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September 10, 1853.] THE LEADER, 871
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TRANSATLANTIC CUNNING. A strange story a...
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'COItPOKATlON OK LONDON. Karitv next mon...
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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.
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Critfcal Words From The West, On 'Vlui S...
an New York mechanics , house - builders , for examp le , present an appearance of infinitely greater animation . In regard to social relations , you find precisely the same evils as elsewhere , ' with a considerable intensification in several respects . The young people are , in general , intensely , unhappy . Education can hardly be ^ id to exist , . and there seems to be , a studious avoidance of all inculcation of Fourier's doctrines , the major portion of which are absolutely proscribed . On the other hand , it would be difficult to exaggerate the bright side of the picture ; and it is this which is tlie first to strike the attention of the stranger . The organization of domestic industry , although very imperfect , has accomplished all that the most sanguine social reformers have anticipated in this direction . So
far from the prognostications of the political economists as to the universal level of misery being accomplished , it is proved practically that the miseries of ' poverty are purely artificial . For five months I lived with my family at a public table spread with necessaries , and even many luxuries , superior to those enjoyed by the average of the middle classes in England , and yet at prices within the means of the mechanic , and even of the agricultural labourer . Moreover , the spacious and even elegant dining hall of the association was , many a time during the winter months , converted into a ball and assembly room where , at a cost within the means of the poorest , entertainments were enjoyed , such as in real , significant , beauty , I have seldom seen surpassed .
The followers of Charles . Fourier , who are in this country very numerous , seem to be chiefly of two classes—those who regard the failure of this attempt and its forty defunct predecessors as owing to their material poverty , and those who attribute it to the inherent vices of the organization . Facts are entirely on the side of the latter . Both regard the assumption of th ' ename of" Phalanstery" by this little association with feelings akin to indignation , and certainly not without reason ; for the general course of life at the North American Phalanstery is a miserable caricature of the fairy-like conceptions of the materialist Fourierites ; while the more rational social reformers may well be irritated at the public odium brought on reform in general by the absurdities and inconsistencies practised in its name .
There is a sort of medium party now springing up , destined , doubtless , to have a considerable run of success . More destitute of what I can call by no other name than spiritual views than any other section of reformers , they set about the execution of their plans in a thorou ghly business-like and practical way . Their views are bounded by the one idea of securing certain undefined personal advantages of material wealth , on accessible terms , to such as may wish for them . They have formed a company , on ordinary joint-stock principles , the basis of which is that capital is to be secured its interest—tho most that can bo got . They have purchased a very eligible site , and urc proceeding to set up machinery , workshops , and residences—the latter on a unitary plan , with tho view of securing an economical organization of domestic labour . Their intention
carefully to adapt the supply to tho demand—in a word , to do the toisiness of the company in a thoroughly business-like manner ; and the business of the company is , at present , simply to build up the village ; whon tho population comes it is supposed that it will I'o able to nmnago its own affairs , —the organization of industry is to grow up naturally , in obedience to laws of supply and demand , under tho general providence , merely , of tho company . Conceiving tho great error of tho Phalanstorian movements to havo been tho attempt to force society into an artificial mould , they determine , ' « r . least , to steer clear of that error , and bo guided by natural indications a . s to what circumstances may , from time to time , demand .
'I his movement , a . s compared with tho forty odd socalled Phnlunsterca , is doubtless one : in advance , mid not , " « the people at the North Ainorieim pretend , one , in co mparison with themselves , retrograde . Tho personnel •> ' the now movement being miulo up chiefly of secedora fro m the- others , it naturally exciten , in tho adherents ° i tho latter , Homo jealousy . But , in the want of broad Mineral views , both parties aro alilco , ulthough the now movement i . s evidently inoru philosophical , notwiths tanding tho complete innoeeneo of its promoters of any taint of truly philosophical view . ) .
¦ Ihe , intelligent portion of . social reformers are nearly n'l . looking iurtho direction of " Modern Times . " The » il »! ntit y ofthis movement ; wi th bha . ' Phalanstary of Charles ¦ <<> urivr , \\\ tho most , essential principles , in beginning to be recognised by tho most advanced social reformers lure . The essential conditions of associative industry , «« conceived of by Courier , either exist , or may bo reasonably expected ' to grow up spontaneously " , j u the Mnitablo Village . " Tho organization of domestic industry , and tho various economies which constitute tho
very staple of the previous reformatory attempts , will here be based on their natural—perhaps only possible —foundation ; while , in regard to the social relations , this movement has advantages which must inevitably give it the predominance over all narrower schemes . The fact is , that in this country it is just here where the real ' 'difficulty lies . In the United States , generally , labour is well paid—abundantly paid . Although I have never visited the southern states , I am well satisfied that even including them , there is no country in the world where the men and women who actually do the hard work of society receive for their own consumption so large an amount of its produce . And , further , in no country in the world do those into whose
hands society commits the charge of its vast masses of accumulated wealth , employ those masses more for the general welfare and progress of humanity . And although the few may conceive of a more perfect ideal constitution of society , the masses of the people here are utterly unfit for any higher industrial organization . They are satisfied with that which exists ; they will not hear of any other . From time to time effecting practical ameliorations , many of which contain , too , the germs of grand ulterior developments , they feel themselves already the most highly-favoured people in the world , and flatter themselves , not without good reason , that they cannot better serve humanity than by seizing every occasion for extending the area over which floats proudly the banner of the stars and stripes —emblem of freedom , industry , and plenty .
The field , then , of industrial organization , is almost closed against the Reformer . But turn your glance towards social relations , and the picture will be very different . This is in reality the dark side of American life . I have been here now over two years , and I know strangers cannot penetrate so far . I do not hesitate to say that nowhere in the world is there so wide-spread domestic unhap ]) iness as here in the United States of America , especially among the more
wealthy classes . True , I judge mainly from what I know of the great cities , not being acquainted personally with the country in the great states of the West . The more general symptoms , however , are not confined to any locality . The Women ' s Rights Conventions are attended as well in Ohio as in any Eastern States . And they are not the only symptom ; spirit-rapping itself is , I am well assured from what I have seen , indicative of social disease , especially in relation to the domestic circle .
Social reforms , then , which limit themselves to industrial organization , and studiously ignore tho existence of the deepest and most wide-spread social disease , and tho social want thereby indicated , may well be failures . They have been , they are , they will be . It is upon this rock that the North American Phalanstery has split ; the same will shatter the Raritan Bay Union , with all its business-like management and practical talents . The Modern Times Reform alone attempts to grapple with this master difficulty , and it does it in the way at once manly and philosophicalof boldly guaranteeing to woman her natural right and highest duty : that of supreme sovereignty in her own legitimate domain- —that of the affections .
This is the central idea of Fourier s speculations , the identity of which with tho Modern Times movement i . again very remarkable . A movement which starts by eliminating altogether tho idea of association or any combination of interests whatever , is coining to e / fectuato the very reforms which lmvo in this country gone generally by the name of Associutionism , while tho associations aro themselves sinking into inanition . A want of profound sincerity in , I believe , the essential cause of these a . ssociationist failures . Commencing by an attempted expurgation of tho immoral
portions of Fourier ' s doctrines , the movement onl y drew upon itself a double suspicion ; the imagination supplied the unfvanslaled , portions of Fourier's works , while tho attempt at concealment became an ineffaceable impeachment both upon the manliness and integrity of the entire cnuso . Tho incipient vice propagated itself through all the subsequent stages ; and tho most striking feature in the history of all these associations , down to tho incidents of my fivo months' stay . it the North-American Phalanstery , is the want of manly sincerity in the leading men .
But tho vice is general throughout American society . It seems to me a natural consequence of tho too-much prolonged attempt to " believe in the inmulible , " succeeded by a . public profession of what the mind is ultimately compelled to recogni . se nn " inconsistent with known facts . " The decay of real religious faith , indeed , is , I ain convinced , at , the bottom of much of the social misery existing in this country . Tim people bavo lost their old faiths , and with them the basis of their moral sentiments , and have found no new ones . Hence the general decay of the moral sentiment ; for it is Mrs . CU-undy nlono who keopa society together
here ! The moral sentiment is low indeed ; an unbridled selfishness rules over all . Personal interest is , in these days , coining to be regarded—and not in this country alone—as the sole motive worthy of a rational man . I am well assured that a man who pretended to be actuated by any other , would be distrusted throughout all cdnimercial circles . .
Is it any wonder , then , that woman suffers ? : — Woman , our moral providence ! With the moral sentiments the human affections fall to a discount ; and Women ' s Rights Conventions ar e naturally the order of the clay . If the Modern Times Reform did nothing but utter its protest against the rampant selfishness which disdains all considerations but that of individual interests—material interests , too—it would merit our sympathy , and prove itself something far other than the merely disorganizing influence for which Henry James has mistaken it . H . E .
September 10, 1853.] The Leader, 871
September 10 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER , 871
Transatlantic Cunning. A Strange Story A...
TRANSATLANTIC CUNNING . A strange story appears in the Manchester papers . Mr . William Chadwick , a Lancashire gentleman , living in Rochdale , died on the 5 th of February last . In a few months after , an American letter , addressed to the deceased gentleman , arrived at Rochdale . It was delivered to his brother , Mr . John Chadwick , of Broadfield , Rochdale , who having opened and read it , found that it purported to be a letter from a prisoner , dated " Jail Hospital , April 28 , 1853 , " but without naming the town or place , and the only signature was " E . " It commenced " Dear and Honoured Benefactor , — -It is sometime since I last wrote ; nor should I do so now , had I not been sick and in great distress . " The writer
continues that he had been ill for four months , says'his affliction has changed him , and like the repentant prodigal he would gladly return to his " noble , beloved parents ; " who , however , are never to know of his crime and shame . He asks for " all the news of home , " and then comes to the real object of the letter— " Do not be offended , generous benefactor , if I again beseech you to send me a small sum more . What you last sent is all expended . 51 . or 10 £ will do . * * Bo assured , my dearest friend , I would not have written again , had you not insisted I should do so , tlie very moment I had further need of your assistance / ' He asks for a Bank of England note ; " for they pass current here . And direct , as below . The doctor is fclio
physician of the institution , and has been very kind to me indeed ; kindly consenting that your answer to me may be addressed to him . Therefore please address , post paid , ' Dr . Miles II . Ellis , Easton , Northampton County , Pennsylvania , U . S . ' " He adds , that as ho cannot send that letter as his former ones , ho signs " only with tho initial , in case of accident ; " and concludes by stating that he lias still " one year longer to remain in this awful place . "
Mr . Chadwick made inquiries of all his relatives as to his deceased brother ' s connexion with this correspondent , but he could find no clue . He then wrote to America to Dr . Ellis , but the answer was not satisfactory . Ho next wroto to the postmaster of Enstnn , Pennsylvania , and through his agency the whole affair was exposed . It would seem , so far as the circumstances have been elucidated , that a person culling himself " Dr . Miles H . Ellis , " and living at Baltimore , is carrying on a very artful begging-letter business with England , by writing to persons of respectability , who , he learns by tho latest English papers , have recently died in this country . Ho writes a . s a prisoner , who has before received benevolent aid from the deceased ; and his terms of irrateful
veneration for his benefactor are well adapted to move tmr > viving kindred to carry out what they may regard aH tho secret : benevolence of him of whom they have jast been bereaved . The elaboration oi' tho plan , the dexterous hints that the prisoner himself had fallen from a position of high respectability , tho reference to tho physician of the prison , and especially the contrivance , thill , letters directed to Dr . Ellis , at Easton , . should bo forwarded to him at Halthnoro , —all these things show such craft , blended with a shrewd knowledge of human nature , that we have thought it right , to put our readers , and ( through republieation in other papers ) tho public generally in this country , on their guard against this very du ' v « r and refilled ' attempt , to Obtain money , by Home' accomplished swindler on tho other side of tlid-Atlantic .
'Coitpokatlon Ok London. Karitv Next Mon...
'COItPOKATlON OK LONDON . Karitv next month , tho Commission of Inquiry into the Corporation of London will commence its sittings . Tho : $ rtl or the 10 th of October will , in all likelihood , bo the first day for taking evidence Tho inquiry will be conducted at tho ( luildhnll , probably in tho court appropriated to tho sitting of the Common Council . It will be an open court ; and if ; is understood that tho commiKHioncrs lmvo determined on hauring all tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1853, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10091853/page/7/
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