Nelson Chronicle, Colne Observer, and Clitheroe Division News. — 1892-08-19 (Nelson, Lancashire, England)

CONSPICUOUS AND USEFUL A PART. JiS was a striking personality and his career was N'„erY remarkable. The preacher referred to -1-'ooper's humble start in life, and eloquently 'observed that the battles for liberty, right and instice had generally been fought by men into Whose souls the iron of poverty and oppression had entered. Having gone through the school of 'Poverty and suffering Cooper had the deepest rnpathy with the poor and the oppressed. At „Tat time the old Corn Laws were in existence so at bread was exceedingly dear and wages were eXtremely low, and the stocking weavers or 'strikingers as they were called, who were barely 4ble to eke out an existence, readily found a friend -ida the subject of his sketch. Cooper shortly af terrds joined the Chartists, and as they had become -,listoric figures, and as their organisation and work -load found a place in history and in the great reforms of this country it might be well to say a 'few words about them. PARLIAMENT WAS THEN IN THE HINDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY 'and it foolishly and stubbornly refused to pass ttleasures to alleviate the distress and misery of Vie People, which brought the country on the ~riuk of a revolution. Then the Chartist organisa-113,1‘0n 'was formed and their demands formulated. 'he political reforms they insisted upon were now tailed the six points of the People's Charter. They Were (1) The extension of the right of voting to everYinale native of the United Kingdom, and every haturalized foreigner of two years standing and 21 ?:sears old; (2) Equal electoral districts; (3) Vote Y ballot. (4) Annual Parliaments; (5) No prot,ertY qualification; (6) Payment of members of v_aylia.ment for their services. That some rash „nings were said and done by the Chartists was ( but considering the condition of the people t....tie wonder was that .not more was done. There e several riots and much blood shed in conneco 'with the agitation, and most of the leaders ,tere imprisoned. Cooper was imprisoned at afford two years. We had SECURED SOME POINTS OF THE PEOPLE'S  CHARTER, 4,F the others ,W.B should receive in the near ]-11,.1t11e- And this, as the Chartists expected, had -F,„- to many otherzeforms which had enriched our -14" es. It might be asked " Why was not the ePeal of the Corn Laws made part of their ? The answer was because those politOtestaeasures were believed to be necessary to get -lern Laws repealed, and all the other social erlals that were necessary. Those points of the tc,"°Ple's Charter were not asked for as an end in t einselves, but simply as means and machinery IZa's.,e;euniplish ends. It was impossible to get from I,Z'arnent any measure of great benefit to the ..."°Pie until the people could choose and send their ,Nvia •",member < The Chartists were undoubtedly and wise in what they sought to get, however ti-"lse and wrong their methods of obtaining it glit have been. Proceeding, Mr. Barnes re„ 47',xcd tha.t we owed more than we could pay or il'allaate to such men as Thomas Cooper, who p‘vaYs regarded the movement as Divine and idential. The important and h PRUITPUL PART OF COOPER'S LIFE the vowever his prison life. The prison had been birthplace of sonic of the most powerful, burnand revolutionary thoughts that had ever collated from the human brain, and though the jails Qf the cell confined the body they could not rv.ent the activity of the mind nor confine and altil2,nt its thoughts. Thus from these dungeons of 1141Q:uncut there had come seed thoughts which fre,dgeralinated and blossomed into the fruit- of :lest °La and reform. Cooper's prison life was not• t° himself or the world, and he soon set himDri., to the instruction of his fellow Chartist be-ruers, to whom he maintained it was a gain to ettumprisoned with such a man. Again, his poem censeid, " The Purgatory of Suicides," which had :eSotail-osire(fallie merit, was written whilst he was in gaol. The preacher went on to refer to sinking into scepticism, but remarked that as satisfactory to know that re..as HIS STRONG, CLEAR INTELLECT, the fseited itself, and he was able to see through 4ietZlilacies which beset him in his time of great erthoci.saffering. His life after ho returned to the evide c'3, faith was spent in lecturing on christian .1411111bj ianud in preaching. His lectures were several volumes, and he could truthN'ineYi say they were able, clear, powerful and conlove 4.. g. After referring to the deceased's Al_ tor humanity and his effort to serve it, Preacher remarked that there was a lesson the uanz plastic jelly-fish men— men of auvei,l.lrPose—who would sacrifice principle .u.Splea,"g else rather than incur the szit ,of some wealthy tyrant. Failure did tion. oFT," .'ooper. His whole life was an illustrado;ll's motto, "Patient continuance in I)osess,e-ri'g.,' Let them put more of the qualities by Cooper into their lives then they wcup, e More useful whereas without them they °e 11 1 se ess.  r-r!IE