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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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THE CHAMBERS' PHILOSOPHY REFUTED . LAJSQrR PLEADDfG ITBOWS CATTSE . THE EMPLOYEE A 2 TD EMPLOYED . A TJOHLIAE BULOGT / E , Spfakeri—Jlfr . Jama Smith , a factory mill-owner , and Mr . Richard Jackson , a eotton-spinner . Smith . —I am glad to see you , Mr . Jackson ; step in to my louse , and let us have a little conversation oa the present unhappy differences tin the subject of ¦ wages . Perhaps I may show yon that the ideas eniertained respecting employers are not , by any means , just . At all events , let ns hear what each has got to say—yon on the part of the operative class generally , and I on the part of the mill-owners and others , "who are in the habit of giving employment . Jackson . —Thank yon , sir ; I am a plain-spoken man , and have no objections to say -what I and others think about oxer condition as ¦ w orkmen : so 1 very willinelv accept yonr invitation .
Smith .- —2 sow , Mr . Jackson , sit down-: and if you please , begin by telling me exactly what the workmen ¦ want . ^^ Jackson . — - "Why , sir , the great matter is this—our condition is mneh less comfortable than we think , in justice , it should be . "We are poor , and not getting any richer . Few anionjj us can get more than 22 s . a week for our labour . The average wage is about 14 s . or 15 s . ; and we do think it a hard ease that a man , "with a wife and family , should have to live-on any Emu of that kind , when we see the masters so well off , and they , as one may say , living by our hard and oontinned labour . What we want is , " a fair day ' s traee for a fair dav ' s work . "
Smith . —The statement apparently is—that the employers give lower wages generally than they oognt ' to gfve . Is not that the substance of your chanre ? Jackson . —Tes ; we think you should jrive at least 2-5 per cent . more . If a man now gets 20 s ~ he should getUos ., and so on . Smith . — "Verv welL 2 vow , be so srood as tell me on what ground you rest this demands Jackson . —Because you are making large profits , and can afford to pay more than you do . The profits should be more equallv divided .
Smith . — Isow , I believe , we understand each other . I like your candour ; and I think 1 . shall answer you . Ton claim more wages on the score of your contributing to the production of profits . Let us take my own establishment as an example , and let ns suppose yon are a workman in if . I wish to know how much you put into the concern . Jackson . —Me ! why , I give you my labour from Monday mornins Till Sarnrdav nijrht . Smith . —This labour , then , is vour contribution of
means . Ton receive 20 s . for the week ' s labour ; and therefore it is just the same thing as if vou were to give me 20 s . every week , so that I might lay it out in hiring somebody to do your work . Jackson . —I think much the same thing . Smith . —It is then allowed that you contribute to the extern of 20 s . weekly to my concern . May I now ask if you tTrinTc every one should be paid according to the extent of his in-put and risk ? Jackson . —That certainly would be fair .
Smith . —I shall then explain to you what I have put in , and how I have been enabledxo do so . The cost of the buildings , the cround , the machinery , and other things required to begin the manufactory , was £ . ? 0 . ' X > 0 ; and ihe money necessary for "buying raw material , and giving credit till sales could beeffeewd , and also for paying wages , came to £ l » . i > 00 more . Ton understand 1 did not start till I had £ JKMM » ready to be laid out and risked on the undertaking . If I had begun wiih less , the concern would have been "Unsuccessful . It could not have gone on . To raise this large sum -of < £ 90 . Wf » was a very serious matter . ! My lather was a working-man , like yourself . Hi * "traces were ne-rer above ISs . a -weet _ On tills ~ iiro bv
brought up his family for my mother was very eronumical . 1 got a little schooling : was taught to read , write , and cipher . At fourteen years of aire I was sent into a cotton-factory , where * for several year * 1 had no higher wage than -5 s . a week . 1 afterwards , by dint . of some degree of skill and perseverance , rose to be a spinner , and received 25 s . a week ; but off this 1 had to pay a boy-assistant 5 s . ; and therefore my real wage was only 2 (» s . a week . 1 was at this employment four years and a half , during which time I saved £ &J , which I deposited in ' bank for security . One day , when 1 was at work , a party of foreigners visited the factory ; they ¦ were in -want of a few steadv and s"kilfnl hand ' s
to go to St . Petersburg , to work in a factory there . 1 volunteered for one , " and being chosen , 1 went to that distant city , which vou know is in Russia , and there I received for a time about double " my former "vrages . In three years the overseer died ; 1 " was promoted to his situation , and now received as much as £ 2 oO yearlv . 3 still made a point of economising ray gains ; and on reckoning up , found , that when X was twenty-eight years of age 1 had saved £ 7 < X > . At the recommendation of a friend I laid out this monev on a mercantile speculation—in short , I risked its entire loss . I was successful , and made my £ 700 as much as £ . 1 , 000 . Again 1 risked this sum * for it > eemed a sure trade : and so on 1 went for several vears-
increasrngmy capital both by profits and savings . When I married , -which -sras not till thirty-five years of age , I had realised one way and another £ 20 , " lM » . 1 now returned to England , was for several years a partner in a coneern where I again risked my earnings , and at the end of fifteen years retired " with £ 90 , 000 . With this large sum 1 built mv present factory , and entered into the hazardous business in which 1 am now engaged . I ask any man if 1 did not earn my money x > y hard industry , by self-denial , by serious risks , by a long course of pains and anxieties < For , having done all this , I consider I am entitled yearlv —junt , to an interest on my money equal to what * I could have obtained by lending it ; zecond , to a profit
that wm cover any loses which I may incur by bad debts ; Hard , a per-centage to pay the tear and wear of "machinery and deterioration of property ; and , fourth , to a salary for my personal trouble—in other words , my wages ; and all this over and above the ordinary expenses of the concern . Let me assure vou that nothing is more certain -than that , taking the working classes in the entire mass , they get a fair share of the proceeds of the national industry . We may take a few fact ? . To begin with my fewn mill . I spent , as I have said , £ 80 , 000 on the building and the apparatus . ? vow nearly the whole of this was dispersed in wages to "working people . See what a number of men must have been eniploved in fashionins
the raw materials into the house and its machinerybriekmakers , limeburners , coal-miners , wagoners , ¦ wood-cutters , sailors , carpenters , builders , slaters , plasterers , glass-makers , glaziers , iron - smelters , engineers ; and not only these , but the persons who supplied them with food and clothine . In short , if we were to go into a minute calculation , we should probably discover , that out of my £ 80 , 000 , as much * s £ 75 , 000 "went to the working-classes , the remain-Sng £ 5 , 000 going to the proprietors of the raw materials , and to intermediate dealers . If people would reflect a . little on such matters , they would perceive what an enormons share of the cost of almost everv article goes to operatives . It is ascertained , bv
careful calculations , that out of £ 100 worth of fine scissors , the workmen have £ 06 as wages : of £ -100 worth of razors , they have £ 90 ; of £ W ) worth of tableknives and forks , they have £ 65 ; of £ 100 ¦ worth of fine woollen ejoth , they have £ 60 ¦ of £ 100 worth of linen yarn , they have £ 4 £ ; of £ 109 worth of ordinary earthenware , they have £ 40 ; and so on with most articles of manuiacture . In the making of needles , pins , trinkets , ¦ watches , and other delicate articles in metal , the proportion of wages rises to within a trifle of the price , of the article . In the working of collieries the expenses are almost entirely resolvable into labour ; there being few eases in * which the
coalminers receive less than £ 90 out of every £ 100 of the current expenditure . I trust it is not necessary to dwell longer on the notion , that working-men do not get their Mr share of the proceeds of the labour on -sraiea ther are engaged . And , as yon might imagine that there is some kind of mystery under the term capital , 1 will explain thcmeaning of " it in erery few words . Capital is anything which i * of value . It may consist of labour , * of houses and lands so far as they are productive , of maehiriery , manufactured goods , or money . Everything is capital which possesses an exchangeable value , and can be made directly available either to the support of human existence , or to the facilitating of production . Capital or
property is a sheer result of labour , if not labour itself ; and that it is the accumulated savings of vears , say , in some cases , of eeninxies . Be -who possessed capital in the form of a large sum of money , for instance , can give employment to others , louknow quite well that , before I planted my factory here , there was little work in the town . 2 vow , see how many ¦ workmen and their families are supported . 1 was not , Tnn-rV , obliged to come here and set up a factory . 1 could uave gone somewhere else . Then look at the sum ¦ which I distribute weekly in wages . I give employment to 100 men , 14 S women and girls , and seventy boys—altogether , 31 G individuals ; and the entire sum paid on an average weekly for wages amounts to . £ 290- I say I pay £ 290 to mv ^ woA-jeofie weekly in PTfft ange for their labotrr ; * surelv -yon must Dowsee that capital is a good thine ; good fbr the working-classes
It is capital which hires and employs them ; it is capital which pays their wages ; it is capital which keeps them busy when often the market is glutted Triia goods ; it gives them work till better times . And yet there are workmen so short-sighted as to wage war on the very thing which supports them . They attack capital asan enemy . It is their best friend . Now 1 put it to you , " Richard Jackson , as a straightforward Tnan ^ and answer me , if I , i y these risks and obligations , and personal attentions , be not Justly -entitled to take a * = rast deal more out ot the hnsrnegs than yon , who put in only 20 s . in the shape of ¦ weekly labour ? [ So far ~ we lave giren the points of the dialogue as set forth in the tract of ihe Messrs . Chambers , and as ihis portion of the dialogue may be taken as the terms "npon "which the parties join issue , the plea
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and declaration will be somewhat varied from the manner in -which they are set out in . the original pleadings . ] ^
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Jackson . —2 sow , Air . Smith , 1 think I understand you , and we can join issue ; you undertaking to defend the rights of capital , and I to defend the rights of labour ? Smith . —" So , no , no . Ton mistake me ; the whole bearing of my illustrations have gone to show that capital is the best defender of the rights of labour , while you would place them in antagonism . Jackson . —If such be your office , you have strangely discharged vour duty to your clients , for upon re-consideration , 1 think yon must come to the conclusion that the tendency of your observations would go to
prove , firstly , that the employed was a mere passive instrument in the hands of the employer ; that the capitalist with a family , or without a ' family at all , underwent all the risks , suffered all the mental torture , and deserved great sympathy for the risks , the endurance , and the mental agonies that he underwent during the process of money making . Smith . —WelL but Jackson , you seem to forget that I have been endeavouring to refute the absurdities of those gr ievance-mongers who would throw all the odium of the hardships that your class complain of , npon the shonlders of the masters .
Jackson . —Well , I understand vou to occupy that position , and 1 am going to establish the fact . Smith . —Yes , yes ; going to do a thing , and doing a thing , are two very different things . 1 tell you , you can ' t establish the fact , unless you doubt the narrative that you have just heard of my life , and unless you believe that there is something magical about me which has conferred peculiar advantages upon one individual above another . " *• Jackson . —Come , come , one swallow doesn ' t make a summer . 1 am talking of a system , and not of a charmed man : and you no more represent that system , than Newton , because he was a great luminary , " represented the sun , moon , and stars .
Smith . —Mr . Jackson , Mr . Jackson , I invited you to this discussion because 1 looked upon you as a straightforward , blunt , honest man , that would discuss the question of labour and capital familiarly with me : drawing your conclusions as to my rights to what I possess from the risks , the hardships , and the mental agonies 1 endured : while you would mystify the whole subject by plunging into the gulph of " * system . " There , there , Mr . Jackson , in that consists thegreat error ofyour class ; instead of receiving instruction and admonition from your best , indeed your only friends , you allow your mind to be contaminated , and your better judgment to be warped , by the interested misrepresentations of hired , restless , and designing demafrooues . ¦
Jackson . —Upon that subject we will have a word by-and-bye ; and now , as you wish to make yourself the representative of a system , I tvil ] see if I cannot illustrate its vieiousness from your own lips and from your own position . Smith ( wrigslingi . —Pooh , pooh , Mr . Jackson , it ' s impossible 1 tell you . It is this flying in the face of the masters with your political economy , rights of labour , and trades' combinations to defend them , that has more than any other circumstance led to that rankling feeline in the minds of the masters of which your class compLiins . Jackson . —II I mistake correct me ; but as I didn ' t interrupt you , eive me leave to state my own case . Smith . —Well , well , go on , but be brief , for really these mysterious calculations about demand and supply , and new doctrines about the rkrhts of labour , and all that stuff , are so complicated that they puzzle me . Jackson . —The puzzle has been of your own making ; to « olve it is my intention . Smith . —Well , well , do < ro on .
Jackson . —Well then , I take you from your departure for Ru ^ ia . up to -which period you had -saved the ~ n ? a of 4 L-ii > . ^ our division of time from the period when you had attained your fourteenth year till vou had arrived at the a ire of twenty-eiirht . is so very nlistrus ^ and t-nigniatii-. il , Winir divided into periods of * ' several years" workinc for 5 s . a week ; the " nuiul > er of years"' that you were e ; inriu < : 2 <» s . a week ; the " three years '" that you workt-. l for " double wane * " in Russia before the overseer died ami you goi hi- * , place , mid from that event till your twenty-eighth year , when you took sto < -k and found yourself to be worth £ 7 "" : these several pi-riods , 1 say , are so jumbled together that I can establish no scale ofyour saving up to lhat time . Smith . —What have you to do with that ' . that ' s my business . 1 had £ 7 JC>—^ and 1 saved it by my earnings , p-nd 1 suppose I had a right to do so i
Jackson . —A perfect right , Mr . Smith ; and I am verv glad , for your sake , that the Russian spinner could afford , in a comparatively uutaxed country , to give you £ 2 a week , double the wage that you can give me , and out of which I have to pay very heavy taxes . 5 mith . —Pooh , pooh , nonsense ; haven ' t I to pay the income-tax '—taxes for my house , for my carriage and horses , and servants ; taxes for gas , paving , cleansing , tithes , poor-rates , church-rates ; taxes for
my wrne , my tea , and my sugar—in short , for every thing I eat and every thing I drink ? Jackson . —No , sir ; you make a profit upon them . I pay them , or help to pay them , and I'll show you how , presently . However , to resume : when you were 35 vears of age you had amassed the sum of * , 00 l » , which , you tell us , you had put together oneway or another ; and as it -was all made in Russia . 1 don't stop to inquire , but shall come to the consideration as to how you augmented it in fifteen years to £ t » 0 , 000 , during which time you trafficked in English labour .
Smith . —'" Traihe 1 " what do you call " traffic V I exchanged it for labour . Traffic is a sordid word : a term ever in the mouth of those who would degrade the high-minded employer to the rank of the grovelling low-minded huckster . Jackson . —Well , Mr . Smith , we won ' t quarrel about terms . You bartered it for English labour . Smith . —Say exchanged it , Mr . Jackson ; it ' much less offensive term . Jackson . —Well , you exchanged it , Mr . Smith . Smiih . —Now , come , we are jrettins : into jrood hnmour asain . < io on with vour narrative .
Jackson . —Well , you embarked your £ 2 ' ) , i > 00 in manufacturing , and" in fifteen years , during which time you supported your family and lived , you realised the sum of £ 90 , 000 ; and now , Mr . Smith , if you please , a word about a very important branch of political economy—pisTKiBmo " . Smith . —What do you mean ? Your " eqvai . i > is-TEiBrnoN , " I suppose . Do you want to distribute my property for me . ' Jackson . —No , sir ; it is not " equal distribution ;" nor do I want to distribute your property . It is equitable distribution ; and I want the laws 6 f my country —which should be " equaixt" protective of the right ' s of all—equitably to distribute the property of all . Smith . —Equid , equitable , equally , equitably — what ' s the difference ? Yuu want to rob me ?
Jackson- —I do not , sir ; but I desire that you should not rob me . 1 apply the term eqval to the laws , and tqmtabli to the distribution of property . Equal , to the laws ; protection of your equitable share which you claim under the head , interest Jbr your money , guarantee against bad debts , wear and tear of machinerv , and wages for your labour ; and also to my equitable share of whatever the surplus may be , after guaranteeins : those several amounts to you . Smith . —Well , but what have you to do with it more than receiving your pound a week ? What do vou know of the surplus—wasn ' t it mv own ?
Jackson . —As Sir Robert Peel said in discussing the appropriation clause , let us have the surplus before we talk of its application . And now I shall proceed to shew you where I nnd that surplus , and what I find it to be . You invested £ 20 , 000 at the age of thirty-five years , and when you were fifty , you had increased it to £ 90 , 000 . You tell us that " the investment of £ 90 , 000 led to the employment of 316 hands . If , then , the employment of £ 90 , 000 capital Jed to the employment of 316 hands , the employment of the £ 20 , 000 would lead to the employment of seventy hands ; that is , if there was another partner with you who invested an equal amount of capital , you would employ 140 hands ; if three partners , with equal shares , about 210 hands ; if four partners , with equal
shares , about 2 ? 0 hands—leaving the surplus of thirtysis pair of hands unemployed against the £ 10 , 000 , the amount by which your accumulated capital exceeded the £ 80 , 000 employed by you , and three other partners who invested £ 20 , 000 each . Upon your £ 20 , 000 you realised £ 70 , 000 in fifteen years—and had then £ 90 , 000 ; and you verv fairly demand your profit upon the £ 20 , 000 in the shape of interest , com-J > ensation for bad debts , wear and tear , and wages for abour . Now this is fair : indeed I may call it equitable distribution , and I will proceed to my calculation . 1 nllow four per rent , for the interest of capital ; two per cent , for bad debts ; two per cent . tr wear and tear ; two per cent , for wages : that is , the lump , ten per cent ., or £ 2 , 000 pef annum . As you and your family lived out of £ 20 , 000 during the fifteen years , 1 will ' ^ lace it arainst the compound
interest that you might have realised ; and as you say vou lived savingly , 1 will allow you two per cent , in lieu of the compound interest , taking your total profits upon your £ 20 , 000 at twelve per cent . ; to ¦ which add the . support and education oi ytur whole family—and for fifteen years , at twelve per * cent , upon your £ 20 , 000 , you would have realised the sum of £ 36 , 000 , which " , added to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 would make £ 56 , 000 , leaving a surplus of , £ 34 , 000 , or within a fraction of £ 500 each for the seventy hands employed in working yotr £ 20 , 000 of capitaL Now , sir , to the sub-divison of the £ 34 , 000 surplus ; after allowing you twelve per cent , upon your capital , and all the expense of education
and the support of your family , I apply the term " equitable distribution ; " and the term " equal protection , " I apply to those laws which should guarantee to me my £ 500 with equal security as to von your £ 36 , 000 , or twelve per cent . } upon Jour capital of £ 20 , 000 for fifteen vears : whereas the iw has enabled you to take the whole of the twentyfour per cent , made upon the £ 20 , 000 by labour , and has thrown manv , if not all , the seventy hands engaged in making it , into the cold bastfle , or compelled them to begin anew to make another £ 20 , 000 into another retiring salary of £ 90 , 000 for another master , while they have added fifteen years to their lives . And now , sir , to satisfy you upon all points , allow me to contrast your position at the end
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of fifteen years , "with that of an individual of any other class commencing business -with £ 20 , 000 . K I allow you compound interest at four per cent , it would have taken many years more than the fifteen , even to have doubled your capital : that is , without charging you anything for living or the education of vour family , you would not have made your £ 20 , 000 capital into" anything like £ 4 . 0 , 000 in the fifteen years . Had you invested your £ 20 , 000 in the purchase of land , allowing you four per cent ., you could not have supported your family and augmented your capital as you have done in the trade of cotton spinning ; while , although as a landlord , you might have left your social duties undischarged , the law would have" compelled vou to bear a certain amount of
taxation which you could not possibly have shoved upon the shoulders of others . Ilad you commenced the trade of shop-keeper , and retired in fifteen years , after having , educated and supported your family , with an addition of £ 36 , 000 to your original capital of £ 20 , 000 , you would have been a phenomenon in that line^—in fact , an exception ; while , as a cotton-spinner , your case is the rule , instead of an exception . In short , sir , the laws have been made for the government , management , and arrangement of a social state , over which the present process of steam production has passed , as it were , by a hop , step , and jump ; ami what I and my class—who , together with the shopkeepers , have been the great sufferers—require is , the enactment of such a code of laws as shall legally protect and equitably distribute the surplus property of the country , after having awarded to money capital , speculation , risk , and industry , that fair amouiut of protection which labour , it" equally protected , would
neither deny , murmur at , nor withhold . Poverty , sir , is the rale of my class—it is the exception with yours ; and , however you may try , by hired advocacy and purchased philosophy , to convince me that reliance is better vested in the money capitalists than in labour capitalists , you will fail , until yon first succeed in convincing mo that the wolf is the best protector of the lamb , the cat of the mouse , or the kite of the lark . For , if you do not devour our bodies as well as the produce of our labour , it is because your mechanical arrangements arc not yet complete ^ as a substitute for our labour upon the one hand , and because the old school of sympathisers recognise in us that value , as consumers , which gives an increased value to their landed p roperty . To the law then , and not to sympathy or charity , we look for protection . Smith . —The law I- « -what have 1 to do with the law ? 1 made the money . The capital was mine , and I paid everv man his lawful wages .
Jackson . —I grant it , sir ; you have nothing to do with the Law . but you did not pay every man his lawful waires , nor was the capital yours . Smith . —The capital not mine ! whose was it , then ? This is more of your political economy and equal distribution . Jackson . —Hold , hold , Mr . Smith ; my assertion has nothing to do with political economy , nor has it any reference to distribution ; what I am now stating is a fact admitted by yourself . In your endeavour to shew the patronising qualities of the capitalists , yon have made some valuable admissions . You have stated , that out of a £ 100 expended in the manufacture of fine scissors , £ 90 is tlio value of the labour , and £ 4 the capital invested ; that in every £ 100 worth of razors the labour amounts to £ 90 and the capital to £ 10 ; and so on , until you comctothe { manufacture of needles , trinkets , < fcc , in the manufacture of which vou admit iienrlv the whole investment to be labour .
In soft wares , you tell me that m the article of tine woollen cloth the proportions are £ 6 D for lalmur and £ 40 for capital , and as your trade of cotton spinning appears to have Wen very profitable , I think we may assit'i ) to the respective capitals employed in the manufacture nlxnit the same relative proportions by which you measure their application to the tine woollen cloth . Smith . —rRespective capitals . ' What < io you moan ? Have 1 not told you that all the capital w ;\ s mine ' . Jackson . — You have told me no such tliin-r , pn ' . You have' toM me that rvervthhi '' that bore an
exv-hans « ii >! i L value was i-njiital : ami you particularly in > tanceil laliouv ; ami if we can acroe upon your calculation a- to the respective annnints of money-capital and l .-ilitiur-capita ] , expended in the in ami fact lire of £ l"f ) worth of linen yarns , —and that description most nearly represents the fabric produced by your money and ' my labour , —you will see how nicely and how truly the result is produced : £ 34 , tM » t » of the £ 7 " , OijO " accumulated by you , belongs to the hands that made it , and £ . Jfi /> 00 to the parties that employed them . Your calculation is , that £ 1 < i 0 worth of linen varns consists of £ 48 in labour and . £ 52 in capital Now , sir , you will find that , as nearly as we can balance , the £ 5 o \ 0 (> 0 that 1 assign to vou represents the tifty-two per eent . of vour capital , and the £ 34 , 000 represents the forty-eiirht per eent . of labour ; —that is , £ -34 , 000 is to £ 36 , 000 almost fractionally what fortv-eiirht is to fifty-two . i
Smith . —O , 1 don ' t understand your figures and vour fractions . Jackson . —Perhaps , sir , you can only bring your mind to bear upon interest tor your capital , compensation for bad debts , allowance for wear and tear of your machinery , amount of salary for overlooking , and an indefinite surplus , — in which is included mv labour , —for mental anxiety . Now , Mr . Smith , I think 1 have shown you , according to all the laws of nature and of justice , that while you ought U > be satisfied with adding £ 36 , 00 <» to your capital in fifteen years , that all the hands that realised that capital were , as well as yourself , entitled to a retiring salary . Smith . —Well , thev mav retire if thev like .
Jackson . —Now , sir , you talk nonsense , and mock us in our poverty . You call your labour , honourable labour ; and tell us that it is augmented by distraction of mind , hard industry , self-denial , serious risks , and a long course of pains and anxieties . 1 admit it alL sir ; but sufferings of bodily torture and the pangs of mental endurance are qualified and soothed by the cheering reflection that each passing hour oi suffering hastens that happy period when , if not impelled by the sordid desire to heap more riches t « vour alreadv extravagant store , you may quit the
busy bustle of life , and thus release yourself at will from all your sufferings ; while those who commenced at an equal age with yourself , and who assisted in augmenting your treasure , are at the age of fifty , — when you have become independent of the world , deteriorated in strength—and their labour reduced in value , compelled to merge into what is called the " surplus population , " and are heartlessly told at that age to search for a new habitation and strange associates in a foreign cliiue ; that the land at home which vields forth its abundance is too small for their
sustenance ; and that the machinciy and new lnveutions which have displaced their labour are the pride of the country whose system confers all the proceeds upon the privileged , and all anguish , care , and sorrow on the unprotected . Smith . —Unprotected ! what do you mean ? You can protect your family as well as J can protect , mine . "W hat protection have mine beyond what my own industry gave them ? Jackson . —Not so fast , Mr . Smith . Recollect we are starting from a point ; and that point is when you embarked £ 20 , 000 in manufacturing speculations , and when you employed seventy hands to turn it into a marketable commodity ; and recollect , that while your capital ,, -worth 52 per cent ., was protected by a vote , that my labour , worth 48 per eent ., was wholly unrepresented .
Smith . —Now there you are in error . I will show you that your class has nothing to complain of on that score ! There were five out of the seventy , or one in fourteen , of the hands that worked forme , who were voters for the horough of Devil ' s Dust—while I , representing the whole of the capital , had but one vote . Jackson . —What gave them the vote ? Smith . —A £ 10 bouse , to be sure , Jackson . —And whose were the £ 10 houses ? Smith . — "Wh y mine , to be sure ; I built them . Jackson . —Then they were capital , Mr . Smith—because they possessed an exchangeable value : and they were of an amount that ought to be represented !
Smith . —Yes , certainly . Jackson . —Well , Mr . Smith , by a loose calculation just made in my head , I find that in the fifteen years that you employed seventy men , you made a profit of £ 990 by the labour of each , or £ 66 per year profit upon each man ' s labour : a profit , the one-sixth of which , if in a house , instead of being in labour , would have entitled the labourer to a vote . But as you have in your opening speech included very many topics , 1 shall withhold my reply on this important subject for another interview , when I undertake to prove the Injustice of that system which enables you and your family to appropriate to yourselves what belongs to me and my family . Smith . ^ -I have nothing to do with your family—I pay you your wages , andlo « k to my own . Jackson . —I have a family as well as you ; they are dear to me as yours are to you . I have laboured from
youth upwards to support them . I have wrought with you for the last iifteen years , and to-morrow , what must be my anguish , my sorrow , aye , and my vengeance too , when I see my pallid wife , and stunted , not half-clad children—emaciated , without the blush of youth in their faces , or the supplene 8 s _ of vouth in their limbs—without the gay and childish look in their sunken eyes—what , I Bay , must bemy reflection and theirs , when , to-morrow , they and I look upon the fresh blood that flows through your children ' s veins — the lively and playful glance that beams in their eyea—the rich dresses in which your family are decked ; and when they see your splendid equipage , with pampered horses and wefl-fed menials , ready to convey your family to the princely mansion that you have purchased with their young blood , and amaaned "by their
sweat-Smith . —Hold , hold , Jackson—you do , you do , you do me injustice . You have roused a feeling that never touched my heart before . Is that your wife , and are those your children ? Jackson ( embracing his wife and drawing the children to him ) . —Yes : these are mine , and the workhouse now must be their portion ; and to-morrow , as you move along from our village , lolling in your stately equipage , and carried by your prancing horses , you will be cheered on your "way b y the reflection that your traces are made of infants sinews , and your carriage wheels are oiled with the blood of the impoverished t babes that now « urround you ; and when
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you enter that splendid mansion that you have purchased by my sweat and theirs—when you are about to offer up your prayers to God in the morning when you arise ^—when you ask that Omnipotent Being who created you and me , your ! children and mine , to " give you your daily bread , " tliink of those who are without bread . Smith . —Jackson , there ' s the ervor . It is a fault of the landed monopolists , and not of the Almighty , that you have to complain . It is they who rob you , ' Join with your masters for the repeal of those unjust laws which put an additional price on your bread , that monopolists and idlers may live in luxurv . ——'
Jackson . —Sir , I have exhibited my case , and the poverty of my family ; and yet , while you deny that laws have anything to do with the poverty of the poor , you would now make me infer that all our sufferings are a consequence of one bad law : a lawthe only law—of which your order complains , and , strange to say , under its operation you have become wealthy and we have become poor . Smith . —Poor ! I tell you that you have the same opportunities that I had , and instead of stuffing your head with politics , if you had minded your business as I have done , you would have been as " successful as I have been .
Jackson . —Then , sir , if I had been as successful as you have been , unless the poor can all become money capitalists , —my success would have been but a substitute for anothers failure—or another cog in thatartificial wheel which grinds the faces of the poor . Smith . — -Jackson , again 1 tell you that we are your greatest friends , and you are your own greatest enemies . Give over politics , and those crude and silly notions about laws that your head appears to be stuffed with ; and henceforth devote your time to forwarding those great improvements which are now everywhere in process of completion for the benefit of the working classes . The establishment of baths , improvement societies , the opening of pleasure grounds , the advantages of emigration , and the benefits of better
ventilation , are the all-important considerations that should occupy the attention of the working classes ; while the mystery of law-making should be left to those who have received * an education to fit them for the task , and whose independence , in a pecuniary point of view , places them above suspicion on the one hand , and makes them independent of party interests and party strifeon the other . Jackson . —Mr . Smith ; if I had my . £ 500 that is now in your pocket , and which rightfully belongs to me , I should require neither charity , gratuity , nor sympathy . If , then , my family or myself required cold baths , I could procure them out of my own resources ; if they were ignorant or uneducated , I should then stand justly chargeable with a neglect of parental duties ; if they were naked , as you now benold them , and if I dissipated the means of giving them comfortable clothing , the finger of scorn would
be pointed at me , as an unfaithful father , a bad man , and an unworthy member of society . But now , sir , their every want to which you would reconcile them by bits of charity and sympathy , are consequences of oppression and misrule , and not characteristics of my nature . Baths and pi . EAsriiEORor . vns , sir !—ah , ah ah , what mockerv ' . Immerse that perished , withering child , from whoso young veins you have extracted the hot life ' s blood , in a cold bath ! and exhibit that crippled child with twisted limb in yoar pleasure grounds , as a mockery to vour order for the inj hit they have inflicted upon my child ' . Baths , sir—behoUl their rags . The tender mother who bore them , reared them , ami loves them , lias enough to do to pin . theirrags together once ; i < lny , without imposing a double hardship on her . Emigrate , sir ! Have vou not learned that commandment from the ( J-od almve us , which enjoins us to " honour our father arid our mot her . that our tlavs
may be long in the land which the Lord oik <> od ha given i-, >* . " ( Vino , my children !< - <> u > r \ my wife—i would willingly have spared . you the knnulenL'e of those facts , which known , liiu ^ t but increase your veri-< ieam-e . ( io , sir , to that lordly retirement that you have purchased by the sweat ami-blnml of those children ; and sIkiuI'I one p . ing of ' iviiHU ^ e niter your rallous Ijrenst fin- the injury tluit you haw don * , when . it your comfortable meal yon like ii [> the morning papers and read , under the head of " Melancholy
Catastrophe , " that in desperation , and rather than see Jiis family perish Ixifore lii- < eyes for want , or rather than be inmates of three severa wards in a cold bastile , Richard Jackson , unable to bear up : igainst the accumulated load o ( poverty that pressed upon him , in a fit of phrenzy destroyed three of his children , and then put an end to himself!—then , sir , remember , that YOU were his murderer , because you h . « l in your pocket his & . ? 0 f > , the possession of which would have made him a happy man , an indulgent parent , svnd a \ alueil unit of the social family . l hold surelwill not
Smith . —HoUI , iackson , ; you y do as you say , or think that I lmve led you to the rash act . Will you meet me here ajjain to-morrow , when 1 shall have thought over those many points that 1 confess you have so strongly urged upon my consideration ? Jackson . —Yes , sir , I have no objection ; another day's suffering will not break the _ hwirt that has been accustomed to so many years of sorrow . Farewell , sir ; wr meet again tomorrow , when I trust I shall be in a temper to discuss your remaining propositions ; and in the interim , should my minute calculations have puzzled you , bear the fact in memory , that during the fifteen years that you have employed your capital or exchanged it for labour , that I have made you
and your family , in point of profit , equal to the seventy men and * their families , and have given you £ 2 , 0 ( 10 additional into the bargain . Remember , sir , that if your family consists of five , that we and our families consisted of 3 "> 0 ; and while you complain of the decline and desolation that effects the shopkeepinj ; classes to reconcile us to our more forlorn condition , Ho not lose sight of the faet that the poverty of the shopkeepers is also a consequence of your unjust competition , which is only made profitable by a reduction of wages . Your cousin , Mr . Smith , the grocer , asked me but yesterday how it was , that while trade was so good his business was on the decline ' . arid should lie ask you the question , sir , as you boast ot so much eamlour , tell him that his receipts would have
been greater if the seventy men who have worked for you had received their weekly proport ion of thc £ 34 , 0110 , which you havo invested in the purchase of an estate . As voii have invited me to another interview and further discussion , and as you have introduced a great variety of topics in your narrative , upon all of which you saV vou would wish to be convinced ; and as you are an ' educated man , and I am no scholar ; and as you have laid great stress on the value of machinery , perhaps you would condescend to hear what old Robin , the shoemaker , who has lived ninety years in the village , has to say upon the subject . I . Smith . —Robin , the shoemaker ! What has shoemaking to do with machinery > Machinery doesn ' t niake shoes .
Jackson . —That ' s just what Robin says , sir . But he says , in his own way , that '' since them there flying devils , made of wood and steel , set alnmt doing the work of men , that he believes that folk sin' then is born without feet ;" andpooi'as I am , I can't but laugh sometimes when 1 hear old Robin question the shopkeepers somehow after tliis fashion : — " Ah , wcel , Maister Smith , did that ' ae fine cast-iron man coome on the Saturday neet , when he got " . the wage , for a pound [ oi sugar or tea , or hout of that sort ? " and then he goes to Sparerib , the butcher , and says to him , "Weel , Mr . Sparerib , and what sort of a customer is that there stranger as has come to visit Maister Smith , the cottonspinner ; and how is his digestion ? " And so ho takes his rounds , and goes to Twist , the hosier , and there he tells him how he supposes , that as the stranger works without stockings , the poor folk that are obliged to work with him are obliged to do without stockings too . Willyou sec Robin , sir ?
Smith . —Yes , Jackson , if you let mo bring Mr . Quill , the lawyer , with me , as two to one is not fair . Jackson . —With p leasure , sir , —aa many as you please . It ' s just what we want to get your class to hear what poor folks have to say , for the newspapers , and all the writers , will onl y publish one ' side of the question . Good morning , sir . Smith . —Good morning , Jackson . Farewell ; you are a very clever fellow , and I begin to think now that I am about to enter into another sphere , that ' my class , hav * evinced a sound judgment , if not a just
one , in refusing to hear the cause of thepeoph advocated b y themselves . And now you have solved a riddle that puzzled me . I was always astonished why so shrewd a man as Sir Robert Peel should have refused to hear the people explain their own grievances at the bar of the Ilouse of Commons . Jackson . —Ah , but shrewd as he is , he was a fool then , for it only increased that inflammable feeling which he'll have to hear louder in the long run . Folks get angry , when they won't be even listened to . Smith . —Farewell , Jackson ! Farewell . We meet again to-morrow , before I start for " Shoddy" Hall . ( To be continued . )
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Fatal Accident , — A most fatal and deplorable accident occurred near the Tillage of Appleton , Berks , on Saturday evening . The particulars , as far as we could gather , are as follow : —Mr . Percival Walsh , jun ., an eminent solicitor at Oxford , left his offices in St . Giles's-street , in that city , in the evening , in a horse and gig , for his residence at Appleton , a village in Berkshire , about seven miles distant . He called at the house of a friend on his way home , Mr . Ensworth , whom he left about seven o ' clock in the evening . About an hour afterwards he was picked upl quite dead , with his skull dreadfiilly
fractured , it is supposed from a kick from the horse , which was found a little further on , lying in a ditch , much bruised and hurt , and the gig broken to pieces . It is supposed that the horse , which is a high-spirited animal , must have taken fright at something on the road . But this is only conjecture ^ and it is most probable that the real cause of the accident wUl never be known . The deceased was a young man of very extensive practice as a solicitor , highly respected in Oxford and the neighbourhood . He held several appointments , such as clerk to the market commissioners , and several trusteeships of different roads . He has left a young widow and four children .
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The Late Fibe at Watto . v . —Committal fob Lv CKNDIARI 8 M . —HERTFoan , Saturday . —Tliomas Wade , who was remanded on Friday , was fully committed for trial at the next assizes . Watermen and Steam-boats . — At the Thames Police-court on { Monday , Richard Ash , a waterman of Execution Dock-stairs , was fined 40 s . and costs for addressing atjusive and infamous language to Mr . Thomas William Allen , master of the Waterman steam-boat , No ( j , who stated that since the recent conviction of Mr . Sims , the former master of the
boat , of manslaughter , by running down a boat and causing the death of two persons , he could not pass the Tunnel-pier without being hooted and abused by the prisoner and jhis companions , to the great alarm of the passengers . The defendant attempted to jus tify himself by alleging that steam-boats always went by his plying place at such a furious rate as to endanger the lives- of the watermen and the persons they were ferrying across the river . Mr . Broderi p read the fellow aj lecture upon his ruffianism , which he insolently retorted upon and declared he was no ruffian . lie was led away cursing and using other bad language . \
fiiK late Fatal Oc-cxrke . vce by No . 6 Waterman Steamer . —Second Verdict of Manslaughter . —On Monday , Mr . Bilker , the coroner , resumed , and concluded an inquiry at the Gun , Gun Dock , Wapping , touching the death of William Morgans , aged nineteen years , a seaman , who , together with Edward Everest , lost his { life on the 25 th of October last , in consequence of the skiff in which they and four other persons Were crossing the Thames -from Rotherhithe to Wapping , being upset by the Waterman steamer No . 6 coming in collision with tliera . The coroner charged the jury that it was a clear case of negligence ; and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter . During the time the inquiry was going on , the following letter , addressed " To the gentlemen of the jury sitting ion William Morgans , " was received
through the post ; and read to them by the coroner : — " Sirs—Mr . Brisco , mate of the Waterman Steamer No . 6 , has been 'dismissed from his situation for giving an honest evidence at the Central Criminal Court . If any of the captains or the crew of any of those boats were to dare to give evidence of the reckless manner they are compelled to navigate those boats , they would " be instantly discharged . The rate that these boats navigate through the Pool is sixteen miles an hour . They jean , and 3 o , the slowest of them , go from Westminster-bridge to Woolwich ( eleven miles and a half ) , in j less than three-quarters of an hour , when making no stoppages . It is the owners who ought to be punished . —Jistitia . " One of the jury stated that he knew the circumstance alluded to in the letter was a fact .
Treatment of ] Patter Li-x . iTirs . —The Anatomv Act . —On Monday forenoon , Mr . Wakley , M . P ., held an inquest at the Cross Keys , Belton-street , St . Giles ' s , on the body of Mary Saunders , aged thirtyfive , a lunatic pauper . Deceased had been an inmate of St . Giles's workhouse , and in consequence of , insanity , was renirfved , on the l ) th of October , to Warburton ' s Lunatic ; Asylum , Bethnal-green , and in that institution died pn the i ' Jml ult ., of exhaustion consequent on extensive sloughing of the back . Tlie body was brought back to the workhouse , and , when seen by a relative , he found that it had been mutilated by dissection or some sort of surgical operation , and wishing to j know whether the mutilation had been tlone beforie or after death , he informed the
coroner of the eiivumstance . A nurse from Warburton ' s Asylum proved the admission of deceased on the 9 th of October , and her death on the l » 2 iid ult . He also described the medical and other treatment of deceased , which ' appeared satisfactory to the jury . A pauper of St . Gijes ' s workhouse proved fetching the ttody of deceased from Warburton ' s Asylum " . The body was not then mutilated . Two days afterw . irils it was taken to ! Middlesex Hospital by order of the overseers . Mr . J Ik'iinett . sunreon to the St . Giles ' s Infirmary , said when paupers died without relation * or friends , their ! bodies , by the Anatomv Act , could bp removed by order of the overseers to four [ iernsed si-luml-s ot nnatoniy . The Coroner ; In this case there were relatives . [ Mr . Heiinett : I was aware tit' it .
but the overseers did not question me on the subject . Mr . Howden , lecturer on anatomy at the Middlesex Hospital , said the body of deceased was received into that institution ! from St . Giles ' s workhouse on the L' ^ th ult . lie saw it , and there were no mutilations < ii- incisions on lit . It was received under order of the coroner , and returned as unfit for the purposes of dissection on the next day . Wished for another body in exchange , but did not go to the workhouse for that purpose , but to inquire into the cause of death in order to make his j return to the inspector of anatomy . Coroner : Where wove the ainpfftaiitvns of the toes and incisions made ' . Mr . Rowden : In our dissecting room . The ! Coroner : Have you the power ; to return the body to the workhouse after dissection-are vou
not bound to bur } 'it ? Mr . Rowden : It appears to me 1 have the power of returning it to the persons who lawfully possessed it before dissection . The Coroner : Yon have power to gend it to another licensed dissecting room , but not to return it to the workhouse * Mr . Rowden : I sent the body back with the overseer's certificate . I made no return to the inspector of anatomy , for I am not bound to do so l > efore I -have been twenty-four hours in possession of a body . 1 thought it hardhve should have to pay the 'expenses of interment when the body was useless to us . Such expense would Ue £ 2 Is ., with some small gratuities to those that brought the body , which expenses the students pay to us . After some further conversation the jury ret urne . ( l a verdict of—hied from exhaustion , the result of natural disease .
Ireland . —More Shoorint , McnnEBs . — A'n attempt at murder was made on Tuesday night week at Tubber , in tlie King ' s County , when a small farmer named Patrick Curran was tired at and dangerously wounded . } A horrible murder has been committed in the county of Slim . On Tuesday evening week , as Mr . Samuel M'Kerin was sitting " , in his !> ar lour reading } near the road leading from Branchield to Sligo , Ihe was shot by some base assassin throuph his window , and s >> near was the murderer to his victim that the shot carried away a portion of his head , and stretched him lifeless on the instant . — The Kihrnnu \ Jown \ ol contains the following : — "Mikoer of , \ Father by a So . v . —The inhabitants of Mullindhone have been just thrown into the greatest eonsteimation by tlie perpetration of amur-< ler at which humanity shudders . Yesterdav ^
Tuesday ) morning , as \\ nliam Shea , of lulvemnon ( within five miles of Callan , on the Fethard road ) , was- proceeding to spread a quantity of seed-wheat for his son-in-law , named Egan , who is sick of a fever , he was hindered from the performance of his charitable office by his son , Michael Shea , who struck * him on the head with a , stone , and afterwards with a spade , and killed him on the spot . His skull is fractured in the most frightful manner . It appeal's * that voung Shea hairt been at variance with his sister ' s husband , the aforesaid Egan , and hence arose the altercation . The Mullinahone police were speedily in attendance , [ but the parricide had fled : he attempted to drown himself , but was prevented by two men who happened to have seen him . An inquest was held on Wednesday , and a verdict returned according to the circumstances .
Brecon . —Dreadful Murder . —A dreadful murder was perpetrated on the night of the 6 th inst ., on a butter and provision dealer returning from Cardiganshire to this town . He left Brecon about eight o ' clock on Friday evening . He was in one cart , and his son , a lad about thirteen years of age , was driving another . It appeai-s from the statement of the lad , that , about two miles from this town , they overtook a man , who asked his father what he would take a man to Lampcter for , ? ind they agreed as to the price . When about half way , to Tricastle , the man , himself , and his father got out and walked a little way . The man askeir if they were near Tricastle , and his father said they were little more than half way ( the distance iB more than twelve miles ) . He then paid his father what' he had agreed to pay for taking him , and advised the boy to get into the front cart and let him cover himjwith some straw and tarpaulin , which
he did , and hej went to sleep . The horses went on until they came to the turnpike-gate , about a quarter of a mile from Tricastle . The boy might have been here some little time asleep , when a man . with a waggon came tip in the opposite direction and woke up the gatekeeper . This awoke the boy , who immediately inquired for his father , but he was not to be found . The poor boy was much distressed , and the tollgate-keeper | took him to an inn in the village . It was now about ! twelve 6 'clock . In a very short time the waggoner returned , riding one of his horses , saying he had found the man about a mile on , lying by the side of the ) -oad murdered . Assistance was given , and the body was brought in . At that time he was quite warm . His death was occasioned by a pistolsnot , which passed through his hat , and entered his head just over jthe right ear . The ball lodged in the head , and has since been extracted . Death must have been instantaneous . —Sun .
The late Fatal Railway Accident at Nottingham . —Death of Another of the Sufferers . —Mr . James Bolestridge , landlord of the Three Horse Shoes public-house , Derby-road , who was a passenger in the up train which met with so much damage at the time of the collision , died on Tuesday morning at his own house . It is now near four weeks since the unfortunate accident took place , by which Mr . Bolestridge received the injuries from which he died . During jthat time he has been a great sufferer , and although lie was attended by some of the most eminent medical men in the town , nothing could be done by them ! to avert this new calamity . His injuries were principally internal . He was * very generally respected , and has left a wife and child . Mr . Edward Roberts , the gentleman who has had his leg amputated ] and who was in the same carriage with Mr . Bolestridge , is still in a very precarious state , The other sufferers are doing well .
Frightful Occident . —On Tuesday a dreadful accident occurred to Mr . Starling , landlord of the Trinity Arms } Swan-street , Borough , by foolishly jumping out of a gig . He was riding in a one-horse break along fTiverton-street , Newington-causeway , when the horse shied at a pig in the middle of the road , and commenced plunging . Mr . Stirling , in a state of excitement , jumped out of the break and fell with his right jleg under him on the edge of the kerbstone , breaking his thigh-bone in two places .
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Death , from Starvation' . —Oh Monday afternoon a lengthened investigation was entered into , before Mr . Higgs , coroner for ^ the Duchy of Lancaster , and a jury of thirteen inhabitant householders , at the Golden . Lion , Lower Edmonton , on view of the remains of a man name unknown , aged fifty-two , whose death was occasioned by the want of food and exposure to the inclemency of the weather . R . Pugh , thekeeper of a lodging house in Church-street , stated that he had known the deceased for the last three months . He was a native of Essex , and was an agricultural labourer . He was in the employ of Mr . Boards , farmer , of Edmonton , but had been for some months out of work . He bad during that period obtained a scanty pittance by vending Congreve matches , balls of cotton , Ac . About
Wednesday or Thursday week last the police interfered with himv and threatened to apprehend him as a vagrant , saying that his offering things for sale was merely an excuse for begging . Deceased was in consequence very frightened , and did not go out with his basket again . He stopped at witness ' s house till the following Tuesday , when he absented himself , haying till then , from the day the police spoke to him , lived upon stale crusts , which he got from other lodgers in exchange for congreves , and the dregs of the tea-pot when others had done with it . On Saturday night last , about half-past ten o ' clock , witness was
returning home , when he saw the deceased sitting on the ground in the street , crouched up in a comer . He asked him why he did not come to his house . He replied because he had no money , adding that he wag very cold and thirsty , and had a pain in his side . Witness assisted him " home , when he made him some gruel , putting into it half a pint of ale , which deceased swallowed ravenously . Deceased was then put into a bed , and witness saw him no more alive . After a few remarks from the coroner on the distressing circumstances of the case , the jury returned a verdict , '' That the deceased died from want of the common necessaries of life and exposure to the cold . "
Alarming Fire at Brixton . —Wednesday morning , shortly before one o ' clock , a fire broke out in the house belonging to Mrs . Powney , town-carrier , situate at No . 7 , Crystal-road , North Brixton . The Waterloo brigade engine promptly attended , and was followed by the West of England one , and another from Southwark-bridge-road . There being a good supply of water instantly procured , the firemen set to work most vigorously , and before two o ' clock they succeeded in extinguishing the fire , not , however , until very considerable damage had been effected .
( 'wing to the density of the smoke , the inmates in the upper part of " the building had the greatest dilticulty in escaping , and for some time it was believed that Mrs * Powney had been burnt to death , as she could not be found . Upon examining the premises after the fire was extinguished , no traces of any person having been burnt could be discovered ; the probability , therefore , is that she was from home at the time of the disaster . As to the origin of the fire , or whether or no the sufferer was insured , we could not learn during the excitement that prevailed .
The Attempt to Poison a Whole Famxlv . — In our last we gave the particulars of the first examination of Jolin Wall , of Oadby , framework-knitter , on the charge of attempting to kill his mother , father , and brother , by administering arsenic to them , in order , it is supposed , to obtain possession of £ 300 , to which himself and his brother and sister were entitled on the death of their mother . Rumours were afloat , in the meantime , that he had been concerned in another attempt of tlie same atrocious character , by which he sought to rid himself of the expense of maintaining an illegitimate child of his wife ' s , by the same means , and it was ascertained on inquiry that a few weeks prior to the attempt on the life of his father , mother , and brother , the child had been taken suddenly- ill , under suspicious circumstances . On the
prisoner ' s examination on Wednesday , the legal evidence requisite for a committal in the first case was i ; nt produced ; and the second case , the charge of attempting to poison the child , was then partially gone into . It appeared that , on the 24 th ot" September , the prisoner ' s wife left home , leaving a child whom . Jic had before her marriage with Wall , in tlie care of a boy . During her temporary absence , the boy saw Wall put some white powder into some milk which had been boiled for the child , and on telling him what lie had seen , Wall reached down the salt from the eliiiiiney-pieee , and said that was what he had put in the milk . As the evidence was incomplete on both charges , and it is anticipated that additional facts will be obtained , the prisoner was remanded to Monday . The prisoner maintains a dogged silence . — Leicester Mcrcum ,
ca . tj . l Railway Accident . — A fatal amdent oc-< -uiTed on Saturday morning last , on the line of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway , near Ryton station , about seven miles from Newcastle . As the luggagetrain , which left Newcastle at half-past six o ' clock for Carlisle , was proceeding at the usual rate , it ran into a cow which was straying on the line , and the force of the concussion was so great as to throw the engine and tender over a low embankment , the engine falling on its side , and the tender being crushed up beside it . The stoker w ' 'nate enough to jump off just before the collision took place , and escaped with only a few slight bruises . The engineer
did not jump off , and he was crashed to death between the engine and the tender . Had the accident occurred twenty yards further along the line , where the railway runs close to the river Tyne , the whole train would have gone into the water . The trucks suffered no injury , and but little displacement , and another engine having been brought , they were forwarded to their destination , and the subsequent trains experienced no delay . The engineer's name was Thomas Graham ; he was a steady experienced driver , but the morning was very dark , and the animal was not discovered until the engine was close upon it , too Late to prevent the accident .
The Murder in Brecoxsiiire . — Further Particulars . —The neighbourhood having been arouBed by the intelligence of the above murder , the constables proceeded to the spot , where they found the body ijiug on its back , at the top of a short hill , with the hat drawn over its face , and two small pools of blood , which had issued from a bullet wound two inches behind the right ear , the ball being afterwards discovered , on post mortem examination , to liave penetrated , the brain , and to have flattened against the skull , where it lodged on the opposite side . His waistcoat had been torn open with such violence as to break several buttons , and all his cash had been extracted from the money pocket ; his watch and several articles in other pockets were untouched .
f rom all appearances it was evident that the fiendlike assassin had fired the fatal shot while walking up the ascent of the road , at the side of his unsuspecting victim , who must have fallen forward on his right knee and forehead , and have been turned over on his back by the murderer for the purpose of plunder . Messengers were immediately forwarded to Brecon . On the intelligence reaching Mr . D . Rossor , landlord of the Bridgent inn , where the deceased ( whose name was David Lewis ) had been in the habit of putting up , the suspicion flashed across his mind that the deed had been done by a man naniod Thomas Thomas , of Llansowel , Carmartbenthenshire , who had called at his house in a drab macintosh , and had enquired for butter carts going
to the vicinity of his home , about two hours before Lewis and his boy started . He accordingly caused a letter to be sent per mail to a respectable innkeeper in the neighbourhood of LlansQwel , who immediately forwarded descriptions to the rural police of the county , several of whom were Btationed near , hi the meantime inquiries had been made by the Brecon police , which strengthened the suspicion , and Mr . Superintendent Stephens , accompanied by the Lite superintendent , who knew Thomas from having had him in custody on a previous occasion , started off for Carmarthenshire , while printed descriptions were forwarded to all the adjacent districts and seaports . Having been detained maiding inquiries on the way , the Brecon
police did not reach Llansowel until after one o clocK on Sunday morning , when they found Thomas in the custody of the rural police , who had taken him under the following circumstances : —Acting on the information they had received , they had proceeded to his father ' s house , and found that he had reached home at half-past eleven o'clock ; they also ascertained tliat he had been seen in the village , and deeming it likely that he would come home at nig ht > the superintendent stationed his men on the lookout , lying in wait himself with one of hia men m a lane near his father ' s house . Soon after eight o ' clock they heard him coming down the lane , and passing one on each side of him , collared him at once . Being a very powerful young man , he succeeded in throw * ing them both down , and after a severe struggle oa the ground , they were compelled to draw their cutlnsses before he would surrender . Durincthe struggle
he dropped a brace of pocket-pistols , which fortunately were not loaded , and in his pocket were found twelve bullets , caps , and some powder . Having been surrendered to the Brecon police , he was brought on Sunday to the station-house in that town , and on Monday was taken to an adjourned inquest , held -before Thomas Batt , Esq ., at the Camden Arm * , Treeastle . From the evidence here adduced , it appeared that he had nine days previously bought tne pistols at an ironmonger ' s shop in Brecon , and that on Friday night he rode in a fanner ' s waggon a s hort way out of town until overtaken by Lewis and fl » cart , when he made the bargain for ( conveyance w Treeastle . The boy who had charge of the waggoDi and Lewis's little boy , swore most positively to W 3 identity ; and such a chain of circumstantial -evidence was made apparent , that the jury without hesitation returned a verdict of Wilful Murder against Thomas Thomas , who was therefore removed to the coUDtj
gaol , to take bis trial at the March assizes . Daring Burglary . —On Monday night * ^ . ^ h or early on Tuesday morning , the residence ot id *> Rev . R . B . Gardiner , of Wadhurst , Sussex ^ was burglariously entered , and a quantity of valuable piaw and sundry other articles istolen therefrom . . "" robbery was effected by a Iperson well acquaw ^ with the premises . On the ; principal portion or "f plate was engraven a stag ' s head , with * nw ^ " tween the antlers , and the initials R , B . G . m another portion . A reward of £ 60 has been offered ou the conviction of the offender ,
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Untitled Article
6 . * ¦ THE NORTHERN STAR . j December 14 , 1844 .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Dec. 14, 1844, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct686/page/6/
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