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is one of the most democratical which has been lately published . The author perceives how deep the spirit of aristocracy has struck its roots in English society , and his work is a continued illustration of its pervading and blighting influence . We shall select some of the more striking particulars in the order in which he has presented them to our notice .
The source of aristocratical distinction is in the inequalities of individual appropriation . These must continue to exist , unless Mr . Owen should really cut up the world into parallelograms , and people them with beings educated under the twelve laws of human nature . What is to be desired , is , that these differences should be restrained in their influence upon opinion ; that they should go
for no more than they are worth ; sometimes for an accident , sometimes for indications of shrewdness , cunning , or perseverance ; and sometimes for mental qualities of a higher order . The habits of a trading community obviously tend to the ascription , to such differences , of an inappropriate and exaggerated importance . Especially is this the case in England ,
The root of all our notions , as of all our laws , is to be found in the sentiment of property . It is my wife whom you shall not insult ; it is my house that you shall not enter j it is my country that you shall not traduce ; and by a species of ultra-mundane appropriation , it is my God whom you shall not blaspheme 1 *—yol . i . p . 8 . This is the key to a world of intolerance and inconsistency . Our fashionable morality , both public and private , is little better than a modification of the notion of property . Now every appro * priation is vicious which does not enhance to the community the
utility of that which is appropriated . If fields would grow corn unenclosed , without the application of capital , and of that labour which only capital can put in motion , then the land ought not to be enclosed . The justification of portioning the soil out to individuals is , that it becomes thereby more valuable to the community . There is a more ample , certain , and permanent supply of its produce , and with greater facilities for its equitable distribution .
But this justification does not apply to the appropriation of localities whose worth is in their beauty , and in the good which that beauty does those by whom it is gazed upon . That Corra Linn and the Falls of Moness should be private property , is about as reasonable as that some noble lord should obtain a grant of the fee simple of Orion and Cassiopeia . Beautiful scenery is valuable
because it produces pleasant emotions in the human frame , and rich associations in the human mind ; and this worth suffers when we are forbidden to approach , or compelled to pay for approaching by a fee to the agent of the titled or until led showman and monopolist . If huge screens could be made to shut out the constellations from our sight , no doubt they would be appropriated too . So with what are facetiously called public buildings , and works of
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Characteristics of English Aristocracy . 587
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 587, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/3/
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