Charter (Newspaper) - March 8, 1840, London, Middlesex CHARTER ESTABLISHED BY THE WORKING CLASSES thky who seek nothing but own have always a right to ww and to keep they have the be the so numerous that oppose such as deserves the 18 the portion of the mass of the and not the haughty license of some predominant No. 59 MARCH 8, 1840. Price 6d THE LITERARY FRAUD OP THE The according to which we were enabled last week to announce that the was to be brought out under the superintendence ef the Editors of the and finally to be incorporated with the latter on the 22d of is denominated a literary by the Southern and the publisher of this print put out a describing the same arrangement as an attempt to the working that the Editors of the attribute this calumny as much to want of brains as to and are rather pleased than otherwise with a circumstance which enables its to form a pretty correct estimate of the editor of the Southern But what are the facts conductors of the Charter were unable any longer to continue and believed that they could conscientiously recommend their friends to support the Statesman and that in so doing they according to an agreement with the liquidate certain demands upon the The Charter was accordingly brought out last week by the Editors of the containing all the miscellaneous the foreign and parliamentary the leading literary and other matter of the in with the exception of the first and last which in the Statesman are filled with a reprint of the The conductors of the Charter thus gave their readers the best means of judging for themselves whether the Statesman was worthy of their support or Those who had the slightest regard for the conductors of the Charter could not object to this their last on the must have been gratified to see in surrendering their they recommended and Had the conductors of the Charter had the same confidence in Southern Star which they had in the the same belief that the Southern Star merged and would receive the benefit of the and would honestly perform its could have as easily made the same arrangements with the Southern Star as they did with the And is the source of the calumny put forth by the Southern The conductors of the Charter could with justice to themselves or to the recommend the Southern Why remains to be told at a future when we have a statement of the causes which have led to the failure of the though edited by that brilliant William now Editor of the Southern It shall not be our fault if there be not a thorough exposure of the quacks who have misled and plundered the working But of this For the present we confine ourselves to the Southern Star's calumny of every body but It modestly describes itself as noio the only occupant of the as the as it ever shall the uncompromising advocate of before last the Charter was also an pant of the field and this same Charter has preferred making arrangements with the and recommending instead of dealing similarly with the Southern Surely the Charter had as much right to commend as the Southern Star had to glorify If this denunciation of the conductors of the Charter be not very it is an ungenerous and unfair attempt to deprive them of compensation for the losses they had sustained in the people's cause For the Editors of the we care not a rush about the Southern Star's aspersions of We lay no claim to the only advocate of the and we are content with their whether we are such or ON THE ALTERATION OF THE MODE OF ASSESSMENTS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE AND THE ABOLITION OF THE LAW OF Thk whole of the aristocratic and middle classes being engaged in the courtly occupation of kissing and reading and there being doing in we propose to offer a few remarks to our readers on the subjects of Parochial Assessment and the Law of which we conceive of vital importance to the well-being of the working more especially the which we conceive to be a remnant of the feudal when the people were considered as much belonging to the soil as the cattle and which has tended more to degrade and render powerless the agricultural than any other by fixing them to one and rendering them fearful of leaving their parish for fear of losing the right of damping that spirit of so essential to human The present mode of raising a fund for the relief of the is on the principle that every parish should support its own poor and this at the first seems reasonable and perhaps might not have been open to the same objections before England had its population concentrated in large manufacturing and subjected to those periodical crises which plunge hundreds of thousands into we take that the relief and maintenance of the destitute and infirm is as much a part of the duty of society as the protection of life and or the education and moral training of the rising Under a sound system of we conceive that it would never happen that the whole community would be suffering under a depression of trade at the same Nay in the case of the Corn it frequently happens that one class may benefit by that which depresses under the present mode of the burden is made to fall those least able to bear the ratepayers sof the district where the distress To illustrate fully our we will put a We will in a district in owing to a depression in thousands are thrown on the which must necessarily be increased at a time from the withdrawal of the ordinary expenditure of the wages of the they the are of less able to bear it. We come now to the we think will be found in a national fund for the relief of the and the abolition of the Law of the rate will then fall equally on and we shall no longer see the destitute from place to and more money spent in litigation to determine the place and than would have sufficed to maintain them in We shall no longer see the demoralising system which induces a large manufacturer to build cottages for his in another in order to shift the maintenance of them from himself in seasons of We should not see heartless in order to save the and thereby gain hurrying dying paupers to another lest the charge of maintenance should fall on Aristocratic parishes would not be enabled to escape that fair share of the maintenance of the poor which their wealth so easily We wish distinctly to be that we have no desire to interfere with the local management of the but simply with the equalization af the tax for the A Chartist correspondent recommends the organization of the whole democratic strength of the metropolis into one He man must perceive the inconvenience of small knots of men meeting together under different denominations the same To carry out any great see what labour and loss of time is required to bring the different associations to act upon a given It is to remedy this defect in our organization that I would propose to establish a new association for the whole under the simple title of the Londen Political whose motto should be the the whole Charter and nothing less than the Let the Working Democratic Charter Universal Suffrage Political and other societies professing the principles of the abolish their various and amalgamate themselves into one grand Their numbers when enrolled in one book would be very Some such plan would bring thousands of working men into our ranks who have been deterred entering from the want of a more complete system TO THE OPERATIVES OF THE UNITED It will be seen from resolutions by the Committee for conducting this which appear in another that an arrangement has been made by on the 22d of the Charter will be incorporated with the Statesman and True Sun in the mean the Charter will be brought out under the superintendence of the Editors of the That the attempt to establish a newspaper by the co-operation of a numerous body of the working and conducted under the supervision of a should have failed as a commercial is no more than those experienced in newspaper proprietorship anticipated from the That necessary union of direct personal interest in with responsibility for must always be wanting in the manager of a however talented he may or however highly he may be This tbc Charter experiment has It commenced with a circulation and at a price bad it belonged to an individual sufficiently furnished with capital to conduct it to the best must have ensured complete The Committee have not been wanting in vigilance or intelligence and they have persevered in their enterprise with a and subject to personal inconveniences which prove their sincere desire to advance the cause of the industrious and do honour alike to themselves and the class they They have maintained their post without long after less energetic minds would have abandoned it as and in delivering their charge into the hands of the Editors and Proprietors of the Statesman and Weekly True they feel that they have not abandoned the best interests of their The Editors of the Statesman and Weekly True are also its not unknown to active politicians amongst the working they have and by their advocated all the principles of the People's long before that document had they were amongst those who originated they subscribed to the funds raised for presenting the National Petition to and they have at all times and in all societies maintained the indefeasible right of every man of competent understanding to be directly represented in the They know that national prosperity and general happiness will be best promoted by making every man the guardian of his own political In a they believe that if Universal Suffrage be not the remedy for their country's it is a condition precedent to their If a deep and hearty sympathy with the working if a firm determination to advocate their rights and advance their to assert their claims when and candidly to discuss even their can entitle public men and journalists to the confidence of the oppressed then do the Editors of the Statesman and Weekly True Sun boldly ask the working many frankly to confide in But they ask no blind They have never nor do they intend to to the They desire not to incite the feelings of the people too often justly They would address the They wish every sentiment they may every political opinion they may put forth to be narrowly scanned by their Their main in their connexion with the the spread of democratic and the attainment of democratic to and promote inquiry into the laws which regulate the production and distribution of material and to such applications of these laws as will best advance the social happiness of the masses of their In pursuit of such objects they will prove firmness to be entirely consistent with and whilst they boldly point out the the delusions and sinister interests of all they will not give unnecessary offence to Avoiding the exaggerated abuse and gross personal vituperation in which some would-be Democratic journals have they will not sparingly censure dishonest politicians or grasping Next to politics their desire is to make their journal an and entertaining and in endeavouring to entertain they hope to enlighten Everything now tends to make the working classes their deep aspirations for political their rapidly increasing mental the steady spread of temperance amongst and the high-toned public and private morality which is absolutely necessary to command respect amongst for any their exclusion from the pale of the These considerations clearly prove to our minds that the enfranchisement of the masses will add weight and dignity to the national It will lessen the dominance of that eager contention for wealth and its sensual or ostentations enjoyments which now spreads like a moral leprosy over a large portion of the middle It will totally put an end to those appeals to sectional interests by at public men can alone maintain their We hold that the working millions can never have any interests distinct from the permanent interest of all other and to give them votes is no less wise than These are no hastily conceived they are the result of much thought and some They will lead us to address our readers with frankness on all and without any of that cant which affects an exclusive regard for the working We are the advocates of equal rights and equal laws for all and we shall not flatter the erroneous prejudices of the more than ths corrupt prejudices of the statistics op It is the intention of the Editors of the Statesman and Weekly True Sun Newspaper to devote a portion of their columns to interesting to but especially to the working classes they on the 22d of March to commence may be called a Price Current of stating in as compressed a form as the actual rates of money wages of all the various of noting from time to time the general or local causes which may operate to advance or depress the wages of particular or of operatives in Disputes occurring between any set of masters and their workmen will be succinctly and impartially where it is the conflicting claims of both parties in their own words but carefully abstaining from invective or irritating comments on the conduct of either To enable this plan to be carried the aid and other or committees of working men will be communications from provincial trade societies will be and great care will be to insert no statements of figures or facts but such as. come authenticated by bodies acknowledged to be of authority by their several Endeavour will be made to test the accuracy of all statements by comparison with those of other bodies of by reference to and any other sources of information which may be Where apparently both versions will be and the authorities for them expressly In this part of the those economical questions which are more immediately applicable to will be occasionally but general politics will not there be entered Those subjects will have their appropriate place Here the circumstances which affect the working man's material condition will be dealt his either at day or house or the price of his his his his children's in all that goes te make up his will be carefully And in this the wages of the agricultural classes are Not only will this method of making known to each other their actual condition often operate to improve the wages of different classes of but the comparative advantages and disadvantages of his own trade and his own will become known to each and some aid will be afforded him in considering the prudence of changing his residence or his and even where he may be unable or unwilling to do by sentiment or necessity to his actual place of abode and his present he will have an opportunity of considering in whit other business than his own he may more advantageously place his These are questions deeply thought and with ample means of by all other and why cannot the operative have the same opportunities The Editors of the Statesman and Weekly True Sun will do their best to give in furtherance thereof they request all associated bodies of operatives throughout the United Kingdom to send to their 366, any snch in relation &c. as may be useful to the working The completeness of their plan must mainly depend upon the extent to which the working classes themselves co-operate in it. It is also that in all communications h long disquisitions and unnecessary facts in the fewest form the most useful formation in the smallest space the successful prosecution of the pi
