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Leader (1850-1860), 4th January 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 18, <&jje %x\%.

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      We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .

      Hespebia. Beyond The Mountains Of The We...

      HESPEBIA . Beyond the mountains of the West arose A giant forest in a dread repose , Uplifting its enormous walls on high , Roofed by the cloudy marble of the sky , Toucht with the vast religion of old days , A church by Nature built for prayer and praise . Tall trees for pillars stood , that drew their birth From the large crust of unexhausted earth ; In wreaths of gorgeous foliage they had bound Their convoluted branches round and round ; And now they swayed their open arms aloft » Or shook out tangled tresses long and soft ; Or , half expectant , half in mute surprise , Watcht as some great event were coming from the skies . Birds of sweet voice as ever God had given Sang to the royal sun and laughing heaven ; And , when he fell into tKe ~ awful sea , Thankt Him who made the sun with wild harmonious glee . The virgin Earth , all fresh with singing showers , Wooed to her fragrant breast the firstborn flowers ; In kingly purple clothed and turban'd pride ; They in a cool green silence lived and died . Each as it fell , more beautiful in death ,. Gave to a lovelier heir both bloom and breath , That bud and leaf more richly might unfold , Arrayed in cloth of crimson , blue , and gold . Quick thro' the unmeasured forest ' s emerald night Glanced the free insects' waving wings of light , Or piloted themselves , like rainbow gleams , On the broad bosom of the crystal streams , In which the portraiture of the blue sky Was mirrored , and in sweet inconstancy Shone violet cloud and silver mist afar , Round the pale crescent moon and one deep distant star . M .

      The Conservative Aspect Of Socialism. In...

      THE CONSERVATIVE ASPECT OF SOCIALISM . In a former article we endeavoured to define the creed of the Communists , which creed constitutes the Radical Aspect of Socialism . We propose now to give some outlines of the Conservative Creed of Socialism—that which maintains the " rights of the Capitalist . " There is something about Communism which is wonderfuUy-Jascinating to the imagination , even in cases where '^ he reason cannot accept it . We must all admit that such a condition of society has been

      recommended t ^ us , as social perfection , for : iges ; and that those who have so recommended it have been amongst the noblest specimens of mankind . But when , after having examined the principles of Communism , we look at the sort of world in which it is proposed to carry them out , we smile at such a visionary enterprize , and have no doubt of the immediate impracticability , whatever opinion we may have as to the desirability . We see a world made up of poor , trained in all the degrading , coarse , and selfish notions of poverty ; and of rich , trained in all the conventional , distorting , and thrice-selfish notions of

      ¦ wealth . We see these poor and rich victims of an imperfect social system constrained to hate , despise , and repel each other : each order burning to oppress the other order , and each member of either order struggling to supplant in some petty desire his fellowmember . We see that slight difference in artificial station , in education , and refinement of manner , has come to be considered , by a habit the growth of ages , as an insuperable barrier to familiar hooiul intercourse . Above all , we see that the present possessors of property are determined to hold it to the last , and are prepared to withstand , with all their power , every attempt to appropriate it to the State .

      A compromise in , therefore , inevitable . Scarcely any Communists hopo to reduce tho principle to practice at once . They contemplate a series of 44 transition" measures which shall gradually prepare tho whole population , by equal training , for the Communist life ; and during which " transition" period tho present holdcrH of property shall be remunerated for itB absorption by tho present unpropertied classes . The CommuniHts , then , recognize , for some considerable period , the existence of tho individual capitalist . Under their system , there would be , for yours

      to come , labourers working for their living , and capitalists living in idleness on the incomes derived from property . This brings us to the consideration of another form of Socialism , according to which the individual capitalist is accepted , not as a temporary , but as an eternal , fact . This more aristocratic system of Social Reform is best worked out by Charles Fourier , whose doctrine is now very extensively diffused in France and America . It affirms the necessity of private property as a law of human nature . In answer to the

      argument of the Communists , the Fourierists say that , as it is allowed by all that society could only have started in the career of civilization by permitting individuals to appropriate certain portions of land , these individuals have a continued right to the fruits of the original cultivation , and to all the varied wealth produced in after times by the application , as a motive power , of the wealth produced by such cultivation . This wealth may be accumulated , without interference , into the hands of few individuals by the gifts or bequests of other proprietors . Those born

      into the world without property must be viewed as the representatives of human beings from whom the common land mighf have been origuiailyTafcerrby individuals . They can only claim from the existing proprietors so much as will make up to them for the absence of unappropriated waste land on which their labour might have been exerted to raise produce for their subsistence . Every citizen of the state , therefore , has a right to be provided with such employment as will give him as comfortable a subsistence as he could have secured by his labour on unappropriated land in the primal savage condition .

      But ingenuity , as well as mere labour , must be taken into consideration . And the degrees of both skill and industry must also be estimated , and the remuneration must be accordingly ; for it would be absurd and unjust to reward equally the idle and the industrious—the skilled and the unskilled . It would be as bad as to pay equally the capitalist who had invested little in the undertaking and the capitalist who had invested much .

      Remuneration is , therefore , awarded severally to Capital , to Labour , and to Talent—and to each individual citizen in proportion as he may possess one , or two , or all three of those attributes . By a scientifically organized system of Association , in suitable establishments , every member of society , rich or poor , would enjoy luxuries which , in our present isolated , " morselled , " incoherent civilization , he is totally debarred from . Labour would not only be rendered attractive by the adoption of the most

      enlightened and agreeable methods of conducting it , but it would be attractive by the force of direct money recompense : as people without capital would be rich or poor in proportion as they displayed skill and industry . Arrangements , moreover , would exist , as a part of the social organization , for educating , gratuitously and equally , all the children of the establishment , and for the suitable support of the aged and the invalided who were without means of their own .

      This is Fourierism—the best-defined form of the New Conservatism . The question of Private Property , as we before said , is that on which the debates of Radicals and Conservatives will really turn in future . The Radicals affirm that private property has become an evil ; that its days of usefulness , in the most advanced nations , are past ; and that the great duty of earnest and far-seeing Reformers is so to organize society that the institution of individual

      property shall gradually die out . The Conservatives , on the other hand , affirm that tho evils which the Communists complain of do not in fact arise from the principle of private property itself , but from tho abuse of it , in consequence of the defective organization of society . Communism , they Kay , in contrary to tho nature of man ; and , if such a system were tried , tho operations of industry would languish , and ultimately fall into complete confusion , in consequence of tho absence of sufficient self-interest on the part of each

      individual . A > s fur as we are aware , Fourier ' s is the only completely organized system of Socialism in which tho capitalist in looked upon as otherwise than a temporary evil . From tho Fourierist armoury , weapons Jiave boon drawn by many Reformers to combat old Bociety ; which weapons aro warranted to wound , but not wound too deeply . Philanthropic masters have allowed their workmen to participate in tradeprofila d la Courier ; bodiea of workmen have

      combined to work on their own accounts , Fourieristically abstaining from equality of payment , as something too " extreme . " In fact , whoever has inclined to Socialism with " a prudent mind" has remained suspended between earth and heaven at the Fourierist point . The grand demolisher of Fourierism is Proudhon .

      He has " shown up " its trick of perpetually " begging the question" most convincingly and amusingl y . The " bon homme Fourier " by no means th ought it necessary to dem onstrate the justice of property , but accepted it as unquestionable . Proudhon has set Fourier ' s disciples right on this little matter , and cut the ground from under their feet .

      Such , rapidly sketched , is , we conceive , the state of the Socialist case . Fourierism is the only regular system which is Conservative , or pro-capitalist ; and this has been logically annihilated . Every other system is Radical , or anti-capitalist ; and this vie w seems to be annihilation-proof . W .

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      ^Vhich^Theatre Shalltgk) To? As I Am Loo...

      ^ VHICH ^ THEATRE SHALLTGK ) TO ? As I am looked up to by a numerous circle kind enough to repose their critical trust in me , this question assails me every day . My answer is brief , and , let me add , judicious— * Go to all . " Whereupon insinuating voices hint at 4 < orders , " but I am incorruptible , and sternly bid them *• pay . " To be asked which is the best pantomime or burlesque becomes rather puzzling before you have seen , them all , and still more puzzling after you have seen

      them . At this present moment my bram is a chaos of tumblings , tricks , and transformations ; Madame Vestris burns like a gorgeous jewel before my eye , but the next moment Henry Farren ' s prodigious nose casts its shadow between us , while in a twinkling that giant Robbin the Bobbin ( that very ventripotent Ben ) waltzes before me with Alonzo the Brave ; and Louisa Howard , with her roguish , drooping eyes , is a phantom chased away by Humpty Dumpty tumbling out of his egg . With Figaro I shout

      " Aim » S , aime I Uno alia volta , 1 'er cariU . " I try to think of one performance , and I see half a dozen ; my opera glass becomes a kaleidoscope ! Now that , you will own , is not the mood for a critic who has to give several columns of narrative 44 all about" the theatres . I won ' t give them . I'll resign my office rather . Moreover , what benefit would you , my beloved and admiring reader , derive from dull cold 4 < accounts" of pieces which depend upon practical jokes , grotesque dresses , splendid scenery , and hilarious audiences to become endurable ? A pantomime or a burlesque is not a thing to be grave or critical upon . What you want to know is , " Will it amuse me ? " I answer , " Yes ; if you go in the right mood—not otherwise . "

      If you are juvenile , Drury Lane will make you roar ; so will the Princess ' s with Flexmore the Great . Both pantomimes are open to some critical objection on high aesthetic grounds : they are not perfect exponents of some Divine Idea : Humanity is not profoundly symbolized in them ! But if you enjoy pantomime you will enjoy them . I hear severe gentlemen with high foreheads pronounce them , deficient in novelty and point . But I laughed at the fun—above all , the youngsters laughed—and they are the best critics of such matters .

      At the Lyceum tho Lyceum itself is surpassed in magnificence , but the burlesque is less humorous than usual . At the Olympic , 'Tom Taylor has given us a humorous spectacle with a " moral" in it . At the Ilaymarket and Adelphi , the Brothers Brough and Albert Smith have furnished jokes and parodies in their usual style . If you want to know morego and sec them . Vivian .

      Batiih In Paiuh.—There Are At Present 12...

      Batiih in Paiuh . —There are at present 125 establishments of baths in Paris , not counting those on the river . The number taken in them in each year i . s 1 , 818 , 500 , which , if 297 , 800 be added for the establishments ou the river , a total will be found of 2 , 110 ,. ' 500 , or 2 . 2 . 't baths per annum for t ach inhabitant . The establishments of baths are principally in the wealthier quarters of the capital ; the price being on an average ( iOc . the bath . Ihilowest price is 4 () c , and the highest 80 c . Emigration . —A return has just been published ,

      giving an account of the persona and vessels employed by the . Emigration Commissioners , and of the receip ts and ditihiuHcinentH for tho hint three years . The funds at the disposal of the commissioners have been JGMV ^ / H , voted by Parliament ; £ 517 , 011 , contributed by the colonies ; £ 27 , 050 , deposits made with the commissioners for the purchase of land ; £ 7 ( 5 , 580 , contributed on behalf ot emigrants ; and £ 825 ) 8 , miHccUanoouB , including profit " by invcHtment—total , £ 725 , 11 ) 4 . The disbursements baluuced against these amount to £ 677 , 469 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 4, 1851, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04011851/page/18/