The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-05-09
Eng]and-The Chartists.

the day before quaking with tear Tor the existence
of ooarchica rule assumes his place on the Trea-
surv benches with an easy, comfortable air of per-
fsctsecurity, and the confident smile Of conscious
mower the clerks at the bank cease the awkward
manipulation of the musket, and return to their
ouiifs; the pensioner and place holder, who had
turned pale at the thought of being hereafter
compelled to follow some honest occupation for a
livelihood, enjoy with zest the pleasures pur-
chased by the sweat of others and shop-keepers.
stock jobbers, tuft-hunters, toad-eaters-n fact,
funkeyism in general-recovers from its alarm,
and contents itself with Boosting what deeds oil
prowess and valor it would have performed, Ii
q them bloody Chartists'' had only attempted 70
parade through the streets of London, and brighten
the women and children. What was all the frlght
about! Why was the Queen sent away, the NH
itary concentrated, the police quintupled, ana HUH
keyism armed and alarmed 1t was the mere an
nouncement of a meeting, in Remington Common
Of portion of the DISTINGUISHED people OF Eng
land to netition for redress of grievances and a
restoration of rights Is the Government OF Great
Rritain. heretofore the mainstay OF tyranny ana
onnression all over the earth, weak that II dreads
an assemblage of its own happy, enlightened and
contented subjects, who but exercise a right Sc
cnred 10 them by what is facetiously called the
~ n,orious revolution This is certainly most
s;no,,lar state of things, and indicates any thing
hut q consciousness of strength or of recttude in
the power that affects give the law to the earth.
This fright on the part of the Government holds
out the hope of some relief to the people. 1t shows
a real weakness in the ruling powers, which in
vites, and we hope may lead, to their overthrow.
We hope it, because we look upon the social con-
dition of the English people, as the very worst in
Europe. The aristocracy and landed gentry, the
coton-ords, the priests, lawyers and place-holders,
the absurd and ridiculous congomerate called the
middle Glass; and the useless slaves and ornaments
of wealth, vered servants, find the present order
Of things endurable, if not comfortable but the
men of toll and travail-the suffering, ignorant,
over-tasked, half-starved and starving millions
the great substratum of humanity upon which the
boosted power and glory of Great Britain rests are
worse off in England than the masses in any other
portion of the earh except the sister kingdom OF Ire
land. These are the people who lately assembled
to petition with all humility, for the restoration of
a portion of the rights which they claim as human
beings, and who are described by the courtly and
aristocratc Herald, ''poor fellows, whose pale
faces, and puny and ill-clad frames, were cacula-
ted to inspire much less of horror than of sympathy
and PITY Well might their faces be pale theirs
is a life of unremtting and unrequited toll; well
might their frames be puny. from generation to
generation, and from the cradle TO the grave,
drudgery and want has been their lot on earth.
And how could they be well clad, the produce OF
whose labor is snatched from their hands to main
tain an army of pampered drones, and to furnish
forth the silks and satins, the furs and feathers,
gold and diamonds OF court gala day9 But
where was the sympathy and pity this display of
misery was calculated to excite! The former was
exhibited only in the determination of the privi-
legged classes and their dependents to put them
down-and the latter cleaned from the sabres of
the Dragons or gittered on the bayonet-points of
the infantry.
But the Chartists held their meeting, and pre-
scented their petition. This was all they designed
to do. The petition was received by the House of
Commons and it has been discovered by the en-
Iighiened and laborious members of that distin-
gushed body, that it did not contain seven millions
of names-as Mr.. Feargus O'Connor, in one of his
vaporing fits, boasted that among the names are
those of the Queen and the Duke of Wellington,
which certainly were never appended with the
consent of their owners and that there is also
signed to it the names of several women, who, it
is insinuated have neither rights griefs. Upon
these notable discoveries, many speeches have been
made and much wit and Indignation wasted But
not one word has been uttered relative 10 a redress
of the wrongs complained of-nor will there be-
Not an attempt has been made TO meet the reason
ing, nor combat the justice, of the claims of the
petition-nor there be. But it will, neverthe-
less, be scornfulIy rejected. The Government has
got over its fright, and believes itselft be nvnci
Bile, because it was not attacked the Chartlsts
may therefore, continue to toll and starve steal
and hang, in welcome.
We confess that we are not disappointed in the
result The people of England are not now pre-
pared for revolution. They have 10 organization;
how can they contend against the different portions
of the privileged classes banded and knit together
by the ties of interest, and perfectly organized
They have no arrns-how they to put down
armed force But worst of all,
they have no leaders, none worthy of the name.
The loud words and pitiful deeds of those who now
affect the station of leaders, not fitted for great
or revolutionary times. And it will
be long, perhaps, before the proper men arise to
superintend the work of public regeneration. Such
men must be too powerful for the Government to
crush-too pure for it to purchase. They are not
delayed, but it cannot be avoided. The present
agitation of the popular mind will lead 10 inquiry
into abuses, and to anxious desire and energetic
determination to remove them. Aristocracy may
triumph now, and funkeysm may rejoice in and
imagine that it partakes of the Triumphant the
day of the people must come at last; and the longer
it is delayed the more terrible will be the reckon
ing, and the more radical the reform. The ac-
count which has been running up from the days
of the Norman Conquest, must finally be settled
and woe to those who have large balances to pay
In writing thus. we know that we shall shock
1unkeyism al home almost as much as we should
in London, if our paper happened to reach that
of its power. We lay ourselves open
to the accusation of radicaisr jacobinism, agra
rianism, and all the other hard names with which
well-ied and wellciad proprety delights to distn
gush those who think that the poor man has rights
which it is his duty to assert by all means in his