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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.
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T am not surprised that the legislative classes , the « uDper , " the " aristocratic , " the well-born , the rich lasses should be inclined to restrict the utterance of ? ruth when they see what a poor hand their representatives make of government , although commanding ? he enormous resources of England ; I am not surprised that the middle class , who are trained to habits of conformity * in theology , in political doctrine , in manners , respectability of appearance , should maintain the rule of not speaking straight out ; but I am surprised that any class in thevast body the People should that effeminate cust The
fall in with om . strength of the People lies in great facts . Their means of life have been bated down to bare necessity , with no margin left for manoeuvring or disguise . Their peremptor / wants , their vast numbers , their overwhelming physical power , the plainest instincts of consciencethese are the things in which the strength of the P eople lies ; and any paltering with language concerning these things must abate the strength which consists of such elements . Byspeaking straight out , I do not mean violent and extreme language ; such language may often conceal the truth as much , or more than moderate language .
But I have more than once been stopped when I have alluded to facts , by the objection that "it would not be politic to say so . " I have seen distrust expressed when a respected colleague spoke plainly about the immensely diminished numbers of the organized Chartist body ; I have heard " the aristocracy" described as " tyrants , " in language that might have painted the old Norman conquerors of England , but has no applicability to the generally well-intentioned gentlemen of our day : in all of which there is a shrinking or wandering from truth that can only enfeeble the strength inherent in the body of the People . A small fraction
of society , like a party of thieves , may gain something by falsehood and pretence , because it may acquire a gain at the expense of others . But a whole nation cannot gain by any fraud or pretence , since it can only filch from itself . Unless , indeed , it were to war upon some other nation ; but we are not talking of that at present . In a ship at sea , a few dishonest men might gain more than their share out of the stores by fraud or stealing ; but fraud or stealing could not augment the amount for the whole body , nor secure a better ceconomy during the voyage . The best thing that could happen for the whole People , if it were possible , would be , that its great
wants , its resources , the purpose in the mind of all , should lie perfectly naked , open to the sight of all . If you could possibly spread before the sight of any one man of average honesty and intelligence , whatever class you might select him from , the spectacle of the immense number of the working-classes , undergoing the hardships which they actually endure , the lands lving idle or half idle , the wealth wasted in useless" enterprises—if you could present to his sight , at the same time , the feelings of those who suffer ; the desire of truth among
the many who are now studying politics , ceconomy , legislation ; the kindly disposition which animates all , and which always comes forth in answer to a direct appeal—if you could show him all these things , which we know to lie around us , ho would see at once how that country could best be Berved , by showing the same spectacle to each one of its sons , and enabling all to act in concert . And the next best thing to such a survey , is as faithful a confession of our knowledge and purpose , of our wants and wishes , as we can declare .
I have been told—" You must not say such and such a thing , or we shall not seem eo strong in the eyes of our opponents . " I reply , that I wish to he as strong as the facts ; there is no necessity stronger than the hunger of a multitude , no strength greater than that of the whole , nothing more irresistible than the simple fact . I have been told— "You must not say that , or the People will take offence . " There is but little validity in that caution , when urged against a sincere
uttersince . It is true that the People have at times shown an impatience at avowals contrary to the popular feeling : but I have usually found , that any large number of men will readily respond to the declaration of opinions , even implying opposition or censure of themselves , if the declaration was untainted by levity or arrogance . I think this impatience at unwelcome tfuth is limited to a comparatively few ; but I do think that the great body of the People has not done iia duty in standing by sincerity of utterance on the "no simple ground , that it is the channel to truth .
We are victims to a confusion of ideas ; wo aro too apt to require that 11 epeaker shall say that , and onl y that , which wo recognize as " the true . '' Such u requirement would be just on our part , if we ourselves had attained to a final knowledge of absolute truth ; hut until wo have done that , what we believe to ba true will differ in some degree from that which in more true—in other words , what is more true will differ from that which we have hitherto taken for tho true . Our only chance of attaining the more tr ue , then , is by encouraging every man to say that which 1 b in him ; by protecting him whilo he says it , t'veu against our own moused prejudices . T <» < 1 <» that thoroughly and heurtily , equally for ull inon , » o 1 ° » 8
as they have the aspect of sincerity , we must equally encourage and protect those who utter what we believe to be the reverse of true . We who have faith in Democratic and Social principles , cannot but hail the explicit declaration of opposite arguments , not only because free discussion promotes truth , but most immediately because a thorough venting of doubts and apprehensions often converts a frightened opponent into a friend ; an argument which looked formidable whilst it was reserved is turned into a new contribution for the doctrine at which it was levelled .
There is another point in this apology for plain truth , which I would urge upon the attention of those who aspire to be the servants of the People . It was with amazement that I heard a man of the People declare " self-interest , " or selfishness , to be the most powerful motive of action ; but I am convinced that the hasty assertion was immediately reconsidered by the friend who made it . It is true that in minds greatly narrowed or enfeebled , selfishness may remain the strongest motive ; but natures which retain their original faculties , are governed far more powerfully by motives which sophistry alone can call selfish—the impulse to action without
expectation of self-reflected advantages , the affections , the instinctive desire for goodness because it is goodness . Perhaps the training of our day falls short in the full development of these powers , because you cannot cultivate them by any utilitarian process ; you cannot teach people to love by calculating the advantages which will accrue to those who are loved in turn , nor can you render men chivalrous by any estimate of profits . Those qualities can only be cultivated directly , for their own sakes , or rather for the sake of the things to which they tend , and which
are out of ourselves . It is not the less true that when we have bred a generation to be selfish , calculating , and unchivalrous , we find ourselves cut off from powers with which nature endowed us ; that manliness loses its hold on man , love loses its trust and possesses no certainty of allegiance , the nation ceases to be national . If we would recover our powers we must again put our trust in noble motives ; and to have that trust we must ourselves value those things which are good , generous , and chivalrous , not because they bring us advantage , but because they are good in themselves .
This has been a more abstract letter than workingmen are said to like . I do not believe in any reluctance on their part to examine the elements of political and social movement . It may be that I cannot command the expression which would most powerfully set this matter before them ; but I know that many of them , like yourself , will lend me their thoughts while I urge them to consider how much of a nation ' s progress mu 9 t depend , not only on honest intent and good-will—they lie at the bottom of every human hearts but upon the high standard of faith and chivalry maintained among its servants . When a country has had a living chivalry , that chivalry has always elected the governors ; in England it is among the working-classes that we must seek the chivalry of our day . Ever your friend , Thoiinton Hunt .
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" Definitions . "— Language : Gold-leaf to blazon our knowledge and cover our ignorance . Shop : The bellows of the industrial organ , the blower of which is paid better than the artist who executes the composition . Napoleon : A false son of the Republic , who murdered his mother to gain possession of her estate . Civilization : The immense , and yet uncrossed bridge , from barbarous to rational society , on which the trustees take fresh toll at every few steps . Monk A man who commits himself to prison for being religious . Tobacco : A dried leaf that must soon fall . Duel : A lion ' s skin for asses , and an ass ' s skin for lions . Amusement : A flower-garden surrounding a
factory . Character : The only personal property winch every body looks after for you . Competition : The devil ' s whisper of " common sense " to foolish man . Bank : A gilt barge on the river Credit , in which grandees are carried forward by the labour of the horses on the towing-paths . Clock : A dog we keep to bark at us . Marriage : A " State Lottery" not put down . Woman : A gold coin , which educatora plate over with silver . Family : A forcing-frame for the growth of respectable selfishness . Faith : Something soft wrapped round the heart of Man to keep it from being broken on its journey . Charity : The remorse of KelfiHhneBS . Book : A teacher who has sometimes of
grown into a tyrant . Toleration : The generosity doing nothing . Power : An intoxicating drink vhich we like to see poured out to other people in dramglaHscH , but to ourselves in a tumbler . Opinion : An adventurer who always » tart « ns a beggar , and often ends as a king . Poetry : Tho aroma of Truth . Pauper : A Btoneto pave tho court-yards of tho rich , l ' oliceman : A fox-hound in the pack of a ' squire , who dutifully keeps up the breed of foxos . Wages : Food for cows between milking-tim . es . Palace : The confessional in which a People confides its weakness to an Individual . Commerce : The Itobin Hood of rcBpcctability , who takes from tho poor to give to the rich . — From yVtdlbrutye Limn ' a Council of Four : a Game at 41 Definitions ; '' new edition .
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No one can reasonably complain that there are not enough books published ; the supply inordinately surpasses any demand ; and yet , in spite of the prodigality of the Row there are certain wants of bookbuyers rarely responded to . We have costly books and cheap books ; but we are deficient in serious books , such as abound in Germany , France , and America—books shunned by the Row because they would not " pay . " A sufficient reason , doubtless : but why will they not pay ?
Because of the Taxes on Knowledge ! There is a limited public for philosophic works , a limited public for archaeological works , a limited public for sesthetical works ; in Germany , France , and America , books are published without loss , nay , even with a small profit , which , addressing their own peculiar public , confer a lasting benefit on the nation , but which , in this country , would only see the light at the cost of a large sum to the publisher .
Persons have expressed * their surprise at America reproducing , in careful translations , the abstruse metaphysics and theology of Germany ; but there are no paper and advertisement duties in America to enhance the cost of production above what may be reasonably expected in return . Remove the oppressive Taxes on Knowledge , and England will be enriched with many works now dependent on the purses of liberal patrons for seeing the light .
We were reminded of this by seeing the advertisement of a translation of Auguste Comte , which an American , Mr . Gillespie , has commenced . The first part—Mathematics—is now ready . Nothing is more certain than that no Engglish publisher could venture on a work of that bulk and gravity , unless some private purse defrayed the expenses ; yet the importance of Comte ' s philosophy it is impossible to overestimate , and a translation is decidedly one of the wants of the age . In America it will pay ; England must be content to import it from
America . The thinking public is under a large debt to Mr . John Chapman for his daring reliance on the mercantile possibility latent in serious literature , and for many works that he has issued already ; yet even he , has found himself terribly cramped , and forced to relinquish many a project because there was no chance of covering his expenses ; but if he were freed from paper and advertisement duty he could venture with some hope , where now , it would be hopeless .
Meanwhile let us be thankful that America can afford a translation of Comtk : if the work be encouraged , it will act as an admirable corrective of the wishywashy metaphysics which have of late troubled many American minds ; at any rate it will get circulated here in England . While on thie subject , we may assure those Correspondents who inquire respecting our promised series of articles on the Positive Philosophy , that the series is only deferred by the inevitable necessities of journalism during session it would be impossible to find space , and we prefer delaying their appearance till justice can be done to them .
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France is just now paying tribute to her glonea . Poishon , the great mathematician , has had a statue erected to him in Pithiviers , amidst tho " intoosymooBy " of the populace , who lintened to the discourses of Uiot and Pontkcoulant , gaped at tho fireworks , ate and drank copiously at the banquet , and danced wildly at the ball , with winch this " solemnity " concluded . But why the fireworks ? What had geometry to do with Roman candles , or the differential calculus with Catherine-wheels ? Yet it seems fireworks aro indispensable to tho prog ramme , we fi nd them in tho narrativo of another Holemnity—that wherein the great name of Nicuovah Poushin was honoured . Franco has
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June , 1851 . ] ft f ) I % e & &e t * 609
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Revteto .
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Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1851, page 609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1889/page/13/
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