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    1018 Wfyt %t&Utt> [Saturday ,

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    * " His (Oivch'h) theory was that, while...

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    Opinion of Lord John Russell on Civil Eq...

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    Social Reform. "Notes Of A Social (Econo...

    and some deformed . Their labour through the day , and their education at night , became so intolerably irksome , that numbers ran away , and almost all of them looked forward with anxiety and impatience to the expiration of their apprenticeship , of seven , eight , or nine years , which generally terminated when they were from thirteen to fifteen years old ; at which critical period of life they usually went off to Edinburgh or Glasgow , where many of these victims of charity fell a sacrifice to the innumerable temptations by which they were assailed . Thus , Mr .

    Dale ' s benevolent arrangements were rendered , m their ultimate effect , almost nugatory . The children were hired by him and employed—for without their labour he could not support them ; but the errors of the system arose from the children being sent from the workhouse to the factory—( call you that Protection , you land monopolists ?)—at too early an age for employment , and before they were educated ; and if this be a true picture , not overcharged , of - parish apprenticeship under humane regulations , in what colours must it be portrayed under the worst ?

    Mr . Robert Owen married the eldest daughter of Mr . Dale ; and in the year 1800 became the managing partner of the business , both at New-Lanark and at Glasgow , all his copartners residing in London or at Manchester . His object in purchasing this establishment from Mr . Dale was to try on a more extended scale the experiment which , he had previously made with considerable success : the object of his partners was to make a profit by cotton-spinning . He had , therefore , to combine these two objects in the best manner possible under the circumstances . The population of New Lanark , collected from Glasgow and

    other places , was , with few exceptions , inferior and demoralized ; many of them spoke only Gaelic and disliked all Englishmen . Robert Owen was not of their religion ; and the establishment had been so conducted under the influence of a sect , that much religious animosity existed among the inhabitants , who were intemperate , immoral , and dirty . Some time was at first spent in ascertaining the difficulties to be overcome , which were numerous and formidable , and in discovering the capabilities of the establishment . As in all other

    cotton-spinning mills at that time , there were many vicious , injurious , and inferior circumstances around the people ; and the first ten years were employed in gradually replacing these by virtuous , beneficial , and superior circumstances . This was the more difficult to accomplish as strong prejudices against the change from old habits and arrangements to new ones , existed in the minds both of the people and of the partners , who at length became so much alarmed at the proposed expenditure for the improvement of the people and of the establishment , that they refused to proceed any further . Robert Owen then expressed his willingness either to retire from , or to take the establishment , by stating the sum which he would

    give or take for it , and at once fixed the amount at £ 84 , 000 . lie had had the business under his direction for ten years , ( luring which the profits , after allowing five per cent , interest for capital , amounted to £ 00 , 000 . Ilia partners , therefore , agreed to accept the sum proposed , and a new company was formed , in which he was joined by one of bis former partners and by two leading merchants of ( Jlasgow . lie now proceeded with the intended beneficial changes , as he found by daily experience , that in proportion as the external circumstances were improved , the character and conduct of the population also improved ; and having become possessed of the largest share in the concern , be was , therefore , liable for the largest

    proportion of any loss which might accrue . lie bad discovered that the circumstance most injurious in its moral and . social influence on the population was the defective and false character given by the ignorant workpeople to their children , and he , therefore , commenced an establishment for forming their characters from as curly a period an be could obtain control over them from their parents ; but . before the necessary building was half finishedliin nvw partners objected to its

    , completion , and insisted that , as they were mere colton-HpinnerH , working lor projit , they bad nothing to < lo with the visionary improvement of the character of the population . Robert Owen replied that he could only proceed in his own way to govern the people and conduct the establishment ; that , if bis partner * were i ] ih-HatiHiied with hi 8 measure * he would again fix a price for it which ho would either give or

    accept . This offer they refused , and decided that it should be put up to public auction m six months , from that time , four years after the commencement oF the partnership . His partners , as it afterwards appeared , intended to purchase the factory , and , therefore , endeavoured to depreciate its value in the estimation of wealthy persons , giving out that they would be well pleased to obtain £ 40 , 000 for it , and that Robert Owen ' s plans were visionary and impracticable . While these measures were in progress , he found other partners * who were willing to unite with him in the purchase of the mills , if he could buy them

    at the sale . He had estimated the value of the establishment at £ 120 , 000 ; for the machinery had been entirely reconstructed , the buildings much enlarged , and the produce of the mills greatly improved and increased ; but , above all , the character of the people had become so superior that the value of the concern was in consequence greatly enhanced . ^ Mr . Owen ' s retiring partners , on the day of sale , bid £ 114 , 000 , and therefore lost the purchase ; but they afterwards told the Provost

    of Glasgow , a common friend of both parties , that the property was then £ 20 , 000 too cheap ! So much , exclaims Robert Owen , for the honesty of the principle created by the present system of buying cheap and selling dear—a practice destructive of the best natural qualities of humanity . These men in four years had realized £ 150 , 000 of profit ; and disappointment , it was thought , so preyed upon their minds that , in less than one year from the day of sale , the two Glasgow merchants died .

    The majority of Robert Owen ' s new partners were men of known benevolence , and prepared to carry out the great social and educational experiment on which he was engaged . The institution for the formation of character from early infancy was speedily finished , and formally opened on the 1 st of January , 1816 . It was upon this occasion that the principles and practice to be pursued in infant schools , of a rational character , were first given to the public ; and the infant school , the first of its kind that ever existed , was opened upon the following day . James Buchanan , a poor weaver , was the first schoolmaster ; but for months Robert Owen ' s presence and instruction were

    necessary to infuse into him the true spirit of the system , and the proper method of treating the children . The infant department was only one of the three divisions into which the schools of the institution were classified , and it soon attained n perfection and celebrity that attracted strangers from all countries . This was intended to be the first practical step towards forming an intelligent , kind , charitable , and rational character for the infants of the human race ; to prepare them for a new state of society , based solely upon truth , emanating from an accurate practical knowledge of human nature—the only practical mode by which the human character can ever be well

    formed . Having partners who had been promised not more than five per cent , interest for their capital , and who were willing to expend the surplus profits for the permanent benefit of the population , the houses and gardens of the village were increased , improved , and kept in good order , and arrangements were made to supply them with all the necessaries and many of the comforts of life , of the best quality , at wholesale prices . At this period all mills were unrestricted by law as to the number of

    hours of working , as well as to the aye at which children were allowed to be employed ; and as the health of both young and old suffered from the long duration of their- daily attendance upon the machinery , with its deafening noise , the working hours for all nges were reduced to ten hour * and a half a day . New Lanark became familiarl y known as the " Happy Valley , " § although but little , compa-

    1018 Wfyt %T&Utt> [Saturday ,

    1018 Wfyt % t & Utt > [ Saturday ,

    * " His (Oivch'h) Theory Was That, While...

    * " His ( Oivch ' h ) theory was that , while he made a uiunufucturiiiK population more virtuoun and huppy , he Could id . to r < -n < Ur them more productive to their cmployein ; and in this respect he certainly fulfilled his riiKaxcuu'iitH . U « ntham had every reason to be tiatinfled with the pecuniary remiltH of Inn iiiveHtmentu of money in the New Lanark -mills "—Hhntuam ' k Mumoium , lBl . 'J . * ' I found the nrrangementR with regard to the manufacturing part excellent , and even beyond my cxpectu-L ' lOIlH . " — JolJHNAI , OK \ V . Al . l , IiN , liSH . \ " The people- arci peculiarly decent and respectable . " - - New St'tt . Account of Scotland , Lanarkshire . \ On the iMtli of December , 1814 , the artioh-H of partne-rnhip were bigned by John Walker , Jose ph Fox , Jo . neph FoHter , Miolmel GibUH , and William Allen , and forwarded to Itobert Owen for signature . i " The minister at Lanark , fluid , ' ho Was not avtftro of

    ratively , had been done for the health and haonT ness of the population compared with that which for the interest of all , might and should be donp by all nations , For all people ; and which , in pra J Hce , would be found to be so easy , and yet Jj powerful for good . " I could do no more , " savs Robert Owen , " for a mere manufacturing popula tion ; for manufactures are not the true foundation of society . And , after all , what had I done for these people ? What was their real condition ? The people were slaves at my mercy ; liable at any time to be dismissed , and thu / s to relapse into a state of misery , compared with such limited hap piness as they then enjoyed . " Yet the tcorjt £

    part of this population of 2500 persons was daily producing as touch real wealth for society as , half a century before , would have required the working part of a population of 600 , 000 to create ; and now i with the subsequent improvements in ma . chinery and cotton spinning , the same population would create as much wealth , probably , as 1 , 000 , 000 at the earlier period could have pro . duced . And Robert Owen then asked himself—What became of the difference between the wealth consumed by 2500 persons , and that which would have been consumed by the 600 , 000 or the

    1 , 000 , 000 ? What became of such superabundant means to produce wealth and happiness for aU ? Leaving my readers , for the present , to ans wer these vitally important questions for themselves , I must reserve for next week the history of the termination of the New Lanark experiment ; by which Robert Owen demonstrated to the world

    that Malthus and the oeconomists were wrong , and " painless extinction " unprofitable ; for that labour , when properly directed , is of far greater value to the community , than the expense necessary to maintain the labourer in considerable comfort . When labour , therefore , shall be so directed , it will be found , that population cannot , for very many years , advance as rapidly as society might be benefited by its increase . William Coningham . [ In the first sentence of my last letter , for Taxes , read Taxes and Expenditure . —W . C ]

    Opinion Of Lord John Russell On Civil Eq...

    Opinion of Lord John Russell on Civil Equality . —It is not very long since one of the members for the City of London ( Lord John Russell ) made a memorable declaration in his place in Parliament ; memorable , in chief , for it « distinctness , for he had before avowed the same principle , in common with many other leading statesmen . " It appeared to him , " his lordship said , " that while they ( the

    Parliament ) were perfectly right in doing all they could to promote the Christian Religion and its diffusion throughout the globe , they should feel that Christianity derived no force from any mode of extension which could in any way or degree be called civil persecution ; and it certainly appeared to him ( Lord John Rus . sell ) that the exclusion , upon any such grounds , of personsfrom office , they being loyal subjects of her Majesty , was a Bpecies of persecution altogether inconsistent with the high and pure spirit of Christianity ; " therefore , according to lioro exclude iroma

    John Russell ' s opinion , to any person civil ofHce ( as was done by the Ward at the- law election ) on account of his religious opinions , » nothing more or less than persecution . I am iree w admit such may not bo intended ; but , be it reint bered , intentions do not alter results in such caws . The influence of that Gospel , whose proudest t >« ttt > V * that it is glad tidings to man , surely should noi wrested to be made a source of social privation to u jr-It such a rule as that which Lord John Russell w ) down had been expressed by a party ol less « mI "\ or authority than the first member for this great i . yi and first minister of the Crown- —hod it _ been ¦ , i i „ niilliirml' BC" * utterance of scribed bod nuilering Be

    a pro y or a though a truism , still it would have been open i ^ suspicion of being an aspiration winch tiie * ^ could not recognize ; but when the speakei i mouthpiece of the Government , and tlutt » 1 ftnd too , celebrated for his constitutional yiew » practical comprehension of the genius ol me * ' * political system , the maxims he delivers com *> ¦ with the authority of history , the weight ; oi - ^ once , and the sanction of the Crown . ^ ; 'J . yicwhioh is the principle of the Cabinet ol U « - - f t ,, 0 toria may be accepted" witli dignity as a rim Ward of Walbrook ; and he who auks ior ., '' „ this to nitionol ' a political truth , no more foreign u English precedent , cannot bo justly reguru " iulllt (! porting his « : aii 8 « by any unusual oi' ll ^ ] Va lannual . —Addrv . ua to the Elector a oj the Waul <> j

    brook , by Robert Lo IHond . _ . — any cane of drunkenness for a year or ( W ^ r ot * < lhe master of the workpeople ) ha ? tin J c >« n teady , religion * man , an < t his information toa > factory . ' "—Life of William Allen , 1 » 1 » .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1851, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25101851/page/14/