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THE ITORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1843.
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Co a&eairittf atti> (Botve$noxtotut$.
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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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TO THE CHARTISTS OF NOTTINGHAM AND SOUTH DERBYSHIRE . Bbqthbb Democrats , —The Committee appointed to carry oat the Local Plan of Organization sad resolu tions which -were agreed to at your Delegate Meeting , held at Nottingham in June last , wish to remind 70 a jy * . t me tens of their services has nearly expired , and to lay 'betes you a statement of yonr affairs . "We are happy to state that much good has arisen from tbe labeors of oar indefatigable lecturer , Mr . Doyle Owing to the hitherto imperfect state of our Orgaxrisslion , the Lecturers' Food is deficient to the amount of nearly £ 7 . To this we earnestly direct your attention , sad hope that the Tariona localities -will immediately temsnit to the Treasurer Ibe Tariona nima agreed to .
A Delegate Meeting "will be held at Ilkestone , on Sonday , the 5 th of Novemier , -when we hope that every locality will send a delegate to consider the best means of liq-riaagng the debt , and transacting other important business . Yoars , respectfully , Sahtjsl Booshah , Secretary . HotUngh&m , October 31 st , 1843 .
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^^ ICO THE CHARTISTS OF BEBJHSGHAH ASD TSB SURROUNDING DISTRICT . Brothers , —The Committee for the support of Mr . Cfeoiss White once more appeal io your sympathies , ana to your justice . Five months of the time declared by Imgnltons law-adminis&ators to be necessary to expaate , "within atone -walls , the heinous crime of defending the poor and demanding for them their rights , have passed , leaving THRBB yet to be endured , and those three , alas ! amongst the most aeTere of the year . 31 r . White , spurning ttwattrapta -which have generally been made to degrade the leaders and teachers of tile people , demanded to be treated as a first-class
misdflmaanant Hia demand was acceded to , and lie iras Imprisoned Jin the Queens Prison . By this act he did Ms duty to his fdlo'w- 'woiMcg men . "When the gates of the prison closed upon him , justice and honesty claimed that the-working-men ahould ^ do iheir duty to him . Hare Hsey done so ? Yes , in part—they hare done it inLondo » where he -went amongst them a stranger . But in Birmingham and the district where be was -well known , lad modi admired for his boldness and unquestioned political integrity—the tewn and neighbourhood which should have set a- generous example to others at a distance , has done little or nothing . How true it is of Chartism , as of other systems , that its serrasts are sever honoured in their own country .
The Chartists of London stepped between George White and destitution . Had he depended on those who vught to have supported 'him and shielded him from the iron gripe of a sanguinary law code , pennryfand neglect would have been the ungenerous return from , those with acbomhe lived , tea twelve years' service in their-cause , ¦ cd formore than once endangering his life and health . "Eox the fiTe months already ^ passed , Birmingham and the district have not contributed fire shillings per week . Sub ia not honest—this la not just . Tyrants will never fear yon until you respect yourselves j and you are ¦ w ; sting in proper respect for yourselves when you aliow your enemies to treat -with cruelty and contempt those-whom you put forward to defend your liberties and demand fer yoa Jiose righto which justioe declares
Bro&er *—Show that it is only necessary for yon to fcuow-your duty to perform it COSTRIBUTS quickly , Jreely , aod cheerfaDy for tha assistance and support of an honest man of your own class , for the remainder of the trr " -which tyranny will retain him in its grasp . By Order , W . CHiuos . -Secretary . 38 , BromBgSffTwfaeet , or Place of Meeting , 37 , Peck-lass , Birmingham . P . S—The committee -would mention that social teaparties , concerts , etc ., have been found of great assist * ftBos by the London friends .
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WHO ABE THE IRISH ? " Ireland for the Irish , 11 It has been said . Quite just and proper : bat let it be understood who are the Irish . Though Mr . O'Connell has consented to relinqnish the use of the word " Saxon / 1 be has not denied th > t he regards that epithet as the logical antithesis to " Irishman . " Let us see if the Celtic race is exclusively entitle * to be called " the Iriah- - Ireland was not possessed by an exclusively Celtic populaiion at the time of StrongboWs invasion , and - the Iriaa" who opposed Strongbow -were not exclu-¦ JreJy Celts . The predomioaBt population , if not the founders of T-Warl ffr ami < jf th © maritime cities of Ireland , -WBte the Ostmaiu—a Teutonic race , the kinsmen of the Saxona and Normans . The most prompt and
eaergetieof Stroogbow ' * "Irish" opponents at his Erst landing were the Osbnass of Waterfard . The Ostmans of DribBa offered a store nncampromising resistance to the English invaders th » n the Celtic "Irish" of that eity and its vicinity . An entry in the Botulus Pladtonun of the 4 th of Edward XL enables us to estimate the relative proportions of Ostmans and Celts in the native population of the deanery of limerick : —Becognitio EaeU ( ax . 1201 } pex sacramentam 12 Aaglonun , et 12 OatmannoTum , et 13 Hibemensinm de terns , eeelesiis , et fJtisris pertinentiis , ad Limericensem ecdealmn ¦ peetantSxta . ' The conquering race , though fewer i »
number , might insist upon an equality of voices on the inquesti bat n » reason could have led to the equality "of representatives of the two subjugated races , except ftr « fc they in reality constituted nearly equal parts of the population . The'Tea tonic ingredient in the original "Irish" people was increased Ijj thf > Rn g Ki ft faTn ^ W , -who became " ipsis Hibernicis H&eniloreB . " The Celtis-speaJring population of Ireland are no more -a pure Celtic race than the Englishspeaking population can ba considered { seeing the / request intermarriages between "Rngl ?«>> and Irish that have taken place in the lapse of centuries ) can be considered a pare Ssxon race . In the matter of stock , of blood , all inhabitants ef Ireland are one race .
But it will be said that lie Celtic-speaking people of Ireland lave retained the traditional national character , While the English-speaking raoe have with its language adopted the conventional morals anJ faith of Bsgland . So be it Doubtless the people from whom a nation inherits its literature and religion are sore truly its yu « e » foT « than its physical progenitors . But who are the leaders of the " Irish" of the present day ? : ln this view cf the question , they are " Saxons '' to a man . Their faith iaiot that of the old Irish { fcureh , but of theBomUh Church ; which , if not originally introduced , -was first firmly established by the Anglo Norman rulers . Thair language , "when they diseoss religious , philosophical , or political topics , is and
• Rn gtt ^ h- O'Connell may now then . treat ins auditors to a scrapeof " Irish Gaelic , " at country gentlemen have been known to quote Latin in the House of Comsiansj but eonld O'Connell frame a Beform Bill , or a Constitution , or argue their pros and emu in Irish ? Could the acute and energetic writers in The Nation ffod words and phrases in the " Irish Gielic " to express their ideas ? A Parliament assembled in CoIlBge Green must talk " Saxon , " legislate in a " Saxon" spirit , reason aeeordlBg to " Saxon" habits of thought " Irelandfor the Irish , " if "Saxon" is to beheld the antithesis of " Irish , " pronounces sentence of proscription aad banishment against all educated Bepealen . —Spectator .
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TTTE GREENWICH PENSIONERS AND THE NELSON MONUMENT .. The moat disgraceful , degrading spectacle , that faai era teen inflicted npon Englishmen , -was -witnessed lust-week , when the statue of the immortal Nelson wai exhibited to the gaze of the public . It is impossible to express in language &e indignation -which this unparalleled spectacle excited in the breasts of the citizens ol London ; and when the United Kingdom is informed o ] it , there -will be , no doubt , raised from one extremity tc the other one general shout of execration , Oar readers are aware that during the last two days the statue oi lord Helson was open to publip inspection jn Trafalgar square . Prom aE partio ! the Metropolis , ai > 4 the-sarxoanding districts , crowds wended their way to the spot , to gBze npon the monumental effigy of the greate * t saval hero that ever England has produced . What was »> p ? T aiamay , when , as they approached the entrance to Trafalgar-square , they beheld three feegging-bcxes , guarded by a body of Greenwich pensioners , who seemed to
exclaim" Why , £ ood people sH , at what do you pr ? ? Is t the stamp of my arm or my leg ? - Or the place where I lost my good-looking eye » Or is it to see me beg ?" Over these begging-boxes , and above the veteran tars -who guarded them , -were larga placards , bearing , the subjoined inscription : —
" England expects every man to do his duty . " "The veterans of Copenhagen , SL Vincent , the Nile , and Trafalgar , humbly beg to invite the British public to view Bailey ' s statue of their immortal hero in Trafalgar-square , on Friday and Saturday next , a » d trust tfaey-wiii drop a copper in the locker for the entetainment which is to be given to Poor Jack , on the jjerioas anniversary of the battle of Copenhagen . No charge made , bat the smallest donation thankfully leoeifBd . - . Is it possible to OMelve a more nu » iHattng instance f national ingratitude ? Can Englishmen , -whoze character for even a reckless generosity and pro / useo& « h »» tor ioM ,-wbewiver a « name of Briton has beea hwrdj fce&oM * o » veteran warriors to whom BaglaiKi h iad ^ ted for the lofty and independent political
attitadc she holds among surrounding natioia—s > ome Aral * , aad all jealoas of lier naval power—thuj ndscad to the eosdition of the most abject mendicity Tet such is the melancholy fact . There stood at ib < base «< f the zaonument raised to Nelson's aiemory , tho » ¦ veteran tars who foujiit under him at the battles 0 Copenha gen , Si . Yincent , the NDe , and Trafalgar MveriBg with cold , and begging for & dtj " s meal < The historian ' s record of Lord Nelson's funeral , it which he makes seven royal dukes pall-bearers to th giQant - warrior , East sorely be a fable or an ol < ¦ woman ' s tale ; foril . bis nwrtadreaaLcB seritedsucl bonousSj his brave compasions Is arms -would no deserve sneh a haauliating . Ate . Who jfUr this C 3 : « U as a religions , a charitable , a humane , a genetou areTsn-ainstpeopla ! Althongh wehavt 21 DukeE Maivoaah 134 , EarU , 2 > TisoonniB , asd 22
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' ' Barons , with incomes varying from £ 50 , 000 to ( £ 100 , 000 and £ 300 , 000 a-year , yet the paltry sum of i £ 260 cannot be raised to give a dinner to the men I whose daring courage and valour have secured to them the safe and quiet possession of their titles , honours , and properties , unless through the medium of the begging-box . The Queen Dowager can contribute to the erection of a church in Malta ; the Queen can lavish £ 1 , 000 npon French' soldiers ; Sir Robert Feel can enrich an overbloated Church with a donation of £ 5 , 000 1 a-Tory Noble Dake , whose mansien overlooks i the very site of tile column , can subscribe from £ 2 , 000 I to £ 5 , 060 for Church extension ; yet all these wyal and i distinguished personages can witness , without shame , the -weather-beaten heroes of the ocean , supplicating for penny subscriptions !— Weekly Dispatch .
[ Detesting as we do all wars of aggression ; believing with the poet , that" War is a game -which were their subjects wise , Kingi would not play at ;" and holding in unmitigated abhorrence the memory of that infamous conflict of a quarter of a century waged to put down democracy in France ; we certainly have se 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 nngratefnl conduct to the men whom it has dnbbed 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 &ni 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 your blood for kings like water , What have they gives your children in return ?" Behold the answer—bayonets and basttles for the " children , " and begging boxes for the " men"themselves 1 We thank our contemporary for calling public attention to this matter . —Ed . N . SJ
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HOBSON'S AIJKANACK . In the Press * and speedily vnll 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 , B 7 JOSHUA HOBSON . f@ » The day of Publication , -with a list of contents , vnll be duly set forth next week .
The Itorthern Star. Saturday, November 4, 1843.
THE ITORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 4 , 1843 .
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MACHINERY . WHAT HAVE 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 Bupport and prove this position . We hare had the pen of Miss Habbiet MABrnfKAt ; plied to that end ; and Lord Beocghah himself has condescended to enlighten the dark understandings of the people on the " Results of Machinery . "
When the operatives have complained , that the introduction * nd nse of particular machines has displaced them in . the labour market , they have been told that they knew nothing on the subject : that the nature of machinery was not to displace human labour , bat to call more of it into requisition ; that if the employment of the steam-loom , with only one girl to attend two of them , seemed to displace the two xss who would have been required to work the two hand-looms , yet it was only a displacement in appearance , ai « d sot in ukaxitt ; for while machinery seemed to close up , 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 nnmber of mechanics that the making of machinery had Bet 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-bnDders , &c . &o .: it was contended that when the argument was made to embrace all these , as by right it onght 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 standing illus-TBATioa , which they were Bnre constantly to pitch , whenever a doubt was expressed as to the conclusion they thus so speciously arrived ~ at . Intimate , no matter how modestly , that yoa feared the actualities of the case did not bear tbiB conclusion out , and yon 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 ! 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 1 Look at the amount of printing now performed , and compare it with the amount formerly performed . See the quantity of labour that that increased amount employs . There are more rags required for paper ; consequently more rag gatherers ; there is more paper used , consequently more paper makers ; there are printing machines required , consequentiy more machine-makers employed ; there is more printing-ink consumed , consequently mow inkmakers set to "work : and then there are the
j porters , and carters , and booksellers : increased em-) ployment being found for all . How then can you say that the tendency of machinery ia to displace ! human labour ! Then look again at the results in ! another point of view . The operation of the print-: machine has been to lessen the cost of production of books and papers : consequently they can be sold = ' cheap ; thus an enlarged demand ia cussed ; and to supply that demand , more Iaboar must be employed . j Therefore , yon see that the operation of printing J machinery is beneficial to all : beneficial to the j printer ; for it creates a demand for hia labonr , and ! enables him to enforce higher wages ; beneficial I to society at large , by giving it kkowledqb at a low
icost ^ 1 Snob , ia tfie pet illustration . Every " profound ' ' political economist" has it at the tongne ' B end . It } comes off , most trippingly , should yon but venture 1 hint that possibly the " Results of Machinery " . have not been quite so beneficial t © aia , as some bo stoutly contend . That ainstration is very specions : more specious th 5 n real . In the first place , machinery is only yet
partially employed in » be prodackion of books and papers . The operation of the printing machine has been to supersede the Prksshem . They were a distinet branch of the printing trade : they now have no existence . There are the Compositors . The Printing Machine has aot interfered with their department at 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 , whe » aH the labour that the Compositor has to
employ , has been employed . This printing case , I therefore , is not a true H illustration . * ' Take the ' manufacture of Calico . There machinery does all \ the work , with a very slight attendance of women I and children , from the " blowiug" and " carding , " j np to the paste-daubing and " finishing . " The ; . " tnmming stock" of the carder has been super-. seded by the carding engine . The " single-. spinning wheel , " and the M jeany" have been superj SBdtd by the mule ; and the ** mule" in its turn by ! the doable-asd-treble-decker , 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 production 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 comparatiyely small number of our population . It has , too , been an amstocbatic tbadb . In the first place , a tolfirably good education is needed , to
enable a man to become a compositor —* member of the great branoh of the printing trade . Printing is not therefore open to all : for the major portion of the sons of the labouring many are utterly without that education that iBindiepensable 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 H trade" to maintain their position much better than the operatives engaged in any great department of oar 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 down the namber 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 namber 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
compositors stopped worft , all was stopped ; and their place has not been very easily to be supplied . A stoppage to a large printing concern , particularly one engaged in Periodicals , was dxstbuction to it ; and , therefore , the Printers' Union" have had great power It will be at onoe 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 economist , " when reasoning on the general operation of a general question , presses all these peculiar and adventitious circumstances into his servioe ; ' and from them draws an " illustration" to "illustrate "
the general whole ! To do bo however is honest * according to " profound" notions of honest ; ! Notwithstanding the glib-talk of the " profound ones , and the pet ** illustration , " Machinery is reaching even the printing-tradet favourably circumstanced as we have shewn it to be ! Ia London the u surplus of labour" is so great , that the Union " is 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 I Nor are the boys " apprenticed . " The good old system of indenturing is sow being discontinued ; and u 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 a 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 " hand *; " and there ia always a large " reserve" in the labour market . This is having its effect on the country trade . The London labour market , although the chkat one , is closed against the country " hands . '' There is little chance for a country " hand" to get employment in
London , or bat 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 wen , if they can but accomplish it . This augments the evil : and this again tells npon the men employed in the country . The " Union" funds are hardly laid on : parties oat of work having to "> tramp" from town to town is search of it , and live out of the " relief " afforded them by the *• Union" and the charitablydisposed of the trade .
Besides , a Machine has been invented to dispense with the compositor ! That machine will , even wow , do hiB work . This had 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 impoBsibillity" is now possible ! A machine—nay there are two—has been invented , by meanB of which females and boys— ( cheap labour !)—can perform th © operation of " setting" typeB faster than the most experienced and " fast" compositor ! 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 bb done . As surely as ever the printing machine has superseded the hand-press in the printing of the greater portion of the work , so 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 PMNCiFLE 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 at work ; composing works at a cheaper rate than by M hand . " And if the first application of the principle is so successful , what may we not expeot from future and more perfect applications ?
Will the introduction of those . machines , with the eupposeable " improvements , " have no effect on the printing trade ! Will the " profound" men then resort to the printing trade for an "illustration" of the beneficial operations of machinerj" 1 Will they then contend , and appeal to the printers for proof , that machinery calls into play more labous than it displaces ? Will they then say that there are more printers than there were before the introduction of printing machinery ! ' Having shewn what has been the effect of machinery , apon even the favourably-situated and small
exclusive trade of printers , let us next look at the' condition of the Tife-Founders . There is a body of men , that must have benefitted from machinery , if any-body of operatives in the kingdom could by possibility be benefitted by it . They are few in number ; their basinet's is 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 benefited by machinery , it must ba a body of men so circumstanced . There has been no machinebt iisvented to
interfere WliH THEIR LABOUR , IN A DIRECT MANnhr : but then we are told that printing machinery has brought more printing labour into request than it displaced : and if it brought any into request , it must have operated on the type-founders . Printing cannot go on without them . Tbey are , as yet , indispensable . What then has been their share of the benefit" Let us have the " illustration . " We know tha * we are told , that" increased demand for produce , employs more labour , and tends to make the supply of labourers scarce : when labourers are scarce , increased wages can be obtained . " Let as see how this fits .
The Type Founders are now out ! and for what cause ! Because the masters have determined to reduce wages . ' There is an "increased demand " for types : and the " benefit" to the operative Type Founder is reduced wages I The masters are trying to enforce a reduction , varying from 25 to 75
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percent ! Plenty of" benefit" that ! Rare "Result of Machinery . ' This case of the Type Founders is a very instructive one . They are peculiarly situated . The business is one very destructive to health . On this point we quote from an address of the turn-oats , calling upon the public to support them against the efforts of their employers to give them a " benefit . " Ia that address they Bay : —
H trade of a type-founder is unhealthy in the extreme , and very destructive to life . The heat is so intense in the apartments alloted for casting , occasioned by each a multiplicity of furnaces being crowded together , that but few individuals can withstand its baneful influence for any length of time , without experiencing very serious injury arising . therefrom . Moreover , the atmosphere which the type-founder has to breathe is to oppressive , that it would be inconvenient to a person who had been brought up in a tropical country—an atmosphere , heated to such a degree , that tbe thermometer will range from seventy to ninety degrees in
winter time . Not only has the type-founder to endure such an oppressive atmosphere , but he has to stand in one position for twelve or fourteen hours per day , with his head 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 a portion of copper , tbe fumes of which are rank poison . Nor is this all , for the partides of metallio dust which fly off in the process of dressing and other departments of our trade , are constantly being inhaled by those who are employed in the manufacture of type . The above causes bring on many painful diseases , premature old age , and untimely death . "
Yet notwithstanding the dreadful nature of this description of employment : — " The London and Sheffield master type-founders have formed a coalition league to take from us 3 d . out of every shilling in several kinds of work ; in others fid . out of the shilling ; and in some oases the moderate sum of yd out of the shilling . " This would be : — " A reduction of from twenty-three to seventy-five per cent , i . e ., a redaction of the wages of ( he men who aver ' aged under 18 s a week to Twelve Shillings" I { I
Here is a " result" ! Rare benefit ? is it not , from " printing machinery" ! Extended employment is likely to land them in a very enviable position ! A " heat of from seventy to ninety degrees in winter 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" ; the recipients of " painful diseases , " that hurry on premature old age and untimely death" ! and all for an average of TWELVE SHILLINGS A WEEK ! O ! What " benefit" I
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 " trades" permit them to be so " benefitted" ? Will not the printers interfere f If they do not , theie TURN COMES NEXT ! !
On examination then , the fact is established , that the operation of Machinery has been most destruc - tive and most oppressive , even in favoured and exclusive trades . And if we find such to be the case there , what may we expect to find in the open and exposed trades ? Juatthat whioh 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 .
Sneh 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 mea who have done WELL 1 There are those to whom the Results of Machinery" have been very" benemCial" ! Richard Cobdkn , we are told , was a farmer ' s son , only midlingly situated : Richard Cobdkn ia 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 , was the son of a linen-draper , and began the world with borrowed money : John Marshall is new said to be possessed of millions . Now these are
" Results of Machinery" that toe are not fond of ! We have no notion of twelve shillings a-week to tha workmen , and hundreds of thousands , and even millions , to the employer I We ate for a more eguitable distribution of the " results" ! We are not for taking all from the many ; norfor giving all to the few We are not for starving the workers to death , that Mr . Cobden and Mr . Bright may lay up treasure on earth" ! We are for giving all their fair share of the " benefits" " resulting" from the use of machinery , and then as much machinery as you like " The more the merrier . " How that fair share is to be apportioned and secured , we will tell another time .
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 . The general question has , however , drawn us out' to such length , that we must defer the stewing we had intended for the Calfs Head . But let him not repine . He shall be served-up some day , with brain sauce . He shall be duly boiled .
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SCOTCH MAGISTERIAL TYRANNY . VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT OF FREE DISCUSSION . I - Our readers may remember that in the Star cf the 23 rd of ; September last , appeared a notice under the head of " Religious Iutolleranco , " of certain pranks played by a set of mouthing M Liberals , " styled'" Non-IntrusioniBts , " who , meeting to protest against " prosecutions for blasphemy *'
when tha " blasphemer was onelof 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" ( I ) , who only insisted npon the right of free discussion" which their persecutors were met ostensibly to promote , before the bar of " ja-tice" < !) . Tb ^ case" was not then decided on ; but we promised to make known the decision whenever given . Now ( for the result .
The following has been forwarded to us , as copied from the Scotsmanh'' The adjourned trial of Mr . Jeffery , the Socialist Lecturer , who stood charged with having disturbed a public 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 public 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 ; whioh , he contended was the origin of the whole disturbance . But , the Sheriff declared it as his opinion that even granting this to be true , the Chairman of a \ meeting has an arbitrary power of deciding who shall or shall not be heard , and that whatever arrangement may be come to , is of legal force for the lime , no tribunal having the power of reviewing such arrangements . He , therefore , ordered Mr . Jeffery to find bail in £ 20 to keep the peace for twelve months . " i
We have been { given to understand that "the man Paterson , " who should also have appeared , sent a letter to the Sheriff , excusing his non-attendance ; his reason for not being forthcoming being that he had his defence to prepare against a charge of "blasphemy , " ! on which he will be tried in the course of the present month . How Mr . Jeffery ' s attendance resulted , we have seen by the Scotsman . That gentleman writes to " us that after being confined in a cell for two hours , with several felons , he was liberated by Mr . Robert Pbddik , the late inmate of Beverley Gaol , becoming his security in the sum required .
A word upon this shameless and senseless decision of the Edinburgh j Sheriff . Shameless , because , the parties who should have been bound Over to keep the peace , were those who " dragged Mr . Jeffery f rom the platform ; " those who " seined Mn Paterson by the neek and dragged him through the meeting ; those who " tore the hair from his head , beat him with sticks , and laid his head open . " These bloodhounds , calling themselves Christians ( I ) , were the parties who should have been bound over to keep the peace , " and not Mr . Jeffbry , who peaceably heard every other man , and only insisted upon his right to free speech in a public , and what ought to have been , a deliberative assembly .
But tbe decision j was as senseless as it was shameless . For tbe first' time we have it announced that the Chairman of a public meeting , elected to bis office by that meeting , can do as he pleases : j . « ., he can refuse to hear any speaker if he pleases—he can dissolve the meeting at tbe very outset , and burke the whole proceedings which he was elected to aid in carrying out ! Such is the legitimate conclusion to which this monstrous decision 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 decision is of " legal force for the time being . " May we
be saved from Edinburgh law , say we ! But let us whisper to the Sheriff that the power that made , oan unmake the chairman , —Edinburgh law notwithstanding . To our readers we say , take care that when you attend a public meeting , whether of Scotch Non-Intrasioniets or English freebooters ; be tare to see that a man is appointed to the chair who will hear every man , and do justice to each and to all . ) Had our Stockport 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 asj Edinburgh magistrates have of justice .
Our readers will se e by Mr . O'Connor ' s letter that the Nons . of Dumfries hare been playing the people a dirty trick , with the view of barking the expression of public opinion in support of the glorious principles of i Chartism . True they did not attain their ends ; but no thanks to them for that . Let their condaot not be forgotten . Mr . Maitland Mackgill Chrichton , the Don Quixote of the " Free Church " (?) i movement , has for some time past
been engaged with others ia levying "black mail " upon the English lieges . Wherever these parties cold 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 " Free '' Churchmen to Messrs . Jefpert 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 bis own priest , if he thought well to pay for one ; and " free" to be excused from paying for the keeping of another man's . But , above all things , we are for Free Discussion , " without whioh 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 this earth a hell , and rendered wretched { and brutish the great family of mankind . ; " Delenda est Carthago !"
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which is eighteen feet high ; leaving the ant ladder she proceeds along the main road , probably three feet six inches to four feet six inches high , to the second ladder , eighteen feet high ; so on to the third and fourth ladders till she reaches the pit-bottom , where she casts her load , varying from 1 cwt to 1 $ cwt into the tab . This 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 unfreqqently happens that the tugga break , and the load falls npon these females who are following . " — -Report , page 91—02 .
Here , then , is no fancied picture of slavery : and yet it is said , the females are returned to work in this colliery ; bat the cause should come out ; and it is this : —the coal-masters are greater than the House of Commons and Lords put together . The East Gountrj masters , finding that the Date of Hamilton , the Canon Iron Company , and the Shotta Iron Company , wheie there are sixty females employed , and tbe Garteherrie Iron Company , and the Gartclose coal-owner */ and Rose Hall Iron Company , per Messrs ; Miller and Aidre ,
and M . M * Andrew , of Caifln colliery : the masters in the East , seeing that all those in the North and in the West , were setting the law at defiance , will bow do the same . Nothing can stop this bat the plan suggested in last week ' s Star . Let the Miners of Scotland only sacrifice the price of one gill of whisky , and prosecute the employers . The Scotch press is to blame In this . Accidents fcave taken place of which the following is one , which was refused insertion in the Glasgow 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 * . a man » f the name of Vicker , and bis 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 . " '
TRIUMPH OF THE CHARTISTS IN LEEDS . Thb Municipal Elections are just over : and in them the Chartists have been most triumphant ! In the Holbeck Ward they started Mr . Joshua Hobson ; and in the West Ward , Mr . Johw Jackson , the corn miller . In both wards have they been eminently successful ; but particularly so ia the Holbeck Wark . Here tea 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 here it was that the Chartists have been triumphant ! 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 . The victory is greater than they had , in their fondest hopes , anticipated . The feeling in favour of Mr . Hobsobc wa s most enthusiastic . A great portion of his votes were plumpers . Five hundred and seventy-one rotes were recorded for him . The working people made the contest their own . They brought Mr . Hobson out : they hare carried him most gloriously . Without funds ; 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 Bhowed the Electors that they feared the man ; and the Electors acted just contrary to the desires and expectations of Faction .
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THB TYPE FOUNDERS OF SHEFFIELD TO THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTEBB . Gentlemen , —We wish to call your earnest attention to our present position . We have been for the last tea weeks oat of employment in consequence of dor employers attempting a redaction on oar prices of labour of from 25 to 7 i per cent In your never-to-be-forgotten strike of 1836-7 , we , as a body , assisted yoa by ail ta « means in dor power , both by counsel and pecuniary aid ; and we earnestly entreat yoa will take oar case into your serious consideration , and try by all the means in your power to alleviate our present distress . We remain , yours respectfully , The Cokmttte of Operative Typs Fouhdebs . Committee Room , Three Cranes , Queen-street , Sheffield , Oct . 30 tb , 1843 .
Ashton Shoemakers' Strike . —The " two or three reports" oar friends have sent as have sot come to band , or they would Uave been noticed .. We give tbe following from their present communication : — " An advertisement having appeared in the Northern Star of last week , stating that Mr . Lord , of this town , was in want of a namber of good workmen ; unconnected with the Shoemakers' Society , and stating that the dispute between him and the dob-men was in no way connected with wages ; we deem it oar doty , in order to prevent tbe unwary from being misled , ( as others have been to their sorrow , ) to lay before them the cause of tbe strike , and leave them to jadge whether it is or is not connected with wages ; and whether wa are not justified in resisting to the utmost of our power such base attempts apon the rights of laboar .
" Mr . Loid ' s father 1 b owner of some cottage property , which is in such a dilapidated condition , that they are not fit for human beings to live ia ; bat which Mr . Lord tells his men they mast inhabit or leave hia employment , and for which they bave to pay an extortionate rent . This , along with other aota of petty tyranny , was the cause of the strike ; and this ia the reason he prefers married men to coop op in his hovels . Several families have been induced by Mr . Lord ' s statements to break up their homes In other towns , and come herein the hopes of bettering their condition ; bat alas t have been miserably deceived and . compelled to leave again after suffering a great loss . With respect to the statement of wages , Mr . Lord says he will pay , all we have to say is , that Mr . Lord never did pay sack wages , and we cannot but think tbat it is nothing bat a decoy to entrap the unwary into his power , when We know tbat for the last two years he has strove to the utmost of his power to reduce the wages of his workmen .
" Signed on behalf of tbe trade , . " William Woodroffb , Scotland-Brook . * Publications received for Review . —" Tail ' s Magazine ; "Hawitl a History of Priestcraft ; " "The New Age ; " aad the ' Promethian , " &c . fee . & » , Whitehaven , Miners . —Their address was too ' late . Tessels for New Orleans—The Chaos starts on the 8 th of November ; and the Uarkavay on the 13 th : the Espindola starting to-day . This alteration of the advertisement in another page came too late to be attended to in its proper place . Veritas beads a letter "To the Citizens of London , " with tbe following quotation : — " It U 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 eventa . Breakers area-head I The mountain is in laboar , aye ! and will bring forth more than a moose , lifts gives as the Governor of the Bank of England , member for the City of London , pledged to the Repeal of the Corn Laws , laws passed to prop up tbe funding system . What an anomaly ! Ah ! ' most thinking people' (!) of the most enlightened city in the world * (!> when will you cease to act with your eyes closed against facts . Pattlson and the Anti-Corn Law League are galling you ; you will be made to suffer ; you will b » squeezed a little longer , to keep the Bank afloat . Be not so deceived , come out for the rights ef allthe Charter . Then too will- have a more extended and fruitful field to choose your representatives from . '
Mr . Leach of Hyde , is continually receiving letters from Ireland , praying for mote Star-light , He appeal * to his brother Chartists to send their papers to the " greeu isle , " and offers to undertake the task of sending them , if parties will forward their Stars to him when done with . Address , J . M . Leach , 62 , Charies-street , Hyde , Cheshire-. Stabs TO IRE 1 AND . —What are the Sheffield friend * aboat ? We know that the circulation of tbe Star if rapidly increasing in their town , why pot give their Irish brethren the benefit of it ? Let them use tbe list sent them by the Irish Universal Suffrage Association . The little trouble of so doing will be aapl * repaid by th& great and lasting good that will t * effected .
The Coventry CHabiists appeal to . their towuoeB to come forward and join the new organisation : especially tbe avowed Cbartists , who will prove tfieif sincerity by responding to the appeal . WehopekheJ will do so . " England expects every man to do bl * doty . " Mr . Charles D . Stdari writes to as , that he » n » templates visiting Darlington , oh Suaday first ( for tb * delivery of lectures on Cbartism ) . and , in tbe conn * of the ensuing week , Yarm , Stockton , MiddleboWV Sunderland . fcc
Quack Almanacks . —Medicos writes as follow : — "I think you should caution your reader against tm Penny Almaftacks , 1 wbi : eiB jrijts , aitf riostrnms are recommended by the authors of soifn publications-to W taken at pseticular ttsi . e > . ; df the ^ wv Sinbh Almansw are a gTOBBMDi ^^^^ - ^ % iiw ^ i-fi ^§^! ij up by the QaacKi ^^ o , toj ae'll one ; bbx ; offjkb 8 i ' yP ^ do not mindgiviBg '' tn «^ ATm&xc ^ ' -: Ki -H (> tbing ' . ; * Wthat there are sevvral-such' ^ iteianiota " advi&f tteed «« 1843 . "
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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 bave 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 so 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 , bo that the gallant Pxescot boys may be enabled onoe more to look on those tbey 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 oar gallant comrades , Lount , Matthews , ' && , were justly condemned . I know that they were cruelly murdered , pat to . death in cold blood , by a power which takes for Its motto , ' my might makes my ri ^ hf But this Journal is not established to disedss Canadian grievances , and frontier strifes . My highest duty is to join with those who
sincerely seek the welfare of America , aad the perpetual humony and union of the members of this great confederacy . Let as cultivate peace and quietness ; aad if we would revolutionise Canada , the true way to do it is to set them an example of a juat , generous , and prosperous people , thriving under the institutions of their free choice—industrious , enlightened—a band of brothers , each one scorning a mean action . As their legislative session progresses , I will very briefly notice aught that may be interesting . Messrs . Rolpb , Montgomery , and Duncombe , have returned to Canadaand a door is opened far Messrs . O'Callaghan , Papineau , and Brown , should they also prefer British rale , which they probably will not . "
Query . Mr . Mackenzie is a violent anti-VANBuhenite , and at the same time appears to be an admirer of O'Connell . Not the least of hjs reasons for being opposed to Mr . V . B . is , we apprehend , because th © Ex-President did not " sympathise" with the Canadian patriots . Very good . But has Mackenzie forgotten that of a'l the traitors to the principles for whioh the Canadiansoontended , Q'CoNNELL is the most infamous ? Did he not aid in epiritinn-oa the Canadians to resist British tyranny ; and then in the day of conflict , and the hour of danger basely desert them , under the plea that they had resorted to " physical foree" 1
Let Mr . Mackenzie be consistent . He may feel convinced that Mr . Van Burbn is not the man the democracy ef England suppose him to ba . But let him " enquire" into the " history ' of O'Gonnell , and he will find that whilst the " Liberator" sold THE EkQLISH SaCTORT CHILDREN FOR A THOUSAND Pounds , he also betrayed the cause of the Canadians fob thb filthy patron * qk of the "Base ; Bloody , and Brutal Whigs ;"—the remorseless despots who ravaged Canada with fire aud sword . We oan assure Mr . Mackenzie that these things are not forgotten in England . We have long since on this side of St . George ' s channel , lifted the veil of Mokanna !
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MORE OF THE COAL KINGS . The females are etill in the pits ! No law proceedings are , ' as yet , instituted ! Nay , so daring are the Coal Kings becoming , in consequence of Sir James Graham ' s lenity , that nearly the whole of them are Betting the Aot at defiance . And why not ! If the Duke of Hamilton is to be permitted to work sixty females in % is coal pits , why not others do
the samel If be ] is to be a law breaker , why not the smaller fry have their share of the plunder accruing from cheap labour ? It the Duke ; the Lord Lieutenant ;] is to be protected in his lawbreakings , who will dare to enforce the law on bis " brither" coal ojwners , shonld they follow his example f They are determined to try it on as the following most abundantly proves : —
With regard to ] the Act aneat the females , it may be said to be a dead letter in Scotland . I am informed that last week tbe females have returned to their employment at Loan Head ( belonging to Sir George Clerk ) where they carry coals on their backs . It was in this work where the isteresting child , Margaret Leveaton , six years of age , worked . To the Commissioner she said she had " Been down at coal-carrying six weeks ; makes ten to fourteen rak ' ea a-day ; carries fall rtlba . of « oal in a wooden bucket . The work is na gaid j it is so very aair . I work with slater Jesse and mother ; dinna ken the time we gang ; it ia gai dark . "—[ A most interesting ehlld , and perfectly beautiful . I
ascertained her age to be six years on the 24 th of May , 1840—she was registered at Inverness ] R . H . Franks , Esq ., evidence No . J 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 which a shaft is sank to draw up the baskets , or tnba of coals filled by the bearers ; ahe then takes her creel and pursues her journey to the wall face , she then lays down her basket , into which the eoal is rolled , aad 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 ) from wall-face to the first ladder ,
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THE NORTHERN STAR
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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-ncseproduct971/page/4/
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