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any of 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 said to exist , and there seems to be a studious avoidance of all inculcation of Fourier ' s doctrines , the majoT ¦ nortion of which are absolutely proscribed .
Ir . ¦ . t i » j _ - i j i _ - j »/ V » ' .. II j _ _ j _ On the other hand , it would be difficult to exaggerate the bright side of the picture ; and it is this which is the 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 thename 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 nnine .
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 thoroughly 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—the most that can be got . They have purchased a very eligible site , and are proceeding to act up machinery , workshops , and residences—the latter on a unitary plan , with the view of securing an
economical organization of domestic labour . Their intention is carefully to adapt the supply to the demand—in a word , to do the business of the company in a thoroughly business-like manner ; and the business of the compa ny is , at present , simply to build up the village ; when the population comes it is supposed that it will be able to manage ita own affairs , —the organization of industry is to grow up naturally , in obedience to laws of suppl y and demand , under the general providence , merel y , of the company . Conceiving the great error of tlio Plmlanstorian movements to have been the attempt to force Boeioty into an artificial mould , they determine , at least , to steer clear of that error , and bo guided by natural indications as to what circumstances may , from time to time , demand .
I his movement , as compared with the forty odd soonll ccl Phalanstercs , is doubtless one in advance , and not , as tho people at tho North American pretend , oho , in co mparison with themselves , retrograde . Tho personnel ° » the now movement being made up chiefly of sccodcrs li'om tho others , it naturally excites , in tho adherents ° < tho latter , some jealousy . But , in tho want of broad Roncr nl views , both parties arc alike , although tho now move ment is evidently , moro philosophical , notwith" 'iMidinjr tho complol , o innocence * of its promoters of any taint ; of truly philosophical views .
• Pho intelligent portion of social reformers nro noarly nil looking in tho direction of " Modern Times . " Tho identityol \\ i \ Hnwvinmv \ Uv [ t \\ thQ J'halaiistery of Char / . vs ¦ I'ouriar , in tho most essential principles , is beginning to ho recognised by tho most advanced social reformer / a hero , Tho essential conditions of associative industry , < w conceived of by Fourier , either exist , or may be reasonably expected to grow up upontaneously , in tho " Hquitahlo 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 ove ^ 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 unhappiness 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 the existence of the deepest and most wide-spread social disease , and the social want thereby indicated , may well be failures . They have been , they are , they will be . It is upon this rock that tho 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 alono attempts to grapple with this master difficulty , and it does it in the way at onco 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 tho central idea of Fourier ' s speculations , the identity of which with tho Modern Times movement is again very remarka ble A movement which starts by eliminating altogether the idea of association or any combination of int erests whatever , is coming to effectuate the very reforms which have in thin country gono generally by tho name of Associationism , while the associations aro themselves sinking into inanition . A want of profound sincerity is , I believe , the essential causo of these nssociationist failures . Commnnxinir Kir -rm nf ' . f . nvni ) f . <> d exniinrntion of the immoral mencing ban attempted expurgation of tho immoral
y portions of Fourier ' s doctrines , tho movemont only drew upon itself a double suspicion ; the imagination supplied the untranslated' portions of Fourier ' s vvorka , while the attempt Jit concealment became * an ineflaceablo impeachment b (* th upon the manliness and integrity of the entire cause . The incipient vice propagated itself through all the subsequent stages ; and the most striking feature in tho history of all those associations , down to the incidents of my fivo months' stay At the North-American Phalanstery , i » the want of manly sincerity in tho lending men .
But tho vice is general throughout American society . It seems to mo a natural consequence of tho too-much prolonged attempt to " believe in tho inerodihle , " Kucceedcd by a public profession of what tho mind is ultimately compelled to recognise as " ineon-HiHtent with known facts . " Tho decay of real religions faith , indeed , in , I am convinced , at tho bottom of much of tho Hocial misery existing in thin country . The pooplo have lonf . their old faiths , * n < l with them the basis of their moral sentiments , and have found no new oncn . Ileneo tho general decay of the moral Honthnonfc ; for it i » Mrs . Otrundy alono who keep ?) society togothor
here ! The moral sentiment is low indeed ; an unbridled selfishness rules over all . Personal interest is , in these days , coming to be regarded—and not in tins 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 commercial 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 are naturally the order of the day . 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 Homething far other than the merely disorganizing influence for which Henry James has mistaken it . H . E .
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TRANSATLANTIC CUNNING . A strange stony 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 novr , 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 io 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 101 . will do . * * Be assured , my dearest friend , I would not have written
again , bad you not insisted I should do so , the very moment I had further need of your assistance / ' Ho asks for a Bank of England note ; " for they pass current here . And direct as below . The doctor is the physician of the institution , and has been very kind to me indeed ; kindly consenting that your answer to mo may be addressed to him . Therefore please address , post paid , ' Dr . Miles H . Ellis , Easton , Northampton County , Pennsylvania , U . S . ' " He adds , that as ho cannot send that letter as his former ones , he signs " only with the initial , in case of accident ; " and concludes by stating that he has still " one year longer to remain m this awful place . "
Mr . Chadwick made inquiries of all his relatives aa to his deceased brother ' s connexion with this correspondent , but he could find no clue . He then wrote to America to Dr . Ellis , but tho answer was not satisfactory . He next wrote to tho postmaster of Easton , Pennsylvania , and through his agency the whole affair was exposed . It would seem , so far as tho circumstances have been elucidated , that a person calling himself " Dr . Milea II . Ellis , " and living at Baltimore , is carrying on a very artful begging-letter business with England , by writing to persona of respectability , who , he learns by the latest English papers , have recently died in this country , lie writes as a prisoner , who baa before received benevolent aid from the deceased ; and his terms of grateful
veneration for liis benefactor are well adapted to inovo surviving kindred to carry out what they may regard as the secret benevolence of him of whom they havo just been bereaved . Tho elaboration of tho plan , the doxtorous hints Mint the prisoner himself had fallen from a position of high respectability , the reference to tho physician of the prison , and especially tho contrivance , that letters directed to Dr . Ellis , at Ensfcon , should 1 ) 0 forwarded to him at Hnltiinoro , —all these thinp . show such craft , blended with a shrewd knowledge of human nature , that we have thought , it , right to put our readers , and ( through republication in other paponf ) the public generally in this country , on their guard against this very clever nnd refined attempt to obtain money , by sonic accomplished swindler on the other « ido of tho Atlantic .
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CORPORATION OF LONDON . EAiti . Y next month , the Commission of Inquiry into the Corporation of London will commence itu Bittingn . The . 'hd or tho 10 th of October will , in all likelihood , be the ihvt day for fcitkhifr evidence Tho inquiry will be conducted at the ( JuildhaH , probably in tho court appropriated to tho Hitting of tho Common Council . It will bo an open court ; and it ; is understood that tho commifiaionora have determined on hearing all tho
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September 10 , 1853 /] THE LEADER , 871
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1853, page 871, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2003/page/7/
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