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HOBSON'S ALMANACK.
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2To <Reaft*v0 ant* &om$$ou?wit0 ^ *.
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THE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1843.
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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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In the Press , and speedily will be Published , Price Threepence , THE POOR MAN'S COMPANION , FOR 1844 . p ONTAINING a mass of Statistical and other \ J matter , bearing on the Political and Social questions of the day . Compiled from authentic documents , BT JOSHUA HOBSON . £ S » The day of Publication , with » list of contents , will be duly set forth next week .
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TO THE CHARTISTS OF KOTTIKGEAM AND SOT 3 TH DERBY SHIRE , BBOTHEfc Democrats , —The Committee appointed to 007 cot the Local Plan of Oryanisitlon and resolution * -which ¦ were agreed to at your Delegate Meeting , keld * Nottingham in June last , -wish to remind you that the tens of their Berries * baa nearly expired , and to lay before yom a statement of yonr affirira . We are iappy to state that much good haaartoen from tfcB labears oloar indefaSgaWe lecturer , Mr . Doyle OwiM to the hitherto imperfect state of our Organization / the I * etoren' Fond is delcfcnt to the amount of nearly £ 7- To this -we earnestly direct your attention , KDdUhope that the various locaUUes -wHl immediately faansmit to the Treasurer the various sums agreed to .
A Delegate Meeting will be held atllkestoBe , on Sunday the 5 th of November , -when we hope that every locality -will send a delegate to consider the best means cf Uqniaating the debt , and transacting other important
business . Toara , respectfully , - Samuel Boonham , Secretary Nottingham , October 31 st , 1843 .
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TO THE GHAB . TI 5 TS OF BISMIXGHAM XXV THE SITe-HOTODISG DJSTS 1 CT . Ebxjthees , —The Committee for the support o * . Mr . George White once more appeal toyonraymp-jaiiet , va& Xb your justice . Kve months of the time / jedared tj iniquitous lav-administrators to be necessr , ^ to expaste , "within stone -wall * , the heinous crime of defending the poor and demanding for them their Tights , hare passed , leaving IH& ^ K ye t to be endnieu , and those three , alas ! amongst the most severe of Vaeyear . Mr . White , spuming the attempts which have generally "been made to degrade the leaden > nd teachers of Vbe people , demanded to be treated « s "a first-class
misdemeanant . His demand "was acceded to , and he was impriBcmed Jin . the Quectfa "Prison . By this act he did £ is duty totes fellow-working men . When the gates of the prison x&esed upon him , jostioe and honesty claimed that theworJnng-inen sbonld . do'&dr duty to him . Have they done so ? Yes , in part—they have done it in London , "where he vent amongst them a stranger . But in Birmingham and tke district where be was well known , sod mesh admired for ius boldness and unquestioned jjoliiieal integrity—the"tewn and neighbourhood "which should have set a -generous example to others at a distance , has done tittle or Dotting . How true it is of Chartism , as of other systems , that its servants are never honoured in their-own country .
The Chartists of ioadon stepped between George White and destitution . Had he depended on those who cnght ~ to hafesupported him and shielded him from the Iron gripe of a sanguinary law code , pennryjand neglect "Would hare been the -ungenerons return from those with tdtont he iked , for-twelve years * service in their cause , ynfi for more than-once endangering his life and health . For the fire months already passed , Birmingham and the district have sot wufcribnted fire shillings per week . This is not honesl—this is not jost Tyrants will never fear yoa until yon respect yourselves ; and you are ¦ w asting in proper respect lor yourselves when you allow your enemies to treat "with cruelty snd eontempt those "Whom yoxrpnt forward to defend yom liberties snd demand for yon ihose rights "which justice declares to he reasonable .
Brothers—Show that it is only necessary for you to fcrov your duty to perform it Contbjbtjtb quickly , freely , and-dteexfully for tbs assistance and snpport of as honest man of jour own class , for the remainder of the time -which tyranny "win retain him in its grasp . By Order , W . Chiitos , Secretary . 38 , Bromsgrove-Btreet , or Place of Meeting , 37 , Peck-lane , Birmingham . P . S— -The committee -would mention that social teaparties , concerts , ett . Tiave been found of great assistaBce by the London friends .
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WHO ABE THE IBIBH 7 . " Ireland for the Irish , * it has been said . Quite just and proper : but let it be understood who are the Irish . Though Mr . O ' Connell has consented to relinquish the use of the -word " Saxon , " he has not denied that be ngards that epithet as- the logical antithesis to " Irish * man- * [ Let tu aee if the Celtic iaxxs Is exclusively entitled to be called " the lrah . - Irelsnd was not possessed by an exclusively Celtic popsladon at the time of Strongbow ^ s invasion , and the Irish" who opposed Strongbow were not exclnatrely Celts . The predominant population , if not the foanders of Limerick and of the maritime cities of Ireland , were the Ostm&n *—a Teutonic race , the fcinnniftn
of the Saxons and Normans . The most prompt and ejgrgetic of Strongbow ^ s " Irish" opponsnts at his first T « Tirtmg vere the Ostmans of Waterford . The Oitmans of Dublin offered a more uncompromMng resistance to gje SngHsh intaders than the Celtic " Irish" of that ety and its vicinity . An entry in the Botnlus Pi&dto-Turn of the-4 th of Bdward IL enables us to estimate the relative proportions of Ostmaos and Celts in the native population of the deanery of Limerick : —Kecognitio facts ( JUC . 1201 ) per sacramentnm 12 Angloram , et 12 Ostmannorum , et 12 Hibemensium de terns , ecclesiu , et easier !* pertinestiis , ad limericensem eceleshzm neeUaUboa . '' The cooquering race , though fewer ia
number , might insist upon an equality of voices on - the * friyyrt ; but sa reason could h&ve led to She equality ' of representatives of the . two rubjugated xaeef , except that they is reality constituted ne * dy equal parts of the population . The Teutonic ingredient in tbex > riginal " Irian" people was increased iy a » English families , -who became " ipsis Hibemicis Biberniorea . " The Celtic-speaking population of Ireland are no more a pure Celtic race than the " Englishspeaking population can "be considered ( seeing the frequent intermarriages between ^ English and Irish that have taken place in the lapse of centuries ) can be considered a pure Saxon race . In the matter of stock , of blood , all inhabitants el Ireland are one race .
Bat it -will be said that the Celtic-speaking people of Ireland have retained tie traditional national character , -while the-Englisb-speaking race have with its language adopted the conventional morals an i faith of England . So be it 'Doubtless the people from -whom a nation inherits its literature and religion are more truly its ancestors fh » n its physical progenitors . But who are the leaders of the " Irish" of the present day ? In this view of the question , they are " Saxons "' to a man . Their faith is not that of the old Irish Church , but of the Romish -Church ; "Which , if not originally introduced , -was first firmly established by the Anglo-ITormaa rulers . Their language , "when they dis cuss religious , phaoEophical , or political 'topics , ia
33 ng H » H . -O'Connell may now and then beat bis auditors to a serapet ) f " Irish Gaelic , " as country gentlemen , have , been known to quote Latin in the House of Commeus ; but could O'Connell frame a Beform BUI , or a Constitution , or argue their pros and cons in Irish ? Could the acute and energetic writers in The Nation -find words and phrases in the " Irish Gaelic " to express their ' ideas ? A Parliament assembled in College -Green must talk " Saxon , " legislate in a ** Saxon" spirit ; reason accor&Bg to " Saxon" habit * ol thought " Irelandfor the Irish , " if "Saxon" is to Wbdd the antithesis of " Irish , " pronounces sentence of proscription and banishment against all educated Bepealer *— -Spectator .
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Barons , -with incomes varying from £ 50 , 000 to £ 100 , 000 and £ 300 , 000 a-year , yet Ure paltry sum of £ 260 cannot be raised to give a dinner to the men whose daring courage and valour hr . ve secured to them the safe and quiet possession of their titles , honours , and properties , unless through '( he medium of the beg ging-box . The < iueen Dowp ^ er can contribute to the erection of a church in Mj ^ ta ; the Queen can lavish £ 1 , 000 upon French K ^ diera ? Sir Robert Peel can enrich an overbloated . Church with » donation of £ 5 , 000 i a Tory NoB ' . eDoke , whose mansion overlooks thejery site of the column , can robscribe from £ 2 , 000 to £ 5 , 0 « 0 for Chy jch extension ; yet all these wyal and distinguished p- jraonagej pan witness , without shame , the weather . b ' j atenieroes of the ocean , supplicating foi penny subscapflonsl—Weekly Dispatch .
[ petesti ' jg aa -we do all ma of aggression ; believing with the poet , that" "V ^ ar is a game "which were their subjects "wise , K'jigt -would not play at j " ao d holding in unmitigated atborrence the memory of t ' aat infamous conflict of a quarter of a century waged to pot down democracy in Prance ; we certainly have n © great admiration of " England ' s greatest naval hero , " -whose crimson laurels were mainly -won in that ever-tobe execrated contest But if the nation will yet honour the destroyers rather than the benefactors of the human race , at least let it be consistent , and not outrage common ' decency by such ungrateful conduct to the men whom it : has dubbed defenders and heroes . At any rate let not the priests and aristocrats forgot the men who poured out their blood for the maintainence of their usurpations .
Notwithstanding our contempt for such " heroes" as Nelson , we must still acknowledge that we have a hearty respect for the weather-beaten " hearts of oak , " who have
Braved the battle and the breeze , " in defence of what they thought was the cause of right and country . Our disgust is therefore inexpressible at the conduct of the Government and the aristocracy , in thus treating the gallant veterans . Well might Byron ask" Ye men who shed jour blood for kings like water , What have they given your children in return V Behold the answer—bayonets and bastiles for the ** children , "and begging boxes for the " men"themselves i We thank our contemporary for calling public attention to this matter . —Ed . N . SJ
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MACHINERY . WHAT HAYE BEEN ITS RESULTS ! Thb " profound Political Economists" of our peculiar age and generation , have contended stoutly , against the common sense of mankind , that the operations of machinery have conferred unmixed good npon society at large ; and that no notion ever entertained was half so foolish and nonsensical as that which attributed any evil to the workings of machinery . Work upon work has been written to support and prove this position . We hare bad the pen of MiBB Habwec Mabtihkau plied to that end ; and Lord B&ougham himself has condescended to enlighten the dark understandings of the people on the * Results of Machinery . "
When the operatives have complained , that the introduction and use of particular machines has displaced them in thelaboar market , they have been told that they knew nothing on the subject : that tke nature of machinery was not to displace human labour , but to call more of it into requisition ; that if the employment of the bteam-loom , with only one girl to attend two of them , seemed to displace the two ksn who would have been required to work the two hand-looms , vet it was only a displacement in appearance , akd « ot is bkalitt ; for while machinery seemed to close op , as it were , one channel of labour , it opened other and more remunerative channels ; and that thus the balance was on the side of machinery . It was argued , that when we took into account the number of mecAanics that
the making of machinery bad set to work ; the number of iron makers ; of workers in other metals ; of workers in wood ; of distributors of the productions of machinery ; of the sailors , to carry those productions to other climes ; and of the ship-builders , &c . &c . : it was contended that when the argument was made to embrace all these , as by right it ought to do , we should find that the Results of Machinery had been to call into play a great amount of human labour , and not to displace it .
These arguers have also had a staspwg illusuutios , which they were sore constantly to pitch , whenever a doubt was expressed as to the conclusion they thus so speciously arrived at . Intimate , no matter how modestly , that you feared the actualities of the case did not bear this conclusion out , and you were instantly " closed-up" with the " stereotyped ™ illustration , Look at the printing business , " every arguer would instantly exclaim , in a triumphant tone ; " see a picture of the workings of machinery there I Look at the old printing press ; then look at the printing machine . Has machinery
there superseded human labour ! Has not it rather called it into requisition ! Are there not more printers now engaged , than there were before the invention of the printing machine ! Look at the amount of printing now performed , and compare it I with the amount formerly performed . See the ' ' quantity of labour that that increasad amount em-, ploys . There are more rags required for paper ; ¦ ' consequently more rag gatherers ; there is more = paper nsed ^ consequently more paper makers ; there are printing machines required , consequently more r machine-makers employed ; there ia more print-: ing-ink consumed , consequently more ini >
1 makers set to work : aad then there are the porters , and carters , and booksellers : increased emj ployment being found for all . How then can you ¦ gay that the tendency of machinery is to displace human labour 1 Then look again at the results in ! another point of view . The operation of the print' ing maehine has been to lessen the cost o / production j of books and papers ; consequently they can be sold : cheap ; thus an enlarged demand is caused ; and to I supply that demand , more labour must be employed . Therefore , you see that the operation of printing machinery jb beneficial to all : beneficial to the printer ; for it creates a demand for his labour , and enables him to enforce higher wage 3 ; beneficial to society at large , by giving it ksowiedgs at a low
cost . " Such is the pet illustration . Every " profound political , economist" has it at the tongue ' s end . It comes off , most trippingly , shonld you but venture to hint that possibly the " Results of Machinery " have not been quite bo beneficial to all , as some so fitoatly contend . That illustration is very specious : more specious thzn real In the first place , machinery is only yet partially employed in the production of books and papers . The operation of the printing maehine has teen to supersede the Pbzbsmkn . They were a distinct branch of the printing trade : they now have no existence . There are the Compositors . The Printing Machine has not interfered with their
depaxttaent &t all : that is to say , the Printing Machine has not been made to " set up" the types ; bat only to print the paper from the types , when all the labour that the Compositor has to employ , iaa been employed . This printing case , therefore , is not a true " illustration . " Take the manufacture of Calico . There machinery does all the work , with a very slight attendance of women and ohildren , from the " blowing" and " carding , up to the paste-daubing and " finishing . " The " tumming stock" of the carder has been superseded by the carding engine . The " siu £ lespinning wheel , " and the "jenny" have been superseded by the mule ; and the " mule" in itB turn by the double-and'treble-d * oker , and by the self-actor .
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The " hand-loom" has been superseded by the steamloom ; and machinery has revolutionized every department in the produotien of calicos . Not so yet with books and papers . In only one department of printing has machinery been brought extensively to bear : therefore the "illustration" brought from the operation of machinery in printing is not complete .
Besides , the printing business employs only a comparatively small number of onr population . It has , tw > , been an aristocratic trade . In the first place , a tolerably good education is needed , to enable a man to become a compositor—a member of the great branch of the printing trade . Printing is not therefore open to all : for the major portion of the Bbns of the labouring many are utterly
without that education that is indispensable to qualify a man to become a compositor . It is therefore an exclusive trade . It is confined to the sons of the better-paid operatives , and the " lower order" of the shop-keeping class . These circumstances have enabled the " trade" to maintain their position much better than the operatives engaged in any great department of our great manufactures .
It has also been customary for the employers to have premiums with their apprentices , for teaching them their " trade "; and this , too , has tended to keep dpwn the number of men employed in printing . A favourable combination of circumstances has enabled the " trade" to maintain an " Union , " particularly in the country ; and they have had a regulation to restrict the number of apprentices , according to the number of men employed . This also has served , and greatly too , to maintain their strong position .: Master printers have been in the hands of the men ; particularly so in the country . If the compositorsstoppe : < iuwAr , all was stopped ; and their plaoe has not been veiy easily to be supplied . A stoppage
to a large printing concern , particularly ono engaged in Periodicals , was dsstbdction to it ; and , therefore , the Printers' ll Union" have had great power . It will be at once apparent that these circumstances placed the trade of printers in a far different and more impregnable position than the great body of our operatives , either agricultural or manufacturing . And yet , the profound political eoonomi at , " when reasoning on the general operation of a general question , presses all thes » peouliar and adventitious circumstances into his service ; i and froo them draws an " illustration" to " illustrate * the general whole 1 To do so however is honest , according to " profound" notions of honesty !
Notwithstanding the glib-talk of the " profound ones , and the pet illustration , " Machinery is reaching even the printing-trade , favourably circumstanced as we have shewn it to be ! In London the " surplus of labour" is so great , that the *• Union " iB all but powerless ! The masters there can make their own terms . The " apprentice regulation" is broken through . There are " offices" now in London , and a many of them too , where there are a score of " boys" to one man J Nor are the boys " apprenticed . " The good old system of indenturing is now being discontinued ; and " boys" are taken into the " office , " and retained there for a few years , at a low rate of wages .
These have no legal claim on the master to " learn them the trade . " Should they , when they are approaching manhood , ask for * higher wage than is paid to boys of twelve or fourteen , they are speedily dismissed , and others , younger , put on" in their stead . Thus is the trade , in London / inundated with " hands ; " and there is always a large " reserve" in the labour market .
This is having its effect on the country trade . The London labour market , although the seeat one , ia closed against the country " hands . " There is little chance for a country "hand" to get employment in London , or but little sense in his trying , when there is so large an amount of unemployed labour constantly waiting to be hired . And yet London is the place that most flock to : it being a sort of
passion for all to go to the great wrn , if they can but accomplish it . This augments the evil : and this again tellB upon the men employed in the country . The "Union" fnnds are hardly laid on : parties out of work having to "tramp" from town to town ia . search of it , and lire oat of the "relief " a forded them by the " Union" and the charitablydisposed of the trade .
Besides , a Machine has been invented to dispense with the compositor I That machine will , even now , do his work . This bad been held to be an impossible feat . The labours of a compositor must be directed by the operation of mind . It was therefore deemed utterly impracticable to arrange any machinery that would even aid him . The "imposBibillity" is now possible ! A machine—nay there are two—has been invented , by means of which females and boys—( cheap labour !)—can perform the operation of * ' setting" types fatter than the most
experienced and " fast" compositor 1 Those machines are not yet introduced to any great extent ; and the printers are hugging themselves with the notion that the thing can't-bedone . " It will be done . As surely aa , ever the printing machine has superseded the hand -press in the printing of the greater portion of the work , bo surely will a Composing Machine supersede the compositor in the greater portion of the " book " and " news" work ! We say A Composing Machine : not the Composing Machine : for it would
have been as silly to have expected that the jenny of thirty spindles was the perfection of spinning , as it is to think that the present Composing Machines are the best , or most satisfactory adaptation of the pRiticiFLB that machinery can compose type . We may reasonably expect to see great and wonderful " improvements" in them . Even now they succeed . Even now they are &' < work ; composing works at a cheaper rate than by " hand . " And if the first application of the PR 1 H cifle is so successful , what may we iiOt expect from future and more perfect applications ?
Will the introduction of those machines , with the supposeable " improvements , " have no effect on the printing trade ! Will the " profound" men them ieBort to the printing trade for an " illustration" of the beneficial operations of machinery" 1 Will they them contend , and appeal to the printers for proof , that machinery call 3 iuto play more labour than it displaces ! Will they then say thai , there are more priaters than there were before the introduction of printing machinery !
Having shewn what has been the effect of machinery , upon even the favourably-situated and small exclusive trade of printers , let us next look as the condition of the TyrE-FounDZRS . There is a body of men , that must have benefited from machinery , if any body of operatives in the kingdom could by possibility be benefitted by it . They are few in number ; their business iB a peculiar one ; if printing be in great request , it must have the effect of causing a demand for type ; and the "type" must be cast , " before it is used . Therefore , if any class of operatives in England could be benefitted by machinery , it must be a body of men so circumstanced . These bas bees so iucmxsRr ir > i vented to
in-TERFERE WITH THEIR LABOUR , IN A DIRECT MANnhb : but then we are told that printing machinery bas brought more printing labour into request than it displaced : and if it brought any into request , it must have operated on the typefounders . Printing cannot go on without them . They are , as yet , indispensable . What then has been their share of the benefit" I Let us have the ** illustration . " We know that we are told , that" increased demand for produce , employs more labour , and tends to make the supply of labourers scarce : when labourers are soarce , increased wages can be obtained . " Let us see how this fits . '
Th # Type Foanders are now out J and for what eause ! Because the masters have determined to reduce wages ! There is an "increased demand " for types : and the " benefit" to the operative Type Founder iB reduced wages ! The masters are trying to enforce a reduction , varying from 25 to 75
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per cent ! Plenty of benefit" that I Rare H Result of Machinery '" This case of the Type Founders is a very instructive one . They are peculiarly situated . The business is ono very destructive to health . On this point we quote from an address of the turn-outs , calling upon the publio to support them against the efforts of their employers to give them a " benefit . " In that address they say : — " The trade of a type-founder is unhealthy in ' ^ g extreme , and very destructive to life . The b ' j&t is so intense in the apartments alloted for casting , occasioned by such a multiplicity of fur ^ atjes being
crowded together , that but few lnofoidualB can withstand its baneful influence for any length of time , without experiencing very se '/ fous injury ariBing . therefrom . Moreover , the atmosphere which the type-founder has to breathy i 8 bo oppressive , that it would be inconvenient < 0 a person who had been brought up in a tropic ^ country—an atmosphere , heated t to such a d ig ^ tDat the thermometer will range from sev enty to ninety degrees in winter time . Not only has the type-founder to endure such an oppressive atmosphere , bat he has
to stand in one positiOii for twelve or fourteen hours per day , with his her A very near to a pan of metal , which for casting small type ., must be red hot . The composition of . this metal is regulus of antimony , tin and lead , with , u portion of copper , the fumes of which are rank poison . Nor is this all , for the particles of metallic dust which fly off in the process of dressing ( - .. nd other departments of our trade , are constantly ' oeing inhaled by those who are employed in the manufacture of type . The above causes bring on many painful diseases , premature old age , and untimeiy death . "
; Yet notwithstanding the dreadful nature of this description of employment 1—¦ " The London and Sheffield master type-founders have formed a coalition league to take from us 3 d . put of every shilling in several kinds of work ; in others 6 d . out of the shilling ; and in some cases the moderate sum of 9 i out of the shilling . " This would be : — " A reduction of from twenty-three to seventy-five per cent ., i . e ., a reduction of the wages of the men who averaffed under 18 s . a week to Twelve Shillings" J . ' 1
from " printing machinery" ] Extended employment is likely to land them in a very enviable position ! A "heat of from seventy to ninety degrees in mater time" ; " standing in one position for twelve or fourteen hours over a pan of red hot metal" ; exposed to , and forced to inhale , " the fumes of regulus of antimony , tin , lead , and copper , all of which are poison "; th « recipients of " painful diueases , " that hurry on premature old age and untimely death" ! and all for an average of TWELVE SHILLINGS A WEEK ! O r what " benefit" !
It is true that the men are not vat reduced to this It is true that the men are not yet reduced to this twelve shillings a-week : but they are out , contending against it . Unless they are supported , they must accede to the demands of the masters . They must fall-to , and offer up their health , and even their lives for the twelve shillings . Will the other w trades" permit them to be eo " benefitted" ? Will not the printers interfere ! If they do not , their TURN COMES NEXT ! ! On examination then , the fact ia established , that
the operation of Machinery has been most destructive and most oppressive , even in favoured and e . rclusive trades . And if we find such to be the case there , what may we expect to find in the open and exposed trades ! Just that which we do find ! The manual labourer superseded . Females and children called in , to attend to the operations of machinery , because their services can be had at a cheap rate . A dearth of employment ; discomfort ; poverty ; misery ; destitution : turmoil
Such are the " Results of Machinery to the labourers . With the employer it is another matter . He does not always come to " ruin" although some do . There are among them men who have donb WELL ! There are thoseto whom the " Results of Machinery" have been very ** beneficial" ! Richard Cobden , we are told , was a farmer ' s sou , only midliogly situated : Richard Cobden is now reputed to be worth his hundreds of thousands of pounds . John Bright is another who has feathered his nest to a considerable tune- John Marshall , of Leeds , waa the son of a linen-draper , and began the world with borrowed money : John Marshall is now Said to be possessed , of millions . Now these are sata to be possesses , 0 / muttons , now Iflese are
u Results of Machinery" that we are not fond of ! We have uo notion of tw elvb shillings a-week to the workmen , and hundreds of thousands , and even millions , to the employer ! We are for a more equitable distribution of the " results" ! We are not for taking all from the many ; nor for giving all to the few We are not for Btarving the workers to death , that itfr . Cobden and Mr . Bright may lay up " treasure on earth" ! We are for giving all their fair share I of the " benefits" " resulting" from the use of machinery , and then as much machinery as you like 1 " The more the merrier . " How that fair share is to be apportioned and secured , we will tell another
• When we set out with this article , we intended to give , and reply to , a most foolish and nonsensical article in the Calf ' s Head Observer , on OUR use of machinery . Tho general question has , however , drawn us out to such length , that we must defer the stewing we had intended for the Calf ' s Head . But let him not repine . He shall be served-up some day , with brain sauoo . He shall be duly boiled .
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which is eighteen feet high ; leaving the first ladder ahe proceeds along the main road , probably three feet six inches to four feet six inchei high , to the second ladder , eighteen feat high , ; ao on to the third and fourth ladders till she teaches the pit-bottom , where she caata her load , varying from 1 cwt to 1 | cwt into the tab . Taw one journey is designated a rake . The height ascended , and the distance along the roads , added together , exeeed the height of St Paul ' s Cathedral ; and it not unf re quently happens that the tngga break , and the load falls upon these females who are following . "—Report p age 91—02 .
Here , then , is no fanoied picture of slavery : and yet it ia said , the females are . returned to work in this col . liery ; but the cause should come out ; and it is thU : —the coal-mastera are greater than the House of Commons and Lords put together . Tbs East Country masters , finding that the Duke of Hamilton , the G ' arroa Iron Company , and the Shotts Iron Company , where there are sixty females employed , and the Gartchenia Iron Company , and the Gartclose coal-owners , and Rose Hall iron Company , per Messrs . Miller and Aidre
and M . M'Andrew , of Garfin colliery : the masters ia the East , seeing that all those in the Worth and in the West , were setting the law at defiance , will now do the same . Nothing can stop this but the plan suggested in last week ' s Star . Lit the Miners of Scotland only sacrifice the price of one gill of whisky , and prosecute the employers . The Scotch press is to blame ia this . Accidents have taken place of which the folio wing ia one , which was refused insertion in the Glasgoio Saturday Pest , Glasgow Journal , and Glasgow Chronicle , July 4 th , 1843 : —
" Killed at Palace Craig Colliery , belonging to W . Baird , Esq . M . P ., and C *> . s man ef the name of Vicker , and his drawer , a young female of the name of Mary M'Ewan , a girl of sixteen years of age . The pit is near the Room pace . "
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THE TYPE FOUNDERS OF SHEFFIELD TO THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERS . Gentlemen , —We wish to call your earnest attention to our present position . We nave been for the last ten weeks out of employment in consequence of our employers attempting a reduction on our prices of labour of from 25 to 75 per cent In your never-to-be-forgotten strike of 1836-7 , we , as a body , assisted you by all the means in our power , both by counsel and pecuniary aid ; and we earnestly entreat you will take our case into your serious consideration , and try by all the means in your power to alleviate our present distress . We remain , yours respectfully , The Commute of Operative Ttfk Founders . Committee Room , Three Cranea , Queen-street , Sheffield , Oct . S 0 thr 1843 .
Ashton Shoemakers' Strike . —The "two or three reports 1 ' our friends have sent us nave not come to band , or they would have been noticed . We give the following from their present communication : — " A . n advertisement having appeared in the Northern Star of last week , stating that Mr . Lord , of this town , was in want of a number of good workmen , unconnected with the Shoemakers' Society , and stating that the dispute between him and the clob-men was in no way connected * with wages , we deem it our doty , ia order to prevent the unwary from being misled , ( as others have been to their sorrow , ) to lay before them the cause of the strike , and leave them to judge whether it is or is not connected with wages ; and whether we are not justified in resisting to the utmost of our power such base attempts upon the rights of labour .
" Mr . Lord ' s father is owner of some cottage properly ; which is in such a dilapidated condition ,, that they are not fit for human beings to live in ; but which Mr . Lord tells his men they must inhabit or leave his employment , and for which they nave to pay an extortionate rent . This , along with other acts of petty tyranny , was the cause of the strike ; and this is the reason he prefers married men to coop up in his hovels . Several families have been induced by Mr .. Lord's statements to break up their homes in other towns , and
come here in the hopes of bettering taeir condition ; but alas ! have been miserably deceived and compelled to leave again after suffering a great loss . With respect to the statement of wages , Mr . Lord saya he will pay , all we have to say is , that iir . Lord never did pay suck wages , and we cannot but think that it is nothing but a decoy to entrap the unwary into his power , when we know that for the lost two years he has strove to the utmost of bis power to reduce the wages of bis workmen . " Signed on behalf of the trade .
«* William Woodroffe , Scotland-Brook . " Publications received for Review . — «• Tatfs Magazine ; " Howitfs History of Priestcraft ; " "The New Age ; " and the " Promethian , " &c &c &e . Whitehaten , Miners . —Their address was too late . Vessels for New Orleans—The Chaos' starts on the 8 th of November ; and the Harkaway on the 13 th : the JEspindofo starting to-day . This alteration of the advertisement in another page came too late W be attended to in Us proper place . Veritas heads a letter "To the Citieans of London , " with the following quotation : — " It is in the last twenty years of the funding system that all the great shocks begin to operate . " ' Paine .-
He says" The times are big with important events . Breakers area-head ! Tae mountain is in labour , ayel and will bring forth more than a moose . 1843 gives o > the Governor of the Bank of England , member f « the City of London , pledged to the Repeal of the Corn Laws , laws passed to prop op the fanding system . What an anomaly ! Ab ! ' most thinking people' (!) of the ' most enlightened city in the world' (!) when will you cease to act with your eyes closed against facts . Pattison and the Anti-Corn Law League are gulling you ; you will be made to suffer f you will &e squeezed a little longer , to ieep the Bank aft ? 3 t Be not so deceived , come out for the rights ef allthe Charter . Then yon will have a more extended and fruitful field to choose yon * repfesentatires from . "
Mr . Leach Op Hyde , is continually receiving lette » from Ireland , praying for moreStar-light , He appeal * to his brother Chartists to send their papers to tbe " green isle , " and oflfew to nndertake the task of sending them , if parties ' will forward their Stars to him when done with . Address , J . M . Leacb , 8 ? > Cbarles-atreet , Hyde , Cheshire . Stabs to Irelakd What are the Sheffield Uhnis about ? We know that the circulation of the Star a rapidly increasing in their town , why not give t&etf Irish brethren the benefit of it ? Let them use toe list sent them by the Irish Universal Sufirage Association . The little trouble of so doiDg will be amplf repaid by the great and lasting good that will » effected .
The Coventry Chariists appeal to their townsmes to come forward and join the new organisation : esjf cially the avowed Chartists , who will prove thetf sincerity by responding to the appeal We nope Wl will do bo . " England expects every man to do fl » duty . " Mr . Charles D . Stuart writes to us , that he co > template ! visiting Darlington , oh Sunday first i «» " ™ delivery of lectures on Chartism ) , and , in th « cow of the ensuing week , Yarm , Stockton , Middleman Sunderland , Ac .
Quack Almanacks . —Medicus writes as fo " * ; ' " I think you Bbould caution your reader against v Penny Almanacks wherein pills and nostrums are recommended by the anthora of irach $ ublic&Uopa w <» taken at particular times of tbe year . Sach Almansow are a gross imposition on the unwary , bang entirely s up by the Quacks , who , to sell one box of their vim do not mind giving the Almanack for nothing . **» that there 8 re several such Almanacks adverUwa » 1843 . "
Hobson's Almanack.
HOBSON'S ALMANACK .
Untitled Article
THE GREENWICH PENSIONERS AND THE JfELSOU MONUMENT . Tbe most disgraceful , degrading spectacle , that has « tpt bees inflicted upon Englishmen , was witnessed ] ist treek , -when tbe statue of the immortal 2 f elson waa exhibited to the gsza of the public . It is impossible to express ia language the indignation which this unparalleled spectacle exdtea in the breasts of the citizens of London ; and when the "United Kingdom is informed of it , there wHl be , no doubt , raised from one extremity to hou of
the'otheroBe general ^ t execration , Our readers axe aware that during the last two days the statue of lord Nelson was open to pubEe inspection in Trafalgartgmra From all parts of tbe Idetropolis , and the surrounding ; districts , crowds wended theii way to the spot , to gar ? wpon-the monumental effigy of the greatest staval hero that . ever England has produced . What was their dismay , when , as they approached the entrance to TiaMgar-iquaxe , they beheld three feegging-boxes , guarded iy & body of Greenwich pensioners , who aeemed to
exclaim" "Why , good people all , at what do you pry ? Ib 1 the stamp of my arm or xoj leg 7 Or tbe place where 1 lost my good-looking eye ? Or is it to « ae me beg ?" Over these begging-boxes , and above the veteran tara who guarded them , were large placards , bearing the sral aolned
inscriptions" England expects every man to do hifl duty . " " Tfaa veterans of Copenhagen , St . Vincent , the -Hfle , ana Trafalgar , hnntey beg to invite the British pawic to view "Buley ' s statue of their immortal hero in Trafalgai- ^ pisxe . on Frioay and Saturday next , asd trust they -mil drop a copper in the lotier for the entertamment which ia so be given to Poor Jack , on the . glenoM annivemry cf the battle of Copenhagen . Wo Se 74 £ > ^ O * saaUesi donaaoTthankfnUy la it posattle to toueeive a more hwiliattng instance ofsaacnalmgratitBde ? <^ EfigluhmBn , » ho » fcha ! xa ^» for even a reefctea generosity and profusenew ii BotortouvwheMver the name of Briton his b * eo hwrd , H ^; * i * . 7 ^ ' *! ri ?» *» torn . Bnria ** & indited for the and
_ lofty indepewien * politiesTatti todft JOB bold * among mrronnding aations—some jivalt , . and all jealous of her nawal powsir—thui Teduooi to the eoadi&on of the most abject mendicity ? Yet rod * ia the melancholy fact Thar * stood at fee base ef ths monument raised to Nelson's " Memory , tboee veteran tact who fought nnder him at the battles ol Copenhagen , fit Vincent , the Nile , and Trafalgar , . shivering with cold , and beggisg for a dsy ' a meal ! ] Tbe historian ' * record of Lord Nelson i funeral , in ¦ wrbleh be makes seven royal dukes pall-bearers to the gallant warrior , siu ; x&rely be a fable or an old woman s tale ; for if hi > » art * l remains merited such honours , his brave caopaBions ia arms - would sot Aeserre such a huxiilialiDg fate . Who after tbiaeas
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Untitled Article
TRIUMPH OF THE CHARTISTS IN LEEDS . The Municipal Elections are just over : and in them the Chartists have been most triumphant 1 In the Holbeck Ward they started Mr . Joshua Hobson ; and in the West Ward Mr . John Jackson , the corn miller . In both wards have they been eminently successful ; but particularly so in the Holbeck Wark . Here was the deadly opposition . Here was concentrated all the fear ; all / the dread . Here was every means adopted , —/ air , foul , and DAMNABLE , to prevent success : and hebe it was that the Chartists bavo been triumphant J Mr . Hobson was returned at the head of the Poll ! He had a majority of eighty over his colleague ; and a majority of one hundred and seventy over the defeated Whig .
The joy of the Chartists is unbounded . Tho viatory is greater than they had , in their fondest hopes , anticipated . The feeling in favour of Mr . Hobson was most enthusiastic . A great portion of his votes were plumpers . Five hundred and seventy-one votes were recorded for him . The working people made the contest their own . The ; brought Mr Hobson oat : they have carried him moBt gloriously . Without fnnds ; without aid ; by dint of their own labours and their own enthusiasm , they have set an example to all the rest of the borough of Leeds , and to all other boroughs .
The vile and scandalous attacks made on Mr . Hobson have contributed in no small degree to his success . His enemies over-did it . They showed the Electors that they feared the man ; and the Electors acted just contrary to the desires and expectations of Faction . * i m > j t ii 11 f \ » f-i .. n . l--, aM ^^^ fci ^ jWiJ- r f + ** **********
Untitled Article
MORE ; OF THE COAL KINGS . The females are still in the pits ! No law proceedings are , as yet , instituted ! Nay , so daring are the Coal Kings becoming , in consequence of Sir James Gbahau ' s lenity , that nearly the whole of them are setting the Act at defiance . And why not ? If the Duke of Hamilton ia to be permitted to work sixty females in hU coal pits , why not others do the same ! If he is to be a law breaker , why not the smaller ^ fry have their share of the plunder accruing from Icheap labour ? II the Duke ; the Lord Lieutenant ; is to be protected in his lawbreakings , who will dare to enforce the law on his " brither" coal owners , should they follow his example ! They are determined to try it on as the following mosti abundantly proves : —
With regards to the Act anent the females , it may be said to be a dead letter in Seotlaad . I am informed that la » t week the females have retarned to their employment at Loan Head ( belonging to Sir George Cierk ) where they earry coals on their backs . It was in this work where the interesting child , Margaret Leveatoa , six years of age . worked . To the Commissioner she said she had " Been down at coal-carrying six « eeka ; makes ten to fourteen rakes a-tiay ; carries full olStba . of « o » I in a wooden backet . The ¦ work is na guid ; it ia so very sair . I work with sister Jesse and mother ; dihua ken tke time we gang ; it is gai dark . "—[ A most interesting ebild , and perfectly beautiful . I
ascertained her age to be six years on the 24 th of May , 1840—abe was registered at Inverness ] B ... H . Franks , Esq ., evidence No . 116-360 . " A brief description of this child ' s place of work will better illustrate- her evidence . She has first to descend a nine ladder pit to the first rest , even to whfeb a shaft is sunk to draw up tbe baskets , or tabs of coals filled by the bearers ; she then takes hsr creel and pursues her journey to the wall face , she then lays down her basket , into which the coal is rolled , aati it is frequently more than one man can do to lift the burden on her back . In this girl ' s case she has first to trundle about fourteen fathoms ( eighty-four feet ) ( mm wall-face to the first ladder ,
Untitled Article
SCOTCH MAGISTERIAL TYRANNY . VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT OF FREE
i DISCUSSION . Our refers may remember that in the Star of the 23 ri of September last , appeared a notir ^ un der the head of " Religious Intolleranco , " ° > certain pranks played by a set of mouthing u Liberals , " | tyled Non-Intrusionists , " who , meeting to protest against " prosecutions for blasphemy " when the " blasphemer" was one [ of their own kidney ;
did at that meeting refuse to allow other parties a hearing , and assaulted and ill-used the said parties ; winding up with introducing the police , and dragging the offenders" ( J ) , who only insisted upon the right of " free discussion" whioh their persecutors were met ostensibly to promote , before the bar of M ju-tice" " ( f ) L The case" was not then decided on ; bat we promised to make known tho decision whenever given . INow for the result .
The following has been forwarded to us , as copied from the Scotsman : — " The adjourned trial of Mr . Jeffery , the Socialist Lecturer , who stood charged with having disturbed a publio meeting in the Waterloo Rooms ( Edinburgh ) in September , came before Sheriff Tait , on Thursday last . The meeting referred to , as will be remembered , was called to sympathise with Dr . Kalley . A number of witnesses having been examined , and the facts of the case brought out , a conversation ensued between the Sheriff and Mr . Jeffery . The latter maintained that the meeting being a publio one , he had a right to appear there- and move
an amendment to any motion brought forward . He also objected that the Chairman ( the Lord Provost ) had exceeded his power in refusing to hear him without having taken the sense of the meeting upon the matter ; which , he contended was the origin of the whole disturbance . But the Sheriff declared it as his opinion th&teven granting this io be true , the Chairman of a meeting has an arbitrary power of deciding who shall or shall not be heard , arid that whatever arrangement may be come to , is of legal force for the time , no tribunal having the power of reviewing such arrangement * . He , therefore , ordered Mr . Jeffery to find bail in £ 20 to keep the peace for twelve months . "
We have bean given , to understand that "the man Patebson , " who should also have appeared , sent a letter to the Sheriff , exousing bis non-attendance ; his reason for not being forthcoming being that he had his defence to prepare against a charge of "blasphemy , " on whioh he will be tried in the course of the present month . How Mr . JeffbrV ' s attendance resulted , we have seen by the ] Scotsman . That gentleman writes to as that after being confined in a dell for two hours , with several felons , he was liberated by Mr . Robert PedDie , the late inmate of Beverley Gaol , becoming his security in the sum required .
A word upon this shameless and senseless decision of the Edinburgh Sheriff . Shameless , because the parties who should have been bound over to keep the peace , were those who "dragged Mr . Jeffery from the platform ; " those who " seized Mr . Pater son by the neek and dragged him through the I meeting ; those who " lore the hair from his head , beat him with slicks , and laid his head open . " These bloodhounds , calling themselves Christians (!) , were the parties who should have been " bound over to keep the peace , " and not Mr . Jeffeby ; who peaceably heard every other man , and only insisted upon his right to free speech in a publio , and what ought to have been , a deliberative assembly . I
But the decision was as senseless as it was shameless . For the first time we have it announced that the Chairman of a public meeting , elected to his office by that { meeting , can do as he pleases : t . e ., he can refuse toj hear any speaker if he pleases—he can dissolve jthe meeting at the very outset , and burke the whole proceedings which he was eleoted to aid in carrying out ! Such is the legitimate conclusion to which this monstrous deoision may be carried . Further , this modern Minos of " Modern Athens , " whose legal decisions might shame even those of the Cretan Judge of the " infernal regions / ' tells us that whatever is the Chairman ' s deoision is of " legal jforce for the time being . " May we
be saved from Edinburgh law , say wet But let us whisper to tha Sheriff thai the power that madei can unmake j the chairman , —Edinburgh law notwithstanding , To our readers we say , take care that when you attend a publio meeting , whether of Scotch Non-Intrusionists or English freebooters ; be ture to see that a man is appointed to the chair who will hear every man , and do justice to each and to jail . Had our Stock port friends so acted , they would not have been insulted and mocked at , as they were by the blood-suckers calling themselves gentlemen , " who have about as much gentility in them as Edinburgh magistrates have of justice . t
Our readers will see by Mr . O'Connor ' s letter that the Nons . of Dumfries have been playing the people a dirty trick , with the view of burking the expression of publio opinion in support of the glorious principled of Chartism . True they did not attain their ends ; but no thanks to them for that . Let their conduct not be forgotten . Mr . Maitland Mackgill Chrichton , the Don Quixote of the "Free Church ; " (?) movement , has for some time past
been engaged with others in levying "blackmail " upon the English lieges . Wherever these parties hold their meetings in public—wherever the advocates of truth and justice think it worth their while to attend these mountebank displays , held in support ef priestly domination , let them not forget the conduct of these "jiFree "' Churchmen to Messrs . Jeffbrt and Paterson ;; and insist upon some explanation of conduct so much the reverse of their professions .
We have no [ objection to " Free Churches . " We would have evory man " free" to support his own priest , if he { thought well to pay for one ; and " free" to be excused from paving for the keeping of another man ' s ! , But , above all things , we are for " Fbek Discussion , " without which no other species of freedom is attainable . Having which , we may strip error of her cloak and falsehood of her mask ; and finally annihilate the monster trinity of political usurpation , priestly fraud , and competitive accumulation : the triune evil which , for thousands of generations has made thiB earth a hell , and rendered wretched and brutish the great family of mankind . > , "' Delenda esl Carthago / " . . 1
Untitled Article
CANADA AND MR O'CONNELL . The New Fork Examiner . —Mr . Mackenzie thus speaks of his former gallant , but unfortunate , companions in arms , " the Canadian patriots : — '¦ " Canada Affairs , —What is called the Parliament of Canada , was to have met yesterday at Kingston . The new agent of the English Government is Sir T . C Metcrlfe . The official folks employed under him and the Colonial Office , are an odd mixture of old Tories , young rebels , and Reformers sa called . Fear , on the one band , and pelf on the other , are evidently their chief bonds of union . Some of the leading revolutionists of 1837 are pardoned ; and I hope that a general
amnesty will be granted , so that the gallant Frescot boys may be enabled once mora to look on those they love , now 14 , 000 miles distant . As for myself , I am , by my own free choice , an American citizen , never more to return under the colonial yoke . Others may ask pardon '—I did no wrong : others may own that our gallant comrades , Lount , Mattbews , < fcc ., were justly condemned . I know that they were cruelly murdered , put to death in cold blood , by a power which takes for its motto , ' my might makes my right . ' But this Journal is not established to discuss Canadian grievances , and frontier strifes . My highest duty is to join with those who
sincerely seek the welfare of America , and the perpetual harmony and union of the members of this great confederacy . Let us cultivate peace and quietness ; and if we would revolutionise Canada , the true way to do it is to set them an example of a just , generous , and prosperous people , thriving under the institutions of their free choice—industrious , enlightened—a band of brothers , each one scorning a mead action . As their legislative session progresses , I will very briefly notice aught that may be interesting . Messrs . Rotph , Montgomery , end Duncombe , have returned to Canadaand a door is spened for Messrs Q'Callaghan , Papineau . and Brown , should they also prefer British rule , which they probably will not . "
Query . Mr . Mackenzie is a violent anti-VA . v-Bvr . hsiTE , snd at the same time appears to be an admirer of O'Connell . Not the least of his reasons for being opposed to Mr * V . B . is , we apprehend , because the Ex-President did not rt sympathise" with the Canadian patriots . Very good . But has Mackenzie forgotten that of aU the traitors to the principles for which the Canadians contended , O'Connell is the most infamous ? Did he not aid in spiritlng-on the Canadians to resist British tyranny ; and then in the day of confiiet , and the hour of danger basely desert them , under the plea that they had resorted to " physical force" ?
Lot Mr , Mackenzie be consistent . He may feel convinced that Mr . Van Buren ia not the man the democracy « f England suppose him to bo . But let him " enquire" into the "history" of O'Conneli ,, and he will find that whilst the " Liberator" sold thb Emplish Factory children fob a Thousand Pounds , he also betrafed the cause op the Canadians fob the filthy patronage of the " Base , Bloody , and Bbutal Whigs ;"—the remorseless despots who ravaged Canada with fire and Bword . We can assure Mr . Mackenzie that these things are not forgotten in England . We have \ oja $ since on this side of St . George ' s channel , lifted the veil of Mokanna !
The Northern Star Saturday, November 4, 1843.
THE NORTHERN STAR SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 4 , 1843 .
Untitled Article
A THE NORTHERN STAR . " ^^ ' , , _ _ . . ^ —— — ¦ r 1 1 - - ~— ' ^ - «¦ - ¦ - - - - . ¦ ' : ¦¦¦ " _ ¦
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 4, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct954/page/4/
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