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Leader (1850-1860), 12th October 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 684

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      which shows how efficacious was the plan of putting the " porochial" stamp on the ceremony . The pauper is trotted to the grave in a deal box , and why should not his " soul dance upon a jig to Heaven " ? You may doubt the benefit of divine service so performed , may think it better to go without altogether ; but it is well known that Parliament indignantly rejects the idea of not providing for an established chaplain in each workhouse . From the facts we suppose that the object of that pious resolve is , not to serve the paupers—as ,

      indeed , no assembly properly embued with political ceconomy principles would consent to make the workhouse a path to Heaven—but to serve the parson and the Establishment . Though , how any Church can really be served by foisting a reverend gentleman on a parish , while a pauper can do all that is necessary in the spiritual work of the house , we do not see . Perhaps the idea is , that the parish at large derives spiritual benefit from feeding

      a clergyman , as certain Hindft grandees think that they are benefitted by feeding Brahmins . So there is preferment even in the impropriation of parish rates ; and , if the paupers are not to be forwarded on their posthumous journey , the clergyman , by having every facility and appliance to cultivate his own spiritual condition , will be the better expedited to represent the parish on high .

      We do not say that these are arrangements that command our concurrence . We retain strong notions as to the equality of man in the sight of God ; we hold that a pauper is " man and a half-brother , " and that , at sacred times , when we specially recognize the presence of the Creator , his creature is sanctified to our view , even with the holiness that at such times should possess the place and all that is in it . But such ideas , it would seem , are anarchical , subversive of order , and quite extra-parochial !

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      SIR JOHN rRANKUN . Opinions differ as to the effect of the intelligence respecting Sir John Franklin's expedition—some holding that the recovery of the lost ships is hopeless , on account of the time that they ha-ve spent in the icy regions ; others holding that they may have been quiescent , and held out . In either case a tardy but growing indignation is felt at the manner in which the search has been directed . There can no longer be any doubt that if Sir James Ross had not been hampered by inadequate means and erroneous instructions he would have penetrated further into Wellington Inlet , and instead of returning without success he would have found the traces now discovered , and so have saved two years to the search .

      Some surprise is felt at the return of Captain Forsyth . It has been said that , in the absence of a proper countenance from the Admiralty , he was induced to offer his services gratuitously . The statement has been denied , but in terms ambiguously restricted . Certain it is that the official people have displayed a shameful backwardness in performing their duty — a backwardness wholly unworthy of the country that produces men like Franklin and his companions , or the gallant sailors now out on the search—eager to be sent . The object in Whitehall seemed to be to try how little trouble or cost " would do "—for how little appearances might be saved , although the chance of saving the lost Toyagers was not worth much !

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      of their own opinion with sufficient distinctness to embolden them in the full utterance of their mind . Here , then , is a conviction gaining possession of the public , in every possible quarter—the separated pools , if I may say so , graduall y enlarging as the waters pour down , until they bid fair to uniteand yet that conviction is becoming " a great fact" without having been argued out as a question of public ceconomy .

      I ) o not suppose that I am doing injustice to the many excellent writers on the subject of Association , or think that I am so silly as to ignore their works . But I find this fault with them , one and all , that they do not apply their counsel to the existing state of things . They have no respect for the starting point—namely , that point at which we are arrived ; but to a great extent damn their own exhortations by making compliance with them appear impossible , unless we wipe out the whole ceconomical code of society and begin anew . That is so great a confession of impracticability ,

      that it is almost a reductio ad absurdum . Most of them , too , propound systems , which are offered for acceptance , ready to hand ; although , as they tell us , the state of society will be wholly altered . But how can we , living in this state oi society , presume to legislate for one wholly altered ? How could a legislator of Queen Elizabeth ' s time—and surely in those days men had their faculties about them—how could an Elizabethan legislator have constructed statutes for our day , of journals , steam , gaslights , railways , and electric telegraph ? Yet our condition does not differ from that Augustan age as much as it would differ from a developed state of Communism . The most ratiocinative of

      Communists is Proudhon , but he is led into revolting theoretical exaggerations and paradoxes , and is unable to apply his own principles in any form that is practicable . In his despair of being able to construct a policy he boldly declares himself an anarchist — one who revolts from every policy . Louis Blanc exposes the evils of competition , and recommends Socialism with great eloquence ; but he does nothing to dislodge

      the political ceconomist by meeting him on his own ground . Owen is much more explicit and distinct , but he is also general , and does not get at the thing wanted for all human progress—a principle , which shall be available to us even as we are . For the beginning of all vast changes has had to be worked in the midst of the old wnchanged condition . The Socialists appear to me to make no provision for that necessity .

      You will , indeed , find the principles of Socialism and the evils of competition very beautifully elucidated in the writings of John Minter Morgan , especially in his Revolt of the Bees and Hampden in the Nineteenth Century . Morgan is a man of perfectly simple mind , with enlarged apprehensions , and a keen insight into the truth ; through a very complicated subject he is guided by an exguisite taste ; he is an earnest follower of Jesus , in the true spirit of his master . He wants the faculty of appreciating the class of facts on which political oeconomists rely ; hence he has no sufficient respect

      for writers of that half-developed science ; and he lacks the disposition to grapple with the rough realities of politics . He , too , for these reasons appears to me to omit the first principle by which we are to effect the transition process . I do not deny him to be right in saying that an experiment might at once be made on his plan , by establishing such a " self-supporting village " as he recommends in his Christian Commonwealths I am sure that its success would be very striking , and would immensely expedite the progress of opinion on the subject of Association ; but he speaks too much as if those outside can derive no benefit from the

      truths of Association . This is the point on which I differ with one who will allow me to call him my master in the doctrine . I insist that Communism is the proper subject of the omitted chapter in political ceconomy ; that it is not , as Communists have argued , opposed to political oiconomy , but is , in truth , the crowning chapter of that science ; and what we have to do is to define the principle on which that omitted portion

      SOCIAL REFORM . EP 18 TOLJH OH 8 CURORUM VIKOItUM . XII . — Communism — "What is it ? To EltASMUS . October 8 , 1850 . Never was there a more striking fact in the history of the human mind , my dear friend , than the present widely-spread desire for a conviction in

      favour of the Associative idea . You see that desire showing itself in all directions of society ; numbers , of every conceivable condition and opinion , tell me that they are " Socialists in feeling , " but that they do not see their way ; others , like yourjelf , are half Socialists , but have not yet surmounted « omc difficulties ; and n vast number of genuine Communists have not yet mastered the rationale

      must turn : — " It is always my way , " says one of my most valued correspondents , " when pressed for ' a system' in consultations on social reform , to decline discussing that part of the matter at all , till we were all clear as to the evil principle that we want to leave behind , and the good one we nro reaching forward to . I took a lesson on this so long ngo as 1830 , when I saw how the southern statesmen in America wore trying to ruin Dr . Channing by enticing him to propound a system which might supersede slavery . I always implored him to refuse to say a word on that part of the business so prematurely , if

      he got the principle of human liberty fairly into' men ' s minds the exercise of it would provide for itself . It ig the very function of a principle to provide for its own action . This is what I alwa 5 s say when people ridicule the imaginary scene of women sitting in Parliament . I tell them I am not looking to any particular crimson bench , or planning any speech , but foreseeing that every enlightened adult will some day have a share in the making of laws , which all such adults have to obey . Whether it is to be done by means of the post-office ox the electric telegraph , or meetings in earth , air , 01 water , I need not consider yet . "

      Most true : ascertain a principle , have it out , set it free in the broad light and air of day , and irresistibly it will work . The principle of Communism appears to me to be the complement essential to the division of employments . While each man worked for himself and his dependents , he would be able to secure a sufficiency of food , clothing , and shelter . The theory is , that if several men combine their labour , and divide the several employments among them , the ceconomy of time and the acquisition of skill will encrease the amount of produce ; and no one will

      deny that the gross encrease of produce must be beneficial for society . Such is the theory ; but what do we find to be the fact ? The fact is , that the gross amount of produce is not proportionately encreased ; that to many of the dividers of labour it is not encreased at all ; and that the return of produce for labour is in no respect apportioned to exertion . Several theoretical grounds have been given for these imperfect results ; but I find the plain and direct ground in want of con ' certaggravated by reliance on the fallacious

      , principle of trading exchange . It is plain that if a given number of men combine , and divide their employment , they can make their labour much more productive , if there is some concert between them as to the distribution of their labour ; but if there is not that concert , the chances are that some of them will be working in duplicate —producing glut ; " others working at things not wanted ; others doing about the right thing , and a

      few hitting on something very valuable . And when they come to divide their produce by the principle of trading exchange , a fair share will go to those who have done the right thing , half a share a-piece to those who have worked in duplicate , nothing to those who have worked , however honestly , yet uselessly , and an accumulation of several shares to him who has hit upon the most precious something . Precisely a description of our unorganized labour .

      But , it is said , competition stimulates energy , and augments the produce for society , however ill divided for individuals . Now , I ask you—for I must not pause to disentangle this position completely , and separate all its parts—I ask you , my dear Erasmus , who have both the reading and the intellect , to eliminate all the presumption mixed up with that theoretical position , which assumes that what is , must be ; a position which might have kept

      society in the uncommercial condition of ancient Greece or military Rome . It is presumed the competition is the stimulant of industry ; but John Mill has already added " custom , " , as I have phrased it some time since , " what is usual , " in each man ' s way of life . There are many other incentives—instinctive love of exertion , love to do work well , and so forth , which I saw operating among the paupers on the Sheffield farm .

      It is presumed that competition encreases produce more than concert would . This is a very gross presumption , and , I believe , a very erroneous one . In the first place , it is quite clear that the greatest amount of produce would be obtained by the best distribution of labour , which cannot possibly be attained without concert ; and any degree of concert would proportionally tend to encrease produce . Secondly , competition draws labour from the least remunerative kinds of industry to the most remunerative ; but those which by no means " pay" best , according to the trading exchange , are among those which are most certain and orofitable for society : competition , therefore ,

      disturbs the right distribution of labour . Ihirdlv , although it stimulates industry in the successful , it renders industry nearly hopeless in the unsuccessful in those who are casually consigned to the non-paying branches of industry ; one cause of pauperism . Fourthly , it induces large numbers to abate that element in " the cost of production , " their own wages , until they literally go below the amount needful for their own subsistence ; another cause of pauperism and of a most unhealthy state of very extensive trades , causing strife , crime , and penal expense . Fifthly , it occasions enormous stimulation of particular trades beyond the need ,

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      TUB REVOLT OP THE CABMEN . Several provincial papers report a strike among cabdrivers in various large towns , but without defining their grievance . One important point , however , has oozed out during the discussion—it appears that in most places the drivers are very ill-paid . In Liverpool they only receive some 15 s . or 16 s . a-week , which is far too small a sum for men who have such hard duties to perform . " But then , " we shall be told by J . II . Macculloch , " we must consider that the supply of cabmen is far greater than the demand . "

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      684 H £ t ) t 3 Lt& * [ &et * Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 12, 1850, page 684, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1856/page/12/