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O ^ COSKOR UPOK THE . QUESTION OF EXPEpiESCT—TBAKSEER- — COMPROMISE—POLITICAL TRAFFIC AST ) COMPENSATION . PCW ALL CLASSES AND ALL SECTS OF ALL NATIONS , ANDfO ^ MY OWN DEAB FUSTIAN JACKETS , BLISTERED HANDS , AND UNgHORN CHINS ,-THE ifcOP OF ALL . vT dbab . Jrixhds , —I wadwjsly ewre your best
> tt 8 Bia <) ntoal « tte * wbi « hpmniswt © b » r * ry Ion * , ti fce subjects on -which it designs to treat are numerous mi complex , yet so minutely dependant one upon the ctber , * i to aadre them oooessories to th * facts which 2 jp ^ b to f bTge against misrule ; ud if my good friend , * r . Hflli shou ld see a necessity of breaking my story in fee ' igiddte , ?<* ^ **• £ both end » » o bot in your nHBoay , as to make them strong in tb * irBld , and -oBrfete ***^ 1016
-Hy first a » £ **»* terms , expediency and compensa . Man , are Ss * great questions to » hid » I shall direct your attention ; the others , toaster , compromise , and politico ) traffic , are but filling siuS , and shall be used merely at sneb . Expediency , as T ° k ** b 660 often told , asd of ^ hiea dear-bought experience has conrinced yon , is & ^ n » T * J ^ a- Walker , in hi « dictionary , girts ub jeren different meaning for the -word : fitness , propriety , suitableness to an end , expedition , adrenture , haste , dispatch . Now , suppose » e divide those meanings
fiiix toe tyrants , and as theirafcawisgaBerally the biggest jaif , -re may safely concede to them the four latter solutiaiu : " expedition , " sdrenturo , " "haste , " "dispatch , " vial * to the rocabulary of just rulers , -we should say , the thi »* former properly being . In fact , one would jgppoab that , according U the TfogKuhUnguage , fitness , proprwty , and suitableness to an end , -were the true PfljufcrncfioM of the word , -while the fonr latter , Tarying , «¦ icto coZo , " i * meaning from the former , were added in ib ippecdix , sinee the Reform Bill , as growing tut of uvs a * nude of the term by Reformer * .
Tike these four-words , expedition , adrenture , haste , fljjpjidi , and I ask you , eeuld the mind of all-ingenious aabm bit upon a motto more typical of Whig-reformed polky ¦ S * " *® t * 16 * Dot prored themselTBS mere adrenferars , reding upon transfer , compromise , polifcol tnffie aad compensation , for the success of their XBtetakings . ' Hare not expedition , haste , and dispitci , in sll things conducing to the adrentsre , marked fbfirenrj act ? while , in all matters connected with taewfet&re of the state , a creeping , cringing , moping , feeling , groping policy , has marked their every step , as if appreaencre and fearful of meeting an apparition of justice in some part of their piratical course . Have flfrww , propriety , or suitableness to an end , once entered into their councils , or goTerned ^ tbeir actions ? Jfo , bo * once .
11 ii a expedient to relieve the estates of the rich from * mortgage held in trust for the -whole people , expedition , histe , and dispatch , the three Drril-kings f adventure and unjust power , step in ; necessity vQb , and expediency unceremoniously says , " be it w . " If a clamorous mob of an exclusive class complain of principle upon the face of custom , necessity says , if art prompUy removed , it may torn to a cancer , and expediency forthwith remove * the pimple .
But , if the whole people , fitly , properly , and with a Tkw to a suitable end , complain of chronic disease and increasing disorder , expediency requires twenty-five yean at least to perfectly rmAt-nrtm ^ A the nature of the patient " * complaint , and as many more to decide npon the remedy— -witness the band-loom weaver ' s complaint If the landlords require a fictitious value to be put upon their estates , suitable to the end , that they may be expeditiously made good security for the fond-lords , prudence says it is just , and expediency cries , expedition , haste , dispatch , and , as if by magic , the thing ij done .
So with the parsons . If an article is to be added to the state creed , or if one is to be lopped off ; if faith should require a reform , equivalent to all secular reforms , so that the state sword and the church sword should in nothing cla&k ; or U new security should be required for tb « parpoee of transferring the payment of tithes from an enlightened to an ignorant portion of the community , expedition , haste , and dispatch are always at the service of the adventurers ; and no Whig iron ever cools for wast of sufficient heat is the political furnace .
As far as expediency goes , then , I claim , for the whole people , a chance of fitly , properly , and suitably ( instead of expeditiously , hastily , and with dispatch ) applying the Refosm Bill in the spirit in which the people risked their lives for its accomplishment—that k , that it shall make taxation and representation coatensive . If this is treason , I am a traitor and glory is the name . Hence , we cut eren expediency , the prop of tyrants , from under them , and claim its just and rightful application to the suitableness of the ends of justice .
Lei va now consider Transfer . Tbe Reform BID pro niised to be the annihilation of Toryism ; not for Whig broefit , but for national improvement . The Whigs laid , ths Tories rule contrary to the maxims of the Constitution , in -violation of compact , and in opposition to public wQL They "wage destructive , perpetual , and expensive nrs , far the purpose of keeping np their own power , and thereby axe compelled to l « Ty grinding taxes upon the subject We -want refsrm to preserve peace , aad , thereby , as war is the most expensive item in national expenditure , to lighten the public burden , and make retrenchment in such departments as have Mtherto been kept up as mere auxiliaries of political Power , without being at all beneficial to the country . The reform demagogues over aad over again said , " -we "Wai not transfer , we require equal justice for all "
Let me point oat a few delusions practised by two of 2 k most prominent reform demagogues . Russell said that the object of the Reform Bill was , to make representation a-nd taxation co-extensive—cos words be more piais , and do we , even now , is our strength , ask for ttore ? Stanley , in a speech cajomenting upon the little Wlacn the Reform Bill -was said te bold out for Ireland , ^ sed tbe following words : — " Wehave abolished tithes & * you , and lor trer ; call you that nothing ? " He further said that , another principle of the Reform Bill , tt , " to place all the institutions of the country under popular vigilant control . "
Aow , in our most heated imagination , we have asked fct no more ; and , let me isk , if it is right that the face wbish carried the measure should be satisfied with lea ? Has not tbe Reform Bill , then , notwithstanding S » denial of transfer , been the mere transfer of power "Wn one gorged faction , who governed by measure *> d rule ( which , though g * H '" f , the nation began to bar as a settled -wen } , to another faction , so destitute f public confidence—so wasting in faith , without rule ° f measure , u to be impelled to manufacture new ^ ses for new adherents , in order to furnish a snbstikte for their waat of moral courage and common k ° aesty ? Have you fewer placemen , fewer pensioners , k * a sinecurists , or fewer Commissioners ? If the Gfeat Mogul ' s toe aches , is not the chance of a royal eoi&niiKion of condolence a God- * end to our retrenching
You have had more commissions within five years , San in fifty years before the Reform Bill ; and ail to inquire how money may be most profitably applied for th Bflply « f Whig power , and f « r the preservation of a wrapt Administration . The secresy ofTory Government waa a general com-Plaint . Bu your secret service fund been diminished » £ der the caadid rule of the open and urn disguised Whigs , * ko wished to submit all and everything to -vigilant Pop 8 !** controul ? Aw 7 ottnr * r » fewer , or more distant from thaluarth , declared upon better pretensions ? Are you ; taxes less onerous , ox more equally laid * I * ffi ths several pasties , according to theix ability to fetttben *
3 s ; you have had the two most unjust wan ever ** ged-vith& the memory of mvi proclaimed since last 8 c"ion of ParliifceBt : — 1518 * ar against the Chinese , the most peaee-loTing "" SleMt dTilised nation in ail the arti of modern " ¦ rtfcritm , in the world . Yon hare to pay for Anglo-IttU * a smugglers' license to enervate , intoxicate , and ^ Klden the subjects of a monarch , careful of the health , * e morals , and the condition of his subjects ; and this * tonomi « ta call free trade , and your capitalists look on *** Jaogh , while yom pay for the experiment , which 7 "rtkip&te win introduce your produce iato the ^ * * l empiML
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The war against Mehemet Alfwaa unjust , dishonour able , unchristian , and disgraceful . He won his crown by the sweat of bis brow and the exercise of . Ma talent , and wore it for the good of his people . He was more , much more tolerant to infidels , that is , to those Chris tians , whom other Christians call heretics , than oar state church is to a community professing thirty-eight and nineteen-twentieth * of their thirty-nine articles of faith . He -would not incarcerate a cobbler twenty-two months for son-payment of Is . Cd .
Thus we Smd that , coward-like , the fiat and the last act of Whiggery are in perfect keeping . Their first experiment was to wage domestic -war against the p # or out-of-the-way Dorchester Labourers ; their last has been to insure th » co-operation of three other powerful state * { the one England ' s deadly foe and jealous rival ) to make war upon almost the only constitutional monarch upon earth , in order that a tottering Government may limp , and hop , and hobble for another bit , upon the prop which their deadly patronge confers upon
them , while you will find that—no matter what the result , whether , as you will be told , glorious , and as adding brilliancy to our arms—ei whether your fathers , -husbands , brothers , and friends return with -wooden legs , or their lifeless bodies shall lie mutilated under tbe walls of Acre , —you will pay the whole reckoning , not only for the immediate brash , but for the distinction and emolument -which most 1 » permanently conferred upon the victors , that is , upon the officers , not upon the soldiers .
Thus baa the Reform Bill transferred the treasury { and if I spoke for ever , that is what all contend for , ) from bands who were well watched , ani stoutly opposed , to hands who are lured on to their own undoing , petted into extravagance , and aided into expense , in order that their recklessness may first disgust the nation , and hereafter furnish a good precedent for the old oppressors , -when their turn comes , and which is now , thank God , fast approaching—I say thank God—for the restoration of the Tories to a short-lived ascendancy , will be the watch-word for the establishment of Democratic right
Tbe -value . of the transfer to you has been an amalgamation of the whole squad into a fraternity of unopposed plunderers . Where , now , is her Majesty ' s opposition ? When , now , do you hear of an objection , in order to reduce public expenditure ? Never ; and as we learn from the ruined state o ! the exchequer , a fresh appeal must be made , for give , give , give , and not a soul will say sat . They will give , but who will pay ? that's the question . Have not the Corperations been a ^ complete transfer , -with an . increase of local taxation , of local tyrants , of election profligacy , and party animosity ? Yes ; but waen I come to treat of compensation , I shall have another word upon these said corporations .
But , after all , -what was the greatest of all transfers , that in which » 51 parties most unceremoniously joineda transfer whose permanency depends , not like some upon wbish I have briefly treated , on the contingency of Whig tenure of office ! No ; it is a good custom transformed into a bad , oppressive law . I mean the transfer of the parish , unwilling idler , from the tender care and guardianship of the old Knglinh gentleman , to whom he was known , with whom he had laboured , and upon " -whose estate he drew his first breath , partaker of his childish pranks , of his boyi&h freaks , his manly sports , his hospitable fare , and his judicial pro * tection—the transfer ef his natural client to the iron sway , the economising grasp , tbe licentious controul of the well-paid economist of the rich man's trust . This iras " the unkindest cut of all . "
But , besides its physical effects , mark its moral tendency . Few people have as yet weighed this hellish measure in all its bearings . They have not , poor souls , had time . to turn from the physical enormity to a consideration of tbe moral consequence . Tbe Star , three yean ago , told you that henceforth that measure would be the basis of every law of magnitude farmed under the presmt system , while , even worse , it has bad the effect of breaking up local
society , of setting master against man , party against party ,- family against family , and interest against interest It ~ h * M polluted the streams of that neverceasing current—local justice . And herein consists its greatest hideottsness , its potency for evil , and power of mischief ; and from this one of its features we may trace every imprisoned Chartist to his weary abode , every local iBjttstice to its source , and every act of tyranny to its rise , and , I trust , to its fall .
Observe , then , my friends , that the greatest transfer of which history makes mention , is that transfer of magisterial appointments , consequent upon the New Poer Law , and tbe necessity of swamping the little of vigilant popular controul which the Bill left , by an inundation of ignorant , purae-proud , upstart , self-sufficient Justice -Shallows . A set of nincompoops , -who know as much about law as the horsa that carries them .
Behold , then , the jurisdiction given to these worthies , with reference , in the first instance , to the enforcement of the measure , ¦ which , in direct violation of the original intent , h&a left them master of all the avenues of justice , in their capacity of eM-qfido gendarmes , thus swamping the bench with starvation Guardians And "what followed ? Why , such beastly decisions as -would disgrace a bench , of fools ; and in nearly all cases where appeals hare been made against those decisions ,
reprimand has followed ; but the expence of appeal against unjust magistrates , is an effectual bar to justice , be the poor man ' s claim never so good . Hence we find a thousand pounds bail for working men , and eighty and sixty for high offences committed by a higher order of beings . And , observe , tbia very holding to bail is strong presumptive evidence against a working man , thus stamped with tbe wrath and censure of one set of masters , for the guidance of another set , who are to sit in judgment , as jurors , upon their oaths .
I would not give you a tunup , nay , not a rotten one , for the oaths of a middle class jury , when empannelled to try a -working class slave . These men , observe , as magistrates , have the power of introducing tbe Rural Police , of ordering out and paying the special constables and aoldiers , -with your money , to shoot yon , and of compelling the Government to open the purse-stringa of the secret service fund , to furnish their spies with the wages of reduction , treachery , and perjury .
This , th . eB , -whether considered morally or physically , is tha greatest , as it is the most destructive , transfer ot alL" A <* " >» may annihilate the power of a faction , but the Taw r e 1711 """ written ; and now , before I take leave of t . hin question , and as some sagacious booby has given birth to the apothegm , that " the great magic in politics ii to be right , " than which , a more ignorant sentence could not be written ; let me council you to do right Indeed / you have always been right , end yon have as yet found but little magic in your rectitude . The great magic in politics is to have tbe might , and " tbe only-true title to power ia that which right and might conspire to uphold . "
You know that I have no faith in petitions , for any practical benefit , which they are likely te produce . You have , however , wisely petitioned for the restoration of Frost , Williams , and Jonee , and upon other subjects , therefore you still , in some instances , approve of the farce . Let me , then , advise you to get up petitions in every locality , against the re-enactment of the measure ; it will have died a natural death this Session . Do not go to any expence . The plan which I propose is » ii «;—A sheet of long foolscap paper -will contain 250
names , leaving room for a short petition at the head ; each page will admit of two columns ot signatures , and let millions of those be sent to Mr . Fielden . Every 250 will cost only ene penny , the prioe of the cover . Let the class leaders take them in their pockets ; let them be placed in barbers' shops , news-agents' shops , and in title shops and bouses of all who are opposed to th « re-enactment of the law . Let your petition run tans - . — To ike Common * of tie United Kingdom , in Parliament
auembltd . The humble Petition of the industrious classes of Barssley aad its -vicinity , 8 h * w * tb , That your petitioners look upon the New Poor Law Amendment Act as a robbery of tbe poor , by the allocation of their trust property , to purposes different from those for wkich it was originally granted and held . That they consider it as a violation of the laws of God , and destructive of tbe -very best principles upon which the British Constitution has been based .
That they will give to it , in all its stages , every constitational opposition which remains in their power ; and that they never will Tote for , or support , any candidate who lends himself to tbe re-enactment of the
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measureibuVxav-ihe contrary , wfll oppose him to the utmost of their power . That it is & robbery of the poor for the benefit of tbe rich ., which n * ver can be upheld except by an expensive brute feree , and i » , above all other measures , calculated to Trictan that breach which fobmbb PaSLUMENTS . aMeQbragripfng trading class , hare widened * between the upper aad lower classes of society . That la order to'reader null android some of the clauses in the Bill , tthqfiph Guardians have been appointed , who , in their magisterial capacity , have been oppressive , ignorant , and tyrannical , and have thareby brought the laws of England , as adndnirtered by theft , into cont « mpt and disgust .
For these , and numerous other reasons , your petitioners pray that your Honourable House will abstaim from any farther legislation upon the measure , - leaving the old law of the 43 rd of Elisabeth in full force , until the people , in their usited wisdom , shall make such alterations , and improvements in all laws for the support , comfort , and proper maintainance of the poor , as shall seem fit , when they are thoroughly represented in their House , -which they never yet have been . And your petitioners , as in duty bsund , will ever pray .
Now , let this be done without any man devoting more time to the question than the mere signature of the petition . There need be no meetings ; there have already been an abundance , and pnblic opinion has been fully expressed . This will not take aa hour from the Charter agitation ; but let us test the House in ito death throes , because , believe me , that many knaves , who will soon be thrown back upon the people , if not thus tested , will say , " Oh ! I never knew your mind . You did ' nt petition . "
Let us see if tbe minority of seventeen has increased anything in three years , and this , above all other means , -will put to flight the incomparable felly of th « se who ask the unrepresented , why they don't use their power for practical purposes . It will give us th 6 nagic of being right , while it will show the little value of the magic without the might A petition should be sent to every Town Council in England , and the names , with tbe political cognomen of those -who sign it , shall be published , and , lest the petition for you should be too
strong far them , mix the medicine to the palate of the patient , make it all honey , and simply pray that the Bill shall not be re-enacted . Dont put one hard word in their petitions . You will get one aenest Councillor in every corporate town to undertake the charge of it , and , when signed , get it back and transmit it yourselves . By these means , in three days , Saturday , Sunday , and Monday , you should be able to hare from two to three millions of signatures . Here , then , is right with a vengeance , but its magic consists in the substance of which it is merely the shadow , —the might
Let not the sophistry of those who proclaim them , selves Chartists , and something more , -which means fool , asd something less , deter you from this act of expediency , suitable to a just and proper end . By the treatment which your petitions will certainly receive , I want to test a principle . I want to prove to you , and to put you in a position to prove to practical spouters , that devoting your energies to what is called practical questions , is all moonshine ; and by this means we shall do more to rivet attention to the question of questions , the mental enfranchisement , than by all other appliances within our reach .
I find that having already exhausted so much of my space upon the questions of minor importance , that I shaD be myself compelled to cut my story short in the middle . Now , ponder over -what I hare said , and always bear in mind that , under the present system , you hare not the power , although you pay all the taxes , to effect , by your petitions , any , tbe slightest change is state affairs ; nay , not even to the discbarge of a palace menial , to the shortening of a royal borss's tail , or to the disbanding of a troop or company of soldiers . I am , my friends . Your true and faithful friend , Feargcs O'Connor .
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TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN . Madam , —We will now , if you please , resume our Illustrations as to the classes into which criminals are divided , and the equal justice dealt eut to each . And bere I must beg your attention to the third precept of the moral law . If a poor ignorant fellow swear a profane oath , ( and I admit the practice is both wicked and disgraceful , ) he may be fined by any justice of the peace , before whom the offence is proved ; and if he swear falsely , he is ( and very properly , too ) liable to an indictment for perjury . The law denounces these acts as crimes , which call for condign punishment ; but
I pray your Majesty to note well , that there are no crimes in the great , noble , and eren clerical portion of tbe community . Those gentry may insult tbe heavens with their profanity , and in 099 cases out of 1 , 000 they are never called to an account at all ; or , if perchance , as in the case of a magistrate the other day , somebody is honut enough to call for tbe infliction of the penalty upon tbe respectable , as well as upon tbe poor , delinquent , tbe punishment , in tbe latter case , is at the best but nominal , for the fire shillings may be a serious fine to a poor mechanie , or agricultural labourer , whilst it is absolutely nothing to a rich " respectable . "
Again , while perjury Is considered to be most horrible in a case of petty theft , the wholesale perjury , which is daily committed by tbe elite of the land , is considered as utterly beneath tbe notice or the controul of the law . I am -withheld by the terrors ot the law of libel from being more explicit ; bat this I will say—Look at the oaths constantly takes by Members of Parliament , by 3 Iagistrates , by public officers , by tradesmen , and parties engaged in commerce , and by all orders of the clergy , and then Bay , if those solemn appeals to the
Deity ore not constantly violated in the most shameless and unblushing manner . Has not " O . < it la only a Custom House oath ¦ " passed into a proverb ? And what are we to think of the conscientiousness of the clergy in regard to oaths , when we see church livings constantly advertised for sale in the public prints , in the teeth of tbe solemn oath against simony , inscribed in tbe canons , and which , every person having cure of souls must take before induction to his benefice ? Yet all this frightful immorality is no crime , for the authors of it are respectable .
We find the same brood distinction drawn in reference to the fourth commandment . If a poor fellow be caught trying to gain something fer his half-starved family ( or supplying the destitute in his neighbourhood who did not receive their scanty earnings till too late for the market on the Saturday night ) bT Sunday trading , he is liable to be pounced upon by some pious advocate of Sabbath sanctity , and placed within the fangs of the law as a most flagrant transgressor ; but bo -wonder , for bis crime must be enormous , being superinduced in some way or other by the still mere atrocious crime of poverty . To sell a loaf to honest
poverty , unless tbe salesman be a baker , duly authorised to break tbe Sabbath by act of Parliament , is gross immorality , calling for pains and penalties in ^ this world , and hell fire in the next ; but the parties of pleasure , the drives in the park and the Sunday evening parties , for gaming and abominations of every kind , of the nobility and gentry , ore in perfect accordance with the nature of the day ef rest ; and the saints of Vhe Agnew school , who are horrified at the bare idea of a pleasant tea meeting , or a country ride , by tbe working classes on a Sunday , never think that a Sabbath bill is colled for to regulate the saloons of my Lord Duke , or to place under efficient controul the hells in St Jazaei '» - » b « et
We find that , in accordance with the supposed requirements of God ' s precepts , the man who imbues bis bands in the blood of his fellow , is worthy of the punishment of death , for he is a murderer whom a righteous vengeance suffers not to lire ; but when a Queen and Gererhment resolve to commit murders by the thousand , —when , because a people refuse to let merchants poison them , it is resolved that hired miscreants shall be sent to kill them , in the most approred fashion of improved military butchery , —then it is no crime at all , bat on the contrary , is most glorious and honourable "; and those who hare most distinguished themselves in tbe work of blood , are set up as idols , and tbe wreath of what is called honour , with other things more substantial , must be bestowed upon them .
A dechne from the paths of virtue is , in the female in humble life , deemed worthy of the severest privations , and must be branded with infamy , as tbe
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New Ppor ; I * w ^ affords ample eVldenee ; but let the same [ declension be tpwptd ' ip the , priT ^ ged ranks , ' sidi behold she change J Every palliative that cunning can derise is brought to cotnr , or to excuse the deed ; the fair frail one is to be soothed with the tendewst care , white the fouoijlinij hospital opens Its doors ft WceiVe the proofs , of her shame , or some ¦ connection , useful to the minister of the day , secures for it a comfortable provision out of the labour of those who cannot find bread for their Tirtuens * riT « s and legitimate offiipring . Once more , the thief who steals to satisfy his hunger , or to proride a morsel for those who an to him far
mote precious than his own life , is doomed to stand at his country ' s bar , —( I beg pardon , Madam , » t what tfwZtf te his country ' s bar , ) and fa , as an execrable rascal , sent to expiate his crime on the tread-wheel , or in the dreary exile of a penal settlement . But the respectable robber—he who by bfs trading and commenial speculations goes beyond his own means , and by bis failure involves numerous families In rufn , escapes without punishment , on * con come forth to the -world as an honourable man . A still higher class of thieres , or rather swindlers , are they who receive large amounts of money oat of the public purse , for work wbkh they hare nerer done nor intended to do . Such
are public officers , who are of no use ; such are those , "who , because they happen to be the husbands ,-wires , children , or other relatives of kings , claim a right of taking extraragant salaries on the score of their royal blood ; and such are all ihose wko hold church preferment without cure , or who holding livings -with cure , devolve the sacred duties they hare sworn to perform upon others , taking almost the whole fleece to themselres . All these parties are guilty of crimes of the deepest dye ; but then such men must not be styled " criminals , " they . ' most not he held amenable to the law , because they are royal , JiOble , cLSRtcxh , or , at least , rsspectabls .
Thus , Madam , hare I laid before you some portion of the erideneo which goes to prove that we have , as the result of our imperfect system of education , two classes of crimes ; the one being those of the poor which are deemed to deserve punishment ; the other and most flagrant , ore not called crimes , but , at the utmost , renal errors , and very frequently , by the names of glory , honour , vaioar ,. public virtue ; and a hundred other pretty epithets used to conceal the deformity of their real character , and to which , of course , no
punishment or disgrace is legally attached at all . Can it , then , be any cause of wonder that , with education so imperfect , those who claim to be the best informed , seem , in many coses , to be incapable of distinguishing right from wrong , and under which the bulk of the people should be se ignorant of their own rights , duties , and capabilities , as to tamely tolerate a system -which is grinding them to the earth , crime should be found to exist to a portentous and alarming extent ?
It is , in fact , utterly impossible that crime should cease to exist , or even be , to any considerable extent , diminished , until it is plainly demonstrated that offences are such * in themselres , and not merely because they are perpetrated by a certain ' class of individuals ; but mast be recognised as such eren though not clothed in rags , and rice must not be allowed to hide its deformity under the garb of respectability . We are learning a lesson which it would hare been happy for the world if mankind had learnt long ago ,
that is , to call things by their right names , and to test their merit or demerit , not by the appearance they assume , but by the truth or falsehood of the principle they involve . Bo tar as tbe pnblic ore concerned , the more " respectable" the criminal , the more heinous is the offence , and in public equity the more severe should be the punishment I am , Madam , Your Majesty ' B faithful and obedient subject and servant , London , January 27 th , 1841 . NUMA .
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. .. . qp .... . . »« ANALYSIS OF THE HAND-LOOM WEAVERS' REPORT . LETTER XI . To such a state hare we been brought by our system of political economy , that it is difficult to see a clear way out of our embarrassments . If we were to prohibit entirely the exportation of machinery , and the emigration ef artisans , I fear -we are so far sold to foreigners , and our commercial relations so miserably dependent upon their breath , that they would still suck ur ritalsand laugh at us . Whilst we have a court filled with foreigners , au aristocracy patronising them , a government depending upon foreign loon mongers , a race of imbecile merchants and manufacturers courting them , and a whole nation apelng their follies and rices , how can we expect to be otherwise than pusillanimous dupes ?
We hare a rlllonous system of Patent Laws , encouraging Improvements and innovations , and on office where drawings and specifications are deposited , describing such inventions : and improvements most minutely . Foreigners , by this means , can steal the brains of Englishmen as quietly as possible , copy drawings and specifications , carry them over to the Continent , and manufacture machinery as perfect as our own . We have also numbers of scientific works , full of plates , describing erery invention , and a host of foolish scribes and talkers boasting of our genius , and holding up to the admiration of foreigners our most profitable inventions . Poor fools ! The Ursa Major ot the Manchester Guardian foolishly imagines
that if Parliament does not allow free trade in machinery "a most extensive and lucrative branch of trade ( machine making ) will be monopolised by foreigners . " We cannot prevent foreigners becoming active rivals , we ought never to have been exporting machinery or tools , until we had radically reformed the representation of the people , which , bad it been done fifty years ago , would have prevented England from falling into her present degraded and humbled position , and her people from seeking a Fair market for their labour in other countries , in consequence » f being denied one in their own . Foreigners laugh at us . Dr . Bo wring , in his Report on the Prussian Commercial Union , page 55 , says : —
" I hare often beard the observation in Germany , You may try te stop the exportation of your machines , bnt how can you stop the exportation of the heads and bands that make them ?" The Doctor ' s favourite emigration scheme is a capital plan to get the " heads and hands , " the political economists hare been weighed in the balance , and the effect of their surplus . population doctrinegis recorded in the above quotation . Yes , yes , we rid ourselves of the " surplus population , " and the Germans get "headsand hand * " to make their machinery , and very shortly we shall have more " heads and hands , " tospare . A surplus population of weavers , dyers , spinners , printers , Arc . We are already in a declining state . Compare our condition with tbe Doctor's description of Germany .
" In some respects Germany may boast of superiority to Great Britain in her means for manufactures . The arts of design , and their application to various fabrics , are better understood . Metals are more successfully wrought and worked ; chemical knowledge , in its various branches is farther advanced ; than with us . Steam engises are formed on all sides , and mechanical improvements have made radid strides , and "have served to open a wide field for the characteristic devekpement of German intelligence . Our impolicy has contributed much to make Germany our most formidable rival . Our extravagant system of
Government , together with' our debt , requires a heavy amount of taxation , to be levied upon almost all foreign produce ; the GermanB , by the law of retalliation , impose heavy duties npon our manufactures ; at the same time they foster and encourage their own manufacturers ; and from the influence they possess in the English Court , they experience no difficulty in procuring a » order In Oonncil for the exportation of any particular piece of machinery , so we have been swindled out of our political rights , eut of the profit of our labour , and now , we ore being swindled out of our trade altogether , without any apparent resources to fall back upon , sare the Poor Law Bastiles .
In Saxony , one of the German Union , -with an area of 6 , 748 square miles , and a population of 1 , 595 , 608 ; there were , in the year 1836 , 229 factories , 1116 woollen 113 cottom . ) 58 bleaching establishments , 3 " dying establishments , 1 , 559 manufacturing establishments , 278 hosiery establishments , 125 ribbon establishments , 45 printing establishments , 382 lace , blonde , &c establishment * , 35 chemical works , 48 iron works , 16 macbiw > -maki » g establishments , with many others , making 2 , 899 in all . Much attention has been paid of late to the mansfaettues of machinery in Saxony , " the Sacbuschea Mosohinenban Compagnle , ( Saxon Machine-making Company ) with a capital of one million of dollars , is said to be in a flourishing state . Other similar establishments hare been formed ; machines and models hare bee * imported , both from England and other countries , aadBngilsh artisans bare been engaged to give htstraetions to the Germans , and to undertake the superintendence of their werks . " —( See page 57 , Bowring ' s report" )
There Beeds no logical tact to conrince the most ignorant dullard that the trade of England is declining in Germany . Now , the Germans bare got the heads , the hands , the machines , the models , and the instructors , they make their own machines , and manufacture their own goods . The report upon Leipzig fair states , " British printed calicoes hare been exceedingly reduced by native competition , " and " the low German cotton manufacturers hare driven those of England out of the market" More improved machinery will very shortly drive our finer cotton manufactures out of Germany . All this comes of the accursed system « f Eng-
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lish Government coupled with free trade humbug . Fre * trade , forsooth ; with fifty million of taxation on pur shoulders ! Our trade to Germany is doomed to perdition . Our export trade to that country in 1800 , amounted to £ » , 485 , S € 6 and bow , after forty yean of inventions and trading speculations , we do not export one half of that amount . So much for Germany . ' : ' In Belgium , we are n * less opposed by native enterprise ; there is a joint stock machine maker's company , called , " The Sodete du Phoenix , * at Ghent , employing about 710 men { sixty of whom are English ) in the manufacture of cotton aad flax machinery ; they not only make for tbemselres , but for exportation , as the following extract from a London paper will shew : —
"Alarge ship , freighted with machinery , recently sailed from Ghent for Vera Crut , on account of a Mexican merchant . This is sail to toe the second similar cargo sent to th « same party within th » last three month * The whole of the machinery was manufactured in Belgium . " . - .. ' . . - ; ¦' . ' . ; ' . 7 ; ' ¦ '' : ¦ . ¦ ' ¦ . . \ , .. * ¦ ¦ . ; . . " In Hamburgh , says the report , " there is a rery large establishment belonging to Messrs . Gari » man and Bosaee ; they bare expended above £ 30 , 000 in the erection of the buildings , and the , purchase of English topis , also patterns of the most approved English machinery . " Here is another blow at the " great workshop of the world . " Now , let us examine our own position 1 Our -wearers complain that the exportation of maobinery is injurious to their trade . I fear that oomplainiag is useless , for I & »<* the following passage in the Nottingham Jtmrmi : —
" HOSURY akd LaC * Trades . —A pratttee has commenced , within these few weeks , -which , if not prevented ; in time , will tend to depopulate the midland counties ; namely , an extensive exportation of Englishbnllt stocking-frames to Belgium and Holland , and some few to France . * • A considerable number hare been shipped from Liverpool to the United States , which has been a sort of free port for such traffic , as the custom-house officers take little notice of sach shipments . No less than twenty-seren plain frames
were exported at one shipment about a month since [ June last ) to Antwerp , whether by Treasury license or otherwise , remains to be seen . Foreign agents are extensively engaged in purchasing more frames , and engaging hands to work them . A sett of half fever prevails among the unemployed to get situations abroad ; and so numerous are the applications , that only tbe best workmen are selected . In addition to which , considerable numbers of frame smiths hare been seduced to leave this ricinity for Antwerp , Ostand , Ath , and Calais . "
After reading such a paragraph , it appears aimest useless to cry out ; our mechanics sell their ingenuity and their labour to foreigners , who openly sednoe them from their father-land to minister to their designs against their country ; the Gorernment officers , too , wink ftt this exportation of machines , in consequence , no doubt , of the Treasury license . In a fit of desperation , oar political econ « mlsts cry qjK let us bare a free trade in machinery , otherwise oer machine makers will lose the monopoly of machine-making for all the world ! Free traders talking of monopoly ? This is really funny ! Now , the great question resolves itself into these details -. —Can we prerent the exportation of machinery ? I say , emphatically , no ! Reason ; because we hare gone too far in encouraging our political
and commercial enemies . Ought we to prohibit the exportation as far as possible ? I say , yes I Reason ; because , by radically reforming the representative system , we might improve our country so as to turn the use of machinery into » more profitable channel , to go to the good of the commonwealth ; besides , those operatives , who depend up * n machine-making in England , ore numerically small compared with those who depend on manufacturing by machinery ; consequently , therefore , the interests of the many ought not to be sacrificed to ( hose of the few ; and if wede not oppose the exportation of machinery , "we should tacitly allow a band of speculators and dissatisfied manufacturers to enrich themselres at the expense of tha downfall of the staple manufactures of England , and the consequent ruin of the people .
No doubt , a bill will be brought into Parliament by Mark Phillips , to allow free exportation of machinery ; it will be supported by all tbe political philosophers of the free-trade school ; of course , the people have no say in tbe matter , but it will not pass ; nevertheless , the people must keep a look out for the debates , and they will see the class of fellows who would sell the trade of England to foreigners ; it will also furnish more proofs of the necessity of a Radical Reform of that House which wields the destinies of the people in so rocklass a manner .
I now conclude these series of ten letters upon the hand-loom wearers' oase ; nine of them were written in Lancaster and Kirkdale gaols ; and I must say , in justice to the Governors of those gaols , that they ore in no wise blameable , though it -was contrary to the prison rules to write for tbe press ; for 1 found means to get them out without inculpating the Governors , whose duties would bare prompted them to prohibit their transmifsion , had they passed into their hands . I do not know what were the facilities f « r prisoners in other gaols ; but Lancaster and Kirkdale are very liberal towards political prisoners .
Men of Golne , so for bare I discharged my duty to your unfortunate doss . I shall now publish the whole of the letters in a cheap form , and take core that copies are forwarded to erery Member of Parliament , that they do not plead Ignorance of your condition . I canot do otherwise than express my thanks to the Editor of the Northern Star , for opening his columns to my Analysis , whereby , at least , thirty thousand copies of each letter hare been circulated weekly in the remotest parts of these-kingdoms ; yes , eren to the desk of Fox Maule , the -whipper-in of the Government libellers and seditionists . R . J . Richardson . February 8 th , 1841 .
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THE EFFECTS OF CLASS-LEGISLATION , AS SEEN IN THE STREETS aSS HOUSES OF THE WORKING CLASSES . [ Concluded from our lasQ Let us now take a still closer riew of the subject , and ponder upon the state of things ; let us also awake up to a sense of eur real position , aad , with our eyes open , commence an immediate struggle to escape . I hare already shewn haw unfairly the upper classes apply the funds contributed , by all , for the equal use of all . And now let us see how the working classes , with all their " ignorance" and "imbecility , " act towards their richer brethren ; and if I do not prove that , in this at least , they fulfil more than the golden rule requires , namely , " to do as they would be done unts , " I shall be greatly mistaken . What a beautiful steeple-House they are just finishing , at the bottom of Kirkeate , for the upper and middle classes :
what capital houses they rear on every handthey are complete in erery particular—not an outbouse is wanting—a plentiful supply of -water—not one without a privy , ash-holes , extra water closets , grates , and sumpholes—good spouting—top and common sewerage , -with other means to take off all bad smells arid prerent nuisance—well-flagged causeways , and beautifully-paved streets—sweet plots of garden ground , and bere and there is exhibited a miniature country forming the centre of a square—trees in rich blossoms , grass waring—yee , in the midBt of a populous and manufacturing town the luxurious odour and beauty of flowers may be perceived in all their infinitude of rariety . And the working classes glory to do all this for them ; although , should they desire to go occasionally to imuff the air in such a neighbourhood —to catch a glance , they have to do it at the risk ot being sent to prison for peeping over the walls or through the paling .
Let us see , then , what return is made—what the upper and middle classes do for the labourer in a similar way ? They cause cottages to be built for his accommodation , which , in some respects , are little better than pigsties ; in general , two small rooms , with cellarhole for coals , -when he can get any ; for which he pays from five to six pounds per annum , with , or sometimes without , the local rates attached . There is , remember , in the first place , no common sewer , and , in consequence , no sumpstone or hole , inside , to take off the dirty water—all is obliged to be throws upon the surfaco of the street—the door must be thrown open at all seasons if the hands only -want -washing—no
-waterno set-pot—and no many things . Rows of houses ore crowded together—an inch to spore for nothing—they stand back to back , by which streets are formed ; and when a want of base is the great difficulty with the money-making speculator , down deeper he burrowsputs a family in the cellar , one in the middle , and another in the pile above : but the rarest thing in the world , with such inhabitants , is a useable privy or ashplace . The consequence of this is as I have before stated ; all is thrown out upon the street , cerered by ashes , or carried off by the rain as it is exhaled in vapours ; and the stench wafted bock again into the houses , inducing fevers and death .
When surveying the East Word , -we found , at least , five hundred inhabitants , in one locality , entirely destitute of one useable priry . There were three in an entry , but the soil hid not been remored of so long that they literally ran over—down the passage and out at each end : the ash-holes were also filled to overflowing . And here , in summer time , the Inhabitants , who ore chiefly Irish , empty their beds , consisting of chaff , shavings , &c , to get rid of the filth which , certainly , mokes the ash-place a moving concern . The surface of
these streets , as a matter of course , is covered and impassable ; for , how cu it be otherwise . I remember finding , in another part of the town , a small batch of property-where , at least , one hundred people had but the use or ome small privy . But there are scores ot similar Instances ; and when the people are all at home , which only happens on the Sabbath-day , half their time is employed in watching each other in and out , or they slip down behind walls or corners , or else annoy some other person ' s property where a better supply of conveniences exists . ¦
the working classes hare fewer artificial and more real and natural wants tkan the upper classes . Their kind of employment requires more labour and more expence in washing , whether in linen , person , or abode ; and , as if bell had been raked to find means for their degradation and misery , every thiag with which they hare to do , only contributes to their oppression . Wages are reduced to the starring point , food dear , and taxes accumulating ; and , with erery local disadrantage that avarice can inflict , ia it to be wondered at if they dis-
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cover an apathy and indiffiaraiice ,. eyftifot tbemselres and their families' welfare , by quietly submitting to things as they are , rather than make , as they say , % ootitar . about it Just loekatthe niothsrof one of ^ hese families : if she be thrifty and as good * housewife as oo » may expect nOw-a-days , should it be rainy weathes . heryoung ' brood are kept within doors ; if moderately fine ,, it ia impossible- to confine them , and out they go : in a few minutes little Dick is brought in byaomeof the eldertauiches , all covered over with-mud ., Tbe foot is , he pitched bead foremost into the gutter about a yard from the door , and was almost suffocated .: Tom , who is bi | ger , comes , in , a fejr minutes later , holding up his sludgy hands , his brat besmeared with the same composition , bellowing like a bear ; he , too , has tumbled , or been pushed dowa by Billy Sauce ' em ; and fchas , the poor mother has her hands full ; perhaps , no
money , no water , no soap ; what is stra to do T Qh , these dirty streets ! she cries ; God help poor people I we shall all * e lost : The father , too , who has bard to toil all day , and tben to tramp a mile , or ro , to his home , is ill clad and ill shod , through such streets such broken anil bad causeways , in worse than th dark , past projecting steps , perhaps , is tripped up , tumbles down some unprotected cellar steps , with which the town abounds ; breaks an arm or a leg , if not bis neck , is picked * p by a saucy police or watchman , who swears he was drunk , or he would not have been there ; he Is . taken to the lockup , thence to the infirmary or the eharnel house , and his family , poor things , to the hostile , there to be separated from their mother ! and then , and then , and then—God knows what next . Some may say ttiat this is overdraw *—mere fiction ; but , had I space , I could gire facts , and " facts ate more strange ibon fiction . "
Fearing to trespass too mnch at once upon your valuable apace , 1 mast dose . Bat , Sir , where is tb » remedy for these . crying evils ! Is there no way out ? Thank God , yes .. ' The power to make our own Iawsc to spend our own money ; to manage our own affairswhether general , or local , will soon put all to right . Let the working men arouse from their slumbers , to " upset the world as ft is . " Byron says in one pla . ee *—" The river looks on Marathon , And Marathon looks on the sea ; And musing there'an hour alone . I dreamt that Greece might still be free . "
We do net dream , however , we know it ; and I wish that working men would " muse an hour alone" ever what I hare written for their benefit ; for I natter myself facts like these , which come home to their abodes may stir them up to look further still ; and , by a ceaseless agitation , and determination never to lend a helping hand to any farther scheme of class legislation , they will nail theft colours to the mast head , and let the cry be , " Universal Suffrage , and No Surrender . " Let them consider who ore the owners of cottage property , and they will find the vast
majority to consist of those who ore new seeking a brick and mortar franchise , for more effectually serving their wn ends . Is not the ' sincerity' of their professions seen in the present condition of cottage property ? Let them wipe away this stain from their escutchuon befpM they are entrusted with farther power . I am , dear Sir , Tours respectfully , William Hick , Superintendent of the statistical survey lately made in Leeds . Leeds , Feb . 5 , 1841 .
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UNION IS STRENGTH . TO THE BD 1 TOB OP THS NOBTHBBJT STAR . SIB , —We read , that when the First Great Came , by His all-powerful flat , called all nature from tlto womb of nonentity , and hod given each component port of the system its place , office , or function , be pronounced all things « OOD , " yea , VERY GOOD ; but , somehow or other , things have become YERY BAD . This latter fact is too well known to require tbe trouble of much close investigation . The Theologians of erery shade—the philosophers of erery school—the politicians of erery class—and all the itss ot every creed and kind—feel that something is out of order . .
Well , what is it ? Why the canting barrel-bellied hypocrite who says he is "the Legate of the Skies , " while enacting the tragedy of Rathcormac—and who declares his office " sacred , " while fleecing the flock , devouring the fat , and " robbing the widows'bouses , would fain hare us gire credence to his tub-droppings and become mate , seeing- th&t oar woes are only th * chastisements of the Lord , for our individual sins of Omission and commission . Query . How is it that the black wolves in sheep's clothing , and their -whelps , dont get a slice of tbe chas
tisement ? Is honest industry more deserving of tha rod than those who hare converted the temple into a « den of thieres , " and who bare carried desolation and misery to erery cotter ' s hearth ? No , no , the blasphemy of these sanctimonious crotches ot corruption is too glaring to arrest popular attention , further than to be condemned . Were the poor , the needy , tbe insulted and suffering millions to be taciturn at the command of this God-dishonouring gong of sable-coated and blackhearted dissemblers , the stones beneath our feet would upbraid us for out infatuation , and cursa us for our guilty silence .
Dont think , Sir , that I bare stepped out to fire upon the whole crowd of parsons , en masse , for I am certain there are Borne among them yet untouched by " tha leaven of anrighteouanesg , " though such is the paucity of their numbers that , like comets , they are rarely seen , and the blessings attendant on their visits
" Few , and far between . " The philosophers of the Malthusian school , unable to disprove the existence of wide-spread misery , would hare us subscribe to the doctrine of .. " ¦ redundant population , " and would , of course , hare the poor , the working man , to disobey the command of his Creator , and counteract the dictates of nature . But this beastly parson , and his brutal gong , hare yet to demonstrate that God ban made more mouths than he has crested food to fill , and tbey alss forget to propound their
doetrine to the -wealthy idlers . Would it not be far better to carry their dogmas to the palace rather than te the cot , and thunder them in the ears of the prince , rather than in those of the plebeian ? Certainly it -would . But then , the prince would whisper to them , the bounty of geod John Bull—he would tell thein now well the old fellow provides for the breeding and rearing of 4 oga , horses , monkeys , and brats , and , therefore , their mission to the palace would be as fruitless as it is , and ever will be , to the dwelling of the sons of toil .
There is another race of philosophers in this country , which ought not to 6 e .. passed by without notice—I mean the Owenites , who . are the antipodes of the Malthusian sect . Although I differ , in tolo , from these men on points of theology , yet their views of tbe present position , of society , and tbe remedial measures tbey propound for its reorganisation , are such as demand the attention of erery friend to his kind . The order of society is completely inverted : tbe circumstances surrounding us , and with which we are brought into frequent contact , are such aa , in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred , militate against out individual interest , or are inimical . to the general weal . Society indubitably requires a remodelling : a different-system of training mufet be adopted ; in abort , " old tbJnga must pass away , and all tilings become new , "
It would be well if the Chartists and Socialists , generally , -would think upon the admirable saying of Bronterre— " Every rational Socialist must be a Chartist , and every rational Chartist must be a Socialist " Allow me , Sir , to express my surprise that both parties do not act more in concert ; both hare one object ia view , namely , the happiness of the human race—both war against existing evils , and both ought to work together , leaving religious matters at home for more private use , as they are not -weapons meet for political warfare . ' /—v Tii a St / ipioiSafa unA tha rihnrtisfs Kttvo hnt . h in com hat
the same enemy ; theobjects of both are alike hostile to the views , objects , and djesigns of those , who , for well-known reasons , lore ibings as they are . The annihilation of Chartism , and the destruction of Socialism , is the desire of " the powers that be" —both are marked out as victims ; therefore , let us aid each other , which may be-done without the least compromise on either hand . -Separate from points of theological disputation , the two systems must be amalgamated to effectuate and give permanency to that state of human happiness sought by both to be attained . .- ..-.. ' . ¦
I hod intended to allude to some of the plans , schemes , tricks , and subterfuges of the itinerating crotchet-mongers and pioneers of faction ; but I fear that my thread will be too long , and shall , therefore , conclude by exhorting the Socialists to aid their Chartist brethren in their effort to overthrow the present cannibal system , and establish freedom , and , ; conseauently , happiness , on a firm and durable foundation . * Let the Chartists beware of crotchet-mongers and unprincipled agitators ; and , should a few unstable individuals in our own ranks , from motives yet unknown , assail our organ / the Star , and its conductor , heed them not—tares are . yet among tbe Wheat , and W 6 must not be discomfited » t the apostacy « f ¦ few ,, eren though they haTe made a trade of Chartism , aad lire by it still . " ¦
. . „ .. Something : mysterious hangs orer us , but a little tint will gire a solution to the paradoxical conduct of eertaia parties . But let the Charter , the whole Charter , ana nothing less than the Charter , be our motto . Tours , truly , ' . .., ' . ' - WK . RlBXB . Leeds , Feb . 10 th , 1841 .
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Ox Wednsspat last , Robert Hume , James Far rar , and James Clifford , all attached to a theatrics , company , lately performing at Whitehaveri , were , after a long emmination before the magistrates of Workington , committed to- pur goal for trial sjt the ensuing assizes , on a charge of committing a violent assault , with intent , to murder , on Robert Archibald , master mariner , and George Thomlinson , farmer , both of Flimby \ - ~ CaitUle Journal . Infamous Chaeqk . —William Fletcher , aged 21 , and James Cbittern , 24 , both described as grooms , were sentenced to fifteen years' tr&nsporMion , at the Central Criminal Court , for threatening to accuse a druggist of Westminster , named Condsil of an attempt ! to sommit an abominable oriine .
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, . _ .. ¦*» THE ! V 6 ll > rfiE 8 S J * llt . V 7
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Feb. 13, 1841, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct694/page/7/
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