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Untitled Article
" We have seen the course followed by the developments of society : let us now shew the definitive end to which it aspires , amidst the alternations of apparent elevations and depressions commonly called the vicissitudes of humanity , and which are nothing else than the series of efforts made in its progressive career . This end is the universal association ; that is to say , the association of all men on the entire surface of the globe in all their various relations .
" This universal association , foretold by St . Simon , and of which the name itself is a definition , is the state in which all human powers will be harmoniously combined . This can only be in a pacific direction , and it is impossible to conceive for it any other object of action , than the improvement and embellishment of the globe for the benefit of its inhabitants . All trace of antagonism must then disappear , and with it all oppression exercised by the strong over the weak . In a word , the development of humanity may be
expressed in the following terms , similar in substance to the decline of antagonism and growth of association ; namely , the gradual diminution of the use ( exploitation ) of man by his fellow-man . The more and more perfect use ( eoe ploitatioji ) of the globe by man . We see that effectively these are corresponding terms , and we may resume them in the formula adopted by the school of St . Simon—constant amelioration , moral , physical , and intellectual , of the most numerous , the poorest class .
" Societies have originated ( debute ) in war , the strongest expression of the state of antagonism . The most general result of war is the dominion of physical force , at first established by massacre and cannibalism . The institution of slavery , as succeeding to brutal ferocity , must be considered a progress ; the prisoner , no longer condemned to inevitable death , is preserved by the conqueror to become in his hands an instrument of production . The use thus made of man includes his physical , intellectual , and moral life . The
slave is put out of the pale of humanity . He belongs to his master as much as his land , his cattle , his furniture—he is his property . The slave has no rights , not even that of life . His days are in the hand of his master ; he may mutilate him at pleasure , appropriate him as he will . The slave is not only condemned to want and bodily suffering , but also to moral and intellectual brutalization ; he has no name , no family , no property , no ties of affection , no recognized relation either to God or man : for the slave there are no gods , the gods are only for the master .
" Such at first is slavery—gradually the condition becomes less rigorousthe Legislature interferes in his relations with his master—by little and little he ceases to be mere passive matter—a small portion of the profit of his labour is granted to him . The laws recognize his existence . It is long ere he can pretend by manumission , always the rare exception , to make a step toward civil and religious society , to introduce his family slowly into the rank of man , where it is still proscribed and made use of for the benefit of others , as long as its origin can be recognized . " Christianity , proclaiming at the same time the unity of God and the brotherhood of man , changes completely the religious and political relations—the relations of man to God , and of man to man . At the commencement of
its rule , there still exist two classes of men , one subjected to the other ; but the condition of this class is sensibly improved . The serf is no longer , like the slave , the direct property of his master—he is onl y attached to the soil , from which he cannot be separated ; he gathers a portion of his labours ; he has a family ; his existence is recognizea by the civil law , and still more by that Of religion . The moral life of the slave had nothing in common with that of the master : the lord and the serf have the same God , the same faith ,
and receive the same religious instruction ; the same spiritual aid is given them by the minister of the altar . The soul of the serf is not less precious in the eye of the Supreme Being than that of the lord ; it is more so ; for according to the gospel , the poor are the chosen of God . The family of the
Untitled Article
184 TJw Saint Simonite * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 184, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/40/
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