REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. EDITED BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS, AUTHOR OF IHE FIRST AND SECOND SERIES OF " THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON," " THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT 07 LONDON," & C. & C. No. 2— Vol. 1.] SATURDAY, November 17, 1849. [ PRICE ONE PENNY. GEORGEf. THOMPSON ESO-, MP. ME. GEORGE THOMPSON was born in Liverpool, on the 18th of June, 1804, and at two years of age accom- panied his parents to London. Jn consequence of the limited means of his parents, and the largeness of their family, he enjoyed but few advantages of education; but, though chiefly instructed at home, he had an able tutor in the person of his father— a man of refined manners and extensive reading, who early inspired him with a love for books. At the early age of twelve, owing to the still circumscribed income of his father, lie was placed in a counting- house, and afterwards [ suc- cessively dield various situations until his marriage, in 1831, at which period he had acquired a pretty exten- sive acquaintance with mercantile affairs. He was also a regular attendant at debating societies and discussion clubs; and at those ' places he acquired that fluency of elocution and habit of debate which were tlie elements of his subsequent success as a public speaker. Shortly after his marriage, George Thompson was invited by the London Anti- Slavery Society to under- take a tour for the purpose of bringing the objects of the societyrmore fully before the public, through the medium of public meetings and lectures. Success attended his efforts so much to the satisfaction of his constituents that, on his return to London, after an absence of three months, he was^ solicited to visit the principal cities and towns in the North of England, and he accordingly re- newed his engagement. On the carrying of Lord Stanley's Abolition Act, in 1833, George Thompson entertained the idea of qualify- ing himself for the English Bar, but relinquished it in favour of a mission to the United States, for the purpose of aiding the infant cause of Abolition of Slavery in that country. Ere acting, however, upon this bold resolu- tion, he established, in London and many other places, societies for the universal extermination of slavery and the slave trade. This duty discharged, he was quickly on the bosom of the great Atlantic. George Thompson sailed for the United States in 1834, taking with him his wife and their two children. His good name, however, had gone before him, and on his arrival in New York he was, consequently, refused accommodation in the hotels of that city. But the ill- feeling thus early manifested changed not his purpose. Despite every opposition, he commenced a series of pub- lic lectures in Boston, and unprecedented excitement, under the influence of which lie was constantly exposed to danger, was the consequence. Truth, nevertheless, prevailed over many, and abolitionists rapidly increased, though not without a large share of that persecution which truth and justice ever encouuter from those whose selfish interests they may oppose. George Thompson lectured almost daily, till tlie malice of the opposing faction became nearly uncontrollable. Prom July, 1835, the assembling of frequent mobs evidenced the danger he encountered from perseverance in the performance of his duty: to mark the spirit of their feelings— a gallows was erected at his door, and j rewards offered for his abduction, These acts naturally exciting the fears of his friends for his safety, they en- treated his departure from the country. He, however, undauntedly continued his labours, till at length satis- j fled that the great object he sought to accomplish— the : awakening of public attention— was fulfilled, in Decern- j ber, 1835, he left the shores of America, and reached England in January, 1836. | His reception, on his return to his native land, it is hardly necessary to say, was most flattering. Subscrip- tions for the purpose of presenting him with some testi- monial in honour of his services were contributed by all the leading philanthropists ofthe kingdom, and amounted to about £ 1,800 sterling. The next public measure that engaged the attention of George Thompson, was the abolition of the appren- ticeship system, in which cause he embarked with Joseph Sturge, and finally succeeded, in 1838. At this crisis, the mind of the late Joseph Pease, senior, of iDarlington, was much impressed by the con- dition of India, as described in William Howitt's " Colo- nization and Christianity." He wrote to the author of that work, proposing that a British India Society should be* established; and, in order to give the most efficient aid to'the cause, immediately applied to George Thomp- son, as the person most able to diffuse a knowledge of the objects of the society throughout the country, and especially among the manufacturers of England and Scotland by the powers of his eloquence. A great meeting was also held in London for tho organization of this institution in the great room of the Freemason's Ilall, Great Queen Street. T'lie chair was taken by Lord Brougham, who, rising, said — " I have always great pleasure in listening to Mr. Thompson, who is the most eloquent man, and the most accomplished orator whom I know; and as I have no opportunity of hearing him where he ought to speak— inside the walls of Par- liament— I am anxious never to lose an opportunity of hearing him whero alone I can hear him, in a public meeting like tho present. " 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. The society being thus auspiciously formed, George Thompson was engaged as honorary secretary; and in this capacity he delivered lectures in many parts of the country, especially in the great cotton- spinning districts, which excited a great sensation, and opened the eyes of manufacturing capitalists to the immense losses which this nation inflicted on itself by the misgovernment of India, and the neglect of its productions. Towards the end of 1841, George Thompson was urged, and very properly induced to aid the laudable objects of the Anti- Corn- Law League , and after about twelve months' labour in this great popular cause at home, he Once more turned liis attention to India in 1842, being resolved more fully to qualify himself for the champion- ship which he had undertaken, he determined to go to India, that he might see and judge for himself. His arrival in Calcutta excited great attention, and was so- licited by the Raja of Sattara and the Emperor of Delhi to undertake, on their . behalf, the bringing of their claims before the authorities of " this country as well as before Parliament. Accordingly, on his return, with his mind stored with more practical knowledge of these subjects, he manfully undertook the defence of the ill- used and unfortunate Raja of Sattara. At first, he found in the Court of the Proprietors a determination, as it were, to treat the subject with contempt; but his determined zeal and eloquence broke through this assumed indifference, and compelled these stubborn and interested parties not only to listen but to feel. The most recent triumph in the life of this remark- able man, was his election as a Member of Parliament for the Tower Hamlets, which was carried by one of the largest majorities ever known in this country. CHARTISM. WHAT is Chartism ?— why is it made a bugbear by the government and the press to frighten the richer and mid- dle classes?— and why are its apostles denounced as fac- tious demagogues, and its votaries as a turbulent rabble ? Let us ask, in order to find a reply to those questions, why every man, and every class of men, that have ever promulgated new doctrines of real utility to the world in general, have been similarly maligned by the selfish, pre- judiced, and ignorant portion of society'? And this has not been the case with regard to politicians only; but likewise in respect to innumerable pioneers of progress in science and art. The truth is that there always has been, and still is, a favoured class of mortals, whose wealth, honours, position, and influence, depend upon the corrup tion ofjsociety and the existence of governmental tyranny. These men are therefore wedded to established systems; and the idea of progress is loathsome to them, because it implies a necessary change in all those institutions the rottenness of which is fraught with a rich fecundity of gain for them. The priests saw, or fancied they saw, the destruction of their colossal sway in the discoveries of Galileo;— and they persecuted him. The Inquisition fastened its fangs and its claws upon all men whose teachings were calculated to enlighten the world,— be- cause the enlightening of the world is ia itself a war to the death against political despotism and ecclesiastical domination. Therefore has the scientific explorer been persecuted as well as the apostle of the rights of man— and therefore, too, was it held as great a crime to proflaim that the earth moved round the sun, as to assert that the millions had privileges to be rescued from the grasp of oligarchical usurpation. Chartism is a principle, and not a mere proposition. It contains within itself the evidence of its own truth. Its programme consists of six axioms admitting of no dispute. To those who have studied Chartism with an unbiassed mind, there is no merit in becoming its proselytes— be- cause such proselytism is only a natural adhesion which men of common sense give to principles of common sense. It requires no large draught upon a man's faith to believe that the sun at noon- day is bright, because he sees that it is: neither does it require any straining of the imagination to recognize the excellence of those principles which are summed up in the word Chartism. Because universal suffrage is an unquestionable right for all communities, whether great or small; inasmuch as the laws of all com- mutes are supposed to be made for the benefit of the whole mass of the population,' and not a mere section of that population ; and therefore every member of such population is clearly entitled to a voice in choosing the agents or representatives who arfe to make those laws. Secondly, these agents ot representatives should return frequently to their constituents to give an account of their stewardship, and receive new powers, or else make way for other and more trustworthy men ; and hence the necessity for annual elections. Thirdly, care must be taken to preserve the poor but independent voter from the influ- ence of the rich and intolerant one; and this aim can only be accomplished by the ballot. Fourthly, the agents or delegates chosen to defend the rights and represent the interests of their constituents, must be remunerated for their services, not only to render them independent of government patronage and proof against the bribes which a corrupt Ministry may hold forth, but likewise because many able, excellent, and valuable men could not afford to abandon their own profession or calling, and give their time to the public, unless furnished with the means of subsistence : hence the principle of paid representatives. Fifthly, the agents elected npon the above principles must ! be men chosen with a view to their fitness only, and not with regard to their pecuniary position in life; and there- lore it is requisite that the qualification should be that of j intelligence and integrity, and not the qualification of pro- ' pertff. Sixthly, as there can only be a certain number of agents chosen to represent the entire nation, each agent must be allotted to so many persons: in a word, if there be five hundred agents representing five millions of male adults, the country must be divided into equal districts, each containing ten thousand voters ; because if one dis- trict contains a thousand and another ten thousand, each having only one delegated agent, then the larger one is unfairlv represented. This is the principle of equal elec- toral districts; although it is evident, as a matter of course, that in order to prevent a very minute subdivision of districts, three or four representatives may be accorded to each one. And this is Chartism. Now, reader, where is the ele- ment of disorder in this system ?— how does it merit to be held up as a bugbear?— why do the Government and the press denounce it ? Because the six principles whereon Chartism is based— or rather, which constitute Chartism — are the sublime effluence of TRUTH ; and TRUTH is dreaded by those who fatten upon the rottenness of poli- tical institutions and the corruption of a vitiated society. The Government denounces Chartism, because that Go- vernment belongs to the Aristocracy and not to the People— because it springs from an oligarchy and not from the nation; and the Press denounces Chartism, because the newspapers, with a few glorious exceptions, are either subsidized by the Government, or are the pro- perty of men belonging to those classes which have usurped all rights, all privileges, and all powers. Thus the world has been viewing Chartism through a false medium; aud the consequence is that many personB who are naturally well- disposed and even of liberal ten- dencies, have been taught to look upon Chartism with abhorrence. It has been the study, because it has been the interest, of the Government to throw all possible odium upon Chartism; and the newspaper organs have artfully contrived, while seconding that view, to associate all infamy, all horror, and all ideas of spoliation, with the names of CHABTISM and CHARTISTS, carefully avoiding all calm and dispassionate discussion of the principles. A soented, kid- gloved, and white- waisteoated aristocratic Member of Parliament would as soon be accused of having brought the pestilence with him from Cairo, as of being a Chartist;— and yet this man might possibly hold the veiy doctrines enunciated by Chartism, if he were intelli- gent enough to think for himself and honest enough to avow the results of his thinking. A millocrat will say to his over- looker, " We will have no Chartists in our fac- tory ;"— and a rich West- End tailor or linen - draper, who keeps his carriage, would discharge his groom or his foot- man, if he were to overhear either one whispering to his fellow- servants a confession that he was a Chartist. Thus, my dear readers, you perceive that the slur is thrown upon the name, and not upon the principles of Chartism. For the latter are beyond all possibility of attack : no argument can destroy them— no sophistry refute them; — and thus those who dread Chartism because it is a sys- tem of TRUTH, have recourse to the dirty, mean, and despicable expedient of dragging its name in the mire. Were the name of Chartism altered to some other ism, still preserving however the principles whole and entire, how many thousands of persons would exclaim, " Ah! this is indeed a glorious system ! I shall give my instan- taneous adhesion to it. All honest and right- minded men ought to support it." Such would be the exclama- tion; and those who have been taught by influential friends, by habit, by the Press, and by the constant out- pourings of aristocratic and middle- class virulence, to look upon Chartism as a monstrosity, and its adherents as brigands, would rush to array themselves under the standard of the same doctrines with another name. But those doctrines shall retain the name of Chartism,— because it is more glorious for the votaries of Truth to conquer prejudices than to concede any point to the ignorance and illiberality of classes. Yes— the name of Chartism shall be preserved, because many good and great men have already embarked in the cause— suffered in its behalf— and valiantly fought the battle of common sense against despotism and intolerance. It shall be preserved, because the working- classes love it and are proud of it:— and, inasmuch as the real intelligence of the country resides in the masses, those who were the first to appreciate the sublime truths of Chartism shall not be called upon to abandon one tittle of all they have learnt to admire, to uphold, and to demand— no, not even the name 1 And let us not despair. The cause of Chartism shall triumph— and that speedily. False systems and corrupt institutions may last for a time: but in the end they must yield to the increasing pressure of truth. The day must come when those who are now terrified at Chartism, will bless it as a means of political and social salvation, and will look with loathing and disgust upon those men and those newspapers that dared to misrepresent it. The lonely traveller who has lost his way, is terrified when he imagines that he sees a gigantic phantom ap pearing through the mist of twilight; but if he be brave, he walks up to it— and, to his joy, he discovers that it is a finger- post indicatiug the path which he is anxious to pursue. He then blames himself for his folly in yielding to so ungrounded a fear ; and he blesses the object which at first startled him. But why was he thus startled when that object gradually began to develope itself to his view and stand out in hideous unshapeliness from the obscurity of evening? Because his mind was accessible to those superstitious terrors which nursery tales and old women's stories had been wont to create in earlier years, and the j influence of which remained dormant in the imagination, to be easily aroused again. Well, then, let the man who is wandering in the fog of his own thoughts upon political and social questions— let him walk straight up to the bug- j bear which has been made an object of terror and alarm to his imagination,— let him look CHAKTISM in the face, and he will learn to love and bless it as the finger- post j pointing towards the goal of freedom which he so ardently longs to reach. What is the mission of Chartism? A peaceful, legal, and constitutional change in those systems which are j invested with too much of ancient feudalism to suit 1 modern civilisation. Chartism does not contemplate a bloody revolution— does not want it: its very votaries I would be the first to suffer by such an insane course. Chartism does not intend spoliation and general plunder: its leaders and its adherents are too honest and too humane, too just and too generous, to entertain such a barbarous idea. Chartism does not seek to upset society: its apostles and disciples are intelligent philanthropists whose object is to remodel and not to destroy. Those who live by industry, are not desirous to paralyse in- dustry: they will not burn the dwellings which shelter their own heads, nor the corn- fields which feed their mouths. Away, then, with all calumny relative to the Chartists and Chartism: be ye honest, 0 Aristocracy, if ye can— and ye too, 0 Middle- class, if you will and confess at length that Chartism is truth, not falsehood- philanthropy, not atrocity— order, not chaos! Great, then, is the mission of Chartism; and never were men called upon to work out greater consequences than the Chartists. Aye— and never were men less authors of the causes which render such consequences necessary. For all the evils and abuses which have led to the esta- blishment of Chartist doctrines and the promulgation of Chartist principles, have been created and propagated by the very classes who denounce Chartism with such spiteful malignity and such bitter virulence. And now the millions must assert the aristocracy of mind in juxta position with the aristocracy of birth— the aristocracy of virtue in contrast with the aristocracy of wealth. The task is difficult, but glorious; and, as TRUTH is at its basis, none need despair. Eor already have all reforms been wrung from Governments and Legislatures by the mind and will of the masses ; and the same bloodless victory shall be won over again. The small amount of freedom which Englishmen do now enjoy, is the hard- earned booty which the intelligence of the past and present millions have carried off from Time— the prize of a long wrestle with ages of barbarism, ages of oppres- sion, of fanaticism, and of blood,— the amount of health which difficult precautions and tedious cures have rescued . from old and still unsubdued disease. Look at England from her Heptarchy to her Conquest— from that to her Revolution— from that to the present time. Mark her long and weary efforts to pile up her freedom— how often was it the toil of Sisyphus! Consider the stubborn and closely guarded quarries from which she was forced to hew out her greatness. Trace the course of her civilisa- tion,— at first like a little silver stream in a rocky wilder- ness— then widening and deepening— always flowing and fretting onward, though not always seen: now diverted from its way by some rugged obstacle— and now dammed up until the weight of its waters break down the impe- diment: thus, sometimes free and sometimes checked, until its channel becomes broad and deep, and its waters expand into a glorious flood. GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS.' THE MONOPOLY OF LAND. IT has been contended that tlie land should not be minutely divided, and that evil instead of good would be the result of the destruction ofthe present system of land tenures in England. Mr. M'Culloch, in looking at the six millions of land- proprietors in France, makes the following statement:—" The average produce per acre of the crops of wheat in England and Wales, in good years, has been carefully estimated at thirty- two bushels an acre, and it is certainly not under thirty. But in France the produce of wheat, even the richest and best cultivated departments, is little more, according to the official returns and the best private authorities, than twenty bushels an acre; and at an average of the entire kingdom it hardly amounts in a good year to fourteen bushels. The result is completely decisive. It shows that one acre in England yields, from its being better farmed, considerably more than two acres in France; and if we take barley or oats, turnips, beef, or wool, for a standard, the difference in our favour would be seen to be still greater." The above facts and reasoning are insufficient to show that a subdivision of the land so far as it has yet pro- ceeded in France, causes a diminution of the produce. The comparison with England is an unfair one; it should have been with Germany or Russia, or some other country where, as in England, the ownership of the land is in few hands. It would then have been seen that the lands of Russia and Germany, although not subdivided, yield no more than the lands'of France, and we should be compelled to seek elsewhere for the causes of the in- ferior agriculture of France as compared with that of England. ^. Wnen France is covered with good roads, railroads, and canals, she will make great advances in agriculture. And, even if the fact could be established that, under the small farm system, the average yield of wheat per acre is less than under the aristocratic system, that fact would not be one from which large conclusions could be fairly drawn. On a small farm, the proprietor brings inta cul- tivation lands which would be left untouched by the great proprietors; and, although the produce per acre may be considerably below the average of lands cultivated by the latter, the total produce of the whole country is much larger, and society is a gainer, in that respee*> as well as in many others. The question is, what would be the effect of " division ofthe ownership of land in England— the substitution of small farms owned by labouring cultivators in lieu of the large farms owned by one class, rented by a second, and cultivated by a third? This is one of the great practical questions of the day; and it remains untouched by the argument of Mr. M'Cullocb. Admit that the people of France are not very well con- ditioned, notwithstanding the division of the landed pro perty there, it does not follow that they would be as well or better off under the English system. Far from it, the condition of the French people is on. the whole very superior to that of the people of the British Islands. The agricultural population of France is not, like that of En - REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR, 11 gland, dependant on the Smiles and caprice of masters, nor dependant on the workhouse for support in old age. The French are more independent, more intellectual, more cheerful, more moral, and, in a word, happier than the peasantry and manufacturing population of England, to say nothing of that of Scotland and Ireland. The Frenchman's amusements are not prohibited by law: and he enjoys far more personal dignity than the Englishman. There is niore crime iu England than in France, more unemployed labourers, more poverty, more prostitutes, There is not in France such an enormous manufacturing class as in England, dependent upon every convulsion ot distant markets. England enjoys a vast colonial dominion, and an immense commerce, which France has not; and yet the social system of France presents less pauperism, crime, intemperance, and immorality, than that of the British Islands. The system of land tenures in France, although it may not have sufficed to prevent a great deal of distress, has nevertheless kept the French people in a better condition than the British and Irish, notwith- standing the immense advantages enjoyed by the latter in commerce and manufactures, and in the possession of vast territories, admirably adapted to them as emigrants. The French have had uo outlet; even the United States have been almost practically closed to them, in con- sequence of the prevalence of the English language there. When France provides, as she soon will, for the liberal support of tho poor, and the employment of all who cannot otherwise obtain work; when the children are well educated at the expense of the state ; then, with political equality, and government by the real representatives, of the people, the present character of the French nation will undergo a perceptible change for the better, morally and intellectually. They will be inspired with energy and enterprise; im- provements will be made in agriculture, good roads will be constructed, and railroads and other public works established. It will be contended that in Ireland the land is minutely divided, and that such division is the cause of tbe wretched condition of the people. The answer is, that the cultivators of the soil in that country are without in- telligence, and also without any sufficient inducement to make extensive improvements upon land which is not their own, and the rent of which would be immediately raised if any abilityjto pay an increased rent could be dis covered. In Ireland we behold a conquered race, treated with barbarous rigour, debarred from the rights of freemen for centuries, and only lately partially enfranchised. Formerly the Irish Catholics were not allowed to hold land, either in feC- simple or in leaseholds. In 1773 an attempt was made to pass a bill through tbe Irish Pro- testant Parliament to allow Catholics to hold forty square perches of land, to be situated not in rural, but in town districts,; but even this bill was rejected. Tbe Irish Catholics have also been kept in a state of ignorance, and hostility to the law. Under these circumstances, the foreign owner of the land finds it disagreeable to reside in Ireland amongst an outraged people: he keeps away from his estates, and his agent racks the tenants. The poor have been left without any right to public support, and suffered to want in the midst of plenty. The nation has been governed by a people alien in blood, language, and religion; and the two races have for centuries been on the verge of civil war, or in actual conflict. Under these circumstances, of course agriculture and manu- factures have' been comparatively neglected; the rich and privileged race has not attempted to introduce manufactures, nor to make good roads, canals, or railroads. Indeed, considering the hostility between the rich Pro- testants and the poor Catholics, the introduction of manufactures has been almost impossible; no friendly relations could be created between them : no confidence inspired. The courts of law, with their Protestant judges of English extraction, have been regarded with hatred, and violations of the laws of the oppressor looked upon as justifiable, and even meritorious. _ The priests of thetwo great religious denominations have mutually fanned the flame of discord. The Irish have been filled with undying hatred towards tbe heretic per- son, who, with a military force, has earned off the tenth shear of corn, tho tenth pig, and the tenth part of all the other produce of the farm. On the other hand, the State priest, supported by foreign bayonets, denouuees the Catholics as idolators! Who is there unable to perceive in these facts sufficient reasons for the impoverished con- dition of Ireland, and the distress of its people'? It is common to attribute the evils of Ireland to over- population. Now, it is established that Ireland is fully capable of sustaining a much larger population than it contains at present. It has been estimated by Mr. Shar- man Crawford, that one fifth part of the arable land would, if properly cultivated, yield enough corn for the. sustenance of the people, leaving all the rest of thecountry for other purposes. In this estimate no allowance ap- pears to be made for the quantity of food that can be taken from the surrounding seas swarming with fish. Those ignorant talkers and empty pated political economists who attribute the miseries of Ireland to a surplus population, make no reference to the question whether the country does now produce, or can be made to produce, sufficient food for its inhabitants. The number of acres of land now cultivated is paraded; and it is coolly assumed that, after setting off the country in large farms of 500 acres, each employing a small number of labourers, all the rest of the present agricultural population is use- less and surplus. According to the same process of rea- soning, three- fourths of the agricultural population of the United States might be set down as useless and sur- plus. If tlie large farm system were introduced into that country, and hired labourers employed upon such farms, full three- fourths of the agricultural population could be dispensed with; sufficient agricultural produce could be raised without them; and, in lieu of an independent race of freehold farmers, America would have a mass of poor labourers, with a few masters, bailiffs, and over- seers. Want of employment must not be confounded with over- population. It often happens, even in Canada and the United States, that great numbers of labourers are in want of employment; but who will say that those countries are too thickly populated? There is a deficiency of em- ployment everywhere ; but no country is over- populated when it can raise an abundance of food for its inhabitants. Ireland is in that position, and therefore is not over- popu- lated, but is miserably misgoverned. There is no over- population; but there is a vicious dis- tribution of wealth, a bad system of society. This, how- ever, will hardly be admitted by the higher classes in Ireland, with whom, therefore, the surplus population theory will remain popular. The remedy, too, appears to them quite obvious— to wit, the expatriation of tbe surplus. Suppose they could by that means reduce the popula- tion to one- half of its present number, there would then be remaining as many as existed thirty- five or forty years ago. The question then arises, " What was the condition of the people at that period ; was it better than it is now ?" It was not; and therefore it is to be inferred that the evil is not overpopulation, but something else. We do not look upon emigration as any remedy for the evils of Ireland, although it may be made a useful adjunct to other and more important measures. The true remedy for Irish grievances is to be found in good political institu- tions. These will break up the great landed estates, and create a mass of freeholders. Let the people be free, and enjoy the benefit of a local legislature ; let the Protestant Church establishment be abolished; let education be pro- vided for all, and a good poop law administered ; let rail- roads, canals and harbours be made, and the subject of co- lonisation properly attended to. These and many other important measures will be the result of good political in- stitutions, and the Irish people become free, intelligent, and prosperous. Before leaving tbe subject of Ireland, it is desirable to add a word or two about the distress of the last two years, and the grants of money made by parliament for its relief. It is clear that there was plenty of food in Ireland ; for, although much food was sent to Ireland, three- times the quantity was sent from that country to England. The boasted assistance rendered by England was ridiculous in its character; food was sent to a country where it existed in abundance, instead of proper means being taken to pre vent its exportation thence, and secure its distribution. Free importation of food from foreign countries into Eng- land and Ireland was prohibited for a considerable time after the cry of famine had been raised; and Ireland was permitted to send away its food at a time when it was pre- tended that there was scarcely anything to eat. Such a state of things could not possibly occur with a local legis- lature, elected on such principles as those laid down in the People's Charter. A cry has recently been revived that England also is over- populated; aud a great desire is evinced by many in- fluential persons, to get rid of a large number of the peo- ple by means of emigration, especially as it is expected that the " troublesome spirits"— the supporters of demo- cracy— would be among the first to go across the Atlantic, if any assistance were rendered them for the purpose. It is true that many industrious people in England are unable to get regular employment, but it by no means fol- lows that there is a redundancy of population. No country is over- populated if it can raise enough food for the ordi- nary consumption of its people; and England as well as Ireland could, under a proper system ef land tenures, raise four times as much food as the present population re quires. There can be no doubt about the complete efficacy of good political institutions in effecting the desired object— the division of the ownership of land, and the utter pre- vention of an hereditary aristocracy ; thejonly question is, whether it is better to have landless labourers than inde- pendent freeholders. The division of the land in England will be accomplished by the present owners and their de- scendants, who will sell out in small parcels. The effect of this will be to relieve manufacturers and traders from overwhelming competition. Land that will not pay for cultivation under the present system, will then be culti- vated ; spade husbandry will be more extensively adopted; there will be a much larger supply of vegetables, poultry and eggs, butter, and cheese ; the land will employ three times as many as it now does. In the first instance, the land will be owned by small farmers, and cultivated by hired labourers; in the course of time subdivisions will take place, and the land will be cultivated by the owners and their families, according to the practice in the United States and the^ demoeratic cantons of Switzerland. These persons will work hard ; and a race of skilful, intelligent, and energetic small farmers will be raised under the sys- tem. ---- tj It is argued, in defence of the present social system in England, " that an hereditary aristocracy is good for trade, and creates employment for great numbers of servants.. The aristocracy purchase luxurious articles of dress, fur- niture and food; they use elegant carriages, and patronise the fine arts." But even if this argument were worth a farthing, which it is not, the answer would be that such advantages are purchased at too high a price, and by too many sacrifices. The fact is, that unless this favoured class be permitted to monopolize the land, it- cannot con- tinue to exist; and it cannot retain the monopoly of the land, unless we not only permit it to govern the coun- try, but also provide for the greater portion of its mem- bers out of the public purse. The moral and intellectual character of the people is debased by the very system which is set up as calculated to elevate the national taste; the people are poor, spirit- less, and subordinated, almost ready, like the people of the east, to fall down and worship this aristocracy. More- over, employment, instead of being increased by the aris- tocratic system, is greatly diminished. The land, nnder the present system of monopoly, does notj'ield direct sup- port to one- third as many persons as it would if it were divided into small farms, and cultivated by the owners themselves. Under really liberal institutions, the great mass of the people would consume more tea, sugar, and other imported articles: and this would increase the foreign commerce and export of manufactured goods : they would use more expensive articles of dress, fill their houses with better furniture, give their children a superior edu- cation, use more books, and purchase more ornaments. The employment'afforded by the aristocracy is insigni- ficant, in comparison with what would be created by the . means just indicated. The real effect of the aristocratic monopoly, then, is to keep the people in a state of utter poverty, ignorance, and barbarism; whereas the effects of a really liberal and truly honest political system are plainly shown, by the experi- ence of the United States, to have a directly contrary cha - racter. We may add, without fear of contradiction, that the triumph of such a system is certain, and that it is only by its means that a reformed condition of society can be obtained by England, or any other nation oa the globe. THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PHASES OF HUMAN SLAVERY: HOW IT CAME INTO THE WOKLD, AND HOW IT SHALL BE MADE TO GO OUT, LETTER I. AT this critical period of the world's history, when either the whole of society must undergo a peaceful social re- formation that shall strike at the root of abuses, or else be incessantly menaced with revolutionary violence and anarchy, it becomes a subject of grave interest to ascer- tain— how human slavery came into the world,— how it has been propagated, wherefore it has been endured so long, the varied phases it has assumed in modern times; and, finally, how it may be successfully grappled with and extinguished, so that henceforth it may exist only in the history of the past. To this interesting inquiry, it will not, metbinks, be amiss to devote a few chapters in a publication which has for its glorious mission the instruc- tion and emancipation of the oppressed classes of society. Glancing over tbe world's map we find nearly all the inhabited parts parcelled out into various nations and races; some called civilized, some savage, and the rest— forming the greater part— in some intermediate state of semi- barbarism. One sad feature, however, is found, with hardly an ex- ception, to belong to all. It is Slavery in one form or another. It is the subjection of man to his fellow- man by force or fraud. Yes! disguise it as we may, human slavery is everywhere to be found— as rife in countries called Christian and civilized, as in those called barbarous and Pagan— as rife in the western, as in the eastern hemi- sphere— as rife in the middle of the nineteenth century, as in tbe Pagan days of the Ptolomies and the Pharoahs. The only difference is— it is in the one case, Slavery direct and avowed, in the other, Slavery hypocritically masked under legal forms. Tbe latter is the phase Slavery has assumed hi countries calling themselves Christian and civilized; but it is a Slavery not the less galling and unbearable, because it is indirect and disguised. What is called " the Working Classes," are the Slave populations of civibzed countries. These classes consti- tute the basis of European society in particular, and of ail civilized societies, in general. We make this restric- tion, because there are societies in which there is found nothing to correspond with what in England and France are called the Working Classes. For example, they are unknown in Arabia, amongst tlienomade tribes of Africa, the Red Indians of America, and the hunter tribes of Tartary; and, although in process of development, they are comparatively " lew and far between " in Russia, Turkey, Greece, and, indeed, throughout the nations of the East in General. Amongst those who write books and deliver speeches about the working classes, few con- cern themselves to note this peculiarity in their history; viz., the fact that they exist in some countries and not in others, and the no less startling fact that it is only at particular epochs of history, and only under certain pecu- liar circumstances of society, they have been known to spring into social existence as a distinctive clas3. Books, journals, pamphlets, essays, speeches, sermons, acts of parliament,— all are alike silent upon this notable fact. Nobody dreams of inquiring whether the working classes do, or do not, constitute a separate and distinct race in the countries they are found in, or of asking themselves what cause or causes produced them at particular epochs and in certain climes, while they continued to be unknown at other epochs and in other climes; and why we find them as it were, sown broadest in one country, while they appear but emerging into doubtful existence in other countries. In truth, the history of the middle and work- ing classes has still to be written; and though it is far from our present purpose to undertake any such task, we shall, nevertheless, of necessity, have to draw largely upon history for the elucidation of the facts and argu- ments by which we shall support our views upon tbe subject of Slavery. Not to encumber the question with details ( which, how- ever interesting to antiquarians and scholars, would be out of place here), let us briefly observe at once, that the working classes, however general and extensive an ele- ment they constitute in modern society, are, nevertheless, but an emanation from another element much more ex- tensive and general, bequeathed to us by the ancient world under the name ofProleterians. By the term Proleterians, is to be understood not merely that class of citizens to which the electoral Census of the Romans gave, the name, but every description of persons of both sexes, who haying no masters to own them, as slaves, and consequently to be chargeable with their maintenance; and who being with- out fortune or friends, were obliged to procure their sub- sistence as they best could— by labour, by mendicity, by theft or by prostitution. The Romans used the term to denote the lowest, or lowest but one class of voters— those who being without property— had only their . offspring ( Proles) to offer as hostages to the State for tlieir good behaviour, or rather as guarantees for not abusing their rights of citizenship. We use the term— in the more en- larged sense of its modern acceptation— to denote every description of persons who are dependant upon others for 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. tlie means Of earning their daily bread, without being- actual slaves. In the early periods of history, and indeed until some time after the introduction of Christianity, the Prole- tarians constituted a very small fraction of society. The reason is obvious. Actual slaves and their owners formed the bulk of every community. The few Proletarians of the old Pagan world were either decayed families who had lost the patrimonies of their fathers, or else the descendants of manumitted slaves, who, in succeeding to the condition of freemen ( acquired for them by their enfranchised forefathers), succeeded also to their poverty and precarious tenure of life, by inheriting the disadvan tage of having no patrons bound to protect them— no masters answerable for their maintenance— no market for their labour. But as such manumissions were, before the establishment of Christianity, comparatively of rare occurrence, and as the offspring of them were as likely to be absorbed in time by the slave- owning class as to sink into and swell the Proletarian, the result was, that until the times of Augustus Cassar, and indeed for a consider- able period after, the Proletarians were by no means a nnmerous class. In other words, there were compara- tively few upon whom the necessity was imposed of ob- taining a precarious subsistence by hired labour, mendicity, theft, or prostitution. Almost all kinds of labour— agricultural and mechanical— were performed by slaves. Masters had, therefore, • little or no occasion to hire " free labourers." Prostitution was followed as a profession only by courtesans, who were freed- women, or the offspring of freed- women, The slave- class who were devoted to that degradation were either the property of masters ( of whose households they formed part), or else of Mangones, or giave- merchants, who openly sold them, or let them out on hire, for that purpose. Of beggars and thieves there could have been comparatively few, for the same reasons { hat kept, down the numbers of hired labourers and pro- fessional . prostitutes. The conditions of society, as then constituted, did not make place for them. As already observed, almost every one was either an aetual slave, or an owner of slaves. If a slave- owner, he lived upon the revenues of his estates— upon his possessions, of which his slaves constituted a part— often the greater part. If a slave, his wants were supplied, and his necessities provided for, bytliose to whom he belonged. If a predal slave, he was kept out of the produce of his master's farms, just as the herds and flocks were kept, both being regarded alike j in the light of chattel property. If, a domestic slave, his keep was a necessary part of his master's household ex- penses. If let out for hire ( an ordinary condition of ancient slavery), a portion of his gains was, of necessity, applied to his own maintenance. In any case— in all cases— he was exempt from want, and from the fear of want, as well as from all care and anxiety, about providing ! for his subsistence. He could not it is true, earn wages pr acquire property for himself, without his master's leave : but neither, on the other hand, was he liable to starvation or privation because there might happen to be no work for him to do. Work, or no work, he was always sure to be well fed, well housed, well clothed and well cared for, as long as his master had enough and was satisfied with him If he was incapable of acquiring property, so was he also exempt from its cares, and sure to participate in the use of his master's; at least to the extent requi- site for keeping him in bodily health and in good condi- tion. Nor were slaves always debarred from the acqui- sition of property. There are instances recorded of slaves having been permitted to amass considerable for- tunes, though tills was rarely the case, till after their masters manumitted them. Some also became celebrated as grammarians, poets, and teachers of belles- lettres and philosophy. Indeed, when they happened to have good, kind masters, their lot was, by no means, a hard one. It was an enviable one in comparison with that of a modem " free- born Briton," rejoicing in the status of " an in- dependent labourer." Of this we shall adduce proofs enough, by and by. Suffice it, for the present, to observe, that so well must slaves have been used to fare under the old Pagan system, that terms corresponding with our " wan- ton," " saucy," " pampered," are of frequent occurrence in the old Greek and Roman classics, as applied to slaves, particularly domestic or menials. At all events, destitu- tion, in the modern sense, was unknown to them; and with it, were also unknown, its inevitable consequences— mendicity, robbery, theft, prostitution, and crime— as characteristic of a class or of a system. Individual, or isolated, cases there might be, and these chiefly amongst the manumitted. But there was no large class of persons subsisting by such means— no outlawed class compelled, as it were, by the very first law of nature— self- preserva- tion— to erect such means into a system in order to pre serve life. Social evilthere were— frightful evils— under the old Pagan system. Slavery itself was an evil— an appalling evil, under even its most favourable conditions. But. fearful as those evils were— hateful as direct slavery must ever be while man is man— the ancient Pagan world has exhibited nothing so revolting and truly abominable as the development and progress of Prole- tarianism, which was consequent upon the breaking up of the old system of slavery, and which has ever since gained more and more strength eveiy age, till, in our own times, it has made Proletarians of three- fourths of • the people of eveiy civilised country, and threatens society itself, with actual dissolution. Strange ! that what God designed to be man's greatest blessing should be made man's greatest curse, by man's own perversity. Yet so it is with almost every good thing designed or invented to perfect man in wisdom and civili zation. It is so with science and machinery: it is so with money ; it is so with public credit; it is so with mercan- tile enterprise; it is so with the institution of private property; and so also, it has hitherto been with the divine institution of Christianity itself! Christianity was introduced into the world at a period when the cup of human wickedness was full to over- ' flowing. The inequalities of human condition were then greater than at any antecedent epoch. Wars, the most : bloody and b: utal, and on the most extensive scale, had - just ravaged the whole civilized world, ending with the destruction of the Roman Republic, and with the erection of a military empire which threatened all nations and all | future generations with irredeemable bondage. The long internecine struggles of Marius and Sylla, of Jtdius Ciesar and I'ompey ; and afterwards of Anthony and Augustus, j had crimsoned three paits ofthe globe with human blood, I and let loose such a universal torrent of rapine, lust, pro- ] scription, conspiracy, and crime of every sort throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, that hardly any nation, or peo- ple, escaped the general demoralization. Direct human slavery ( the personal subjection of man to man as property) i was at its height, as a social institution. Thousands and j hundreds of thousands who had been free citizens, were ' taken prisoners and sold as slaves during those horrid 1 wars. To escape similar disasters, whole nations, and > races without number, placed themselves under the Pro tectorate of Rome, paid tribute to the Imperial Exchequer, and basely bartered their independence, and the rights and liberties of their subjects, to win the smiles, or to court the pleasure, of Augustus and his successors. Rome herself was a mass of incarnadined corruption. To reconcile the Romans to their newly- forged fetters, it became the policy of their Government to brutalize their minds with Gladia- torial shows, or with the familiar sight of human beings torn to pieces by wild beasts; or by shedding each other'sblood with a ferocity unknown to wild beasts,— and to corrupt their hearts and manners with importa- tions of all that was most debasing in the systematized lewdness and debaucheries of the Grecian Stage. It was at this particular crisis of human affairs Christi- anity made its appearance in the world. Need we say the divine mission of its author was to rescue humanity from the scourges we have been describing, to bind up its bleeding wounds, and to infuse into it a spirit the opposite of what had produced the appalling vices and evils so rife at the time of his advent'? Need we expatiate upon the marvellous successes which attended the labours of him- self and his apostles in the early propagation of the gos- pel, or upon the amazing revolution which his followers wrought in the minds of men during the three first cen- turies ? It is quite unnecessary to do so: history has made the world familiar witb the prodigies of those days. Suffice it to say, that anything like so extraordinary and so universal a revolution in the opinions and manners of men had never before been conceived, much less operated. Upon this point, at least, all historians of credit and all tine philosophers agreed. Amongst the greatest of these marvels was the gradual but rapid extinction of direct human slavery, which took place throughout the greater part of the Roman empire during the three first ages. Antecedently to the preach- ing of the gospei, the emancipation of slaves was but of rare and casual occurrence. It happened only on those unusual occasions where a slave could purchase his free dom, or get somebody to purchase it tor him; or when a benevolent owner conferred it upon him as a reward for long and faithful services, or when he broke loose from his owner to become a pirate or bandit; or when some ambitious chieftain or conspirator conferred it illegally by draughting him into his insurgent battalions. But how few the aggregate of these emancipations were even in the early days of the empire, we may infer from a passage iu Seneca, where he tells us that, upon the occasion of a discussion in the senate upon sumptuary laws, a certain senator having proposed that all slaves should be forced to wear a certain uniform, he was immediately reminded of the danger there would be in furnishing the slaves with so ready a means of contrasting their own numbers with the paucity of their masters. Indeed, Tacitus also in- forms us that when the questor, Curtius Lupus, was dis- persing a revolt of slaves which took place in Italy about the twenty- fourth year of the vulgar era, " Rome trembled at the frightful number of the slaves" as com- pared with the small number of free citizens— a number which Tacitus further states was diminishing every day. It would be easy to multiply proofs of this kind, but it is unnecessary, seeing that all historians admit that no emancipation of slaves upon a large scale— no systematic emancipations upon principle, took place antecedently to the introduction of Christianity. But that from the mo- ment the gospel began to take root in Rome, and in its tributary provinces— from that moment tbe manumissions of slaves began to take place frequently and systematically, till at last, upon the complete establishment of Christi anity, direct personal slavery was entirely abolished. Here, however, the perversity of man stept in to undo all that Christianity had done. The very emancipations it operated, and which it intended for the happiness of the emancipated, and to serve as the foundation of a new social edifice in which ail should enjoy equal rights and equal laws— these very emancipations were made a curse instead of a blessing to the emancipated, and to serve for the foundation of a worse system of slavery than any that was known under the Ciesars and the Pharaohs, or than any that exists now in the southern states of America, or under any oriental despotism. Yes! the perverse inge- nuity of man has turned the systematic and benevolent emancipations operated by Christianity into an evil greater than the evil it sought to redress— iuto an indirect and masked system of slavery, more hideous and unbearable than the direct and undisguised slavery it warred against. For what did these Christian emancipations operate ? and what have been their consequences to humanity ? They turned well fed, well housed, comfortable slaves, into ragged starving paupers: and their consequences have been to fill Europe with a race of Proletarians by far more numerous and miserable than the human chattels of the ancients, whose place they occupy in modern civiliza- tion. Out of the systematic emancipations ( the progres- sive and ultimately universal manumission of slaves) ope- rated by Christianity, have sprung what are now called tbe middle and working classes. The more fortunate of the manumitted and of their posterity have become our modern Bourgeois. The less fortunate and more nume- rous have become our modern Proletarians. These latter, are what tbe French call. Ce Proletariat tie. L'Europe; and this Proletariat) their Guizots and doctrinalies now divide into the four following classes, which we pray all true democratcs to mark, learn, and inwardly digest :—- 1. Les Ouvriers ; 2. Les Mendians; 3. Les Voleurs; and 4. Les Filles Publiques: that is to say— 1. WORK- MEN ; 2. BEGGARS ; 3. ROBBERS ; and 4. PROSTITUTES!— a classification which must ba- highly flattering to the ope- rative class, and enamour tnem vastly of royal and doc- trinaire governments ! These several divisions of the Proletariat are thus de- fined by the doctrinaires:— A workman is a Proletarian, who works for wages in order to live. A beggar is a Proletarian, who will not, or cannot work, aud who begs, in order to live. A robber is a Proletarian who will neither work nor beg; but who robs or steals, in order to live. A public woman is a Pro- letarian, who will neither work, nor beg, nor steal, but who prostitutes herself, in order to live. Such is the classification by which the vast majority of civilized society is now- a- days distinguished by writers of the first eminence ! Such is the classification they justify and would uphold! Nay, as we shall show, they offer it to us as a legitimate development of civilization, and as a. just and righteous inheritance purchased for us by the blood of our Redeemer, and bequeathed to us through eighteen centuries of gospel propagandism !!! A NATIONAL REFORMER. ( To be continued in our next.) THE RICH AND THE POOR, THE cry of the rieh still is " Beware! Beware ! In speaking to the people of their sufferings, and in demand- ing for the people tlie suppression of itsmisery. you appeal to the vulgar passions, and you substitute for elevated notions ideas of au inferior order." Oh, truly ! if this language was spoken by ascetic philosophers, by austere denouncers of earthly pleasures and riches, there would be no necessity for becoming angry at the objection— to refute it would be sufficient. But behold the absurdity ! It is when leaviug their joyous repasts, it is by the sweet sounds of the music that enlivens their brilliant saloons, it is within the walls of their sumptuous palaces where their meditations take refuge ; it is with Seneca's golden pen in the hand, that the happy few endeavour to prevent us from disputing with them the possession of some por- tion of that which renders their lives the highest exaltation of happiness, in favour of those without shelter, and with- out bread. Ah! I confess it, my heart revolts at such hypocrisy. They are ignorant, then, these profound teachers, that misery refuses to man, from his cradle, every avenue leading to morality ; that in denying him education, it smothers his intellect and crushes his soul; that in condemning him to manual labour, exaggerated and brutalizing, it serves to render him like those ma- chines they have now raised up as his rival- They have never heard say, then, in answer to those who believe but in crime, " That which fills the prisons is HUNGER !" They have never read, in the searching work of Parent- Ducha- telet, the cause that makes prostitutes of females ! With the map of society opened before their eyes, they are too biiud to trace that excess of misery and ignorance lead in the same direction as crime— that tliG hospital is upon the road to the gaol! Truly I admire their theories. As ii it were not the absolute relation of body and soul which pro- duces the actions of mankind.— Louis Blanc's \ ouveUe Monde. REVIEWS. _ " THE U- XBRIDGE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM."— Cheap publica- tions have doue more to open men's eyes, to elevate their souls above the cramped aud slavish ideas of bygone days, and to inspire them with a proper contempt for the decay- ing dogmas of hereditary superiority, than even the glaring instances of perfidy aud vice that are constantly occurring in the upper, and so- styled superior, ranks of life. One of the great aims at which the oligarchy constantly aim, is to shut up the true sources of knowledge from the people, and by keeping their minds in darkness, render them wil- ling and submissive slaves. In confirmation of this asser- tion, the " Uxbridgc Spirit of Freedom" is an existing proof. When started by some intelligent, enterprising, and, it is scarcely necessary- to add, DEMOCRATIC working men, tbis excellent periodical was denounced from the pulpit in the name of God, and a series of persecutions were set on foot by the aristocracy and clergy of the neigh- bourhood to crush and annihilate the dauntless proprietors. They were compelled to purchase their oivii type, for no printer in Uxbridge dared offend their powerful opponents ; but, in the face of threats and anathemas, the " Uxbridge Spirit of Freedom" has pursued its useful career for nine months, and we sincerely trust it will exist long enough to see the day when arrogance and oppression shall be brought to the earth and trampled in tlic dust. The size is about to be enlarged, and to meet increased expenses the pro- prietors trust that a greater circulation will enable them to continue prosperously the good work. " THE DEMOCRATIC REVIEW."— This work is one of the most valuable additions to the cheap periodical publica- tions of the present day. From the commencement its able and liberal editor, Mr. Julian Harney, lias firmly and energetically advocated those principles of freedom and progress which are rapidly sweeping away the old, barba- rous, and servile notions that so unhappily distinguished our ancestors. Let us bave but a few more such publica- tions circulated throughout the length and breadth of the land, and we dare assert that in a few years' time a proper spirit of . independence will be roused up in the breasts of Englishmen, aud no knee will be found to bend to mere rank, tinsel pomp, and gaudy ostentation. Mr. Harney has secured the assistance of an able staff of contributors, aud every line in his periodical is fraught witb power, and breathes a noble freedom, lie himself is a generous- hearted patriot, and wo cordially wish him success iu all his undertakings. A WARNING VOICE.— Whenever the country comes to present the spectacle of starving millions supplicating for bread, the public voice will sweep away at once all pensions, titles, and honours.-— Sir James Graham. A ' NEW HISTORY OF ENGLAND- CHAPTER II. WILLIAM RUFUS. WILLIAM RUFUS, tlie second son of the Conqueror, sur- named Rufus or tlie Red Prince from the colour of his hair, was at Gerras, near Grenoble, when his father died ; but a letter being written by the Conqueror to Lanfranc, then the primate, recommending him to create his son King of England ( Normandy and Maine being left to his eldest son Robert), William hastened the mo- ment he had procured this, to take measures for secur- ing the crown. The right of primogeniture was how- ever'violated in this matter, for Robert, who had re- belled, against his father, and deeply incurred his anger, was thus deprived of his rights ( according to law) and William had reasons to apprehend resistance to the man- date which made him king. His first act was to secure all the strong fortresses that he could along the southern coasts, such as Dover, Pevensey and Hastings, and by pretended authority from the late king he obtained possession of the treasury at Winchester, which amounted to a very considerable sum. Lanfranc for many reasons, willingly seconded his effort, because after having educated him, and be- stowed upon him the honour of knighthood, he supposed the monarch would be as tractable as the pupil had been. He therefore assembled such of his bishops and nobility as ho could, and proceeded to crown him. This took place in 1087. This measure would, to a certain extent, prevent men from rising against a recognized authority, and awe those who might have proved refractory, but who, he thought, would not dare to contest the claims of one whose rights were sanctioned by the head of the church. The division of Normaudy from England, gave great umbrage and dissatisfaction to the nobles, many of whom held large possessions in both these countries; and the favourite doctrine of holding the fiefs ( under one head) in all their integrity had become an important principle of those times. It would be impossible to serve two masters, whose interests were not connected in any shape or way, and whose very relationship would be more likely to make the ties of consanguinity which existed between them, deepen from rivalry into utter hatred. They must either sacrifice their ancient pos- sessions, or their newly acquired property', and the con- sequences of this state of insecurity, vacillation, and doubt, were soon made evident, Robert's claim to Nor- mandy was clear enough, and even his right to the crown of England, provided he chose to make it, might be established by law, custom and arms; while per- sonally, despite of all drawbacks, he is said to have pos- sessed so many favourable traits as to leave Rufus nothing but the blackest qualities of treachery and ingratitude as his characteristics. In order to build or Lo subvert, It requires only that the passions of men be played with. It is ignoble after all to trace back these gigantic catastrophies of history, and find that they originate in causes so peurile and so remote that they appear to have only a connexion in the most indirect degree. To the envious feelings of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and Robert, Earl of Montaigne, who were jealous of the great credit and reputation that Lanfranc enjoyed, may be attributed the attempt which was made to deprive William of his crown. Courts and nobles, both of Norman and of English descent, were en- gaged in the plot, and the highest names in the land were found in the list of the revolted. But while the blow was as yet in suspense, a powerful army being expected from Normandy, and hostilities, on a small scale even begun in many places, still the strife did not take'any decided form, or shape, for many were doubt- ful of the results of such a course. William Rufus saw the dangerous situation in which he was placed. One might be tempted to say that the same course of action among the cruel— the tyrannical — the powerful must invariably betray a grovelling and base nature. Place such a man in a perilous condition and he will fawn and cringe at the feet of those whom he has formerly trampled, and when danger is past, will again cast them aside as worthless. The only thing left for . William to do, was to engage as many of his English subjects on his side as possible, and as there was little inducement for men voluntarily to spring around his banner, the tyrant offered them many advantages, euch as immunity from several obnoxious imposts, char- ters for markets, the privilege of hunting in" the royal forests, protection from the barons— in fact promises of every kind were lavishly made without the remotest intention on his part of performing them. He was soon enabled to shew liis adversaries a bold front, and while his foes were waiting help from Nor- mandy, he suddenly marched into Kent, where liis uncle Odo of Baieux, and Robert of Montaigne, had seized the castles of Pevensey and Rochester. These he reduced by famine, and banishing the conquered nobles, he con- fiscated their estates. This energetic step, together with the indolence of his brother Robert, made the pro- posed Norman success of no avail. Submission or flight were the only resources of the discomfited barons. Some few were pardoned, many were attainted, and the forfeited estates were bestowed upon the Norman nobles who had been faithful to him. The silence of the chro- niclers best explains in what manner the King rewarded the English who had been his chief support. Freed from the dangers attending these insurrections, Rufus in the moment of his security turned his back ' npon those who had so stoutly befriended him, and his promises were broken and thrown to the winds. The people found themselves still at the mercy of their feudal lords, and the very attempts to make their condition known to the kiiig, only aggravated their evils by rous- 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. ing the almost insane fury of a man whose violence be- came proverbial. For a length of time his wanton and tyrannical disposition was repressed by the influence of Lanfranc, until the primate died, and the administration of the king became arbitrary to a decree of despotism altogether oriental. Life, liberty, and property lay at his mercy. Even the powers of the church, then in those days so tremendous, were disregarded. The tem- poralities of all vacant abbeys and bishopries were seized upon without the slightest ceremony. Successors were delayed to be appointed, in order that he might profit by the revenues derived from the treasures, or the produce of the lauds, and he set up to open sale such sees as he thought most likely to bring in the highest purchase money. In the year 1090, William thought himself sufficiently powerful to make an attack upon Normandy. The in- dolent disposition of Robert had emboldened the Nor- man barons to become arrogant in conduct, and to ex- hibit an independency of his authority, little consistent with their oaths as subjects, and the peace of the land was distracted with their quarrels. Two of them were bribed by William to give up to him the fortresses of St. Valori and Albemarle. This example was imitated by several others: Philip of France, whose vassal Count Robert was, being deterred from interposing by large gifts sent him from William, who had policy enough of a certain kind, but one which is always the resort of men, who, like him, could command neither friendship or esteem. William embarked for Normandy in order to wrest his brother's possessions from him, but the war which seemed inevitable was stayed by the interposition of the nobles who had so many interests in both countries, and upon whom the sense of self- interests had more weight than any moral justice they might have seen in the matter. William, however, obtained all the advantage which this warlike bubble produced in the cession of some towns, and a territory in Normandy: and a treaty of mutual assistance was entered into, each brother stipulating, that either of them dying, the survivor should inherit both dominions, an agreement that met with no objection, as either might be supposed the right- ful heir ( failing one) of all that their father once pos- sessed. Prince Henry, the brother who had sided with Robert, being totally neglected, was so reduced that after being besieged by William and Robert in the fortress of St. Michael's Mount, despoiled of all his patrimony, he wandered about a fugitive ior a consider- able time in a state of utter destitution. The whole of this period was one of eternal wrangling and intestine war between the nobles. While the king sat at ease in his court, his barons made frays, fought out their quarrels, despoiled the country, set villages on fire, and otherwise kept up that perpetual turmoil which marks this and the like periods. The public wars were alone inconsequential either in the loss of life or their results, good or bad. After this disturbance in Nor- mandy hostilities of a short duration sprang up with Scotland, and that country did homage to England for the crown ( Malcolm being the Scotch king), and for two years this peace continued. Being of a bold and war- like temperament, however, in 1093 he levied war upon England, and devastated Northumberland, but was killed in a desperate skirmish at Alnwick, and for some years the regular succession of the Scottish crown was thus interrupted. Disturbances also broke out afresh in Normandy, and William ordered an army of twenty thousand men to follow him to that country, but, at the instigation of his minister, he exacted ten shillings a head from them in lieu of their service and dismissed them. With this money he is said to have done more than he could else have affected, with all his army. A rising on the Welsh borders prevented his using all the advantages he had gained, and a cleverly ramified conspiracy among his Jown nobles was a more serious event than all, for it was proposed to dethrone him and place his cousin Stephen on the throne. The crusades, which occurred at this time, convulsed whole social fabric through the world ; and nations, as it were, emptied themselves of their myriads in order that they might perish upon the plains of Gallilee. This extra- ordinary and gigantic movement of a', 1 ranks and classes of people, of every civilized nation under heaven, was first set in motion by a fanatic inonk, called Peter the Hermit. The sole object was to rescue the sepulchre of the Saviour from tlie hands of infidels, of whom stories so exaggerated and ridiculous, were told, that the marvels of the Arabian Nights are grave and quite commonplaces by compari- son ; so wild and absurd were they that it is'diffieult to account for the avidity witli which men swallow down the huge— the measureless falsehoods retailed to them. Be it as it may, one universal frenzy made every interest for- gotten. Quarrels and battles were laid aside. Hostile interests were reconciled, and the greater part of the mighty armies assembled for transit from Constantinople to Asia were attacked and cut to pieces in Phrygia. It is roundly computed that the remains of at least two millions of men made the plains of Esdraelen, and other places of Palastine, one vast Golgotha. The sacrifice of all prospects of property, crowns, dynesties, dukedoms and estates, was made on all hands alike with only one exception:— Wlllian Rufus, with a placidity— an indifference, that implied a total want of that, fervid temperament said to spring from enthusiasm or an excited imagination, remained at home, and profited largely in the immediate results of this fanatical crisis, for his brother Robert, casting off his natural indolence, had enlisted himself in the crusades, and offered his dominions to William for the sum often thousand marks, which was accepted, though the money was raised by the most violent, cruel, and despotic means. Profane to impiety, rapacious to an extent that made his life one wholesale robbery, lie appears to have viewed this extravagant chivalry, which at least was sincere in its purpose, like a knavish broker, who watches every opportunity of purchase or exchange, the moment that any circumstance gives him an unfair advantage over those whom he may have selected for plundering. Not only did the phlegmatic temper of the king check the spirit of adventure ( so far as the crusades went) among his people, but the insulated position of England pre- vented that direct personal intercourse with the continent which might have brought rumours of an exaggerated kind to the doors, and thus quickened the spirit of men who were afterwards among the foremost in the field. ^ When Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died, the King retained in his own hands the revenues of the see, but terrified by a sudden and dangerous illness, he was induced to make atonement for this usage of the patrimony of the church, and for this purpose selected Anselm, abbot of Bee, in Normandy, to fill tiie vacant chaii'. At first, this priest most obstinately refused to accept this dignity, but the determination of the king, made inflexible by the fear of death, a period for which he was at any time little prepared, overruled the church- man, and he was at last prevailed upon to accept the badge of spiritual distinction. William soon recovering, his passions raged with still greater violence than ever. The monks and churchmen of the time speak with the most acrimonious bitterness of his rapacity, his tyranny and his licentiousness, and there is no reason to believe that they have, in any instance, overdrawn the dark and criminal stains in his character. There is an ostentation of humility in men who have adopted the church as their " mother," which becomes, in many instances, pride and obstinacy, parallel to the attributes of Lucifer himself, and Anselm was such a one. A quarrel on this ground, between himself and the king, rose to such a height that William summoned a synod, at Rockingham, in order to depose him from the office he hail forced upon the hold, untractable churchman," and Anselm was coaipelled to retire to France, while William was menaced with excommuni- cation ; Pope Urban having received Anselm with great favour, considering him a martyr to the King's impious intolerance, With singular inconsistency, however, while the Church sternly exacted the fealty due by its own vassals, it decreed that it was execrable on the part of the King and his barons to make their serfs grovel on their knees, and placing their two hands between those of their superiors, thus perpetuating the feudal oath that life and limbs should be at their disposal when called upon to go forth to the field. The additions which William made to his dominions by conquest and by chicanery, gave him no increase of power, because those territories were still in a most re- volted state, and the French monarch, who had accepted all the gifts that William made him, finding, it may be presumed, that this source was exhausted, encouraged the continual insurrections which took place in Nor- mandy, probably having an eye to their seizure for himaelf when opportunity should serve. In consequence of these differences, William was on one occasion com pelled to inflict a summary punishment on one of his rebellious nobles. Helic, lord of la Hecke ( in Anjou), besieged the garrison of Mans ( 1099), and William, who received news of this when hunting, hastened to Dart- mouth and insisted on putting to sea, in spite of a dreadful tempest that arose. By this energetic measure lie delivered the citadel from the menaced danger, and pursued the formidable baron into his own territory, but a severe wound compelled the King to return, and raising the siege of Majol in 1100 he sailed for England. The Crusades still continued their extraordinary influence, in spite of the appalling sacrifice of life attending them, and William, Earl of Poictiers, and Duke of Guienne, offered to mortgage his estate to William, who gladly seized the opportunity; but the bargain was scarcely struck, when he was assassinated in the New Forest. Walter Tyrrel, a French chevalier of great address and skill in archery, had received some unpar- donable insult from the king which he was resolved to avenge. On one occasion, while hunting, tbe oppor- tunity offered itself. Bending his bow at a stag, at the very moment the King made his appearance from an opening of the forest, the arrow pretended to be aimed at the animal, found its way to the heart of Rufus, who instantly fell dead from his horse. This was attributed to the accidental striking of the arrow against a tree and rebounding back from it to William's breast; but the fact of the rumoured wrong and the instantaneous flight of Tyrrel leave no doubt as to the truth. William died on the 2nd of August 1100. His interment was conducted without attendance or ceremony, and with such indecent haste ( supposing that, as a human being, any sympathy could be felt with him), as proves the little estimation in which he was held. " His courtiers were negligent in performing the last duties to a master who was so ill- beloved; and every one was too much occupied in the important object of fixing his successor to attend to the funeral of a dead sovereign." His memory, unrelieved by one aoble trait, one mag- nanimous action, or one pure sentiment, comes down to us in chronicles, lay and secular, as one violent and tyrannical. A perfidious friend, an encroaching neigh- bour, a heartless and ungenerous relation, he drew upon himself the hatred of all who knew him, whether a subject or a noble. If he did possess abilities they do not show themselves in any of his actions. To pui- chase additions to his dominions may exhibit a diseased craving to possess more than he knows what to do with, aud to rob his people in order to pay off his liabilities for them, betrays a genius for diplomacy little larger than that of a barbarous pirate who scours the seas in search of plunder. He is said to have made additions to the Tower, and to have built Westminster Hall and Loudon Bridge; what these monuments of the skill of his age may have been cannot, we opine, be well ascer- tained, as, ages after, they were so altered, that nothing! of the original structures could exist. Wiliam was killed in the thirteenth year of Iris reign and the fortieth 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. of his age, and having never married, he left no legiti- mate son or daughter to inherit the throne. It was in lus time that the last descent was made by the northern pirates upon the shores of Britain. Magnus, King of Norway, landed in the Isle of Anglesea, but was repulsed by Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury. The arts of peace began to keep that restless people at home, and trade and commerce appear to have found them other occupations than that of pillage. EDWIN ROBERTS. LORD JOHN IN THE LION'S SKIN- " ONE man may steal a horse with impunity, while another will be hanged for only looking over the hedge." This maxim especially applies to the political world, where a " Noble Lord," or a " Right Honourable," or a wealthy middle- class- man may say what they choose, while the orators of the working- classes are snatched up and thrust into gaol for comparatively venial language. We are now about to afford an illustration of the truth of these observations, an illustration which will likewise show how different the Lord John Russell of 1848- 9 is from the Lord John Russell of 1831. And to do this, we must first quote matter which, if it emanated direct from our pen and was put forth as our sentiments and recommen- dations, would have the pleasant and agreeable effect of plunging us into Newgate the moment it appeared in ' print. The following language was used by Ma. EDMONDS at a grand meeting of the Birmingham Political Union in 1831 ( prior, of course, to the passing of the Reform Bill), and over which meeting Mr. Attwood presided :— " Mr. EDMONDS :— Should the Lords reject the bill, and should the King refuse the creation of peers, then it re- mained for the people to put in action a power which all constitutional writers admitted they had a right to exercise, when Government was tyrannously opposed to the great majority of the nation. The power to which he alluded had driven an anointed King from the throne of England, and was equally competent to drive an unanointed peerage from the House of Lords. They were all acquainted with a peaceful and orderly body of men called Quakers, to whose example he wished specially to call the attention of the meeting. This respectable sect of Christians refused to support a parson ; but in their opposition they did not knockout the brains ofthe tithe- collectors; they simply suffered a distraint to be levied on their goods. Now, if the Quakers refused to pay the tithes, the people generally might refuse to pay the taxes; and if the bailiff came, he would like to know where they would find the auctioneer who would dare to sell, or the people who would dare to buy. ( Cheers.) The voice of the auctioneer, he conceived would be passive, not active ; and rather than knocking down, he would be himself knocked down. When Hamp- den refused the payment of ship- money, his gallant con- duct electrified England, and pointed out the way by which the people, when unanimous and combined, might rid themselves of an odious and oppressive oligar- chy. He ( Mr. Edmonds) declared before God that if all constitutional measures failed, he should, and would, be the first man to refuse the payment of taxes, except by a levy upon his goods ( Tremendous cheers which lasted some minutes). I now call upon all who hear me, and who are prepared to join me in this step, to hold up their hands. ( An immense forest of hands was immediately elevated, accompanied by vehement cheering.) 1 now call upon you who are not prepared to adopt this course to hold up your hands, and signify your dissent. ( Not a single hand appearing, loud shouts and cheers were repeated). Can the peers refuse the bill because they trust in the army ? No! they cannot have an army to fight for them without they pay that army, and if the people refuse to pay taxes, how will that army be paid ? ( loud cheers). But supposing the English peo- ple were foolish enough to consent to pay taxes for the supply of such an army, where would it be found ? Would the gallant men who had reaped immortal honours in foreign lands, consent to tarnish their honours by mur- dering their wives, their friends, and their relatives ? ( Loud cries of " No, no.") To support the tyranny of 300 men over 16,000,000, would they imbrue their swords in the blood of their countrymen ? The supposition is ridiculous ! The feelings of the people cannot longer be trifled with ; they are already so fettered aud degraded, so debased, that life has no charm but in the hope of returning freedom. ( Loud cheers.) It is said that the Reverend Fathers in God, the Bishops, will. oppose the bill: they do, their fate, which even now is exceedingly doubtful, will be irrevocably sealed. ( Hear.) The haughty pinnacles of the establishment will be buried in the dust, with a nation's execration for their epitaph; the splendid mitres will fall from the heads of the bishops; their crosses will fall as if from a palsied hand ; their robes of lawn may be turned into the garb of mourning ; and my lord, the Bishop of London, may shut up his palace and take out a licence for a beer- shop. ( Loud laughter and cheers.) " Mr. B. IIADLEY moved the fourth resolution, and said that it was unnecessary for him to point out the difficul- ties and opposition whieh the noble individuals mentioned in it had met with in their noble endeavours to promote the passing of the measure for reform; and he hoped the meeting would pass that resolution which was expressive of its gratitude to Lords Althorp and Russell, with a long and hearty aye. The resolution was then passed unani- mously."— Times, October 3rd, 1831. The above report is taken, as the reader will perceive, from the Times newspaper— that journal whieh is now the government organ, and which has always exercised an immense influence in this country. Mr. Attwood, chairman of the meeting alluded to duly forwarded the resolution to Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp, and Lord John Russell sent the following reply:— " I beg to acknowledge with hearttelt gratitude the un- deserved honour done me by 15.000 of my countrymen. Our prospects are now obscured for a moment, and 1 trust only for a moment. It is impossible that the whisper of faction should prevail against the voice of the nation."— Times, October 12tli, 1831, In'this letter his Lordship expressed no dissent from the language used at the meeting when the resolution was passed; and in Parliament he subsequently gave his adhesion to all the doctrines and principles then enun- ciated. For when Sir Henry ( now Lord) Hardinge rose and accused Lord John of openly encouraging recourse to violence by approving the proceedings at the meeting of the Birmingham Political Union, in his letter to Mr. Att- wood, his Lordship replied in the ensuing manner:— " On the part of the meeting he saw nothing unconsti- tutional, nothing inconsistent with the rights, that _ as Englishmen, they possessed; and, more especially, nothing inconsistent with that right whieh they had enjoyed from their ancestors. He had, therefore, thought that it was a duty which he owed to the people of Birmingham and himself,, to express his gratitude to tliem for the vote of thanks which they had given to His Majesty's Ministers generally, and to himself individually.—( Hear hear). And he had yet to learn that there had been anything in the conduct of that meeting which ought to lead him to re- fuse accepting a vote of thanks from it.—( Hear, hear)." Times, October lath, 1831. We now quote a passage from a speech delivered in Parliament by Lord John Russell, taken from the Times of March 2, 1831:— " The question was, whether without some measure of reform the Government, or any Government, could carry on the affairs of the country with the support and confidence of the nation. If this could not be done, it then might become a question whether reform could be resisted: but there could be no question that in such a case the British Constitution must perish.—( Loud mur- murs). There could, not, however, be any doubt that at a very early period of our history, representation in Parlia- ment was considered the right of all the people in England. Representation being, therefore, a question of right, it be- came clear that the Reformers had right in their favour." We now give a few lines from a speech in Parlia- ment hy Mr. Macaulay, taken from the Times, March 1831:— ' If the whole of the people of the country could be better governed by a Republic, they undoubtedly had the right to make the choice by the voice of their repre- sentatives." We leave the above facts to speak for themselves,— only reminding our readers that Lord John Russell was the Minister by whose Cabinet the Gagging Bill was passed, and that Mr. Macaulay was at the time a mem- ber of that^ Cabmet in the capacity of Paymaster of the Forces. THE ARISTOCRACY: ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND DECAY. CHAPTER II. HENRY THE FOURTH, who stepped into the vacant throne, certainly found that it was no bed of roses; he was soon surrounded by hostile and disappointed spirits, who were incessantly intriguing to overthrow the usurping monarch. The scenes that took place amongst the nobles on the opening of his first Parliament, are described by historians to have been of a singular and characteristic kind. " There was rarely a lord who had not been involved in the inex- plicable intrigues of the last twelve years. There was plenty of ground for recrimination, and the opportunity was not lost. The terms liar, and traitor, resounded from every corner of the house; forty gauntlets were thrown upon the floor, as the pledge of battle in lists." The men who had placed him on the throne, were now the first to rise in arms against liim; the treacherous lords upon whom he had heaped dignities and estates had become ravenous for more, and disappointed in their expectations, menaced the existence of the throne. The Percies, in the North, were eventually defeated and destroyed. But the King's life was so embittered by the constant conspiracies raised by the nobles, that he died at the early age of forty- seven, after living for many years in constant gloom, suspicion, and fear. Henry the Fifth succeeded his father, but he was so occupied by his wars in France that the nobility, who re- mained ignominiously at home, found ample time to screw the people out of their resources, under pretext of carrying on the wars abroad. The battle of Agincourt was gained by English plebeian blood against the patricians of France. The bowmen of England decided the victory, and dispersed the whole vanguard of the French host, before the chivalry of England had struck a blow. The French nobles, deem- ing their country should only be defended by warriors of gentle blood, rejected the services of the burghers and plebeians, and the consequence was they were routed by the hardy bowmen of England. The victory of Agincourt was gained by the people, and by their prowess alone were the arms of this country triumphant over the chivalry of France. As we advance ill the history of the Aristocracy during the reign of succeeding sovereigns, we shall find that they have gradually elevated a supreme power on the disputes of contending factions, only encroaching almost imper- ceptibly upon the liberties of the people; that this power increased to an enormous and unprecedented extent until the latter part of the reign of George the Third, when the people, becoming sensible of the ridiculous position they had so long occupied in subserviency to the Aristocracy, commenced lopping the branches of their power, prepara- tory to uprooting its stem. Henry the Fifth was succeeded by his miserable soil, Henry the Sixth, whose fortunes bore a striking resem- blance to those of his predecessor, Richard the Second. Both, of weak intellects and wicked instincts, became the easy prey of ravenous nobles and greedy favourites— both were involved in destruction by the powerful avaricious factions surrounding them. Scarcely had Henry ascended the throne when the men of Kent appeared agaiD, with Jack Cade for their leader: their demands were equal in moderation and justice with those put forward by Wat Tyler. The same scene, the same delusion, and the same treachery ou the part ofthe King and nobles took place, and was again successful; one of the ferocious lords re- marking that " every second one of the base rabble should han g, as a warning to his neighbours for his future con- duct." When thewrongs of the people had thus been set- tled by rope and sword, the Aristocracy, grown to the highest state of arrogance and power, disagreed amongst themselves, and a claimant to the throne started up in the person of the Duke of York. The question was not so much who should be King as which faction should clutch all the wealth and possessions wrung from the people, whose will in choosing a sovereign to reign over them was never consulted by the Aristocracy, but their money and blood was squandered and shed in upholding the preten- sions of a party that when their purposes were served, trod upon the men that had helped to elevate them. The partisans of the reigning house were enjoying the wealth, honours, and powers wrested from the line of the Plantagenets, by the usurpation of Henry the Fourth, whilst the adherents of the Duke of York were certain that in caseof his success, the plunder of the people would become theirs. Hence arose the furions bloody wars be- tween the houses of York and Lancaster,— wars that deluged England with gore, laid waste the country, burnt and destroyed the homes of the poor, and maintained a constant and fresh supply of bleeding, trunkless heads affixed upon the gates and ramparts of our towns. On the side of York, was arrayed the powerful house of Neville, which had risen to such an extraordinary pitch of great- ness, by the unscrupulous plunder of everything that came within its reach, that now, having attained an over- grown eminence, it aimed at one step more, which ended in its downfall— placing itself upon the throne. Warwick endeavoured to accomplish this end by means of marriage: his second daughter, Anne, becoming the wife of Richard the Third, he would, had the King's throne remained firm, have given the descendants of the Neville a right to the crown of England. The career of this ruffianly Earl was one perpetual scene of blood and strife ; rapine, murder, and dismay fol- lowed in his footsteps; disappointed ambition stirred up the worst fury of revenge, and the nation was deluged in blood, to satisfy the vengeance of a single man. He had set up Edward the Fourth to put him down again ; he in- cited Clarence to rebel against his brother; he supported Henry the Sixth, whom he had before dethroned, and then entered into a friendly league with Margaret, whom he had pursued with relentless fury for many years: mar- ried his second daughter to Prince Edward, the only son of Henry and Margaret; and at length fell fighting against Edward the Fourth, the very man in whose cause he had desolated the whole country, turned its fertile lands into a barren wilderness, studded by gibbets, and reeking with gore. Tho present Earl, although not really descended from the miscreant King- maker, is well worthy of the name he bears; possessed of scarcely sufficient sense even for a lord, he is a bigotted and intollerant old Tory, regarding the people as his slaves, and their property as the legitimate plunder of his order. The imbecile King, Henry the Sixth, in the moment of trouble, became a perfect nonenity; his Queen, Mar- garet, had spirit, but her blood- thirsty character, and her open, shameless amours, scandalized the nation, and ren- dered her a deserving object for popular hatred. The scenes of cruelty and blood that took place to gratify the clashing ambitions of two rival factions, surpass almost the limits of human credence; the people were the victims ; their blood was shed in torrents, and their hearths ren- dered desolate, by the barbarous warfare of wicked men, calling themselves nobles. Edward the Fourth ascended the throne, and the Aristocracy attached to the fortunes of York, fell with ravenous claws upon the possessions of tiie people. After Edward's accession, there followed a long list of horrible battles, more dreadful, if possible than the deeds of blood that had preceded it. Towton' Hedgely Moor, Hexam, Barnet, and Tewkesbury, were fields of slaughter ; one hundred and fifty thousand people were sacrificed in war, besides the horrible murders assas- sinations, and executions that were daily taking' place. Henry the Sixth's son, the stripling Edward, was barba- rously stabbed in the King's presence, by Clarence and Gloucester, the latter ruffian marrying the boy's wife, Anne, daughter of Warwick, and the former was drowned in a- butt of malmsey. Edward the Fourth married Sir John Grey's widow, Elizabeth Woodville; and, as the name of Grey is at present a bye- word for everything that is selfish, avari- cious, and grasping, we take the following passage from " Knight's History of England," as a proof that it is an hereditary principle in those bearing the name of Grey, in the peerage, to quarter themselves upon the public :— " But now the Woodvilles, the Ureys, all the relations and connections of the new queen, rushed to the table with an enormous and indiscriminating appetite, every man in right of consanguinity, asking a title, a place, an estate, or a rich wife." The Greys are still a flourishing race, and threaten to saddle themselves upon us for many generations, unless vigourously shaken off'. The infernal Gloucester, on the death of Edward the Fourth, murdered his two sons, Gloucester's own ne- phews, and ascended the throne as Richard the Third. The titles of Gloucester and Clarence are carefully pre- served in the Royal Family ; perhaps a more appropriate one couldjiot have been selected for that addle- pated spe- cimen of royalty— William; whilst the deeds of foul mur- der and black treachery, as attached to the name of Glou- cester, read to royal personages the sanguinary memoirs of their predecessors, and the atrocities by which the throne has been upheld, forming a pleasing study in the leisure hours ol royalty. The total want of principle, the absence of all shame on the part of the nobility, was never more strikingly de- monstrated than by the fact that, after Richard had com- mitted a base murder upon the persons of two innocent children, and was blackened to the very soul in secret crime, the Aristocracy, with their usual sycophancy, crowded round the blood- stained throne of the assassin, and bent the knee before his deformed and sickening presence. The Duke of Buckingham was the most ve- hement for Richard's usurpation, even at the price of murdering the two royal children, who were his own wife's nephews ; he bore the miscreant's train, at his marriage with Anne, daughter of Warwick, and wife of the youth Richard had himself assassinated, tbe Countess of Rut- land performing the same office for the forgiving lady. This is, however, not the worst. The deformed monarch had not only murdered the sons of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England, but he had also decapitated her brother, Lord Rivers, and her near kinsman, Lord Grey; he now proposed to rid himself of his wile, Anne, of Warwick, and to espouse the daughter of the woman whose nearest and dearest relatives he had 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. thus unscrupulously cut off. Elizabeth eagerly accepted the offer, and the worthy daughter of such a mother was enly too ready for carrying out the proposition. Queen Anne felt suddenly ill, a thing not unfrequent in Richard's court when any person obstructed his views, and it was expected she would die; but in the meantime, this Eliza- beth, daughter of the adulterous Edward and the un- scrupulous Woodville, this child of royalty and of Aris- tocracy— this pure specimen of those who are elevated far above their fellow creatures, this young savage writes to the Duke of Norfolk, the favorite of Richard, imploring him to forward her marriage with the king,— the mur- derer of her brothers, and of her uncle, and of her kins- men,— whom she tenderly calls " her joy and maker in this world— the master of her heart and thoughts." The youthful tigress expresses her surprise at the Queen's living so long, and regrets it in the following terms:— " The latter part of February is past, and the Queen is still alive— will she never die ? Anne died the next month, and Elizabeth was prepared to ascend the throne when the battle of Bosworth put an end to the dreadful career of Richard. Pity that such a fitting match should have been thus arrested; what a glorious and humane race of kings we might have expected had it taken place ! The young lady, however, in no ways particular, became ihe wife of Henry the Seventh, and mother of that vicious monster, Henry the Eighth. Before such wretches did the proud nobility of England submissively bow. The Duke of Buckingham deserted the king's cause, not from any principle of affection to his opponent's person, but simply because his own extravagant demands could not be instantly gratified; his inordinate rapacity cost him his head. With the accession of Henry the Seventh the great blow was struck at feudal Aristocracy, and their first era was closed. During the last reigns, if we reflect upon the oceans of blood their constant and useless strifes had caused to be shed— if we ponder upon the evils they had accumu- lated upon the nation, and upon the obstacles they offered to the advancement of civilization, and the improvement of the people's minds, by their barbarous and selfish war- fares, well may we curse the order in our hearts and de- plore they were not exterminated for ever. Henry tbe Seventh was a money- grubber, and exceed- ingly jealous of the kingly privilege he possessed of dip- ping his royal hands into his subjects' pockets, so much so that during his reign all grants made since the thirty- fourth of Henry the Fourth, were resumed, and by this means the king obtained full power over the greatest por- tion of the Yorkist's property. Never wanting an expe- dient to rid himself of the possessor of coveted domains. Henry contrived to impeach and behead his subjects, and confiscate their properties; so that although during this reign the hands of the nobility were restrained, the paws of royalty were not inactive. Henry went on scrap- ing money until death overtook him, and hurried away his miserly soul from its favorite occupation, when Henry the Eighth, one of the most lustful and bloody tyrants that ever disgraced the pages of History, reigned in his stead. We will not pursue his career at much length, it is al- ready too well known. It has been appropriately said of him—" that he spared no man in his vengeance nor woman in his lust •," such a monster could only have sprung from one source— the blending of royalty with Aristocracy. Of his six wives, two he divorced, and two were beheaded : One escaped hio fury by dying in child- bod, and the last survived him, after having many hair- breadth escapes for srer neck. Yet, strange to say, so great is the infatuation and so cringing the character of the English Aristocracy to anything in the shape of royalty, that this Blue Beard of a husband never wanted for a candidate amongst the daughters of his nobility to fill up the vacant couch. One alone refused this dangerous honour, and she was a foreigner, the Duchess of Milan, who wittily replied, when the offer was made her,—" that she unfortunately had but one head, and could not afford to lose it." The most disgusting spectacle was offered, during the reign of this bloated mountain of royal carrion, by the hig. iest nobility acting the part of spies, inquisitors, and venal slaves to the bloodthirsty monster. One of the most sycophantic, time- serving scrubs of the king was a cer- tain John Russell, founder of the house of Bedford, and ancestor of our own illustrious prime minister, whose mind is as contracted as his person is insignificant. Tlie fortunes of this house were founded on plunder of the most wholesale and barefaced description. John Russell was a person who had travelled, and could make himself agreeable, particularly to persons of emi- nence, whose pander he willingly became. Phihp, Arch- duke of Austria, bound to Spain, put into Weymouth from stress of weather: John Russell visited the prince and toadied him so effectually, that his Royal Highness recommended him to Henry the Eighth as a useful kind of person, and he soon became a court favorite. Russell was entirely subservient to the will of his master and rendered himself a necessary appendage in the circle oi the court, as a ready pander to the amorous passions of the lustful king. When Henry broke up the monasteries his favourite came in for a large slice of the robbery, and, as Burke observes, " the grants to the house ot Rus- sell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credulity." Amongst the many enormous grants during the reign of Henry tbe Eighth to his pimp Russell we quote the few following ones as samples; it is needless to say that the property has so immensely increased in value, as to render the Duke of Bedford an enormously rich man; in truth, we should doubt whether there are lialf- a- dozen more wealthy in England. Behold the catalogue of plunder. A Cistercian abbey in Devonshire, valued at four hundred and thirty pounds, the lands of which are now worth ten thousand pounds. A Benedictine abbey in Cambridgeshire, yearly value ofthe land five hundred and ten pounds, but now worth upwards of twelve thousand. A Benedictine abbey at Tavistock, valued at nine hundred and two pounds annually, now worth twenty thousand pounds. An alien priory in Lancashire, valued at thirteen thousand pounds, and an Augustine priory in Northamptonshire, the lands of which now produce fifteen hundred a- year. These however, form not a tenth part of the whole church pro- perty ihat fell into the clutches ofthe Russell family; for, as we proceed later into the reign of Edward the Sixth, we shall find the same John Russell acquiring grants to an incredible amount. But in robbing the monasteries the house of Russell likewise pluudered unmercifully the poor ; these priories and abbeys were supported by many grants bequeathed on condition of dispensing hospitality to travellers, and relieving the distresses of the helpless, old, and infirm: True, the monks were an indolent, luxurious, and hypo critical race of men, fattening on the charities of the bene volent, and deriving large revenues from credulous enthu- siasts, but they bestowed large sums in charity ; the tired traveller found within the walls of the abbey food and repose, and the poor inhabitants of the district tasted of the monks' hospitality, and frequently obtained substan- tial relief. Can this be said of the lordly proprietors of Woburn Abbey? No! The gates are opened to the gaudy equipage and liveried domestics, but closed in dis- gust by the burly porter upon the humble pedestrian. Hospitality is offered to those who require it not, but ex- tremely circumscribed to those for whose benefit the lands were bequeathed. The sums expressly given for charitable objects are squandered by the descendant of Henry's pander on the turf at Newmarket, or in useless and idle display. Lord John, — the property enjoyed by your brother, and in which you no doubt participate,— the pro- perty that has given you rank, and elevated you to a posi- tion you are not entitled by talent to occupy— that property, my lord, was acquired by plunder, and plunder of the worst description; for your ancestors, Lord John, when robbing the monastries, likewise plundered the poor of a home, a shelter, and of food. ALPHA. ( To be continued in our next. J MANCHESTER; THE BOAST, THE SHAME, AND THE GREAT PERIL OF IT is not in the vilest extortions, alone, that the practice of the Cotton Lords belies their declamatory patriotism and philanthropy. When the great topic of the day was " black slaves," a great and proper emphasis was laid upon the special oppression to which female slaves were subject. How is it tbat no champion has yet stepped for- ward to rescue the chastity of the female slaves of Man- chester from the careful keeping of lascivious factory owners, and their brutalized overlookers ? It is a notorious but melancholy fact, that many of the masters in Man- chester make compliance with their will a stipulation for giving employment to the poor girls; and their equally unscrupulous overlookers will make the same terms, as the only condition on which the poor creatures can escape being fined or discharged. Oh 1 the tales that could be told by every factory wall in Manchester, could they but speak ; tales of horror and woe of struggling virtue sur- rendering its noble dignity before the appalling prospect of starvation, and succumbing involuntarily to the dire and dastardly threats held out by tyrannical, stone- hearted employers'. Ostentatiously they will give money to build a church, or a ball to suit their own purposes, where they can hold forth amidst the cheers and applause of an audience com- posed of a like class to themselves— millowners, large shopkeepers, lawyers, clerklings, and other satellites, of the Cotton Aristocracy. But the abodes of these human machines, to whom they owe everything upon earth, are the worst arranged, the most neglected and uncomfortable in England. The infirmary, to which the toils and acci- dents of the mill sent ninety- nine out of every hundred Eatients, remained unfinished for years, whilst the Cotton , orda wore drawing millions from the blood and bone of their factory slaves ! And so it would have remained until this day, had not a foreign singer, shocked by such inhumanity, selfishness, and brutality, nobly contributed the aid of her talents to raise the necessary funds for com- pleting the Institution. Blush that such should be, ye gold- gorged tyrants of Manchester ! Of the abodes of the workpeople it is impossible to speak too indignantly. I allude to the cottage- houses, containing from three to six rooms, which are tenanted by the better sorts, by those who for similar rents would in Sheffield and Birmingham for instance, but especially in the former, be comfortably and healthfully lodged ; and it is notorious that there are " whole streets" of these cottages which have not, among them all, a single necessary place! Liquid nuisances are emptied into the street— many of which have no soughs, so that the said nuisances must be slowly and, of course, very unwholesomely, absorbed by the atmosphere and duly shared by those who breathe it— other nuisances are depo- sited in an open mildew. And this is in that Manchester of which the Cotton Lords, and their fools or dupes, are for ever boasting 1 So much for the " Cotton Lords," now turn our atten- tion to the '• Cotton Slaves." No one who, being personally acquainted with Man- chester, relies upon what he bas ever hitherto read about that place, can even guess at the awfnl amount of oppres- sion, wrong, crime, vice, squalor, and wretchedness that has to be set off against the world- wide fame of its cottons, and the enormous wealth of the mere handful, procured by the toil and at the expense of the degradation of the vast multitude. One of the first characteristics of Manchester which attracts attention is the exceedingly Irish way of life of the factory folks. Clogs, that is to say, most comfortless and abominable noisy wooden shoes— for both boys and girls, of all ages, and not a few men and women, excepting, always, the thousands of boys, girls, men and women, who are absolutely barefooted; potatoes and buttermilk, or oatmeal porridge, for every meal throughout the week; and a full five- sixths of the entire earnings expended on Satur- day and Sunday upon ardent spirits, these are the main features of life in Manchester, and this relates to a lull quarter of a million of people whom the Cotton Lords, in public, call fellow christians! Of a thousand women and girls of the factory class you meet with, not half a dozen will have bonnets; the bare head and the rotten cotton gown tell a piteous tale of a neg- lected condition. In a word, the whole aspect of the thou- sands of girls, from twelve to twenty years of age, who throng the narrow streets of Manchester, bespeak uncultivated minds and overworked bodies. Left entirely to their own guidance, brought up as it were to become the victims of their masters' sensuality, favoured by their seducer as long as his passion lasts, then suddenly discarded and thrown upon the world dependent upon themselves— it is surpris- ing that the morals of the poor factory girls are none of the purest? Sunday, elsewhere observed with at least exter- nal respect, is the day in Manchester when the greatest inducements are held out to the poor workpeople to spend their money in the jerry shops, and other dirty dens of the same description. A great number of the millowners own tbe houses, or are otherwise interested in the business of the jerry shops : they, therefore, hold out every encou- ragement for their men to visit them; and the corporation and police allow the landlords to have music and handbells on Sunday as an additional attraction. After what has been shewn of the neglected out- of- door condition of the people, it will readily be anticipated that the internal or home arrangements of the Manchester working population is not such that the humane and thinking man could desire. To many, alas 1 of the poor factory girls who have succumbed to the wish of their masters, are living TALLY, that is to say, in open concu- binage; and sharing the earnings they obtain with those of their paramours. It is not an uncommon thing for young girls to work in the factory until within a single day of their confinement, and to return to their labour two or three weeks after, compelled to leave their infants from breakfast time till dinner, and from the latter hour until night time, without nourishment, in the care of some sottish old woman. After a few years of such wretched toil as this, the mother will be unable to work, and her neglected and feeble offspring becomes old enough for the factory. Happy the woman who has three or four boys and girls employed there ! Their earnings, the blood- money of their prematurely destroyed health and shortened lives, form her revenue. Domestic happiness is unknown. In the generality of workpeople's houses at Manchester the house- hold furniture consists of a rickety table, and two or three chairs in the same condition, a bed, and mattrasses on the floor. The hours they work and the scanty wages they earn will not allow the poor creatures to obtain necessary articles of life. Potatoes and butt :- rmilk, or oatmeal por- ridge and buttermilk, form their staple food. In many cases this wretched state of existence continues until the sons and daughters at an early age marry or do worse; to raise in their turn another generation of sufferers to be neglected in infancy, overworked and half- starved in child- hood, and perhaps driven to desperation in youth. Poor creatures, whatever be your failings, the fault lies not with roc! Enough has been already shewn to prove that they who talk so rapturously about the supremacy of our cotton ma- nufacturers, would do well to look more narrowly into the state of those to whose toils that supremacy gives so much. It is not the mere calling a vast and mighty population moral, prosperous, and peaceably inclined, that will suffice to make it so. No, something more is wanting ; " and so long as man is permitted to make a slave and tool of his fellow being, so lone will the real producers of wealth be the most neglected men— the most to be pitied of man- kind." An instance of selfish cruelty took place on the part of the Cotton Lords of Manchester during tbe terribie winter of 1846- 7. In that horrible winter there was much, O God! how much real distress ; but, as usual, the very existence— the undoubted existence of that " real distress," caused all the resident sloth and poverty, and all the immi- grant and wayfaring mendicity to descend hourly and daily upon the back streets, like clouds of locusts. Impos- ters so well know that the poor are ever charitable ! The nuisance became so great that to work was impossible; to eat even once a day would soon have been equally so, if the people had not at length learned how to say " no." On that occasion orders were given to the police " not to arrest beggars, lest the borough rates should be made too heavy; beggars were not to be arrested save in the very principal streets ! The poor might be plundered, insulted, worried, their natural kind and sensitive feelings wrought upon and abused; no matter, the bloated Cotton Lord would not be taxed for the extra keep of additional poor. Again— mark! When the glorious French Revolution of February, 1848, caused seme ebullition, a few groups of men and boys marched at mid- day up Oldham Road. General Arbuthnot and his staff, followed by both cavalry and infantry, to say nothing of an army of police and spe- cials, came to the rescue. Aye! the Cotton Lords were alarmed: they fancied, wrongly enough, that the multi- tude was prepared to practice that which they themselves, when it suits their purpose, are so ready to preach. Mark, yet once more, and finally! While those luxu- rious, selfish, Manchester millowners are loud in their praises of the intelligence and submissiveness of their shamefully neglected and oppressed victims, they take cars not to trust to their affection or love of order. The gun fired from the factory top every night— ah! no doubt that is the note of confidence 1 There may— nay, there must come a day, when it will be absolutely impossible for the mills to avoid stopping— universally stopping, during six months in the year, for want of material. It may not be to- day, or for some time to come; but so surely as ever a stoppage of half that term shall occur, the END, despite all horse, foot, and artil- lery— the END will have arrived; unless that fearful crisis shall have been prepared for on the part of the Cotton Lords, by a justice, a decency, an honesty, a sincerity, and a kindly feeling towards their Slaves— their White Slaves— such as will be the diametrical opposites of the various cruelties with which those Cotton Lords are most truly branded. T. H. MISCELLANEOUS, TRADE ASSOCIATIONS.— That the industrial, social, and political condition of the working classes has not kept pace with their intellectual and moral improvement, is a melan- choly but universally acknowledged fact. At a meeting of " Trades' Delegates," lately held at the Literary and Scientific Institution, John Street, Fitzroy Square, it was declared, that such a great and crying evil could be re- moved only by adopting the principles put forth as the basis of the " National Association for the Organization of Trades." This system would give employment to all who are willing to labour, and secure to the industrious classes A PAIR DAY'S WAGES FOR A FAIR DAY'S WORK, without infringing on the rights of any man. The subject will be a^ ain discussed at the same place next Wednesday even- ing, and we shall take an early opportunity of calling attention to the objects and proceedings of the National Association. LORD JOHN IN 1831.— His Lordship said, in 1831, " If representation be a question of right, then the right is in favour of reform; if it be a question of reason, then is reason in favour of reform : if it be a question of policy and expediency, then do policy and expediency both loudly call for the extension of reform," 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. BISHOP'S PALACES AND POOR PARSONS' HOUSES.— If a poor parson builds a house for himself, he must borrow on the mortgage of his living, and pay the interest out of its proceeds. So once was it with the bishops; but they, being members of the same Church- Reforming Commis- sion, have scorned to resort to so vulgar an expedient, and have had recourse to tlie surplus Episcopal revenues instead. The following are the sums which have been lavished on the estates and palaces of these successors of the apostles— these servants of Him who " had not where to lay his head:"— £ £ Bishop of Lincoln ... 52,708 Bishop of Worcester... 7,000 „ Rochester 25,527 „ Oxford 6,469 ., Gloucester 22,897 „ Exeter 3,500 „ Ripon 13,689 „ Bath& Wells4,000 Will it be believed, that in the first two of the above dio- ceses alone there were at the time 315, and in the eight dioceses 502 benefices worth less than ,£' 100 a year, and no less than 85 clergymen whose incomes were under .£ 50 a- year, or less than three shillings a- day, eight of the number receiving as little as thirteen pence, and one actually but sixpence half- penny a day! COST OF AMBASSADORS.— The embassy to France still continues at £ l 1,000 a- year, with a splendid house, that originally cost the public £ 36,000, and on which £ 6,000 has been spent during the last three years; that to Aus- tria, £ 12,506— the present recipient, Lord Ponsonby, an octogenarian, who in his time has received several outfits; that to Russia, £ 8,005, with £ 1,000 for house- rent; that to Spain, £ 7,550. These are exclusive of extras for postage, gifts of rings and snuff- boxes, mourning dresses, birthday galas, illuminations, and other casual outgoings. No other country makes such allowance to her ministers. America allows lier envoys and plenipotentiaries about £ 2,000 and secretaries of legation, £ 321 per annum. . ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.— In England the great manufac- turing towns have the minimum, and the rural counties and boroughs the maximum of representation. Thus, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds have a population equal to Bedfordshire, Hants, Suffolk, Sussex, Berks, Bucks, Herts, Cambridge, Dorset, Cum- berland, Oxford, Westmoreland, Hereford, Northampton, Rutland, and North and East Yorkshire; and yet the towns above named have only 24 members, whereas the counties and towns within the last- named districts have 142 members ! Wiltshire, with a population of 260,000, has 18 members, while the West Riding, with 1,154,000, has but the same number. Again, the small boroughs, exclusive of the counties, completely neutralize the first Class cities and towns : thus, the borough population of England is about 5,800,000 half of whom live in the eight metropolitan boroughs, and in Birmingham, Manchester, JSalford, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, and Bristol: but instead of having, as from their numbers and importance tbey are entitled to, half the borough represen- tation in their hands, they return but 33 members, while the other lialf return 230 ! The former have 80 per cent. LESS, and the latter 80 per cent MORE than their share; the former have one member for every 10,000 persons, the latter one for every 88,000 ! THE FAMILY GOVERNMENT.— The Whig Ministry have received the distinguishing appellative of, the " Family Go- vernment." Being almost literally " a band of brothers," and their connexions, near and remote, holding lucrative appointments in every public department, to employ them- selves honestly ' to the work of retrenchment would be to commit political fratricide. Lord John Russell has two brothers in the army, one of them being Aid- de- camp to the Governor- General of Canada; one in the Church ( a canon); and two in the navy. Another brother has lately condescended to accept the office of chief doorkeeper of the House of Commons ( Serjeant- at- Arms j, at a salary of £ 1,500. The Premier has also an uncle in the navy; a cousin, Governor of Ceylon, with £ 7,000 a- year ; a father- in- law, Lord Privy Seal, with £ 2,000 ; a brother- in- law, Secretary of the Board of Control, with £ 1,500. His lord- ship has the patronage of 105 Church livings, and his other official patronage is of course very large. GENERAL GUYON.— Some twenty years ago a young Eng- glish gentleman named Gruyon, entered the Austrian mili- tary service, in which he in time attained the rank of cap- tain. In the meanwhile he had become attached to the daughter of Field- Marshal Baron Spleny, the commander of the Hungarian life- guards, Upon his marriage with this amiable lady he left the army, and took some land, upon which he resided, happy in the circle of his family, and in the general esteem of his neighbours. When, in September, 1848, the hordes of Jellachich; were poured into Hungary, and Kossuth's fiery words called the whole nation to aims, Guyon, long connected and thoroughly sympathising with the liberal party, offered his services as a volunteer. He was immediately invested with the command of an ill- armed battalion of landstrum, ( general levy), and at the head of this he contributed to the defeat of Jellachich, at Sukaro. In the month of October he ac- companied the Hungarian army to ' the Leitha, and was engaged in the battle of Schwacht, fought on the 30th. This rencontre tookfplace under the walls of„ Vienna, but as the Viennese did not support the Hungarian attack upon the Imperialists by a sally, the Hungarian general, Moga, was compelled to beat a retreat. Guyon was tbe hero of that day. At the head of his battalion, he three times repulsed the, Serezans of Jellachich ; his liorse was shot under him, but he seized his pistols and led his men to the charge'on foot; arming them, as fast as he could, with tbe muskets of the slain Austrians, in place of the scythes which many of them carried. He was promoted to the rank of colonel on the field itself, and in this cpaacity he shared in the succeeding campaign. On the 18th of December the Imperial general, Simonich, it the head of 15,000 men, attacked the town of ' i'yrnau. This is au open place, and incapable of a regular resistance, but Guyon determined upon saving the honour of the Hungarian arms, defended it with unabated vigour till night put a stop to the combat, and on this desperate service he had only a force of 1,800 men. At Debrezin he was raised to the rank of general, and throughout the war was cele- brated for his lion- like courage. After the treason of Georgey had ruined the Hungarian cause, Guyon took refuge in Turkey, but be was one of the last to retire from th § . struggle. It is stated that his family have fallen into the hands of the Austrians, a calamity which must sorely afflict our gallant countryman. TAXATION.— Macintyre says that " it would be well that for the next few years, the attention of persons who never gave a thought to such subjects, should be particu- larly directed to matters of taxation, and to form calcula- tions of how they interest and effect various classes of society. People would be astounded at the result." Adam Smith says, " Taxes on tho necessaries of life are a curse equal to the barrenness of the earth and the inclemency of the heavens.": It has been estimated tbat the amount of taxation per head on the whole population is, in England...... £ 2 12 6 | I France 14 0 United States 0 9 7 Russia .£ 0 9 9 Austria 0 11 6 Prussia 0 12 4 TOOLS OF ROYALTY.— During this time ( the firing and barricading) where was that man who, when peaceable parades amused the public, proudly rode with his staff, and LOOKED a very Hector iu the field,— where was General Tiburce Sebastiani ?— where was the commander ofthe first division ? Monsieur Sebastiani was at breakfast at the Hotel ae Ville, after which luxurious repast he amused himself by reading the papers; and actually so cool and collected was this veteran warrior of reviews, tbat he quietly consigned himself to a chair, and allowed a barber to exercise his skill on his chin! Has anybody ever heard of this general since ? Did any one get a cheering glance of his warrior eye during the instantaneous conquest ? Was he near his sovereign ? Did he aid him with his counsels or await his commands ? And where was Gene- ral Jacqueminot, the commander- in- chief of the National Guard ? Bolted !— Chamber's Review of the French Revolu- tion of 1348. INDIRECT TAXES.— It has always excited dissatisfaction on the part of the public to be called oil for the payment of any tax from which they have not the power to protect themselves, by abstaining from the use of the taxed com- modity. It is this consideration which has always made our Finance Ministers prefer indirect to direct taxation, and which led, during the progress of a long and expensive war, to the imposition of duties that weighed with de- structive force upon the springs of industry.— Porter on Public Revenue and Expenditure. GENTLEMEN AT ARMS. — The Household troops not affording sufficient protection to her Majesty, the Court has attached to it a " military establishment" of its own, costing no less than £ 12,129. The " Gentlemen- at- Arms" and " Yeoman of the Queen's Guard" are, however, by no means so formidable as their cost might lead us to anticipate. Indeed, the latter body was instituted by Henry the VII., for the very pacific purpose of bringing up the dishes for the royal table, taking down and putting up the royal beds, removing the tapesti'y, and other equally dignified employments ! They are now exempt from these toils and their duties, as well as those of tho Gentlemen- at- Aims ( until lately more truthfully styled " Gentlemen Pensioners"), are limited to lining the passages of the Palace and the House of Lords on state occasions, £ 12,129 per annum for animated statues! It Should bo added that the Captain of each body is invari- ably a Peer ( at a salary of £ 1000), and is always super- seded on a change of the administration, and. that the commissions in this gallant corps are to be bought at a regular market price. In fact, this military establishment forms part of that " barbaric splendour" which helps to impoverish the people, while it does nothing to dignify royalty.— Reformers' Alm ' anaclx. THE IRISH CHURCH.— Independent of the revenues of the Irish Church, estimated at various sums from 650,000?. to 950,000/. more than 920,000/. has been voted out of the public Exchequer since 1800, for the erection of churches and glebe- houses, and for glebe- lands. The total num- ber of persons connected with this Establishment amounts only to about 80,000. In 1835, there were 860 parishes, with ( on the aggregate) less than fifty Protestant inhabi- tants ; yet from these parishes the Protestant clergy drew an income of 58,000/. ayear. In 151 parishes it has not a single adherent! " In the Church of Ireland," says Lord John Russell, in his " Essay on the English Con- stitution," " there are four archbishops, and eighteen bishops, whose united income is estimated at 185,700/. a- year. But besides this acknowledged income, the re- venue the Irish Church draws from fines is enormous ; their landed property is immense." POSTMASTERS GENERAL. — Oar aristocratic Post- masters- General are usually so little acquainted with the routine of the Post- office that on paying their first official visit to St. Martin's- le- Grand, the arrangements of the establishment excited in them a country- cousin- like wonder. There is much patronage, in a small way connected with the office. TRUTHS.— Democracy is labouring at the heart of hu- manity, and it is only present circumstances which pre- vent its utterance from a million silent lips. All are born equal; no one in coming into the world brings with liim a right to command. TO THE PUBLIC- AN APPEAL is respectfully, but earnestly, made to the Benevolent Public on behalf of the Widows and Children of the late JOSEPH WILLIAMS and ALEX- ANDER SHARPE, who, having been convicted on a change of SEDITION, were cut off by the Cholera in the prison wherein they were confined. J'heir untimely* and lamentable deaths were mainly brought about by the cruel fact, that although the pesti- lence was raging in all its fury at the time, and the publi- cations of the Board of Health emphatically recommend a generous diet as one of the necessary precautions, those unfortunate men were placed upon the fare of bread and water as a punishment for their refusal to perform that portion of labour wich was allotted to them. To this i'efusahthey were instigated by no motive of fac- tious oppositions to the discipline of the jail where they were incarcerated ; but simply by the deeply- rooted con- viction that a broad line of demarcation was to be drawn between political prisoners untainted by dishonouring crime, aDd the usual class of felons and misdemeanants. Without, therefore, using harsh language, it may be fairly stated, that these men became the victims of a disregard to those sanitory precautions which were so imperatively necessary at the time to avert the influence of the terrible pestilence which was raging ; and, under these circumstances, an appeal is confidently made to the benevolent of all grades of opinion, on behalf of the destitute wives and orphans, whom the deceased pri- soners have left behind them. A Committee has been formed for the purpose of re- ceiving contributions, and disposing of the amount in a manner calculated to ensure a permanent advantage to the widows and orphans whose deplorable condition is thus introduced to the public notice. Donations will be received at " REYNOLD'S MISCEL- LANY", Office, 7, Wellington Street North, Strand , at the National Land Office, 144, High Holborn ; and at the " Northern Star" Office, 16, Great Windmill Street, Hay- market. Contributions from the country may be forwarded by Post- office order, or in postage stamps ; and the General Committee will meet for business purposes at Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, on the first Monday in every month, at 8 o'clock in the evening. *** Subscriptions already received will be acknowledged in next week's INSTRUCTOR. f WILLIAM DAVIS, Chairman. ( Signed) { G. W. M. REYNOLDS, Treasurer. (. JOHN J. FERDINANDO, Secretary. Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street. The Best, Cheapest, Largest, and most beauti- fully Illustrated Periodical! EVERY Saturday Morning is published, Price Only One Penny, and Illustrated with Numerous Wood- Engravings by Eminent Artists, REYNOLDS'S MISCELLANY OFIROMANCE, GENERAL LITERATURE. SCIENCE, AND ART. EDITED BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS. " REYNOLDS'S MISCELLANY" consists of sixteen large quarto pages, beautifully printed, on good paper, and each Number containing at least three, and sometimes more beautiful Wood- Engravings. Its contents are varied, and therefore calculated to suit all classes of readers, and all tastes. Amongst the promi- nent features the following may be specified :— 1. THE BRONZE STATUE ; OR, THE VIRGIN'S KISS. A Romance. By G. W. M. REYNOLDS. This lias been pronounced by the press generally to be the most intensely interesting and thrilling piece of imaginative writing ever conceived. 2. THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS. From the French of Alphonse Lamartine, late Member of the Provisional Government of France. The best and most exciting narrative of the First Revolution ever published. 3. THE ROAD TO TRANSPORTATION: in Six Steps. THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS: in Six Steps. SIX EPISODES OF EMIGRATION ; or, the LIFE OF A LABOURER. . THE. SIX STAGES OF PUNISHMENT; or, the VICTIM OF A VITIATED SOCIETY. By EDWIN F. ROBERTS. 4. THE BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF CHARLES THE SECOND: with Portraits. In this day's Number is commenced a new Tale, enti- tled " THE SEASONS ; OR THE F'OUR PERIODS OF LABOUR." In addition to these striking features, the MISCELLANY contains short Tales, Scientific Papers, Poetry, Useful Receipts, Valuable Information on an infinite variety of subjects, Moral Essays, and copious Notices to Cor- respondents ( this information being gratuitously given to every applicant by pre- paid letter). RES- NOLDS'S MISCELLANY .' is published in Monthly Six- penny Parts ; as well as in Weekly Penny Numbers. ^ LONDON : Published, for the Proprietor, by JOHN DICKS, 7, Wellington Street North, Strand. POPULAR WORKS. CHRISTMAS TALE. Now ready, beautifully bound in cloth, Price Sixpence ( by post One Shilling), THE PIXY; OR, THE UNBAPTIZED CHILD. BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS. BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH WOOD- ENGRAVINGS This Tale is founded upon a popular superstition which until late years was very prevalent in Devonshire and Cornwall— to the effect, that ths souls of those childre who are unfortunate enough to die unbaptized, wander restlessly upon the earth, and haunt the scenes which were in any way associated with their short- lived exist- Now Publishing, in Weekly Penny Numbers, and Monthly SixpennylParts, beautifully illustrated by HENRY ANELAY, THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT OF LONDON BY GEORGE \ V. M. REYNOLDS. This extraordinary work, which has already secured hundreds of thousands of readers, gives the fullest and most fearless exposure of the Amours of the Royal Family of George the Third, and contains the most startling revelations in connexion with the profligate and volup- tuous career of George the Fourth. HI. In Weekly Penny Numbers, and Monthly Sixpenny Parts, beautifully illustrated, GRETNA GREEN ; OR, ALL FOR LOVE. BY MRS. G. W. M. REYNOLDS. LONDON: Printed and Published, for the Proprietor, by JOHN DICKS, at the Office of REYNOLDS'S MISCELLANY, 7, Wellington Street North, Strand.