On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
"been withdrawn by the superintendents of their schools , or discharged for . various causes . The remaining 37 are still in the employment of the society . " The total earnings of the boys have increased from 656 / . in the first year , to 900 ? . in the second , which were thus divided : 491 / . went to the boys as wages , 205 / . went into the boys' bank , and 203 / . was retained by the society . The society is not self-supporting , and it does not appear that it could easily be made ao . The business of a shoe-black is one of those simple occupations that terminate with themselves ;
it i 3 not easy to see hour & surplus blacking of shoes could be produced , and there could hardly , therefore , be an available surplus of returns , unless machinery was devoted to the purpose . And here again it might be difficult to induce customers who desired their shoes to be blacked to arrange themselves in sufficient numbers and in such postures as -would facilitate the application of machinery . If it is desirable to make an effort for keeping open this branch of industry for boys who must otherwise go to the bad , it most -be , as it is at present , the work of charity , and we do not know any kind of charity of which the results are more tangibly beneficial .
Untitled Article
AMERICA POUTlCAIi LIFE SKETCHED BY AN ENGLISH BESIDBNT . Letter n . [ The letter which we inserted last week , and which our printer addressed to « My dear Son , " should ( as the reader doubtless recollected of former letters ) have been addressed to " Ion . " We record , without sharing-, all the sentiments of our American correspondent . Does he not overlook , when speaking of
the " corruption" of representative government , that by the nature of Democracy it is all manifest , while in monarchies and despotisms it is intenser and deeper , only more concealed ? If ¦ *• Democracy does not carry out the voice of the people" as we could wish , it carries out and forwards the opinion of the people vhicb . in due time becomes its Voice . With these dissents we commit these interesting reflections to the attention of the reader Ion . ]
" Modem Times , Thompson Station , Long Island , N . Y . " 11 th March , 1854 . "My bear ' Ion , ' —Why does our admirable friend , our Leader , suggest his non-responsibility for the opinions of ' The Stranger' and ' Non-Elector ? ' And , still more , why does he say the point of view occupied by his incomparable correspondent is the ' foreign' one ? Surely , my friend , you will agree with me in thinking it is simply the point of view of the ' Non-Elector' in general ? Claiming myself to be essentially an English proletary , settled , permanently , in America , having every kind of Bympathy to the fullest degree with the
English "working man , I say it is our view of English politics expressed for us in a manner so admirable as to merit , , as assuredly it will have , our deepest gratitude . Perhaps , however , we need not quarrel -with the epithet ' foreign ; ' for are we not treated by the ' Governing Classes' of England as foreigners—aliens ? England is not our England ; we belong tp it , not it to us ; we belong to it , and to these ' governing Classes , ' as do their cattle and machinery , or the three millions of negroes to the ' evangelical owners' of the southern plantations here in the United States . We are counted up as so many * hands ; we are the ' producing classes , ' whose pro *
ducts belong to the elect few , who claim the right to 4 do what they like with their own . ' " You , my dear friend , know our brethren , the working-classes of England , personally , better than I do . Tell me , may -we not count upon it that their long-continued apparent indifference to mere political reforms , springs in groat measure from an instinctive consciousness ; perhaps , that the Amelioration of their social condition depends finally upon a moral rather than a legal regeneration . This I regard as tho essential baais of positivism in its social aspect . And the condition of this country is a final demonstration of the truth of this doctrine .
" The European Republican parties in general , amid all their endless diversities , diveraities inseparable from the metaphysical character of tlioir doctrines , aeem U > be nearly agreed in one thing j in regarding the solution of tho Immense social problems now convulsing Europe aa essentially a political one . Now , without denying the immense gnin to bo derived from tho annihilation of tho ' rod monarchies , ' who have organised a chronic * reign of terror' immensely wore sanguinary than tf , o exceptional one , chargeable , upon the party of progress , ' tho condition of fnis country ia quite enough of itaolf to prove that
the installation of Democracy , ever so intense , is just no solution at all . " First of all , Representative Government' means at bottom , Government by corruption . Auguste Comte , penetrating , by his most wonderful insight , into the real constitution of human societies , proclaimed this as a principle , arrived at by him deductively . It was reserved to the United States to give a decisive and final , because practical , demonstration of its truth . A senator , from Florida , I think , once stated in Congress , that if the people of the United States generally were aware of the unfathomable depths of corruption in which every part of their central Government was submerged , they would march up to Washington en masse , and tumble the whole concern into the ocean . I admire the
momentary gush of patriotic honesty wluch I assume to have dictated this singular speech ; but sympathise rather , though sadly , with the ' shouts of laughter ' which greeted it . For those shouts of laughter were but the expression of the consciousness of our ' honourable' rulers , that the corruption was too universal to admit of their having the slightest fear of such a result . In fact , the . rulers are but a representation' of the people in this matter ; the corruption has eaten its way into the very heart of society , affecting all classes , all orders of men , making itself felt in every village , I might say in every family . The fact is , the people do know that their Government is corrupt—wholly corrupt ; but the corruption has penetrated into every nook and cranny of the social system , and is , therefore , looked upon as a mere matter of course—a necessity—without hope of remedy . ¦
• " In the neit place , Democracy , ever so rampant , does not secure the carrying into effect of the will of the people—except in the long run ; and that is secured under every form of Government . I am not unaware of the immense facility enjoyed under an ultra-Democracy ^—from the necessary weakness of such a Government—for the propagation of hew ideas . The people of some of our states would , if they could , bitterly persecute certain forms of faith .
But they can t . Moreover , it is scarcely to be doubted that in several of the states a great majority of the people—of the lawful elector ' s mind , —would , if they could , pass the celebrated Maine Law ; while , after years of agitation ,,-with , elections intervening , it still remains 5 n many of these states & rejected measure . The same holds good with regard to the school laws ; the people vainly endeavouring to effect great ameliorations , which the wealthy few find means to frustrate .
« Then , again , Democracy is powerless in the most important of all modern questions—the labour question . The condition of the working classes here and in England differs solely by reason of circumstances certainly not produced by our Representative Government . On the contrary , this ^ Representative Government is itself a consequence , a product , of these same circumstances ; a fact which accounts for that connexion between the two results which has led casual observers to attribute one to the other . " Tell me , now , my friend , is it not the fact that many of our proletarian brothers of the ' old country , ' the most intelligent , the most influential among their followers , already know that this is the case , or at least , shrewdly suspect it ; and that , consequently , they are waiting , perhaps often with but small hopes , for a deliverance quite other than that which political measures could yield ?
"To such men , be they few or be they many , positivism must come as the goapel of glad tidings JTor , looking at the whole social problem from the loftiest point of Tiew , it at least prepares the way for the solution of it . * ' Positivism proclaims , as the result of a scientific inquiry into human nature , the supremacy of the moral point of view . Socially , this is the foundation , I might say the very essence , of religion . " Such a religion , freely embraced by the masses of
any population , could not fail to acquire a social influence which would greatly modify the exercise of that power which is universally inherent in wealth , and which democracy , ever so democratic , cannot in the least diminish . On tho contrary , it increases it , if only by removing all competitors for social influence . In England « birth and blood' go for something ; educational manners go for something . In America money is all in all . Tho dollar , aa I have told you before , is literally the Almighty .
" Upon what can wo intellectually repose if not upon positive science ? And upon what basis ahull we organise with chances * of success equal to that promised by on * capable of a roiU univoraality ? " Of course , for tho day , wo must take auch means as we have huv « at hand . But I apeak to one who has the oar of the moBt thoughtful of our clnBa—of those capable , morally and intellectually , of doing something for a future , in whoao happiness thoinaolvoa will never share . And I ask , what dooa experience teach ? " What earnest secularist reformer has not found his courage failing him , wlien high wngos acemed to result aolely in tho multiplication of gin-palacea , or at tho beat , in rnoro prodlgalittea without aim and
direction , real personal improvement not being recognisable ? True , this has always been only seemingly , because progress is the universal . law ; but then the progress has been incomparably slower than it would be if subjected to wise , and earnest , and coatinuous efforts in the right direction . % " And especially , has it not been discouraging to have no satisfactory standard by which to measure progress ? We must always liave felt instinctively that progress at bottom meant moral progress ; but what was moral progress ? The theologian could point to his scriptures—Bible , Koran , or what not ; but to us what resource ? only the hopeless and
endless speculations of the metaphysician or sophistaave the spontaneous promptings of our own hearts . " To have , then , a common doctrine , based upon a scientific appreciation of our real nature , around which to rally , and by which to guide ourselves , is a boon of unutterable value—personal value , social value . Around such a doctrine , moreover , a philosophical organisation may grow up capable of furnishing a centre and a head to a popular organisation that no limits of country could confine ; for from its very character it is obviously susceptible of a real universality .
" Meantime , no doubt our friend the Leader , with his ' incomplete positivism , ' is about the most trusty guide the people in England can for the present follow . But for myself , I want to do something to aid the final solution involved , in the reorganisation of public opinion . I cannot leave this great , this greatest theme , -without referring to one singular social phenomenon , a careful consideration of which would , I think , help our friends of the workingclasses to a better appreciation of positivism .. I refer to the religious affinities , so to speak , of the celebrated ' Manchester School . '
"By the Manchester School , I mean that large party embracing the bulk of the middle classes , whose political philosophy is summed up in the brief French expression : ' Laissez-faire ? Of this school , Mr . Cobden is the temporal head , so to speak , and Mr . Edward Miall—a name I must ever mention , were it only out of gratitude , with respect—the spiritual . It is only but too characteristic of the entire party that the spiritual element is treated as
altogether subordinate . Now the fundamental principle of this party , in both its branches ( I speak advisedly ) is , that self-interest constitutes the universal spring of human action . Consequently , with it , political economy is the beginning , the middle , and the end of political philosophy : the ultimate advantage to the individual of what ia assumed to be right conduct is the highest principle of moral philosophy . The social point of view is , on both hands , virtually excluded .
" It was the Bradford woolcombers , -was it not ? who , during the Australian emigration , were rejected by the commissioners , on the ground that their emaciated condition , rendered them incapable of labour . To these forlorn beings our ' Manchester School ' offered the consolation of meditating on the laws of supply and demand . So long as the private individual interest of these precious ' captains of industry'kept them in flourishing trade , all well and good ; but although the failure of any one of them must necessarily plunge many families (!) into misery and want , the conception of a corresponding duty is utterly foreign to both branches of this « Laissez-faire ' doctrine .
" A man ' s religious duty is in it maTlced , out thus : Heaven—take others with you if you can , but any how—get to Heaven ! In regard to temporal things duty is replaced , openly , expressly , without limitation of any kind , by interest . A man must not ateal ; must not use false weights and measures , or rather must not be found out in using them , on puin of gaol . But the conception of a positive duty , an active duty , especially on the part of the strong towards the weak , is utterly foreign to this doctrine . Moreover , tho very posaibility of such a conception prevailing would be an absurdity to any disciple of this school .
" The spiritual Bide of the doctrine does add , it is true , ' But the grace of God changes tho heart . ' But this ia tlxo aingular part of the phenomenon . This change of heart , whenever referred ,-as is tho case more or leas with all Proteatant accts , to a direct transaction between tho individual and his God , without social intervention , is a doctrine which fairly carried out to its logical result ia the leading feature of my quondam political teacher Mr . Miall , through hia Nonconformist , Thia doctrine loses thua its whole soolal efficacy . Ita adherents , I know , really conaidor it a moral truth ; but it is nothing else than tho aclf-interost system of tho Cobdou School—ita ultimate- ia a negation of all positive aocial duty . " Yours , my dear ' Ion , ' ever faithfully , " Hrnuy Edqior . "
[ In tho lottor of last week Mlsa Brewer should Imvo been of courHO Miss Uror / tor ; nnd " tlio l « nt prosidontlnl doctrind " tho lust jproHidonLiiil election . Owing to some indiotmotnosH in tho hid . of 11 . IS . n fuw " llUrals" crept into tho lottor , which doubtloaa tho render w ;» a ablo to supply , but ho cortainly ought not to bo oxpcctodl to recogniso Phalanx undo * tho orthography of Thalnux , " &c—Io > f . ]
Untitled Article
664 THELEADER . [ Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 664, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2047/page/16/
-