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Feb. 28, 18S2,] ' .:;; ¦ ^-ff^:.£L: :^A ...
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POOR-LAW ASSOCIATION AND 'THE WEEKLY DIS...
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Louis Blanc And Mazzini. Letteb Ii. {To ...
will there read— " Fraternity has no existence : that is imiversally acknowledged : and Socialism , instead of seeking for its elements , imagines that all that is wanted is to talk about it . Let there he fraternity , it says ; but fraternity cannot be . * . . . . . Socialism , taken strictly , is the community of evil , the imputing to society of the faults of individuals , the joint responsibility of all in every offence . " ' Such are the terms in which M . Proudhon defines Socialism ; and his whole hook is nothing but a virulent attack upon our
doctrines * In political economy , M . Proudhbn had been but the exaggerator of MX Le * on Faucher : it was natural that in politics he should set up for the surviving representative of Hubert . The man who refused to admit of fraternity— -that bond of hearts—must needs incline , by an inevitable propensity , to demand the disruption of the bond of interests—that is , the State And this is why M . Proudhon , in tbte point self-consistent , after having , as economist , preached laissezfaire , became , as publicist , the apostle of anarchy .
But by whom was this deplorable notion of anarchy combated , the very day of its appearance ? Precisely by the Socialists , by Pierre Leroux , by mys 3 lf . Nothing could be at once more incisive and more « levated than the article ?; on that subject with which Pierre Leroux demolished Proudhon .-f La Solidarite , the journal of the Socialists , defended with great vigour , against the invasion of modern Hebertism , the sacred
domain of the democracy . % I too , for my own part , entered into the struggle , and , sustained by the elite of the working men of Paris , who made a strong declaration in my favour , § laid down , that Order was the indispensable safeguard of Liberty ; that anarchy led through chaos to tyranny ; and that the question was , not to annihilate the principle of government , but to establish it on a basis which should render it a tutelary institution . I wrote ; in reply to M . Proudhon :
" To demand the suppression of the State , even when it represents no more than the power of all the community in reference to each individual , is to ; demand the abolition of society pro tanio ; it is to deliver up the swallows to the Birds of prey ; it is to instal tyranny in the midst of confusion . In the animal world , the State is unknown , and it is in the absence of its tutelage that the tiger devours the gazelle . If , by the = sovereignty in
of the people you understand a rabble ^ of afilftshi - terests , waging against one an ^ hW / tincontrolied , a war of extermination , --declare it frankly . We shall then ltjK » rr wnat to expect ; and if we must absolutely choose between two tyrannies , we will resign ourselves to endure the one which shall show itself ready to strike without deceiving us . For anarchy is oppression sheathed in hypocrisy , || and so we hold it doubly in abhorrence .
I say , then , that those who rank Proudhon among the Socialists , are convicted of utterly ignoring the movement of the ideas of the day ; and those who , with the works of M . Proudhon before their eyes , accuse Socialism of being the code of anarchy , commit the unpardonable error of imputing to Socialists a doctrine essentially contrary to their faith , and which they have themselves , with the greatest energy , spurned , refuted , stigmatized , and denounced to the good sense of the people 1
The Fbenoh Socialists ahe no Tebeobists . — All their writings prove it ; but how far more eloquently do not the facts by which their influence was manifested prove it ? Every one knows that the character of the revolution of 1848 was profoundly socialist , and how great was the ascendancy at that time of the men whom M . Mazzini calls , " the system-makers and sectarians of nei country what
a ghbouring . " Now , revolution was ever more moderate , more merciful , more magnanimous , than that of 1848 ? What revolution ever made a more courageous appeal to all its enemies , or a more generous effort after universal conciliation ? To accusations without proofs , to vague insinuations , I will reply by facts . Hero is the decree of tho provisional government , dated as early as the 26 th of February : —
" Tnis Pkotisionai . GoyjmNMENT , convinced that grandeur of soul is the supremo policy , and that every revolution accomplished by tho French people owes to tho world tho consecration of a philosophical truth tho more : " Considering 1 that thoro In no aubliiner principle than tho inviolability of human life : , " Considering that , in tho . memorable days wo have just paHBcd through , tho provisional governmortt has ,
Systbme den contradictions faonomiques ( t . 2 , oh . xii . ) t Sec La RSnnblique , of November 11 , 18 , 27 , 1840 . % Solidarity , of October 27 , 1840 . $ Letter of tho delegates of tho Luxembourg to M . Proudhon , published tho 20 th November , 1841 ) , in all tho democratic journals of Paris , and notably in La RS ~ ftublique . II Le Nouveau Monde , 19 th November , 1849 .
withpride , taken note that not a single cry of vengeance or of death has issued from the lips of the people : ' • " Declare , ' ' ; ¦ ; . " . "'¦¦ ¦ ¦ :: ¦'¦¦ . ¦ , " That , in their judgment , the penalty of death for political motives is abolished , and that they will present this their desire to the definitive ratification of the National Assembly , „ " The provisional government have ' so firm a conviction of the truth , that they proclaim > in the naure of the French people , that if the guilty men who have lately made the blood of France to flow were in the hands of the people , it would be in their eyes a more signal punishment to degrade than to strike them . "
Now , may I be allowed to recal , that the man who caused the adoption of this decree , and who drew up its preamble , was precisely that one of all the members of the provisional government who there , among his colleagues , in a more special manner represented Socialism . * It was this same member who , on the 10 th of March , 1848 , from the . tribune of the Luxembourg , uttered these words , amidst the acclamations of the people : —
" The men who were impossible are suddenly become the men who are necessary . They were ever denounced as the systematic apostles of the Reign of Terror . Now , the day that the revolution swept them into power , what were their acts ? They abolished the punishment of death , and their dearest hope is to be enabled one day to lead you to the public square , and there , in all the splendour of a national fete , to consume with fire the last remains of the scaffold . " * Such is the
terrorism of the Socialists ! But , God forbid that we should join in the strange maledictions which M . Mazzini launches against the fearless and powerful men by whom our first French revolution Was directed . . M . Mazzini exclaims , " It has always been my deep conviction that the French Regne de la Terreur was nothing but cowardly terror in those who organized the system : they crushed , because they feared to be crushed ; and they crushed all those by whom they beared to be crushed . "
So , then , they were cowards , those men ,-who knowingly ; voluntarily , opened hen & ntih ^ lretr own feet terrible ab 3 ^ B «? , 'itt 'wThcK they well knew it would be their own , fete to disappear , enguUed ! Cowards , were they ? those men who said with Robespierre , " Let us die , and perish with us our memory , so that justice triumph . " Cowards , were they ? who , when pressed by their friends to fly from the scaffold , said , like
Danton , " Can a man carry his country about with the sole of his shoe ? " And they remained , to die ! Cowards , were they ? those men who , encompassed by snares within , and unable to stir a step without clashing against an enemy , dared to throw down the glove of challenge to all Europe ; and who replied , when some one asked them , " Have you made a compact with victory ? " " No ! but we have made a compact with death !"
M . Mazzini adds , "A true terror , terror to the foes , is energy of bold , continued , devoted action . " And he knows not how that energy was precisely the supreme virtue of the men ho assails ! And the . man who admits of " terror to the foes , " does not perceive thn ! t the French revolution was on Homeric combat , the most important and the most formidable that was ever waged ; so important , indeed , and so formidable , that nothing less than the whole world was broad enough to be its battle-field . It is easy enough for us , who are now enjoying tho fruits of so many terrible efforts , and to whom our ancestors have bequeathed clemency in taking upon themselves to exhaust the terror , —it is very easy for us to blame them !
But are we sure of being just , when wo separate from the appreciation of their acts that of tho obstacles which they had to conquer , and of tho necessities they had to sustain . Tho French Revolution was a sort of prodigious gestation : now , Nature hersolf has associated agony with parturition . St . Just said : " Tho * Tho second half of this memorable Decree wa 8 drawn up by M . dc Lamartino , the first , by M . Louis Blanc . Every one now knows that it was M . Louis Blanc who , on the 20 th of February , prevailed upon tho Provisional Government to adopt tho abolition of the punishment of death . M . do Lamartinc , who , on tho preceding day , had made tho same proposition , but unsuccessfully , now ran up to M . Louis Blanc , seized him by both hands , with rapture , and exclaimed : ¦— " Ah ! thoro you havo accomplished a noble act I" All tho historians of tho Revolution of ' 48 aro agreed on this point . See not only Pages de V llistoire Contemporaine , but also tho llistoire de la lUvoluiion de 1848 , par M . Charles Robin , vol . i . p . 870 Uistoire da GonvernementProvisoire , by M . Elias Rcgnault , pp . 107 , 108 ; llistoire de la Evolution de Fevricr , par David Stern , vol . ii . ; and llistoire de la HSvolution de 1848 , par M . do Lamartino , vol . i ., pp . 425 , 420 . —En . of Leader . f Moniteur of March 10 , 1848 .
Revolution has passed through suffering ; she has had this in common with the world that sprung from-Chaos , and with Man , that is born in tears . " We will not require of M . Mazzini to accept this heroic explanation ; we will not require of him , in the midst of the general clemency which our softened manners render so easy , to forgive whatever of violence may have marked , the past history of our militant liberty ; but we will at least demand of him not to affirm that these men slew only because they feared to be slain—men , who astounded the world for evermore by the vehemence of their convictions , and persevered in their course , albeit they knew well that " the Revolution , like Saturn , devoured her own children . " Louis Blanc . ( To . be continued . )
Feb. 28, 18s2,] ' .:;; ¦ ^-Ff^:.£L: :^A ...
Feb . 28 , 18 S 2 , ] ' .: ;; ¦ ^ -ff ^ :. £ L : ^ A fiJgB . 195
Poor-Law Association And 'The Weekly Dis...
POOR-LAW ASSOCIATION AND 'THE WEEKLY DISPATCH . ' ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) New Poob-Law Association , 9 , St . James ' s-square , Manchester , February 23 , 1852 . Sib , —As the conductors of The Weekly Dispatch have thought proper to publish an elaborate
attackfounded either in the grossest ignorance or the most wilful perversion of facts— -upon the objects , principles , and means of this Association , and have refused to insert the following temperate and not very lengthened rejoinder thereto , I shall feel much obliged if you can find room for it in the next Leader . I have the honour to be , Sir , Your very humble servant , Arch ., G . Staek ,
Secretary to the Poor-law Association of the United Kingdom . BEPBODUCTIYE EMPLOYMENT OF PAUPERS , IJT
LIEU OF IDLENESS AND USELESS TASK-WOBK . ( To the Editor of The Weekly Dispatch . ) Poor Law Association , 9 , St . James ' s-square , Manchester , Feb . 16 , 1852 . Sir , —I have perused with no little astonishment an article fn the last number of your Journal , headed , " The Last Carlyleism , " and to which is appended the well-known sobriquet oi " Publicola . " It is no business of minewere it ever so necessary—to defend Mr . Carlyle from the charges brought against him , in regard to " Chartism , " " The French Revolution , " "Model Prisons , " and many other subjects which have engaged the exercise of his powerful intellect ; nor do I feel called upon even to justify
his connexion with this Association , further than to state , that he entered it with his eyes open , and with a thorough knowledge of its principles and objects , and of the means sought to carry them out , while his assailant is , ' to use his own phrase , " blind , stone blind , " to either one or the other;—but it is imperatively incumbent upon me to protest against the public mind being abused , in reference to this Association , which has been formed by persons of acknowledged worth , station , and influence , and of various shades of religious and political feeling , in different parts of the United Kingdom , to promote the amelioration of the condition of the poor , and relieve property and industry from grievous burdens imposed upou them by an absurd and irrational system .
" Publicola" says— " Tho proposition to which Mr . Carlyle calls public attention , with trumpet blast , is that of a voluntary subscription to raise a capital for employing , all the paupers of the kingdom . " The printed circulars which I enclose will prove that tho Poor-Law Association has undertaken no such Herculean labour as this . Wo propose to raise no capital—that is ready to our handsit consists of the poor-rates levied throughout the country . This capital has amounted , annually , since the passing of the Poor-Law Amendment Act in 1834 , to between 4 , 000 , 000 / . and 5 , 000 , 000 / ., and the aim of tho Poor-Law Association is to impress upon the public , the
legislature , and the government , tho necessity of disposing of this money—money from the landed proprietor , the manufacturer , the merchant , tho professional man , tho shopkeeper , the farmer , ay , and the earnings of the hard-fisted mechanic and labourer—to some better purpose than immuring the " paupers" within tho walls of " workhouses , " there to bo kept in total idleness , or to such felon-liko task as picking oakum , to their own mental , moral , and physical degradation , and the injury of society . It is unncccssnry to take up your time and space by noting tho various objections that havo been raised against the
reproductive employment of " paupers , " either in handicrafts within the walls of , or upon land , wnnto or arable , attached to , workhouses , ns you will find them fully discussed in tho enclosed documents . Tho principal objection is , that tho setting of indigent persons to work of a reproductive nature , will intcrfcro with independent labour at "largo . " This " bugbear" has been exposed timca without number , but it still reappears with tho pertinacity of a " Jack-inthe-box . " One would imagine that ns tho capital annually raised for the support of tho poor is the money of tho people , tho people have an unquestionable right to disburse it in tho way best calculated to make it go furthest . Doea not this principle govern domestic economy P and why , then , ns society has been aptly termed the great human
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/7/
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