A decree of the same date convokes the Rigsrad for Sept. 1st, 1854, and another decree publishes the nominations of the King, the nominees being all courtiers, high functionaries, and knights of the Danebrog.[h] The principal points gained by this new coup d'état are the suppression of the fundamental law, of the representative institutions of Denmark, and the creation of an easy machine for the supply of as much money as the Court and the Government may want. Ernest Jones has started on another tour through the manufacturing districts, in order to agitate them in favor of the Charter. At Halifax, Bacup, and the other localities he had already visited, the following petition to the Parliament was adopted:
"To the Honorable, the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.—The humble Petition of the Inhabitants of Bacup, in public meeting assembled, on Sunday, the 30th of July, 1854, "That your Petitioners have long and closely observed the conduct of the present Ministers of the Crown, in their home and foreign policy, and are convinced from calm observation that in both they are utterly undeserving the confidence of the country. "That your Petitioners feel convinced no domestic amelioration will take place, and no external vigor be displayed so long as such men remain at the helm of national affairs. "Your Petitioners therefore pray your honorable House to present an address to the throne, to the effect that Her Majesty may be pleased to discard her present advisers, and call to her assistance men more in harmony with the progressive spirit of the age, and better suited to the requirements of the times.
"And your Petitioners will ever pray."[i] On Sunday[j] a large meeting assembled at Dirpley Moor, Bacup; where the agitator[k] delivered one of the most powerful speeches ever made by him, some extracts from which deserve a place in your journal:[262] "The time for action has at last arrived, and we are commencing now such a revival of Chartism in England as never yet succeeded on a pause of apathy. At last the hour is drawing nigh when we shall have the Charter.... "Against the fall of wages you have struggled—and struggled vainly; hunger led you to the breach; ...but poverty was your teacher, even as hunger was your drill-sergeant; and after every fresh fall you rose in intelligence and knowledge. At first combinations and strikes were your remedy. You sought to conquer by them—forgetting that, not having the means of working for yourselves, you had not the means of resisting the capitalist-whose purse sat very comfortably watching your belly—seeing which could stand out longest.... You thought short time would do it, and were told that if each man worked two hours less, there would be two hours' work for those who had not worked at all. But you forgot that while you shortened the hours of labor one per cent, monopoly increased machinery one hundred.... "You then flew to co-operation. You compassed a great truth—the salvation of labor must depend on co-operation—but you overlooked the means of insuring that salvation. If you manufacture, you require a market-if you have something to sell, you require somebody who wants to buy it—and you forgot that that somebody was not at hand. Co-operative manufacture starts—but where's the market.... Where then are you to get the market? How can you make the poor rich, which alone can enable them to become purchasers of what co-operation manufactures? By those British Californians, whose gold is on the surface of the soil, and tints the waving wheatfield of the harvest. Look at your feet!—there, on the grassy banks whereon you sit—there, on the broad field whereon you stand—there lies liberty—there lies co-operation—there lies high wages—there lies prosperity and peace! In the fifteen millions of our public lands—the twenty-seven millions of our uncultivated British prairies[l] here at home. A Greek fable says Hercules wrestled with the giant Antæus, whose mother was the Earth, and threw him often—but every time he fell upon his mother's breast he gained fresh force, and bounded up more strong. Hercules discovering this, lifted him up, and held him in the air, till he had conquered him. Thus does the Hercules monopoly tear giant labor from its parent soil, and hold it by the grasp of competition, weak, powerless, and suspended, like Mahomet's tomb, 'twixt heaven and hell—only much nearer to the latter place! "But how get to the land? There are some men who tell you that political power is not needed for the purpose. Who are they who tell you so? Is it the leaders of ten per cent. movements, and ten hours' movements, and short time movements, and restriction on machinery movements, and burial club movements, and partnership movements, and benefit society movements, and church separation movements, and education movements, and municipal movements, and all the other movements besides? What a lot of 'movements', and yet we have not moved. Not want political power? Why, these are the very men who go dancing around a political Tidd Pratt[m],—or send whining deputations to a political Palmerston,—or petition a political parliament, or wheedle around a political throne! Why, then it is political power we must go to after all, by their own showing. Only those men tell you to go to the political power of your enemies, and I tell you to go to a political power of your own.... I lay down this sovereign truth:—
"What have we opposed to us? First, a coalition ministry. What does it mean? The leaders of factions, not one of which can stand alone. Some dozen men, too weak to stand on their own legs, and so they lean against each other, and the whole lot of them can't make one proper man at last. That is a coalition. What have we besides? A Tory opposition that would kick them out, but dare not; for it knows that it would be kicked out in turn; and then comes the Deluge, in which Noah himself could not save Class Government. What have we else? A landed aristocracy, three-fourths of whose estates are mortgaged for above two-thirds of their value—a glorious power that to crush a people! 38,000 bankrupt landlords, with 300,000 farmers, who groan beneath high rents, game laws and landlord tyranny. What have we more? A minocracy becoming bankrupt beneath the working of their own vile race of competition—who soon will not be able to keep their mills over their own heads. A precious power that to strike the pedestal of freedom from your feet! What remains? The working man and the shopkeeper. Often has it been endeavored to unite the two on the basis of a compromise. I for one have always opposed it, because a compromise of the franchise would only have strengthened the moneyed interest, and perfected class legislation. But the time for that union has now come at last—and come without the need of compromise or treason. The retail shopkeepers are fast becoming democratic. It is said the way to a working man's brain is through his belly. Aye! and the way to a shopkeeper's heart is through his pocket? For every shilling less he takes he gets a new idea. Insolvency is teaching him the truth.... Thus the moral force of our enemies is annihilated—and new allies are joining us. Their physical force is gone as well. The Czar's done that! In Ireland there are scarce 1,000 men! In England there is now no standing army. But there's the militia! Ah, the militia! of which the desertions are so immensely numerous, says The London Times, that the 'Hue and cry' is no longer enough, but special circulars are sent to every parish, to every place where the deserter ever lived, if but a week, to see if force and terror can drag him back. I wish the Government joy of their new force. Thus the field is clear—the people's opportunity has come. Do not suppose from this I mean violence. No! Far from it! We mean a great peaceable moral movement. But because we mean moral force, it does not follow our enemies should mean it too.... "England has begun to think, and listening. As yet she is listening for the drums of Poland and the tramp of Hungary. As yet she is listening for the cries of Milan and the shouts of Paris! But amid the passing pause she is beginning to hear the beating of her own proud heart—and cries 'I also have a work to do—a foe to vanquish, and a field to conquer.'"[n] The Chairman of the meeting[o] adverted to the presence of the Superintendent and other men of the police trusting that no misrepresentations of what was said would be reported by those employed by Government[p]. Referring to this warning Ernest Jones said:
"For my part, I don't care what they say—they may say what they choose. I go into agitation like a soldier into battle—taking my chance amid the balls that fly—to fall and perish, or to live and conquer; for I'm a soldier of Democracy."[q]
Notes[a] Alexander Nikolayevich (Alexander II).—Ed.[b] Supply.—Ed. [c] Baron Budberg's address is given according to Le Moniteur universel, No. 219, August 7, 1854.—Ed. [d] See this volume, pp. 288-89 and 304.—Ed. [e] Isabella II. The decree sanctioning the existence of the provincial juntas of August 1, 1854, countersigned by Espartero. Le Moniteur universel, No. 220, August 8, 1854.—Ed. [f] Ferdinand II.—Ed. [g] L'Indépendance beige, No. 219, August 7, 1854.—Ed. [h] All the decrees mentioned above are cited from the report of the Copenhagen correspondent of July 31. Le Moniteur universel, No. 216, August 4, 1854.—Ed. [i] The People's Paper, No. 118, August 5, 1854.—Ed. [j] July 30, 1854.—Ed. [k] Ernest Jones.—Ed. [l] Sic in the original.—Ed. [m] Apparently a misprint. The reference to a book by the well-known English lawyer W. Tidd, Practice of the Court of King's Bench.—Ed. [n] The People's Paper, No. 118, August 5, 1854.—Ed. [o] Shoesmith.—Ed. [p] This warning was not pronounced by the Chairman but by James Mooney who was the first to speak. The People's Paper, No. 118, August 5, 1854.—Ed. [q] This is a quotation from Ernest Jones' speech extracts from which are given by Marx above.—Ed. [260] This article is part of Marx and Engels' joint article (see Note 258↓). The first section of the article, devoted to the movement of troops in the Danubian Principalities, was written by Marx with Engels' assistance, as can be seen from Marx's letter to Engels of July 22, 1854. Part of the article was included in The Eastern Question under the title "The Russian Retreat.—Denmark." [261] The reference is to the Pacheco Ministry (March-August 1847), one of the numerous ministries during the reactionary dictatorship of General Narváez (1843-54). [262] In the article cited by Marx below Ernest Jones developed the ideas on cooperation he had expounded earlier in his articles on cooperation written with the direct participation of Marx (see present edition, Vol. 11, Appendices).
[258] This article by Engels was included by Marx, as is seen from his letter to Engels of August 8, 1854, in his own article: "Evacuation of the Danubian Principalities.—The Events in Spain.—A New Danish Constitution.—The Chartists". This composite article was entered in the Notebook as "Dienstag. 8. August. Sebastopol. Alandsinseln. Russian Retreat—Espartero Recit—Danish coup d'état—Jones Rede in Bacup". The Tribune editors cut up Engels' war review and published it as a leader. Marx's article was published in the same issue of the newspaper. The title of Engels' article, "The Attack on the Russian Forts", was presumably given by the Tribune editors.
Source: Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 13 (pp.350-356), Progress Publishers, Moscow 1980
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