number of members to parliament for populous places-do away with Old Sarum, and such like-then all would be well. The Birmingham people, for instance, said, if they could get their town incorporated, have a mayor, a heap of councilmen, and I know not what besides, all of their own choosing, then nothing could be wrong. And, particularly, if they could so far succeed as to return to the "reformed parliament" their townsmen-Mr. Attwood and Mr. Scholefield-men who were so very pure as to want no refining; and when some thoughtless, indiscreet voter talked of pledging them, according to previous arrangements, Mr. Attwood retorted, and asked them if they thought it was necessary to refine pure gold. Well, nothing, surely, could work so favourably; all these things were accomplished; all was had that was asked. for. At "the Grand Meeting of the Political Union at Newhall-hill, in 1832,” George Edmonds called you "to do the glorious work of all ;" and Mr. Attwood remarked that " if that bill (the Reform Bill) did not pass into a law, he would rather die than live. He desired to see a time when the labourer would be courted for his industry; when, if one master refused, two would be ready to give employ; when not only bread but plenty would be given in exchange for labour. He did not contend for mock liberty, but real substantial blessings for his countrymen."

That this Bill was passed, in all respects, to his satisfaction, and to the satisfaction of the Union, is evident; because they, at that meeting, solemnly pledged themselves never to cease to labour in the great work of exciting the public mind to political objects, until the Bill of reform should have become a law." This took place, and, agreeably to promise, the Union ceased to excite, and finally dissolved; and you, who then were the "Unionists," are now become the "Chartists," and are making all this clamour because your own acts and deeds work in such a contrary way to what you then expected.

My friends, rely upon it, if you were to succeed to-morrow in getting all that you ask for now, you would, in a short time, have more cause to repent than you have ever yet had for any public acts and deeds that you have ever done in your lives.

You ask for universal suffrage at twenty-one years of age. What is that to do for you? You find every day that you who have votes are made the prey of office-hunters; that you are persuaded this is the right way to-day, and that to-morrow. Mr. Attwood, in this very week's newspapers, addresses a letter to you in which he says, " that twelve hundred thousand of his countrymen had adopted his views; that it had taken him twenty-five years of incessant labour to effect this; that now he finds the delegation of this mighty host has joined the ranks of his enemies." This incessant labour is therefore thrown away; and this,

he tells us, is more than he can patiently endure. The fact is, it is impossible for you at least that part of you whose time is necessarily occupied in earning for your families their daily bread to be able to guard against the schemes that are now got up to deceive you; and what will it be if there should be universal suffrage, to engender the shoals of demagogues who must and would live by cheating and deceiving you? They would (and in spite of all you could do) make you ask for the very things that you ought to oppose; and, perhaps, the very things that you thought you were opposing. Out of every workshop where ten men were employed, there would be, I doubt not, on an average, at least four that would be cunning enough to drop their tools and henceforward live by politics, making the other six keep them in idleness, in addition to all the idlers that have already to be kept. You are told, among other strange things, that if you had all votes, you would be independent-" real sovereigns ;" or, in other words, that Jack would be as good as his master. And yet, in the very same breath, they tell you to ask next for vote by ballot. Why, in this happy and independent state, be afraid to let each other know what you are about? If, after all these good things are obtained, it is expected that your situations are to be such that it is necessary for you to sneak to the ballot-box and tremblingly drop in your vote, in secret, lest your taskmaster should know what you have done if this anticipation of your instructors be realized, I think your condition will bear more resemblance to that of slaves than it has ever done heretofore.

ན ཟ

We have next annual parliaments; now, what is that to do for you, other than to harass your very souls out? You will be dinned to death by all the scoundrels in the country. As soon as they know you have votes they will be after you for ever; for, when they have fooled you once it will be time to begin again; and if you discover in time the villany of one, in avoiding him you will fall into the arms of another -just the same as a man does who is hustled by pickpockets. They will tell you as many flattering tales as a simpering bawd would: their motive, like hers, would be to plunder you to the utmost extent. et ate

And this brings to my recollection a fellow, who, four or five years back, belonged to the "Trades' Union" of Philadelphia: he was a journeyman shoemaker, but too idle a one to stick to the last, and being an elegant spouter," he turned his attention to politics, and wheedled himself into the good graces of the Trades' Unionists, who, by what he said to them, it seems, had just discovered that they were, and always had been, the most ignorant of men; but henceforward they were determined to be the most enlightened, and that they would be represented as such by one of their own body in the next legislative assembly. This man, or boy, for he was scarcely grown up, and had not an idea

becoming a man except what he borrowed or stole from others, was fixed upon to be the honourable member. A deputation accordingly invited him, by way of giving him an opportunity to display his oratory, to deliver an Oration" on the anniversary of their independence. From that "Oration" I take the following extracts t

"To point out," said the shoemaker," the wily schemes and plots of fortune-hunting adventurers, the endless variety of ways resorted to by our oppressors to rob us of our natural and inalienable rights; to show how wonderfully we have escaped entire submission to the will of the heartless aristocrats; and then to paint in glowing colours the bright prospects: we have, through the medium of these powerful enginesTrades' Unions-of a happy and glorious emancipation from the thraldom of accumulated wealth-are subjects so comprehensive and full of interest, that the brightest ornament of the age might employ the full power of his eloquence upon them, and add a new leaf to the chaplet which adorns his brow..

"The history of the world is but a history of the wrongs practised by privileged wealth upon oppressed poverty. Even in this country-this boasted land of liberty has the omnipotence of wealth blasted the natural equality of man, and rendered the condition of the labourer little better than that of slave.

"Go back to the first organization of our government, and you will find the poor man there subjected to the subtlety, duplicity, and fraud of the capitalist. You will find that the desire to be rich and powerful was greater than the desire to be free and happy, and that nearly every patriotic and noble feeling was sacrificed on the altar of avarice.

"Scarcely had our independence been achieved, when a feverish anxiety/manifested itself among many of the distinguished men of the day for wealth and titles; and the means resorted to to acquire wealth would have put even a Shylock to the blush.

"The war-worn soldier, returning once more to his happy home, rejoicing that his exertions had contributed to the emancipation of his country, little dreaming that the pittance he had earned by marching and fighting through flood and fire, and which in the honesty of his heart he thought, would be a solace to his declining years, would soon be wrested from him by the iron hand of avarice, he is a true patriot, and he flatters himself that all others are like him.

3

"For years of toil and blood he received a warrant for a small portion of the immense territory he had helped to free, and, being ignorant of its value, he sells it to those who know its value well. He is paid for it, it is true, but how? in gold or silver? No, no, in continental money in paper trash! ... ... The poor man was obliged to part with a pound note for a shilling's worth of something to eat.

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་་

t

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We have suffered many wrongs, flowing from various causes. Speculation has superseded industry; and each one who can leaves his honest vocation to run riot upon the spoils of legislative favour. Under the influence of these charters, we see erected large manufacturing establishments. In their vicinity, on the most eligible site, stands the lofty mansion of the proprietor-his lawns, his orchards, his pleasure-grounds, his outhouses, and all the concomitants of wealth and grandeur; while, on some more sterile spot, the wretched hovels of those who perform the labour stand huddled together in striking contrast with the other.

"Whatever of comforts or conveniences is left us from the proceeds of our industry-whatever the pittance that is spared from the rapacity of one bevy of cormorants to gladden the hearts of our families, is set upon by the hell-hounds of speculation. Rents are raised beyond our means to pay; markets are so high, that the poor man with his mite is driven to deal in shops where he must pay, for small quantities, fifty, yea, a hundred per cent. more than his wealthy neighbour.

"The state groans under a load of debt. The cities, towns, and corporate districts, each and all are burdened with debts which a century will not liquidate. Taxes are levied upon us directly and indirectly to pay the interest; and, turn which way we will, want and wretchedness stare us in the face.

...

""Tis true that once a-year they call us men, freemen, intelligent, virtuous, orderly, working men. But then they want our votes, and they flatter us; they want our interest, and they fawn upon us. They know our strength, and hence they resort to every stratagem to distract and divide us; to cut us up into parties and fragments of parties; to set each man against his neighbour; to turn almost our very brains with political excitement; and all for what?-to elevate themselves!

and one

. We must fight against that accursed system of legislation which grants special favours to the few, and depresses the many, which tends to make the 'rich richer, and the poor poorer.' . . . We must beware of the designing and the deceitful. . . Let us be true to ourselves, and, where levelling is necessary, let it be ours to level up; and let our motto be Equal rights, honest agents, and an enlightened people." Here you have a picture of democracy from a working man, who afterwards represented the Trades' Union in the halls of legislation. From him you learn that it is not any of those things included your "Charter" that can secure the working classes from oppression. And, from what I am about to tell you, you will learn that it is not such as he that will devise other and better means for such security. His "eloquence" charmed the Unionists, and they were satisfied that their confidence had been well and discreetly placed; they waited on the

in

"democratic party" with a proposal to this effect:- "If you will nominate our favourite on your assembly ticket, we, as a body, will vote for such ticket; and, if not, we will vote against you." The conditions were accepted; and so they would, in such a case, if Satan had been tendered to them. He was by this means sent to the legislature, and he voted in favour of everything that he had pledged himself to oppose! And, among those things, he voted for the United States' bank, which he and his friends had been at war with for years. Next, the vagabond, who chose in part for his motto Equal right," voted for a bill to prevent coloured men having trial by jury. And, further, he voted for a purse of money, containing millions of dollars, got together by the United States government selling the public lands and taxing almost everything that was ate or worn by the labouring man-he voted for part of Pennsylvania's share of that money being divided among the very chartered speculators that he, in his "Oration," had railed so much against, to wit, one million five hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars among forty-three of those chartered companies.

Thus did he and all the members of the "democratic party" propose to divide this spoil, and thus would it have been divided, had it not been for the Governor's veto. He would not agree to the robbery for the following reason, which he assigned in his Message on that occasion:"Because it bestowed on capitalists and speculators the money which is the property of the whole people, thereby enriching individuals and sections to the injury of the rest of the community."

So this Trades' Union" representative," who was to correct errors of this kind, turned the greatest rascal among the whole of them-selling his constituents all together, in one lot, to the chartered speculators! And the price he got for them was a permanent place in the custom-house at fourteen English shillings per day!! This was what he meant, I suppose, when he recommended them to be true to self, and level upwards. There is only one excuse that we can make for him, and that is, he told them in the " Oration" to beware of the designing and deceitful; and of those who leave their honest vocation to run riot upon the spoils of legislative favour. He levelled up with a vengeance, for I heard him say that before he was elected he had scarcely a bit of bread to eat; and that, had he not been elected, he believed his family would have been starved that very winter. Thus we find that his wages as a member saved him from starvation, and the sale of his votes finally procured him an independence. Here, my friends, you have a true specimen of a Chartist representative, made up, in every respect, according to your most approved recipe.

He was, too, unlawfully elected for a district to which he did not belong. The member is put on his oath as to this fact: he, however,