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Sectarian Education.—The more narrowly w...
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There is no learned man but will confess...
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MORALS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Oct. 15, 1...
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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.
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Social Reform. Epistolje Obscurorum Viro...
the whole body of labourers having agreed before they distributed employments that the distribution should not prejudice them in the end Many who , like the chimney-sweeper , now consent to most needful occupations , are paid worst of all . The Communist further holds that this principle , in its nature , involves the abolition of social distinctions ; that it also involves the abolition of personal rights beyond the claim for the natural wants . It will be perceived , therefore , that
Communism is directly antagonistic to any idea of personal property either in things , in privileges , or in the actions of others ; and among the theoretical consequences it follows that perfect Communism would destroy the institution of marriage . This is the alarming and opprobrious consequence which is generally alleged against Communism . I need not remind you that before we can attain to a Communistic state of society the whole round of knowledge , opinion , institutions , customs , feelings , must have changed so thoroughly that we , at the present moment , are totally incapable
of appreciating the feelings of such a period , of devising regulations for it , or of criticizing in any degree or manner . This alarm which attaches to the idea of perfect Communism is a bugbear . We know how long doctrine can exist , and be professed by whole Peoples , without attaining to any such frightful perfection . For example , the doctrines of Christianity have been professed now for nearly two thousand years , and yet we have made no very alarming progress towards that practice which would oblige us to love our neighbour as ourselves , or to sacrifice our worldly ^ goods for the love of God and the welfare of our kind . The doctrines
of Christianity are said to exist as a conviction of the English people ; but any practice " so destructive of property" is wholly unknown amongst us . We might admit theoretical Communism with as little chance of any present completeness as the English people now admit Christianity without any notion of fulfilling its doctrines . To say that you are a Communist , in fact , means that you recognize the principle of concerted labour , and are prepared to recognize also all its logical consequences ; and for discussion the broadest principle is generally the best , since it has less of logical inconveniences in ifc .
I now come to the application of this principle . Such application is not merely urged by advocates of the doctrine ; it is , now , in some form or other , demanded by considerable numbers of the People . The spread of Socialist opinions , for many years considerable in large towns , has extended to villages , and even , as the Commissioner of the Morning Chronicle proclaims , to the rural districts of England . Protection was a rude and imperfect form of Communism . The demand for laws to
prevent the mischievous effects of competition in wasteful railway structures ; in helpless dissolutions of railway companies , when their projects turned out ill ; in improved laws to regulate labour , such as that to restrict factory time , and most notably in the many attempts to make the Poor-law thoroughly effective—these are instances of a desire to apply the Communistic principle without the consciousness of its full import . The arguments for breaking down the laissez-faire influence in the distribution of land is another example of increasing
disposition to puzzle out some mode of inducing concert between the landlord , farmer , and the labourer , so as to augment produce and benefit all three without trusting to the labour-market , the competition for laud , or the rights of rent , and it is a very striking example of the Communistic impulse . In all these things we see the tendency with a perfect unconsciousness of the doctrine or
of the true principle upon which the agitators proceed . It is not loss remarkable , that in all these agitivtions , the demand is supposed to be a ' * breach of principle "—a sort of licence , —something which must lit ; granted exceptionally , under very great need . Is ' , the maxim that " the exception proves the vulu" is logically inadmissible . The exception proves that the formula called " the rule" has not Uvmu sullieicntlv extended to take in all
circumstances which it professes to include . An exception , espi'cially a sweeping exception , utterly disproves the rulo . 'This consentaneous movement in various classes of society is not any breach of the true and fundamental principles of political u'eonomy , but it , is in obedience to a principle of that half-di'veUmi'd schmkv which is not seen by the agitators . They have by experiment ascertained the insitllicifiuy of the competitive principle to bo the sole bond of society , and they aro now acting
under an instinctive obedience to another principle which is as yet invisible to the majority : it is the principle of concerted labour . The progress in the reforms which necessity dictates is the more hesitating " , slow , and uncertain in present fruits , because the intellectual conscience is not yet fortified by a knowledge of the principle upon which the agitators are actually
proceeding ; because , at present , they are going counter to their intellectual convictions . The way then , to supply those reforms with the needful warrant , to make them rapid and steady , is to demonstrate the principle upon which these agitators are unconsciously proceeding , and to set them free for an energetic pursuit of their demands with clear understanding and sound hearts .
Now this , it appears to me , is the special function of the doctrinal Communist in the existing state of public affairs . It is his peculiar duty to explain to these empirical , unconscious , and often timidly hesitating agitators , how thoroughly they are in the right , how perfectly their instinct is warranted by sound reasoning , how truly their necessities are governed by natural laws , and how safe is the trust in those natural laws . I do not conceal that
the principle of Communism implies a larger trust in the generous feelings of our nature , —in its affections , conscience , and human sympathy , — than the principle of competition ; but instead of entertaining any doubt of the principle on that account , I feel the stronger faith in it ; because , instead of appealing to a part only of our nature , and to that part which is necessarily destructive in its tendency , it appeals to the whole of our nature , and to that part which is thoroughly constructive . There is no greater delusion in the most fantastical ;
portions of political ceconomy than that which presumes selfishness to be the sole , or even the most powerful , incentive of human actions . I will not now go into that profound moral question . I will take things practically as they stand , and be content with pointing to the overriding influence of family affection , of friendship , of love ; to the irresistible force which all manly men— -that is , men exhibiting the elemental qualities of man ' s nature — feel in the appeal of any
fellowcreature in trouble or dejection . We see these unselfish feelings override mere self-interest every day of our lives—we see that to all of us the happiness of life , that is to say , the gratification of the strong instinctive impulses , consists in obeying these feelings ; and when I find a principle that tends to complete the construction of society , and that , at the same time , thoroughly accords with these elemental and predominant feelings of human nature , I have the greater faith in the breadth of the laws which belong to it , the greater certainty of
its working . To promote the application of the principle , then —speaking of it for the present in the abstract form—it is needful to throw light upon it where we find it working in these unconscious struggles , these imperfect efforts . Communism is said to be " destructive of property "; property being necessary to the existence of industry by securing its fruits . Truly , however , it is but the extension of property to the whole body politic ; as , commercially , it may be called the extension of insurance to the whole body .
Here , Erasmus , I leave for the present the abstract and theoretical enquiry which I have been rapidly suggesting , rather than thoroughly developing : I shall now proceed , with the like rapidity , to indicate the nature of the measures which seem to be dictated by the principles thus elicited . In leaving the analysis , I would ask you to supply the imperfections of my statement with the reflections of your own candid and vigorous mind . I have no hope—I have no desire—to " convince" you . Sound doctrine , speaking broadly , never advances by that process called conviction : it marches by the process of spontaneous conception . Ever yours , Thornton Hunt .
710 ®F)£ 3ll&2re?+ [Saturday,
710 ® f ) £ 3 Ll & 2 re ? + [ Saturday ,
Sectarian Education.—The More Narrowly W...
Sectarian Education . —The more narrowly we examine the matter , the more evident will it become that the sticklers for a sectarian education , as the only one allowable , are the great stumbling-blocks in the way of true religion , and that the ignorance which they cherish is the grand source of that apathy amlirreligion against which they clamour so lustily . Science is by them reviled and despised as merely human knowledge . The epithet is ludicrously false and illogical . All knowledge is divine . All knowledge refers to God , or to God's doings . Thero is no such thing as human " knowlodge in the proper sense of the word . What is true is of God , whether it relate to science or religion . What is nut . true is error , whether espoused by infidel or priest , Lutheran or Catholic , Mahomcdnn or ' Uratimin . —From the Li /' o of Andrew Combe .
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r [ In this department , as all opinions , however extreme , abe allowed an expression , the editor necessarily holds himself responsible fob none . ]
There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him . to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to ¦ write . —Milton .
Morals Of The Public Schools. Oct. 15, 1...
MORALS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS . Oct . 15 , 1850 . Sir , —The institution at Carshalton has been unfairly treated . It has been singled out for exposure , and held up to the animadversion of the world on grounds which , if conclusive at all , tell with full as damning force against every other public school in . England . Let the following story speak for itself . I can give you no names , but I hold myself responsible for its substantial truth : —At the close of the holidays 184— , an Eton boy , just turned fourteen , was seized with typhus fever ; and , after a few days' illness , was told he was going to die . When the first shock was over ( and it was a very dreadful one to him ) he desired to be allowed to speak in private to a lady who , after he had lost his mother , had supplied her place to him . On the dark shadows which were closing round him the character of Eton stood out in terrible relief , and he appalled her ears with a close and rapid narrative of the vice into which he had been rather dragged than led , entreating her ( ineffectually as it proved ) to use her influence with his father to remove from Eton his little brother , lest he , too , should follow him to that place of torment , on the edge of which he believed himself to be standing . Out of the mechanical routine of religious instruction , hell was the one distinct idea which remained to him . There , full of horror at the impurity in which he had been steeped , he supposed he was going . He died . The story needs no comment . He had , at least , been in hell , if he was not going there . I do not know the exact nature of what he confessed ; but I know what public schools are , and I can easily guess . The event in boys' lives at English schools is the initiation of sin . They take their degrees in vice ; and they are heroes to one another according to the stage to which they have descended . I say this is so . I have been at a public school myself ; I have had close knowledge of every other public school in the country ; and I am certain that by the mass of boys ( I do not say by all ) those who have taken the last step are regarded , in virtue of it , as having passed into manhood ; they move about in a higher atmosphere , and are looked up to with a mysterious awe as belonging to another order of beings . It is the same in all schools ; they are taught the doctrines of religion . They go through the drill exercise of chapel and of lecture ; butj of religion as giving dignity and beauty to human character , they see nothing of it , they know nothing of it , and they can conceive nothing of it . Boys are born hero-worshippers . You cannot govern them by rule and precept . You must show them persons to imitate and admire . But those whom they see over them ( I speak generally ) excellent as they often are , have not the qualities which boys value or understand . They may be admired as scholars , they may have a great name as theologians , but men to be imitated with enthusiasm as high types of human character they are not . I do not say that it is the master's fault . They aro educated themselves to teach Greek and Latin ; and that at least they do ; but I insist upon the result , which proves deplorable error somewhere . Surely , there is the beautiful , the noble , the complete type of man possible . Dr . Arnold was a near approach , to it , and Rugby , -which , under him , was a partial exception to what I have been saying ; yet even one of Arnold ' s pupils repeated to me , nearl y word tor word , what I have said above as to the way in which vicious boys were regarded at Rugby . The system is out of joint . The education of character is utterly neglected among us ; and , as long as we refuse to consecrate our manly and animal energies to God , we may depend upon it the devil will take possession of them , and have things , as he has them now , pretty much his own way .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 19, 1850, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19101850/page/14/
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