Imatges de pàgina
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further distant from the point of Toryism than ever it was. It has been compelled to make concessions to Radicalism, and even to Chartism, which separate it altogether by an immense distance from everything that holds as a principle the permanence of existing institutions, whatever reforms may be desired in the old, and whatever new establishments may be requisite. Now Conservatism occupies a midposition between one extreme opinion and the other, and, in fact, has all along endeavoured to reconcile both; conceding to the one that all abuses should be removed, but maintaining, with the other, that the institutions themselves should be held sacred. Take one instance; the great question of education. Whatever Toryism might have done, Conservatism concedes the desirability of educating the masses,-and that, we believe, after a more generous and complete fashion than ever entered into the imagination of a democrat; but it maintains that the clergy of the Established Church have the right to the conduct and surveillance of the education proposed. The Whigs, however, say "No" to this. "We would," they exclaim, " rather have no educa tion at all, than that the clergy should be intrusted with it. Our object is to supersede them by other instructors; and therefore the task of educating the people must be taken out of their hands and placed in others. Now, of course, this is a monstrous proposition, so long as an Established Church exists, and will never be granted by its clergy willingly, however they may be forced into compliance. From the moment of their being so forced, the death-knell of the Establishment is sounded, and nothing will be left but decently to bury it. So long, however, as the clergy of the Church of England maintain a superiority of intelligence, learning, and piety, such an event is impossible. A faction may be arrayed against them; but the heart of the people will be with them. The only thing in which they are now deficient is in the important article of philosophy, as distinguished from and superior to science of this they may have little; we wish they had more; but the leaders of dissent have none at all.

One of Sir Robert Peel's statements in his election speech at Tamworth may be taken in corroboration of the above argument. Our readers will recollect that he defined himself as holding the opinions of moderate men of all parties. Here we discover him declaring the very synthesis for which we contend. He is prepared to do whatever may be required in the way of reform, but at the same time he is determined to preserve the institutions themselves which may require it.

There was never any doubt in the minds of reflecting men, that the spirit of the country was in favour of this view of public affairs. However desirous of reform intelligent persons might be wherever defect was obvious, they had little wish for the subversion of the existing order of things. They saw not the wisdom of pulling down a house that only needed repair; and did see well enough the folly of demolition, before they were provided with another dwelling, whether for temporary or permanent residence. Or say another were provided, what was the hovel of dissent in comparison with the national temple they were called upon to desert? or what the vague interests of speculative economists contrasted with those existing and tangible shapes of property which were the established bulwarks of those social

arrangements under which men had lived for centuries in security and progressive improvement? Even the Chartists were conservative for all present time, and were only reformers of the future; and refused to meddle with the Corn Laws until they should obtain the demands of their Charter. And soon it appeared that both the higher and the lower classes of society had one and the same interest; there only remained the middle class to be reconciled-a class which exists by oppressing one order, and defrauding the other to the utmost possible amount; and which feels accordingly the necessity of reform, because it wants itself reformation.

This was sometime a paradox, but it is now the clearest of positions. The felt want of reformation in itself, which impels the middle class to seek abroad for the reformation which should be found at home, is in harmony with the deepest principles of human nature. It is what every man does who feels himself in an evil state; he refers it to external circumstances, instead of his own internal condition: that man, accordingly, sets himself up invariably as a reformer both of Church and State. If he be a bad man, it is, of course, the fault of the parson and the magistrate-it cannot be his own-and, therefore, their corruptions must be rooted out, in order that he may become, if not a better, yet a happier man.

This is a providential arrangement, for with this class of society all reform movements must originate. Were there not the internal mo tive, there would not be the external sign of it—and the external sign is needed as an impulsive occasion to initiate improvements in the mere social condition of man, not in one point alone, but in all. It performed, therefore, one of its legitimate purposes when it demanded amendment in the representative orders-but it neglected another, when it declined inquiry into its own state and short comings.

The Chartists, however, have not been slow in detecting the evil. They have fixed on the middle classes as the enemies of the operative order. The middle classes are the proprietors of labour-directors of its energies, and distributors of its produce. Now, these are precisely the particulars in which reform at the present time is needed. It is needed that no longer the labourer should be sacrificed to the proprietor's cupidity-it is needed that labour should no longer be misdirected by the proprietor's caprice or folly-it is needed that its benefits should no longer be monopolized by any one or more classes to the exclusion of others; or that they should be impeded in their transit by the misarrangements of the middle-man. Were these necessities duly provided for, the evils of society would cease; the labourer would be fully employed; the results of his labour would be profitable; and the application and distributions of those results would provide for the food, clothing, and lodging of the entire family of

men.

The realization of these beneficial effects is dependent on the perception and practical demonstration of an IDEA in its ultimate consequences; an idea which is either a LAW or the CORRELATIVE of a law. It is this, that the end of all social and individual working should no longer be directed for the advantage only of the Few or Many, but of the One in All, or the All in One. It has been remarked,

that there is a tendency in this age to Universality. Granted to the full extent claimed for it by Dr. Channing in his new pamphlet on the present age. Yet, if we may be permitted to quote from another eloquent American writer, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson," the tendency of these times is likewise to the personal." Both opinions, in fact, are true. For we require not the personal alone, nor the universal alone, -but the personal in the universal, and the universal in the personal. It is not the first time that we have remarked on the personality characteristic of the present state of politics and religion. It is no longer his party that supports a man, but he must depend on his individual character and qualifications. Nay, to do any good worth speaking of, he must have a considerable power of creative genius. He must be capable of initiating-he must originate. But though thus independent of party, and thrown on his own resources; he must, nevertheless, be the representative of Principles. Not of party, but of Principles. He must be strong on a particular question-the acknowledged advocate of a special cause. This is the secret of the influence of Lord Brougham, Mr. O'Connell, and Sir Robert Peel; and of the want of it in Viscount Melbourne, and Lord John Russell. The Duke of Wellington is strong, meanwhile, by virtue of character alone. Men believe that he will do right at all times, and in all things, to the full extent of his power and knowledge.

Herein it is, that the Catholic tendency is most observable; that our leading men have, in a great measure, been set free from party trammels, and are, in some sort, compelled to argue every cause, not in relation to the interests of party, but in its general bearings, and as it affects society at large. No man feels this more than Sir Robert Peel. Hireling writers demand from him express pledges-these he wisely declines. When he is called in regularly, he will prescribe for the patient according to the then state of the patient's health-but not before. The weakness of the Whigs has consisted in their working, in all questions, for their party, and not for the country.

It is not to be for a moment supposed that the Melbourne administration has arrayed the Conservative majority of the country against it on the question of the Corn Laws. Sir Robert Peel knows, as well as they, that deep consideration of the subject is imperatively required by circumstances, and of this fact the country was fully aware. Nay, it was understood that Sir Robert Peel would, in all human probability, propose some alteration himself, as the leading measure of a Conservative Government. The Whigs were therefore suspected of using the question as an instrument for party ends alone, without at all designing to carry a sincere measure for the public relief, or one that would a whit better answer the desirable purpose, than did that gross failure, the Reform Bill. The world was indeed assured that corn law repeal was adopted as an expedient only, when it recollected the strong opinion against it which had been only too recently expressed by the premier.

We have no space now to show the fallacies on both sides which attach to this vexata quæstio. We might otherwise demonstrate, on the one hand, that wages and prices were not uniformly equal; and on the other, show that a fixed duty is impossible, and that a well

calculated sliding duty would produce the same results that anything adopting the name of a fixed duty could by any possibility beneficially perform. We prefer, however, to point out a mode of reconciling both, contained in a tract lately published by a Mr. Browne-namely, to make the graduated scale of duties applicable, not to the value or price in the market, as at present, but to the quantity of corn in the stack-yards and granaries of the kingdom; for which purpose he suggests the following plan:

"That the assessing the duty be removed from the executive of the Customs to the executive of the Excise, and that in each year the exciseman should, at a period when all grain must have been harvested, say the 1st of November in each year-that the exciseman of the locality or district should proceed to take an accurate account of the growth of the then year, and an account of the remaining stock on hand from former years, giving the estimates in quarters of corn as nearly as possible as the sworn officer could estimate them; and that these returns should be from every tithing or locality in the kingdom respectively; and that on these returns being made to the head office for the kingdom, the Government should issue an order of Privy Council on or about the 31st of December next thereafter, affixing the duty or assize for the ensuing year, or two years for the accommodation of the foreign grower, upon the principle of a graduated scale of duties, acting upon and in relation to the quantity or number of quarters in stack and granary in the whole kingdom, instead of on the price of grain per quarter, as is the present mode.

“And, as the ordinary consumption of the kingdom, if not already known, could soon be ascertained; so obviously it must be fixed in an equitable relation to the average consumption as compared to the stocks on hand; leaving the duties applicable, in an inverse ratio, to the magnitude of such stocks on hand; and, as far as practicable, keeping up the scale of taxation to that of the duties as at present in operation: say, for so many quarters on hand, so much protective duty; and, of course, if the number of quarters on hand be more, the duty to be more; if less, the duty to be less; so as to admit foreign corn, on the principle only of necessity, for the supply of deficiency in our own growth."

The information desired may be obtained in the following way :"That the farmer be compelled to build his stack or rick of corn square, and of a certain gauge-say so many feet square, and so many feet high, as the standard size; and that there be three of these sizes, so as to admit of large or small stacks, to suit the convenience of the farmer; but let all be built on one principle-square.

"Let the exciseman ascertain, by attending to the quantity produced when the stacks are threshed-the yield of corn from these stacks for two or three years consecutively, and by that means a knowledge of their average contents would be established; and thus he would know the number of quarters to be expected from a stack of the first class-that is to say, of the greatest number of square feet, and so on of the second and third class ricks respectively.

"By these means the returns of the whole kingdom would diffe

but little from the reality, and the estimates would come very near to true results.

"If it were considered preferable-as another plan-I would say, measure the ricks, and return the whole as so many cubic feet of corn in stack, and two or three years' experience would show how many quarters might be expected from every thousand cubic feet.

"But when I know that malt and other produce is gauged preparatory to a return of the quantity, I cannot foresee any difficulty in regard to corn.”

Our institutions are better than we; and are, accordingly, more worthy of support than any particular class: but of all classes, there is least reason for sacrificing any one of them to the middle class. Here it is that regeneration is wanted. The whole science of distribution applies to this order in the state, or rather, we should say, that the whole business of distribution needs here being reduced to a science. Men have hitherto proceeded in the market on the principle of competition. They have met as on the battle-field, and contested the point with one another: no man has regarded his neighbour, but every man his self. The principle of Christian charity has never been tried. Now it could be shown that all this competition is not wanted; -that none, in fact, is wanted. Benevolent association is the one thing needed and whatever may be said against Socialism, whether of Owen or Fourier (and, by the way, no two men can differ more than these), it is clear that Association, as a principle, is advancing with rapid strides; from a dramatic authors' theatre to an international congress, all things to it are possible. This is the new spirit that must be conciliated by the statesman who would flourish now and for ever; he should take it into his own hands, and bring a power that will be soon irresistible under the control, by investing it with the sanction, of Government.

We have survived an intellectual age, during which man, through the power of science, has been enabled to perform miracles. We literally reel and groan under the surplus wealth thereby produced. By means of it a small number of individuals can provide for all the material wants of a large population. Let us consider this. The salvation of the race lies in our creating intellectual and moral desires for the occupation of a being whose physical necessities no longer require the labour that once enslaved him. He is set free; and henceforth his business in this life is that of a freeman, and not of a servant.

Some writers fear this state of things-how vainly. The politics of the poor man belong to his condition, and not to his mind. Better circumstances and enlarged experience will improve his views of society, and correct his opinions. In the mean time, every record of his sentiments is useful to all parties as a political document. It is for this purpose, that we prize Chartist speeches, essays, and poems. Biographies of their authors are most important to the true statesman, who would learn to legislate for the operative class, by becoming acquainted with their feelings-the form and pressure of their common destiny upon individual temperament and disposition. A change in the circumstances that now afflict them, will produce a proportionate change in their views. An enlarged experience of the world, such as

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