , and the deplorable situation of THE POOR DUPE . .. The occupants , here , have an unlimited right of pasture in a forest within a mile , and which is never overstocked . The poor dupe receives £ 15 as capital ; he gives £ 10 of that money for two yearling heifers in May ; in November he brings them home from the forest worth over £ 16 , or £ 8 a piece ; or put them down , if you will , at £ 14 , two pounds a-head profit , and the MISERABLE DUPE has the enormous
back-breaking sum of £ 3 per annum to pay for a house and two acres of land . Well , but I may be told that there is not a forest everywhere , and that . my reply to this surplus grievance should be more general . Then , here it is . A man in any district , a single man , without giving him the benefit of a wife and children—and here ' s the beauty of my plan , you hired slaves , that it makes wife and children a comfort and a blessing , instead of a hardship and a grievance * Yes ; without your Health of Town's Bill , I'll depopulate your brothels , your stew-holes , and your stinking
lanes and alleys , and 111 put the blush of health in the little pale and innocent faces , that you have aided the griping capitalist to squeeze the young blood out of—I deny , then , the comfort of a wife and children to this two-acre dupe , and I make him pay £ \ 0 a year rent for two acres of land , that cost £ 50 an acre , and a castle with out-buildings , that cost £ 100—This man s case stands thus : —for seven weeks , during spring , haytime , and harvest , he will earn £ 7 , or a pound a-week ; and if he were blessed with a' healthy wife and four or five healthy children , he would earn twice as much : but
even in hisforlorn state of bachelor , he will earn £ 7 durihg . the seven weeks , saddling him with the crushing hardship of producing three pounds worth of surplus out of forty-five weeks ' labour . How much would the blood-sucker make of him in that time ? But he shall have no labour at all , all pastime , with scarce enough of work to preserve health , and I'll divide his farm for you . During the whole forty-five weeks , he shall only cultivate half an acre ef potatoes , a quarter of an acre of wheat , and a quarter of an acre of barley , and it shall take a whole acre to support one small cow . He
shall buy two store pigs in May , when his cow calves , and when there is a bit of green stuff for them to eat , and he shall give them the whole produce of a quarter of an acre of potatoes , the whole produce of a quarter of an acre of barley made into meal , that is , at the very lowest computation , two tons and a half of potatoes , and forty stone of barley-meal , six stone of bran from his wheat , and all the skim milk from his cow , and by that ^ time , I think they'd burst , and then , we'll see the surplus , out of which the poor ^ dupe has | to pay £ 3 rent , after living .
First , he has the task of eating two tons and a half of potatoes , or about sixteen pounds a day— -the offal of which also goes to the pigs . He has to eat cabbages , parsnips , carrots , peas , beans , onions , and vegetables of all sorts . He has to eat thirty-five stone of flour made into bread ; he has to eat fifty stone of bacon , lard , pigs , puddings , and chaps ; and he has to eat all the butter and drink all the milk , that his cow gives over two pounds worth , as the calf
will be worth a pound . Now , then , what does the feeling philanthropist think of the forlorn condition of my dupe . Oh ! but he won ' t get work ,, because he is a Chartist ? Ay , but the grinders in the factories employ Chartists when hands are short , and all men are Christians in harvest . Ob ! but lie couldn ' t get a market for his surplus . I neve » saw a fat pig come back from market , if the owner would take 2 s . 6 d . under the market price .
Now , I have stated this , merely in such a simple manner , that not all the editors , not all the agriculturists in Europe , can refute it . Oh ! but , says some jockey or pugilist , they can't get ) a pound a week in harvest . My answer is , that I could never get hands eno ' ugli , old or young , at that price during harvest , and my operations , both at Herrings-gate and Lowbands , have been all but suspended from that cause during harvest-time . Now for the four-acre man . In less thanthree years from the present time , every fouv-acre man located , will be able to sell off two acres of his land , to parties who will cheerfully buy it and build upon it , for as much money as will redeem his four acres , house and all . Now for
a finisher for the economists . Want of employment for the poor compels the wealthier classes to pay over £ 7 , 000 , 0 o 0 a year in the shape of poor rates / Now , that seven millions a year would pay the interest of over one hundred and fifty millions of money ; and £ 150 , 000 , 000 of money , at £ 300 a head , would locate five hundred thousand peopleupon four acres of land each , or two million acres of land at £ 40 an acre , leaving £ 100 for a house , and £ 40 for capital ; and at five to a family , thus providing for two millions and a half of human beings ; relieving the country from a pauper rate , and leaving the government an annual income , in
the shape of rent , after paying the interest of the capital of £ 1 , 500 , 000 ; and now , I have a right to ask , if the Government is not the Grod vernment of a faction , what right it has to tax even the faction , though voluntarily , for no other earthly purpose than to intimidate the working classes from the dread of a felon ' s garb and starvation fare , to sell their labour at the capricious price that the capitalist pleases to offer for it . Nay , more , wiile > are traversmg the world in search of food every year , after the first two years , those 500 , 000 "iQependent husbandmen would supply the anghsh . market with 2 , 500 . 000 quarters of wheat annually .
Now , then , when I show those things to an industrious people , must not a make-shift Gover . iment , sind its prostitute Press , tremble
Untitled Article
TO THE EDITOR 0 ? THE "DISPATCH . " You unmitigated ass ! you sainted fool ! you canonised ape ! Now , don ' t say , as is the custom of silenced editors , that this is no argument ; because , if you do , my answer is , that if a fool says « bow , ' and asks you for a reply to his argument , the only response must be , * bow , wow . ' How , in the name of common sense , common decency , or common prudence , could you have allowed the printer ' s devils to make such a' pie' as the following : —
Ihe Chabtist Land Company . —A correspondent asks what we think of Feargus O'Connor ' s Land and Labour Bank , and if wo recommend the working classes to make it their place for depositing their savings . We have a decided opinion that they ought not , because , if the principle of this bank is that its assets shall be employed itt the purchase of ' land , it is contrary to the essential rule of all other banks —that the balk of the assets should be vested ii * available securities . It must be evident that money expended m the purchase of land canRot be payable to the depositors on demand . To jay them , when required , the land must be advertised , a
customer fousd , the price depreciated by a forced sale , lawyers roust prepare deeds , an- ) be paid for their treuble . We may bo told that a portion of the money subscribed will be kept on hand , and more could be borrowed by mortgaging the purchased lanU . Tnw would only do for ordinary occasions . For extraordinary times , when over-trading , or over-is <« ing of paper , orany other such cause , brings on a period ot stagnation , andobiigesthe working classes to withdraw thuir deposits , the , Labour Bank would be found unable to meet the crisis . Its assets not bciDg employed on discounts , would not be realised in cash as the bills run out , What is the security offered to the
dopssitors for their money ? Who are the principals m the bank ? James Knight , Esq ., is to be the manager , but who does James Knight , Esq ., represent ? If this bank is what is whnt is called a ' private Lank , ' then the names of the partners who are responsible for the repayment of . the money when called for , ought to be printed upon the chequea . James Knight , Esq ., if called upon for money wnich . he has no funds to meet , will tell the djpo 3 itors ho is merely ; i servant in the concern . What are the names of the members of the firm ? Are they Feargus O'Connor , Doyle , M'Grathand Co ., and ate tn » y men of business , knowledge , and substance , to iusiity
weir setting up as banlren ? These are queutious winch , every prudent man will ask himself before he deposits his money with the expectation of ever seeing it again . But , possibly , tho bank is to bo a joint-stock bank . If ao , the names of all the gharelwlilevsrauEt In registered at the Stamp-office , and each shareholder will bo liable for the whole . lelts of the concern Those , therefore , who have anything to lose , will be careful how their names are used in a concern involving serious responsibilities . Nothing C n ^ orc obvioudy dangerous than that one man should h ave tho supreme cont'oul . That has been repeatedly shown in Americaand the last instance
, ot tne son was the United States Bank—* concern managed b y a man named Beddle , which ended in wrecking the fortunes of huudreds of person , the shaves Jallign from 120 dollars to 10 dollars . Even where a number of merchants , well versed in the mysteries of book-koepkg , tnke part in the manage , ment of joinUtock banks , it hns been found practically impossible to prevent particular oflicers and directors from aceouiodatinp themselves to an unlimited extent , and ' bolting . ' In tho United States .
banks have already been set-up by small contributions from people in ordinary circumstances , and upon investigating the accounts , it has turned out that every officer , from the manager down to tho porter , had borrowed money and spent it , upon the deposit ol his worthless note of hand . Now , if you have not split your sides laughing at an appeal from Phili p drunk to Philip sober , you may rest assured that every tradesman , operative , mechanic , and artificer , who ( Continwd to the Fifth Page . J
N The Ou≫ Gtjakds Of Char-^Ism* The Fds'^ An Metes, Jgg. Blistered Hands, And Unshorn * Chins.
n the OU > GTJAKDS OF CHAR-^ ism * FDS' ^ Metes , jgg . BLISTERED HANDS , AND UNSHORN * CHINS .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 25, 1847, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1437/page/1/
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