political knowledge than ever before fell to the lot of a slave-community, to marshal their way to freedom. It is some sign of the times, that few books, perhaps no unpuffed books, have a wider circulation than Paine's Rights of Man, a work already the spur of one revolution. Men have lost all faith in the governing powers: Long experience of misrule has at length made them doubt, not only their rulers' "meanings" of amendment, but even their power of amendment. Men of all classes are beginning to discover that the rules on which they have been governed, from the old time, are mere precedents of wrong; that our "glorious" Constitution is a non-entity; that there is no such thing as Law; and that the constituted authorities are so many usurpations. A line of demarcation is being rapidly drawn between the oppressed and the oppressors, the desirers of change and the approvers of things as they are. The division, which shows the numbers of the two parties, will seal the doom of the weaker. The many must be masters. That class, which heretofore was spurned by the foot of Tyranny, now aims at the tyrant's head. The Lower Order meet, and discuss their grievances, and concert measures of redress, and arm, and cry out for justice or vengeance, in the very teeth of their rulers; and this too with an unprecedented continuity of purpose, with increase of numbers and of boldness, and to the evident growing uneasiness of those who but lately held their fiercest wrath in high derision. If these things are so (and who denies it?) are we not warranted in saying, The birth of a Revolution is at hand. What kind of revolution ?-No hope have we of a revolution peaceable as well as sudden, easy of compassing as it might be. The summoning of a Convention of Delegates from the whole People, to draw up a Declaration of Rights, and thereon to frame a Constitution, to be promulgated throughout the country, that the suffrages of the whole community might decide upon it: -all this might be accomplished, without serious difficulty, without bloodshed, or injurious national effect. But we cannot in an instant change men's natures. They, who have occasioned the cry for justice, cannot be expected to have any very ardent desire for justice; and the prejudices of even some lovers of liberty might interfere to prevent a rational settlement of differences. So that we have but the alternative of a gradual change or a sudden convulsion. What lover of peace and justice will not deprecate the last, if by any means, not compromising Truth, it may be avoided? What lover of order, even of the present his "most approved good order," will not rather let the change that must come, come quietly and slowly, than provoke the speedy ruin in which he is certain to be involved? Either concessions must be made by the advocates of standing still, concessions which shall keep pace with the desires of the Movement; or a collision must arise between the two parties. The public determination will not die away. The People's hunger for change increases daily, can but increase; and they must be either satisfied or resisted. If neither party will give in-and the People will not; can not, for the desperation of absolute want goads on but too many-one must be conquered. If the oppressed conquer, do you, who oppose them, expect to preserve more by an irritating opposition than by a timely capitulation? And what if the People are put down? Who shall insure the property, the homes of the victors from the firebrands of the tens of thousands of desperate outlaws? We cannot but conceive that it would be the best policy of those now in power, even for their own sakes, to adopt such measures as shall smooth the inevitable advance of the Movement, and so prevent the imminent injury, perhaps the utter desolation of our beloved country. Behold the measures which we believe a just and wise government might choose; which a wise government, however selfish and disposed to tyranny, would adopt, in the present conjuncture, and state of extreme danger! REMEDIAL MEASURES: NATIONAL ENFRANCHISEMENT must be the first measure of Reform. We must be freed from the shackles of political disability, or we can have no opportunity of progression. The legal establishment of the principles of the PEOPLE'S CHARTER is the first requisition of the Nation's need. We propose, therefore, THE POLITICAL ENFRANCHISEMENT OF EVERY ADULT MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY;-the Ballot, to protect the poor from the unscrupulous despotism of wealth;-Annual Parliaments;-An equitable Division of the Country into Electoral Districts;-The expressed Will of a Majority of the Electors to be the all-sufficient qualification for their Representative;-and The Payment of the People's Delegates by a fixed and adequate salary, instead of the present method of self-paying. THE ABROGATION OF MARRIAGE LAWS--the disallowing of all legislative interference with marriage, of all obtruding of ceremonial into the privacy of human homes-should be the first act of the Nation's Representatives. The home of tyranny is but a bad school for freemen. How can men be free, while Slavery sits at every hearth? How can Justice rule a nation, while Injustice is the God of every family? Human law must never contravene the Law of Nature: Nature declares that woman and man are equal. Let the Legislature acknowledge this! Then indeed may usefully follow A PROVISION FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION. The best legislative provision would be of little use, while unenlightened slave-mothers laid the foundation on which the legislature would have to work. The Education-scheme would comprehend the establishment of Normal Schools, to provide gratuitous instruction and appoint means and opportunities of usefulness for all who chose to devote themselves to the education of their fellows; the endowment of schools, well supplied with teachers, throughout the country, according to the wants of the several districts, for the gratuitous education of children of all ages, of all classes of society; and the gratuitous instruction of adults by public lectures, theatrical representations, &c. Properly simultaneous with the education of the people would be the amelioration of the circumstances of the Poor by THE DIMINUTION AND JUST APPORTIONING OF THE BURTHEN OF TAXATION. A sensible diminution might be effected by the abolition of all useless offices-such as Royalty and its dependent inutilities;§ by doing away with the whole of the We say principles-thinking some of the provisions of the Charter open to improvement The suffrage should be extended to every adult (whether male or female) of the community. Now, the unmarried woman has no political existence: often standing proudly in her loneliness, independent and perhaps depended upon, surely she has a right to be heard. And though the interest of the married woman may be that of her husband-what then? Shall the voice of the couple have no more weight than that of a single person. Nor do we believe that such a measure of justice would create the confusion anticipated by many consciencious, but timorous reformers. For a long time, few women would avail themselves of their right: and what harin could those few do? Certain persons seem very much afraid of their "inferiors." If any chose to educate their own children, why should they not? "Public education," says Pestalozzi, "is only of value inasmuch as it resembles private; and the striking advantages of the latter ought to be transferred to the former. Every system of education which is not founded on the combination of domestic relations, tends to vilify the man." Of course, in the National Schools all the scholars would be treated as equals; as children of citizens, not of my lord" or "his grace." The most essential part of education has hitherto been neglected in all public institutions, indeed, in nearly all families- the formation of the character. The intellectual must ever be considered as the servant of the moral: the health of the individual's nature being the most important thing. The opinions of such men as Pestalozzi and Owen would of course be consulted; various experiments would be tried; and the best system would be adopted. The Theatres might be supported by Government. Authors and actors, being the teachers of the community, should be rewarded accordingly. Our theatres would thus be rescued from the misdirection of those who have rendered them schools of immorality and licenciousness, or mere show-rooms of conventional fals hood and sickly sentimentalisms. The public mind would be invigorated and clarified by the truth of Shakspere and his (now scarce known) contemporaries, instead of being depraved and emasculated by the affectations and inanities of a Bulwer, or scared out of all propriety by the domestic outrages of the Fitzballs. § The services of Chamberlains, Grooms of the Stole, Privy Councillors, Lords and Ladies of the Bedchamber, Yeomen of the Guard, &c., &c., &c., might all be dispensed with on the retirement of Royalty, to the Nation's abundant gain. £30,000 a year would be sufficient for her Majesty's retiring allowance; and who doubts that she would be much happier? It would be scarce scemly to suppose that her extravagances would require a greater income than suffices for her mother :-- and what more than the Duchess of Kent has Queen Adelaide done to earn a larger income. Surely hers might bear reduction to an equality with that of the Duchess. The Kings of Hanover and Belgium should for the future be unpensioned: we are paying, it may be, to cut our own throats. Pension List, except where it can be satisfactorily shewn that there is not, independently of it, sufficient for a decent maintenance; by the gradual disbanding of the Army and Navy, and the immediate lowering of Army and Navy Estimates, by reducing the number of officers; by applying all Church property to the public service at the death of the present holders ;t by diminishing the number of legal offences, removing the temptations now held out to immorality, and simplifying the routine of Justice, so saving the immense cost of prosecutions and punishments; and by lessening the cost of tax-collection, by abolishing the present great variety of taxes, substituting in their stead a Tax upon Land, to pay all the expences of the Nation. This Land-tax would also be the nearest approach toward a fair apportioning of the public burthens. All Laws for the benefit of only a particular class, to the nation's detriment, such as Corn Laws, Game Laws, &c., should also be repealed; all Monopolies destroyed; Entails prohibited: Allotments of the Crown lands (by the abolition of Royalty rendered available for the public service), of Church lands, and of the vast tracts of waste land throughout the country, should be given in freehold to all whose incomes are below the sum sufficient to provide a comfortable subsistence;|| Accumulation of wealth restricted to a certain amount. These enactments would prevent the excess of misery necessarily the consequence of partial laws, the concomitant of inordinate accumulation. Meanwhile, the moral elevation of the community steadily progressing, the temptation to acquire a selfish gain at the expense of another's loss would be more easily resisted; the crime would be thought greater: and encouragement being given by the government to the experiments of Socialists and other endeavourers to detach men from the present baneful thraldom of Commercial Competition; Trade, left free and untrammelled, aiding in the work of its own ruin; the day would not be far distant, which would see so great a revolution in the minds of men, that public opinion would command Government to adopt measures for insuring the best bestowal of universal co-operation-the desire of selfishly hoarding passing away at the prospect of the vast advantages proved possible and easy of attainment under a system of universal union. All these beneficial measures might be accomplished without, at any time, causing to individuals anything like the amount of suffering now daily endured, and inevitably to be endured, so long as the present disarrangement Let the Nation's servants be paid by their salaries. If their salaries are not sufficient return for their labour, it is but just they should be increased; if they are sufficient, why should they receive anything further. It will be said, "some have rendered services to their country, at great personal sacrifice-warriors, and statesmen:" Have not the peasants and artizans, who have spent their lives in toil, also done something for their country?-and at the sacrifice of nearly all opportunity of mental improvement. Pension these first! or pass a Poor-Law for the others! + Treaties of alliance founded upon mutual interest are better preservers of peace between nations, than any threatening position of standing armies. Let the whole male population possess arms and be instructed in the use of them; so will there be no fear of invasion. But, all our wars have been wars of aggression. As to our foreign possessions, if they can only be maintained by force, the sooner they are given up the better, both for our pocket and dignity. I A Church establishment is not proposed to form part of the Educational-Scheme, because religion cannot be provided for by legislative enactments. The Church party would have no right to complain of being placed on the same footing that dissenters are on now. Our penal Code might be the better for revising. Juries, to be summoned by appointed officers, in place of magistrates, might decide summarily upon petty offences; they might also be arbitrators in most cases of dispute. All fees for Justice should be abolished. If these were not sufficient, Parks and Pleasure-grounds might justly be appropriated to the support of a starving Peasantry. These enactments might take the place of Poor-laws, and Education supersede the accessity of murdering the children of the Poor. It may be said, that this disregard of "vested rights" would bring ruin on thousands of families: and why should individuals suffer when they have not caused the mischievous system of which we complain? Why, indeed? This is our very ground of complaint. Innocent individuals suffer now-the whole labouring population. Why should they be the continual sacrifice?" At least," some will say, "give compensation!" Well! give compensation; but first give it to those who have been longest robbed. Even the unaware receivers of stolen goods are not to be considered before the plundered party. Some few families will not like the reduction from affluence to mere sufficiency: but labourers ought not to starve because idlers pine for superfluities. of society shall continue. Few of the present generation would suffer from the change, while millions might be immediately benefited; our children would pass through the transition-state yet more easily, having the advantages of an education far superior to the training hitherto received by any, much of prejudice and outward opposing circumstance being also cleared away, so that their way would be smoothed before them; and our children's children might possess their father-land in peace and happiness, as brothers, aiding each other in the work of progression toward the fulfilment of man's high destiny-speeding the advent of that day "When every transfer of earth's natural gifts Shall be a commerce of good words and works; War with its million horrors, and fierce hell, Who, like a penitent libertine, shall start, Look back, and shudder at his younger years." ADVICE TO THE PEOPLE. A few words to the Men of the Movement:-They are not your friends who tell you that you are invulnerable; they are not your friends, however honest they may be, who conceal from you your weaknesses: by their indiscreet flattery lulling you into careless confidence in an overrated strength, they greatly help your enemies. You are not yet invulnerable. You want more perfect union; better organization. It is not enough that men pledge themselves at public meetings to die rather than fall back. They may mean as much, in the enthusiasm of the moment: but this is not enough. How many of the hands held up, at the solemn adjuration" before God and our Country," have been previously linked with their fellows, in the brotherhood of slavery, promising freedom to each other? O, the uplifting of men's strong voices in stern determination to achieve a great purpose, to be a thing of power should be the burst of long-cherished feelings and matured convictions waiting the time for utterance, not the expression of even indignant feelings excited into a momentary being. The better way of ascertaining the sense of the people is to organize popular societies; whose suffrages for any given proposition may be satisfactorily collected; whose determinations, not the mere generous impulses of unthinking haste, but the result of deep and deliberate reasoning, might indeed be counted as promises whose fruit was set. You have not yet this organization: You must have it. Working Men's Associations should be established in every part of the country, harmonizing with each other, sending political knowledge into every cottage in the empire, by means of tracts, and lectures, and regular meetings of the members, and frequent interchange of visits between members of different Associations; so drawing men closer and closer together, uniting them into one compact body fully aware of the nature of their undertaking, understanding all its bearings, and prepared to act promptly and simultaneously in whatever way might be decided upon by the majority, whose will would have the moral force of Law. Then indeed might your leaders say-" so many men are ready to support our resolutions." Then they would know, what now they only reckon-sometimes without their host. We must be more united. We must have sufficient time to cement our union. Tis useless, 'tis worse than folly, to commence " ulterior measures," till our force is properly enrolled and appointed. Fellow-men! by all the intolerable wrongs that trample ⚫ We refer our readers to The Way to Universal Suffrage, by a Tyne Chartist-noticed in our last month's part-for specimens of what these tracts should be.-Again, we desire to call the attention of the Working Men to that pamphlet. It is full of useful remark. + It was said, six months ago, that nearly three millions of signatures were then appended to the National Petition. Now there are about one million and a quarter. Let this speak for the calculations of our over-sanguine comrades. Let the paltry sum collected for the National Rent, from men continually pledging their lives, justify our assertion that the movement is not yet ripe. We must bide our time: we hurry but to discomfiture. upon our hearts, by all our hopes of redress, by all that is dear or sacred, peril not our holy cause by your precipitation! The better part of valour is discretion. Be he never so brave, never so true-hearted, never so zealous in our cause, he is no wise friend, but our injurer, who by his indiscreet forwardness leads us into the chance of an abortive attempt; almost sure to sacrifice our vanguard, and perhaps to throw back our whole array in dire confusion, irretrievable for years. The present agitation is yet immature: rapid has been its growth, and steady its continuance; but it has not had time to reach maturity. It is unwise to force it to a head. Patience for a little while, for only a few months, to bring up our rear-guard and to appoint the disposition of our power-and the land will be our own: a bloodless and easy conquest. A sacred month will then indeed be effectual, for the whole Labour of the country would be suspended.* (A partial strike, however injurious to the master-class, would yet more injure the working men.) Then indeed would a run upon the Savings Banks have the wished-for effect. We must have union to do these things. Give us but a little while-we will be united! Let us most especially endeavour to win over the Army to our side. Fearful, under any circumstances, is a civil war: more fearful than ordinary such a civil war as would rage in Britain. Barricades would be poor fences against Congreve Rockets. (We say not these things to dishearten, but to instruct, that we may not be taken by surprise.) We might conquer at last, for will overcomes odds; but it would be with terrible loss, at the risk of our country's desolation. All this evil might be avoided by winning the sympathies of the men of the Army, our brethren, whose interests are the same as ours. Let them be taught this! let tracts be industriously disseminated among the soldiery; let the friends of soldiers on furlough make the best use of that opportunity to gain the ear and the heart of the soldier, who, forcibly separated from his fellow-citizens, is yet one of us. Much good might be done were but a few enthusiastic, but temperate, and firm-minded Chartists to enlist; so acting as missionaries to carry Chartism into the heart of the army. All means ought to be embraced to render our victory as little detrimental as possible, even to our opponents. The Middle Classes might be attempted in the same way; in a persevering spirit of conciliatory argument, but also clearly explaining to them the inevitable consequences of their obstinate resistance to the People's right. These things done, let us fix our gathering day!-Which of the Working Men is absent? "We are all here!" -Who else will join us? What, no more of the middle classes? Then we must do without you. Take you the consequences of choosing to be the People's enemies!-In the space between the oppressors and the oppressed stands the Army. Will it be the tool of the tyrant; or the friend, as it is the brother, of the slave? Its ranks are filled with Chartists; our patience is rewarded. “We are armed for the People!" is their universal reply to the orders of their officers. "We murder not our brethren; we are no longer slaves! For the Charter! for the People!"-THE NATION IS FREE. It is related in our histories, that one of our tyrants, failing in an intended outrage, was greeted with shouts of exultation by the very army which he had collected to overawe his victims, and which he had but just reviewed. So shall it be when the leaders in the People's holiest Cause shall be acquitted. "It is nothing but the rejoicing of the soldiers." "Do you call that nothing?" cried the falling monarch. It is the knell of tyranny. Our Bill of Rights shall not be the measure of a Faction: it shall be the basis of a Constitution, not a non-entity, but a thing of stable worth; not to bind, but to merit the approval of "our heirs and posterities for ever." One of the People. It is said "if the Lower Order refuse to work, they must starve." This is not at all necessary. They would find food in granaries, &c., and might help themselves as their betters have done, by a Corn-Law of restitution. There would be some difficulty in resisting such an universal strike. We entreat all well-wishers of their country, all preferrers of peace, if by any honest means it may be preserved, to read Somerville's Dissuasive Warnings, as well as Muceroni's Defensive Instructions. |