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Leader (1850-1860), 19th October 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 16, C II U It C II it E F O It M. To G. 11. ...

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      A Reply To Atticus. Math, October 1g, Lf...

      the Bible , and if so , he will not know the words with which I should reply to his very uncalled- for and , as it appears to me , very unprovoked attack upon a body of fellow-thinkers who have made no attack upon the columns of the Leader , at least no attack so hostile as to require such hostile demonstration . * Having admitted it , vou will , of course , readily give insertion to my rejoinder to it , which I have hastily written . In reply to Atticus ' s animadversions on the sluggish , indifferent , numbing character of negation and indolence which characterize Unitarianism , and his reproach that they have none of the *« holy madness "

      which , he says , wrought in a Paul , . Luther , Mahomet , George Pox . , subduing the earth ; and his taunt , that speaking nothing new and speaking what it did so very feebly , how was Unitarianism to traverse society as a whirlwind , effecting change and conquest . I would ask him to read that verse in the Bible story of Elijah , which relates him as waiting to see the power of God express itself . First came a mighty whirlwind , and after it a raging fire , and after the fire a still , small voice . Now , this feeblev oiced "Unitarianism seems to me , in its character and history , very much to resemble , in our religious conflicts , that still , small voice which has in it the

      power of God—and this without flattery or exaggeration—inasmuch as it relies upon and falls back upon true Christianity ; for , every doctrine it tries to promulgate , and teaches no doctrine of any man . If your correspondent will look back to the early day 3 of Unitarianism , and trace the contemporaneous history of the Religious World with it , will he say that the Belief of Man , I do not say the creeds of churches , has not been much and deeply affected by it—a little leaven has leavened wide , if not yet , the whole mass ? How many men of any education at this day will aver the belief which nearly half the Christian Sects then believed ? None of us but know

      that Unitarianism is not the professed , but the real Jteligion of the majority who are believers or enquirers at all . And none of us who doubt that , in a very comparatively short time , the churches of the orthodox will de-orthodoxize themselves and become Unitarian . Mind , I do not say Humanitarian nor Necessarian , in the sense of denying Freewill and a Pall in some [ hiatus in MS . ] , as the accompaniments in

      doctrine of many or most Unitarians , but , that the Pablcs of Orthodoxy and its remains of False Religion and Palse Philosophy are fading away like dark and harsh colours into shadow and obscurity before the gently-piercing , and quickening , and brightening rays of that sunlight which the simply and earnestly received Gospel Doctrine sheds upon all our worldly prospect , calling forth its soft and purer colours . I remain , Sir , your humble servant , S . Solly .

      712 ©T> * 3lta%Et. [Saturday,

      712 © t > * 3 Lta % et . [ Saturday ,

      Social Progress.—The Land. October 8, 18...

      SOCIAL PROGRESS . —THE LAND . October 8 , 1850 . Dkaii Sik , —Your excellent correspondent , Mr . Newman , has hit the mark in his letter of last wot-k . lie has supplied what my previous communication left unexplained . All that I then wished to convey was the impression that , notwithstanding the acknowledged misery of certain portions of the population , which it is most desirable to remove radically , as soon as may be , society as a whole has made , and is making , steady progress . I wished to draw from this a lesson of nope and encouragement for further exertions ; believing the politics of despair to be as hurtful to political health as is the literature of despair to mental strength and soundness .

      I regret that W . "VVcstwood should think less favourably of mo because of my cheerful view of things , and suspect my patriotism because it is not full of grumblings . I sympathize with him , and deplore the dot * vioratod condition of his class when compared with otlur classes of workmen about him ; and I was prop ired to hoar of exceptions such as his . But the remarks which L offered applied to the mass of the people , and their general accuracy has not been

      affected by what he lias advanced . Perhaps we stand too near the society of this day to be able * to form an accurate comparison of its condition with that of imst ci ¦ iv tuies . But the broad facts of feudal emancipation , enlargement of personal freedom , improvement in phy . Mcal condition , diffusion of intelligence , aid encroasi / d social sympathy among all classes , at this time , are , 1 think , satisfactory evidences that ; we have advanrinl , and are advancing , though not , it may bo , so fast as luiiny of us desire .

      L admit the necessity of what may bo called a rational discontent in society . This of itself I take to lu * a niiiiUed si ^ n of social progress ; and we h ; ivo it now extensively prevalent . Iwicts something in the > . ; wuf wiy th . it pain docs in the human system , ami ^ i n- rally leads to tin-application of a remedy . Knh ;; liu ii u iu ; m socially iW ^ rndod , and he will be dis-* Mr . Sull y sipp . virs to Unvo similarly liusromvivi' . l tllfllilUllO '" " . '" . '' '"• ' ! ' " ; " '" •¦ allinir ili . Oriwrsnr AUi .-ll , mi iilinrk in i . i .- l >> ml ..- / . r .,, / , roii Imla . i . tMs . . \ . |\ .. i-: itiu ! r ils m > do , th-1 ' A A "I . !/« .. /«/ .- lir ... | ,, iii ,, | upi ; ,,..,, w .. allow . nrri ^ p . iii . lniN I . i pin .-- ..,., ¦ . mus ,, | rrn-i / s | , a . l « . ; in ( Mug so , Wl . fr ,.,, u ,. » tlv , „»»» - h-.. . ,.. , i ,... n . jiMuux xml , , !„¦ opinion-, of xx | , i , | i \ vi- li . m' no - > .. p . !<> ; l . ii il ... „„ ,,. | ,, v | iN ( ., l | ,, Hum . Irttrrs wain- lli «! M ' . l . lrl II .. It ., lluow ., ( , „„ US the li ^ junibibility bilHie l . V UlO tuvci .. l Hniv'is , — l . jj .

      contented , necessarily and inevitably , and remain so until he is elevated out of his degraded condition . It will be the same with classes of men . But the discontent is the first step towards the cure ; and , with proper energy and exertion , encouraged by hope , in good time the cure will come— the advance will be made ; — but not before men are prepared for it , not until they have worked hard for it , and know how duly to appreciate it . The verystruggle to advance , and the obstacles thrown in the way of our advancement , may be useful in bringing out our social and individual energies , and thus fitting us to make the best use of the enlargement of social privilege when attained .

      It appears to me that we can only thus proceed by steps and not by leaps , striving to make good every inch of ground which we cover as an advance . This may appear a slow process , but the law of society , like the law of gravitation , must be submitted to . We are in a path beaten for us by the tread of thousands of preceding generations , and we cannot get out of it ; we can only advance in obedience to the law of society . We can , however , press forward , and we can clear obstacles out of the way , some acting as pioneers , others as organizers of labour , the

      great body as hand-workmen . And , as in the march of other armies , sad to say , our path is often over the bodies of our own dead and dying . Every victory we make is at a loss to some . Every invention of a new and improved tool throws thousands idle . Thus , W . Westwood falls a sacrifice , with his whole class of handloom weavers , to the invention of improved machines , and we deplore the individual loss , but we see the mass advancing nevertheless . An individual has suffered , but a thousand have gained . And thus society marches still onward .

      Those who deny the actual progress of society in our day , must be doing so with their eyes shut to actual conditions . We feel the misery of the classes about us more keenly than any previous generation felt it , because we have grown more thoughtful , more feeling , more sympathizing , as a people . Humanity has actually become fashionable , and the condition-of-the-people question takes the lead of all others . It marks the age , and is strikingly characteristic of it . The voluminous Parliamentary reports on the condition of the poor and of the working classes , together with the elaborate details

      of the life of the miserable classes recently published in the newspapers , have indeed tended to produce a conviction in many minds , that our social condition is one of misery , than which nothing can be more untrue . These conclusions are falsely formed from social exceptions , many persons hastily inferring , like Ledru Rollin , that the life of the miserable and the defeated classes represents the actual life of the people of England . In like manner , the reports of the Government Commissioners on the Health of

      Towns seem to warrant the inference that our towns were the filthiest , and our people the most diseased in Europe . Whereas the very contrary is the fact . The sanitory police of our towns is better attended to ; they are , as a whole , cleaner , better scavenged , drained , and watered than the towns of any other country . But we are not satisfied ; we are still in a state of rational discontent as to our sanitary state ; and the Health of Towns Act and the Sanitary Commission are the best proofs of our progress .

      The health of the people is in all countries an unfailing test of their physical condition . If they are miserable they die soon , according to the immutable law of nature ; on the other hand , social happiness and longevity , if not invariably , are generally , coincident . Now , what is the fact as regards our own country , as well as Europe at large ? That the value of life has steadily been advancing for centuries past . The whole mass of the European population now enjoy an average duration of life equal to that of the select class , the aristocracy of ancient Home . In England , where the average is the highest , we have advanced considerably beyond that point .

      " It appears , " says Dr . Southwood Smith , in his Phi-Ioso 2 ) hy oj Health , ' that , towards the close of the seventeenth century , the duration of life in England waa considerably less than in Franco ; less even than in Holland nearly a century earlier . Since that period surprizing changes have taken place in all the nations of Europe ; but in none has the change boen so groat as in l £ n « lanil . From that , period , when its mortality exceeded that of any great and prosperous European country , its

      mortality hns been steadily diminishing , and at the present time the value of life is greater in England than in any other country in the world . Not only has the value of life bt'pn regularly enereasing until it has advanced b \ yond that of any country of which there is any record ; but the reiniukuble fact is established , that the whole innss of its people now live considerably longer than its higher classes did in the seventeenth and eighteenth centurios . "

      This I take to bo conclusive evidence that asapeoplc we urn not becoming more miserable , but the contrary . The lesson which I learn from such progress is not , however , repose and contentment with things aa they are ; but hope and encouragement to labour for further good . And there aro many things to bo ivMiodk'd , which you , as one of our leading pioneers of . Mx-iiil progress , have been forcibly indicating of Into in the columns of the Luaclvr . I rejoice to see

      that you have taken , up the land question , believing that and public education to be the next great questions demanding settlement . Eight years a » o , I found myself agitating this question , aided by Mr ! Sharman Crawford , in the columns of the Leeds Times , of which I was then editor . About that time the Labourers' Friend Society and the Socialists were directing attention to the same subject , the former rather too patronizingly , but still usefully . The Chartists have since agitated the question in connection with their Land Scheme , but the upshot of that has

      for the present been injurious rather than beneficial . Still , the attention of the working classes has been unceasingly directed to the subject . The Freehold Land Associations have , perhaps , done more practical good in this way—have made more small landed proprietors than all the other associations put together , thanks to the practical , hard-headed men of business who have undertaken their direction and management . They are content to " stand upon the old ways " and work there : their associative organization contributes to give force and intensity to the individualism of the several members without absorb

      ing or weakening it . Every contributor is urged to economize , to be sober , to exercise forethought , to aim at social and political independence . And thus society is advanced through the improvement of the individual . I confess I do not see any other way of getting on satisfactorily . Institutions may do something , may do much ; but I fear that in too many eases we exaggerate their importance . I would regard institutions as valuable mainly because of the opportunities

      they afford , and the freedom which they allow , for individual action and improvement . If I am reckless and improvident , what right have I to expect that any institution will avert from me the consequences of my own misconduct ? If I am drunken , no institution will make me sober . Help is in men themselves , far more than in institutions ! and it appears to me that we too often charge defective institutions and " competition" with the causes of misery , rather than defects of character , such as improvidence , intemperance , and ignorance .

      As respects this question of the land , for instance , what is there to prevent the provident middle classes and working people of England becoming proprietors of land if they chose ? Only the will is wanting . The majority are as yet satisfied with money profits and money wages , and to remain a landless people with their roots in the air . I have heard a working man very bluntly tell an audience of his fellows that they as a class were yearly spending on drink as much money as would enable them to buy a tract of land equal in extent to the Isle of Wight , and the railway leading to it , for ever ; and that there were few who did not swallow in liquor yearly the value of one acre of good land .

      But where is the land to be got ? may bo asked does not the law of entail stand in the way ? It does to some extent , and ought certainly to be got rid of with all dispatch , as a hindrance to the free sale and subdivision of landed property . Yet there are in all the counties of England lots of land of all varieties of extent constantly being offered for sale at not unreasonable prices . We have sometimes counted a dozsn moderate lots of land offered for sale by advertizement in one local paper . Estates of all sizes are being offered for sale in the Irish markets at lower prices , comparatively speaking , than in Australia or

      New Zealand . Why do not middle-class men and working-class men buy such land ? They want the means , may be answered ; and the will , ought to be added . Look at fie money spent on strikes . The colliers of Northumberland and Durham threw away in wages during their last strike £ 200 , 000 ; and , not long ago , Mr . Clarke stated to an assembly of working men in the Hall of Science , Preston , that the operative classes had thrown away on strikes , within a comparatively short time , not less than three millions

      of money . What if this va * t sum had been expended on land for the benefit of tho working class ! It might have been so expended . The beneficent power of association can help Avorking men yet . It is not too late . The schoolmaster to discipline their minds , the public teacher to enlighten them , and a few good practical organizers and administrators to lead them , and the promised land will yet be reached . It is not so very far off . I am , dear Sir , yours truly , S . Smiles .

      C Ii U It C Ii It E F O It M. To G. 11. ...

      C II U It C II it E F O It M . To G . 11 . Lewes . Edward-stroet , Birmingham , Oct . A , 18 *> 0 . Deak Siu , —Iii the Leader of tho 10 th of August appeared a letter of yours on the above most important question . To the conclusions of that letter I am happy to give my most cordial assent . Looking upon the religious sentiment as a part of the natural history of man , it is incumbent on all who desire the well-being of the social body to endeavour to give that sentiment an open , full , and generous development . Unhappily , sui-h at present is not the case . The division and subdivision of tho religious world—of the Church—is one of the strangest , and perhaps saddest , aspects of the times . Tho results *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 19, 1850, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19101850/page/16/