Be vigilant; be prudent; act at once, such union. The boroughmongers have and believe me Your faithful friend, and most obedient servant, P. S. Look at the motto to this paper; look well at it; read it a dozen times over in such an hour, how precious will be a sovereign in gold! ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN. long contrived to divide these two classes, for purposes much too obvious to mention. At last, the middle class begins to perceive that it must be totally sacrificed, unless it make a stand, and a stand it cannot make unsupported by the lower class. The declaration, or address, put forth by the leaders in this union, is evidently from the pen of Mr. THOMAS ATTWOOD: and, like every thing else that comes from his pen, exhibits a great deal of knowledge and a great deal of talent. The main obTHE last notice that I gave about this ject of the union is to obtain for these work, was, that the next Number would two classes their share of the represenbe published on the 10th of February. tation in Parliament. Were I disposed I then thought that I should be in town to be as ill-natured as some people have sooner than I shall be there. I must, been towards me, I might call this intherefore, put it off until the first of consistent in Mr. ATTWOOD, seeing that, March, when I shall continue it monthly only last year, he disapproved of my regularly until the work be completed. wishing for reform, until the grand Since I have been from home, scores of question of the currency should be persons have come to me to thank me for writing this book, especially young men; which is calculated to give nie, and does give me, a great deal of pleasure and of pride. A very good-looking rather young man introduced himself to me at Leeds, with a request to shake me by the hand, and as he held my hand in his, he said, "I have to thank this hand for making me a sober man." And certainly I do believe that I have done more in this way than all the parsons in the kingdom; than all the teachers of all the sorts of religion put together. 1 write that which men will read, and remember as well as read; and my little books will be read with delight and advantage, when all the dull rubbish of all the lazy parsons, and all the mongrel teachers, will have been used for the singeing of fowls, or for purposes more vile. " BIRMINGHAM settled. I do not call this inconsistency There is an article in the Quarterly REVIEW that has excited a great deal of public attention. It calls for a reform POLITICAL UNION. of Parliament; it calls for an adjustment; it calls, in short, for what I have THIS is a very important matter. been calling for so many years. It calls' We see, at last, then, the middle class for those very things which it applauded uniting with the working classes. the Ministers for in 1817, for endeavourEverywhere where I have been, I have ing to stifle by their dungeon and gagendeavoured to show the necessity of ging bills. Strange change! But no meet with not a man who is not prepared for them; and it is very curious that every one seems to look forward to them as the only ground of hope. I look upon this Birmingham address as a matter of great public importance, and as such, I insert it here, recommending my readers to go through it with the greatest attention. BIRMINGHAM POLITICAL UNION, FOR THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC RIGHTS. The experience of the last fifteen years, must certainly have convinced the most incredulous that the rights and interests of the middle and lower classes of the people, are not efficiently represented in the Commons House of Parliament. A very few observations will be sufficient to place this important subject beyond the possibility of doubt. or so much reduced, as no longer to afford the just and necessary inducements to the of the country have thus been thrown geneemployment of labour. The working classes rally out of employment, or they have been compelled to endure more labour than nature can support, or their fair and reasonable earnings have been sacrificed, in order to prevent the ruin of their employers. Strange and unnatural as this state of things evidently is, it has, more than once, been attended with anomalies which have rendered it ten times more unnatural still. The markets have been glutted with food and clothing on the one hand, and with a hungry and naked population on the other. The most eminent parliamentary authorities have de clared that the loaves have been too many for the mouths, and that the mouths have been too many for the loaves, at the very same time! It is most certain, that if the rights and interests of the industrious classes of the community had been properly represented in Parliament, a general state of distress, attended with anomalies like these, would have commanded the instant attention of the House of Commons. The cause of the distress would have been ascertained, and the proper remedy would have been applied without delay. But, what has been the conduct of the House of Commons? To this very day, the cause of these strange and unnatural, and distressful anomalies, has never once been inquired into! At three different periods, when this vital subIn the year 1919, a bill was passed into a ject has been brought before the House of faw, under the assumption that it would add Commons, they have literally refused to allow only four per cent. to the national taxes and its investigation! In the year 1822, Mr. Wesburdens. It is now very generally acknow- tern gave notice of a motion to inquire into ledged that the bill thus passed into a law, has the cause of the national distress. The House added cent. per cent. to the national burdens; of Commons refused to grant the inquiry! In instead of four per cent., that it is literally 1827, Mr. Edward Davenport gave notice doubled, or is in the undeniable process of of a similar motion. The House of Com doubling, the real weight, and the real value mons refused to grant the inquiry! In of every tax, rent, and monied obligation, in the last year, Sir Richard Vyvvan gave the kingdom. Ten years have since elapsed: notice of a similar motion. And again the and yet, to this day, no adequate effort has House of Commons refused to grant the inbeen made by the representatives of the peo-quiry! Upon three different occasions, the ple to reduce the taxes in a degree correspond House of Commous has thus exposed itself to ing with the increase which has thus been the suspicion of either a total unwillingness, surreptitiously effected in their weight and or a total inability, to protect the most vital pressure! What further proof is required of interests of the country. the absolute necessity of reform? Nor has any attempt been made by the legislature to retrace their steps, and to rectify the grievous oppression which has thus been occasioned. On the contrary, the fatal error is now coolly acknowledged, and the country is gravely assured, by the very men who benefit by the measure, that it is now too late to retreat!! Here, then, we have proof that the rights and interests of the great mass of the com munity are not properly represented in Parliament. A triple proof has been added to every argument which had previously been drawn from reason and experience, that an effectual representation of the industrious classes in the Commons' House of Parliament is alike necessary to the welfare of the people, and the safety of the throne. At three different periods, during the operation of this fatal measure, and now a fourth Nor is this state of things much to he wontime, the industrious classes of the community dered at, when the present state and composi generally, have been reduced to a state of tion of the Commons' House of Parliament are distress which has heretofore been unex- considered. That honourable House, in its ampled in its general extent and severity. At present state, is evidently too far removed in each of these periods, the profits of produc-habits, wealth, and station, from the wants tive capital and industry have been destroyed, and interests of the lower and middle classes of the people, to have any just views respecting them, or any close identity of feeling with them. The great aristocratical interests of all kinds are well represented there. The landed interest, the church, the law, the monied interest;-all these have engrossed, as it were, the House of Commons into their own hands, the members of that honourable House being all immediately and closely connected with those great interests. But the interests of industry and of trade have scarcely any representatives at all! These, the most vital interests of the nation, the sources of all its wealth and of all its strength, are comparatively unrepresented; whilst every interest connected in any way with the national burdens is represented in the fullest degree! If any few individual members of the House of Commons should happen to be concerned in trade, it may be truly said that such members are in general far more concerned in interests hostile to trade, than in trade itself. They are, too often, rich and retired capitalists, who have, perhaps, left one-tenth of their wealth in trade, and have withdrawn the other nine-tenths from active occupation. It is, therefore, of but little consequence to them whether trade flourishes or not. It is possible, indeed, that upon some occasions, these rich and retired capitalists may derive a jealous and morbid satisfaction from the sufferings of their competitors in trade; and after having availed themselves of the facilities of credit, to accumulate their own fortunes, they may possibly contemplate, with pleasure, the removal of those facilities from others, and their hopeless and unavailing struggles to follow in the same career. Undoubtedly, it is essential to the national welfare that this state of things should be changed. The "Citizens and Burgesses" of the House of Commons should, in general, be real "Citizens and Burgesses;" men engaged in trade, and actively concerned in it; and having their fortunes and their prospects in life committed in it. The present members of the House of Commons, although called "Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses," are practically all "Knights of the Shire; inasmuch as they are generally possessed of the same fortunes, and living under the same habits, influences, and impressions as "Knights of the Shire." It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the members of the House of Commons should exhibit, generally, a total ignorance of trade, and of the wants and interests of the industrious classes of the community; and too frequently an indisposition to inquire into the distresses of the trade, or to give themselves any great trouble in relieving them. It is idle to blame this kind of conduct in them. It is in the nature of man to look principally to his own interest. It is the public themselves who are to blame, for having allowed a state of things to grow up in which the public interests are entrusted into improper hands. If the public bad kept a proper guard over their own concerns; if they had sent to Parliament real" Citizens and Burgesses," selected from among themselves, and having the same interests as themselves, acquainted with the same wants, and modes, and means, and living under the same habits, influences, and impressions as themselves, then the rights and interests of the industrious classes would have been properly guarded and secured. This was the practice in the better days of the constitution; and it must become the practice again; or there can be no prosperity, no liberty, no security for this injured and degraded nation. But it is not merely of the want of a community of interest, of feeling, and of knowledge in the House of Commons, that the industrious classes have a right to complain. A majority of that honourable House is generally believed to be elected by a few hundred rich individuals only; and near one hundred of its members are exposed to the suspicion of having their judgments biassed by the influence of emoluments drawn from the public purse. The interests of the mass of the people are thus exposed to dangers on all sides, and protected on none. Ignorance, imbecility, and indifference, on the one hand; power, influence, and perhaps corruption, on the other; all these combine to render the cause of the industrious classes hopeless in England, unless some measures can be devised for restoring to those important classes that legal control over the legislative functions, which the constitution has originally placed in their hands. Without this, it is probable that the reward of industry will be permanently destroyed; and that the merchants, manufacturers, farmers, and traders of the united kingdom will be reduced to a state of general poverty and degradation; whilst the working classes will be driven down in their wages, and deprived of employment generally, until they have no other resource but the overcrowded workhouse for their support. From all these considerations, it follows, therefore, that an effectual reform in the Commons' House of Parliament is absolutely necessary for the welfare aud security of the country. But how is reform to be obtained? Is it reasonable to expect that the men whose ignorance and imbecility have caused the national injuries and distresses, should voluntarily reform themselves? The thing is not possible. What then must we do? Shall we have recourse to a vigour trenching upon the law? God forbid. Fortunately for us, and for our country, the constitution has yet preserved to us some conservatory principles, to which we may have recourse, and by means of which we may hope that this great and vital object may be accomplished in a just, legal, and peaceful way. The exercise of those principles, however, is surrounded with many legal difficulties and dangers, which can only be counteracted by a general union and organization of the industrious classes, and which render counsel, caution, and direction, necessary at every step. The soundest legal advice, the most inflexible tendency to trench upon the rights and inteintegrity, the most generous, upright, and rests of the industrious classes of the commuhonourable motives, and the most dutiful sub-nity. If those important classes of men had mission to the laws, are all required to ensure ultimate success. been properly protected by political unions among themselves, if they had possessed poliUnder these circumstances, therefore, it is tical councils in all the great towns and dis necessary to form a general political union and tricts, with ample funds at their command, and organization of the industrious classes, and to with such intellect and integrity as their own appoint a political council, to inquire, consult, ranks abundantly afford; under these circumconsider, and determine, and report from time stances, it would not have been possible for to time, upon the legal rights which yet re- those innumerable acts to have been passed, main to us, and upon the political measures which now hem in, as it were, the rights and which it may be legal and advisable to have re-liberties of the subject on every side, and rencourse to. It is necessary also, to provide perma- der it almost impossible for the poor man to nent funds for the defrayment of the necessary move, without trenching upon a law. Societies legal expenses, which may be incurred, under of this kind, would have watched closely the the direction of the POLITICAL COUNCIL; for proceedings of the legislature, they would have money is the sinew of law; and without great sounded the alarm on the approach of danger; expense, no great object can be secured. they would have pointed out every rash, unjust, destructive or oppressive measure, the very moment it was first agitated; and there is no reason to believe that Parliament would not have listened to remonstrances thus timely, constitutionally, and efficiently supplied. The tax receivers, would have been reduced in their capital and income, in the same degree as the tax payers; or they would, at any rate, never have been permitted to build up their own aggrandisement out of the plunder and degra dation of the tax payers! The taxes of the country, instead of pressing almost exclusively upon the poor, would have been made to press justly and equally upon the rich; instead of throttling, as it were, the industry of the country, and consigning the struggling tradesman to the gaol, they would have been collected out of the accumulations and superfluities of the nation, and not out of its difficulties, embarrassments, and distresses. The prosperity of all would have been preserved; and all would have been brought to contribute equally to the national emergencies, according to their respective means. But it is not alone in the cause of reform, that union, and counsel, and organization, and co-operation, are necessary on the part of the industrious classes. The benefits which even the present state of the representation is capable of administering, are not properly secured to the public, from the want of some organized and efficient means of bringing the interests and opinions, and the wants and modes and means of the community to the knowledge of the legislative bodies. It is au old proverb, that "what is every one's business is no one's business," and, therefore, the common business of every one," is generally attended to by none. What more important business can every one" have, than that of bringing the interests and the wants of the community to the knowledge of the legislative councils? However desirous both Houses of Parliament may be of promoting the happiness and welfare of the community, they have not sufficient means of obtaining a knowledge of their wants and interests, nor of the measures necessary for their gratification and protection., Bred up in the lap of luxury, and surrounded by bands of Undoubtedly, it is just and necessary that flatterers and parasites, and of interested and the taxes of the country should be reduced in designing men, whose business is to deceive the same degree as the price of labour is reand misrepresent, the members of the legisla- duced, and as the value of the money in which ture have no sufficient means of coming to a they are collected is increased. We estimate knowledge of the wide-spread havoc which this reduction of taxes at full one-half their their own measures produce throughout the present amount. By a measure of this kind, country. A casual, town's meeting now and much distress and injury must certainly be then, without system, consistency, or perma- experienced among the tax receivers and denency of object, or operation, and, perhaps, a pendents of the Government. But this distress county meeting at distant intervals, still more and injury have already been experienced in carious and irregular, combined with du- a sevenfold degree by the tax payers. The bious and generally delusive representations same justice ought to exist for one as for the from the public press; these furnish, at pre-other. We could have wished that all distress seut, almost the only means of bringing the constituent and the legislative bodies into useful and efficient contact with each other. Hence, the pernicious legislation under which the country now suffers. Hence, the innumerable acts of parliament, which are passed to day and repealed to-morrow, which are passed again on the third day, and again counteracted on the fourth, and which, whether passed, or repealed, or counteracted, or continued in force, have still a constant and increasing and injury might have been prevented, among either of these great divisions of society, by a just and proper adaptation of the money of the country, to the existing state of the taxes, rents, debts, contracts, and obligations of the country. By this great measure, all the dis tress which the country has endured, might have been prevented. By this great measure, all the distress which the country now suffers, may yet be relieved. By this great measure, the general state of prosperity which existed t 吖 in the years 1824 and 1825, may yet be restored, and rendered permanent throughout the country. All this was and is in the power of the Government, unless indeed the devastation of agriculture, combined with the exclusion of foreign grain from our markets, have already destroyed the stock of provisions necessary for the support of the population. Bat the Government have refused this just, wholesome, and necessary measure. Instead of adjusting the measure of value, they have decreed that the country shall be forced through the rugged path of adjusting the innumerable things which it measures!! Instead of accom. modating their money to the existing habits and associations of men's minds, and to the state of prices, taxes, contracts,' wages, rents, debts, and obligations existing among the present generation of men, they have thought proper to force back all those great interests into conformity with an ancient, obsolete, and unsuitable standard of value! It is through this rugged road, that the Government compels the nation to travel. Be it so then. The Government have chosen their own path. It is but just that it should lead them to the same reckoning as it brings the country. It is but just that the taxes of the Government should be reduced in the same degree as the wages of labour. The Government will give to us the ancient prices and the ancient wages. We will give to them the ancient taxes and the ancient salaries. All their salaries, payments, and expenses were doubled in depreciated money. But they were not doubled in the ancient coins. Nor shall they so be doubled with our consent. We will give them one-half the present monied amount of the taxes. We will give them the full mount of the property and labour which we contracted to give them when the present taxes were imposed. But we will not willingly give them one shilling more. This is the line of Conduct which the Government forces upon us. The taxes of the country are now doubled in real value by the increase which is effected in the value of the money in which they are collected. And when the present monetary measares of the Government shall have produced their full effect in forcing down the prices of British property and labour to the continental level, there can then be no doubt that the pressure of the taxes upon the industrious classes will be double what it now is. witness that was examined, gave warning of When the notorious South Sea Scheme was quiry should be instituted into this mysterious Thousands of respectable families have been |