ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE.-As the power of acquiring knowledge is to be ascribed to reason, so the attainment of it mightily strengthens and improves it, and thereby enables it to enrich itself with further acquisitions. Knowledge in general expands the mind, exalts the faculties, refines the taste of pleasure, and opens numerous sources of intellectual enjoyment. By means of it we become less dependent for satisfaction upon the sensitive appetites, the gross pleasures of sense are more easily despised, and we are made to feel the superiority of the spiritual to the material part of our nature. Instead of being continually solicited by the influence and irritation of sensible objects, the mind can retire within herself and expatiate in the cool and quiet walks of contemplation.-Robert Hall.

ON THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE.-When knowledge, instead of being bound up in books, and kept in libraries and retirement, is obtruded on the public in distinct sheets; when it is canvassed in every assembly, and exposed upon every table, I cannot forbear reflecting upon that passage in the Proverbs: "Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the opening of the gates. In the city she uttereth her words, saying, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge ?"-Spectator.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

A PRESENT TO THE READERS OF REYNOLDS'S SUPPLEMENT TO THE "POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR."

OF OLD LONDON.

This work has been pronounced one of the best of Mr. Reynolds' tales, and is illustrated by faithful wood-cut representations of all Hogarth's best pictures. It will be issued in Weekly Penny Numbers, and Monthly Sixpenny Parts, uniform with "The Mysteries of the Court of London," &c.

In "Reynolds' Miscellany" is now publishing a
faithful Translation of

THE MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE; OR, THE
HISTORY OF A PROLETARIAN FAMILY.
By EUGENE SUE.

London:-Published for the Proprietor, by John
Dicks, 7, Wellington street North, Strand.

THE PEOPLE;

A WEEKLY PERIODICAL, PRICE ONE PENNY,
BY JOSEPH BARKER.

THE PEOPLE is thoroughly Democratic. It is, in fact, Republican. It strikes at the life of all Hereditary and Class Legislation; it striks at the heart both of Monarchy and Aristocracy. It aims at the thorough and universal emancipation of humanity. It does these openly, boldly, and zealously. It has besides, of late, become the counsellor of intending Emigrants. Mr. Barker has been in America, and is giving his readers the result of his travels and observations there. It is, besides, the Herald and Advocate of Reform in general. It pleads for Progress and Improvement in all things. It seeks to promote the free and full development of the whole human being and of the whole human family. Teetotalism, Phonography, and Phrenology, Reforin in Theology, Dietetics, and the Healing Art, all share its aid. It is a wholesale and universal Reformer.

It is published by JAMES WATSON, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row, London; and ABEL HEYWOOD, Oldham-street, Manchester; and may be had of all liberal booksellers,

REY

Last Week's Number (9), price only 1d., of EYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR, Edited by G. W. M. REYNOLDS, contained a Portrait of George Sand; and with that Number was given, gratis, a "Supplement" of four pages, containing articles of the most interesting and startling description, and with the following illustrations:-The Mountain Party in the National Assembly of France-A Portrait of Kossuth-A Portrait of Ledru Rollin-And Portraits of Bein and Dembinski.

London:-Published, for the Proprietor, by John Dicks, 7, Wellington-street North, Strand.

On the First of February, 1850, will appear,
Price 6d., No. 1 of

THE PEOPLE'S REVIEW:

DEVOTED TO PROGRESS.

(Excelsior.)

EDITED BY FRIENDS IN COUNCIL.

Though the People have long been stirred with the

spirit of improvement, no Literary Magazine has been issued at a price which they could compass. The few have their critical Monthlies and Quarterlies, while the many, who more need it, have no such Guide to Books. The People's Review purposes to supply the deficiency, and in this day of many Books to indicate which are the useful ones. A person reading twelve hours every day, would be able to read only one-fortieth part of the new books issued every year, exclusive of newspapers. To trace a short path through this labyrinth, and to relieve the ever multiplying class of thinkers from the difficulty which Hobbes felt when he said 'If I should read as much as my neighbours I should be as ignorant as they are,' is the aim of the People's Review.

That elongated genius, Bob Thin,' will make his obeisance in the first number, intending to have

TWENTY-SIX CUTS AT THE TIMES!

London: C. Mitchell, Red Lion-court, Fleet-st.

London: Printed by WILLIAM HORSELL, 190, High
Holborn; and Published by JAMES WATSON, 8,
Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row.

OR, UNFETTERED THINKER AND PLAIN SPEAKER FOR TRUTH, FREEDOM, AND PROGRESS.

"AND though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple! Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?"-Milton's Areopagitica.

No. 3. Vol. I.] FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1850. [Price One Penny.

TO LORD DUDLEY STUART, M.P.

"If your demand have reason for its ground,
Why urge your suit with pleadings reasonless?
Reason's a fort which you can ne'er relinquish,
Without your enemy advancing straight
To take possession of that vantage left,
And turning on you your own batteries.

I pray you, captain, storm more soldierly."

Cavaliers and Roundheads.

MY LORD,-You have so long and fearlessly braved the sneers and opposition of your own class, in defence of the exiled Poles,-and your championship of the cause of Hungary was so manly, during her recent struggles,— that no one can doubt your moral courage to maintain, openly and without reserve, any great principles which take a firm hold of your convictions. You, as well as Lord Nugent, have repeatedly declared on the public platform, that you would prefer Manhood, to Household Suffrage; and yet you, also, consent to merge your preference in the smaller rallying cry of the new Reform party. The thousands of the Unfranchised, I repeat, cannot see the consistency of this; and you will fail, therefore, to gain their entire confidence. They may be told, over and over again, that you and others would for Manhood Suffrage at once, only you fear the Middle Classes would not go with you. But their conviction remains, that the Middle Classes might soon be induced to go for Manhood Suffrage, if men like yourself would lead the way, by throwing aside all expediency. Let me entreat you, my lord, to weigh these thoughts of my Order: they are the convictions of thousands of the most thoughtful among them, who have long marked how readily the sharers in property are disposed to be marshalled under names which wear the lustre of rank and station.

go

A conference of the new Reform party is announced to take place in March. If yourself and the respected and intelligent nobleman I have just mentioned were to introduce a motion into that assembly, for the adoption of Manhood Suffrage, by your Association, you would, at least, test the sincerity of the majority of its council; for it is given out, on every hand, by members of that council, that its majority is for Manhood Suffrage. Surely, if their professions be sincere, they could not refuse to support such a motion at the conference; and their opinions must needs have great weight with the entire assembly of delegates.

Many of us who have borne a part in the struggle against class legislation for some years, cherish a hope that your Association will yet determine to give UNITY, which is strength, to the contest for the Franchise in this country. Abroad, as your lordship well knows, Universal or Manhood Suffrage is held by

all true liberals, to be the only proper foundation of a free and popular government. In none of the recent triumphs of freedom on the continent-unhappily so short-lived!—did the people hesitate to achieve less. And who can expect men of any intelligence, in this country, so long the boasted "native home of Liberty," to be behind the men of the continent in their demands? Who can expect the working-classes who have taught their children to look for the realisation of those free political institutions contended for by Sir William Jones, the Duke of Richmond, and a long line of other illustrious men in the last century; by the upright and persevering Cartwright in the present; and since his time by many whose virtues would, at least, bear a comparison with those of their opponents and oppressors-who can expect the working-classes to give up these hopes? Through weal and woe they have cherished them. They have been driven from employment, they have been proscribed as disturbers, they have been imprisoned as conspirators and sowers of sedition; but their resolution to maintain these hopes is unbroken. They know no other creed in politics that they think worth belief; for it seems to them a mockery to talk of "freedom," if it be not possessed by every honest, upgrown man, in the possession of his senses; and they feel it would be consenting to tyranny and injustice to deny to their equals what they ask for themselves. This is their plain English sense, my lord, and you cannot say their reasonings are far-fetched.

The Times is now twitting Reformers with their plurality of 'Charters,' and while acknowledging its clear conviction that Parliamentary Reform will be won, sensibly points to our divisions, as 'Four,' 'Five,' or 'Six Point' men, as infallible signs of a prolonged contest for victory. It remains with yourself, and a few other influential names, to bring over the new party to your avowed convictions; and UNITY is gained. The millions in the manufacturing districts must ever form the numerical strength of any great movement for Reform: these are now waiting to hear "Manhood Suffrage" pronounced as the true and only watchword in your councils, and they will re-echo the cry with an instantaneous vigour and united earnestness which will not only make the Times change its tone, but will produce a healthy foresight in the advisers of the Crown, as to what is needful to be done. There, again, an argument is suggested why our demand for the Suffrage should not be modified into something less than the People have so long embodied in their Charter.' It is confidently stated in a paper held to be an authority, that the present Ministry will introduce a measure for the extension of the Franchise at the very opening of the ensuing Session of Parliament,-nay, that the Queen will announce it in her speech from the throne. When the enemy hangs out the flag of capitulation, should the beseigers stipulate for less than they demanded when the beseiged remained resolute in hostility? And has not the present Premier openly declared that he would prefer Universal to Household Suffrage? Do not, in the name of common-sense, suffer these presages of approaching success to be turned into a partial defeat,—if earnest presuasion on your part can inspire the new division of the army of Reform to give us UNITY, and, by consequence, speedy victory.

Above all, these indications of concession on the part of those who hold power should, one would think, determine Reformers to spurn the delay involved in the Freehold Land' scheme. Years must pass, even if workingmen in the populous districts should be favoured with prosperity, before they could become possessed of the franchise by the purchase of land, in sufficient numbers to return a commanding majority of thorough reformers to the House

of Commons. A depression in trade would lengthen that delay. In the meantime, misgovernment must continue; and the discontent of suffering workingmen must again swell into exasperation, and that greater than before, because yourself and other men of station have proclaimed that they are wronged, cruelly and unfeelingly wronged.

I would not be understood to intimate anything so false as that workingmen are unfavourable to the scheme of Mr. Taylor of Birmingham (adopted by your Association) as a land scheme. On the contrary, the wish to improve their condition by the possession of land is taking root in the universal heart of the working-classes of this country; but these wishes few have the means of gratifying. The thinkers among them object above all to the idea of concession to our opponents which is involved in Mr. Taylor's principle: it concedes, that neither a man's personality as a man,-his possession of reason and volition,—his moral character,-nor, even, the share he already bears of the burthens of the state, and his liability to be called out to fight to maintain its supremacy, are any sufficient claim for his right to participate in the choice of those who govern him; but that he must establish that claim by purchasing the possession of something that cannot think or fight, and cannot assist him to bear increased burthens of the state, without the exercise of his labour.

I know that some Parliamentary Reformers are accustomed to speak slightingly of all natural right to the Franchise; but this is a doctrine so firmly fixed in the convictions of intelligent workingmen in this country, that they would as soon think of denying their own existence as of denying its truth. If I understood you aright, in one of your speeches in London, you also are to be numbered among the maintainers of this natural right; and you will not therefore disapprove the persistent advocacy of

My lord, yours respectfully,

THOMAS COOPER.

Correspondence.

Hulme, Manchester, January 7, 1850.

"No privileged power in existence can withstand your efforts, if they be put forth wisely and determinedly."

MY DEAR SIR,-The above words, taken from your last letter to the Young Men of our Order, are so full of meaning, instruction, and importance, that they deserve, in my opinion, to be printed in bold type, and put over the fire-place, or in the most conspicuous place, in every working man's room. My heart's desire is, that every Toiler may soon learn, through such instrumentality as that of your journal, and those of a kindred interest, to feel and know the real depth and meaning of these words.

You ask-Is it time to attempt the formation of a Progress Union? For one, I reply that you seem to propose a clear and excellent plan; and happy should Í be to give a helping hand, as far as able, in promoting such a Union. I have long waited to see an announcement that would sufficiently clear the ground, and make ready the space, for the intellectual excavators to prepare the foundation of that moral building, which shall be a nursery for the neglected part of all the

sons of toil.

I greatly deplore the splitting up of society into so many sections, whose professed object is alike, the people's good. If these various sections, or their managing committees, could only be induced, in a few large towns, to sink their differences for six mutual meetings, and discuss this point of Union, I believe the

seventh meeting would be called to elect officers for the Progress Union, and to draw up such a code of rules as would be required.

I rejoice greatly at the success of the temperance cause; and if your proposition should (and why not?) meet with its desired success, I think the Temperance Brothers would be the first to hold out the hand of fellowship, and vigorously, earnestly, and manfully do their part for Manhood Freedom. This Union would be able to go to work immediately, and take a census of the male population, not as to number only, but as to education, political opinion, profession or calling, age, and any other desirable or requisite information, by requiring each member to take upon himself the responsibility of performing some portion of the necessary labour. The expense of printing would be very trifling for such a form as would be required; and the distribution and collection would be performed by voluntary labour. The Union would thus be able to show the tyrannical, oppressive Few, and their minions in place and power, the true proportion of Enfranchised and Unenfranchised, the number who require the franchise, and their fitness for its exercise; and thus, for ever, put to silence the arrogant tongue of any Minister of the Crown, who dared to say the people are not prepared to exercise that which he and all his associates, in effect, say is not their right.

Yours, faithfully,

Mr. Thomas Cooper.

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JOHN VICKERS.

London, January 7, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,-I have just perused the first number of your journal, with feelings of the most lively interest and satisfaction. Such a periodical was much wanted. There has been much of mere fustian and empty declamation; but, unfortunately, vigorous independent thinking and plain speaking are far from fashionable among public journalists. The most important questions are altogether tabooed, or are considered solely with reference to a foregone conclusion. Orthodoxy is an idol before which men prostrate themselves in slavish adoration.

I am induced to offer these observations by perceiving that you have commenced the publication of your lectures on Strauss's celebrated "Leben Jesu,"the fame of which is far more widely circulated than the knowledge of its contents. In seeking to familiarize the public mind with the profound reasonings of this great thinker, you have determined wisely, and acted manfully. I know there is a prejudice very generally entertained against any such investigations being pursued; more especially in any journal of a political character. But we must take prejudice by the beard, and look it boldly in the face. We can only achieve political freedom by mental emancipation. The expression of thought, upon all subjects, must be free and unfettered. There must be no restriction, no reservation. Theological enquiry is ever the accompaniment of awakened intellect, and strong political excitement. It must necessarily be so: to expect otherwise, is to expect that which is contrary to the universal history of mankind. Theological enquiry cannot be prevented, but it may be wisely directed, and temperately and usefully conducted.

The prejudice, however, against such investigations is not altogether without some foundation. They have been too frequently conducted in a frivolous spirit, and in the most offensive manner. They have been made the vehicle for coarse jokes and vulgar ribaldry. What has been called “free thinking," has often been only antagonism: the mere rebound against vulgar superstition. Such conduct may annoy and disgust, but can neither conciliate nor convince. Freethinkers must establish their claim to a respectful hearing, by treating serious subjects with seriousness. They must respect the feelings of others, and make due allowance for the prejudices of early education. We must

I will only trespass upon your space by one further observation. endeavour to construct as well as to pull down. We must not only seek to detect error, but to discover truth. We must conserve whatever is excellent, as well as destroy all that is injurious. We must labour to find out agreements as well as