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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1843.
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TO MY SCOTTISH FRIENDS IN LEITH, GLASGOW, GREENOCK, to.
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2To Bcatorg antr @om0jpmtircntf
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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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— - = SUB 3 CBI ° TIONS 1 BFCEIVED BY MR , CLEATS . jot rncAt . vice IMS * defekcs xsd stppobt , tvsd . £ _ s . d . Previously aeKnowledged ... — 37 * ^ Ip 3 Ar , Old Radical , Hall " 1 ° £ Putney 0 6 6 lir . Riches and Friends , Brightlingsea , Mt-G Webb " Crswley . " - ... -- ° \ Jj Mr . Rhodes and Friends , Csmberwell ... 1 7 0 Fa ? -DhisMJofLJtyCord'Sfaineis — « « Corcs-ainer ? , Star , Golden-lane — * i ~ Bahuice . of City Lottery « f ° . Alternates of the Workhouse * — » i *
BlKsttnxni J ® J Clwck House , Lerester Square ... — j > J ? £ J . C . J ., LitUeboro \ ® 1 0 Mr . llnrleps , BInniiiefcam — ... 0 4 0 Mr . Tarter , ditto ~ J > « « J Hr . SiaUb , dino 0 2 6 ill . Newhonse , d-no - n A fe-w Tailors , Dartiord » 0 o 0 Mr . R . BSeh ^ jaa - 0 1 0 Steam Faciory , Lougaboro' ... — 0 1 o . J PriCTds , ditto ~ - ° ? f i IAj . Stevenson , ditto ... -- — o 1 1 3 Mr . Evdeigh , ditso 0 1 0 Mr . Chamberiin , ditto 0 0 6 A Friend , ditto ... ~ 0 0 6 Hatr of Tyranny 0 . 1 0 Sntion-in-Askfieid 2 0 0
Mr . Psnghexty and Friends , winterbonrn — -- 0 13 Mr . B . inte and Friends , KingswoDd ... 0 3 0 Aberdeen ... 2 0 0 Faik ^ rk ~ ° II I Beddi ^ h ... - ° * $ 9 Mr . Bax ^ r and Jriends 0 2 5 Mr . ^ eocke . .. ~ — 0 1 0 Mr . Ryan , Somer * s Town 0 ] 4 Mx . Htmgkinsoii 0 10 Mr . Rhode ? and friends , Camberwell .-. 1 7 0 Mr , Brown 0 10 Hr . Wm . Randell , Bethnall Green ... 0 7 1 J . H .... 0 0 6 Cap of Libeny , Brighton ~ 10 0 Meller , Derbyshire 0 13 2 Sowerby , Circulars 0 18 2 A SoylaBdTowa — 0 2 Sj Ishim ... ~ . 0 2 0 Sale of Crow and TyxreD ' a Powderby ¦
, Mr . Rhodes » 1 <> Butt Circulars 0 10 2 Bury St . Edmnnds 0 10 0 Mo = sley , neaT Manchester ... ... 4 . "WolTerhampton 0 5 6 Coalbrook BalB 0 3 0 Proceeds of meeting at City Hill ... 5 -6 0 Females , Tower Hamlets ... ... — 0 7 0 Mr . Walker , and Friends , Watford ... 0 5 0 Mr . SkeTirgron ... 0 10 ftmitjia » ad Engineers , East District , Xondon , 14 th subscription 1 3 6 WadsTf ? orili-T « w , near Halifax 1 19 0 Bntteilev ... . _ 0 3 0 Somer ' s ' Tovro ... ... ... :.. 10 0 Rat * ... ... ... ... . _ ... 0 12 0
Strathaven 0 8 0 Bonnds and Ring 3 : ead ... 0 . 0 0 + A few Brassfoundera ( shopmates ) Northampton ... 0 7 6 Edinburgh " . „ 0 8 0 Burnley ( 400 Chartist CtrculanJ ... 0 10 4 Rochdale . third Snbscriprion ... 0 19 5 Whitwnrih 0 10 7 Macdtefidd ... " 0 5 2 . £ 417 5 3 ^ * The name of the place was in the list , as we received it ; but we omit it , that no opportunity inij be g iven to the " authorities" to make it a pretexi for oppres-don . —Ep . Z The sum from this place is not stated in the manuscript sent to ns , —Ed . 2 V . S-
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Shocking Tsilatjcest op a Collikb Bot . —At the Quarter Sessions for the West Riding of thiB Connty held last week , at Fontefract , a man named Joseph Whiteley , a collier , from Elland , near Halifax , was tried before Mr . C . Wood , M . P chairman , and other magistrates , for having 21-nBed James Whiteley , Us apprentice ; and the details of Ms cruelty excited the horror of the whole Conrt . The evidence was deemed by the jury quite eondnsje against Whiieley , and they accordingly found him guilty . The Chairman , in pas 3 ing sentence , raid the prisoner had been found guilty of one of the most atrocious offences ctbt bronghi before a Court of justice . He had ill-treated in a
most crnel and barbarons manner an orphan relation of his own , who had nobody else but him to look np to for protection . There could be no donbi of the fact , that without any reason whateTer he had ill-treated him in a way that no person in conrt could hare heard , and that no one could read of , without horror , fit ( the Chairman ) ¦ was sorry that the law did not allow the court to inflict a sererer punishment than that which they had power to do ; bnt certainly to the extent of that power ihey would go . The sentence of ib * Court was thai he be imprisoned in the House of Correction for two years . He was sorry thai they could not sentence him to hard labour , nor inflict any seyerer punishment .
Ai Drros Asfizes , Wm . Kean , 20 , was found guilty of a rape , at Boriiseombe , on the 4 th of Jsnnary Ia 3 t , on the person of a married woman . The prosecutrix stated thai she was the wife of ablaefe smiib who had been liTing in Gloneestershire , when ie dsserted her ; she received information that her husband was working on the railway at the White Ball Tunnel , and by the kindness of a gentleman farmer was enabled to travel down to Wellington , in search ef him ; at a pnblic-houBe , where she enquired for her husband , the prisoner and another man volunteered to direct her to him , and thus decoyed ier to an hcase where the prisoner committed the fence . The case was clearly proved , The judge , in passing sentence on the prisoner , observed that he had been conricied most justly of one of the most faring cases of this description ; fee should , therefore , take meanres that lie shonld be sent t * the worat descr ipiions of thB penal settlements , there to work in ehains for the rest of his life .
Loss of a SiEiaiEB , —On Friday morning last , the following remarkable occurrence , in which a steamer ¦ was stolen and afterwards wrecked , attended with S ? , 7 % took plaee st Tynemouth , near North bhields . At daybreak , the pilots on the look-out , vt the entrance of the rivei , discovered a vessel amongst the rocks called the Black Middens , underneath Tynemomb ligbthonse and the ruined abbey , which proved to be a steamer . The alarm was instsatlj TaaBedjsnd ihelife-boatwas manned and put off to her assistance ? but upon arriving alongside the vessel , mncb surprise waa evinced at finding
only one man on board , who was safely taken out of the wreck and conveyed ashore . Immediately he put hi 3 foot on land , he attempted to go away , \ riih-< mi pring account S 3 to the manner in which the steamer was wrecked ; but the custom-house officer detained him , and after being kept in custody for some time , he admitted having , with another man , stolen the steamer from her moorings in that river ( the Tyne ) , and added that , in making for sea , she < £ roT 8 on the rocks . The other man , he said , jumped overboard upon the vessel breaking np , to swim to the rocks , but he suspected he met with a
¦ watery gra * e , for he had seen nothing more of him Bnce . It has been ascertained that the steamer was called the Charles William , belonging ts Messrs . Richardson and Co ., and that the man who is supposed to be drowned was a discarded son of the owner . The vessel was used for towing vessels in « nd out of the harbour . She has gone completely to pieces , a »< i but . Tory little of her materials have bceu saved .
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TO THE KDITOH OF THK . NOHTMLBKN STAB . Sli , —I doubt not it will bt > in tha remembrance of your readers , that in September iast I was arrested and held to bail , myself in cna hundred pounds and four friends in twenty-five pounds each , for sedition , upon the isolated evidence of a rural Police Serjeant , No . 52 , of the Gloucester County . } named Jasper Fowler ; this said mas swearing that 1 said " it was a great shame the Queen did not maintain her own motber . * ' Now , Sir , if it be a shame * or so , I stall sot say , neither did I any ; 1 have eight respectable witnesses to prove the
words sworn to were sever uttered by me . It took the wisdom of b 5 x Solons , or Dogberries , to commit me for the said monstrous treason , or sedition . In my poor opinion the names of these wiseacres of the county of Gloucester would receive too great honour if bauded dot » n in yonr psges to posterity—beat to pass them by as the idle wind , for which we care net Suffice it to say , I attended the saii as&iz « with the accoutrements of war , namely , the armour of virtue , the shield of truth , and sword of justice . The dastardly foa , armed ¦ with tyranny and mixht , dare not enter the arena .
This very day ( Tuesday ) , at four o'clock , will the men and women of the Forest of Dean assemble in their hundreds to bear , without the cloak of priestcraft , bypoirisy , or cant , the truth and justice of our principles . Knowing fh « value of jonr space . 3 conclude , thanking all friends who have assisted me in this contest ; to mignty taliers , who have proved themselves full of wind aim froth , none are required . Truly yours , RUFFT RlDLBT . April 11 th , 1843 .
The Northern Star. Saturday, April 15, 1843.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , APRIL 15 , 1843 .
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NATIONAL EDUCATION AND THE GOVERNMENT FACTORY BILL .
The measure of Government for giving Education to the most helpless , and , not unfrcquently , most ignorant ponion of our labouring population has bronght the whole subject of National Education under review , and has formed a prominent topic of discussion among public prints and party gatherings ever since its introduction . We have been watching the " war of words" with considerable interest and anxietyj and we have observed few things to exhibit more clearly the utter recklessnes of publio interests —the exclusive selfishness of faction under every form . The zealots of all shades and grades have shown off such antics npon this measure , as we snppote few others could have drawn from them . The fanaticism
of " Charclr on the one hand , and of " Dissent" on the other , has boxed the lugs of Government on both rides , until , were it not pretty confident of the support of rational and moderate men of all parties , it might be well enough anticipated that the Bill would be thrown aside in disgust , and that Government would swear never to attempt- a good thing again . We trnst , however , that this will not be the case ; that this Bill , whioh , in its principle , is really good , which , in detail , is easily capaWe of such improvement as shall make it unobjectionable to any but the merely factious , and
which is certainly as much called for . by the neces sities of the people as any remedial measure that we can think of , will be allowed to come unimpaired into active operation . And if it do so , we shall hope to see much food resulting from it . We have not yet arrived at the transcendental pitch of Dissenting "liberalism" which would induce us , with the Nonconformist to cry ont that rather than have our children taught to read and write ia the intervals of labour provided by Government for the purpose , and in schools whioh may be under clerical control as to the religious portion of their exercises , we would
sayu Na ! Rather let the people of this country , as they have done , scramble abont in the midst of toil and privation , and labour , after such ideas as they can pick up in converse one with another—in dame , and Snnday , and British schools , OR AT NO SCHOOL AT ALL . If we must have the one or the other , let s have thesavageism of ancient Britain . " This may be very congenial with the spirit of Dissent as embodied in the Nonconformitt and his elder brother " Young Neddy f but we opine that it will find little response among the people , whose eyes ha-ve recently become in some degree open , despite the influence of fanaticism , to their real interests .
They know , if Mr . No 7 icon . does not , that the ignorance of the people is the tyrant's safeguard ; and that general intelligence is incompatible with factious domination . The Noneon . affects to sneer at calling by the name of Education the amount of learning which the children are likely to acquire in these Schools . He says : — " If education mean nothing more than ability to read and write , we may pay too dtarly for the whistle ; if it mean more than this , we must inquire what that more is .
• ' Competency t © read and write Is unquestionably to be desired . A knowledge of letters constitutes the key to that JmTnawwt depositary of information stored up in bo ^ ks . It by ne means follows , however , that access to ail this information Is necessarily enjoyed by him who has the key . A man may be able to open tie garden gate at Hampton court , and may be at liberty to recreate himself within the enclosure , to whom , on account of his residing in Northumberland , the privilege ia practically of veryinconsiderable valne . Factory hands may be taught by government to read and irrite—but whilst heavy taxes are imposed upoa all the means of knowledge , and the whole system of legislation tends by inevitable steps to throw upon our manufacturing poor
the necessity of devoting , yearly , more and more time , and energy , and health , honestly to acquire the bare pittance reqnired for a scanty subsistence , we cannot rely very confidently npon such instruction to moralise the masses . The alphabet will cot work miracles . The aptest reader will profit but little of letters , except as he is able by means of them to get at useful information—and whilst , on the one hand , his energies are exhausted by toil , increased both in amount and in severity by all kinds of monopoly , we hold it to be a mere delusion to imagine that the power to read and write wiQ considerably mend the condition of the millions . To those who have neither books , nor time , nor physical strength , of what great practical advantage will the mere knowledge of letters prove I "
Falsehood is ever foolish ; and we have not often ssen a piece of more foolish and paltry false reasoning than this . The key of Hampton Court may certainly be of less use to "brother Nonetm" ' s Northumbrian in the locality which he has chosen for him than in London ; but let him remove to London and have no key—of wh * t use will Hampton Conrt be to him ? Is the Noneon . so great an ass as not to know that in that scrambling about in the midst of toil and privation" which he seems to long for , the labourer might at least have no disadvantage in the possession of that knowledge which he admits to be the key to science and intelligence on all general subjects 1
How utterly contemptible does this shallow-pated Dissenter look when his views on this important subject are contraBed with those of a writer of sens * and observation . In the Morning Chronicle , some years ago , appeared several letters under the signature " O . P . Q ,. " in which we find thes « observations , which we " pit" against the argument (?) of Noneon : — " When Joseph Lancaster , Doctor Bell , William
Allen , Henry Brougham , the Dnke of Sns > ex , Lord Holland , and other enlightened benefactors of their species , took in hand , some years ago , the glorious and heavenly task of enlightening the ignorantbringing up in virtue the children of poor parents—teaching little orphans and mendicants to read , to write , to cast accounts , and think , I doubt very muoh whether they felt all the force of their own work , and whether they themselves understood the results which must arise from their labours .
" They forgot the animal portion of man in their attention to his intellectual destinies—and they continned to encourage the Poor Laws—to patronize workhouses—to rear almshouses—and to establish hospitals and dispensaries , quite satisfied in their own minds that man could be educated , and yet remain as dependant on the charities of the rich for the supply of his necessities and bis wants , his luxuries and bis comforts , as if be remained wholly
uninstrneted . This was a capital error . Before they made np their minds to teach little boys to read and to write , they shonld have calculated—1 . That tiie little boys and girls would become yonng men and young women ; 2 . That in their turn they would become husbands and wives , and fathers and mothers—and servants and artizansand that the reading and the \ rriring would make thi-m well-informed men and well-informed women ;
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3 . Taat being well-informed men and women , they would know something more thaa-merely to eat , drink , and Bleep , dance , and get drunk , as they would have done before they were instructedbeing satisfied with the smile of Lord A . or the condescending bow of Lady B . ; 4 . That being bo well-informed , they would read something more than the Prayer Book and the Bible , religious tracts , or Sunday magazines , which Bible , and Tract , and Sabbp . th Societies would put into their hands—and that they would read history , biography , newspapers , political pamphlets , and
dissertations on the present and past conditions of human Booiety j 5 . That these ¦ well-informed men and women would find out that there was no absolute virtue in wealth—no necessity for abject povertyno necessary connection between slavery and the honest daily toil of a labouring man—that talent shonld always be recompensed—that money was no more capital than industry—that the workman ia -woTihy x >\ Mb hire—that his hire Bhould be adequate for all his wants—that Miss Martineau ' a system of keeping a man without a helpmate because he was cot rich , was immoral and
favourable to licentiousness , fornication , and adulterythat the labourer has a right to marry—has a right to have children—has a right to expect to maintaia them out of the gains of his aotive industry and patient toil—and that the enormous fortunes of some and the utter beggary and destitution of others , is not a natural but an artificial , not a healthy and thriving but a sickly and deplorable state of society ; and there Is no moral and intellectual reason , none in the Bight of Ged , and none in the sight of rational and educated men , why tho mass of human society should be so wretchedly poor , and the exceptions of human society so preposterously and iniquitously wealthy ; and ff . I think the great and the good men who
set . about teaching in all countries ( " British and Foreign School Society ") little boys and little girls to read , to write , and to oast aocounts , should also have calculated that when those little boya and girls should beoome well-informed men and women , and should have learnt from history , from observation , from journals , and newspapers , and tracts , all I have just described—that they would not rest satisfied with this knowledge ; that as they had congregated together in Lancasterian and in Bell's schools to be taught to read and to write , so , in after life , they would congregate together to improve their physical condit "n as animals , aa well a 3 their moral and political condition as citizens , and as immortal beings . "
" It was impossible that an educated workman , labouring hard , working early and late—b sober , honest , prudent , and worthy citizen , would long continue to eat bread and drink water in exchange for his sweat , his knowledge , his arms , and hiB head ; an ignorant man might go on at this rate , but an instructed man—never ! And if not one , then how much more , millions of instructed workmen . " This is something rational in the political view of the Education question ; and to every man who thinks thus rationally , it must , therefore , be a matter of high moment to seize every opportunity of extending to the masses the possession of a key to that intellectual improvement which can scarcely fail to be the vestibule or hall of entrance to the
fane of freedom ; while , in the moral view of the matter , we accord entirely with the excellent re * marks of Mr . Sergeant Atcherley , who , lately addressing the Grand Jury of Dorsetshire , is reported to have said : — " On looking to the calendar , it is impossible not to 866 that probably a great number of minor offences bave arisen in some instances from distress , and in others from want of education . In addressing gentlemen of your station , I need n&rdly say it Is undoubtedly our best policy to administer to the wants and cdjpnts of our poorer neighbours . If we wait to make the labourer honest , we must afford him the means of being so ; if wa wish him to be peaceable , we must attract him to us , not by the terms of a hard contract , but by those
means which find the way to his heart , by convincing him that those who are above him are anxious for his welfare . If we wish to fortify bis moral principles , ¦ we must remember that the best tray of doing so is by holding out opportunities of acquiring knowledge of every kind , but by all means of a religious character . I will only say , in conclusion , that it is by the force of good will and mutual service that we shall best maintain peace , protect property , and in particular cement society in a state of tranquillity , which no Bubtlety of legal enactment will provide , no terror of the law Mcura ; that we shall best administer to our own gratification , that purest , roost lasting , that best of all gratifications , the gratification of seeking to do good , by advancing us fir tut xre can the hsppiueu ol oar fellow men . "
These are sentiments whioh do honour to a man ; and which Dissenting bigots would do well to etody and appropriate , instead of raising the howl of superstition and fanaticism against almost a solitary good measure issuing from the Government . The Dissenters are not alone , however , in their opposition . The fanatics of the Church are quite as furious ; fortunately fanaticism is not quite so rampant in the Church , notwithstanding its much greater numbers ; but what it can it does , even there , to thwart any matter from whioh the people might derive benefit . While tho Dissenters bowl about the . M prostration of their interests , " the English Churchman and the Nottingham Journal thus gabblo at the Minister for his subservience to dissent : —
" We do not hesitate to say that this bill must be regarded by religious men , both in and out of Parliament , as the first of a probable series of attempts to lower the Church of England to the raok of a State Establishment Whether either the religious or irreligious of our countrymen are inclined to put up with any such thing , a very short time will prove . " Sir James Graham , first of all , in forming the new schools of the factory districts , offers to the clergyman of evary parish the doubtfnl compliment of being ta ojkio , ' one of the trusteesi' rather , he does not ofi ^ r it at all ; he order * it so to be . If ' cburehwardensi decline the honour , there is a provision in the bill to
meet that case ; but the clergyman Is clearly recarled aa already the ' state-officer ; ' and Sir James Orabnm already feels himself * Tbe Minister ot the Roligloaa Department of the Public S « rvice . ' The clergyman ' s co-trustees may by the act bo anybody , ' Jaw , Turk , or Infidel , " who may have ' granted a Bite for a school . ' [ sect 53 , ] or have been appointed by a neighbouring justice of the peace ! The clergyman is kindly informed that he may catechise and instruct hie young parishioners in these schools , provided the parents of the children do not object , in which cose he is to deolst ! This is the extent to which our unmitred Baronet has at present ' charged his Clergy . '
" Now , into all the minute details of a bill which thus , at the very outset , sets at defiance all the feelings of Churchmen , and all the existing provisions of the parochial system of our Church , we bold it to be superfluous to enter ; but , were it necessary , we should not shrink from saying , we recoil , as Churchmen ( and as Christians , believing truth to be one , and not manifold or various , )—recoil from its whole spirit—recoil from its every position . Why , we aak , are we to be burthened as a nation with this new and unwieldy machinery ? Are there not in all our parishes schools
both of ancient and modern endowment , without establishing in this invidious and revolting way factory schools ? Have we not yet enough of separation and alienation of class from class ia this country , but it must be carried farther , and made more painfully palpable yet ? And must the clergyman be made the state tool for carrying out this most hateful measure ? If this be the Conservative way to educate and bless the people , and elevate ' the depressed Cnurcb , ' may God , in bis goodness , preserve us therefrom !—English Churchman . —[ A . men —Nottingham Journal . ] "
This is sufficiently farcical no doubt ; but not a whit more so than the ravings of " the Neddies , the Noneon ., the Pctrioi . and their pious "brethren , " of" the tub . " Every malicious ingenuity that could be practised for the distortion and misrepresentation of the Bill baa been industriously brought into play by every nltra-pious scribbler and tub-thumper of them all . And not a little deliberate and atrocious falsehood has been lugged in to eke out the argument . " Young Neddy" has edified Lord Wharnclifpb
by a long objurgatory lecture on the duties of his official situation in reference to this motion ; but finding the Noble Lord very unbending to his patronage he has turned in a huff to the parents of Sunday School children , whom in his last number he condescends to '' talk to" in a manner so affable and kindly , asmuBt—if they be not quite insensate—excite their gratitude for his attentions and make them exclaim to each other " Lawk ! what a nice man that youa ^ 1 Mr . Bainks is . Did you ever see ! Why he talks
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"to us poor folks as if wi was ever suoh gentle" folks ! " " Neddy" very politely informs these poor people that a Bill has been brought into Parliament by one of the Queen ' s Ministers , to provide hi a new way for educating the children of the working classes ; and he then proceeds to describe its provisions , in which he labours most disgracefully to produce the impression that the necessary effeot of this Bill must be tho utter ruin of all Dissenting Sunday Schools and Day Sohools . Now we apprehend that these " working people , " whom Neddy
thus condescends to patronize , will be apt to think it a little strange that he should , while good enough to tell them what ia in the Bill , not lay the Bill itself before them that they might see what it actually does say . Nsddv had a capital reason for not doing this ; he knows that the Bill has no one provision which can , by any possiblity operate to the injury of any Sunday School now existing ; and he knew , therefore , that if he should let this fact appear , the parents of Sunday Soholars would " Smoke his gammon . "
The Leeds Dissenters have again mustered their forces—lay and clerical . Great were the efforts made to produce an effeot" last Tuesday . Every " tub" in the conventicles was beaten to the tune of " No Church , " on the previous Sunday Neddy puffpd and blew at his penny trumpet ; the meeting was—as all manufacturing dissent meetings arecunningly contrived for Tuesday , at noon—just when all the " brethren" from Pudsey , Stanningley , Yeadon , Horsforth , Bradford , Dewsbury , Batley , Heckmondwike , Huddersfield , and all the clothing districts , might be calculated on ; when , in fact , in name of aLeods meeting , they might have a meeting of all the flower of Dissent and " Liberalism" in the West Biding . And yet , with all the puffing , all the " tub-thumping , " and all the maneuvering that could be used , the meeting was a failure !
The people " Would not come when they did call . " Something like one thousand five hundred , or eighteen hundred , persons mustered at the sound of the Dissenting whiBtlo ; most of them parties who had no concern whatever with the town , the very elite of countrified dissent—the clothiers and small millowners of the various adjoining districts—and who gaped at their proceedings without understanding them—merely knowing that " ther wor a meetin' i't Gloath Hoi Yird summat abaht t' parsons and t'Skooils ; and ther wor Hamm ' leton and Baines and some more on 'm thcere , they did tawk feaful wheel !"
At this meeting similar resolutions were adopted to those of the meeting held some time since ia the Commercial Buildings . No attempt was made to suggest any remedy for the alleged faults of the BUI ; but the ungracious and unmanly position was again assumed of praying simply that the Bill " may not pass" —that it may be withdrawn and society left in the state in whioh it now is , so far as Educational provision is concerned . We presume that not one of the parties influential iu getting up the disgraceful opposition to thiB Bill is unaware of the condition of the Factory Districts as to Education—if s * we will ask them to read the extracts we lately gave them from the Inspectors' Reports—and if that be insufficient , as having reference only to one or two districts ; let them then read the following : —
EXTRACTS PROM THE CONCLUSIONS OP THE SECOND H . EP 0 RT OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR IKqUlRIN * INTO TBE EMPLOYMENT AND CONDITION OP CH 1 LDBBN IN MINES AND MANUFACTORIES . " That in many of these trades and manufactures , and especially in pin-making , nail-making , lace-making , the hosiery trades , calico-printing , the earthenware trades , and tobacco-making , the children bave not good and sufficient food , nor warm and decent clothing ; great numbers of them , when questioned , stating that they have seldom or never enough to eat , and many of them being clothed in rags ; and it is a general complaint that they are prevented , by want of proper clothing , from going to the Sunday-school , or to a place ef public worship .
"Tb . (* t there are few classes of these children and young persons ' working together in numbers , ' of whom a laTge portion are not in a lamentably low moral condition " That this low moral condition la evinced by a general ignorance of moral duties and sanctions , and by an absence of moral and religious restraint , shown among some classes chiefly by coarseness of manners , and the use of profane but Indecent language ; but In otber classes by the practice of gross immorality , which is prevalent to a great extent In both sexes at very early ages , " That this absence of restraint Is the result of a
general want of moral and religious training ; comparatively few of these classes having the advantage of moral and religious parents to instruct and guide them ; their low moral condition , on the contrary , often having its very origin in the degradation of the parents , who , themselves , brought np without virtuous habits , can set no good example to their children , nor bave any beneficial control ovsr their conduct " Tuat , in the majority of Instances , the young people , while in tbeir places of work , are under the care and control snlely of the adult workmen , by whom they ore generally i irert and paid , and whose servants they are ; and after tbeir work is over , tbey ore subjected to no kind of superintendence , but their time is entirely at tbeir own disposal .
'' That although placed under such highly unfavourable a ad dangerous circumstances , some of these children and young persons escape any permanent moral deterioration , and become in after-lire as respectable and well-conducted aa any persons ia their station ; but this is not the common result , the more natural consequences of the possession of unrestrained liberty at an age when few ate capnble of self-government being witnessed in great numbers of these children and young persons , who acquire , in childhood and youth , habits whioh utterly destroy their future health , usefulness , and happiness .
" That the evils resulting from vicious courses , commenced thus early , and often pursued to the end of life , do not always stop with the ruin of the individuals , tbeir example being sometimes contagious ; and instances are recorded in which youths bave leagued together for tbe commission of crimes and outrages of no ordinary description . 11 That the means of secular and religious instruction , on the efficiency of which depends the counteraction of all these evil tendencies , are so grievously defective , that , in all districts great numbers of children and young persons are growing up without any religious moral , or irtteUec tual training ; nothing being done to form them to habits of order , sobriety , honesty , and forethought , or even to restrain them from vice and crime .
' ¦ That there is not a siugle district in which the means of iaatructio i are adequate to the wants of the people ; while iu some districts tho deflcency is so great that clergymen and other witnesses , state that the schools actually in existence are insufficient for tbe education of one-third of the population . " That , in all districts , many children and young persons , whether employed in the mines of coal and iron , or in trades and manufactures , never go to any school , and some never have been at any school . " That in general the children who never go to any school seldom go to any place of worship .
" That great numbers Of those children who had been in regular attendance on Sunday-schools for a period of from five to nine years were found , on examination , to be incapable of reading an easy book or of spelling the commonest words ; and they were not only altogether ignorant of Caristiftn principles , doctrines , and precepts , but they knew nothing whatever of any or the events of Scripture history , nor anything even of the names most commonly occurring in the Scriptures . ' That , in almost all the districts , much anxiety is expressed by the best-informed witnesses , that any legislative enactment to shorten the present hours of work for children should be accompanied by full and efficient means of educating the great numbers who ¦ would thus have time afforded them to attend school .
" Taat from the whole body « f evidence it appears , however , that there are at present in existence no nieans adequate to effect any material and general improvement in the physical and moral condition of tbe children and young persons employed in labour . '' Now with this picture of our labouring population before our eyes—and knowing it to be too true—we envy not the minds of those who can say , " sooner than give us education in sohools of whioh a clergyman shall be trustee , give no education at all ; if we must have one or the other , give us savageism . " We say with the Sun" Sooner than not have the Education Bill pass
we would infinitely prefer having it pass precisely as it stands , bo persuaded are we of the pressing necessity for such a measure , and such little importance do we attach to the complaints of High-Churoh on the one hand , and of Dissent on the other , when weighed against the great , comprehensive principle ot national instruction . The first consideration with us is , the instilling into the minds of the working classes right notions of religion and morality ; and we care not whether theso notions are . Implanted iu them by Church '
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men or Dissenters . We wisb ^ to see them—and" this as speedily as possible—put into such a course of moral training , as may qualify them to play the parts of good fathers—good friends—good citizens—and cause them to be loved and respected in the social relations of life . We wish to see them raised from the filthy atyeof ignorance in which thousands of them are now contentedly wallowing ; to see fallen humanity uplifted in their natures ; and their minds taught to appreciate all that is good and great in
character , instead of turning away from the contemplation of moral excellence aa a thing which they cannot understand . We boast of being tho richest nation in the world ; henceforth let it be our endeavour to show that we ate al&o the most intelligent . Here , indeed , will be a legitimate theme for national exaltation , and God forbid that the doctrinal disputes of iChurohmen and Dissenters should ever interfere to prevent our realising so creditable—so noble a vaunt ! We say , therefore , by all means let the Education Bill pass . "
" What are mere theological dogmas compared with the great , comprehensive , and beneficent principle involved id the Education Bill ! What matters it in what sect a child is educated , provided his education be a moral and a Christian one 1 Considering the pressing emergency of ( he casebearing in mind the alarming disclosures made by Lord Ashley as to the state of demoralization and ignorance in which thousands of the labouring classes are now plunged—we do think that a perilous responsibility will attach to that party through whose means a scheme for remedying the evil shall be defeated ! What I is it a time to cavil on dootrinal points and matters of discipline—to fall to loggerheads on nice , subtle questions of orthodoxy and
heterodoxywhen vast masses of the community are in such a brutal , benighted state , that the national tranquillity cannot be calculated on from one year to another We do most earnestly entreat both Churchmen and Dissenters—on this momentous question at least —to lay aside their distrust of each other , to meet each other half way ia a temperate and conciliating spirit , and endeavour to come to something like a mutual good understanding . Surely the very graudeur and comprehensiveness of the subject which they are called on to consider , should of itself be sufficient to exert a benignant influence on their minds , elevate their tone of sentiment , and render them superior to all petty , sectarian , one-sided considerations . "
Doubtless there are points in which the Bill needs improvement ; and if those improvements can be effected , so much the better . Lotus in God ' s , name mend it if we can , but not throw it away , even if we cannot . From the tone which has been taken on tho matter in the House of Commoxs there is every reason to believe that if improvements be proposed in a proper spirit they will be appropriately met . Lord John Russell has given notice of some resolutions in the House , calculated partially to effect what must be the object of all well-disposed and honest Dissenters . There ar « other points to which attention might be well direoted , and which we shall yet take occasion to notice , when the blaze of Dissenting fury and Church'bigotry shall give us opportunity . Meantime here are Lord John ' s resolutions—good as far as they go : —
" 1 . That in any bill for tbe promotion of education in Or eat Britain , ! by which a board shall be authorised to levy , or cause to be levied , parochial rates for the election and maintenance of schools , provision ought to be made for an { adequate representation of tbe ratepayers of the pariah in such board . " 2 . That the j chairman of anoh board should be elected by the board itself . " That tbe holy Scriptures , in the authorised version , shall We taught in all eehoola established by any such board . i ' * 4 . That special provision should be made for cases in which Roman Catholic parents may object to tho instruction of their children in tbe holy Scriptures in such schools . I
" 5 . That bo Other books of religious instruction should be used in ; such schools , unless with the sanction of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York , and the concurrence ef tbe Committee of Privy Council on Education . j " 6 That , in OTder to prevent the disqualification of competent school masters on religious grounds , tbe books of religious instruction , other than the Holy Bible , introduced into the schools , Bhould be taught apart by the clergyman of the parish , or some person appointed by him , to the children of Protestants wh « belong to the Established Church , and who may be desirous that their children should be bo instructed .
" Xhat all children taught in such schools should have free liberty to resort to any Sunday-school , or any place of religious worship , which their parents may approve . t " 8 . That any ] school connected with the National School Society , the British and Foreign School Society , any Protestant Dissenters' School , or any Roman Catholic School , which shall be found on inspection to be efficiently conducted , shall be entitled by 'license from the Privy Council . to grant certificates of school attendance for the purpose of employment in factories of children and young persons .
" 9 . That , in the opinion of this House , the Committee of Privy Council on education ought to be f » rnished with the means to enable them to establish and maintain a sufficient number of training and model Bchoule in Great Britain . " 10 . That the said Committee ought likewise to . be enabled to grant ; gratuities to deserving schoolmasters , and to afford such aid to schools established by voluntary contributions aa may tend to the more complete instruction of the people in religious and secular knowledge ) while at the same time the rights wf conioienca may be respected . " Sir James Graham in reply said that : —
" Since the second reading of the Bill he had had the opportunity of hearing the opinions of many deputations and of receiving various suggestions as to its provisions , and it would be the duty , aa it was the inclination ot himself and his colleagues , to give to those suggestions the most calm and dispassionate consideration . He was not prepared at that moment , nor would the House expect him , to enter into any statements as to what might be the modification which he should bave to propose in the details of the Bill ; but , from what had already taken place , and from tbe tone in which the subject bad been already discussed , he had a confident expectation of being enabled to propose many material alterations in it . "
Now we do think that this , so far as language can be understood , indicates a spirit and purpose of fair * play sufficient tosatiBfy any reasonableman . Let those who feel that the measure , in its present form , would press hardly on . them , —shew how it would do so—and suggest their measures of amendment ; but let ttJam not forget that jGovernmtnt having the whole community to look to , ought so to shape their measures as to secure the , good of all without consulting the prejudices of a section—and that a small section too . Again , we borrow the language of the Sun and say— i
" No great public measure was ever yet carried , but Borne party or other made a sacrifice to it ; and shall men , who call themselves religious , hesitate to do so , when tbe schema in consideration is one for the education of the people ? If , however , the eealots of High Church and Dissent will not be prevailed on to abandon their opposition , we do most earnestly bope and trust that all the moderate and intelligent men in the community will moke a point of coming to the assistance of Government on this occasion , for they may rely on it , things have come to that pass with us , that if we have not national education , we mast have national convulsion . "
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THE TRIALS AT LANCASTER . A half number of the above important trial was published last week , in cons'jqaenco of the impossibility of one person writing out a full number in a week . This will not be wondered at when it is borne in mind that each numb « r contains , of solid matter , about a 8 much ; aB siykty columns of a newspaper , which would bis ten columns a day for one man to
write . j This week , howaver , a full number of sixty-four pages will appear , and which we are informed will bring the proceedings down to the end of the fifth day , including ! the speeches of Mr . D 0 ndas , Q . C . ; Mr . Bmnes , Q , C . ; and Mr . Serjeant Murphy . The next number will contain , verbatim reports of the speeches ofjthe working men , and will more than supply their omission in that meagre atate in which they must have necessarily appeared in a newspaper . "When these ; trials are completed , the work will contain as much as could be got into six hundred columns of a newspaper , and , therefore , the absolute
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impossibility [ of an ; journal giving anything like a full report will at once present itself . In answer to applications as te whether snberibera for the last number only will be entitled to the portrait of Baron Rolfe , we should say , certainly not . It * £ s requested that agents will give timely orders to Hetwood , of Manchester ; Hobso : * , of Leeds ; and Cleave , of London . The work is all stereotyped , and numbers I and 2 are now going-through a second edition . Some few errors are observable , but they will be correoted in a list of " errata . "
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SOMETHING FOR PRACTICE . HOW TO GET THE LAND . Most earnestly do we call the attention of every individual iuto whose hands this paper may fall , to the letter of Mr . O'Connob , outlining forth a plan for the concentration of the people ' s energies to obtain possession of a portion of LAND , wheron to commence a practical exposition of the principles
now so . universally received amongst all classes . The public mind is fully ripe for the taking of such a step . Indeed , were the working people longer to delay the necessary steps requisite to give to the world a practical development of what they mean by saying that "THE LAND is the only possible means of salvation , they would very shortly find that , they were far behind public opinion .
The indications manifested throughout the popular ranks , that the time has arrived when some such step as that outlined by Mr . O'Connor must be taken , are both too numerous and too strong to be mistaken . There is a yearning desire on every hand for tho elaboration , promulgation , and adoption of a plan having for its end and aim the uniting of pbachce with theory . At the time we write we have on the table a letter from another firm friend of the people , pointing out the imperative necessity of the step ; and also out * lining a plan mainly similar to Mr . O'Connor ' s , differing only in one or two particulars . Most likely we shall give publication to that letter next week .
With the determination expressed at the end of Mr . O'Connob ' s letter not to press the question of his Amended Organization for some time we cordially concur . The question he has now mooted of combining " social economy " with "political agitation" will call for much consideration on the part of the people ; and the means by which the ends sought are to be accomplished , will require muoh attention , and much forethought . It is absolutely necessary that something of tbe kind should be prominent ia any plan whioh the people now adopt . It was our conviction of this that dictated the allusion which in our
few remarks on Mr . O'Connob ' s plan of organiza tion , was made to the want of something which the plan in the shape it then bore did not provide . It coald not be expected that the necessary attention can be properly bestowed on so important an affair if there should be any undue and unnecessary hurry ing on of the matter . The respective plans that may be propounded must be firstly canvassed over by tho people in their several localities ' ; ' and then , when judgments have been formed , a national delecatioi should be holden for the purpose of maturing and sanctioning a uniform and consistent plan ont of the whole .
We shall anxiously wait for and watch the devs > lopment of the respective schemes that may Vs propounded , This is a question of mighty importi and of deep interest . As such we shall view it and treat it . The best attention we can bestow shall be willingly applied ; and we shall endeavour to guide publio opinion to what we consider to be the legitimate courses of action in connection with it . A popular organi « ation more powerful and more useful tha any ever yet existing in this kingdom , may be formed on this basis , if only the proper means be taken to secure the protection of the law . That security may be had . It shall be a portion of our duty to point oat the way .
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Mt Friends , —If it may please God , I will end * vour , when I visit Scotland , so to manage mattersM to have the gratification of seeing all of you . Bat I must say , in answer to the parties who request that my visit may be hastened , that it cannot be . I would have been most happy to be in Glasgow oa the 21 st of May , as my kind friends request ; bat I dare not travel northward till the warm weather have set in , I must have a little time to com
round . I am totally unfit for hard work now . About the middle of June is aa soon as I dare reckon on . I shall then come to Edinburgh and stay two or three days , after which I will try to visit other places to which I have been invited in suoh order of time and circumstance u may be most convenient ; not to prolong my sUj beyond three weeks . I am in hopes thereby notoolr to derive much gratification from communion ffl& my cool-headed , warm-hearted , friends , but also to do something for the improvement , if not re-estabM * ment of my lost health . God save yon all and speed the Charter , William Htft .
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Con Murray , Glasgow . —The report he mentions a private letter had not come to hand when tbt first edition of the Star was obliged to go k press . Sunderland . —All persons wishing to correspond with the Council of the Whole-hog Chartist Brigade are requested to direct , for the Juture , " Mr . George Charlton , sail-maker . % iW *
row . Defence Funb . —The sovereign placed « B . ^ O'Connor's hands at Lancaster was given A « u » "i Mr . J . T . Lund , and included 10 s . from W > tH ston , and IQs . from the sale of Nicholson ' s Br «** fast Beverage . In the Star of the ^ th ult . i ^ is acknowledged from John Pntchard of « " *» Hill , new Chester : it should have been fnn John Pritohard , of Ruley Hill , near F < trndo > h Cheshire , T . B . Simnitt , Newark . —Certainly net : you « " * be in great danger if you d » . A Constant Reader and Subscriber , Ho ^ field . — We do not know a good printed boo * <» Short Hand : the best that we have yet seen un Sams , of Bath . There are also some cap" * thoughts in Pitman's Phonography .
J . M ., Leicester . —Thanks . Ou > hah Chabttsts . —We fear that if t ^ J ^^ whom they style" John Norbury , ^^/^ "jL and respecting whom they speak ofinfornK" which has been communicated to then ft 0 ' * , u Chartists of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , R ° ~* j } Heywood , Wigan , Slockport , and Mossley , *"" get any petty fogging attorney to take up * " ^ he might have a good action agaxnst ttfjo r ""• if we should insert their paragraph . Wm . Peplow . —His letter to the subscriber * to w
Defence Fund next week . John Colqohoun wishes the address of Mrs . ^ j * that he may remit to her £ 1 from the bVSL Chartist Association ; 3 s . from Mr . Smith , w street ; and is . from Mr . Niel Muir .
To My Scottish Friends In Leith, Glasgow, Greenock, To.
TO MY SCOTTISH FRIENDS IN LEITH , GLASGOW , GREENOCK , to .
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FOR THE NATIONAL DEFENCE FU *» ' ^ j . From A . R , and a few friends , Edinburgh 0 « FOR MR . COCK . B 1 JRN , 05 NEWCASTI-E . ^ From B . Jones , Bristol .
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Bristol . —I have mislaid the letter which accompanied a Post Office Order for a small Bum froa this place . The party sen dine , will , therefore , please re-state name and particulars . ' Chrbhidgx . —Enquiry shall be made . Ipswich . —I have received a set of bag-pipes from Mr . M'Pherson . They will be disposed of by tbe London friends , and proceeds presented to this Fnnd . One pound received from Stokesley was omitted in the published list of previous week , although included inthe Bumtot * L "
FOB 3 TC 5 . ELLIS . Previously acknowleaied ... ... 10 1 0 St . Pancras Harmonic Meeting 10 0 Carlisle — — — . " 0 5 0 . Mr . J . B . Smith .. . .. . .. . ... 0 5 0 SilkweaverSj Kettering 0 2 6 Leeds „ . ... 0 11 1 XL Homes , EsO p Oundle ... .. . ... 5 0 0 Old Locamy , lettering . 1 0 0 Mr . llioddis , ( sale cf breakfast powder ) 0 16 Friends , per Mr . Lonsdale , Manchester 5 0 o Blackburn ... . „ Gamst School , Grimshaw-P&rk ... 0 9 9 Marylebone . ... 0 3 0 Linwood ... ~ 0 7 0 Oldham Female Chartists 0 10 0 AFriend „ . © 0 6 . J . S-, Oldh&m — — .. . ... O 1 0 AJmnd , Buiterley 0 10
£ 25 0 4 By Oldfcaa , Post order , &c 0 0 4 £ 25 0 0 rox itnovuj .. Previously acknowledged 25 5 4 J Marvleboce ... 0 7 0 Mr . Bowes and a Friend , Macclesfield ... 0 0 6 ¦ £ 26 12 10 ^ TOB PETER 70 DE 3 . 5 i Pancra ? Harmonic Meeting 0 10 0
2to Bcatorg Antr @Om0jpmtircntf
2 To Bcatorg antr @om 0 jpmtircntf
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The following sums from Wingate Grange * f r" £ , a few weeks ago , as being from Wingfttt *«™^ for various funds , according to letter WO "' 60 ! ^ bave received another letter , Btoting that tfle wwere intended to go to the Defence Fund . Thornley CeUiery . per G . B . ... 0 2 H Newgate Colliery !¦ 7 Do . by ° ? L Cradle by G . Brown ... ... 3 * * t , MR . SINCLAIB , Newcastle . —The mistake cool ^ be rectified when his letter came to hana : « not one paper in the office .
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4 THE NORTHERN STAB , =
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), April 15, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct929/page/4/
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