On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    H X and could tell Aug. 24, 1850.] £f)t ...

  • 

    WORDSWORTH'S " PRELUDlfi." [We have rece...

• 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.

    Land And Social Reforms. Bolton, Near Sk...

    nection with certain questions in political economy ¦ w hich require elucidation . This makes me suppose that you will like to have my profession of faith on one or two points which are more freely discussed in your paper than I see them elsewhere . Whatever I think on these subjects may be found avowed somewhere or other in my published writings : but though I have nothing new to tell in regard to my convictions , it may possibly be useful to speak them plainly and concisely , in answer to the sort of appeal which you have made to me .

    In a work of mine , published in 1837 , called " Society in America , " there is a chapter entitled " Property . " In that chapter ( if I remember rightly , and I have not the book at hand ) I declared niy conviction that the institution of property necessary , and , therefore , venerable in its own time and place , is destined , like most , or all , institutions , to be superseded ; that it was in so many directions wearing out ; that it was clear that the time was come for it to be brought into question , and for experiments to be made by select companies of enlightened persons to dispense with it , and to try the cooperative

    principle , after finding how unsatisfactory was the working of the competitive . In giving an account of such communities as I had visited in America , I declared the fact that economically they had all answered well ; that the societies were rich ; and that , though the members were not enlightened and happy , the failure was not attributable to their associative principle , but in every case to the imposition of dogmas , and the palpable violation of some of the most indisputable laws of nature . If such was my view thirteen years ago , when it was

    scarcely possible to avow such convictions without being sent to Coventry , I need hardly say how strongly I feel on the matter ^ now , when every year has been opening the subject more and more widely , and Associative institutions are springing up everywhere , and their members are studied in all their acts with almost as much interest as dread . My view of this change , and of the extension of the Associative principle , may be found recorded at p . 5 G 7 , vol . i . of my" History of the Thirty Years ' Peace , " apropos of London clubhouses .

    During all these years I have never shared the popular 'dread of " Socialism" ( as it was called ) as of a social earthquake , which was to overthrow everything most stable and most valuable . I have always felt that changes in the fundamental constitution of society can arise only out of the ripened will of society . While this will is ripening , under the light and warmth of conviction , the transition is sure to be made safe by the trial of the requisite number

    of experiments , by companies who are , or believe themselves , ready to begin . The more such the better , provided only that the experiments are begun and carried on in a spirit of earnestness and patience , and by men and women who know what they are about . The matter is too serious for , not only levity , but for either intellectual or moral hastiness . All being deliberately , and conscientiously , and dispassionately done , the more experiments of life in association the better .

    I expect little at present from associations which have not aa agricultural basis . I mean from such associations as exclude the employing capitalist . The common shop , the common kitchen , the common supply of light , warmth , water , & c , may , no doubt , bu made to answer well everywhere . But when it comes to Tailors' Associations and the like , I do not see how , considering the state of society outside ,

    they can at present succeed for all the purposes required of them . I do not see how the best workmen arc to bo retained . It is possible that continuity of employment may compensate to all but the best workmen for some reduction of receipts ; but the vory best , who can always command employment , are not to be expected , and ought not to be asked , to sacrifice so many shillings a-weck to their association with inferior workmen . This is a matter which

    will presently indicate itself . If we keep our minds open to learn , we shall certainly soon bo taught ; and the more instructive experiments the better . My own strongest hope for the improvement of our social condition is in the directing of intelligence full upon the cultivation of the soil . Wo must have the intelligence first , or the mere division or tenure of the soil can do us no good . WeJJmay argue for ever about large farms and small holdings , and be no

    better off , unless science and sense are brought to bear on the process of cultivation . I have seen the noble works of the late Lord Leicester in Norfolk , where thousands of human beings have been called into existence , and are living in comfort and intelligence under the system of the largest farming to be seen in England ; and , on the other hand , I have seen the dreadful state of savagery in which labourers are living on other large properties where the game is more considered than the human inhabitants . I

    have seen in foreign countries , and in rare instances at home , how happy families may be living on small landed properties of their own , or under a wise landlord , provided they were educated enough to make the be * t use of their means : and again , no one need go further than the district in which I live to see that the possession of land is not enough to make men

    falls back in his affairs . His land is mortgaged ; and too often he takes to drinking . After a struggle of a few years , more or less , the land falls to the mortgagee , the family sinks down into ^ some menial position , and sees its old possession in new hands . If the new owners bring more intelligence to bear upon the land , no one can complain of the change ; and people tell one another that they ought not to be sorry . Yet who can witness the spectacle and not be _ _ J _ _ _ , — h . „ mm « _ t * a 1 _ _ J * * 1 thfailur

    happy , or moderately easy in their circumstances . The " statesmen" of Westmoreland and Cumberland have everything which , according to theory , ought to suffice to outward welfare . But they have ( too many of them ) fallen behind the intelligence of the time . Their tillage is slovenly—their old-fashioned ways are wasteful . Their sons go off to the towns , while the land cries out for more labour : the soil becomes exhausted ; the owner becomes disheartened , and

    Notwithstanding all that I have seen of e e of farming , large and small , I am as much convinced as ever that in the land we possess the original means of external well-being for the whole of society . I am persuaded that , if science and intelligence were brought to bear on the cultivation of the soil in our own island , there would be found not one superfluous pair of hands—not one mouth that might not easily be fed . The great interest , at present , of the question about the tenure of land lies in the other question—what tenure is most likely to promote the direction of science and sense towards the cultivation

    of the soil . The state of things among us , though improving , seems to me at present so bad that I should be disposed to postpone everything else to the consideration of how agricultural science and method can be most radically and extensively improved . We see great landowners thinking of everything sooner than adjusting their rents , abolishing their game , and selecting their tenants by their personal qualifications for their business . We see the farmers half-educated , or less , sinking their capital in unprofitable methods or scandalous waste , and crying out for protection instead of demanding an adjustment of rents and of

    the conditions of farming . And , if we look at such small portions of land as are held by humble owners , we see the exhausted field , the foul , coarse pasture , the dank , mischievous hedge , the filthy pig , the cow out in the rain , or maddened by the heat and the flies ; in short , all the blemishes and miseries of mismanagement . Happily , we see also a Mechi and a Huxtable here and there rising up to teach us better things . With the spectacle before us of what they can do , and the knowledge that , at present , in

    the most cultivated districts of England , the labour employed is , on the average , only one man to four acres of arable land ( excluding the pasture and woodland , which employ scarcely any at all ) , we may , I think , conclude that a wide and cheerful prospect opens before us of subsistence and comfort for the people , if only we can secure the intelligence needful to educe the good from the material . The grand question is , how this may best be done . I do not think it can be done , nor much aided , by establishing a small proprietary , if we could have such a thing

    -morrow . I suppose the strongest argument on behalf of a small proprietary is , that that order of persons is found to be the most careful yet known on that most important point of social duty , proportioning numbers to the means of subsistence . With such , the laws of nature appear to operate to this end ; ( and there is no use attempting to contravene such laws by either preaching or enactment . ) It seems to be natural to such to wait till comfort can attend the

    state of marriage and parentage , and to shrink from dooming their children to a condition of poverty which they could not themselves endure . I suppose , too , that the strongest objection to associative projects is , that prudence would be discouraged and selfishness of every kind invited and fostered . The difficulty in regard to numbers appears to me to be pressing under every system , and on every supposition which we are yet qualified to make . The most careful peasant proprietor cannot offer his children ( at most to only one or two of them ) a support out of his land when he is gone , and the rest , with their families , must draw their subsistence from some other source . What we have to hope is , that science and

    moral cultivation will keep pace with the need . What we know is , that the social system which best encourages the growth and enlightenment of the understanding and the conscience is that which will best meet the difficulty which seems to pervade all . It may be fairly asked whether , in this relation , any system can be much worse than that under which we are living ; that under which the prudent , and intelligent , and virtuous man ( farmer , manufacturer , or tradesman ) cannot enter upon domestic life before five-and-forty , because pauperized , and ignorant , and hopeless boys and girls are marrying by hundreds at eighteen . Under such a system where is the encouragement to the wise of this generation ? And what is the prospect for the next ?

    Very small and humble as is rny farming experiment , you may , perhaps , see that it has some importance in my eyes . It began in thoughts of household convenience , but it soon showed itself under a better

    aspect . It is proceeding well ; and I could tell to any who wish it , of some enlargement as well as good success It is an absolute creation of the subsist ? ence of two persons . If I could tell what a revolution it has wrought in the lives of those two persons , many might be induced to put a hand to a similar experiment . Then there is the example to a neighbourhood which much needs it . At first I was asked by one and another , what on earth I could find for the man to do ; and was told how one man was not hard-worked with the care of three horses , a carriage ,

    a large garden , a kitchen-garden , and eight or nine acres of land ( pasture ) besides ; and again , now thirty acres with ten cows on them , would hardly employone man , and so on . It seems not unreasonable to hope that a few may be awakened to some sense of the value of land by telling what comes out of my little field . If further information is desired , I shall be happy to furnish it ; and if we fail at last , I shall , of course , report the fact . —I am Sir , yours , & c . Harriet Martinbau ,

    H X And Could Tell Aug. 24, 1850.] £F)T ...

    Aug . 24 , 1850 . ] H £ f ) t VLt & ilt X * 519

    Wordsworth's " Preludlfi." [We Have Rece...

    WORDSWORTH'S " PRELUDlfi . " [ We have received a letter in reference to our critique on Wordsworth in our last number , and , although as a rule we cannot open our colu mns to a review of a review , yet it may interest our readers to have the case strongly stated on the other side ; accordingly we give some extracts from the letter : —J August 21 , 1850 . Sir , —Certainly , Mr . Editor , you and your confrires are bold men . The Prelude " an ambitious failure ! * Well , that , thinks I , is at least an ambitious criticism ; but , not having read the poem , and priding myselt somewhat on not being a Wordsworth fanatic , that I bearonly admiring your courage .

    , " Wordsworth not a philosopher ! " Well , as I never yet could precisely make out what a philosopher was or was not , that I also bear ; certainly , if your definition of a philosopher is a teacher of opinions , a manufacturer of forms of thought for other men to wear , I grant he does not fulfil it . He is not the tailor I should choose to dress my mind , though there is among his stores raw material most fine and costly that I would gladly myself weave in among my thoughts . But that I also leave to those whose clothes are bought in his shop , and who , having paid for them with deep devotion , will not , I imagine , be well disposed to put up with the fashions of their fancy being thus flouted . But now I come to what does move me . Though

    " your enjoyment of much that he has written is intense , " " dislike , " you say , " the man , " because he was " intensely selfish , " " painted such by all without exception who knew him . intimately and loved him "—" his life of solitary self-worship ' having been unredeemed by " one generous action or one deep friendship . " Now , these are cutting words , and I feel them , not for the poet ' s sake , but my own , my own acquaintance with that venerable man was but very slight ; I have seen him ( had you done so , you would not have penned these words ) , and I can safelv sav . that if selfishness was his sin it was

    deepseated in his heart , not betrayed by face or manner , or tone ; but I was not his friend ; had I indeed been thus favoured , I feel that I could not address you on the subject ; your charge against him would then . seem too absurd and be too painful , and your assertion that I myself " painted" the distorted portrait would , pardon me , be too insulting to allow me to notice it . I have , however , asked those who did love him because they knew him intimately , and , far from painting him to me as intensely selfish , they have always described him as one on whose love and friendship they rested , and to whom lor sympathy have

    and succour they would in distress confidently appealed : and I would suggest your treating yourself to a trip to Iiydal , and correcting these " reports " of his friends which have reached you ( preserve me from such friends ) by the testimony of his neighbours , of the poor around him , and , above all , of his old and faithful and half heartbroken servants . It is a clever aeltishness which hides itself from such observers ; but it is no fear for Wordsworth's character which makes me resent your remarks , his memory will take care of itself , or , if it needs defence , there are enough and to spare to furnish it . think have

    But possibly you may may you proved your case ; justified your attack on the poet by your criticism of his poem . If so , that only makes bad worse . With much of your critique I agree , especially with your excellent closing paragraph , on the influence of art and nature ; but if I agreed with it all , as I do not , I should still abhor such deduction . The confusion of character with opinion , the making the heart responsible for the head is a fault of the age , than which is none greater , none more needing the efforts of all who claim , like ourselves , the proud title of reformer , to struggle against in the world and in our own hearts .

    It is this confusion which is the strength of the demagogue and the weakness of the patriot , which at this very moment nerves the arm of the Tory and paralyzes that of the Chartist , which turns an argument into a personal quarrel , and bo gives the brute

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 24, 1850, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24081850/page/15/