North American. [volume] (Swanton, Vt.) 1839-1841, 1840-08-19

! 10 ali the nations ol Europe, has beer
|, and Is the occasion and precursor OF socia
/ and political advancement. Our symp
athies are throughout with the ChartIsts
As men, we sympsthise with them, be,
cause they have been grossly wronged
and we are accustomed 10 let The friendly
; feelings OF our hearts 60 forth freely To-
ward all who are oppressed. As AmeTi-
cans, we sympathse with them, because
they would rid themselves OF those politi-
cal disabilities which hinder the Tree growth
and development oil their spiritual nature.
II oil that they claim were granted, they
would still be lar, very far from even that
degree OF political illumination which we
have attained, and very far from the true
position of man. What they propose is
but single step in the direction OF salu-
tary reform. 1t is only continuation OF
that spirit OF change and progress, which,
from the days that the barons wrested
Magma Charta from King John, 10 the
present day, has been working itself deep
er into the structure Of English society,
and which cannot rest until mountains OF
abuses are heayed from the giant energies
Of the people. When we look into the
magnitude and number OF those abuses,
our surprise is, not that the people ale dis
satisfied, but that they did not long since
bury them, even if il were among the ru-
ins Of the state. Turn in what direction
we may, some foul, glaring, mohstrous
perversion OF justice and truth meets US
some departure from the legitimate func-
tons OF government some organization
for crushing the will of the many, before
the pride or caprice of the few some ap-
paratus for claiming, tasking, and exhaust
ing the substance OF the over aboured and
half-led workingman. We find a court
which from its earliest history has been
the nest OF craft, corruption, and cruelty
nobility, either rapacious and heartless,
or superficial and pretending church
whose lawns and garments are but the sa-
cred coverings OF hypocrisy; middling class
which apes the manners and panders 10 the
depravily OF the aristocracy; and system
of law, ENGRAVING often the fraud of mod
ern refinement upon the injustice of ancient
barbarism. The whole is power of evil,
combined 10 hang burdens upon the limbs
and bind chains about the necks of the
poor. 1t is fell and rapacious coalition,
without sympathy, without nobleness of
feeling, scarcely mprehending the most
elementary social duties, and utterly i'm
pervous TO all the finer convictions which
bind man to man. Neither monarch, lords. |
nor commons, nor yet the church, nor that |
extensive class to be found in everv nation, I
the class Of the would-be greater, care one
Jot for the elevation, the dignity, or the
worth Of that vast aggregate which makes I
the mass of the people. They have other
objects TO look after, and other relations to
care Tor. They are in the midst of tug
and strife for wealth, honor. Office, fashion,
and the ten thousand petty affairs which
absorb the attention Of the more heartIess
jewellers upon earth. They have no time
to listen TO the complaints of others, TO
amellorate their condition, or guide the
destinies OF revolution. /, is on this ac-
count that If any good is done to the multi
tude they must do il for themselves. The
shaping OF their destiny is in their own
hands. Too long already have they cried
to the deaf, unheeding upper classes
hey have said, we are cold, and their
nerclless task-masters, for warmth, have
cast them into prisons. They have said, :
we are hungry, and they have been an i
'wered, eat the dirt. They have said, we il
ire athirst, and they have been told TO c
rink OF the standing pool. They have c
ald, we are weary and diseased, and they !,
AVE been driven TO the hulks, or shut up y
ike wild beasts. Is there any thing for +
hem to hope from the compassion of those v
Who have no justice 7 Are they to cry for T
mercy, when all they want is right ? Are v
hey longer 10 beseech body against the 6
Unity easements Of whose hearts they have
hammered in vain for years %
hat there is any other resort for these q
'oor Chartists than the appeal to arms, it
would take long argument to prove.-
That they might, under certain circum-!
tances, be better men that they might
ecome imbued with principles of peace ::
hat they might rely Cor success upon mo- W
al means, is true but that in their pre- p
ent state Of degradation and suffering d
hey will bethink themselves of refined no =
IONS OF right, is not true, nor is il proper II
0 withhold our sympathy from those who vi
truggle for good end, even if they strug- W
lie madly, The time for celebration with m
ne most Of the Chartists is passed II a. q
only left for them TO act. This is the .,
which weighs upon every hi
reast. TO desist is death, and 10 90 on lie
death, and few there be who would not be
refer the death by violence, assuaped nv m