Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 11th May 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 13

Page 13
Page 13
13 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • Tttttuntt
  • Text (9)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Education. Shall It Derive Support From ...

      producing a moral population , be conducive to the strengthening of G-overnment and the stability of society , will reflect honour upon our nation , and will be more in accordance with the spirit of the age in which we live . "W . J . H .

      May Ii, 1850.] Ffl&T &*&Fr*T+ 157

      May II , 1850 . ] ffl & t &*& fr * t + 157

      Adult Education. Sandon Bury. Sir,—Havin...

      ADULT EDUCATION . Sandon Bury . Sir , —Having always lived in an agricultural district and upon a farm , I venture to offer a few suggestions as to what I consider are the principal requirements of the labouring population , judging , of course , from its condition in the vicinity of my own residence . Prom what I have learned from others and can remember myself , I should conclude that at the present time the labourers are remarkably and unprecedently well off with respect to wages , which are decidedly high in proportion to the prices of almost

      all articles of house-consumption or of attire . They are , however , very deficient in education , especially that of a moral or religious nature , being , I regret to add , much addicted to drinking and pilfering . The first step to remedy this would doubtless be accomplished by Mr . Fox ' s Education Bill ; but how much more would remain to be effected ere any substantial or immediate improvement would be obvious ? Knowledge is but the power for good or evil—a staff to support and assist us along the rugged path of virtue , or a sword of aggression to mutilate the prospects of others—transformable by the magic will of the

      possessor . And this measure , I imagine , would only affect the rising generation . " What is to be done to ameliorate the condition of those who are so often squandering their wages now at that birthplace or crime and disorder , the village public-house , which besets the poor untutored labourer at almost every turn as he proceeds home from his work ? As a remedy , though an imperfect one , as the men would still be attracted from their homes , I would recommend the establishment of a coffee-house in each village , to which should be attached a library , while a competent person should be engaged for a small stipend The

      to read aloud for a certain time every evening . charges for coffee should be as low as practicable . The books judiciously selected with regard to their moral tendency and capability for amusement and improvement , and another portion of the evening should be dedicated ( by the person appointed to read aloud ) to the private instruction in reading of such men as should be desirous of learning , who should afterwards be permitted to borrow the books to read to their families . The great desideratum is to render their homes more comfortable , more attractive to the men . —to teach them the delight of giving pleasure to those connected with them bv the strongest ties .

      As a natural consequence of becoming less selfish , they would then think less of thvir present enjoyment , more of the duties of life ; and religion would cease to be an abstract , unrealized theory : it would become a daily hope and daily guide to them . I should feel very happy if these few remarks should induce any of your opulent readers to try this plan for weakening the temptations of the beer-shop ; or if my observations should call forth some more feasible project from some one of your numerous correspondents , no one would welcome it with more pleasure than myst-lf . Yours obediently , Clatia Walbey .

      [ This suggestion is well worthy of attention for private activity : such a functionary might , in some respects at least , e ffect more than a common " Scripture reader . " ]

      The Morality Of Easy Divorce. London, Ap...

      THE MORALITY OF EASY DIVORCE . London , April 21 , 1850 . Sin , —There is one social question agitating men ' s minds much , though silently , which I wish that the Leader touched upon . Few dare to approach it with directness , though many feel that some radical change is required , and all know that the hour of discussion cannot be postponed much longer . I allude to the working of the marriage-law in England , with its virtual indissolubility for all but men possessed of large incomes , and the frightful crimes to which this indissolubility often leads those who cannot rid themselves from , nor endure longer , the heavy pressure of an unhappy bondage . Yet , in spite of the daily contradictions which both police-reports and the private histories of our own friends give to the fable of eternal love , it is assumed to be a matter of imperative necessity for the preservation of morality , that the connection between man and woman , when , sanctioned by the law , should be for life—subject to one only power of dissolution , and that of the very coarsest kind . What is acknowledged in natural laws is denied in human institutions ; and man ' s feelings are impounded as unchangeable when ^ immobility is unknown in the universe . Our legislation as well as our social faults arise from this perpetual ignoring of human nature . We make a Procrustes bed of moral theories , and refuse facts individual consideration , then punish the breaker of our impossible statutes , because he acts according to the designs of the Infinite , and not according to the ideas of political charlatans . What can be more

      false than the current myth concerning marriage ? Were we mere machines , then I could understand the rationality of a law which opposed the original instincts of humanity because of a greater social advantage to be obtained ; but under the strong constitutional necessity of passion , inherent in man generally , I confess that institutions which keep out of light the very existence of passion altogether seem to me singularly incomplete and chimerical . And with what success this attempted abolition of the requirements of passion has met , the state of the marriage morals of England had best answer .

      Two people marry in the dawn ot life , in all good faith of the continuance of their present affection . They fully mean , at the time , the words which they repeat at the ceremony , and believing that they , exceptional to all before them , will so love and honour each other to the end of their lives , innocently commit perjury in the very temple of their faith . They promise the immortality of that affection which is subject to change more than any other of human nature , and deny the existence of temptations to which the strongest have succumbed . Besides , the whole service is as false as it is indelicate . With

      but one feeling of unmixed passion , these wretched dupes have to avow nothing but a holy Christian love , such as might have bound Saint Anthony and the virgin Theresa in its chaste union , but which would be wholly incompatible with the constitution of ordinary men and women . Yet all this falsehood is morality" according to our Anglican reading , as is also the maintenance of strict union in every circumstance . No crime of drunkenness , of evil tempers , of dishonesty , of ruinous riot , can set free the victim subject to the ill effects of these excesses . No mutual wish to We loosed from a mutual bond

      can operate a hair ' s breadth . They may separate , but not disunite . One fact alone , of the lowest order of annulling causes , with all its accompaniments of deception , social shame , and foul revelations , can undo the connection which nothing but love , and a desire for its continuance , should rivet . When these are dead , then decency and womanly honour protest against the rights which fled with the spirit in which they alone originated . See what our Divorce Bills do ; and see what the strict tie , unable to obtain divorce by reason of poverty , drives men and women to do ! A certain

      sum of money is assigned in compensation for the injury a man ' s affections have sustained by his wife ' s infidelity . Then alter all our moral nation permits adultery to the rich , and gives a man ' s wife to his neighbour if the one can pay the damages , and the other the costs . Surely there is something most monstrous in this arrangement ! It outrages every feeling of virtue , and degrades the matrimonial connection lower than any licence of unrestricted intercourse could degrade it . Nothing requires the amending hand of Truth more than this subject ; and I have hoped anxiously that the Leader , which has

      broken ground in such a grand spirit of independence and outspeaking , should touch on this question also , and expose the fallacy ot the principles on which it is based , and show the evil resulting from its falsehood . The fearful murders which have lately been committed , from very weariness of the connection , and the long drama of treachery , and fear , and deceit , which •• Cobbe ' s Divorce , " others of the same texture , have brought to light , are good subjects lor the Leader to expatiate on—they would be serviceable levers of immense power .

      I trust this will not always be a barren wish of mine ! We want good men , and brave , in the ranks of truth , for falsehood and formalism threaten to overbear the very laws of nature . You , sir , in helping forward the discussion of a question which concerns us all so intimately , and which needs ventilating so much , will be doing one of the greatest services to our age that could be done , and will earn for yourself the gratitude of every man who cares for the dominance of truth . I remain , sir , your obedient servant , Horace GiiYNN .

      Pkoudhonn Great Pitinciriie.—Keeping In ...

      PkoudhonN great PitiNCiriiE . —Keeping in view that distant point in the future , when , carrying all their civilization , all their acquired knowledge and habits with them , men shall universally be equal as regards their right to the earth and its produce , no man possessing more than another , we shall know in what direction to go forward , and in what spirit to conceive all our political measures . The clue of the future will be in our hands ; and , working conscientiously in accordance with the grand impulse by which all things are at any rate borne along , we shall be willing servants of the Supreme Intelligence . But , as the great conception under which we Not

      work is scientific , so must be our ways and means . by any violent leap will the abolition of property , and , consequently , of the distinction between the patriciat and the proletariat , be arrived at ; but by a slow evolution , taking its rise in the whole basis of the present . Not by confiscations , murders , and pillages : not by any interferences with the present rights of possession that would shock opinion as it now exists , must the disintegration o property be accelerated—should such things happen , indeed , they may be accepted with satisfaction as j ' aits accomplis—but by the use of such means as are regarded by all as legitimate . — British Quarterly MevietVf May .

      Tttttuntt

      tittxatuxt .

      Critics Axe Not The Legislators, But Tli...

      Critics axe not the legislators , but tlie judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Review .

      The Question Of Laureateship Is Much Deb...

      The question of Laureateship is much debated , and the abolition of such an office seems to be unanimously considered desirable . Those who , like ourselves , desire its continuance , desire it solely on the ground that it should not be abolished until a suitable office be substituted . Replace it by all means ; but do not take away that one prize , small as it is , leaving Literature by so much the poorer . It would require no great wealth of imagination to suggest a substitute . One suggestion we will

      venture . When Napoleon gave Madame de Genlis a pension , she asked him what she was to do for it . " Write me a letter occasionally , " was the courtly answer . Improving upon this , one may see how such a letter might become a noble substitute for the ode of homage now expected from a Laureate . Let the Lauren te yearly publish a letter to his Sovereign upon the state of Taste , Poetry , and the Fine Arts ; that would be both in the nature of his own employments , and would be more serviceable to Literature than ex-qfficio odes .

      Or , inasmuch as our Court has taken to imitate that of Elizabeth , why not reinstate the Master of Revels ? A poet of taste would find ample employment , and the Court would be none the worse for his services . Her Majesty has a Purveyor of Beef , why should she not have her Purveyor of Rfiantv ?

      The Article On Socialism, In The Last Br...

      The article on Socialism , in the last British Quarterly , is making a stir . It is some time since we have heard a paper more talked of ; and the Economist , in evident alarm , devotes an elaborate and respectful article to it , though , of course , smiling in serene superiority at attempts " taken up and promoted much more from impulse than reflection . " Herein the writer betrays the weakness of the Economists , whose philosophy is imperfect precisely because it is a philosophy of calculation , limited to arithmetic , instead of including the magnificent complexity of human nature . It is fatal to a doctrine when all the

      impulses of generosity and justice are against it ; because that very antagonism must reveal an inherent defect in doctrine , an omission of one integral element . So that if there were no more than " impulse " in favour of Association , it would be enough to show that the ordinary political economy was at fault . But this affected superiority will not stand examination . The Economist will scarcely venture to assert that such men as Auguste Comtb ,

      Proudhon , and Frederick Maurice—three men assuredly different enough in character and opinions to stand as types of a pretty wide range !—are of that dilettante class of philanthropists moved only by " impulses "; yet these three—a rigorous scientific thinker , a severe dialectician , and a pious clergyman—protest energetically against Political Economy , as being at all competent to grapple with social questions .

      The Economist falls back upon the trite aphorism , " Competition is inherent in man . " So are the meazles . The question is not what has existed in all ages , but what may exist in our own and in those to come . Vengeance is quite as inherent in man as Competition , and the demand of blood for blood has in all ages been thought a legitimate demand ; but we have learned to rise superior to such a feeling , and even the punishment our Legislature inflicts is not a vengeance but an example . A few years ago the belief in witchcraft was inherent in man ; but those days , terrible to brisk old women and black torn cats , have

      passed away , and what had existed " in all ages , " is no more . The warlike spirit is inherent in man , and in " all ages" men have tasted the intoxicating draught of " glory "; nevertheless wars become fewer , and the hero of the Economist is the prophet of Peace . When next Mr . Cobden thunders against war as unworthy of a civilized nation , we will present him with a copy of last week ' s Economist , wherein he will learn that whatever has existed in all ages must perforce continue in all ages to exist , and only dreamers and philanthropists could imagine otherwise .

      Laing On European Social Life. Observati...

      LAING ON EUROPEAN SOCIAL LIFE . Observations on the Social and Political State of the European People in 1848-9 . Beintr the Second Series of Notes of a Traveller . By Samuel Laing , Esq . Longman and Co . There is not a page of this compact volume which

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 11, 1850, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11051850/page/13/