OR, UNFETTERED THINKER AND PLAIN SPEAKER FOR TRUTH, FREEDOM, AND PROGRESS.

"AND though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple! Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?"-Milton's Areopagitica.

No. 7.-Vol. I.] FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1850. [Price One Penny.

Old Song of The Red Coats.'

LORD JOHN has solved his own riddle with wondrous haste, this time. Joseph Hume put the question, and was answered at once- "We intend to do nothing for the extension of the Franchise this year." Ministers, it is evident, are in raptures with the discovery that Protectionists can do nothing but bark, either in Parliament, or out of it: trade, in all the more populous parts of the country, is good: the revenue is declared to be an overplus; and the Whigs think that they have nothing to fear. So they are determined there shall be no dissolution-no extension of the Franchise, this year.

There can be no doubt, however, that both dissolution and extension of the Franchise were under consideration by them, previous to the opening of Parliament. They have been pleasingly disappointed in seeing that they are secure in their places another year, without either. And their security is manifest-unless some unexpected event should arise to " confound their politics." The Session will go dreamily on-only enlivened by Disraeli's sarcasm, Cobden's 'decorous' hints at Financial Reform, a division and defeat on Hume's motion, and a few other trivialities; and it will depend on what Reformers do out of Parliament, as to what kind of 'New Reform Bill'-(for that is now talked of)-the Whigs propose in the Session of 1851,-in order to dissolve upon it, if necessities then press them.

One cannot but entertain one hope; namely that Lord John's curt answer to Hume, will rouse the old reformer's mettle, and incline him to listen to those who are advising him to declare for Manhood Suffrage, and so raise a cry from the millions that shall snub the pert confidence of the little Premier. The new Reform party have put off their Conference till the last week in April; so it is most likely intended that Hume shall bring on his motion about the beginning of May. The Conference will serve to bring to a head the ripeness of public opinion on the Franchise; but individual petitions should be poured into the House of Commons to show that working men have a will of their own, and do not ask for the Franchise merely because a few M.P's. are now beginning to agitate for it.

And let none despair because of successive delays. The question of the Suffrage is gaining ground, daily. Even the Times, although affecting to talk coolly about it, is compelled to confess that we shall have it.

Another change on the Continent-(and the President-Pretender is just now thick in the plot for effecting a change-which may leave him on the losing side, though Changarnier seems sworn to aid him with his 'African' butchers!)—another change on the Continent may soon renew the flight of Kings, Princes, and Premiers; and even the stout heart of little Lord John may feel some misgivings, when the second act of the great democratic drama of the nineteenth century opens on the European stage. The 'reaction' contributes to make him pert and saucy. He will lower his tone if Democracy begins soon to recover itself abroad.

THOMAS COOPER.

GOOD NEWS: THE ORGANISATION OF LABOUR,' COMMENCED IN LONDON.

THIS week commences an enterprise, in London, which is of far deeper importance than all that is likely to be done in Parliament, for the whole session. Its aspect is humble; but none whose hearts are sore with the wrongs of society will treat it with contempt-though it will receive plenty of that kind of treatment from the scoffers who thrive on the wrongs of their fellow-creatures.

On

During the summer and autumn of last year, a few clergymen, barristers, and London tradesmen, met a company of workingmen, in a public room near Leicester Square, on stated evenings in the week, for the purpose of learning the real condition of the working-classes, and also of hearing what were workingmen's own opinions concerning remedies. these occasions, the chair was usually taken by Professor Maurice, late of Cambridge, and now of King's College, London. On the part of workingmen, my esteemed cousin, Walter Cooper, (whose fervid eloquence thousands of the men of Manchester and Newcastle have lately heard, and whose large-heartedness has long won him the affection of thousands in London,) was most constant in his attendance, and, perhaps, contributed most powerfully to confirm the philanthropic projectors of these meetings in the good design with which they entered on them. During the winter, their frequent conversations with M. Jules Lechevalier-one of the highminded Frenchmen, at present resident among us-have served to strengthen their benevolent purposes; and the result is,-that capital is provided, premises are taken at 34, Castle Street, Oxford Street, and on Monday in the present week, a start is made by the "WORKING TAILORS' ASSOCIATION," to try what can be done, by the Organisation of Labour, towards redeeming some portion of the suffering workers of our beloved old England from their misery

may

I have not space to enter into all the details, this week. But I briefly state that Professor Maurice; Rev. Mr. Hansard; Rev. Mr. Kingsley; Messrs. Ludlow and Hughes, barristers; Mr. Mansfield, chemist; Mr. Lumley, bookseller; and M. Jules Lechevalier-are among the philanthropists who engage to start the undertaking with the necessary capital: that Walter Cooper is entrusted with the practical management, on the part of these benevolent persons: that three months' probation is to test the social qualities of the workers; and that every worker is to share in the profits of the entire concern, in proportion to the amount of capital at which his labour is valued-that is, the amount of what are called 'wages' under the competitive system.

In future numbers I will more fully detail the items of agreement; and

my readers may depend on it, that I shall watch this experiment with anxious interest. If it succeed, a grand intelligent struggle must be made by workingmen, in every part of the country, to urge partnership, association, organisation of industry (as friend Thomas Goddard calls it) or or ganisation of labour (in the phrase of noble Louis Blanc) upon the consideration of employers' as they are now called. If it succeed, the glorious hope dawns upon British toilers that the obnoxious terms 'Master' and 'Servant' shall pass out of use; and toilers toil together, by brain and hand, on the footing of partners and brothers.

And why should it not succeed? In Paris, one hundred and fifty associations of workers exist in France, one thousand! The Times' does not tell this. It only hints in obscure and condemnatory language at the shocking spread of socialism throughout France! Ay, and it is spreading, and will spread. Intelligent workingmen there are heart-sick of the old slavish system, and are determined it shall pass away. Thomas Goddard was wrong about the Tailors of the Rue de Clichy: they flourish still, and are a thousand strong. The association commenced this week in London has not been formed without the strictest and most correct information, as to what is doing in France.

6

Let success crown one experiment in London, and the example will spread. Let the Organisation of Labour' once begin to prevail among our trades and handicrafts; and it can then scarcely fail to find its way into our great manufacturing enterprizes. And if it take root there-can any one doubt that the soil of Old England, of which so many millions of acres now lie waste, shall not soon be occupied by happy colonies of brother workers? May the day soon come!

THOMAS COOper.

PEN AND INK SKETCH OF LIFE.

[A REMEMBRANCE.]

Ir was early in the month of September of the year 1849, on a rather cold drizzly day; the writer had journeyed some six miles on foot, over the up and down roads of a somewhat remote part of Yorkshire. Having passed through sundry villages, more noted for factories and ragged chil dren than for architectural beauty, he found himself on the side of a moor: the fading blossoms of its heather still beautiful. Looking round half bewildered, and not knowing whether to turn to the right or left, he heard close by the sound of voices; strayed leisurely thither; and in due time, found himself by the side of an immense stone quarry. It was the dinner hour, and about a dozen of workmen, men and lads, were enjoying their dinner. Reader, I say enjoying their dinner; for they seemed to eat their bread and bacon, or bread and cheese, as it might be, with a right hearty appetite each, squatted on a small square tool box, or sitting on a folded jacket, with no footman or penny waiter at hand, and neither fruit-knife nor silver fork, and some without a fork at all, holding bread and cold meat in the left hand, with a clasped knife in the other. They seemed to eat their homely fare with a relish for which a half-sick lady of Bath or Cheltenham would have given gladly enough more than a doctor's fee.

Fresh from London-with all its show and glitter, its plate-glass fronts, cabs, omnibuses, city merchants, parliament men, poodle dogs, gentry, and waddling calf flunkies, it was impossible for me not to think of the contrast. The houses of Oxford-street and Regent-street are built

of stone we know: such stone, too, as we see in that quarry, only carefully cut into square blocks and built into houses. But there is something about a quarry that interests the visitor, even if he be no geologist or gatherer of fossils and petrifactions. What is the charm? I will try to tell. It is a consciousness that you are one leaf nearer the core of universal Nature. There is no sham about a stone quarry: no pillars painted over, or small stones fitted in. No, it is Nature's old original family bible; a full folio copy,-leaf and binding in the best condition; and, I am told, that those who are skilled readers, can read even there "the Law and the Prophets."

I had stood for some minutes, when a tall man, of some thirty years of age, approached from behind, carrying in his hand a good sized mattock. He was slightly bowed, not in the body, but in the shoulders; and as I looked at his stone-coloured face and brown hands, I almost envied his Herculean frame, for he looked strength itself. To my surprise he called me by name, and said, "Don't wonder that I know you! I have oftener than once walked ten miles on foot, to be present in the same meeting-house with you on a Sunday." "I fear the sermon was not worth the journey," I replied. "Let me judge that for myself," he rejoined. "You work in the quarry do you?" "I continued. "That I do," he answered, "and work far too hard for little money. Some weeks, I don't earn ten shillings; and have pains and rheumatism for the remainder."

The

Looking round, I said "This seems an immense moor." "Ay," he said, "There are a few hundred acres of it, and all it's good for is to keep some thirty or forty shaggy cattle, such as you see there, now." "Do you think it is good land?" I asked. "It would be, if cultivated: all but about twenty acres round the quarry-head. Some portions of it have been cultivated. There are, here and there, furrow marks to be seen. squire rides over it sometimes: and a pack of hounds following him and his hunting friends. I often think," continued my friend, "that they might find better employment. But what's the use of thinking? it only vexes one with what one sees. They say there is not room enough for us in England; and yet I see every day of my life, five hundred acres of land lying waste, almost every inch of which might be made fertile as a garden. I told the steward THAT, the other day: he said I did not understand it : that clever men in London said emigration was necessary: that all the land could not be cultivated. I put this question to him-Why don't they let us try? The steward looked keenly, and said, I did not understand it; but I was a curious fellow, and had some strange notions about me. But, whether I am curious, or not curious, I know I am right; and they all know it. The truth is, they are a set of rogues; and so long as they can, they will take care of themselves, and do their best to keep the poor man's nose to the grindstone. I cannot write books, or I would answer them; but I know what I see, and what everybody else may see, if they are not willingly blind. And when they say to me, that there is not room enough for us all in England, I put my mattock in the earth that way, (suiting the action to the word,) and as the sods turn up fresh, I say, Answer me that! I am one of God's creatures, and that is God's earth'; and if I am not let dig it, who can I blame? Man, or God?'"

I here shook the rough but honest hand of that quarryman, whose sense was as hard and as natural as the stone he hewed; and as I left him I was staunchly of the opinion, that mattock-logic was older, stronger, and sounder than Malthus-logic. Reader what think you? SAMUEL M. KYDD.

Correspondence.

Wolverhampton, January 23, 1850.

DEAR SIR,-Your fearless advocacy of the people's rights-your apparently sincere exertions for the advancement of truth-your benevolent efforts to elevate the moral and physical condition of your countrymen-the extent and substantial quality of your information, and the general correctness of your ideas, have long since won my warmest sympathies and admiration.

I regret, however, to observe that a misconception appears to have arisen in your mind with regard to the "Freehold Land" scheme. You say in your late letter to Lord Dudley Stuart, that the thinkers among working men disapprove of the system because it involves a concession inimical to the doctrine of Manhood Suffrage, and because it implies, or seems to imply, that organic matter, in the shape of land, has a better title than intelligence to the privilege of a vote. Permit me to observe that the majority of "Freehold Land" supporters, do not concede one iota of their claim for Universal Suffrage; on the contrary, they conscientiously believe and declare, with you, that man, as man, ought to have a voice in that country to the government of which he pays taxes, and for the defence of which he is liable to be called upon to fight; but they think, nevertheless, that until this moral right be made a legal one, (hopes the realization of which twinkle dimly in the distance) something must be done to increase and consolidate the strength of the people, in order to provide a counterpoise to the power of the aristocracy, and gain another point in the mountain of progressive reform.

Nor do they look upon the "Freehold Land" scheme in a political light simply. Its social advantages are incalculable. It induces thrift, forethought, temperance, and economy; and when it is known that £15,000, out of £19,000, paid to the society, have been saved from the Ale-house-who can gainsay its merits?

The weekly contribution is so small that few are prevented from subscribing. A discontinuance of some superfluous, perhaps irrational expense, may accomplish the object. And what, I ask, can be purer or nobler than the satisfaction of him who stands upon his own plot of ground, and knows that, unaided, he earned it for himself? To what more profitable discipline could he have been subjected? What stronger inducement could have been presented to him, to continue to walk in the paths of sobriety and peace? I look upon the scheme politically, as a desirable means to a great end: morally, as a wide step towards the regeneration of the working-classes. But, I fear, that a show of disapprobation from such a one as yourself will materially retard its progress, and deter many of them from enlisting in its ranks. Their earnings may perhaps again glitter on the tables of the ale-house, or the counters of the gin-shop, whilst they are hoping to receive their "rights" in that "good time," which, if thousands pursue such a course, may never arrive. With every assurance of my fervent and sincere esteem, Believe me, dear Sir, yours faithfully,

Mr. Thomas Cooper.

THOMAS T. CAMPBELL.

OPINIONS CONCERNING BEAUTY.-What different ideas are formed in different nations, concerning the beauty of the human shape and countenance ! A fair complexion is a shocking deformity on the coast of Guinea; thick lips and a flat nose are a beauty. In some nations, long ears, that hang down upon the shoulders, are the objects of universal admiration. In China, if a lady's foot is so large as to be fit to walk upon, she is regarded as a monster of ugliness. Some of the savage nations in North America tie four boards round the heads of their children, and thus squeeze them, while the bones are tender and gristly, into a form that is almost perfectly square. Europeans are astonished at the absurd barbarity of this practice, to which some missionaries have imputed the singular stupidity of those nations among whom it prevails. But when they condemn those savages, they do not reflect that the ladies in England had, till within these very few years, been endeavouring for near a century past, to squeeze the beautiful roundness of their natural shape into a square form of the same kind.-Smith.