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    r-. Dec. 13, 1851.] ®&e ILca&rr. 1185 --...

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    SOCIAL R E F O R M. "NOTKS ()!' A SOCIAL...

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    Political Letters. Ii. Fkance And Englan...

    become his model , as Rosencratz and Guildenstern are the models of the party which governs the Eng lishman . ' I am called to account for being " personal" in my attacks on Palmerston . I am so ; and I believe it to be one of the most miserable follies of our time to fancy that we can , or ought , to shun personality . Base , backbiting personality is hateful ; but personal considerations are essential in all political questions . We are governed by persons . How much of this degrading outrage upon France is due to Louis Napoleon ' s personal character ? I admire many of Palmerston ' s qualities and his wonderful abilities ; but , whatever his motives and

    intentions may be , assuming they are sincere and elevated , I believe from my soul , that his conduct of affairs is such as to defeat every liberal movement which is cursed by the offer of the " English " alliance , such as to encourage , promote , and fortify the Austrian system , which is gradually , but not slowly , bringing the whole of Europe within its grasp . " Without intending to imply any accusation beyond the plain meaning of the words , assuming his motives and intentions to be as I have said , I do believe that his conduct is as effectual in promoting the ends of despotism , defeating the political influence of the English nation , and crushing the freedom-loving Peoples of Europe as if he were a thorough traitor .

    If I am told that I yield too much to conjecture , I reply that , when men are secret , we have a right to piece out observation with conjecture . If a tiger is moving beneath the grass , I have a right to shoot where the grass is moving . The answer to conjectural charges is , to be open . This question is becoming most vital to England , to its freedom , its existence . Note the signs on the surface in the paper printed before this letter : does it not seem—and those signs are not all , nor a hundredth part of what a longer search might collect—does it not seem that Austria and Russia have now extended their armed alliance down to the very shores of the

    Atlantic , their tool being in military possession of France ? I believe that it is so . Louis Napoleon is enforcing the very system of Austria—holding down the people by main force , forbidding them to meet , putting down the press , restoring the clergythose agents of Rome—of Rome , where Lord Palmerston permitted the French to restore the Pope . The Austro-Russian alliance is now next door to us ; and should any " disturbance " warrant Louis Napolccn in claiming support , " the Cossack" will be within a few hours' voyage of the Thames , —in whose waters Kossuth wains us that the Cossack horse will drink .

    But what has been the peculiar character of this last razzia on a free people ? It had the manifest purpose of driving out and exterminating all opponents of arbitrary power . The same process has been going on in Hungary , Germany , and Italy , that is now enforced in France : the people are divided and held down by military force , with the aid of espionnagc , or as De Manpas expresses it , a rigorous sytsem of search and arrest . In the conquest of Paris an immense stride has been made in the march of Despotism . Towards England . face the facts

    Let the English people steadily . Our <« 'overmnent has professedly upheld " constitutional monarchy "—a failure everywhere under Ilia ) , patronage . Her Majesty is " at peace" with all those powers thai ; are rooting out constitutionalism in every part of the Continent . Sardinia , as yet untried , ia a poor substitute for Hungary , which sank under Russian intervention and Lord hilinerston ' s " protest . " The battle between CoMHack-CJroat Absolutism and Republicanism has come ; the intermediate barrier of conHtitutionalimn breaking at every turn . And Absolutism , in material progress , is gaining ground . Minister of land

    lias the responsible Kng summoned his country to resist ? No , he permits the march of Despotism to gain the very shores of "the Hritiah Channel , " and resists not—is kumI , indeed , to expresH " . satisfaction " ! And our countrymen do not take the matter into their own hands—do not call the Minister to account ! hi what state does this approaching power <> 1 Despotism And us ? Pokh it , as Koasulh mini , find us prepared to Hay " Stop , " with tins intention of making good our word ? Quito the reverse . The object of NhortNiglitcd rulers has been to make the People docile , and now they are so to a degree which may cuuse uneasinesN . In I he United States the whole population ia hubitiutfod to act m an

    organized form . Instead of being merely " free * to possess arms , but not lo carry or-practise them , in some States every man who does not possess arms is subject to a fine . The habit of using arms is universal . On a fine moonlight night you may see the citizens drilling by hundreds and thousands in the public squares , parks ^ and open places . With us , if a working man were seen in the street carrying a gun , the Policeman would probably inquire the history of the weapon ; and the slightest attempt at drilling would be instantly put down . In

    the Union , the Companies of Firemen are Companies of picked and armed men ; and , indeed , most of the citizens prefer serving in Volunteer Companies to serving in the Militia . The people , therefore , is armed , not only against the invader from without , but against the traitor within . It is in this vigour and trained condition of the People that the liberties of the Union reside , far more than in its Republican institutions . Institutions are trivialities in comparison with the condition and spirit of the People .

    In all these matters we English people are m a condition the reverse of the Americans . Our aristocracy stands aloof , neither trusting nor leading the people . Professing " to row in the same boat , " it keeps the people disfranchised . The Government , which is picked out of the aristocracy , multiplies precautions , professedly for the maintenance of " order , " really with the effect of undermining the liberty and vigour of the people . By " people" I mean not any exclusive class , but the

    whole number of the population . Trading habits of thought have conspired to the same end ; and now we see ourselves , with a common enemy approaching our shores , but with a people whose spirit in the two most numerous classes of society is broken by fear of trading loss , or by toil and the habit of submission . Were it not otherwise the nation would no longer tolerate that its name should be used to maintain that system which is odious to every English feeling and opinion .

    That English spirit is totally extinguished I have never believed . Kossuth proved that it was still latent in our people . His appeal proved also that the several classes can unite in a national movement . If we had amongst us some popular speaker , as well able as Kossuth to represent the facts as they exist , there could be little difficulty in arousing the nation to a sense of its position . How strong our Government might be , if taking its ground openly and avowedly on the side of liberty , it were to rally around it the populations of Hungary , Italy , and Germany ! A large contingent from Spain would soon join the European movement . Our colonies would be delighted to

    back a Government for once supporting the interest of Peoples . The hulk of the French people could not long remain apart from such an alliance . That America would take her side with us we know already . In this great alliance there would be freedom and safety . The impediment to it is the secret system in our public offices . We do not know what our Government is doing ; we only know that , after it has interfered , the progress of Despotism is more marked than before ; and the progress of Despotism , I say , has now become most evidently the progress of the Cossack and Croat towards our own shores .

    What , then , might the English people do ? It might come forth everywhere , to declare its sympathy with the People of every country that is struggling for freedom , to demand that our Government should support those nations , and to claim a fair and open statement from the responsible Ministers on our actual relations with foreign countries . But will the English People do , so ? Neither you nor I can answer . Time may ; but I distrust the will of my countrymen . It is weakened . Thoknton Hunt .

    R-. Dec. 13, 1851.] ®&E Ilca&Rr. 1185 --...

    r-. Dec . , 1851 . ] ®& e ILca & rr . 1185 -- I , - *•

    Social R E F O R M. "Notks ()!' A Social...

    SOCIAL R E F O R M . " NOTKS ()! ' A SOCIAL ( K 0 ONOMI 8 T . ' Tlllfl COOJ'KItATIVK ASSOCIATIONS OK KNOI . ANl ) XI . " Each inontal faculty is by its natural constitution related to a different cIunh of objects , and in prone to start into activity when these objects are presented ; and we cnii no more cultivate the einotioiiH of justice or of pity than vre can the nenne of hearing or seeing by n mere intellectual expedition of its propriety . " - —( Joomhi ; , on the . Management of Infancy . In a former article I gave- an account of Robert Owcu ' h Hticcosaful experiment at New Lanark . I have since obtained a formal Report , on the ( subject , Bigncd by Kdwurd llaines , M . I * ., of the heeds Mercury , a JDisBenter ; John Cuwood , a

    member of the Established Church ; and Richard Oastler , a Wesleyan ; gentlemen , in whose practical knowledge and integrity the town of Leeds evidently had confidence , who were sent officially to New Lanark , in 1819 , by the parochial authoritiesthen , as now , * at a loss to know how best to support their poor and unemployed ( " who determine the rate of wages" ) . After remaining some days at New Lanark , and examining minutely every department of the establishment , these gentlemen drew up a Report , which was published in the Leeds Mercury , and from which I have made the following copious extracts . The Report is dated September 14 , 1819 , three years after the opening of the New Lanark institution for the formation of

    character from early infancy . " beport . " Mr . Owen ' s establishment at New Lanark , is essentially a manufacturing one , conducted in a manner superior to any other the deputation ever witnessed , dispensing more happiness than perhaps any other institution in the kingdom where so many poor persons are employed , and is founded on an admirable system of moral regulation . The population of the village of New Lanark , the whole of which is attached to Mr . Owen ' s establishment , consists of 2293 individuals , exclusive of 188 persons employed in the mill from Old Lanark : of this number there are

    103 under the age of two , and 380 between the age of two and ten years : these latter are receiving daily instructions in the schools , and by showing them a spirit of kindness , and impressing them with a sense of their duty ( without the hope of reward or the fear of punishment ) , they are making satisfactory progress in reading , writing , and accounts , as well as in music and dancing ; in addition to which the girls are taught to sew . In the education of the children , the thing that is most remarkable is the spirit of kindness and affection shown towards them , and the entire absence of everything likely to give them bad to

    habits , with the presence of whatever is calculated give them good ones ; consequently , they appear like one well regulated family , united together by the ties of affection . We heard no quarrels , and so strongly impressed are they with the conviction that their interest and duty are the same , and that to be happy themselves it is necessary to make those happy by whom they are surrounded , that they had no strife but in offices of kindness . It appeared to us , that if it should be their destiny to go out to service or to be apprenticed , they would be found an acquisition instead of a burden ; and we wished that the orphan children in our Workhouses had the same advantage

    of moral and religious instruction , and the same prospect of being made happy themselves and useful to the families in which they maybe placed . Whenever this shall be the case , instead of the town finding it difficult to get masters for these children of poverty , they Avill rather be sought for than despised , and instead of rising into manhood with expectation of relying upon a parish all their lives for support , they will feel an ambition and a capacity to maintain themselves .

    " The boys and girls , between ten and seventeen years of age , are all employed in the mill , and in the evening from Beven to half-pant eight o ' clock they pursue that system of education to which iheir attention has , up to ten years of age , been directed in the day time . In business they are regular and diligent , and in their manners mild and engaging . Public-houses , and other resorts of the idle or vicious , are not to be found in this happy village , and the absence of their contaminating influence is strikingly exemplified in the contrast of manners and of conduct between the inhabitants of New Lanark , and of most ( we may say all ) other manufacturing places . " In the adult inhabitants of New Lanark we saw

    much to commend . In general they appeared clean , healthy , and sober . Intoxication , the parent of many vices and of much misery , is almost unknown . The consequence is that they are well clad , and well fed , and their dwellings are inviting . It is quite manifest that the New Lanark system lias a tendency to improve the religious character ; and we accord with Mr . Owen in his assertion that the inhabitants * In a Report of the Leeds Kates Inquiry Committee , appointed in 1819 , to inquire into the unprecedented increase of poor ' s rate , and to consider and siig ^ t-st the means of the . more profitable employment of pau / ier labour , it . is staled " that lli « ' great increase in th <> total expenditure for local purposes , mainly arisen from the outlay on the poor . The increase from tin ' s one . source is ho large and H < : riouH »« t <> demand I he most , M-urching ; iiiTCHtigation . The expenses of the criminal court * and the gaol may bo expected to increase , if the inference of former yearn he of any nignilicance , and unless the general morals be improved . " Again— - " 'With a poor rate for some time patit gradually incrcahiiur , and even of late double , in amount to what it hud liern in former yearn , we cannot but look upon the exccHtiive outlay ( upon gaol , workhou . sa , anil Hdiool ) an unwise and inconsiderate . " John Hoi . mis , Chairman . " J AMI ' S IlOMi . " David Uukkn , " & o . & c .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121851/page/13/