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Leader (1850-1860), 25th October 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1018, Untitled Article

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      and some deformed . Their labour through the day , and their education at night , became so intolerably irksome , that numbers ran away , and almost all of them looked forward with anxiety and impatience to the expiration of their appren ~ ticcship , of seven , eight , or nine years , which generally terminated when they were from thirteen to fifteen years old ; at which critical period of life they usually went off to Edinburgh or Glasgow , where many of these victims of charity fell a sacrifice to the innumerable tempta ^ tions by which they were assailed . Thus , Mr .

      Dale ' s benevolent arrangements were rendered , in their ultimate effect , almost nugatory . The children were hired by him and employed—for ¦ wit hout their labour he could not support them ; but the errors of the system arose from the children being sent from the workhouse to the factory—( call you that Protection , you land monopolists ?)—at too early an age for employment , and before they were educated ; and if this be a true picture , not overcharged , of parish apprenticeship under humane regulations , in what colours must it be portrayed under the worst ?

      Mr . Robert Owen married the eldest daughter of Mr . Dale ; and in the year 1800 became the managing partner of the business , both at New Lanark and at Glasgow , all his copartners residing in London or at Manchester . His object in purchasing this establishment from Mr . Dale was to try on a more extended scale the experiment which he had previously made with considerable success : the object of his partners was to make a profit by cotton-spinning . He had , therefore , to combine these two objects in the best manner possible under the circumstances . The

      population of New Lanark , collected from Glasgow and other places , was , with few exceptions , inferior and demoralized ; many of them spoke only Gaelic and disliked all Englishmen . Robert Owen was not of their religion ; and the establishment had been so conducted under the influence of a sect , that much religious animosity existed among the inhabitants , who were intemperate , immoral , and dirty . Some time was at first spent in ascertaining the difficulties to be overcome , which were numerous and formidable , and in discovering the capabilities of the establishment . As in all other

      cotton-spinning mills at that time , there were many vicious , injurious , and inferior circumstances around the people ; and the first ten years were employed in gradually replacing these by virtuous , beneficial , and superior circumstances . This was the more difficult to accomplish as strong prejudices against the change from old habits and arrangements to new ones , existed in the minds both of the peop le and of the partners , who at length became so much alarmed at the proposed expenditure for the improvement of the people and of the establishment , that they refused to proceed

      any further . Robert Owen then expressed his willingness either to retire from , or to take the establishment , b y stating the sum which he would give or take for it , and at once fixed the amount at £ 84 , 000 . He had had the business under his direction for ten years , during which the profits , after allowing five per cent , interest for capital , amounted to £ G () , 000 . His partners , therefore , agreed to accept the Bum proposed , and a new company was formed , in which he was joined by one of his former partners and by two leading merchants of Glasgow . He now proceeded with the intended beneficial changes , as he found by

      daily experience , that in proportion as the external circumstances were improved , the character and conduct of the population also improved ; and having become possessed of the largest share in the concern , he was , therefore , liable for the largest proportion of any Iohh which might accrue . lie had discovered that the circumstance most itijiiriotiH in its moral and social influence on the population was the defective and false character given by the ignorant workpeople to their children , and he , therefore , commenced an establishment for forming their characters from hn early a period as

      he could obtain control over them from their parents ; but before the necessary building wan halt" finished , bin new partners objected to its completion , and iiisimetl that , as they were mere cotton-spinners , working for profit , they had nothing to do with tho visionary improvement of the character of the population . Robert Owen replied that he could only proceed m his own way to govern the people and conduct the establishment ; that , if his partners were dissatisfied with his lneaHures , he would again fix a price for it which ho would either give or

      accept . This offer they refused , and decided that it should be put up to public auction in six months from that time , four years after the commencement of the partnership . His partners , as it afterwards appeared , intended to purchase the factory , and , therefore , endeavoured to depreciate its value in the estimation of wealthy persons , giving out that they Would be well pleased to obtain £ 40 , 000 for it , and that Robert Owen ' s plans were visionary and impracticable . "While these measures were in progress , he found other partners * who were willing to unite with him in the purchase of the mills , if he could buy them at the sale . He had estimated the value of the establishment at £ 120 , 000 ; for the machinery had been entirely reconstructed , the buildings much enlarged , and the produce of the mills greatly

      improved and increased j but , above all , the character of the people had become so superior that the value of the concern was in consequence greatly enhanced . ^ Mr . Owen ' s retiring partners , on the day of sale , bid £ 114 , 000 , and therefore lost the purchase ; but they afterwards told the Provost of Glasgow , a common friend of both parties , that the property was then £ 20 , 000 too cheap ! So much , exclaims Robert Owen , for the honesty of the principle created by the present system of buying cheap and selling dear—a practice destructive of the best natural qualities of humanity . These men in four years had realized £ 150 , 000 of profit ; and disappointment , it was thought , so preyed upon their minds that , in less than one year from the day of sale , the two Glasgow merchants

      died . The majority of Robert Owen ' s new partners ^ were men of known benevolence , and prepared to carry out the great social and educational experiment on which he was engaged . The institution for the formation of character from early infancy was speedily finished , and formally opened on the 1 st of January , 1816 . It was upon this occasion that the principles and practice to be pursued in infant schools , of a rational character ^ were first given to the public ; and the infant school , the first of its kind that ever existed , was opened upon the following day . James Buchanan , a poor weaver , was the first schoolmaster ; but for months Robert Owen ' s presence and instruction were

      necessary to infuse into him the true spirit of the system , and the proper method of treating the children . The infant department was only one of the three divisions into which the schools of the institution were classified , and it soon attained a perfection and celebrity that attracted strangers from all countries . This was intended to be the first practical step towards forming an intelligent , kind , charitable , and rational chumcter for the infants of the human race ; to prepare them for a new state of society , based solely upon truth , emanating from an accurate practical knowledge of human nature—the only practical mode by which the human character can ever be well

      formed . Having partners who had been promised not more than live per cent , interest for their capital , and who were willing to expend the surplus profits for the permanent benefit of the pbjsiflatibn , the houses and gardens of the village were wneareased , improved , and kept in good order , and arrangements were made to supply them with all the necessaries and many of the comforts of life , of the best quality , at wholesale prices . At this period all

      mills were unrestricted by law a * to the number of hours of working , as well as to the age at which children were allowed to he employed ; and as the health of boih young and old suffered from the long duration of their daily attendance upon the machinery , with its deafening noiae , the working houra for all ages were reduced to ten hours and a half a duy . New Lanark became familiarly known as the " Happy Valley , " § although but little , compa-

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      ? ' His ( Owen ' s ) theory was that , while he made a manufacturing population more virtuouH and happy , ho could also render them more productive to their em * plovers ; and in thin respect ho certainly fulfilled his engagements . Dentham had every reason to be satisfied with the pecuniary results of his investments of money intheNuw Lanark-mills . "—I $ i * ntiia . m ' h MkMoikh , 1813 . " I found the arrangements with regard to the manufacturing part excellent , and even beyond my expectations . "—Jouunai . or W . AI . I . KN , 1814 . | - " The people are peculiarly decent and respectable . ' * —New Stat . Account of Scotland , Lanarkshire . * X On the 24 th of December , 1814 , the articles of partnership wore signed by John Walker , Joseph Vox . Joseph Foster , Miohael Gibus , and William Allen , ana forwarded to Hubert Owen for signature . § " The minister at Lanark said , ' he was not awaro oif

      producing as much real wealth for society as , half a century before , would have required the ujorhitin part of a population of 600 , 000 to create ; and now , with the subsequent improvements in nuu , chinery and cotton spinning , the same population would create as much wealth , probably , ag 1 , 000 , 000 at the earlier period could have produced , And Robert Owen then asked himself—What became of the difference between th e wealth consumed-by 2500 persons , and that which would have been consumed by the 600 , 000 or the 1 , 000 , 000 ? What became of such superabundant means to produce wealth and happiness for aU ?

      ratively , had been done for the healthan ^ to ^ ness of the population , compared with that whiST for the interest of all , might and should be don by all nations , for all people ; and which , in »«! tice , would be found to be so easy , and yet all powerful for good . " I could do no more , " gava Robert Owen , " for a mere manufacturing ponula . tion ; for manufactures are not the true foundation of society . And , after all ,- what had I done for these people ? What was their real condition ? The people were slaves at my mercy j liable at any time to be dismissed , and thus to relapse into a . state of misery , compared with such limited hap . piness as they then enjoyed . " Yet the working part of this population of 2500 persons was daily

      Leaving my readers , for the present , to answer these vitally important questions for themselves , I must reserve for next week the history of the termination of the New Lanark experiment ; by which Robert Owen demonstrated to the world , that Malthus and the ceconomists were wrong , and " painless extinction " unprofitable ; for that labour , when properl y directed , is of far greater value to the community , than the expense necessary to maintain the labourer in considerable comfort . When labour , therefore , shall be so directed , it will be found , that population cannot , for very many years , advance as rapidly as society might be benefited by its increase . William Coningham .

      [ In the first sentence of my last letter , for Taxes , read Taxes and Expenditure . —W . C ]

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      1018 < MW % t&Vit * ' [ Sattobat ,

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      — . « He any case of drunkenneBMjorayearor twop ^ - ^ ^ . ( the master of the workpeople ) has the ?» , , „**• ¦ toady , rellgiou « man , andhis t ^ formatton » . factory . ' "—Life of William Allan , 1818 .

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      Opinion of Lord John Russell on Civil Equality . —It is not very long since one of the members for the City of London ( Lord John Russell ) made a memorable declaration in his place in Parliament ; memorable , in chief , for its distinctness , for he had before avowed the same principle , in common with many other leading statesmen . " It appeared to him , " his lordship said , " that while they ( the Parliament ) were perfectly right in doing all they its

      could ^ to promote the Christian Religion and diffusion throughout the globe , they should feel that Christianity derived no force from any mode of extension which could in any way or degree be called civil persecution ; and it certainly appeared to him ( Lord John Russell ) that the exclusion , upon any such grounds , of persons from office , they being loyal subjects of her Majesty , was a species of persecution altogether inconsistent with the high and pure spirit of Christianity ; " therefore , according to Lo " from

      John Russell ' s opinion , to exclude any person a civil office ( as was done by the Ward at the la « election ) on account of his religious opinions , m nothing more or less than persecution . I am free i admit « uoh may not be intended ; but , be it remembered , intentions do not alter reBulta in » uch J i The influence of that Goapel , whose proudest o ° V ° that it is glad tidings to man * aurely should not no wrested to be made a source of social privation to any . If such a rule as that which Lord John Russell lap down had been exDreesed by a party of less eminen j

      or authority than the first member for this great u and first minister of the Crown-had it . been w utterance of a proscribed body or a suffering aw though a tfttiam , etill it would have been open to sus p icion of being an aspiration which the d ^ could not recognize ; but when the speaker i ^ mouthpiece of the Government , and that bo ^ too , celebrated for his constitutional vmj > igh practical comprehension of the genius of tne *> b ^ political system , the maxims he delivers come . i with the authority of history , tho weight 01 j . i du

      enco , and tho sanction of the Crown . < "j which is the principle of tho Cabinet ot «""• th 0 toria may be accepted with dignity as a rui . Ward of Walbrook ; and he who asks for ^ tne ^ nition of a political truth , no more foreign" * gup _ English precedent , cannot bo justly regaracu w porting his cause by any unusual oru B Wal . appeal . —Addren to tho Elector * of the Ward oj brook , by Hobert IjO Blond . ^ ___ — -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1851, page 1018, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1906/page/14/