the only really prosperous Chartist paper, and stood head and shoulders above its struggling contemporaries. The great collapse of 1839 dragged down many rival newspapers, and those which took their places were Chartist pamphlets rather than newspapers, for they were unable to publish "news," being unstamped.[1] The Chartist body was unable to support more than one journal of any size, and so the Northern Star shone alone in the firmament. It was almost the sole source of Chartist news, and it was the chief channel of communication. Its able and unscrupulous editor, William Hill, employed it exclusively to further the despotism of its proprietor. He suppressed news and garbled it. He allowed attacks upon suspected individuals and prevented replies. He made and unmade reputations in his columns. Through the Star the policy of Chartism was made and directed. Not that the rank and file were unable to obtain a hearing in its columns, far from it; but preference was given to particular persons, and opinion was overriden by the ipse dixi of editor or proprietor.
Not merely on the journalistic side was this newspaper a potent O'Connorising instrument, but its commercial side was exploited, too, for the same purpose. A newspaper must have agents, distributors, reporters, and so on, and O'Connor and his staff had built up an efficient body of news-collectors and news-distributors. Naturally none but Chartists were eligible for this purpose. O'Connor, however, was not content with this perfectly legitimate employment of Chartists; he strove deliberately to turn his employees, reporters, and agents into instruments for furthering his personal supremacy. We have seen how he offered to pay a Convention, and how he offered to turn Chartism as a whole into a newspaper syndicate under his control. These projects came to naught, but he attained part of their purpose by the use of the Star. He turned Chartist leaders into paid reporters,[2] and paid reporters into Chartist leaders, and he used them, as in the case of Philp at Bath, to eliminate from the movement men of independence.[3] He ruthlessly exploited financial obligations, as in the case of O'Brien.[4] He allowed his newspaper agents to fall into debt if he thought he could keep a hold on them thereby.[5] So
- ↑ A list of eleven Chartist papers in the Northern Star, October 23, 1841. Few were of importance as compared with the Star itself.
- ↑ George White, Harney, Rider, Griffin, Cooper, Lowery, and others were connected in this way with the Star.
- ↑ Northern Star, March 12, 1842; March 19, 1842.
- ↑ See below, pp. 236-7.
- ↑ Case of R. Lowery, Northern Star, February 13, 1841.
