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merely in the form of quiet assent , and " for the sake of example , " so long will these codes be incomplete and ineffective . But , promulgate a Doctrine which all men may accept , which all men will believe in and act upon , then you will see the present anarchy give place to a stable and effective society ; and not till then . There is one sentence in Mr . Doherty ' s letter which expresses our view . " What we want , " he says , " is a better understanding of living facts and revelations . The mind can find no rest within itself ; no science of external facts in its own dreamings ; no knowledge of the
universe and its progressive laws . " But , when he refers us to the Scriptures for this knowledge , we are lost in amazement as to what he is driving at . Does he seriously think that the Scriptures can in any way help us to this knowledge of living facts , and the progessive laws of the universe ? He adds , it is true , the advice to " study the creation . " But , men have ff studied" that , and shown how mere study will not help them out of the difficulty , unless it result in the establishment of ascertained laws , and those laws be elaborated into one comprehensive and harmonious doctrine .
Our meaning would have been plainer to his mind , perhaps , had we used the word Religion in place of Doctrine ; it would have expressed our idea , for it is a new Religion that we see society needs : but the word Religion so used would have been equivocal , and would have suggested thoughts widely at variance with our meaning . Religion is that which binds together society ; binds men by the community of faith . This will be effected by a Doctrine as soon as men have faith in it .
An illustration will , perhaps , clear this subject from its ambiguities . Every Science has a correspondent Art ; thus , as Medicine is the Art corresponding to Physiological Science , so is Politics the Art corresponding to Social Science . The progress of the Art of Medicine is in exact proportion to the progress of Physiology ; and precisely in the same proportion will the progress of Politics be found accordant with the progress of Social Science . If , therefore , a Doctrine were elaborated from the laws of Social Life , having the simplicity
and irresistibility of positive science , —a Doctrine founded on verified truths , and capable at all times of being brought to the rigorous tests of demonstration , —then the correspondent Art of Politics would proceed with the certainty of the Art of Medicine . We do not say that Quacks would find no favour . But they would be in an inglorious minority ; they would be recognised as Quacks , which at present they are not ; they might exhibit then , as now , tant d'impertinence pour si peu de savoir—to use Proudhon ' s energetic language—but they would not sway the destinies of nations .
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A VISION OF 1851 . Such a spectacle as London will present in the summer of 1851 has never been seen by the world at all . Not even Paris at the Restoration , nor London at the visit of the Allied Sovereigns , could equal it , or in any sort of manner compare with it . Excepting in the case of Paris , by the mere rude concourse of numbers in the shape of military . And there appears to be really a possibility that even in numbers the army of invaders from every part of the world may vie with Paris in 1815 .
This settles the question now passing from mouth to mouth , whether the funds will be raised . Some people seem to think , not unnaturally , that it is a rash beginning to prepare the foundations for the building before the funds are actually raised . It is remarked that the money comes in slowly , and prophets of the melancholy order predict that the requisite sum will never be completed . But there is many a sufficient refutation to this prophecy . In the first place , the honour and dignity of the Prince Consort are pledged to the completion of the enterprise . In the second place , a furor of exhibition has seized upon a vast number of
manufacturers and tradesmen , in this and other countries ; and it will not be baulked , but will rather seek to infect others in order to the accomplishment of its aim . Some sort of exhibition , therefore—indeed , a large one , an enormous one , endowed with the richest and curiousest goodsis already determined . The building will most certainly be needed , and no time should be lost in preparing it . But there is a further and still more magnificent reason why the project should be carried out : as the anticipations of railway traffic were altogether baffled by the enormous preponderancy of passengers over goods , so the anticipations for the display of 1851 are already
corrected by the promise of human importations still more enormous than those of goods . We describe elsewhere how one man is adding to his inn , so as to convert it to a new one ; how whole houses are already let for the greater part or the whole of next year ; and how the applications from Germany exceed all calculation . The public , whether in its choral capacity , acting directly by collective personality , or in its organized and national capacity , by Parliament or the Executive , must soon catch the obvious truth , that the subscription of money
for the fund is but the old process of pouring water down the pump ; only in this instance a pump which is to pour forth floods of a copiousness and dimensions preternaturally vast . There are several striking distinctions between the display of 1851 and the great gatherings in Paris and London which we have mentioned . The peace of the world facilitates travelling in the highest degree , rendering it cheaper , safer , and more agreeable , to say nothing of the improvements that have taken place in the interval . Great
numbers , therefore , of the timid and fastidious , who would have staid away in 1815 , will come to London in 1851 , and would have done so , even though the occasion had been of the same kind ; to say nothing also of the unborn—for populations have increased since those days . But this occasion has had a whole year for its advertisement and preparation , a whole year for working up the ferment of expectation . The nature and site of the display are of a kind to influence the growth of numbers . The exposition itself will
be a vast collection of material hostages for the arrival of those specially , in many cases almost parentally interested . Each piece of goods will have its attendants , its owner , probably some of his friends , perhaps also the inventor and his friends ; and each section of goods will have , besides those individually allied , also its national vindicators and defenders . Each piece of goods , therefore , and each section to boot , will have its special retinue , and the retinues collectively will constitute an immense industrial and visitatorial army .
Placed without the bounds of the crowded streets , in the open area of Hyde-park , the exhibition willform a more distinct object of attraction than if it were merged in the ordinary concourse of the metropolis ; and it will be pitched in the midst of an expanse particularly suited to receive the enormous following which will attend it . All round the spacious park is an increasing belt , thick set and deep , of
buildings newly erected or newly fitted ; so many , and in many cases of such a size and importance , that drawn together they would of themselves form a very large town . The population , although numerous , is for the most part in tolerably easy circumstances . Yet again , great part of it consisting of London tradesmen enjoying a suburban rusticity , or of the retail tradesmen ministering to the wants of that well-to-do race , it is of a kind
particularly open to temptations of emolument , and , therefore , readily invited either to remove itself , or for a time to contract itself , in order to convert the whole of that immense neighbourhood into a sort of watering place peopled by visitors . Those who are too wealthy to be influenced by such motives will not resist the incentives to hospitality , and flocks of the wealthy and well born will travel over to reside in the great mansions North , South , and East of Hyde park . The whole of the district , therefore , will be converted for the nonce into a great town with a new and specially collected population .
Now , let us imagine the aspect of that new town and its concourse . The wide expanse of Hydepark , mostly open grass land , though pleasantly belted with trees here and there , is a good square mile . To the East lies Park-lane , and behind that the wealthy quarter of Grosvenor-square ; to the North-east , Oxford-street , and the indefinite expanse of Marylebone . On this eastern side , therefore , will be a thickly-studded belt of aristocratic visitors , backed by a great cantonment of lodgers .
On the North , in like manner , lies the line of mansions beginning with Connaught-terrace , and extending the whole length of the Park , backed by a new town almost of palaces , and flanked to the West , North of Kensington-gardens , by the newlyfilled up town of Baysvvater and Westbournegrove , and further on by the handsome quarters of Notting-hill and the Norland estate . To the South there is the royal and aristocratic quarter of Pimlico , with its line of mansions towards the park at
Knightsbridge . Then the great lodging quarters " genteel" and convenient , of Northern Chelsea , Brompton , and Kensington-gore , the last
delightfully overlooking the park ; then the handsome ana convenient suburb of Kensington , well furnished with tradesmen ; Kensington turns the Western end of the park , with its celebrated royal palace , its great mansions in Palace-gardens and Vicarageplace , backed with the suburban villas of Camdenhill and Holland-park ; and beyond Kensington and Notting-hill is the broad tract embracing Hammersmith and Shepherd ' s-bush . Now , the whole of this large district is furnished with houses of uvery degree , from the royal palace to the poorest
lodging-house ; but , upon the whole , the dwellings are not crowded , are pleasantly situated , and , intermingled with gardens , lie well exposed to country breezes ; and the region is traversed by broad commodious roads , which continue the great thoroughfares of the metropolis . In the midst of it lie the park and Kensington-gardens , about half the size of the park . Viewed by itself , the whole tract is an immense
town , specially suited to receive an unlimited concourse of visitors , whether for pay or hospitality , and is furnished with grounds excellently suited for the recreation of that huge concourse . There are then in the nature of the place no difficulties to impede or deter the expected flock of visitors : Quite the reverse ; the place has every possible convenience , nay , it is highly attractive . And the concourse of visitors will in itself become one of the most
striking points of attraction , irrespectively of the exposition : were it simply to witness that immense concourse , with all the attendant bustle and gaiety , a vast secondary concourse would seek London in
1851 . What , then , will be the spectacle presented on any fine day by that brilliant and crowded quarter , comprising some ten miles square , with the great Park and gardens in the centre ? In the Park , the broad strip of land between Rotten-row and Kensington drive , will be occupied by the strange building of the Exposition , with its long galleries , its arched roof , its central dome , and its flower gardens . The green grass of the Park will be dotted all over with the snowy canvass of refreshment booths . From an early hour in the morning
busy gay-faced people will be traversing the Parkthe attendants on the goods , the curious snatching a glimpse before business , eager visitors seeking a less crowded hour , and folks with watering-place habits , strolling out for a salubrious lounge . As the day advances carriages will enter the Park , with increasing crowds of people on foot , wending their way to the building from all the great entrances , especially those at Hyde Park-corner and Cumberland-gate . As the sun mounts the sky , these crowds will increase . The great lines of road that
run by the Park on . Northern and Southern sides will display omnibuses , —a tribe then vastly multiplied , —loaded inside and out ; a ceaseless traffic of cabs going both ways ; and a crowd of foot passengers like the Strand and Holborn , " produced " out of town . And for some miles beyond in every direction , the streets will be alive with an increasing bustle . So it will go till the great Exhibition time , between two and four . After that hour the concourse , somewhat changing its character , will become a wondrous exaggeration of the Park in the height of the season . Myriads of sight-seers will make a ferment in the Park ; " the
Ring , " dense with life , will keep up its endless round ; Rotten-row will be like a horse mart ; and the whole expanse will teem with sight-seers , loungers , appetite-hunters , and people thronging to see the throng . After that , the cro \ yd may thin , though it will still receive new accessions of numbers whom the busy part of the day has still detained , but now released for a west-end walk ; and far into the evening both Park and gardens will echo to the talk and laugh of the restless multitude . But towards five or six o ' clock the holidaymakers will gradually withdraw into the houses around , where dinners will keep up their ceaseless series—dinners , and then teas and evening parties , and heaven knows what forms of festivity suggested
by the occasion . Now , what docs all that mean ? Ministering to the wants of that immense multitude—gay and greedy of pleasure , thoughtless and in the spending mood—prepared , indeed , with large sums brought over for the occasion , but sure to outrun its own calculations—how gigantic a trade must that season witness ! The mind is baffled in striving to follow out into all branches of retail trade , the factories , the merchandize , the boundless exactions of " demand "
upon the " supplies" of industry . You cannot call up the unslaughtered droves of beef and mutton ; the bales of paper to be disposed in stationery —think of the notes sent through the Post-office ;
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June 22 , 1850 . ] Jtf ) ^ JlM ^ t 301
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 22, 1850, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1843/page/13/
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