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Leader (1850-1860), 13th December 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1185

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      become his model , as Rosencratz and Guildenstern re the models of the party which governs the Englishman . fam called to account for being " personal" in T attacks on Palmerston . I am so ; and I believe it to be one of the most miserable follies of our time to fancy that we can , or ought , to shun personality . Base , backbiting personality is hateful ; but personal considerations are essential in all political questions . We are governed by persons . How much of this degrading outrage upon France is due to Louis Napoleon ' s personal character ? I admire many of Palmerston ' s qualities and his wonderful abilities ; but , whatever his motives and

      intentions may be , assuming they are sincere and elevated , I believe from my soul , that his conduct of affairs is such as to defeat every liberal movement which is cursed by the offer of the " English " alliance , such as to encourage , promote , and fortify the Austrian system , which is gradually , but not slowly , bringing the whole of Europe within its grasp . Without intending to imply any accusation beyond the plain meaning of the words , assuming his motives and intentions to be as I have said , I do believe that his conduct is as effectual in promoting the ends of despotism , defeating the political influence of the English nation , and crushing the freedom-loving Peoples of Europe as if he were a thorough traitor .

      If I am told that I yield too much to conjecture , I reply that , when men are secret , we have a right to piece out observation with conjecture . If a tiger is moving beneath the grass , I have a right to shoot where the grass is moving . The answer to conjectural charges is , to be open . This question is becoming most vital to England , to its freedom , its existence . Note the signs on the surface in the paper printed before this letter : does it not seem—and those signs are not all , nor a hundredth part of what a longer search might collect—does it not seem that Austria and Russia have now extended

      their armed alliance down to the very shores of the Atlantic , their tool being in military possession of France ? I believe that it is so . Louis Napoleon is enforcing the very system of Austria—holding down the people by main force , forbidding them to meet , putting down the press , restoring the clergythose agents of Rome—of Rome , where Lord Palmerston permitted the French to restore the Pope . The Austro-Russian alliance is now next door to us ; and should any "disturbance" warrant Louis Napolecn in claiming support , " the Cossack" will be within a few hours' voyage of the Thames , —in whose waters Kossuth . warns us that the Cossack horse will drink .

      But what has been the peculiar character of this last razzia on a free people ? It had the manifest purpose of driving out and exterminating all opponents of arbitrary power . The same process has been going on in Hungary , Germany , and Italy , that is now enforced in I < ranee : the people arc divided and held down by military force , with the aid of cspionnage , or as De Maupas expresses it , a rigorous sytsern of search and arrest . In the conquest of Paris an immense stride has been made in the inarch of Despotism . Towards England .

      Let the English people steadily face the facts . Our Government has professedly upheld " constitutional monarchy "—a failure everywhere under that patronage , lies Majesty is " at peace " with 'ill those powers that are rooting out constitutionalism in every part of the Continent . Sardinia , us yet untried , is a poor substitute for Hungary , which sank under Russian intervention and Lord 1 ' almerston ' s " protest . " The battle between Cossack-Croat Absolutism and Republicanism has «» ine ; the intermediate barrier of constitutionalism breaking at every turn . And Absolutism , in material progress , is gaining ground .

      Has the responsible Minister of England summoned his country to resist ? No , lie permits the march of Despotism to gain the very shores of " the Uritiah Channel , " and resists not—is said , indeed , to express " satisfaction " ! And our countrymen do not take the matter into their own hands—do not call the Minister to account ! 1 " what state does this approaching power of ¦ "capotimn find uH ? Does it , as KohkuI . 1 i tsuid , find llH prepared to say "Stop , " with the intention of making g () O ( l < mr wor ( i ? Quite the reverse . The o . | i-ct of Hhortni ghted rulers has been to make the 1 C ( M > 1 <; docile , and now they are ho to a degree which In » y cause uneasiness . In thu United States the w hole population in habituated to act in an

      organized form . Instead of being merely " free " to possess arms , but not to carry or practise them , in some States every man who does not possess arms is subject to a fine . The habit of using arms is universal . On a fine moonlight night you may see the citizens drilling by hundreds and thousands in the public squares , parks , and open places . With us , if a working man were seen in the street carrying a gun , the Policeman would probably inquire the history of the weapon ; and the slightest attempt at drilling would be instantly put down . In

      the Union , the Companies of Firemen are Companies of picked and armed men ; and , indeed , most of the citizens prefer serving in Volunteer Companies to serving in the Militia . The people , therefore , is armed , not only against the invader from without , but against the traitor within . It is in this vigour and trained condition of the People that the liberties of the Union reside , far more than in its Republican institutions . Institutions are trivialities in comparison with the condition and spirit of the People .

      In all these matters we English people are in a condition the reverse of the Americans . Our aristocracy stands aloof , neither trusting nor leading the people . Professing " to row in the same boat , " it keeps the people disfranchised . The Government , which is picked out of the aristocracy , multiplies precautions , professedly for the maintenance of " order , " really with the effect of

      undermining the liberty and vigour of the people . By " people" I mean not any exclusive class , but the whole number of the population . Trading habits of thought have conspired to the same end ; and now we see ourselves , with a common enemy approaching our shores , but with a people whose spirit in the two most numerous classes of society is broken by fear of trading loss , or by toil and the habit of submission . Were it not otherwise the

      nation would no longer tolerate that its name should be used to maintain that system which is odious to every English feeling and opinion . That English spirit is totally extinguished I have never believed . Kossuth proved that it was still latent in our people . His appeal proved also that the several classes can unite in a national movement . If we had amongst us some popular speaker , as well able as Kossuth to represent the facts as they exist , there could be little difficulty in arousing the nation to a sense of its position . How strong our Government might be , if taking its ground openly and avowedly on the side of liberty , it were to rally around it the populations of Hungary , Italy , and Germany ! A large

      contingent from Spain woidd soon join the European movement . Our colonies would be delighted to back a Government for once supporting the interest of Peoples . The bulk of the French people could not long remain apart from such an alliance . That America would take her bide with us we know already . In this great alliance there would be freedom and safety . The impediment to it is the secret system in our public offices . We do not know what our Government is doing ; we only know that , after it has interfered , the progress of Despotism is more marked than before ; and the progress of Despotism , 1 i-: ay , has now become most evidently the progress of the Cossack and Croat towards our own shores .

      What , then , might the English people do ? It might come forth everywhere , to declare its sympathy with the People of every country that is struggling for freedom , to demand that our Government should support those nations , and to claim a fair and open statement from tin ; responsible Ministers on our actual relations with foreign countries . IJut will the English People do ^ so ? Neither you nor I can answer . Time may ; but 1 distrust the will of my countrymen . It is weakened . Thornton Hunt .

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      Dec . 13 , 1851 . ] SCflg % ta \ StX . 1185

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      S () C I A L R K FOR M . " NOTICS OK A HOCIAI , ( KCONOM 1 KT . ' THK COOI'KltATI VIC ASSOCIATIONS OK KNGI-ANI ) XI . " Kncli mental faculty is l > y itn natural constitution related to a different cIiihh of objects , and in prone to Htart into activity when thine objects are , presented ; and we can no more cultivate the emotions of justice or of pity than we cuii the Benin ; of Inuring or « H'iing by a mere intellectual exposition of its propriety . "—Coomiik , on the Afatui (/ etntmt of Infancy . In a former article I gave an account of Robert Owdd ' h successful experiment ni . New Lanark . I have since obtained a formal Report on the subject , tiigncd by Kdwnnl liaineH , ML P ., of the Leads Mercury , a Disuenter ; John Cawood , a

      member of the Established Church ; and Richard Oastler , a Wesleyan ; gentlemen , in whose practical knowledge and integrity the town of Leeds evidently had confidence , who were sent officially to New Lanark , in 1819 , by the parochial authoritiesthen , as now , * at a loss to know how best to support their poor and unemployed (" who determine the rate of wages" ) . After remaining some days at New Lanark , and examining minutely every department of the establishment , these gentlemen drew up a Report , which was published in the Leeds Mercury , and from which I have made the following copious extracts . The Report is dated September 14 , 1819 , three years after the opening of the New Lanark institution for the formation of character from early infancy .

      " REPORT . " Mr . Owen ' s establishment at New Lanark , is essentially a manufacturing one , conducted in a manner superior to any other the deputation ever witnessed , dispensing more happiness than perhaps any other institution in the kingdom where so many poor persons are employed , and is founded on an admirable system of moral regulation . The population of the village of New Lanark , the whole of which is attached to Mr . Owen ' s establishment , consists of 2293 individuals , exclusive of 188 persons employed in the mill from Old Lanark : of this number there are 103 under the age of two , and 380 between the age of two and ten years : these latter are receiving daiJy instructions in the schools , and by showing them a spirit of kindness , and impressing them with a sense of their duty ( without the hope of reward or the fear of punishment ) , they are making satisfactory progress in reading , writing , and accounts , as well as in music and dancing ; in addition to which the girls are taught to sew . In the education of the children , the thing that is most remarkable is the spirit of kindness and affection shown towards them , and the entire absence of everything likely to give them bad habits , with the presence of whatever is calculated to

      give them good ones ; consequently , they appear like one well regulated family , united together by the ties of affection . We heard no quarrels , and so strongly impressed are they with the conviction that their interest and duty are the same , and that to be happy themselves it is necessary to make those happy by whom they are surrounded , that they had no strife but in offices of kindness . It appeared to us , that if it should be their destiny to go out to service or to be apprenticed , they would be found an acquisition instead of a burden ; and we wished that the orphan

      children in our Workhouses had the same advantage of moral and religious instruction , and the same prospect of being made happy themselves and useful to the families in which they maybe placed . Whenever this nha ] l he the case , instead of the town finding it difficult to get masters lor these children of poverty , they will rather be sought for than despised , and instead of rising into manhood with expectation of relying upon a parish all their liven for support , tliey will feel an ambition and a capacity to maintain themselves .

      " ' 1 he boys and girls , between ten and seventeen years of age , are all employed in the mill , and in the evening irom seven to half-past eight o ' clock they pursue that bjsU m of education to whieh their attention has , up to ten years of age , been directed in the day time . In business they are regular and diligent , and in their nianmiK mild and engaging . Public-houses , and oilier resorts of the idle or vicious , are not to be found in this happy village-, and the absence of their contaminating influence i . s strikingly exemplified in the contrast of manner : ; and of conduct between the inhabitants of New Lanark , and of most ( we may Hay all ) other manufacturing places . ' * In the adult inhabitants of New Lanark we saw much to commend . In general they appeared clean , healthy , and sober . Intoxication , the parent of many vices and of much misery , is almost , unknown . The consequence in that they are well clad , and well fed , and their dwellings are inviting . It in quite manifest that the New Lanark . system lias a tendency to improve ; the religious character ; and we accord with Mr . Owen in bin assertion that the inhabitants

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      * In a Report of the Lccdtt RateH Inquiry Committee , appointed in 1840 , to inquire into the . ittij / reetde / i / cd increase of poor ' s rate , and to rounder and hiigg « Nt the : means of the more projitublr . iinployiticnt of pauper labour , it in ntated " that , the great uicreii . se in the total expenditure for local puipoHr . s , mainly ari . MB from the ; outlay on the poor . The increu . se / rom this one source in no large and HeriouH as to demand the most hearchin ^* investigation . The expends of the criminal courts ami the t / aol may be expected to increase , il the . inference of former yearn be of any Hignificaiicc , and unh&H the general morals be improved . "

      Again— " With a poor rute for Home time past gradually increasing , and ev « n of lute double in amount to what it had Ixrn in former yearn , we cannot , but look upon the exec « nive . outlay ( upon yaol , tvoikhouttti , and hcIiooIJ as unwise mid inconnideraie . " John Hoi . mkh , Chairman . " Ja mi ; k lloi . iv . " Daviu CIkhkn , " &c . &c .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 1185, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1913/page/13/