Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 30th August 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 826, Untitled Article

Page 826
Page 14
14 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)

      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.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • 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

      travelled thoughtful man of our day , deeply interested in the condition of the working-classes , and perfectly free from the prejudices which obstruct the light from so many minds : — "' The rights of propert y' and « the rig hts of labour' are beg inning to stand up in opposition to each other , ' replied Mr . Cunning ham , ' there will be a struggle , but there will be peace at last . The " ghts of property" are already inpossession of the sympathies Of society ; the other is looked upon as a" word of fear ; " all the sympathies and fears of society are engaged by the selfish sense of the need of protection * t any price . The only idea of safety is that of consecrating and recognizing the claims of property , and of treating as seditious and incendiary all attempts to

      recognize the rights of labour—treating as wild theorists and dangerous to society those ntien who would attempt to speak in behalf of those rights . A strugg le has c ommenced alread y between the past and the future , which must be fought out in the battle of the present . We are at once both spectators and soldiers . The advocates of the rights of labour may seem to be vague and embarrassed in th ' eir movements—even ridiculous ; but T ruth endur e s for ever and ever , and her judgment is not pronounced all at once ; the whole meaning of the strugg le i s only unveiled by degrees ; that which to-day seems a bsurd will graduall y seem more r e a sonable as the idea matures and is worked out . '

      •« ' Ay , that ' s quite true , ' said John Withers , many ' s the thing we look on as a matter of course to-day which when I was young would have sounded f a irl y crazy , —and to be aure , people may say in newspapers now what the y w ould ha v e got into tr o uble for years ago . ' " ' Both sides , in the struggle that is now commencing , ' said Mr . Cunning ham , ' have rig ht on their side ; neither of them need annihilate the other to insure a triumph , but antagonism is the onl y process by which a fresh growth is possible in this world . The majority of mankind are prone to have no belief except in what is actually done and accomplished , which is very fortwiate for the stability of society . Ne w ideas , even thoug h possessing some heavenly truth , are , when first announced , wild , vague , and

      unstable ; they require to be purified by the opposition with which they meet—to be sifted like wheat . By this process they become more and more practicable and rational ; they assimilate more and more to the real heartfelt desires of mankind , and in the end they take their stand among the realities of life , the truths for which men will henceforth fight and die , and hold fast against all attempts at innovation . It is curious to trace this progress of a principle , from the first day when it was uttered almost unconsciously by its promulgator , through the travail and struggle and persecution which give it shape and strength . ' " " ' Then , the ideas that the working-classes are getting about their rights and their claims , is one of those which are fighting to be recognized ? ' said John Withers .

      «• « It is in the throes of its birth , ' said Mr . Cunningham ; * but it has , nevertheless , got itself seriously propounded . What is this right of property ? It is the recompense earned and deserved by work that has been accomplished . What is the right of labour ? It is that each should have the power to accomplish work . It is in the name of themselves and their children that those who already possess , fight to preserve that possession ; and it is also in . the name of themselves and children that those who have nothing claim the possibility of obtaining something . But society , which ia a mother to those who already have , is a step-mother to those who have not . The present has duties undoubtedly towards the past , which has asserted itself ; but it must also listen to the claims of those who are struggling to assert

      themselves . 44 * What should you say was me . int by the rights of labour ? ' asked John Withers . " ? The rights of labour claim the power of full development of all the faculties—the lessening and removal of material obstacles in the way of producing labour . It is very easy to exult the legitimacy of absolute property , because the idea of the dignity

      of labour is not very widely spread , or at least not felt , and the opposition between the two is mado sharper , because it in very sweet to the serf to conquer privileges , as it places him directly in the runks of the privileged ; and it must be owned that the actual aspect of labour and . of the labourer is not attractive , except to men truly religious , who work from a higher motive than thut of immediate sutcesa , or personal gain and loss . He elsewhere Bays , with truth : — ot the lower classes

      •• * When the educittion m spoken of it is always troated as a kind of edge tool which must be Bheathetl in dogmatic religious instruction , a * otherwise it would cut the lingers both of those who receive it and those who have latthl y p laced H in their hands . ' " In fact , Mr . Cunningham is the spokesman of most of the serious thoughts which Miss Jewsbury wishe . to set forth , and many quotable passages could we gather from his conversation , but nave < m \ y room for this upon love ;—•

      " ' Oh , yes , ' said Marian earnestly , * I am sure that the only happ iness worth calling happiness in the world must be to find some one to love with all our heart and soul , and to be the whole world to each other . ' If I once found any one who would let me love as I could love , would it not gq on strengthening to our lives' end?—would not all duties , all employments , follow naturally , as flowers grow after the seed is sown ? ' "

      " « Your dream is that of all young and loving natures , ' said Mr . Cunning ham ; ' but you onl y seek after emotion , a nd all the ennui and melanchol y you comp lain of is nothing but the craving for ic . Love is the purification of the heart from self ; it strengthens and ennobles the character , gives a higher motive and a nobler aim to every action of life , and makes both man and woman strong , noble , and courageous ; and the power to love truly and devotedly is the noblest gift with which a human being can be endowed—but it is a sacred fire that must not be burnt to idols . You fancy , my dear Marian , that a devoted

      passionate love would win similar devotion in return ; but it is not so . No human being can bear the weig ht of an entire and undivided affection without staggering under the burden . At first this complete abandonment of yourself to your emotion may seem grand and devoted ; but the object of it becomes weary , and when the stimulation of vanity has c eased , you will be thrown back upon yourself , broken with disappointment and humiliated to your very soul by finding that all your most precious things have ceased to be of any value . If y ou will examine thoroughl y into your own heart , you will find that , bitter as this sounds , there is a reason ; a fac t is always true . There is

      idleness and weakness at the root of this apparent generosity . You are averse to the discipline of selfcontrol , and no human being is , or ever can be , exonerated from this duty , imposed by Nature herself . You expect another to sustain the full tide of your undisci plined energies—to guide you to that duty you refuse to do for yourself . Self-control , self-discipline , is the first law for both man and woman , from which no power can give a dispensation . Your present suffering arises mainly from having failed in this duty towards yourself . My dear child , it is only God himself who is entitled to say , " Give me thine heart , "—and on him alone can we fling ourselves with all our weakness and our dependence . ' "

      Marian Withers claims attention for its eloquence , its knowledge of life , its originality , its stra ightforward dealing with realities , and general elevation of tone ; but it is deficient in breadth and unity , and is not equal in depth or in interest to The Half Sisters , which , however , was a work of unusual power .

      Untitled Article

      CARPENTER ON REFORMATORY SCHOOLS . Reformatory School * for the Children of the Perishing and Dan ' gerous Classes , and for Juvenile Offenders . By Mary Carpenter . Gilpin-This valuable work indicates clearly the peril to which Society i a expose d thr ou g h the number of children suffered ( in spite of all the efforts of the friends of education ) to grow up in ig noran c e an d crime . The authoress has brought to her task great benevolence of feeling towards the unhappy subjects of her inquiries , and an unwearied spirit of investigation into all sources of information relative to

      their condition , and the existing efforts to improve it . She examines the statistics of crime among the juvenile portion of the community ; their mental and moral deficiency ; the loss sustained by societ y through t h eir crime s , and the expense of punishing them ; the unfitness to their case of the present e d uca t ional machinery , which can alone be met by the establishment of Reformatory Schools . She contrasts the condition of children untaught and uncared f o r , with that of those who have benefited by the advantages which the present limited efforts for their reformation afford : —

      " liOok at them in the streets , where , to the eye of the worldly man , they all appear the scum of the populace , fit only to be swept as vermin from the face of the earth ; see them in their homes , if such they have , squalid , filthy , vi < ious , or pining and wretched , with none to hel p , destined only , it would seem , to be carried olf by some beneficent pestilence ; and you have no hesitation in acknowledging that these are indeed dangerous and perishing classes . Uehold them when the hand of wisdom and of love bus shown them a better way , and purilied and softened their outward demeanour and their inner spirit , in schools well adapted to themselves . "

      The spirit in which the- schools of reformation must be conducted is shown in the following extract , the severity which characterizes the gaol system being too often found to counteract all the efforts made to improve the character in those receptacles of youthful criminals : — " Love must be tho ruling sentiment of ull who attempt to influence and guide these children . This 1 oy 6 must indeed be wile as well as kind : but it must

      be so evidently the pervading feeling of the teaahar to his c harg e , that no severity on his part shall alienate them from him . Truly has it been said * ' There is one great instinct in every human breast , a weary long ing for kindness from our fellovr-rnenj and deli ght in finding it . B ut t o ch i ldre n it is an absolute necessity of their nature ; and when it is denied them , they become no longer children . None can tell but those who have witnessed it , the responsive love which is awakened in the heart of one of these forsaken o n e s by a kind look an d word , or the purif ying effect of the feeling , n o w b y many

      experienced for the first time , that they are ' loved for themselves . ' Love draws with human chords far stronger than chains of iron . While in the education of the young generally this element is a most ess e ntial ingredient , yet if wanting in the school it m a y be supp lied in the home;—but here ? if these poor children have a home , it is but too often one to crush rather than cherish any feeling of affection , and toward s society in g en e ral , at any rate the more favoured portion of it , we have already seen that their hand is against every man , and every man's hand against them . '"

      The results of the ragged and free-day school movement , partial and imperfect and impeded by sectarianism as it has been , are shown to offer sufficient encouragement to the adoption of more general and better-organized efforts to establish a system of sound industrial training * " Away has been opened—a means has been shown of reaching these outcasts . Many hearts have responded to a call for aid which they could understand . The rich and titled have felt their human sympathies awakened by coming into actual contact with the

      wanderers of the highways and by-ways , and hi gh-born children have been p leased to serve the tables of the lowest in the land . There may have been much that was unnecessary , much that was unwise in what has been done , and in the manner of doing it ; but it has tended to establish the practical conviction that we are all of one human family ; and that as such , the strong oug ht to try to help the weak ; that we have all common sj'inpathies , common destinies ; and that the givers of the most precious gifts will be even more blessed than the receivers of them . An active

      stimulus has , by this movement , been given to exertion in the right direction , which requires only to be wisel y guided to do great good . " The closing chapters are peculiarly interesting , showing on the one hand the inadequacy of the gaol and Parkhurst system to reform offenders , and on the other the great success of the efforts of the Philanthropic Society and the Stretton School , in England ; of M . Demetz , at Mettrai ; Count von der

      Recke , at Dusselthal ; and J . H . Wichern , at Hamburg . The difficulties under which these two last-named institutions labour are shown to be that of obtaining funds necessary to the necessities and usefulness of the establishments , and that of their being no legal power of detention residing with the master . The necessity for this provision and these powers is fully recognized in the report of the Lords' committee .

      44 Upon one subject the whole of the evidence and all the opinions are quite unanimous—the good that may be hoped from education—meaning thereby a sound , moral , and reli gious training , commencing in infant schools , and followed up in schools for older pupils ; to these where it is practicable , industrial training should be added . There seems in the general opinion to be no other means that affords even a chance of lessening the number of offenders and diminishing the atrocity of their crimes .

      44 The committee , therefore , deem that they should not be discharging their duty if they did not earnestly press these momentous subjects upon the opinion of the Legislature . Without raising . any speculative questions on the right to punitfjn those whom the State has left in ignorance , it may safely be affirmed that the duty of all rulers is both to prevent as far as may be possible the necessity of punishing , and where they do inflict punishment to attempt reformation . "

      Untitled Article

      MONKS CONTEMPORARIES . Monk's Contemporaries . IHographit Studies on the UngU '' Revolution . Hy M . Gulzot . Translated from tho French » y A . It . Scoble . ( Holm ' s Cheap Seried . ) II . O- H ° - Among the many excellent works which Mr . Bofcn has issued , those of the Cheap Series have almost always been of a lighter cast than this grave volume of biographic studies . But although the manner is high and serious , the matter is relieved by the interest always felt in biography ; and we call attention to this volume as one both suggestive and entertaining . As ( iuizot says :- — 44 In order properly to understand a revolution , * ° must consider it lit iU origin and termination—in tn ° earliest plans which it puts forth , and ill the definitive results which it attains . In these its true cH » - r « ct « f is revealed ; by these we may judge ***** w « re the f « al thought * And wfehM of th « poop "

      Untitled Article

      826 Iff ) * QLtbttt t * [ Saujrba *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1851, page 826, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1898/page/14/