New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-16
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1850

in aims as the landlord does out Of his superflaOus
one No, no. as long as you retain compulsory
poorlaws, you confess that 1t is not merely hui
name but inst, to pay the laborer more than his
wages You confess yourself in debt to him, over
and above an uncertain sum which 1t suits you
not TO define because such an nyestig alton would
EXPOSE ugly gaps and patches in that same snug
competitive and property world OF yours and,
therefore, being the stronger party, You mpel
vour debtor to give up the claim which you con
Tess for an annuity Of half crown week-that
being the just above starving point otthe economic
thermometer And yet you say you have not
eaten the laborer Y0u see we woykmen, too,
have our thoughts about political economy, differ
Ing slightly from yours, truly, Just as the man who
is being banged may take somewhat different
view Of the process from the man who is hanging
him which view is likely, to be the more Practi,
cal one
With some such thoughts walked across the
open down, toward circular camp, the earthwork
Drobaby OF some old British town. Inside it,
some thousand or so Of laboring people were
swarming restlessly round single large block Of
stone some relic OF Druid times, on which tail
man stood, his dark figure thrown out in bold re-
lief against the dreary sky. AS We pushed through
the crowd was struck with the wan. haggard
look Of all faces their laCk.uster eyes and droop
ing lips STOPPING shoulders, heavy dragging steps,
gave them crushed, logged air which was min
babitua and degrading than that of the eXcita-
bic and passionate artisan.
There were many women among them, talking
shrilly, and looking even more pinched and waa
than The men remarked also, that many OF the
crowd carried heavy sticks pltch-torks ami other
tools which might be used as fearful weapons an
ne)v sign which [ ought to have needed betmes.
They glared with suen curiosity at me and my
LoDdoners clothes, as, with no small feeling OF
selEmportance pushed my way to the foot OF
tbe stone. The man who stood on 1t seemed to
have been speaking some time His words, like
all heard that day, were utterly devoid OF any
thing like eloquence or imaginatlon-a dull string
of some what incoherent complaints, which derived
theirforce only from the intense earnestness Which
attested their truthtulness AS far as | can recot-
lect, will give the substance Of what heard
But, indeed, heard nothing but what has been
banded about from newspaper to newspaper for
years-contessed by all parties, deplored by all
nerties but never an attempt made to remedy 1t.
Thae farmers makes slaves on US. ! can
hear 10 difference between q Christian and mig
ger. except they logs the niggers and staryes the
Christians and l don't know which !. d choose
7 saTved Farmer seven year, Oft and on,
and srter harvest he tells me he's no more work
for me. nor nv boy, neither, acause he getting
zoo big for him go he gets little I'm instead, and
We does nothing; and my boy lies about getting
into bad ways, like hundreds more and then we
goes to board, and they bids us go ana look Tor
work and we goes up next part to London /
corIIr't get none: they'd enough to do, they SAID
"a s1nnlov their own and we begs our way home
and goes into the Union; and they turns us out
agai6 In two or three days, and promises us work
again. and gives us two days gravelpecklng and
then says they has no more for US and we was
sore pinched, and laid abed all day then next
boardday we goes to EN-, and they gives us one
dav more--and that threw US oft another week
and then next board day we goes into the Union
again for three days, and gets sent out again: and
so I've been starving one halfof the time and they
putting us oil and on o purpose like that; and IL
bear it no longer and that's what / says
After great deal of of harangueing from the
starving and desperate laborers, Alton addresses
the aEsembage.
A confused murmur arose, and movement in
the crowd. | felt that now or never was the time
to speak. II once the spirit OF mad, aimless riot
broke loose had not only no chance OF hearing,
but every likelihood of being implicated in deeds
which abhorred and sprung on the stone and
entreateG few minutes attention, telling them
that was a deputation from OF the London
Chartist Committees. This seemed to turn the
stream Of their thoughts, and they gaPed IN stupid
wonder at me, as | began, hardly less excited
than themselves
| assured them of the sympathy Of the London
worllingmen, made a comment on their own
m axe for himself, and told them that had come
TO eutreat their assistance toward obtaining such
a parliamentary representation as would secure
them their rights. | explained the idea OF the
CHARTER, and begged for their help IN carrying 1t
out.
To allwhich they answered surlily, that they did
not know ANYTHING about politics-that what they
wanted was bread
went on, more vehement than ever to show
them how all their misery sprung las then tam
cied from being unrepresented-ho the laws
were made by the rich for the poor, and not by all
for allow the taxes bit deep into the necessa'
res Of the laborer, and only nbbed at the luXu-
ries of the rich-how the criminal code exclusively
attacked the crimes to which the poor were prone,
while it dared not interfere with the subler mi
Duties of the high. born AID wealthy-hoW poor
rates as have Just said, were a confession on
the part of society that the laborer was not fully
remunerated. tried to make them see that their
interests, as much as common justice, demanded
that they should have voice IN the councils OF
the nation, such as would truly proclaim their
wants, their rights, their wrongs and have seen
no reason since then to unsay my words
To all which they answered, that their stomachS
were empty and they wanted bread. anu
bread we will have p
Go, them | cried, losing my self possession
between disappointment ard the maddenn5 de-
sire OF inauence-and, indeed who could near
thelf story or even LOOK upon tneII !"O9'i T4 nv
feel some indignation stir i'll him. unless senter,
est had drugged his heart and conscience, go, l
cried, aud get bread After all, you have a
right to it. No man is bound to starye There
are rights above all laws, and the right to live IS
one. Laws were made for man, not man for laws
If you had made the laws yourselves, they might
bind you even in this extremity but they were
made IN spite of you-agalnst you Ihey TOO
YOU, crush you: even now they deny you bread
God has made the earth free to ALL like the air
and sunshine, and you are shut out from oil 1t,
The earth is yours, for you till it. W ithont you
it would be a desert Go and demand your snare
Of that corn the fruit Of your own INDUSTRY,
What matter, if your tyrants imPrison murder
you! they can but kill your bodies at once IN
stead of killing them piecemeal, as they do now
and your blood viii cry against them from the
ground! Ay, wo -, went on, carried away
by feelings for which shall make no apology
for, however confused, there was, and is, and
ever will be. God truth in them, as this 5ener-