On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
perfectly obtain the former , we must remove the latter . The practical obstacles of the attempt will arise from the difficulty of getting access to and obtaining the confidence of the poor . They have so long been degraded b y all the other classes into a distinct caste , and kept at arm ' s length from the rest of the community ,
that we are regarded almost as their natural enemies , and every endeavour on our parts to obtain a greater intimacy with them will most certainly be misconstrued , and regarded with suspicion * The aristocratic pride of this country must humble itself ; a personal interchange of friendly offices must take place between the rich and the poor ; all arrogant assumptions of superiority
must cease ; our public schools of every description , intended for their education , must be conducted with a greater spirit of kindness and familiarity , and even our poor laws administered with the same feeling . Hauteur , obsequiousness , and servility must be banished the country . Unless this is accomplished it will be impossible to educate , or even to govern the poor . As for our
charitable donations , ( so miscalled , ) the greater part of them are worse than useless ; they are bestowed without any acquaintance with the object , and then of course received without any kindly feeling . The donor is thus entitled to no praise or reward , for there can be no virtue without a sacrifice , and where is the sacrifice in the simple act of taking from the pocket what is never
missed ? There is but one species of true charity , and it is that only which will enable the poor to live without it , or , in other words , to assist them in earning their own subsistence . The terms 4 ignorant mob / ' brutal rabble / &c . must cease to be used , and those who now employ them must be taught that they are not of the rabble' only by the fortuitous concurrence of circumstances , and are themselves partly the cause of the existing
ignorance and brutality by neglecting every means of removing it ; the people are so merely because those who ought to teach them better , do not perform their duty . These are unpalatable truths with many , but I am ready to bear the obloquy , and challenge the contradiction . With you , sir , I know they will be received in the best spirit , because the most congenial to that of your excellent Repository , and I beg to subscribe myself most respectfully yours , Bristol , 9 Jan . 1833 . John Ham .
Untitled Article
On the Prospteti of the People . 99
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 99, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/31/
-