The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-18 00:00:00

MORNING- SUN

CHARTISM AND ITS ADVOCATES
TO TEE EDITOR OF THE St7..V.

SIR—I awn an old advocate of Stiffrage—
too old, alas, to be more than a silent, hot anxious,
looker-on upon the efforts that have been made, during
the late few years, to oht•tin for the working class the
right, in cemmon with their frhow-countrymcn, to a
vote io the election of the men who tax them, and
enact renal !acs for their government. W.ll you rer-
mit me to offer a few remarks, through your excellent
paper, upon the course which has been pursued by the
leading advocates of the Charter I shall do SO in sin.
cerity and candour, and if -I cannot speak of all their
proceedings with approbation, I sympathise too much
with them in the object they are striving for, to dwell
with harshness upon the mistakes which they may have
honestly fare() into. LA me premise that I approve
of the Constitution comprised in the Chart,r; and I
think it is a very wise improvement upon the old and
vague agitation for " Parlirimentary Re;orm," which
ended is the imperfect and inadequate measure,
the Reform Act, to go for a written and well-defined
Constitution, about which there can be neither mis•
take nor fraudulent mystification. And now, Sir, for
the inode of making the Charter the law of the 1 Ind.

In a country where we are all more or !ens prone to
follow ancient precedents, I would first endeavour to
find a sanction for the principles of the Chaster "in
the wisdom of our ancestors ;" and here I find a power-
ful argument for the minds of Enol.shenea, which has
been almost entire)r overlooked by the advocates of the
People's Chatter. It is a constitutional principle, laid
down by some of our most eminent writers and law)ei-s,
that taxation and representation are co-extensive. In
fact, the theory of the British Constitution is this—
that no freeman can be ta.red without his consent,
,_triven through hi': representative in Parliament.
Now, the revenue of the State was, in
ancient times, raised from the land, and the lend- f
owners then exercised all the powers of legislarien ; but
during the last century and a-half the laadowners
have contrived to shift the burdens of the State to the
shoulders of the whole community, by levying taxes,
through the Excise and Customs, upon articles of Con-
sumption, such as beer, sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, &c.,
which taxes full with the greatest weight, in proportion
to their ahil.ty to pay them, upon the labouring class.
As every man is now taxed, and as it may be easily
proved that the poorer the man is the larger is the share
of his income paid towards the expenses of the State, it
follows, that, according to the acknoieledged principles
of our Constitution, every man is entitled to a vote in
the election of Members of Parliament. Looking, I
say, to Tie peculiar character of the English people,
who arc fond of precedent and e,tablished authority
for guiding them in their public proceedings, I think
this constitutional view of the Suffrage question is cal-
culated to have great weigit in tufluencing their minds
in favour of the Charter ; and it has seemed to me to
be an unfortunate oversight in .its advocates that they
have not dwelt more stroweey upon these arguments.
Another rnislake has, 1 think, been fallen itito by
the le !dint!, Ctartists, in putting forward prominently
their own views I.:ws shall, or shall not, bo
p ',eked by a Leeis!ature eieeteil by universal euthage.
Ne man ought to presume to say what will he the de-
osiors of such a Legislature, because no individual can
possibly be able to dictate the policy of the representl-
tiara of the wild! people. Unfortunately, the plans
put forth by some et the Char ist speakers have been
ill judged and impracticable. For instance, one man
proposes to put down machinery, and his views are put
forth as a part of the designs of Cieartisin. But how
can any individual know that a PAr:ianient, elected by
universal suffrage, would pass laws to discourage the in:-
provement or invention of machinery ? Ia Arne-
eiea and Switzerland, two republics where every
man has a vote, machinery is carried to greater
perfection than in any other foreign countries,
and the laws protect and encourage machinery in those
republican nations. Osher Chartist orators have fore- I
told that the growth of large capital; in the hands of I
individuals will be prevented under the Charter. Thin
I do not believe ; and at least I maintain that no man
can be empowered to till what the people's represents-
tves aid do. Tne experience of the whole history of
the world is against any such proceedings. Every Go-
veinenent protects individual property, great or smul:.
A large capitalist is at safe in Ituasia as in England or
America. I would not vote for the Charter unless I
conscientiously believed that capital wou d be as sacred
under a Government elected by universal suffrage as
at present. Aga.n, otLer Chart;st speakers have ad-
vocated a re v form of society, different from any thing
that has existed since the world was created. Others
hare put forth peculiar dextrin, s respecting private
property in land, or bare advocated the Charter j
for the purpose of carrying out their own I
views respecting the current;. I think every
rational friend to universal suffrage will per.
ceive that this mode of agitating fur a Charter is I
not only impolitic but indefensible in principle. F. 1
an individual to uneertske to ley down the law for toe
whole people is a presumptuous usurpation of Cleir
rights, and an invasion of that demf,cratie principto of
government which he professes to advocate. Fern
a careful observation of the Chartist mov. meet, lam I
led to believe that much odium has been brought upon
the good cause, by the erroneous conduct to which 1
am alluding. Men of property have been frightened ; I
men of business have shrunk from these doctrines ;
timid people have been driven to regard with favour
our rapacious aristocracy, from an apprehension teat
the Chartists would be worse legislators than even
Peel and the Duke of Buckingham ; and the women,
who exercise a vast influence in public matters, have
caught a tenfold prejudice. Their fears have pictured
the Chartists as a band of desperate characters,
beet upon nothing but the plunder and op• ,
pressrun of the weak and defenceless. A very
little reflection would convince the middle and I
property classes of the erroneousness and injustice of ,
such opinions of their industrious fellow-countrymen. I ,
Who are the men that claim the suffrage? They are
our mechanics, shove:en, ploughmen, porters, labourers,
&c., the men, in fact, to whom we entrust the care of
our property in a thousand ways, and who fulfil their
several duties better than any other people in the world.
And is it probable that to entrust them with a vote for
representatives in the Legislature would all at once con-
vert this orderly, industrious, and honest community
into a band of spoliators and oppressors? A moment's
reflection would, I say, convince the middle and wealthy
classra that the effect of jiving to the working class the
rieht of suffeige would be to else ite them mai-ally and
mentally, and mete a,e the self-respect is t,:e
source or strength of ready etery ;at times quality.
These would be the neceasary convictions arising from
a calm view of the matter ; but when their fiars are
excited by the rash and violent doctrines to which I
hove alluded, their minds are rendered unfit for a ca/ni
consideration if the subject.
Ole great mistake in the tactics of the Chartists
—the recourse to physical lorce.—llas been since atoned
for by the party, and repudiated by ovary real of any
weight amongst +t
tern. I need not, therefore, allude to.
it, except to remark that the increase of the army to
the extent of 5,000 men, and the scheme of the rural
police, grew out of that unknoto atP mistake of the
Chartist leaders. Another falseA, rervtelenust Acknow,-
led in the recommendation of ze sacred rzonth ;'
during which the working classes were to suspend their
labours in order to secure the Charter. These, how-
ever, are pas., errors, and I men ly allude to themin
order to put the frieads of universal suffrage on their
guard for the future. There is, however, a new plan
at present in operation, to which I must refer at more
length, because it bears practical!), upon the actual
agitation for the Charter. I allude to the plan recom-
mended by some of the leviers to pet down (ve
other agitation, especially that against the breatl-t
Upon this subject I will trouble you with a s,.coad it t,..
Let me. is conclusion,
repeat ti e s"
I bay, ventured to offer, that the ad,o, Aide itae
eie.ace,lfe'sePeturtihnge
Charter confine themselves to their
to all teen a voice in the Goees
.ement, 'hetet under-
daking to fbrekl the policy! token the peopic, I"arli a.
meat will pu LPtate again suggest that the best
tirue•
ground to take for eonatneing the nainds of the middle
class and ell isadla their prejudices, is Chet of the aionent
and ennstitureinal tight of every mar; ro tax hints, If for
the puracses of revcove. Lee the Chartist lecturers
and writers expose the evils of class legisi tion, as
exhibited in our present unjust system of taxation, the
enormous expenditure in places and pensions, the ne-
aafeat of the education of the poor, end in the eppres-
'sive monopolies, maintained at the eitoente of the
many, for the benefit of the few. These are the
themes for popular lecturers ; tI:C 5C are the evils which
Cobhatt, Cartwright, Hunt, and others used :o ring
incessantly k the ears pi the multitude, as arguments
iin f
avonr of Parliementary Reform. Brit let riot the
advocates of the 'a;harter in future denounce machinery,
oe
se u _ ' threaten the •dof capital, or argue. in di fence
,t the
oast!-tax, gho,k
_unlcss they would be touters to the
the ..4.7:d use 1 and justify the suspicion that they are
eneentee of t lie people.
32.tTor
Prfl?,tta I ant Sir, your obedient Servaet,
`1":o 1641, AN OLD RADICAL.
?J.

"
IR•
iN I.;ATLIN__ AND A!R. .111.;CKINCHANI,—
If Y
tread your very an nty:Alf, now residing hi Londjn, hare
America, wilt work on our ca.tive country, tore of m pee. nth+ r satisfaction; inasmir:h as tii.., It:I-
-y pursuits has led Its to visit nearly all the
places and institutions you hare so vividly and so justly
described in your g.s. In reafli,-; them. We have een
varried along by a ft;ling scarcelyn less vivid a:ld lessb real
thin it we', .1,14,,, . travellers with you, autl actively pas 3-
iP,..,,, over the 7,f:curs you have :;c4 graph-h.-ally desorKiel
I think you 1-.5.,. e hrLught to the Parent Country, a very
encouraging and just aCCOunt of her Transatlantic Child,
and this at a time when
peculiarly desirable, to m general and come; infor.nation is
remove mutual prejudices, and to
promote a fair and friendly understam.lng between the
two countries." Mr. Catlin is the distinguished author
of '4 On the Manners and Customs or the North A.incr:cna
Indians," and gives the above voluntary and powerful
testimony
'w in a letter to Mr. Buckingham, of the value of
his recent wort: B
on America, the second edition of which
is, we find, published this daY, and may be had either
complete or in shilling parts, the latter a
great desidera-
tum, as it enables all classes- to inr,Jr,u themielvtz c Jr-
.
reedy of " The Great Esptzli4s,"