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igortrs.
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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1841.
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teebieteig.
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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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TEETOTAL CHABTIST SO >* GTr < B—ilim&BS" " We ' re soldiers fighting for onr 1 king . " ^ efe sober CbartJ 5 ts , hand in hand , X tetermined to t * & *• ; Our Toice is heard through all the land , XEat voice i » liberty . let Tories rage and Whigs assail , Vo danffBM will we dread ; B « rt onw ard with the temperance gale Toe glorious tidings tpmd .
CHO&VS . The Charter let all people sing ; The Charter Trill onr freedom bring ; Tis now oar own—we see it near ; ¦ prtaLe Temperance . gu&Kll the fiont and rear Tbe DatQe ' B won—our day ! begun ; The pot * nd filthy pipe are gone ; ^ eetotalism shall be one YTitii the great Charter Union . Vow manfully we conquer self , i rJj tppeuva and all ; Thepoiwn cap , andill-got pelf , Tie trormwood aad the galL joi iBisery re » eats apace , As drinking customs die ; TO ! » ll are found in freedom * race , jo freedom ' s rescue fly . Chorus , < fcc
Pct BBi Tiben are increasing fast , ^ ^ lions gain . ^ iaLi nntfiity kaittoe-t Away tha tyrant ' s chain . Our heads are eool , our bodies strong , And mind as ^ mes ita reign—We'll aid no moi « to practice wrong , Bat love and tn * h maintain . Chorus , &c Oar darter stand * ea ^ h taito tioek So firm in reason ' s mV ; And , based upon th" etern il rock , It ' jields to all its light ¦ frith justice pois'd io every part , To bless this woestruck e&rti \ And kindlirg joy from heart to i > eart , To health and peace gires birth . Chorus , fcc
As brothers , then , wb'il brothers be , Aad kand in hand go on ; A union " mang tbe S ^ - * * ° £ **» Aod soon the work is done . TTe aeed no help fr om claas or creed , If ¦ wftrfaoen we but true ; jor , occe from all intemperance freed , And then all freedom s due . Chorus , &c William Hick . Leeds .
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A CHABTIST SOXG . God bless our natiTe land , ilsr HeaTen " s protecting hand S : iU guard onr shore ; Hay right its power extend , Industry to defend ; Soon may oppression end All Britain o ' er . jtst just and equal laws Uphold the people ' s cause , And bless the soil ; Land of the brave and free ! god grant that it may be A land of Liberty To those who toil . The Charter is onr right , Although oppo 3 'd by might , We it demand . ' Lord , make our rulers see Teat men should brothers be , And form one family Ail o ' er the land . W . E ., Kidderminster MaiA 22 d , 1541 .
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r The A 33 VENTURE 5 and SUFFERINGS of f- JAJIE 5 WOUD , & Satire of Ipswich , &c . \ - London : Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . ; Ipswich : if-. Barton . | - If those who think of emigrating -were to read §¦ this book , they would be very cautions and conp ederaie before doing so . f The writer is a working man , who was compelled , I- as many other men have been , to think of bettering i : bis condition by emigrating . He first intended
% proceeding to Canada , but afterwards altered his I intention , and sailed for a province in the Southern I ; pan of North America , owing to the very flattering f pictures drawn of the settlement by the ageats in s London , We need box detail all the occurrences I that happened to the writer from his embarking to I Iris landing in America , nor Deed we notice in detail ; : '" ths privations he tnd the party endured before ' : " reaching the settlement ; we will , however , just ; ' notice a few of the very agreeable circumstances i which surrounded them at " the settiemenv . " He
f- proceeds : — " "We then walked through the road which led to I tfcs testament . At the rerj first sight of it we dist coTgrtd hsw mach we had been imposed on . It was a I wSJ btsst , inhabited by all aorta of wild beasts , and g Karocadsd by rosky mountains , higher th * ti y ^ r clouds . H Ws sfterwardi found it was very subject to storms ; If md » d the thunder and lightning were most dreadful , bo B tha : the groand would sometimes shake beneath our fee : ; is& there were nine monks' rain during the year . The ifat ns there , and had hired a body of Indians , too isd Idied the trees , on a space extending about iaif isuis j » length and a quarter in breath , leaving I tfi& « tE = ps staodiae , and the trees Wng one aeroEB
tsotha . The trrusa-wood wm slightly burnt off ; and » few hcti had been erected , with the stannps of tree * Stocaa in the middle of them . These were intended sot us to live in . We found we had been deceived , but as tha . -m no -ny & getting to a better place , we * ere Jotted to sar ; yet we did sot now foresee the ra-rasa * e should have to endure . In a few day * the resajuda of the people came up , and tbe first tEb S Sat » e employed ourselves in , was taking the f 131 ?* t ? in the hut *; but the flies were as annoying m ^ Hsfement m they had been in the river , so that 7 « wtd not gel any rest in the night Thi * fly , which rir ^ f ** tLse rf * Snat , would bite through aU our wSE , n » ldB § great holes in our legs , and causing « eajo „ , & j ^ ¦ maeei caUed tbg cMgre WQuld ^ , fr 5 ° *** tet . and make ns ae lame that we ^ . lardiyinii . This insect is very anall , bnt it oui the
Jp- feet and produces a bladder about the t ™ ci pa < vllieh ^^ » t ™ 6 hnrsts . They EUed ^»« » fan , that we had to take needles and prick ^ ° e . or they would have destroyed our feet . The S ^ a ni slio toveredwith antg of ^ ^^^ ^ vMcll thoT » ^^ W 1 hnts ^^ «* arm eur beds ; and the ^^«» infested with scorpions , which anuoytd * caai ] j by fetting- into our clothes . There was SssL ^ ' x 1 f 0 Uld Kt * and breed a worm the tbi a ^ l- f " " * ' " ^ - hJch grows as large a » ^ aoss i »*^ Eitle fin S - asd would torment ns in a bto trT w m 4 an « r - Cock-rowhes wonld also get to asi &ad destroy our c ' . othes . In addition &ew ^ Jf ^ ** of ^ Mssant molestation and pain , '"wiid iSi * ' Kutes > ^ cb in the rainy season &ae » ^ T M fce tbatcn ^ ^ e huts , and somecvi tc ^ r * npon * ar bed 5 ^ tiie ^ ig ^ t , when we three j ^^ torches and hunt them . There were
fissjjj _ ~ , * » ° * black asake , -whose bite is instant Vjoi , foM " ^ P ? 1 * " * a ^ oa * to pnt on his Bat b ^ ° ^^ ttiess snakes coiled up inside of it & 5 dM * 5 * , rcSi : irin « caused by the insects , and ^ wa ' pe-j * * " * exposed to from the snakes and *? zz t *~? * e ^^ o tiler hardships to endure ; for tor of tol **^ 16 csn « tlt the ftTer , which was a bad cads o ^ j ^? 1 Bade them » 5 iaie terribly ; and what P ^^ inoBirf ^ mnci 2 1 ror * ¦*¦**¦ oar having no tanj sd of fr ^ ^ *; ^ Cept a SmaU ^^^^ 'J" nad TheTtw ^ . ^ P- " ' ^ 'Wi ' W ^ -l yi ? «> Dtend with these annoythey »» , „ P ' ^ 6 waa t ot provision * , and Blr . iV ... ^ « Slad at la « tn oat tho fl « i ) i nf did not
tres ! ^ T ^ l pi altogether relish at with Wtv llot ^^ for Indians rapplying them » riva »;^ J * ould iiaTe died of starvation , the XT * »¦*• He hflj * ^ th « writer througa Mb pa ^ es . ® lwb »* fwi inpy snffici 2 a * , allowing certain ^ Qif ^ L ? . 1 * 11561115 * "&ch appear to ts some-1 l ^ ll »* K * n ' J t 0 dispose the minds of those S * *<^ " ^ 0 D ) &nd ^ mP ^ d bj false hoptffl - - ^ enrf y ?™ 101868 . to think of emigrating . ttJnsi * ttd ** ^ "to eiI » se » system of s pwoiaj ,, * ! ffneIt ? practised by a company of ££ e «>* jatiJ ! i ? ' ? i er of individuals and families ^ ^ edV ^ drfen . « less condition , ' has been K ^ S ? r ^! f ? armiTe »> e » j and we ^•^ ffi ^ ^?" ^ of himself , or bis > O ? ^^ •» undertaking , to read the S ^^ bL SmeB Wood - " W «» told in S ** SJ" ? F *«^ « d » * ample and m-Uit , "Tie , about which then eaa be no nds-
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^^ Oat ^ S JCONVIKCING ARGU-**« i lS *?' , SOCIALISM ; or tbe per-« Sy ^ " of Bobm Owen completely » j ^ 3 » Qencal Gentleman . London ^ t et ^^ w , aad sold by all booksellers and iSS ^ H ^ £ T V UBe < i kKwrittentbifl ^ Siit oJ !? ? " Bwne of Socio / iw , »^ 5 flteny m fa f&w Qf h ,
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Of course we need not say that tbe Rev . Gentleman h&s most ably managed to effect his object . Erery friefld to " things as they are , " every admirer of existing institutions , every lover of our glorious constitutions in Church aad State , every one who reveres the exalted actions and virtues of the ancient Jewish leaders—the Davids , the Joshuas , and the Solomons —\ yill admit that justice has been done to all these subjects in succession . To satisfy even the most sceptical upon these points , we will make a few extracts . First , then , for the virtues of & few ancient and eminent characters , who were the advocates of sound creeds , in preference to the mere proprieties of moral conduct : —
" I -will here cite a few instances of purity and virtue on the part of creed-istt that must , inevitably , put to shame all the Social fools in the world . I commence with the Jews , who , from Moses , throngh Samuel and David down to Solomon , were of the most spotless character , In the scale of humanity , that can be imagined ! In the first place , then , " Moses was the meekest of all the men that were upon the face of the earth . " He was , besides a man of great and praiseworthy temerity , and went through many courageous aji&fatigtting acts of bravery , in order to be pure before the Lord ! Example : 1 , therefore , kill every male among the little ones ; and kill ererj woman that hath known a man by lying with him : but , all the women children that have not known man by lying with him , keep alive for yourselves . '—N umbers xrsi . 17 .
" Now , I question whether all the Social miscreants put together could produce one such act ef courage as this—evsn with their champion , Owen , at their head ! But this is only one instance of bravery on the part of x ' eligioriists . There is no paucity of such deeda on the part of tbe ancient Israelites . I could revert to some scores of equal weight ! Bnt , as my limits in this place will not permit snch a display , I shall content myself by citing only a few that happen to be of the most STEIKI 5 O character for their purity and sublimity . From the evidence of Joshua , as well as that of Moses , we know that the brave Israelites came by stealth upfln whole mtions of ths Gentile * , and put them to the Bword- ^ that they spared neither age nor infancy—that they utterly destroyed men , women , and children— ' and left not & soul to breathe » ' "
Our aathor does not confine his illustrations to the children of Israel alone : he is most careful that a few of the distinguished ** good works" of more modern day 3 should be brought forward . He
proceeds : — " Having clearly shown , from the te-w examples only which I have quoted , that the children of Israel were persons ot exemplary character , 1 shall now expatiate upon a few of the most prominent virtues that have shone forth , with redoubled splendour , in Christendom . In running the mind over the long list of brilliant acts on the part of our Christian progenitors , and afterwards looking upon the supine and braveless inactivity of the O » enites , one cannot help evincing a feeling of deference towards ihe farmer , and jost contempt for the latter . Let it be remembered , that it is not the tremulous coward , Robert Owen , or his colleagues in principle , that can boast of having cenquered Chili ,
'and other parts of Soutn America . No , Reader , the claim of that meritorious deed lies in a purer quarter . It was onr Christian ancestors who , about three centuries ago , so bravely cut to pieces the Peruvians and their neighbours , for the love of that metal which their godiy vanquishers conceived to be the ' root of all good — -who tmutfuiiy Hunted the natives through the woods with blood-btjonds , for daring to suppose that the natural riches with which tha strata of that neighbourhood abounds were all their own ! And ssrve them justly right : What business had thry to suppose , for a moment , that Gold ithe production of their native country ) was ever intended for such copper-coloured wretches as themselvts ?
" The worthlessness of Socialism is here , at cmce , exhibited for , had the ' conquering heroes * of South America been fraught with Social ideas , the conqnest of Chili and Pern would never ha-re been effected . They eonld not possibly have gone half tray through their glorious task—their ever-memorable pleasure of huntin ? human beings would have been thwarted—their bands and faces could not then have been distinguished from those of more pusillanimous texture , by tbe lustre of crimson hue given to them by wading through heathen gpre—and tbe dreadful consequence would have been , that the aborigines and their posterity might have reiftaiued in qniet possession of their native homes , to this day , with impunity . ' All this valour was exercised to tbe glory to God : for . the conquering Saints , on the 6 th of January [ 1533 . ] laid tbe fuundation of- the city of Lima , which they afterwards called the ' City of the Kings , " as a memento of our Saviour ' s receipt of presents to the Eastern kings in Bcthlem on that day of the year . "
He comes still nearer the present day . Alluding to thi ? known disposition of ihe sceptical to pretend thil they can discover faults in the •* unco' guid and rigidly righteous , " he Bays : — " These free-thinking wretches will , perhaps , upbraid me and my colleagues with the forgeries of Dr . Dodd , and the Rev . Peter F « aa , of Bloomsbnry : but , are not these Social loggerheads aware that the unfortunate gentlemen in question ( like the one previously spoken of ) were but nurslings of « Mother Church , ' and therefore in such pitiable circumstances of pennry as to claim out commisseration for their misfortune 1 Now , had they been more enviably situated in life—i . e . had they been persons revelling npon the voluptuous
enjoyment of eighteen hours' work per day , and the wholesome perspiration that usually accompanies snch healthful exercise—there might then , indeed , be some ground for censure on the part of my opponents ; and I myself would not go out of my way to palliate the crime ! "My tale would be endless were I to name all the persons who have perfumed the atmosphere of Christendom with the aweet tfJavia ot their virtuis . The most striking example of the kind that now occurs to me ii , the eminent Bishop of Clogber—a personage who , tor purity and delicacy , was never equalled ! And , if newspaper reports m&y be reHed on , anotherreverend gentleman was lately within a bow-ahot of attaining the same degree of celebrity . "
And he makes the following jast remarks upon the anparalleied effrontery of Owen and Ms disciples : — " Mr . Owen and his admirers have more than once had the daring impudence to make remarks upon the incomes of tbe bishops and other dignitaries of the Church ; as though they ignorantly supposed that the corpulence necessary for a prelate—a servant of Go < i — could he supported without turtle . ' And they have endeavoured to shew that the yearly ineemesof some of the rich are too enormous , and consequently such as to a 4 d to the miseries of the poor—especially a » the partakers of wealth * are useless men , and do nothing for what they r » ceive ! ' Now I will prove this Owen to be a liar : —What man of sense , for example , would
question the utility of such an ecclesiastic as the Archbishop of Canterbury ? And , having admitted the utility » f the man , who in the world could think of offeriBg him leas than snch a thing as £ 40 , 000 ayear and 176 livings ? Then there is the Bishop of Durham—a Ttrj useful and necessary officer , this : and I do not suppose that the poor gentleman receives above , £ 60 , 0 uo a year ( which is very littleinore than a £ 1 , 000 per week ; for all his trouble ; and little enough too , God knows . Besides these , there are upwards of a score more bishops , whom 1 have not named—to say nothing of tleacons , areht . ' eacons , rectors , and other clerical officers in great abundance ; and their dignity vtust bo supported—and that , too , in a mann « r befitting their several stations , according as they rise in office superior ts each other .
Yet , I suppose that if a parcel of Social de mocrats , or even half-Social dissenters , had their own way , they would cut down the income of the head primate to less than £ 6 , 000 per year ; and bow would a bishop be able to live at tkis rate ? Why , good God ! it would be scarcely sixteen guineas per day ! and what would this be to support a ' spirit-nal pastor ? ' Such a mean salary wonld evidently starve hiro by inches ! Can they imagine , for a moment , that because the Caurch has recommended , for tbe subsistence of the poor , ' a crust of breid and a cup of cold water , ' with plenty of 1 grace , " ( by way of dessert , J that her own existence can be sustained by the same paltiy means ? Nothing bnt the most consummate ignorance can be accepted' as a plea for such a monstrous idea . "
We shall make one more extract jast to show how easy it would be to bnrke Socialism , if one rule were invariably and constantly acted upon : — " listen to me , ye graceful antagonists of the abominable system of free discussion ; and , as a brother in principle , I will put yon up to one move , at any rate , Low to endeavour to burke Socialism , and thereby dissuade the public from embracing the same : —Whenever that ye may . hexr ot * n instance of an OweniLe becoming cognizable to the laws of his country , by any misdemeanour—though it were only once a year , or even enee in seven years—take especial care that each and every of you have your eyes directed towards him with an eagle ' s glance , so that the minutest peccadillo in Mi character escape not your oculeness . iet yonr
united exertUns be employed in an endeaveur to rake up all the most trivial faults be has committed from hia cradle ; so that thes ^ , added to tbe one with which he may stand particularly charged , form a preposterous mound that chW appear hideous in the eyes of the community at large . Hold him up to public view , and tell the world that the perpetrator of these crimes is a Socialist : bat , forbear , I beseech you , to offer the slightest remark npon the manifold delinquencies that are—hourly , daily , weekly , monthly , and perennially committed by venom who are not Socialists . For ezampie : —CowToisier , who was recently executed fon
the murder ot Laid William RuaseH , gave ns no provoeaikm for apleen * beyond tbe commission of his crime , except ( hat be was a foreigner : hi * having been a ProtesttuU precluded tbe necessity of our evincing any party feeling toward * him , in a religious point of view . But , maik . —Had he been a Socialist , it would nave been onr nnbonaden duty to expatiate more fully upon hU theological Bentiment * than npon tbe enormity of the crime ot which h » stood convicted ; tUl the fact of MB being an Oweaite became resounded , not only from John o' Qioats ' s to tlie Land ' s End , but through « Terj country and every dime , from the world ' s girdle , to ti » froxen polar
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The FLEET PAPERS , No . 12 . London : Parey , 47 , Holywell-Btreet , Strand . This number fores a portrait of our Old King " sitting in his cell . As a lithograph , it is well executed . The topics adverted to in the " Papers" of last Saturday , are the conduct of Mr . Thornhill , and the various measures of the day . In alluding to the spirit which prompted hts persecutor , Mr . Thornhill , to immure him in the Fleet , Mr . OasUer thus deBcribaaU ;—
•• I followed it , Sir , through all lte ramlflcationa , into its lurking places in the meeting-housea—the markets —the exchanges—the institutes—to political dinnerson to the hustings—Into ' the House '—up ' tbe backstairs' —to the Cabinet , and from thence , with sorrow , I traced it even to the bench of Bbhopa . ' Then its blood-steps shewed ma the palh to the factories—tbe New Poor Law Bastilea , and to the dungeons of ita deladed victims , in the different prisons of the kingdom ; until , at last , I found that it had successfully seduced and deceived you , and in the vain hope of crushing me , it had persuaded you to find me a home in this oelL It has not , however , as yet , found me a grave . ' It has only furnished me with a new starting peint , after giving me a little breathing-time . * * " It is all one and the same spirit which insmlts royalty , deludes and defames the aristocracy , degrades
the clergy , robs aad oppresses tbe working classes , and insults woman !—It ia as evil spirit of covetousnesB , which can know no rest , until it has destroyed all that is religious , virtuous and noble , and has encircled in its iron clutches , what it terms the " respectability" of England ! It has persuaded our governors that nature has made a blunder , that she ea . n no longer be trusted in the matter of population , but that certain rules and tests of it * own , must be applied to diminish " the multitude of the people . " &he has discovered that the Bible is not true , and that now " in the want of the people ia the king ' s honour ; but in the multitude of the people is the destruction of the prince ! " Sir , to this lie against nature—this treason against God , maybe traced all the evils which afflict this country—all the difficulties which annoy and perplex our governors—all t&e oppressions and wrongs of tho poor— -all the danger to the rich .
" It is becase our governors have feelfeved that He , that the rich and the poor are now " alienated heart and seal "—that the Government and the people are mutually jealous of each other—that the Church is in danger , and that the aristocracy is doomed ? That lie , sir , is the cause of the execrable New Poor Law . " It ia because ' the multitude of the people' is believed to be too great , that measures hostile to nature are attempted to be enforced ; it is because the BiWe is thus declared to be a lie—that religion is set at naught It is thai war against nature , which bewilders our mistaken governors , and forces them to acts , of which no other Government was ever guilty . They are all at sea , having thrown overboard Ihe
compasswhich is Christianity ; they do not attempt to legislate for tbe people—their only aim is to diminish them ! Hence they have persuaded you , tbe landlords , that , if you do not send your ' surplus" population to be worked up in their factories , or to be poisoned in tbe Union Workhouses , they will tat up your estates ! whilst , at the same time , they persuade thu factory population , if they are not allowed to feed on foreign corn , they will be pined to death . ' They have , in a great measure , succeeded by fhe New Pour Law , in separating the poor from any connection with the soil ; they have , by deluding the people , nearly succeeded in forcing them to prefer the prosperity of . foreign agriculture to our own !"
We do not think Mr- Oastler ' s mode of accounting for the origin of the Charter , is a correct one . It was not brought forward by any Malthusian manufacturers , to swamp the cry for the repeal of the New Poor Law ; if it were , it has failed in its effect ; for Mr . Oastler well knows that the Chartists havo been always the moat opposed to the New Poor Law , and have always aided him in his praiseworthy efforts .
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The Schoolmaster ' s Expedient . —The able review of Hart ' ora ' s Life of Bishop Harness , in the Eclectic of this month , relates the following story of Dr . Joseph Wanon , when master of Winchester school : — " Wanon was a man of taste , and had no mean talent for poetry ; but , like most men of ( he same class , he disliked philology , and that dislike entailed ignorance to an extent which incapacitated him for his high vocation . Of this fact the work before us supplies examples . He was sometimes sorely put to n to get through the chorus of a Greek tragedy ; and his wit but ill sufficed to conceal his
embarrassment . While a scholar was reading tho puzzle pa = saj ; e , and was just on the eve of ' sticking fast / the poetical preceptor would break out with a loud voice , and demand an account of noises among the boys , which nobody heard bat himself 1 So uniformly was this method of solving difficulties resorted to , that the late Bishop Huntingford was wont to say , he so well knew wha ; would happen on the approach of a dark passage , that he oft « . n taid to the boy next him , 'Now we shall have a noise . ' During the settlement of the ' noise , ' the reader was allowed to proceed as he best could : thus the plough was passed , and the work went on . "
The Pook in China and the Poor in Britain . —It would not be easy to draw a comparison between the habits of the poor in this count r y and the cottagers of China , respecting the state of their household , because ic is difficult to come at an average ; but I ihiuk that while the poor at home are far less happy , they are far more cleaDly than the poor are in China . There is , perhaps , thrice as much contentment in that land among tbe villagers , but only onethird of the mind which is displayed by the lower orders in England . 1 will not be dogmatic in these
remarks , and proceed no further in prescribing an opinion than the enunciation of this fact , that careworn and half-starved faces are rare things in China , A p lumpness of feature , cheerfulness of mien , and a gait full of animation , though without hurry , bespeak a condition of mind that looks on to-day ' s supply with complacency , and forward to to-morrow ' s chances without apprehension . The happiness and general prosperity of the Chinese are so conspicuous that they merit a short analysis . —From a icork just published .
Cromwell a . nd Charles the Fibst . —Nor will his participation in the King ' s death involve him in condemnation with us . It is a stern business killing of a king . ' Bat if you once go to war with him , it lies there ; this and ail else lies there . Once at war , you hare made wager of battle with him : it is he to die , or else you . Reconciliation is problematic ; may be possible , or , far more likely ) is impossible . It is now pretty generally admitted , that the Parliament , having vanquished Charles the First , had no way of making any tenable arrangement with him . The large Presbyterian party , apprehensive now of the Independents , were most auxious to do so ; auxious , indeed , as for their own existence ; but it could not be . The unhappy Charles , in those final Hampton Court negociations , shows himself as a man fatally incapable of being dealt with : a man who , once tor all , could not and would not
understand ; whose thought did not in any measure represent to him the real fact of the matter ; nay , worse , whose word did not at all represent his thought . We may say this q f him without oruelty , with deep pity rather ; but it ia true and undeniable . Forsaken there of all but the name of kingship , he still , finding himself treated with outward respect as a king , fancied that he might play off party against party , and smuggle himself into his old power by deceiving both . Ala ? , they both disctvered that he was deceiving them . A man whose word will not inform you at all what he means or will do , is not a man you can bargain with . You must get out of that man ' s way , or put him out of yours . The Presbyterians , in their despair , wore still for believing Charles , though found false , unbelievable again and again . Not so Cromwell : " For all our fighting , " says he , " we are to have a little bit of paper ?"—No 1—Carlyle on Hero Worship .
The Truth of Ckomwell . —In fact , every where we have to notice tbe decisive practical eye of this man ; how he drives towards the practical and practicable—has a genuine insight into what is fact . Such an intellect , I maintain , does not belong to a false man : the false man sees false shows , plausibilities , expediences ; the true man is needed to discern even practical truth . Cromwell ' s advice about the Parliament ' s army , early in the contesthow they were to dismiss their city-tapsters , flimsy , riotous person ? , and choose substantial yeomen , whose heart was in the work , to be soldiers for them ; this is ad rice by a man who saw . Fact answers , if you see into fact . Cromwell's Ironsides were the embodiment of this insight of his ; men fearing God , and without any other fear . No more conclusively genuine set of fighters ever trod the soil of England or of any other laud . —Ibid .
ASECDOTES OF THE FreSCH REVOLUTION . — "What is the guillotine ? a tap on tha neck , " said Latuourette , as he gaily took his last meal with his comrades of the same chamber . Then , warming by degrees , like a true Catholic priest , he enlarged upon the immortality of the soul and its consequences . It was a common thing for the prisoners vo light their pipes with the copy of their indictment . The offioial defender of Gosnay , who had been an officer of hussars , in order to save him , wanted to call evidence
to prove that his head was not sound . " My head , " said the accused , " was never cooler or sounder thaii now , when I am on the point of losing it : officious and official defender , I will not be defended by you ; let them lead me to the guillotine . " A mob of people surrounded the cart into which Custine was climbhig to go to the scaffold , and shouted out , " To tbe guillotine 1 to the guillotine I" — " I am going there * you noisy rabble , " said the old general , ' * I am goiug—can't you have a little patience J" — MoviMy Chronicle for February ,
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MR . SrANSFBLD .-IMPORT AND EXPORT DUTIES .
Ws promised to examine this subject , as soon as time permitted ; we now redeem our pledge . At a meeting of < jUr Solons , lately held at Leeds , Mr . Staxsfkld , in praying support for a petition in favour of a remission of certain import and export duties , did , as is that gentleman ' s custom , produce for the mystification of his audience , a statistical table of profit and loss . As Mr . Stansfeld professes to be an orator of the Ciceronian school , he endeavours to divide his speeches into the three required parts , a beginning , a middle , and an end . In the instance before us .
however , he supplies tables for rhetoric . In his first section of table No . 1 , he asserts that a removal of the import and export duties would effect a saving to the inhabitants of Leeds of upwards of £ 300 , 000 a year . In his second section of table No . 1 , he contends that the whole population of the Empire , estimating it at twenty-four millions , is taxed £ 2 per head annually for State taxation , and £ 2 per head annually for the benefit of individual classea , making a total of ninety-six millions annually . In his third section of Table No . 1 , he
assumes that each working man , in Leeds , earns twenty-four shilliBgsper week ; and , allowing each family to consist of five persons , that the effect of the import and export duties ia to impose a tax of four shillings per week , or one-sixth of tho whole earning , upon each working man . Thus Mr . Stanspblo proceeds ; in the dull path of arithmetical calculation , but being more of an orator than an arithmetician , he closes his remarks upon Table No . 1 , aad at the tame time introduces Table No . 2 , in the following glowing terms , well worthy a disciple of the fructifying school . He says : —
" I have stated the saving to the borough , by the removal of the protecting duties , to be £ 300 , 000 a year . I have supported that statement by the evidence given before the committee of the House of Commons , and it is on the strength of that evidence that I ask your sanctiou to tbe petition I shall propose . But , Sir , that estimate , in my hutub . ' e opiuion , is much underrated . I have no hesitation iu exposing my belief that the advantages to be derived from tbe change to this borough would amount in money to one million a year . Some gentlemen may be astonished , but let them consider that this sum is only £ 7 a head on the population , and that the uiffurence between a good and a bad trade would soon make this . I hold in my hand a rough estimate , " &c .
Now this is reversing the Moiip&th plan , of asking for a principle more extensive than facts warrant ; for StahsfelD , tO iDBUre his petition , assures his supporters that facts go three times as far as the tables upon which he is ready to rely ; and ho says that a removal of the import and export duties would be a relief to a working man with a family of five , not of i'li ) a year , but of £ 35 . Sta . nskeld , in supporting Table No . 1 , has not the fear of thu last section of Table No . 2 before his
eyes ; for after appropriating the saving to the respective purposes of each family , hti proceeds to give 4 , 000 adults ^ pot of tbe working , but of the shopkeeping classes , an annual increase of income amounting to £ 400 , 000 ; in short , he adds £ 60 , 606 to his million sterling of annual saving . Now , suppose we were to admit Mr . Stansfeld ' s first section of Table No . 1—that is , that the removal of import and export duties would effeot a saving of £ 2 per head to working men , and taking his
census of 112 , 000 of a working population to be correct , we have a saving of £ 224 , 000 per annum ; and we may , according to all middle-class practice , justly adopt the last section of Table No . 2 , namely , that upon this saving of £ 244 , 000 per annum to 112 , 000 of the working population , 4 , 000 of the idlers would make a profit of £ 400 , 006 per annum . This position we shall presently maintain by facts ; while we deem it but common justice to our readers to give the whole of the fabulous table , which is as follows : —
£ . £ ¦ Saving aa per Table No . 1 319 , 95 * The « alcuI&Uons in the Table art founded on the average consumption of the empire , but it is manifest that the inhabitants of a manufacturing town consume more food thata thost in the agricultural districts . The average consumption ot sugar in tbe borough of Leeds , as computed by five of the prin cipal dealers , is 4 lbs weekly for a family of five persons , the duty on which on a population ot 1 £ 0 , 000 , would be annually £ 102 , 317 , being an increase on the statement of Table 1 of ... 59 , 817 Tbe average consumption of coffee , estimated by the same parties , is 6 oz . weekly , for a family of five persona , and the duty on the population of the borough would be £ li , 5 i 9 , or an increase on the statement of Table 1 of 10 , 830 It is difficult to form an estimate on bread , and meat , and vegetables , fed , but take the extra consumption at Is . 3 d ., and you have 75 , 000 Increase ot wageB 18 . pet head weekly , assuming this to be the difference between good trade and full employment , and bad trade and partial employment , The population being 15 » , 000 Of which three- % quarters are the working classes ... 112 , 000 Deduet one-third for Children under thirteen years of age . 37 , 0 » 0 Leaving men , women and children 75 , 000 At Is . each per week would b « per annum 195 , 00 * Increase of profit to shopkeepers , manufacturers , and merchants , and such as are not included amongst the working classes . Suppose that out of the remaining population of 38 , 000 , that ie , « eo are adults , and that 4 , 000 of these realise £ 180 a year more under an improved trade , you have 400 , 000 740 , 656 , . fi . oe ^ . eoe .
Now , in tie above table , we Bee as much ignorance , folly , wickedness , and deceit , as could be well crammed into bo many lines . First , what does Mr . Stansfeld say , and how does he introduce his " extravagant" and " absurd " calculation ? Why , he fays that his plan , instead of £ 2 a head , will give to the working classea £ 7 a head per annum ; and how does he preserve his calculations ? Why , by giving £ 400 , 000 , or nearly one half the whole sum for the whole population of 150 , 000 , to 4 , 000 of the male adults
of the moaey-mongering class !! that is , instead of £ 7 a head to each working man , he gives £ 100 a head to 4000 of the idlers ; or , in other words , admitting the third section of table No . l , ip be correct , and ready to swear , as we are , that the last section of No . 2 weald be rather under the mark , Stansfelb has the old calculations in his head which the twenty-three money-mongers who voted for him well understood , which may be thus translated : — 112 , &&& of the working population , save £ 2
» bead by transferring them from the import and export sharks to the master sharks ; and you see , gentlemen , plainly , that if we can effect so divine an object , 4 , 000 of our order will pocket the whole £ 22 f , 000 of saving , and £ 176 , 0 flft into the bargain , for our trouble ! " * Hume , before a committee of the House of Commons , makes use of these remarkable words : — " Certainly I conceive that having paid the private taxes , they are the less able to pay the public taxes . " What a fool Stansfeid must be to tell the people , in plain English / 1 You see tkat the scramble is between the . local and the represen-
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tative tyrants ! What we leave , the State will have ; and wbav tne State leaves , we will have ; so whoever puts the loaj on the ass , you must bear it . " The orator , Jumever , proceeded with his speech , to whioh he attend ted to give a beginning , a middle , and an end ; but we Bjust begin where he left off , in order to pat the gibberish into English . He concludes with an admisston that his calculations will appear " extravagant" and " absurd" to every one but himself ; and then he mouths out a bit of the usual stuff about " an all-wise Great * . V always forgetting that an all-absorbing eet of d © vourera «» r that all-wise Creator ' s every benign ana wise intention .
Mr . Stansfs&d , in his exordium , tells his hea / that "this is not a party question ; that Liberals am * ' Conservatives in Glasgow and Manchester and the Timet and the Chronicle , all advocate it . " Now , if we had not direct evidence furnished by faots before us , we should rely upon the very circumstance of such a junction as the very strongest proof of condemnation : for , although all political parties have united in its support , it by no means deprives it of its distinct Glass suspicion ; as politics are always forgotten when profits are under consideration .
When did Whigs and Tories , the 7 Wsand Chronicle , separately , or jointly , advocate any one measure for the benefit of the working classes I And are they now , after never-ceasing hostility and opposition , likely to unite , for the first time , for the benefit of those upon whose ruin they have one and all grown rich \ Mr . Stanspeld , having first comfortably established the fact in his own mind , that every working man in Leeds earns twenty-four shillings a week , proceeds to argue as if each of the 112 , 000 of the working population consumed in proportion to
the remaining 38 , 000 of the merchants , manufacturers , and shopkeepers ; and then he proceeds to read exvraota from an examination of Messrs . Hume , Poster , and McGregor , before a Committee of the House of Commons , still going on the presumption that Working men consume an equal Bhare , even of all imported luxuries ; and he selects one answer out of many thousands given by Mr . Porter , which answer numbers 2651 , and which goes to show that the reduction on the duty on sugar would " produce a great moral benefit . " The whole of the examination of these three gentlemen , who
don ' t appear to know a cow from a hay stack , is directed by the examiners to the especial fact , that a repeal of the Corn Laws is of primary importance . And now we beg the most anxious attention of our shrewd readers to the following admission of Mr . Solon M'Gkegob . He says that , " so far from a total and immediate repeal of all restrictions upon the importation of foreign corn having a tendency to lower rentB , it would have a direct contrary effect , and would considerably increase them ; '' and he
accounts for it thus . He says that " the laud necessarily thrown out of cultivation would be devoted to the production of vegetables and animal food ; " and in the = e very articles Mr . Stansfeld , in Table No . 1 assumes a reduction of £ 225 , 000 annually , and , in Table No . 2 , he augments the reduction by £ 75 , 000 annually , for the difference between good and bad trade , by a removal of duties . Now let us have a plain matter-of-fact word or two upon this part of the subject .
What has been the great , the almost only argument of the League ? Why , that tho Corn Laws raised rents , and thereby raised tbe price of food , and thereby threw the produce of English labour out of the foreign market , and sent the cheapfood-foreign-produce at a lower price into our markets . But here we have the anomaly of dear land , which must produce dear beasts and dear vegetables , and which , we are told will lead to cheap meat and cheap vegetables ! In fact , Solon Hume says , in answer to a question put by the Chairman—but we give it all , question and answer ; here it is : —
" Have you ever made a calculation as to the amount of taxation which the community pay in consequence ef the increased price of wheat and butchers' meat , which is occasioned by the monopoly now held by land?—I think that a tolerable calculation may be made of that increased charge . It is generally calculated that each person , upon the average , consumes a quarter of wheat a year . Assuming , then , the amount of duty that this wheat paid , or the price enhanced by protection , whatever that is , as far aa bread goes , to be 10 s .,
it would be . that amount upon the whole population . Then you coma hardly say less than , perhaps , double that for butchers' meat and other matters ; so that if we were to say that the corn is enhanced by 10 s . a quarter , there would be that 10 s . aud 20 s . more as the increase of the price of meat and other agricultural productions , including bay and oats for horses , barley for beer , aa well as butter and cheese . That would be £ 30 , 000 . 000 ayear , and the public are in fact paying that as effectually out of their pockets OS if it did go to the revenue in the form ot direct taxes .
" And , consequently , are less able to pay any taxes that the state may require for ita support ?—Certainly ; I conceive that having paid the private taxes , they are the less able to pay the public takes . Now then we have Mr . Solon M'Geegob assuring us that the removal of all restrictions would increase rents considerably , while we have Solon Hume assuring us that the effect of our increase of rent would produce a reduction of no less than thirty-six millions annually in the price of produce . ' thai it would raise rents by about thirty millions annually ^ and reduce produce by thirty-six millions annually !!
Seriously , will Mr . Ex-Mayor Stanspeld , ( who surrendered that dignified office with the philanthropic intention of becoming national schoolmaster , ) solve this riddle for us I for we defy any man to swallow the pill in its present shape . Well , Mr . Stanspeld supposes each poor man's family to consume as much sugar , coffee , bread , beef , vegetables , and even timber , as any of the aristocratic families of the kingdom ; and , indeed , bo minute are the Humane Society in all matters -connected with the poor man ' s comfort , that Mr . Hxjxb complains that the duties upon timber to protect our Canadiau produce , obliges builders to erect the roofs of poor men ' s houses without » sufficient pitch to keep out wet , but , on the contrary ,
they make them too flat . O , how merciful ! how very merciful ! £ But Mr . Hume knows as little of building as he appears to know of agriculture ; for flat roofs ate now all the fashion , even for Prince Albert ' s stables and dog-kennels , and why not for those who feed Prince Albebt , horses , dogs and all ! It appears that the Tradesmen have had meetings at Liverpool , Manchester , and elsewhere , upon the subject ; and at Manchester all Mr . Huskisson ' s alterations were urged as proof to show that the removal of restrictions led to an increase of production . Why , who ever doubted the faot ! But the orators fergot to pro&ieo a table of comparative wages , aad comparative comfort for the working producers , corresponding with tbe increased apeeulation—we cannot call it d « maad .
We fully admit that the removal of heavy duties leads to i&oreased consumption * and that increased consumption leads to increased yroduciian , and even to iaoreased surplus prodnetiort above demand , which ia ihe producer ' s ruja . We admit that taxes of aay sort , injudiciously laid on , may lead to > a prohibitior i of the use of the taxed article . Bat , as Mr . Stanspeld and bis coadjotors have stopped shor / i just where working class interest commences , we take the subject up at that precise point .
What , then , has been tr . e never-failing result of all Mr . Huskjsson ' s pate ) ling and botching ? The lemoval of restrictions hi , a led to increased spc « ulalatioa ; increased issue of paper money , increased discount , commission , brokerage , and stamp duty upon bills ; increased insurances upon premises and shipments ; increased taxation upon " the fictitious proper / ty produced by the fictitious Bhow of increased national wealth , based on fiction ; increased influx of agricultural labourers from Norfo'ji , Suffolk , Dorset , Somerset , Devon ^ Bhire and Ireland , permanently located to meet a mere temporary and unhealthy increased demand for tha moment ; an increase in the price of raw material an increase of production ; an increase of surffcaage orer demand ; an increase of warehouses ,
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and when all are full , an increase of bankruptcies ; a decrease of wages ; an increase of poverty ; and an increased permanent labour . class in the manufacturing districts , who are for ever shut out from their old employments , and constituted into a corps of reserve for the tyrant masters to hold the rod of cheap wages over those to whom a reduced trade , with less speculation , wonld afford employment . But we will not go Mr . Stanspeld ' s round-about way of giving each head of a family of five , an increase of £ 35 per annum : we give it to him at
once ; and so long as he has no vote to protect it , and Mr . STAf-SFBiD has ^ vote , which is the license to steal it , it is as sure to go into his breeches pocket as if the man gave it ' . of hisoirn free will—that is , in other words , suppose Mr . Stansfeld ' s project to give to . sach of 200 heads of families in his employment £ 35 per ^ nnum , Mr . Stansfkld and his class would ; have the £ 35 , and £ 15 of labour into the bargain , for taking it . W fact , the Ogres Bee that they have , like the Abyssinian * , eaten the prey in steaks , and now they want some 4 > ne to put fat upon the animals for them to devour .
We find Mr . StaKSVXW ia beginning to talk of the land ; and , " some time ago , the Mercury ' began to open upon the subject . Now , what does Mr . Stansfeld think of this direct mode of carrying out tbe benign intentions of " an all-wise Creator , " whose name he dares to profane with his proiitmongerlnglips . Let us for one moment suppose , what we never for an instant believed , that the real object of Scripture St . ANSFEtD and Co . is to serve the labouring classes . Now , what would he think of this simple process : —Two million heads of families , of
five to a family , would pay a full rent for ten million acres of land , would live as well as Mr , Stansfeld , and would produce an annual overplus of the value of Bixty millions sterling , in beef , pork , bacon , butter , ' milk , cheese , poultry , vegetables , dressed flax , linen , woollen cloth , and spun yarn ; and , without any pay , would be ready to meet a > second Napoieow , aye , and the great tyrant of the North , and beat them both , if they dared to invade their rights , and we should bear no more of army estimates .
Mr . Stansfeld only sees pimples ; he cannot see a wen . Let us , then , point out a few even of the pimples to him . Let as just see how our land at home is disposed of , —the only thing , let it be remembered , which the nativeB Bhould rely upon . Allowing theinterest of the national debt ,-with collection of taxes , to amount to forty millions annually , —that absorbs the whole value of every acre in England . The Army and Navy estimates , and State Church of Ireland , fifteen . millions a year , —there goes the whole rental of Ireland . The English State Church variously estimated , —we will take it low , —at eight
millions , —and away goes Scotland . Then for Wales , we have King Cumberland , King Leopold , Kiug / Albert , Queen Adelaide , Queen Kent , Queen . Victoria , Duke Sussex , Duke Cambridge , Duke Gloucester , and therese of the Royal Family , with the court , placemen , pensioners , cabinet ministers , and secret service money ; we think tint fully disposes of Wales . Then we have the Isle of Man for twentyfour millions , with Judges , English , Irish , and Scotch Barrister ? , Attorneys , Bankerg , Insurance Companies , Poor Law Commissioners , with their staff of Metropolitan and Rural
Police , the Aristocracy , with the interest of four thousand millions of personal debt , to pay l or import and export duties , for class interest , and the whole local taxation of the kingdom ; that is , if John Bull and Paddy and Sawney would just say " I ' m tired working . " We ask Mr . St ^ nspeld what pays every mortgage upon every estate in tbe Empire ? What pays the rent of every house in . the Empire 1 for houses don ' t produce . What supports every aristocrat , parson , policeman , half-pay officer , soldier , sailor , middle-class man , fat horse , dog aud bitch , in the empire , for they
none of them work in a profitable Way 1 IS it not the lean , half-starved labourer 1 Nay , are not the labourers of this "improved" generation compelled to support the extravagancies of former generations , and to keep up all the abuses of our unreformed times ? and are they not nightly saddled with fresh burdens by the representatives of Mr . Stansf eld ' s class , who presumptuously tell them that they can pay all those burdens , aud compete , without protection , with the nations of the world , who owe not a
penny for our pound ? We now tell Mr . Stansfeld that , supposing England to possess an operative class of two millions five hundred thousand , it would ba wisdom in that class to allow two millions to remain idle and to ba supported by the five hundred thousand at full work instead of constituting a competitive population in the labour market , underselling each other , for the benefit of any bloodsucking speculators in labour and fictitious money . -
Mr . Stansfeld ceased to be the Mayor of a faction , that he may be the leader of a party ; but he has become the mere pack-horse of a section . The firm of Marshall , Stansfeld , and Co . has been the greatest failure of all modern humbugs ; they had many advantages , and unlimited credit , and what has become of them I Makshall , stupid man , allowed his name to be put to a letter , of which he did not comprehend a single sentence . The writer , in
his little vanity , betrays his principal ; Marshall gets well peppered on all hands ; and there he is , mum-chance , not able to say a word in his own defence , or in support of his borrowed plumage . The writer of J . G . MARSHALL ' sletter , and the writer of a very silly artiole in Tait ' s last Number , upon the law of libel , is , we would lay a trifle , one and the same person ; and both productions bear evident marks of wreak understanding , strong prejudice , devouring vanity , and unconquerable viodictiveness .
Marshall , Stansfeld , and Co . have long siaoe discovered that a vote in the hands of a class is a genteel license to rob ; while the people are just now beginning to discover that without a vote to protect them , the possession of life , liberty , and property are but so many frail tenures held by slaves for the benefit of slave masters . The people have nowdiscovered that their oppressors Etand self-convicted , Stansfeld and Co . coming forward * ia the eleventh hour , with grievances , a knowledge of which they confess to have had for years ,, but never divulged till they wanted to save the people ' s pound from one plunderer , tiat they may be able to xob them of a guinea themselves . Are
they so foolish as not to see , thai in their exposition of abuse they justify a resort even to physical force , while tbe Chartists are expatriated and entombed for merely asking for future protection against what Stansfkld admits to be natiooai plunder 1 But the truth , like murder , will out ; a day of retribution w . ill come L God grant that it may not be ona of vengeance , when that " all-wise Creator , " whose sacred name money-mongers dare to invoke , will scatter all the enemies of the poor with fire and sword , and drive the oppressors from the land 3 J If man may dare to guess at comiDg events , the serionB and thoughtful must see evident signs of the near , the fast and irresistible approach of the avenging
scourge . Thus we settle humbug the ninth ; and , we trust , satisfactorily , if not flatteringly , to Mr . Stansfeld . Just think of Stansfbld talking of a saving of £ 70 per annum for an Irish , Scotch , and English , agricultural peasant , by a remission of duty upon sugar , coffee , meat , vegetables , bread , and timber , not one of which they ever use , not even timber ia the roofs of their houses , nor would they , if U was duty free ! How will Stansfeld take £ 70 » year from an Irishman ' s wages , who , JSharhan Cbawford tells us , can only earn £ 8 ; or from the wages of tha Spitalfields and other weavers ! For , be it remembered , Stansfexd takes the whole twenty-foar millions into his sweeping , ' ? extravagant , " and " absurd" calculations .
... If he ( Stans * eu >) does not create too much urntation by the vivid picture w&icli he pourtraya Of h » own and hia fellows ' by-gone follies , tocalithemby the mildest name , we pledge ourselves to bary the old system without a drop of blood being shed ; and , should conflict come , which God in his mercy forbid , let those who have confessed wrong , and resisted right , bear the full weight of their own temerity and injustice . The vote , we say , is a license to rob when confined to a class ; the vote is a title to protection when possesBed by the community .
Igortrs.
igortrs .
The Northern Star. Saturday, March 27, 1841.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , MARCH 27 , 1841 .
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M . Rose , a Scotchman , who , in his capacity of Usher of the Convention , arrested Robespierre , died in Fans , on Friday , ia the 84 th yea * of baa age .
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THE NORTHERN STAR . ; . . ¦ 3
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Northern Star (1837-1852), March 27, 1841, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct848/page/3/
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