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May 25, 1850.] ®>%t ^LtaHtt. 209
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There is no learned man but will confess...
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BELIGIOTJS FEDERATION. Kectory, Burton b...
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FRUITS OF COMPETITION. Dundee, May 15,18...
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DEFENCE OF SOCIALISM. May 23, 1850. Sir,...
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COMMUNISM AND EDUCATION. Khyddyn Issa, M...
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The Goiuiam Case.—The judgment of the Qu...
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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Protectionist Resources. It Would Seem T...
Free-trader . The same body have decided that the Union advertisements shall in future only be inserted in the Protectionist paper , although the Free-trade organ can boast of a much larger circulation . At the last meeting of the Bedford Level corporation , consisting principally of farmers , an attempt was made to withdraw the advertisements from the Independent Press ; but at that meeting the proposition could not be entertained , so that it will probably be renewed at no distant date . The
same corporation have also decided upon a reduction of salaries , and in this instance the resolution will no doubt be carried out . Notwithstanding all these measures I hear of no converts being gained to their cause . " Cromwell was a Bedford-Leveller : Free-trade could scarcely have been a question in his day , at least according to modern lights , or he would probably have been a Protectionist ; but most certainly he would have found out some kind of warfare more vigorous and more exalted than that adopted by his colleagues of 1850 .
May 25, 1850.] ®>%T ^Ltahtt. 209
May 25 , 1850 . ] ®> % t ^ LtaHtt . 209
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There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , bis 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 .
Beligiotjs Federation. Kectory, Burton B...
BELIGIOTJS FEDERATION . Kectory , Burton by Lincoln , May 21 , 1850 . Deau Sir , —Religious unity is , by most thoughtful minds , held to be the great want of the day : this want acknowleged , it is the part of earnest men to do their best to satisfy it . Mr . Thomas asks how this can be done ; and , with somewhat of scarcasm , says he shall ** be glad to know how we are all to be united under one creed . " I would suggest to him that such is not required for the attainment of unity , which ( and not uniformity , which Mr . Thomas seems to confound with it ) is what we must attain before we can approach our social evils with any hope of remedying them , and , consequently , what we are employed in seeking after . We can attain it , I believe , only by carrying out the federative or associative principle in things religious as well as in things secular . The power which federated states derive through their union for imperial purposes could be gained by the different religious bodies through a similar combination . On matters of faith and practice peculiar to each they might debate in their own separate convocations , synods , conferences , or
assemblies ; while , for matters of universal tendency and importance , a conclave might be held , to which could be sent delegates from each church , sect , or party , and at which might be debated the best and most effectual mode of carrying out , in practice , that great principle in which all religionists , whatever their speculative differences , will be found to agree—Love to God , and , for his sake , to man . The advantages of such a general conclave would be incalculable ; while no possible danger of animosity could arise in the discussion of measures for the physical , mental , and moral improvement of mankind .
I may be asked what test should be required of such sects as might claim to enter , as members , this confederation . To this I would reply no test whatever . The obligation of membership should be to submit harmoniously , in matters of general government , to the decisions of the majority , and to work energetically in the task of carrying them into practice . The fact of any body of men wishing to send representatives to such a conclave would be presumption of its being sufficiently imbued with the religious spirit to be entitled to do so . The first effect of such a conclave meeting in
earnestness and charity would be a speedy and powerful impulse on all operations for the good of society . Sanitory reforms , educational movements , efforts in favour of the overworked and underpaid , & c , would be carried on with that energy which united force alone can produce . The second and no less important effect would be the production of a tolerant and candid judgment of each other on the part of the delegates , and eventually on that of the parties delegating them , which would lead to a kind and liberal appreciation of each others' faith , and grounds for entertaining it ; and , thus , to an agreement on matters of speculative opinion far closer than exists
at present , even though the one creed be not accepted , with the want of which Mr . Thomas taunts us religionists , and which I deem impossible to be universally received , except by a perpetual miraculous interference , which would take away all zest from expectation and all value from faith . I remain , dear sir , Yours most faithfully , Edmund R . Larken .
Fruits Of Competition. Dundee, May 15,18...
FRUITS OF COMPETITION . Dundee , May 15 , 1850 . Sir , —From the competitive state of society every one suffers . The poor suffer actual want ; the rich , the fear of want . The efforts of the labourer and artisan are directed to this one object , —to keep away want . Yet in this struggle he is rarely successful . Born and brought up among this class , I can truly say that I never saw in our own or our neighbour ' s families sufficient food of good quality , sufficient clothing , or sufficient furniture and house accommodation ; to say nothing of books , music , and education . It was sometimes better , sometimes worse , but never up to the mark .
I have since struggled into another sphere , where by my industry I can procure sufficient bodily comforts . But I have only exchanged actual want , for the fear of it . This leads me to save all I can to provide for the necessities of age and the wants of my children . All around me show by their actions that they experience the same feeling . All are trying to build around themselves a wall of gold to keep want out . I am thought a very prudent man for so doing . But this lauded prudence has a freezing effect on the
milk of human kindness . Every destitute fellow creature that I meet seems to say " Give me part of your wealth . " To whom I am obliged to reply , " I dare not . " This is very uncomfortable . It chills my blood to think of the thousands who are struggling to take the bread out of other people ' s mouths . As long as competition is the basis of society this must continue . The feeble in body or mind must suffer want ; and the strong , though they get the lion ' s share , must suffer the fear of it .
Cooperation would destroy this evil , and ensure , even to the weak , the blessings of employment , and a participation in the fruits of industry . This is one reason why I am a Socialist . Homo .
Defence Of Socialism. May 23, 1850. Sir,...
DEFENCE OF SOCIALISM . May 23 , 1850 . Sir , —In your Open Council of last Saturday I read with much interest a letter signed " S . W . Newman . " One or two points in it surprised me . I shall state them , not for purposes of criticism or confutation : my sole object is information . Mr . Newman seems to think that your Socialism is still
obscure , you have not sufficiently denned it . He says that " the actual violence of the Parisian Communists in June , 1848 , the calamitous results of the public workshops , and the vague talk ( which certainly may mean violent revolution when possible ) in which English Socialists indulge , " gives your readers a claim upon you for a more explicit renunciation of all compulsory Socialism .
The statements here made by Mr . Newman appear to me incorrect , and , if so , they ought not to pass unquestioned , inasmuch as they contain heavy charges against large bodies of men , men , too , whom the candid ought not to asperse through carelessness , seeing that the uncandid are over apt to do that bad work by evil intention . I beg , therefore , to ask Mr . Newman through you , whether the public workshops of Paris were instituted by the Socialists as an experiment , partially or otherwise , of their principles ; or whether they were not rather called into existence by the Provisional Government through the instrumentality of M . Marie with the intention , in some measure , of bringing Socialism into disesteem with the public ?
I also ask whether the June revolution was not the result of angry impatience , through the disappointment of their hopes , on the part of the starving masses , not an attempt on the part of the Socialists to force the adoption of their theories upon a people unprepared for them ? And , lastly , I would ask Mr . Newman to name the English Socialists whose vague talk might be taken to mean revolution when possible ? I am a Socialist of fifteen years' standing , and have given Socialism much consideration , I have read the works that explain it , and have listened to the speeches delivered
for its enforcement , and my deliberately-formed conclusion is , that the Socialists above all other men ( the Quakers perhaps excepted ) deprecate violent revolution as an agent of change , and rely implicitly , with no wavering of faith whatever , on the force of ideas for the accomplishment of their designs . My experience has convinced me that the English Socialists , whenever a proper opportunity offered itself , denounced violence , not vaguely , but directly and pointedly . As to what Mr . Newman calls compulsory Socialism , I protest I never heard of such a thing except as an unfounded accusation made against Socialists by those who opposed them .
Perhaps Mr . Newman , as an apt of justice , will reconsider this matter , and give his countrymen the result of his enquiry . I remain truly yours , L . J .
Communism And Education. Khyddyn Issa, M...
COMMUNISM AND EDUCATION . Khyddyn Issa , May 20 , 1850 . Sib , —I am concerned , as one interested in the cause of Progress , to see the error into which the Leader is falling in its Communistic ideas . Its ideas are those of despairing , and not healthful , philanthropists . Now , if there is any party which , has reason to do battle with the ignorance and wretchedness of our country in a spirit of hope and confidence it is ours . We must bate neither heart nor jot of hope , but cry onward and upward ; but true to the line , and we must and shall conquer . But the Leader Sits down upon the ground And tells sad stories of the death of kings , —
with enemies to encounter and social evils to overcome , requiring a strong arm and a cool brain . It says , in , effect , we have tried every remedy , used every means to alleviate the sufferings of our fellow man—there is only one refuge , one haven , to fly to , —Communism in some form or another . Now , sir , it appears to me that , so far from its being a sorrowful puzzle to behold the wretchedness and degradation of so large a portion of our countrymen , it is a matter of wonder and congratulation that they are not worse . And we are led to the conclusion . in the
that there is an upward force and buoyancy national character , under the most adverse circumstances , that only requires fair play to use ^ and breathe a purer moral atmosphere . Look , sir , at the system , and can you wonder at the results ? If a congress of the powers of darkness has met to devise a code of laws , conventional and statute , for the express purpose of degrading the majority of a nation , in the social scale , they could not have matched those of our own land . Until yesterday the breadtax fostered actual scarcity . The land , that rawmaterial of a nation ' s greatness , creating a
selfrespect almost universal with its possession , is made hard to buy and sell , instead of being as free of tenure and exchange as every other gift of God ; and the whole island is ^ parcelled out among a half per cent , of its inhabitants . A poor man must rise with , a very millstone round his neck . He would be sober and temperate , and the innocent beverage which forms his morning and evening meal , and is the material of cheerful gatherings ot neighbours and friends , is taxed at a rate which quadruples its fair value . He would wash .
and be clean , and his very soap pays its merciless dole , and he cannot purify himself from natural filth under a penalty of some thirty per cent , on , soap . He would read the wondrous scroll of events taking- place about him , the record of a nation ' s footsteps , in the columns of a newspaper , and create the sympathy of a fellow man and citizen , and his journal is taxed with the same crushing load . He stands idle in the market-place , —no man hiring him , —and with ready hands , but aching heart * would make known his need in the columns of the
paper , and that is finable , too . The whole system keeps him down ; the very dice of his fortune are loaded ; and he is doomed to a life whose dreary vegetation is only chequered by the dreams in intoxication . In the very opening lines of the Lancashire Public School Association ' s address , recorded in your columns , there is one sorrowful key to this terrible Pandora ' s box . " Fellow-countrymen , nearly one-half of this great nation is unable to read and write . " Now it seems but reasonable , first of all , to grapple with that terrible fact , to try and make wiser that terrible " half . " It cannot be denied that ignorance , distress , and crime , go hand in hand . The Leader cannot deny it ; yet it says in effect , some form of Communism is inevitable , and straightway " falls into a dream . "
Sir , the Leader has a noble field to "work m—a plough to put its hand to—a stern stubble field to go through , which will yet give a noble harvest . Let it urge on with might and main the new movement born in the practical , yet abused , Manchester school , which heralds a mighty revolution , anew and noble order of things . Let it cry , educate , in spite of sect and party . Enfranchise , in spite of ignorant and selfish fear . Unfetter trade , disregarding old and
time-honoured monopolies . Make your fellowcountryman an educated man , and not an illiterate hind ; give him facility to have and to hold ; train him to habits of self-respect ; and let him have what is his duo in justice as well as humanity , and your task is done . Let its cry be Educate , Enfranchise , and Untax , and leave the result fearlessly in the hands of the people themselves , and it will not be disappointed . I am , yours truly , J . H . R .
The Goiuiam Case.—The Judgment Of The Qu...
The Goiuiam Case . —The judgment of the Queen ' s council is well enough for the nonce , but all the world perceives that it is a juggle , alike disgraceful to the church that must brook it , and to the head of the church that was compelled to give it . They could not heal the wound , and durst not probe it , so they skinned it over for a season . — British Quarterly Review ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/13/
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