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
in which we live , the works are but ill adapted to the present and immediate wants of the mass of the people—the labouring classes , who have little time or inclination for reading either elaborate treatises on the sciences , or works of a light and entertaining nature , whilst themselves and families are surrounded by poverty and misery , produced by an irrational and vicious system of government .
' 2 . That it is of the utmost importance , both to individuals and to the community at large , that every man should acquire sound political information , and a knowledge of his rights and duties as a citizen of the state in which he lives ; and that , therefore , the Society would have bestconsulted the interests of all classes , but particularly of the working class , by either publishing works calculated to supply this desideratum itself , or encouraging others to do so , by using its great power and influence to break down those barriers to political knowledge , which
now exist in the shape of oppressive stamp taxes on newspapers , and unjust , odious , and tyrannical laws , prohibiting the publication of cheap political pamphlets . It would be difficult to disprove the truth and justice of these resolutions . But that is not the question . We adduce them to show the light in which the Diffusion Society is regarded , and the consequent probability that , by her connexion with it , Miss Martineau may become a less efficient , because a less trusted ,
national instructor . The evil in part is already come upon her . She may arrest its progress ; she may , even yet , shake it offi and Tegain the position which she previously occupied ; but it must be by demonstrations which cannot be mistaken of her sympathy with the opinions and feelings , the wants and wishes of the people , as distinguished from , and opposed by , the timid and crooked policy of men who might have been the saviours of their country but for their almost incredible blunders , inconsistencies , and
infatuation . Let her seize some early opportunity of doing this , a late one may come too late . We speak plainly , for there is a great public good at stake . We do not believe that , in political economy or politics , the people will become pupils in the Diffusion School . They dread cajolery in that quarterand receive lessons from it as they would
^ a moral or religious tract from Bartlett ' s Buildings . For Miss Martineau to achieve the redemption of its character she should direct its management , and not merely write under its patronage . There is less hope for it than danger for herself ; danger for that influence , so unaidedly and honourably acquired , which is a public trust , and its * diminution a public calamity . We are
anxious that her well-earned popularity should be unimpaired , for with her powers and principles , the benefits she might , and , we trust , will , confer upon the people are incalculable . An additional inducement to the suggestions which we have ventured thus frankly but respectfully to offer , may be found in the Article on Miss Martineau ' s ' Illustrations / with which the No . 78 . 2 K
Untitled Article
Poor Laws and Paupers . 377
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 377, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/17/
-