Br2095,189.5 6482.15.9 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY 1874, Afri 28. Hon. Thus, Sumner, ADVERTISEMENT. THE Black Book was, originally, brought out in periodical numbers, and laboured under the disadvantages incident to that mode of publication: the composition was hurried, the subjects ill-arranged and digested, and time was not always afforded for verifying facts and obtaining complete and authentic information. Defective as the publication was, it excited unusual interest; though rough in manner, and incorrect in matter, it contained a striking development of Oligarchical abuse, and thus fixed the attention of the public, It has been oftentimes reprinted, and upwards of 14,000 copies have been sold, almost without the expense of advertisement, or any of those helps from literary notices which are usually deemed essential to give celebrity to the productions of the press, The imperfections of the original undertaking, augmented by intervening changes, have been comprised in the editions of the work hitherto published; with the exception of eight pages, not a single subject has been revised, nor an alteration made, further than in the title page. It has now been so completely re-modelled by the original Editor, that it may be said to be newly-created. The price has been reduced one-third; all that was valuable in the two volumes of the old work has been carefully corrected, and a variety of new subjects has been in troduced; it has been composed entirely afresh, newly arranged, and is in all respects a new Book. The opinions and statements now submitted to the public are those alone for which the Editor feels responsible. Ten years have elapsed since the first publication; in the interval, all things have changed, or nearly so-but the writer is the same. His object at first was, and now has been, to show the mani fold abuses of an unjust and oppressive system; to show how it has ruined the country, and by what ramifications of influence it has been supported. Government is a corporation and has the same interests and the same principles of action as monopolists. It is supported by other corporations; the Church is one, the agriculturists another, the boroughs a third, the East-India Company a fourth, and the Bank a fifth all these, and interests like these, constitute the citadel and out-works of its strength, and the first object of each is to shun investigation. We have, however, rent the vail; those who before doubted may, if they please, come and see, and be convinced. All the parliamentary returns of this and preceding sessions, whatever could throw light on the ecclesiastical establishments, the civil list and hereditary revenues, the courts of law and judicial administration, the aristocracy, public offices, funding system, public revenue, pensions, sinecures, and other departments of our work have been consulted. Our object has been an honest one, and we have sought to attain it by honest means nothing has been exaggerated, nor has a single fact been wilfully misstated; we needed not the aid of falsehood, our case being strong enough without it, and we refer to the evidence of our pages to attest the veracity of our sources of intelligence. The task has been a laborious one, but it is finished and we hope the public will have the benefit of it. Only one more explanation is necessary. The first hundred pages were printed in the spring of 1830; the great events of the month of July intervened, and the ministry has been changed while the work has been passing through the press. We mention this to account for facts and allusions in various parts of the work. While occupied in our labours we could not help catching the spirit of the day, and reverting to the extraordinary scenes almost hourly occurring. Feb. 1st, 1831. DEDICATION TO THE PEOPLE. To the People our labours may be fitly inscribed-they are the tribunal of last resort,-also the victims of misrule,-and to them, therefore, may be properly dedicated a record of the abuses from which they have long suffered, and of the means by which they may be alleviated. All the blessings the nation ought to enjoy have been intercepted, the rewards of industry, science, and virtue have been dissipated in iniquitous wars abroad-at home, in useless establishments, in Oligarchical luxury, folly, and profusion. If we wanted proof of misgovernment--of incapacity and turpitude-Ireland affords a frightful example: it is not O'Connell who causes her agitation; he is only one of the fruits of Tyranny,—an effect, not the cause, of the disorders, which have originated in the neglect of her vast resources, in an unemployed population, an absentee proprietary, and a plundering church. To the wretchedness of Ireland, England is fast approaching, and just as little from the efforts of individual disturbers. It is not the manufacturing, but the agricultural districts which are now excited; these have always formed the exclusive domain of a the Clergy and Aristocracy;—the rural population is exactly what tithes, game-laws, the country magistracy, Church-ofEnglandism, and a luxurious and non-resident priesthood have made them. And what do we behold? The people have risen against their pastors and landlords, and have resorted to nightly outrage and revenge-the last resort of the oppressed for wrongs for which neither remedy nor inquiry has been vouchsafed. We are not of the number of those who inculcate patient submission to undeserved oppression. A favourite toast of Dr. Johnson was, "Success to an insurrection of the Blacks." Shall we say-Success to the risings of the WHITES! We should at once answer yes, did we not think some measures would be speedily adopted to mitigate the bitter privations and avert the farther degradation of the labouring classes. A new era, we are told, is about to commence :-no more liberticide wars-no more squanderings of the produce of industry in sinecures and pensions—and, above all, reform is to be conceded. We wait in patience. Our diseases are manifold and require many remedies, but the last is the initiative of all the rest, involving at once the destruction of partial interests— of monopolies, corn-laws, judicial abuse, unequal taxation,— and giving full weight and expression to the general weal and intelligence. If Ministers are honest, they deserve and will require all the support the People can give them to overturn a system which is the reverse: if they are not, they will be soon passed under the ban of their predecessors, with the additional infamy of having deceived by pledges which they never meant to redeem. We have hope, but no confidence. |