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Leader (1850-1860), 27th September 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 922, . literature

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      of an abbot was infectious , and the prior , in his turn , appropriated the surplus revenue of the estate although it was held in trust . Thus , towards the end of the thirteenth century , the obediences were gradually converted into benefices , despite the protests of the Councils . The absolute community of goods lasted until the sixth century ; but the jurist Denizart asserts that the difficulty of adjusting contending claims rendered it imperative to divide the revenues of the Church into portions ; one for the bishop , one for the clerk , one for the Church , and the fourth for the poor : for the right of the poor to support * and the right of the rich to engross , were reciprocal privileges , the former being the condition on which the latter was

      enjoyed . And this was so universally acknowledged , that the Parliament of Toulouse , on the 18 th of April , 1651 , passed an edict , by which the bishops were commanded to provide food for the poor , within three days , otherwise " seizure shall be made of a sixth of the fruits , taken by the bishops , in the said parishes . " Notwithstanding the negation of the principle of Communism , the right of the poor to support was thus formally acknowledged , and the abolition of tithe in France is only a proof that it had been perverted from its legitimate channel ; but the right of the poor to support , and the right of the rich to appropiiate , are still reciprocal privileges . Let the French proprietors , therefore , look to it , or their property will not be worth five years' purchase !

      The philosophical reformers of the eighteenth century repudiated the principles of fraternity and community , which were inseparably connected with ecclesiastical and aristocratic feudalism ; and they consequently rushed into the opposite excess of absolute and universal selfishness . Fraternity was associated in their minds with monkish greediness and corruption , and Community with a miserable peasantry , over-worked and half-starved , and condemned by the corvee to thrash the frog-ponds into silence . * The philosophers overlooked the enormous results obtained by means of the

      monastic institutions , in a former age , as we now undervalue the prodigious accumulation of capital and increase of productive power , under the system of free- competition as opposed to monopoly . That great reforms are imminent , in this country , in the laws relating to property , especially to real property , is beyond a doubt ; and the whole question , of the natural rights and limits to the absolute possession of property , is , with the selforganization of labour , among the most important problems to be solved by human reason . The struggle between the contending principles of individualism—and Communism—1 lie natural laws

      of social attraction and repulsion—will never terminate . It is for us to find a practical and equitable solution of the difficulty . Permit me , in a lew brief words , to touch upon the collateral development of similar principles in civil society . According to the strict principles of Roman law , the master possessed the right to sell , punish , and put to death the slave ; the slave could not contract a marriage , and no legal relation between him and his children was recognized . The slave had no right to the possession of property .

      When the principles of universal brotherhood and individual liberty were first proclaimed , the slave in theory became free , but in practice the change was tslowjy and imperfectly carried out . Nevertheless the formal acknowledgment of the principle of universal freedom was in itself a social revolution . { Suddenly the passive human machine , or instrument , in the hands of its owner , became a Man , possessing certain rights , and with social duties to fulfil—a wife and children — a

      family to support . He is only a serf , perhaps , but in no longer the absolute property of another . He now bclongM to the soil , adscrtptus a tehee , which he cultivates . If death or sickness , however , chance to overtake him , his tenure and employment pass into other hands ; for the feudal lord in proprietor of everything upon the earth , and under the sky , " of the beast that hYes , of the bird that Hies , of the animal that strays , of the lost traveller ; even of the wind that blows , of the water that flown , of the sun that shines—all these belong to the Seigneur . " JJut the children of ( he serf have no other inheritance than the uncertainty and misery of a life of hardship and toil . < jrariually , from a Hense of their helplessness and

      detacitly—by the " demeurance commune dun an et jour "—the dwelling in community for a year and a day . In these primitive societies , the newborn child , unable to work , is prized and nurtured , and receives his allotted share of the " commun pot , sel , et depense" ( of the common store ) , in consideration of his future promise . Those who are in the prime of life are valued for their worth and ability , and the aged for their superior wisdom and counsel , and in reward for their past labours .

      pendence ( a powerful bond of union ) , the serfs group themselves into communities as into a family , the most ancient of all societies , and the only natural one , and obtain possession of the soil ; the feudal lord willingly giving his consent , for the greater economy , security , increased production , and , consequently , larger revenue . On the other hand the serf , by this jointstock partnership for mutual help and protection , obtains permanent possession of the land— " taisiblement"

      —Throughout England , as well as Germany , these agricultural communities spread themselves like a network ; settled upon arable land , surrounded with forest pastures , and having some kind of property in both ; the principle of their organization was separation as regarded each other , the most intimate union as regarded the individual members of each . The smallest and simplest of these divisions was a Mark or March , and the union of two , three , or more marks in federal bond , for purposes of a religious , judicial , and political character , formed the Ga or Shire .

      The original principles of settlement in England , and among all the nations of Germanic blood , rest upon these two main foundations—the possession of land , and the distinction of rank ; and the public law of every Teutonic tribe implied the dependence of the one , upon the other , princi ple . As the uniree can at first hold no land within the limits of the community , so neither is he fully free who holds no land therein , whatever he his personal rank .

      Having thus endeavoured to trace the mighty struggle of contending principles in the Church , and the gradual emancipation of the slave—a modification of absolute property—from a state of bondage to one of comparative comfort and independence—I shall reserve for a future communication the history of modern communism , from the Utopia of Sir Tliomas More to that of the founder of

      the infant and factory school system , and the originator , I believe , of the short-time ( factory ) movement : and although I differ in toto from many of the opinions to which he has given public expression—especially tho ' -e advanced at a later period of his career—yet , at the same time , I feel bound to express my sincere respect for the benevolence , disinterestedness , and unflagging zeal which he has displayed as a practical social reformer . William Coning ham .

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      Tjiuk Pkoohehs . —The civilization , of antiquity was the advancement of the few and the slavery of the many—in Greece 30 , 000 freeman and 300 , 000 slaves ; and it passed away . True civilization must be measured by the progress , not of a class or nation , but of all men . God admits none to advance alone . Individuals in advance become martyrs— 'nations in advance , the prey of the barbarian . Only as one family of man can we progress , liut man must exist as an animal before he can exist as a man ; his physical requirements must be satisfied before those of mind ; and hitherto it has taken the whole time and energies of the many to provide for their physical wants .

      Such wants have spread mankind over the whole globe— -the brute and the savage have disappeared before the superior race — the black blood of the torrid zone lias been mixed with the white of the temperate ; and a superior race , capable of living and labouring under a zenith sun , lias been formed ; and we seem to be preparing for a united movement onward . The elements have been pressed into our service , the powers of steam and electricity woiil j appear boundless , and science has given man an almost unlimited control over nature . The trammels which despotism have hitherto imposed upon body and mind , have been thrown oft " , and constitutional liberty bus rapidly

      and widely spread . 1 he sl . eam-ship and railway , and mutual interests in trade and commerce , have united , nation to nation ; and the press has given one mind and simultaneous thought to the whole community . Power tin-re is in plenty ibr the emancipation of the whole race ; since the steain-engino and machinery may be to tin : working-clasHes wnnt they have hitherto been to those classes above them . All th * t is wanted is to know how to use these forces for the general Rood . The powere of production aro inexhaustible : we have but to organize them , and justly to distribution the produce . — fJdueation of th » Feelinyn , by Charles Bray .

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      When an Englishman reads inCicEKo ( for whom as a " gentlemanly" author , he has the highest respect !) that " Eloquenceis among the most exalted of virtues—unaquadam de summis viftutibus "—he must pause in gentle amazement at the exaggeration . His notions of Virtue and Eloquence admit Of no such necessary relationship . He thinks of

      the eloquent Disreputables moving across the field of History , or known to him in his own lifetime , and fancies that he sees an obvious distinction between oratory and morality . Not so the Roman . Eloquence was the god of his idolatry . Quinctillian , alluding to the death of his only son—in a passage which brings to mind the mournful pathos of Edmund Burke on a similar occasion—dwells

      especially on the capacity for eloquence indicated by his boy , and with a sigh declares that he would have revived the ancient glory of the Roman tribune : the father seems to mourn the lost orator almost as much as the lost child ! For indeed to be an orator was to reach the summit of Roman greatness . What higher praise can Sallust give to Cato the Censor than to call him the most

      eloquent of Romans ? And if We would fairly understand this idea of an Orator , we must look into Cicero and Quinctillian , who insist upon the necessity of an orator being a virtuous man , " only the virtuous are eloquent" ( which , if we distinguish Oratory from Rhetoric , is perhaps strictly true ) . The influence of Greek thought is visible here . And it is this lofty conception of the Art which

      justifies the great variety and importance of their Treatises on it . They left no point untouched : minutiae grew into respect ; veneration generated pedantry . Even grammar , by us considered so arid and perhaps frivolous a study , was to them a charming inquiry : the delight of aged men , the sweet companion of their solitudes—jucunda senibus , dulcis secretorum comes !

      So little is this true of moderns , that our readers will learn with surprise the fact of Archbishop Whatkley ' s little book on English Synonyms ( apropos to which arose the discussion on " talented" recently varying our matter ) has gone through a large edition in three or four weeks . But this rapid sale is owing to the neglect of the Art . Even practised writers have studied their own language so little that they feel the need of distinct information given with something like authority .

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      Among the new works let us notice a selection from Cahlyle ' s various writings , systematically arranged , and rendered into German by J . Nkuuekg , under the title Beitrage zum Evan / relium tier Arbeit ;—also an important work by A . Cochut , called Associations Ouvritres : Histoire et Theorie des Tentative *; de Reorganization Industrielle operli depuis 1848 . The author is one of the political azconomiatM who write in the Revue des Deux Mondes , which is enough to show that his sympathies are not greatly in favour of the Associationsbut lie is a good writer , and we anticipate a

      tolerably fair account from him . Louis Blanc has followed up hie pamphlet of Plus des Girondins by another assault upon the errors of his democratic friends who are in favour ol direct legislation , and this pamphlet , La Rt publiqu * line et Indivisible , in pounced upon by the Di ' -bnts as rare sport , because it speaks of Lkdku IIolMN views with scorn . By the way , Louis J 3 i . an « 1 i <> * found u biographer and expounder in M . Chaui- k « Ho bin , who has lightened his prison weariness by writing a little work , Louis Jilanc , sa Vie , et ses

      ( Kuvres . The fashion of choap reprints is becoming u " ' vernal . We hav « our Dkjkkwh , and IJui / wkk . and Jbuuold , in threc-lmlfpenuy numbers , and now the Literary Gazette inform * us that the !»««* illustrious of French writers—OfionoJC Sand— »

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      * MONO OF TUli HEUI' 8 . PA , pa , ri'note , pa ! Veci moubieur Vixbh 6 que Pieu git ! l * aix , paix , grenonill * , paix ¦ ' Voloi monsidu * VhbU que Dieu garde . '

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      922 fffteUratre r * [ Satuiuu * ,

      . Literature

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      Critics are not the legislators , but the judces and v , ~ v of literature . The ? do not make lawis—they inter i m-It ° f try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . ^ Pret and

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1851, page 922, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1902/page/14/