Louis Phillipe is thus doomed to feel again the bitterness of a losing cause, Such an event, however much it may be deplored, is, unquestionably, the result of that fatal policy which denied to the French nation the right of meeting ‘for the discussion of public questions, The attempt to suppress, by military force, an agitation more general and more profound than any that had arisen since 1830 has recoiled with tremendous power upon the King and his advisers, With an elaborate system of fortifications and a well-trained army of 100,000 men, an attempt was vainly made to awe France into submission. Oh, shortsighted policy ! When will the rulers of the earth be wise, and learn to respect the feelings of their subjects? France has set an example in favour of her rights which, I trow, will reverberate throughout Europe with the rapidity of electric power, May she use her victory with moderation and follow up the advantage she has gained by a judicious development of those principles for which she has so energetically contended.”}}
It will have been seen that while I censured the French King and his advisers: for their coercive measures, I at the same time expressed a hope that the people would use their victory with moderation, and follow up their advantages with a just appreciation of the rights of all classes This sentence was really the key to the lines on “Liberty,” and numerous other effusions of a similar character that have been written by the same hand. I will now make another extract: from my diary of 1848 —
“Monday, March 6th, Another week has passed amidst the greatest excitement that has occurred for many years. So sudden and stupendous, yet so definite and complete was the overthrow of the Orleans dynasty on the 24th ultimo, that I ventured to record an opinion that its effects would be reverberated throughout Europe, Already are those effects becoming speedily manifest. Austria, Prussia, Poland, Greece, Italy, and Spain are all in commotion. From the example of France, those countries are endeavouring to burst the fetters of tyranny. Piles of combustible material are being heaped up, ready to explode by the least spark of revolutionary fire, Prussia has extorted from her sovereign[1] a Liberal constitution; the populations under the sway of Austria are on the point of asserting their independence; and judging from political manifestations generally, I have no doubt that a mighty spirit of reform will be forced upon the Governments of nearly all the countries from the north of Poland to the south of Spain. It may be inferred that the fate of Louis Phillipe has had already a beneficial effect on our own Government, Liberal though it be; for no sooner does the disquieting intelligence reach this country than Lord John Russell withdraws his favourite measure for the already too oppressive Income Tax, lest the rapidly convened and numerously attended meetings should create disaffection towards the Government and sow the seeds of future revolt. Well had it been for the King of the French and his Prime Minister had they, like Lord John Russell, paid deference to public opinion, and abandoned their projects when they found them distasteful to the nation. It is a remarkable circumstance that daring the political disturbances in France, the insurrectional movements in Italy, the warlike preparations of Russia, Prussia and Austria, the riots in Germany, and the demonstrations against an increase of the Income tax in England — all occurring simultaneously — the elements of nature were also contending with each other with the greatest. fury. Wind, hail, rain, sleet, lightning, thunder, aurora, inundations, &c., intermingled or followed each other in rapid succession; and not in one country alone, but in all the countries that were politically convulsed, Thus was the greater part of Europe in a state of unusual disturbance — naturally, physically and politically. Sceptics, if they have an opportunity of perusing this journal, will not fail to denounce this and others of my observations as being tinged with superstition, but let them attentively observe these coincidences themselves, and I warrant they will find that this is not a solitary instance of extensive political changes coeval with violent atmospherical mutations,”
Since the foregoing was written - now 43 years ago - the same writer has given publicity to some noteworthy instances of this character, and it is not improbable that, if his life be sufficiently prolonged, he may repeat them, if only as curiosities But 1 will again betake me to reviewing some of the political phases and occurrences of 1848. I had only just recently commended the action of Lord John Russell in withdrawing the proposal to increase the Income tax, such withdrawal being in deference to meetings and memorials then prevalent, and I had hoped that some of the points of the Charter in a a(sic) modified form would have been dealt with by the Russell Administration. I had an opportunity of knowing that even in Hastings there was a considerable party — tailors, shoemakers and others — ready to join in the agitation for further reform, notwithstanding that at the club dinners of that year the speakers complimented the inhabitants of the borough on their law. abiding proclivities and peaceable attitude, in contrast to the propagandists in other towns and countries, I was, therefore, disappointed when the Liberal Premier expressed himself unfavourable to further legislation in that direction; and under the impulse of that disappointment I wrote in my diary on the 2nd of Jane as follows:
{{Quote|“The Premier of England has at length shown himself in his true colours. He has thrown down a challenge to the people of this realm. He has declared in the House of Commons that the working, and middle classes neither wish nor require reform, Now, let me ask, will the care-worn sons of toil, whose ill paid labour has created the wealth, of this mighty empire, calmly submit to such an arrogant (illegible text)} assertion? Will the enlightened commercial men of the country who are writhing under the burthens of overgrown taxation, be content to lire and die beneath the yoke of political tyranny? Will those who do not fatten on the accumulations of aristocratic rule, but live by the sweat of honest toil, submit to be trampled down by champions of despotism? Will the wealth producers of England, whose wrongs reverberate through the length and breadth of the land, suffer themselves to be struck down by this aristocratic lord, who, not content with the withholding from them their birthright, but must also brand thee; with falsehood? But, alas! it is not one lord only who; defies a nation; it is the whole House of Lords, or the House of Lords as a whole, that has, by its rejection of the Bill for the admission of the Jews to the Legislature, insulted the intelligence of the people's representatives who passed the said Bill by a large majority through the House of Commons, rejected the choice of the greatest city in the world, treated with contempt the sanction of eighty principal towns of the empire, and spurned the petitions of 350,000 Englishmen. All this has been done when, as it were by Heaven's decree, the monarchies of Europe are falling and the ‘shaking of nations‘ is being accomplished whilst Ireland, or the land of ire, is frantic for Repeal and England is shouting for the Charter. Yea! whilst Government itself is at its wit’s end for the preservation of social order, the Lords have the unwisdom - not to use a stronger term — to throw down a challenge to the nation to try whether a people’s will or a Lord’s veto is the strongest. Rise, then, ye sons of Britain and rally round the standard ‘of Reform! Unfurl the banner and flaunt it in the breeze! March on to the field of conquest in peaceful but overwhelming numbers, and never halt nor retreat until victory is yours, and with it an end to aristocratic domination !”
“Why doth oppression stalk the land,
And tyrant lords, a few,
Unite to crash the peasant band,
And feudal strife renew ?
“Why revel they in rigorous power,
And, with despotic sway,
Proclaim ‘ These lands, yon hills, that tower
Are ours to endless day ?
“Behold, ye serfs, our proud domains,
Our castles and our lands—
All, all are ours, despite your claims,
Despite your rebel bands !
“We hold them from our ancient sires,
Of noble blood are we;
We're lords and dukes, and knights and squires,
And such will ever be.
“Put down your vile insurgent arm !
Go, hide your rebel head !
To us your threats give no alarm,
No power of yours we dread.
“Such are the views expressed or meant
By those of lordly mind;
And thus do they, with mal intent,
Make war upon their kind.
“But, doubtless, soon a time will come —
More soon than they expect —
When Justice, with her heat of drum,
Their ways will counteract.
“Be firm, then, all ye sons of toil!
United you shall stand;
And lordly arrogations foil,
And gain your just demand.
“Your triumph will the greater be
When you have victory won,
And crowned your efforts to be free
Without the pike and gun,”
In reviewing the political disturbances of the memorable year 1848, 1 have referred at some length to the Insh rebellion as well as to the Chartist Demonstrations and the continental revolutions. My own opinions on these events have been expressed with sufficient candour, and, it is hoped, with becoming moderation. I have also quoted from the new local journal of that year (the Hastings and St. Leonards News) some editerial comments with which I felt myself to be generally, or mostly in accord, and I now add from the same source the following:-
ALARMING NEWS FROM IRELAND. - News comes [July 27th] that some of the troops in Ireland have revolted, and that several parts of the country are in flames.
IRISH INSURRECTION. (Aug. 4th. ]. - French fashions would seem to be at a discount on this side of the Channel, The Chartists in England, who were to have awed the Government into submission to the insolence of an ignorant rabble, only made themselves look ridiculous by the futility of their treasonable attempts; and the disaffected in Ireland, although representing a far more serious conspiracy, have failed most miserably in their efforts to emulate the Republicans of France, . . . Whatever may have been the faults of our Government with regard to the administration of Irish affairs generally, we think their present determined course worthy the commendation of all friends of justice, both towards England and the Emerald Isle itself, The wrongs of Ireland at the hands of British statesmen have been many and great; but the kindness and consideration of the British people in times of Irish trouble and distress have also liberally abounded, And it strikes Englishmen as a painful piece of ingratitude just as our sympathy for Ireland was waxing warm, and the cry of 'Justice to Ireland' is really assuming a tangible shape, those objects of our interest and pity should sound a louder curse against the Saxon race, and thirst more ravenously for their blood, A growing feeling of indignation among our countrymen is the natural result of this blind ingratitude — this stupid barbarity. When starvation and disease were depopulating our sister country it was English bounty which alleviated the sufferers woes, even to the prejudice of the poor at home, Forgetting the graceless epithets so freely and so often given him, the ‘ alien’ Saxon then clothed the naked and fed the starving by thousands and tens of -thousands, Yet is he the hated alien still! Yet anathemas and pikes and rifle-balls — altar denunciations and wholesale murders — his best rewards, Surely the man must be mad or a fool who can sympathise with such absurd fanatics as this.
The same Hastings News of October 13th, in commenting on O’Brien’s sentence, remarked :—
“Justice has at length found a voice through an Irish jury, and treason has met with appropriate reward. O’Brien has been pronounced Guilty and sentenced to death. . . It is not with the mode of punishment that we agree when we confess our satisfaction at the result of this trial; we rejoice because an important principle of Justice has been vindicated. There is a maudlin sympathy abroad for every species of culprits and traitors which we strongly deprecate; a sympathy which seems to be proportioned to the magnitude of the crime—the greater the offence, the more popular the offender. Surely it is better that the law should punish — ay ! even severely — the one political incendiary than that such single pest should be suffered to curse the whole community. . . Against this spurious charity we pledge ourselves to endless war. To excite respect for peaceful rhetoric, for quiet suffering, and for honest industry is a far more honourable vocation than to call forth sickly tears over frustrated rebellion or defeated treason.”
This is language which the present writer believes might have been as appropriately employed at any time during the last decade as at the time when it first appeared in print; and, indeed, with still greater fitness, if we but take into consideration the vast changes effected by the British Parliament for the amelioration of the Irish people and the immense sums contributed by the British public for their relief in the hour of need. All, and more than all that St. Leonardensis ever pleaded for in his metrical musings and prose writings has been conceded, and yet the discontent of a disaffected race, goaded on by ceaseless agitators, has remained as rampant as ever.
Forty-three years have passed since I wrote the several odes to “ Liberty,” “Injustice,” and ”Why doth Oppression stalk the Land?” and at the same time counselled moderation and a process of redress by legal and constitutional means, without recourse to “pikes and guns.” Forty-three years have also run their course since the Hastings News — then a new journal — concurrently favoured my views, but in a more condemnatory tone anent the Irish agitators and English Chartists. I have already stated that all, and more than all that St. Leonardensis ever pleaded for has since been conceded, and yet the discontent of a disaffected race, goaded on by ceaseless agitators, has remained as rampant as ever.
This remark was intended to apply more particularly to Ireland, although it must be admitted that notwithstanding the almost inconceivable improvment in the condition of the English artizans and labourers in the present day as compared with that of 1848, the clamour of the working-classes for better — and, as we view it, unattainable—terms is still paramount. The so-called New Unionism, besides embracing a demand for one or more of the unconceded points of the “ People’s Charter” of 1848, also practically includes the somewhat farcical programme of “Eight hours work, eight hours play, eight hours sleep, and eight shilling[2]s a day.“ This has been shewn by the attitude of a majority of the delegates at the recent Newcastle Congress. Much has been written on this great meeting of Tyneside, and now that the 500 delegates have returned to their homes, ample time has been afforded for a few reflections, In many respects this Parliament of Labour was a remarkable one, it being the largest of its kind that had ever assembled, and representing as it did, over a million and a quarter of Trades Unionists, including women as well as men, and yet telling us very little more than we before knew. In the studiously moderate speech of the President, when alluding to strikes, he remarked that there were some that were not only blunders, but almost crimes. As a cautious Liberal, who believes in self help as against state interference, he defined the true aim of Trades Unionism to be the better distribution of wealth, but he did not advise the meeting to invoke the aid of Parliament in the solution of so difficult a problem.
If they were united, he observed, they could do anything they chose, but they were not so; and this was shown when the test question was put on the 8-hours proposition, although it must be admitted that those of what is called the New Unionism were in the majority. A compromise of a permissive character was after wards effected, but whilst it served to accentuate differences of opinion among different trades, it appeared to bring out the certainty that unless the day of eight hours could be enforced all over Europe, the British workman would lose by its adoption. If French, German or Belgian operatives were allowed to work as many hours as they chose, while English. men were restricted to the legal eight, the former would obvious!y be able to undersell the latter. The English manufacturer would also lose trade, and would have either to give up business or reduce their workmen’s wages. We still hear the French talk a good deal about “liberty, equality and fraternity,” as they did in the year 1848, but while their “equality” is to get all they can for themselves, they show their brotherly love for their neighbours by the adoption of a high protective tariff, calculated to injure British industry.
If we look to another Republican community — that on the other side of the Atlantic — we find the same kind of anti-equality, anti-fraternity policy pursued. Russia, also, helps us in her peculiar way by sending us cargoes of starving Jews to compete with London’s workpeople in a struggle for bread. If, therefore, we look at facts with an undistorted vision, we find that instead of a universal brotherhood being carried out in practice, the disposition of one country is both to obstruct as far as in it lies the trade of another, and to take advantage of sought for beneficial changes by other people than themselves.
The strike at the London docks was regarded at the time as one that had reason and justice on its side, but it has since been shown that foreign ports benefitted(sic) immensely as a consequence. Another proposition at the Labour Congress was to make payment of Members of Parliament a test question at the next election. This was also one of the points of the Carter in 1848; but should it ever be carried out in practice, its benefit to the community is open to great doubt. Theoretically, it may be a hardship that a poor but intelligent man is debarred a seat in Parliament, but we have seen that working-men of commanding abilities have been able to get some association to contribute to their election and maintenance; and we come to the conclusion that the present system, with all its faults, is distinctly preferable to that which prevails in France, America and Australia. Even in England at the present time the legislative tone is not anything too high, but in the countries named, the tone of political life is far below what it ought to be, and is therefore a tolerably sure indication that paid members are politicians by profession rather than from conviction.
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
