WHAT IS CHARTISM? [From the Times, Aug. 19.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 363, 24 January 1849, Page 3

WHAT IS CHARTISM? [From the Times, Aug. 19.]

Who would suppose tHkt in the 'midst of this rich metropolis, ancTih'the great manli^ facturing towns of the north of England that there are small knots of pothouse con- ' spirators who hold nightly meetings, with the ! avowed intention of reducing Liverpool, Manchester, and London 1 to ashes? A consciousness of their own degraded condition and vicious existence renders industry and its results hateful in their eyes. They call ' thehuman race their enemies, because they are enemies of the human race. The busy intriket, - the revolving whtel* that sets' machinery

. ,in motion by, which a^thousand families are -fed;/ the wharves piled high- with bales of goods,} the comfortables homes of the indus- „ trious, and the statelier mansions of those wjio, by the inevitable regulations of society, are placed in the vanguard of the. world, are. hateful in^thbir eyei. There is a great alternative placed before all men who would not live like wild beasts amongst their fellows'. [. jEjxer^ion/orj'Content, industry or resignation. The modern Gracchi will embrace neither one nor ' Other of these conditions. A vicious idleness) debars them from the first; the ser -cond they esteem quite unworthy of men of and resolution. If they^cannpt build [p.p they can • destroy ; if they cannot raise themselves, they, can reduce others — in, the sense qS suffering : — to the levsl of their own degradation. , , , Such are the men who, by the vjgour of ,jthe police, were, arrested the night, before last in various obscure quarters .of the town. It is impossible to despise ; them too much, .and yet t <fifficult to take sufficient, precautions -. against th§ir diabolical inspirations. ' Charr tism in . its present form is not a political, but a criminal question. Burglary andarson are not yet out of date. Chartism is as com- | found of the two, with, murder superadded, j _t— is^atdefjn its most, cold- blooded and ruf- j '£anlyrform,,as-in the, instance of th« unfortu- ! £\ate Ash (on policeman, the other day. We .now know what,;. Chartism means. .Modern iGhartismt has but .three points — fire-raising, .blood-shed, and plunder. They are reduced, in nuraber, in order to be more summarily 'enforced.. It is for society to consider whe,<tih.er it wili .-concede the three points of modern Chartism. There -they are, to take or to leave. • We have our choice. It would he an insult to the common sense <of 'the ptfblrc *o suggest for a moment, thit under any possible .contingency the schemes <#f these, miscreants could have been success? «faT to th£ extent they -contemplated* It is no >such easy task td cut off the"watere "water pipes, set ffire to London at points, overpower ;the police and military, plunder the houses, -murder the inhabitants, and reduce the town :to ashes. ' The three points of tbe Charter could, not very readily have been pushed to their legitimate conclusipns. Neither ancient ,nor modern Chartism will be able to effect ■that, jit is, however, quite possible, nay, it -is probable'tbat but for the vigilance and vigour of the police, these gangs of desperadoes would have been 1 able to set a house on fire here anithere, and to 4 have caused much misery to, individuals without further injury than the terror consequent upon such lawless proceedings. ! "We would not, however," have the public underrate the danger to which they are exposed, when: 7 ; the long 'nights come on, if this -kind of 'spirit should • get abroad.' '■ Modern Chartism will no doubt -nfake ultimate acquaintance with the convict hulk and the gallows ; but it will before that time be a great pubiic inconvenience. The true policy in such a case is, not to stand haggling upon terms, nor confounding in the mind th'e-cases of Hampden and 1 Algernon Sydney with that of a gangiof positive murderers and would-be incendiaries. Society is attacked and must defend, itself. Unless the fear of punish-ment-be altogether a mistake in criminal jurisprudence, we see no reason why- it should not be adopted with complete success in the instance of modern Chartism. - There is one class of tociety especially concerned in putting down such knots of ruf-fians-as those who have been recently arrest«dlfy "the police. Let the industrious artisari'a t nfl labourer, in whose names they profess to' act, show that they utterly disavow' their proceedings. The labouring classes may feel secure that the cause of tranquillity atfd public order is" a poor 'mans question above all. Modern Chartism is a crusade against* the : sa4ings bank, the Cottage, and the stop.' -If all the towns *in tHe' kingdorV were burnt to ashes to-morrow, -the Duke of Byccleuch,'Baron Rothschild, and Mr. Morisbn, could make' their escape and begin life' 'again with favoiiVatrlfr prospects elsewhere; The United States 'disavow' 'uo.one in human form with dollars to r pay his way.' Australia and New s Zealand present excellent openings for tb'ose who can get there 1 .' 1 But what would tii'e poor do in such a case ? They must pexish in the fiery "ring' with* which they had encircled themselvesT " For" them there is no escape. Cultivated^ to the top of its power, and with alt the^jsesourqes of commercial credit: at the coipmand of its inhabitants, Enjjiapd must Vje^iptrport food ; and, that it ni.ay importat, must pay for it iv one way or tnother. - h,at, j t^en, would he the fate of those who we^e-^eft behind, df 0 the bonds that hold^sociej^^ogethe^ inj England were violently renl^asuttder and destroyed ? The exainple r of Paris, and the unprecedented ,s,uf|!erings a end,ured by the poor, in t,hat y cit.y since . ifoft revolution of February, — sufferings which ' have.driven them to cast themselves on the bayp t nets.,of the soldiers, and before the fire F^cklflssness of thpir

miserable existence, — should be a warning to all the humbler classes in this country how they permit themselves to be deceived by political adventurers, who are merely speculating on their sufferings to attain their own base e_nds of gain or notoriety. Modern Chartism cannot succeed In-spreading universal conflagration over the country ; - k but, should the measures adopted by the police .and the Government not prove sufficient to eradicate the pestilence, let the labouring classes consider; what will be, the immediate consequence tp themselves in the, shape of diminished employment, and lower, wages. As society stands at present in sEngland, if public confidence be shaken ever so little, and whether, the apprehension arise from; abroad or fit hpme, the firstjConsequenceus (that the workmen must be thrown out of employment. This is no new discovery, but a solemn truth, ..of .which w« have, had but too recent experience. At the present, happily, the mills are beginning, to work again, and, despite- alj the troubles upon the continent o£; Europe, iriade is recovering its equilibrium. t . Artisans are -beginning to be employed, poor-rates are beginning toi be lightened. One week of modern Chartism in Liverpool and Manchester, or, even should there be a well groundeJd-ap-prehension that such a spirit had got abroad, and all this would be changed. , Let the labouring classes look'-io it in time. If they will not help themselves, the power, if not the will, may be deficient in others. We earnestly recommend all persons in the great towns of the .kingdom, who in any way -may have become informed of. the haunts or proceedings of these, pothouse conspirators, to give timely warning to the police-. The rest may safely be left to the public authorities. It would be unjust to a body of men who have discharged a painful and anxious duty with great vigilance and' courage, if we concluded these remarks without expressing the public sense of the service of the police. The inforraatibn obtained of the proceedings I of these clubs was accurate, .and justified by the event. . No unnecessary - disturbance was ' made, and no useless alarm excited. The first announcement made public was, not that there was a conspiracy to. set fire to the towns, but that the conspiracy was crushed. We were pot told thexfi was cause for apprehension, but that there- was nothing more it o apprehend.